City Council Meeting — November 2, 2022

Monterey Park. Good evening. We will begin. Welcome to the City Council of Monterey Park. The City Council Act on behalf of the successor agency of the former redevelopment agency, the Housing Authority, the Amarion Park Financing Authority, and the Amarion Park Geologic Hazard Abitement District Agenda. Regular City Council meeting Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022 at 6.30 PM. Let's see. We don't have any explorers tonight. And so I will actually, let's see, I'm going to ask our city manager. to do the flag salute.

To the honors, sir.

I don't know that I would, but I can do the honors. Everyone, please stand.

Introduce the colors.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Well done, Steve Mandra. Thank you. Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you. Council Member Yvonne Yu. Here. Council Member Peter Chan. Here. Council Member Hans Liang. Here. And Mayor Henry Lo.

Present. Thank you. Thank you. Agenda additions, deletions, changes, and adoptions. Do we have any? Yes, Mayor.

We would like to add underneath staff communications, economic development, right after recreation and community services department.

Economic development. Okay.

And that will be it from the city manager's office.

Okay. Economic development. Thank you very much. Okay. Moving on, public communications. When all comments are welcome, the Brown 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 communications is closed. Persons may, in addition to any other matter within the City Council's subject matter jurisdiction, comment on the agenda item at this time. If you provide public comment on a specific item at this time, however, you cannot later provide comment at the same time the agenda item is considered. Clerk, do we have any requests?

Yes, we do. Okay, proceed. First speaker, Nancy Okuri.

Good evening. I want to thank Council Member Peter Chan and Council Member Hans Leon for their many years of service to our hometown.

You helped to save our city during the pandemic by the grand opening of our marketplace that provided us with sales tax dollars to keep our city in business.

I want to thank City Clerk Vince Chang for his many years of service to our hometown.

He kept our residents informed about the city's business with council meetings during the pandemic that were on cable television.

I want to thank City Treasurer Joseph Young for his many years of service to our hometown.

He kept our sales tax dollars and our property tax dollars in safe investments and provided a monthly report for all of us to read. Thank you all very much.

Thank you. Those are all the speakers.

Okay.

then why don't we excuse me we have one more thank you all right next speaker is Vingo

good evening council members mayor and distinguished guests my name is Vingo I'd like to also thank outgoing council members Hans Liang and Peter Chan for your great farewell

event just a couple of nights ago at

Luminarius. I know you raised a

lot of money for the library and that's a great thing.

Also to City Clerk Vincent Chang

and also our Treasurer Joseph,

you guys have done tremendous work in helping our community build together

and working together.

Your commitment to the community and your sincerity

is second to none. So thank you for all the work you do and we look forward to a better MWI Park going forward. Thank you. Thank you. Any more speakers? Okay looks like that's it.

Thank you. All right thank you Mr. Clerk. Okay. Moving on to staff communications. First one is the City Clerk's Office. All right yes. Okay so current status on the election that's coming up on Tuesday, November 8th.

We have a little PowerPoint presentation for you.

So again, November 8th, you can see there, can't miss that date. So again, who are we voting for? We're voting for city council positions, council districts one, three, and five. You're voting for a city clerk,

you're voting for a city treasurer, as well as ballot measure MP, which is the general tax proposition. Next. What are your options? How to vote? So I think everybody should have gotten their mail by now. So, however, you have other options to exercise your right to vote. And besides the vote by mail, which, by the way, doesn't require any postage. So you can just simply drop that off into a ballot box or a mailbox, your regular USPS mailbox. The ballot box, we have two of those in the city of Monterey Park. One is at City Hall, 320 West Newmark here. The other one is at Sierra Vista Park, which is located at 311 World Drive. Now you may also notice that these boxes are available as well in other parts of the county. And if you see them, you can also drop them off. In case you haven't seen them before, it looks like these yellow, white, and blue. You can't miss them, so they're pretty obvious. Okay. All right. Next, please.

Okay.

Okay, now other options include at this point is to actually visit a vote center, and you can vote in person for that if that's your choice.

And in the city of Monterey Park, we have three of those locations. First of all, we have the vote center at Union Church, which is at 201 South New Avenue,

and the date for that is October 29th, so it's open already, to October 7th from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on the day of, November 8th, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

We also have a center at East Los Angeles College at 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez.

It will be open on November 5th until November 7th from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. And on the day of election, November 8th from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Langley Center is our third location at 400 West Emerson Avenue. It also will be open on November 5th through November 7th between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. And then on the day of the election, November 8th between 7 to 8 p.m. As well, same thing, there are other vote centers throughout L.A. County from which you may vote.

And you can check the website for those.

Next, please. All right. So, of course, everybody wants to know what the election results will be.

And you can go to the website, the L.A. County Registrar's website at lavote.gov. Again, that's lavote.gov. And, of course, that will be on November 8th.

and usually it starts like after 8, I believe,

then you can start seeing the results come in. Next. So if you want further information,

as always, call the city clerk's office at 626-307-1359. Again, 626-307-1359.

And if you want to call the county, you're welcome to do that as well.

at 1-800-815-2666, clicking the option four.

If you have a camera, you can also scan that QR code, which I believe you can probably see that on TV, and go to those sites.

Next, please. Okay, those are my slides. Thank you very much.

Any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer for you.

Thank you very much, Vincent. Members? No? Okay.

And again, thank you for reiterating that although you listed those locations, they can vote anywhere in the county, correct?

That is correct.

I agree.

Thanks so much.

Next, communications. Fire Department. Ah, Chief Halleck.

All right, good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. On November 24th, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving,

and we thought it's always important this time of year to encourage our residents to practice safety

when it comes to deep-frying their turkeys.

And so we put together a video a couple years ago, and we're going to bring it back out again, and then I'll talk about it real quickly after we watch this short video.

Make sure the turkey is completely defrosted.

Remove the giblets from the turkey. Then rinse the turkey.

Thoroughly dry the turkey. This is the most important step.

Now it's time to fry your turkey. Use a device that allows you to safely Lor the turkey into the oil without bringing your hands too close. In this case, we used the metal rod that was provided with the frying kit.

Slowly Lor the turkey into the fryer. Some bubbling is normal, but be sure to avoid significant spills. Make sure you set your turkey fryer up away from your home and avoid flammable surfaces like grass. Wear grilling gloves in case any oil splashes. Be sure your turkey fryer is not filled over the fill line. Have a fire extinguisher with a class B rating nearby. This demonstration was done in a controlled environment. Be sure to follow the given instructions closely.

The Monterey Park Fire Department would like to thank you for watching this video. Have a safe and happy holiday.

Thank you. weekly

Okay, so as you can see, turkey frying can go wrong. Okay, so as you can see, turkey frying can go wrong. But a couple other tips that are available in the Cascades, the most recent Cascades, are never leave the fryer unattended because without thermostat controls, the oil will continue to heat and eventually it will catch fire. Never let children or pets near the fryer as well because the oil can stay hot for many hours after you're done cooking. And then finally, never use a fryer on a wooden deck, under a patio cover, in a garage, or in an enclosed space. So, again, we just want everybody to have a safe and joyous Thanksgiving. And one more thing I'll add, too, is I mentioned Movember, and I don't see a mustache on the council. So it's day two. Last year I won. What? Last year I won. I know. Okay, well, the challenge is day two. There's still time. Okay. So that's it. I'd have to answer any questions that you might have.

Members, thank you so much. Members? Okay. Thank you very much. And remember to be safe. Okay. Next, library services. Diana?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Diana Garcia, city librarian. This evening, we just wanted to let everybody know about the November programs upcoming at the library. Next slide, please.

So first, just a brief reminder that the In-N-Out reading program continues until November 12th.

If you're not familiar with this one, this is a very, very popular annual program where kids ages 4 to 12 can read five books,

and they get a certificate for a free burger at In-N-Out.

We've got about 800 kids participating right now, and there's still time to sign up

by going to montereypark.beanstack.org.

Once you've logged your reading,

come on in for your certificate. You can actually do this three times.

If you read 15 books, you get three free burgers. Only for kids four to 12, though.

Next slide, please. Next, we have our annual preschool fair happening on Saturday, November 19th from 11 a.m. to 1230 in the Friends Room of the Library. This program brings together representatives from our local early education options in Monterey Park and in the area. And they answer questions to parents about their facilities, their curriculum, how to enroll. And so we invite parents with preschool-aged children to come and learn about all of the options available to them. Next slide.

very briefly this month we've added two awesome new online resources for our card holders the first one is canopy this is streaming movies and video some of you may be familiar with this

service already basically works like netflix but it's absolutely free there's no monthly

subscription you'll go to canopy.com and enter your library card number to access there's over

30,000 movies, videos. They've got all of the Criterion collection, A24, everything from PBS,

and these are available in over 30 languages, including many, many Asian languages, so it's

great for the community. I actually use it a lot at home. It's very easy. It's accessible

via mobile apps for your iPhone or your iPad, and you could use it on the computer or on your TV

if you've got Apple TV, Roku, Fire Stick, anything like that.

