GRASS VALLEY
City Council Regular Meeting, Capital Improvements Authority and Redevelopment "Successor Agency"
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Council Chambers, Grass Valley City Hall | 125 East Main Street, Grass Valley, California Telephone: (530) 274-4310 – Fax: (530) 274-4399
E-Mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.cityofgrassvalley.com
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
Meeting called to order at 6:02 pm.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Hodge led the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL
PRESENT
Councilmember Jan Arbuckle
Councilmember Joe Bonomolo
Councilmember Tom Ivy
Vice Mayor Haven Caravelli
Mayor Hilary Hodge
AGENDA APPROVAL - The City Council reserves the right to hear items in a different order to accomplish business in the most efficient manner.
Motion made by Councilmember Arbuckle, Seconded by Vice Mayor Caravelli.
Voting Yea: Councilmember Arbuckle, Councilmember Bonomolo, Councilmember Ivy, Vice Mayor Caravelli, Mayor Hodge
REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION
No reportable action on items 1 through 4, and on item #5 gave direction to staff to apply for a renewal of the restraining order against Matthew Ward Coulter.
INTRODUCTIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
1. Update from Wayward Journey
2. Breast Cancer Awareness Month Proclamation
CITY UPDATE
3. Skate Park Progress
PUBLIC COMMENT –
Virtual Public comment attached.
Item # 3.
City of Grass Valley, CA MINUTES October 14, 2025
In-person public comments: Speakers 1 through 4
CONSENT ITEMS -
Public comment: unnamed
Motion made to approve the consent as submitted by Councilmember Arbuckle, Seconded by Councilmember Bonomolo.
Voting Yea: Councilmember Arbuckle, Councilmember Bonomolo, Councilmember Ivy, Vice Mayor Caravelli, Mayor Hodge
4. Approval of the Regular Meeting Minutes of September 23, 2025 Recommendation: Council approve minutes as submitted.
5. Change of Regularly Scheduled City Council Meeting Date from November 11, 2025, to November 12, 2025
CEQA: Not a project.
Recommendation: That the City Council approve changing the regularly scheduled City Council meeting date from Tuesday, November 11, 2025, to Wednesday, November 12, 2025, in observance of the Veterans Day holiday.
6. Musco Lighting System – Approve Purchase Agreement
CEQA: N/A – Not A Project
Recommendation: That Council 1) approve the purchase of a complete field LightStructure System from Musco Sports Lighting, LLC and 2) authorize the City Engineer to execute a purchase agreement with Musco in an amount not to exceed $225,000
ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT CALENDAR FOR DISCUSSION OR SEPARATE ACTION AND /
OR ANY ADDED AGENDA ITEMS
REORGANIZATION RELATED ITEMS
PUBLIC HEARING
7. Memorial Park Magenta Drain Restoration Project Update CEQA: N/A – Procedural Motion
Recommendation: That Council 1) holds a public hearing on the Magenta Drain Restoration Project; 2) receives public input; and 3) provides comments to staff.
Zac Quentmeyer, Deputy Public Works Director, gave a presentation to the council.
Joe Bonomolo made a comment to reflect in the minutes that he made a mistake on his vote for item number #6 (Musco Lighting System - Approve Purchase Agreement).
Public comment: Johnathan Keen, Craig Thrush
A discussion was held about continuing conversations with the state parks and receiving more public comments.
ADMINISTRATIVE
8. Appeal of Sign Exception Application 25PLN-0031 at 2001 Nevada City Highway.
CEQA: Exempt under CEQA Guideline §15301, Categorical Exemption Class 1 (“Existing Facilities”)
Item # 3.
City of Grass Valley, CA MINUTES October 14, 2025
Recommendation: That Council 1) find the project Categorically Exempt pursuant to Section 15301, Class 1, of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Guidelines, as detailed in the staff report; 2) review appeal made by the applicant; and 3) determine whether to overturn or uphold the planning commission’s decision to deny the internal illumination of the “Shell” symbol on the two canopies at three locations and on the monument price sign at 2001 Nevada City Highway.
