City Council - Regular Meeting

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I'm Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, and welcome to [music] the regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council. The city council is conducting this meeting from the city council chamber. This meeting is being video [music] streamed and can be viewed live or later on the city's website. As some attendees may be participating in [music] their first Walnut Creek City Council meeting, I wanted to welcome everyone and talk briefly [music] about the public comment process. For each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on the item. [music] Thus, if you desire to speak to an item on the agenda this evening, please hold your comments until the city council considers that [music] item. Additionally, we have a section on the agenda titled public communications, [music] which is for public comments for items not on the agenda. Any comments during public communication should not [music] relate to an item that is on the agenda this evening. Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook, 30 minutes will [music] be initially allocated for public communications for items not on the agenda. Additional time for public communications for items not [music] on the agenda will be provided at the end of the open session portion of the meeting if necessary. If you desire to provide a public comment, please complete a speaker identification card [music] and line up behind the lectern at the appropriate time. Wait your turn [music] and then when you approach the lectern, please state your name and city of residence for the record. You will have two minutes to [music] address the city council. Please keep in mind that this is a city business meeting. The city council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted efficiently and effectively and that [music] all members of the public have a full, fair, and equal opportunity to be heard. The city council handbook outlines decorum expected [music] in the council chamber and can be found on our website. All remarks should be addressed to the city council. Please do not use threatening,

[music] profane, or abusive language which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the council meeting. Again, each speaker will have two minutes to make your remarks. Written comments submitted and received up to two hours before the meeting have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record. Hi, good evening. I'm Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the Tuesday, February Wh, excuse me, the Tuesday, March 3rd, uh, regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council. And if uh everybody could please join me in the pledge of

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. And city clerk Susie Martinez, could you please call the role? Council member Darling, I am here. Council member Diny, here. Council member Silva, here. Mayor Prom Francois here. Mayor Wilk here.

Good evening everyone. Before we move on to tonight's agenda, I'd like to address the police related death that occurred last week and asked police chief Hibbs to give an update on the incident. Last Thursday, our city experienced a profound tragedy when a life was lost during an officer involved shooting in one of our residential neighborhoods. Just after midnight on Thursday, police responded to a report of a person looking into homes and parked vehicles. Officers encountered an individual holding what they reasonable reasonably believed to be a handgun and issued multiple commands to drop the weapon. Those commands were not followed. The weapon was later determined to be a plet gun. Our officers, acting under their the duties entrusted to them to protect our community, shot the suspect, resulting in his death. This was a tragedy for the family of the man Tony Pereira who died and for the entire community. Our thoughts are with everyone affected, including the family and our first responders. We'll continue to support the independent investigations by the Walnut Creek Police Department and the Contraosta County District Attorney's Office. We ask for continued respect for the investigative process and for compassion towards one another as we mourn and reflect on their loss. Now, Chief Hibbs. Good evening, Mayor Wilk, members of the city council. Ryan Hibbs, chief of police. And first, I'd like to start by extending our deepest consol condolences to the Pereira family and their loved ones. Events like this not affect not only those closest to the individual but also neighbors, first responders, and our entire community. Uh, this incident is now under independent and thorough review. In accordance with department policy, the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave. The Contraosta County District Attorney's Office is conducting a parallel

investigation under the law enforcement involved fatal incident protocol and our department is also completing a separate administrative investigation. Both officers were wearing bodywn cameras and both were activated during this incident. We will release the video 911 calls as required by California law and investigative timelines. Our policy and state law allow for up to 45 days, but I want to assure you and the community that we will release these items as soon as possible. We remain committed to transparency to due process and to maintaining community trust. Any loss of life impacts public confidence and we take that responsibility seriously. Independent review ensures accountability and clarity, and we will continue to share information is legally permitted. Officer wellness and community well-being are also top priorities as we move forward. We also encourage respectful dialogue and constructive engagement as additional information becomes available. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief Hibbs. We are going to have an opportunity for public comment after the beginning of our meeting which will including the oath of office for our new commissioners as well as uh a certificate for American Red Cross and then there will be an opportunity for anybody who wishes to speak on speak during public communications for items not on the agenda including if you wish to regarding the shooting. Uh so with that uh I will start begin the agenda which the first item is the proclamation for American Red Cross month and I invite Red Cross volunteer Stan Massie forward to accept the proclamation. Hello.

I'm Stan Stan and I'm Matt Smith. Good evening everybody. Good good evening. So I first want to mention I'll actually come up there with you. Okay. Hello. Good evening. Good evening. Yes. Hi.

So, we've got a proclamation for the American Red Cross and uh March is American Red Cross month and I'm not going to read every everything on here. However, I we do want to recognize the compassion of people in Contraost County and renew our commitment to lend a helping hand to our neighbors in need. American Red Cross volunteers have stepped up to deliver relief and care across our country and around the world, bringing out the best of humanity in times of crisis as Clare Barton, founder of the American Red Cross did over 40 years ago. And uh just to give people an idea of the uh of what we've seen here, Contraosta County residents donated 18,299 units of life-saving blood and hosted 530 blood drives and trained 12,164 citizens in first aid, CPR, AED, and aquatics [clears throat] and provided 463 case services to military members and their families and provided humanitarian aid internationally And therefore, I, Kevin Wilk, mayor of the city of Walnut Creek, on behalf of the Walnut Creek City Council, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as American Red Cross month.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. [applause] Absolutely. Let's see if you

Yeah, I'd love to. And a photo op, too, if that's not asking too much. My boss told me, "Don't leave there without a picture or you're in big trouble. They they'll cut my pay." So, [snorts] uh, good evening, everybody. Again, my name is Matt Smith and um I just want to start off um by kind of reflecting on the fact that we really we live in troubled times and um every morning we wake up to a tsunami of human suffering and even here in our lovely Walnut Creek and I've been a Walner Creek resident my entire life. Um we are not immune from that. But it's great to know that you as an organization are willing to stand up for an organization that has just one mission, which is to alleviate human suffering. Full stop. That's what the Red Cross does. And we do not discriminate against race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration, status, height, anything. We have a philosophy that all means all. and whether we're responding as we did here in Wanuk Creek to a housefire where people were sitting on the curb despondent and you know they were marginalized family but we were able to give them support uh we were able to give them medicine replace their hearing aids and also very importantly give them some money not a lot uh I think that that particular family received $650 so they didn't have to sleep in their car that night and that is enough to get them then we also follow up with health um we follow-up mental health and other services. Um, and we don't care who it is. We just want people to know that there is an organization out there that just wants to help and we don't have any kind of political uh affiliation whatsoever. We appreciate your support. Um, by uh, you know, by necessity, you do have to take political stands on a variety of issues. We do not. In fact, we've gone so far in our shelters recently, in our disaster

shelters, when clients come in to receive services, including potentially spending uh a week, a month, or in some cases months with us. We don't even write their name down on paper anymore because we're afraid somebody might come in and demand that paper and then use that to try to figure out somebody's status, whatever that status is, if they don't like it. So, what we do now is we just put it into a database and uh and God help him trying to get out of the database. It's so complicated. I can't even figure it out. But we take this mission very seriously and we appreciate organizations such as yourselves that will stand up for us and say yes, we honor the fact that your mission is to alleviate human suffering and we support that. So, on behalf of American Red Cross, I want to thank you for your support and say we'll be there for you if you ever need it. And by the way, on that note, um I'm gonna leave my card with Mary Mayor Wilk. We just had a uh a shelter drill for the whole county right here in Walnut Creek over at um Walner Creek Presbyterian Church on Lassie. [snorts] So, we pretended there was a drill. We have to get our shelters open within 2 hours and then they have to be completely functional and running, everything set up and going in 8 hours so people can eat, sleep, get information, that sort of thing. So, we appreciate our Walnut Creek connection. Um, we are looking for another shelter in Walner Creek and we're kind of eyeballing uh that Ty Valley Recreation Center. That would be very nice. I actually ran a shelter down in Georgia after Helen that looked a lot like that. And um if there were a big disaster, we would need that resource. So, I'm gonna leave my card with you. If anybody thinks of a good location, we we don't like schools because we don't want our clients mixing with students, but um we'll take churches, rec centers, other kind of buildings. We just um certify

Danville uh community center. So, how's that a little bit motivation for you? Um as a as a shelter. And if you can think of anything in Wano Creek we could use, we'd love to talk to you. Okay. Thank you. Now, can we do that picture? All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. All right. How are we gonna do? Oh, yeah. The whole game.

We will help you. Yes. Thank you.

I would like that. All right. Very good. Thank you so much. All right. Next, we have the oath of office to newly appointed commissioners. And I'm going to ask one at a time as you hear your name. you'd like them to be right in front here. Great. So, coming up, we'll be right in in front of us. Uh, we have Sher Kurlin from the Arts Commission, Kathy Coleman from the Board of Appeals, Jeffrey Pros, the Design Review Commission, Matthew Brock House, Park Recreation, and Open Space Commission, and Ryan McMahon, Transportation Commission. And I invite city clerk Susie Martinez to administer the oath of office to our newest commissioners. I'm gonna have you rotate a little bit this way.

Great. Okay. You can please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name, do solemnly swear domly that I will support and defend I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California the State of California against all enemies. against all enemies, foreign and domestic, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States the United States and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California

that I take this obligation freely I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation without any reservation or purpose of evasion for purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithully Y discharge the duties discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter upon

Congratulations. [applause] Now before you all head back to your seats, uh if you would each like to just say a few words about yourself, introduce yourself to the community. You can probably just line up maybe along the uh along the curtain there. And uh Yep. Ryan kick it off. All right.

