City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello. Good evening. We are calling to order uh the December 17th meeting for Sonoma City Council. Uh please rise as you are able for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, we have a nice warm night tonight. People aren't coming in and hats and gloves and you know, it's a little bit of a break. Hopefully, we'll get some rain. All right. So, um I'm going to ask our city clerk, uh Miss Bar to take the roll call. Vice Mayor Willer here. Council member Dean here. Council member Low here. Council member Gurnie here. Mayor Ferrar Revas here. Thank you.

And there was no closed session tonight, so I don't have a report on the closed session. Uh, and now I'd like to know if anybody on the council has any uh a motion to approve the agenda or changes they'd like to make to the agenda. I move approval of the agenda. I second. All those in favor? I

I. All right. Now, um, comments from the public. This is the time that we will have, uh, can have members of the public make comments in regards to items that are not on tonight's agenda. And everybody will have two minutes. We have uh two minutes each and then we will take 10 comments at this point and then if um people want to make more comments after those 10 that we will take them at the end of the meeting. So please approach the ducks. Thank you.

Good evening. Stephanie Fine, 171 Siesta Way in Soma, and I'm president of the Soma Sister Cities Association. Here for the record to read to you a letter that has come from our sister city in Ukraine from Mayor Igor Rancis. And dear friends, in less than three months, we will mark four years since the beginning of the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine. Throughout these years, you have stood steadfastly by our side. You have demonstrated this through numerous charitable initiatives, fundraising, and donations, as well as your unwavering interest in the historic events currently unfolding in Ukraine. Your engagement is a true testimony to your friendship and love. It is also a powerful declaration against those who cultivate to totalitarianism, harbor imperial ambitions, and seek to destroy human dignity, freedom, and life itself. The substantial financial aid we have received from you via the Sonoma City and Sonoma Sister Cities Association is invaluable to us. It has enabled our community in KNIE to address many urgent humanitarian needs. Yet feeling your support during these trying times is equally important to us. It grants us the strength and the inspiration to stand firm in this difficult struggle for freedom, democracy, and independence. On behalf of our entire community, I express my deepest and most sincere gratitude and wish that all the residents of the wonderful city of Soma peace, well-being, and prosperity. Sincerely, Igor Rankus, mayor of Kife. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Hello.

Hi, good evening everyone. Uh, I got to say it breaks my heart when I hear the word Ukraine. It just breaks my heart. I can't imagine what life is like for those people. Uh, however, I'm Tom Graves. I live across the street from the Sebastian Winery and I'm one of the group of Sonoma residents concerned about the future of the winery and the future of the city. Uh, I want to comment specifically on the proposal to combine the parcels of the Sebastian property into a single mixeduse designation. We've heard more than once that any development on the scale of the winery site will be several years in the making. And that concerns me because uh the current council members may not be seated in the two, three or four years when a development is proposed and voted on. And that means that the new people in your roles will not have heard the last year of concerns from our neighbors and those living outside the city limits who might need to flee the next wildfire through our streets narrowed and crowded by whatever is to come at Sebastiani. The first step you can take with the future of Sonoma in mind is to not approve combining the Sebastiani parcels into a single broad land use designation. I just spoke with a friend of mine who served in your role in another community that was undergoing a general plan update and the prospect of a big development. And he said, "By combining the parcels now, you will have relinquished a very significant bargaining tool that you might need to use in the future. Any future development, no matter what form it takes, is going to entail some give and take between the city and the people with different varied interests. While I understand it's good urban planning practice to have a single zoning per

property, this council should not squander one of its few negotiating tools now and restrict the ability of your successors to undertake the important work they will face in a few years. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Evening council and staff. Holiday greetings to all of you. Hope you have the best of holidays. Steve McCrosty, Fourth Street East in Sonoma. I'm looking forward to the community meeting on January 14th to hear answers to our questions about the pending new land use definition for the Sebastian property. But I must say there is still deep disappointment in the community. disappointment that after 12 months of expressed concern appears we have not been heard completely. To be clear, our overriding concern is that the language that pertains pertains precisely to what be allowed in the new Sonoma mixed commercial use. And as it stands, nothing meaningful has changed over the last year. broad description of a variety of agricultural, commercial, and housing uses is still what is contained in the recently posted draft on the land use element of the general plan section of the city website and is nearly identical to that presented at the January 30th meeting held at Vintage House this year. There has been no meaningful adjustment to the new land use designation called Sonoma mixed commercial use which will of course be applied to the Sebastian parcels at least presumably despite the fact that no one from the public has expressed support for it. At least not very many have expressed support for it. For an entire year residents have shown up. We've written letters. 900 of us have signed petitions. We've spoken at meetings like this one. Why does a year of resident concern result in no change? Is this draft language on the land use element really already set in stone? It appears that public engagement has had no effect. We are not opposed to thoughtful planning. We understand the need for housing, but we are opposed to a process that asks for community input and then proceeds as if that input never existed.

I do hope the meeting on January 14th will result in a transparent response to our concerns. The email about the meeting states that community participation is an important part of shaping policies land use for future development in Soma. I do hope that is truly the outcome of the meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have anybody else that would like to make public comment in regards to items that are not on this agenda? All right, seeing none, we will be moving on. And at this point, I would like to ask the council if we have any meeting dedications. Yes, Councilwoman Low. Um if this is in order. Um, Madame Mayor, uh, I know there were several um, tragedies uh, over the weekend and um, although uh, none of these people were necessarily from Soma, I think it affected all of us when we see people celebrating um, the holiday of Hanukkah in Australia gone down the students at Brown University and the tragedy to uh, Rob and Michelle of Reiner who have in my tenure when I worked uh for the teachers did a lot to help um throughout the state to uh put in a first five uh preschool for for kids. So um if it's in order, I would like to dedicate the meeting um to their memories and hope that we never have a weekend like that ever again. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Do we have any other dedications?

Well, I don't want to uh cloud the importance of your dedication because mine is a little bit more celebratory. Um, once again, the Sonoma Valley High School football team had an incredibly successful season. I'm happy to say that although they lost their first non-league game to a charter powerhouse out of Sacramento, I think it also woke them up a little bit. But they went undefeated during league. They took the league championship this year again. They went into playoffs and there's this little town called St. Helena that had a strong second half and ended up foreshortening their season. The good news is they've had tremendous success the last two years. the uh I think it's good news is that they now have been moved up one league uh category. So they will be playing a new teams uh and it'll be very interesting to see if they'll be able to carry on the success of uh that we've enjoyed these last two years. So hence that's my kind of I'll call it an announcement not a dedication.

It's a good one. Thank you. Remember last year they were all here. I know there was the house full of dragons. So move Yeah. It was almost like Game of Thrones. No. Moving on. U reports and comments from our council members. Do you have any? Yes. C. Oh, you do. Okay. We'll start with council member Wellender and then work this way. Vice Mayor C. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. So, uh,

two things. Uh, one, as I join, uh, our mayor and our fellow council member, uh, Mr. Ding, uh, to a ribbon cutting of a new winery at Wine Alley called, I believe it is so. Yeah. So, one,

yes. And so, anyway, uh, wish them the best. Love to see vacant spaces filled regardless of use. The uh the one that I do want to share more in depth is the I did attend another um three-hour Zoom meeting regarding the homeless board in Sonoma County. And um we all recognize that there's a certain element of chaos back in Washington DC which is having some fi uh funding issues and as it has been explained to me today is that there are right now approximately 200 units that are vulnerable housing units and it has to do with reallocating money not for what we ultimately want to see and that's permanent support of housing but it's now being reallocated to uh transitional housing or other. So, there is going to be and this is right now impacting nine um of our local nonprofits. The other thing though I do want to um also very briefly recognize is that um the funding that the county and the city and the board gets regarding homelessness comes from it's a very complex um process. There are 42 different resources that our funding comes from and they're from 12 different agencies or jurisdictions and each of them require different applications, different evaluations, review. So it's it's a very laborintensive process. Um, in 2003 2004, we were blessed countywide with $29 million to address homelessness, which I think overall was effectively spent predominantly on uh creating um permanent supportive housing, but that's a lot of money, too. And I don't have the specific numbers that we were able to get people off the streets and into housing, but there was

a a significant decrease. Um the sobering reality for 2526 is we're anticipating around 120 million. So not quite half. And um again the the trajectory or the the anticipation is that this decrease is not going to stop with this calendar new calendar year but it's going to continue. So if it continues, who knows what funds will be available in 2627. And I think part of it of course is the focus is to certainly not to go backwards, but certainly to try to sustain the nonprofits that we have right now in the work that they've done. So anyway, I just wanted to share that. Um I am am pleased and at time at times intimidated sitting on this board trying to figure it out. So thank you.

Thank you. Okay, Council Member Gurnie.

Um, not a lot to report, but I did attend the uh tourism improvement district meeting uh last week on December 11th. And um in essence, what we really kind of discussed is uh the issue of bringing u small conferences to Sonoma. And uh my takeaway was they're having some success with the consultants that they're using that are out there um trying to encourage uh organizations to look at Sonoma and um they even talked about some of the benefit when Sonoma Mission N has a fully booked conference out there how there is uh aspects of it that benefit the local lodging establishments even though they could never cracked that size of a conference. So, um there's some positive things uh going on with regards to lodging. And um then also we did have a discussion on the grants that were awarded and we had some um public presentations um requesting additional funding. Um and there was a surplus from when they uh made their grant decisions. Um and it remains to be seen where that discussion will go next next month. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Yes, that overflow is always nice. Um so I have a few I did attend uh the snow snow power board meeting on uh December 14th. Uh just couple things to report is that um last year um Soma Clean Power is and they've been committed for years to uh addressing food insecurity and they were able to give uh n $95,000 to eight different food banks in Soma. So that's that's very very positive. Um, and then just, you know, one of the things just going on, I'm not going to go into detail around all the legislative work that's happening, but there's a lot. And one of the things just that people are to be aware of is one of the things is Sonoma Clean Power is really working to develop uh geothermal power as a part of our transition to electrification, but also um that that could be power that our snow McLean Power would own themselves and then would significantly help the move away from oil and gas. and that there's they're looking at u there was legislation last year to if if the uh for exploration of of new projects if they met you know in both environmental and and labor uh pro you know regulations that they would not have to go through sequa and that didn't pass but it's being reintroduced again this year so as a way to move this faster so that we can get to electrification sooner than later. Um and then um last and there's many things. So you can go to the snow man power site and read the read the agenda. There's a lot of work that they do legislatively and if I were to go through it all we'd have another 20 minutes on this item. So the only other

thing I just want to say and they had a absolutely clean audit report for their June 20 2024 to June 2025. Um then and we elected a couple of new members for the Sonoma Clean Power Citizens Advisory Commission. Um Crispen Hollenhead from Ukaya, Michael Heler from Sonoma. Both of them were already on the CAC. And then the new member Marsha Beard from Bedga Bay and a new member Jack Polard from Windsor. So that's that's exciting. We have from the city of Sonoma, we have two members, uh, Jana Wang and Michael Heler that are on the CAC. Um, and then on um December 7th, I attended the Sonoma County Democratic Party uh Christmas party. On December 11th, attended the ribbon cutting for Soul Ray, which is for the Sun King. Um, and that's at 25 East Napa Street. If you don't know where that is, it's just off the plaza. um just down the alleyway. I think of it as the pink alleyway. So, and then this evening I attended a lighting of Manora in our plaza at the amphitheater. So, and that was really lovely. It was uh well attended. Um although one person did walk up and say to me she had hoped that it wasn't publicly advertised because she was concerned about, you know, what would happen. Chief Cutting was there and I think people David uh our city manager David Guan was there. David Johns was there too. So they really appreciated people from the city being there and it was lovely and a lot of it is lovely children singing and telling the story of Hanukkah. So it was quite it was really lovely. All right so moving on. It's always good to have the

joyfulness moving forward in spite of this last weekend. So, uh, do we have any reports from our city manager, Mr. Guan?

