City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Let's call to order the special council meeting closed session of June 2nd, 2026 at 5.31 PM. City council does not tolerate disruptive behavior in our meetings. This council meeting is considered a limited public forum, which means the council may regulate the time, place and manner of speech. Speaker comments must be limited to the agenda item being considered by the council. If a speaker's comments are not related to an agenda item, the presiding officer will rule the speaker out of order. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of disagreement with the content of their speech. Location and online meeting details are available on the council agenda. Use the show captions button to view captions on Zoom. Following the closed session, the Department of Public Safety special awards will begin at 6.30 p.m. and the regular council meeting at 7 p.m. City Clerk, may we please have the roll call?

Mayor Klein. Present. Vice Mayor Mellinger.

Present.

Council Member Cisneros.

Present.

Council Member Srinivasan.

Present.

Council Member Sell.

Present.

Council Member Chang.

Present.

Council Member Lay. Present. Seven present.

Thank you very much. Members of the public will now have an opportunity to address counsel on the closed session item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on a telephone to indicate you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. Mr. City Clerk, do we have any speaker cards?

No, Vice Mayor.

Thank you very much. Does anyone want to, do we have any remote speakers wishing to speak on this item?

No, Vice Mayor.

Thank you very much. I will now close public comment. Council will now adjourn it to close session. See you back here at 6.30.

Yeah.

Good evening.

Let's call to order the joint, sorry, not the joint meeting. Sorry about that. Get to the right point in my script. Good evening. Let's call to order the special council meeting special order of the day of June 2nd, 2026 at 634 PM. Public comments regarding the Department of Public Safety special awards will be held during oral communications for our main meeting this evening. LOCATION AND ONLINE MEETING DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE COUNCIL AGENDA. USE THE SHOW CAPTIONS BUTTON TO VIEW CAPTIONS ON ZOOM. FIRST, CITY CLERK, MAY WE PLEASE HAVE ROLL CALL.

MAYOR CLINE.

PRESENT.

VICE MAYOR MELLINGER.

PRESENT.

COUNCIL MEMBER CISNEROS.

PRESENT.

COUNCIL MEMBER SERNEY VASIN.

PRESENT.

COUNCIL MEMBER SELL.

PRESENT.

COUNCIL MEMBER CHANG.

PRESENT.

COUNCIL MEMBER LAY.

PRESENT.

SEVEN PRESENT.

THANK YOU. NEXT WE HAVE A SPECIAL ORDER OF THE DAY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY SPECIAL AWARDS. LET ME COME UP TO THE LECTERN. Good evening. Annually the Department of Public Safety comes before City Council and our residents to honor the efforts of employees who have demonstrated exceptional performance of their duties, going that extra mile to make a positive difference in the lives of our residents and the well-being of our community. As a community, we rely on the Department of Public Safety employees each and every day to keep us safe. Occasionally, we may take for granted their 24 hour a day, seven days a week, every day of the year dedication as they maintain a full range of public safety services throughout our neighborhoods. So opportunities such as these are an important way to say thank you for all that they do. Tonight, the Department of Public Safety will be honoring our public safety employees who have been selected by their peers for outstanding service. We will be taking this time not only to honor those award recipients, but also to say thank you to all the dedicated members of the Department of Public Safety who provide excellent services to our community. on a daily basis. In addition to our public safety employees, we will also take a moment to commend several community members and their notable service to Sunnyvale. Please join me in welcoming Daniel, Chief Daniel Pastore, who will be presenting this year's special awards. Chief.

Thank you everybody for being here. You know you're at a public safety event when there's open chairs and all the officers are standing in the back. Good evening Mayor, City Council and honored guests. My name is Dan Pistor and it is my distinct honor to serve as the Chief of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. Each year we take time to pause and recognize the outstanding work being done through our department and our community. As I reviewed the list of nominees this year, I couldn't help but notice that the stories that you will hear tonight showcase the remarkable partnership between our community and the members of the Department of Public Safety. Together, they represent the very best of Sun Eagle, people who step forward to serve others, strengthen our community, and make a positive difference in the lives of others. Tonight, we will recognize community members who step forward to help their fellow residents, volunteers who selflessly gave their time to others, professional staff who serve as a backbone of our department, dispatchers who are often the first reassuring voice heard during someone's time of ultimate need. and our exceptional public safety officers who willingly placed themselves in harm's way to keep Sunnyvale a safe place to live and work. Life moves very quickly, especially this time of year. We are all busy and sometimes the extraordinary work being done every day in public safety becomes normalized. We can lose sight of just how impactful these acts of service truly are. That is why evenings like tonight are so important. They give us opportunity to pause, to reflect, and to express our gratitude to the people who make such a meaningful difference in our community. I could not be proud of each and every member of the public safety team. I'm truly humbled to work alongside the nearly 300 exceptional employees that make up this department. Their dedication, professionalism, compassion, empathy and commitment to serving others are what make the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety an exceptional organization and a recognized leader in public safety. To all of tonight's award recipients, thank you for your service and your sacrifice and your commitment to making Sunnyvale such a special community and congratulations. And with that, it is my pleasure to turn the microphone over to Captain Yon Lee, who will introduce this evening's award recipients.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being here tonight. We're going to start off with the Community Member Awards. We'd like to recognize Robert Shaffert and David Gardner. Unfortunately, David couldn't be here. They are receiving the Lifesaver Award. On December 9th, 2025, Robert Shaffert called 911 after finding an unconscious man who was not breathing at the construction site where he and David Gardner were working. Robert calmly provided the dispatcher with clear information and follow instructions while he and David immediately began CPR without hesitation. They continued life-saving efforts until first responders arrived. Thanks to their quick and selfless actions, the patient survived and is now recovering well. Robert and David's courage and compassion truly saved a life and deserve recognition for their heroic actions. We'd like to now recognize Rudy Casares. On Monday, April 28, 2025, Rudy called 911 to report a two-year-old child wandering into traffic at a busy intersection. Without hesitation, Rudy pulled over to help and remained on scene until officers arrived, ensuring the child's safety. Thank you, Rudy, for going above and beyond to protect a child in danger. Your quick actions and the willingness to help made a real difference. Thank you. We'd like to now recognize Johnny Guan. On Saturday, January 17th, Johnny Guan called 911 to report an unconscious person near the elevator on the third floor of his apartment complex after a neighbor knocked on his door asking for help. Johnny remained calm, answered all the dispatcher's questions clearly, and followed CPR instructions until help arrived. Thank you, Johnny, for your selfless actions and willingness to assist a fellow committee member in need. Your calm demeanor and readiness to help a stranger are truly commendable. Thank you. Bert Espinoza. On Monday, June 9th, Bert Espinoza heard a woman screaming and immediately went to help. The woman had fallen, struck her head, and was bleeding from her forehead. Burke quickly called 911, calmly answered all the dispatcher's questions, reassured the injured woman, and carefully followed instructions to help control the bleeding. He even returned to his home to retrieve towels to place on the wound until our first responders arrived. Thank you, Burke, for your resilience, for your selfless act of kindness and compassion. Your quick thinking and willingness to help made a meaningful difference. Thank you. Next, we'll be recognizing John Vega. Specialty waste and recycling driver John Vega was working a yard trimming collection route when he arrived at a mobile home and noticed a person lying on the ground. John immediately stopped to help and discovered the person was not breathing and had no pulse. Without hesitation, he called 911 and began CPR. By the time paramedics arrived, John's life-saving efforts had revived the person who was then transported for further care Thank you, John, for your quick thinking, compassion, and selfless service to a community member in need. Thank you. Sir, volunteer Afifa Tawil. Afifa Tawil leads the City's Community Emergency Response Team, also known as CERT, the deployment team, overseeing more than 60 volunteers who support the Department of Public Safety during missions such as searches, major events, and other incidents. She coordinates monthly trainings, leads field deployments, and serves as an instructor for the CERT basic training program, helping ensure volunteers are prepared to serve the community. For her dedication and outstanding service to the Sunnyvale community and the Department of Public Safety, we proudly present the Certificate of Recognition. Thank you, Afifa. We will be now presenting the Distinguished Service Award to the Pragnya Organization. Representing Pragnya is Vishal. Tonight we recognize PRAGNIA for their outstanding work building positive relationships between neurodiverse individuals and law enforcement. The community, friends, or first responders for neurodiversity support events such as the Neurolympics and Halloween celebrations, PRAGNIA helps create meaningful connections between first responders and individuals with autism, Down syndrome, and other neuro minorities. Vishal and Kavita, thank you for your dedication for creating a more inclusive and supportive community. Thank you. Very fast. They're not here tonight, but we wanted to recognize Gul and Rustam Mehta as our Volunteers of the Year. All right, now we'll be moving to the DPS Employee Awards. We'll be presenting the Distinguished Service Awards. Neighborhood Preservation Specialist, Steve Frias. consistently provides outstanding service to the community, building strong relationships with residents and strengthening trust in city services. During staffing shortages, he was regularly stepped up to cover additional workload and support his team and other departments. Steve handles complex and sensitive cases with professionalism, empathy, and clear communication, including hoarding, unpermitted construction, and major housing violations. Steve's integrity, dedication, and commitment to public service make him a truly deserving of recognition. Congratulations, Steve, on your Distinguished Service Award. Chaplain Jim Aslan. Chaplain Jim Aslan served as a volunteer chaplain with the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety since November 2011, providing nearly 15 years of compassionate around-the-clock support to staff, their families, and community. has consistently responded during crises supported wellness programs attended community events and ceremonies his integrity compassion and dedication to service are unmatched jim thank you for your unwavering commitment and kindness congratulations on your distinguished service award senior public safety dispatcher millie kim She's recognized for her exceptional leadership and dedication to wellness, peer support, and community engagement. She helps coordinate major initiatives such as Clean East Project, wellness symposiums, academy family presentations, and department-wide events. Millie's compassion, reliability, and commitment to service make her an outstanding asset to both DPS and community. Congratulations on your Distinguished Service Award. PSO Marie Plonka. Public Safety Officer Marie Plonka is recognized for exceptional initiative, versatility, and dedication to the department's mission. When a leadership gap emerged in the Field Training Officer Program, she stepped up without hesitation and successfully organized and ran the program. As a canine handler, Marie consistently responds to calls for DPS and allied agencies. Marie's professionalism, adaptability, and commitment service make her truly deserving of the Distinguished Service Award. Congratulations, Marie. Detectives Eugene Rossetti and Gabe Limon. Detectives Eugene Rossetti and Gabe Limon are recognized for their exceptional investigative work following a homicide on January 7th of this year. Officers responded to reports of a shooting and located a woman inside a vehicle suffering from fatal gunshot wounds. With limited initial leads, the detectives conducted extensive follow-up using forensic witnesses and digital evidence. Their efforts led to the arrest of two suspects and strong evidence supporting the case, while they continued working with the federal partners to ensure the pursuit of a third suspect who fled to Mexico. Their persistence, skill, and commitment reflect the highest standards of investigative excellence. Congratulations, detectives, on your distinguished service recognition. Detective Mark Francis. Detective Mark Francis is recognized for his outstanding leadership and service as a senior detective in the community crimes unit and SWAT team leader. He consistently demonstrates strong judgment, professionalism, and commitment to public safety. He has strengthened operations through mentorship and training in surveillance, apprehension tactics, and SWAT procedures. His leadership was instrumental in the safe apprehension of a murder suspect in one of our local fire stations in an armed takeover style robbery. Detective Francis's dedication and impact make Trim truly deserving of this award. Thank you, Mark. We now like to recognize Reiko Yoshidomi as the professional of the year. It is my honor to recognize Reiko as our professional of the year. As a senior office assistant for the fire division, Reiko is a steady force behind the scenes who keeps operations running smoothly. Over the past year, she has consistently gone above and beyond managing equipment ordering, coordinating monthly national fire reporting, and serving as a key resource for across the division. She is truly someone the entire division relies on. Congratulations, Reiko. Dispatcher of the Year, Senior Public Safety Dispatcher Catalina Cruz. Senior Public Safety Dispatcher Catalina Cruz is recognized for her extraordinary 36 years of service to the community. As she approaches retirement in October, we honor her professionalism, leadership, and unwavering dedication to her team and community. Her professionalism, compassion, and lasting impact on both colleagues and community make her truly deserving of Dispatch of the Year. Congratulations, Catalina. Officer of the Year, PSO Sean Rybak. PSO Rybak, A dedicated member of Sunnyvale DPS since 2006 is recognized as a true behind the scenes workforce whose work is essential to department's success and readiness. He has served multiple fire roles, including truck operator, hazardous materials technician, and regular teaches at the fire academy. As a leader on the drone team and a reliable source during staffing shortages, Sean consistently stepped up wherever he needed. His technical expertise, humility, and dedication make him truly deserving of this recognition of the Department's 2025 Officer of the Year. Congratulations, Sean.

And with that, please give a round of applause to all the award winners. We have a great group of public safety officers and residents who are stepping up also. So thank you very much. And with that, we will adjourn the meeting at 6.52 PM. Thank you all. Take care. good evening that's called or the council meeting of june 2nd 2025 at 7 03 p.m the city does not tolerate disruptive behavior in our meetings sunnyvale prides itself on the rich diversity of our residents we are committed to creating a culture of belonging where members of our diverse community feel included safe and respected this council meeting is considered a limited public forum which means the council can regulate the time place and manner of speech and Speaker comments must be limited to the agenda item being considered by counsel for consent calendar or public hearing items. Speaker comments during oral communications must be limited matters within counsel's authority, generally referred to as counsel's subject matter jurisdiction. If a speaker's comments are not related to an agenda item, the presiding officer will rule that speaker out of order. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of the disagreement with the content of their speech. Location and online meeting details are available on the counsel agenda. Scan the QR code on the screen or click the language access and translation link on the council agenda to read and listen along in more than 60 different languages. Use the show captions button to view captions on Zoom. Comments on matters not on the agenda must be submitted prior to the time I call the item for oral communications. Comments on agenda items must be submitted prior to the time I close a public hearing on that agenda item. Speakers are requested to keep their comments to the time period set for public comments for that agenda item and time limits will be strictly enforced. Guidelines are posted on the city website and on the council meeting agenda. First, please join me in a salute to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next is roll call. City Clerk, may we please have roll call?

Mayor Klein. Present. Vice Mayor Mellinger. Present. Council Member Cisneros.

Present.

Council Member Srinivasan.

Present.

Council Member South.

Present.

Council Member Chang.

Present.

Council Member Lay. Present. Seven present.

Thank you. Next, Vice Mayor, may we please have our closed session report?

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. City Council met in closed session on May 19th, 2026, held pursuant to California Government Code Section 54956.9, Conference with Legal Counsel Existing Litigation, Paragraph 1 of Subsection D of Section 54956.9. 9, name of case, 1230 Oakmead Parkway, LLC, versus City of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County, Superior Court Case Number 25CV457580, nothing to report. And the City Council met in closed session earlier this evening, held pursuant to California Government Code Section 54957.6, Conference with Labor Negotiators. agency designated representatives heather ruiz director of human resources employee organization sunnyvale employees association sea ifpte local 21 and service employees international union sei you nothing to report thank you thank you vice mayor uh next we have two special orders of the day first up is our ceremonial oath of office for our board and commission members city clerk

yes with the new boarding commission members please come on up to the podium and i'll meet you there and then we do have a few folks that are joining us online so we'll see them as well on zoom so come on up and meet me at the podium side face this way And if we can, we have a camera right there. So if we could arrange so that we can somehow see all of you. So Jeff, you can't hide in the back. Okay, perfect. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. Or sorry, please raise your right hand. And after I state the oath, state I do. Do you solemnly swear or affirm to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California and to perform your duties as a Boarding Commission member to the best of your abilities? I do. Thank you. Congratulations again, all of you, on your appointments and reappointments to various boards and commissions. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you ahead of time for your service. Next up, we have actually let me come down to the lectern and vice mayor also, please. Thank you. Before we continue tonight's meeting, we have a special guest in honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month. Joining us tonight is Saul D. Surabin, Senior Management Analyst for the Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs. The office provides leadership and support for the well-being and longevity of our LGBTQ. Go ahead. There you go. Communities throughout the county. Salvi, would you like to say a few words?

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I mean, thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, beautiful community. My name is Saldis Rubin. I'm representing the Santa Clara County Office of LGBT Affairs. Pride is not just a month on the calendar. It's just a movement of legacy and promise. It's the living heartbeat of every LGBTQ plus person who was there to be visible, there to be loud, and there to live their truth in a world that hasn't always made easy. I also wanted to invite you folks, our Office of LGBT Affairs is turning 10 years after being in the county, in the office for about 10 years since 2016. It's gonna happen on June, at County Building at 70 West Heading. We're gonna commemorate our tenure. We're gonna have some performances. We're also gonna have our inaugural Lavender graduation for high school, LGBTQ plus high school and college students, and also other celebration to commemorate our commitment for the wellbeing of the LGBTQ plus community in Santa Clara County, including city of Sunnyvale. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. good evening everyone happy pride my name is richard mellinger along with my colleague council member cisneros i'm one of two out and proud sunnyvale city council members and i want to say everyone happy pride and welcome you may have seen that new beautiful new rainbow flag we have flying outside of city hall uh and i our beautiful new rainbow crosswalk by the library and i just want to say you know pride I don't have prepared remarks, so I'm winging it. Pride is a tremendously meaningful thing. When we look at the history of our country, when we look at the history of LGBTQ people in this country, we have always been here, but we have not always been able to take our place in the sunshine. And to be able to see that rainbow flag, which has been flying in front of City Hall for Pride Month for... seven years now thank you mr mayor um to be able to see the rainbow crosswalk to be able to see the way that our community comes out and celebrates to have a pride celebration at plaza del sol june 13th from what's the time again saldi three to six three to six pm be there it's going to be fabulous it is going to be a blast it is a wonderful thing it's a wonderful thing for our community because what it says is gay or straight transgender or cisgender no matter who you are you are welcome here you belong here you are welcome here you are loved here and that is core to our values as a city and even in days when other levels of government aren't living up to that promise here in sunnyvale that's something we believe in so thank you all thank you all for coming out i hope to see you on june 13th at plaza del sol for sunnyville pride

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Saldi. This year marks the 57th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. In 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village, the LGBTQ plus community came together to take a stand against public harassment and discrimination, spurring the beginning of a movement. To commemorate these events in recognition of the tireless work done by our LGBTQ rights advocates, cities across the nation recognize and celebrate June as Pride Month. While we've come a long way since the Stonewall riots, the LGBTQ plus community is facing increasing social and legal opposition and discrimination. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, in 2025, 616 anti-LGBTQ bills were proposed across the country, 76 of which were signed into law. That is almost a 20% increase over anti-LGBTQ laws that have been proposed since 2024. This year in 2026, 530 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed so far. Many of these bills focus on limiting or denying healthcare access, restricting student and educator rights, banning or limiting speech and expression, or by banning or limiting public accommodations. To affirm our statement of values, the city honors and respects our individual experiences and we will support and protect people of any race, religion, ancestry, ethnicity, ability, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Today and every day. We celebrate our LGBTQ plus community, which includes many residents, business owners, city employees and students. The city kicked off our pride month yesterday morning early for a lot of people with the raising of the pride flag here at City Hall. uh to further celebrate this month the site library is hosting multiple events including a showing of the movie fire on june 9th and a team tuesday craft event where participants can make pride flag coasters on june 16th for details of these events and others please visit the library website at library.sunnyvale.ca.gov and select events on behalf of the city of sunnyvale it is great pleasure to proclaim june 2026 as lesbian gay bisexual transgender and queer pride month in the city of sunnyvale thank you for our members you know it is a welcoming and belonging in community thank you all thank you thank you Next up is oral communications. This is now the public's opportunity to address counsel on topics not listed on tonight's agenda. This section is limited to 15 minutes and may be continued or extended after the public hearing section of the meeting. Individuals may only speak once during oral communications. This council meeting is considered a limited public forum, which means the council can regulate the time, place, and manner of speech. Speaker comments during oral communications must be limited matters within council's authority, which is generally referred to as council subject matter jurisdiction. If a speaker's comments are outside of council subject matter jurisdiction, the presiding officer will rule that speaker out of order. This allows Council to conduct its business in a reasonably efficient manner and protects the rights of other speakers. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of a disagreement with the content of their speech. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk, raise your digital hand now, or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of the public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Before I get to the public, Council Member Cisneros has an announcement.