Hi, I'm Ryan. Um I'm on the transportation committee and uh I live in downtown Wally Creek with my wife over here, Kristen. Going to be married 10 years uh this year. Um and yeah, I just love Wally Creek. I feel very fortunate to live here. um just wanted to join this to give back to the community a little bit and and I'm passionate about transportation when I walk around a lot and uh I see a lot of great things Walnut Creek does but I also see a lot of things that we can kind of help with and make better. So I'm just here to serve uh the citizens of Walnut Creek and I'm just excited to get started, get to work and contribute where I can. So thank you. [applause]

Hi, I'm Kathy Coleman. I've lived in Walnut Creek since 1990. I love this city. I love city council members. I love the organization of organization of the city and I wanted to take this opportunity to give back. I've got lots of years of construction and construction defect litigation experience and I wanted to be able to share that with the community and I wanted to be able to make the appeals process an open and collaborative process with anybody that might take issues with things that we need to review. So, thank you for accepting me. [applause] Good evening. I'm Sheri Kurland and I'm just been um elected to the arts commission and I thank you very much for that and I look forward to serving. I've been in Walnut Creek since 1989 1990. I own a home around the corner and uh love the city, love the community, love the people. I'm really very happy to serve and be part of this. Thanks. [applause] Good evening. I'm Jeff Pros. Um, and I'm recently appointed to the design review commission. Uh, while a lifelong California resident, I am a new resident of Walnut Creek and um am excited to be able to contribute to my community in ways that help shape the beautiful town we have and the community we all love. Thank you. [applause]

Good evening. I'm Matt Brockhouse. Um, I've lived in Walnut Creek for 5 years, almost six, and I love the parks and I love the open space and I have two little kids and they love the park as well and I want to kind of help put my stamp on the city and make it a better place for them to continue to grow up in. So, thank you. [applause]

All right. And and thank all of you again. We look forward to many years of your tenure and look forward to hearing more about what has happening on your commissions. You'll uh there will be a lot to go over and you'll all find out that you are going to be experts not just in your commission, but to all of your friends and family that live near or in Walnut Creek. As far as they're concerned, you're the expert in everything in Walnut Creek. So, have fun. All right. Next, uh on the agenda is the consent calendar. Does any council member wish to pull any item for discussion? All right. Does any member of the staff wish I had a question about item C. Then do you want to pull it?

Yes, I would like to pull item C, please. All right. Does any member of staff wish to pull an item for discussion? Okay. Does any member of the public wish to comment on an item on the consent calendar? As a reminder, each speaker will have two minutes to make their remarks. WR written comments submitted have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record but will not be separately read into the record. So regarding any of the items. Okay. Seeing none, we'll close public comment on this and uh I'll move approval of items 2 A, B, D, E, and F. Second. We have a motion and a second. Susie, could you call the role, please?

Council member Darling. I, Council Member Deini. Hi, Council Member Silva. Hi, Mayor Prom Francois. Hi, Mayor Welk. [clears throat] Hi. Motion carries. All right. Uh, regarding item 2C, Council Member Silva, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Mayor. And if there's a member of the public works or engineering group here, I just have a simple question. It may require a more complex answer. Sure. Um, this is we're awarding a contract for the Shadellands and Wigot Green Infrastructure Improvement Project. Can you explain what a green infrastructure improvement project is and where exact Shadelins and Wigot is at Ignatio Valley Road? Oh, no. Shadlands and Wig is where the master gardener Yeah, that's correct.

Okay.

Um, good evening uh, council members. My name is Andrew McDade. I'm an engineer with uh, the CIP division of public works. Um and basically uh green infrastructure is we're um implementing uh drainage facilities like this to prevent sedimentation and other pollutants from getting into the storm drain. So essentially in this case and what we've done all over the city what we require developers to do to mitigate essentially increased flow from hardcapes etc is these bio retention basins which have uh drain rock under drain with a pipe that flows into our existing system and on top of that there's a special mixture of bio retention soil and then we plate um plant generally uh native and definitely droughtresistant plants um in this facility and generally uh and it's sized to treat um a certain uh drainage area um and that's kind of all determined by the water board and a lot of higher up stuff but that's basically what the facility is.

So what's the drainage area for this project if you can do it off the top of your head? This will treat it's I think it's like48 acres just under half an acre is what it will be treating and the facility itself uh the square footage will be about 900 square ft I think and it'll be right at the corner of Shadlands and Wigot which is the UC Master Gardener Center in in the middle of the uh the um the Shadellands business park. So these are really important projects so that we reduce the amount of Yes. Absolutely. of bad stuff that gets comes from hardscaped areas.

Yeah, it it treats a lot of road runoff um a lot of [clears throat] it traps sedimentation um and these are also habitat species of plants. So, it kind of um increases biodiversity and stuff like that too. All right. Thank you very much for the explanation. Thank you, mayor. And I move the item. We have a motion, a second and a second. Susie, could call the role, please. Council member Silva, hi. Council member Darling, hi. Council member Diny, hi. Mayor Prom Francois, hi. Mayor Wilk, hi. Motion carries.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next on the agenda is public communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for comment on items not on the agenda. Under the Brown Act, the council cannot act on items raised during public communications, but may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed, request clarification, or refer the item to staff. Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook, 30 minutes will be allocated at this time for public communications for items not on the agenda. Additional time for public communications for items not on the agenda will be provided at the end of the meeting if necessary. Written comments submitted have been posted to the city's website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record. And at this time, I'll note the time is 6:25 and we'll take public comments on items not on the agenda until approximately 6:55 and then the remainder of any such comments at the end of the open session portion of the meeting. And so if you would like to speak during public communications, this is the time to come forward. Uh the first speaker can speak right at the podium and any other speakers can line up on the side of the wall going up and just please state your name and city.

Um I'm I should I say this? I'm from Pleasant Hill. Uh oh. That is but I love Walnut Creek and we love Pleasant Hill. Oh, thank you. And we play soccer in Walnut Creek. So I I think that allows us. My name is Barbara Scott Krispy and someone forgot their glasses. Those are my glasses. [laughter]

I'm sorry. It's the educator in me. Um, and I'm here today on a very sad note. The tragedy that happened, I knew the family. and I'm here today to speak about preventing another tragedy. I'm here for my friend Linda and her son who I've known for years and now he is very ill. He's in her condo and he's decompensating. He has both autism and serious mental illness. This is a picture of him as a young man when he was well. And when he was well, he worked for the city of Walnut Creek. And now he's nonfunctioning. But no one will take him to the hospital. She's called the police. She's called A3. And unlike if someone has a heart attack and they have symptoms, they don't ask them, "Are you having a heart attack?" They take them to the hospital. Someone with mental illness has as um is not aware of their illness. And my friend can't get into her condo. She can't get help. This has been going on for 4 months. The police came once and they said to him, "Do you want to go to jail or the hospital?" And he said, "Jail." And then he said, "I changed my mind. I want to go to the hospital, but unfortunately they said, we've already begun the process."

And now he has uhoh, he has suicidal thoughts. and there's no one to help. And I contacted Ken Carlson's office and he said that you folks could help. Is is this in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill? It's in Walnut Creek. Okay. And are you going to be speaking on the same as well? This is his mom. Okay. U first of all, very sorry to hear this and my heart goes out to you. My brother experienced mental illness and I uh I I I feel for your everything. Um are would you like to speak as well? Yes.

Yeah. And then and then after after you speak um I'd encourage you to go to the back of the room. We have a member we have all of our top police department leadership here and you can speak with one of our police department uh leaders and they can help to give some direction. Please go ahead. Yeah. My name is Linda Ruiz and I'm also a teacher. speaking. Oh. Oh, you can just bend it down.

Bend it down. Yeah. My name is Linda Ruiz and I'm also a an educator in the school and an educational therapist. Uh my son grew up in Walnut Creek and um he happened to have been a receptionist in the Leer Center Art Gallery. Uh and then COVID came and that sort of ended everything. Um but um he has a severe mental illness and he is also on the autism spectrum. He's highly articulate and he knows how to cover. So if anybody aside from the family sees him, he can pretend and act like nothing's happening, nothing's different, you know, it's really amazing, but it doesn't last for long that um he did exceptionally well in the AOT program that I remember. He used to come to meetings about that. Uh but then he was there for I think about six years and they had him exit exit because he did so well. um in 2021 uh his father died and he had he all his life he'd lived with either me or his dad and he had just got on his own and then in a with a roommate three roommate situation and they got covid and my son didn't and so he left right away went to his dad's but then his dad died three months later it was really a shock to him because they were very close and that's what triggered this now uh and it's gone on for so long now and I keep trying to get help, but it feels like there's no help. The only help that I've been able to get is um you get a restraining order, gets out of my condo, wanders off, you know, one time he got arrested for being in my condo and he really decompensated then over in in where was it? Richmond and then Martinez. Um and he's just decompensating more and more every day. Um I don't know. This has gone on for so long. I don't know what else to do. I have talked with everybody. I've done everything that I could imagine and I'm

just keep being told that he doesn't fit the criteria. Well, with my job, I work with people with autism and mental illness and so he really does fit the criteria, but he's so articulate. People think, "Oh, he's okay." No way, is he? You know, so I would like some help. Yeah. To get him to the hospital. Well, Miss Ruse, I'm I'm thank you for coming here this evening.

Uh I I can't imagine the frustration and and the feeling of helplessness that you must have. And I would encourage anybody that may be listening to please do call our Walner Creek Police Department non-emergency line if it's not an emergency to at least get the conversation going. There's also 988 for mental mental health issues which I know that you're familiar with as well as well as well as the miles hall miles hall crisis call center. Um those work for many but obviously there are certain exceptional situations

and uh by coming here tonight I'm going to make sure that at least you have a conversation with our police department and to help to give some direction. So again thank you both very much for coming. Um I think all of us here at the dis feel uh fe feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel the um the angst that that you're and the anxiety you're feeling through this. So um we will have Captain Connors in the back is going to meet both of you and along with Captain Slater perhaps and they will uh have your have a conversation with you right now.

