15-L
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
ATTENTION: Ryan Smoot, City Manager
FROM: Mayra Ochiqui, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Consideration and possible action to approve the Minutes of February 17, 2026, Special Meeting of the City Council.
DATE: March 23, 2026
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
None
RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL
1) Approve the February 17, 2026, Special Meeting Minutes; or
2) Alternatively, discuss and take other action related to this item.
FISCAL IMPACT
None
ATTACHMENT
Minutes of the February 17, 2026, Special Meeting of the City Council …………..…… 2
1 MINUTES
CITY OF BELLFLOWER
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BELLFLOWER CITY COUNCIL
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2026, 10:00 A.M.
BELLFLOWER CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1 CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Santa Ines called the Special Meeting to order at 10:02 a.m. in the Council Chambers at Bellflower City Hall, 16600 Civic Center Drive, Bellflower.
2 ROLL CALL
The following Members of the City Council responded present to roll call:
Mayor Sonny R. Santa Ines
Mayor Pro Tem Victor A. Sanchez
Council Member Ray Dunton
Council Member Dan Koops
Council Member Wendi Morse
Staff Participants:
Ryan Smoot, City Manager
Karl H. Berger, City Attorney
Mayra Ochiqui, City Clerk
Len Gorecki, Assistant City Manager/Director of Public Works Anna Garan, Director of Finance
Jim DellaLonga, Director of Economic Development
Wangsu Lee, Assistant to the City Manager
3 PUBLIC COMMENTS
Larry Thacker, Deli by Caliva, expressed concerns with 1) how the minimum tax structure will work, noting that Deli prepares its business forecast “bullishly” but realistically; 2) whether adjustments can be made to those commitments in the event of a downturn in the industry; and 3) whether the forecast can be different than the pro-forma.
In response to comments provided by Larry Thacker and without objection, Mayor Santa Ines noted that his concerns were valid and he would be pulling the item from the Consent Calendar for discussion, as he had similar questions of staff.
2 Bellflower City Council Special Meeting Minutes Item No. 4 February 17, 2026 Page 2 of 6
4 REQUEST TO APPEAR
None
5 STUDY SESSION
A Consideration and possible action to provide City Manager direction regarding potential measures for the June or November 2026 ballots.
City Manager Smoot provided a brief verbal introduction of the item.
Assistant to the City Manager Lee and Director of Finance Garan 1) provided a PowerPoint presentation of the staff report; and 2) responded to Council Members’ questions along with City Attorney Berger, City Manager Smoot, and Director of Economic Development DellaLonga.
Lengthy discussion ensued among the Council Members, City Manager Smoot, City Attorney Berger, Director Garan, and Assistant to the City Manager Lee.
For the record, 1) at the request of Mayor Santa Ines, City Attorney Berger explained that it is a constitutional requirement for any parcel tax be treated as a special tax and would require a two-thirds voter approval on the ballot; 2) at the request of Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez, City Attorney Berger confirmed that most challenges faced by other jurisdictions were regarding a tax on vacant residential parcels, noting that what the City has been contemplating is a tax on vacant commercial parcels; not residential; 3) Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez stated that he is not interested in taxing vacant residential parcels; only commercial parcels; 4) Mayor Santa Ines suggested a) that a flat rate per parcel would not be fair and the rate should be determined by square footage; and b) the City Council consider making a distinction between a vacant lot and a vacant building, noting that at least the property owner of a vacant building is paying property taxes; 5) Council Member Dunton noted that the City Council is discussing this matter due to number of vacant commercial buildings causing blight in the City and inquired whether this could be included in the Business License Fee structure; 6) Council Member Morse expressed concern with what the reasonable amount of time a property can remain vacant, noting that it is not easy to fill a vacant parcel these days, and affirmed she does not want to go after vacant residential property; 7) Council Member Koops stated that a) he was in agreement with what was discussed thus far, noting that the City may need to add staff to be able to absorb the additional work associated with managing a vacant property tax; and b) he wanted to hear feedback from FM3 on the voter survey data collected before committing to the expense of a ballot measure; and 8) at the request of Council Member Koops, City Manager Smoot stated that they will be working towards a November 2026 Election deadline to allow enough time to prepare the documents needed and confirmed that this would be a parcel tax, which could be collected on the property tax bill.
