city-council-meeting-mar-16-2022 — March 16, 2022

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Participants are encouraged to join the meeting 15 minutes before the start of the meeting. You may speak up to 5 minutes on an agenda item. Speakers will not be alLod to combine time. The Mayor and City Council may change the amount of time alLod for speakers. As per the virtual meeting protocols, an anonymous person will not be alLod to provide public comment.

Important disclaimer. when a participant calls in to join the meeting their name and or phone number

will be visible to all participants note that all means will be recorded so I call me to order and I will now do the flag suit president please rise

hand over your heart ready begin pledge allegiance to the flag America America, republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much. Please sit. Police office, please call the roll.

Thank you. Okay. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Here.

Council Member Peter Chan?

Here. Council Member Hans Liang? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Fred Tornoso. Mayor Henry Lo.

Here.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Agenda additions, deletions, changes and adoptions. Do we have any Mr. City Manager?

Okay, hearing none. Public communications and all comments are, while all comes to welcome,

the Bound Act does not allow the city council to take action on any item not on the agenda.

The council may briefly respond to comments after public communication is closed. Persons may, in addition to any other matter within the city council's subject matter jurisdiction, comment on the agenda items at this time. If you provide public comment on a specific agenda item at this time, however, you cannot later provide comments at the time the agenda item is considered. Now moving on to staff communications. I see we have something from our public works department.

Hello?

Yes.

Would you like me to do the public communications first?

Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Yes. Public communications. I'm sorry. Yes. Any public communications clerk?

Audience, if you want to speak during public communications, now's the time to do so. Please use the raise hand feature or if you're on the phone,

press star 9 at this time.

Yes. They decided from waiting. Hold on. Thank you. And first speaker, we have Arthur Fong.

Go ahead, Arthur. Okay. Hi, everybody. This is Arthur Fong, 427 Harding Avenue. I just want to make a comment. I just come back from Navy Department, so I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to Mayor Lo and especially leadership of Peter Chen for you guys passing the transportation resolution last meeting. it's not easy to take 100 million into the city I lived there for I lived in the Montreux Park for 40 years if you don't do a good job transforming the city ready for the 21st century we will go back to the bad days of 70s 80s, no-go-elegating I have five cars under my ownership but I'm the person who takes a lot of buses believe it a lot, yesterday I took LAX bus all the way back to Montreux Park from deployment. What I'm trying to tell you is, you look at Alhambra. They started with two parking structures, and now the main street and Garfield area is prosper. And also, Montreux Park is only 9.5 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Make sure you, the council, will have a good plan using the $100 million and build a better city for our next generation. I know that there are a lot of concerns about the future of Montreux Park, too many parking, too much traffic. But as I say, it's up to you leadership, Mayor Lo and other members of the council to make a good plan for four of us. We don't want to go back to those so-called no growth initiatives. I give you a good example. I spent a lot of time in D.C. Washington, where every time when they develop their subway, along the subway, it only goes in good quality housing and improve for the city. instead of bringing traffic, it actually resolves the traffic problem. So again, good job for passing the $100 million public transportation in Montreux Park. Keep up the good work. And I know that a lot of silent majority of people like us truly appreciate for what you did. Thank you. That's all I want to say tonight. Thank you.

Hill, Arthur? Yes.

Mayor, there are no other speakers. However, there's a written communication.

Okay, Cliff. Thank you. Normally this would be recorded, but we had some technical difficulty tonight, so I'm going to go ahead and read. This communication was from Catherine Peng, P-E-N-G.

Actually, she mailed this on the 11th of March.

So, hi, my name is Catherine Peng, and I'm a resident of Bonnery Park. I'd like to comment on the Spirit Bus Service. It's been frustrating to see how it has not been running for so long, and the return is constantly postponed. Right now, I'm a university student, and when I return home, transportation is much harder without the Spirit. I was a frequent user of the service during high school and have many elderly family members that used to ride it daily. I have many friends still in high school who have used other sources of transportation instead, which is both less convenient and more expensive.

Metro, the best available alternative, is $1.75 a ride. That's seven times more than the cost of a Spirit bus ride, 25 cents. That's not to mention the bigger picture's importance of the spirit in a way to reduce the deep environmental harm from private vehicles, a way to make our streets safer and overall a step closer to making Monterey Park a better city.

Basically, the spirit is an incredible resource for students and seniors and better for our city and our planet. We need faster action to bring local public transportation back.

I know a while ago there was a survey about how the spirit can be improved, but what matters more is getting it back in the first place.

Kindly hurry up.

Signed, Catherine. And that's it for the written communications.

Thank you, clerk. Okay, thank you. Okay. Let's see. Well, thank you. Then let's proceed to staff communications. We have a communication from the Public Works Department.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council. Tonight we have with us Sochi Tsepan. She's our principal management analyst and she'll be doing this presentation.

Sorry, this staff communication.

Go ahead, Sochi.

Yes, and I believe there's a slide.

It says the flyer to the clerk. Thank you.

I just want to remind everyone of our upcoming spring cleaning event that the city will be hosting on Saturday, April 9th from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Barnes Park. We will be accepting bulky items, electronic waste, and we will also be providing chipper service and paper shredding service. So we encourage everyone to join us. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much. Questions from the council?