All right. Thanks so much. Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to speak during public communications for items not on the agenda? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to close public uh the public communications and bring it back to council. uh if any council members would like to uh have any questions, but I'm going to start this off by uh asking our city manager Dan Buckshai, especially in light of the uh two public comments that we just heard to again perhaps give just an overview of the A3 program, uh our involvement with uh mental illness and what we can what we recommend residents to do if they're they or a loved one is experiencing an outbreak. Yeah, Dan Buckshai, city manager, and it reiterates some of what was said earlier. You know, certainly if um somebody's in a mental health crisis, uh the A3 program, the 988 number that you referenced earlier would be the number to call. Uh it is a crisis response program. A3 stands for treating anyone, anywhere, at any time. It's a 247 mobile response program. There are 34 response team and the goal is to have somebody on site as as warranted within 20 minutes. And there are different levels of response from a very low level which is effectively a peer support worker, maybe an EMT or paramedic um as to as high of a level as joining mental health clinicians with law enforcement if the situation is deemed to be more dangerous. or the other option is just a mental health clinician if it appears to be solely a mental health issue. Um, you know, it sounds like um these folks have have contacted that program, but in addition to our PD, we'll follow up with

behavioral health to find out what other options may be out there. I would also add, as was discussed, if a situation is deemed to be dangerous, then I would certainly recommend calling 911 and the police. Dispatchers are trained to help triage a situation to determine the appropriate type of response, whether it is a law enforcement response or whether it should be a mental health response or obviously a combined response. There are many other programs available, but you know, one of the challenges that's actually been in the news the last couple days is how to require individuals to take medication who refuse to do so. There's a lot of discussion about the statewide care court in which f the court gets involved to help try to persuade individuals to take medication if they're not doing so, especially if they're in a a dangerous state. So, there are other programs as well, but locally in Contraosta County and certainly in Walnut Creek, the A3 program should be a point of entry.

Thank you. Uh if we don't have any questions from the dis let's start with council member and staff announcements, reports and activities or requests. Do we have any close session announcements? Thank you, mayor. There are no closed session announcements this evening. City manager report. I do not have an update this evening, mayor. All right. City council member reports on AB1234 activities and assignments. Uh let's start with council member Deini. [clears throat] All right. Thank you, Mayor.

Good evening. Um, so the last few weeks, uh, some of the highlights, um, have been we had the state of the city. I won't, um, steal your thunder because, uh, uh, Mayor Wilk did a fantastic job MCing that and and, uh, being interviewed on stage and, uh, bringing, uh, the city up to date and those in attending up to date on what's been going on in the city. Um, so I'll let him talk more about it. Um, just recently I was uh sworn in for the the board of MCE as an alternate uh for uh council member Darling. Uh learned more about that community choice uh aggregate and some of the politics around the state surrounding how uh energy is procured and charges that um uh PG&E levies against uh these types of organizations. So, uh, it will be an interesting year, I understand, as far as, uh, balancing the some of the the budget issues being created by those those politics. So, more to come, I'm sure. Um, this I think was just, uh, yesterday or the day before, I'm losing track of my days here. I was at Buenav Vista Elementary School for, uh, Read Across America. I had a chance to read to the second and third graders. Uh, I was going to bring this maybe too much detail. I was going to bring Rumple Stiltskin because that was one of my favorite books, but the librarian handed me this book called The Watering Can uh by Julian Bear. So, if you have third and fourth graders u that was a really entertaining book for them and it was followed up with some very interesting questions that I think sort of only kids are so so pure as to ask um as a what it's like to be a council member and what it's like to be an ER doctor. And so, I had to share some fun stories with them. Uh, I wanted to make an announcement uh that is on the uh city uh uh website and I think was in the recent newsletter, but just um um somewhat pertinent to what we've been talking about on Saturday, March 7th um

from 10:00 a.m. to uh 1:00 p.m. at the community arts center. Uh the city is partnering with uh the care parent network uh to provide the um intellectual and developmental disabilities resource fair uh in celebration of developmental disabilities awareness month. So that's this Saturday at the community arts uh center uh at 10 a.m. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mayor Prom France.

Okay. Thank you, Mayor. And let's see. Starting off along with council member Silva, I serve as your [clears throat] frog in your throat liaison to the recycle smart board and we had a um our last meeting we had an agenda item to consider a new contract for the reuse and cleanup program. We currently contract with MDRRR for that program. If you're in a single family home, you get the notice of those pickups twice a year. Starting next year, the big changes to the program starting next year will be that that program will be expanded to multifamily uh residents as well. It will be done on an all on call basis except for in Rosmore because we're special where it will be done as a neighborhood type pickup like we do for the single family. So exciting to see that that successful program for reuse and cleanup will be expanded to multif family starting next year. [clears throat] Excuse me. And also for everybody it will be expanded to include bulky items like furniture and TVs and refrigerators. So it's exciting changes to that very successful program that will start taking effect next year. Uh I also serve as your liaison to Rossmore Walnut Creek. I was at their meeting and gave them uh an update on all our happenings. They're I like attending those meetings because they're so appreciative of what we all do including our staff and and all of us as council members and uh they had a packed room there because they're making changes to the gateway center and the location of the library and that generated a lot of interest. So, I gave my update and wish them well. Uh, I did attend the future of Walnut Creek and I concur with Council Member

Deini that the mayor did an excellent job representing all of us and giving uh everyone a positive update on the future of our city which looks very bright along with council member Deini. I serve on the finance committee. That item is on our agenda tonight. So, I won't be labor that one. uh had the opportunity to attend u the funeral service for Gwen Regalia who was a 20y year uh well longer than that. She ser 21 years on the city council and then I think another eight or 12 years on the Walnut Creek School District board and was very active along with her uh late husband Ed in founding the Kennedy and King uh the Kennedy King scholarship program for underprivileged uh young people and just a what a wonderful legacy um she left all of us in Walnut Creek and very grateful for her time on earth and for her service to the city and was happy to welcome all the new commissioners this evening and see them sworn in and uh thank you for being willing to serve and stepping up to doing do so.

Thank you. Let's go to Council Member Darling.

The um conservation measures, we have a program to help low-income people purchase electric vehicles. It's a small stipen that they can use to help them buy the vehicles. um because budgets are tight this year and we wanted to give a big rate cut. We looked at those programs. We thought, you know, those are some of the most important things that are making the world more affordable for the people at the lowest end. It helps them with insulation. It helps them with their heat pumps. It helps them with um EV chargers and multifamily. And so we felt it was important, we are recommending to the board when they adopt the full budget in November that we not cut those programs that we keep it as part of the value proposition we give to our community as MCE. We have greener energy than P Genie. We're locally controlled and we have programs so that people in our communities can benefit from that. And that is my and I'll let Craig do that next month and it'll be fun. You get to it's an interesting anthropological situation. Thank you, Council Member Silva.

Did you say anthropological? Yes, because humans interact in interest. I understand that. I don't know. My husband is an anthropologist and a Polynesian archaeologist, so I don't hear that word very often other than at home.

Um, thank you very much, mayor. And I will mention on the recycle smart front that not only did we approve um the bones of an agreement with Mount Diablo Resource and Recovery on the um cleanup and reuse days, but we also um the rates are going up as of March 1st. Every year rates go up with recycle smart and they've just gone up for the coming year and they went up about 6% to cover the costs of fuel and labor costs etc as well as some additional services. So um but our rates in Walnut Creek are basically the lowest of 19 cities around us. So we're very fortunate that um we have the joint powers authority this joint agency and multiple participants in it to help um assuage the costs. The um I'm the le liaison to our Walnut Creek Sister Cities program in March is the um they're very excited because at the end of March the youth from um Shapo Hungary and Noto Italy will be visiting Walnut Creek for a week. There will be more than 25 with their chaperoons and they're very excited about it. They're also excited because next year's class of participants have um begun the application process with our local agency. The 68 families attended the um introductory orientation meeting. 48 applications from individual students were received and they will be looking to pick about 22 participants for next year's program. So that's very exciting and they will be here in the visitors this month will be here from March 26th to a week later about April 6th and 7th. the um the recent state meeting of the

board of the League of California Cities, of which I'm a member, had a meeting two weeks ago, and there were [clears throat] a couple items that I think are important for us to take note of. We had a very in-depth presentation from a representative um of one of the um statewide polling and public affairs agencies. Um Brandon Castillo is the head of that. And it looks like the ballot in November is going to be very full with various um pieces of proposed legislation that require the votes of the people, including a number of those that we're going to have to keep an eye on. All of the it isn't settled yet, but it's going to be a full one. They think it could be as large as 15 or 16 measures that are going to hit the ballot. Yes, exactly. Um, in addition, we at the board level spent about three and a half hours discussing this revenue and sales tax allocation process in the state. And after much debate, we reached a decision to um bifurcate the issue such that we recommending that we work with the California Department of Tax and fees. CDTFA. It's easier to remember the nomenclature that way on um making sure that the allocation of outofstate goods, those that we buy from Nevada and are shipped here direct to our door, that the allocation of sales tax revenue doesn't go into a county pool, which is the current way they do it, but would go directly to the city for the destination of of the receipt of the goods. the issue of whether how to allocate the sales tax revenues for those that are fulfilled in state. So let's say I ordered something yesterday from Amazon and I had it at five o'clock that did

not come from out of state that came somewhere. It was sitting in Tracy I think and that sales tax goes to the city of Tracy and it is a very significant issue. We agreed that the proposal as it had come forward was not yet ready for us to be able to get a two-third support on it, [clears throat] but we need to continue to work on the issue at the state level because it's going to continue to fester as [clears throat] um people buy more online. Can you report? Can you elaborate on that? No, uh the Nevada portion of that you were saying that if you order something online,

okay, I want to buy a sweater. If I go into Macy's to buy that sweater, the sales tax comes is allocated directly here. And it's just the the 1%, so the one cent on every dollar. If I can't find the right color that I want and I need to order it online, if it's shipped from out of state, then the sales tax comes to us, but it comes through a county allocation process. However, if this if the sweater that same sweater is sitting in a warehouse in one of about 50 cities across the state, Richmond, Tracy, San Bernardino, the um sales tax, that 1 cent is not given to the city of my city. It's allocated to the city where the warehouse is located. And so when the the sales tax that you order the sweater from Nevada and that goes to the county pool, you were saying

the county pool reallocates it. And so and your recommendations were to not do that or to do that. The the state has the ability to directly allocate it to the city to the city which is the preference of the right and there'll be some winners and there'll be some losers in that but it seems to be fairer for the majority. So it's complicated. It's political and the change in the sales tax allocation for things [clears throat] that are are occurring in state would require a constitutional amendment where we'd have to debate it with the voters as well. So more to follow, but it may take continuing process.