I do. I have but one announcement tonight. Community equity assessment and community forums. The city launched a community equity assessment to learn about the residents experience with city programs and services. Your feedback will help improve access, remove barriers and create welcoming services for everyone. Share your experiences and feedback at our upcoming forum. Light refreshments will be provided. Child care is available for potty trained children ages four and up. Advanced registration is required for the child care. Our last forum will be on Saturday, June 6th from 2.30 to 4 p.m. at the Sunnyvale Library Program Room. open to all residents language interpretation is available upon request notify us 48 hours in advance the meeting by calling 408-730-7950 for more information and to register for child care visit sunnyvale.ca.gov and search community equity assessment or contact 408-730-7950 that is all tonight

Thank you, council member. I have quite a few speaker cards and multiple hands raised online. So the city clerk will do a two minute oral communications and I'll be reading off two names. The first name, please come to the lectern. The next name, please be waiting the wings so that we can transition as quickly as possible. First up is Russ M followed by Angie H.

good evening mayor and council russ melton here ceo of the sunnyvale chamber of commerce thank you for the opportunity to speak the weekend is finally upon us the sunnyvale art and wine festival this is our 50th 50th half century of art and wine festivals is this weekend june 6th and 7th a lot of people on the team have been working really hard to make this a stellar event for the city of sunnyvale tremendous collaboration with many city departments to make this happen we're going to be on washington avenue new murphy avenue and a big chunk of mckinley we'd love to see you there we're calling our food court the sunshine yard the sunshine yard this is parking lot six the old macy's parking lot we've got the whole thing i just have some demonstration of some of our many food vendors there we're gonna have some telepas some pho some fantastic barbecue meat we have live music all weekend long You can see online or on our social media channels the live music that we have on both Saturday and Sunday. A number of incredible artists. We heard the community loud and clear that people want quality artists of a wide variety of different expense levels and we're bringing all of that. We have an artist who uses a sewing machine and cloth. We have a painter. We have a photographer. We have somebody who does a Marilyn Monroe graphic on the back of a denim jacket. It's just going to blow your mind. How about the weather this weekend, City Council? I mean, are you kidding me? We're going to have 80s for the rest of the week. Then it dips to the mid-70s for two days of the weekend. And then it reverts back to the 80s when the Art & Wine Festival is over. Couldn't ask for better weather. We always need help with volunteers. Please go to SunnyvaleArtAndWine.com. And with the few seconds that I have left, As if the Art and Wine Festival isn't enough, we're proud to announce the mid-August Sunnyvale Golf Tournament at Sunken Gardens. Stay tuned to your social media channels or visit sbcoc.org for enrollment and sponsorship information. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Thank you.

Next up is Angie H., followed by Alexandra K.

Hi, good evening. Good evening, Mayor Klein and Sunnyvale Council members. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be here. I'm Angie Henson. I am with Las Palmas Green and Serene. And I'm here to tell you that we as a group are so excited to be working with the city council and city staff members in transforming Las Palmas Park into a renovated park that will indeed keep it open for all, no barriers, and keep it green and serene. So we are happy to be working with you all and excited to get this opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you. City Manager, you have a comment?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to provide a quick update. We have engaged an additional facilitator for additional public outreach meetings. We're looking at starting those up in July with and wrapping up those outreach meetings probably by October or in October. At that point, then concept plans will be developed and We will pick a date to go to the advisory boards, probably Parks and Rec Commission, and then later it will come to council. So TBD, remind folks to subscribe to the city's project page by searching Las Palmas Park on our website. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, City Manager. Thank you. Next up is Alexandra Kay, followed by Artie C.

Hello, city of Sunnyvale. Hello, citizens. Aleksandra Karwasiecka here. I moved here in 2006. We bought a house and I became a mother of two boys. First of all, I would like to thank the city very much for Las Palmas Park. It's one of the nicest and best utilized parks I've ever seen. And believe you me, I have seen many parks. Being a mother of two rascals, I spent their childhood in parks. We've seen all the parks in the vicinity. We also traveled around California, seeing other parks. And I've seen plenty of parks in other states. And I tell you, Las Palmas is one of the best. The open meadow, perfect for strolling, for jogging. And it's enough for you to walk two minutes across the grassy area, and all your mental problems, all the insanity related to crazy life of Silicon Valley is gone. And then the park is transformed into sports complex for little people and big people. On any day you can see people playing soccer, playing frisbee, baseball. The other day I saw huge group like 50 plus people playing cricket and then the volleyball players. It's all possible for all these people at the same time playing so many different sports because of the open nature of the park. No fences, no borders. So it's very important that we do not put any fences because it will stop the beauty of the park. And better yet, in the evening, all the fences are gone, all the baseball and players are gone, the volleyball players net are gone, and park is not sports complex anymore. It's again a meadow, ready to serve us all for walk, for stargazing, and ready to serve us again next day. So please keep it free and open for all. Thank you very much. Thank you for the park.

Thank you, party. Good evening, everyone. One moment, please. No clapping, no booing. It needs to be a safe space in case there are people that have different opinions. So I understand that your enthusiasm, but trying to have the meeting go efficiently. Thank you. RDC, followed by Stephanie J.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I wanted to build a little bit upon what Alexander already talked to us about. My name is Arti Chavan and I'm a Sunnyvale parent. Just like Alexander said, Las Palmas Park is one of the few places in our city that truly brings people together. a very close example to my heart is my son scout 2498 which has about 40 scouts who use this park regularly in fact they're there right now if you go there there are 40 scouts doing their outdoor skills you know building community learning leadership learning teamwork um and they meet there every week keeping this space open is very important, not just for them, but for everyone else, just like Alexander said. But one of the things I wanted to add to that is unstructured open space is important and valuable because it really encourages creativity and spontaneous creation, right? There is no structured facility. You don't need to book a time. You can just decide, hey, I want to go to the park, and you go there. So just for that reason itself, it's really important that we keep this park open. And this isn't about being against cricket or being against another sport, but it's really about preserving this large community space. The residents of Central and West Sunnyvale only have this park as the largest park in the city. I know there are many other parks in the city, but they are much smaller. And the next truly large park in the city is actually on the other side of the city. So once this open space is gone, it will be gone. It's really hard. It's going to be hard to replace it. So I really hope that you protect this community space and keep it open for all residents of all types. Thank you. Thank you. Stephanie J, followed by Karen G.

Good evening. My name is Stephanie Johnson. My friend here is Teresa Strickland. We're captain, co-captain, and officers of the Sunken Gardens Ladies Club, which is the ladies golf club that operates at Sunken Gardens. And we are here to represent our around 50 members of many elderly ladies that play year-round Tuesdays and Thursdays. And this year we're celebrating our 50th anniversary at Sunken Gardens. We are here to, basically our goal is to ask for a reduced senior rate at Sunken Gardens. There is no senior rate currently there like there is at the Sunnyvale Golf Course. And for many of our adults on fixed income, the price is getting a bit steep. So we want them to be able to continue to play in our league.

So if you could wait, we're going to be talking about rates in just a few minutes. our first item is talking about the budget fees and rates okay uh so if you can hold off and and you will you can come back and and finish your thoughts at that point okay sorry sorry about that but okay this is for something that's not on the agenda okay right so right now i didn't know if that was on the agenda it's it's it is actually a little bit later okay those specific rates for golf yes oh okay okay thank you you're welcome um next is stephanie sorry Karen G followed by Judy M.

Hello Mayor Klein and City Council members. Several Council members and staff have claimed that the City is starting over in regards to renovating Las Palmas Park. However, that is not reflected in your park renovation page. The original two concepts are still listed, both of them driven by flawed data. Additional input opportunities and hiring a facilitator do not fix the process, which to date has been fundamentally compromised. Your public process has suffered a total collapse of data integrity. Beginning with the initial athletic facilities needs assessment and the three community meetings, the online surveys and live polls had zero security controls. Anyone with the QR code could vote from anywhere multiple times. This corrupted data has been acknowledged on record by both the council study session questions of January 28, 2025, and an RRM design group consultant at the March 19, 2026 community meeting. Yet the two design concepts that they proposed are still on the City website. Furthermore, Las Palmas Park is legally and fiscally a community park. By looking at input from across the Bay Area, you're treating it like a regional park, forcing Sunnyvale taxpayers to subsidize the ongoing maintenance of a specialized regional sports hub that will impact neighborhood traffic, parking, and open space. We demand a clean slate. The city must archive the current illegitimate concepts, implement strict residential address verification for future surveys, and prioritize the requests of local taxpayers. And we need to see that this has been done on the city's website. Unless the city of Sunnyvale corrects its procedural errors, a formal complaint with the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury will be seriously considered.

i will be following up with an email to the city addressing more specifics thank you for listening thank you judy m followed by we we can stop oral communication so we can just go on and you can come back at alone but um please um judy m followed by andrea w

Global warming is real and we are in for another red hot summer. I want to impress upon you how important it is to have open lawns in our city. Grass keeps the air cool and on a hot day like today, an area covered with natural grass can be 30 degrees cooler than asphalt. If grass is so beneficial to our city, I would like to know why we want to get rid of the open field at Las Palmas Park. This is not a one district issue. This is an all district issue. It is a no brainer to keep our city cool. And to me personally, Las Palmas Park, keeping Las Palmas Park green and open is also an equity issue. Las Palmas Park is truly one of the most egalitarian place that I know. In an era of hyperinflation, it has become less and less attainable for the citizens of our city to be able to take their family out for entertainment. Not everyone in our city can take their kids to an expensive venue, but everyone can always take their kids to Las Palmas to make lifelong memories for free. And let's just face it, not all public goods are meant to be monetized. Las Palmas Park is our version of the Central Park. It is iconic and irreplaceable. New York City would never dream of taking their most open and inclusive space and displace that diversity with lit, fenced, monolithic sportsplex. Las Palmas holds the fabric of our city together. Please vote to support it, respect it, and enhance it for our future generations. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Andrea W. followed by Mary G. Good evening, Mayor Klein, Vice Mayor Mellinger, and council members. I'll make this short.

Pull the mic.

Sorry, too tall. Start again.

Start again.

Good evening, Mayor Klein, Vice Mayor Mellinger, and council members. I'll make this short, especially since I'm pretty sure I don't need to worry about artificial turf issues at Las Palmas. I'll save all that for another time coming up soon. I am here this evening in support of the amazing Las Palmas community members and their desire to make sure their voices are heard. Their desire to keep the nature of the park the way it is and has been for decades and open space with no fencing limitations and no bright lights is something that should be of great concern for the city while the planning of the renovation continues. I hope, like with the final decision for Lakewood, that community input truly matters and their voices and concerns will matter most when the final decisions are made. I applaud you all. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Mary B followed by Peggy Q.

Good evening. I'm Mary Brunkhorst, and I am following up on the state of the city's oldest tree, the 300-year-old Valley Oak at Butcher's Corner. This tree has been designated a heritage resource. The tree has been severely pruned, as you can see in those photos. No permits were obtained and no oversight was provided. This should not have happened. A month ago, we were told that this tree posed a hazard and no permits were needed. But I've learned from the planner and arborist that this was not true. In reality, three large branches were trimmed because they were in the way of construction. Three other large branches were trimmed to check for disease. No disease was found, but the damage was done. This was a planned activity, not a rush to deal with a dangerous situation. This tree is not a hazard, it is an inconvenience. developer has been allowed to avoid the safeguards of a city permit assessment by a city arborist and review by the heritage preservation commission this was a willful violation of the law if the developer is not held accountable for this crime it sets a dangerous precedent not only does this put all trees and all heritage resources at risk it signifies that there is little reason to follow other city regulations Where is the oversight on this project? And what else is happening there? The health of this tree will be assessed in a few weeks, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will survive. Regardless, this intentional act of destruction was a crime and should be recognized. This should not have happened. Thank you.

Thank you.

Peggy Q followed by Kim M. Actually, Mr. Mayor, I was going to ask the city manager. I know that the issue of the Butcher's Corner tree was raised about a month ago. Does staff have an update on that? I'd like to take that as a follow-up. Thank you.

Thank you.

Peggy Q followed by Kim M. Good evening. My name is Peggy Quillinan. My family has lived in Old Orchard since 1979. My husband and I raised our three sons in our home across the street from Las Palmas Park. I'm grateful to live in a city that values green space. I'm here tonight to share three ways my family has enjoyed the park and ask for clarification about its official designation. Since 1986, my husband and I have walked through the park every morning. We still do, although much more slowly these days. In the 1900s, I like to say that, for about a decade, our neighborhood held annual Fourth of July picnics on the open field, drawing 200 people out of the local homes for an all-day celebration with singing, races, and games. And lastly, during the pandemic, sitting in our rocking chairs in the front of our home, visible from our yard, we counted 50 trees, most of which are in the park. The park's designation concerns me. At a July 9th, 2025 walk around the park meeting in preparation for the renovation, park superintendent Jim Stark described the Las Palmas as a neighborhood park surrounded by homes fully contained within a neighborhood. My neighbors and I have always understood it this way. Recently, I've heard city officials call it a community park. I'm concerned this change was made to justify turning our green space into a sports center. Please clarify for me the official criteria for park designation. Is Las Palmas a neighborhood park or a community park? And when did this change occur? Thank you.

Thank you. And city manager, I know we've talked about this. Do you want to clarify the difference between a neighborhood and community park?

If I can again take that as just a follow-up a little bit later, let me just get my timeline back up. Okay, thank you.

Kim M followed by Robert K.

Hello. We just celebrated Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May. Did you know that the landscape architect who designed Las Palmas Park was Asian American? His name was Johnson Hsu, and he passed away in 2023. His obituary stated, as a landscape architect, Mr. Hsu designed many award-winning parks and municipal facilities in California, including Las Palmas Park and De Anza Park in Sunnyvale. Wow, Las Palmas Park was even mentioned in his obituary. We have been so fortunate for so many years to enjoy his beautiful design. Let's not erase his award-winning contributions by further diminishing the peaceful landscape with barriers and lighting for any sport. He already has a tennis complex. We certainly don't need to pave over the grassy open field to install more courts. There are a huge number of apartments and townhomes being built at the OSH site, and this will heavily impact the number of people at Las Palmas Park, especially since the units at that apartment will barely have any parking at just 0.7 cars per unit. This further necessitates having open field space to be used in a flexible manner as it already is right now. I've seen dozens of volleyball games set up and taken down, people having a little birthday party or even a bridal shower in the grass, random picnics all over the grass. All of this and more without needing a reservation and leaving on the whole no trace behind on this large field. Keeping the park serene and green, open and natural is what will bring the most benefit to the majority of the users of the park. I hope you'll keep that in mind and help make your legacy to that of being brave to stand up for the majority of the users of the park.

thank you very much thank you very much for listening thank you uh robert k followed by charles oh thank you mayor and city council members i think it's clear that the community at large growing larger every day is opposed to your latest proposal for las palmas park in reality all we want is the park to be open ecologically friendly and accessible by all and the last thing we want in the middle of the park is a big eyesore especially as a property owner 150 feet from the park so let me offer up an alternative for you Instead of spending tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars doing surveys and studies to find out what you already know from this community, how about 6.30 tomorrow morning, you walk over here to Safeway and you talk to the half a dozen or so people sleeping on the sidewalk and ask them how that money could help improve their lives. Thank you.

Charles O is my last speaker card.

Good evening. I talked to you at the last meeting about experiences at the park, our dogs playing together at the dog park. After that meeting, and even before that, I have to ask myself, why is this happening? There's a reason for this, and I want to get to the bottom of it. So I fancy myself a fairly decent investigator, and I've started my investigation, and I think I'm getting to the bottom of it. Last week, Ro Khanna And a number of his cronies were pacing out the park. So right now, that means Ro Khanna is driving this. And somebody on the council, well, no, then who's driving it? We can go back and forth answering the question. This is Ro Khanna's baby, and I'm going to find out, and I suspect others believe the same thing. Why are you smiling, Mayor Klein? I yield 20 seconds of my time if you'd like to respond to that.

Go right ahead and finish your comments.

Okay. Well, for what reason was he at the park pacing it out? He supported you in your last mail mail campaign. So what's going on here? When you don't come to the citizens and ask them their opinions of the park before you start down the process of putting in a monstrosity cricket field, something's going on here. Something's going on, and we're going to continue to look into it. Do what's right for the citizens. This park is very important to people. It's where people find their peace. It's where I find peace, and that's in short supply these days. You've got liberals, conservatives, Republicans, Democrats that are joined in this matter because everybody is concerned about their community park. That's all I have to say until the next meeting. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.

That was my last speaker card in the room. City Clerk, do we have any remote speakers wishing to speak under oral communications?

Yes, Mayor. The first is an individual calling in with a phone number ending in 153 followed by Bill K. The individual calling in with the phone number ending in 153. You've been unmuted and you have two minutes to address the City Council.

Hello? Hello?

So you appear unmuted, but we can't hear you. Give me just a moment to figure out why that is. Okay. If you could say something, I want to make sure we can hear you now.

Hi. Hi. My name is Jacqueline.

We can hear you.

It's got a little bit of them. Yeah. Okay. It's got a little bit of a leg, so I'll just try to keep talking. My name is Jacqueline Beery. I know that people are talking only on the park right now. And I wondered if you, if I can speak on flock, is that allowed?

You can speak on anything that's not on our agenda. Go right ahead.

Okay. So a couple, Weeks ago, made a decision to go ahead and re-up the contract for flock ALPR cameras, and that's the license plate reader cameras. Since then, there have been a few things that I want to bring to your attention. One is that we have found through Mountain View, and then also recently through Dayton, Ohio, Palantir, which is the database and AI behind the flock camera, have misrepresented the fact that their information is reached via warrantless searches and by agents from ICE and other agencies. They have been searched by people in law enforcement looking for ex-wives and current girlfriends. stalking them. They have been searched by people who are trying to find out if a woman is following up on an abortion and in an area where that abortion is perfectly legal. These are warrantless searches that violate the Fourth Amendment. You're talking about a system we're paying with our tax dollars to use flocks And the back end of that is feeding into a system in a fascist orientation to track people. And the reason they're building these data centers is so they can use the AI behind that and search all of us.