Yes, thank you, mayor. A couple things. Uh, first, the rain is coming. So, we're we've had a dry spell and we're going to start to see some rain over the next week. Um, and as our esteemed PIO, Sarah Tracy, has coined it as the storm parade is coming. Um, we are have set up sandbags. So, we have sand at at depot park and we have bags at city hall. So, if anybody needs those, we do have those available. Um the public works crews have been out um ahead of this trying to get streets clean. So the street supers has been out cleaning the streets and cleaning the storm drains and uh so just be careful out there especially during the holiday traffic time and traveling. Um it's going to be messy. Uh so stay safe and take your time and allow yourself some extra time um in your travels. In addition uh we are starting to see some events change their schedules, change their locations based on the rain coming this weekend. So, if you're planning to go to a community event or go to an event, please just double check your schedule and see if it's changed. One of those, um, I'll talk about here is a holiday serenade that was supposed to be at the amphitheater, um, they've moved that, and that's on Sunday. They've moved that to the Snow Valley Museum of Art, um, because of the rain that's coming. So, it will not be in the amphitheater. Um, it'll still be 4 to 6. Um, they'll have the West County Trio from Enley High School and the Luke Curly's Festival Brass, and it's free and familyfriendly. So again, that's been moved from the amphitheater on Sunday to Snow Valley Museum of Art. Um, and all the our stores and restaurants will still be open. So if you're are trying to do some last minute holiday shopping, uh, like my wife and I were this past weekend, uh, come downtown here in the plaza and visit the shops. They were packed this past weekend. It's great to see everybody out there shopping. Um, please shop local. Um, that revenue stays here in the town that we can use for services and programs. Um, so please do that. Um, the ALALDE nominations are being accepted through January 7th. So if you do have a nomination, you can still get those in. You can send those to me.

Information is on the website on how to nominate somebody. And as a reminder, uh, we are having our council goal setting on Friday, January 30th. Uh, it will be at the Sonoma Community Center this year. Uh, so that's that if you want to mark that down, it's uh, a month from now. And um although January 26th, the Monday before that, we'll be going over the goals what we've accomplished this past year leading into goal setting uh based on the previous goals. Um I do want to acknowledge uh as as we're closing up the year, closing up the uh 2025, I want to just acknowled take a moment to acknowledge staff and the work they they've done this past year. Um it's been an incredible year. A lot of changes, new departments, promotions, a lot of stuff has gotten done. We'll go over that more detail in January. Um, but I also want to acknowledge uh the the support team behind all the staff that stays late for meetings and runs meetings uh on the nights and weekends. Uh the families and pets that support them back home um to to to allow them to do that. So, I just want to publicly acknowledge that. Um there's a lot of work um after hours and um thank you for all the work you you all have done.

And then January January 29th, the state of the valley at Sebastian Channy. Correct. Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, it'll be a full week. So, January 26th is our council meeting and then the 29th will be state of the valley and then the 30th will be our goal meeting. So, we expect you all to be there. All right. So, moving. Do we have any comments from our city attorney?

Yeah, I I know previously I've talked to you about SB77, the changes to the Brown Act. I don't think I've mentioned SB 827, which revises some of the training requirements that elected officials and members of legislative bodies have to um attend. You know, you have the ethics requirement under AB1234. You know, you have the sexual harassment requirement. Well, now they've added a a financial and fiscal literacy uh training requirement. It's also going to be two hours. um since you are already serving you will have to meet this um training by January 1st 2028. So you have two years but for new um new commissioners or other anyone who's elected after January 1st um they'll have to do that within six months. So um the trainings are still being developed as far as I understand. Uh nobody's given one yet. Um if if they have one at the new mayors and council members um conference, let me know. I'd like to see what they do. I imagine that they may wait and do it in 2027 there. Um but I do just want to give you a heads up about that. That will be coming down and and this training as will as with the ethics uh training will also now be applicable to department heads um of the city as well. So, uh there the legislature has decided to share the the joy of these trainings with with a wider audience. And with that, I just wish everybody happy holidays.

Yes. Please tell me that these new requirements are also being required of our state legislators and they are not just saying this is what you have to do, but we're above this additional training. Um I believe that is incorrect that the state legislature does not have this requirement. Um and in fact instead the state found that there was mis fiscal mismanagement on the local agency level. I'm sorry but I like to correct that the state legislators are not as pure as the wind driven snow. So I think they do need to take some classes.

Yes. Councilwoman Low. So, um I um I'm on the uh measure H high firefight fire fight fires and we and I just went through uh having to do a Brown Act training for that and I I think that um it's kind of ridiculous when we take these things every two years and the test is exactly the same. I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. I was required to take American history once, not every two years. And I still can maintain my diploma. Somehow everybody thinks that every two years we forget everything and have to do it again. And the test is exactly the same. I always miss the one about whether or not you can use the flight miles or whatever, but it's ludicrous to make somebody every two years take the exact same test. Um, what would be better, and I know I'm just venting. I know that you have nothing to do with this whatsoever, but since my colleague opened the door, I'm walking right through it. So it would be better to every two years um let us know what the new stuff is on the Brown Act as there will be some new stuff but to make you take the exact same test you know every two years when is um it's a jolly good waste of your time. So, um, and also there is never an accountability as to finding out if all of these requirements resulted in better financial awareness. I hope that's built

into the law. I doubt it. And certainly, you know, open meeting laws and there's no accountability. There's nothing like gosh, I'm so glad we passed that and all those people are taking that test every two years because lookie here we really are cranking it in terms of open meeting stuff, you know, it's going great. Um, you never see that. So without accountability, making someone take a test every two years, there's an old saying is that um, pig doesn't get fat by weighing it every single day. So, um, that's all I have to say about that. Thank you.

I I I'm glad we brought the pigs into the conversation. All right, moving on. All right. So, now, see, that was like the most exciting city attorney report that we've had since I've been on this council. All right. Okay. So, now we are moving to the consent count calendar. and all the items on the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will be acted upon with a single motion. There'll be no separate discussion on these items unless members of the council or staff request specific items to be removed or for separate actions. So, does anybody wish um a presentation first before

Oh my goodness, you're right. I just went to the red. I'm so sorry. And look at Dave's standing like she forgot me. No. So this I'm so glad I've been looking forward to this presentation by the way. So I can see others here too that will be so um Dave John's our uh parks and recreation director please you have the floor.

Thank you. Good evening mayor, council members um for community members in the audience and those watching at home as you mentioned I'm Dave Jans. I'm the parks and recreation director. I'm here to give you an update on the plans for preliminary plans for the 2026 uh transcendence uh outdoor summer summer series. Um, so last time this came before you was uh back towards the end of August. And uh you'll hear me at times this presentation refer to a collective we but a planning team that consists of city staff members of Transcendence Theater Company and Field of Dreams board members have been actively seeking ways that we can um adapt the existing uh performance space to be a more conducive performance and also minimize the impact on our neighbors. Um so starting with a little bit of background information for you. So in August uh well before that let me uh back to 2024. So uh the transcendence theater company has uh been performing their Broadway under the stars series in the Field of Dreams locations since 2024. Um in 24 and in 25 it was on the footprint of Fazio Field which we'll show you a map here in a moment. Um, but for for location, that's in the northeast corner of the Field of Dreams location. Um, and I will mention that while while we're here to address the sound concerns, I do want to acknowledge that the uh transcendence has been met with a lot of um approval and it brings a lot of joy to community members from an arts and cultural standpoint. Um, but we also during the 25 season received a number of noise complaints and we take those complaints and the impact that it has to our neighbors very seriously. And so I know in my short time here this has been at the forefront of my attention and so city staff as well as the planning team has made this a priority over the last several months uh to see how we can uh address these issues. Um so in August uh this item came before you and council authorized uh transcendence to move

forward in 2026 um but gave staff direction to look into what efforts we can do to mitigate the sound impacts. And so based on direct community feedback and me feedback we received from the CA council, our priority has been focusing on the actual location of the stage and the sound direction. And so what we're going to jump into is a bit of the process to date and then I'm going to give you some visuals of what we've been working on. So from September to October um we've had collaborative meetings with our partners uh with Field of Dreams and Transcendence. And I want to thank both those organizations. they have both jumped in with a very uh solutionoriented approach of how we can find be creative um within the constraints of the the the location that we're working with. And so we had a number of meetings on the site. We walked the location. We looked at the existing space. We looked at opportunities on other fields um within the field of dreams. We looked at how the stage could be oriented um taking into account access points, sound direction, um where the audience would sit, where the performers would have to access the stage both from the front and from the back end. Um and so lots of lots of uh on the ground meetings where we've walked the site and then in October um we met with a professional surveyor. Um we brought in an engineer um local construction managers to talk about the feasibility if we were to move the location what that would actually ina entail. Is that something that's feasible to get done given the timeline of the upcoming performance season and also simply the work that needs to be done to modify an existing space to make it more conducive uh for a performance area. And so that took place in October. And I will share again a big uh hats off to the Field of Dreams team. They've brought in local contractors who are subject matter experts experts who are volunteering their time to give us advice in that area. Um and then for the past month or so, we've been working with those those experts and are getting very close to having professional engineer drawings to show how this may fit within the confines of the new existing space.

So, what we're going to do now is I want to I want to show you kind of an overview and we'll start kind of at a very uh macro level and then start to zoom in. Um, you're probably familiar with with what we're looking at here, but I wanted to show this in context to the rest of the community. Um, so the red square is where the performance took place u for the last two seasons. And you'll see the the orientation and the general direction in which the stage and the sound was oriented. What we're looking at is moving the stage uh to the adjacent field. Um creating a new performance space and reorienting the stage where the sound would be directed more towards the open space. I'm going to zoom in a little bit just so you can go from that higher level um down to a little bit lower. Again, this is an image of the the stage as it was in 24 and 25. And this is what uh the general area that we are looking at for the upcoming season. This layout um is a little bit more detailed. Again, we're working behind the scenes on a on a more detailed engineered drawing, but at this point wanted to give you the illustration of um what the stage may look like and how that sits on the existing field and the new performance space. So, the white squares that you're looking at, the largest one, um the most northern white square, um that represents the stage. The smaller squares are kind of the the behind the stage where you have dressing rooms, access points to the stage. Um, as you can see here, what we're looking at is reorienting the existing outfield fence. Um, what this does is creates a designated performance space, um, but still allows for the youth athletic and adult athletic activities to continue on Peterson Field. And so what I want to run through in addition to just moving the location, what we found out through this process is it's not just as simple as taking a stage and and transposing into a new location. There's a lot of a lot of impacts when you're looking at the site there. And so what we're looking at is obviously re relocating the stage. Um

but that also entails reconfiguring seating layout. It's not the same dimensions that changes the width and the the directions of the stage. And so something that Transcendence has done is they're working with a professional seat designer to come in and say, "Okay, here's the parameters that we're working with and create a whole new seating chart that fits within the footprint of this new location. Um, obviously our our focus is on sound mitigation. Um, but we also want to make sure this was a conducive environment for performance for the performers and also for the attendees of the show. And we think the space that we've we've picked out will will do that. It creates a nice environment for the performance to take place and kind of reimagines and recreates uh the lounge areas and the areas that the the attendees would get to experience before the show. Um we're also looking at this location um there's quite a bit more tree canopy in this area. And while it's not wouldn't do the same thing as some professional sound dampering trees have some natural tree absorption in that area. So we're hoping that the uh the wall of trees which you see lining that field will help with sound absorption and deflecting some of the sound. Um, as I mentioned before, we're looking at reconfiguring the outfield fences, but doing that in a way that makes sure that we're still able to accommodate all of the programming that needs to happen at Field of Dreams. Um, we're looking at doing some site grading. So, in order to do this, we need to make sure that we're leveling the field, um, as well as the access points in that area. We're also looking at potentially bringing in a new surface material, a more all-w weather material that would create, um, a slightly different environment than what they were in last year. um but I think would weather nicely and be a more uh year- round opportunity there out at Field of Dreams. Um we're also looking at pathway and surface improvements. Um so if you're familiar as you go from the parking lot was the main access point in previous years. Now the new location would be coming off the bike and pedestrian path which is just right outside this building. So we're looking at repaving that area uh making improvements. Um also addressing um there's an ADA uh parking stall that would be in that area. creation there, essentially creating new access points