Councilor Millan, you have your camera on? Yeah, just really quick. I didn't get to see the details of the flyer. I know you said

bulky items, electronic waste. What about like paint and those types of things? Can we bring

that as well? We will not be accepting hazardous waste at this event. The county of Los Angeles usually has events year-round where they collect hazardous waste, but we will have information

available on that day and it's available on our city website for the nearest event that they'll

be hosting. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilman Liang. Any other questions from the council?

Hearing none, thank you very much for the presentation.

Okay, next on to next presentation. Item 1A, autism awareness month. Chief Gordon, good to see you.

Good evening, Mayor Lo, council members. It's a pleasure to be here this evening. City Clerk, if you can bring up my one slide for me, please. So I just want to take a moment tonight to address autism. So the month of April is what we call Autism Awareness Month. Autism affects an estimated 1 in 59 children in the U.S. today. And the puzzle pattern that you see on the patch reflects the complexity of autism. And the different colors and shapes represent the diversity of people and families living with the condition. It's called the Light It Up Blue campaign, and it's intended to raise awareness for autism. It is to honor those with autism along with the families, teachers, therapists, doctors, and health care providers who dedicate themselves daily to help with those unique challenges. The Monterey Park Police Department and Monterey Park Police Officers Association has designed this autism awareness patch incorporating the puzzle pieces in the blue color scheme. Proceeds from the sale of these patches go directly to the Monterey Park community in the form of a donation to Mercy. Mercy was established in Monterey Park in 1955. It's their mission to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and maximizing their independence and becoming productive, contributing members within the community. So as you can see, the information, and it will be on the website, and you will also be able to call the Community Engagement Bureau to get more information. And if City Clerk, you can take it off just so I can show what the patch looks like. Let me make sure. There we go. So you will also see this on the uniforms of officers and staff during the month of April. So thank you for this time. It's a very worthy cause and we're very fortunate to be able to bring awareness in our community regarding this. So thank you. And I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, Chief Gordon. Questions, comments, Councilman. I see Councilman Chan has his camera on. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Chief, for bringing this presentation. Where can we buy those patches?

You can either come in and see me directly. If you're a council member, I can make those arrangements. But otherwise, Officer Sebastian Jimenez is the one that is I can make those arrangements, but otherwise Officer Sebastian Jimenez is the one that is in charge of the program. ! He actually put the whole thing together and brought it forward a couple of years ago. ! So his email address, you can email him and he will make arrangements to get them to you. ! We will also, once we get into April, as City Hall opens up, we'll figure out how we're going to make it available to the public to that at the front desk. We're just not quite there yet because we're figuring out what reopening looks like. So I don't want to make any promises I can't keep right now. So we know that you can get it by coming in. by coming in, we'll make those arrangements and by emailing officer Jimenez is a sure way to get them.

Okay, thank you. And I hope the public who support this and will come to the city hall or by mail all there or whatever and to support this meaningful events. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, chief. Chief. Any other comments, questions, council members? Hearing none again. Thank you very much, Chief Gordon. Very worthy cause. Okay. On O Business, none. Consider calendar item number 3A to 3F. Council members, any items you wish to pull? Yes, Mayor. I would like to pull 3E to 3F. Okay, item 3A you said? 3E and F. 3E and item 3F.

The last two items. Okay, 3A and 3F.

Okay, any other items, Councilman?

Okay, hearing none, we have a motion to approve the remaining items on the consent agenda. the calendar. Move to approve items 3A to 3B on the consent calendar. 3A to 3D.

Yeah, that's what I said. I second that. Okay, moved by Councilman Liang, seconded by Councilman

Chan. Sir, please call the roll. Thank you. Councilmember Yvonne Yu? Yes. Councilmember Council Member Peter Chan? Yes. Council Member Hans Liang? Yes. And Mayor Henry Lo? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay. We're sitting on the agenda item three, 2022 National Library Week resolution. Council Member Chan, as well as our librarian, Diana Garcia. Yeah, thank you. From Larian, Diane Garcia for the staff report. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. This is Diana Garcia, city librarian. Before you this evening is a resolution declaring April 3rd through April 9th as National Library Week in Monterey Park.

As you know, National Library Week, we celebrate it every year in the city, but it's actually

been celebrated nationally since 1958. It's sponsored by the American Library Association, and it honors the important role that libraries play in communities across the country. So this year's theme for National Library Week is connect with your library. We're particularly excited

because this will be the first National Library Week in a couple years that the library building

is going to be open to the public. We're encouraging all of our community members to come visit the

library during National Library Week. In addition to all of our regular programs, including story times, English classes, citizenship coaching, crafts, teen programs, and more, we will have some exciting activities going on in the library that week that are special to National Library Week. So our hours starting in April are going to be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. I also wanted to mention that we will be debuting a new reading program for kids 0 to 13 years of age that week. Starting on April 5th,

kids can come, they can sign up online for our Read and Ride program. That's going to be in

partnership with Recreation and Community Services, and it's going to promote the Play Days FESTIVAL. KIDS CAN READ FOR FOUR HOURS AND THEY WILL RECEIVE A FREE RIDE TICKET FOR THE PLAYDAYS FESTIVAL WHICH IS HAPPENING MAY 8th, excuse me, MAY 5th THROUGH MAY 8th. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF THE LIBRARY AND I'M HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY

QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE. THANK YOU LIBRARYON AND YES, THANK YOU SO MUCH AND YOUR STAFF, ESPECIALLY THE LAST TWO YEARS DURING THE PANDEMIC AND I THINK THAT is every time but now we can see you know like in the end of the tunnel and very happy that the library is open again and you have heard the opening hours and the services that just presented by the librarian so i just hope that uh all the residents please come to the library celebrate that the library week uh which is important and show some supports to our dedicated librarians in the library and all this staff. So thank you so much and looking forward to seeing you more in person. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Chan. Any other council members who would like to comment, please?