Next up is Bill K followed by Courtney J. Bill, you've been unmuted and you have two minutes to address the city council.

uh hi um thank you for your time i'll try to make this quick uh first off on a separate note i do also agree with um you know being against flock um but my my concern and i did write an email and really appreciate it to get a response from um mayor klein really really appreciate that but just wanted to publicly uh mention and reiterate um you know that i'm i want continued protections for fire and smoke uh You know, regarding barbecues and and fire pits just want to make sure that, you know, current regulations are going to stay and would ask that perhaps the city clerk or whomever, you know, might kindly reach out to me in the future. If ever there was any proposed changes to the protections for barbecues and fire pits. That's all.

Thank you.

next up is courtney jay quick question yes wouldn't that typically be covered by the air district as or would that be by the city uh mr city manager

again sorry for the same response but i would have to do some research to figure out what our regulatory authority is over that but yes um smoke is also covered by the air district so there's there's probably multiple layers of regulation there is there anything on the docket for the city looking at regulations on those currently no not not currently no all right thank you next up is courtney jay courtney you've been unmuted and you have two minutes to address the city council

uh good evening my name is courtney jansen i live in fairwood and tonight i'm speaking on my own behalf i didn't have time to construct a comment on any of the many other things that i thought about but tonight i'm actually going to call in and say thank you so as you probably know the city is redoing the sidewalks outside of fairwood elementary and it is fantastic i am so excited to see that the city has been able to prioritize uh redoing the sidewalks in our neighborhood It's going to make it much safer when people are walking with their kids or their dogs or by themselves. And so I just wanted to say thank you for making that happen. I know that has been something that Lakewood and our neighborhood association has been asking for for several years, and I really appreciate that it is finally getting done. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Mayor, that was one moment. Thank you very much, Miss Jansen, for your comment. And I wanted to flag to you that at the final budget hearing in two weeks, one of the items on the docket will be one of my priority project proposals to clear the sidewalk maintenance backlog, which we're looking at funding over 13 years. It's going to take a while because there's a lot that's been built up. But if people are interested in sidewalks and sidewalk maintenance, please feel free to write in or comment on the budget before the 16th. Thank you. Thank you.

City Clerk?

Mayor, that was the final remote public speaker for oral communications.

Thank you. I'll go ahead and close oral communications, and we'll move on to our consent calendar. I'll open up public comment on our consent calendar items. Please submit a speaker card to the City Clerk, raise your digital hand now, or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of the public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards in the room. City Clerk, does anyone remotely wish to speak on a consent calendar item?

Yes, Mayor. First up is Afsaneh J. Let me check in with them and find out which item or items they're interested in addressing. Afsaneh J., you've been unmuted. Can you please identify which consent calendar items you'd like to speak to?

1C.

1C is in Charles. Thank you.

Yes.

Mayor, there are no additional members of the public indicating desire to speak to the consent calendar.

Thank you. I'll go ahead and close public comment and bring it back to council. Vice Mayor Mellinger. Move consent minus 1C. Thank you. Council Member Srinivasan. Second. Thank you. City Clerk, can you please conduct with the vote?

Just give me a moment to queue it up.

No problem.

Okay, council members, you can go ahead and vote. Council member Sell, I'm not registering a vote from you yet. Thank you. The motion for consent calendar items 1A, 1B, and 1D through 1I carries 7-0. Thank you very much.

Let's go ahead and take item 1C now. I'll go ahead and open up the public comment on 1C. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk, raise your digital hand now or dial strong on your telephone. To indicate that you wish to speak, I will call on the members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards in the room. City Clerk, do we have any remote participants wishing to speak on item 1C?

Yes, Mayor. First up is Afsaneh J. Afsaneh, you've been unmuted and you have three minutes to address the City Council.

Thank you so much for allowing me to speak on this issue. And I have brought this to your attention several times that the oxidation point at the wastewater treatment plant is not being treated properly. That was a biological treatment process unit, and it has been turned to a chemical process unit by addition of alum to the pond. So when you add alum, if you add excessive amount of alum, then the alkalinity that the pond has, and alkalinity is the filtering ability of the pond to change pH. That changes. So the pH drops, and as a result of the pH dropping, ammonia oxidation ceases to exist because the microorganisms that are responsible for oxidation of ammonia, they cannot live in low pH. Now to remedy that, the staff has decided to add sodium hydroxide to bring the pH up, hoping to be able to oxidize ammonia. This helps to increase the TDS in the oxidation point. So when you add, you increase the TDS that is salt content of the oxidation point, you cannot use that for recycling. A water that is used to irrigate, And also maybe used for industrial purposes like boilers or cooling tower cannot act under high TDS condition. It affects them adversely and it will cost millions to those people who have those kinds of processes in their company. So you are not helping the process as a totality. I recommend try to go back to your biological treatment plan, fix that, and avoid increasing the TDS in the oxidation pond. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor, that was the final remote speaker for this agenda item.

Okay, I'll go ahead and close oral communications and bring it back to council.

Vice Mayor Malinger. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I do see our acting director of environmental services in the audience. And I do have a couple of quick questions on that front. Is it accurate to say that we've been using sodium hydroxide for treatment on this in the ponds for this for a long time?

Yeah, we use Muslim Nasser interim director environmental services. We use sodium hydroxide to raise the pH in order and we have to meet our permit. Our permit requires to have the pH between 6.5 and 8.5.

Okay. And we've been using this for a long time, correct?

Yes, we have. And for us to produce recycled water, we have to raise the pH.

Understood. And the salt content issue?

Yeah, I'm not clear what AJ is talking about. The TDS levels, because we have saltwater intrusion. from the bay that also and from the ponds that raises our tds levels our salts all right thank you no further questions and mr mayor i'm ready with a motion go right ahead move staff recommendation on one c thank you councilmember shunyavasan second thank you uh city clerk can you please conduct the vote

Once it tallies, there we go. The motion for consent calendar item 1C, as in Charles, carries 7-0.

Thank you. We'll now adjourn to a joint meeting with the Sunnyvale Financing Authority. Good evening. Let's call toward the joint meeting of the City Council and the Sunnyvale Financing Authority, June 2nd, 2026, at 7.55 p.m. This joint meeting is considered a limited public forum. which means that council and the financing authority can regulate the time, place, and manner of speech. Speaker comments must be limited to the agenda item being considered by the joint body for consent calendar and public hearing items. Speaker comments during oral communications must be limited to matters within the joint meeting's authority, generally referred to as the council and the financing authority's subject matter jurisdiction. If a speaker's comments are not related to an agenda item, the presiding officer will rule that speaker out of order. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of a disagreement with the content of their speech. City Clerk, may we please have roll call?

Authority Chair, Mayor Klein.

Present.

Authority Vice Chair Vice Mayor Mellinger.

Present.

Authority Member Council Member Cisneros.

Present.

Authority Member Council Member Srinivasan.

Present.

Authority Member Council Member Sell.

Present.

Authority Member Council Member Chang.

Present.

Authority Member Council Member Lay.

Present.

Seven present.

Thank you. We'll move to oral communications. This is now the public's opportunity to address the joint meeting on topics not listed on tonight's agenda. This section is limited to 15 minutes and may be extended or continued after the general business section of the meeting. Individuals may only speak once during oral communications. This joint meeting is considered a limited public forum, and the council financing authority can regulate the time, place, and manner of speech Speaker comments during oral communications must be limited matters within the joint meeting's authority, generally referred to as our subject matter jurisdiction. If a speaker's comments are outside of the council and financing authority's subject matter jurisdiction, the presiding officer will rule that speaker out of order. This allows the joint meeting to conduct its business in a reasonably efficient manner and protects the rights of other speakers. A speaker will not be ruled out of order because of a disagreement with the content of their speech. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now. or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards in the room. City Clerk, do we have any remote speakers wishing to speak under oral communications?

Yes, Mayor, we do have one. First up is Stephen M. Stephen, you've been unmuted and you have three minutes to address the Financing Authority and City Council on items not on their agenda. They do have the budget and the fee schedule as part of their agenda. So just confirming, you want to speak to something outside of the budget and the fee schedule?

So I want to speak about the fees for massage therapy. Is this the appropriate time?

That is correct.

It should be part of, it should not, it should be part of, yeah, part of the civil carrying on the budget and fee schedule.

Okay. So, so after oral communication, Steven.

Yeah, so oral communications, a quick consent calendar, and then we will be onto that item. Yes. There are no additional members, remote members with their hand up indicating desire to speak.

Okay.

On oral communications.

Oral communications? and let's get my script uh let's move to our consent calendar i'll open up public comment on our consent calendar item uh please submit a speaker card to the city clerk raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak i will call on members of public participating in person first followed by remote participants speakers will have three minutes to speak i have no speaker cards in the room to speak on our consent calendar item city clerk do we have any remote participants wishing to speak um

on consent um so i'm gonna unmute steven m again so steven just uh checking in right now council is hearing their consent calendar which is minutes from their previous meeting okay his hand is down so there are no individuals indicating desire to speak on the consent calendar thank you i will close public comment on our consent calendar um and sorry council member cell

I'd like to make a motion to approve Sunnyvale Financing Authority meeting minutes December 9th, 2025 as submitted.

Thank you, Councilmember, Authority Member Self. Authority Member, Councilmember Serena Gossin.

Thank you.

Thank you. City Clerk, can you please conduct the vote?

The motion carries 7-0.

Thank you. Now let's move to our general business. Our first item is item 26-0207, City Council Public Hearing on Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget and Resource Allocation Plan and Establishment of Appropriations Limit. Senegal Financing Authority public hearing on fiscal year 2026-2027 budget and the City Council review on fiscal year 2026-2027 proposed fees and charges. Is there a staff report?

Yes, there is. Good evening, Council and Authority members, Matt Paul and Finance Director. The purpose of tonight's public hearing is to provide the public with an opportunity to speak on the fiscal year 2026-2027 recommended budget and appropriations limit. the fiscal year 2026-27 Sunnyvale Financing Authority budget, and the city's fees and charges as required by the city charter, California Constitution, and California Government Code. Staff provided a detailed presentation of the recommended budget at the May 19th budget workshop, and follow-up questions from the meeting will be addressed with the budget adoption item on June 16th. Total citywide projected revenues are 648.3 million and total expenditures are 717.7 million. Of the total expenditures, 425.1 million are for operating costs, 213.3 million for projects, and 79.3 million for other expenditures. The city will also draw on 69.4 million in use of reserves. The appropriations limit established by the California Constitution creates a ceiling on the appropriation of tax proceeds by local and state agencies. To date, the city has not exceeded the appropriations limit in any year. For fiscal year 2026-27, the city will be under the allowable appropriations limit by approximately $62.5 million. The Sunnyvale Financing Authority's recommended budget includes the Civic Center Phase 1 project debt cost totaling $7.5 million. The city's current fees and charges have been adjusted to reflect the increased cost of providing each service, except for those fees that are legally limited market based or subsidized by policy. This item does not include utility rates, which will be considered in a separate action of the council on June 16th as such. I would request that you defer your questions and discussion about water sewer and garbage fees until that time. Most new fees take effect at the start of the fiscal year, except for charges to development impact fees, which take effect 60 days after adoption. No action is required by Council or the Sunnyvale Financing Authority tonight, but any direction provided by Council can be incorporated into the June 16th budget and fee adoption reports. This concludes our staff report and we're here to answer any of your questions. Thank you.

Are there any questions of staff on the fees and rates or anything else? Authority Vice Chair, Vice Mayor Mulliger.

Thank you very much. We have gotten some comments and questions. I'm sure we're going to hear a little bit more from the public on this in a moment about the possibility of establishing senior or club rates at the Sunken Gardens Golf Club. I believe we do have a senior rate at Sunnyvale Municipal. Could you speak to that and is there an estimated fiscal impact that that would have?

So that's right, we do have the senior rate as you mentioned at sunk in. I think we we relayed that in the Monday morning questions that there's the possibility of instituting a senior right there. We haven't. I believe the rate that we quoted was was $20. I want to say I don't have a cost as to a financial impact of what that fee reduction would be, but we can certainly follow up with you on that. What that means.

Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Authority Member, Council Member Chang.

Thank you. I had a follow-up question to that, and it was how we determine the rates between residents and non-residents, the differential, and if there's potential that we increase on non-residents, but not on residents.

So I'd like to turn that over to Parks or Public Works, if I could.

Thank you.

Good evening. I'm the interim public works director. I don't really have a good answer on what the differential and why there was a why the I think it's right now, I think $3 between residents and non-residents. I don't know what the rationale behind that is. But typically, most golf courses have a rate differential between residents and non-residents. And if the council wants to propose a rate increase that's higher, a higher differential, that's something we can look into. And we can also look at what the cost impact and revenue impact is going to be. I believe right now about two-thirds of the play is by residents and about one-third is non-residents.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is authority member council member Srinivasan.

Interim director. Thank you, Mayor. you mentioned the about two-thirds are residents approximately do we have actual numbers I have requested that yeah I think we should be able to get yeah yeah absolutely yeah okay sounds good thank you thank you city manager yes thank you mayor I think uh Councilmember Srinivasan and um

and other council members. I think that was something that we are taking as a follow-up as part of the, it'll come as an attachment for the actual adoption of the budget on the 16th. In terms of evaluating a senior rate for Sunken Gardens, that's something that we can also bring back as a follow-up for the 16th with a rate option there. I don't know that, as Director Chinnokotla mentioned, that we can do a full financial analysis, but I can say that any reduction in fee revenue to golf ultimately will result in a general fund subsidy, but it should be relatively small for a single rate change like that.

Thank you. Thank you, City Manager. And I don't know if this is to you or to the Director of Public Works, Interim Director of Public Works, I know that we've given, from a staff standpoint, we've given staff flexibility on setting what the rates are in general and creating special programs and things of that nature. Would you care to speak on that a little bit as far as the flexibility that staff has as far as rates are concerned?

Yeah, actually, recreation and golf fees are actually delegated authority to staff. We do bring back golf fees for discussion because there is that that has been that past interest. But the golf operations staff does do market-based pricing, they do demand-based pricing to try to maximize the sale of rounds throughout the year. So they do exercise some discretion in how they're pricing golf rounds throughout the year.

Thank you. And then as far as kind of the data that was in attachment or as far as comparison of golf rates around the county, around the area, When you're dealing with dynamic pricing, I don't see how you actually can make that into the average. So the number that you're choosing for the dynamic pricing, do you have any idea how that's achieved? Because you end up with a number, but it's a dynamic number, so it's either cheaper or higher. Is this the median of a range or does the staff have any idea as far as that's concerned? So Baylands, not our Baylands, Baylands Golf Course has dynamic pricing and a number is listed for regular, resident, regular, twilight, and just trying to get a better idea from that standpoint.

I will have to guess, but I will come back to you with a better answer than that. But I'm assuming that they take an average rate based on all the revenue they collect with the number of rounds they play.

OK, so thank you. And that was the last of my questions. Authority member, council member Lay.

Thank you, and thank you to my colleagues for the questions. My question is not about golf, but instead on page 23 of 53 of the fee schedule, I had questions about the commercial daycare and residential care facilities fees. For commercial daycare, it's between 15 and 49 persons. I'm curious about in-home daycares. I don't see that on the fee schedule, and if those, pay similar fees. We've talked in the past about the burden of childcare within this community and how that is and how I'm curious about the fee schedule and how that might be potentially affecting these businesses. So I guess my question is to Ms. Ryan, do we have a fee for in-home daycares below 15 people or is that something else?

Community Development Director Trudi Ryan. I don't know about the business license fees, but home day care is per state law permitted without the need for any kind of permit from the city.

But they do need to meet the state licensing requirements. Okay. So they have separate fees and they're not included in this fee schedule. Similarly, is the residential care facilities for 7 to 39 people, that's not daycares. That's residential care for people maybe with special needs or with age populations. Is that, am I correct in assuming that?

Residential care is live-in. Live-in care. Okay. Live-in care. Okay. Thank you.

That's my questions.

Thank you. That was the last questions from the joint body. Let me go ahead and open up. One second. Sorry about that. Let me go ahead and open up the public hearing on this item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine in your telephone to get that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I'll be reading off two names. The first person please come to the lectern and the next person be waiting nearby. First up is Stephanie J. Thank you for coming back. are hanging around, followed by Sarah S.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As I was saying, my name is Stephanie Johnson. This is Teresa Strickland. We're officers and captains of the Sunken Gardens Ladies Golf Club at Sunken Gardens, obviously. And I'm glad to hear that there's actually a senior rate being considered. We asked for that at a previous meeting. We didn't know what happened. So that would be great. We have many elderly ladies on fixed income that are finding it more difficult with paying the... the rate of 28 or even $29, that is what it is now. So all we're asking for is a consideration of a senior rate to enable most of our club members to remain active in our league, to remain active and to bring the prices in line with all the other nine whole courses in the area like prune ridge blackberry mariners point mission hills they're all much cheaper or have a senior rate that is much cheaper than what our members are paying And we just want to make sure our club sustains our members and that we can keep them active at Sunken Gardens. And it's a great way for elderly members to remain active. I just want to also say that we're actually celebrating our 50th anniversary this year as a club. So we've been here since 1976 at Sunken Gardens and we have tournament twice a week. Plus we're bringing in, we're doing our Founders Day annual tournament, which has over 50 players. And we bring guests into the club, into the course, as well as to the restaurant.

And the short course too.

and additionally we host a what we call a california women's short course tournament there once or twice a year where we bring other nine hole clubs over to sunken gardens to play in those tournaments so we really appreciate consideration of a reduced senior rate like they have at sunnyville anything else

Yeah. And I think that we had originally proposed a club or senior rate and whatever we call it, we just want to make sure that it applies to the ladies at Suncum because it's been a very strong active club year round. And this past year we had some challenges with our recruitment of new members because of a cost issue competing with other clubs. So we just want to continue to be strong.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you very much. Next up is Sarah S. followed by Marie B.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members. My name is Sarah Schreier. This is my friend Dadi. We're from the Sunnyvale, we're Sunnyvale residents, and my daughter will be starting seventh grade at CMS, so Cupertino Middle School. I'm here tonight to strongly support the proposed budget, especially Council Priority Project 2016-13, to revamp Safe Routes to School and the new microtransit service. Right now, our neighborhood, the Stockelmeyer Feeder area, is completely stranded when it comes to school transit. Our kids go to CMS, but it's way too far to walk. So every single morning, hundreds of parents have no choice but to drive, causing total gridlock on Fremont and Homestead. For my family, this is a daily logistical headache. For the dozens of families with younger kids right behind me, it's a looming crisis. Our middle schoolers want to walk and bike, but right now it's just not safe. The roads are too dangerous during morning and afternoon rushes. On top of that, COSD doesn't have the budget for school buses, and VTA let us know that federal law stops them from creating school-specific routes. To prove how widespread this is, I've handed the clerk a petition signed by 157 local families who are dealing with this daily. As you approve this budget, we are asking the council to direct public works and public safety to do two simple things. First, put the Sunnyvale to CMS route at the top of the list for the upcoming safe routes to school plan. and then make sure the boundaries for the new microtransit shuttle cover our neighborhood for morning and afternoon school drop-offs. Our neighborhood is organized. We have all the rideship data ready to go, and we want to partner with the city as a pilot program for these new transit funds. Thank you so much for putting the safety of Suttonville students first, and thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next is Marie B, followed by Zachary K.

