City Council Meeting Page 1 of 26 March 13, 2023
7 City of Lafayette
City Council
Meeting Minutes
Lafayette Library and Learning Center – Don Tatzin Community Hall March 13, 2023 3491 Mount Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette, California 6:00 p.m.
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1. CALL TO ORDER – 6:00 p.m.
Mayor Anduri called the Regular City Council meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. via teleconference.
2. ROLL CALL
Present: City Council: Mayor Anduri, Vice Mayor Dawson; Councilmembers Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok
Absent: None
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Staff Present: Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager; Jonathan Katayanagi, Parks and Recreation Director; Matt Luttropp, Engineering Manager; Suzanne Iarla, Communications Analyst; Mala Subramanian, City Attorney; Joanne Robbins, City Clerk
3. Disclosure and/or Take Action on Remote Participation due to Just Cause or Emergency Circumstances Pursuant to AB 2449 (Gov. Code section 54953(f).)
4. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Kwok/Dawson) to adopt the agenda. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
5. PUBLIC COMMENTS – (For Closed Session items) – None.
6. CLOSED SESSION
A. Conference with Labor Negotiators (Gov. Code section 54957.6) Agency designated representatives: Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager and Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director
Employee organization: Association of Lafayette Employees (ALE) B. Conference with Labor Negotiators (Gov. Code section 54957.6) Agency designated representatives: Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager and Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director
Employee organization: All employees, excluding the City Manager and those within ALE OPEN SESSION – 7:00 p.m.
Mayor Anduri announced there was no reportable action taken in Closed Session.
7. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Troop 204 led the Pledge of Allegiance.
8. PUBLIC COMMENTS (For items not on the agenda)
LAUREN HERPICH welcomed everyone back to in-person meetings, commented on the need to improve the City process in terms of working on projects together and coming up with compromised solutions, suggested using Martha’s versus Robert’s Rules of Order, and asked the Council to review its priorities for the next year and learn how to better the process to create better solutions. She baked and brought some Irish soda bread as a piece of her family to everyone and asked to enjoy it in the spirit of community and bringing people together.
LIBBY HENRY welcomed everyone back to in-person meetings, reinforced the idea of the median project on Pleasant Hill Road, said someone she knows has submitted an alternative project which is more viable, and she did not think the project should move forward just because someone got a grant for it.
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MICHAEL GRIFFITHS spoke of his Irish background and thinks bringing people together is a good thing, thanked the Council for listening last week regarding the pathway and for removing it from the earmarked priorities. Mr. Luttropp was very polite and led a good session, and there was only one person in favor of the modified project. In that regard, he agreed with the need to improve processes which should be discussed under Item 11.A, given Burton Valley also has issues with something being proposed. He proposed stopping work on the pathway and consider the alternative proposed, and asked to look at alternatives when it comes to Vision Zero.
KRISTEN ALTBAUM echoed comments of speakers, said PlaceWorks is a company that informed the LPMC on the Lamorinda Action Plan and did some studies on LOS. The 2019 AM LOS for Pleasant Hill Road and Old Tunnel is an LOS-A with a delay of 10. For Pleasant Hill Road and Deer Hill Road, the LOS is an F and above 80. They do not specify any number above 80 so the bike path was proposed past a place where the LOS is an A, which is important. She said her sole intention with the work she has done in volunteerism is to get kids to school predictably. Kids coming from the south to Acalanes can get there predictably, but her kids cannot. She implored the Council to read her letters, to have a different process in place, and consider asking for money in this round of funding requests for a holistic plan for the entire City.
9. PRESENTATIONS
A. Mary McCosker
History Presentation
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Mary McCosker, President, Lafayette Historical Society, said this is the third historical presentation which will focus on the Yankees who came from the east. She presented a map of the U.S. in the early 1920’s with 24 states shown in pink. The large grey area is land that was claimed by Mexico, but the Spanish had arrived in the late 1770’s. They had built 21 settlements, missions, and presidios up the coast of today’s California which led to conflict between Mexico and Spain in the early 1880’s and resulted in Mexican independence. Many stayed in California and became Mexican citizens.
She then spoke about government rewards to soldiers who fought against Spain by giving them land, specifically Candelaria Valencia who was given Rancho Acalanes, 3300 acres of land where most of Lafayette is found today. A nearby ranch is Rancho Canada de los Palos Colorados where Burton Valley is located as is Moraga and some of Orinda. Valencia sold the land to a man from San Francisco who was a builder of ships and tall buildings. He owned the land for 6 months before he sold it to a Yankee who had come cross country by wagon train.
She then provided an historical account of Elam Brown and Margaret and Isaac Allen, along with others, who moved to California by wagon from Missouri along the Oregon Trail where pioneers could stop at military forts for supplies, repairs, or medical aid. Some got typhoid fever from drinking contaminated water. As they traveled in Nevada, others became ill and some survived and others died. Once in California, land was purchased by pioneers and Elam Brown started the first business in Lafayette, a grist mill where farmers could bring their grain to have it ground into flour, which improved life for local farmers.
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Elam built another grist mill in town and she presented the house Elam built with wooden floors. This house is no longer standing but its location is known. The graves of Elam and Margaret are buried in Martinez, as Elam’s son, Warren settled in Martinez and wished for his father and step-mother to be buried near where he lived. They are buried in the Brown family plot in the Pioneer Cemetery on the hill.
Elam lived to the age of 92 and Margaret to 89. Elam served as a Mayor for the area and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention and acted as a State Assemblyman in California’s first two legislatures. He sponsored legislation by which Americans could gain control of Indian people and their land. The law also included a provision stating that no white man could be convicted upon the testimony of an Indian.
Ms. McCosker said next month, the subject of early downtown will be discussed.
Mayor asked and confirmed with Ms. McCosker that the City can have a link on the its website of these presentation.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
Mayor Anduri and Councilmembers thanked Ms. McCosker for her presentation.
10. CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Anduri asked to remove Item 10.A.2. He asked and confirmed there were no Councilmember requests for removal of items. There were no public members wishing to speak or remove items.
A. Minutes
1. February 11, 2023
Recommendation: Approve.
3. March 2, 2023
Recommendation: Approve.
B. Employee Negotiations 2023 Extending current MOU to June 30, 2023.
Recommendation: Direct the City Manager to draft a memo to ALE proposing that the current MOU be extended for six months with an expiration of June 30, 2023.