Okay, I hear none. Well, let me just share that I also want to echo the sentiments of my colleague, Diana.

And I think the community owes a debt of gratitude for your leadership, that of your staff, as

well as those who serve in the library commission, because the last few years have been certainly trying times. But I think the library has been really that beacon of hope. And we thank you for being innovative. and thinking out of a box with services like

Ritual Storytime, Remote Checkout,

and still continuing to look forward

with workforce development programming for residents.

Also doing your part during the COVID pandemic, like waiving fines. And so, you know, we are incredibly fortunate because not every community has its own community library. And so I think we're incredibly fortunate such a jewel in Monterey Park. Okay. Let's see. Well, do you have a resolution for us? Councilman Chan, would you like to- So I would like to make the motion. Yeah. We'd like to make the motion to adopt a resolution

declaring the week of April 3rd to 9th, 2022

to be National Library Week in Monterey Park. Moving. Councilman Chan, do we have a second, please?

I'll second that.

Seconded by Council Member Liang. Okay. Clerk, call the roll.

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Yes.

Council Member Peter Chan? Yes. And Council Member Hans Liang? Yes.

And Mayor Henry Liu? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Clerk.

Okay.

Next item, 3F, National Public Safety Communications Week Resolution. I know you pulled it and I see our esteemed chief of police. Has her camera on as well. Yes, please go ahead, police chief. Thank you, council member for pulling this item. So this is a very important item for us. The week of April 10th through April 16th is known as national public safety telecommuter telecommunicators week. and to sum that mouthful up in one word, it's our dispatchers. It's the voice you hear when you call 911 or you call our non-emergency line for assistance. Often, you know, we think of law enforcement as those that we see in uniform and we don't see all those that are working behind the scenes so that we can do our job in uniform. So they're the first ones that when you call 911 are going to be there to get your information and get the police officers on their way. And I know often dispatchers can be a source of frustration for the public because they're trying to get information. And when you're in a panic or you're in the midst of an emergency, you don't always understand why you're being asked a lot of questions. So I give them a lot of credit for everything that they do. Like I said, we could not do our job without them. They're a vital part of our team. And they're the ones that often keep us calm in the face of emergency because they're the ones relating life, threatening information to us as well. So we're very proud of our dispatchers and part of our team. And I think it's really important to honor these men and women that they work every day to protect the residents of Monterey Park. They work just as hard as the officers in uniform. And we really appreciate them. And it's really important to recognize them. So, I have a resolution and I'm very pleased to bring it before the council tonight.

Thank you. Thank you, Chief. And I want to echo your, you know, presentation. Is that because I've been using this dispatcher thing, I've been calling in a few times.

And I know that, as you mentioned, sometimes the caller, including me, may be frustrated because the dispatcher is asking a lot of questions.

and we just say we were anxious and excited and everything and say,

hey, why don't you ask so much questions? Just come and help me or do something, that kind of things.

But I learned that because the police officers, they need to know the circumstances. Do they, you know, what's the situation? So they ask the details. So be patient when you call them and just answer the questions. and actually the police officers are on their way while we were talking.

When you were asking the questions by the dispatcher, the officers are already on their way and listening in

and to get all the information for their safety and for our own safety.

So I just want to emphasize that and be patient and have it's on their way. And I want to thank the dispatchers because they are the unzunk heroes.

there. They have no face. Not like the police officers on the field that no one knows about. You know, you just hear the voice, but you don't know the face. And so I want to recognize them and thank them for their hard work. They work 24 hours a day, you know, day in, day out, and just for the protection of us.

And I want to also mention the dispatchers number in

Monterey Park. I can recite that. 626-573-131. Is that correct, Chief? You've got it. Yes, Councilmember Ebert. Okay. Thank you. So I hope the residents, yeah. Thank you. And take down this phone number. So if you're in the city and if it's not life and death or, you know, kind of emergency, use this number, 626-573-1311. That goes to our own dispatcher and they will help you. So thank you, Chief. And thank you for the good job. and thank you all the dispatchers. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chan and Chief Board. And also, we have the community. We are so grateful for the incredible dedication of the entire personnel of the Police Department for providing such quality public safety services to our residents. Again, not every city has its own Police Department, and so we are very fortunate, and we thank the dedication of your force. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Any other further comments or questions from Council? Hearing none, then Councilor Chan, can we move this motion?

Sure. Sure. I would like to make a motion that the resolution will be carrying the week of April 10 to be national with public safety.

