City Council - Regular Meeting

No, no, no. I had it. I think I have it. Let me try that again. I'd like to welcome everybody this evening to our regular city council meeting on the 18th of February. And it is according to Steve Jobs at 6:02 p.m. At this time, I'd like to go ahead and start the meeting by uh joining us with a pledge of allegiance. So, if you're able, please stand and join us in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. There are typically some housekeeping items, but I'm going to be very brief. If you have noise makers like phones or cell phones or watches or that thing called pages of the days of old, please silent them. Um, and then at this point, I would like to ask the clerk to call roll, please. Council member Gurnie, present. Council member Dean,

present. Council member Ferrar Rivas, present. Mayor Willander here. Thank you. Let the record show that council or Vice Mayor Low is absent this evening. Okay. Okay, with that uh I am seeking an approval of the agenda tonight or expressed comments of changes. Do I have a motion? I will move to accept the agenda. Andy second. Further discussion. I think this is informal. Can we just all say uh all those in favor say I.

I uh nos. it passes. So with that, we get to enter into this period of time where the public is uh invited to come forth and speak to items that are not on the agenda. Please be advised that because these items have not been noticed, we will not be able to uh take any action or have any discussion up here on your items, but we will be listening attently. So, please identify yourself. You do have two minutes, but sometimes I forget to look. Oh, good.

Good evening, council mayor and staff. Lin Marie De Vincent, Tri Park Committee Coordinator for the City of Sonoma's three mobile home parks, and that equates to 488 mobile homes, which is 8.5% of the city's total 5,000 plus housing units. and a considerably higher portion of the housing units that are affordable to low and moderate income households. If we mobile home park homeowners lose our homes, there is nowhere else around here that we can afford and we will become homeless. Since your December study session on the closure and conversion ordinance update, at least two more mobile home parks in Sonoma County have been purchased by private equity firms. one in Paluma, one in Santa Rosa. This relentless takeover occurring across the county was clearly and powerfully revealed by people directly affected at the recent county board of board of supervisors annual meeting held here at the Cinema Vets building. We are grateful to those of you who attended or watched the video. Mobile home park operators and owners are not aligned with the city's housing stability mission. They are profit maximizers. They are not partners in affordability. Affordability exists because of regulation. Once a closure is started is too late to adopt protections. We ask you to direct staff on the closure and conversion ordinance to bring you options that are maximally protective for homeowners. We are vulnerable. We're scared. And we're watching as every month more mobile home owners are threatened with the loss of their homes and their money. The Paluma mobile home owners have spent over half a million dollars defending their home investments. When any park operator triumphs in weakening protections

nearby, others will copy this model. And when a city implements the best protections, other cities may benefit from that success. Let's do this. Sonoma, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Peter Alexander. I am Peter. I am hellbent. Heavensent as this be the commanding missive on this first day of Lent. The King of Kings never lies, never dies, suffers neither fools nor alibis. Today in the city of Soma, I was blessed by two rainbows. The power of the Christos lights and true hearts glows. The master carpenter shared that some demons require both serious prayer and a serious fast. Together we grant this corrupted system the 40-day fast, the timeout of all timeouts. For to turn on the light, we need first to unplug the dark. As I possess an addiction to friction with conviction, then together we stroll through the park, lighting a masterful spark, igniting the lifeaffirming emerald fire that we require to take it all higher as we forever silence the liar. Including that too many religious leaders serve as deceivers, undermining believers. Neither do they wish to enter the promised heaven, and they make sure their followower followers remain lost at such a cost. The drums are drumming. The guitars are strumming comes now the second coming through the hearts of Christos warriors. As surely as I was blessed by the double rainbow, so too the coming has begun. Veterans, students, and labor laying down the saber. No more mortgages, no more rents. All warriors off the fence. I am Peter. I am servant commanding as commanded till every knee to earth remanded by the living Lord's prophetic command that walks us into the promised land. I am always with you as I am here speaking truth to power this moment, this hour. And you require no priest or pastor to intercede between you and the living

Lord that resides in your heart. For all time is now, and now is a time to freeze frame this corrupted system. The ring of fire has erupted to continue now worldwide. For there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. My honest, Christerving farm workers and labor, you possess the spear of destiny. Lay down your spear. Lay down your sword in the name of the living Lord and all your efforts, money and labor. 40 nights, 40 days, forever ceasing, the dark sides never ending, deceiving plays. And finally, behold, behold, behold, starting 10,000 new gardens, so advised, so told, so beautifully bold. Blessings.

Thank you, Peter. Anyone else? Oh, I do see some movement. Oh. That's a tough one to follow. Um I'm Matthew Tipple and uh good evening mayor and uh city uh council members. Uh I reside at 734 First Street West in Sonoma. Um the reason I'm here this evening is to uh discuss uh with you the idea of a roundabout uh at the Plaza inter intersection. Um this was an idea that well let me start let me step back. Um so I've been visiting Sonoma for over 25 years and my wife and I had the privilege have had the privilege of living in Sonoma for over roughly 22 years. Um in my opinion uh I think uh that intersection is one of the worst that I've ever traveled through or walk walked through. it's uh it's um the geometry of it is just um not conducive. Um so back in 2009 when I was on the planning commission uh I um had and uh engineered a plan and uh it was discussed um with a little bit of uh some support and some not support. And this is and I think part of that was the fact that roundabouts were foreign to a lot of people. Um, and so over that 16-year time period, there's been a a number of roundabouts, and the city of Napa, as you know, and the county of Sonoma has embraced them, um, as have Calrans. So, um I'd like to uh work with uh I'd like to check the temperature of council and I'd also like to uh work with you and uh collaborate with public

works on um that possibility knowing that the that intersection is under the purview of CALR as well. So, um that's the reason I'm here and I' I'd love the opportunity to uh uh uh to meet you guys um uh and also to to discuss with public works as well. Thank you. Thank you, Matthew.

Well, this is a good segue. Good evening, uh Mayor Wellander, uh council staff. Um I'm Mike Meny. I live on Church Street. Um, while I was content to just sit passively by as as usual tonight, um, I feel compelled to speak following uh, the tragedy of last evening. Uh, firstly and for and most importantly, I want to extend my family's condolences to the families of the two victims and the driver of the car in last night's accident. Secondly, I'm certainly not here before you to cast blame on anyone, but I do feel it's an appropriate time to begin discussing adequate vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian safety in the city of Soma. In 2000, the city had about 9,000 residents, give or take. Today, we're closer to 10,700. Sonoma County has grown roughly from 459,000 to 490,000 in that same period of time. That means more vehicles moving through Soma Valley, especially along Broadway and Highway 12, and more interaction between cars, cyclists, and pedestrians. About 20 years ago, the antique style ped pedestal lights, I wanted to say pedestrian pedestal lights were installed along Broadway shortly after the red oaks had been put in. They're very charming. They fit the character of Soma. But I'd estimate roughly 25% of the bulbs in those fixtures are either too dim or burnt out today. And the red oaks and sycamores lining Broadway block a substantial amount of the light. the functional fixtures project. In the 100 block of West Napa Street, three of the four overhead street lights are burned out. That's essentially a a a

dead zone. Um, for the last couple of years, I've reluctantly referred to Broadway as the black hole. After dark, the combination of more cars, increased pedestrian and bicycles, limited lighting, the tree canopy reduces visibility in ways we shouldn't ignore. This isn't about blame. It's about taking a hard look at lighting, maintenance, and safety, and making sure our streets are as safe at night as they are beautiful during the day. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. Anyone else? Okay, seeing no movement, then I will close this uh period of public comment and we'll bring it back for the next item which will be meeting uh dedications and I do believe we have a dedication.

Thank you, mayor. I have one dedication to Marilyn Cravig. She passed away February six. She is in a long time our community in the member. She was the former flight attendant and then so that her have the big heart always want to help the more people and I know I started know her and we work together at a city and association and at that time she always had great uh creativ and help a group and find an donors finding a place and to prove and the and the thing project. So that is a good example for our community. I would like to dedicate our meeting to her. Best wishes for Thank you.

Thank you. Now we'll move on to council members reports and comments. And who would like to start? Please.

Um so I'm going to try to do this um succinctly although some of these are complicated matters that people may have to go to the snowan power site and get more information. But u attended the um February 5th meeting of the board of snow clean power. And just to notify that on March 1st, PG&E will implement a new base service charge for residential electric consumers. That's all consumers whether or not you're on Sonoma Clean Power or your getting your getting your electrical generation from PG&E. Um that that was approved by the California Public Utilities Commissions. um all I said that all customers including Sonoma Clean Power but Sonoma Clean Power does not set control or receive any um any revenue from this charge. So just so that this is a PGA charge and not a SNO clean power charge. Um the base service uh this charge is designed to recover a portion of the fixed costs infrastructure um maintaining the grid wildlife mitigation um poles wires etc etc. Um it they um so and then so customers with higher electrical usage should benefit from this. So in some ways this supports the transition to more electric uh use um because there were there will be lower kilowatt delivery rates um and that this is tiered so that low-inccome customers pay pay a lower rate for those electrical uh delivery. Just to be clear, sometimes people aren't really understand this that PG&E when you have use Sonoma Clean Power, Sonoma Clean

Power is responsible for generating the electricity and and purchasing electricity for you. PG&E is the deliverer of that electricity. So they're they play two two different roles. Um and this charge cannot be provided by switching providers. So this is something that goes across the board. Um so but I also wanted to that from Sonoma Clean Power is committed to taking all the necessary actions to protect customers from rate shock or increases in 2026 and does use you know revenues bes beyond the reserves that they have on their balance sheet that they have to maintain to uh have those uh whatever those revenues are in excess to go back to the customers. Um the one so one of the things that I did want to that's good news is um customer participation rates for uh the city of Sonoma is eight in Sonoma clean power versus just PG& is 83%. Um the only one that is so that's like um 11.7 opt out the other lower opt out is 8.6% 6% in Sebastapole. Um, Mendescino is the highest, but that's the un um incorporated Mendescino at 21% opt out. And in Sonoma County, Cloverdale is the higher of opting out at 16.9%. The other thing that we did at the board meeting is we uh we're trying to move from a one-year chair and vice chair to two years because the um the comp complexity of running a public utilities company really takes time for people to really learn about it and understand how it works. These are all

the people on the board are elected officials. We've had members of the board that have been, you know, worked at PG&E or other before. Currently, that's not the case. But so, um, so Brian Barnacle, who was last year's chair, will be this year's chair again. And Jackie Lord will be, uh, this year's vice chair. We've also selected a vice chair for next year and that will be Sylvia Lumis who's the current mayor of Katadyat and that's to have her participate with the other chairs so that she will be able to have an opportunity although she does a lot of homework and she's very good at this but really to understand you know how the public util utilities works and it's really important because this really does the decisions that are made at this board uh really do affect uh everybody in the county and in Mendescino County in regards to their their utility bills. So, uh, and there's a lot of legislation work that's going on. I'm sorry to be long tonight, but I think it's good and important for people to understand one of the things that we're really trying to do is support the G geothermal development, which will bring more um electrical capabilities to the grid. Um, Sonoma Clean Power is trying to own more of its own electrical generation so we have more control over that and the long-term role of bringing people's costs down uh customers costs down. Um, and right now there's a whole process we're trying to do to make that so it's easier. So if you're the the biggest cost of geothermal is drilling the first sites and coming up with the analysis about that site. Um right now most of our electricity that we get or significant amount it's almost 50% comes from out of the state. Um there are ge geothermal areas in Utah and Arizona I believe in Nevada that are generating