So can I toss you a softball that'll allow you to hit it out of the park for our audience? Okay. When people ask us how they can what they can do to help Walnut Creek revenues and how they can help to make Walnut Creek as as good as it possibly can be, how should they shop to help us local shop and in person. Good answer. And in person

in person in this is this is the secret nobody talks about, but if you shop online, we don't get all the tax revenue. As council member Silva just said, shop in person, we get all the tax revenue. So, peruse online at midnight and then go into the store the next day and buy it or pick it up. So, thank you. The um final thing I'll mention is I am liaison from the city council to the Diablo regional arts association and there are a number of things that are happening at the lecture center in the next few weeks and if you love um dramas or comedies center rep will be producing Neil Simon's Lost in Yoners from March 29th to April 19th and tickets are on sale. Also, next weekend, the 13th and the 14th, will be the reprise of college notes, which is college ac capella choruses that come in and perform. It is a fabulous [clears throat] presentation. You may not think you like to to listen to it, but they are so talented and it is produced by the same gentleman that produced the movie Pitch Perfect. So, tickets are may still be available for that. And I will mention that at the end of March the 31st on Tuesday, Rick Steves will be speaking at the Leher Center. So if you want to travel and you want to hear about his adventures, get a ticket and join us. And to get tickets, go to lesserartscenter.org. [clears throat] And thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Silva. All right. For my Well, first of all, I am shocked that none of my fellow council member colleagues mentioned the groundbreaking at Heather Farm. We wanted you to

Okay. But it was I had to check my notes to make sure it happened since the last meeting which it did. It was just the next day. So uh for those of course that live near Heather Farm or to go and visit it, it is uh the swim and community center. The groundbreaking happened in front of about 100 people, commissioners and public alike. Uh so it's fenced off now. It'll uh I believe we are looking at it being done by the end of next year. And this uh this is the largest project Walnut Creek's ever undertaken. $77 million from Measure O funds. And thank you to the residents that passed Measure O a couple of years ago. And this is what we're doing with a lot of it. There's a lot of other pieces to Measure O and it's going to police and other activities throughout the city including other park areas, but this is the lion's share. So, uh it was a great groundbreaking. Thank you to my colleagues who were there as well. Uh now as as we heard from some of uh my colleagues the state of the city which I gave last week uh it should be online within the next day. You can check at the city website, the city YouTube page. I'm I'm sure the chamber of commerce will probably have that link as well. You can see the vision of Walnut Creek. A lot of questions that were asked of me of what's happened and what the state of Walnut Creek currently is. Spoiler alert, it's good. Uh, but there's also a lot of great restaurants and businesses that are coming and so you will hear not just from me but also from Tracy Deland who is the chair of Walnut Creek downtown to some of the new businesses that are coming down and she has a a fun presentation in there. So I encourage everybody to watch that. Uh, as liaison to county connection uh there I do want to mention that there is going to be a regional transit ballot measure. It's uh and there have been several workshops that have happened within BART. I'm not sure if any of my fellow colleagues have been to those,

but I've heard they've been uh very robust and very long sessions at BART. Uh it was mentioned this week in the med uh in the media that there is an alternative service plan if the BART measure doesn't pass. And it's not good. Uh the service reductions by twothirds of our yellow line through Walnut Creek that goes all the way to Antioch. shortening service times that currently end at midnight to 9:00 p.m. Station closures could impact us like the North Conquered Station, uh the Arinda station, um and to bring more people into Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek stations. Uh if that doesn't work, then further reductions could includes the entire system closure of BART. Now, we're probably going to be talking about that a lot over the next several months because this would be qualifying for the November ballot. And I have no doubt that we will see BART or the Metropolitan Transportation Commission come in and present their case and we can discuss if this is something that we want to uh endorse or not. But uh without taking one side or the other on that right now, if it doesn't pass, there are going to be some serious changes within BART. And I encourage everybody to follow up on that, especially our transportation commission and new transportation commissioners to understand what that all means and to help amplify that to the city because this is this is big stuff.

Can I ask you can I throw you a softball question? Of course. Oh, I love softballs. Well, it's back at you. How's that? So if there is not as um as robust a service between here and Oakland and San Francisco, what happens to our transportation network? People stay home.

Yeah. So this uh this will be our part B of I'm sure what we're going to hear about and thank you for the question. What it means, of course, is that there will be more cars on the road. Every time you are on the freeway and you see a bar train go by filled with people, imagine all those people are now on the freeway. Your 10-minute commutes become 20-minute commutes. Your 45minute commutes become an hour and a half. So even if you don't take BART, even if you don't take County Connection, even if you don't take any public transportation, it's going to affect you. It's going to affect all of us. So these are things we have to think about. On that happy note, uh I I do want to give a quick electric bus update. All chargers are powered up. That's the good news. New power boards came in. Of course, we have the only two all-electric bus routes within the county connection bus system, but communication between the chargers and boards is still being worked out. So, these are still some of the challenges. We hope to have that resolved soon, and it's frustrating for County Connection, and we know it's frustrating for our residents. Of course, the the Route 4 and Route 5 buses are still active now. They're just not the all-electric buses. So we I hope to have a new update for you in a month outside two months. Uh a lot of these parts have come from China. There are tariff implications with that. So these are some we're dealing with some of the challenges that I think we're seeing across the country right now and truthfully around the world. Uh one of Cindy Council member Darling's favorite things to do. I did this last week which was meet with our youth leadership commission and uh they had the chance to ask the mayor all the questions that they wanted to and got a chance to meet these our future leaders as well.

Uh I did attend the Braftoft Elementary talk with Superintendent Clark and about 50 families that are in concerned about the bankrooft dual immersion program and we've heard them the last couple of meetings uh at during public comments. So, I wanted to hear what was being said there and uh and there was it was a listening session, so I was glad to see that communication moving forward. Yet to be determined exactly what's going to happen, but uh but I did was there to see it for myself. I also was at the Walnut Creek Business Watch that was sponsored by Walnut Creek Police Department and Walnut Creek downtown over at the uh right here actually and just to see these businesses that are downtown making sure that they have the police department has their back. They're safe and different uh sharing of best practices of how businesses can protect themselves and and with security as well. Uh you mentioned about Gwen Regalia's service. The Walner Creek Little League opening day ceremonies were on Saturday. That was,00 kids playing Walner Creek Little League that were at Castle Rock Park. That was fun. You did that last year. That was fun. The uh and it was just great to see the enthusiasm. Oh my god, these kids are so little. They like start at three years old and and there they And I remember coaching one of those teams and they were probably about four or five uh up to the AAA and the majors that are playing there. So great to see great to see those kind of sports and recreation in Walnut Creek. Uh Walnut Creek downtown had their momentum event this last weekend. Health and wellness about 500 different people signed up for that. And so that was just great to see that that energy, no pun intended, but the energy of the people that were all there. And uh I and I also want to give a shout out. I got a call. I got a call or I guess it was a text yesterday asking or telling me that a a school, a

second grade class from Liverour was going to be visiting the uh the Lindsay Wildlife Experience today and would the mayor have time to come and greet the kids? Well, it just so happened I'd had a cancellation, so I did have a little bit of time in there. I went over there and the comments that I was getting these the kids were so excited. They said they're going to meet a celebrity that they were so thrilled to come. They came running from the playground when they met with when they met me. They all asked questions. They wanted to shake my hand, asked if that was okay. So, I just want to say that St. Michael School, second grade class from Liverour visited, and the Lindsay Wildlife Experience is such an asset to Walnut Creek that schools across the Bay Area come to Walnut Creek to learn. And the last thing, of course, we had our commissioner reception just before our city council meeting to install our new commissioners, to also say goodbye to our outgoing commissioners and congratulate our reappointed commissioners and just celebrate our commissioners who truly help the city council through all these different discussions and recommendations. And we would be sitting here for 18 hours of a city council meeting listening to everything if we did not have commission. So, thank you that are our new commissioners and for those that are watching online, thank you for being commissioners. And with that, we'll close this part of it and then move on to our public hearing. So, all right. Next on the agenda is in fact our public hearing for Porsche Walnut Creek dealership project to consider waiver of reading and introduction of an ordinance to implement a service center plan development reszone and adopt resolutions approving design review tree removal and drip line encroachment permits tree drip line and sign and ordinance exception for the project at 2717

North Main Street, 1532nd Avenue and 1510 venue. So, I'm inviting senior planner Simmer Gil, who's already here, to provide the presentation.

