City Council Meeting — October 6, 2021

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Note that all public meetings will be recorded. So city council, sorry, city clerk, may you put the flag and do the pledge allegiance? Okay, let's all stand up and put your right hand on your heart. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

One Nation, God, and the best of all, and the liberty and justice for all. Thank you all. And City Court, please comment.

Thank you. Council Member Peter Chen? Yes. Here. Here. Member Hanslan? Here. Okay. Council Member Fredson-Elso? Here. Okay. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Here. And Mayor Yvonne Yu? Here.

I present. Thank you. Thank you. City manager or city attorney, do we have any agenda,

additions, deletions, change, or adoptions? None from the city manager's office, Madam Mayor.

None from the city attorney. There were no final decisions made in closed session,

so nothing to report on. Okay. Thank you. So, Deputy City Clerk, do we have any public communications?

audience if you want to speak during public communications now's the time to

hold on one second

I apologize. Audience, if you want to speak during public communications, please use the

raise hand feature at this time, or if you're on the phone, please press star 9.

And we have our city treasure, Joseph Leon.

Thank you. May I begin?

Sure, yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor, council members, staff, and of course, residents of Monary Park. This is Joseph Leon, the city treasurer. I'm here tonight because after the last council meeting, a few residents asked me to clarify the role or responsibility of the Monterey Park treasurer, as there seems to have been some confusion. The Monterey Park treasurer is in an elected position just like the council and city clerk. The treasurer, just like all elected officials, ultimately answered to the residents of Monterey Park. To make it clear, per Government Code 53607, the Council can delegate the investment authority to the Treasurer to invest funds as defined in the Minor Park investment policy. The Council can approve which investments are alLod, but after that, the Treasurer decides when to make the investments into the alLod securities. The Council can decide, for example, they didn't want to delegate the authority to the Treasurer to invest in the LA County pool. If that's the case, we take the LA County pool out of the investment policy. But if the council approves investments in the LA County pool, which it has, it is up to the treasurer to decide when to invest those funds into that pool. The minor part treasurer is elected to oversee all city's financial matters, including but not limited to city investments within the set perimeters set by the council, as previously mentioned in the investment policy. It seems clear that the residents do not want council or staff to make city investment decisions. This is solely the responsibility of the city treasurer. As the residents once said, the treasurer is elected by the people to be the safeguard of the people's money. And I have a handout that I gave to the clerk.

I'm just going to post it after the meeting today.

This is referring to Section 5 of the Monterey Park Investment Policy on page 3. on the investment and responsibilities. On the second paragraph, it says,

within the constraints set forth in this policy, the city treasurer has the authority to oversee citywide investment operations.

The city treasurer's responsibilities were discussed and defined on September 21st, 2016 at a council meeting here in Monterey Park. I strongly suggest that all council members, especially the new three members, please go back and watch the recording, which is easily accessible on the Monterey Park website. Back then, in summary, the council and city attorney at that time agreed that it was a city treasurer who would oversee all approved investments.

I have a handout also that I gave to the city clerk's office to post how to go to that site. But just now since we're in Zoom and not live. All right. Basically, all you do is go to www.montonarpark.ca.gov, scroll down to online services, go to City Council meeting videos, select September 21st, 2016, City Council successor agency video, then skip to item 5A, the 2015-2016 annual investment report. It's about five to six minutes long.

It's not very long, but it defines the city treasurer's role in the city of Monaco Park.

The council has clearly set the parameters for the treasurer and the investment policy under allowable investments. Now council must step back and allow the treasurer to oversee the investments per the policy.

Once again, I want to thank the residents that brought this matter to my attention. And please don't hesitate to ask or bring any concerns to your elected officials. We are here to serve our city. We are all residents, and our decisions affect us all. I'm here to answer any questions that Council may have.

I'm finished. Thank you.

Thank you.

Audience, are there any more speakers for public communications?

Madam Mayor, I do see one more speaker. Wei Liu from CSUN.

Yes. Hello, good evening City Council members. My name is Wei Liu and I'm a senior student of Cal State University, Northridge. And I'm also the resident of Monterey Park.

So today is October 6th, which is also a clean air day. But the air quality in Monterey Park is getting worse. And the air quality index is 84.

Air pollution level is moderate. Moderate means air quality is acceptable,

but there may be some health concern for the small number of

On yearly sensitive people, I'm wondering if we have taken any activities that related to clean air in the city of Monterey Park.

If we have, that'd be great. Thank you so much for your time. I'm done.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. There are no other speakers for public communications. We do not have any written communications. And I'm going to move forward to staff communications. Thank you. Thank you. First, we have Recreation and Community Services. I believe it's Orlando. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council. I hope you're all doing well. I'm Orlando Mudo, Recreation Supervisor for the City of Monterey Park. I would like to formally invite our City Council and all our residents to the following events.

The Recreation and Community Services Department and the Brugmeyer Library will display a community of Frenda, otherwise known as an altar, in the front windows of the library from October 11th through November 3rd

to honor the memories of loved ones who have passed. If you'd like to add a photo of a loved one to our display,

please send an email with a high-quality photo to events at montereypark.ca.gov.

The City of Monterey Park will host their third annual Monster Mash HalLoen event on Thursday, October 21, 2021, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Barnes Park. This is a free community event. This family-friendly event is co-hosted by the Recreation and Community Services Department and Monterey Park-Broogmoor Library, with tremendous support from various city departments, businesses, and organizations. This event will feature carnival games, a costume parade, trick-or-treating, and food trucks. Entertainment will be provided by juggler Fantastic Patrick and Artie Loon, the magician. For more information, please visit the website at montereypark.ca.gov forward slash Monster Mash or contact the Recreation and Community Services Department at 626-307-1388. Virtual Paint Night. Join our neighbors as you create a painting from the safety of your own home. No experience is necessary, as we will have a live step-by-step guidance by a professional instructor via Zoom. The cost for this event will be $45. That includes a kit that will provide you with a pink canvas, assorted paint colors, brushes, sponges, and a paint mixing palette. This event is scheduled for October 22nd from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. To register, call our Recreation and Community Services Department by October 18th to secure your spot. The Monterey Park Senior Center will be hosting their annual Monterey Park Free Health Fair on Saturday, October 23rd from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Langley Senior Center. No insurance required, and translators will be provided. If attending this event, please remember to wear a mask and social distance. And finally, what everybody's been waiting for, the City of Monterey Park Recreation and Community Services Department is pleased to announce the first annual Pickleball Tournament on Saturday, November 6, 2021. The Pickleball Tournament will take place at Barnes Park from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The tournament will offer a beginner, intermediate, and advanced division. Cost to enter the tournament is $40 per team, and registration can be done on our website at montereypark.ca.gov forward slash pickleball, or by calling our Recreation Community Services Department. Thank you for allowing me to share our upcoming city events with our community. I hope to see you all there. Please continue to visit our website or follow us on social media to stay updated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Mayor, next we'll move into library services. Yes. Thank you. Good evening. This is Diana Garcia, city librarian. This evening, I just wanted to briefly talk about the library's new Wi-Fi hotspot lending program that just launched this week.

And we're going to be talking about the library's new Wi-Fi hotspot lending program that just launched this week. The hotspot lending program is a free service that allows our. launched this week. The Hotspot Lending Program is a free service that allows our cardholders to check out a Hotspot device and connect to high-speed internet from almost anywhere. The Hotspot is completely portable. You can see a photo of it here. It's a really tiny little thing, just smaller than a cell phone. So you can connect your device to the internet from wherever you are, whether you're at home, on the bus, in the park, anywhere you might be. We've learned, especially over the past year that high-speed internet is really essential to all of our daily lives. We are doing online learning. We are doing work from home. Even shopping and paying bills online has become essential for nearly everybody as a result of the pandemic. All cardholders 18 and over are able to borrow a hotspot for three weeks. They're completely free to check out. Once the device is overdue, 24 hours, the service will be shut down. And if the device is lost or damaged beyond repair, then borrowers will be responsible for replacement costs. But other than that, they're free to check out. Hotspots are available to check out from the circulation desk Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. And I also want to mention that this lending program is made possible by a grant from the California State Library, which has provided the devices and the data plans absolutely free of cost to our library. Thank you so much for your time and for your help in getting the word out to our residents about this awesome program. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Mayor,

that concludes the staff communications. Great. Thank you. Madam Mayor, if I may add to staff presentation, my apologies. I thought our city treasurer was going to mention this. At our last council meeting city council ask us to provide information having to do with the investment policy and the consultant that would allow us to help us you know invest our money in in some other areas other than what we have right now council also ask us to look into other consultants that may be able to assist us. So to give you some update, we were not able to get all the consultants aligned to be able to come back to you at this council meeting, obviously. We are in the process now. We interviewed one presentation on Monday. We have two more with the investment committee coming up. We anticipate that we would have some recommendation to you on how and who would be assisting us in investing our additional funds in November. So just to give you a quick update, I know you may have anticipated it to be at this council meeting, but we're delayed because of the other firms not being able to provide us the information as quickly as we

anticipate. Okay, thank you. Okay, so moving down to presentations, 1A Breast Cancer Awareness and pink batch project.

Hey, Kelly.

The floor is yours. Police chief.

Thank you. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members.