C. Resolution 2023-16 Changing the regular meeting day and time for the Crime Prevention Commission to the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6pm.
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-16.
D. Revised meeting calendar for 2023 to reflect the change to the Crime Prevention Commission meeting dates.
Recommendation: Adopt the attached revised meeting calendar for 2023.
E. Resolution 2023-13 Re-establishing the Environmental Task Force, reducing the number of members from nine to seven.
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-13.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Dawson) to adopt Consent Calendar Items A.1, A.3, B, C, D and E.
Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
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11. OLD BUSINESS
A. Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager
City Council Priorities for FY2023-2024
Recommendation: Confirm the priorities for the next fiscal year.
City Manager Niroop Srivatsa stated on February 11th the Council met on a Saturday morning to review the status of the Council’s current priorities and to set priorities for the next fiscal year. Four key priorities were identified which are slightly different from what was established last year, as: 1) Wildfire prevention, preparedness, responsiveness, and utility safety; 2) Improve pedestrian and traffic safety and multi-modal mobility; 3) Create a Mt. Diablo Corridor and Downtown; and 4) Develop a fiscal sustainability plan for short- and long-term needs.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
LAUREN HERPICH said not everything can be prioritized but she asked to keep parks in mind, especially as the downtown overlay plan is being developed and prioritized. It is still important to recognize they are under their per resident goal of parkland. They need public parks and playgrounds for their kids and families and she thinks this goes back to her initial comments of places where the community can come together.
MARY ANN HOISINGTON said she wanted to let someone know they could not hear Ms. Srivatsa’s introduction of the item.
Mayor Anduri said the Council is considering the priorities as presented, with one change to number 5 under wildfire prevention.
Councilmember Candell said she agrees with Mayor Anduri’s suggestion of adding the thresholds of significance to the evacuation study. It is critical to have an EIR and AG Bonta spoke about how important it is when and if they want to develop at the BART parking lots.
Councilmember Kwok said he agrees on the 4 priorities which were set during the annual retreat. He referred to the wildfire prevention priority under Item 2; Engaging the public. This is a huge item which is a very large duty for this year. If there are things staff can do during staff planning sessions he would ask to be very ambitious and think with the end goal in mind as to whether citizens are ready for wildfire if it was to happen this summer. He thinks it is their duty to be aggressive with that outreach. The budget should evidence this to get the public prepared.
Vice Mayor Dawson referred to the Safety Element and she thinks the education and public outreach piece is important. Based on public comments around pedestrian and traffic safety and multi-modal mobility, it states “continue with current projects.” She asked to look at that process and how this also might be improved in terms of public notification.
Ms. Srivatsa agreed and said will be discussing what is the ideal process where you get things done in a timely manner but you still involve the public early, and staff will return with a recommendation to the Council.
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ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Dawson) to confirm the priorities for the next fiscal year, as amended with the substitution of determining the thresholds of significance in place of Number 5 under Wildfire Prevention, Preparedness/Responsiveness and Utility Safety.
Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
12. STAFF REPORTS
A. Jonathan Katayanagi, Parks, Trails and Recreation Director Staff Liaison for Senior Services Commission
Recommendation: Approve the City Supported Lamorinda Village Membership Program for a period of 2 years. Approve the reallocation of $142,000 from the Lamorinda Village Partnership in the Senior Service Commission Program in the City’s FY2022-23 budget to $60,000 to fund City supported memberships in Lamorinda Village for Lafayette residents and the hiring of a Recreation Coordinator to support the Senior Services program.
Parks, Trails and Recreation Director Jonathan Katayanagi gave the staff report regarding on-going partnership efforts with Lamorinda Village. The Council had approved a collaborative partnership to take place at the Community Center that would involve the Village providing consultations, a volunteer hub, and programming at the Lafayette Community Center. They have launched programming in collaboration with City staff but they have not entered into the full contract agreement for service, that would start the Coordinator position. Through discussions staff and the Village realized that Lafayette residents may be best served through supported memberships to Lamorinda Village rather than the previously proposed collaboration.
The request is for the Council to consider re-allocating the original $142,000 to allow for $60,000 each year for 2 years in supported memberships. City supported members of Lamorinda Village and receive benefits. The remaining $82,000 of the $142,000 would be used for the City to hire a Coordinator that would provide the Coordinator services that were provided at the Community Center, prior to the Village proposal. The $142,000 is more than enough to cover both requests and staff is requesting the formation of a working group to help determine a means test for the membership and allow staff to start the Coordinator position likely at a part-time level.
Vice Mayor Dawson questioned the number of memberships the $60,000 would result in each year. Mr.
Katayanagi said membership to the Village is $360 for an individual and $600 for a couple. The number of memberships therefore will depend as to what they sign up for. Supported memberships still have an ask of a $5/month rate for the individual. By still having the individual pay a small amount, they are more interested in continuing the program.
Mayor Anduri said if there are all couples and they pay the $10, it would be 250 new people and Lamorinda Village is now at about 250 members so it would double the current Village enrollemt. Mr. Katayanagi said this is a great opportunity to volunteer. The Village will need to scale up operations if they go in this direction and staff will work closely with them to ensure the volunteers in the community that want to help older adults get in touch with the Village or Spirit Van.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
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SUZY PAK said she has been a Village volunteer for several years and expressed her appreciation and gratitude for the proposal. The program’s goal is to provide support and connections for residents to remain in their homes for as long as they would like as they grow older. She knows there is no way this could or would have happened without the commitment and dedication of the Council, particularly Councilmembers Gerringer and Kwok who have worked with the Senior Services Commission as well as Mayor Anduri who really worked tirelessly to make this happen. She thanked the Commission who provided guidance and support throughout and to Mr. Katayanagi who had the foresight 2 years ago to recognize what continues to be a mutually beneficial partnership between the City and Lamorinda Village.
She is excited and confident about the partnership which will benefit seniors as well as the entire community and they will work towards expanding volunteer opportunities, increase social gatherings for all ages, interest groups for seniors, services, and more. They look forward to reporting back to share how they put the City’s funds to good use.
Councilmember Gerringer thanked Ms. Pak, Mr. Katayanagi, the Village Board and Executive Committee for working on this and how it fits with their organization and potential for growth. It is built on volunteers so people can age in place with dignity. She echoed thanks to the Mayor, as well.