Amy Wolfson, City Planner, gave a presentation to the council.
The applicant had difficulty joining the meeting.
Motion to continue the item to the next scheduled meeting made by Councilmember Arbuckle. Seconded by Vice Mayor Caravelli.
Voting Yea: Councilmember Arbuckle, Councilmember Bonomolo, Councilmember Ivy, Vice Mayor Caravelli, Mayor Hodge
BRIEF REPORTS BY COUNCIL MEMBERS
Councilmember Bonomolo shared he’ll attend a solid waste meeting and expects the next skate park ad hoc meeting soon, noting community feedback on road conditions and encouraging patience as improvements continue. Councilmember Ivy highlighted attending the Nevada County Sustainability Summit, Briar Patch EV charger unveiling, and meetings on trail connectivity and future roundabout planning. Councilmember Arbuckle reported attending the GVDA/Chamber board meeting, ERC summit, and state conferences, where she was re-elected to the League of California Cities board and emphasized advocating for rural communities. Vice Mayor Caravelli spoke about the ERC summit, meetings with Habitat for Humanity, the Common Resource Center opening, and Sierra Harvest events. Mayor Hodge reflected on positive regional economic forecasts, small business growth, the resiliency summit, arts and housing innovation, and reminded the public of “Wednesdays with the Mayor” open office hours. The meeting adjourned after closing remarks.
CONTINUATION OF PUBLIC COMMENT
ADJOURN
Meeting adjourned at 7:47 pm.
_________________________ ________________________
Hilary Hodge, Mayor Taylor Whittingslow, City Clerk
Adopted: ______________
Item # 3.
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WELCOME to the City of Grass Vattey City Council meeting! Pubtic Comments provide an opportunity for the pubtic to address the City CounciI on any subject which is not on the agenda but in the jurisdiction of the councit. lf you wish to speak, please indicate in the appropriate box when you sign in and take the number corresponding to your name. Each individual can have up to 3 minutes of pubtic comment. At the beginning of the meeting, there wi[[ be an atlotted 30 minutes of generat pubtic comments and the remainder of comments witl be heard at the end of the agenda.
Speakers witt be called in order of the numbers given.
When you are recognized by the mayor:
1. Ptease stand before the podium and give your name and address. (optionat)
2. Please limit your comments to three minutes per speaker.
3. lf previous speakers have made the same point, you may simply indicate your support or disagreement, unless you have new information.
Thank you for your participation.
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GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT SIGN IN SHEET
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Item # 3.
Item # 3.
Public Comment for the City of Grass Valley’s October 14th City Council Meeting:
Public Hearing for the Memorial Park Magenta Drain Restoration Project Sent to: [email protected]
As Programs Director of Wolf Creek Community Alliance, I am writing to encourage the City to consider recent arsenic discharges from Empire Mine into Magenta Drain and Memorial Park, before completing their plans to take down the fencing and encourage public access to the creek. Low levels of arsenic are continually present in this stream, and higher levels in violation of the State Park’s NPDES permit occurred in March and April 2023 and June 2024. Twenty discharge violations for excess manganese and/or iron also occurred in 2023-24.
It is unclear to us at this time whether these concentrations of arsenic were high enough to be of potential health concern if they were to recur in the future after the fences are removed and toddlers are invited to splash in the creek. Our hope is that they would not be, but we have engaged a toxicologist to review the data and provide objective third-party expertise. We hope to have their review available before the City plans to finalize the restoration plan and design in Feb/March 2026 and put the construction out for bid.
These discharges appear to have occurred as a result of circumstances outside the State Park’s control, and corrective actions undertaken by the State Park last winter appear to have improved the discharge conditions considerably. Additional actions are still needed, however, and are planned for upcoming seasons including summer 2026. We encourage the City to be in communication with the State Park regarding these additional clean-out actions within the Magenta Drain Passive Treatment System, and to consider the timing of these actions when making decisions relative to the Memorial Park project and its construction/public access timeline.