Uh, thank you, um, uh, Mayor Wilk, and, um, good evening, um, members of the, uh, the council. Um, my name is Simmer Gil, senior planner with the city. U, we are here tonight to, uh, consider the Porsche dealership and service center that will be located at the corner of Second Avenue and North Main Street. And I apologize in advance. I also have a frog in my throat. I'm going to try the best to speak well into the mic. Um, but please let me know if you need me to repeat anything. And um, the request before you tonight is a plan development reszone and a design review. The applicant, Steven Scanlin, and his team are here tonight, as am I to answer any questions you may have after this presentation. And just to quickly orient you with the site, it is zoned auto sales which does permit auto dealerships, sorry, service commercial is a zoning and it permits um auto dealerships and the site is at the corner of Second Avenue and North Main um along the North Main corridor. And it does consist of three parcels that will be merged. And the existing area consists of a mix of commercial uses and there are residential uses uh directly behind the project site on Varton Court and further up Second Avenue. See? Okay. And here's just a closer look at the site conditions. Um here is the uh Mass uh restaurant and bar that um I believe is still currently operating. Uh there are other buildings on site which are underutilized and vacant and all of these buildings will be demolished as uh for project construction. So tonight um the applicant is requesting construction of a new three-level auto dealership that will offer vehicle sales and service. And uh the project also includes

frontage improvements uh right-of-way dedication along both Second Avenue and North Main Street and uh new sidewalk along Second Avenue and a replacement of the existing sidewalk on North Main. Project also requests tree removals, the installation of 21 new uh trees as part of the landscaping plan, uh on-site lighting, as well as new signage. So before I go into the project details, um I just wanted to quickly touch on that this project did go before the design review commission as well as the planning commission and um both commissions did support the overall project um and the design. However, they did have some operational and design comments and um the on February 12th, the planning commission did make a recommendation to move the project forward to city council with a condition um clearly prohibiting all vehicles from making a right turn on second a u when exiting the project site and also to incorporate clear directional signage along that um exit. And I also wanted to touch on public comments um as there were several that were received and the common theme was that the there should be no uh right turn exiting this project site and that is something the commissioners did take into consideration. And uh comments were also received regarding signage and illumination and rooftop lighting levels as well as uh regarding the rollup service doors and uh requesting that they remain closed during operations of this business to avoid any noise and to also consider a higher sound wall along that west elevation and to consider a raised curb to deter right turns on Second Avenue as well as details on fire suppression. And all of these um comments have been addressed in the business operating plan as well as

the revised plans uh with the exception of the raised curb uh near SEC um on the exit near Second AB. I'll let the applicants team go over that because they also have a presentation tonight. Uh so tonight uh the city council uh based on planning commission's recommendation um will be considering the class 32 infill squa exemption. the plan development uh reszone. And because uh council is the highest approving body for the plan development reszone, it will also consider the design review as well as all other entitlements assoc associated with this project. And just to quickly go over the existing site conditions, um as you can see, access provided into the site currently is off of Second Avenue and uh several drive aisles on sec on North Main. And here is the proposed layout. Uh there will be access from North Main and Second Avenue leading into the site and there will be surface parking spaces uh directly in front of the um showroom entrance. I also wanted to point out that um in the service commercial zone uh there are no setback building setback requirements. However, uh the applicant did design this building keeping in mind the sensitivity of just being close to a residential neighborhood. Uh the building will be set back set for 30 ft from that property line. And uh just to really uh go over the two main functions of this building is the main entry uh into the showroom and the uh service commercial arrival area for uh repair of uh auto vehicles. Um and here what I have highlighted in orange are really just areas that are accessed for employee um or staff only. Public will not have access to these areas. Uh the first one being I could use this I think. Yeah. The first one will be the

ramp that goes up the roof in for the roof inventory parking area. Again um for employee use only. There's a service shop access where the rollup doors are located again just to be used by employees. and then the parts delivery area up north. Um and if you're coming from North Main Street, there is a lower level garage entry that goes into the again for um inventory or uh staff parking only. Um no access for the public. Uh so tonight um the request before you is a plan development and a a PD which uh essentially is a tool that the code does allow to set tailored development standards when unique conditions do occur on site and in this case there we are addressing the uh grading or the site topography as well as the functional uh design elements of the project. uh but uh the PD does allow flexibility but it does um also require that the overall project meets the intent of the service in this case a service commercial zone. Um so all of the other um development standards are being carried over as part of this PD and auto sales and service is a permitted use in this zone. Uh so now moving into the uh first request which is uh redefining the floor area for this project. Uh.3 F is what is allowed in the service commercial zone and our current uh city code uh really the definition has very limited things. It doesn't explicitly exclude out a lot of these uh or capture these specialized operational areas or other nonoccupiable spaces. And I pulled this directly out of our city code, which is a definition of floor area. Um, as you can see, it it does list things that are being excluded

out, but it it's not it's um broadly written where it doesn't have everything that you in this case, uh, the PD is going to um provide that flexibility to exclude those additional accessory areas. And, um, what you see listed here is what this project is requesting. And um here I've just dropped all of the floor plans to really show you that the areas that are being excluded as part of this PD is the pink areas and all of those are the um inventory parking the u mechanical rooms or storage like areas and here just a closer look at that again the um I would I don't know is that yellow or light the light peach color is the area that is um being calculated to stay within that 3 f allowance and everything in the pink is being excluded. So um so why are we here tonight? Basically what is the purpose of this uh PD uh modern modern dealership layout? It has evolved over time. Um it's become multilevel and um uh all of the it integrates all of the operations into one single building. So a large portion of that um building is now storage area or nonoccupiable non-c customer occupied space and the city's code is a bit dated as it was built for single story traditional one-dimensional dealerships. It doesn't really align with today's modern integrated building layouts that we're seeing coming forward to the city. And what I uh provided below is really just a photograph of the existing dealership um on North Main Street. As you could see, the showroom, the inventory, vehicle storage, as well as the service repair area is all in separate buildings or spread out across the site. Um, and that typically when you're calculating based on the current uh floor area, you're counting the

showroom only because everything else is accessory. But in this case, everything is being integrated into the building. So this PD is essentially giving us that flexibility to exclude those areas and really to distinguish between uh uh function versus customer space area. So uh with that the approach still does meet the.3 F intent. It also acknowledges that modern dealership designs have become more integrated and just gonna take a sip of water. Now moving into the second request. Um under the uh PD reszone, the uh the site allows a 30- foot height limit. And the exhibit that you see here, it's um roughly showing a 10 to 11 foot um grade change across the site. Um with the lowest elevation being near uh oh, that was strange. Sorry. with the lowest elevation being here at 124 and as you go up the site to the uh from the north to the south it starts going up and 138 um where I have identified with the star is the highest point on the site and I've also incorporated this photo for reference to show this is where the masses restaurant and bar is located um and as um again here uh this is the topography map pulled straight out of the plans really to show you how the grades vary and change as you go up uh to the southern end of the site. Uh so and the solid black line that you see um here really represents that grade. Um and the existing high point on the parcel is 138 ft. The um current code uh basically measures height from the existing or finished grade whichever is lower to the highest point of the building. So the PD tonight will

essentially uh define the base elevation. So height can be measured from the highest existing grade should ensure a consistent measurement across the slope site. And the red dash line here is um that marks really that new base elevation that we're establishing with this PD 138 which is the highest point. And then as you go up um it at 168 is it's within that 30 ft. So that shows the maximum allowable um height building height which is the 30 ft. And this approach does really address how height is measured across the site. And given the slope and the dealership's um new operational design, it doesn't really increase the project's intensity. But um I also wanted to point out that the city's code current currently does allow the community development uh director to uh make certain height adjustments um when there are unusual um deviations that occur in the existing grade. So this isn't something that we're doing specific for this project or the first time that we're seeing this. Um so the these type of situations do occur and that's why the code already contemplates this and um I believe the most recent example we've had that that have used the same approach the PD was the Hilton Garden in

um here are some um building renderings really just to show you that this project um provides a mix of materials uh provides articulation uh really meeting the city's design review standards and guidelines and um it's providing that architectural interest um as well as the um the architectural elements such as that curved uh glass corner that will be seen from the corner of Second Avenue and North Main Street. [snorts] And the other request before you tonight is uh the tree removals. There are a total of 19 trees on site that are being removed. 15 of these were approved by the city's consulting arborist due to the size um size, health, and species of those trees. And uh the four remaining trees that I have bubbled here in yellow are the trees that the city council is considering tonight as part of this project for the removal to allow this project uh to move forward. And uh the valuation of those trees is 17,470 and that is included as a condition of approval that the applicant will be required to pay. And there's also a condition to protect all off-site neighboring trees which are about 13 trees along the north end of the site and several along the west end which are being protected in place. So, moving into the landscaping, uh, the applicant is proposing a total of 21 new trees at 12 12 of these will be um installed along the project frontage on both North Main as well as oops, my it's just flying all over [laughter] uh North Main and Second Avenue. And the remaining nine trees uh will be planted on site wherever there's feasible space to um install trees. And I wanted to also point out the proposed um metal or steel fencing that

will be installed along the north end uh shown here with that dash line. And from that point um there will be a 8ft tall um splitface CMU soundwall that will be installed along that west elevation. And um the other request before you tonight is the sign ordinance exception. Uh the applicant is proposing two identical wall signs, both totaling 91 square feet. Um here I just wanted to point out that the wall sign that is along the north main street facade um this will be a little bigger only because uh our sign ordinance does require the backer panel to be incorporated in the total sign area. So that's going to be 145 square feet, but the the letters and the size of the overall sign is 91 square feet. And I believe we have a sample board here that really shows you that it's a me um that um that facade is like a um ribbed metal system. So the real purpose of that backer panel is just to have a mounting method, a flat surface to install signage. And uh the total sign area with the two monument signs included will be 275 square ft. Uh so the sign exception is required because the city's code does uh limit a um a ground floor single tenant um commercial building to two 200 square feet of maximum sign area even given that this project has two frontages. Um so the uh city I mean sorry the staff and the commission did support this request because it's really in scale with the building. The proposed signage isn't acting as advertisement or um excessive signage. It really meets the intent of uh the signage as well as um it it it's in scale of the building. And here's uh the proposed 24 square