Next slide.

The next new online resource that we just added is called BrainFuse Help Now.

This is a really incredible resource for students of all ages.

There's live academic tutoring and homework help service for all learners,

so kindergarten through high school, college, and even adult learners.

What's great about BrainFuse is that they've got tutors who speak English,

Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, Spanish, and Vietnamese. So again, wonderful for our community.

There are also self-paced study courses in all subjects, practice tests available for tests like

the SATs, and you can access this by going to the library's website and clicking on the BrainFuse link.

Next slide. Really briefly, I just want to give a shout out to one of our new popular programs.

this summer we started doing Dungeons and Dragons D&D at the library this is an old game obviously

but it's increased in popularity due to I think it was on Stranger Things so we have a staff member

who acts as our dungeon master this program is going to be Saturday November 19th at 2 p.m.

it's for teens and adults if you've never played it before don't worry it's for all levels we have

our dungeon master who will be there to teach you, so please come check it out.

Next slide. Of course, these programs are in addition to all the regular weekly and monthly programs we do at the library.

For children, we offer six story times a week that are extremely popular. We've got Science Saturdays, Music and Movement,

weekly in-person homework help, Crafternoons, Mandarin Storytimes. We'll be adding Spanish Storytimes soon. Next slide.

Regular programming for teens includes workshops, crafts, volunteer opportunities.

We also have the junior friends that kids can join. They have an elected board. It's an amazing leadership opportunity for teens in our city. Next slide.

And finally, for adults, we have our regular programming, including book clubs, English and citizenship classes and coaching, crafts, movies, senior fitness programming.

You can see there on the bottom right hand of the slide at the Langley Center in conjunction with them. Next slide. For information about everything that the library does, please visit our website, montereypark.ca.gov slash library, or follow us on social media.

Thank you guys very much for your time this evening.

I appreciate you letting us share about our upcoming activities. Thank you. And thank you very much for sharing. Members, any questions, comments? And thank you so much. Next, our police department communications.

Mayor, council members, I'll frame it, and then we'll have our police chief, Scott Weiss, add into this. The Pollock Centurion Awards is the Peace Officers Association of Los Angeles County. Each year recognizes outstanding contributions and exceptional service to the law enforcement mission with its Centurion Awards of excellent. Our NET team, who will shortly be presented to you by Chief, was selected for its innovative and multidisciplinary approach to addressing homelessness, mental health, crisis situations, and non-traditional activities that affect the community chief will add into you know a lot of other explanations on the award and how they qualified for it chief if you want to introduce the team and take it from here but i'm extremely proud of what they've accomplished it shows what innovation could do we stood this team up out of just an idea, thinking that it would be something that would maybe work out. It more than worked out for the community. Chief? Thank you very much, Mayor, members of Council.

The Polack Association, Peace Officers Association of Los Angeles County represents a majority of the 45 police departments in Los Angeles, including LA County Sheriffs and LAPD. Every year, the executive committee makes a selection of outstanding achievements in the law enforcement community. This year, we presented our NET team for the Centurion Award in Community Engagement. It went up against several other departments, including LAPD and the sheriffs. and it represented the way our department looked at the way we were going to deal with homelessness, mental health, and other calls for service that were kind of outside the normal scope of law enforcement. In 2020, we began the team out of a concept and brought police officers, detectives, supervision. We added a mental health professional from Los Angeles County Mental Health, and we started a program including a housing outreach coordinator. It grew out of a concept. It began to deal with the homeless community in Monterey Park. It began to deal with the mental health community in Monterey Park. And we saw that at first it took many, many different engagements to deal with the homeless community that had a distrust for law enforcement. During the time period of this award the last year, the department handled almost 5,000 mental health and homeless calls out of the 12,000 normal calls. That's quite a bit. During that time period, the NET team was able to house 61 individuals in short-term and long-term housing, and that's really what the goal of the program was, an outreach program where we could help our homeless community, help them find solutions and give them long-term goals and help them reach those goals. And the police department stepped up. From a concept, it turned into the model program for the San Gabriel Valley. And now we have many police departments and cities coming to us and asking for us to help them create the same model for them. So it's extremely successful, and it is successful because of the personnel involved. The ones that are here tonight, I'd like to introduce them, and I'll have them come down. Lieutenant Paul Iniguez, Lieutenant Bob Hung, Lieutenant Brenda Iglesias, Officer Delon Lamb, Officer Tony Nguyen, Officer Izzy Flores. Our housing coordinator, Shadeen Womack, is not here. She just had a baby. and mental health clinician from the LA County Department of Mental Health, Dario Tejeda. This is our Police Department Net Team.

Any questions? Thank you, Chief. Members? Councilor Chan, you have the mic?

Yeah, I just want to say thank you. All the team members, you really make Monterey Park stand out because of what you did and your delegation to the cause and homelessness and housing. I know it's all the cities in California or just the whole nation is facing with, but we make, you know, improvements. And thank you for all your efforts and keep up the good work. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Chan. Councillor Yu, you have the mic.

I want to say I'm very proud of you. and a lot of people complain about homelessness but I don't see much in Monterey Park and now I know why because of all of you. Thank you so much for your good work. Keep it up. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Liang, you have a mic?

Yeah, just really quick, thank you guys all for what you do. It's, you know, I'm in law enforcement too and with other agencies you know, they're not so excited about being innovative or trying to do new things but I think that You know, just what we see here in the ward really highlights your commitment and dedication to what you do, actually going above and beyond and creating something new. And I want to commend you for that because that in itself says a lot about all of you and what you do versus the thousands of officers throughout the entire county that we work in. But you guys should be proud of that as well. And thank you again for all you do.

Thank you very much. And, you know, I also want to say, well, first of all, thank you very much for allowing me to participate in these Centurion Awards last week. It really was special to be there representing our community and to recognize the extraordinary work that you all do, not just for Margaret Park, but again, the example you set to the region. I mean, there were other police departments that were recognized, but it was truly a proud moment for us to stand out as a police department that thinks outside the box and is part of the solution. And all of you should be proud of yourselves. And we certainly in the city council and the community are proud of your work. And it just reinforces the importance of supporting the work that you do day in, day out, every day, every month, every year.

So congratulations. Thank you.

If you could go to the last slide, it's a picture of the team receiving their award.

There they are.

The event was at USC in the Town and Gown Center. Very, very nice. USC band performed for us. Very, very nice event.

And for Movember, you'll see our police officers sporting beards for Movember.

So if you see it, we haven't gone off the rails.

but for November they're going to be sporting beards in support of the prostate cancer program. So could we come up and take a picture? Yes, please. Please.

Yeah. I'll go for it down.

Okay, colleagues? Okay, sure.

Ready? I got one, two, three.

Ready? I got one, two, three.

Make sure I need a picture.

You're in.

Okay, over here. One, two, three. Okay.

Thank you. деньги Okay.

Okay. Next communications, recreation and community service department.

Good evening, Mayor, members of our city council. I hope you're all doing well. My name is Orlando Muro, recreation supervisor for the city of Monterey Park. I would like to take this time to thank everyone who came out to support Monster Mash. We had an amazing turnout and it was a successful event due to the help of all the departments, organizations, and local businesses that came out to run games, game booths, and give out treats. I would also like to personally thank our library staff for co-sharing this event that made it even more successful. I would also like to thank APHC at UCLA for bringing out over 60 volunteers to help out with our free Monterey Park Health Fair that took place at Langley Center on October 22nd. And finally, thank you to Wellness Care and the YWCA for co-sponsoring Langley Center's

HalLoen event. They provided refreshments, raffle prizes, and costume contest prizes.

At this time, I would like to formally invite City Council and all our residents for some of our upcoming events. Starting off with Veterans Day. Veterans Day ceremony will be on Friday, November 11th at 11 a.m. at the American Legion Post 397 located at 338 Ramona Avenue. We'll be honoring and celebrating all who have served.

divisions, 20 teams per division at $40 per team. Few spots are left in the advanced division, so for those that want to try out your skills and play with the advanced, please sign up. If not, bring out the family and watch a great tournament at our beautiful park. And our holiday snow village. Thursday, December 8th from 4 to 8 p.m. It'll be at George Elder Park, 1950 Wilcox Avenue. We'll have pictures with Santa and Jack's skeleton.

The farmer's market will be providing food and craft vendors for anybody that shows up to our event. Our snow sled run and snow play area is back from high demand and registration opens up on Monday, November 7th. Registration, please make sure to register at myoreapark.ca.gov forward slash holiday snow village. Spots are limited, so I encourage everybody to please register.

Our Festival of Lights trip will be to Riverside Mission Inn Saturday, December 10th from 3.30 to 8 p.m.

Enjoy holiday lights, decorations, entertainment, food, and shopping.