Tonight, I'm just going to give a brief

little update on what we're doing for the month of October for breast cancer awareness. I'm going to give you just a few two facts about what we need to be reminded of is that every year about over 42,000 women are expected to die from breast cancer. Although the rates have been decreasing for the last several years. The only reason that that is, is because of treatment advances and all of the hard work everyone has done to go get their monthly mammograms and all the research and everything that everyone does by working together to defeat this terrible disease. So this month, Monterey Park Police Department participates in the Pink Patch Project, and this is a collective effort between all of the LA County agencies and numerous other public safety agencies throughout. Actually, it used to be throughout the country, but now it's actually internationally. And you'll see our agency included and many other agencies wear a pink patch that are specially designed, and we wear them for the entire month of October. This year, we're also all wearing a pink badge that was specially designed for the month of October. And I want to give a special thank you to our Mid-Management Association and to our Police Officers Association. They purchased those badges for each of the members, sworn members of our department. So you'll see those being worn by everyone for the entirety of this month. All the proceeds that we raise from the Pink Patch Project go to the City of Hope. There are some t-shirts and patches and keychains available. Corporal Lopez is the one that heads this effort on our behalf. Corporal Lopez is actually a breast cancer survivor herself. And if you would like to purchase, like I said, a patch, a t-shirt, or a keychain, you can contact her by email. She works patrol. So if you can't get in touch with right away, you can also contact Sergeant Salazar from our Community Engagement Bureau. But I encourage you all to go get your mammograms. Don't put it off. I know that, you know, during the COVID time scheduling and other things have made that a little more challenging, but this is a great reminder for all of us that this is extremely important and now is the time. So thank you and that concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you Kelly. Any other questions from other council members?

Okay, Council Member Chen. Thank you Madam Mayor. I want to thank the police chief for the presentation. As before, I would like to reserve a t-shirt and I will give my money to either captain nobis or to sergeant salazar whoever i can see first in city hall so at least i will support that uh without interruption here in here so thank you for the presentation and the awareness of the council thank you thank you and council member first and also

hello chief gordon um i saw the badge i'm assuming they're not for sale they're just shown that that's what you're wearing during the month of October?

Correct. They're not for sale. We, we unfortunately can't sell our,

our badges to the public. Okay. Well, I tried, but thank you.

Like I said, you'll see them being worn by everyone. You'll see a lot of us wearing our pink patches and it's a, an excellent tribute. And as a result of that, the money, the POA also then contributed to the city of hope as a part of this.

Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Hansenem?

Yeah, just really quick. Thank you, Kelly, again this year for bringing that forward and reminding us. Thank you.

Thank you. And Mayor Prochano?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I also want to echo the sentiments of my colleagues.

Thank you, Chief Gordon, for raising awareness of this very important health issue.

and also please put me down for a t-shirt as well and I will drop my money at City Hall.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Horton, and thanks for bringing the awareness to us. My mom is also a breast cancer survivor, so it means a lot to me as well. So we serve a t-shirt for me as well, so I think I would drop it somewhere, maybe in City Hall or City Manager's Office. Thank Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. So next will be consent calendar.

So any council member would like to pull any items from 3A to 3F? Okay, council member Chen. I just want to pull item 3B. 3B for Peter. Okay.

So anyone else?

Okay. And so, yeah, I would like to pull 3C. Okay.

So if no one else, may I get the motions to approve items 3A, 3D, 3E, and 3F?

Madam Mayor, can I just check with the audience to see if anybody wants to speak on consent?

Sure.

Audience, if you want to speak on any of the consent item, now is the time to do so. Please use the raise hand feature or be on the phone. Press star 9 at this time.

Madam Mayor, I do not see any speakers for consent calendar items.

Move to approve items 3A, 3D, 3E, and 3F.

Perfect. Any second? second thank you um uh city clerk please call roll all right thank you and council member peter

chan yes council member hans leon yes council member fred chernoso yes mayor pro temp henry

low yes and mary yvonne yu yes motion carries thank you thank you thank you so for item 3b accepting donations of two stained glass windows from the 1929 Book of Mary Library and Council Member Chen.

Yes, I would like to hear from our librarian, Diana Gassier.

Sure. Diana, the floor is...

Good evening, Madam Mayor and City Council. I actually have a short PowerPoint presentation if you'd like me to share it. Fantastic, there it is.

So this item, item 3B this evening is the acceptance of a donation of two stained glass windows from the original 1929 Bruggemeier Library building.

And I'd like to start out with just a little bit of background on the history of the Bruggemeier Library.

As you probably know, Mancha Bruggemeier founded the library in 1929 when he gifted it to the city. Next slide, please.

and just a little bit of background on Mancha. He was born in England in 1865 and he moved with his mother and siblings to the United States when he was about eight years old, specifically to

Chicago, and he would later go on to law school and become a judge in Chicago, and Mancha, shown here on the left and Roberta Pauline on the right were married in 1912 and in 1929 they moved to California. So they lived in both Redlands and in Monterey Park and when they resided in Monterey

Park, Roberta Pauline would go to the closest branch of the what was then the LA County Library every single day and she would go to read and people watch and she became very friendly with

LIBRARIANS AND GOT TO KNOW CHILDREN AND RESIDENTS OF THE CITY. SO IN 1927,

ROBERTA PAULEEN PASSED AWAY AND MONTCHE BEGAN WORKING ON BUILDING A BRAND NEW LIBRARY FOR THE

CITY OF MONTEREY PARK THAT WOULD BE DEDICATED TO HER MEMORY. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.

AND SO IN 1929, THE FIRST MONTEREY PARK LIBRARY OPENED ITS DOORS AND IT WAS LOCATED AT 256 Garvey, which is where St. Stephen's School is now located. You can see a picture of it here on the right. If you're interested in how much this library costs to build, it costs $33,294.71.

So a very beautiful, well-outfitted library, very affordable by our standards.

AND THEN JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER, NELL THOMAS, WHO WAS THE FIRST CITY LIBRARIAN BECAME THE SECOND MR. BRUGEMEIER WHEN SHE AND MANCHER WERE MARRIED. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. SO THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS IN QUESTION TONIGHT WERE ACTUALLY CREATED PRIOR TO WORLD WAR I. THEY WERE ORIGINALLY INSTALLED AT THE REDLANDS HOME OF MANCHER AND ROBERTA PAULINE. AND IN 1929 WHEN THE LIBRARY WAS DEDICATED, THE WINDOWS WERE INSTALLED IN A ROOM THAT WAS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERTA PAULINE. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. SO IN THE MID 1950s, THE POPULATION WAS GROWING IN MONTEREY PARK AND THE LIBRARY BEGAN TO OUTGROW ITS BUILDING.

AND SO THE COMMUNITY WORKED ON BUILDING A BIGGER, MORE MODERNIZED BUILDING AT THE CURRENT SITE, WHICH IS 318 SOUTH RAMONA. THIS IS A POST CARD OF IT HERE ON THE RIGHT-HAND

SIDE. AND MOVING OPERATIONS WAS OBVIOUSLY A HUGE UNDERTAKING. THEY HAD OVER 20,000 BOOKS AT THAT POINT. TONS OF PAPER RECORDS, OFFICE EQUIPMENT, FURNITURE, all of those things had to be moved into the new building. And the city worked very carefully to salvage what they could from the old building and move it into the new one. And they actually hired a company called Cleveland Wrecking Company to help them do that. Three months after this new building was opened and dedicated in 1960, it was actually discovered that the stained glass windows had been lost in the move. Apparently, with all of the excitement and work of the move, they'd been misplaced and no one could find them. So for five years, the city librarian conducted this exhaustive search of all of the city facilities, would ask anybody if they'd seen this building.

Apparently, they were all avoiding this city librarian.

He'd come up and, you know, ask people and they would just kind of walk away because they'd been harangued by him for a long time.

And so next slide.

After five long years of searching, the windows were finally found. After five long years of searching, the windows were finally found in 1965 when the city hired storekeeper to help inventory the city yard.

! And they found them packed in these giant crates that hadn't been labeled. ! But everybody was very excited that they had been found.

! Apparently it was so exciting that the LA Times published a whole article about the mystery of the stained glass windows in Monterey park. ! Once they were found, the chief librarian at the Times suggested that the library was found. They suggested giving them back to the family because that's where they had originally come from.

AND THIS WAS APPROVED BY THE LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND CITY COUNCIL. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.

AND SO FOR THE PAST ALMOST 60 YEARS, THESE WINDOWS HAVE BELONGED TO THE DESCENDENTS OF THE BRUGEMEYER FAMILY. ABOUT A MONTH AGO I WAS CONTACTED BY JIM KURLICH WHO TOLD ME THAT HE WAS INTERESTED IN DONATING THESE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS BACK TO THE LIBRARY.

HE INFORED ME THAT THEY HAD BEEN IN THE FAMILY FOR A WHILE.

THEY WERE RELATED TO BRUGEMEYER'S AND SO WE ARRANGED A MEETING TO GO TAKE A LOOK AT THESE WINDOWS AND IT'S HARD TO TELL THE SCALE OF THEM FROM THESE PHOTOS BUT THESE ARE QUITE LARGE. THEY'RE ABOUT FOUR FEET BY EIGHT FEET EACH ONE. WHEN WE WENT TO GO SEE THEM I TOOK WITH ME PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR FRANK LOPEZ AND A COUPLE OF HIS STAFF MEMBERS SO WE COULD ASSESS THE CONDITION OF THE WINDOWS AND MAKE IT A DECISION AS TO WHETHER WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO INSTALL

THEM IN THE LIBRARY. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. WE WALKED THE LIBRARY WITH THOSE PUBLIC WORKS

staff members to determine the best place to install the windows. We haven't met yet made a final decision on where they might go. My preference would be to fit them into the windows on the left hand side of the screen there. Those are west facing. And they're the only ones in the library that received direct light. So depending on logistics and feasibility, we may also consider hanging them in the children's department above the windows here that you see on the right hand SIDE. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE. SO THIS EVENING WE'RE ASKING CITY COUNCIL

TO ACCEPT THE DONATION OF THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS. WE'LL BE WORKING WITH PUBLIC WORK STAFF

TO INSTALL THOSE AND OBVIOUSLY WE WILL BE HOLDING A REDEDICATION CEREMONY WHEN THAT WORK IS COMPLETED AND WE CAN SAFELY GATHER. NEXT SLIDE. THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION. I'M VERY HAPPY TO TRY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE. I ALSO WANT TO POINT OUT THAT WE DO HAVE JIM AND PAULA KURLICH, THE CURRENT OWNERS OF THE WINDOWS HERE THIS EVENING. I BELIEVE THEY'D LIKE TO SAY A FEW WORDS ON BEHALF OF THEIR FAMILY.

