COUNCIL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES – February 23, 2023
CALL TO ORDER: Vice Chair Andrews called t he Regular meeting to order at 5:07 p.m. (Mayor Salinas was traveling from another engagement and arrived late.)
ATTENDANCE (September 2022-July 2023):
Committee Member
Present
2/23/2023
All Meetings
Year to Date
Meetings Mandated
By Resolution
Present Absent Present Absent
Mayor Salinas 2 0 2 0
Council Member Andrews 2 0 2 0
Council Member Zermeño 1 1 1 1
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Kelly McAdoo, City Manager; Catherine Ralston, Economic Development Specialist; Daniel Mao, Economic Development Specialist; Leigha Schmidt, Principal Planner; Suzanne Philis, Senior Secretary; Elex Lopez, Senior Project Manager and Project Designer, Jordan Architects
PUBLIC COMMENTS
There were none.
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 26, 2022
A motion to approve the minutes from the January 26, 2023 Regular Meeting was made by Council Member Andrews and seconded by Council Member Ze rmeno. The minutes we re approved with Mayor Salinas absent.
2. APPROVAL OF REVISED REGULAR CEDC FY23 MEETING SCHEDULE
A motion to approve the Revised FY23 Regular Meeting Schedule with a start time of 5pm, rather than 4pm as proposed, was made by Council Member Andrews and seconded by Council Member Zermeno. The motion was approved with Mayor Salinas absent.
Because Mayor Salinas was traveling from another engagement but had yet to arrive , Committee Members skipped to Staff Announcements.
Hayward Council Economic Development Committee
Regular Meeting Minutes
February 23, 2023
3. PRELIMINARY CONCEPT REVIEW: ZONING TE XT AMENDMENT TO ALLOW SELF -STORAGE FLEX INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AT 29265 PACIFIC STREET
Principal Planner Schmidt gave the presentation asking for feedback on the three questions posed in the staff report and presentation.
Council Mem ber Andr ews asked for more information on what combinations of flex use could be considered. Planner Schmidt said flex could mean office space or light manufacturing or, in this case, that property owners didn’t know so they just wanted the flexibility to decide later.
Council Member Andrews asked for the square footage of the parcel and spaces and w as told 113,340SF overall wit h two flex tenan t spaces of 12,800SF each. Council Member Andr ews commented that the square footage proposed for the flex spaces w as a difficult size to fill and she asked to hear from the applicant on what tenants he was expecting.
Council Member Zermeno asked what possible revenues could be generated from the proposed mix noting storage units typically provided very little. Principal Planner Schmidt confirmed storage units did not generate revenue but she pointed out the flex space tenants could.
Council Member Zermeno asked if the City could require a guarantee that the flex space wouldn ’t be used as warehouse space or additional storage space and was told no by P lanner Schmidt; the use was allowed by-right with the current zoning. Council Member Zermeno asked if any language could be added to guarantee that the flex spaces had revenue -generating tenants and was told no , not without changing zoning language for that designation City-wide.
Council Member Zermeno commented that he preferred industrial uses.
Council M ember Andrews asked if the flex space could be used to sell boxes and packing tape and Principal Planner Schmidt said yes.
Mayor Salinas said he struggled while reading the staff report re membering back to a request by U - Haul to locate at a city gateway location along Highway 92. There was nothing wrong with U-Haul, he said, the City just wanted a larger employer at that spot.
Regarding question one ( would the CEDC support a Zoning Text Amen dment to allow self-storage as a conditionally permitted use in the IL [Light Industrial] District), Mayor Salinas said he was very leery about changing the zoning across the board. He asked if there was a tool the City could use to allow self-storage at just that site. Principal Planner Schmidt explained that because self-storage was allowed in the PD (Planned D evelopment) District , there was no tool to allow the use in other Districts and she commented that if the City allowed self -storage to come into an IL District, Planning would receive constant requests for self-storage in all other districts.
Mayor Salinas asked if this was an “all or nothing” situation. Principal Planner Schmidt explained that the only thing the City could do was create another zon ing district or amend the existing district to allow the use.
Hayward Council Economic Development Committee
Regular Meeting Minutes
February 23, 2023
Mayor Salinas said he considered requiring ground-level retail, but the site didn’t lend itself to it.
Council Member Andrews asked if specific uses could be required in the flex space and was told the designation of Light Industrial set which uses were allowed by-right.
Council Member Andrews questioned if a small g rocery store could fit into one of the flex spaces.
Economic Development Spec ialist Ralston mentioned that a small manufacturer c ould fit; a person working in the ir garage or a n Etsy store o wner who was ready for a small brick and mortar location to make their goods. Council Member Andrews asked if th ose types of spaces were currently available and was told no.
Council Member Zermeno said no to the project.