Good evening, Mayor Klein and council members and staff. My name is Marie Bernard from Sunnyvale Community Services. In January, we asked the city to consider a safety net contingency plan to bring together public, private and nonprofit sectors as part of the city's strategic goals. We feared the worst and wanted our community to help support the safety net. Well, unfortunately, the dreaded cuts that we had feared are coming. Fifty-five thousand individuals will be losing CalFresh or food stamps benefits as of June 1st in Santa Clara County. Prorated, that means 7,150 Sunnyvaleans are going to lose CalFresh. People were already on it now. this is the projected loss because of the severe cuts and the requirements if only one-third of them show up at scs that will be another 2300 people that we will be asked to feed right now nine out of the ten people that come to sunnyvale community services come for groceries so nine out of ten of the eleven thousand five hundred twenty three So that's over 10,000 people. So we'd be adding another 2,300 conservatively. I have to say that this is happening. June 1st, it was yesterday, that was when people are going to find they are no longer enrolled, their enrollment are being not continued, and they have to check back every six months even if they get through the myriad of paperwork. This is in the hope that two-thirds of the people on CalFresh don't lose it. This is only the third of the people who will be losing it. The loss of CalFresh is going to impact low income households budgets, which means they're not going to be able to afford rent. And since we are the largest emergency assistance agency in our area and for 56 years we've been your safety net, we are asking the city to do what we wanted to do back in January, to convene a meeting with key stakeholders. We're happy to host it. We work with dozens of agencies. This is not like COVID, because during COVID it was a disease. This now is the federal government is causing this pain. The federal government is not going to be here to help us. Our local community needs to come together. So we're asking this to be seriously considered. We need to look not just at dollars, but at resources. We need to be inventive. This is happening today. It's going to be happening tomorrow. The full effect is going to be hitting us month after month. So we want to help convene this meeting. We want to be present. We want to be at the table. We are the designated emergency assistance agency for our city. Every zip code, every sunny valiant is covered by our emergency assistance agency. We want to be able to be open, to be able to help with rental assistance, food assistance, but we're going to need the assistance of everybody in our city to do that well. Nonprofits cannot do this on their own. Thank you.

Thank you.

Zachary K followed by David F. The title used on this item is, quote, City Council Public Hearing on FY 2026-27 Budget and Reallocation Plan, close quote, continuing on to quote Sunnyvale Financing Authority Public Hearing on FY 2026-27 Budget, close quote, and some more. If the subject of the meeting covers a, quote, public hearing on the FY 2026-27 budget, close quote, where is the FY 2026-27 budget on legislature? Quoting from the staff report, quote, the required materials that provides detailed information on the city's appropriations limit has been available for public review since May 7th, 2026, and is included in volume one of the FY 2026-27 recommended budget. It is also provided as attachment one to this report, close quote. Obviously, volume one isn't an attachment one as it is three pages. At some point, is volume one, perhaps the others of the FY2026-27 recommended budget going to show up on Legistar? The budget workshop on May 19, 2026 lacked it. City Council Chambers, and legislature, there was responses to budget workshop Council questions 20 260519 budget workshop summary agenda and staff presentation. City Council Chambers, When would a member of the public, get to see the actual complete budget on legislature. City Council Chambers, Maybe they want to see how many internal combustion engine vehicles were being purchased versus the number of electric vehicles, just for instance. City Council Chambers, Or maybe they want to see how much is being spent to expand the library of things at the sunnyvale public library. or watch how things change over time. Why are details opaque? It gives the wrong idea.

One moment. Authority Vice Chair, Vice Mayor Mallinger.

This is for staff. Thank you, Mr. Kaufman. Quick note, I did notice that there wasn't an obvious link to the budget document on Legistar. The budget is posted on the city website. It is publicly available. It is there. But I did notice that there was not a particularly obvious link on Legistar to that document. For the workshop, and I'm not sure if there's one tonight, but I would suggest that going forward we make sure I have sometimes seen a PDF document with a single hyperlink on it and are attached to items. That may be silly, but that might be a reasonably lightweight way to do this without adding the 500 page document or 1000 page document to LED star. Thank you.

Thank you. And to the member of the public, if you go to our Sunnyvale budget page, you basically see the recommended and approved budgets for the last 10 years, six years, seven years.

Can't remember.

Anyway, next up is David F followed by Margaret L.

Thank you. Good evening, honorable mayor, vice mayor and council members and city manager and staff and members of the public. My name is David Filstra. I'm currently serving as the president of the board of directors of Leadership Sunnyvale. And I'm here to update you on the impact of Leadership Sunnyvale on our community and to respectfully request that you consider increasing the level of the city's grant funding for Leadership Sunnyvale. I'd like to take you on a behind the scenes look at our operations. As you know, the city currently provides an annual grant of $6,000 to Leadership Sunnyvale. For context, our annual budget for the fiscal year that's ending this month was just north of $94,000. We are lucky to have a board of directors of 10 volunteers who work very diligently to expend our money in the most efficient way. If you were at our graduation last Friday, you might be surprised to learn that the entire graduation event cost us $0. Our average cost per participant is around $4,300. We charge a tuition fee of $2,000, and we offer scholarships to quite a few people. But about 55% of our expenses are currently covered by corporate donations. But corporate philanthropy has become less predictable and has started to pull back, which is why we're here asking. Leadership Sunnyvale, as you all know, provides, helps develop the civic leadership pipeline for the city of Sunnyvale. We assemble a diverse cohort from business, nonprofits, civic leaders, and residents. Our nine-month curriculum provides insights into cities' operations and values of inclusion, innovation, and collaboration with many hands-on experiences. We are now in our 41st year and have over 800 alumni. Last Friday, as I mentioned, we celebrated our graduation with 22 newly minted graduates leadership Sunnyvale. And our impact on Sunnyvale speaks for itself. Four out of seven of our city council members elected in the last two cycles are alumni, alumni service, Alumni serve on eight out of ten Sunnyvale boards and commissions. At least two alumni serve on the Santa Clara County Sustainability Commission. Four out of five of the Sunnyvale Elementary School District Trustees are alums. The current president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is an alum. and the least visible benefit, but the most impactful is probably coming from the countless other alumni who serve through volunteers in our city. We're grateful for the funding support that the city provides. In addition, we deeply appreciate the in-kind partnership, including the use of city hall and your in-person participation at our classes as co-teachers for several of our sessions. Finally, I'd like to respectfully request that the city consider increasing its annual investment in Leadership Sunnydale. This would help us address our direct operating costs. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Margaret L., followed by Tara M.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council, the rest of you. Whoops, wrong page. In 1999, as the millennium approached, anxiety was everywhere. A little history. Predictions of computer failures and doomsday scenarios filled the news, and many people feared that the world would come to an end. Rather than focus on the gloom, several of us decided to take positive action. We organized a large Sunnyvale parade. We planted trees at every Sunnyvale school and we hung large banners on the street poles along Matilda and El Camino. I don't know if any of you remember that. Some of you may not have been born then. Anyhow, the following year I enrolled in Leadership Sunnyvale. I realized when I was in Leadership Sunnyvale that year how much easier and more effective our Millennium projects would have been if I had already been a Leadership Sunnyvale grad. I would have known whom to contact, how to obtain permits, where to find funding. This is one of the great benefits of Leadership Sunnyvale. It teaches people how to organize, collaborate, and turn ideas into successful action. I also met people who care deeply about Sunnyvale as I do, and many of them remain close friends today. Then in 2020U, a year after Bob died, I found myself searching for new direction and decided to take Leadership Sunnyvale again. Linda Sell and I are the only two people who have taken Leadership Sunnyvale twice. Well, sometimes you don't learn the first time. But anyhow, after all, Sunnyvale had changed a lot in those 20 years. So with the support of many new friends, it became a year of healing for me as well as learning, an unexpected and deeply meaningful benefit. I've always believed in the value of Leadership Sunnyvale and have supported it financially over the years. I think we can all agree that it's remarkable that Leadership Sunnyvale has now graduated its 41st class, as we did last Friday, and boasts more than 800 alumni, including the four of you on the dais today and our city manager. Thank you.

Thank you. Tara M., followed by Bruce P.

Thank you very much. Good evening, honorable mayor and council members, city manager and staff. I speak to you today as the executive director of Silicon Valley Leadership, doing business as Leadership Sunnyvale. We just graduated our 41st class, as everybody has said, last Friday. It's a great group of engaged people, some of whom I think you will be seeing soon. No doubt. And we already have several people applying for the upcoming program through word of mouth only, which is an unusual, it was an unusual state when I first started. So this is very nice. None of this could or would have happened without the culture of the city and the dedicated work of many people who volunteered their time and their talent to make things work well. the city has always played a big part in the success of the program your willingness to spend time speaking to our classes the facilities we were able to use especially our new net zero civic center so thank you for all your support leadership sunnyvale and the contributions that up to the success of the program the city is the core of the program and You are the reason that it was started and the reason it is sustained. So David, our board president has just mentioned some of the impacts our program has made. And that doesn't really address all the volunteers and influencers of our alumni who continue to make Sunnyvale a wonderful city and watch to live. And we've done a lot to enhance the program over the last several years. Our alumni continue to influence at local and regional levels in positive ways. We would like to do more. We aspire to deepen our engagement with our alumni to enhance our support for the city and its future directions. To foster the vibrant communities we all envision. There is so much potential waiting to be unlocked. and together we can create those futures that we desire. As a passionate advocate for Sunnyvale, I truly believe we can excel in every way our alumni and friends envision. Our collective impact is powerful. As you navigate the budget, I ask you to consider allocating additional grant monies to fund us. Your support can make a significant difference in our ability to serve and uplift our community. Thank you.

thank you one one moment authority vice chair vice mayor mellinger although this might be a question that mr peyton might be prepared to answer i see him waiting in the wings which is i was going to ask if leadership sunnyvale had specific numbers or a specific proposal in mind as to how such additional funding might be used leadership sunnyvale if if you're asking me personally i do not

All right, thank you. Thank you. Next up is Bruce P followed by Agnes V.

Mayor Klein, council members, city staff, thank you for allowing us to speak tonight. I wanted also to lend my support for an increased investment in Leadership Sunnyvale. I was fortunate enough to participate in the class of 94, or as I like to say, in an earlier century. Participating in Leadership Sunnyvale was a life-changing experience for me. It helped me change my career. It helped start me on what's now at least 15 years of nonprofit board service, a little over 10 years of service on city and county sustainability commissions. The skills I learned, the context I learned really mattered in getting me started. I should add that At the time, I didn't know who the mayor was when I started. For the record, it was some guy named Larry Stone. Seemed like he turned out OK. I've been fortunate to participate as a board member for several years and then as a volunteer instructor the last several years. And I wanted to focus a little bit on this part of the curriculum that's a little less obvious to outsiders. In addition to learning about the city, people who participate in our programs spend a lot of time building skills. They learn about creative problem solving, some aspects of design thinking, like making ideas visible, using that and sharing those, envisioning alternative futures, exploring and inquiring before advocating. which is a really important set of skills. We really focus on how to listen and work across differences. And we certainly can't take credit for all of the civility that people credit Sunnyvale with, but we like to think that we've been an important part of creating that that climate. So I wanted to say I'm grateful for the city's support of Leadership Sunnyvale for 41 years, and I hope you will consider increasing your annual investment in Leadership Sunnyvale. Thank you.

Thank you. And my last speaker card in the room is Agnes V.

Good evening, Council, staff, and members of the public. I'm Agnes Feith, and I sit on Livable, well, I also sit on Livable Sunnyvale's board, as well as Sunnyvale Community Services, and this evening I'm speaking on behalf of SCS. Marie has already shared the news that the county has cut funding for all seven of the emergency assistance agencies supporting one-time rental assistance and staffing. The total cuts to SCS will be at a minimum $300,000. This means that up to 62 Sunnyvale households will not get emergency financial assistance for rent and utilities. SCS has already eliminated two headcount in our program staff. 56 years of work on behalf of SCS has helped homeless prevention and SCS has been cited by the County's Office of Supported Housing as the single reason why our city, which is 8% of the population of Santa Clara County, has only 4% of the homeless population per the 2025 point in time count. Local and national studies show that preventing homelessness is four times more effective and far less costly than dealing with the consequences after a family loses housing. Every dollar spent on rental assistance means that a family has an 80% chance to stay housed. It's important to note that none of SCS's homelessness prevention programs currently use city funds, but we helped over 500 local families with financial aid last year. The need for financial aid continues to rise with the average monthly rent paid by SCS of $2,500. Again, SCS would like to work with the city to find ways to fill this gap. Thank you.

Thank you. That was my last speaker card in the room. City Clerk, do we have any remote speakers? Oh, sorry. Thank you. Authority Member, Council Member South. Thank you.

I just had some questions about the 62, the families for the Sunnyvale Community Services.

Agnes, can you come back? Thank you. It's for Agnes, the last person speaking, if she can answer.

I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead, please.

So I was just wondering, so Briefly, do you know about this program? What situation are the 62 families in, and what does the program provide for them that Sunnyvale Community Services?

So you're referring to the tenant-based rental assistance program?

You mentioned that.

possibly 62 families would be cut from this program and yes i think what i would like to do if council permits is to bring marie up because marie has a stronger knowledge of this particular program can i bring her up to answer that is that permissible not normally not really um could the city manager follow up on it afterwards or Could we do this some other way with the letter to council? Would that be sufficient?

That would be very helpful.

OK. Why don't we do that? OK.

I would rather do that. In that letter, I'd like to know what the 62 families, do they reside in Sunnyvale? Are they what makes them eligible for this help? And when was the funding cut? When they're involved in this program, what do they get in this program? And if they don't have this program, what does that mean for them? And just in general overview of that, I'd like information.

Okay, so what you would like to know is, do these individuals reside in Sunnyvale? What's the eligibility to participate in the program? If the funding is cut, how does that affect these individuals? And that is it then, I think.

And is there um like um so the funding hasn't been cut and so sunnyvale community services no longer has that funding and does sunnyvale community services have a means of replacing that funding that has been cut uh was that was sunnyville's community services given any warning that that was going to be cut um and I think that's about it.

Okay, so I will get answers to your questions. And if you have further questions, then we can sit down and talk about it.

Yeah, okay. Any outcomes of past histories of sending down these 62 type families? What what any type of outcomes once they get the help?

Okay, so this letter then will be addressed to council and it will be also addressed to with the city manager like to be copied on this. Okay.

Okay.

Yes, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome. And then authority member council member Cisneros has a question.

Yes.

Of me or Marie? Of me. Okay. Yes.

Yes, because I appreciate it. We're starting a list. of helpful information and something that I want to think about is the difference between giving one time through one budgetary process or thinking about a sustaining, like structuring that in a sustaining way, because I think those two numbers are ultimately going to look a little bit different. I understand that we're responding to a crisis there, but that's not like COVID, but in similar ways to COVID, we don't know when it's going to be over. And so I want to start thinking about that now rather than have to go through this process all of the time and what that kind of that level of contribution would look like versus hey we just need a cash infusion this year where we have this plan so it was in the letter and i'm not like really expecting a complete answer to that now but that would be very helpful um in terms of what we would want to maybe structure that with so you're looking for a long-term projection well

As long as it can be, I mean, as accurate as it could be.

So if you're asking for a level of support, what would that level of support be if you'd like the city to say, hey, we want you to commit to this on a longer term basis, five, ten years, something like that, versus a one-time cash injection from this budget? Because we're going to be having this process again, but we don't know... under what circumstances we will be discussing things. So I want to just talk about what that would look like, because those would be two different numbers, two different structures, and also two different purposes for the money. I think you mentioned headcount. That's not a one-time cash infusion expenditure at all. We all know. We learned so much in the budget workshop about how that's true. So when you were talking about the different needs for money, I was hearing different financing structures as well and what would be help if we were to help if we were to provide support for a certain thing that would look different depending on what you're talking about so that would be amongst the organization what would be most helpful what looks sustainable from our perspective and your perspective and just really trying to get to where the city can have the best impact that the city specifically is able to have versus any kind of philanthropy or other resources that are available uh few and far between they may be so that would be helpful to include in the letter but i was like oh i have something to add all right thank you very much it's going to be a long letter any other questions thank you or inclusions yeah thank you mayor um i i think um

A while back, we discussed if there was, so I think we're getting a little bit far afield from council policy and from our agenda item in front of us. But I think giving staff time to work with SES to identify the problem and potential solutions, that was something I committed to that we would do if a crisis did arise. or concerns did arise and we have started that process. So I think our best option here is we've heard the public comment. I don't believe we'll be able to resolve this within two weeks by budget adoption, but council always has the ability to modify the budget. So giving staff time to work with the community on this issue, I think would be our best approach at this point.

Thank you. Authority member, council member South.

um yeah I really appreciate what the city manager said so thank you am I dismissed thank you thank you that was my last speaker card in the room City Clerk do we have any remote speakers wishing to speak on this item yes Mayor first up is Stephen M Stephen you've been unmuted and you have three minutes to address the City Council

Hi, good evening. Thanks for your patience with my hyperactive request to participate early. But here I am. Steven Meyer, I am retired from massage therapy, yet I still practice on a personal basis. And I practiced for about 10 years and went through the Sunnyvale Massage Ordinance. What you can see here is now the costs are increasing for massage therapists. It's getting to the point where it might be driving them outside of the city. And in my mind, massage is healthcare. And we know that DPS needs to be involved because there's a criminal element, but at some point that criminal element should fall on the general fund and not on the backs of a legitimate therapist. And just keep in mind that the city treats massage therapists quite different than adjacent professionals. So if I was a physical therapist or chiropractor, the city's treatment is quite different. And again, I practice massage therapy no longer professionally, but I've provided care for many, even in hospital settings. So massage is healthcare. Please don't burden it with these excessive fees. Thank you. Good night.

Thank you. Mayor, that was the final remote public speaker for this agenda item.

Okay. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. uh note that no motion is needed on this agenda item but do can does council have any final comments or questions of staff uh first up is authority member council member srinivasan thank you this is for uh city manager um if we have to increase the annual grant for

and leaderships anyway. Should we need a motion or a recommendation? I don't want to put a dollar figure, but I leave it to staff.

Before you answer, Mr. City Manager, there was a budget supplement that council approved for an additional $50,000 for nonprofits. Correct. And I just want to see if that applied. So it's a mixture of the two, but... I'll I'll let you answer authority member council council member of shooting Boston's question, but also how that ties to that budget supplement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. I agree. I think that we haven't developed the the guidelines for that for that yet, but that is definitely an opportunity. I don't think I need a motion. I think we could. We we need to discuss with leadership sunnyville since there was no specific dollar ask just um what they might be what might be helpful we we do provide also in-kind services and facilities so I would like to get the whole picture in front of Council but I think we can do that by uh by budget adoption now that one I do think we could probably work out by by that point okay thank you very much thank you

Authority Vice Chair, Vice Mayor Mellinger.

Thank you very much. And my question was something similar, given that is probably going to take a year or so to get the nonprofit grant program off the ground from what I was seeing. Was that or what? From what I remember from the budget workshop, is that accurate, Mr. Kirby?