THANK YOU. HI, MY NAME IS PAULA KURLICH AND I'M THE DAUGHTER OF Jerry and Mancha Krillich and great-granddaughter Mancha Brugermeier. And just wanted to say that we're excited to have the windows donated back to the city. Our parents passed away this last year, both parents. My dad died last December. Mom died in April. But knowing how much my mom grew up in Monterey Park, so she went to Inez and Mark Keppel. So long family history in Monterey Park. And so I know that she would be very, very happy today knowing that the stained glass will go back to its original home. I don't know if my brother wanted to say anything.

Sure. Yes, I just wanted to thank you. I wanted to thank Diana for all the research that she had done on this. It was great to learn so much more about the history of the windows. I've enjoyed them for the majority of my life in my home. They're very beautiful. and I'm very excited to get them back to the city for everybody to enjoy. I love the library. I've been a patron of the library for most of my life, and I think it's just very exciting to have them the windows back again where they were many years ago. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And Council Member Chen?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I want to thank Mr. Courage and Ms. Courage for your generosity. And I'm looking forward to the librarian, because they mentioned that eventually when it's started in the library, and we'd like to invite you to come to the grand opening and the delegation of the stained glass. And thank you so much. And I didn't expect to have a history of the stained glass and the library, the Bougamere Library. And thank you, Liberian Gazir. My purpose is only to thank you both for the generous donation because I know that stained glass is hard to find now and it's impossible to replace or rebuild. So it's such a great treasure to have it displayed in the library for everyone to appreciate and to see it. And so I just want to really thank you for your generosity and all your contribution, your family's contribution to see the Monterey Park. And so thank you. And looking forward to seeing you both in the delegation ceremony. Thank you. I'm looking forward to seeing you both in the delegation ceremony. Thank you.

! Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Hansler? ! Thank you.

! Thank you. Thank you. ! Thank you. ! I heard about this sort of behind the scenes and today to get the history of it. ! It really makes it so much more meaningful from your grandparents and the journeys that ! I think that's what this piece of art had taken over so many years and a great story and a great story on how it kind of comes full circle back to the library and also to be there eternally as a remembrance to your family members as well and for their vision about having that library here in our city. So thank you both of you for that. I'm just very grateful and looking forward to seeing them when they are unveiled. Thank you again, both of you.

Thank you. Council member Farson-Elsel?

So I just want to echo the sentiments of my fellow council members and thank you Paula and Jim for your generous donation of returning those windows back to the city. I'm sure your family would really appreciate that. And, you know, y'all, most of you probably know I'm volunteering at the museum, and we're always looking for new facts about the city. So we're looking forward for this story to be made part of the museum as well. I know the Stangos windows are going into the library, but I'm sure we could have some kind of an exhibit in the museum to share with the residents as far as the story of these windows. So again, thank you for your donation.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Temlo?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And I also want to repeat the sentiments of my colleagues on the city council and really the community because the library is very beloved and I think it's very blessed that it has legacy of someone who cares so much

and why it's named Brighamire.

And again, I just wanted to thank Jim and Paula for sharing, really, this legacy with our community.

My only question to our librarian is, and I'm assuming we probably already thought about this, but when we do reinstall the stained glass windows, will there be a display or a plat that shares the history? I think anyone who hears history will be very touched to know its journey, but also its historic implications and its significance for our community.

Yes, absolutely. You're right. The windows are beautiful, of course, in and of themselves. But I think what makes them really special is the journey that they've taken and the historical context that they have.

So yes, absolutely. When they're installed, we will have a plaque that details the story of the windows.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you so much again, also for Paul and Jim. And so really grateful that, you know, have your donations and feel like they are coming back to the right place. And so, and then plus the locations that install the window, it seems like they're, you know, standing right up there looking at us, blessing it. So I think that would be very touching, especially when we install the window and we wanted to invite all of you back. And so have a ceremony and have more people learn about your family. And so that will be an exciting event. So thank you so much for your donations and appreciate that you share the joy with us. Thank you.

I would like to make a motion with great appreciation from the council and the people of city of Monterey Park to accept the donation of two stained glass windows from the 1929 Bougainville Library. I'll second that.

City clerk, please call vote.

Thank you. Council member Peter Chan. Yes. Council member Hans Leone.

Yes. Council member Fred Cernoso. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo. Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu.

Yes.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Paula. Thank you Jim. Thank you very much. Our pleasure. Thank you. So moving on to the next agenda item. 3C, acceptance of 2018 State of California Proposition 68 grants. So actually, I put the item. So, oh, Frank Lofus. So the floor is yours.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members. The item before you tonight is acceptance of Prop 68 grant funds. The San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority, or WQA, applied for and was awarded by the State Water Resources Board a grant in the amount of $31, almost $32 million from Prop 68, which, as you may already know, qualified for different things, but one of them was water improvements and water infrastructure. WQA already reimburses the city for certain activities related to our wells and cleanup

of our water with regards to certain constituents. This money will help continue that reimbursement of our treatment of water.

And so through the information we provided WQA, they determined that we would receive just over $10 million. I believe originally we were expecting to receive somewhere around $7 million. Again, this will help to continue reimbursing the city for its treatment of

facilities that include Well 5, Well 9, 12, and 15, and Well 1, 3, 10, and Fern. And essentially, that is our staff report. I'm happy to answer any questions. Additionally,

our water utility manager, Richard Gonzalez is here, and we can both answer any questions if

you have any. Thank you. Sure, sure. Thank you. And so actually I pull up the item, and then when

I'm looking at the number, I said, wow, $10 million. So I wanted to know that, is that a routine that we get periodically, or how does that work? I'll have Richard answer that question for you.

Good evening, Madam Mayor. No, this is the WQA went after some money for those responsible for the cleanup and actually received $31 million in which just over $10 million is our portion of that. So this will help offset some of the costs moving forward. WQA is working on our behalf to get more money for the cleanup of the Superfund site that we operate in. So this is going to hold us over until 2023, at which time we will go back to WQA and find out what they're doing for us in the future. They really help get us this money and do a wonderful job of providing a path for us to continue to operate the way we do.

Okay. Okay. So that will be just one time?

Yes, ma'am. It'll be one time, but there will be more funding down the road, but it won't be Prop 68 funds.

Okay. I see. Okay. Thank you. So thanks for clarifying it. I have no problem. and then I'm going to make a motion to approve item 3C. And so may I get a second?

I'll second.

Okay. So city clerk, please call vote.

Council member Peter Chan? Yes. Council member Hans Liang? Yes.

Council member Fred Sonoso? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? Yes. And Mayor Yvonne Yu? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. So moving to the next item, the public hearing, 4A, conduct a public hearing to consider DA-21-XX development agreement enacting the business recovery development.

parking level located at 114 East Garvey Avenue. Okay, so I would like to open the public hearing. And so Jonathan Turner, so please the floor is yours for the staff report.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. My name is John Turner. I am the acting city

planner for this project. We have for you tonight a presentation I will be giving and then the The applicant will also have a presentation that they would like to give.

So this project is a multi-use. It is a combination of residential and commercial space. It is located at the corner of Garvey Avenue and Garfield. May I have the next slide?

The city team, I am acting city planner on this project. I was brought in. The developer had requested to expedite the review process for its application.

So the city manager, city attorney's office appointed me, the acting city planner. And then, of course, I have a consultant team, which I used to review the applicant's application. Next slide, please.

So, as I mentioned, the project location, it actually is a combination of six total parcels.

They are adjoining parcels.

They are the undeveloped slash parking lot that is located, as I said, at the southeast corner of Garvey Avenue and Garfield in the Central Business District.

It is a mixed-use zone with planned development overlay currently. Next slide, please.

This is a map of the location. Many of you are likely familiar with it.

A very important intersection in the city.

And as I mentioned, it was previously developed.

It has the parking lot there, but that was many, many decades ago.

And so some of the infrastructure is already in place for the development.

Next slide.

So a little bit of background on the project. This city council, previous city council, originally approved a 109-unit residential dwelling project, multi-floor.

It had 71,366 square feet of commercial space that was involved in it. That was in 2006, and the project was referred to as the Town Center Project.

This current project is being brought forth by Rykoden 005 LLC. LC, they are the developer for it. And it is a little different than the original one. It is 151 residential dwelling units and almost 60,000 square feet of commercial.

The project is referred to as the Celadon project.

The applicant in their presentation will be providing more detailed information. Next slide. So, it is six above grade floors. And there are also, as you mentioned, Madam Mayor, three subterranean parking levels.

The project comes not only with all of the residential and commercial aspects, but they include adequate parking for the activities on site.

The residential units are combined studio, one and two bedroom residential apartments. Those are located on floors three through six. There is a food hall, restaurant and retail spaces, patio seating, and a communal environment located on floors one and two. There are over 500 parking spaces.

There's bicycle parking. And as you can see, several hundred thousand square footage of total floor area. Next slide, please. So this is a conceptual street view. I am looking in this view in the southeast direction from Garvey onto the corner of Garfield and Garvey. This is what the project, the concept plan looks like. It is three separate structures that are joined in the middle with the common areas. Next slide, please.

This is a cross-section of the development looking east.

behind one of the buildings. This is the central portion of the project. As you can see, there

are multiple floors, the parking down below, and of course, the residential buildings up

above that are depicted there. And in the middle are the retail and commercial areas. Next slide, please. And this is a view looking north at the building that is fronting Garvey from behind. So, you can see similar concepts. They have the residential with the retail and parking. And there's also the canopy, very artistic architectural feature that's located in between the buildings.