The State Park is implementing additional plans for preventing future discharge recurrences to the extent feasible. As the Magenta Drain Passive Treatment System will need to be maintained in perpetuity, however, there will also need to be communication protocols in place between the State Park, City, and Memorial Park visitors for the potentiality of future discharges if public access to the creek is restored. It may also be helpful for the restoration project design to consider the potential for rare, temporary closures to public access if/when problematic discharges recur.
We plan to launch a community engagement project in relation to the Empire Mine cleanups later this season. We would love to collaborate with the City as part of this work, in service of the community.
In general, Wolf Creek Community Alliance is very much in favor of restoration projects such as this. Before the recent arsenic discharges, we have advocated for this very project of Magenta Drain restoration within Memorial Park. It may still be a wonderful project for the community, but must be planned with nuance given the information upstream, for the best interests of community environmental health.
Thank you for the opportunity to express these concerns.
With gratitude for all you do for our community,
Kristen Hein Strohm (she/her)
Programs Director
Wolf Creek Community Alliance
[email protected]
cell (530) 277-3487
https://wolfcreekalliance.org/
Item # 3.
Item # 3.
3 Taylor Whittingslow
From: GRASS VALLEY CA - Voicemail box 8880 <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 6:41 PM
To: Public Comments
Subject: Voicemail from on Oct 14 2025 6:37 PM
Attachments: 1760492264-00000679.mp3
You received a new voicemail message
New voicemail message
Time: Tuesday, October 14 2025 6:37 PM
From:
Duration: 2 minutes 12 seconds
Voicemail box: 8880
Transcript:
My last one, I feel strongly about it, but I absolutely want your input. Ever since I get on this, this Massey culture continues to be a destructive force towards us, the volunteers in here. And I think the invitation from Terry in September was extremely sincere and very positive, and inviting him to work with us in a more positive way, bringing forth this idea in a more constructive manner. But he continues to use cruise language, personal attacks, which is not acceptable. No pay-in for you should have to put up with that, but let me volunteer. That's your historic commissioner today in the historic commission meeting. This is Matthew Coulter. I have some really good news too. You guys are suing me again. I am so happy about that because as a disabled veteran and the treatment that I've received from this town and the documentation that I've been compiling since 2017 on you guys is enough to make everyone so
Item # 3.
4 joyous. I look forward to exposing the repeat violence, physical violence that you've directed at me through your police department, your construction workers, your city employees. And this is fantastic. I'm so happy. I'm so happy to bring you this good news because this is a good news night for Grass Valley. We all want to get good news all the time. And I hope that we can go to court, maybe in Truckee or Sacramento, get a change of venue so we can get an honest opinion and not your bought-off judges here in Nevada County. But good luck seeing you in court, and pretty disgusting what's going on in town. There's a woman laying in a ditch over in Brunswick right now, and a full medical and police response to it, so that's, you know, a huge amount of money. But there's no worries for you guys, because you're the one to sue me, and that's your prerogative. Go for it, because we're all going to be happy together. Happy.
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Item # 3.
5 Taylor Whittingslow
From: KIMMICH RUDOLF - Voicemail box 8880 <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 6:51 PM
To: Public Comments
Subject: Voicemail from on Oct 14 2025 6:50 PM
Attachments: 1760493013-0000067f.mp3
You received a new voicemail message
New voicemail message
Time: Tuesday, October 14 2025 6:50 PM
From:
Duration: 49 seconds
Voicemail box: 8880
Transcript: I'd like to have a moment of silence for my three minutes, because as I watch our city die, it's quite sad.
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Item # 3.
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Item # 3.