foot uh freestanding sign that located along that north main uh street frontage. Here is the proposed uh service freestanding sign. Uh this sign is 14 square feet and it's located right there by the um when vehicles are pulling up into that service center. I'm not good with this clicker, but it's basically pulling up. Uh so the really the intent behind that is more wayinding or directional. Uh so uh vehicles as they approach that area can find the uh location. And um here is a layout of the existing park uh the proposed parking. This project is exempt from parking under AB 2097 um as a portion of the site does fall within that half mile of the Pleasant Hill barge station. However, the applicant is providing sufficient parking on site. Uh 48 surface parking stalls. Uh what you see blue shaded blue are the uh customer parking stalls and then the orange is just for display vehicles. And there's several parking spaces uh further to the north side of this project uh site for employee parking or customer parking if needed. And then there are um 123 spaces internally in the building uh for vehicle uh storage in the um um in the basement as well as the uh rooftop. So this um project uh does um meet the um or qualify for the class 32 SQA infill exemption as it does meet that criteria that is uh listed um on this slide. And I'm happy to go over any of this if needed, but it really meets the intent of the code as well as the size threshold. And there were technical studies provided really to confirm uh confirming to the city that uh there

would be no less than significant impacts from this project. And with that, um, staff does recommend that the city council adopt the class 32, uh, SQUA exemption as well as introduce the planned, uh, development ordinance and approve the project entitlements, um, that are included in attachment two of your packet tonight. Uh, and those consist of design review, sign ordinance exception, tree removal permit, and a tree drip line encroachment permit. And uh that is all I have for my presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Samar. And you mentioned that the applicant also has a presentation that they'd like to

And they do have a presentation, correct? Okay. So, uh if I right now, if there's any questions just for staff or would you prefer to hear the presentation from the applicant and then ask questions? Yep. Okay. So, let's do that. Okay. And uh then we'll determine who gets what question. I should.

Hi. Good evening. Good evening. Um, glad to be here finally. Um, I wanted to start out by first telling council and we've had a really great time with staff. They've been fantastic, um, Erica, Simmer, Ryan, Matt have all been really supportive and helped us through a fairly complicated site plan and planning process. So, I wanted to put the first shout out to them because they they were really great. Right. And for the audience at home and for us up here, would you mind introducing yourselves, too? Oh, sorry. See, I've been here so often. I think you I feel like not in front of us, though. Yeah. [laughter] Stephen Scanland. I'm I'm with the applicant. I'm the developer. Great.

Um I wanted to start out with a quick overview of why we're here. Um first and foremost, this retention of the dealership. Fletcher Jones wants to stay in Walnut Creek. Um the second is uh they really need to modernize and that means the consolidation of all of the facilities and operational footprint. and I think Simmer touched on it. It's a it's a completely different dealership today than it was 25 years ago. Um the third thing is we're moving from lease property to own property was an opportunity to buy the site and that allows for the retention of the dealership and security going forward. Uh and then the last was uh Porsche obsolescence. if you can't meet their next uh generation, and James will go into this in much more detail, but if you can't meet their next generation, you sort of get kicked out of the family.

And so, a part of a part of the other driving force was being able to come up to operational um 2025. Got it.

Good evening, council members. My name is James Spence. I am the project architect with Ginsler. I am presenting um with Steven Scanland on behalf of Fletcher Jones. So, uh as Steven mentioned, our generation 5 Porsche dealership, that's what you see here. Um that's what's going to be driving that um really dynamic, uh frontage that you see there on the corner with the rounded metal panel, um the accent white metal panel, and then kind of the ribbed uh black metal panel that surrounds the shop. I'll get uh to those finishes later in the presentation, but just wanted to touch on kind of the newest version, the state-of-the-art design that Porsche is driving with this new model. Um that's what we're presenting to you tonight. Um it is really uh they're looking to elevate um their dealership, their luxury dealership even further. Um so that's what the generation 5 is for. Um this program's attention to detail does ensure a seamless design both for the aesthetics and for the operations around the site. um as well as the customer journey too. Um it's meant to evoke the precision of a Porsche automobile um which is why they're very proud of this design and um with this approach especially with the significant grade across the site that Simmer touched on earlier um we are striving to build uh this elevated aesthetic um while matching the site's requirements um and uh really hoping to match that aesthetic that defines uh the city of Walnut Creek. And because we're doing this uh generation 5 dealership, uh there's some economic growth that occurs, uh there'll be in addition to the job retention, um the Porsche family allocates another 25 to 30% new vehicles as a part of meeting the generation 5 upgrade. That represents a significant increase in revenue, 95 to to up to $118 million in sales annually. the uh increase in service tax revenue. They recognize

about a 30 to 40% increase in service tax and that's another $1.2 million in revenue. And then there's these increase in property tax. The current dealership land is worth about 14 million. That's what it's on the tax roll. And projected tax will be the projected base construction is around 40 million. So it's a significant increase. And then uh Simmer touched on it, but I just wanted to throw some numbers at you. There were four study areas in the SQA infill exemption. The uh traffic the traffic reduction was around 320 trips. Um in the air quality categories, construction didn't exceed the thresholds. Operations does not exceed thresholds and health risk assessment is um below the allowed limits. Um noise construction was less than significant. Val ground vibration does not exceed the annoyance level. And operationally everything we have that creates noise is shielded, enclosed and attenuated. And then final is water. And we meet all the storm water runoff for the project and we meet the requirements of both state and the city.

Thanks Stephen. So um we wanted to spend a few slides talking about neighborhood mitigations. Um from our time here at the DRC meeting, the PCH meeting, um we were listening to the neighbors uh on Varton Court as well as uh you know, west of west of that um voice their concerns with the dealership and we wanted to make sure that we are being respectful neighbors because we are um you know, right up against their back property line. So spending a just a couple of slides uh touching on the design elements that we are using to address that relationship. So, the first is the 8-foot splitface CMU sound wall that Simmer touched on earlier. Um, we have two elevations here. One showing the Here we go. One showing um the elevation itself and then the one below showing what that elevation is going to look like with the sound wall in front of it. Um, you will also notice that our west elevation face has no fenestration. There's no windows into the second floor into the first floor. there are no opportunities for uh sight lines visibility over to the west property line. Um, another concern that was brought up was our overhead door. We do have one overhead door leading to our shop space that's going to be there in the center area. So, that's going to be a high-speed rollup door that will remain closed for a majority of the business day. That will only be open for a few seconds when service cars come in and out. So, it'll be closed most of the time. This building is going to be or the shop at least is going to be 12-inch thick pre-cast concrete walls. Uh it's a pretty high STC rating. There will be little to no sound coming out of that shop, but that sound wall that we're providing will eliminate any additional sound that may escape that shop. It's going to help uh uh with sight lines as well. I'll get to that in the next slide, but we provided a rendering. You can see the sound wall there on the left

side. And then the other thing I wanted to mention is the existing trees west of our property line. Um we wanted to try and maintain and ret uh uh tree retention for any and all existing valley oaks there. There's a 20in and a 12 to 18inch valley oak that we have joged our soundwall around in order to avoid the root ball um to try and retain those trees. Um, still touching on that soundwall, these are a couple of exhibits just showing um, sight lines from an individual standing on Varton Court um, looking over to our uh, our property. Um, also showing that 30 foot uh, setback building setback that Simmer touched on earlier. Next up is our lighting. So, um, one of the concerns is of course light spill. We want to make sure that we are eliminating any light spill not only to the west but to the north property lines. This is our phototric plan showing the foot candles. We have a zero foot candle at our west property line and our north. Um we will also be shading all of our sight fixtures um so that there is no direct light that will bleed into any um neighboring property. And the other thing to mention is that our lights are also going to be on a timer so that at sunset that will reduce the lighting levels so that the Fletcher Jones team can still keep lighting on for security purposes of their inventory but it is going to bring the lighting level down in respect for uh the neighbors that we have next door. So another um thing we wanted to address is the noise. We have absorbed a lot of our program elements within the footprint of our building. most of its interior. Um, but we will have a few operations that do take place outside of the building. So, that's going to be uh things like vehicle delivery, parts delivery, uh trash and oil pickup. So, all of that is going to be uh occurring in that planned northeast corner that

you see highlighted there. We're trying to take it away from that west property line. We will keep it all on site. None of this will be happening on North Main. None of it will be happening on Second Avenue. It'll be happening on site and in that northeast corner. And and just to mention that these were this area was particularly studied in the noise study and it had no significant impact.