Next slide, please. So as I mentioned, this is an existing mixed-use zone parcel with a planned development overlay. As part of tonight's actions, there is a development agreement that That would be in conjunction with an ordinance enacting the business recovery development zone. The project is categorically exempt from CEQ review. It is classified as a class 32 categorical exemption which relates to infill development

projects. Next slide.

So from a picture standpoint, there's a yellow box that's located in the center of that picture.

That is the existing zoning.

You can see the purple or magenta color there is the central business mixed use.

And then the diagonal stripes are the plan development overlay. That's existing zoning. And the next slide.

As you can see, one back, one back, please. So that slide there shows the proposed zoning. You can see that there are white diagonal stripes. going across that, and that is reflecting the BIRDS overlay, the business recovery development zone. Next slide. So the recommended actions tonight, it is recommended that the city council consider introduction and waiting in the first reading of the development agreement ordinance, and then take such additional related action that may be desirable. That concludes my presentation, and I know that the applicant has a presentation that they would like to provide.

I can either provide more information on the project if you made a wish and answer some intermediate questions,

or we can have the applicant provide their presentation, and then all of us will be able to answer your questions, which would be my recommendation. Sure.

So, City Clerk, I believe you received the presentation from the applicant.

With us tonight is Richard McDonald. Richard, I believe Phil will be giving the presentation. Is that still the case?

Yes, it is. I was going to start off and introduce the team

and make a couple of introductory comments. Thank you, John, though, for your presentation. Thank you also for working with us the past several months to get us to this hearing tonight. Thank you as well to the city attorney and the city manager with whom we've been working for the past few years on trying to get this project put together in a way that is the most beneficial to the city. As you may know, we bought the property out of bankruptcy with a desire and and a dream to do a transformative project in the heart of the city. We have worked deciduously and diligently with city staff. And now with the recent adoption of your new land use element, worked with John and the city attorney and staff to try to fulfill the dreams that you have in there that are very similar to our own in terms of a transformative project in the heart of the city. With me tonight is Vincent Tsang with Rikadan, and he is the local representative and project manager. Phil Simonelli, Jurde Architects, who will be doing the presentation for us. We also have our expert team here. If you have any questions with regard to traffic, civil engineering or landscaper, we've got Brian Marchetti from KOA, who's our traffic consultant, Miriam Houston of KPFF, who's our civil engineer, and Tony Paradowski, who is our landscape architect. As I mentioned, we're very excited about this project. We think it's transformative. We think it's the type of project that will draw

people from Monterey Park and elsewhere of all ages. It's been designed with that goal in mind every step of the way. And with that, let me turn it over to the architect, Phil Simonelli, to show you more of the details, quality of materials, open space, and how we're going to transform the downtown under the now land use element of the general plan.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council members. My name is Phil Simonelli.

I work for the JURDY Partnership. I'd like to start off by saying thank you for giving us the time to present this project. We've been working on the project for quite a while now. Our

Our client has assembled a great team of consultants, and hopefully tonight's presentation kind of gives you a little insight into what we've put together and what we hope to build.

I think there is a presentation that could hopefully come up. Here we go. So could we go to the next page? Thank you. Rikoden USA has been constructing high-end quality architecture locally since 2014. And as you can see from the images, the attention to detail, selection of quality materials, integral and thoughtful landscaping, and integration of high-quality amenities has situated them in a way to guide our design team to kind of create this project in the downtown of Monterey Park. Can we go to the next slide? The JIRDY partnership has been in practice for about 40 years. We have 150 major projects over six continents. We have always been a Los Angeles-based firm and consider our firm a pioneer in the idea in placemaking. Placemaking is about creating places for people to live, gather, and enjoy life. We use architecture as a link to join different uses and outdoor spaces together. The user experience is our fundamental priority when

designing spaces. This is just a selection of some of our projects. Some of the projects are overseas, like I said, in Six Continents, and some local projects, Santa Monica Place, Universal City

Walk, the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Fremont Street, and we did a large master plan for the Atlanta BRAVES, which is now up and built. Next slide. Hopefully the next few slides will give you

some understanding of how we formulated the spaces, the connections between uses and the actual building mass. Next slide. So this is what we call kind of the project formula. And we take all the activities and the regions listed on the right side and bond them together. And this is really our formula for the project. You know, we hope the project will be a transformative project to revitalize the downtown, create a destination in the heart of the city. And we hope the project fosters the city's cultural identity through art, architecture, character and culinary experiences. Next slide.

Monterey Park, like many cities in the United States and around the world, is a wonderful

collection of people from different cultures. The combination of history, culture, location, and modern influences has helped us to find the architectural feeling for the project.

Next slide. As part of our process as a company, we research project locations, whether it's an international project or it's in our backyard. A few interesting items we found were in 1926, Laura Scudder invented the first sealed bag of potato chips, which is kind of a fun trivia point. And Monterey Park was listed, ranked as number three in the United States for best place to live in 2017. And it was also listed as number two in the 10 best places in America to raise a family. These are all great achievements and it really helps us to enlighten us in creating the project. Next slide.

One thing that brings all cultures together is food. When you don't have a large entertainment use or events within a project, food is a great way to connect people.

And we thought the international culture of the night market meeting, next slide, the

Southern California food culture is a way to connect not only the historic communities

we previously talked about, but people living in the surrounding vicinity and visitors from afar. Next slide.

The residential component of the project is visioned to be sophisticated, cultured, and

grounded in the casual and contemporary feel of Southern California. The word celadon brings to mind the idea of color, quality, and an item that was produced in multiple...

inspirational images helping define the qualities we associate with residential design. The ideas of honest materials, casual settings and welcoming spaces are what we strive for in creating homes. Next slide. This brings us to our first rendering and one that represents the entry foyer for the project. The main plaza is set to be our public stage for the community. It's flanked by activated uses and intended to help draw people into the

project. We have designed a public outdoor seating area next to the main stair, and a water feature is a key element to provide soothing sounds for the plaza. The plaza is also split into two levels.

If you walk through the ground floor plaza, a set of escalators moves people up to the second floor.

The second floor provides an elevated public space away from the busy street level, and it also offers additional retail and culinary experiences. The two shop fronts in the Lor left of the image are envisioned to be restaurant-type tenants to provide as much activation as possible for the ground floor.

The Lor and upper plazas are partially covered by the large canopy that John mentioned before, and it provides some perfect protection and communicates a sense of arrival for the project. Next slide.

This rendering is taken from the intersection of Garvey and Garfield Avenue. The main project's sign is built as a large green wall ascending to the top of the project. The commercial levels are constructed with durable, darker color materials such as gray brick, storefronts, dark storefronts, and mullions, and insulated glazing. The upper levels are clad in lighter color materials which convey a softer aesthetic. The use of the wood print metal siding and white stucco allow for a relaxed yet contemporary design. Next slide.

This is the aerial view of our site plan. It shows the project on the southeast corner of the Garvey and Garfield intersection.

The residential buildings on top of the podium are separated into three distinct buildings. This gives each unit the maximum amount of sunlight and air since there are no inside corners. The design also allows us to provide a longer continuous outdoor space, as opposed to many urban infill projects which provide fully enclosed courtyards. Next page. This is a partial elevation along Garfield Avenue, and it's showing the northern half of the project. The images below are important elements, and we brought together a palette to help create a dynamic experience. The use of canopies and shade structures are important for comfort. the varying use of texture and how materials relate to each other, all of it helps inform people how inviting and pleasant a space can be. We also feel important elements to any project are public art and landscaping. They add an important sense of layering which help create a balanced project, especially in an urban environment. Next page. This is the southern portion of the Garfield

elevation. You can see in the upper right on the key plan the section of the elevation that's being

shown. It gives you a little bit more of a sense of the darker, more durable materials on the bottom and kind of the lighter materials on the upper floor. And then the brick returns at the end of the building to create kind of a bookend feel. Next page. Here's the Garvey Avenue elevation

with the same concept as discussed for the Garfield Avenue. There's an important element

on this elevation, and it's the breezeway that's designed just to the right of center of the elevation. And I'll talk about this in the next slide. Next slide, please. So this is the first

floor plan. The plan is set up to provide our vehicular circulation as far away from the intersection as possible. We have vehicular circulation on the southwest corner and the

northeast corner. This also allows us to locate many of the building services along the east and south property lines, indicated kind of in the dark, the dark gray, the light gray, and the dark

green areas that are post-shade. We provide two residential lobbies, which face the streets, And we provide a third residential lobby that's kind of inset towards the parking area, which goes directly up to the building behind.

And the retail and restaurant experiences are all aligned with the sidewalks to provide maximum exposure and activation along the public right-of-ways. In the bottom left corner are two restaurants.

And, you know, we want to promote the activation that we previously talked about in the rendering. and this gets people out to the corner of the project.

They're visible and it will draw some buzz for the project and the downtown itself.

Directly next to these two tenants is a breezeway. So there's the two tenants in the bottom left.

They're kind of a orange color and a white walkway that brings people directly to the heart of the project, which is the main plaza, and it connects the bus stop at the corner of Garvey and Garfield.

Next slide. The second floor is set up very similar to the first floor in that the building uses as far as parking and mechanical are all set in the back corner of the project. The upper left corner is our fitness center. The fitness center is actually reserved for residents only, and it's accessible through two elevators that come down from the residential levels.

And then in the bottom right portion of the plan, we have a big cut opening and an oval shape. This entire space is our food hall.

And we talked about food being an important element in the design of the project.

And so we cut the hole inside the project so it could be a two-level experience inside.