to and from this performance space, which will be um a big benefit for the performances, but will also be improvements to the site in general. And finally, we're looking at electrical access. There is electricity out to that area, but we're looking at ways that we can um bring in more electrical power, which would benefit uh the transcendence performances, but also Field of Dreams and community users. Um so moving ahead to what the schedule would look like with the new configuration. Um so this is similar to what you saw in August with slight alterations which I will I will point out. So still three productions um starting in June. Um but what you'll notice here is that it concludes what we're proposing is it concludes in in August now. And the reason being is in order to accommodate the new location. We've removed the September dates. Um, as you may be aware, youth soccer is one of our biggest sports here in town. And so towards the end of August and September, we see a big increase in youth sports activity. And so the field uh Peterson becomes heavily impacted in that area. And so we're proposing to move the final show um in September to one weekend in July, a three a three-day performance uh for one single weekend in July. And what that does is that accommodates the youth sports and then also condenses the overall impact and timeline of the summer summer theater series. And so just some continued mitigation. Some of these are carryover from previous years. Some are new things that we're looking at as we have gone through here. We're clearly looking at the uh reorientation of the stage and the speaker direction. um continuing to use the data that was brought in from sound engineer modeling last year and advice that was given from the sound engineer um as they provided for you here at council. Um we're also continuing to restrict rehearsals on the weekend. So limiting the number of days where there's amplified sound. Um we're going to look to opportunities to increase tree canopy in that area. So, if there's opportunities to add more trees in the area, which obviously would have uh multiple benefits beyond um but the

intent is that that could also help with some sound mitigation. Um we're going to make it a focal point to continue to have uh robust community outreach and communication. And so that's notification of potentially impacted neighbors as well as notifications to our business community marketing and promotions. And then even things like coordination with this facility here. We know in the past there's been some impacts to there's a lot of activity happening in the summer months between this facility, what's happening at Field of Dreams, what happens at Arnold Field, and so continued collaboration to make sure that we don't have conflicts. Um, and as you saw on the first slide, some of the some of the complaints that came in regarding sound was a u it was because a compounding factor with what was happening at the Stompers games. And so we're having ongoing conversations with the county to see if there's ways to mitigate those sound impacts as well. And as we know, this is going to be a new location. Um this is a a new direction and so we know that this is going to continue to evolve and so we'll continue to monitor and uh potentially make modifications through 2026. So what happens next? Um as I mentioned before, we're we're moving through the planning process. So moving from concept to engineered drawings and so this planning team we're working on finalizing those plans and then uh Field Dreams who's heading up the renovation efforts are exploring opportunities for sponsorship support and funding in order to complete this work um in 2026. In order to do it, we will have to do this in phases. Um and that's mainly weatherdriven. Um some of this work that we're proposing can be done during the wet months. Other times will require uh certain periods of of of dry weather and certain site conditions. Things like doing the grading out there. You have to make sure that the the site is is ready for that. But we're putting together a plan where we can we can work uh from one direction outward based on weather conditions so that we're ready with a

performance space by late spring, early summer of 2026. Um and then finally, as has been the process for the last several years, um the special events committee, which is composed of city staff, will be reviewing the application and with the new location, we'll be working in collaboration with transcendence to make sure that they're meeting the needs of our park use permit and making sure that they're they're using the site in a responsible manner, knowing that they're slightly different modifications based on a different location. And as I mentioned before, this is going to be ongoing monitoring, ongoing modifications. Um our intent is to create a conducive performance space and limiting the impact uh to those neighbors around us as much as possible. So with that, happy to move back on any information, answer any questions and hear any feedback you might have.

Thank you, Director Jance. Uh and we have any questions? Vice Mayor Winger.

Actually, I'm just a couple of comments. Uh this is really um encouraging because what I'm hearing is that we're working with several different community groups. We're a small town. We know it could be problematic and great effort is being put forth to mitigate to mllify what have you. And I think that really is critical in maintaining I would say the overall spirit of the small town. Uh my last not question but comment is that from an aspirational standpoint I hope at some point we can create a permanent venue that would also support more than transcendence but bring back the the the jazz festival and other things because I think that would be phenomenal. But for right now thank you and staff and all the your partners that are doing this because this is this is a very appropriate way of going about. So thank you.

Thank you. Any other? Yes. Uh, Council Member K. Well, first of all, thank you for the presentation and um I'm very excited about this next season for transcendence and um and the collaboration uh speaks a ton uh for working together in this community and trying to solve problems collectively. So, uh, congratulations to you and your team and, uh, look forward to, uh, making this, uh, a reality. Yeah. Councilwoman Low.

No, I mean, it's a great presentation, by the way. Um, really put together very, very well and very thoughtfully. And, um, I I just hope that, uh, we can we're not, um, diminishing the the turnout. Um, you know, I was a little concerned about that. That was my only concern. I want to make sure that we have as many people as possible. Hope we sell out every single show, you know, because it's the best night ever. And um, no, it's it's just great. We didn't have to do this, right? I mean, honestly, a lot of a lot of places wouldn't have. They would have just said, you know, listen, it's you know, you're always going to have people that aren't going to be happy about stuff. I hear that all the time from my colleagues in other cities, but we're different here. And it's like we don't have to, but we're gonna we're gonna try and uh it's it just speaks well for everyone involved. So, thank you so much. Can't wait. I want to know what shows are going to be happening as soon as possible.

Thank you. And at this point, I'm going to take a moment to see if we have any public comment. Yes. Hi, Tom Graves. I live in Sonoma. Uh I was at I believe a meeting here of this body when um the sound problem was brought up and there was one gentleman in particular apparently whose house is just in in the crosshairs of where this sound goes. First of all, I should back up by saying transcendence is awesome. I think the number of people that show up and everybody's in a good mood um makes that very clear. But I left I left here. I left that meeting and I came up with a simple one, two, three way of addressing the sound problem. Not the way you did, but the way my simple mind works. One is I think 30,000 people attended last year. That's the number in my head. Add a dollar to the ticket price for each of those 30,000 people. That's 30 grand is when I went to school. Number two, um ask the transcendence producers to turn their volume down two dB. That's not a heck of a lot, but it would make a difference. And number three, take that $30,000 and give it to the households that are most uh affected by the sound. And they can put that money, say it's 5,000 a household, 10,000 a household, 3,000 a household. They can put that money toward uh sound abatement at their

own home, new windows, etc. Or they can take their family out of town a few times so they have a few quiet nights together. Um it'd be a nice thing to do. So, thank you.

Thank you. We always appreciate more minds in the mix. All right. Do we have anybody else who would like to make a public comment at the time in regards to this presentation? All right, moving forward. Um, I'm going to say this again just in case you didn't hear it the first time I said it the wrong time is that we're now going to move on to item number seven, which is the consent calendar. And just all of those items on the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will be acted upon in a single motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of council or staff request specific items to be removed for separate actions. So at this point, do I have anybody that would like to pull an item from the consent calendar?

Yes, I would. Vice Mayor Wellender, um I on item number 7.3, I just would have one question for staff, so I don't think we need to necessarily pull it, but on items 7.7, 7.8, 8 and 7.9. I'd love to have u some brief discussion. I don't envision this being controversial, but I just think that there's needs to be some discussion regarding u those items, please.

Okay. So, we're u a question on 7.3 and then you want to uh pull 7.778 and 79. Correct. All right. And so at this point um h why don't we since we don't think they would be controversial can we do those discussions first and then vote or do we do them separately? Why don't we get the question on 7.3? Sounds like that's just a quick answer and then we can vote on 7.1 to 7.6. Okay. All right.

Thank you. Yes. And this is a question directed to our city manager and that is one that was expressed earlier in your office but I thought there's value to it for the public. Um are you comfortable with the five months of the expenditure percentages as shown on the document? Um, as far as being relatively comfortable,

I am in on this monthly expenditure report, the timing of the revenues and expenditures are do not line up and so I'm comfortable with where we are. What's going to happen on June or J I'm sorry January 26 is our finance director will come back with a detailed mid-year budget which will show actual res revenues and expenditures to date that'll be much more accurate that will show and I'm just going to look to our my finance director real quick to see if she wants to add anything additional to that. That is correct. Do you want to Yes.

So that is correct. We've not received any property tax for this fiscal year 2526 which will be uh we will receive by end of the month. So when we come back for the midyear, you will see the revenue being little aligned with the expenditures. Thank you. And and given the fact that you two have done miracles about bringing us from red to black, um I greatly appreciate it and I just thought that would be a comment that the public might be interested in knowing. So thank you. All right, then. Uh, do I have a motion to approve uh items 7.1 through 7.6?

Oh, public comment. We need public comment first. Thank you. Yes. One of these days I'll get this right. Oh, this is my last chance to get it right. All right. Public Do I have any public comment on the consent calendar? And at this point, it will be just items 7.1 through 7.6. All right. Seeing none. Oh, did you want to comment? No, I don't. Okay. So, do I have a motion? So, moved. Do I have a second? I second. All right. All those in favor? I I I

All right. So, moving forward to uh let's start with U 7.7. Yes. So, uh, did you want how would, uh, did you want us to do just a brief overview? Have our, uh, development director, Jennifer Gates, do a brief overview.

Yes. Thank you for, uh, saying that, guys. I'm super excited about the first two items, uh, becoming actionable. And I just think that because of the significance that both these items will have that there could be some value with our community development director to just be briefly overviewing that for the public's interest and I will have a couple of follow-up questions. All right. So, you're on.

Thank you. Community de development director Jennifer Gates. So the first item um before you is a request for the adoption of a resolution to authorize a professional services agreement with Paige and Turbull to prepare the citywide historic resource survey and historic context statements. So this is an effort to streamline continue to streamline our entitlement process for future development while maintaining our his uh our historic community character. It's been a long time since we've done a citywide survey. So, what we've been doing for the last few years is individual historic resource evaluations for any property that is um 45 years old or older if was not already identified as historic to determine whether it is um potentially eligible. So, this will help um get rid of that process and just have one that's going to look at all properties throughout the city and also take into account all the properties we've already identified and then we'll present that to you all in the future. It'll also is going to provide what's called a historic context statement. So, that um create um quoteunquote themes around development within Sonoma. So, how did it grow? What are those different themes um that influence the development that we see here? who are the main characters in that and the you know builders to property owners, developers, things like that. Um all the different architectural styles. So then we can use those documents to move forward in another five years and be able to understand that historic character more as other properties age. So that is the purpose of that um citywide survey and we are looking forward to it and we think it hopefully will only take about 15 months is goal. So that concludes my presentation.

All right. Do we have any other questions? Did you have a question? No I did not. Okay. Correct. So, we will take this at this and see if there's any public comment on this and see. No. Oh, yeah. We do. There we go. Jennifer's

Robert Demler, First Street Reed West Sonoma. I want to congratulate the city on going forward with this. Uh, the last citywide survey was 1977. There have been a couple of updates, but they were very specialized and one was really mostly in the the valley and not in the city. So, we've, as Jennifer said, we've been doing it on a had ad hoc basis for particular uh properties. So, this is very very welcome. And I would also encourage uh the city staff to encourage Paige and Turnbill to uh make use of uh our survey documents so that they don't have to reinvent the wheel over a number of historic properties within Sonoma. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Oh. Say, so at this point, if do we have any discussion from the council? Seeing none, uh, do I have a motion to, uh, approve 7.1? I I I'm sorry. 7.7. Sorry. I would like to backwards. I'd like to enthusiastically recommend that we approve this item as presented. Second. Great. All those in favor? I.