Lengthy discussion continued among the Council Members, City Manager Smoot, City Attorney Berger, Director of Finance Garan, and Assistant to the City Manager Lee.
3 Bellflower City Council Special Meeting Minutes Item No. 5-A February 17, 2026 Page 3 of 6
5 STUDY SESSION – Continued
A Consideration and possible action to provide City Manager direction regarding potential measures for the June or November 2026 ballots – Continued
For the record, 1) City Attorney Berger clarified the difference between general tax money collected and Development Impact Fees, noting that as a charter city the City can choose to offset Development Impact Fees with general tax money; 2) without objection, Council Member Dunton and Mayor Santa Ines requested staff research which categories are now standard in other cities’ business license tax structures and what is being charged for them, noting that the City’s business tax structure was last updated in the 1990s and is antiquated; 3) Council Member Dunton expressed the opinion that the City’s industry is rental units and the City ends up paying more public funds in dense rental areas in the form of maintenance of public spaces and public safety services, noting that the City’s current “door tax” of $14 per year is too low and they should recuperate more money by increasing that amount; and 4) Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez stated that if they have to choose between updating the business license tax structure or vacant property tax, he would choose the vacant property tax to focus on first, as it is about changing the behavior and motivating absent landlords, while increasing business license fees will be passed to the consumer.
At the request of City Manager Smoot, Director DellaLonga confirmed that the last staff survey of vacant properties was conducted in 2022 and identified 122 vacant properties, noting that staff could conduct another survey to update that data.
At the request of City Manager Smoot, Director Garan confirmed that the City already has an abandoned property fee established in the fee schedule at $389 based on a cost-recovery analysis and increased annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Discussion continued among the Council Members, City Manager Smoot, and Director Garan.
Following discussion, City Manager Smoot confirmed that 1) staff is working with a timeframe in line with the November 2026 Election; and 2) a subsequent agenda item on this matter will be scheduled to bring the polling questions back to the City Council to ensure they align with the Council’s goals and also provide data relative to the City’s business license tax structures as compared to neighboring cities.
For the record, 1) Council Member Dunton requested staff look into business license revenue that may not be captured, the potential income for that, the viability of merging the vacant property ordinance into the business license structure, and an updated survey of the number of vacant properties to include an estimated accounting of linear feet to be able to estimate revenues; and 2) Council Member Koops requested staff survey the rental units in the City to help determine whether all possible revenue is being collected through business license taxes. 4 Bellflower City Council Special Meeting Minutes Item No. 5-A February 17, 2026 Page 4 of 6
5 STUDY SESSION – Continued
A Consideration and possible action to provide City Manager direction regarding potential measures for the June or November 2026 ballots – Continued
Recess: Without objection, Mayor Santa Ines recessed the meeting at 11:28 a.m. for a short break.
Reconvene: Mayor Santa Ines reconvened the meeting at 11:37 a.m. with all Council Members present.
For the record, discussion of Item 5-A resumed.
Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez suggested the City Council provide more focused direction to staff on which of the two paths they would like to pursue: 1) business license tax; or 2) vacant property tax.
For the record, 1) Council Member Morse stated that although she would like to see the business license tax structure updated, she aligns more with pursuing the vacant property tax for now; 2) Council Member Koops stated that he would like to pursue the vacant property tax; 3) Council Member Dunton stated that he would like to pursue updating the business license tax structure since it has been over 25 years since it was last updated and add a vacant property and vacant business tax into that structure, noting that it may be a way to get both accomplished; and 4) Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez stated that the goal is to reduce blight and activate idle storefronts, and he is leaning towards focusing on the vacant property tax.
At the request of Mayor Santa Ines, City Manager Smoot confirmed that there is a vacant property registration fee established, there is a way to adjust that fee which would require an appropriate fee study to establish the nexus to the costs associated with that, and the Council could adopt that fee without voter approval.