Mayor Anduri thanked the City Attorney and City Manager for their input as well as staff and it is a very exciting possibility for the next 2 years and a great collaboration with Lamorinda Village, great for seniors in Lamorinda.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Kwok) to approve the City Supported Lamorinda Village Membership Program for a period of 2 years. Approved the reallocation of $142,000 from the Lamorinda Village Partnership in the Senior Service Commission Program in the City’s FY2022-23 budget to $60,000 to fund City supported memberships in Lamorinda Village for Lafayette residents and the hiring of a Recreation Coordinator to support the Senior Services program. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
B. Matt Luttropp, Engineering Manager
Modifications to the Scope of Work for 2023 Overlay Project Including Safety Improvements to the Roundabout
Recommendation: Approve the change of scope for the 2023 Pavement Overlay Project as recommended by the Transportation and Circulation Commission and amended by staff and find that the project continues to have a CEQA Categorical Exemption (Class 15301, 15302, 15304).
Engineering Manager Matt Luttropp said normally overlay projects get approved the year before and then they are built. A public meeting was held on February 2nd to talk about the overlay projects which is done for CIPs. What came out from this meeting were comments from the public about what they had in mind and shortly after that meeting, he received a call from EBMUD asking that they not do the paving work on St. Mary’s Road because they have found they have sections of the water pipeline that have broken multiple times over the past few years. They were hoping the City would delay its project until 2025 to give them a chance to fix the water main rather than digging up the City’s brand new road. Therefore, staff is recommending postponing St. Mary’s Road until 2025.
They will do some spot repairs on the street from potholes developing. They would do skin patches and piece the road back together. They do not want to do a lot of extensive repairs because EBMUD will be digging up the street, with the hope they will dig up most of these potholes.
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The second issue is the crosswalk on Glenside at the Lamorinda Trail. As part of the Toole report, they talked about making the crossing safer and the designer hired to work on the project recommended making the crosswalk more perpendicular than at an angle. He pointed to the location of the crosswalk and the driveways would be at a diagonal. A member of the public had a very good point which was, if you have pedestrians going perpendicular and bicyclists going at an angle, this builds in a conflict between the 2 users of the facility. So, staff reviewed this and now they are going to leave the configuration the same as now, but the driveways on either side of the crosswalk will be reconstructed and made ADA compliant for a walkway.
The other item in the Toole report as a mid-term goal was to widen the sidewalk on both sides of the street. The City did not have the budget as part of an overlay project to be that enthusiastic about it, but they thought there is a possibility for widening the north side, especially since the shoulder of the road is currently a red zone. The way they are thinking about doing that is to put an asphalt berm where the white fog line is now to create a wide shoulder and then where you run out of that parking area, they will build a bicycle ramp similar to School Street crosswalks and then they could widen the sidewalk from the telephone pole to the Lamorinda Trail. So, this would give a wider facility on the north side of the street.
Many public members commented they would prefer to see that happening on the south side of the street, but when this was presented to the TransCirc Commission they agreed that the north side is something they can do as part of the overlay project. The south side is not because it is more extensive and it would be ashamed not to do the north side just because people want the south side first. Ideally, they want both at some point, and this does not preclude having both in the future and it gets them a little bit of an improvement now.
Some things that did not change with the project is reconstructing the existing asphalt pathway that goes from Burton to Michael Lane on the east or south side. They would be reconstructing that from a 4-foot wide sidewalk to a 6-foot wide sidewalk. This makes for a much more comfortable pathway to walk on.
People can easily pass each other especially if pushing a stroller or a child on a bike.
They were sensitive to the existing trees that are in the area. He pointed to a tree cars pass very closely to and the asphalt berm is right up against the trunk of the tree and the bottom crown of the tree is paved over. So, he would like to pull the road away from that a bit, which he displayed a drawing of. They are shifting the alignment of the street a bit to the other side of the road where there are no houses. This will provide buffer on that tree. They will also construct the pathway in that area using a slightly different subgrade. Right now, there is a honeycomb brick work that is not ADA compliant and a hazard. They will paving that as asphalt but the subgrade will be permeable rock which will give less impact on the roots and give the tree more breathing room.
Also, as part of this project, the City will be constructing a formalized sidewalk or pathway on the north side of Glenside from Los Palos where it connects to the Lamorinda Trail. Currently, there is sort of an asphalt path there and a paved shoulder and gravel shoulder in spots. This will formalize that and make that area safer.
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Mr. Luttropp said the next piece is Olympic Boulevard. Most changes on that were non-controversial. They will be repaving the existing pathway on the south side which now is 5 feet wide and they will make it 6 feet wide. They will also put in 5-foot bike lanes on both sides of the street with a 2 foot striped separation between the bikes and the cars, and the road will be 10 ½ feet wide lanes. He displayed what it looks like now, noting there is a lot of asphalt which has been covered up with dirt, debris, and trees. They will clear this out and put an asphalt berm there so the street sweeper has a clearly defined edge to sweep against so this does not happen in the future.
The next piece is implementing the safety improvements at the roundabout. These improvements were started after a very unfortunate bike accident. This has been before the TransCirc Commission as part of creating this. The consultant, Kimley-Horn was tasked with creating safety improvements they could add to the roundabout. They looked at the cost associated with implementing them because one of the big changes suggested was putting in raised crosswalks at all crosswalks on the traffic circle. The issue with that is it creates a bump in the road where now the drainage needs to be modified, which means a lot of the curb and gutter needs to be modified.
After reviewing the total costs of doing these improvements, it was $700,000 as an engineer’s estimate and this seemed very expensive. They then sought a less expensive way of doing it and see how it works.
This is why they put all of the delineators out there in advance is to see what the functionality of what the changes would look like, except for the raised crosswalks because they could not make those temporary.
And, they also heard from members of the public that removing the slip lane which is the right turn lane off of Pleasant Hill Road onto Olympic was something they should look at because people were concerned about the crosswalk on Olympic on the west leg that people coming through that slip lane do not have enough time to make a decision about the folks in the roundabout and the people in the crosswalk. They are looking at the roundabout and not looking in the crosswalk, are happy with the roundabout traffic, look up and they are at the crosswalk, partly because drivers can go around that corner very fast.