All right. Now, moving on to 7.8. And I'm assuming that we're going to do the same process here. You're going to have a brief presentation on this and then we will have public comment and so on and so on. Here we go.

All right. So again, Director Gates, um so this item is um before you to adopt a resolution to authorize the city manager to execute a professional services agreement um with architectural resources group to prepare a historic landscape survey report for the Soma Park um sorry Sonoma Plaza Park um in the amount not to exceed 40,900 as well as to amend the fiscal year bud adopted budget by 45,000. So this item specifically, our Sonoma Plaza is a national historic landmark. Um it was identified as such a long time ago. So with that identification, um it highlights some of the components uh that make our plaza historic, but it doesn't get into the details of our historic landscapes, the park itself. And so what this document does is it's actually going to research the history of all of the built and uh natural environment or planted environment. So the history of the fountains, the rose garden, also tree plantings and things like that um that um occur currently. So what is that spatial organization? How do we use the park? Things like that. Um so this is going to be used to guide our future um improvements as well as maintenance and any preservation decisions. Um so that is the purpose of this document. um it's not going to actually um give recommendations for the maintenance of anything. So this document will be used to move forward with the plaza um park master plan. So this is kind of a component of that and will be used in the future. So we are excited about this project as well.

Yes. Did you have do we have any questions at this point? Couple of quick questions. Great. Vice Mayor Willer. Um, again, it's something that I asked, but I think it would be appropriate for the city, for the public to hear, and that is we invested in that incredibly valuable uh survey and topography uh that I think will be a great asset to the work that needs to be done by Paige, not by Paige and Turbo, but by ARG we call

ARG. And I just want to make sure that they were aware of this as far as a tool that when they put together their proposal that uh they're able mindful and that added hopefully they recognize the value of it and made an adjustment to their bottom line.

So we will provide all information that's available including the survey that was done that provides basically a base map um for their documentation. So when they go out um and it's not um it'll be helpful um because we are not being charged to actually draw and not ask for an actual uh measured drawings of anything. So in that case we're good to go.

And then uh I'm incredibly encouraged with the proposed timeline of four months versus 15. But I also uh wanted to state that I have uh we all I think most of us are aware of is the worms club is very motivated to redo the Italian garden area and that they were hoping to do it for a significant anniversary which is this spring summer. I think it's 125 years or maybe even more so. And I know that right now the the parallel will be this survey and then their fundraising which hopefully will be successful. But I'm hoping that the efficiency and timeline will be such that uh we give the women's club the opportunity to be successful in their ultimate goal and that is to to demonstrate what they believe is the significant contribution that this club made originally to the plaza. I have a question. Yeah.

Yes. Can you uh describe a little bit about architecture resource group? This is the consulting company or how many years work with us? Yeah. So, um I have not worked with them here but I have worked with them in the past. So, when we select consultants for historic um historic work, they need to be qualified consultants. They have to meet the Secretary of Interior standards. Um, and so those are specific qualifications and this consultant firm does uh meet that. I they have been around for over 20 years because I've been in the industry 40 years and I've known them this whole time.

Um, so yeah, they're statewide um and active in both areas. Thank you. Yeah, you mentioned a qualifification because what I'm thinking in my mind if not possible maybe we can sign some the job for the local nonprofit organization historic league or historic society if they have this kind of resource these kind of professionals because I know uh the many many and profession retired professionals in on the area

correct and so what they do with the consult consultants do is they work with our resources, our local resources to get that information. So in in this scope specifically, it'll be um working with the different um so our historical society um um as well as the um I'm always league. Thank you. The league,

the league, the society and the league. Um, so they'll work with both organizations to um, get the historical information to help develop that history and that context and get images. And then the same thing with the citywide survey. Um, that citywide survey is also going to include um, interviews um, and get um, personal uh, information as well from our local families. Thank you so much. Appreciate. Do we have any other questions? Seeing none, uh, is there anybody from the public that would like to make a comment on this item? Welcome back, Mr. Demler.

Robert Demler, Sonoma, excuse me. I I should have said a moment ago, I'm speaking for the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation on 7.7 as well as 7.8. I'd like to say about uh the plaza. the the Sonoma League's uh original mission was a simple ones sentence statement that it was to improve no it was sorry it was to beautify the plaza and environs but we've uh broadened our scope over these 53 years and so uh we still are very happy that you're taking on the plaza and two things I would like to um mention now while that's on my mind and and I may forget in the future is I hope the part of this um plaza design uh will include access to the plaza from the depot park. Uh not so much to include that in this plan but to make provision for some sort of connecting pathway. And the second and last item would be I would appreciate speaking as far the as the former chairman of the citizens committee that placed the Valo statue in the plaza courtesy of the city. It was a gift to the city that we gave a a number of of thousands of dollars for its maintenance and beautifification. So, I would appreciate some sort of landscaping around the Valo statue and some lighting, even if it's just moving that one single pole light a few feet forward to be behind the the uh the the

statue. Anyway, thank you so much. Thank you. All right. So, do we have any discussion? 7.8. Seeing none, do I have a motion? I move to approve to adopt the resolution authorizing the city manager to execute professional service agreement. We uh with the ARC. Yeah. Second. All those in favor? I.

All right. So, now moving forward to let's make sure we have this right. 7.9. Um and um at this point on 7.9 did you um do you have a any comment or question that you wanted to ask about this? Actually I think we don't need anybody to go up to the podium but we just have in my opinion need to make some comments up here and that is I just wanted to uh given the fact that we now have a a visual for the commissioners their attendance throughout the entire year. I just would like to publicly thank them for giving of their time and that's the only reason I wanted to pull it but for us to somehow go on the record expressing our appreciation.

Anybody else like to comment on that? Very well said. And uh I'm very happy to have the report and I was really happy to see that all of those people that I appointed had very good attendance records. So, not that it's a uh some kind of competition here, but Yahoo. Anyway, so okay. So, uh do I have a motion? I move approval. I second. All those in favor? I I So, I didn't take public comment on that one because that wasn't really It was pulled just for a report. Are we all good? Are we good with that? Since it was pulled, you should just see public.

Would anybody else like to have public comment on this? Thank you. Okay. Now, we'll move ahead. All right. So, now we're moving on to uh our public hearing, I believe, as I turn to my next page, item 8.1. And this is a public hearing uh to introduce an ordinance amending snow municipal code to implement our housing element program 15 and an ordinance to implement housing element program 20 and finding the ordinance exempt from California environmental act SQA pursuant to 15061 B3 uh general rule of SQA guidelines and I am going to introduce once again our development director Jennifer Gates. Thank you, mayor and council. So before you tonight is some housing element implementation ordinances. So in March of 2023, if you can remember a couple years ago, um city council approved the city's housing element which contains a number of implementation programs. In November of 2025, the planning commission had recommended approval with modification of two ordinances to implement specifically a portion of program 15 as well as program 20. So there are some of our um programs that have specific deadlines and our goal is always to meet those deadlines and um sometimes we don't but that is always the goal. And so we are um really trying within the next couple of years to catch up on some of these program ordinances that required um the city adopt um regulations around specific things. So the ones before you tonight um I'm going to go into detail around program 15 and program 20. They were attached to your staff report. So also just to let you know in March of 2026 um we will be

presenting the h housing element annual progress report on all the programs that are contained within the housing element as well as um what is going on in our housing development world. So what have we entitled entitled in the past calendar year as well as how many building permits we've issued for new units and then how are we um making progress on our um reena allocation. So to start off um the first ordinance is on housing element program 15 and this provided that the city would amend the zoning code to accommodate a um variety of specialized housing types. So low barrier navigation centers to employee housing um as well as single room occupancy. So I'm going to go over each one of these items, talk about the law itself and the amendments that are contained within the ordinance. So the first one is specifically around the low barrier navigation centers. So there um is a series of code sections that specifically define low barrier navigation centers and provide requirements that um each center needs to um contain. And so we have updated or provided rather um a definition of what a low barrier navigation center is as well as added to our land use table that low barrier navigation centers are going to be um allowed by right specifically in mixed use and non-residential zones that allow multifamily use. So that is a requirement of the state law and so those are the things that we were modifying. We also provided provisions for processing as well as operational standards. These again are consistent with the state law.

The next item is supportive and transitional housing. So there is a government code our state law um specifically states that supportive and transitional housing shall be considered a residential use and shall be subject to only those restrictions that apply to other residential dwellings of the same types and in the same zone. So that means that if I'm a single family zone uh single family use in um a residential low zone then um supportive housing would be um allowed by right or it would require a conditional use permit. Just depends on what is being uh what the permit requirements are for those different types of uses. And then also that um another government code section specified that certain criteria that allows supportive housing to be a use by right and would include um administrative office space. So we have amended our definitions to be consistent with the state law and show that there's two different definitions now for supportive housing in two different sections of the state law. Um, and then we updated the land use table for permitted or conditionally permitted, which would be consistent again with the other residential z uses of the same type, whether that's a single family or a multif family. And then we also amended the foot the footnote. So all of these were state law requirements. The next one is residential care facilities. So in the health and safety code, it states that residential care homes shall be considered a residential use and shall be subject to only those restrictions that apply to other residential dwellings of the same type in the same zone. So very similar to the supportive and transitional housing. So, our draft ordinance amends the definition to be consistent with state law, updates the land use table, and then also adds a footnote um that residential care homes that are requiring use permits that the conditions of approval shall be

objective and not create barriers. This is specific to again state law. The next is around employee and agricultural employee housing. So employee housing for agricultural workers um consisting of no more than 36 beds in a group quarters or 12 units or spaces designed for a use by a single family or household is to be approved in the same manner as any other agricultural activity in that same zone and is considered an agricultural use. also that employee housing that provides accommodations for six or fewer employees be treated as a single family structure with no conditional or special use permit or variance required. So the employee housing um is defined in our state employee housing act and is regulated by um the department of housing and community development. That being said, um we still um it's very helpful to have things within our own code that kind that help us implement this housing type. And so we added the definition to be consistent with state law. We update the land use table um again identifying where it would be permitted by right or conditionally permitted and this would be consistent with other residential and agricultural uses. We added footnotes and then also we created a new section to add provisions for processing as well as operational standards for employee housing up um greater than six. So this is the ones that are accessory to agricultural uses. Identified these standards. We also added standards for a temporary trailer use um to be used for housing purposes. um specific occupancy and employment criteria, required compliance with all applicable state laws, that they obtain a permit from um HCD or housing and community development, requires the

covenant on the property, and that removal um or obtain approval for use after the activity ceases. So, these are our um proposed changes um to our municipal code. The next one is single room occupancy. So, our state law just requires that the city accommodate for this specific housing type. So, the um ordinance that's before you adds a definition for what a single room occupancy is. Also updating the land use table um again for allowing permitted or conditionally permitted with um consistent with other multifamily residential uses throughout the code. also adds a footnote to what a single room occupancy and directing them to a new section of our code and then also adding provisions for processing and operational standards. So as I stated the state law just says we have to accommodate so we could create um we have more a little bit more flexibility on what that um the operational standards and processing looks like. Um, and also around single room occupancy. Um, if you are curious what that means, um, think of it more as um, historically what we would have called boarding houses. So where, um, I know my grandma lived in a boarding house in Oakland. Um, and a bunch of women lived in different rooms, but then they shared living space as well as kitchen um, and bathroom sometimes. So we um, added provisions about the unit size. So that's the size of the bedroom with or without um the bathroom and that would be 150 square feet and then planning commission amended and made modification um that it would be maximum of 250 ft. Um also that there would be bathroom kitchen and laundry facility requirements as well as common areas. This was modified as well by the planning commission. Um originally it

would be um on had to be on every floor and we modified it to be um that it as needed and up for 10 sorry for every 10 rooms. Um also that the facility management plan needed to be provided including requirement for an on-site manager if it was over 10 units. Um the unit should not be rented for less than 30 days. And then that density standards um would not apply to single room occupancy housing. So each one of the bedrooms would not count as an actual unit that we would for calculation of density in traditional multifamily. And the next one is emergency shelters. So, the government code um modu was modified I want to say two years ago and it specifically requires parking for emergency shelters to comply with requirements of offstright parking for residential or commercial uses within the same zone. We actually do not um have parking requirements set by zone um or saying specifically residential. We have it by the type of residential. of single family or multif family or um commercial could be an office space has a different requirement than a retail space. So um we are proposing to just add that context to um a emergency shelter parking requirement um that it would be it could not be anything more than what would be required for any um residential or commercial use within that zone. And then we also updated um our land use table because the housing element specifically identified that we would increase the number of beds from 15 to 30 for a byite emergency shelter in our public zone. And so that um change was also modified in the land use table.