electricity and also creating jobs and bringing customer prices down. We want to do that in California as well too. So just it's a good thing. I'm going to try to keep people updated on what's happening with that. The other thing I did, so I'll stop on snow and clean power for now. I'll try to do it in little bits and pieces throughout the year, so it's not so much at one time. Um, so I attended the North Bay Area Watershed Association meeting. Um, and when I was at that meeting, Steve Lee did a presentation. He's from Sonoma Ecology Center. And just for full disclosure, I'm also the vice chair of the board of Sonoma Ecology Center. And Steve Lee is uh the department head for research and also manages a lot of the restoration projects. And so he did a presentation of all the restoration projects that Sonoma Ecology Center is doing that have a direct effect on watersheds in the county and so in the northern bay area actually it was a very good presentation. There is a they one in particular is on my at um Morton uh Morton's um springs. What is that? Hot Springs. Morton Hot Springs. There's a whole project there if you want to look at kind of what that work is like. You can go on the Sonoma Ecology Center site and look at that. And what it's basically doing is trying to move, you know, past construction or development that has gotten creeks to channel to get creeks instead of channeling to spread out, which helps uh add more groundwater for us, which we need more groundwater. It also reduces flooding, but also it reduces uh the degradation of the the sides of the creeks as well, too. So, that's one to look at. The one issue there that people have a difficult time is it's very hard

to get funding for monitoring it. And so it's hard to after the case prove the fact that this is making a difference because it's hard to get the grant money to monitor. Oh, the other thing that this this has been doing this one project is bringing steel head back. So um so that's been good. So that's definitely been increasing the steel head. Um and then uh February 12th attended the uh ribbon cutting for forager flowers which is right on the plaza. And then on that same day attended the uh Sonoma County Mayor and City Council's Association meeting in Katab. That's it. Thank you.

I'm afraid I don't have anything to report to. Major meetings have been the scheduled tomorrow and next Friday. is zero waste and the legislative committee. No problem. Thank you,

Mr. Gurnie. Don't ever be sorry for having nothing to report, please. Um I attended the uh when was this? Last Thursday, the tourism improvement district uh meeting and um all is well. They seem to be getting some pretty good traction in terms of the um recruitment of visitors uh to the hotels for overnight stays. They are kicking off a new initiative that actually began on February 15th and they call it $15 tastings Soma Sips and they have 50 wineries online. This goes on for four weeks and uh each winery is providing hospitality um for $15 which if you've been out wine tasting could be quite a bargain. Um and so that's currently underway. And let's see what else did they have to say. We'll move on to the library advisory board. Um that was also on February the 12th in the afternoon. And um just a couple of things of note that our local library is um having a book sale um on March 7 and 8th. um our commissioner that is uh assigned to the library commission in Santa Rosa um was able to participate in our meeting remotely and um and so that was interesting to get a report on in terms of what the commission is doing more so than just our local library. Um another uh activity that's taking place is um ARP is providing tax tax preparation

um coursework um between February the 6th and April the 10th. Um you have to call the library to get an appointment for that, but um that's a service that they're providing. And last but not least, the Carnegie Foundation um provided Sonoma County with $50,000 um in grants because there are five existing uh Carnegie Library buildings in the county still. Um and they the county finally made a decision to distribute those funds and our library will receive $6,400. Um, and they'll be able to apply that to other programming at the library. And, uh, last but not least, they are going to be upgrading the library bathrooms so that they're ADA compliant. Um, it's in the queue, but they are servicing all of the libraries in the county, and we're not sure when the work will actually take place. That concludes my report.

Okay. Thank you very much. Um I would not be uh I would not repeat uh reports that have already been given in terms of various uh events but I will say that I attended the water advisory commission for Sonoma water and the most salient uh detail was that at the time of the meeting which was back on the uh on the 9th uh there was some uh both reservoirs Menescino and Snowmo were relatively filled but there was some room still and I'm happy to report just on speculation that after our recent days those both lakes are filled up to the top for which we're thankful. Um on the 9th I trespassed over in the city of Napa and took in their uh lighting art festival, something that I would like to steal and bring to Sonoma. So we're open to any ideas of how we can both do it and fund it. uh had a chance to meet with the CEO of the Sonoma Family Meals, which was the former Unity Kitchen, Whitney Ruling. I was curious because the city does support that provider and wanted to know they recently had transitioned and became the the the managing group and I was I'm happy to report that they are serving 300 meals a day. they are providing pantry goods for up to 50 a day and uh there's a desire to upgrade the kitchen rather significantly. So they're in the process of uh the design and getting the permit for upgrading a more efficient type of kitchen that will result in being able to provide more meals. So that was very encouraging. Uh the last item was I was very uh pleased to uh attend the Boys and Girls

Club uh sweetheart gala and was again reminded how special that organization is and what a great job they're doing to providing uh support to our uh children both in the valley as well as in the city. And again, I was reminded that we do live in a community that is very philanthropic and giving. So, um, that was very encouraging and I believe that's it. So, uh, now we get to turn to our city manager, please, and give us any updates.

Great. Thank you, mayor. A couple updates. First is that we have been experiencing some cold weather and some abnormally cold weather along with rain over the past few days. Uh, because of that, we have activated our warming center here at uh, just right outside the doors here. Uh we activated that last night. Uh we had four individuals attend. We do have information on our website on how to contact um or how to access the site. It is open from 700 p.m. till about 900 a.m. and we're going to be activate activated tonight as well as Thursday night. Um as we will be monitoring Friday night's weather and Saturday mornings just to see if that cold snap continues, we'll continue and expand that. But as of now, we're planning to uh close on Friday morning after that cold weather. Uh there is a free shuttle for those that need assistance to get there. There's a number on our website to call for that shuttle. A lot of our all of our service providers are aware and are engaged in working with our um unhoused community to um make sure they know know that it's available. Um the other uh updates I have are regarding some receptions. We have the treasure artery recept treasure artist reception uh which is honoring Adela Leone and that is on April 16th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. It'll be on the plaza in the amphitheater. Uh we have the holiday reception for Gary Edwards which is on March 12th at the Vintage House. Um and more information on that will be released on our website tomorrow as long along with an RSVP link. And uh we do have monthly work days at our cemeteries are going to be starting up. The first one will be February 28th um at Mountain Cemetery from 9 to noon. So, we'll have a lot more information on that on our website and our social media um sites. And then finally, I do want to we um we have one of our newest staff members joining us tonight, Antimate Freeman, uh our new part-time sustainability coordinator who um is here in the audience tonight. We're excited to have her on board. uh she's

helping us work on a lot of our climate initiatives and working with the climate action commission and and with Jennifer Gates, our community development director. So, welcome Annette and thank you for being here. We're excited to have you on the team. So, thank you very much. And before we move on to our uh attorney, would the new um individual like to make any comments? If so, uh you're more than welcome to come to the the microphone. Uh, I I'm Antimate Freeman and I am extremely excited to be here and to support the Sonoma community and the staff at city hall. Thank you.

Super. Thank you. Welcome. Okay, now we're going to turn to our city attorney, please, for comments. I have no report. Weather report in the Sierras. Snow is falling. Snow is falling.

Okay. Thank you. And we do not have any presentations this evening. So we're going to slip down to what is considered the consent calendar. And on these items uh that are listed under the seven series, they are basically considered routine and will be uh reviewed in a single motion unless someone up here would like to pull it and then we'll pull it and deal with it separately. But I'm seeing no action on that uh one way or the other. So it appears we'll keep the consent. However, I do want to make one confirmation and that is on the uh the meeting notes that were part of the consent. There was a listing of all the city council members and the various boards and committees that we've juggled. I just want to make sure that everything's copacetic and everybody's happy.

Okay. So with that, public comment. Oh, thank you. Um, so with that, although we're not pulling anything, I welcome the public to come forward with any comments regarding these items. Seeing no movement, we'll bring back to the dis and I will ask for a motion. Move to approve a consent calendar. I second. Further discussion. Roll call, please. Council member Gurnie, I. Council member Dean, I. Council member Ferrer Rivas, I. Mayor Willander, yes.

Thank you. The motion carries four zer with one council member absent.

All right. Now, we're going to slip down to our regular calendar. And we have three items here in which we will start with item number 9.1 which is um a goal of accepting a recent urban canopy canopy assessment and tree inventory and our director of community development is to tell us about it.

Well, I'm just going to kick it off. We're doing a team effort tonight. So, um, I'm going to kick it off, give you a little background, and then Jacob Dunn, our associate planner, who worked a lot on this project, is going to give you the highlights of both documents, and then we are going to close it up with our parks director, Dave Jans, um, on the recommendations and next steps. So, with that, a little background on um, this item. It's been in the works since about uh, January 2024. Um, we started discussing trees. If you remember at that time, city council had also identified trees in all caps on our goals list. And so we held a joint commission meeting with the pros, parks, recreation, open space, um climate action commission, and planning commission and began those discussions and set a kind of a list of priorities um that we would look at doing. And one of those keys is understanding what we have. So that's where we come in with what's our urban canopy look like? And then also what is um the current tree inventory. What types of trees do we have? What's their health? Things like that. Um also we um continued that effort um and um around the importance of trees and we adopted a city master tree list. Um in 2025 we also approved the contract last year for planet Geo to complete this work. So we had budgeted the items um and then got Planet Geo to work on it and they have finished and they are actually on the call as well today. So they are here online at this meeting. Um and we held a joint commission meeting which we'll talk a little bit about in January um of this year. So just last month where we discussed the results of the urban tree canopy assessment and the tree inventory um with them. They had some comments and

we came back to planet Geo asked for some modifications to the reports and we'll talk a little bit about that as well tonight. So with that, I'm going to call up Jacob and have him talk about both reports.