Council Member Andr ews said she was n’t sure it was a no for her , but she expressed concern about losing the industrial space.
Mayor Salinas opened the fl oor for public comments. Elex Lopez, Senior Project Manager and Project Designer represen ting Jordan Architects, the developer for the pro posed project, said they hoped that the flex space could be used as office space for an architectural firm or independent contractor.
Mayor Salinas said based on feedback, City Council wasn’t ready to approve this project. The answer to the three questions was no, he said.
4. HAYWARD UPWARD ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN UPDATE: DOWNTOWN ACTIVATION
Economic Development Specialis t Ralston gave the presentation noting if Members were supportive, the item would go to C ity Council on March 2 1 to approve the contract with the outside program manager.
Council Mem ber Zermeno praised the p roposal saying the ideas were excellent for week ends downtown, but to be really successful he suggested closing B and Main Streets to vehicular traffic.
Council Member Andrews said she was so excited to see t he presentation and the “Instagrammable” opportunities. She asked staff i f a survey was done to determine the best hours to hold the activities to attract the most people. Economic Development Specialist Ralston said for s ix months program activities would take place every Friday from 4-8pm and Saturdays from 2-8pm to attract families.
Council Member Andrews said she would like to see something for teens and asked if staff could reach out to downtown record shops to have a DJ play music. She loved the sidewalk chalk art idea .
She asked if there would be any conf lict with local restaurants for the p roposed pop-ups. Specialist Ralston explained that ven dors would not be a llowed to sell food and would inst ead focus on retail goods.
Council Member Andrew s com mented that she sa w food and al so clothing vendors around Mi a’s Dream park o ff of Tennyson and s uggested using encroachment permit enforcement to corra l these vendors. Specialist Ralston said the pro ject manager could reach out to pop-up vendors to help them get “legal” in terms of business licensing.
Hayward Council Economic Development Committee
Regular Meeting Minutes
February 23, 2023
Council Member Andrews said she was ex cited about the Art in Action p roposal and asked if artists could engage the community at downtown hot spots to paint walls on buildings that consistently ha d issues with tagging and graffiti to create lasting art. Spe cialist Ralston said she would p ass the suggestion on the program manager to start engaging property owners.
Mayor Salinas said yes to all three programs and noted both HARD and HUSD were thinking about what Hayward could do to engage teens . He suggested dueling DJs and utilizing the Newson Park at Mission and B.
Mayor Salinas noted that because all of the activities were outside, it would also be appropriate and fun to close down B and Main so participants c ould bring their dogs. He suggested adding paw prints to program marketing materials so folks w ould know activities were pet friendly . He added that businesses would totally participate with water and treats for passing pooches.
5. FUTURE MEETING TOPICS AS OF FEBRUARY 23, 2023
Regarding the Update on City Fiber/Broadband Initi atives, Mayor Salinas sa id the more he spoke to folks, the grumpier they were about getting high-speed, high -quality internet d owntown. City Manager McAdoo reported that Adam Kostrzak, the City ’s Director of Information Technology, met with Comcast representatives and confirmed there were better options downtown and that staff was working to get the word out to business owners. Council Member Andrews said she he ard the same complaints from business owners in the industrial sector.
Regarding the Southland Mall Upda te, Council Member Andrews said she would love to hear what actions or partnerships Hayward Police had with management to keep the parking lots and mall safe.
COMMITTEE MEMBER/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REFERRALS
Economic Development Specialist Ma o gave a slide presentatio n of the outcome of the A lameda County Small Business Recover y Grant program and how Hayward businesses fared. He also showed photos from ribbon cuttings at Vivoz and Virgelina.
Council Member Andrews thanked staff for organizing the ribbo n cuttings and a sked if there were more grant opportunities coming up in the f uture. Specialist Ma o said he wasn ’t sure because the grants were offered by the County. Co uncil Member And rews asked staff to write a letter to the County encouraging them to offer more.
Council Member Andrews said Vivoz wanted to expand the patio seating and then commented that it looked like they already had. Specialis t Mao said an encroachment permit appli cation had been sent to the business owner.
Council Member Andrews ask ed if downtown record shops co uld sell records and have amplified music from t he sidewalks in front of their shops and Principal Planner Schmidt said yes, but they would need an en croachment permit to do so and an event permit to play music. Council Member Andrews asked i f shop owners could apply for an on -going event permit li ke a Firs t Friday of the month kind of event and Planner Schmidt said yes, they could apply for an extended permit.
Hayward Council Economic Development Committee
Regular Meeting Minutes
February 23, 2023
Senior Secretary Philis announced her pending retirement and noted this would be h er last CEDC meeting. The Mayor and Council Members con gratulated her and praised h er work over her 20 years with the City.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:18 p.m.