The thought was, what happens if they get rid of the slip lane. They knew going into it that it would make an impact on traffic. People told staff that there would be cars backed up to the freeway. They have been monitoring it and it has not been as bad as people thought it was going to be, but they also have not had clear weather in 3 weeks. They have a tiny piece of weather where it was kind of clear and what he observed in the videos of before and after they did this is the primary backup that seems to be occurring is when people push the pedestrian signal at the intersection of Reliez Station and Olympic. So, way at the other end, someone pushes that button and it locks that intersection down because now there are pedestrians crossing there. This is causing a backup into the roundabout. Since they have not had great weather since then, he has not been able to test that on anything other than one day and one day does not make for much of a test.
He has also received more than a handful of comments about elimination of that slip lane. It is a very unpopular change. People have voiced concerns of delays in getting through the intersection and about the predictability of people entering the roundabout from southbound Pleasant Hill Road for the folks on eastbound Olympic. Previously, they knew people in the slip lane were going to turn onto Olympic and the people not in the slip lane were going to go past them. So, this was more predictable for them and their concern was that now they do not know if they are going to turn onto Olympic or if they are going to keep going.
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It has not resulted in much of a backup on Olympic. He would have expected the backup to be more severe than what they have been able to observe, but they do not have a lot of data points at this time. Again, he took this to the TransCirc Commission with some recommendations as to how they could value engineer this and make it a little cheaper. One idea is to implement all the striping changes, do not put in raised crosswalks, and not do the concrete median extensions and new landscaping shown on the plan do and instead, put in asphalt berms to make those median changes, put holes in the berms as needed for drainage. Originally, the idea was to look at putting in speed tables either directly in advance of the crosswalks or 150 feet away from the intersection.
Since the time of writing his staff report, Kimley-Horn has discussed this internally and come back to him, and they do not feel comfortable supporting either of those options. They are uncomfortable with the speed tables in advance of the intersection because their 85% percentile speed on Pleasant Hill Road are greater than 45 mph, and FHWA guidance says not to put speed tables on streets with speeds greater than 45 mph. They are uncomfortable putting the speed tables directly in front of the crosswalk because no one has done that. So, they are uncomfortable being the first one to put their stamp on putting speed tables directly in front of a crosswalk within a roundabout.
He has talked with SFMTA and they have put speed tables directly in front of crosswalks, not at roundabouts, but in other locations in San Francisco and have had success with that. At this point, based on the large number of public comments he had that uniformly did not like any of the changes at the roundabout, want to put it back the way it was, did not feel it was an issue in the first place, staff’s recommendation is perhaps they should take a step back with the roundabout and re-evaluate what they are going to do. Perhaps they can talk with another consultant about speed tables and see if they have more experience putting these in, and conduct more public outreach on what they plan on implementing.
The other option is they can simply put in the berms and re-do the striping, and install an RRFB signal on the west leg crossing of Olympic, so these are staff’s recommendations at this point.
Councilmember Kwok asked Mr. Luttropp to explain what is a speed table. Mr. Luttropp explained it is like a speed hump with a big flat top on it. It has the same slope going up, still a 3 ½” rise but they usually have about a 10 foot landing on top before going back down again, with the idea as getting people to slow down before getting to the intersection which would improve the pedestrian and bike safety. Generally, they are a little softer to drive over and not quite as jarring as a speed hump.
Councilmember Kwok asked and confirmed the speed limit on Pleasant Hill Road going south he believes is 40 mph and on Olympic coming from Walnut Creek it is 40 mph. The 85th percentile of speed is over 45 mph so people are speeding there.
Councilmember Candell referred back to Burton Valley and changes on Glenside. She asked if Mr. Luttropp reached out to those involved with the Burton Valley pilot project because they are very sensitive to any more changes. Mr. Luttropp stated, no; some people did come to the meeting about this. He thinks the decision to not involve them was that this was not going down Burton Valley.
Councilmember Candell said the explanation tonight is very different and much better than what she was reading in the report and the pictures were great, so it might be worthwhile to present the pictures to them with areas of interest.
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She said understands the changes to the roundabout but she thought the City had another consultant.
There were going to be green chicanes in the middle of the roundabout and speed humps that were going to come before the roundabout. Then, they switched to Kimley-Horn but there was a consultant before that.
Mr. Luttropp said he was not involved in those earlier discussions. He does not know if that was a consultant or things a member of the community had mocked up and given to Mike Moran.
Councilmember Candell clarified that staff does not want to make any of the changes that have been suggested and the only things they will do is re-stripe and add the RRFB. Mr. Luttropp confirmed the RRFB is easy to do, but honestly, he said he is torn between whether they put in asphalt berms to make the medians bigger and re-stripe it in Kimley-Horn’s plan to try and narrow the lanes down, take Pleasant Hill Road down to one lane in advance of the intersection which is something he did not touch on. This is not as aggressive as what a full plan is, but it is still pretty aggressive, or he asked if they restore the intersection back to its pre-existing condition and start over with a process to get more community involvement. There is just a lot of people sending in negative comments about it. Usually, half of the people like it and half do not, but this was 90/10.
Mayor Anduri asked what is staff’s recommendation with respect to what the Council should do. Mr.
Luttropp said he would restore the roundabout back to the pre-reimagining position and have more meetings to discuss what they do in a more finalized design moving forward next year or the year after.
Mayor Anduri asked and confirmed this is just in response to southbound Pleasant Hill Road. Mayor Anduri said there is no berming proposed.
Mr. Luttropp said in Kimley-Horn’s design there was additional berm work proposed on southbound. They were making the median much larger and extending it to the north. He is recommending not doing this because he does not think the public has a firm grasp on what they are even proposing at this point in time. They have put temporary sticks out there, have made changes, and the public is unhappy about it, but he is not sure everybody really knows what they are unhappy about. They see lots of things being changed and he would like them to have more opportunity to comment on the changes before spending a lot of money to implement them. It may be that they put in the $700,000 version with raised crosswalks and the other items, but he thinks there should be more processing of that.
Councilmember Gerringer said what the Council is looking at tonight is what goes into the overlay project right now for the 2023 year. The Council has already received a request from EBMUD that they would put off that project until 2025 because of their needs. If the Council decides following a process involving consultants, there are some recommendations and they were beginning to implement a pilot program. If they decide they do not want to move forward with anything right now because they have not finished the pilot program and there is not good data yet, she asked what would be the next steps for moving the review of the project with public outreach and reviewing it through a Vision Zero lens. So, if they make a decision to remove it out of the CIP for now, she asked what those next steps would be.