All right. Well, thank you, Director Gates, and good evening, Mayor and Council members. Um, as the director stated, I will be discussing both those reports tonight and we'll go ahead and we'll just dig into the tree canopy assessment first. So, a tree canopy assessment is a land cover uh study where aerial imagery is analyzed and is determined by the percentage of tree canopy. Uh, this provides a baseline for future analysis. And the key to goals to um do this is quantifying the tree canopy and other land cover types. uh measuring the ecosystem services that are provided by that tree canopy, identifying the areas where a tree canopy can be expanded in the future, determining priority areas for tree preservation, and then planting initiatives, and then providing data that informs future planning and uh establishing new goals. Oh, my apologies. There it goes. All right. So the methodology for this work is uh using a high resolution multisspectral imagery. This was from 2022 and using earth defined data to distinguish the land cover types for the tree canopies and then other land cover types. So these images here provide some reference to those land cover types. Um and this is kind of the aerial perspective that you would see from those. The distinctions between them is that the tree canopies with dark and dense foliage with taller canopies represent trees uh for you that it's clear uniformity there. Shrubs that exhibit lighter colors with irregular shapes and uh blends they blend with grasses. There's non-canopy vegetation like grasses and open spaces with no trees. There's bare soils where plant material is dried, dead uh or brown. There's impervious surfaces like paved areas in buildings which are pretty obvious to see. and then areas with water. So the analysis included identifying potential planting areas in spaces where

uh that were already classified as vegetation and then unsuitable planting areas which were manually delineated and uh these included recreational fields, agricultural lands, and stateowned properties. The results of the tree canopy assessment found that the city's boundary encompasses 1,750 land acres where about 25% of that was covered by tree canopy and about 14% was identified as suitable for planting. You can kind of see the image there identifying each of those land cover classes. So this pie chart provides a percentage breakdown of each of those classes. Something to note was that 21% of the existing tree canopy is currently overhanging impervious surfaces and increasing the tree canopy over paved areas would uh would help reduce urban heat, storm water runoff, and noise and air pollution. So, this image here provides an example of the potential planting areas throughout the city. It has each of the distinguishing factors there. I'll just hold it if you'd like to take a look. Um so when analyzing the here we go when analyzing the potential planting areas there were specific locations around the city that resulted in high and low amounts of plantable area. The high levels of potential planting were found in the north with uh along with the northeast and south totaling 252 areas or acres sorry. The highest potential planting area was in the neighborhood north of East Napa Street, which actually is shown in the picture. Sorry, I think I went one. There we go. Uh shown in this picture here. Um this neighborhood holds 23% of the total potential planting area in the city. And then now we're at the low. Uh so low levels of potential planting were found in the east and southwest. The neighborhood north of Cinema Valley High School has a potential planting area of

only 13 acres. And then the area in the southwest only has about 15 acres of potential planting area. So which is approximately 06% of the total plantable area throughout the whole city. Um a number of assess assessment boundaries were utilized to make informed decisions on the recommendations that you'll see in the report. These include using city limits, the sphere of influence, priority conservation areas, fire hazard severity zones, city properties. Uh there's a hexagon form and then census block groups which is what we will be focusing on. The other assessment boundaries you'll be able to see throughout the report. But using the census block groups, it was found that the groups with 25% or higher of tree canopy were found in the north and east, while the lower groups uh areas with less than 24% were found in western Soma. So this figure shows a clear depiction of the acreage that's suitable for planting in each of these census block groups. The average tree canopy across all the groups was 37 acres, but the average plantable area was 21 acres. And three of the census block groups had a had 30 acres or more of plantable area and were found in the north and southeast. And in regard to city properties, the city manages 175 acres of land and of which 75 acres were identified with tree canopy. This means that the average canopy over those properties is 40%. The total plantable area on the properties is approximately 65 acres or an average of 22%. And it was also found that 40% of the city properties have more than 20% of imperous cover which has been identified as a potential limitation for future planting. Uh which we've also addressed in the report as well. So the hexagonal assessment this kind of gives you a different unique characterization that looks different than the um than the the previous ones that we were just looking at and it

ignores those administrative boundaries. So each hexagon represents two acres of land and gives you a slightly different picture um of the plantable space that you saw in the previous ones as well as the total percentage. It's allowed. I'll just kind of hold it there for just a second. Go and take a look. So next we'll get into the results of the tree inventory. This is a comp comprehensive analysis that's conducted by ISA certified arborists on the ground going around uh to street frontages and public properties. The key goal was to collect data about each tree which included the location of the tree, a photograph of the tree, the common and Latin name as well as its trunk diameter and uh its estimated tree height and spread and its overall health and the maintenance needs that it may have in the future. A record was created for these and stored on an online platform that's going to be able to be accessed accessed by uh staff and the community. So the tree inventory resulted in identification of 183 species. The top 10 species were found to comprise 60% of the total with 555 common crepe myrtles up um taking up over 10% of the total inventory. Other species uh included London plain tree and southern mag magnolia. And when analyzing the size distributions, it was found that the large trees uh with a diameter of more than 6 in made up the majority of all trees. While the number of large diameter trees is consistent with the ideal percentages, the number of small diameter trees is less than ideal percentage for ones between zero and five inches and more ideal um than and more than ideal for those between six and 18 in. It is incorrect on this graph that was corrected in the report. And this pie chart kind of gives some perspective to those types of trees found in the inventory where you can see

the common crate mortal takes up that 10% and then all other species takes up a large portion of the pie chart as well. And then this here is a graph that gives a visual representation of the tree diameter for all trees with the six through 17inch trees taking up a large portion. So the inventory provided helpful details about the trees conditions and maintenance to uh further protect city's urban tree canopy. It was found that most trees were in good condition. This makes up about 71% or about 3600 trees in the city and only about 2 uh 22% of the trees were found in critical condition and 3.41% were found in poor condition. So that coincides with the maintenance of only needing u recommended maintenance as 96% of the trees just need a routine prune whereas 1% were categorized as need removal. So overall the information that was gathered during the tree inventory and urban canopy assessment they provide key details for future planning and that also helps us with prioritization. And so increased tree canopy cover can provide a wide wide array of benefits to the local community. This includes um you know urban heat and as we talked about earlier drainage. So to locate specific areas in need, eight variables representing a range of socioeconomic, demographic and accessibility factors were analyzed. And these are the eight that were analyzed. And then this is a map that indicates those priority areas along with a map of the urban heat island effects that correlate with the priority ranking. You can see the how they two um kind of correlate with each other there. And then so with the completion of the tree inventory as we talked about earlier with the uh data analysis and data gathering on each of the trees, this is the tree plotter app. It kind of

gives you a perspective of how each of these trees will be mapped on a GIS platform that's going to be accessible to both staff and the public. Uh each of those colors represents a different type of tree. And um this is just kind of a snippet of it. And this platform also gives in-depth information of each tree and allows users to add filters and it for future data analysis and then understanding the characteristics of each of those trees. And then we can also track the maintenance and uh work history that is going on for each tree. So, the report provides further details, but to sum summarize some of those um findings for the ecosystem benefits, it was found that the existing canopy cover provides over $547,000 annually in avoided infrastructure costs and removes about 300 pounds of carbon monoxide, 1500 lb of nitrogen dioxide, and then other pollutants from the air. And as we discussed earlier, the total urban tree canopy amounts to 25% of the entire city with 14% of the area being available for planting. And then one of the challenges that we recognized was the total area of unsuitable land for planting which makes up 60% of the total land area in the city. But these areas we recognize can be redeveloped in the future. And at the previous joint commission meeting between the planning commission, climate action commission and the um parks and recreation open space commission, we reviewed the reports and they provided some comments that have been considered and then added to the report. And those modifications included adding some um language to clarify the meaning of impervious surfaces and bare soil, language regarding potential planting area and then future changes to land use. a new section for understanding plantable space analysis mapping of potential planting area um clarity prior clarity to prioritizations and then new section to give context to those ecosystem benefits

that we were talking about. So then at this time I'll turn it over to director of parks and rec John's to discuss those recommendations and then next steps. Good evening, mayor, council members. Uh Dave Jans, parks, and recreation director. Um so, first want to thank Jacob and Jennifer as well as the team at Planet Geo for getting us um to this step. There's a lot of uh invaluable data that's going to help with future planning. So what I'm going to talk about is some of the direct recommendations that came from the report and the data received. But I think mo most importantly is how we take this data and turn it into an implementable actionable plan. How do we take this information and turn to real life tools that we can use not only our everyday maintenance and ongoing planning but long range planning as well. So first we'll start with some of the direct recommendations coming from the report and the planning team. Um so these are high level recommendations and then we'll dial that down into how we use it on a regular basis. Um so targeting the high priority planting areas as you saw there's different ways that we can look at that data be parsed out uh by geographic location by census blocks uh by priority conservation areas um by uh severity by uh by various percentage of canopy levels. So, taking what are the high priority areas and making that the focused areas um of our future plantings from a systemwide standpoint, taking a look at how we expand our overall canopy. So, that's taking it broader, not just looking at those segmented areas, but how do we expand our communitywide canopy and diversify our various species and the canopy that's throughout our community. Next, we're looking at how we integrate the data here into our overall goals and city planning. So, this is taking the

information and using it as a tool to help us set us up for success for in the future. So, rather than just being reactive um to tree needs that are here and now lets us set the stage both from a budgetary standpoint and a prioritization when we're project planning. Um there's also an opportunity for us to collaborate with our jurisdictional partners. We specifically looked at Soma city limits as well as our our sphere of influence in the surrounding areas, but there's opportunity to collaborate further throughout the valley and with our partners um to to set larger goals if we so choose um to increase canopy throughout the community by by utilizing our partners as well as expanding those geographical boundaries. And then finally um this is a notion of monitoring, evaluating and reporting on progress. So these reports provide great data but they provide data of the here and the now. So these are a snapshot of the data and I say today, but it really is from even a month or two ago. So the moment that we maintain a tree, that we remove a tree, that we replant a tree, this data changes. So it's important that we utilize this information, keep it up to date, and that we're constantly monitoring and providing updates to both council commissions and the community. So moving then on from recommend recommendations from the reports, let's talk more about how we take this information, incorporate it into our planning as a city city team. So we're here on step one, which is presenting these draft studies. Um, as Jacob mentioned, we held a j joint uh commission meeting in January of 2026. Um, we are now bringing it to you all. We're incorporating feedback where feasible as part of this plan as al as well as taking that feedback as where it may be implementable as our next actionable steps. We need to take the findings that from this report compare them to our existing conditions. So there's been work that's ongoing for years. We are maintaining trees. We're monitoring trees. We have various reports. So what we need to do is take the data from this report, compare it to what our existing conditions are, and that will allow us to move forward with

a streamlined maintenance uh maintenance plan that is cohesive and combines all that information together. And as I mentioned before, we're going to use this information to inform future studies. So this will help us for uh upcoming budget planning as well as enable us to make a decision on how we want to go about our long range management whether that's something through an urban forestry management plan which I'll talk about a little bit as we move forward um or if this is more going to focus on our day-to-day efforts or a combination of the two and then finally common theme you're hearing here is utilizing these findings that can move into an actionable implementation plan. Before I move into what those actionable steps look like, I do want to take a moment. Um, this was mentioned at the top of the presentation, but just thank the various commissions. Um, in January 24, the joint committee came together and created a summary of topics. And so, while we're moving through the inventory, the canopy study, laying the groundwork for those studies, work has been underway. And so I just want to give thanks to the the previous staff as well as the commissions who have worked and they created an area uh summary areas as well as prioritization areas and have made progress on that. As Jennifer mentioned, we've created and published a master tree list. Um we've updated a tree inventory and canopy study. That's the step we're currently on. Continue to update our communication materials and that will be a next step as well. And we're continue to look for funding options. And what we mean by that is we're looking to explore grant opportunities um which we're currently looking at grants um specifically in our our priority conservation areas as well as working with community partners potentially on donations and ways that we can fund some of the recommended actions of increasing our tree canopy. Okay. So moving from the higher level topics into um potential actionable implementation steps and this is parsed out into four different categories. So first looking at planting and mating and maintenance again we want to compare our

findings to our existing inventory and incorporate those recommendations into a tree maintenance schedule. So again this is the notion of not being reactive. And what I mean by that is whenever let's say a tree is removed due to it being hazardous or to having impact on a homeowner or a business. We're not necessarily just looking at okay we need to replace that tree one for one but instead we're looking at a holistic plan. We're looking at how we maintain our trees, how we replace our trees, and um there's a notion we'll get to here about right tree, right place, but just because we remove a tree from a specific location doesn't mean we necessarily have to put a tree right back in that location. What these tools are doing are giving us a snapshot of the entire community. So, let's say we remove a tree in the northwest quadrant, we may feel that it's better suited for the overall health of the the community to to focus our planting efforts in the southeast quadrant. So this gives us a big picture and allows us to be proactive with our maintenance schedules and our replacement plans. Again, prioritizing those high potential planting areas based on the data within the study. Um looking at regulations and policy. So we want to utilize this data to inform and standardize and update our tree removal permit process. We understand and I know members of the pros commission understand um that there could be in increased communication for community members on how the tree removal permit process works, what their options are for replacement, how we as a staff monitor and make sure that replacements are going in again in the right locations based on recommendations. So, this is an opportunity to look at our various regulations and our ordinances um to make them aligned with the data here and set us on a good track moving forward. Um, one area we may focus on is updating and reviewing our heritage tree ordinance. So, we do have a heritage tree ordinance. As I understand, I believe we have one tree in the community that uh is currently protected by that tree ordinance. So, we want to review that based on the data we have here and see if there's updates that could be made to that ordinance as well.