No, I'm looking at Library and Recreation Services Director Michelle Pereira. She's going to come with that sooner than that as she sooner is the answer, but she'll give you a little bit more color.

um good evening we were hoping to get that out of off the ground starting january next year okay that's that's helpful six months out um very helpful thank you um you know i i would be interested in looking at an increase in the grant funding we provide to Leadership Sunnyvale. I'd also like to know, and staff could come back to us with this, when the last time we updated the number for what they receive? Because I was looking at the project and it says, you know, 6,000 out for the next 20 years. When was the last time we increased that? That would be very helpful. And for Leadership Sunnyvale, not only would a number be helpful, but some specifics on how it might be used. And I'm sure you can work with staff on that.

Thank you. Thank you. I see no other

Yes, I apology authority, vice chair, vice mayor. I'm not sure if this was fully captured, but I am interested in establishing a senior daily rate at Sunken Gardens. I do think that's worthwhile. It's odd to me that Sunnyvale Municipal has it in Sunken Gardens doesn't. Many other courses in the area do weekday senior discount rates. This is building community. I think that's a great thing. And then. Staff will be working with Sunnyvale Community Services to try and pin down some specifics. On Massage, it looks like, could you explain where these numbers come from in terms of the 1767 new business fee, 1454 annual existing business license fee, and what an additional owner's initial application is?

Yeah, I'm hoping as public safety available to take on that, that fee question, potentially.

Hello, Dan Pistor, Chief of Public Safety. I'm sorry, Vice Mayor, can you repeat your question to me?

Um, the numbers on the fees that we have for establishment of massage for massage establishment permits. I'm looking at a 1767 fee for a new business, a 1454 annual renewal fee. Could you speak to where those numbers come from and where those are derived from?

If you could give me some time to follow up and report back to you on a report back accurately exactly where those numbers come from.

Okay, I do notice that outcall only has a much lower fee. So that is appreciated. Yes, if you could bring us back that information for the 16th, that would be great.

Yep, certainly will.

All right. Thank you. I believe I have no further questions. Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. And and I was going to bring up the the sunken gardens senior fees. So definitely that's that's a secondary thing. And as I remember. the previous chief talking about and so we'll we'll still look for the report but as far as I remember it was cost of the inspection and all that so it's it's it's officers time at the end of the day but um I'll let the let the chief bring that back on their next meeting um I see no other questions for Council so let's go ahead and take a seven minute recess and come back at 9 00 p.m thank you Let's go ahead and reconvene. And the joint session of the city council in the sunnyvale financing authority meeting is adjourned at 902 PM let's reconvene to our city council meeting and move to our general business. And because of the number of items that we have on our docket tonight, I wanted to give everyone a heads up that we were taking one item earlier to postpone, but I wanted to open up public comment on that item ahead of time if people are interested. So what we're going to be doing is taking our final item, which was basically actions related to our objective design standards for single family dwellings, two family dwellings, dual urban opportunity layers, dual opportunity housing developments, um and ultimately we will be postponing that to a future date but i did want to go ahead and take council member questions and public comment in case you're not able to come to that for future date and i did get a speaker card for that item so just to give you give give anyone else who wants to speak um this and it'll be on item seven which was item 26-0503 on the design guidelines. Please turn in a speaker card. But first up is Vice Mayor Mellinger.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And so we received a letter from Bronwyn Berry, an architect, on this item a couple months ago, I believe a couple months ago, raising concerns about the potential impact of articulation and second story setback standards on, among other things, environmental sustainability. And in particular, with being able to use passive house designs to minimize energy loss and maintain temperature as well as seismic safety. And in fact, in the ability of traditional housing forms to meet these standards in particular raising concerns about whether the right house the oldest house in sunnyvale would actually meet these design standards as many people know i do generally have concerns about articulation and setback requirements and wedding caking and i would appreciate it i'm not going to ask for a detailed response tonight given the likely continuance of this item but assuming this item is continued i would appreciate a staff response at the upcoming hearing to some of the concerns raised in that letter in particular especially around the environmental sustainability thermal flux stuff thank you thank you vice mayor

I see no other comments or questions from council. So I'll go ahead and open up the public hearing on this item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on your telephone. Indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have two speaker cards in the room. First up is Cassandra H followed by Jane E. Cassandra.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Tonight has been very educational to say the least. I am a Sunnyvale citizen, have been my entire life. We won't talk about how long that's been. I am one of those citizens that's being impacted by some construction that is pending near my house, my neighbor's house, And so I see a plethora of regulations about the designs of single family homes in here. I wanna know what the recourse is for neighbors that are impacted by these projects. And are there regulations requiring notifications of neighbors before the project final approval? Because the only way we found out about what was going on was because the person who passed away his son from washington state was curious about what was happening with his house and notified us we've had no notification whatsoever so those are my two questions what recourse do we have as neighbors and are there any kind of regulations for the neighbors to be notified of this kind of stuff before it's finalized and that's it thank you thank you very much uh vice mayor mellinger

I was just going to ask if staff could get back to the speaker offline.

Thank you. Thank you. My next speaker card is Jane E.

Thank you. I'll keep my remarks brief. I just would ask that as you consider these new guidelines for residential single family residents, that you consider what is the purpose of these guidelines? They're extremely specific and proscriptive and don't allow for a lot of of a steady considerations of the houses. And our concern is that we'll end up with homes that are very cookie cutter and not reflective of the the character and the nature that these neighborhoods have had for a long time. Thank you.

Thank you. That was my last speaker card in the room. City Clerk, do you have any remote speakers wishing to speak on the side?

No, Mayor.

I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. and bring it back to council for a motion. Vice Mayor Mellinger.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I move that we postpone this item to a date certain of July 21st, 2026.

Thank you. Council Member Srinivasan.

Second.

Thank you. City Clerk, can you please conduct the vote?

The motion to continue this item to July 21st carries 7-0.

Thank you. And with that, let's move back one moment to our general business. next items item 26-0486 introducing ordinance amending section 10.16.120 use of streets for public parking facilities for storage of vehicles prohibited and adding section 10.16.180 rental vehicles for human habitation prohibited to the city of sunnyvale municipal code is there a staff report

Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Dan Pistor, Chief of Public Safety. Tonight we'll be discussing citywide parking ordinance amendments. With me today is Deputy Chief Dave Sakurai, who oversees the Patrol Services Bureau, and Captain Ryan Yin, who's been leading DPS's efforts on this particular project. And with that, I'll turn it over to Captain Yin.

good evening mayor vice mayor and council uh it's your background on february 2nd uh council directed staff to amend the 72 hour parking ordinance to require vehicles be moved at least a thousand feet and prohibit returning to the same parking space within 24 hours staff is also directed to develop an ordinance to prohibit inoperable trailers on city streets and to develop an ordinance to prohibit van lording Our 72-hour parking ordinance was amended. It clarifies that a vehicle or trailer is considered continuously parked if it remains inoperable, has not moved at least 1,000 feet or returns to the same parking space within 24 hours. The amended ordinance also defines an inoperable vehicle as a vehicle or trailer that cannot move under its own power or cannot legally and safely operate on public roadways. We also added a van lording section. The van lording section prohibits renting or loaning oversized vehicles for habitation or sleeping on public property in exchange for compensation. This new ordinance section also prohibits unauthorized individuals or entities from selling, renting, reserving, or facilitating use of public right-of-way spaces without city approval. it defines oversized vehicles to include rvs trailers campers van conversions and other vehicles designed or altered for human habitation and lastly it prohibits advertising of oversized vehicles for rent lease or loan for habitation or sleeping on public property and for the next implementation plan we'll turn it over to deputy chief sakurai good evening mayor and council members

I want to briefly walk you through our implementation plan for the RV ordinance. Currently, there are approximately 120 to 150 known inhabited RVs in the City of Sunnyvale. These numbers are based on an informal count by our vehicle abatement officers. For the first 30 days following passage of the ordinance, the Department of Public Safety will focus entirely on community outreach and education. means posting public information through our social media channels and having officers make direct contact with individuals living in defined vehicles handing out flyers and explaining the new ordinance and available unhoused resources the goal during this period is compliance to awareness and not enforcement Once the end of the 30-day education window closes, we will start to begin our enforcement efforts. We want to emphasize that this is going to be an effort that is going to begin with citations and towing the vehicle is in violation of the ordinance, but only as a last resort. We want to receive voluntary compliance and provide appropriate resources for outreach. As of now, we have a family tow. One of our contracted tow services has confirmed that they are ready to assist with RV towing when needed. We believe this phase approach balances community accountability with a fair opportunity for people to come into compliance. And we're available for questions.

Thank you very much. Let's go to council questions. First up is council member Srinivasan.

Thank you. you mentioned that you would conduct community outreach through social media and other means which is very good but would you be looking at approaching some of the non-profits who directly work with announced community of which rv is one of them

Yes, that's an excellent point and we will certainly partner with We Hope and some of our other services. Our DPS's primary means of contacting the residents of these RVs and oversized vehicles would be our vehicle abatement officers. They do regular and continuous checkups weekly and sometimes even daily depending on the location and the amount of complaints received.

And then how would you, who would report landlording? Obviously people living in RVs would not report, but how would you find out about that?

So these are going to be on a case-by-case basis. We're going to have various sources, as with almost any crime, of how we determine that the crime is occurring. So it's going to be either by reportings that we receive. It's going to be by regular contact and interviewing by our vehicle abatement officers or public safety officers. you know if we get a lead that will start looking into social media channels or some type of resources where these landlords are advertising it's difficult to give a one like a like a one catch-all answer for that because every crime source information is different okay thank you and then family too they will be doing inoperable rvs or how exactly that would happen i have a follow-up question on that but Correct. There are one of our three contracted tow companies that DPS uses for all tows. They're the one that is most regularly utilized for RV tows of all sorts, particularly with the inoperable and RVs that are set to be destroyed or dismantled.

Okay.

Thank you. And then last question. I remember there was a proposal by for our Hanau strategy was, are we buyback? I know we have not finalized anything. Are you working with that idea or any thoughts on that? I know we have not, as a council, has not made any decision on that.

I think for that one I'm going to maybe pass it to Amanda Stoltz for some follow-up on that. This is not part of the DPS 72-hour parking ordinance.

Amanda Stoltz, Housing Officer. We are still in the process of working on the feasibility study for all of those programs we came to in April. We also work really closely with the DPS and are constantly in conversations about how what they're working on now may impact on how services and so it's a it's constant communication.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member. Next up is Council Member Lange.

Thank you so much. I want to hear public comment, and I think I'll have more questions later, but I had a question about the banlording and particularly the advertisements, and I think you already answered it maybe during Council Member Srinivasan's question, but how are we going to enforce an advertising ban? I don't quite understand that.

It would just be monitoring and seeing what pops up. I think right now, as we reported in February, we have our videos have discovered about five instances of van lording that are currently going on. So as those things pop up, we investigate. Same with advertisements as we are monitoring ourselves or it's brought to our attention.

Five instances of van lording. Do you mean five separate van lords or five individual RVs?

To our knowledge, it is one person who has five different RVs that are currently being rented out.

Thank you. I'll have more later, but thank you so much.

Thank you. Next up is Vice Mayor Mellinger.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. A couple questions about the van lording and the RV towing. Um, the first question is I seem to recall that the highest we can find an individual under the misdemeanor code is something like a thousand dollars. I think that came up when we were doing the Airbnb regulations. And I think at the time. Was it council member Hendricks said, throw the book at them. Um, that sounds like a thing council member Hendricks would have said, but, um, I seem to recall that the maximum fine that could be set was something like a thousand dollars. Is that accurate?

Peter Holm, senior management analyst. You're correct. It's under California Penal Code. It is $1,000 for misdemeanor. Under our Sunnyvale Municipal Code fee schedule, we have administrative citations that are escalating up to $500 per instance.

Would it be within the power of council tonight to set the fine for van lording to $999?

We would take that as a follow-up, and we would bring it to council on the 16th with the budget.

OK, I would be of a mind. I'll signal to my colleagues that I would be of a mind to consider that. The second thing I wanted to ask, and this is more from the housing services side, and it has to do with both van lording and RV tows. And Ms. Stultz, I see you in the audience, so perhaps if we could bring you up. Obviously towing an inhabited RV is something not to be done lightly, even if it is inoperable, even if it is a public health hazard. You know, the residents of that vehicle will need to be cared for. not only because we would prefer not to cause harm, but also because we know that it becomes progressively harder to house people as they fall down the various rungs of the ladder of homelessness. Can you speak a little bit about what steps, and again, with van lording, a tenant is kind of in a catch-22 where if they report their van lord, then they are now out of a home. Can you speak to the resources that we will be working to make available to the residents of such vehicles?

Sure. Amanda Stultz, housing officer. So we will definitely be working closely with DPS should this get approved tonight to understand exactly what the process will be on their end so that we can align our services with that. And so we work very closely with our contracted street outreach provider. We hope we have conversations usually daily, if not a few times a week, and also get written reports from them to understand exactly what's going on on the ground. And so I am confident that we'll be able to direct them in the ways that we need to, to compliment the services that DPS are providing in some areas. so that we can ensure that services are provided not just once but on numerous occasions so that individuals who may be at risk of having their vehicle towed will have that preemptive outreach component before that needs to happen.

Okay, a couple things I'll add to follow up on that. I think it would be great if such individuals could be prioritized for the hotel stay program. It's unclear, the van lording, how many instances that will turn up, but I do wonder if the funds from those fines might be able to be allocated towards helping to provide services to families living in RVs. let staff think about that and noodle on that as to whether that's something that would be feasible. But I imagine that that's something that they're going to want to discuss. I don't believe I have any further questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Next up is Councilmember Chang.

Thank you. There have been some concerns about the thousand feet and the rotating areas that the RVs might go to. And in the Monday morning questions, it was referenced that staff can recognize certain patterns and cite. Could you just talk about what the citation process would be and what the citation would be?

Yeah, so there is no formula for siting, right? So we try lowest level education. We understand on a case by case basis that situations are different. So if you remember in February, we talked about the physical chalking, also like a digital chalk to be able to know if a vehicle has moved. And a lot of this also falls on the VAOs who are out there every day and understanding and picking up patterns. and seeing that the same vehicles are in the the same spots so after that kind of as we go through the education phase and then the kind of warning phase at the at that point we would move on to the actual citation and is there a specific fee associated or if there for example if this is the second citation does it double or is there a specific process with that

Dave Sackray, Deputy Chief. I do believe that the fee schedule starts at $100. The first offense goes up to $200, and then subsequent offenses are $500.

Okay, thank you. And then for the vanlording follow-up, I was on Realtor.com, and I found two, one on El Camino and one on Stewart. So that's also a site you can look on for them.

Thank you, Councilmember. Next up is Councilmember Cisneros.

Yes. Thank you very much for your presentation and for your work on this. It's a really complicated issue. It's a sensitive issue. And I really appreciate the care that all of staff is taking, very thoughtful. And I'm glad that we're going through the process the way that we are, just step by step. Let's understand it little by little. Many of my questions have been asked and answered. one is so sometimes residents will report an rv and saying you know this is blocking my line of sight i'm not able to pull out of my driveway safely you know this is creating this hazard do we have the ability to say okay you can't park here at all and like help guide people into a safer parking situation so that people are able to see around it or is that something that would require additional additional changes to the code.

I can't remember the exact date or the the change in the vehicle code. So cars can't park as close to curbs anymore specifically for that, for those sight lines. But if there was a situation that got brought to our attention specifically about sight lines, we would just try to make contact with that particular person. And again, this goes back to our kind of individual touch, case-by-case basis, try to get that person to move along. Education. It's just like all traffic enforcement, right? We do the engineering part first, mark curbs, sign things, make sure people are aware of what we're doing first. And then after that, we move on to the education part. And then if we need to, enforcement.

OK, yeah. OK, so it goes through the same process there, but they wouldn't. And with the. OK, so I'll just have to look and I should know I recently got a ticket because I parked close to the curb. So you all are on it and I will pay my ticket. And I know better now, but I was reminded. So just in case anybody is wondering if you do do enforcement, you do. And which is great. I'm really glad that that was there. And it's, you know, I think it was like $65 or something like that. It was a little like, don't do that anymore, which is fair. And my other question is, so let's say in the van lording situation, we have the tenant there. can't do this legally at all um it i'm really glad that we're putting something there and then there's the van lord the person so when we're giving a fine is that to the person who is like in the rv paying this person for the space or are we going like who is this registered to and finding the person responsible for the situation yeah that would be to the the van lord itself themselves And so the, oh, okay, yeah, because they would be the only ones able to move this vehicle. Like if they, because if, I don't know how van lording works. And so I'm wondering if you do. Are the people who, do the people who live in these vehicles, are they able to move it at all? Do they have keys? No.

if we differentiate if it's a trailer or an actual RV that's able to move on its own. So what we've experienced both, and I want to take a couple steps back here and we're kind of on the forefront of van lording in an ordinance and enforcement. So some of this is going to be learning as we go. But as you can see how the ordinance was written, right, it's for the van lord himself, not for the resident or occupant. So as we have seen now, there are trailers and then that landlord RV or van lord will come and move those trailers for those tenants because they're unable to move them themselves. And there's other situations which, yes, they have the keys and they control the actual RV themselves. So we have both.

Okay. Okay. That's helpful. And you're right. This is the forefront of thinking about this on the municipal level and vehicle code level. But yeah. Thank you for the clarification about whether we were penalizing the person who just happens to be living in the situation or the person who's doing it.

And if I could just add some color for council, like everything we do at public safety, right? Our main goal is to gain compliance with whatever law we're dealing with. through the least possible intrusive means, right? I mean, that's written in some of our policies when it comes to use of force, and we'll be following that same type of philosophy when it comes to enforcing this particular ordinance. We are going to do warnings, then we'll move to citations, and then at the final step, we're going to move to toes. But that is not something that we ultimately will jump to right away. We will make sure Amanda and her team have time to do their work.

Can you remind me, do we pay for that tow or is that we just have a family tow has agreed to do it and whoever that vehicle is registered to, that's responsible for paying them?

does this come out of our budget anyway so it depends on the condition of the vehicle itself if it's inoperable if it's some type of safety hazard then family tow will handle the disposal and demolition of the vehicle or abatement of the vehicle i should say but if it's operable just like any other vehicle it will be handled on a basis with the tow company directly okay

Okay, fantastic. And I'd love to think about if that's going to be happening, if we can through our unhoused support, figure out a way to help somebody get their stuff out before it's towed into that yard to give them a little time to move their stuff out because it'll end up being destroyed and anything that they want to keep. And so I hope we didn't think about how to have some kind of response team go out and make sure that they're there. I see Amanda nodding, so you all got it. So that concludes my questions. Thank you all very much.

Thank you, Councilmember. Next up is Councilmember Sell.

So if someone suspects a vehicle has been there for more than 72 hours, just stayed there, what should they do? report it, how do they report it? What should they do?

Just like with most of our calls, they can contact us in just about any way. I mean, non-emergency line through emails to CRM system to report it. And then once it's initiated, then that begins our clock. So just because a caller has seen that they're static for 72 hours, we have to begin our own investigation at that point to give the due process to the owner of the vehicle as well. So like we said, various means of communication, we have a pretty robust tracking system within the vehicle abatement officer unit to make sure that we track, follow up and apply by all the standards that we have set forward by the abatement process.