7 Taylor Whittingslow
From: KIMMICH RUDOLF - Voicemail box 8880 <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 6:58 PM
To: Public Comments
Subject: Voicemail from ( on Oct 14 2025 6:53 PM
Attachments: 1760493205-00000680.mp3
You received a new voicemail message
New voicemail message
Time: Tuesday, October 14 2025 6:53 PM
From:
Duration: 2 minutes 43 seconds
Voicemail box: 8880
Transcript:
Hi, this is Matthew Coulter commenting on the magenta drain. The reason it's called that is because it used to be the color of magenta before the project was put into Empire Mine to clean out the runoff coming out of that one particular shaft which is where that water comes from out of the mine. Now if there's a problem upstream at the mine state operation which has been multiple pipe then it could have bad discharge coming down the hill. That's just something to be aware of as you open it up. I used to clean it out by hand and the Public Works just absolutely hated that because they had to pick up the green waste which was just too difficult for them.
There's a lot of really nice plants in there. They've been planted over the hundred years of the park and they're engulfed now in Blackberries, which is pretty sad.
Peabody Creek is signed from one end to the other with sewage signs, danger
Item # 3.
8 sewage. Has that water in Magenta been tested recently by anyone in the park area, anywhere through there, because they're also pipe leaching into the creek from both directions in the park. from up on Ray Street side and across from the other side from Colfax. Just things to consider since I played it as a child and know a lot of history about it. There used to be owls and fox and all kinds of things there just a few years ago. But with the destruction of Memorial Park and turning into a sports complex, all those animals have left and I haven't seen any in quite a while since I lived right next door. basically the closest house to Memorial Park on one part of it.
One part of the creek, the neighbor throws a dozen alcohol bottles in it daily, small ones, he likes the small ones. That might be something we could consider changing.
That's on Memorial Lane. Yeah, there's a lot of positive things that could happen with that. Waterway, as well as all our other waterways in town, are totally being abused by dumping things in. The things I saw behind the parking lot on Mill Street today, all the trash and people cutting at the trees right on the creek. I look forward to see what comes out of this. The Peabody Creek project turned out pretty nice. Thanks a lot.
Bye.
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Item # 3.
9 Taylor Whittingslow
From: BIANCHI DOUGLAS - Voicemail box 8880 <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 7:07 PM
To: Public Comments
Subject: Voicemail from on Oct 14 2025 7:05 PM
Attachments: 1760493935-00000682.mp3
You received a new voicemail message
New voicemail message
Time: Tuesday, October 14 2025 7:05 PM
From:
Duration: 59 seconds
Voicemail box: 8880
Transcript:
Hello, this is Star Carol, 124 Boulder Street, Nevada City, member of the local chapter Native Plant Society. I'm very happy to see the design plans and the careful attention to the restoration and the native plants. I couldn't quite see what was in the maps and the text, so hopefully in the future following completion of restoration, consider the option of public education by maybe signing the native plants. That would be really cool. The plants and the wildlife that will be present in the creek as it's restored, fish, other wildlife, birds, et cetera, could be signed so that visitors, residents can be more engaged with their backyard. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate this project going forward.
Item # 3.
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Item # 3.
11 Taylor Whittingslow
From: KIMMICH RUDOLF - Voicemail box 8880 <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 7:30 PM
To: Public Comments
Subject: Voicemail from on Oct 14 2025 7:26 PM
Attachments: 1760495217-00000685.mp3
You received a new voicemail message
New voicemail message
Time: Tuesday, October 14 2025 7:26 PM
From:
Duration: 1 minute 22 seconds
Voicemail box: 8880
Transcript:
Yes, on the sign waivers and variances, that's all you got to do because that's what everyone else does waivers and variances, right? Get whatever you want in Grass Valley. And on that matter, all the way out East Main in Vettacity Highway, there's signs that aren't conformed to the sign code and all these rotting vinyl banners and waving flags and different things blocking sidewalks and streets and hanging in weird places. Those I do not believe are anywhere in the code that I've been able to find. I know recently we did that little A-frame sign thing for downtown for the merchants. I haven't heard of any accidents on those so that's worked out well but I don't see many of them either. So, really, an inventory for signage, Amy doesn't sound like she knows which gas stations have what, and in the process of going from gas station to gas station from McKnight Way through town out to Nevada City
Item # 3.