Um I think the biggest concern um from the neighbors is that of traffic and the right turn onto Second Avenue. So uh what we are going to provide is additional wayfinding signage. Um this we have kind of a mockup sample shown here but it is going to encourage no right turns onto Second Avenue. Um the Fletcher Jones team is also going to make sure that their um their employees when they do take test drives out, they will head to North Main Street. They will not turn right onto Second. Um they will not be directed in that direction. Um we do have to note that there was um a call for maybe modifying the curb at that entrance off of Second Avenue because of the fire lane that we need the fire lane width that we need to keep there. Um there's no ability to to compress that that curb cut on Second Avenue. And speaking of fire, so we do have our 26 foot wide fire apparatus lane um there that wraps the south and east side of the buildings. Um, in addition to that, we are we will be following all city and fire department code regulations as far as fire suppression is concerned, especially taking into consideration that we will have EV vehicles being serviced in the shop. We will have a battery storage that's going to be attached to our dumpster there in the northeast corner. Um, we'll be meeting all city and fire department regulations. Um, we will also be um storing EV fire blankets in our Porsche tool room. Um, that is the larger one that's circled within the main um, sorry, the main building there. So, uh, those will be on hand if there are any incidents within the actual shop as they're being worked on. And then just to run through the floor plan real quick, our basement level, this is going to be mostly inventory or staging. That'll be the cars that the customers have dropped off for

maintenance. Um, and then we have four car wash bays down in the uh, sorry, the southwest corner. We're going to bring that inside. Again, the field building footprint, so it's not exposed to the exterior. Level one, we have our showroom. Um, our main showroom there at the corner. Um, we have an internal service drive. And then, uh, to the plan north, we have our shop. So, the shop in, um, relation to the site is actually going to be stepping down two additional feet. So, there's going to be a ramp between our service drive and that shop to take those cars down the additional two feet. That's just in reaction to the the grading we have heading plan north. And then our our top level, level two, um we do have additional showroom on the second level, an additional certified pre-owned um display, and then the rest of the parking on that roof will be um uh sorry, employee access only. Uh it's going to be inventory. So that's where they'll take customers out if they want to look in additional cars. And then uh lastly, we uh this is uh the our exterior elevations. You kind of get a feeling of of how that grade is going to slope from the south side of the site to the north and how we're reacting to it. Um but also touching on the generation 5 finishes that we have applied to this design. So we have our Porsche silver grey metal panel that's wrapping the showroom. Um we have the accent white metal panel that's going to be um signifying the customer entry point there at the corner. And then wrapping the rest of the building is going to be the black ribbed um metal panel uh that uh yeah will wrap the shop and the uh shop amenities to the plan north. Um we're also going to have um screens for all of our mechanical units uh as well as the um the dumpster enclosure. The Okay,

you can just keep it there. So, uh, and then just a few more, uh, money shots for the dealership. So, um, you know, this is truly, um, you know, a great opportunity for the Fletcher Jones team. We're very excited for this project. Um, we appreciate the city's consideration. Um, our commitment is simple. um to build a project that the city can be proud of, that the residents feel comfortable living beside and that contributes positively to the city of Walnut Creek for decades to come. So, um we respectfully request your consideration and look forward to working together. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So, um, we're going to bring it back to council now for questions, but I want to be respectful if we have anybody here for public comments because sometimes we can get into a little deeper into this than, uh, than usually at the council level we would see. So, let's let's start out by a couple of questions that uh are burning questions from the council side and then we'll uh we'll go to public comment and if there's further questions afterwards, we'll bring it back to council at that point. So, let's start with Council Member Deini. [clears throat] Are these my burning questions or just my regular questions? Just your burning questions now before we go to public comment. I'm I'm good.

You're good. Okay. Mayor Prom.

Burning question. Um, thank you for the presentation. Thank you for the level of effort that's gone into these plans. Thank you for listening to the neighbors and making changes. I'm particularly interested in hearing about the perspective from Varton Court and you you touched on it a bit in terms of the the neighbor mitigations, but maybe if you can just elaborate if if there's some sort of visual that shows the landscape screening plus the sound wall and there's a pretty hefty setback I think as well from the property line. Maybe if you can just reiterate kind of what what design changes went into that thought process. Sure. Are we allowed to pull the Okay. So, I'm gonna bring it down to this. So, um the exhibits right here, uh one thing to mention is that the um the site grades change from the north side of the site to the south. So, as you go from north to south, that grade change between our neighbor to the west and our site is going to increase. So, that's what's shown here. Section B is taken further to the north where there's less of a difference. section A to the south. Your point about

Sorry. The high the highest point is that null on the site basically toward the west, right? That's correct. Yes. Okay. Um to your point about the kind of the foliage, the trees in between, we don't have a section showing that, but there are existing trees um that we are wanting to preserve. The ones I mentioned earlier that we're jogging the wall um in order to preserve those. Um there's not a a precise way to show the exact amount of screening and coverage that those existing trees are going to provide. Um but we were hoping that in order to kind of give that visual that's kind of what these sighteline exhibits are are providing

and the trees and the landscaping are focused more on the southern portion. Those are existing, right? That's correct. Um there's a I think a a smattering of of trees on the west uh outside of our property line that will remain that stretch from the north to the south of the site. Um but uh you know they will be they will be you know they'll exist and we we're not planning on planting anything on our site because we just don't have the space between our sound wall our proposed soundwall and the property line. Um there's just not going to be the uh the ability to include anything there. We would have had to push the sound wall back towards the property the adjacent

on the sorry sorry the microphone. So the people we would have had to push. So I was in the middle of the whole tree thing and what I went out walking it, walked in the backyards, met the neighbors and we came up with we came to the conclusion that we would jog the sound wall, help preserve the trees and the existing foliage and but that narrows what we have to work with on our side of the wall. So we can't really put a lot of trees on our side of the wall. So it was a question of keep the existing and stay away from the neighbors and provide a buffer or put more trees on our side. potentially lose some of that buffer. Okay. And the other one question, burning question. If you know, uh what is what are the plans for the current dealership site?

There's still about five years left on the lease. So that the immediate is to use it during construction and then retain it during the lifespan of the lease. And my understanding is that they might not release it, but no no definite plan yet. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Darling. Hi. I just wanted to double check on a couple things. Um I saw in some of the letters from the neighbors concern about construction impacts and um whether or not pest control was going to happen prior to demolition and there I actually made that call today. So pest control is going out there. It's imminent. Okay. And then during construction um the typical measures to um control dust and keep impacts.

Yeah. we all have to be 88. So a couple things now in California everything is tier 4. So the the um health risk assessment came back well below and then uh we have noise attenuation requirements also no idling of equipment any of that and then the idea is to get the sound wall up as soon as possible. Okay. So phasing wise sound wall will go in before as early as we can. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. Council member Silva burning questions. burning question is can you help elaborate on what we're actually looking at in this diagram because I see a little person. Yes, I can help with that. You know, I'm James,

you've got [laughter] changed. It's it's a bigger person. No. Um there's a lot of lines on here. What are we looking at? And what is that p where is that person standing? And are they standing in the backyard of Varton Court? Because it looks like they're standing on a wall. So yeah, they would be staying in the backyard uh their backyard and the So I'll point out a few things. So this that [snorts] is the property line right here. Um it's showing our 30-foot building setback. And then so this is this is a site plan, not an elevation. Yes, I could read the words, but I'm looking at the drawing trying to translate. This is a site plan. So yeah. Yeah. So this is Yeah, this is a section here.

Okay. This is a section here. So, this is showing kind of a section through our building, the elevation of the building in relation to the six-foot individual that's standing in the backyard on Varn Court. Okay. And where is the wall? The wall is this piece right here. This is the 8ft wall. Okay. So, what looks like this is ground that the wall is on. That is correct. Okay. So you can tell that the grade difference in section B on the top section is less than the grade difference in section A because that grows as you head plan south if that makes sense. And is this person standing at the back wall of their house close to approximately?

It's approximately. Okay. Thank you. I you can't tell. I know you happy to clarify. [laughter] So when we look at what is the distance between the person and the sound wall and the person and the back wall of the the west wall of the dealership.

So the distance between the property line and the face of our building is 30 ft. So we're looking at it's roughly 25 to 30 feet that the off of the west property line that the individual is standing at. And then this is this section section A right here is taken where the wall jogs.

So it's roughly 7 and 1/2 ft from the property line. So that's the 25 plus 7 and 1/2 ft that the person is away from that wall. And then up here in section B, you've got about two and a half feet from the wall to the property line. So it's about five feet closer to that individual. Thank you. My other question, and this will m require a little bit of math off to the side, if this if all of the operations that are being proposed for this modernization of the Porsche dealership, the Gen 5, were to be done in a flat singlestory exterior parking lot, etc. for inventory. How many acres would it take? This is 2.38 acres. What would it take to And you don't have You can answer and round two.

I mean, we I mean, you can correct my my rough math here, but we'd be looking at almost double the size of a site in order to You said 2.3 uh acres. 2.3. 2. Yeah. So, so five acres. Almost five. So twice the size in order to

potential sales tax revenue that will come from the dealership. So I'm I'm very pleased to see and thank you for your reinvestment in our city for doubling down and making this uh new dealership the dealership for the 21st century uh cementing your presence in Walnut Creek. And so I'd be happy to make a motion to uh if that's [clears throat] appropriate to adopt a resolution determining that the Porsche dealership projects exempt from SQA pursuant to the class 32 infill exemption, wave the reading, and introduce an ordinance reszoning the 2acre parcel at 2717 North Main Street, 15302nd Avenue, and 15102nd Avenue, thereby creating the Porsche dealership plan development district. But wait, there's more. And adopt the resolution approving the design, review, tree removal, and drip line encroachment permits and tree drip line and sign ordinance exception for the Porsche dealership project effective upon the effective date of the enabling ordinance creating the Porsche dealership plan development district.

And I would echo um the mayor prom statement. And I also really appreciate the amount of time and energy staff and the applicant have put into meeting with the neighbors and working things out with them. Um I think this will be a great addition and so I'd be happy to second what he said. We have a motion in a second. Um before we take a roll call with any other comments anybody would like to make, you you can also make them during your vote. Ditto with Yeah, I agree. It's exciting project. Looking forward to it. And I like the fact that people can actually purchase directly at the store and not have to do it online. That always helps our tax revenue, too, as we talked about earlier. Uh, great. Uh, city clerk, could you please call the role? Mayor Pro Francois, I.

Council member Darling, hi. Council member Deini. Hi. Council member Silva. I. Mayor Wilk. I. Motion carries. All right. So, yes. Well, let's Why don't we take uh we've got one item left. Why don't we take a is five minutes if you want to five? Let's take a five minute break and then we're back for our last item.