Registration is now open at $10 a person at Langley Center. Seats are limited, so we encourage everybody to sign up. And once again, I would like to thank everybody that has helped support all our events and continue to come out to our events that we try to provide. Please continue to follow us on social media so you don't miss our next upcoming event. Thank you. Thank you very much. Members, any questions?

You're none. I just want to say, you know, again, well,

you know, it was a wonderful Monster Mash event and I

enjoyed seeing, I think, probably a larger crowd than last year. And so again, thank you for always doing good programming for our communities.

Thank you. Thank you. And we saw a lot of kids out there with great costumes. Yes. So

And staff and adults.

And adults, yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Good night. Okay.

And our final presentation is economic development. Joseph.

Thank you and good evening, Mayor Henry Lo, Council Members and distinguished guests.

This is your Economic Development Manager, Joseph Torres.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Luminary's Restaurant for believing in the city of Monterey Park.

Luminary's multi-million dollar interior and exterior remodel of our beloved neighborhood restaurant is a significant investment in our community.

Having first opened in June 1972, generations of Monterey Park families have been dining at Luminarius for the last 50 years.

Positioned on top of the hill that overlooks St. Gabriel Valley and downtown Los Angeles, Luminarius has always represented its name by being a beacon of light for Monterey Park and its neighbors. As you know, the city proudly presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Luminarius last week.

Here to thank the city for its support is Mr. Zach Janitados,

District Manager of Specialty Restaurants, the parent company of Luminarius. Zach?

Good evening, everyone. Mr. Mayor, Council Members, thank you so much for having me. Your faces are becoming familiar to me in just a short week time since we had the ribbon cutting, but I'm thrilled to be here tonight and share that as of today, Luminarius is officially open to the public again. As Joseph said, Luminarius has been a staple in the community since 1972, so we figured after 50 years, it was time for a refresh. We're excited that we've done this extensive renovation, not only on the facility and the property, you can go on to the next slide if you'd like, but also on our culinary program. We've reconcepted the restaurant and we're excited to bring back Luminarius to the community as a new American restaurant with an amazing steak program, over-the-top culinary program, and happy hour Wednesday through Friday from 4 to 6. I've got to see some of your faces at the restaurant over the past few days since we did our soft opening, and it's just really exciting to be back in the community where we've been a staple for so long. So I thank you for having me here this evening, and we're looking forward to welcoming back everyone to the restaurant that's now open to the public. There's a few more slides that show some of the beautiful changes we've made and some of the really incredible culinary that you'll be able to experience

at the new Luminarius. So thank you for having me and have a great evening everyone. Any questions? Members? I have a question.

How much was invested for the refurbishment and remodeling of

Luminarius? The renovation in total was just over $2.5 million.

$2.5 million. That's incredible. I just want that for record.

You know, we really are grateful that you invested $2.5 million into this very important

and will recognize restaurant in our region.

Yes, we're happy to do it and excited to be back open for everyone to come and enjoy. Look forward to seeing you all soon. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great evening. Bye.

Okay, that should conclude our staff communications. Let's proceed to presentations. None.

O business none. Consent calendar items number 3A to 3F. Clerk, do we have any requests to speak on any items?

Just item 4A. But not the consent calendar items, right?

No. Okay, thank you. Members, council members, any items you wish to pull?

I would like to make the motion to approve consent agenda items 3A to 3F. Second. Moved by Councillor Chan, second by Councillor Member Liang. Hearing none for the questions or comments.

Members, please vote.

Vote's unanimous. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay.

Moving on to public hearing. Item 4A, public hearing to consider introduction

and first reading of an ordinance. Zoning code number 2201, adding chapter 219,

Inclusionary Housing to Title 21 Zoning of the Mario Park Municipal Code to implement the Mario Park Housing Element and adoption of a resolution establishing an in lieu of inclusionary housing fee calculation.

Remember, I think you should have a copy of the red line version before you.

And let's see, why don't I open the public hearing because you said the request.

Is that correct, clerk? That is correct. Okay. Then let me open the hearing then.

All those who wish to share comment, please come forward.

I thought you said, wait, someone, right?

Right. Any speakers? Okay.

We do have a written communication. Oh, written communication.

I'm sorry. Okay, got it. Okay. Okay.

Okay. All right. Thank you. We do have a written communication tonight on item 4A. This is from Linda Tang. It's actually quite detailed and extensive. However, I'll go ahead and attempt to summarize it.

Basically, it's requesting that the city includes a strong inclusionary housing ordinance that will be effective in facilitating the constructions of affordable housing for Lor income household. It's requesting to remove the moderate and low income affordability levels. Instead, create an inclusionary housing ordinance that will require at least 10% of a new rentals unit to be affordable to very low income housing levels. second request is requiring that rental units be deed restricted to remain affordable in perpetuities versus the proposed 55 years their request in addition to creating an affordable housing trust fund the city should also create an affordable housing land trust and donate city-owned land to the trust for the development of housing that will be affordable to Lor income households. And fourth, it requests that the city ensure that the setting of in-lieu fees will be effective in producing new affordable units.

The rest of that, as I mentioned, is quite detailed.

with a chart for the low-income housing or Lor-income housing,

and we will have this available at the City Clerk's office for review

if anybody cares to.

Thank you very much.

So that's written communication, correct?

Okay. Those are all the written communication I have.

Okay. Yes. Any other requests?

Any speakers? No. Okay.

Okay. Okay, then hearing none, then I will conclude the hearing.

And at this point, colleagues. Oh, I'm sorry, presentation, sorry.

Some of them have already read, but yeah, thank you.

Sorry.

Jessica Serrano, our planning manager, will do the presentation for this agenda item.

Thank you, Mr. Bull.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. The item before you is an amendment to Title 21 to add to the Monterey Park Municipal Code Chapter 21.19 entitled Inclusionary Housing and also a resolution to adopt an inclusionary housing in lieu of calculation. Next slide. To provide some background, this item is being brought before you because the city's housing element, which was adopted by the city council in January earlier this year, includes a program to research and develop an inclusionary housing ordinance for consideration by the city council. On September 9th, the city council held a discussion to speak about potential inclusionary housing standards. Additionally, on September 27th, the Planning Commission held a public hearing and adopted a resolution recommending that City Council adopt an inclusionary housing ordinance and an in-lieu fee. Additionally, the Planning Commission provided recommendations for amendments to the draft that's before you tonight.

I'll go over in detail those recommendations later in the presentation. Next slide.

What is inclusionary housing?

It's a local requirement that housing developers include a certain percentage of the units for affordable housing in new developments or to pay in and Luffy, among other options. Next slide. The structure of the proposed inclusionary housing ordinance includes applicability and exceptions, a set-aside requirement, meaning it sets forth the minimum percentage of affordable units that are required.

Also the target income group. So it identifies what income group we want those affordable units for. And alternative compliance methods such as in lieu fees or off-site units. Also additional standards such as the term of affordability, agreement requirements, and others. And also modifications and waivers. Next slide.

Under the applicability and exemptions, the inclusionary housing ordinance applies to new housing projects with five or more units. And some exemptions include projects with development agreements with comparable community benefits approved by city council, projects that are 100% affordable, emergency shelters, ADUs, JADUs, additions, replacement restoration projects which result with no more than by which do not increase existing units by more than five next slide also among the

requirements include the set-aside requirement this this dictates what of what target groups income groups were aiming targeting with the requirements

And so for rent projects, the ordinance indicates that 9% of the units must be for low-income households and 6% must be for moderate-income households.

Now, for sale projects, the target group is 15% for moderate-income households.

In the next slide, you'll see a table that outlines the income brackets now to give you an idea of the various income levels.

And so in the table, you'll see that it provides the household income categories for a four-person household within L.A. County. And so the area median income represents the household income for the middle household in any given region. And so as indicated in the table, the extremely low category is $35,750.

At the very low income category, it is $59,550.

At the low category, it's $95,300. At the moderate category, it's $109,300.

And the AMI for LA County is $91,100. Next slide. The ordinance also includes alternative compliance options for projects where they don't include affordable units. And so the developer has the option to, if they don't want to include affordable units, they can pay an in-lieu fee. and the fees would be used to create affordable housing elsewhere in the city.

Ordinance indicates that they would be required to provide some sort of surety to ensure that the units get built. So they would have to pay some sort of bond or deposit. Next slide. Additional standards for rent projects include that the units must remain affordable for 55 years, that there be a renter's income certification, that the city consent to subleasing,

and that the seller disclose affordability restrictions to new owners of a for-rent project.

Now, for sale projects or units, the units must remain affordable for 45 years. There would need to be a purchaser's income certification.

The city would need to consent to any sub-leasing and new owners, and also the residents must be the principal residents of the owner. Next slide.

Additional standards include an inclusionary housing agreement that would be required before we give them permission to start building. Also, that they have an affordability covenant for a minimum of 30 years for any contiguous lots.

So if they own a lot next door, they would be required to have affordable units there for a minimum of 30 years. Also, the affordable units must be dispersed and comparable to the market rate units. So they have to be at the same quality as a market rate unit.