So the next ordinance is housing element program number 20. So this element program um identifies that the city needs to reszone sites that were used in prior housing elements to allow by development when they provide 20% or more affordable units in their development. Um, HCD has kindly provided us a letter reminding of us of our obligation um that it needs to be done um early next year and so we are um working towards that tonight. So this um also does not include um an application for a subdivision map. So, somebody proposed um a new subdivision um or a condo um that actually will require a discretionary review. But if somebody was to propose on specific sites that were used in prior housing elements um a affordable housing project that had 20% or more of their units as affordable, then they would have a buy development. So, they would have ministerial approval. They wouldn't go through a process. So, no city discretionary approval. Um, and then that actually doesn't um apply to design review. Um, so you could still have design review. You just couldn't actually trigger a SQL process. So, our draft ordinance provides new definitions around what is affordable rent, affordable sales price, etc. We also are adding a footnote to the multifamily dwellings um section in the lounge use tables for commercial and mixeduse zoning districts. Those are the two specific zoning districts that um are this uh provision is actually going to apply to. So what program 20 specifically says it identifies three

sites. Site 11, site 28, and site 70. And I'm going to show you where those are here in just a second. Those are the only three sites that were used on prior housing elements that needed uh to be identified for this provision. So those sites are currently zoned as commercial or mixed use. And so that's why those changes are only in those zones. So site 11 is um on 590 West Napa Street. And then site 28 is 477 West Napa. So this is the lot that's adjacent to Safeway. And then 45 and 69 Napper Road is site 70. And um this is um the lots between Coojier and the small check. So city um staff is re or sorry actually planning commission tonight is recommending that city council um adopt these ordinances and for our purposes introduce um first the ordinance amending title um 19 of the Sonoma municipal code to accommodate our low barrier and other specialized housing types and then the second is to introduce an ordinance amending chapter 19.92 definitions in 1910.050 allowable land uses and permit requirements to allow the development by right in compliance with the state law. Um so as just um a reminder we will come back with more information at um in March with how we're doing on the housing element as a whole. And that concludes staff's presentation.

Yes. Thank you very much. Do we have questions from the council? No. Yes. Vice Mayor will

maybe it's just to humor me but I find it rather ironic that every new law that I shouldn't say every the laws that are coming before us never SQA never applies but things we other things we want of course SQA always comes into play. So, is this just another power play on the part of the politicians wanting to uh again create an implied opportunity to foster or create more housing units.

Um that specific um provision for program number 20 uh is in our housing element law and its intent is for uh housing production. And when they want more housing, then they like to exercise their power to say no, seek was not not applicable. Is that fair to say? That they will permit buy right approval. Minister,

thank you. Um the Montavo project that's somewhere in the planning they got a density bonus and are they pursuing that by right because of the percent 20 percentage of affordables? No. So, um, Montalo is in, um, it was already entitled, um, and so we're moving forward with building permits, but that specific project, um, it was, um, located within our, um, housing opportunity zone, which specifically allowed multifamily by right um, in that zone. Okay.

And it did come forward because it did trigger design review. Um but this specific provision there were three sites um that were remaining that didn't have developments already being proposed. So Montaldo was one of the other sites that was used previously um as well as a another site. Um but these three did not have any developments which is why they were specifically called out within that housing element program that we needed to apply this state law to them. And so that's the intent. It's just for these three sites that if they if there's a housing development proposed on either one of these three and they do 20% um affordable then they were are afforded a buy right or ministerial process.

The um is it fair to say that some of these updates have in all practicality very little application with Sonoma? I don't see egg um housing within our city limits which is our purview. I can see it with the county but we still want to fold it into our because by we're forced to by law. Is that okay? And then my last question is in terms of the emergency shelter, does that require us to create one or does that just say if you choose to create an emergency shelter, you have to apply you now have to accommodate 30 beds instead of 15 and then you also have to meet some sort of parking requirement.

So in the state law around emergency shelters, it specifically states that you need to identify at least one zone that you would allow an emergency shelter by right. It doesn't mean that you need to develop that emergency shelter, just that you need to allow the possibility that it could be allowed by right and then the housing element program identified that the number of beds should be 30 beds. Thank you. Yes, council member Ding. All right.

My question is the timeline. uh you mentioned about on the city of the Sonomaas and housing element was submit uh the last oh approved 2023 by the city council when did you know filed with the uh the state did they approved okay when

so um I wasn't here um so in January um the city council approved it they immediately submitted and there were some um uh modifications that were non-s substantive and they sent their approval letter in April of 2023. Okay. Thank you. And then we report every year on our progress.

Do we need to submit our amendment version? Right now we are doing amendment. So, we are amending the municipal code. We aren't going to amend the housing element, but we are going to submit to show that we are compliant with the requirement of implementing um program number 20 if introduced tonight and adopted in January. Okay. Thank you. What is the consequence for if not compliant with the state? Can you itemize a couple of or

we don't want to do that. Um

yes. So if we are found to be um non-compliant with our housing element or not with um implementing and they are they identified specific programs that they're uh quote unquote watching um and um wanting us to make sure that we achieve. If we aren't compliant with those programs and implementations, then they have the ability um first they send letters and then we try to work out schedules. Um but if they do find it um non-compliant or as non-compliant um they remove that approval and builder's remedy goes into effect.

How about the permitting authority? They want to take over. they would take our that's the builder's remedy. They take over our permitting um for housing development. Thank you. Yes.

To be avoided. So um I have two quick questions. So for the the um the SRO's why Well, I'm sorry. I looked at that and I knew I could have watched the planning commission meeting, but I thought I could just ask you. So, I apologize for not taking the time to do that, but the maximum, why did they move to a maximum of 250 versus 500? Um, so when um, so I wrote the first one um, of doing the max 500 that I was just thinking of a a larger room, but in this case as we were talking about it, ADUs, so a junior ADU max is 450 ft. So that would even be even bigger than that. And those have kitchenetses and bathrooms within their living facilities. And so with a single room occupancy, we're looking towards having rooms um not necessarily have to have a bathroom um or you know a kind of kitchenet. The idea being that you have a a more affordable option um for individuals and so the smaller is going to be more affordable in this case and then we share the common facilities such as restrooms and kitchens and things like that. And so the need for a larger just wasn't seen. Um and then also um when we were talking about density it was coming in that you know we'll let the development standards for multif family housing. So whatever the setbacks and our floor ratio um and our site coverage determine the box and then the more smaller units the more units we get.

Yeah, that's what I Okay, just wanted to clarify that because struggling against more units versus more space but that makes sense. Um and then on the uh housing pro so program 20 what does the 20% do with our ordinance of 25%. So we will still have

do those conflict with each other or do we have to reassess our 25%? No. So, we're currently doing um a study for our inclusionary. So, we can keep that out of that part of it of whether we need we're already looking at it again. But it doesn't change our ordinance as far as inclusionary. So, it's just that if they provide 20% then they have they're allowed that ministerial process. We still require our inclusionary at whatever it is currently 25.

Okay. Thank you very much. At this point, I will um any other questions? I think we're good with the questions. Uh I will open it up for public comment. Oh, it's a public hearing. I will open the public hearing and ask if anybody would like to make a public comment at the public hearing. Oh, I have to do this requirement, right? And we are not seeing any comments. Anybody coming forward? So I will now close the public hearing. There we go. And any discussion? Anybody have any discussion on this item? Everybody's clear. Do I then have a motion? Do we need two motions?

We do need two motions. Yeah. So on the first item, so on item 8.11, 8.11, I move um to introduce the ordinant amendments to title 19 of the Sonoma Municipal Code. Do I have a second? I second. If we take a roll call, please. Vice Mayor Wender, yes. Council member Ding, I. Council member Low, hi. Council member Gurnie, yes. Mayor Ferrar Rivas. Yes. Thank you. The motion carries unanimously.

All right. And then do I have a motion for uh 8.12? Uh, I move to introduce an ordinance adopting amendments to title 19 of the Sonoma Municipal Code to allow developments by ride- on non-vacant and vacant sites previously identified to accommodate the lower income regional housing needs allocation in compliance with state law. I second. All right. Could I have a roll call, please? Vice Mayor Wellander under protest. Yes. Council member Deing I. Council member Low. Hi. Council member Gurnie. Yes. Mayor for Rivas. Yes.

Thank you. The motion. I have to just say this was such stimulating reading.

So moving on. And I I I like legal jargon sometimes. Anyway, so moving on to our regular calendar item 9.1. Uh so we are talking about a resolution approving the conditions for operations vendor stall fee pricing authorizing the city manager execute all agreements for the operation of Soma's Tuesday night market 2026 season in accordance with the adopted budget. And uh we don't have Lisa Jansen with here tonight but we have Dave Jans. So we have Jansen and Jans. Very good.

Very good. And Dave and David. Yeah. commonalities. Uh good evening, mayor, council members. Nice to see you again. Um as you mentioned, uh Lisa Jansen, our senior management analyst, can be here this evening, so I'll be presenting on her behalf. and and I will start off first uh to make sure I don't forget, but I want to thank Lisa and the entire team um for all the work they did all summer long and for for previous years as well as Jerry Wheeler who's our market manager uh Mark Bowdenhammer and the Chamber of Commerce um who are our core planning team and the numerous community partners that make this market possible. Um it truly takes a village for this to happen. Um we'll go through that in a little bit detail, but just want to make sure that I thank them um for their efforts. Um, so we'll go through uh an overview of 2025 and then we'll look forward to 2026 um and eventually get to a few uh action items and recommendations that we're looking for from the council. Um so starting with 2025 um and again from a personal perspective I got to uh capture the final month of the markets as I joined in August. Um but it was clear to me and obviously to to the community members this is a it's a strong community tradition. It's a staple of our Sonoma community. Um, and we saw that once again in 2025. Um, so we saw a really nice turnout um, with record numbers of nonprofits participating um, this year. We added some new programming in in partnership with music in place. So we saw some new music uh, youth music programming happening in the amphitheater. Uh, record numbers of entries for the famous zucchini races um, at the end of August. Um, we did also see a growth in our sponsorship dollars and we uh stood in line with making sure that we are a net neutral and that we're covering all our costs and are actually anticipating um a revenue of about $12,000 this year. Um, I think some of these go without saying, but I think important to to highlight each year. As I mentioned,

this is a signature tradition. Um, our intent is to highlight and support local farmers, artisans, our business community. Uh the market's wonderful because it's free. It's accessible. Anybody can come and take part and enjoy the music. Um they can they can be with their community members. They can come together in one place on a regular basis throughout the duration of spring all the way into uh almost fall. Um it increases foot traffic into our downtown core. Um really cements uh the plaza as a centralized gathering place and a place for community to come together. Um it's a great opportunity to strengthen our community partnerships. As I mentioned, it takes quite a few organizations and individuals for this to to be implemented, but it also is an opportunity for other organizations to come and share what they're doing and the great work that they're completing in our community as well. Um, and we've had a big push in recent years to continue to promote sustainable um transportation, food access, and healthy initiatives. So, a few successes that we want to point out from this year. Um, continue to highlight some of those eco-friendly programs. continued the free bike valet, encouraging people to walk, bike, use public transit when they come down um to the park, continued to work with our part partners and uh making sure that we had uh plentiful waste diversion stations that were in there. Um we improved our waste management. Um and this goes in long part with our agreement that we have with Sonoma Garbage Collectors. So, if you've been out the markets, you'll see that we have numerous receptacles and it's a really um kind of all hands-on to make sure that our our waste is being diverted properly um at a an event of that scale. Um each week we really are are talking to our vendors um but at the end of the season just really received positive feedback uh regarding the schedule layout. Um pretty smooth load in load out um becomes routine with some of the vendors. Um, but that's also taken some tweaking on the back end, both in collaboration with the vendors and our on-site staff and partners to make sure