Um, and I mentioned right tree, right place. And one other notion is to we although we just adopted within the last year uh our master tree list comments we received at the commission level and I think very very good ones and valid ones is that should be seen as an evolving and a dynamic document. We know that conditions in our environment are changing. We know that trees that may have been appropriate 20 years ago may not have that same level of adaptability and suitability for certain areas within our community. So looking at our master tree list and continuing to modify that based on a recommendations in this report, but also as we monitor conditions into the future. I said four categories, there's actually five. Um so looking at planning and monitoring, um something that we want to look at is based on the data here, we certainly see there's plenty and ample opportunity for us to increase our canopy. So we want to set challenging but realistic canopy targets. So that's looking at not only where we have the ability to plant and where it's suitable um but as you know trees planting trees adding trees comes at a cost. So, how we budget that, how we implement that, making sure that we're planting in a way that's responsible and then that we can maintain them. Um, from a community standpoint as we look to increase our canopy is that we're tracking those. Um, as I mentioned before, the this report as well as the tools such as the uh the tree plotter app, they're only as useful as we keep them up to date. So when we add trees, when we maintain trees, when we remove trees, we have to make sure that we're we're tracking those um that we're inputting that information directly into the tree plotter app, that we're documenting that so that we continue to see how this impacts over time. And I think a key key component here is also looking at survival rates. We know that every tree we plant won't survive, but I think it's important to see as we're adding to our tree canopy what the survival rates and that we're continuing uh to report back to the council and the commission on the

progress there. Um, another key component that came up and I think this was discussed at pretty good length at the uh joint commission meeting was how do we get the community involved? And that's not just getting them involved in volunteer activities and tree planting opportunities, which is certainly important, but also how do we get them involved with the why behind why we're doing this? Why is it important that we have a healthy tree canopy? Um talking about the overall community benefits. And the reason behind that is we of course want the community to be part of this. Uh but we think that would lead to more volunteer opportunities. That would lead to more home care opportunities, more understanding of how individuals care for and select trees that go into their their personal and their commercial locations as well. So bringing the community into this process as well. And one thing we want to do is in the coming weeks make that tree plotter uh database active so the community members can go on they can log they can see real-time data of the trees not only in public space but in private areas as well. And then finally looking at long-term management. Um so these tools are intended to be dynamic. They're a snapshot of where we are today. Uh but we have the ability to update the information as it comes in. And it's important that we continue to monitor every every several years so that we understand um how our our community environment is adapting, but also actions that we're taking as staff and community are increasing and benefiting the health of our overall tree canopy. And one uh one tool that we may consider putting in our toolkit in the future, it would be completing an urban forest management plan. And just a quick summary of what an urban forestry management plan looks like. Essentially, this creates a streamlined and cohesive plan that takes all of the data here, takes our individual staff practices and puts it into um a communitywide plan of how we maintain our trees, how we handle risk management, gives guidance for when

we're moving through drought seasons, when trees are impacted by pest disease, and again, it allows us to look at all the data comprehensively and sets sets the standards of how we move forward with maintaining and increasing our tree command. uh canopy. It involves community involvement um because again some of these trees will fall on private property and be the responsibility of homeowners and business owners but again sets the stage and makes it very clear information of how we as a community want to see our trees maintained and see how our canopies increased. So with that um you do have a recommendation before you this evening um to accept the urban cany canopy assessment and pre-inventory reports. But before we get to that, um, our team is here to answer any questions. We also have, as I understand it, Gabriella Durant, Morgan Garner, and Jack Mirna on from the planet Geo team who can provide questions, some of the any technical questions you may have. So, that I'll turn back to you.

Very good. Uh, let me just state thank you very much for this comprehensive report and presentation. Uh, I certainly am encouraged, but I want at this time to give my fellow council members an opportunity to pose any questions to staff or our consultant.

Thank you, mayor. Um when I prepare this meeting I reviewed the agenda and mentioned about 57 and the trees under your suggestion I want to remove but tonight you didn't mention if anything change or if any thing you can explain uh that is a disease or roots failure or uh other than the reason.

Yeah, we may uh and if uh I know Jack Mirren is online, he may be able to answer. He was the uh the arburist who helped assess those trees. Um essentially each of those trees that are recommended for removal and at different different tiers. Some have a priority removal um whereas others are phase one, phase two. So they have different elements of impact to them. Um but they are within the tree plotter app itself. So each of those trees is is documented with its conditions and its recommendation as to why. So what we have the ability to do is drill down into each specific tree and see if it is like you mentioned whether it's disease, whether it has um an impact to the the right of way or um has limb failure.

You know, you know, I'm very interested in how you make assessment to make a decision because I I'm not sure maybe that agy also you know we need a constant also I didn't see any uh specific species for each one if you

yeah I'm seeing uh seeing the team come on the screen now and so Jack I don't know if you're able to provide some insight into how you determine um which trees are marked uh for removal versus uh maintenance prune and one thing that we're going to do also is take that data and what do is we'll compare that also with our existing our city arborist um and compare recommendations and we that's part of that that next step of what we want to do is take the data here compared to what we currently have file and how we put that in actual steps but I'll turn over to Jack to see if you guys can provide some insight on how those recommendations are formulated

yeah thanks Dave um like Dave said there's many characteristics that we're looking at in the field during a tree inventory as arborist. We're looking at many things like targets the tree could be hitting if it fails or um sight specific things like sidewalk damage or in impacting the ride of way. So each one of those 57 trees is going to have something um very different a reason why we recommended it for removal. Uh the nice thing is is that it's all documented within the tree plotter app and every one of those trees could be looked at specifically and you can see why me or my colleague marked it for removal.

Can you not tell me a little bit of detail about uh the why you made a decision for disease? uh you mentioned about difference in the reasons what is the major reason or the lutein failures or linger or

I would say the main driving factor in making a decision is safety as a lot of these trees that we're inventorying are in very public places so we're looking at most of the removals are going to be just completely dead trees or trees with some sort of disease in the roots or some sign of of the tree failing in the near future.

Are they very close to the school or sidewalks or the bike loots? Yeah, you mentioned our safety that is very important. I don't remember specifically um where they all were, but uh that is something that Dave could possibly show you on the tree plotter app. Um we can filter for all of the trees recommended for removals and even the trees um recommended for three tiers of priority there. So priority one removals are going to be the ones that are going to um need to be taken care of first. usually the higher danger of those trees.

Thank you. Do you have any in the time frame or you want to do immediately or do you have any in the time frame for these on the replacement or removal? Uh the trees that we marked for priority one removal are typically um supposed to be taken care of immediately. Um however, there's many factors that influence that. That's just what we see when we're on site. Thank you so much.

Okay, Councilman Gy. So, um I I really appreciated this work. There was a lot of really good information. Uh I dug into it as much as I can, but it's it's if you know there's a lot more to dig into, but one of the things that I wanted to so I have two questions. first is as I look at the um the ranking by census block group of what's high priority and what's uh there's a highest priority and there's a high priority and the um the highest priority know there's that one that is kind is the north the the southeast and then there's one I guess it would still be it would be kind of center west and then a number of areas that are lower priority are the western areas and I realize probably the reason why they are high versus highest is because of uh imperous um land right so that there there's a lot of cement and sidewalks and roads but I kind of see that as a challenge for us because also the west side of the city is where many lower income senior citizens live and what is you know and I understand they're still high it's still high priority But and and I certainly appreciate all of the climate considerations uh that are going into the the highest priority, but to me that's kind of like, you know, how are we going to balance that so that we're also looking at, you know, the safety and more canopies for people that are in lower income areas. So, that's one question. And then the second question is really more of a um I know

we don't have a t a timeline yet but what is the goal for when we will have kind of the the timeline for implementation goals?

Yeah, great questions. And uh to the the first question, I mean this was something that we we talked about in great length as you look at the the way it's it's parsed out on the map. your areas that are the highest plantable space may not be the highest prioritization and like you mentioned some of the higher priority areas may be ones that present us with some of the highest most challenging areas to plant in. So that's something we're going to have to look at. Um and Morgan and Gabby may want to elaborate on how we got into the prioritization because uh impervious services was certainly a key component to that. Um but there was other factors taken into that other socioeconomic factors that were in there. So, it's a whole formula that comes together to put together. Um, which is detailed in the report in a little bit more detail.

I love the map of the formula to put it together. By the way, it helped to help my main wrap around that. And as far as the timeline goes, as you mentioned, we don't have we haven't set, you know, we want to move through through this process first, get the data in front of us, um, receive comments from the commission and the council, and then talk about next steps, whether that's moving into an urban forestry management plan, whether we want to put that in day-to-day action. And so what we need to look at is based on um the final report how we can move that into implementation. So uh more to come. I wish I give you a finite timeline but we can come back once we have time to move through this data and compare it to our existing conditions. So will that next step include some kind of cost analysis?

That's certainly the hope. So, as we look at what our as we come to, I think a consideration of what our overall communitywide canopy goal is, um, that'll give us a good idea of what percentage we want to get to, which we can then correlate to number of trees, which then would get us to that that level of a cost estimation.

Great. Thank you. So, with regards to um I'll refer to them as street street trees and the inventory that was done, was there any kind of assessment as to whether the tree was even an appropriate tree to have in that spot to start with projecting future root issues and that sort of thing. And I guess I'll ask that of Jack or Morgan. You shook your head. Anyway, can anybody share that?

Uh, that's not a field that we we really filled out as we were doing the inventory, but it is something that can be looked at in depth. Just looking at the tree diversity charts that that are in the report. Um, you can look at some of the tree species that may be way over represented in the uh in the urban forest. And then you can also look at some of the trees with really common problems like failures like a lot of the calorie pairs. And you can also check out some of the species in there that might be invasive to California.

Okay. All right. Thank you. the um with regards to the potential planting area, is there a formula that would be used or is it dependent on the species of trees? Uh and in as far as how many trees need to be planted to accomplish your canopy objective? Anybody? Yeah, I'm gonna I'm looking at Morgan and Gabby. I don't know if you how that that math pencils out if it's a pure number or if uh has to do with the various species and the Yeah, I'll turn to Morgan again.