Can we go to the next slide? Next slide. This image is kind of what we envision as the food hall entrance. It's at the second floor. It will have a rich palette of colors, materials, floor pavings, scaffold structures, lighting, public art, and of course a varied selection of epicurean tastes. Next Next slide. This is our first level of residential units. It starts on level three. There's a

varied number type of units. We have a studio, one bedroom, two bedroom, and a larger two bedroom that has a den space. This floor also houses our community room, which is really

at the heart of the project. It's next to the pool and the outdoor public spaces. Next Next slide.

These are some inspirational images for our fitness center. The key ideas are that the space is fun, it's motivating, it's clean and flexible, and it has the ability to rearrange the equipment within the fitness center. Next slide. And this is actually a conceptual idea for the fitness room. We have this running track motif on the floor. It has large graphics on the wall with inspirational sayings and clustered areas of activity. So we have the cardio zone and the free weight zone. And, you know, we hope it's a great amenity for the residences who live here. Next slide.

The community lounge is always an important element. It's a place to gather with friends, meet other residences, play games, and socialize.

The room needs to be functional, collaborative, and is located at the heart of the residential experience, as I mentioned before. Next slide.

So here's our layout for the community room. In the upper right corner, we have the kind of number one and number two, which is our home theater area and our library. There's a paneled wood door that can close in case there's a small party or people want to watch a movie. There's a kitchenette area, a gaming area. We're currently showing a ping pong table and kind of plenty of seating. We'll have Wi-Fi services so the residences can come down here. And some people like to work in, you know, public spaces, such as a Starbucks or something like that. Next slide. As we discussed, the landscape is really important element for us in a project. the page indicates the first floor landscape design. The landscape and hardscape is designed

to create a sense of continuity throughout the project, create interesting outdoor rooms,

and bring a sense of softness to an urban environment. As you can see from the rendering,

the landscape becomes an integral part of the visitors' surroundings. Next slide. This is the second floor and it really shows how there's a continuity of paving and the planting feel and it shows you the graphic pavement that's kind of shown in the reference images and that we want to continue from the Lor levels. So this is really an extension, the second floor is an

extension of our first floor main plaza. Next slide. This is level three landscaping and it's

solely used by the residences of the project. It's dominated by more green area, seating areas, and it's used to provide the residences a communal outdoor area just for them to enjoy away from the public. Next slide. This floor plan represents our fourth through sixth floor. So instead of showing all three floors, they're all very similar. The units are similar to level three

without the single studio unit. So it contains the one bedroom, two bedroom, and two plus bedrooms.

The only difference between levels four, five, and six is actually the configuration of the balconies.

Next slide. These are two of our units that we're showing. On the left side is a one-bedroom unit. What we did was we tried to modulate the kitchen designs in the left side of the unit. So you can see the one-bedroom is similar to the two-bedroom. The one bedroom has the kitchen area. It has a kind of recessed entry door. So when you're coming off the corridor, it gives the resident an idea that once they've arrived and they've walked in that pocket, this is kind of their secure home space. We have living room areas, stacked washer and dryers, linen closets.

Each unit has full bathroom, walk-in closet, and the bedroom. And the two-bedroom unit is very similar to the first bedroom, but obviously an added bedroom and an added bathroom.

Next slide. And this is really our final exhibit on this PowerPoint. It's a night view. Our team has worked with a lighting consultant. We really want this project to become kind of a beacon at nighttime. Lots of activity. It's at an important intersection in the city.

And we really want it to come alive at night too, just as well as much as the day.

That's the end of this PowerPoint. We do have a little video we'd like to show.

The video was done at early conceptual time. And so there are a few things that are slightly different. We have some open areas now where we have patios on the second floor. we did the video when we had a Lor Lor height building and you'll notice on the south side of the building we show kind of an open parking garage but you know based on codes we we have

to close the garage since we're close so close to the property line so hopefully you enjoy the video

and we'll see if we can play that thank you so much for your time

Thank you so much, Phil, for your presentation.

Yes, I was actually looking for the video, so hopefully you can show to us as well.

So who has the video?

We have the video. We're going to play in just one minute. Give me a second.

Sure, sure.

Thank you.

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Thank you, both of your presentation.

And so actually, before we open up for council to ask questions, for deputy city clerk, do we have any public communication?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

audience if you want to speak on this item this is the time to do so please use the raise hand

feature or if you're on the phone press star nine at this time

okay madam mayor we do have our first uh speaker uh phone number ending in 803

please unmute yourself press star six and state your name

Good evening, Council Members. Can you hear me?

Yes, please proceed.

Great. My name is Linda, and Monterey Park blood runs deep in me as I was born and raised here. I am now a homeowner, and I absolutely love this community. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to provide comments.

And I actually accidentally stumbled across this agenda item because I initially wanted to make comments on the housing element update, but I missed that opportunity. but I'm excited to hear that something is finally being built on this site

because it's been sitting empty on this lot for so long and all the renderings reflect a very beautiful and modern development which I think the community can be proud of and visit. Also during the presentation the developer said that this would be a transformative project that would draw more people to the city which is great because it would create a more robust and vibrant Maori park. However while we're looking to draw more people from outside the city, I think it's important to remember that there is an unmet housing need for existing residents living here, and that is we need more affordability for Lor-income households. I'm hoping that the city and developer would consider adding affordable housing in this development, because I don't believe that any of these proposed units will be affordable to Lor-income households. And while these units are beautiful luxury units, it's unfortunate because it will be out of reach for our existing residents who just won't be able to afford to live there. Considering our city has upzoned this property to a higher density and rezoned it to mixed use, which by default provides a larger windfall on the value of the property, I think the developer can be a company partner by providing a community benefit in this development, which is affordable housing. And on a side note, just, you know, as we are working on our draft housing on it, I think we should consider that, you know, unfortunately our city doesn't have an inclusion housing ordinance in place where we would have at least been able to secure at least 15% or 23 units from this project to be affordable. I think it's a missed opportunity and I hope that we don't continue to have missed opportunities. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Linda. Thank you.

audience if you want to speak on this item please press star nine if you're on the phone or use the raise hand feature madam mayor i do not see any other speakers for this item there were no written communications on this item as well okay thank you so now i would like to open up for council THE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS. FOR ALL THE COUNCIL MEMBERS, DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THE PROJECT? PLEASE SHOW YOUR FACE. OKAY. OKAY, COUNCIL MEMBER CHEN. THANK YOU.

Thank you, the team, for the presentation and the staff. It's a great presentation.

It's good because this vacant lot has been in the city for, like, you mentioned, I lost count maybe over two decades. And we do need of development to revitalize the downtown area.

and so this comes in handy. And I like the presentation.

I like the look of it and so forth.

And since in your presentation,

you have developed or designed the Santa Monica place. I think there's some shape of similarity

in this project to that Santa Monica place. I've been there and so it is a nice place. And am I correct on that observation?

Yes, Gerardy did. Phil, do you want to address that directly? But the answer would be yes, you're correct.

Yeah, we did the renovation on the mall. I believe it opened in 2010.

Yeah, I visited that more as well. So it's a very busy and nice center. So hopefully we can duplicate that busy center. So that's good for Monterey Park. And I would like to ask, is this for sale? The residential units is for sale or for lease?

No, there would be apartments. We did just by way of background after we purchased the property.

And as we began to do the design work with Jurdy, as outlined by Phil under all the various components that became the project vision, We did a number of studies, marketing studies for the residential, market studies on the commercial, market studies on condominium versus apartments, income levels, and what would fit and work well in Monterey Park as a mixed-use project as he presented.

So everything that you saw is based off of a study, right down to the landscaping studies, the parking studies, the engineering studies associated with increasing sidewalk widths.

Everything in there is a very finely tuned effort based on studies to implement that project vision that filled out for you.

So it's for lease, not for sale. Correct. Correct. So and yeah, that's in my question, same as the questions from the speaker, Linda. You said, do you consider some portions of it to be affordable?

Well, the studies, the short answer is the studies that we undertook were designed to capture the unmet need in Monterey Park

based upon the income levels that the people that did the studies for us went out and got.

That's why we ended up with apartments as opposed to condominiums. The reason that we did not expressly include affordable housing is because every time you talk about affordable housing, you're talking about essentially subsidized housing.

And if you talk about subsidized housing, you're talking about increasing the cost somewhere else.

So if we provide affordable housing, the other units then go up in price outside what the market would bear based upon the studies that we had. The other important part here is this is not a pure residential project that can sustain affordable housing. This is a mixed-use project with a big effort at the commercial.

In fact, the commercial is a critical, critical piece to activating this site and to not just drawing people to it, but keeping the people in Monterey Park who are leaving it now to go down to the lab in Irvine or to come up to Old Pasadena. The desire here is to capture your existing market that is right now because it's a vacant lot going someplace else and spending their dollars someplace else.

That's why what we tried to do was think about what are the biggest and best public benefits that we can provide. And those are outlined in Section 5 of the development agreement and in the end in your staff report.

And I don't mean just the materiality that Phil talked about or the quality of the work, but also the increased community space, the increased open space, the provision for in-lieu fees for new infiltration systems, pro rata share of all the traffic mitigation measures at the intersections, increased sidewalk width. We tried to come up with a project that provided community benefits that would have a much greater impact. And that all came at a cost. And that cost factors into this very fine balance that we have between the residential and commercial uses.

But still you can consider, at least consider, you know, some kind of affordable housing. But that I leave it to your future discussion.

Now, I want to go to another area, and I may ask the staff to jump in as well.

It's on the traffic. I know that you have two entrants and exits. One is on Garfield and one is on Garvey.

So is it equitable to the present traffic with the increase in so many people, residents, and commercial areas in Garvey and Garfield? both are very busy streets. So with this additional units, people living in there, coming to shop and dine and entertain, how's the traffic situation look like?