that it's a smooth process and that our vendors want to want to come back each and every week and each summer. Um, continue to see growth and retention of our local businesses that participate in the market. That is a that's a focus of what we do. We want to make sure that um it's accessible and that our local businesses and farmers want to participate in uh in this market and uh low incident rate when it came to medical security and uh and and general park issues. So, big thank you to our our sheriff's department, police department, and our fire department who helped support um all those initiatives. And one thing that we've started working on the last several years is getting our vendors to migrate to our open gov platform and more electronic. really helps us with tracking, with communication, but we know for some individuals that was a a bit of a learned curve to go from paper copy to electronic copy. Um, but saw a lot more success and a lot more uh smoother process this year. Um, so looking at some challenges and as we like to spin it, some potential opportunities as we look forward to 2026. Um, I mentioned the the great impact and the benefit of those youth performances. Some feedback we received was that while those performances were great, when they had a youth performance or a music performance in general happening in the amphitheater and also happening on the front lawn, depending on where you were, there tend to be some sound bleed and there could be some overlap. And so what we've done is we've met with our music providers and we're going to schedule that a little bit differently this year. And so for example, when we have those youth performances, rather than both of them playing from 6:00 to 8, we're going to have the amphitheater performances be more of an opening act. So that'll happen from 5:20 to 6:00. They'll take a break. that'll move to the front lawn. When the front lawn performers take a break, we'll then turn back to the amphitheater and we intend to post that as a schedule and kind of create a more uh just overall music atmosphere that's happening and not competing with one another. Um, one thing that we did see, and it was discussed at at great length in our our debrief and something we'll talk about when we get to the schedule, we did see um a decline in attendance

when we got to the month of September. maybe due to some seasonality shifts, families going back to school, other activities happening, a change in the weather, a change in the timing. Um, but we saw a significant decrease when it comes to markets that place after u after the Labor Day weekend. And so you'll see in our schedule that we're proposing some modifications to that for the coming year. Um, there was a recognition that we need more wayfinding signage. Um, I like to think that I got to help with this a little bit coming in as a new set of eyes, right? As a new new attendee at the market. Um, and in talking to to visitors, we got a lot of questions about where bathrooms were, where bike valet was, where they could where um patrons could go to to get their electronic benefit transfer credits. And so, we're looking at ways that we can improve signage that will complement the existing aesthetic of the market, but if you're coming to the market for the very first time, make it easier to navigate the space. Um, and an ongoing discussion is as uh in the world we live in, we need to make sure that we are securing our space um well. So, we're working with um our law enforcement team and this is actually built in. We have a we have a set aside CIP project that will be coming in the future, but we're looking at ways to make sure that we have um the plaza safely secured. And so looking at opportunities for ballards, whether that's a permanent structure or whether that is um temporary ones that are easily easily deployable. The way that we manage that this year, you may have noticed that um two of our food vendors, the food trucks replaced at the the front of the ballard because the vehicles served as uh security deterrence, but also as a as a opportunity for there to be sales and create a new food atmosphere in that area. And then finally looking at ADA parking constraints with the setup of the market. um where we set up and where the towards the entry of the plaza, we have to take several um ADA parking stalls out of compliance. And so what we're looking to do is looking and see if we can um add temporary stalls um

when we do take them out in that area or if there's opportunities to relocate those stalls to another location on a permanent basis. Um, one thing that we're looking at for the coming year and some of this is building upon um, energy that's happened in previous years is looking at ways that we can infuse more community and more recreation into our programming. And so this this happened this previous year, but we really want to bolster it this year is um, continuing the tradition of nonprofit spotlight. We have lots of nonprofits that uh, take part each week, but spotlighting uh, nonprofits on a weekly basis and really sharing the great impact that they're having on the community. Um, we want to continue to work in partnership with our music partners. We know that with based on uh attendee feedback, music is a big driver. It's an important part for people that attend those markets and so continue to making sure that we have uh an eclectic mix of music. Um, that there's different opportunities for performers to come in, but that is a staple of the market. Um, when it comes to marketing and sponsorship, um, internally we're looking to get those materials out a little bit sooner. um especially if there's an interest for uh more partnership, more sponsorship, get those materials in the hands of our community partners earlier in the year and just really build momentum early on in 2026. And one thing that we're looking at from a parks and recreation standpoint is if we can really build out some of those activation areas. You may be familiar if you've been at the market, you'll see there's um certain children family activities. Um, but we think that's an opportunity to to grow that and so that when uh families comes or adults come that there's there's music, there's food, there's activities, just continue to look at how we can make it a full well-rounded experience. So, looking at the schedule, um the proposed schedule for 2026, and this is where you'll see the change I was re uh I was mentioning, we're recommending um that the the market season run from May 5th to September 8th. Traditionally, it's run through the end of September. And so, in comparison, we're looking at

a total of 19 markets versus 21. And if you're doing the math, that may look like that's three less weeks. But the reason being is that um historically, we haven't had a market during the week of Fourth of July, but with Fourth of July landing, I believe it's on a a Saturday this year. Um we are proposing to have a market on June 30th. Provides enough gap and I think there will be enough interest for community members to come out. So, uh, shortens the overall market span by 3 weeks, but really two less markets. Um, hours of operation remaining the same of 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Typically in September, we've rolled those hours back a little bit shorter as the daylight um shortens, but we'll keep with 5:00 pm to 8:00 p.m. throughout the the entirety of the series. Um, we are recommending that we move the city party off of a Tuesday evening. Um, looking right now tentatively at Friday, August 4th. And the reason being is that'll allow us to uh have a have a Tuesday market that week and also give an opportunity to really highlight the city party as its own own event and own tradition um that stands apart from the the Tuesday markets. Um zucchini races will continue on right now circled for August 18th. And as I mentioned before, continuing to really focus on our music programming um that will continue with music on the lawn each week. And then the second Tuesday of each month, uh, we highlight music from the Jazz Society and the third Tuesday is youth music in partnership with music in place. Uh, now moving into some of the items that we're looking for your u approval on this evening. And so first one is simply a policy update. This is a snapshot of the existing farmers market policy. And so what we're proposing is in the highlighted area. um as it said before is that we would not conduct a market on the Fourth of July week and we'd like to change that language that will determine whether or not to hold that market based on where the Fourth of July falls each year. And so that would allow us to have the market on the week of the 4th of July this coming year.

Moving into the budget aspect, um some highlevel highlights for you. Again, um we're anticipating a net neutral budget, um with some anticipated revenue, u but we fully anticipate to cover all of our operational operational costs. Um we're recommending that vendor stall fees remain the same, which I'll put those up for you here in a moment. Um I believe they increased um two years ago. And so to keep them the same and with the the revenue projected from from the vendor stall fees, we'll still be in line with recovering our costs. Um, we continue to put investment into music programming. Um, we are asking for within our budget a slight increase in materials and that's to address things like signage and some of our just general materials. Um, it's a pretty minor increase overall. Um, but that we're replenishing some of our supplies and that we want to make sure that we're continuing those eco-friendly initiatives. So, continuing the bike valet which does come at a cost. Um but we think it's an important component of the market and making sure that we have all the the impacts in all the elements in place to make sure that we have proper waste diversion, continuing the water filling station and other elements. And then also a key component of the mark is continuing our EBT, our electronic benefit transfer match. Um and typically we find a sponsor to help u make sure that's 100% match and we want to make sure that we continue that in the coming year. So, here's a look at the proposed vendor fees. Again, no changes being proposed um from last season. Um but you can see the the breakdown of based on location and style of vendor. And then this is a a highle view at the proposed budget for the market for this year. More detailed version is in the in your packet. Um, but this is what our projected revenues and expenditures are for the coming year. Right now, showing

uh projected net revenue of about uh $6,800. And next steps, so uh following discussion this this evening, if approved, we would move into our vendor application process. Um we typically open that at the end of this month or very early um in January, and that remains open through February. Um, we would begin to enter into agreements with all of our market partners, which includes our market manager, chamber of commerce, um, the various entities that help us, uh, produce, uh, the music and the sound elements, u sheriff's department for security, um, and others. Uh, the market advisory team, um, will review the applications and typically we select those in mid March. And as in similar years, we're looking to continue that balance of making sure that we have good representation from local businesses, from farmers, from artisans, that's meeting both the needs of the community, make sure that it meets our financial needs. Um, and it is uh creating the experience that we want our community to have in the community. And if uh all goes to plan, we will kick things off with our first market on May 5th. And so then before you staff recommendation would be to adopt a re resolution approving the proposed changes to the conditions uh for the Tuesday night market approving the proposed 2026 stall fees for Soma's Tuesday night market as the maximum that we would charge and authorizing the city manager to execute all agreements for the operation of the market in accordance with the proposed budget. And with that, happy to take any questions you may have.

Great. Do we have any questions? Yes. Vice Mayor Wader, thank you. I was a little confused. Are we still going to have a third party vendor for helping sorting the garbage? Because to date it it it seemed like we brought in a sub separate subcontractor. That's correct. So it would be the same same as before and that's working with I believe the company is Green Mary

and that wasn't included in our negotiations with Sonoma Garbage Company is their responsibility. snowmo garbage uh with the new contract with snowmo garbage collectors has reduced the cost to us that that's reflected in the budget that the contract did include uh the separation and recycling so they are doing that work.

Thank you. Um, it's my understanding down through the years that it that it's been very challenging for both Lisa and Jerry to to get other farmers to actually come for a couple reasons. One being that the vast majority of the people that attend Tuesday night are more interested in drinking wine and listening to music and gabbing. And it saddens me because I love the attraction of the title farmers market. And I would just like to continue to challenge the team to do whatever they can and because we are running a proposed u um plus or profit. I would throw out there that I think right now we have maybe five vendors that sell something you can eat uh from the ground or what have you. Uh, I'd almost consider um letting the farmers be free. If you're charging 30 bucks an event now or a an evening or a time, that works out to be uh a loss of $2,850. And uh that would still put us in a positive vein. And I just think that would may not solve the problem, but it speaks to our desire to do whatever we can to make them um profitable, at least make it worthwhile for them to come because there's a marked difference between what happens on Tuesday night in that farmers market and what happens on Friday at the farmers market at Arnold Field. So, I just throw that out there for uh thought.

Agreed. And and I think that'll be, you know, one thing that I've spoken to the the team about is that, you know, certainly if there are more farmers that are interested, we will we will make sure that there's space for local farmers. And so that's something that we will actively actively pursue. And I think worth worth conversations to have is the what may be the barriers. Is it the is it the timing? Is it is it the price itself? And is there ways that we can make it more flexible for them?

Great. Great. Um this is just a little sidebar. I know there's been when you're planning the citywide party and I just come up with the idea of the date of it, but I would love to see consideration to opening back up Spain Street uh just l in lie of how incredibly crowded it gets in a very confined state and we did that at one time. So that's a sidebar. And then uh under public safety, it says new county requirement for on-site ALS ambulance service valued at 10 grand is being provided at no cost by the Sonoma Valley District. But what what was the what what is now the new imposed requirement from the county?