I can jump in here too and Morgan if you want to hop on too. Um but the PPA analysis is um we analyze areas vegetative areas in the city and anything that's not currently covered by tree canopy that is a vegetative area in the city is we mark suitable for future planting. We do take out um some areas that are generally not suitable for planting due to their current land use. So this is usually like golf course fairways, recreational fields, utility corridors, things like that. Um, this is a custom layer. So we do talk with the city. We did talk with Jennifer, Jacob, and Dave pretty extensively about what areas they wanted marked as suitable for future planting and what areas they didn't want marked as suitable for future planting. Um, but in the end, the output is an acreage amount and a percent of the of the land cover. Yeah. And I'll just add that we don't have specific planting sites. That would be something that we would want to um dive deeper into if you wanted specific planting sites. That way we could look at, you know, overhead utilities and make sure that, you know, you're not planting trees on top of each other and they're spaced a little bit differently. So, I think what you're asking is a little bit different in terms of the species that we would put in at specific sites, but we just give you just a baseline overview of all the areas that um don't currently have tree canopy, but have potential.

Thank you. And now I will relinquish this conversation to our mayor. Oh, thank you. We have a follow.

I have one question. So, how do you uh factor in carbon, the the the type of vegetation that has the highest potential for carbon sequestration versus a a tree canopy, if you get the question, you know, like versus something that's that's providing shade and coverage. Um, you know, did you any of that analysis go into that? Yeah. So, so we do an ecosystem benefits analysis and we um you know we aren't university professors. So we use um the best of the best which is iTree and um they do they have like research based um variables for all of their carbon sequestration storm water mitigated and so we use those as the data inputs for you know specifically for tree canopy and then we apply our high resolution data um in conjunction to get those those carbon numbers.

Thank you. Okay, I'm gonna have some fun. This is good. Um, I think Dave, you've already intimated it, but I'm hoping that this investment or with this investment put us in a better position to actually uh gain grants because I know the city of Pedaluma got a grant of over a million dollars for trees and they were not willing to share with us even though I asked. Yes, I I do believe this will will position us better for future grant opportunities as this is, you know, a a key step to understanding where we currently are and when we're going to ask for support for planting, we now have key data direction of where we are focusing our efforts rather than being simply reactive.

Great. And then if we decided to pursue the forest urban forest management plan, how much more work is required? In other words, we've invested in this and is that take us 60% up to what we could create an urban management forest management plan or is this going to be another significant amount of work or upfront investment to create that?

Yeah, that's a good question and I think there's the reason my my hesitation is there's different ways you can look at tackling an urban forestry management plan. So, we certainly um could you know work with our our great consulting team here offers those services. There's other agencies that offer that service. It's something that um you know we would have I would say the ability to tackle in-house, but that would take significantly longer and manpower to do it. So I don't have an exact um number to say. I think you know this is a key component. It wouldn't be a light lift, but having this in place would make our urban forestry management plan significantly uh less cost impactful because we have this step already underway. And I'm looking to my colleagues to see if they have any additional data that I'm missing. So I would sorry I just got braces today. Um so um it's a little lisp. Um, okay. Anyways, um, I did want to say that, um, just to add on, we talked about, um, you know, we could do some variation of that. And the key aspect of the urban forestry management plan, as Dave pointed out in his slide, is that it puts everything together. when we talked about all the things that we want to do around communication and updating their the tree list and you know the idea is okay what's our canopy goal and that's what that plan then helps us line up okay what are the ordinance amendments that we need to make to reach that goal what are the types of trees that need to go and where do they where do we want to plant them and it sets those policies out all around trees is what that that document does that can be done in a light way you know just touch on a couple of those items or it can be done the full extent um uh with all the details that a consultant helps works out. Um I've seen

it in one of the jurisdictions I've worked where they did do the actual tree list in the document itself as well. They created the incentives, the penalties, the enforcement, everything was in that one document. So it became basically our main document just for trees. Yeah. So, I'll hand that back. Um, I'm curious too, uh, to have a city of 25.3% um, I believe it's Canopy. I'm curious on how that uh, lines up with other communities. Are we mediocre? Are we good?

And I'll let uh, Morgan and Gabby chime in. I know this was something we asked. I think the general consensus is we're we're doing well. certainly it gives us aspiration as I know we've gotten over 14% uh plantable space but Morgan Gab and any insight with your work with other jurisdictions and how we're looking.

Yeah, that's a great question. I can take this one. Um just to give you like some some real hard numbers here. Um in the recommendation section of the report um for recommendation four which is enhance jurisdictional engagement um we did put a note in here that about some other cities and their tree canopy cover. So let's see so in Paluma urban canopy stands at 14% 23% in Napa 30% in Elvano and Soma has 25%. So you're in the middle there. Um but I would say on the higher end

if we were aspirational and wanted to become tree USA award like Sacramento, what canopy coverage do we need to achieve in order be even get into a be considered? you can be considered for Tree Canopy USA City regardless of what it's it's more about how your team I don't want to just submit I want to win the 30% um it's it's really do you have an Arbor Day celebration do you have annual plantings there are um it's not a set number it's a set um list of activities that you participate throughout the year okay so there's not a tree Olympics

gold medal I'm curious uh and maybe you stated it with one of your uh charts, but I'm curious the quantitative difference between what we would consider street trees versus the trees that you inventoried on private property somewhere between the city sidewalk and the face of the house.

The difference between them, quantitative difference. In other words, we have 5,000 trees uh or whatever it was. And I'm curious, uh we have so many street trees and then the rest are more what I would call city trees, but they're private city trees.

Yeah. One of our assessment assessment boundaries that we looked at was city properties. So, we know the percentage of tree canopy on city properties. um we could kind of do some inverse and look at you know what how that compares to with you know public versus private. So that is possible. Um I don't have a set number for you. That's more of Jack's team that would do like a a qualitative number of number of trees. And and the reason I bring it up is that if I was to hazard a guess that the area the trees that are struggling most in this city are street trees and they're not the private uh ownership trees, the magnolia off the front step, the Japanese maples, whatever. and and that's an area if we truly are going to create canopy and particularly canopy streets, I think some of the focus needs to go on how can we best uh uh improve and uh the the the not only the planting techniques but the actual care of it. Um I'm uh I was just kind of hoping that there was a number like right now again under the definition of a street tree, not a park tree, not a plaza tree, but a street tree somewhere between backa curb and the city sidewalk how many we had. But um if that wasn't identified, that's that's fine. Um under your recommended maintenance, there was a term used predetermined maintenance. What does that mean? Predetermined maintenance means that there are fields that we have in our tree plotter template that we as arborists assign on every one of our inventory projects for maintenance needs

of a tree. This can be tailored to the project at the beginning um or it can be kept as a template. In this case, I believe it was kept as the template due to the uh request for proposal there. Okay. And if I could just interject one comment, I believe um that within the tree plotter app, we are able to distinguish that street tree element from private tree element. So we can dial down to that that number.

Great. And uh I guess this would be another question for you, Jack. I'm uh I'm happy to hear that the majority of our trees are in good shape. I was kind of hoping they would be in excellent shape. How describe the difference between a good tree and an excellent tree.

Um, an excellent tree is really going to be free of all defects. Those excellent trees are really going to be pretty rare in all of our inventories. So, Soma had actually a pretty high number of excellent trees compared to what we usually see, which is really good. But they're going to be trees with no dieback at all. If there was pruning done to the tree, it was done very well and the wounds are healing. Um, if it does, if it's growing in a uh cutout, like a concrete cutout, there's no no problems with that at all. So, that's what would really distinguish it from a a good tree.

Very good. Thank you. Uh, I have no more questions. Uh do please

I have one more following question. Thank you Jack. Uh and also I concerned when you made a decision to and remove those kind of tree uh that these kind of tree obstacle obstities and safety is also the important and uh I'm not sure if have you maybe not have you worked with the police department and Fire department. Although these kind of trees are excellent and growing healthy but in the position and is not proper maybe in the grown so fast so aggressive and visibility and safeties for drivers uh pedestrian and emergency responders also we should consider although the tree itself it's good. Yeah. Thank you. That is my point.

Anything else up here? Okay. Seeing none, I'd like to go ahead then and open it up to the public, please. Hi everybody. Tom Conlin. Um live outside the city limits. I but I care about trees. I I know you all do too. Um, I also served on your vice as vice chair of your climate action commission and I participated in that joint commission meeting. I want to say um, great work here. I appreciate the attention first of all from you all to this issue and then having staff carry that ball through to where we are right now. Um, also I think that there was a lot of good uh feedback at that joint commission meeting and I appreciate the work that the consultant team has uh has done to try to address our issues um or questions in particular. Um I appreciate the understanding the plot plantable space analysis on page 17 of the canopy assessment. uh your your joint commission really wanted to see us focus on whether we can put trees over existing paved um non-permeable spaces. And so that's something what Dave said is this is good data, but how are we going to use it? I still have significant concerns about what I call canopy equity in the prioritization analysis. I think there's a you know the the consultant team did a waiting algorithm to come up with the prioritization schema. Um but if you look at it you'll notice that our poorest census blocks are not high priority. Our most uh uh heat island effect impacted are not in that high priority group. we may want to take this

prioritization analysis, set it to the side, and then attack those problems with additional directed effort. Um, but I'm glad to see that we have the data to do that. The tree plotter will be, as Dave explained, will be a great tool for doing that. Um and uh it is important to remember that in the size distribution analysis they didn't count all the trees on the private lands and so we're underounting that a little bit on the those private lands are adjacent to the streets. Just don't forget that when you look at the report because it's not in there anymore. Thank you. The caveat about it's not in there anymore.

Very good. Good evening, Caitlyn Cornwall, Sonoma Ecology Center. Um, it is really great to see all this attention on trees in the city. Um, the city already has a lot of amazing trees. Um, but some parts of the city don't have as many, especially don't have as many big shade producing, habitat producing, glorious trees, uh, like the center of the city and the east side has. So anyway, u it's great to see all this work and um there are a lot of grant opportunities out there and the ecology center is certainly looking to um hunt for some of those and do some cool partnerships with the city. Um we already have uh one grant that um that we've been invited back to um apply for. So that's exciting and so just happy to see this all roll out. Thanks.

Thank you. And I guess I would I want to I do want to echo what Tom said, which is that the data that you have about what trees we do have is really really incomplete because we talked about this last time. This was before you, but the they didn't look in the backyards, etc. So, it's it's an impart it's an incomplete picture of our existing conditions.

Anyone else? Okay, I'd like to bring it back to the dis for comments and the possibility of uh a motion. I guess my comment would be that this is uh a really good step forward and I do of course agree with kind of looking at the prioritizations of how that that balance so that we really are dealing with the issues of of you know equalizing some of the lower income neighborhoods with some of the wealthier neighborhoods that have single family homes and have more land to have trees. So anyway, so but I think it's been this is a great first step uh moving forward for us to move towards action. So I actually um would like to put a motion forward to approve uh to accept we're we're accepting it. Is that right? Correct language to accept the uh the tree inventory.

Before the move I have additional question uh that is the because this kind of the report, this kind of workshop. Uh my understanding just like a physical check, you go to hospital and if you really needed to in treatment, yeah, we should have the money to support. So that the coming you know next year the and the June and when we have the budget for the 2026 2027 we definitely should include and also another thing is uh I'm not sure what kind of the city's liability exposure for those kind of the tree need immediate and remove uh uh suggested by the jack was so I concern thank That is my point.