For the record, Mayor Santa Ines stated that he is leaning towards focusing on the updating the business license fee structure.
Further discussion ensued among the Council Members relative to whether both goals could be accomplished at the same time.
Following discussion, City Manager Smoot confirmed that if they focus the voter polling on the business license tax, then staff can bring back an agreement for a consultant to complete a fee schedule study to update the vacant property registration fee.
Following discussion, it was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to focus the voter polling on questions relative to an updated business license tax structure and move forward with conducting a fee study relative to the vacant property registration fee.
5 Bellflower City Council Special Meeting Minutes Item No. 6-A February 17, 2026 Page 5 of 6
6 CONSENT CALENDAR
A Consideration and possible action to adopt Resolution No. 26-05 – A Resolution implementing Title 14 of the Bellflower Municipal Code by establishing policies and procedures for obtaining, modifying, and maintaining Cannabis Business Permits (“CBP”); and superseding Resolution No. 23-18. [CONTINUED FROM FEBRUARY 9, 2026]
Mayor Santa Ines 1) pulled Item 6-A off the Consent Calendar for discussion; 2) noted the correction via the Supplemental Material provided to the City Council and made available to the public prior to the meeting; 3) requested clarification of page 12 and how the deposit component will work, noting that it will deter the applicants from giving an unrealistic revenue projection just to receive the permit; and 4) requested clarification of the guaranteed revenue, the timing of when the City will begin to collect the guaranteed revenue, and whether the three-month deposit will be ongoing or just an initial assurance.
City Manager Smoot, Assistant to the City Manager Lee, and Director of Finance Garan responded to Council Members’ questions.
Following discussion, City Manager Smoot 1) noted that the intent of the guarantee is to find the most viable and successful operator, emphasizing that if the City Council renews the permit for the second year, then they will know how the business operates; and 2) clarified the bid process, noting that it intentionally maintains objectivity and establishes an apples-to-apples comparison by which bidders are pre-qualified by staff once base criteria is met, so that when the request goes before the City Council they can simply choose based on the objective criteria of the highest bid.
For the record, 1) without objection, Mayor Santa Ines requested staff inform the current operators that the application process will reopen; and 2) City Manager Smoot requested direction relative to the Council’s desire to increase the distance between dispensary locations from 1,000 feet to 3,000 feet that came up during the last discussion of the matter, noting that if the Council would like to implement that change, it can be made a condition of the new permits issued for now with an update to the relative section of the Bellflower Municipal Code (BMC) at a later time.
Following discussion, it was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to take the necessary steps to increase the distance requirement between dispensary locations from 1,000 to 3,000 feet. For the record, discussion of this matter resumed after public comments.
Larry Thacker, Deli by Caliva, addressed the City Council relative to the distance requirements discussed, noting his concern that his business may be 2,999 feet away from another existing dispensary.
6 Bellflower City Council Special Meeting Minutes Item No. 6-A February 17, 2026 Page 6 of 6
6 CONSENT CALENDAR
A Consideration and possible action to adopt Resolution No. 26-05 – Continued
Following additional discussion on the matter, it was the consensus of the City Council to instead move forward with the 1,000-foot requirement as written in the BMC for this process of filling the vacant permit, and then return at a later time to make the change to the BMC if the Council chooses to do so.
Larry Thacker, Deli by Caliva, 1) requested and received confirmation from Mayor Santa Ines and City Manager Smoot that the guarantee will be based on the first 12 months and there is a six-month window to begin to generate revenue; and 2) at the request of Council Member Koops, provided comments relative to distribution permits in the City.
Following discussion, it was moved by Council Member Dunton, seconded by Council Member Koops, and unanimously carried by the following roll call vote to 1) adopt Resolution No. 26-05, as amended; and 2) authorize the City Manager to accept and process applications for cannabis-related CUPs and CBPs.
7 Adjournment
Without objection, Mayor Santa Ines adjourned the meeting at 12:35 p.m.
Sonny R. Santa Ines, Mayor
City of Bellflower
ATTEST:
Mayra Ochiqui, City Clerk
Approved: March 23, 2026
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