Okay. Second. Let's move up by Councilor Chang and second by Councilor Liang. Clerk, please call the roll. Thank you. Councilmember Yvonne Yu? Yes. Councilmember Peter Chang? Yes. Councilmember Hans Liang? Yes. And Mayor Henry Liu? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Clerk. Oh, before we continue, Councilor Chang, you may want to check your connection. you've been a little choppy for the past few minutes so just check your connection please

I can I am using the wifi at home

just wanted to bring your attention you know is it okay oh okay you sound good now yeah okay good if any problem let me know of course thank you very much moving on Let's see. Item four, public hearings. First public hearing item for a annual weed abatement protest hearing. Let's see. I see we have our Chief Halleck. Wow. Good to see you today. You as well. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Tonight before you is our annual wheat abatement protest hearing. This is an opportunity for the community to come before the council to protest their inclusion on the wheat abatement declaration list should they want to do so. So at that point, if they do protest, the county will go out and do a reassessment of their parcel and make a determination if it should be included. While that's an option, the council as well as the city manager also have the opportunity to remove a parcel that is included on the declaration list. This is the second in a series of three meetings that make up our weed abatement process, with the final meeting being on August 3rd, where we will wrap up the 2022 weed abatement program. uh being on august 3rd where we will wrap up the 2022 reed abatement program um be happy to answer any ! questions that you have regarding the reed abatement program or open up for any protest uh from our ! residents ! okay thank you chief hallock um councilor chan i see you have a camera on

! yes thank you chief hallock good to see you ! you as well! yeah right and uh well we have this every year so it just kind of like uh seems like i have the of like uh seems like i have the same question but it's for the good of the residents in the city of monterey park and can you can you uh tell them or tell us that if we are on the list and how can we get out of it you know what how do we do the upload test well you would so for if you wish

to be removed from the list then what we'll do is we will capture information tonight uh we'll have the city clerk gather the, your phone number and name. And then tomorrow, uh, fire prevention, fire marshal Gomez will contact each person who protests. And then we will arrange for Los Angeles County to come out and do a reassessment of your parcel. At that point, like I said, if it's deemed to be acceptable to be removed, then it will be removed and the reassessment fee will be waived. If it's deemed to still be a hazard, then it would need to remain on the list. And that would be a determination of the county. And as I stated, council members have the opportunity to remove or have the authority to remove names from the list as

well as the city manager. Okay, thank you. And I just want to remind the residents is $40 something for this service. And if you're on the list, if you don't protest, and you would be charged $47, $48, right? $45.05. $45, right. Okay. So although it's not much money and maybe it's hidden in your property tax, so you may not even notice it, but if you're on the list and every year you got charged $40-something, so 10 years is $400-something. So it's a lot of money. so if you don't feel that you are in the list incorrectly, so please do the protest. Thank you. And thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Chief. Any further comments or questions from Council? Okay, hearing none. Thank you, Chief, again. I will now then proceed to the public hearing portion. So I now declare the public hearing portion open. So, Clerk, please facilitate any comments that we should be made during this time.

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 are on the phone, press star 9 at this time.

I do not see any speakers on this item, nor do we have any written communications on this item. Thank you clerk. Okay. Hearing none. Then I will close the public hearing. Then in that

case, let's see, there is an attached resolution. Council, may we have approval please. Move to approve the resolution. Thank you for moving. Seconded by Councilman Lang. Clerk, please please call the roll.

Thank you. Council member Yvonne Yu. Yes. Council member Peter Chan. Yes. Council member Hans Liang. Yes. And Mayor Henry Lo. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. And again, thank you, chief. Okay. Next item, item 4B, ordinance establishing the land use related time suspension period related to the COVID-19 emergency. Let's present on this item. I see Mr. Sizemore. Okay. Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Low, Councilmembers. On May 7, 2020, the city manager issued an administrative order that suspended all time periods for land use related appeals, reviews, and automatic approvals. They'll refer to those as our land use times in the remainder of this report. The administrative report was subsequently ratified by the city council in resolution 12164, which was adopted on June 3, 2020. The City Council's overall strategy as part of the Monterey Park Business Recovery Program was implemented to assist businesses during the COVID-19 period. And the thought was that with the suspension of land use times, we'd be able to assist the businesses, monitor their way through and go through the COVID emergency with as little impact as possible from regulations from the city. And now that the COVID emergency is in its last stages, it looks like the city emergency operation is in the public interest to bring some of the city council's emergency actions to an end and restore the normal operations for processing land use applications. That's why we're here tonight on this public hearing. The city manager's city council has utilized various emergency powers during the COVID-19 emergency. They were instituted to protect the public health, safety and welfare. Among other things, the city council had adopted a series of uncodified policies as part of the business part, the Monterey Park business recovery program. And most of these have now been codified in the Monterey Park municipal code. One part that was not codified in the code, though, was the extension of the temporary suspension of the land use ordinances. These These land use times were instituted with the city hall closed and most public meetings canceled and the city staff being short stands, it made sense at that time to temporarily suspend the land use times.

The overall intent was to really give a little bit more time for businesses and homeowners and people who were following through with the land use application and give them a little bit more time to have their plans processed. Once the COVID emergency is going to be terminated, however, it's in the public interest to remove these suspensions, and that's what this ordinance and resolution that you will be considering tonight is about. Essentially what it'll do is end the temporary suspensions that was instituted as part of the business program. Only a small number of land use files were affected by the LAT suspension, but it is is desirable to establish a time period from which the LA time suspensions were affected applications.