I may not be able to speak to the specifics, but I know that uh I think just due to the nature of the event that we're required to have medical on site versus it used to be. I think it could be um you know whether it's it's a fire that is there that's not in their official capacity in that way if they were to get a call but I think required to have due to the size of this is that have medical response on site that's dedicated to the event itself. Great. Um I think that's it. Thank you. Other questions? Yes. Council member Deng,

have you heard any feedback from other regular restaurants like EDK or uh girls and the fed they business any affected because of farmers market? I personally haven't, but I know that that is a balance that we look at. I think part of the reason that it's landed on a on a Tuesday evening out of tradition is that um rather than competing with one of their more more popular nights, um so our overall intent is to bring people downtown and we hope that they they visit those locations as much as they do visit uh visit the plaza even if not that same night for visitors potentially awareness. Um but I I I have not personally had um received that feedback, but I know um working with Mark and his team at the Chamber of Commerce, we will will definitely take any of their their feedback into consideration.

Any um Mark, do you have any you want to share with us?

Sure. Thank you. Uh good evening, Mayor and Council. Mark Bodnamer from the Cinema Valley Chamber of Commerce. Yes, we we hear about it from the local businesses. there is uh you know competing interest from the the event like the farmers market and any event that happens on the plaza. It draws people away from the business side and into the park side. That's the reason that we do it on a Tuesday night. Um when we were coming out of co we made a special effort to actually limit the number of food vendors that were here so that we could push people towards the existing restaurants and encourage them to get to go food and bring it over. But what happens is a lot of the restaurants close on Tuesday nights anyway and there's not quite enough to serve this amount of people. So, uh it's kind of one of those things where not everybody's perfectly happy every week for sure. There are some complaints that we get, but they do understand that this is a cherished community celebration uh that we're committed to having it just on Tuesdays and not trying to recreate this on Saturdays or something like that that would create an ongoing conflict with their busiest of days. Um so that's something we're constantly monitoring. We do make a special effort the the the vendor selection process. If you take a look at the food vendors that are there, we don't have we get a a number of pizza vendor applications every year, but we say no to all of them because we have pizza restaurants around the plaza, um Italian restaurants. So, we try to avoid any direct competition with the restaurants that are there. And so, that's why you'll see Thai food, which isn't represented around the plaza, or, you know, some of the other options that are around there. So that's that's the the compromise that we're aiming to find.

Thank you so much. That's a firsthand information and I would like to you know suggest we should closely look at and those are existing you know business owners because they are truly and tax dollars generator instead of and farmers market. So that they year wrong, you know. Yes. Here and we'll have more discussion. Right now we're going to do more questions. So do did you have a question council member Gurnie? Yes, I do.

Thank you. So, um, first of all, I, you know, when I first came to the council, this was one of the issues that, that was of concern to me in terms of breaking even, um, or at least covering the costs to the city on this event. Um and so my question is in the staff report um it indicates that the season uh concluded with about $4,400 um better than projected and then in your presentation or Lisa's presentation it indicates $12,345. I was just kind of wondering how that increased substantially.

Yeah. Yeah. And if you if you look at the line item, I had to do the same thing when I was looking at it. So the we actually ended up with in the what the staff refer report is referring to is 4,400 higher than expected. So the 12,000 revenue was what was the actual versus what the anticipated was. And so if you look at the the budget exhibit that goes with it is actually ended up with a $12,000 revenue, which was 4,000 more than we anticipated.

Okay. All right. Thank you. And um I would just like to point out that um your your title slide shows that this is a Tuesday night market and not a farmers market, which it will take forever to learn to rephrase that for for a lot of people. But um I think that's very good to be marketing it as a non-farmers market. Thank you.

Questions, Councilwoman Low. No. So, um, yeah, I I just wanted to Why don't we all make my comment in the comment period? So, at this point, why don't we go ahead and see if we have any public comment on this item. All right. But thank you. Great presentation. And then I'll bring it back to the council for any just general comments um or discussion. Yes, Vice Mayor general comment that I think we can kick down the the the road for a later date and time, but I think it'd be worthwhile uh either revisiting the dog policy on uh market night, and I don't have a a dog in the fight, per se, but I'm just saying that it's something that comes up frequently. It's been very hard to enforce and uh it puts sometimes the staff in a very awkward position. I know there are regulations, but I think at some point in time I'd like to suggest that we bring it back for some discussion.

Yes.

Just on that um as it is kind of still a farmers market, I believe there is a prohibition of animals on the site. I know on uh Friday market that's certainly the case. Um, so, uh, I'm I'm happy to revisit anything that that council wants to revisit, but it that doesn't seem like of all the times we talk about it, the least appropriate since it's doesn't seem to be allowed under the opaces of I don't know if this is still under the same farmers market authority, but it, you know, anyway, I don't want to get too deep down that rabbit hole. I mean, another animal u hunt. Totally. Sorry about that. Um I I um my question is just regarding the um moving the city party to a Friday if we are concerned about the impact on restaurants. Um I don't I don't recall the city party. Isn't it usually on a Thursday or a Tuesday? Um in the

It used to be on a Thursday and then it was like let's do it at the same day as the farm. Anyway, but but I think what we're there if I remember correctly we're authorizing this that that would be a discussion each year as to whether or not that happened the same. I think that's about the 4th of July. That was the No, but I thought they mentioned it about the city. Anyway, let's get some clarity on that. Obviously, we all heard something different here. Yeah. What's the current thinking from from your expertise?

So, the the intent is to move it off of uh off of a Tuesday to make it separate from the Tuesday market. Some of the feedback and the discussion the team said is it was a was a very successful party last year. It felt like a kind of a glorified market rather than being its own standalone evening. And so, uh the intent was to move it to a Friday night. Um, we understand that there may be some competing factors with it being on a Friday. Um, but that felt like the most conducive evening for the community to come together and have the biggest celebration possible. We are open. It's not set in stone at this point. Um, in previous years it had fallen on a on a Thursday. I know at one point it had been moved to a Thursday to to make sure that didn't conflict with a transcendence performance night. So, it's it's moved around a little bit is my understanding. Um, so the idea was to to have it stand alone as um an important event as it is. and uh having it land on a close to a weekend evening felt like the best opportunity to bring the community together.

Well, I would hope that it wouldn't um conflict with Transcendence and I was checking their schedule as we were going through these dates to make sure. Uh don't want that to happen. Um but I just have Friday seems like there's a lot going on on Friday. Um, I mean, I was told it's always the first Thursday in August or whatever it was. It was kind of like, you know, it's like Thanksgiving's the last Thursday in in November and that's when it is, you know. Um, so I don't know. Th I I'm kind of leaning towards Thursday just because I think, you know, I think the point was well taken regarding the restaurants and so forth. I mean, Thursday is still a busy a busy time as well, but um Friday I think would be would be tough. It's very crowded thankfully downtown.

So, I would just ask if we with that direction from city council if we could consider keeping this language which allows for for the consideration of these items versus us changing it so that it is always on a Thursday. That would be my recommendation. We keep this as it is. that you're hearing cuz I think one of the things I noticed is that the two events that we had were just so that we know there's other things that happened that bring a lot of business to the restaurants. So both the lighting of of the plaza and the tractor lights you could not get into a bar or restaurant on the plaza because they were packed. So there are those other activities that are happening where we're really, you know, working providing activities that really are good for the restaurants as well. So that was just that was one of my my comments. Um yeah. So yes, Council Member Gurnie,

I have lived through some conversations with the restaurant owners and um not I would not be able to support a Friday night party and um and so I would suggest an alternative and you know quite honestly a Monday night would be wonderful probably but that's just me. But I, you know, I want staff to make those decisions. Um, but I think you're hearing what what our concern is and and restaurants they're valuable and uh and they know it. So, um, so I would make sure that What are you smiling back there, Mark? Um,

yeah. Anyway, so um I just that's my only comment. Um, otherwise moving.

Yeah. And if I could just tag on to that, getting back to my original other things apart from restaurants on Friday night, there are uh events like at the Sebastian Theater. Um you know, and I know they're they've made all kinds of efforts to change programming to keep, you know, now that people don't go to the movies as much anymore. I would hate to impact that business as well. and also Sonoma Arts Live um who tries to alternate so that people go to see live performances there and anyway you know I think you get it. Thank you.

Absolutely. And and we can certainly the uh the date was certainly tentative. I think the importance that we wanted to highlight this evening is with the intent to move it away from u a Tuesday evening to set it apart from uh the market schedule. So, uh, feedback definitely heard and we'll we'll continue to look at the dates and we'll work with with Mark and our business community to make sure that we're doing something that is in the best interest of of community attendees and our our business community as well.

Yeah, thank you very much. And I think it's a it's a good point to talk to some of the retail stores around too as well as the restaurants because Tuesday night markets, you know, they stay open people showing up at the plaza 4, right? So they are impacted too just to make sure that we get their impact as well. I know they don't do as much they don't do as much business on Tuesday nights when the market is there. So I keep saying well you know come on out but it's important for us to to talk to both retail you know and and as well as the restaurants as well too. So but thank you. I mean it looks like you're you're taking everything into consideration and talking to folks. It was a great great presentation and it's making money. Yeah. Which is better than we've seen in the last the last markets. The markets have been very very full. I mean I know we had a few nights that weren't so full and I really do my sense was it was weather. You know it was like we had a couple cold nights in September and people just Yeah. And a couple too hot nights. Yeah. So all right.

Thank you. So uh at this point I will ask if we have a motion to approve. Do we need to do these as three or can we take them as one resolution? You can do this as uh one motion. Great. So uh do we have a motion? I have a motion.

Yes. I move to approve to adopt the resolution approving the proposed the changes to the condition for operation for Tuesday night market approved 2026 stone fee for Sonoma's Tuesday night market as the maximum to be charged and authorizing the city manager to execute and all agreements for operation of the Sonoma Tuesday night market 2026 season in accordance with the adopted budget.

Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. All right. So, moving on. Uh this is the time we're going to do before we do the council reorganization. Oh, we didn't have 10 people, so we don't need to do a second public comment period. So, moving on to council reorganization. What is that? Could someone explain to me what that is? I thought this was like a lifetime kind of thing. No, excuse me. You have to pass the gabble. It's time to time it. It could be depending upon the No more queens would be happening here.

All right. So, moving on. So, um, all right. So, I'm looking at this. Um, I'm I'm going to start. Should I start with the nomination process? This is No, I believe it's presentation. There's a presentation. Me? Yes. Your mentee wants to speak. Oh, good. Go. Go. Menty.

This is the time for all of us up here as well as in the crowd to express our appreciation uh to our current mayor, Patricia Ferris Rivas. and what she has brought. I recognize in the course of this evening that I have probably used up all my aotted time, but I'm still going to take a few minutes and express some thoughts that I have u come up with for our mayor. I realize that everybody has a story and certainly Patricia has a story and some of the what I call uh attributes of her story or key elements of her story that came across uh as mayor was that she has brought a strong business acummen that I think we've all appreciated but more than that also kind of an entrepreneurial spirit that I believe she's tked all around the world to kind of share with others and I think that was good. I um I think she was influenced by the previous mayor, but she was also very successful that she maintained a sense of humor because I think in today's world, we all need a sense of humor. I appreciate the fact that she fostered an environment to uh encourage everybody to speak to uh create an opportunity for everybody to speak. Um I thought also my observation is that she has been very present during the course of this year to the community and I think that's a very important part of it as well and with that you've offered compassion and grace um and I also um greatly appreciated um the element of passion that you have brought consistently regarding a number of climate challenges. I think that's good. That's a reminder for me. And I think uh

lastly, the other uh element that you just displayed just minutes ago was feeling very comfortable to bring up a counterpoint. And I think those counterpoints again encourage us to think a little bit broader. So again, thank you. Now, I believe to my left I have a box. And as much I was kind of hoping it would be a box of seas candy that you would share with us, I don't think it is. There is a tradition here that I have not been able to quite understand or fully appreciate. But at the same time, uh it is with great pleasure that I uh again thank you for your um time and your contribution that you've given to us as a as a as a council. And I I am very happy with the makeup of our council. I think we work well and again you have continued to to make that happen. So before I give the rest of my fellow council members an opportunity to speak. I do want to get rid of this box over here.

