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Unofficial until approved by the
Alhambra City Council
MINUTES
Special Meeting
ALHAMBRA CITY COUNCI L
Council Chambers, 111 South First Street
January 4 , 2022
9:00 a .m.
ROLL CALL: At 9:30 A .m., on Wednesday, January 4, 2022 the Alhambra City Council me t virtually via Zoom.
PRESENT via Zoom: MAZA , MALONEY , ANDRADE-STADLER , LEE ABSENT: P É REZ
Officials Present via Zoom : City Manager Binnquist, City Attorney Montes, Assistant City Manager Garcia, Deputy City Manager Stover, Assistant City Clerk Lamb M cCarthy , Director of Public Works/ Utilities Ray, Director of Parks and Recreation Macias , Marketing and Communications Specialist Nguyen, Director of Community Development Ho, Fire Chief Ragusa , Director of Human Resources Ko , Management Analyst Garcia , P rincipal Planner Lam CITY CLERK REPORT - NOTICE NO. N2M 22-1
The Assistant City Clerk hereby report ed that she duly g ave notice of the special meeting of the City Council being held this morning pursuant to the order of the Mayor and in accordance wit h Section 54956 of the Government Code of the State of California.
READING OF ORDINANCE TITLES
Government Code Section 36934 requires that all ordinances be read in full prior to City Council taking action on the ordinance. By listing the ordinance titl e on the Council agenda, Council may determine that the title has been read.
Action Taken : On motion of Ms. ANDRADE-STADLER , seconded by Ms. LEE , the City Council determined that the titles to all ordinances which appear ed on this public agenda had been r ead, and waived further reading. Hearing no objections, the Mayor so ordered.
Vote: Moved: ANDRADE-STADLER Seconded: LEE
Ayes: MAZA , MALONEY, ANDRADE-STADLER, LEE
Noes: NONE
Absent: PÉREZ
CONSENT AGENDA (Item No . 1)
1. AN URGENCY ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ALHAMBRA MUNICIPAL CODE TO ADD CHAPTER 22.30 PERTAINING TO URBAN LO T SPLITS AND TO AMEND SECTION
23.16.020 AND ADD CHAPTER 23.90 PERTAINING TO URBAN DWELLINGS – F2M21- 1-4-22 2
16 , O2M 22-4797 , R2M 22-1
On September 16, 2021, Senate Bill 9 (SB 9, Atkins), was signed into law by the Governor.
SB9 amended the California Government Co de to allow for urban lot splits on R-1 lots .
Effective January 1, 2022, these changes would require local agencies to ministerially approve applications to allow pr operty owners to split a single family lot into two lots, add a second home to their lot or split the lot into two and place duplexes on each (which would create up to four housing units on a property currently limited to one single-family house).
On Nove mber 8, 2021, the City Council expressed desire for development of an ordinance in order to retain some local control related to SB9 applications. The Council directed staff to identify areas in SB9 where the City could adopt local standards governing urb an lot splits and development of urban dwellings. SB 9 allows local agencies to adopt loca l ordinances provided that the standards within the local ordinance are objective and do not prohibit an urban lot split and/or the development of urban dwellings.
On December 13, 2021, Council was presented with a “menu ” of standards, including items tha t other San Gabriel Valley cities were doing, and the potential impact of the specific standards. Of the 15 menu items, Council desired to pursue 12 of the items. The proposed standards reflect ed Council ’s direction.
Publ ic Comment :
P É REZ: Councilmember P é rez entered the meeting at 9:06 a.m. 1) Melissa MICHELSON made sever al suggestions to the Urgency Ordinance su ch as increased site visits, an update to the tree o rdinance in conj unction with the Urba n Lot Splits, that the ord inance fac tor in the Historic Preservation Ordinance, increased fines and penalties, and ensuring th at the applicant li ved on site consistently. 2) Adam BRAY ALI spoke agains t the ordinance as w el l as su bmitted comments via email, which are on file in the City Clerk ’s office.
Public Comment received via email on file in the City Clerk ’s office:
The following people spoke in favor of the ordinance with some suggestions to strengthen the ordina nce :
1) Lori Nielson
2) Nancy Ro dgers
3) Geralyn Carranza
4) Olga Alarid
5) Cliff Olin
6) Ray Ramirez
7) Susan a Bonis
8) Marco Monterroso
9) Raymond Quan
10) Lewis McCammon also provided an update on the latest COVID-19 statistics for Alhambra.
11) Bernice Ortega
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The following people spok e against the ordinance:
1) Henry Fung
Discussion : City Attorney MONTES o ffere d three corrections to the Or dinance and Resolution as presented referring to an incorrect date, the deletion of Section 3 of the Resolution, and changing Exhibit C to Exhibit B.
Councilmember ANDRADE-STADL ER and City Manager BINNQUIST discussed the cancellation of the Special Meeting that was supposed to be held on Janu ary 3, 2022 but was cancelled and continued due to technical diffic ulties. Ms. BINNQUIST stated that both meeti ngs were prope rly n otice d to the public.
Council went on to discuss the following topics: the effect of SB 9 regulations on home affordability, the role of Alhambra ’s tree ordinance in urban lot splits, streamlining the Accessory Dwel ling Unit (ADU) p ermi tting process, enforcement of the urgency ordinance by Code En forcement , the effects of corporat ions purc hasing single famil y homes on the housing market, reviewing levels of LEED certification, and the effect of SB9 on the density of R1 neighborhoods . Cou ncil supported the Urgency Ordinan ce.
A ction Taken : City Council took the following actions:
1. Direct ed the City Attorney to introduce and give reading by titl e only, waiving further reading, and adopt the following urgency ordinance entitl ed:
Ordinance N o. O2M 22-4797 : An Urgency Ordinance Amending the Alhambra Municipal Code to add C hapter 22.30 pertaining to urban lot splits and to amend Section
23.16.020 and add C hapter 23.90 pertaining to urban dwellings after which the ordinance shall go into effect immediatel y; and,
2. Adopt ed a Resolution N o. R2M 22-1 entitle d: A Resolution of the City Council of the City o f Alhambra Adoptin g Urban Dwelling a nd Urban Lot Split Configuration Standards a nd Urban Dwelling Design Standards
Vote: Moved: A NDRADE-STADLER S econded: LEE
Ayes: ANDRADE-STADLER, PÉREZ, MALONEY, MAZA, LEE
Noes: NONE
Absent: NONE
CLOSED SESSION & CITY ATTORNEY ANNOUNCEMENT re SAME - F2M21 -14 City Attorney MONTES identified those items listed on this evening ’s agenda which wo uld be discussed in Closed Session as follows:
Conference with City ’s Labor Negotiator (Govt. Code Section 54957.6): Mariam Ko , Director of Human Resources re: A lhambra C ity E mployees A ssociation , A lhambra M anagement E mployee s A ssociation , and A lhambra P o lice N on-Sworn E mployees Association
4 whereupon at 10:13 a .m. the City Council moved into closed session pursuant to applicable law, including the Brown Act (Government Code Sec. 54950, et seq.) for the purpose of conferring with the City Attorney.
RECO NVENE & CITY ATT ORNEY REPORT : At 10:28 a.m. the City Council moved out of closed s ession with all members present.
ADJOURNMENT: At 10:28 a .m. there being no further business for the Council to transact, the Mayor, with the consent of the City Council , a djourned their m eeting .
LAUREN MYLES, CMC
CITY CLERK
by
BRIANNA LAMB MCCARTHY
ASSISTANT CITY CLERK
CITY CLERK