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Mr. Luttropp said he would see paving Olympic Boulevard like they had planned to and then talk to the consultants more about how they can value engineer this to still achieve what they want, and determine whether they can put speed bumps in, and if not, what can they do. He noted they did send him a sketch about putting in a chicane and he has concerns about how that impacts bike safety, but they can look at things and hold a public meeting like he did for the Pleasant Hill Road project last week where staff tells the public this is what they want to do and present options they are reviewing, receive their input, refine the input, hold another public meeting, go to the TransCirc Commission and keep moving forward in that manner. Once they have consensus from the public this is a reasonable process to take, create a project and build it.
Mayor Anduri said if they go through that process he asked when would they be doing the building. Mr.
Luttropp said it could conceivably be in 2024.
Mayor Anduri said in terms of the budget for 2023, he asked if staff was intending to roll the entire amount forward for 2024 and 2025. Mr. Luttropp said his intent would be to roll it forward. It is possible they could do a small slurry seal project this summer which is staff time-dependent. The relatively new engineer designed last year’s very large project and it was a success, so he could put together another one. They also have pathway projects they are building this summer that have already been on the books.
City Manager Srivatsa said she supports Mr. Luttropp’s recommendation but she wanted to add that the City will value-engineer it because it is an expensive proposition. Having said that she does not think berms and delineators can replace landscaping. They need things to soften the area. The roundabout itself is wonderful. Their medians on Pleasant Hill Road are really great. She would ask that they also consider an option, albeit more expensive and maybe they decide to cut the budget, but improvements that enhance the roundabout and do not take away from it. Rightly so, the project was value-engineered but that means concrete berms, striping, and something more urban than the location it is currently located in.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
LIBBY HENRY said one thing that has come to her attention is the there has been a huge increase in car break-in’s at the parking lots between Pleasant Hill Road and Reliez Station Road. She and her carpooling group are not using that any longer because of this, so while not part of the budget, she suggested security cameras or something. She did not know this was not owned by the City of Lafayette but she wanted to point this out.
Councilmember Candell said she knows the lot is not owned by the City but she asked who has jurisdiction for car break-in’s.
Ms. Srivatsa said it is the EBRPD Police, but she will notify the Police Chief so he can coordinate with them.
CY LUCAS thanked Mr. Luttropp for his work, said he was on the call 2 weeks ago when it was tentatively decided that the slip lane was going to be re-opened and he asked for any ETA on that because it is still closed. People would turn right on the roundabout onto Olympic from Pleasant Hill Road.
Mr. Luttropp said he does not have a set ETA at this time.
City Council Meeting Page 13 of 26 March 13, 2023
Mr. Lucas said City Manager Srivatsa talked about improvements that enhance at the roundabout. He is someone who drives it daily up to Burton Valley on the Lucas Circle where they live. It is hairy with hedges, sticks, signs, sculptures, bushes, all kinds of things, and he would say minimize rather than enhance the area which would be a lot better. Lastly, Mr. Luttropp said many people do not know what they do not like. He does and did not like that auto flipping on Pleasant Hill Road 10 or 11 days ago when there was no rain or inclement weather. Narrowing lanes from 2 to 1 resulted in an auto flipping over because it was not ready for it. The west Olympic approach to the roundabout just before has sticks that protrude now into the lane and it narrows it down to 1 lane for 2 directional lanes which causes a delay there, especially in the morning when people are commuting down the hill and around it to the freeway. That just backs up to Burton Valley. Regarding speed bumps in Burton Valley, he asked if this is something they are testing out and maybe removing in the future. He asked to simplify the roundabout to when it worked.
CHERYL MACDONALD referred to Burton Valley residents not being involved or the matter brought to their attention. People at these meetings are passionate, conflicted, at odds, and she believes the Burton Valley project should not be decided on in any way without any outreach to those who live there or anywhere in neighboring streets. As for the roundabout, most do not have pieces of art in the middle of them, and she suggested it be moved to another location in town and instead of putting in low lying shrubs or flowers.
ROBERT LAVOIE said he thinks speed tables, narrowing lanes, berms and medians are all these things are potential safety hazards and he thinks the City needs to keep this road as wide open as possible for large fire equipment, ambulances, and trailers. The blinking lights might be the solution for the pedestrian crossings but the road should be kept available for vehicles. Right now it has many bollards and signs at night it is practically blinding to go through there so he agrees it should be simplified and definitely not narrow the lanes and other work. He was not sure the City should spend $700,000 and questioned if it would solve the problems the bicyclist had when he was killed. It was probably from distracted driving and someone trying to dodge another vehicle. He thinks the Fire Department should be consulted before any changes are made and to listen to the people using it all the time.
JESSICA LORDAN referred to getting more community feedback at meetings on the roundabout. In theory, this is a good idea but she would suggest finding a way to make these meetings more collaborative. If you are someone that does not hold the popular viewpoint of those attending the meeting, they can be very hostile and harassing and she does not know they are fruitful. She would encourage everyone to make their public input a more welcoming place for everyone’s viewpoints and that the harassment and intimidation not happen in person or on-line around the town.
ABIGAIL FATEMAN acknowledged that most people in the room are not expert traffic engineers and she would hope the City defers to experts when looking at the safest way to engineer their city. They have an adopted policy they are looking at increasing safety, reducing collisions that have severe or fatal injuries, and she is not one to comment on the best way to engineer the roundabout, but it was unfortunate a car flipped over a week ago. They are fortunate it was not a severe or fatal injury whereas what did occur previously was a fatal incident in the roundabout. She would exchange non-injury incidents for avoiding any fatal collisions in the future at anywhere in the City. She would therefore defer to engineers on what is going to reduce velocities, increase safety, reduce opportunities for cars moving fast to avoid interacting with pedestrians, bicyclists or other cars as the City looks at examining that intersection. In essence, she wants to prioritize Vision Zero and other policies in the City to support reducing severe collisions.
City Council Meeting Page 14 of 26 March 13, 2023
Mayor Anduri echoed Ms. Fateman’s comments and will also defer to the engineers, consultants, and the two members on the Council liaisons to the TransCirc Commission and who have been involved with these issues.