Therefore, the uncodified ordinance that you'll be considering tonight is from March 10, 2020,

when the ordinance went into play to March 31, 2022, when the governor's order will cease to exist. Then the beginning on April 1, 2022, all of the land use times will, as step forth in

THE MONTERY PARK MINISTERO WILL BE IN FULL EFFECT.

THIS CONCLUDES MY STAFF REPORT. I'LL BE GLAD TO HANDSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE. AND THE RECOGNESIONS OF STAFF ARE IN YOUR STAFF REPORT. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, MR. SIZEMORE. YOU'RE WELCOME. COUNCIL MEMBERS, QUESTION OR COMMENTS?

okay okay mayor maybe because well I jumped again last time too but maybe you would like to open the public hearing first and see if there's any public comments

sure okay why don't do that then I will declare the public hearing open now Kirk can you

help us facilitate anyone I wish to comment on the item thank you mayor Hello, audience, if you want to speak on this item, this is the time to do so. Please use the raise hands feature, or if you're on the phone, press star nine at this time.

Hello, I do not see any speakers for this item,

nor are there any written communication for this item.

Thank you, clerk. Then I will close the hearing and proceed to council comments and councilor Chant, thank you very patient. If the camera on, let's see you. Okay. Thank you, Mayor, again. And yes, Mr. Sizemore, or maybe City Attorney. So how many applicants throughout these two years of the emergency period will be affected by, you know, terminating this variance? And the second part is, have they been notified that it's going to end in March 31st? So there's still like two weeks to go. And so can they take advantage of this last two weeks to rush in and do the stuff that they want to do? Thank you, Council Member. That's a good question. What has actually happened is on April 1st, they'll start the new clock ticking for an application. It will be like they filed the application for the first day. So essentially what has happened was while those applications were in place, the clock stopped and they're not moving forward until April 1st. So April 1st it will be the same timeframe that is established under our normal operating procedures. So they'll be given 30 days to review the application to make sure it's complete. And if it's complete then we'll start processing through the application. IF IT'S NOT COMPLETE, THEY'LL BE GIVEN A LETTER THAT IT'S NOT COMPLETE AND THESE ARE THE ODENTS THAT YOU NEED. SO THE TWO WEEKS THAT WON'T IMPACT THESE OR THEY WON'T ELIMINATE THE NEED. THEY'LL JUST START THE NEW TIME FRAME ON APRIL 1ST. AND MOST OF THE PROJECTS THAT HAVE BEEN COMED FORWARD HAVE BEEN BUILT OR UNDER THE PROCESS OF BEING BUILT. SO THERE'S ABOUT FOUR OR FIVE THAT ARE CURRENTLY WAITING. AND THEY'RE KIND OF THOSE PROJECTS ARE WE'RE NOT QUITE SURE WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THEM, BUT WE'VE TALKED TO THE PROPERTY OWNERS OR THE DEVELOPERS AND WE'LL FIND OUT FOR THEM IF THEY WANT TO PROCEED FORWARD ON APRIL 1ST. NEW SPEAKERS OF THEM. THANK YOU. I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY WERE PROPERLY NOTIFIED ABOUT THIS NEW ORDINANCE THAT MAY AFFECT THEM. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, COUNCILOR CHEN. Thank you mayor really quick I heard Tom you said the emergency mandates are projected to be

ending at the end of the month was there and I may have missed it did the governor make an

announcement on on that date or is that just a a guess in terms of when that will end i see carl popped on mr mayor members of the council that date is actually built into the latest governor's order that expires on march 31st so unless he made an announcement at the time that he adopted it i don't know that there's been any subsequent announcement but that's actually in the text of the of the current executive order okay and just so i'm clear

for those that are affected,

things will, this clock will start again. They would not have lost any time and they'll be able to continue where they left off in the same amount of time period that it was when it was suspended. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay. Thank you, Tom. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I mean, Steve, sorry.

Any other further questions or comments? Okay. Hearing none, and we do have an item for us.

Motion, please. Yes, I would like to make the motion to introduce and wave first reading of an uncodified ordinance that ends the suspension of time deadlines for various land use-related the applications and approvals. Second, please.

May I have a second, please? Second. Second by Councilman Liang. Okay, clerk, please call roll.

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Yes. Council Member Peter Chan? Yes.

Council Member Hans Liang? Yes. And Mayor Henry Lo? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Clerk, okay, we want to item five new business. First business five a amendment to various sections of my property municipal code chapter 6.15 regulating mandatory organic waste disposal reduction. I see we have so Chi. Yeah. Okay.

Good evening, Mayor Lo and members of the council. That item before you is a proposed ordinance amending various sections of the Monterey Park Municipal Code, Chapter 6.15, which regulates mandatory organic waste disposal in the city. This chapter was added last December as part of the city's efforts to comply with SB 1383, the state's mandatory organics recycling law. Upon further review of the city's ordinance and the regulations, staff requests to amend the Municipal Code to add and revise some definitions within the chapter and also to add other clarifying language regarding the city's collection systems. I am happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the terms or the revisions in the

proposed amendment. Okay thank you Xochitl Council members. Um come for a chance you have a camera on.

Yes thank you and thank you for the uh short presentation and is it true I mean uh this is only to conform to what the state law requires the city to do?

Yes. We are, the definition. It's nothing new.

It's nothing new just to conform to the state regulations about, I mean, organic waste. Correct.

So the proposed clarifications to the definitions and the terms are aligned with the state's requirements.