Also that they would be required to include an inclusionary housing plan at the time of

application to ensure that the developer is knowledgeable and has a plan set out as to how they're going to monitor and provide those affordable units.

Next slide. The Inclusionary Housing Ordinance also has a Modifications and Waivers section, and this would be alLod only in cases where the ordinance is found to be in violation of state or federal law. And this section allows the director to render a decision before or in conjunction with the

decision of a project.

Next slide. slide. Before you is also a resolution that contains the in-lieu fee calculation. So with

this ordinance, it's setting up the framework for calculating the in-lieu fee. And the goal is to create an in-lieu fee that will provide a sufficient amount of money to create affordable housing in the future. And the proposed fee would be equivalent to fulfilling the inclusionary housing production requirements determined by the ordinance. And the theory behind this is that the developer would have to pay the gap between the market rate and the affordable. And so they would have to pay that gap. And we would multiply that gap times the number of units that would be required for the project. And that would yield the in-lue fee. As part of this, if the city council determines that they are going to approve or does approve the resolution, then the city would then take another step to conduct an in-lieu fee study and to determine the market and affordable rent and sale prices to calculate the in-lieu fee. And this would be to ensure that the numbers that we're using are up to date with what's in the market. currently. Next slide. This next slide provides a sample for rent project. So for example, in this sample it includes a 40-unit apartment project. 50% of the units are two-bedroom.

The other 50% are three-bedroom. And so per our ordinance, they would have to provide

some affordable units for two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. And so this table shows that if we apply our inclusionary housing ordinance to this particular project, a for-rent project, they would need to build a total of seven units. Next slide.

Now, in this sample, it provides a for-sale project that's also a 40-unit condo with 50% of the units being two-bedroom and the other 50% being three-bedroom. they would have to build six affordable units at the moderate income level.

Next slide. This next slide outlines the recommendations that the Planning Commission made at their public hearing on September 27th.

The first includes that they would recommend that the City Council amend the ordinance to change it

so that if the number of units result in a fraction, that the developer be required to either provide the unit, the full unit, or pay the full in Luffy for the unit

instead of paying a fraction.

The ordinance currently allows a developer to pay a fraction or provide the unit. Another recommendation was that they Lor the percentage

of the affordable units to 10 to 12 percent instead of 15 percent. They felt that this would help not deter any future developers, and they felt that going with a Lor percentage would make us more competitive with some of our neighbors who may have a higher percentage. Another recommendation was that through the ordinance that we offer incentives, if a developer provides more affordable units beyond what is required.

Another recommendation was that if a development contains units for extremely low or very low income households, that it can receive a credit to reduce the overall number of units that would be required.

Alhambra, their ordinance has a similar provision.

Next slide. Also tonight, we provided redline copies of the ordinance.

Staff is recommending minor edits. It's mostly clarifying language related to the definitions and also clarifying language in relation to the inclusionary housing requirements. It clarifies that inclusionary units are to be provided at an affordable rent and also that inclusionary units for sale must be provided at an affordable housing cost.

Next slide. Staff's recommendation is for the City Council to consider, after closing the public hearing,

considering the evidence submitted during the public hearing that you introduce and waive the first reading of an ordinance

with suggested amendments adding Chapter 21.19 to the Monterey Park Municipal Code, Title 21, and to adopt a resolution establishing an in-lieu inclusionary housing fee calculation or taking such additional related action that may be desirable.

This concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions.

Thank you very much for a very thorough presentation. Colleagues, Councillor Chen, you have the mic.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Jessica, for the presentation.

Yes, I have a few questions concerning this inclusionary housing ordinance.

First of all, I'm okay with the 12% instead of the 15% as the Planning Commission recommends. I'm okay with that. and as I talked about last council meeting when this came up, is that I would like to have this ordinance take effect,

but also we do not want to scare away the investors or the developers that's coming to the city.

If we put too much of a burden or too much emphasis

and they cannot pencil out.

And of course, we understand that they're for profit.

And so why they have to accept, for example, $200 instead of $2,000 per market rate. So there must be some incentive for them to come in other than, you know, putting in the units for affordable or moderate or whatever.

But so I would like to see that the city in this ordinance give them some incentive. For example, the parking requirements, it can pencil out, like give them some parking variance in the project.

or the density, the FARs, the floor area ratio,

that they can build more units or the height limit

or, you know, something that the city can do to give them some incentive. But we have to spell out what kind of incentive that is to be clear

instead of, you know, just that everyone come in, we'll have a different kind of incentive.

then it's not the correct way. He said we have to spell it out. Okay, if you do this, if you do the very low income, then this is the incentive that you will have. If you have the moderates, then this is what the incentive that we need to spell it out. And same as for sale and for rent, same thing. He said we spelled out what kind of incentives that we can give them. in order for them to have the urge to come to the city and develop what they need to do. And at the same time, we help the housing and fulfill the arena numbers. And those are the most important things.

And as for the – I heard the written communications, and I want to respond to that. and I think she asked for low, very low. And I know that the cities recommend the for sale units is for the moderate because I can see the reason for the city to get to the moderate because you need to finance.

You need a mortgage from the bank. And if your income is too low, you cannot even qualify for a loan. and that means you cannot buy. So I think the moderate income is good because they can afford and pass the loan requirements. And so I think if we, for sales units, if we get to the low and restrict it to low income or very low income,

I don't know if they can even qualify for the loan.

And that is kind of like mood in the case. So I think moderate is more reasonable. But for rent, of course, it can go to very low and low income. And that's for sure.

But for sale, I agree that it can just go to at least the moderates.

So, and then the, other than to spell out the incentive, is that we have to make sure that the housing trust fund, which I'm agreed to, we should, you know, with all those new money that's coming in, how to use it. we must have some kind of guidance or something of restrictions and spelled out how it can be used instead of going to some of the places or misuse the funds or, you know, anything. So if we spelled it out clearly, what can this money in the trust account can do and how to do it and of course we know that it's going to be for housing only. But what kind of housing? How do they disperse it? Or is the city going to manage it?

Or are we going to find a contractor or find some of the agents to handle the day-to-day, like the maintenance, all kinds of things that we need to spell out.

but I don't see in the report that how do we do with the housing trust fund. So I think those are the areas that we need to be clear on and put it on paper, put it in the audience so that when developers or investors come into the city, they know exactly what it is. And the most important thing I want to emphasize again is that we have to put in some kind of incentive. Because if I say, if the city just told them, you come to the city, you want to build a 10 units apartment or condos or whatever, but this is what you need to do, and then it cannot pencil out, Then they will go to other cities or go to someplace else and will not do any housing in the city of Monterey Park. And then that defeats the purpose. But if we can give them, okay, you give us so many units for the affordable units or in your money for us to develop some affordable housings, those are the things that you can have. and then they have the incentive and then they will come back to the city and do the developments and fulfill the lean numbers and help the housing markets and that can stabilize the inflation or the uncontrolled increase in rent or the housing costs. So we need to, I think to me, and of course I would like to listen to my colleagues. and other experts on you know on how to uh to make it work. Keep the numbers affordable housings in the city but still have them coming into the city. So I think that's a a fine line and and and a and a balance that we need to uh come up with. So I'd like to hear from my colleagues. Thank you very much. Council Member Chan. Any other members who wish to speak uh Council Member Lange.

You have the mic. Yes, thanks, Mayor. First of all, I want to thank Mayor Lo. I think you're the one who wanted to bring this forward. Yes. And I think it's a good thing that we're doing. You know, as it is when we are creating new ordinances, it's the first time that we're addressing this particular issue. We're not, there's not some standing policy that we're following. So when it comes to first-time ordinances, I think that, you know, Peter made some good points, but I think we should always keep our our mind open our minds open in terms of how to revise and how to fine-tune the first draft as we move forward I think that as time progresses maybe we need to do some kind of reviews maybe on an annual basis we may find through the time that you may find that oh developers are saying they want to do it but this part is a problem or if you guys would have done this and offered this we could do it easier but it's not one of your options right so I think that in the first draft of it we're going to need to have to review it a little bit more along the way to be able to get the input of how it's affecting developers and their decisions and as Peter says the you know I know that you had some incentives that you said for people that exceed the minimum requirements what those incentives are should be clear as well as maybe coming up with some other incentives um you know we're going to have to review you know like i said this is going to be um it's going to be a living document i think uh before we can kind of put it down and say this is our inclusionary housing ordinance uh this is the one that's been revised and is working uh you know and firing in all cylinders if you will um but there's some things I want to ask in terms of when we talk about people that qualify for these low or very low, whatever the low-income housing units, how is it that, who monitors that? Like let's say for example they're in a very low-income housing unit but they're doing well, they're coming up, they're making more money. Who tracks that to ensure that the people that are in those units are the ones that are the low income or very low income or match with the requirement for that unit.