I can solicit a second, but I have a whole bunch of comments.

Again, I too am uh very uh pleased with this work. Um, one of my my concerns and I just have to go back to our parks director's alma mater that there was an expression at Calpali about analysis paralysis. We've got good analysis, but I I don't want to get stuck there. I want us to go ahead and move into some action on that. U the uh master tree list that uh was mentioned, it's my understanding, just a confirmation that uh it's right now a recommendation uh to use, but it's not a mandate to use the trees on the master plan list. Is that correct?

Uh that's my understanding as well. The council adopted that as a recommended tool. um but not a mandate, but that predates my time. So, I'll make sure get some confirmation from my colleagues before putting that on the record.

Very good. Thank you. Um I think it's a great idea that we resurrect the heritage tree ordinance, but go beyond that and do a heritage tree inventory where we can actually identify trees that meet a standard that uh may not be quite as large as the huge oak out on Seventh Street East at the Pauline Bond Garden. that is phenomenal. But I think this will also help us to educate the community and to continue to uh promote the value of trees. And I think if we can promote the value of trees, then hopefully uh the private tree owners will want to help maintain their trees because I see that as the greatest challenge right now, whether they're street trees or in private property. Um then that is the ability to uh um have ongoing maintenance because unfortunately trees are dynamic and they're either improving or they're not. Uh the other thing I just want to get clarity on or just express as a comment. I hope that when we talk about removing trees, it's not just cutting the tree down, but it's removing the stump in the event that uh we want to replace the tree and it may be a valid consideration to replace the tree in kind in place or in place, but it may not be as you had said maybe better to invest it somewhere else in the community. I um I'm hoping that we can be pretty proactive with working with homeowners on uh on on you know maintaining the private trees. But up until this point, it's my understanding that all street trees that we considerly call street trees, although we call them city trees, the burden of maintenance has been on the homeowners and the and the the acceptance of liability of any damage that those trees cause to either utilities or sidewalks is burden on on um the homeowners. So, I'm hoping once

again that we can look at this as an opportunity to somehow partner and continue to encourage the ability to uh to help maintain and and because I think uh one of the most significant visuals in a community are street trees that line the boulevards, the canopy from one side to the other. my lust for us to create the image of University Avenue in PaloAlto, California, where you have Grand Magnolia arching over from one side of the street to the other. I may be looking down from above by the time that happens because the sheer time it's going to take. But but that's where I really think we've missed the boat in the last 50 years in this town is we planted way too many crepe mural trees because we thought it was a street tree and we have not gotten any canopies out of it other than these cute little lollipops. So, um, then I would love, this is just kind of a rhetorical comment. I'd love to take the half a million dollars worth of savings. Can we just reinvest it right into the trees? I don't know how we quantify it and grab it from what um, line item, but I would love that.

I thought I was the tree hugger on the panel.

No. I um I think that my my um parting comment is uh hopefully one of encouragement. I am very much encouraged for this investment. I think this is significant and I am uh hopefully going to be challenging you know uh staff as you've intimated uh how we can now best move forward. What is that what is that practice? how can we begin to implement where are we going to get our biggest bang for our buck and then from a finance standpoint be very creative now how are we going to be able to incrementally fund um and again one of the key components of our need is the ongoing maintenance of trees and that is in part encouraging the private homeowners to maintain their beautiful trees because it helps with the value of their homes and as well as in the city both the plaza the parks the street trees etc so I'm I'm fully excited and I am very much would welcome a second on the motion was made. Before we vote, can I uh

we need a second? I want a second then you can I second. Okay, please comment more comments

because you mentioned about you know education and the community that is very very important. Uh I have an idea maybe we can set up in the so-cal adoption system you know letting the kids and in the school adopt it. Oh, this trees at the corner of the plaza that is a mines and then family interest and then maybe maybe they can uh contribute some of money to take care and the trees and just like take a family member in this way and the city and the community can work together and also it's a fun and really it's good way to educate the comm community that is my thank Thank you very much. We have a first. We have a second. May we have a roll call, please?

Council member Gurnie, yes. Council member Dean, I. Council member Ferrar Rivas, I. Mayor Willander, yes. Thank you. 4 Z with one council member absent.

Now, now moving on to our second item, 9.2, two, we have a the utility box art wrap pilot program artwork selection. For some of us, this will be as exciting as trees. So, please uh our parks and rec director, please share us the item.

Thank you, mayor, council members. Uh yes, uh so different item in front of you, but I think exciting nonetheless. Um, this has been a program that has been in the discussion, in the works for several years now at the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission level and within our community. Um, so excited to be at this point. Um, again, this predates my time here is when it started, but happy to be part of uh the team and the community effort to bring it forward to this point. So, we'll start with a little bit of the background information. I know many of you are well versed in it, but for the community sake, bring them up to speed on what has been discussed to date. Um ultimately we will be showing the artwork that's been recommended by the cultural fine arts commission and looking for you all as a council to uh potentially accept those artworks and move us into the installation process. So starting with a little bit of background work um this has been discussed with the cultural and fine arts commission um since around 2022. Um it picked up momentum again um with the commissioners seated in 2024. This is in alignment um both with uh council initiatives as well as the commission's goals to activate public spaces by bringing more public art um to accessible locations. In December of 2024, uh the city council adopted the Sonoma's public art policy and procedures. And what that did was not only gave um empowered the cultural fine arts commission to move forward with initiatives like this um but also set what the process was for us to uh move forward with projects like this that's bringing public art into public spaces. Um so in early of 2025 so a little over a year ago um an ad hoc committee was created with the cultural and fine arts commission. They were tasked with uh creating the framework for this initiative and that took a look at potential utility box locations in the community, what the process would look like um and the support that would be needed to make this uh a reality. In the

summer of 2025, uh staff initiated a call for artist and so this was a communitywide a public call to receive submissions of potential artwork. uh pleased to say that we received artwork from 16 different artists all of which uh submitted more than one piece. So it was a very full portfolio of artwork uh for the commission to consider uh during this process and for the work of the ad hoc uh recognized that there was going to be additional support needed in order to uh provide proper templates and most importantly for the installation process. And so an item came before you in September of 2025 and uh was approved by council and the uh city moved into a executed professional service agreement with Fast Signs who is the company that will be manufacturing uh manufactured the templates that you'll see this evening and will uh see us through to the installation process. So just a quick recap from that public art policy. The Cultural and Fine Arts Commission has has various roles when it comes to public art, but in specific to this case, um their role is to review and make recommendations on public art proposals and artist selections, um which is part of what uh we're putting for you this evening, as well as reviewing and making recommendations on design, execution, and placement. And again, we'll go through what those different locations look like. So, continuing on with the timeline, um at the end of this this past calendar year and then over the last month, um the ad hoc committee re uh reconvened and reviewed the artwork and narrow down the selections to five artists. And the one thing I'll point out when we dive into the locations before going through the the artists that I'd like to point out here is the selection of which pieces of art went on which box very much had to do with the dimensions of the boxes that were selected. As you can see, there's not a standard shape size to it. And so, the reason this took several iterations to select the art, so we received the

art in essentially standard flat 2D format. When we moved into the template phase, you start to see how it wraps and moves around the boxes. And with that, certain artworks simply just didn't transfer well. There was key elements of the art that didn't transfer on certain boxes. And so the locations themselves were a big driving factor in which pieces of art were put on select boxes. You know, there's this is as part of a pilot program, there's certainly lessons learned. And one thing that we learned through this process is that we'd probably do things a little bit reverse. What we would do as part of the call for artists in the future is put out the actual templates so that artists could respond with specific artwork to that specific location. But again, I think the artwork was selected uh based on its its quality, based on its um representation of Soma Valley as well as the local artist background. Um but in the future, I think providing an opportunity for artists to tailor their artwork to the specific boxes would be helpful. So with that in mind, um the five artists that were selected were Misha Cedadini um with her artwork going to Second Street West and West Napa Street, Alex Cole at 617 Broadway, Judah and Silas Herrera, two young youth artists um at Broadway and Patent Street, Johnny Hersmuggle, Fifth Street West and West Napa Street, and Veronica Napoli at 19 West Napa Street. So, here is a map of the proposed box locations. Again, same locations I mentioned. Um, have included a couple markers. U, the Fifth Street West is near Safeway, Second Street West, and West Napa Street near Black Bear Diner. Um, again, these are near those locations, not on their property. Um, but that gives kind of a landmark location of them. The one thing I'll point out before we dive into the artwork is you'll note that the first two locations on on the screen, the Safeway and the Blackberry Diner locations, there's actually two utility boxes. One is a larger one, one's a smaller one. Um, at the recommendation

of of the manufacturer of the wraps as well as in reviewing with our cultural fine arts commission, it was decided that to have uh two pieces of art from an accompanying artist from the same artist be placed at those locations. So, while we have technically seven boxes, we're talking about five locations. The thing I'll note is the first two boxes um include two locations. So, two pieces of artwork were selected from the same art uh to complement one another. And I'll also point out that the ad hoc has identified potential future utility boxes should we wish to continue this in the future. So, with that, we're going to dive into the art and go through them one by one. Um so, the first piece of artwork comes from Misha Cidadini. This is at the, as you can see, one of the boxes located in front of Black Bear Diner. And again, they'll see two pieces of artwork, similar similar style, but very different um art components. So, same same artist, second design. So, moving to the second location, uh, Alex Cole, and this was selected for 617 Broadway. This is near the post office on Broadway. And you can see some of the work that had to be done in order to wrap her ground. There's some decisions that have to be made of how the artwork wraps to so that the certain features are prominent in the front of the box. Um, and then certain areas where they're not going to be as visible on the rear to make sure that it's cohesive. U but you're getting the prominent features and the integrity of the art remains the same. Third location, uh, this is Judah and Silas Herrera. This is near the three badge location on Broadway and Patton. Fourth location, Johnny Hersshmuggle. Again, this is going to be one of those near Safeway that has two boxes. So, this is the first design element and the second box from Johnny. And uh we we put an example here. You can see on the the kind of the left hand side, that's what the original artwork

looks like and then how it gets split up into the various panels. So we had to look at which artwork, for example, the owl there, which one would be parsed out into the specific panels and not get split as it wrapped around. And finally, the fifth location, Veronica at 19 West Napa. This is near the Bank of America site. And so moving on to next steps, if approved this evening, uh we'll begin working on the final proof process. And what that means is we'll take those templates, make some final tweaks, get high resolution, high resolution images in there. We'll work closely with the artists to make sure that they're content with the placement. Um, we are ready to move quickly on this. So, we'd like to have these installed this spring. Um, if approved, the funding has already been approved by US council coming out of the public art fund. Um, one thing that came up at the commission level that I think was a great idea was working again in collaboration with the artists to make sure that they're happy with the placement, but also if there's a way to recognize them on the boxes. And so whether that's by way of um something as simple as a signature or a QR code that would allow individuals walking by um to get a better understanding of who the artist is, we had there was discussions about potentially incorporating this into the art walk um creating maps so that people have locations there. Um, one question that came up um was the length of installation. So, how long are these going to be in place once approved? And, uh, I guess the beauty and one thing that we're we're looking at is this being a pilot program is that's to be determined. And so, typical time frame in doing benchmarking of what other communities that have done the vinyl wraps, which is what we're proposing, is typically about 3 to 5 years before they start to see wear and tear. Um, but that can vary greatly based on, you know, how much sun hits it, how much it's exposed to the the elements, how much individual interaction, how much people touch them. And then also just community reaction. This is something that we could say we would like to see certain pieces of artwork in place for a longer period of time, or we can say we'd like to see a

higher level turnover. So what staff is proposing is that we put them in place for a year, see how they wear and tear, then bring that back to the cultural fine arts commission to make a more concrete determination on what the uh the end the DA session of these what these look like. That will also give us an opportunity if this is a a program that we would like to expand enhance um down the line. So with that um looking for a motion from you this evening uh to potentially approve the designs which would move us into the installation phase. Alternatively um you as a council may look at asking for additional information or only moving forward with select designs. Um I will share this was presented just last week to the cultural and fine arts commission. Um and they made the re recommendation to move forward with these with these five artists and the seven designs that you see this evening. With that, happy to answer any questions and also scroll back through the artwork. Great

as you like to see. Thank you very much. So, let me bring it back to my fellow council members and uh any questions for staff. I just have one very quick question because this is like the pilot project. So, this is kind of the beginning and um so that so maybe in 12 months there would also be maybe I missed it in this. I'm sorry if I did another assessment as to like how do we extend beyond.