Vice Mayor Dawson thanked the engineering team because she knows this was reviewed as to how to build effective safety measures and use funds efficiently at the same time. She agrees with Mayor Anduri’s comments and said Vision Zero is about gathering data. She recognized the accidents and also that some people still do not know how to use it, as well as people speeding through it on the slip lane.
The big issue is how to reduce traffic down Pleasant Hill Road and she would defer to their engineers and consultants.
Councilmember Candell said one comment related to the fire vehicles and she asked if the design has been reviewed by the Fire District. Mr. Luttropp said, no. She asked if the bike groups have weighed in.
Mr. Luttropp said the representative of the biking community that requested for some of these changes to be implemented did weigh in and they liked the design by Kimley-Horn, although, anecdotally, when he was standing out at the site with the Chief of Police last week talking about the roll over accident, he had bicyclists yell at him to remove all the stuff from the street.
Councilmember Candell said something came up regarding removing the art. She remembers the reason they have the art is that they want people not looking through the middle of the roundabout to distract them. It actually provides a safety service, and the art and all shrubbery is shielding things as they go through the roundabout so they are not getting distracted. They are keeping focused on where they are supposed to be looking.
She recommended definitely talking with the Fire District about the extreme narrowing without the speed tables in the middle and obtain their thoughts on how this would work for them, especially while driving on Olympic going west. This is the narrowest one without a slip lane that they might be approaching.
Otherwise, she agrees that the course of action of just doing the paving, making the changes suggested of the obvious ones they should do, and then bringing them back is a good idea.
Mayor Anduri said he realizes they did not return to a question that was raised by a speaker regarding the speed bumps in Burton Valley and asked staff to respond to this. Mr. Luttropp said he is not directly involved in that project, but his understanding of where it is going next is that Patrick Golier is preparing a survey that will go out to Burton Valley and one of the questions surely is, should the speed bumps stay or go. After that survey comes back, it will return to the City Council for discussion. So, nothing has been decided yet.
Councilmember Kwok said this is a very thorough report and it sounds like some aspects are noncontroversial and staff is asking for the green light to move forward with like Glenside and not doing St.
Mary’s which he would be supportive of proceeding with, as staff recommended. Regarding the roundabout, it seems they are not ready to vote on it today given Kimley-Horn was not in agreement with some of the aspects that were supported, so he is happy to give TransCirc Commission more time to return at another time unless staff is asking the Council make a decision on Olympic today.
City Council Meeting Page 15 of 26 March 13, 2023
Mr. Luttropp said the idea was that this was going to be constructed as part of the overlay project. That needs to go out to bid fairly soon. There is not a lot of runway left for the Council to make any decisions on, so this is why his recommendation is to pause on implementing that, do the rest of the project, and revisit the roundabout where they can spend more time on it and engage the public more to come up with a solution that works better for people.
Mayor Anduri asked if the overlay would be done on either side of the roundabout. Mr. Luttropp said when they built the roundabout, they repaved that entire intersection so the pavement that needs to be replaced is on either side of it and so it needs to be done.
Mayor Anduri asked if staff needs a specific vote or direction with respect to St. Mary’s Road or not. Mr.
Luttropp said he does need to hear that the Council is in agreeing with postponing St. Mary’s Road.
Mayor Anduri said there are 3 elements—1) St. Mary’s Road and to postpone that; 2) Glenside and a couple of issues there including involvement, 3) authorizing doing either side; and 4) the roundabout itself.
Councilmember Gerringer agrees with the Mayor’s proposed elements and wants to continue discussions with the TransCirc Commission and holding public and agency outreach to reach consensus. She wants to be sure they are doing the overlay on both sides coming into the roundabout, but that they are not going in there and taking everything out. She agrees they want it safe along with being a soft and aesthetically pleasing environment.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Dawson) to approve postponing the overlay on Saint Mary’s Road to 2025 to allow EBMUD to replace their water main. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
Mayor Anduri asked for a motion to proceed with the revised scope of work for the repaving of Glenside Drive and pathways. Councilmember Candell asked for a slight revision, and Mayor Anduri said he is surprised that people in Burton Valley would not be aware of what is going on here.
Mr. Luttropp said many attended the public meeting he held for this project. He notified everyone on the sign boards that they were holding the TransCirc Commission meeting, the public meeting for the Glenside Drive changes and he had people who were concerned, and this is why he got the comment about why are you putting it on the north side and that it should be on the south side to tie into the sidewalk some people in Burton Valley would like to see built. Councilmember Candell apologized and she missed that on the TransCirc Commission.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Dawson) to proceed with the revised scope of work for the repaving of Glenside Drive and the construction/reconstruction of pathways. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok ; Noes: None).
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to proceed with the repaving of Olympic Boulevard, pathway, and the restriping of the street outside of the limits of the roundabout. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
City Council Meeting Page 16 of 26 March 13, 2023
Mayor Anduri asked Mr. Luttropp to summarize his recommendation for the reconfiguration of the roundabout and the Council can discuss that. Mr. Luttropp said he would propose install the RRFB’s on the west leg of Olympic and restore the striping in the right-turn slip lane in the roundabout to the preexisting condition. Bring back to pre-existing conditions the area where they had narrowed the lanes coming into the roundabout and restore southbound Pleasant Hill Road to 2 lanes coming into the intersection. He said they do not have a lot of data yet, so he asked how long do they run the study where they do have all these changes in place. His thought was as part of the overlay project they would either remove all delineators and put things back. From now until then, they could keep running the study so they have the extra data they would need to come up with more ideas and hold public meetings.
Mayor Anduri said his impression was that they were looking at this and everything going forward will be through a Vision Zero lens, and Mr. Luttropp’s recommendation is to do these 2 things and to continue to gather more data and hold more public meetings, and return to the Council with a recommendation that is focused on not so much throughput through the roundabout but on safety for traffic, pedestrians, and bicycles. Mr. Luttropp agreed.
Councilmember Kwok questioned what is Kimley-Horn’s view of that recommendation. Mr. Luttropp said he believes Kimley-Horn would prefer to build the design that they came up with. They are confident with it, but it is very expensive so this is one issue with it. He thinks they would want to build the plan without the raised crosswalks and use that as the plan the City installs, and see how that behaves moving forward.