! Any other comments, questions,

! Okay, hearing none. Okay, then may I have a motion, please?

Move to approve item 5A, amendment to various sections of Monterey Park Municipal Code Chapter 6.15. Reg. Okay, thank you. Just want to clarify that. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments, questions, Council? Okay, hearing none. Okay, then may I have a motion, please?

Move to approve item 5A, amendment to various sections of Monterey Park Municipal Code Chapter amendment to various sections of Monterey park municipal code chapter 6.15 regulating mandatory organic waste disposal reduction okay may I second please I was seconded okay moved by Councilor Liang, Councilor Chan

please call roll okay council member Yvonne Yu yes council member Peter Chan yes council member

Mayor Hans Liang. Yes. And Mayor Henry Lo. Aye. Motion carries.

Okay, very good. Moving on to the next item under new business, 5B discussion of pending Monterey Park,

Municipal Code updates.

Okay, I see we have Jessica Serrano joining us. We're camera on, Jessica. Jessica?

Yes. Hi. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. It's my pleasure to present this item for you tonight. It's my first time before you. I'm new to the city and I'm the new planning manager with the city. So it's my pleasure to meet you all virtually, hopefully in person at some point. But City Clerk, if you can go ahead and put my slides up. Thank you so much. Next slide.

Next slide. This item before you is a discussion of upcoming Monterey Park Municipal Code updates. The Planning Commission took action on this item on March 8, 2022, and they received and filed the report regarding these pending updates and recommended that City Council accept the draft program regarding the pending updates to the Montebello Municipal Code as provided by staff. Next slide. The draft program contains amendments to the municipal code which address recent changes in California law, the adoption of urgency measures during COVID-19, the approval of certain general plan amendments, including on November 3, 2020, the land use element and January 19, 2022, the housing element. Next slide. The next couple slides show the draft program, which was included as an attachment to the report presented to you tonight. And this draft program is split up into three categories, beginning with the low category. And the draft program, as I mentioned, addresses different code updates that the city, that city staff put together to address those various issues and new code updates that the city did during COVID and in the past. And what happened is the city staff put this list together to, I highlight several amendments that are needed. It's not all inclusive and comprehensive, and it's something that's going to be ever changing. We are going to be modifying this this list as the need arises. And so just to explain the low category, this category includes municipal code updates, which are more simple, less complex in complexity. It's not representative of, it's not a priority list, basically. It's more representative of what the complexity of the update that is needed. And in this category, staff is recommending that some of these go straight to City Council by passing Planning Commission. The purpose for this is for purposes of efficiency, and we can get these low-hanging fruit amendments to City Council quicker. And we have recommended planning commission review on some of these low category code updates that staff felt that were where the amendment could benefit from an additional review by the planning commission. Next slide. The next two categories include the moderate category, which is shown and blue, and these include updates that are a bit more complex in that they will require additional review and study. And the high category includes those that are related to our general plan amendments, as well as including our housing element and land use element, and that these have all been subject to city council discussion and action in the past. And so the green signifies those that are higher in complexity and would definitely require planning commission and city council review as recommended in this draft program. And to give you a status on the inclusionary housing ordinance and the rezoning to be consistent with the land use element and housing element, these two items, staff is working with a consultant to obtain quotes to seek assistance with preparing these. They will be staff driven with the assistance of a consultant, specifically the inclusionary housing ordinance. The Nexus study does require an economic consultant to get on board to establish that fee. And so staff is working on that currently. And at this point, next slide, staff is recommending that city council receive and file this item and provide direction and make a final determination regarding the process for pending updates to the Monterey Park Municipal Code and taking such additional action related that may be desirable. This concludes my presentation. I'm available for questions. Okay, thank you for that presentation. Let's see. Actually, before we proceed, Clerk, do you have any other comments for the item? Thank you, Mayor Loll. Audience, if you want to speak on this item, this is the time to do so.

Please use the raise hand feature and if you are on the phone, you can press star 9 at this time.

Hello, I do have one speaker. Linda. Good evening, council members. My name is Linda and I was born in Rezamari Park and I am now a homeowner and I absolutely love this city.

And I'm just really excited that we'll be considering creating an inclusionary housing ordinance soon because we desperately need more affordable housing for low-income families in this city.

And as the city moves forward with this high-category complex project, it would be great if the city can create an ad hoc committee comprised of residents, advocates, and even the city to increase public participation to just have a more transparent process on the drafting and implementation of inclusionary housing ordinance. Also, once the consultant is hired to do the nexus or feasibility analysis, it would be great if the public can have the opportunity to write comments to the consultant on what we envision the ordinance should be, such as for the in-lude fees or how we envision

the ordinance can apply to you in the city before the drafting of the feasibility analysis.

I think it would be great to have that input up front to the consultant.

And it will also be great if the consultant look at successful models of existing inclusionary

housing ordinances in the City of LA or in the City of Long Beach. Thank you for your time.

Linda?