Yeah. So I think that I think that's a great point and so that was was part of what we wanted to u hear this evening is the interest and and again that's something we will we'll revisit I think after seeing the community reaction how how they actually transfer onto the boxes. But I think the opportunity to expand we'll get a good opportunity opportunity to understand what the full cost of this project is. Um, we've set aside money that has funded this project and we'll see how much of that money is utilized for these five boxes and that'll give us a really clear picture if we did want to expand in the future if we wanted to say add on three more boxes, 10 more boxes, what that cost would look like. I have just uh two quick questions. Um, is the material that these wraps are going to be made of, um, are they a material that when there's the possibility of graffiti that it can be washed off without destroying the artwork?

It's a it's a great question, uh, Mr. Mayor, and it's something that came up at the commission. I apologize for not bringing that up. That was a a recommendation that came from one of our our fine arts commissioners who had experience working on these boxes in another community. And so while the material itself is fairly easy to clean, it's a vinyl, um the recommendation is that we may want to add an anti-graffiti coating on top of that as part of the installation process. And that's a fairly inexpensive and simple application process as I understand it. Great. And you may have already answered this question, but the question was, is it the will of the CFAC to install more wraps or will this propel them in a broader realm of public art? I

think generally speaking for the uh the commission, I think the answer to uh that could potentially be yes to both. Um definitely to the latter. I think there there's definitely interest in expanding the public art opportunities and I know there's excitement around done walk with the commissioners to expand public art in our community. I think there's excitement to see the final product of these and if it is a success look to continue this as well. Great. Uh if we have no more questions up here. Oh please just out of curiosity and I don't recall when we entered into these relationships with the owner of the utility boxes. Um who's responsible for the maintenance of the artwork once it's applied?

Yeah. So that will be the city's responsibility to to maintain and so that'll be something again I think as we move through this year to find out if we are running into consistent graffiti um tampering with um but that will be the city's responsibility. Okay. Thank you Mr. Burgerer. I do have a quick question. Could you pop up the location number five the badge please? Uh the question I have on that is just uh slide two suggests that it accommodates the ventilation. Slide one does not. I'm suspecting that utility box may want flow through ventilation. Just a comment I guess not a question but something to follow up on.

Yeah, that's a good notation. We'll confirm that. And as you see there, those kind of the second and the uh the fourth images of the actual box identical on both sides. So I'd imagine accommodate both, but we we'll confirm. Okay, very good. So now with that, oh not a question. Just thank you. Great. It's so it's so exciting to see such a great such great art come out of this RFP and request for art for utility boxes. So great work of the commission, great work whole process. Thank you.

Yeah. And the last thing I just it reminded me I do want to thank each of the artists who submitted. It was a a fantastic pool of of talent and submissions and it would made for a very difficult task for the selecting committee to narrow down to just uh these five artworks. I just want to thank everyone who submitted. I have nothing to say. Just saying thank you. Thank the artists. Thank you. Okay. Now, with that, I would like to now open it up to the public for coming forward with any comments. And I'll be greatly disappointed if the uh chairman of the CFAC doesn't say something.

Yeah. Well, I'm trying to be respectful. That tree conversation took a while. So,

um we're excited about this. It's a pilot. Uh we're we're learning a lot. We've we've gone through a lot with these templates. You can see how wildly different each of these utility boxes is. And David has done an amazing job of working around all of the problems that that there was with them. I think what's really especially cool about this is that we are dipping our toe in. We're giving the community just a little taste, a little bit of a surprise. Um we're getting people used to having art in a kind of a minor way, but uh of course we want much more um for our community to be able to beautify these pretty ugly boxes. If I drove past all of them the other day and looked at them and it was like they're eyes. So, just like trees, our streets will be better because of this. So, I thank you guys for your support and the community is pretty jazzed and I'm uh going to be doing a little article in Sonoma Sun about all of the different artists and and their backgrounds and I'm especially excited that some kids were involved. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else from the public? Seeing no movement, I'm going to close the public portion, bring it back to the dis for discussion and possible motion. I I will make a motion then that we get the language correct that we re that we approve the recommended artwork as presented and that we strongly encourage them to move forward quickly with the installation.

Second. further discussion. I can't let this time go by. Couple comments. One is I think the idea of artist recognition is huge. I think you should do it and and do whatever way it can be done tastefully because I also think it helps to tell a story. And I love the fact that this is a little taste, but I would like very much to jump to a big taste in public art. Roll call, please. Council member Gurnie. Yes. Council member Ding. I. Council member Far Ruas. I. Mayor Willander. Yes. Thank you. The motion carries 40 with one council member absent.

Are we good or can we hang in till the next one? We take a break. Are we good? Good. One good. Three good. Four goods. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Now, on to 9.3, which is a resolution ratifying the 2026 city council goals. And at this point, I would like to direct it to our city manager, Mr. Gooden.

Great. Thank you, council. Um, this is a fairly straightforward item. We're I'm here today to ratify the council goals that you all worked on on January 30th in a goal setting workshop. Uh, we pulled together uh modified last year's goals. You provided comments. Um, I did modify some of the language to make it fit and be more add more clarity to the goal. Um, as you see in the packet, um, what I'm going to show you here is what's changed from the goals last year. Uh, it's updated in red. In your packet are the final goals written without obviously any um, red, but I wanted to walk through this with you just to make sure that I captured your thoughts correctly. If there's any modifications or any changes you want to make, please let me know. We could um, if they're minor in substance, we can adopt it as amended. as agreement on council or if there's any other changes you need me to make, I can do that and bring it back to you as well. Um, so I'll walk through these with you and again just as a reminder, these council goals are critical um for the operation of the city. These are the 2826 2026 goals that will guide uh staff. It'll guide the establishment of the budget. It will help direct resources and all of our boards and commissions will be aware of these goals and work towards those as and update their work plans. So this is an important step moving forward and um happy to bring this to you in February so we get started on that a lot quicker than last year. So the first So these are the goals that came out of here. There's some changes to um uh the goals from last year. Um primarily um on goal number two which is parks, recreation, community services. We added arts in there uh to to highlight what we were just talking about and the importance of arts in our community. Um and then goal number four we uh modified substantially to change that to Soma Valley regional partnerships, unification, immigration support, annexations. So, it's a fairly broad goal that addresses region regionwide issues that um the city wants to take on and tackle. So, it groups

those all together. Uh the other goals that kind of came through with from last year, housing obviously economic development, financial stability, and climate mitigation and adaptation. a lot of words on this slide, but again just to to focus on the the changes um just to make sure that these reflect your your desires as a body to um to update uh render protections was one that we talked about quite a bit at the goal setting. Um but we do want there was clarity on that one to promote affordability and ensure access to essential utilities and habitable needs including heating and cooling. That was a one area that we talked about specifically. Um we talked about partnerships and making sure that the hospital is included in the partnerships as we move forward um on different land use changes and other partnerships we have with them. Um on the affordable housing we we added senior and support supportive housing as well to be very specific about that type of housing we want to address. um talked about participating in a regional housing summit um rather than having something specific to Sonoma but really looking regionally and how does that look and then a new one which was assess the state's uh proposed housing bond initiative uh there is one that's being talked about and then what is what are those impacts and potential opportunities for the city of Sonoma so just making sure we're on top of that as things move forward over the next year um parks art recreation community services um the major changes on this slide um were the addition of advancing the long-term sust sustainability of the city cemeteries. Um and one of the key pieces here was celebrating the historic significance of the cemeteries. Um and then then it was also brought up very specifically about establishing friends of historic cemetery which is something we've talked about quite a bit. Um and now that we have our parks and rec director here um along with our cemetery manager um that's something that we're taking very seriously and there's

there's a lot of good successful um examples of that through around here especially even in Santa Rosa that we can build off of on the arts programs and projects uh the cultures cultural partnerships that we added including sister cities that's something that was very specific request and identifying fun to support these issues. So obviously there's funding opportunities out there, grants, other partnerships that we can identify rather than just the general fund to try to address some of these needs. Uh the TING project was brought up and so this was modified to address the actions that this prior councils have taken. So the language has changed to modified to read move the TING project forward consistent with approved council direction um from the past council directions that we have over the years. So we've identified what those actions are um and we're going to continue to move that project forward. Um and then the last one was as well assess activity needs for and gaps for youth which um is very specific to our youth in the in the community. Um goes along the lines of how do we maintain families and address that the exodus of families in our community. And fortunately uh one thing you did pass during the midyear budget is a pilot program for um summer programs that will target uh gaps that are the youth in our community can fill. So our new park director Dave is is identifying those already and plan to address some of those coming up here this next this summer this summer. So, we'll see how that goes. On the economic development, financial stability uh item, uh I'm just going to again talk to the changes here, identify, evaluate strategies to support businesses including, and this is very specific from the community and from yourselves, including bike racks, park lits, and street closures around the plaza. So, all three of those have been talked about over the past couple years. um looking at what the opportunities are there. So this makes it more explicit in terms of what the council's looking for. Um um identify opportunities to strengthen and diversify business

sector. Uh we added and included cultural and creative enterprises. That was another thing that came up from this council. Um participate in the regional discussions addressing in the impacts of the changing wine industry in the region. This is something that's being talked about everywhere at this point. um in California um specifically here in the valley and uh to play more of an active role in those conversations to understand what that means here within the valley within the city but also in our region as a whole um and then how does that change our approach to attracting bringing visitors here and what what is that attraction if there are impacts to the wine industry. Um we had added review and evaluate reserve our reserve policies. So again this is being more explicit about our reserve policies including the reserve levels and how to use those reserves. Um we did talk about that last year using the ad hoc budget ad hoc committee to start those conversations. Um now that we have stable reserves um there has been conversation about what is that reserve level look like and is it is it the appropriate level and how do we want to use those going forward and setting policies is a really good way to make sure that you're all on the same page of how how to make sure that's addressed on uh the uh business strategies. um identifying ways to attract and incentivize certain businesses to locate here. Uh and then the after hours is again something that has been talked about for a long time here in Soma. Um how do we make sure that we have an after hours um activity in the community but then support them transportation options. Um helping people get from hotels to the plaza to restaurants back to the hotel safely. Um and so looking at what those those options are um for circulators and other things. So there's there's some movement on that, some potential work that's been started on that, but this really highlights the importance of that to our community. Uh again, the big one that's changed in terms of the title, the regional partnerships, unification, immigration support annexations. Um the coordination with the county was specifically changed to read on regional issues including immigration services to be explicit