That's an excellent question, Council Member. The city would be involved with the initial onboarding. When they initially apply, we would require the renter's or the owner's income certification. Now, if there's changes to their income, it is an honor system, but you know there could be some some monitoring that the city could do from time to time but you know it is an enforcement really maybe we can put in

some kind of you don't have to make it periodic it could just be a random you know checks on income and random verifications absolutely something like that you know because you know the worst thing that happens is that you create it for low-income, you know, people of low-income, you know, status, and the worst thing that would happen is that you end up having people in there that are not low-income and that are benefiting from it because of its low-income status. You know, like, it's like I said, if somebody goes in there starting out and then they start getting, you know, they're improving their careers, they're doing better, you know, we want to make sure that if they're able to move on to something better, that that becomes available for other people that are in the low-income situation as well.

They would be required to enter into an agreement with the city, and that does require certain reporting. And so we would require that they do some reporting to us, and it would all be spelled out in the agreement. And it would be up to staff to make sure that that reporting is actually happening.

Okay. So then we would have staff that would be following up on that and providing updates on whether or not everyone's up to date or all the statuses have been confirmed. That's correct. Right. Okay. And then one of the things I'm just curious about is that, you know, we have the option I'm hearing that if A developer didn't want to or could not put in low-income units that they could pay in lieu fees now I just want to be you know, I don't know that the Calculations if you will but I don't think we want to find I mean, what's the situation that's best where? We don't have developers just saying I'm just gonna pay the in lieu fees because they're so little that I'm going to make more money selling the unit or renting it out at the full rate as opposed to, do you know what I mean? Like, is it balanced so that the in lieu fees, you know, they're going to have to think, like, well, it's almost, you know, it's about the same if I have to pay the in lieu fees or if I build the affordable units. You know what I'm saying? Sure.

I think that's where the study is important because a market analysis would determine where is the market, What is the baseline, right? And what it would be an affordable fee and rate. And then they would have to pay that gap. And so we can use that gap and apply it to other projects so that we can help create more affordable units and maybe in another project.

So those in-lieu fees would go into the trust? Is that how that works? Yes, that's correct.

Okay, got it.

Okay, great. Those are my only questions. I support it. You know, we're moving forward. I know that we can't get the perfect document the first time around and you know someone made some comments I think about in perpetuity. I don't support that because As you know, you know Monterey parks been around over 100 years, right and and as time progresses things change and I wouldn't want some type of Perpetual agreement to in the future all of a sudden we can't make adjustments to our zoning or whatever because we have this perpetual Agreement on affordable housing here. Maybe, you know We may have an opportunity to move that away do something else here and build even better affordable housing But if we get tied into some forever Provisions that's going to make things difficult. So I'm okay with the limited times on the you know the various ones on the rental and the and the for sale ones As I said, it's not going to be the the perfect version I think that some of the things that the staff should also do is for the cities that Our that have inclusionary housing ordinances to also touch base with them on a regular basis to see what they're running into Or what our developers are saying is and then that way we can kind of also get a gauge of what's going on in the all the quote-unquote Inclusionary housing ordinance cities and I'm sure that we will see certain trends that come up amongst all of us And then at that time perhaps there will be times for us to review or the planning commission to address some of those things that are brought up and then perhaps provide some revisions at that time to streamline or to fine-tune the ordinance but I'm in support of it I think councilmember Chan made some good points regarding being specific on the incentives and I think you answered all the other questions so thank you very thorough and I'm in support of this ordinance thank you very

Thank you very much. Catherine Chan. Catherine, you have the mic.

I wanted to ask a question. So planning commission suggests to take the full units affordable or in lieu fee. I would like to know why. You know, why can't we do fractions? Because most projects may not have round numbers. So, you know, in order to divide the formula. So fraction will provide more flexibilities to developers. So I would like to know any reason behind their decisions or behind their suggestions. And for incentive, I like the incentive. It's good to have it for excessive number of affordable units and also excessive units on very low income. Since we take in Luffy, then we have money to provide incentive. So that actually makes sense. We have seen number of our neighboring city and we don't want it to be too far off. So far the number looks okay. So for the first question, do you know why?

Yes, I do, Council Member. This comment came because one of our planning commissioners felt that the ordinance, the way it was worded, was not equitable. If we can go to the slide that shows the fraction.

in this case one more forward with the table it's the one no go towards the end right right there

one more no I need the table that one yes okay in this example the units when we apply the six percent for the low income it results in a fraction right the 2.4 and so the comment was the ordinance allows for a developer to instead of paying providing the three units they could provide the two and pay 0.4 paying a new fee of 0.4 and so he felt that it was an inequitable why would we allow them to pay the fee for a 0.4 versus they would have to provide a full unit right because they cannot provide a 0.4 unit right they so why would we give them a break if they pay they should if it would be either way it would be you give us the unit or you pay for the full unit and so that's where they felt the ordinance was inequitable we're cutting them a break if they give us cash for the 0.4? Yeah, in that case, this kind of makes sense because you want them to provide the full unit. But what if, let's say, 2.1, right? So they have to provide three? They would have to provide three. Right, so, I mean, then it feels like the number-wise, we don't have anything that's really fair for people that some of the fraction may be 2.01. You know, so if we say if that case, then you have to provide us the full units, then it will add, you know, higher costs to the developer. But if we can do fractions, at least, you know, we give people flexibilities when they do calculations. But, you know, this is something that do we want to take advantage of the equation or not. So, yeah, maybe we can actually, yeah, discuss more about it.

Okay, great. Thank you, Councilman Yu. You know, I first want to begin by saying, you know, I really want to thank our planning commissioners for doing a deep dive into the initial proposal for the IHO

and really making, I think, some really good, strong recommendations. I like the recommendation to provide an incentive if a development contains units for extremely low and very low income households it can receive a credit and reduce the overall number of affordable units required as well as if a developer provides more affordable units beyond what is required then the city may offer incentives.

Because I think that as Councillor Chan mentioned, it has to be a balance between carrot and

sticks.

I think that we can't just apply sticks.

It should be a combination of incentives.

And I think especially if there's a concern that our policy may be skewed towards only moderate housing,

then hopefully then if we can provide a strong enough incentive,

then it can encourage more low and very low housing as well. Because again, as we all know, that part of our requirements is also to make sure that there is a diverse cross-section of housing that is planned for in the community. And I think that that's actually a good recommendation.

Now as far as the issue of the fractioning, you know, I mean, I understand where the recommendation comes from.

And actually, I do agree with it because, I mean, as an example, yeah, I'm 2.4. I mean, you know, obviously, I don't think anyone's going to live in a unit that is like only a quarter of the size of the neighboring unit, you know. And frankly, you know, I think that we also shouldn't be, you know, let's not – when we are encouraging people to provide housing that is affordable, that, you know, it's also not this almost a – stratified, classified system, so that if you live in the unit that is either for moderate or low income, that somehow it's smaller, like a quarter compared to the non-moderate one.

Because, again, it's also about, not just about equity, but it's also about dignity and place

of pride when you either are owning or renting. So, again, I do appreciate all the recommendations by the Planning Commission, and I think these are all good recommendations.

I do have a question.

Because one of the, well, actually, the one person who sent in a written communication,

what is the main difference between a land trust compared to a housing trust?

What are the key differences?

I would like to defer this question to our city attorney.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, so the one trust, the affordable housing trust, as proposed in tonight's affordable or draft ordinance has money in it. Okay. The other one

has land in it. I see. So you would designate particular pieces of vacant parcels that would be

either identified as potential surplus properties or actually surplus those properties and then place them into that trust.

It would be city property.

There are some pieces of city property throughout the city that either are being underutilized at the moment, are vacant at the moment, or could be potentially recycled for a different purpose.

So those are the types of properties that we're talking about.

We couldn't designate private property for that purpose without purchasing the private property and putting it into the land trust. But anything that the city controls certainly could be part of that land trust.

I see. Out of Crossley, do we have a survey of like every property that the city currently owns, Mr. New Manager?

We know a majority of our property has buildings or facilities on them. Any type of vacant, well, I wouldn't even say it's a vacant property. A parking lot is being utilized for a public purpose at this time. and other vacant properties are slated to assist us in infrastructure okay for instance our delta planet has a piece of property that's next to it in the city of rosemead that has a future plan to build an additional reservoir next to it okay we also have a piece of property that is above the city yard that is not vacant but it has a vacated reservoir that is supposed to be renovated to a larger reservoir okay so you can consider those to be I wouldn't say surplus property but property that's not being fully utilized at this point

in time I see um and mr. Marin I'm sorry just to add on to that a private

property owner or developer could also offer up a piece of property in lieu of

either paying the fee or paying or building the actual unit so that would be a dedication of property to that housing trust fund which would then be dedicated only for that purpose and we would deed restricted for that purpose

so but that would be still public property that would be offered up as as

part of the overall development project and what are we proposing tonight I'm

Speaking of other alternatives, besides in lieu of fee, are we also then offering an incentive? I know off-site is being recommended, but maybe can we also ask for a land donation as well?

And, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, I think that's part of the affordable housing plan that's conceptualized with these draft regulations is that, to some extent, it's up to the developer to come up with a plan for how to meet the requirements of an inclusionary housing regulation. So it could be a combination of actually building the units, paying fees, dedicating property, whatever it comes up with. And I also wanted to mention in my notes the idea of incentives. Remember that this to some extent goes hand in hand with the bonus density regulations that still have to be examined by the city council in order to bring them into compliance with state lot. So one of the things that the council may want to consider is give direction in terms of

how these draft regulations should be perhaps redrafted or enhanced, and then in addition,

provide direction with regard to bring back the density bonus regulations for consideration so that the two can be considered together. And you can see how the incentives from the bonus density, for example, will complement the inclusionary housing. If we do both within the inclusionary housing ordinance, it becomes a bit confusing from really a practical

standpoint because the density bonus regulations are required by the state

whereas these regulations are completely discretionary with regard

to the city council whether or not you want to adopt them and how to implement them.

I see. I see.

Because that was something you had brought up again, that we, as an incentive, the density bonus, right?

That's the suggestion as for how to do it. And because I have also, because we have the housing element, and that has defined, like the city attorney has mentioned, that if we do something that's contrary to the past housing element percentage or whatever, then we have some issues. And as for how to do it, how to fix it, I think the city attorney has to come up with some plans, like you say, either amend the density or the housing element so that the two won't contradict each other. And so those are the things that I would like to see. And what I'm saying, the incentive and everything, is a suggestion as to how to, the mechanics of how to make it work. I think that's into the legal matters and the practical matters and how to make it work. I would like to see, you know, those details.

Okay, thank you. No, I'm in agreement. I think that, you know, it's one thing to commit to something that is put in a document,

but, you know, ultimately it has to work. It has to work in making sure we meet our arena obligations, but also I think from a social equity perspective that it does make a difference in providing accessibility and affordability, which I think all of us know is an important issue in terms of having an

equitable housing policy.

Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, perhaps I can ask

some questions to help direct staff in terms,

because it sounds to me like you want to have this come back and perhaps have it come back in conjunction with updates to the bonus density regulations so that you can see how these work hand in hand. And if that's the case, then just nod in agreement

if I'm understanding that correctly.

And other than the density, I think it's more than that. It's like the height limits. Right.

So the density bonus regulations will talk about all those types of things and provide incentives for density bonuses

And they can work hand in hand with an inclusionary housing regulations. So I don't have those in front of me because we haven't done anything to the bonus density regulations yet But it seems to make sense to look at those both in Together in conjunction so that the City Council can understand how those those these two concepts work together

Right. And then to add to the complexity is the state's law that's coming from Sacramento. And it seems like they're changing all the time and new stuff coming out all the time. And then make sure that the city has to comply with the state law. And now they have the density bonus.

They have the parking requirement waivers if you're close to transit stops or that kind of things.

So all those are pretty confusing. Yes.

I agree. Right. So it's not an easy job.

And so I think that they may, you know, take some efforts for the city to come up with some workable ordinance that will comply with the state regulation and get to the RENA numbers and get to the affordability of the housings. And, you know, those are very elaborate stuff.

So as a first step, I think I'm seeing consensus for the council to have us come back with those two types of regulatory schemes together so you can understand how they work together. And then secondarily, one of the things that has been discussed is not putting too great a burden on developers. And so I want to go to the definition of project, which is in the current draft regulation. Right now, project means any residential or mixed-use proposal for the creation of five or more new dwelling units.

Now, to the Council's discussion points, five units, and if you're required to provide 10% or 15% of those units as being affordable or paying in-lue fee,

that may be fairly expensive for a developer coming in with five units. So the question is, is five units too low?

Do you want a different number in there?

And based upon the number, do you want to have projections within the staff report of examples of what a typical housing development might look like if it was, for example, five or more units versus 10 or more units or what have you? So that you have some idea in the economy of scale with regard to how much a developer would have to put into that type of project.

Yeah, I think that makes sense because a smaller units the cost of building is higher and then if we say 10% of five units is you know half of the half a unit which doesn't make sense at all and so

maybe we can have a progressive scale like the like you because it's just out of my mind now that we have to really

pencil out what's going on say zero to five will be extended

well that's what we have here and then five to ten units will be this percentage or that kind of requirements over ten to

30. I mean, I just throw some. Graduated scale. Right. Right. We'll have

planning staff will come up with a graduated scale so that you can mix and match with the categories or perhaps, as you say, put in a graduated element.

I think also just to follow up on that in terms of the percentages if you're gonna have graduated try to find what the sweet spot

is obviously like on the example we have five units and you have to do half half

that's just not gonna work right so what percentage would be the sweet spot for developers where they say okay well that's reasonable you know we don't

want to it seems pointless to go too high because they're not gonna do it right so I think in terms of what's again like what you said reasonable

percentages for a graduated scale. And then, you know, obviously, if you have a bigger project with more units, you can parse it out a little better. But in the example, if you only have five units, you can't do it, right? So maybe not even, maybe even examining not only the percentages in a graduated scale, but in terms of developers, what, I'm sure they have a sweet spot number of

units that that they you know where the threshold comes where they're able to

say okay we can do affordable housing we can meet these easily you know so yeah I think I know I think you know what I'm getting at it's just we don't know a lot at this time but I think the thing about matching up with the state and then also trying to find a sweet spot so that when people and developers are coming to look at it it's it doesn't make it's not just totally out there you know just some crazy percentage that they're not going to be able to meet so and then one last thing from my

notes there was discussion about how the the money from the trust fund would be used the draft

ordinance does mention that in general and perhaps the council would be more comfortable if we added

in a second our last sentence into that and this would was on page six of twelve of your handout which has the red lines in it it's section 21 19 point zero five zero subsection a3 you can see there at the bottom the last sentence it says the monies in such fund may be used exclusively for providing affordable housing the city and for reasonable costs associated with the acquisition

development maintenance improvement and oversight of affordable housing now I'll tell you from

experience ordinarily money from the trust fund is used to pay things like development impact fees application fees those types of additional fees that are incorporated into development and it helps reduce the overall cost for the development but perhaps you would like the additional sentence added on to there which would be such additional uses may be designated by as may be designated by written resolution so that way i think it was council member leong mentioning that on an annual basis we can figure out perhaps how those monies can be better used and the council can give that direction via resolution rather than having to amend the entire ordinance and if that's something that you wouldn't want then we can add that into the draft resolution or draft ordinance

when it comes back for council consideration okay okay that's all i had on my list i'm happy to

answer any other questions actually i have a question follow-up question um uh to well

I don't know whoever can answer.

But again, because the example we use is a 10-unit development. But historically, what has been, I guess it would also help me understand, like say the last five, 10 years, what has been a typical development size? Has it been, have we seen a lot of 10-unit developments or has it been more than that? I know that the City Council has one housing project that is almost completed on Atlantic where the hotel is the Holiday Inn and then the Culladon projects.

So, I mean, in terms of what we anticipate, I mean, are we seeing, are we anticipating

more of those larger type developments that we've seen before. I'm just curious, what has been the historic and what is the anticipated and I realize when we anticipate that, that's hard to anticipate, but just based on the application we've seen so far, what have we been seeing in the city? I can chime in on this one. I did do a little research on what we've approved in the last five years. And the average housing project is 85 units. 85. Okay. And as of recent, we've been getting some conceptual plans. We have a couple in the pipeline. One is for 111 units. The other one is for 27 units. So these are projects that would eventually come before the city council. But these are Just to give you an idea of what we're seeing today, 27, 110, another one that's about 77 units. So we are seeing some larger projects coming through. I mean, and if that's the case, then again, yes, obviously for the 10 unit, then I can see how there might be concerns about, you know, if half, huh? Yeah, but I mean, if we're talking about the development of that side, like 27 and above, then it doesn't seem that out of the ordinary about, you know, having those percentages that are proposed.

Oh, yes.

Mayor, Council Members, if I could also add in. the other criteria is when you look at how many units can be on a piece of property is the cost of the land is the number of units that the city will allow and if there's an increase in density that that may assist them in not only purchasing the land but have a return on their investment So there's, I think, to say an average is 85 units over the past whatever years, five years, five years. I don't know if we can really lean on that number is what I'm saying. Because right now, prices are extremely high for property. Building costs are extremely high. We all know that. I think there's a group sitting in the corner that is experiencing that as we speak. and many other developers that are at the application phase. So I don't want you to have an illusion that we have an average number on this. I think probably the better foundation or the starting point would be where we're at right now. It's definitely a new time in building.

Okay. And that's fine. And finance. Right. right and financing definitely financing we all know that okay okay no thank you for that clarification

it if mr mayor members of the council that was my list in terms of direction from the city council it sounds to me that like the best thing for us to do is to continue this and then marry it in essence with the bonus density regulations so that you have both sets of regulations in front of you

when you're considering making changes to this particular policy.