And then for the person reporting it, do they get periodically feedback back from public safety saying, we've gotten your report, we have a process, and so do they get any feedback? I don't know.

yes and they should receive a communication back from our vehicle payment unit regarding their vehicle you know just but to put it to perspective i checked earlier this afternoon and our vehicle abatement unit is currently working over 2300 or has received over 2300 complaints this year So we're well on pace to have over 4,000 for the year. So there's quite a large volume of complaints that come in for vehicles, not just RVs. These are all vehicles within the abatement process citywide. So they do their best to follow up with the communication. With anything of that volume, you're going to have some that fall through the cracks. We do our best, though, to try to follow up with every person that calls in a complaint.

is there like maybe they get a service request number and then they could look up the status of the service request number if they type in something or something like um you know like if we do access any belt then you get assigned like a number and then you can check in on that number with Anything like that? All right, this is so new. You still have to work out it.

Yeah, we don't have a system. I think you're referring to some type of online system you can log in as a resident to see where your complaint currently stands. We don't have something like that currently for the Vehicle Abatement Office. To be honest, it's being tracked on a pretty robust spreadsheet, is our tracking system, just because of the variety of methods that complaints come into the unit.

But I would add that if any member of the community does have questions about communication into the department that maybe went unanswered, please feel free to call us either at our non-emergency numbers or any one of the numbers that are available on our website or send us an email and we'll definitely respond and look into what exactly happened if there was no communication back and forth. We don't want to leave a member of the community wondering whatever happened to their complaint.

and then um so when does this ordinance uh take effect after if we approve it today um what is it does it take like you'll have the 30 day um and then after the 30 days you will be doing enforcement 30 days from after we approve this is that so council member cell it will be effective 30 days after the second reading okay so we still have to do the second meeting at another meeting

Right. And that's why we built in in our implementation plan that education period. We're going to take advantage of that 30 day waiting period to make sure we educate people and give them an opportunity to comply.

OK. And then one last thing. Has other cities done what we've done? Like this is not like something new or something like this is.

Yeah, if you recall, in February, where the consultants studied cities up and down California, and so this was not a unique idea. This was kind of a gathering of best practices.

Okay.

Okay. Thanks.

City manager. Yeah.

Sarah Johnson Rios, City Manager, Thank you. Sarah Johnson Rios, Assistant City Manager. Just very briefly, our new CRM system, which is currently under development now, will focus on our highest volume service request types, including vehicle abatement. So we'll be making improvements citywide in that area. Thank you.

That was the last of council questions. I'll go ahead and open up the public hearing on this item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk, raise your digital hand now, or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have several speaker cards in the room. First up is Byron R followed by Jason P.

Good evening, mayor, city council members. Appreciate you taking up this topic. I'm the president of Orchard Commercial. We manage about 11 million square feet throughout the Silicon Valley. I'm also a longtime board member of NAOP Silicon Valley. I believe you received a letter this evening with regards to this issue. over the years we've managed over a few million square feet of commercial property in sunnyvale that's been responsible for i would say several billion dollars in not only property taxes but business taxes for the tenants who occupy those buildings currently we have several landlords that own property in sunnyvale one of them purchased a property in Perry Park about a year ago. They spent tens of millions of dollars renovating that property. It backs up to Vaqueros. This morning when I drove Vaqueros, there was actually three Sunnyvale traffic officers on site, citing the RVs that were there, doing a drive around for three streets in the area, Del Rey, Vaqueros, and one other one. There were 63 RVs just on those three streets. In my opinion and experience, the cities that create environments that are open to RVs to park is where they will park. We've had success working with the city of Menlo Park and Bohannon Industrial Park to get rid of the RV issue there. That requires strong laws to be passed by the city. so that police officers and traffic control officers can enforce those laws. They posted a lot of signage. It took a lot of political will, but they were able to do it. San Jose has also seen a great reduction in RVs that have been parked on city streets. One example is, how are we doing on time? Torino is a publicly traded real estate property owner and they had a piece of property that they worked with the city of san jose to lease back to the city of san jose so that rvs could be legally parked on that piece of property the property owner received funds from the city it worked economically for the property owner and it worked for the city to create a legal spark for people to park their rvs within the city limits of san jose So we would encourage the passing of this legislation. We also think that you need to have stronger laws. The fact that you're fighting the loss of thousands of dollars, millions and billions of dollars of revenue with $1,000 misdemeanor is a tough battle. But we encourage you to look at additional legislation and posting signage

uh to battle you know this public issue so thank you thank uh vice mayor mallinger thank you very much uh you mentioned that a business you worked with had done a deal with the city of san jose to set up a safe parking site on their property that's correct um the city had a hearing on safe parking uh back in i believe march or april And one of the issues that we found is that we've had difficulty finding public sites or private partners interested in hosting a safe parking site. Are any of NIOPs, are you aware of any businesses in Sunnyvale or landowners in Sunnyvale who might be interested or willing to partner with the city

I will ask around. It's a tough, it's like finding a needle in a haystack, but in certain instances you can find those. So I'll keep our ears open. I think there's a lot of interested parties here tonight who would be interested in finding the right piece of property for the right solution.

I believe so. And perhaps you could connect with our city staff on that.

Sure.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is Council Member Lay.

Hi, I'm going to keep you up there.

Sure. Thank you. I have your letter in front of me and one of your suggestions is to explore partnering with commercial landlords on sign placements, prohibiting oversized vehicles from parking near and adjacent to commercial properties similar to Mountain View 2020 measure C. It seems that you personally work with a lot of these commercial property owners. Is it your opinion that, well, this is a partnership clearly that commercial property owners would be willing to work with the city to do this?

Definitely.

Yes.

Okay. Do you know how that is? Tonight we've got Dick Perry of Perry Park. It's a large business park here in San Jose. This is very important. He's here tonight.

Fantastic. And also, do you happen to know how Measure C was implemented in Mountain View? Off the top of my head, I do not.

I read that at the same time you did earlier. But we'll research that and get back to you.

Okay. And if staff could also look into this, I think this is potentially a good partnership. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for all of our questions. Next up is Jason P followed by Michael S.

Hi, my name is Jason Peary. I appreciate you taking the time to take up this issue. And I want to talk very plainly about this issue, particularly in Peary Park, which is probably the most prominent business park in Sunnyvale. These encampments did not appear in Sunnyvale by accident. They're here because Palo Alto got serious, Mountain View got serious, Fremont got serious, San Jose got serious. They passed real ordinances, they posted real signs, and they began real enforcement. So the RVs moved. and they moved here to Sunnyvale because word travels fast when a city has no teeth. You do not attract this problem through bad luck. You attract it through weak leadership, and that's the reality. And until this Council acts with the same resolve as your neighbors, Sunnyvale will continue to be the destination of choice for every operator pushed out of a city that actually enforces its laws. I do appreciate that the officers admitted that enforcement was a last resort, that there was no formula for actually siting, and that there's actually no system for tracking. Second, I don't see any RVs outside here tonight. I don't see encampments near where you guys park your cars. The problem has been carefully contained to other people's streets, in the corridors where your constituents work, where their employees walk to their cars at night, where tenants are now asking hard questions about whether to renew their leases because they're not, and where prospective tenants are canceling tours right on the spot because they see the rvs on both sides of the streets and on vaqueros and on hermosa on del rey on benicia on pastoria and they just say there's no chance that we're going to subject our our employees to to the dangers and the sanitary conditions on these on these streets This is not a coincidence. That's a choice and that tells us how seriously that the city takes this problem. Would the city allow employees arriving at City Hall every morning to walk through trash generators, long-term encampments? You know that the answer is no. Third, the economic harm is real, measurable, and severe. A slight loss in rents, even 50 cents a square foot per rent on a 100,000 square foot building equals 600,000 in lost revenue, a $12 million value per building. And there are countless buildings that are in this situation where employees and landlords are suffering severe economic harm. What is on the table tonight is not a solution. There has not been an actual enforcement. Councilwoman Cisneros, I appreciate that you got a ticket for $69 and you talked about that as enforcement. If you drove an RV and you threw your trash all over the place, you'd be totally fine. You wouldn't get a ticket, I guarantee. every city that has solved this has followed the same logic they has it have a sanction site which you now have the legal ability to the u.s supreme court said that you that you can create sanction sites and you you created your own um measure as well five months later the safe parking ordinance that allows you to designate sites thank you very much so all right thank you next up is michael s followed by cindy h

Mayor and City Council members, my name is Michael Siri. Our family owns seven properties in Perry Park and has owned that property since those buildings came out of the ground. I've heard, sit here and hear the council worry about the people in those RVs and what you do, and I understand you have a responsibility for that. but respectfully i have heard nothing except for jason perry speaking on what the landlords are putting up with and what our tenants are putting up with i've had tenants have been solicited for prostitution threatened i've had tenants who tell me their people don't want to come in the door i've had tenants say i'm going to break my lease we can't live in this neighborhood anymore perry park was a beautiful park i have fans in front of our property that are pushed out over our lawn four feet i hear nothing i've got vans that are parked right to the curb cut in our driveways there's no enforcement there's nothing they're parked underneath the signs which we fought four years to get to re to stop parking overnight I'm one of the ones that's filling your sites with pictures. I've sent pictures and letters to all the council members. Some of you have disregarded them without even reading it. It's terrible what's happening there, and we see no help from you. Now, currently, we're paying over $115,000 a year in property taxes, and our tenants are. One of our tenants just approached me tonight and said, you got in an accident pulling out of the driveway because you couldn't see on either side. Go there around lunchtime. Watch the people walking up and down the sides of the street. They have to duck inside these vans. It's terrible. Well, your law enforcement is sitting right here. It's dangerous. Now, I was always taught not just to offer criticism, but offer some help. There's two things I'd like to say. First of all, your ordinance, I think this 24-hour situation should be taken out and stricken. Don't give them a chance to come back in 24 hours. The rest of it's OK, but your staff did not speak to what was redlined here, where they can't move a vehicle a short distance, roll it 10 feet or 15 feet, and be OK with the ordinance. Why was that struck? I think you weakened that ordinance, that part of it. The rest I'm OK with. Now. There's just so much so much I would like to tell you. I've I've sent pictures. I've I've watched this. I've been writing you since October of last year. I've hundreds of pictures of this going on. We've got generators out in the street all times of the day running. People fill them up with gas. They're dumping their tanks. Where are they dumping their tanks? You tell me now. I understand there's a lawsuit with Sunnyvale for an in Mountain View polluting the creeks. E. coli. What do you think it's coming from? Thank you.

Please help us out. Thank you. You have a question one moment. Council Member Lay?

No, this is for the city manager. Mr. Kirby, could you please tell us about the timeline for the establishment of RV parking permits and when staff will be coming back with suggested streets for RV parking?

I'm going to ask Amanda to come up and just speak a little bit about to where our plan is.

I mean assaults housing officer, so we will be coming back in September with both the strategy to address homelessness and the. feasibility studies for vehicular homelessness so that will include the permitted parking on designated city streets safe parking interim housing and the rv buyback program and the feasibility of all of those programs.

Thank you.

Mayor Mrakas, Thank you next up is since Council member so. City Council Chambers, question for city manager.

City Council Chambers, As I recall, there were some places where you were going to add the city might be adding bike lanes or is that not a case or. Mayor Mrakas, i'm.

We're adding bike lanes all over the city. Do you mean in specific areas? There are some areas, I think, within Perry Park that are slated for bike lane ads that would remove parking. There are other areas. What we're looking at right now, what Amanda was referring to, is we're looking for areas in the city where we could authorize longer-term parking on the street where it wouldn't be as disruptive for business and the community. Our challenge actually, since I have the floor for a second, is As the public speakers have pointed out, other cities have imposed very strict rules, which has pushed the problem to Sunnyvale to some extent. It was already here also. But I think what we're trying to avoid is just pushing the problem around the city. To share a little bit, I'm just going to share. We've started tracking calls for service, and they're pretty significant. And so we don't want to put ourselves in a situation where we're just doing things that move the problem around. We want to try to find a more permanent solution. So that's why we're looking at solutions like interim housing, safe parking sites, and then permitted parking on streets for longer periods of time.

Okay, thank you. So in September, you'll be coming back. And in that there might be solutions for state parking, maybe possibly streets that people can park in, which would not be likely adjacent to businesses.

Is that what you're thinking? I wouldn't say they're not completely adjacent to businesses. We're going to look for the best spots that we can find. Sunnyvale's a built out city, so everything's adjacent to something. So there will be impacts wherever this occurs. But we're looking to ways to minimize those.

OK. And then in parallel, maybe there will be some streets in Perry Park that will have bike lanes, and bike lanes will not allow for parking. Maybe.

Yeah, I don't want to promise that as a solution because that's not an overnight solution. It takes some time to design and implement bike lanes. Okay.

Thank you. Council Member Srinivasan.

Yeah, this is question for City Manager. Any comments? in a vehicle a short distance or attempting to rub off tire mark will not be considered compliance of this section.

I can take that one. So that was crossed out because it's no longer needed because they have to move 1,000 feet. So they used to just have to move a little bit. And so, you know, people might move just far enough to, you know, scrape off the chalk or something. But that's really not a needed part of the ordinance anymore.

Okay. So the 1,000 feet overrides this. Right. OK, thank you.

And now there are no more council questions. Next up is Cindy H. Followed by Lisa D.

Hi, my name is Cindy, Cindy Hsu. Thank you for the time. I'm the property owner on the Benicia Avenue, so next to the Sunnyvale Golf Course. The street used to be very beautiful. It's good to walk on both sides because we have beautiful redwood trees. So I'm very proud. to have the property there i love to share everything but probably back to five years ago the construction start but that that i can expect it would end so the big truck just parked on the street on the side i know they are working on the project i have no complaints But then after that COVID came, then the RV came. I called many times to police. They did help, but the other RV came back. They parked in front of my building and I'm afraid of walking on the street. I cannot walk there anymore. The Benicia is just no longer Benicia. It's a beautiful street, but I cannot find good I mean, you know, one time I even see they dump in the trash. spread the paint on my green grass. I used to be able to just walk by to see the beautiful street, but no longer. I haven't been walking on the street for many years. I'm scared. I even, you know, I cannot walk there because that's not my street anymore. So I'm glad tonight my voice can be heard by the city. I wish that, I tried to apply the six feet high, for the vehicle no longer park on the street. But city told me cannot be done. I think maybe that's the temporary solution because they always can come back. Doesn't matter, you move them away the next day, they find the other spot, maybe 20 feet away. So we should be smart. I think a six feet high vehicle cannot be allowed park on the street. That's my voice. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And my last speaker card in the room is Lisa Dee.

Good evening. So I'm Lisa Delev. I'm the Chief Executive Officer of Kyler Intelligent Systems. We're one of the residents on North Pastoria. So I came just to share a perspective of being a high-tech tenant on Pastoria Avenue. And I just would like to say, before I share that perspective, that as a citizen, obviously, I think it's critical to find an appropriate and safe place for those residents who are in these vehicles to live. They need that, that require that, there should be a place for them. But it shouldn't be in the streets of the heart of Silicon Valley's business. We literally are losing business tens of thousands of dollars of opportunity every several months since this has happened because people who come from all across the world or across other states to come to the heart of Silicon Valley to our high-tech company, we can't bring them to a trailer park. We most recently were about to conduct a summer hackathon for youth at our facility, and our chief marketing officer refuses to do so because it taints our brand, it's not appropriate for a high-tech company, and it's not what, and unfortunately, that kind of goes hand in hand together when you are in this universe. So that's our perspective of, aside from the safety issues, I am the one who got in the accident from not seeing and the sanitary conditions and so forth. So as you are considering what to do, I would implore to really pay attention to that component and that perspective of the businesses. of the valley and what they require. It's pretty critical and we don't want to have to move and that we just, we really love the place. And so hopefully we're counting you to find some type of solution for these residents that will be more appropriate and permanent. I don't think that the solution of rotating every 24 hours, it's just a rotation. It doesn't mean that they're not there and it's packed. It's packed.

rows and rows of them so there needs to be some type of of answer to that well thank you thank you that was my last speaker card in the room city clerk do we have any remote speakers wishing to speak on this item yes mayor first up is sharon s followed by will m sharon you've been unmuted and you have three minutes to address the city council

Thank you. I appreciate the new rules. However, without effective and consistent enforcement, the rules become meaningless. I find it hard to believe that parking enforcement will revisit a tagged vehicle 24 hours after tagging. It isn't happening at the 72-hour mark, so it's unrealistic to expect enforcement at 24 hours. I've reported vehicles in my neighborhood Memorial weekend, and they haven't been tagged to date for over a week later. We also have a person living in her vehicle on Knickerbocker in my area. I live in Cherry Chase. She's been there for at least five years. I submitted an Access Sunnyvale complaint about her on the camping ordinance because it's illegal to camp in public property in the city of Sunnyvale. I get an email saying, oh, we're working with her, we hope, and the city has been out talking to her. How long, how much time should we give Amanda and her team to do their work? Frankly, five years is way too long to have the same person living in her car, accumulating a huge pile of junk. I included photos in my access report. and nothing happens, she's allowed to stay there. She doesn't get tagged in any way, shape, or form when vehicle enforcement comes by. And regarding the bike lanes, I guarantee you that adding a bike lane in Perry Park is going to great for people who want a bike, but if you think that's going to stop the RVs from parking there, you're wrong, because I can guarantee you I have bike lanes down Knickerbocker and RVs park between the bike lane and the curb constantly. I appreciate your time and please do implement these rules, but you need to enforce the rules and DPS is not enforcing the rules. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Will M. Will, you've been unmuted and you have three minutes to address the City Council.

Yes, thank you. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, members of the Council, my name is Will Miller. I'm with Ellis Partners. We acquired, as Byron mentioned, he manages the property for us, 755 Matilda and 680 Vaqueros. Last year, we were in front of you, you may recall, for a Moffett Park project that unanimously approved last December. So we're invested in City of Sunnyvale, and we look forward to doing so for a long time, and we feel like we've had a great partnership to date with the city staff. Building was vacant. We just completed a significant renovation, invested, as Byron mentioned, literally millions of dollars. Renovate the buildings in the courtyard. When we acquired it, Microsoft was leaving the building, they were vacant, and we're looking forward to bringing new businesses to the project and the city. Speak tonight in strong support of the proposed amendment, but as has already been mentioned, I also need to encourage the passage, not only the ordinance, but effective enforcement. Of the ordinance, I think to date again, we've been under construction and recently open. More the property, so we've had a cooperative working relationship through our management company with. The police department, so, in a sense, perhaps we're going to express a slightly less frustration and more optimistic view of some of our fellow landowners, but we certainly don't want to end up in that position. So we're pleased to see that you're taking this seriously and implementing some action. In terms of enforcement, there's a whole row along Vicarious that's no parking, but again, curbs aren't marked. I think an easy step, there are signs there, so an easy step is starting with making sure where there is no parking that it's a clear red curb. As a Bay Area resident myself and Us working in the Bay Area regularly, we're strongly aware of the social challenges in many of our communities. We've been regular supporters of Sunnyvale Community Services. We want to help those most in need. That said, you can imagine the challenges attracting businesses, as you've heard, when there's this ad hoc land uses that aren't appropriate for the zoning. Again, thank you to the city and police for your attention to this matter. We've seen some progress, but this ordinance, and most importantly, the enforcement of it is appropriate for a healthy zoning and land use environment for all citizens. Thank you.