So, he thinks they would want to see keeping the lanes narrowed, restripe the road, and continue with Pleasant Hill Road taken down to one lane in advance of the intersection. It is possible that if they did that, they could run a speed survey on the intersection after those changes are put in place. Maybe that would drop their 85th percentile to less than 45 mph that would allow the speed bumps that they currently are apprehensive about putting in.
Mayor Anduri asked and confirmed that it would also be fair to say that if they went ahead with the original recommendation 5 minutes ago that they could always come back and do what Kimley-Horn is suggesting if that is what bears out through the data and the public meetings.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked if Kimley-Horn would have a better idea of what a good period of time is to gather data for Vision Zero, or is that gleaned from Toole Design if they are already working through that scope of Vision Zero. Councilmember Candell said the weather has been awful and speeds through that area are determined a lot by the amount of pedestrians going through. When spring hits, they might get the data but they may not, so they may have to go ahead with the project and do the overlay and remove the pilot at that point.
Mr. Luttropp concurred and said the issue is that the data he wants to know is how are cars backing up because this is the pushback he is hearing a lot from the public. He is also hearing pushback from bicyclists that they are uncomfortable with all the delineators out there. So, he would like to get better information as to whether the cars are really being backed up.
Mayor Anduri said if it is returned to the way it is, they will not get that information. Mr. Luttropp said this is correct. When he presented this to TransCirc Commission, their recommendation was to implement it with the asphalt berms the way Kimley-Horn has it shown. He is very torn on this design partly based on the public feedback. If they implemented this with berms and the striping as Kimley-Horn shows it is not free but it is not $700,000 worth of expense either, and it may be a better source of data for the City for this project.
City Council Meeting Page 17 of 26 March 13, 2023
Mayor Anduri asked how that impacts southbound Pleasant Hill Road and the slip lane. Mr. Luttropp said the slip lane would be restored and TransCirc was in favor of restoring the slip lane. You would keep the merge to one lane in advance of the intersection. He has talked with the Chief of Police about this and if we are going to keep that merge lane they want to extend it all the way to Reliez Station Road to give better visibility and a slower merge. They already have a changeable message sign out there to try and help people while they get used to this. It would merge and then it would split.
Councilmember Gerringer said when they were out there walking and with Kimley-Horn one of the things was extending it and narrowing it farther back to get people to slow down before you got in there. She is not saying put the berms and everything in, but she definitely asked not to take that all out yet, as she thinks they would be spending money starting over and not really have the basis for a decision. This is what she is hearing with Mr. Luttropp’s recommendation and what TransCirc had recommended. Timingwise, they have already said move forward with the overlay on Olympic coming into it. She asked when would this be started.
Mayor Anduri said he said he is finding he is not capable of voting on this tonight, and asked when construction would start. Mr. Luttropp said he would say construction will start right about when school gets out. As far as when they need to know, they need to know tonight if they are going to go with the Kimley-Horn version or fall all the way back. If they go with the Kimley-Horn version that would be included in the overlay project because it is not a minor amount of work. If they are going to fall all the way back and revisit this later down the line, it would not be done as part of the overlay project. So, the more he is talking about this, he is talking himself into going with the Kimley-Horn version because it allows them to continue the data study, it is not super expensive to implement it, it solves complaints from the public which is removal of the slip lane, and anecdotally he had fire trucks drive past him and they had no trouble at all navigating this. He is sure they will not like slowing down like everyone else, but they did not have difficulties navigating it.
Mayor Anduri said this is putting off any decision on the speed tables. Mr. Luttropp said this is correct; the consultant does not recommend them which puts staff in an awkward place where they are building something that is non-standard that a consultant did not support either. If they implement the KimleyHorn design with berms and paint and no more sticks, they can then do a speed survey again and determine if 1) did it solve their problems; and 2) if it did not, did it drop speeds below 45 mph so they could then get Kimley-Horn to be more supportive of putting in speed bumps because the speeds found dropped below the 45 mph threshold.
Mayor Anduri asked and confirmed that on southbound Pleasant Hill Road the sticks will be gone but there will be a berm that shows it narrowing down. Mr. Luttropp added that where they have installed all the white sticks, they become asphalt berms but a little bit longer.
Councilmember Candell said they have this stack of letters that said they do not like what is going on out there for many reasons. What she is not hearing is that if they do go ahead with all of this that they understand what the City is doing at all. This is her biggest issue. She thinks the Council is barely understanding it and she feels uncomfortable. If they did this in a year, it will not change the total price of this but they will be able to bring everybody along so they will understand it and weigh in. This is why she is hesitant about doing it. It is great to start it at the end of school which gives the City some time with the sticks out there to get a better understanding of the traffic impacts and it will provide some data but to go ahead with all the berms without bringing everybody along she is hesitant to do that.
City Council Meeting Page 18 of 26 March 13, 2023
Mayor Anduri asked if they would extend the sticks then, and Mr. Luttropp said he would still extend the merge to Reliez Station Road now so that would be one change. If they are going to keep the delineators or the sticks out there, he would also give consideration to restoring the slip lane because that seems to be the primary stumbling block people are having for southbound Pleasant Hill Road.
Vice Mayor Dawson said he would therefore model of what Kimley-Horn is, but with the delineators as opposed to the berms.
Mayor Anduri said he is hearing is where they are now is they are not taking out any of the sticks either on the east side or the west side on Olympic. They will modify the sticks on southbound Pleasant Hill Road so they are merging down to one lane but doing it sooner and closer to Reliez Station where it hits Pleasant Hill, and then they will restore the slip lane and study that. Mr. Luttropp said this is correct.
Mayor Anduri said the other option would be to go back to the TransCirc Commission with the KimleyHorn suggestion, report on what the Council discussion was, and then get a recommendation. He sees these as the 2 possible ways forward. He asked if it is sent back to TransCirc he asked if they could get it back by March 27th. Mr. Luttropp said he thinks so, but by then they are out to bid.
City Clerk Joanne Robbins noted that the TransCirc Commission meets on March 20th.
Mr. Luttropp said he needs a decision tonight and the TransCirc Commission did look at this and their recommendation was to go with the Kimley-Horn design with the RRFB’s being added. They liked the idea of the speed tables but that was before they found Kimley-Horn would not support those. So, they have a sense of what they would like to see so they already supported the second option.