I do not see any other speakers for this item, nor are there any written communications for this. Thank you, Clark. Okay. I will now turn it over to my colleagues on city council, council members, and if you wish to comment or questions, see, I see councilman Liang, you have a camera on.

what say you mayor yeah just really quick uh i know that in part of the recommendation it says to provide direction and make final determination regarding the process uh so what i'm hearing and you know correct me if i'm wrong uh you know with those uh charts that you put up with those different types of ordinances that needed um you know approval or revision i noticed that you had listed the ones that you recommended that go straight to council the easy ones uh and bypass planning and then you also had a list of those that you felt would be important to go to planning. So in terms of the direction or the determination, are you asking that specifically? Are we okay for council to approve those ones without going to planning and to proceed with the ones that are recommended for planning? Or am I getting a little too far ahead here? No, you're absolutely correct. We are seeking your direction in regards to what staff has put forward and what staff and planning commission is recommending. The draft contains the process that we would follow for these upcoming code updates. And so we want your feedback. We want to know if city council is okay with this path that we've proposed, or if you want to make some changes to what we've included in the draft program. I'm okay with it. My only concern is that we have our planning commission, obviously on some of the items we could see are clearly pretty simple and don't really require meetings and deliberation to determine while other items are clearly would benefit from having the commission and also what one of the speakers said, public engagement, et cetera. so um uh what mechanism is in place for us to uh see that and then is you know if we do determine let's say for example you provide a list of those things that do not require at least in the recommendation of staff to go to planning uh that we would be able to review ourselves and say okay well on this one there may be some reasons that the staff is not aware or some dynamics in the city and we would say well that we think should probably go to the planning commission or maybe you need to have a town hall on that and instead of having uh the council just a blanket approve that so i understand the uh at least in my explanation and your explanation to me on what we're trying to do here i i appreciate the fact that we're trying to streamline uh things that are ministerial, if you will, by nature and not being, not bogging down resources to have additional meetings, staff, et cetera. So I appreciate that. My only concern is that we just want to make sure that things don't slip through the cracks and that maybe perhaps when those are going to be coming before us, that we have a list of the ones that you think should go to planning, the ones that you think can go through, and then we can kind of review that and make a decision on if we, you know, any modifications that we may feel is necessary or at that time we could just approve them altogether. So that's my only comments. Just we want to make sure that, you know, something doesn't fall through the cracks and that the community doesn't get an opportunity to provide input when they would have wanted to on an item. I think one of the things that we can do is we'll start the two-track process. We'll start an ordinance that will come before the city council with the ones that bypass the planning commission and then we'll be working on the ordinance that will go to the planning commission and then city council when that ordinance gets you it'll still be a public hearing and if there's some issues you can always send it back down to the planning commission for further review so i think that's the safeguard there perfect i'm glad to hear that there's some protocols for that that's i think that would TO ADDRESS MY CONCERNS. THANK YOU.

NEW SPEAKERS, THE CAMERA ON. YES, THANK YOU, MAYOR. I THINK MOST OF THE QUESTIONS ARE ALREADY ASKED BY COUNCIL MEMBER LANG. AND THIS ITEM IS RECEIVED AND FILED. SO WE ARE NOT MAKING ANY DECISIONS AT THIS TIME. AM I CORRECT? IT IS A RECEIVED AND FILED ITEM. You can provide us additional direction, though, on any changes that you would like to see. DR. Right. So we are not making any decisions at this time just to provide direction or input. And yes, I would like to echo Council Member Lange's suggestion to go through the Planning Commission and go through the process, and then we can address, or the residents can address the issues and come up with some solutions. and I know there's some items like the ADUs and so forth and housing elements, they are very concerning to the residents. So we should have more time to discuss that and have to go through the public process to the planning commission and input of the residents as well. So that's my input at this time is to hear more and then we'll come to the planning commissions and then come to the council final approval. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Chan. Any other comments from the council?

I'll just add, I will echo some of my two colleagues. I think that given some of the important weighty issues being considered such as housing. I would like to also echo sentiments that we need to make sure that there is strong public input.

into the process and soliciting public input. So I will make sure that there is that avenue that Avenue residents to do so.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, for the inclusionary housing item,

we are proposing that it go both to planning commission and city council. And when it goes before you, before both bodies, it will be at a public hearing so that it'll be noticed and the public will have the opportunity to review the draft before the meeting and they can provide comments similar to any public hearing before the Planning Commission City Council. All right, thank you very much. Any further comments or questions?

Carrying on, okay, well thank you very much for that presentation update to the council.

And again, it is only an update, so there's no action that's needed, correct? Okay. That's correct. Okay, wonderful, thank you so much. Okay, moving on now to item six, city communications.

We have item 6A, resolution declaring City of Myr Park solidarity with the people of Ukraine, requested by me.

I will be brief. I think, unless you have been asleep for the past few weeks,

I think we've all been shaken and glued to the news about what's going on in Ukraine and what is happening there to its people. and the fact that the country that has invaded the sovereignty of Ukraine

and its people also happen to be a member of the United Nations Security Council,

which is more outrageous. But I think it's important that we do show solidarity.

And I know at the last council meeting, we gave direction to light the Cascade Fountain in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, blue and yellow. And although it's resolution, but nonetheless, I think it's important to again show that we stand with Ukraine and we hope that what we're seeing will subside soon

and those responsible are held accountable for their violations of the United Nations Charter and the violations of the human rights of the individuals who have been affected by this invasion.

Let's see. Do you see cameras on? Colleagues, do you have any comments?