Thank you next up is Mason F Mason. You've been unmuted and you have 3 minutes to address the city council.

Good evening, Council, and happy election night. Surprise meetings still going on, so thank you all for your public service. Just got home from election night. But I'm here speaking on behalf of NAOP Silicon Valley as their public policy consultant. Just wanted to flag the letter we sent in. Very supportive and thankful to staff for providing this enforcement mechanism. Also thankful to staff for looking at this holistically. One of the things I want to flag because I worked on this actually in San Jose is that San Jose has a heat map where they kind of flag the hotspot areas where most of these vehicles actually congregate and they try to coordinate with the county to service them as well as enforce. And so just want to promote looking outside of the city of Sunnyvale in addition to these van lording issues, as well as the parking permit program, that there's a lot of good ordinances that other cities like San Mateo and San Jose have implemented in their programs. And so whenever this goes back to council, you know, that might be something you want to look at. So thank you so much for the consideration. Really hope that, you know, you can prohibit this use near commercial properties as they cause vacancies, which has a huge detrimental effect on your general fund through loss of property tax value, rent value, you know, sales tax, employees from those companies going into downtown and shopping, etc. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, that was the final remote public speaker for this agenda item.

Okay, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to council for questions or motion.

Vice Mayor Mellinger. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. So question for the city manager. I seem to recall it in the budget this year. We are providing additional staffing to vehicle abatement. Is that correct? We're taking someone from part time to full time. What are the numbers on that?

Yes, you're correct. We're also adding some additional vehicles, so we are adding resources to the unit and to ensure that we are keeping up with the continued case load.

Okay, thank you. I am ready with a motion, although I do see a hand from my colleague.

Councilmember Sal?

I had a question about the speaker spoke about hot spots. Does public safety already know where the hot spots are and therefore those two?

Yes, thank you very much. Yes, we do track the most

hot spot areas where we're experiencing this problem and and we are very much aware of which streets many of the streets that were mentioned tonight are definitely on our radar and we're keeping track okay and then when this came to council previously we had a thought about we should go forth and do more aggressive but I think staff's recommendation was to give this a try and you will be tracking the effectiveness of it. And then you will come back to us after this ordinance. Is that my understanding or?

Yes, the short answer is yes. So this ordinance will give us the mechanism to enforce the rules in the parking that we all want to see if we need to get there. But we're going to use a progressive approach and get compliance first. But this ordinance does give us the teeth, if you want to use that term, to enforce and move the vehicles and tow them if necessary.

And then you will be tracking if this compliance and if need be enforcement is working or not. Like you're tracking, it's not like, and which is good because we'll be able to see, are these changes you're making actually helping the situation?

yes as council mentioned we are getting resources that are being added to this this area of the department we are changing this ordinance hopefully if it were to pass tonight then we will assess and study the impact of that and if need be i will come back to the city manager and and uh adjust

Okay, and then, possibly, that coupled with the September coming back in which we'll have more strategies to help these unhoused people, then that might augment this, maybe. I think that's a fair statement. So it's a step-by-step approach. And also, you're doing a lot of monitoring so you can see, is it working, is it not working? and reporting back to council and also what I heard today yeah so I guess that's all my question and I'm would be ready to second those two thank you uh Councilmember Cisneros yes thank you one quick question um I appreciate hearing just you know hearing you talk about

that approach and how we have these resources and how we need to take stock of whether this works before we start then making other changes, because that's when you get policy soup and it's usually not very good. So how often will you be reporting back the progress and how enforcement is going and whether or additional resources or challenges, both informally, say just with the city manager, and then also with the rest of the community and council?

There's nothing in the ordinance that's built in that requires us to come back to council officially, but we do communicate to the community as we receive CRMs and inquiries about this issue. We also do some social media outreach. The city manager and I have one-on-one meetings um multiple times a month and oftentimes we talk about this so i definitely keep the city manager apprised of what's going on i also work closely with cdd to make sure that our efforts are coordinated and in line to gain compliance you hear me you hear me talking about that a lot tonight that's the ultimate goal we want to gain compliance to any ordinance that we were passed today

OK, that's really helpful because I wanted to help set expectations with the community to like for saying, well, we're going to see if this works and like, well, when you're going to tell us if it's working or not, are you going to check in? Are you just going to continue to do it? It's like. Alright, you're going to respond to inquiries about this and be in communication with the right department, so that's helpful. Thank you, that's all.

Thank you. Next up is Councilmember Lay.

Thank you. I am curious for staff and to my colleague, the Vice Mayor, do you, who intends to make the motion, I believe, do you need direction about should this be included in the motion if we are interested in increasing the fee on van loading? Should that be included in the motion for direction?

Yes.

Okay. And then additionally, to some of the other points from the letter from NIOP, for example, the participation with commercial landlords, should that be included in the motion as well?

I'm sorry, what was that?

In the letter from NIOP there was a suggestion about coordination with commercial landlords about distributing signs about the no parking signs, no parking for vehicles over six feet. Should that be included in a motion if we as a council want to pursue that?

I don't think you need to include that in the motion. I think we can coordinate or look for partners in putting signage in. I have some other comments that I'll make around that, though, after when my turn comes up.

Okay. Thank you. And then I had a question for the city attorney. I was reading about Mountain View's Measure C, and I'm curious about how this measure interacts with our plans about RV parking. As far as I understand, what happened was that, Mountain View voters passed an ordinance that banned RV parking on narrow streets. And then because of that, there was a lawsuit in that prohibited, that required Mountain View to designate specific streets and additionally provide literature about where to park vehicles. Is that the substance of it? Are we I think my question is more are we limited in how we can send RVs off and how we can move RVs around because of our lack of safe parking infrastructure?

So that's a complex question. Obviously, there are lots of cities that have gotten legal challenges to their efforts to regulate unhoused people who are living in RVs or in vehicles. And the law has evolved over the last few years. But this is not something that's specifically aimed at people living in their vehicles. It's a neutral ordinance that regulates how long you can park in a certain location. So it doesn't matter if it's a person who's unhoused or it's someone who's traveling and they left their car on the street for a long time or an abandoned vehicle. The rules apply the same. So we're talking a lot about the unhoused, but it is a traffic parking ordinance. It's not aimed specifically at people living in RVs, if that makes sense.

Thank you. That clarifies and thank you for reminding me that this is broader in scope than that. I think last time we had, and just to be clear, the enforcement of this will be based on reports, like people who report it. I think last time this came up in February, there was a concern that if you have, I don't know, a trailer outside your house that you just have and it's in the street for 72 hours, but it's yours and you don't move it in time because you're on vacation, then that could be, then that could potentially result in a fine. But for example, in residential areas for personal property, this will be enforced if it is reported and not otherwise?

Correct.

Okay, thank you. I think that's the extent of my questions.

Thank you, Councilmember. Next up is Councilmember Chang.

Thank you, Chief Pistor. I think you already know I continue to have concerns about vehicle abatement response times. And is converting the half-time to full-time person going to be enough for this increase in potential reporting?

I will study it and see, but that is my recommendation at this time. I think there's also process changes that we are implementing into that section of the department that I'm hopeful also make us a lot more efficient. We're also adding another vehicle, so that will help us cover more ground, if you will. So I would like to start here, and this is obviously something that council and the community is very concerned about and something that we are concerned about in monitoring, and I will be reporting back to city manager if there's a determination that more resources are needed.

As a follow-up, if we are already aware of several of the hotspots and we've been working with them with We Hope to offer services, then what would be the next step in this if we've already tried and they're denying the services? Would we move then to enforcement?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. And just as a follow-up, Chief, the increase as far as the full-time the fte for that that brings it to three more than more than three fte uh it's dedicated to this correct three full-time one part-time got it so a count of four total heads fantastic thank you and thank you for for having that staffing increase because i do think that makes it a bit different okay um that is all of council questions uh vice mayor mellinger

thank you very much mr mayor uh i am prepared to move alternative two which is um one moment mr kirby did i'm i'm just skipping over you completely no problem mr kirby my apologies for for for uh jumping in again i just wanted to clarify um or set level set expectations um This issue and a lot of the issues we face with unhoused are symptoms of a broader problem that is the cost of housing. And I know that council's aware of this, but I don't want this to be received, this ordinance change received as something that is going to solve this problem because it's not. And so we're gonna continue to work as hard as we can. to enforce laws, to support our unhoused community, to work to gain compliance like we do with everything that we do around these issues and to support the community. in the best way we can. But I just wanna be clear that we can raise the fines, we can change the ordinance, we can take a stricter approach, but it's not gonna solve the underlying problem. And I just wanna be clear about that and make sure that we understand that in the broader context of tonight. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Kirby.

Now, Vice Mayor. thank you mr mayor and thank you mr kirby because that will be an excellent segue into my comments on my motion i am moving alternative two which is staff recommendation with the following modification to set the fine for van lording to the maximum permissible under the code which i believe would be 999 or a thousand dollars um that can be brought back at our june 16th hearing thank you

and council member sell you lowered your hand i just want to make sure that yeah okay if you were willing to second since you uh yeah i i agree with that so you second second that motion second thank you

all right um it has taken us a long time to get here and as the city manager said this ordinance is not going to solve homelessness however it is an important enforcement tool and i want to address some of the comments that we heard tonight a member of the public brought up the removal of the redlining on moving a short distance will not be considered etc etc the reason that was removed is because it was unclear language and unenforceable language the standard now is you must move your vehicle a thousand feet at least a thousand feet um when tagged and it must remain at least a thousand feet away for 24 hours and this ordinance change is important because the previous ordinance was not fit for purpose it was not sufficiently clear it did not have standards on how far vehicles needed to be moved and therefore it was very difficult to enforce. This ordinance will make enforcement of our parking ordinance easier. We are taking other steps to improve enforcement of our parking ordinances. That includes the additional funding and resources, both capital and personnel for vehicle abatement, And by the way, I will say that if the chief or the city manager reaches the conclusion that those resources are insufficient, I would be extremely open to midyear or off cycle budget modifications to increase those resources. It also includes the new ticket system, the new CRM system that will hopefully be being deployed within the next few months to make reporting of abandoned dilapidated, otherwise non-compliant vehicles simpler. So I do believe that this ordinance is an important step forward. As the city manager said, however, homelessness is a problem that is far, far bigger than this community, and there's a couple things I want to point out. First, yes, we did hear that San Jose and Palo Alto and Menlo Park and Mountain View and other cities have banned RV parking, and therefore the RVs have come to Sunnyvale. And the logical conclusion then is that if we then ban RV parking. They're going to go somewhere else. We're not going to solve the problem. We're going to move it and that may be a relief to the people who are currently dealing with it, but that is not actually a solution to the problem. And when RV-dwelling residents lose their RV, when vehicle-dwelling residents end up on the street, it becomes that much harder to house them again, which is why there has been such an... so on services on a housing first approach when dealing with homelessness and that is why this council was very insistent at our last meeting on safe parking that safe parking continue to be worked on and that we continue to work to find a valuable safe parking site within the city and i hope that the members of the business community who came here to speak tonight We'll work with staff and help if you are aware of anyone who'd be willing to partner with us on that. That would be a tremendous help to the city, to our residents, and to your businesses. I will also add that we heard tonight from Marie Bernard, the executive director of Sunnyvale Community Services, which is our social safety net, which is responsible for trying to keep people from falling into homelessness, which helps try to get people out of homelessness, which provides vital services to our poor residents. about the drastic funding cuts they are receiving as a result of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which has cut funding to counties, to the state. All of those funding cuts are trickling down and are impacting our community directly. So if your businesses have philanthropy arms, I strongly encourage you to reach out to Sunnyvale Community Services. And I say that not because I'm a goody two shoes, not because I'm a bleeding heart liberal. I say that because what they do, the funding cuts they're describing are going to make this problem worse. More people will end up on the streets, living in cars, living in RVs, as a result of these cuts and anything that we as residents can do to backfill those cuts as businesses to help support Sunnyvale Community Services directly improves the entire community. Um, I will say that, you know, on top of one of the other things we're doing is that as part of this budget, we are dedicating the entire remaining service level set aside, which is, I believe, something to the tune of a million dollars a year. Is that correct, Mr. Kirby, to unhoused services? Not specified exactly where yet, but that is going to be a million dollars a year ongoing to trying to get people off the streets. But we need help. This problem is much bigger than Sunnyvale. It's much bigger than Santa Clara County. It's frankly much bigger than the state of California. Only as a country working together, and we're not getting much help from the federal government these days, but only if the entire community works together can we hope to effectively address this problem. so the ordinance before us tonight will not solve homelessness it will not solve oversized vehicle parking it will not solve abandoned vehicles but it is an important step forward it is an important tool to allow the city to work to address this problem it's not perfect but it is a good start and so i respectfully urge my colleagues i vote thank you thank you vice mayor councilmember so

um yeah i wanted to agree with vice mayor mellinger there is research that shows that when you keep people housed then that's the most economical way of treating the homeless situation so sunnyvale community services that's their mission to keep people housed by giving them limited funds, the limited funds keeps them housed and that's been studied. The other thing is, yeah, Sunnyvale is serious about working on the solution. And that's why we, as Sunnyvale City Council a few years ago, made the unhoused one of our five priorities. And along with that, we hired a unhoused services manager. And along with that, we got counselors and people to work with the unhoused to try to get them to housing and now we have gone further in that direction by um applying uh the resources we have which is on the order of a million dollars towards uh homeless uh Solutions such as tiny homes safe parking what will be presented in September. And that strategy coupled with this, what we're doing tonight might help, but the situation will be monitored. The other thing that we did a few years ago was we have two parallel programs. And I was wondering if Amanda could talk about the program in which a company or a non-profit can um have a designated parking area and then Sunnyvale would provide some seed funding for them or could you it would be appropriate for her to talk a little bit about that the seed program or not or um not It's not on the agenda. You have programs where nonprofits and companies can team with Sunnyvale, and Sunnyvale would provide some funding to help that program forward. So Sunnyvale, and it was really encouraging for me. to hear so many business owners ready to work with Sunnyvale, ready to, if need be, report concerns. Some of the things that you were mentioning are things that are reportable that public safety should know. Like if people aren't feeling safe because they're being threatened or something, that is a reportable offense that public safety should know about. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct, absolutely.

So your partnership working with our very hardworking, diligent, thorough public safety makes for a good team because they can't do their work unless you report the concerns. And I realize that we had people that said, I've sent in pictures and stuff like that. But I think part of the problem was that Ordinance like this needs to be in place for public safety to have some more tools to address issues, not only with RVs, but just other people that are violating the 72 hour rule. So we did do a study and the study came up with these recommendations and these recommendations is what we're following. And public safety will be monitoring and will be reporting to the city manager and to the council how it's doing and they will be monitoring it itself and recommending if changes are needed if extra staffing is needed if extra so anyway I feel like I've seen public safety Do other initiatives and they do a really excellent job and that same kind of thoroughness that same kind of partnership with the Community applied to this and partnership with our Community development and health services. I feel confident moving forward with this motion so. Thank you for providing all this information. Thank you for the community coming tonight. And we will all move forward together, keep working on this. And so thank you, everyone.

Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Srinivasan.

Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Vice Mayor Mullinger, for making the motion and then speaking very clearly on this resolution. I agree with him on most of the comments. I would add a couple of things to that. we are dealing with two opposing requirements one homeless solving homeless problem the other one is the business needs and then neighborhood safety as some of the public speakers pointed out so at this stage we are also hoping that we will have a homeless strategy or safe road safe parking strategy by soon in september that will take care of or at least address the homelessness or are we parking issue so what we are doing today is addressing the business needs and community and then as vice mayor pointed out we are also providing enough resources for not only dps for enforcement but also monitoring as such and then i agree with i like what dps chief said this is we will monitor the results and then ask for help if something has to be changed and then i also agree with our city manager's comment this is not a solution for homelessness so we need to address that separately but with what we know today i think this is the resolution this helps our dps to act and then issue citations and then come up with at least moving uh working on the problem so i will be supporting this motion thanks thank you councilmember lay

Thank you. I want to thank the Vice Mayor for his comments. They were very clear. Thank you. And also for back in February, bringing up the idea of including van lording in this. Like at the time, I think it was just coming onto our radars. And I want to state my support of the motion and also especially the increase of the fee to $999 or $1,000. As Councilmember Chang pointed out, there are multiple RVs listed for rent on realtors.com. They are $1,000 a month or $900 a month. We need to be able to make it not profitable to have these things happening around the city. I had a number of other thoughts and I want to say a member of the public commented about about Peary Park becoming a trailer park and I want to address that specifically because I have the privilege of representing both Peary Park the business district as well as two of the largest mobile home parks in the state and to some degree it would be better if it was managed like a trailer park because trailer parks, mobile home parks have sewage, they have services, they have people who have built communities and neighborhoods in places that they are allowed to be, that people can have families, can have homes. This is not what we're seeing in Perry Park. It is worse than that. I was able to go around the park with residents and it is very much as they described there are rvs there they shouldn't be there and a lot of our conversation has focused on homelessness or and the unhoused and that's important but some of these we've talked also about super commuters about people who are coming in from tracy who park their cars It is important to me that we, when this comes back to council in September or otherwise, that we're talking about that too. Like, I feel like a lot of these RVs don't need to be there. They can be anywhere else. Some of these are inoperable. Some of these folks don't have homes otherwise, but some are coming in. When I was in college, I went to college in UC Irvine and I had a friend who was had classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and just couch surfed. And there are people like that doing, doing this now who are just driving in for a couple of days and need a place to park people who would be law abiding if we knew if we had a place to put them. I, I think that this is a start, and this has been addressed several times, and I apologize for speaking so long about this. This is a start, and we will see if this is effective enough. I do hope that it is effective enough. I don't want to say I doubt, but I am afraid that it will not be, and I hope that DPS and staff know that they should not be afraid to come back to council with changes as necessary. I think that we are all eager to do the best that we can by our residents. So I will be voting in support of this motion, and thank you to the Vice Mayor for making it.

Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Cisneros.