But we have direction in terms of project size, which will have a graduated table.

We'll add in the sentence that I mentioned, and we will provide you with sort of a breakdown

of what types of incentives might be used for the money that would be collected. I guess one other thing is, Mr. Mayor, you mentioned the public comment, included the comment about land trust. Is that something that you'd like to have explored?

Colleagues, is that something that's of interest? Land trust? Yes.

Or it would be either or, however you would want to set it up.

Do we have any? Actually, that's a good question. Do we have any area?

Yeah. Do we have examples? Did it ever happen? Oh, examples? That I can't answer.

I can formulate it in my mind, but I don't have any hard copy examples.

Because if you say people donate or give it to the city, I think it's not that common.

I don't know. If it does not happen, then we don't have to consider.

How about we make a search to make a determination whether we have any examples and we'll bring them back and the council can make a determination at that point.

Sure. Okay.

Yeah. And then one question is that we only touch on the housing element,

and we are not touching on the zoning thing, right?

Because the zoning, the land use, I mean, not zoning,

I mean the land use is passed by the citizens of the city.

So if we do anything that's contrary or any amendments to it,

it has to be passed by the citizens as well. Right. But we have nothing to do with that. Correct.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, the discussions that you're having tonight don't affect the land use element. The land use element is separate.

And I know Jessica has probably three or four lists of all the things that we need to do with regard to zoning in order to marry the zoning with the land use element.

And that's going to be a major project next year.

Okay. But it won't affect this. Okay. Yeah, I just want to make sure that we don't, that the council can decide on these issues instead of, you know, having to go through the citizens' vote. Yeah.

Yes, this is completely within the city council's authority.

Council member, to answer your question about the land dedication, we did do a survey of some of the cities in our area. And according to the survey, I show that several cities in our area do allow the land dedication as an option for meeting the inclusionary housing requirement, including Alhambra, La Habra, South Pasadena, and maybe one more. Yeah. And Pasadena. So South Pasadena and Pasadena. So we can look to see what other cities are doing and come up with something that would work for us here, if that's something that the council wants us to add. Okay.

Now, because I'm not a real estate people and I'm not into that area, so my limited knowledge on those. So say, for example, just based on what the mayor, city attorney, and you mentioned. So if I have a land, a piece of land, and I donate, say, for example, 10% of my land to dedicate this to the city, and that will cover, you know, my affordable units or the annual fee, am I getting that or I'm totally off?

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I think it's best for us to come back with some hard examples as opposed to speculating.

I can give you what I think would make sense, but I think it would make more sense for us to see what other people have done and come back to you with a plan if that's something that you would want to do.

Okay, that's fine.

I THINK CLEARLY WE NEED MORE INFORMATION BEFORE WE CRAFT A FINAL DOCUMENT THAT IN

IT SO PROBABLY WILL CONTINUE TO EVOLVE AS WELL.

DO WE NEED A MOTION TO CONTINUE THIS?

NO, WE'LL BRING IT BACK AND RENOTICE IT.

OKAY.

Great. Okay. Thank you very much. I thought that was a very robust conversation. Okay.

Let's see. Continue on the agenda. We are now on to item

5A. I'm sorry. 4B. I'm sorry. Oops, I missed it. Thank you. 4B. Public hearing and adoption of resolution authorizing the application and receipt of grant funds for the permanent local housing allocation program through the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

May the staff report, please?

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development, otherwise also known as HCD,

issued a Notice of Funding Availability, known as the NOFA.

for the permanent local housing allocation program entitlement funds.

Before Monterey Park can receive these funds,

the city must submit an application to HCD

no later than November 30th of 2022 this month.

The application includes a five-year plan from 2019 through 2023

for the proposed use of the PLHA program funds. The estimated available funds for this five-year period is $1.9 million.

Only three years can be included in the current application, which are years 2019, 2020, and 2021, for an amount rounded up to $1.4 million.

If awarded, it is anticipated the state will issue these awards to the city around the month of February of 2023.

Separate streamline applications for the additional two years, which are 2022 and 2023, will be submitted when a notice of funding is available by the HCD.

Additional action by the City Council to submit the application for the additional two years of the five-year period is not required unless the activities being recommended today for approval by City Council are amended.

Staff is recommending that the PLHA application for the five-year period include activities related to assisting persons who are experiencing homelessness. All of the activities will focus on individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness. with incomes at or below the 30% AMI

with a goal of assisting a minimum of 10 households per year

with retaining and or securing housing. To be eligible for the grant funds, the city must conduct a public hearing,

which we're here today to do so,

be in compliance with the housing element, which was adopted by city council back in January of 2022, and is currently under review in that element,

housing element is currently under review by the state of California

in the submittal of the housing element

annual performance report for the corresponding years.

The public notice was published on October 6th, 2022

in the Monterey Park Progress newspaper

to inform the public of the 10-day public review period

public hearing for the discussions on the 19, on the five-year plan, for the five-year plan.

The draft of the plan was available for public review from October 6th through October 19th of 2022. And at this, and at the time of preparing the staff report, staff has not received any written comments concerning the plan, the PLHA plan.

This concludes my presentation and Debbie Sotik is also present via Zoom to answer any questions.

Okay.

Members? Oh, yes.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Let me open the public hearing. Okay.

Do we have any written or?

No communications. No written communications, sorry. Any speakers? No.

Okay.

And I'll close it. Okay.

All right, members.

Any questions? Councilman Chen, you have the mic.

Just want to ask this money, this grant, is it just pretty similar to the usual grants that we got from HUD?

It's entitlement money that is, I don't know the word to use,

not left or but that's been not allocated to other projects that we are that they're now being allocated to entitlement cities and we are an entitlement city okay so those are extra money

it's extra money extra money and also other than helping people to remodel usually improve their

homes or do something before now we add this is this is not for that program it's not no okay so So this is for homeless?

This is for homeless and helping with permanent housing.

Okay. Okay. Just want to make sure that it's not the regular. No, it's correct.

Every year we have, and that's only a small amount.

So what you're referring to are CDBG and home grants, and that's a continuous program that won't stop.

This is not a continuous program. At this point, it's just a five-year program.

I see. Okay.

Okay.

I think that there would be good some money from the from HUD and help the housing and the homeless. Thank you

Councilman, I'd like yes, if you don't have any comments, I'd like to make a motion

I go

Okay, move to adopt a resolution authorizing city manager or designee to apply for and accept grant funding in the amount of

1 million nine hundred thirteen thousand two hundred and twenty six dollars from the California Department of Housing and Community Development permanent local housing allocation program to authorize city manager

does need to prepare and transmit the final documents to the California

Department of Housing Community Development authorize city manager

does need to execute and submit the standard agreement for this grant

including amendments

the City Manager or designee to appropriate $814,496 to the fiscal year 22-23 budget and

to take any such related additional actions that may be desired.

Moved by Councillor Lange, seconded by Councillor Yu. Hearing no further comments or questions, members please vote.

Votes unanimous. Motion carries.

Thank you very much. Okay, on to New Business 5A.

Consider this an impossible action to read by title only, waive further reading, and introduce ordinance amending titles 16 and 17 of the Monarch Park Municipal Code by adopting the 2022 edition of the California Building Standards Code and the Monarch Park Amendment to the California Building Standards Code, fed public hearing for November 16, 2022.

Mayor, members of the City Council, every three years, the California Building Standards Commission establishes a new statewide construction code. And these codes will become effective on January 1st, 2023. California law allows local governments to make limited amendments. Consistent with past practice, staff is recommending that the City Council adopt the new 2022 California Construction Codes

with certain amendments necessary for the protection of the public. Therefore, it is recommended that City Council consider reading by title only,

waiving further reading, and introducing the proposed ordinance, scheduling a public hearing on November 16, 2022,

for the second reading and adoption of the ordinance and or taking additional related action that may be desirable. Both Dennis Trangle, our interim building official, and I are available to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you.

Just simply put, we just conform to the state ordinance.

That's correct. We're adopting what the state put out with minor amendments. Thank you.

And then we would then schedule public hearing for November 16th right at the next council meeting?

You would set the council, I'm sorry, the public hearing for November 16th.

And notices for that go out tomorrow if the city council sets forth the public hearing for November 16th.

Okay. Oh, do we have any public comment requests? I don't have any. Okay. Thank you. Anybody wants to speak?

Not any noise. Okay. Do you need a motion to schedule the hearing?

Thank you. It can be all done in one motion. So introduction, wave first reading, and schedule the public hearing for November 16, 2022.

Okay.

Sorry, Mayor, looks like we do have a speaker.

Yes. Oh, come on. Okay. Great.

Please come forward.

Yeah, please state your dean.

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor Lo and council members. My name is Phil Simonelli. I'm currently working on a local project here.