Madam Mayor, members, Council Member Chan, as part of the analysis that was done for this project, traffic in the utilities were of utmost concern. And the traffic study that was done by KOA did look at the impacts that this project is going to have. Hence, some of the improvements, the fair share contributions that Richard had mentioned in his responses. Obviously, it's a vacant lot. So there's nothing there now. There's some parking that's there. So, yes, this will provide more increased travel to the site to and from. There are 151 residential units. So you will see an increase. However, this site is also very, very advantageous for mass transit. There are several bus lines that are directly adjacent to this project. There's the nearby rail line, the light rail line. And so the analysis looked at all of the benefits of public transit that are already existing adjacent to this project and the balance that will occur between the residents, the commercial aspect. There is parking set aside for the commercial use in addition to the residential use. So the beauty of the development is that there's a nice balance, but I would be erroneous to state that you're not going to see an increase in traffic, which is why you do see some of these off-site improvements, increased left turn lane pockets, traffic signal synchronization, and widening of the striping to accommodate and alleviate some of those impacts.

So KOL has the studies and is okay under the study?

KOA prepared the study as part of the applicant's team and staff reviewed the study. Part of my team was a registered traffic engineer who reviewed the report prepared by KOA. We provided commentary and to review comments on their study and really made sure that the best possible outcomes were developed and agreed to by the applicant's team in the interest of the community. That was our role. so yes they prepared a study it was peer reviewed and in all of our opinions, it has provided the best possible outcome.

And my next question is also to the team. Is that when will you start this project and when it may be finished?

Phil can jump in here too but we're looking at the finishing plan check by March, April and breaking ground second quarter of next year.

I think it's a 24-month, if I recall correctly, construction schedule.

That's what we're looking at.

Break ground second quarter of next year and two-year construction schedule.

Understanding it's important to skid build. We are fully aware of the 20 years or more that that site has sat there.

We bought, as I said, we bought it out of bankruptcy from the prior developers who went bankrupt and never fulfilled their promises to the city.

Rikadan believes it's critical that it fulfill its promises to the city.

It's that simple.

And that's why it's an expedited process here, as Jonathan explained in his staff report, to get to you tonight and why we're committed to breaking ground in the second quarter of next year. So, say, for example, within three years, it should be open, right?

Yes. So, by the end of 2024?

We start in spring of 22, yeah. End of 24 would be the timeline.

Okay. Well, make sure to invite us to the grand opening.

We will have hard hats and shovels for you.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Machent. And Council Member Furstenoso?

You're on mute. Oh, you're not going to say? Okay. And so, Mayor Pro Temlo?

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor.

First, I just want some clarity from our staff, But because this project is in the business recovery development agreement zone, because of that status as a BRDZ, that also means that as a city council, we do have discretion as far as any additional conditions on the project.

Is that true?

Yes, Mayor and members of the council. This is a development agreement.

So it is basically a bargaining between the developer and the city for this particular project.

It's not really even conditions. It's simply part of the development agreement.

It is a fully discretionary act by the city council, whether or not to move forward with the proposed action.

So certainly the city council can ask for things and it's up to the developer whether or not it agrees to them.

But certainly you can ask for them. Sure. Okay. Well, thank you, Mr.

a bit of a clarifying. And the reason I ask is because I think the person who made public comment, I think actually brought up some very good points. And I think that, of course, we all know housing is a serious issue in not just our city, but in the state. And we also know that there are many arguments about how to address that issue. And one I hear oftentimes is build more supply, build more supply. Again, I don't doubt that argument, but at the same time, there is also the urgency of accessibility and equity. And when I last checked the census, and as we all know, the census was conducted last year, and I believe right now what we're going to see is that in Monterey Park, nearly half of our residents are renters, actually. And so, and I imagine that, you know, affordability is on people's minds. So I think for me, what I really would like for us as a city is to really use the tools we have before us to see if we can address these concerns about, you know, we're not just building projects that are market rate, but also things that people realistically can afford. And so I think that although we may not have an inclusionary housing ordinance, not yet, but certainly I think as a council, we can make a request for set-asides such as, you know, in our neighboring state of Moe Hanborough, which does have an inclusionary housing ordinance. That requirement is a 15% affordable set-aside, not to mention in the state of California. We have density bonuses, and these density bonuses also are to encourage more affordable housing. And also, I think that if the developer is not willing, then we should ask for in lieu of fees, because we've talked about in the past about the Sangambo Valley Regional Housing Trust, or even I've suggested, why don't we start our own? And so I think that I think it's reasonable to ask them for fees as well from the developer. And I think those suggestions I'm going to make and those suggestions I think are important if you want my vote on this.

Are you guys going to address Mayor Pro Tem Lo's question?

The short answer is I don't know how you would calculate any fees since you don't have an inclusionary housing ordinance that sets any per square footage or per unit cost.

Second, I'm not even sure how you would require such a fee since you don't have an inclusionary housing ordinance.

But what I can tell you is this, we have worked for over two years to come up with what we think is a transformative project and a large number of public benefits that we think benefit more people in the community than what you're discussing. And the short answer is that if we were to now change that, we wouldn't be able to do the project. It's that simple. It has taken this long, and I'm not just saying that out of thin air. I mean, we have to be able to get through plan check and into construction by next April. We have had to already be talking to contractors, construction costs, construction budgets, and the numbers are what they are. And if all of a sudden we're going to upend our budgets and upend our performance, then this project is not going to happen.

That's just that's just an economic reality.

Mr. Mr. I have a question. We may not have the ordinance, but does that preclude from at least suggesting any in lieu fees?

No, Madam Madam Madam Mayor members of the Council again this is a discretionary project depending on obviously it's it's also a negotiated development agreement. So from that standpoint, certainly Mr. McDonald is right that the city council cannot impose anything upon this development with regard to inclusionary housing, but affordable housing is an issue that you certainly have brought up.

and in terms of coming up with an in-lieu fee they can certainly offer up whatever amount an

in-lieu fee is even to start a seed trust program for example for affordable housing that the city

can use in the future to help incentivize future affordable housing in terms of the amount it is

true there is no calculated amount but that would be that calculated amount would be associated with

an inclusionary housing ordinance, certainly the developer can offer up a number that would be

acceptable to the city council as a whole in terms of what would be a ballpark figure per unit. The last time I did an inclusionary housing ordinance in terms of calculations for affordable

units, my recollection is it was around $17,000 per unit, but that was a number of years ago,

and obviously with inflation that number goes up but that's again just a ballpark figure and

mr mcdonald is correct you cannot impose that requirement but certainly the developer can offer

it up in order to incentivize the city council to approve the project thank you mr berger well

um thank you for that clarification i mean is that something that our staff can work with the

developer. Is that a question for us or for staff? We certainly can. If that's something that the

city council as a whole would like us to do, my suggestion would be to take a brief pause in the

city council meeting so that we can have a offline discussion with developer to see, test the temperatures, so to speak, during this public hearing rather than postponing it,

because I do know, as Mr. McDonald and his team mentioned, they are anxious to move forward with

IT WHICH WAS THE REASON THAT WE BROUGHT THIS FORWARD AS AN EXPEDITED PROCESS CERTAINLY WE'RE HAPPY TO TAKE DIRECTION FROM THE CITY COUNCIL OR YOU CAN POSTPONE IT WHATEVER YOU'D LIKE TO DO AGAIN THIS IS A DISCRETIONARY PROJECT BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND SO THERE IS NO TIMELINE ASSOCIATED WITH IT IT'S ENTIRELY WITHIN THE CITY COUNCIL'S DISCRETION IN TERMS OF WHETHER OR NOT TO MOVE FORWARD OR NOT.

OKAY.

and so okay council member has now yeah thank you um and i want to thank the staff and the presenters for giving us such a detailed um um preview into what we may be able to see on garvey and garfield in the near future um you know just a little bit of history since i was elected on the council that was in 2013 uh that that location had been vacant i know it'd been vacant longer than that but there was a number of attempts to get a project going on that site

it was you know time after time after time where you know if it wasn't the developers

issue it was something to do with financing or partners or etc now um given that this opportunity is before us i really don't want to see it slip away and i think that with jordi and rykoden as the people i mean jordi your your track record and your resume really speaks for itself i don't think that we're really trying to say we don't want this project i think that you know the points that were made uh regarding the affordable housing elements are our pertinent discussion points. I think that if Carl, as you said, if we could pause and have that discussion,

then maybe we can see if that's something that can be addressed at this time or not. But for me at this point, we have been waiting very long for this project and been disappointed time and time again with the people that have tried to lift this project. And at this point, you know, I think that we are very close to having the right group of people and the right team to actually actualize this for us here in the city of Monterey Park. So I don't know if any of the other council members have comments, but I'm okay with putting a pause and just seeing if that's something that we can address tonight.

Can I interject? The forum that we have tonight on Zoom, my clients are not with me. They are at their residences and other locations. It's not possible to pause and discuss this and somehow or other come up with a solution, number one. Number two, we don't want it postponed. We don't want at the last minute a city council to try to renegotiate a very complex development agreement in which we are putting forward millions of dollars for public improvements that we've agreed to, that we have volunteered. We even have a condition number 21 that says if we do include affordable housing down the road, then we'll come up with marketing plan for the residents of Monterey Park. You can take a look at the conditions of approval to this. It's number 21. So we've done everything that your code requires. We've done everything that's been asked of us. We've come up with what we think is the best plan to implement the best project as quickly as possible and to sort of sit back now and throw that out the window. We've got construction budgets that we've taken to lenders and financing. We can't go back to them and say, oh, let's recalculate all this. Let's come up with some odd number out of left field for an in-luffy or some odd number of affordable units that require us to reprice and recalculate everything. That would take weeks, months. Project goes out the window. It also would be something that I know this client would say, hey, wait a minute. You know, is this really we try to get this going and get it done and this is really how we're going to be treated. I get the need for affordable housing. I totally understand it. I deal with it in all sorts of other cities. And you're right when you say that typically you get a density bonus. We didn't do that. We kept it as by right to work within your existing codes and density limits. This is not something where we want to go get a density and add even more units, which then impacts all the construction budgets. At that point, we're starting over with a new project to be redesigned.