Yes, thank you. I want to first say I'm really glad that we're able to work out something that a member of the public brought up last time, which was that there could be work vehicles, those who work, you know, are contractors, et cetera, who legitimately just park their work vehicles on their streets. And how it would be very difficult to feel punished by an ordinance or permitting program I saw that addressed in terms of the definitions of what we were kind of vehicles. And this is focused on, so I wanted to say I noticed that, and thank you, I think that was a really good fix. And then I wanted to say, you know my colleagues have said, most of what I wanted to say there, I wanted to say a lot. A lot of us up here and in the broader world have talked about the two Silicon Valleys and the obscenity of how in this place we could have such spectacular wealth, spectacular success and innovation, and at the same time, the most desperate poverty. And what we're seeing in this particular situation that we are addressing today is a stark visual representation of that. That is what we are talking about. That poverty and that upward mobility is existing at the same time. And I think when it's hard to look at, we're recognizing there's something not right with the fact that this gap exists. And I want to say that I believe that our job is to work within that contradiction that we are faced with in these two Silicon valleys, this, this big disparity that we engage with, but we have to engage with it in a way that is humane and intentional and strategic. And that has to be a choice. And that when we choose to engage with this issue as honestly and as fairly, and as realistically like staring at that uncomfortable contradiction, It's sometimes at the expense of expediency. And other cities can make different choices. And that is fine. That is what they're going to do. But I'm very proud to be on a dais where we've chosen to look at it and say, well, we have to look at the wholesome picture and we have to engage in reality as it is and not just make the parts of it that we don't like go away. because that's what's going to continue to have you know perpetuate this uh social condition we find ourselves in and so to be successful in this endeavor we are going to need everyone to you know give us that feedback what is your perspective what are you seeing what is important to you what are the different pieces of this that we we and we might be missing because we are limited in that way so i think that we've done a really good job of that so far and i want to thank everyone who has given that feedback and we'll continue to give that feedback as as we work through this as as intentionally as we need to and also to be patient remember that we are working with a lot of things that sunnyvale does not control but are working to influence the highest degree so i will be voting yes to operationalize the status quo essentially and kick off this process of looking forward to having the community be a little bit more fair a little bit more pleasant to live for everyone thank you thank you i'll be supporting this motion uh thank you vice mayor for making it and and focusing on increasing the

the fines for van lording. This is the easiest portion of the problem that we know shouldn't be happening in our community. So that to me is giving our public safety officers the right tools. There's no easy solution here. This is a regional issue. DPS continues to increase staffing to deal with vehicle abatements. And this is what, you know, as we look at our CRM issues, these are the highest number of requests that we have coming in. Thanks to the residents. Thanks to the business owners who spoke out. Thanks for continuing to send emails and, you know, informing us of the problems. You know, you are our eyes and ears and, you know, helping DPS know where the problems are. It's then for us to give the appropriate tools to DPS. You know, it's what the ordinances are we're looking at tonight. it's also uh coming back in september with with rules with ideas around safe parking and and more importantly my mind permitting um that is a good portion of that solution you know this is a city-wide problem and for the residents who are saying well it's not around here no there's encampments near the charles street garden there's encampments south of city hall here um we're dealing with this issue all over the city so so And it's taking city staff and a lot of partners, working with partners, to deal with this issue. So we're working on it. It's not an easy solution. and trying to figure out ways to go forward. I'll do what the vice mayor did. I encourage businesses that might want to deal with a safe parking location, come to city staff, work. We did outreach, and we're looking at the partnership with some of our churches to deal with safe parking at those locations, but trying to meet this problem and attacking it as many ways as we can. So I'll stop my comments there. Thank you for the hard work on getting this forward. And with that, City Clerk, can you read the ordinance title and conduct the vote?

An ordinance of the City Council of the city of sunnyvale amending section 10.16.120 use of streets or public parking facilities for storage of vehicles prohibited. and add section 10.16.180 rental of vehicles for human habitation prohibited of Chapter 10.16 parking regulations of title 10 vehicles and traffic of the sunnyvale municipal code. and Council members, you can go ahead and vote. The motion, when I can show it, there we go. The motion carries 7-0.

Thank you. And with that, we'll take a five-minute recess and come back at 10.48 p.m. Thank you. Let's go ahead and reconvene and move on to our next item, item 26-0544, approved public art at Plaza del Sol, phase two. Is there a staff report?

Yes, there is. I'm just waiting for the presentation. Oh, there we go. Okay. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and council members. My name is Kristen Dance, and I'm with the Department of Library and Recreation Services. Phase two of the Plaza del Sol project in downtown Sunnyvale will soon be underway. The original plaza was opened in 2004 and the current construction calls for added upgrades and amenities intended to improve the user experience. Also included is a 1% provision for public art or $21,000. However, staff determined that $21,000 would not be sufficient to provide an impactful work of art. So in 2024, staff requested an additional $79,000 from the public public art fund to increase the total art budget to a hundred thousand dollars and that was approved ten thousand of that was allocated for artist design stipends and other costs necessary to complete the art installation and ninety thousand was allocated to the artist who is selected to fabricate and install their conceptual design Once the project was identified as eligible for public art, we began to assemble an 11-member committee to help select the location for the artwork. The committee consisted of members of the project team, residents, and art professionals. Okay, this is an aerial photograph of the current site. And on the bottom left-hand side is the new site that shows some of the amenities that are going to be added. And then also the red outline is showing the location that was selected for the public art. The committee actually considered several locations for the art, but ultimately chose the seating area adjacent to the retail spaces. They determined this location could support a lighting project that would activate the space and add lighting in the area. The the photo down on the right is the current site area. Those are the planter boxes that we are kind of focusing on. So there's eight of them total. And currently there's string lighting that's been proposed to be in those planner boxes. So that's kind of what the rendering is in the upper right-hand corner. So in December of 2025, we distributed a request for qualifications to California artists, inviting them to apply for the commission. The RFQ outlined a desire to have an artist or artistic team redesign the proposed string lighting in the seating area planner boxes. The response to the RFQ was low, prompting staff to extend the deadline and expand the residency qualifications to all Western states. These adjustments resulted in an additional nine applications for a total of 16. The review committee narrowed the applications down to five semi-finalists who were invited to develop the conceptual designs. Those designs were presented to the Arts Commission on May 13th and their ranking is being considered tonight. Council does have final approval of the design selection. As council reviews the five designs tonight, please keep in mind that the designs are considered conceptual, Final engineering, lighting, and color details, budgets, materials, and workshop planning will be further developed with the selected artist and staff input. If there are substantial changes during that process to whatever's approved this evening, then staff will bring the changes back to the Arts Commission and City Council for further review. All of the designs being presented tonight will be cost efficient to maintain and the artists have taken into consideration the city sustainability commitments. The LED lights will also be programmable to create a unique interactive experience. We're expecting to install the artwork in early spring of 2027. Our first design was created by artist Charles Gadkin. And twine cloud is an illuminated canopy that will hover over the plaza suspended by steel cables, it will include over 2200 translucent four inch led cubes installed at varying heights. The canopy will sway with the wind, creating an undulating surface inviting visitors to look upward during daylight, the cubes will present a sculptural form that reflects light and shadow. And at night, programmable LED lights within the cubes will create a dynamic light environment capable of displaying a variety of colors and continuously changing patterns. The artwork is also interactive through a simple QR code interface. staff will be able to program the lights and timing and visitors will be able to influence the lighting within the two circular areas that are marked in the canopy, turning the experience into participatory rather than static. And this is just another view showing some of the other side views and the top view of the proposal. The next proposal was submitted by Luminous Wave Forms, artists Phil Spittler and Victoria Highwell. The design was created out of the artist's interest to add playfulness to the plaza as well as additional light during the evening hours. The design has organic repetitive lines that create a wave form suspended over the seating area. By day, the form will undulate and bring color through powder coating on the metal. And at night, colored LED lights will run along the bottom of these pieces of metal to eliminate the form. The artist would pre-curate 12 to 15 patterns with varying colors using input from staff and community members. So this is another slide that shows some additional renderings of the artwork. our third submission is by mandy palisic studio and the proposal titled vector field conceptually merges agricultural lines in early digital video game grid aesthetics nodding to sunnyvale's history silicon valley's identity and atari's heritage the installation will be a luminous canopy of led neon elements suspended by cables and steel support housed in the planters the sculpture will visually hover over the plaza creating shifting spatial experiences during the day and an atmospheric light field at night The lights will be programmed with a static white default and which will transition into subtle color patterns. The design will bring visual interest to the ground plane as cable shadows during the day and illuminated light patterns at night introduced movement into the space. This design, the next design was created by artist James Peterson. The design creates a portal sculpture with an experiential focus. Visitors can walk into, through, and around the arch structure, which will be made of rolled stainless steel, laser cut aluminum, and lined with patches of colored polycarbonate. It will be colorful with a sense of undulation and movement and programmable for individual experiences. And this slide gives you another look at some of the dimensions of the piece. And our final proposal was designed by studio folio or James den. The design is based on two concepts that share the same premise, solar radiance, sun and light, and human presence is social energy or community. The artist sees both concepts as a single metaphor originating from a single point and expanding outward into a field of shared influence. The sculpture will take the form of overlapping concentric rings mimicking continuous ripples. Daytime viewing will provide patterns and lines that shift on the ground throughout the day while the perforated steel tubes will glow from within at night, creating a warm white glow overhead. arts reviewed the public art designs for plaza plaza del sol on may 13th and unanimously voted to recommend council approved the conceptual design submitted by charles gadkin this concludes my staff report and i'm happy to answer any questions council may have thank you very much are there questions from council

Okay, Council Member Srinivasan, there we go.

Yeah. Thank you for the presentation. I was council liaison to Arts Commission, so this is the second time I'm seeing the presentation. The question I have, obviously I can't ask those questions then. These LED lights, first of all, are they protected for dark sky ordinance and other things which might come up subsequently? Are the lights controlled on the top?

I'm sorry, can you clarify? Are you asking if they're protected?

So basically, we are looking at dark sky ordinance. Oh, okay.

Yeah. So we still have to get into all of that, but we put that in the RFQ. It was included that the artists needed to consider that as they were developing their conceptual ideas.

Okay. And then... these leds i'm talking about all the five uh uh artwork here uh how are they timed or how will they come on sometimes during summer or it might be late and winter it might be early

Well, they'll have electricity and or whatever they need to run directly through at the plaza. However, we will be working with the artists to program all of the QR codes. And I'm not real knowledgeable on all of it. It's not really that side of my brain. But I can tell you that we have had a lot of discussions with all of the artists in terms of... staff needing to be able to program the lights so that we can turn them on and off at specific times, including with the seasonal changes, but also keeping in mind that there are residential units that look directly out onto the plaza. So we'll need to be able to adjust not only the patterns and the sequencing and the time it comes on and off, but also brightness.

Okay. Thank you. And then you mentioned QR code. So, which means the one of the staff members out to go near that work to turn it on right it's not remote from your desktop or something like that.

For us? Yes. That's a good question. That remains to be seen. We're thinking that it's going to be more similar to what goes on with the lobby piece out here on the first floor, in that we're not having to go turn it on all the time. So we'll have to work on that. But it should just be able to be on a timer and turned on so that the lights are on, but there would be a pattern that would be running.

Okay. To change the patching, you may have to go there, right? Because there is no Wi-Fi connection or any internet connection.

So, Council Member, there is Wi-Fi. There will be Wi-Fi at Plaza del Sol.

Yeah, that's what I understand. I don't know whether they are connected.

So, depending upon which one. Sorry to interrupt, but I listened to the Art Commission meeting, and depending upon which one, there was some of them had qr codes that would actually change so not all the artists but that would actually change the operation of what's being displayed in order for that to happen they had to have either fiber or wi-fi connection from what was approved for plaza del sol phase two though was wi-fi at that location because which they would conceivably be hooked up to

thanks for explaining because that didn't come up it was qr code based and then it was a local control yes yeah uh thanks a lot uh yeah those are my questions thank you council member council member cisneros yes thank you um i'm wondering how much crows came up in the conversation

Uh, Plaza Del Sol is a crow hotspot during some times of the year. We, uh, you know, less so now, but we don't know why they went away so they could come back. We don't know. And one of the issues there especially is, you know, the droppings and I'm just see like, I see this and it's beautiful, but it looks like a great place for a bird, whether it be a crow or a crow like bird. to perch and then then poop on the ground or and then or also to potentially congregate and cause damage so it is that going to be something that that's taken into account when going through the specs because i'm sure like i'm not asking like oh what what uh spectrum led lights are you going to use like but my question is if that could be considered as well

I can't say that we considered crows in particular, but with anything we put down in the plaza, that's going to be the case, including the existing artwork that's down there. So the best we can do is hope that we can find ways to deter that from happening and then have a game plan in place for how we're going to get it cleaned up if it does.

yeah because that's the other thing that becomes a much more difficult cleaning job if it's on top especially i'm not sure how the artist would feel about like say bird spikes or like anything else on top of that especially because there are those windows that will look down and that can really change the silhouette and other things about it.

Right. And if we felt the need to do that, to put something like Spikes Out, we would do that with the artists being involved and making recommendations on what that would look like. So we're not changing the artwork.

Yeah. Absolutely. And then it was noted earlier that there are bedroom windows right there. And so that'll, you know, placement's important too, but maybe also working with the apartment management if people need to be given additional like blackout blinds or something, if there's going to be additional light out there, I think that that would, you know, just working with them early and often to let them know so they can incorporate that kind of thing in.

Yeah, I can clarify real quickly that the next step in this process would be the contracting with whoever is selected. And then from there, staff would be working really closely with them to answer some of the questions that you're asking. And to kind of really take a close look at what that's going to be and how we can solve some of those problems. So we'll, we'll definitely be taken because all of this will have to be checked off in the end. So

Awesome. And with this, I couldn't quite tell, would this give off significant shade?

I'm sorry?

Would it give off shade like in the daytime? Would this be almost like a shady structure?

Not quite. It wouldn't be a true shade structure as you're thinking, but some of them would provide more shade than other proposals, but all of them have the capability. I mean, anytime you have sun coming through something that's solid, they're going to show some type of... of shade. So yeah, there would be some, but not a ton.

OK. I'm seeing the luminous wave forms having some of the most close together.

yeah you know um as i understand them they're kind of you know there's there's some spacing in between them so there would be some shadowing that would come off from the bottom of them but that one would be one that is not there's not as much space for the sun to come through okay and did you and you said that uh

would they all kind of go on a, you mentioned out here at City Hall, they have so different effects, like light displays?

As I understand it, yeah, all of these are going to have the capability. So I'm thinking in terms of a good, I guess a good way to think of it would be the sun that is located out at the community center that is programmed and has 22 or 23, I think there's 22 programs on that one. It takes a half hour to get through all 22 programs, but that's what it does, and it just cycles through. So some of this will be determined by the artist before we light these up. So, yeah.

Okay. And then one more question. For the proposal for James Peterson, what is the material of the... The color?

The color pieces?

The color pieces, yeah. That's like an acrylic.

It's the polycarbonate, yeah.

Okay, so that doesn't get hot, just because it's closer to the ground?

No, it's plastic. Okay. It's plastic, so it'll have more of a mosaic effect.

And those can be replaced individually?

Yeah. Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember. Next is Councilmember Chang.

Thank you for the presentation. so if say one of the cubes or lights breaks is that something that the artist would help to fix or or is that something that staff would take on that's something that staff would take on we could ask the artist to do it but the artists have all assured

assured me that they these are really easy replacements, and that they would be providing extra LED lights. So we have the capability of doing that. One of the other requirements as part of the contract is that each whoever selected the artist is required to provide us with a full written maintenance plan and instructions on how to change the bulbs and or repair the cubes if something happens and they get vandalized. So Okay, thank you.

Mayor Mrakas, Thank you, Council member so.

Mayor Mrakas, For example, for the Charles grow to can. Mayor Mrakas, Have the artist done something similar to this, like in another city and then how has it handled like the weather like rain, and you know that kind of thing and.

Yeah, he has been using this technology for a number of years now. Golden Gate Park, I believe it's Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. He has a large installation of the pieces. I saw a piece of his that was down in Scottsdale, Arizona. And he said that these things... uh that he's been making these cubes and that they last for 20 to 30 years and that the actual led lights last up to i think he said 60 000 hours so um he's assuring me that they're gonna last okay and they don't fill up with like water and you know they're all sealed oh yeah okay and then he'll give us like replacements he has a bunch of these and

He won't go away and then we won't have replacements and that kind of thing.

Hopefully not. No, he's going to provide us with replacement parts. Yeah.

Well, that was really neat. So thank you for finding these great artists. Really exciting.

Thank you, Council member, I had a few questions. So it was somewhat mentioned, but the concept of removing the trees that are already there and whether or not staff and I know it's not specific to the art, but the art. you know the art locations were were specifically above the kind of emplacement of the trees and the in the I'll say the planter seating that that circles many of the trees there at least in that that corner of the of the Plaza has staff looked at whether or not those trees can be saved and moved elsewhere

I can't specifically say whether or not the trees are being, as I understand it, they're being removed either way. They were gonna be removed for the string lighting. So any of the, with the exception of one proposal at this point, but that could change, but the other four would actually be putting steel poles in place of where the trees are to support the canopies. But I do want to point out that although there are eight trees that will be removed, there are 11 or more that are larger trees that will provide more shade that are being put in on the plaza.

Understood. My only question is, we've let these trees ultimately grow over 20 years. Where will they go? I'm guessing that the trees that will be put on the plaza will be much smaller than the trees that we're about to take out is the only issue. And this isn't your issue, it's a bigger issue and I'll let the city manager follow up on that with DPW staff. It's this overall project and what was approved five years ago now or four or five years ago from a Plaza del Sol phase two standpoint or kind of the conceptual drawings is part of this discussion. And I just want to applaud you. And it was great to listen to the meeting and hear from almost all the artists and staff working trying to represent the last artist presentation and the great discussion from the Art Commission standpoint. But it was, to me, we have, let's say, a wealth of opportunities here to choose from. But ultimately, and one of the things that didn't come up much, and it was somewhat referred to by Councilmember Cisneros, is the height. And a lot of this has to do, and for them, they don't really care about the height. I don't know if staff has a recommendation because to me, there's several things in play. One of which is, are any of the trees there and do they actually grow higher or are they growing as high as they're going to be? You have the... apartments that are looking down on this and are they out the window directly out the window and all that and then whether or not you actually see this from the Caltrain station or does the metal structure that's in Plaza del Sol is the art installation going to be higher or equal to the metal structure that's already in Paso del Sol? What distance do you see this from? Talking specifically about the four that are above ground. The arches are a different sort of thing.

Yeah, you're asking what the height is.

Yeah.

Yeah, as I understand it, they're going to be like 15 feet above, 12 to 15 feet above ground plane. Okay.

And I couldn't, I didn't know the height of the metal structure that's there. And so it's how it all- It's similar. Okay, okay.

Yeah. So yeah, whether or not you can see it from the Caltrain station, definitely a night you're going to be able to because it's going to be lit but um during the day i don't know what that i'd have to go back down and look right and then the last thing is kind of this ongoing issue that we have that

I'll say we've done very well with the Sunnyvale sun flare at the community center that the lights nearby don't really affect the art. The art is in a dark enough place that that art design is actually lit up and noticeable and all that. The shooting blue sun or blue star at Redwood Square, it has neon that I don't think anyone ever sees because the square itself is much, much brighter than that. Do we have a good feel for lighting around this piece of art? And they all have a certain amount of light, but there's the safety and the lumens of the art in the plaza versus the art itself. i know that's you know i think all the artists said it's adjustable and all this other stuff is that one of staff's let's say targets to make sure that it is noticeable and understanding that it won't be on all night as opposed to lights in the plaza but how to make sure that that at night time it's actually visible

That is one of our targets. That was part of why this particular location and this idea of a light piece came to life. came to light. Sorry, couldn't resist. But that was mainly because that part of the plaza is pretty dark. There's not a lot of light out there. So that's one of the things, again, that we'll be looking at when we do in the next phase and the artist is required to go back and kind of look at all these issues that are coming up. We'll have all these questions answered at that point in time. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you for that. That's all of council questions. Let's go ahead and open the public hearing on this item. Please submit a speaker card to the city clerk. Raise your digital hand now or dial star nine on your telephone to indicate that you wish to speak. I will call on members of public participating in person first, followed by remote participants. Speakers will have three minutes to speak. I have no speaker cards in the room. So, City Clerk, do we have any remote participants wishing to speak on this item?