It's not another cat. I hope. No. Here we go. Whoa. Heavy. I think I know what it is. I think I John gave me a clue. Oh, look at this. Whoa. All right. For those of you that haven't seen one of these, I'm not taking it out of the box. I don't think I'll get it back in again. There we go. And I believe that is not to be used in with your husband. Very good. Thank you. Thank you for your kind words. And now I would like to give my fellow council members an opportunity to to share their thoughts.

Makes it real.

Well, let me jump in here. Um, sitting next to Patricia up here has been great. Um, she's just as bad about public comment as I was. And or maybe she learned that from me. I don't know. But um anyway, and I just have to say that um I admire your commitment and um and what you bring to the conversation um always um you know, you talk in terms of social justice, the environment, um green power, um and and those are very important things and I I think we'd all agree to that. Um it may not be at the top of my agenda, but you always brought it forward and I appreciate that. Um, and the commitment to your role as mayor, you embarrass me because you showed up to everything and and I used to kind of laugh to myself because I wouldn't go to that. Um, but you did. You showed up. You represented the city and um and you made all of us very proud. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. Well, um, so I have a little story here. Um, I asked Patricia if she would please run for city council the like the last day of filing and I have never regretted that. She may have, but I have never regretted that. And she she said, and this is sort of a a story hopefully for people who are ever thinking about running for something. Well, I've never done that. And what? I don't know if I'm qualified. And And by the way, women always ask don't think they're qualified. And they're women are just by virtue honestly are really qualified because they run the world. And um you know, but it took a lot of uh well, you know, they're moms. You know, it's a mom thing, right? So, um, anyway, so she, um, you know, she was saying, "I don't know. I don't think, you know, I don't think I can do it, whatever." And I'm like, "Please, please, please." And, you know, we got it all done and everything. And as I said, I've never I've never looked back from that. And she may be mad at me for doing it, but, you know, she brought um such integrity. She has such a wealth of experience that John referred to. Her caring for the environment is just fantastic. I mean, and it's such an important piece and it's like I always know she's going to be looking for it. So, even if I'm not looking for it, it's like I know she's got this, you know, she's got this piece. And uh she takes uh notes wherever she goes. Sometimes they're very long notes, but they're very good. and she really takes it seriously. So, um I just want to thank you for saying yes to run for city council all those years ago. Um and u

and I encourage people out there if you know some wonderful person, woman, not woman, whoever, who is doing great things in the community, they too can serve. And don't ever doubt your power and don't ever doubt um what you're capable of because certainly um Patricia has shown us that she's she's just been a fantastic member of of this body and an amazing mayor and I look forward to working with you for the rest of your term. Thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, Patricia sitting next to me. But actually after the meeting uh I haven't got a lot of the connections or a long time to talk with Patricia but I very much admire her and also uh sometimes I using my intuition this is a wonderful you know the lady and the capful lady but that isn't the truth. What impressed me is the one time that is two years ago and I and met Patricia at uh the Fairmont Hotel because and the workers they gathered together want to set up in the union and I saw her and then you know impressed me a lot. she is caring and that people those and in need and also focus on social equity and the another thing impressed me a lot and also he pay a lot of attention to the young generation and you didn't tell me but your nephew tell me because your nephew is my neighbor and you always support and your using your husband's the Tesla is not Tesla and the priest give to your granddaughter. Yeah, they I can tell they really love you and you are amazing. Thank you so much.

No, we're not done. So, we must uh I'm going to change this slightly because I think it's appropriate. I'm going to again open up the opportunity for anybody in the public wishes to express any comments, but I'm going to take it one step further and say if there's anybody on staff that would like to say a comment, please do. This is your time.

Since I have a microphone, I'm going to jump right in. Um, oh, Patricia, thank you. It's been wonderful working with you this past year. Uh each year I get to work with a new mayor and it's it's great to set up the agendas, work through issues and uh I I appreciate the dedication and time you put to it. Um we we definitely went over an hour many times and you put in the time and I appreciate that you're willing to take my calls anytime of day or night and uh thank you for all that. It meant a lot to the process. Thank you. Hi again, Mark Bowden here with the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce and uh it's a recurring theme in everybody's comments, but you're showing up and uh being a participatory mayor, you're not just someone with a gavl sharing your ideas, you really showed up to do the job. I was thinking through uh our last year uh between ribbon cutings, our industry cluster meetings, our climate safe tourism group, uh all the other obligations and we're we're one of dozens of organizations like the chamber and the community and I know you've done similar work with other facets of the of the town. So, a couple of things. One, just thank you for all of that time. Two, I hope the community understands how much time it is, not just the mayor, but all of you guys. Um that's countless hours throughout the year. And and just a reminder of how important that is to the people that you're connecting with um those of us who are in this room a lot, I think it's easy to forget that, you know, it's Patricia, whatever. But when the mayor shows up to a local business that's opening up, uh it means a lot to them. They don't interface with the mayor with elected officials a lot. So it's a really uh it's a big honor to them and it means a lot and I appreciate all the time that you put in. So commend you on a great year and thanks for everything.

Thank you, Mark. You have two minutes.

Robert Demler. I um I am a citizen at large because I'm in a district that has no council member. So I'm not represented. So I'm representing myself tonight to say thank you very much. I still remember meeting you over the back fence at the Mason Na'vi house when Sheila O'Neal was bringing you around the neighborhood to say hello to people and I saw integrity and sincerity and I appreciated you and I supported you at that time just that first meeting and I want to thank you for your support to the nonprofits. I'm speaking for both the league, Sonoma League and the Sister Cities Association. Sandra, Council Member Lo represented the sister cities at Shambo Museni in Burgundy in France, one of our sister cities. You, I think, sort of pulled off a resuscitation or whatever the verb is of our relationship with Pasquaro. uh when the mayors of Pasquaro whom it we had heard had refused visits from people representing the sister city in the past came to town and met with you and it was a a very fine meeting and you went down to Mexico you alone without any of the sister city people and represented not only sister city but Sonoma and California and the best of us. Things are going really swimmingly with Pet Squorro now. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We always appreciate it.

Oh my goodness. I was supposed to bring the tequila tonight. It was a fabulous trip. Oh yeah, the tequila. We'll we'll drink that tequila yet. Sister City and City of Sonoma together. Mayor Tom Graves. Um, Vice Mayor, thank you for the invitation for me to speak. Every time there's an invitation for people to speak, everyone over here looks at me. I'm sorry about that. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you and everyone on the council and everyone over here, honest to God, for everything you do for this town. Um, I may not agree with you all the time. I usually do, but I appreciate what you do. I don't think I could do it, and I I appreciate how important it is and how much time you all spend uh on our behalf. So, thank you so much. If I'm not going to see anybody else come from the audience, uh I will pass it back to our mayor, but I would also encourage you uh after the meeting if you wish to share in private some comments to our mayor. I think it's welld deserved. So, mayor, it's back in your court.

Great. Well, thank you. I have to say when people always keep asking me like, you know, how does it feel you won't be mayor anymore? Are you glad? Like, are you happy this is over? And I'm always like, well, you know, it it's actually this mix of sadness and it is a big responsibility. So, it does take a lot of time. And I but I think the thing about it is it is really such an honor to be able to represent such a beautiful city and such fabulous people because and that's what's so good about being mayor is you get to meet all these people and you meet people that you wouldn't normally come in contact with. And what you said, Mark, is what dawned on me because I'm always like, "Yeah, I'm the mayor and you know, it's all right. I'm there." But, you know, it means when you show up, when the mayor shows up, it means a lot to people and it's so, you know, that kind of energized me. It so it energized people and energized me. So, it was always wonderful to be in our community. We have such an amazing community, but to be able, oh, you had a great year. And I would always say, you know, it's all about timing because, you know, we hired a great city manager. We have great staff. We have a great council. You know, there's a c a couple of years of a lot of work going on. And so I have been able to to benefit in many ways from that from the work everybody else did that people kind of think that somehow I'm responsible for that. And I well, you know, I have certain level of responsibility, but it really is the whole city. It's, you know, including our fire department, our police department, Chief Acre, Chief Cutting. It's just an amazing place to be in the world today. There's so much pain and so much division that you don't feel that here in Soma. people care about

everybody in town and they want to work together to do the best job we can to take care of everybody and there's a lot we can do and a lot more we can do but we really are very very fortunate to be here and we have a really wonderful community so it's it has really been an honor and I think everybody should at some point in their life have something to do with local government I think that that's would make a very big difference in people understanding what democracy is and then really protect it. So, thank you all. Thank you. All right, so now we get to do the fun part. All right. So, at this point, what I'm going to do is ask for uh nominations for the next the position for mayor for the year 2026.

Madame Mayor, yes. I would like to nominate the vice mayor, Ron Wellander. Oh, and do we have a second? Oh, we don't need a second. It's a nomination. We just get to take a vote. Thank you. We do need the nomination. the nominee can decline. I accept.

Yes. And by the way, I am willing to step down. So, just to make sure that people are clear about that. Oh, I had one other thank you. I have to thank Mayor Gurnie and Mayor Low, previous our Mayor Ding for really helping show me how to do this. And especially someone right here next to me saying, "Yeah, public comment. Public comment. very helpful. Anyway, all right. So, at this point, let's take a uh a vote by roll. Public comment and then public comment. Oh, good. Thank you. See, there we go. Sometime he does it for Do we have public comment?

Robert Demler again. You look like you know what you're doing. And I'm encouraging you.

I think I think Welder is the nicest, friendliest guy around town. He's everywhere. He gets around. So, I think I think you're going to have to run hard to keep up with Patricia. But you do a good job already. So, I'm looking forward to working with you for the coming year.

Yeah. I have to say of having May Ron as a vice mayor, he was almost every place I was and I knew there was places I wasn't where he was. So, I think he's going to could has the potential to do a fabulous job. So, any other comments? Okay, moving forward. Let's go ahead and take the vote. Oh, should I start with Vice Mayor Wellinger for one last time? Shall we come back to you? Council member Dean, I. Council member Lou, I. Council member Gurnie, yes. Mayor Ferrar Rivas, yes.

Present. All right. So, do I do this next part or do I hand it over to the new mayor? Hand it to your I'm gonna hand it over to the new mayor. I'm going to go like this to this part that we finish this section, but you get to finish it. All right. Here we go. I have a lot of movement. You're going to come back tools. Take the tools. See, already shows he's smart. He's efficient.

All right. that I would like to bring back to the dis the next task and that is to uh receive nominations for vice mayor for 2026. I'd like to nominate Sanderlow. I'll accept. Thank you.

With that, I would like to bring it back to the public for public comment. I'm just going to say thank you again for being a great hostess for the Italians when they came and for going to represent us to the French and I know you will do the same for us in any capacity. So, thank you so much. Seeing no more public comments, uh, I'd like to ask Madame Clerk for Can I have a quick comment? I mean, I Yes, of course you can. Mayor Wetlander.

I I have to thank you because this has been one of the best experiences I've had. So, yes. So, thank you. And you were a you're a great vice mayor, so I'm sure you'll be a great vice mayor again there. Oh, you haven't. Oh, you were a great mayor then. Okay. Thank you. The word vice and me so far apart. It will be a partnership. So, any more comments from the DAS? Seeing none, I'd like to ask the clerk to roll call. Council member Dean I. Council member Low I. Council me Council Member Green.

Yes. Council member Ferrar Rivas. Yes. And Mayor Wellender with enthusiasm. Yes. The motion carries unanimously. Apparently the uh former mayor did bring her tequila because it calls for 15minute recess to enjoy some brief tequila refreshments. We can actually adjourn the meeting and we do have refreshments outside if anybody wants to join us to to celebrate.

Thank you very much. and I would do something that my fellow council members will look forward to anxiously in the future. This meeting is adjourned.