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Yeah. And we're back. Uh, next on the item is, uh, on the agenda is the consideration of the fiscal year 2027 budget balancing recommendations. And I invite administrative services director Kirsten Lcast forward to provide the presentation.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Wilk, Mayor Prom Francois, and members of council. Kirsten Lcast, administrative services director. Tonight, I'm going to be walking you through the fiscal year 27 budget balancing recommendations. So tonight we're first going to touch on the fiscical year 26 and 27 general fund adopted budget and then what has changed since this council adopted the budget, some proposed balancing options, and then finally staff's recommendation for rebalancing fiscal year 2027. What we're asking of you this evening is to provide input and feedback on the proposed recommendation for rebalancing the fiscal year 27 adopted budget. The fiscal year 2020 26 and 27 adopted budget included 6.33 million of reductions in order to balance. These reductions included measures that were ongoing, short-term, and one-time. The ongoing reductions included eliminating one and a quarter FTE, reducing hourly staff, and reducing overtime on the personnel side. N1M reductions included a reduction in planned maintenance and repairs which led to a more reactionary response. Contracted services were brought inhouse impacting staff capacity and we reduced marketing and advertising for leisure center events. These reductions totaled 3.31 million. Short-term and one-time reductions totaling just over three million included using the pension trust and reserve to offset rising pension costs, increasing the budgeted vacancy rate, and reducing the amount uh the general fund contributed to capital projects by about 300,000 each year. In order to meet the reserve requirements, both fiscal year 26 and 27 required reserve contributions were funded from fiscal year 25 yearend savings. So, in in general, just to I know we've talked about this a little bit, council

members have talked about sales tax this evening. And so, beginning in fiscal year 25, the city experienced a reduction in sales tax revenue for what was thought to be a reporting error in the city's largest industry group, which is the autos and transportation. In fiscal year 25, the group saw a decline of 11% as a result. After the budget adoption in June, the city's tail sales tax consultant identified the reduction as a reporting change in that group implemented by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration or CDTFA. So, the city's updated projection for fiscal year 27 has resulted in a 2.3 million deficit in the general fund. So, this reporting change is currently under audit. However, it is impacting revenue in fiscal year 26, which will very likely continue in fiscal year 27. Fiscal year 26 will largely stay balanced as a result of our savings from our projected 10 to 11% vacancy rate, but we will need to rebalance fiscal year 27. So staff has identified three strategies for consideration to close the estimated fiscal year 27 deficit in the general fund. The first is to maintain the existing 10% 10 to 11% vacancy rate we currently have in the city or identify ongoing reductions of about 2% of the general fund expenditures. And lastly, the use of reserves. And so I'm going to walk through each of these in more detail on the following slides. Excuse me. When you're sitting there, you have to really hone in on the microphone. Your voice is not carrying all the way over here for me.

Okay. Thank you. I will do that. Thank you. And so the budget was adopted with a a vacancy rate of 6% whereas the actual rate of vacant positions is about 11% currently, which if we've continued this vacancy rate in fiscal year 27, it would result in a budget reduction sufficient to cover the sales tax revenue shortfall. While this is a short-term solution, there are some unknowns that once resolved would help the city determine what the real impact will be and allow the flexibility to adapt prior to reducing service levels to the community. So, these include the final outcome of CDTFA's decision on the sales tax reporting. Staff is working with a consultant on a city-wide fee study that may impact fiscal year 27. And the results of that study and recommendations for consideration will be on they are on track to be brought forward to finance committee and city council late spring. And the update of the city's 10-year financial forecast for the general fund in the fall of 2026 in anticipation of the fiscal year 28 and 29 budget development process. Using this approach to rebalance would mean that service levels to the community would largely stay unchanged. However, internal staff would need to sustain these levels with fewer resources. Another option is to identify 2% of general fund expenditures for ongoing reductions to achieve the savings needed to close the deficit. This is a long-term approach. However, it would have immediate service impacts. As we mentioned earlier, the fiscical year 26 and 27 adopted budget already incorporated over three million in ongoing reductions. So, additional ongoing reductions in fiscal year 27 would further impact the community and staff. This approach is consistent with council policy, keeping in mind there are still some uncertainties regarding

the ongoing nature and amount of the deficit as discussed previously. And lastly, reserves could be used to offset the deficit on a one-time basis. The city maintains several reserves. However, the magnitude of the revenue loss does not trigger the use requirements for the emergency reserves, but the general fund contingency reserve could be used, which has a current balance of 2.6 million. So, based on all of the analysis, staff is recommending to maintain the existing 10 to 11% vacancy rate in fiscal year 27 to close the deficit on a short-term basis. Again, it preserves service levels to the community, allows time for key financial uncertainties to be resolved. It provides flexibility and minimizes disruptions. There is [clears throat] an impact to internal operations as it would require sustaining current service levels with fewer staff. On February 18th, these options and staff recommendation were presented to the finance committee for feedback. Committee members supported staff's recommendation. The option that staff is recommending would mitigate the projected sales tax revenue loss. However, it would not address projected impacts to other revenue sources or unforeseen increases to expenditures. Department revenue projections for fiscal year 26 based on the second quarter results in the second quarter revenue and expenditure update earlier this evening are trending lower than anticipated. Once we have more data from the third quarter, we'll be able to refine those projections and we'll have more information on any impacts to fiscal year 27. If department revenue trends continue into fiscal year 27, staff will bring recommendations forward for consideration in late spring to address revenue impacts and any resulting deficit which may include ongoing expenditure reductions. So what again what we are asking of you this evening is to provide input and

feedback on the proposed recommendation for rebalancing the fiscical year 27 adopted budget. And with that staff is available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you Kirsten. And uh let me first uh ask the finance committee if you have any further questions based on what you had asked earlier during your committee. Just a comment. Yeah. Forgive me if you mentioned it. Did you mention the the fee impact the the fee study that's coming up? You did. Yes. Yeah. And that's one of the things that would essentially correct the department revenues. Correct. Issue. Yeah. Okay. Any questions here?

Um, thank you, Kirsten. I appreciate the thought you guys have put into this. Do we have any kind of a prognosis on whether or not that we're going to be able to see a reversal of the tax decision that was impacting the auto sales or do we have any any idea? At this time, we don't we haven't heard a lot of information from CDTFA. However, they haven't made a final determination and so once we have that additional information, we will know more and then we would have an opportunity to appeal that decision. Okay. so we can appeal it and then um I know this distribution of sales tax revenue is an ongoing struggle on so many levels.

I I did actually send I think we sent a letter just today uh that we sent it to Senator Tim Grayson as well as Assembly Member Rebecca Bower Cahan about exactly this and the uh the auto sales tax specifically. They had been looking for it and uh Senator Grayson was uh sounded very uh how should I put this? He he was happy to receive it to give him some ability to be able to keep this conversation going. So, it's been uh received very well right now by our state representatives.

Okay, that that was going to be my next question. Somebody gone and told on mom and dad mom and dad about the other kids. Anyway, thank you very much. If I could for a moment, I want to add to that. The other thing that we're trying to work through with CDTFA um in conjunction with our state representatives potentially is it something caused this to change. Uh we were receiving this as were a couple dozen other cities who have similar arrangements as Walnut Creek with certain types of auto dealerships and something caused this to change. And what we're really wanting to understand is what was the driver for that? what was the thinking uh and the rationale for doing so and then you know to vent for a moment it's extremely frustrating that CDTFA makes this change without any communication whatsoever. It took us months and months to decipher the reports to understand if this would error what was occurring and that's why we're nearly a year later reporting this issue. We start reporting a few months ago but it really took that long to unwind what was going on to try to get answers. So, it's been extremely frustrating working with the state bureaucracy with this and I'm really hopeful that our legislators can help untangle that bureaucracy for us.

Have you had a conversation as to whether this might require an actual legislative fix of the regulatory [snorts] authority because clearly the CDTFA thinks they have the regulatory authority to do it any old way they want to. Yeah, that's part of the discussion to see if there could be a legislative fix, but as it stands now, our understanding is it is within the regulatory purview of CDTFA, but it doesn't mean that it needs to remain that way in the future. So, I had a couple questions. Yes. Could you remind me again of what the shortfall is that you're projecting? That was when I couldn't hear you. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, that's 2.3 million. 2.3 million. And that's for what period of time

for fiscal year 27. fiscal year 27. So that would start July one of this year and end in June 30th of 27. Correct. Right. Thank you. And the um the vacancy rate, while it's a short-term solution, it's not a one-time solution because as long as we keep the vacancy rate at that level, we continue to reap the benefit of the under under expenses. Correct. Okay. Thank you.

And um I think that uh thank you for explaining the way you did and the look between the two different options. I think uh it really elucidated that for me and uh appreciate that and thank you for the work that you've done to get us to this point on this. So uh I'll open it up for public comment. I do not see any public right now. So, I will close public comment, bring it back to the council and uh for a motion. Do you guys want to do it? Uh, council member Deini, do you would you like to make the motion on this one? Matt did that elegant one earlier. So,

microphone The finance committee was so sure that this is all going to go that you're not recommend um Oh, I move to um adopt the the recommendations of staff. Um I don't see where where what am I reading here? Oh, just the rebalancing the rebalancing of the fiscal year 27 adopted budget. Second. Oh, all right. We have a motion in a second.

All right. Mayor Prom Francois gets the second by acclamation. Thank you. Appreciate. We have a roll call, please. Council member Deini, have to say I mayor promis. Hi. Council member Darling. Hi. Council member Silva. I may. Motion carries. All right. So, uh, we are adjourned of the regular city council meeting. We will be back on March 17th. And we're all here except