We have a large group of engineers and professionals. working on the project we've been working on the project for a number of months um and um

you know the current economic climate has caused us to reevaluate some materials and systems on the project while we continue to develop it under a tight schedule this includes our shoring drawings for the project the building itself required infrastructure and street improvements We have a sizable team working on the project and we are prepared to submit this project on November 21st. If the project is required to comply with the upcoming code changes, we need to reevaluate our submission date and verify if our client can bear the additional expenses and prolonged schedule for the project. project. We ask for your consideration in following the recommendation of the staff report and allow us to issue the project for plan check under the current code prior to the end of the year. Thank you for your attendance and your consideration. Do you have any questions?

Can I answer that? If your project is submitted before January 1st, then the code in effect, which is the current code would be the governing code. So if you have your application in before January 1st, you would have to comply with the current code and not the new requirements.

Okay, thank you. So get it in if you haven't already.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, if I can just add to that particular comment, you still have to get a building permit by April 1st, 2023

in order to comply with what was just said.

We understand what's written in the recommendation. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

Okay. Move to approve item.

Sorry.

Was that 5A? 5A.

My screen.

Move by Councilman Lang. Seconded by Councilman Yu. Okay. Let's see. Hearing no further comments or questions, members please vote.

Votes unanimously. Motion carries.

All right. Thank you so much.

Okay. On to city communications from City Council.

Councilor, where are you?

Last week I attended the Luminaries' grand opening, and talking to the owner, they spent about $2.5 million to remodel the restaurants, and the owner is a second-generation owner. He said if his father is still there, he won't allow him to spend that money. So I want to say not only the atmosphere, but then the food is so fantastic. The price is so reasonable. So please visit them especially to celebrate your holiday events. I also attend a library event featuring, to farewell, our outgoing council members, Peter Chen and Hans Liang. We had so much fun, especially with Mike Inc. being the emcee. I'm a big fan of Mike Inc. I really like his sense of humor and makes everybody laugh and had a good time. And there's a rule that night.

If you want to speak, you either have to present the certificates or donate money to the library. I don't have a moderate park certificate set to present to them that night,

or I forgot to bring cash, so too bad I didn't have a chance to go up and speak. But I wanted to say they are actually a great team. I really appreciate the two council members. And being such a great teammate, good mentor, and especially always willing to help and coach new council members like me and Mayor Lo. So thank you so much for all your contributions. I didn't get a chance to speak, but really appreciate your service. Thank you.

Yes, $40, yes. Thank you very much, Councilor Yu.

And also, if I could, if you'll allow the indulgence, but I'd also like to also wish you a happy birthday.

Shall we sing happy birthday? Okay, two, three.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear Khan. Happy birthday to you.

It's on public record now. Happy birthday. Council Member Chan. Yeah, thank you, Council Member Yuan Yu, for the kind words. And, yeah, you can patch money to the library. You don't have to pay cash. All you can say is, hey, I put in so much money.

Your word is good as cash. And thank you for the kind words. Yeah. And it was a very busy week, two weeks for me.

I went to the Monster Mash.

And as you have mentioned, the staff mentioned that it was a lot of kids and adults. They came out and have a good time.

And I was there and I had a good time too.

And thanks to the staff.

I know that city clerk has a booth, fire department, police department, public works, and recreation and parks.

You know, all have a booth there and people just really enjoy. Thank you so much. And then on the 25th, that's the luminaries grand opening. I think all of us are there and celebrate the grand opening. It was a great venue there. They spent so much money to remodel, and it was very contemporary and nice view.

You can see the St. Gabriel Valley, the mountains, the freeway, and the food was good.

So we will go there. and I ask the residents, I mean, you have some celebration or, you know, thinking about where to have dinner. That's the place to go. And then on October 26th, there's a coffee with the cops,

and I want to thank the police chief and the staff putting this together, and a lot of people, and I think most of us were there and talked to different people,

and the police officers, and those are the good stuff

because then the residents, in a very casual manner, and they can ask questions, mingle with the cops. I think that's good, and I know that you have done this many times before,

so please continue this kind of casual activities so that people mingle with the cops and reduce the obstacles or barriers between the resident and the cop

because you are in uniform, you have a gun, you have a badge, kind of intimidating sometimes. But with that casual environment, that helps. And of course, coffee and donut, that helps too. And then, yes, like Council Member Yvonne Drew, that Hans and I, we have a farewell party last Friday and all the proceeds went to the library. and thank you all of us, all of you that came and I know the city managers, city attorney, police chief, fire chief and a lot of staff that came

and all the friends and officials from other cities

they came and have some kind words for Hans and I so very appreciate and thank you I thought you guys would be tougher than that just other than saying good stuff you may roses or you know say something that's that that we have no no argument that we cannot do anything there's no consequence but but thank you so much for the kind words and the participation

and your support to the library and yesterday I was in and I think a mayor was there is there's a roundtable talk about API hate crime and it was

attended, hosted by Assemblymember Mike Fong and he invited the Attorney General Rod Bonter,

came to San Gabriel to talk about the hate crimes and many other organizations were there and it was well attended, good discussion and talk about what to do, maybe the American and elaborate on it. And today, this morning, I went to USC, attended the Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuth, and she came to Southern California

and talked about things in the Army,

the recruiting and the issues, the military and so forth. So it was well attended, and I do thank her to have the recruiting center in the city of Monterey Park and also the recruiting of API and Latinos to the military because to me it's a choice, another choice for the students

or the people that has an intention

because the Army is not just about fighting.

is you can be a doctor, you can be an engineer, you can be a scientist, accountants, doctors, also in the Army, and that's a choice that the students can take for your career. So those are the things that I have attended, and have a good night. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Chan. Councilman Liang. Yes, thank you, Mayor. As most of you may have known, I was on vacation. I was not at our last council meeting, a much-needed vacation, but returned in time to attend the library fundraiser. And I want to thank, again, everyone who took the time to be there Friday night, last Friday night, and their contributions to our library. I think it was a very heartwarming and friendly event.

want to thank everyone. It was, it was, it's always great to get everyone together, especially in the midst of COVID and everything. Finally, we can get together. The timing worked out really well for us

to, to share some time and some space together. So that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you,

Councilor Liang. And for my report, again, I want to again mention, and though the presentation

earlier tonight during communications, but I had the privilege of attending the Centennial Awards. again thank you Chief Wiese and your police department for including us for

a really special recognition again I think we should be very proud of the

work of our community engagement team again it is innovative outside-the-box

thinking and it's made a different tangible difference in our community and

hopefully it's one that other agencies will look at to replicate also I

attended the Monster Mash event.

And again, it's really great to see such a larger turnout from the year before.

And again, it's another sign that things are hopefully back to normal for us.

As well as on Friday, I too was probably part of the hundreds of people who attended the

Library Foundation dinner. That was also a tribute to the work of our colleagues, Council Member Liang and Council

or Chan for their time on city council and the community.

You know, again, it's, you know, it has to be said that, you know, it was held at the

main ballroom at Luminati and it was a packed house.

And I think that is a testament to really the appreciation that the community has had

for their work and also the affection we have for our library because the tickets and proceeds were to go to our beloved library. And so, again, all those really was a show of community and civic pride for our two council members and also for one of our probably most beloved institutions in the city, our library. And so, again, thank you for having that and allowing us and the community to be a part of it. And as Council Member Chan also mentioned, there was a roundtable, which I also was in attendance, convened by the Attorney General and our Assemblymember Mike Fong and attended by, as a guest, the Attorney General Rob Bonta. And it also included leaders from the community, for example, from our own community, Ms. Geh Yuan, who many of us may know her involvement with the Chinatown

Service Center and also the Chinese American Museum, I mean the Chinese American Museum,

as well as leaders from the Asian Youth Center board. Also, actually, the chair of the Asian Youth Center board is also another Monarch Park resident, Ricky Choi,

and the Chinatown Service Center was there as well.

And the purpose was to discuss what is the unfortunate prevalence still of hate crimes against those

who are of Asian American descent.

And the issue, of course, we all knew really became more prevalent during the pandemic because of rhetoric, especially from certain national leaders.

But also it's an issue that still persists.

And I would say that it's a good stepping point to also talk about the other unfortunate that incidents of hate that have been directed at other communities that have been reported. I mean, just last week, you know, it was reported about some signs over the freeway on the west

side that were very anti-Semitic.

And I think it unfortunately shows that hate that's based on religion, gender, ethnicity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion.

Unfortunately, a lot of these different phobias still exist,

and I think that it is incumbent upon ourselves,

especially during times in which our public discourse

at the national and local level can be very heated, to remember that we're all in this together and we're all one community.

And I think that was probably the message

that was conveyed at yesterday's roundtable. And again, we want to thank our Assemblymember,

Mike Fong, for his leadership and convening a very important conversation.

And I think that's it for me.

The only thing I want to close by is, you know, next week is Election Day, November 8th.

And so all of you, please remember to vote.

And with that, let's see, is there anything else? Feature agenda items? None.

Closed session? No.

And so with that, we will adjourn at 8.35 p.m.

Thank you. Okay.