about that. And that's going to be really important coming up in this current year in 2026. um both with uh immigration services but also on um federal funding impacts and what that does to social service programs and th those most in need in our community. Um so that will be an important thing to stay on top of going into 2026. Um the evaluation limits of urban growth boundary is part of a strategic approach to meeting housing and long-term community needs. And so that's a a long way to say looking at potential annexation areas, not just annexation of that we have talked about in the past which is north through the valley, but looking at areas around the edges of town um that have been brought up various ways. So that incorporates all these types of opportunities that are out there um in a in a strategic way um and again to meet housing and long-term needs. And then finally, the evaluation of opportunities to improve regional transportation's connectivity. This was brought up to talk about how to connect Napa Pedalum Smart the various um key uh regional needs in our community and what are those transportation options and what are those connectivities look like. And then finally the last one is climate mitigation habitation. This a few little word changes here to provide a little bit more spec specivity. um the tracking this came up from the public and I believe it was reiterated by the council is to um support the climate commission and track those strategies to make sure that we're tracking them accurately in terms of what's been accomplished, how we're uh moving forward and what the impact is to our community. Um the uh tree policies which we just talked about expand tree plantings um emphasis on native uh species and I believe our parks director is going to be doing a lot of tree planting here very shortly. I'm excited about that. And uh the vulnerable populations and climate mitigation and we added in the warming and cooling centers. And so this is a good example what we're act we're facing this week abnormally cold weather. Um

how do we activate these centers and provide this resource to our community and most vulnerable populations um and be very explicit about that. Um just as a as a point of a point on this one and what's going on with our warming center. um it is shifting from an emergency reaction and it's really shifting more into a ongoing operational need for our unhoused um community and our most vulnerable populations and that's a that's a mental shift and an operational shift and potentially even a funding shift on how that's activated. So um just as a heads up you'll see start to see that transition in our language and how we we approach warming and cooling centers. um advance the last one is the advanced uh resilience measures to address fire floods, all the waste and water supply challenges. So this tried to cover all the various different concerns that the council had um for resilience in our community um and how do we address those elements and that is the modifi modified language and so part of tonight really is just to clarify that I I've heard you correctly that this this language is okay and if you have any recommendations changes please let me know. so I can react. So, we'll be consistent. Uh, any questions for staff at this point?

I have just one and that's on your last one. Under climate mitigation adaptation, when you're talking about a shifting of the warming and cooling centers, is this going to be a countywide shift? Yes, it's it's already started that as we've been working with the county on activation of warming centers. has shifted from um DEM, which is Department of Emergency Services to the Health and Human Services, which is more the homeless side of things. So, that shift is starting to happen. So, we're we're already thinking that way as well. Um and so, that's how we're interacting with with with those that population.

Okay. As long as this is legal in the eyes of our city attorney, let's go ahead and open up to the public for any comments. then we can come back and have any recommendations to uh minor changes andor additions. Oh, good. Robert Demler, First Street West, Sonoma. Good evening to the mayor and council and to the staff. Thank you very much. Um, I'm speaking for both the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation and the Sister Cities Association to thank you for highlighting your desire to strengthen your support for the nonprofits in Sonoma. Sonoma is blessed with a number of nonprofits and most of them are quite active and give this town uh its character and flavor. and uh we appreciate any support that you give to those organizations for sure. I'm also happy to see that you mentioned in your goal planning for the year that you're supporting the TING project, also a sister cities project. So, um, I was present on January 30th and you did a fantastic job of planning for the year and thank you very much from the citizen. Okay, seeing no movement, I'll close the open portion and bring it back to the dis for communication comments. I think the uh the edits uh presented reflect what I recall our discussions

were. So, I'm I'm good with the uh the draft as it stands. Yeah, I was going to say the same. I I concur with council member Gurnie. Yeah, I support this. No, any additional change.

I'll be the outlier. Um, couple just uh minor things for consideration amongst uh with my fellow council members. Uh under housing uh bullet point number two, continue streamlining development and development processes and policies. I'd like to add continue with a collaborative spirit with private and public because that's a goal that we've been having now for quite some time to nurture that what I call that uh collaborative relationship between those that design and build with those that review and permit. Uh then down to the seventh bullet point under monitor housing development targets. No, I'm sorry. The sixth one, explore partnerships with school district, hospital, private land owners for housing options. I might like to suggest we expand it beyond housing that I think there could be other opportunities for private and public uh collaborations beyond just housing. So that was just a thought that uh I bring back to the the DAS for discussion. And the last one that makes me squirm a little bit and that is uh bullet point number three under economic development. I know we've talked about parklets. We had a specific discussion about it during COVID and some of us turned a blind eye for economic uh sustainability of our restaurants. But I do not support the idea of parklets that are adjacent to our our national landmark. And um that just makes me uncomfortable. And I do support the idea of parkletits when we ultimately get to the point where we want to do a overall enhancement master plan of down downtown core where it looks legitimate and it doesn't look like a leanto shed. So I would not like to have the parklets in there at this point.

Sure. Well, I was the one who suggested part plates and it was never my intent to install lean tune sheds. Um, and I think they have to be attractive, professional, and um, attractive. So, um, so I would disagree with you on that. And then with regards to the housing, I I actually think that partnerships with private uh, organizations, public organizations is implied. I mean, that's the only way we're going to accomplish anything. So, again, I disagree respectfully, but um

but isn't it I'm sorry. I thought that the way it's written, it says the the the collaboration is for housing and all I'm advocating is that we broaden our collaborative effort to include housing because that's inc it's important but not limited because it says four housing options. And I'm just simply saying there may be other types of projects that we can partner with in terms of a private public. So that's my two cents. Well, the goal is housing.

Okay. Yeah. I would just say the goal is housing and I think to do that we we talked about broader kind of like looking at all kind of emergency things that can happen. We've got in here support for our local nonprofits I think in the on the park area. I mean we would just have to include I would if you're going to do it correctly you'd have to include something like that in every in under every category because to put it here under housing is confusing.

So that would be the you would just have to you know I maybe under economic development um let's take a look at that. I think that there's something there where we're talking about partnerships. There isn't. Um, we could add something into this section under identify to strengthen and diversify business sector including cultural and creative enterprises and public and private partnerships. We could add something there. It's a little bit, you know, I mean, do we add that into each one? Otherwise,

I'm not No, I wouldn't want to support that. But I guess where I was coming from is that be because we're a small community, we have limited funds. Maybe the creative way we're going to get some stuff done is when we not appropriately uh encourage private private public partnerships and that's you know for instance uh the you know the saving of the Sebastian theater uh that's not housing but that's something that is being handled right now as kind of a a private albeit uh we don't the city doesn't own it today. I'd like to own it tomorrow. But anyway, I'm just saying that I didn't think a a broader um a more expansive definition of private partner partnerships is limiting.

I Yeah, I just think that then you that's like in a different section. Yeah. And I I don't take exception to that. I didn't pick up on the fact that this was under the housing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so then, you know, that could be something that in each area we're looking at private partner partnerships, you know, and everything that we're doing. I think it's implied. I kind of agree with Okay. Council member Gurnie. Under housing, it's a little bit different because it's such a big economic item that you we may need to emphasize it there. And under the parklets, I kind of agree to that the parklet should be in there. So assuming when they turn out ugly, I don't want to you be prepared. I told you so.

You can blame me if they they turn out ugly. We may have a difference of opinion of what ugly is, but that's not

so under economic development. Uh the second bullet there, explore grant opportunities to reduce impact on general fund. I think that's kind of the objective of what you were saying is formulate partnerships or look for the grant opportunities and public private partnerships to reduce the impact on the general fund. I give that to you as a as an option. Um and the more we muddle with these the harder they start to become to achieve. And if we want something to measure success against They should be pretty specific and measurable

point. We'll take it.

I have another minor thing you know the housing under the create you know the funding plan and the policy and I remember that house housing the trust fund the formal name should be affordable housing trust fund. We because we know uh that is affordable housing but you know I suggest maybe put original official name affordable housing trust fund. Any comment um from our city manager on that one? Not yet.

I have to look up that uh official title, but we we'll just make sure that that is a consistent to make sure it's the official.

So, I've been shot down on two of my three. That's still a 333 batting average. Nobody has complained about my u passionate uh aspiration of continuing to bridge the gap or the the uh relationship between those that design and build with those that review and permit. So, that's where I'm going back. Continue streamlining, which is a plus. development processes and policies. But uh again, I think the idea of fostering a collaborative relationship, something that unfortunately has not happened over a long period of time, but we've made great strides. I just would like to keep it one for three or zero for three. Let's make up.

I'm right here under housing the second item.

Housing second. Now, there again is an example of if we're going to go back to um the private public. Uh this was under housing. What I was stating was something that's much broader. It's anything and everything that goes through the process. So again, I don't want to muck it up, nor do I want to necessarily create something that's not um measurable, but it is something that in my mind is cons that I've been at least consistently expressing of value to our small community. So any thoughts? All right, zero for three. I'm going home. So

yes, I'm just I'm just looking for consensus here. It sounds like there there was an um Council Gurnie threw out for economic development to add in explore grant opportunities and partnerships I think is what you you were explaining to um public private partnerships to reduce impact on the general fund. You you offered to throw that put that there. Is that something that would be of interest to the council? I think that makes sense there versus it I think then then that applies to everything. Put that there.

Yeah, I think that's how we would take it too. So, so if everyone's okay, I'm seeing head nods. Um and then just to clarify to council member Ding's request, we just looked up the um official title of that. It does look like it's housing trust fund. It doesn't say affordable housing trust fund, the official title of our policy. So, if you're okay, we can keep it that way. But that the policy itself addresses affordable housing elements to it. So just to be consistent with our policy, are you just keeping that language? I understand. Yeah, I agree. Okay. More discussion

with the uh one uh adjustment that was expressed by our city manager. Do I have a motion? I move to uh accept the 2026 um goals, priorities, and goals uh with the amended language. Is there a second? Second. Further discussion. Roll call, please. Council member Gurnie, yes. Council member Dean, I. Council member Faras, Mayor Mayor Wellender. Yes.

Thank you. The motion carries 40 with one council member absent. Well, I do know that we've had several people come late this evening and may have missed the first opportunity to speak publicly. We do have a second opportunity. Uh, please come forward. And you've got two minutes. I'm gonna be kind.

Uh, thank you very much, Mayor. Uh very shortly, I would like to remind you and invite you, the council, city staff, and the public to a vigil this coming Sunday, the 22nd, at 5:30 in front of the city hall to observe the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion and war in Ukraine. Thank you so much. Thank you. Very good. So, at this point, we are going to uh migrate to a closed session, but prior to this, we're taking a 10-minute break, and I'm dictating that one. I'm not asking