City Attorney, Carl, can you explain to us what Mr. McDonald just mentioned on that one?

Monterey Park. Number 21. Is that what what is that? That's one of the conditions that's attached to the ordinance that that activates the birds and also approves the development agreement. What it basically says is if is if in the future that this project of provides affordable housing that there will be a marketing plan for that affordable housing. It doesn't require the affordable housing since the city doesn't have an ordinance in place that requires it. Um, and that's not something as Mr. McDonald AND I'VE NOTED THAT THE DEVELOPER ASKED FOR IN TERMS OF ANY INCENTIVES FOR DEVELOP FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING. SO IT IS AN ANTICIPATED FUTURE ACTION THAT MAY OR MAY NOT OCCUR. IS A VERY SUCCINCT WAY OF SAYING IT. HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY OTHER QUESTIONS.

I STILL DON'T QUITE UNDERSTAND THAT. SO IS IN THE AGREEMENT ON THIS NUMBER 21 THAT there may be some future discussion on a future marketing plan if the city, you know, if some affordable housing is going to be happening later? Is it what that means? I'm not clear on that.

So that condition was added because it's unclear about how, when, or how quickly the state legislature is going to act with regard to affordable housing. The governor just signed 51 different bills, 31 of which affected housing. And so the intent of that condition is if in the future, for example, the state legislature adopts housing or adopts legislation that requires affordable housing, notwithstanding local requirements, notwithstanding any other types of agreements that are in place, because that's what it's doing right now.

It's superseding, for example, deeds, covenants, CCNRs, and what have you with regard to affordable housing. So that condition was inserted into the ordinance in anticipation or not necessarily anticipation, but as a prudence measure for future legislation. if and when affordable housing is required for this project by the state, not by the city, but by the state, then the developers are agreeing to put together a marketing plan for that affordable housing to ensure that if that affordable housing occurs, that there will be a plan in place to advertise for it.

Again, as the applicant noted, this project is going to be in place for two years. And even for the sake of this discussion, if the city council were to approve this development agreement and the applicant would then have a development agreement in place plus a zoning in place, the state has been simply bypassing local control of land use regulations and deciding that the state has precedence over local jurisdiction. And so that's why that particular condition is in place. It doesn't require the Alpcom to do anything now. It's anticipating future action made by the state of California.

If I could just add, I've had several projects in Pasadena and other cities that down the road, the projects were sold to developers who wanted to do nothing but affordable housing.

The Westgate, for example, in Pasadena over on Del Mar and De Lacy. You have a project over at Walnut and El Molino.

The city facilitated some of those sales and used, I forget if it was federal funds or county funds or state funds, But they work with the Waterford Property Group that came in specifically to do affordable housing as part of their acquisition of those projects. So that is something that you never know when those things happen.

But when they do, the idea was to, if the market leads in that direction and leads to that result, then we've got a condition to address it.

I see. So that means if the state come in, say, early next year, that all projects must have 10% affordable housing, then you have to comply with that state law. Am I correct?

It could happen. And the state legislature is empowering HCD more and more with greater and greater powers to enforce not only housing element laws, but to adopt its own regulations to try to implement housing element laws that HCD believes are relevant to jurisdictions on a statewide basis. So, again, you know, a legal's job is to anticipate what might happen in the future and try to address those things that are reasonable in the future. And that's what that particular condition does.

I see. Okay. I need some time to absolve that. Thank you. Madam Mayor.

Sorry. May I approach I'm low?

I'm sorry, quick question. So again tonight we just approved a draft housing element,

which I know will go to HCD and we'll wait for them to return to us with their opinion about this

draft housing element. But if that's approved, will that have consequences or an impact

on this project before us tonight? The housing element itself, if, assuming

for the sake of this discussion, if the housing element is certified by HPD and the city council subsequently adopts that housing element sometime in January, following CEQA determinations and what

have you, then the housing element, then this project will simply contribute to the rain and

numbers that have been allocated to the city. The housing element itself won't necessarily affect

this project because it's already zoned for a mixed use. I'm sorry, it's already zoned for

residential use of this type. And this, the additional overlays, the PD overlay and the

proposed birds overlay simply add to that overall mix. So it has residential units and it's actually

more residential units than was originally approved in 2006. And it also adds the commercial component to it. So to answer your question, the housing element really won't affect this project

other than this project will be in conformance with the housing element and will help meet the city's reign of numbers as identified in both the housing element and in the SCAG allocation.

Now, let me ask you a follow-up question. Now, what if we, as a city council, at some point, while this project is being worked through, adopt an IHO and inclusion housing ordinance? Does that then impact this project?

ASSUMING FOR THE SAKE OF ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION THAT THE COUNCIL WERE TO ADOPT THIS ORDINANCE, SO HAVE FIRST READING AND THEN SECOND READING AND ADOPTION, THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT AND THE ORDINANCE WOULD TAKE EFFECT 30 DAYS THEREAFTER,

AND THAT WOULD GIVE THE APPLICANT A PROPERTY RIGHT TO DEVELOP THE PROJECT AS IS.

SO ANY SUBSEQUENTLY ADOPTED IHO WOULD NOT AFFECT THIS PROJECT.

okay council member now yeah uh thank you and again thanks for all the comments you know after further thought and consideration i'm ready to move forward in support of this project tonight um as i you know think back about how we've been working on this uh i see i uh i see a uh international council of shopping centers convention in las vegas meeting with jurdy sharing their plans and then uh uh you know like making some some claims and and agreements that they were going to deliver and they have you know as as i'm thinking about it they've always came through they've always you know met their end of what we agreed to or what we had discussed and at this point in time, I think the housing issue is important. And I think that maybe as council, Mayor Krohtemlow said in terms of an inclusionary housing type of resolution, that may be something that we need to look, look at or consider for the future. But at this point in time, given the circumstances, and now that as I think back about all the time that we spent on this, I don't feel that

mixing that together at this time would really be fair. And I think that if we really want to address these issues, then we need to have discussions on perhaps coming up with an ordinance that would be the standard moving forward. I know that it's an issue, but at this point in time, my feeling is all the work that was done and everything that was done up to this point, they've held their end of the bargain. So I'm ready to support it tonight.

Okay, thank you. So Mayor Pro Tem, Council Member Farsinoso?

Yeah, I agree with Council Member Liang on this. Maybe Henry could bring this up for a future agenda item. That this could be an ordinance that we could adopt in the future, But I think Mr. McDonald and his team have put a lot of work into this. And it's a piece of property that's been vacant and an eyesore for a long time. So there you have something that's going to really enhance our downtown area. So I'm in favor of it.

Okay.

So may I put time? Yes.

You know, I actually didn't mean to use this project as a focus of criticism.

I mean, that is not my intention.

And certainly I recognize the need to redevelop our downtown area. But the reason why I brought up all these issues is because we do have an affordable issue. And I understand that, you know, developer, they may have an obligation to their investors, but we as council members have an obligation to our residents, our voters, and time and time again, our residents have talked about the need for accessible affordable housing. And having said that, you know, if the issue then is that because of a loophole

that we don't have an inclusion housing ordinance,

then I think we need to seriously look at adopting one, not just because of this project, but because we, I'm sure, down the line, we'll have many proposals coming before the city council. And I need to remind everyone that when we adopt this new housing element, this new housing element will have requirements, requirements that we provide, I'm sorry, we plan for, you know, housing that meet all income levels. And it's something that I think that we need to be able to be serious about because also, as Mr. Berger, our attorney pointed out, that the governor assigned 31 bills having to do housing and some of those bills have to do with

enforcement and i don't want to be in a situation where down the line the state comes back to it and

says we failed to meet our arena obligations to provide affordable housing and not to mention our residents i mean they're going to ask us like as a city council what did we do to provide for housing so that all our residents not just those of high income but all our residents can be able to afford to live and in some cases stay in this community because we talk so much about how we're family oriented we're community oriented but then you know what about our children our grandchildren our our seniors we're empty nesters we want to stay in this community but need to also be able to afford to live in this community and that's really something that I think should be

on all of our minds okay thank you and so I do have a questions for yeah Richard McDonald's that Like you mentioned about, first of all, the client is not here. So that means you're not in a position to make any decisions. And then so you are not looking for postponing the project. So that means your team coming up here is only for us to approve the project. So this is what you're looking for, right? So there's no flexibilities, nothing can consider, and you're not even allowing us to not approve your project. Is that the point?

No, your city attorney can explain that. But the short answer is you have the right to approve it or not approve it. What I'm trying to say is that while I understand the importance of affordable housing, the economics of it are very, very, very different than what we've worked two or three years to put this together. And if I could just give a very simple example. If I have 100 units that I can rent out at $1,000 each, and a city, any city, and I do work all over the state, any city says 20% of them have to be low income or very low income or moderate income.

Those numbers, the median income numbers that qualify to be low income or very low income or moderate, would, in my example, instead of $1,000, I'm only going to be able to charge $100.