Yeah, Mayor, Peter here. Yeah, thank you, Mayor. And yeah, I also suggested this resolution last time in the, excuse me, with heavy heart. And we see, we see the news every day and this destruction of the war and the agony of the people, you know, so, so we have to, you know, stand with the people of Ukraine and hope the war ends. and stop the suffering. I think that's the least we can do and hope peace will come in soon. And so thank you for putting in this resolution and we do stand with the people in Ukraine and we feel the pain, we feel the distraction and hope it won't cost any harm to anyone and anywhere in the world. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Chan. Dr. Liang, do you have the camera on?

No, I'm okay. I think you guys both captured the sentiment well.

Okay, thank you very much. Well, all right, then I will make a motion to resolution I will second the motion, declaring the city of Monarch Park solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

May I have a second, please? Yes, I will second the motion.

Okay, seconded by Council Member Chan. Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu? Yes. Council Member Peter Chan? Yes. Council Member Hans Liang? Yes. And Mayor Henry Lo? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. And let's continue with communication. Councilor Yu, anything to communicate with us? Hi, everyone. I just attend, I think yesterday, Mayor Tony Dink become St. Gabriel Mayor, the installation. So I'm the one that attend the installation and also the dinner afterwards. and I actually mentioned that I'm jealous because at the time when I swan in to be mayor it is all virtual and so they have like a few hundred people you know show up and celebrate and congratulate him I said oh I'm so jealous but um yeah I said I would be happy I'm honored to be part of it and also yeah keep up the good work so it's all happy because everyone you know they don't really have to wear masks and also celebrate at dinner. They have about 400 people show up. And so, yeah, it's actually a good celebration. So I wanted to say that health is actually the first priority of us as the former mayor, Ching Ho Lao, actually stepped out because of health issues. And also we have situation in Arcadia City Council. And I think health is our top priority. So everyone, so just take good care of yourself and your family. So yeah, be well. Thank you so much. That's all for me. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Yu. Councilor Chan.

Thank you, Mayor. And I attended the Metro Service Council Monday. And one thing to want to report is that they have the program. It's called On the Move Riders Club. This club is for the seniors to go to museums, to attractions, interest places, and so forth. And it's no cost to join. But you just pay for the bus or the train or the subway fares. And seniors are only 35 cents at this time. And you can apply for no fare, free of charge as well. And I encourage the seniors to apply and join this on the move writers club so that you can get off the house, go to meet new friends and got to see interesting places all around Los Angeles. and many trips and you have to go to the website and I may give it to the staff later so that we can put it on the city website for the seniors to join and there's a fair will be coming up well, there's down the road in June, June 29th there's the Older American Month which will be on June 29th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center. I will also put up those information for the seniors if you want to go to see what's going on in the mass transit. And so just wish everyone well and stay healthy. And good night. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chan. Mr. Liang. Thank you, Mayor Lo. I don't have anything really to report. I just want to wish everyone a wonderful evening and also a tomorrow remember to wear your green and also have a happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. That's all I have. Thank you. Okay, thank you. That's for Chad. Okay, my turn. Um, let's see. Well, first, I'd like to give an update of what is happening at the LAX Community Noise Roundtable. As many in the community know

that Monaco Park is a participant in this roundtable regarding the issue of the noise from the planes that are when they make their landing approach in certain situations to

certain situations land at LAX. Last year, California UNH was our mayor, was our representative, and this year I am the representative. So what I just wanted to give everyone an update is that today at the,

today's meeting of the roundtable, an update was given that the FAA, that's the Federal Aviation Administration,

is conducting their preliminary assessment of what is being called option B by the roundtable. And option B is something in which this city as well as other impacted communities have given input regarding how FAA may abate and mitigate the noise from the plane that they land. And so currently option B is on a proposal. And perhaps our staff can post the report of what option B is for our residents so they can read for themselves. But the update that we received today is that the FAA is assessing this option proposal, and they plan to complete their assessment in the next few months and provide the result of their findings to LAX and Roundtable, possibly as soon as July of 2022. And so this has been a commission of a lot of input by us as a city as well other communities. And it will be interesting to see what FAA, what their assessment yields. I think depending on what their findings are, will probably have an impact on how we may want to proceed on this item, on this issue. And so, and again, to any residents who have any questions about this, feel free to contact myself or the city manager. Again, I would suggest to staff that if they want to post this proposal, then we can do this follow-up. I think a lot of residents may be interested to know what is being evaluated by FAA. That's my report from today's LX Roundtable meeting. Second, I'd like to also just make a suggestion that we adjourn, actually, Council, because in the memory of the one-year anniversary of the tragic massacre in Atlanta, Georgia, in which a total of eight people were murdered, six of whom were Asian women. And this heinous attack was something that grabbed the entire country, actually the world's attention. This was a targeted attack towards Asian American and Pacific Islander people, and unfortunately has been part of an ever-increasing number of anti-Asian hate crimes since the start of the pandemic. According to the organization Stop AAPI Hate Coalition, 78% of Asian American women have experienced hate in the past two years. And unfortunately, today is the one-year anniversary of the Atlanta massacre. So I would like to ask that we adjourn tonight in memory of those eight people who were murdered in Atlanta. And that's it for me. Let's see.

future agenda items, hearing none, closed session, nothing to report. And with that, then I'd like to adjourn the meeting.

Okay, thank you very much. Have a good evening. Be safe. Meeting is adjourned at 7.45 p.m. Thank you.

Oh, and happy St. Patrick's Day.