That $900 difference for those 20 units pushes up the price of the other 80 units in a way that causes a different housing problem throughout the state of California. that those of us in the business call the missing middle. In other words, you end up with very expensive housing and low-income housing, and you squeeze the middle. We tried to do the exact opposite. We hired consultants to tell us what is workable within this existing market, both on the residential side and the commercial side. And we have built this project based upon that information and then the quality of the materials and the public improvements that we've agreed to. And then the quality of the materials and the public improvements that we've agreed to create what we think is a transformative project and then to move in an expedited manner that is also has a cost to it. ! So what I'm saying is, I understand where you're coming from in all this. I deal with it in cities all the time. And I say to them what I'm trying to say to you too, which is ! As you debated, be very careful about that missing middle because that's a that's in many cases a bigger problem. But for tonight, we can't renegotiate without having to come up with an entirely different project, which we can't do tonight. which we can't do tonight. And if we have to come up with an entirely different project, then we're starting over. And if we're starting over, we can't stick with any of our existing construction budgets, construction financing, or anything else that we've worked two or three years on to put together, which is why I said that's not really fair. So we're asking you to approve the project tonight so that we can move forward with it.

Okay. So any other questions from any council member?

Okay. And so, I mean, in that situation, then we have to make a vote then. So, yeah, I would like to give different options like we can approve the projects or we can actually pause it and learn more about inclusion housing ordinance or different flexibilities. So it depends on how, you know, we wanted to proceed tonight. So.

I would make a motion to approve item 4A as it stands tonight.

Any second?

I'll second it.

Okay. City clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. Council member Peter Chan? Yes. Council member Hans Young? Yes. Council member Fred Ternoso? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Henry Lo? I'm abstaining. And Mayor Yvonne, you?

I abstained you. Thank you.

Okay. I believe that still carries with two abstentions. City Attorney, correct me if I'm wrong. Yes, Mr. City Clerk.

Actually, under the City Council Protocols,

abstentions are counted as part of the majority. So they can certainly be recorded as abstentions, but that is at a minimum of 3-0-2 vote. So that carries. Thank you.

Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. So moving right along to remarks. So council member- Thank you too. Thank you. So moving right along to the city council remarks. So council member Chen.

Thank you, madam mayor. And all council members attended the League of California Cities Conference in Sacramento last week. And after a year and a half lockdown and not seeing a lot of colleagues from other cities for a long time, it was such a great time to meet each other. We are playing with each other and know that everyone is safe and healthy. That was great. And over 1,000, elected officials and city managers, city attorneys were in attendance. So it was well attended. And we covered a lot of areas. The main thing is the housing, homeless, recovery, economics, public safety. All those things are covered in the League of California Cities. And so it's a very well attended conference. And I think we learned a lot. And I will have to speak with the city manager and the staff to implement some of the things that we learned from the conferences and implement into the city. So that will be coming. And then all council members attended the tree memorial for Mr. Dave Long. And the family was there and it was a big crowd. and also happy to see each other. And in the meeting, one thing I want to report is that we talk about the draw and the incentive for the cities to give to homeowners like to change the green grass lawn into like native plants and so forth. and I have some information on the presentation and I would like to present it to give it to the staff to go over it. And I would like to ask the other council members to consider. We did that like five years ago is the city and some other like Home Depot maybe some other companies can chip in to give some incentive to the homeowners who want to change the lawn instead of using a lot of water, but change it to nature plants so that we can save water. And I would like to put this out and hope the other council will support it and put it into the later agenda and for the staff to consider how we can do it. We did it before, we can do it again so that we can save water. there and you know I think that's it so have a good night thank you. Thank you. Councilmember

Huss yeah yeah I'll be brief Peter usually since he starts first already covers all the things that we went through I as well as Councilmember Sarnoso it was our first time attending the California

League of Cities even though I've been on the council almost nine years I haven't had the opportunity to go until this time. And all the things that Peter said were accurate. There were a lot of seminars and meetings that took place and they had a big expo center with a lot of vendors there, had a lot of opportunities to meet people there as well. And then Dave Barone's tree memorial. It was a very touching ceremony and it was ironic, not ironic, but Mary Ellen selected that day because that day was actually Dave Barron's birthday. So that was a wonderful event. I'm really glad I got to be part of that. So that's all I have to report. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Council Member Farsinoso?

Yeah, just like Council Members Chen and Lang mentioned, the conference. First time attending, it was a good learning experience. Just listening to all the different issues that other cities are facing. So that was a good thing to attend. I want to thank Chief Gordon for her presentation on breast cancer. I had forgotten when she was presenting to mention that my aunt, who actually is turning 97 years old next year, is a breast cancer survivor. I mean, I'm the prostate cancer survivor, so we have cancer in our family, and every morning we see each other and just thank God for His mercy for both of us, both being cancer survivors. So thank you, Chief, for bringing that awareness to us, and also to Orlando for talking about the October activities coming up, a lot of activities to involve the community, especially the HalLoen activities. So I hope a lot of residents are able to participate in that. It sounds like a lot of fun. And I just want to thank my fellow council members. They all dressed in Dodger blue to support our team. I'm looking at the score. It looks like it's tied one-to-one right now. So hopefully they can pull it through.

I did the PSHA too.

Yeah, thank you. That was cool. Thank you. so I haven't seen the city manager I don't know if he's on board here or is he watching the game but yeah Peter he's got his hat so Ron's got his t-shirt I don't know if everybody wants to turn on their cameras and show their Dodger blue but I understand a lot of the city staff dressed in Dodger blue today so hopefully they can pull it out here in the last couple of years

So thank you all. Have a good evening.

Thank you. Mayor Prochamlo.

Yes. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

And let me also just say,

I want to thank my colleague council member Sonoso for again, sharing his personal story about being a cancer survivor as well. And I'm really glad that you are serving our community with us on the city

council. You know, like I know,

whenever we have a community cleanup, Fred's always on the phone, like, Henry, what are you doing?

Let's go pick up some bulky items.

And, you know, I always, you know, as much as I can, make the time to pick up those items.

And certainly I hope that in the future,

all of us here also will participate in our next cleanup and encourage our neighbors

to pick up these bulky items in a show of community pride.

I also want to thank the family of Dave Brown,

who showed up and dedicating the tree in his memory,

I think was very fitting.

And thank you for my colleagues who made a suggestion about placing it in between the clerk's office

and the library because it represents two of his loves in life.

And also just thank you for, I'm only glad all five of us actually attended and our city manager and our staff, Martha,

and everyone who attended the League of California Cities. My understanding is that it's been a couple of years

since we had full representation. And I think that's something that we can be proud of.

And I hope that in the future, you know, all of us will make that time.

Because I know we all have busy lives, busy schedules, but I think that it says something, you know, to our community when we take the time to participate in these conferences and really to share our experiences, but also to represent our city at these events.

Thank you. And yeah, so go daughters. I tried to look for all Dodger Blues and I only found these outfits. I never wear a T-shirt, you know, so I still try to wear that today. And last night, actually, I want to share, I went to Atlantic Times Square AMC to watch the movie Shang-Chi. and interestingly the showing has only like a few people but it's like a big you know theater and um it is such an intense action movie that looks so good on the big screen and my husband said he finally went back home i said what you know what you consider movie theater is his home so i didn't even know that but anyway um we're so happy that you know we'd be able to to see the movie in the theater. I just came back from the League of California City with all of you about two weeks ago. It's an eye-opening experience, my first time as well. And I met so many council members, including North and South. And the social activities are incredible. And I have a chance to talk to at least 40, 40 council members and the mayor. So excited. And also I spend a night with the team. thank you city attorney you know for that and also the the rest of the night i i i think i i dance with our mayor protest i dance with the city manager for the rest of the night including and yeah and a friend so we had so much fun um so and also i wanted to invite people that um i'm interested to register to join the pickleball pickleball tournament um but i'm i i want to invite you know at least maya pro tem Henry Lo if you're available can you join with me um to register to play the condition is that we have never played before and you got it sure you got it sure and then we would like to you know compete with the beginner team. The purpose of this is to join the community and have fun and to lose the game.

I've never played any game pickleball. I haven't even seen people playing it, but I'm interested to learn and I would like to join the tournament. I think that would be fun. And so Mayor ProTent, Henry Lo, you would like to join with me, right? So we can pay the $40 registration fee and just go there and and compute with another beginner team so feel free to um join us as well for other council members so we wanted to you know just just come out and have some fun with people so um that's it for me any other last comments or remarks or questions before

we adjourn the meeting well actually madam mayor um may i make some future agenda item suggestions Okay. Yes.

There are two things I'd like for us to discuss in the future.

Number one, as our city attorney reminded us, about 30 plus bills related to housing

has been signed to law by the governor. And I'd like at some point for us as a city council to receive a presentation and update about some of these new laws, because I think it's important for us, especially tonight, since we are preparing to submit our draft housing element. And no doubtly, the Housing and Community Development Department will probably come back with its comments.

But I think it's important for us to know, you know, what are the regulatory environment,

not to mention the tools that I think we can have

to address some of these housing issues.

So I'd like for us to have that at a future discussion item

for City Council.

Sure, sure. I agree because I need to keep up with that as well in order to make a better decisions in the future. Because in order to make such a big decisions without, you know, knowing the detail of what's coming up, I think that that's not good. So I agree with you. So can we all, are we all okay with it to put on a future agenda to learn more? Council Member есть есть есть есть есть есть

есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть есть work for our community and its needs as well.

Okay. So you would like to propose?

An item in which we discuss adopting an inclusionary housing element. I'm sorry, inclusionary housing ordinance.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you just mentioned that before, right, at the public

hearing. Yeah, I would like to actually learn more about that. Can we actually learn more about that first? And then have of that future one that I think after we learn. Sure.

I mean, again, I'm fine with that. I'm having a information session about what an enclosure housing ordinance looks like.

Again, I think that this, I think given the seriousness of the issue, I think we probably need to have a conversation about, you know, what our obligations are as a city to meet our community's housing needs.

Sure. Sure. Okay. Okay. I'm good. I'm good with that. But then that will be not at all at the same time, but one at a time. Okay. Thank you. So any other questions, comments? Okay. If not, then okay, the meeting adjourned. So thank you very much for participating. Thank you. Have a nice day.

And go Dodgers.

Thank you.