Councilmember Kwok said they are not doing the $700,000 budget version. He asked what the range of cost would be. Mr. Luttropp said if they implement the Kimley-Horn version with berms, paint, no speed bumps, and the RRFB’s, they are in the $200,000 range. If they go with the other alternative of keeping the sticks there, changing them on Pleasant Hill Road it would be about $20,000 or less. He thinks they would still install the RRFB’s which are around $50,000 to $60,000.
Councilmember Gerringer said she knows there have been many meetings. Now, as things are being implemented they are getting first-hand what the visceral reaction is to doing anything there. TransCirc heard this, there was opportunity for public comment there and they recommended the berms, striping, restoring the slip lane, and so she is leaning on moving forward with that, but to give it more time for testing, leave this sticks and the striping, put up the RRFB’s.
She wants to give more time for the testing and getting the data. Possibly they can leave what is there as the pilot program, continue to get the testing, and then they can ask TransCirc Commission to look at that again because what they did not have at that time when they made this decision was all the public comments around controversial projects. It brought out many people and their input relating to the Pleasant Hill Road piece. She thinks the only way to move forward is to get it back to TransCirc and maybe they miss getting it done as part of the overlay. She wants to find a solution to save money and get the thing done, but she also wants to be sure that the TransCirc Commissioners have an opportunity to weigh in.
City Council Meeting Page 19 of 26 March 13, 2023
She suggested leaving the sticks and striping with the narrowed lane, extending back on Pleasant Hill Road into the southbound, continue moving forward with the RRFB, and eliminate the slip lane.
Councilmember Kwok asked and confirmed the budget is about $70,000 for that. The most expensive part of that is the RRFB. Most of it is already in place so it is nominal cost.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked how this ties into the LRSP in terms of community-wide priorities of intersections needing to be addressed. Councilmember Gerringer said it does tie into it, and this is about how to do it in the CIP and staff’s overlay project. It definitely could overlap and potentially in the future, TransCirc could return with a different recommendation and that would be part of either the LRSP or staff coming back with a different budget piece. The struggle for her has been also getting the best value on something that has been studied but clearly needs more community engagement and study. They are not doing St. Mary’s Road but it does not mean they are not going to look at that as part of other initiatives.
Mayor Anduri said most likely they will be looking at next year for any substantial permanent improvements and keeping the temporary ones in place longer.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to preserve the temporary reconfiguration of the roundabout with the reopening of the slip lane from southbound Pleasant Hill Road and perform additional traffic studies and public outreach on a final design option to be implemented in the summer of 2024.
Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
13. PUBLIC HEARINGS – None.
14. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT
A. Minutes
2. February 27, 2023
Recommendation: Approve.
Mayor Anduri referred to page 3 of the minutes. Kristen Altbaum is the speaker who talked about the City job opening for a Senior Civil Engineer and Jenifer Paul was the person who talked about the Lamorinda Action Plan and asking that they have the Pledge of Allegiance, and he asked these to be flipped.
On page 9, in the description of the action for picking the alternates for GPAC, he said if there is insufficient interest, conduct recruitment but they did not say they were going to do that. The Council said if there is sufficient interest they would go ahead with the lottery. If there was insufficient interest, then once there is a vacancy, they would conduct recruitment and carry out a lottery.
Ms. Robbins recited the correct wording by Mayor Anduri: “Direct staff to contact remaining applicants to gauge their continued interest in being selected and a) if there is sufficient interest, assist the Mayor in conducting another lottery to select alternates for the geographic district and non-profit representatives; and b) if there is not sufficient interest, wait until there is a vacancy in the primary position and then conduct recruitment for applicants and carry out a lottery.” ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to approve the February 27, 2023 minutes, as amended. Vote:
5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
City Council Meeting Page 20 of 26 March 13, 2023
BREAK
Mayor Anduri called for a 5-minute break, and the regular meeting was reconvened at 9:30 p.m.
15. COUNCIL/COMMISSION REPORTS
A. Councilmembers report on activities and consideration of matters a Councilmember wishes to initiate for placement on a future agenda.
Councilmember Kwok reported in the last week in March they had their first in-person committee and commission meetings. He is pleased to report the Lafayette Emergency Preparedness Commission met and had a quorum in the Library and the Environmental Task Force met over in the City offices. These were very productive meetings and all is going well.
Mayor Anduri added that he attended the first in-person meeting of the PTR Commission and all 8 commissioners were there in person and half of them had not previously met so they were able to do so in person.
Councilmember Candell reported next week on Tuesday she and Mayor Anduri will travel to Sacramento as part of the Legislative Committee to help lobby their legislators for Lafayette. Secondly, their California Alliance of Local Electeds met with AG Bonta and talked about housing issues and how he is enforcing the Housing Accountability Unit. Yesterday, the City Attorney from Huntington Beach presented the reasonings behind their lawsuit against the State which was extremely interesting. They filed it in Federal Court and not in State Court and it is very narrowly focused mostly on the RHNA process and how the process is not working, will set up cities for failure, and a freedom of speech aspect in terms of the State’s overreach is a violation of Freedom of Speech rights because they have cut off not only local cities but the people. So, it is a very interesting case. The actual claims on the first 12 pages are fascinating, and said there are many issues affecting Lafayette in the same way so she encouraged everyone to read it.
Mayor Anduri asked if the meeting with AG Bonta was before the lawsuit was filed against the State, and Councilmember Candell said it was before. She said he mentioned “bad actors” like Huntington Beach and she thinks he had gotten wind of that, and they did counter-sue almost the same day.
B. City Manager’s Update
Recommendation: Receive and file.
City Manager Srivatsa gave the following report:
• Last week the City Managers of Danville, Walnut Creek, Orinda, Moraga, and Lafayette met with Recycle Smart’s new Executive Director, David Kruger. It was a very productive meeting. This is the first time the City Managers have met with the ED and he has promised to work with them. • The Planning Commission interviews are this Thursday. There are 2 applicants and 1 renewal. • The City Council is meeting with the City and Town Councils of Orinda and Moraga on the 14th and the Smart Signals Project is the topic of discussion and it is being hosted by Moraga. • At the Chamber of Commerce Board meeting today, EBMUD presented plans for the Reservoir Tower and comments were consistent with concerns expressed by the Council and those at the Council meeting, which include the height of the tower and loss of the iconic design.
Boardmember Coleman was there and listened. The Chamber did not take a position but may send their comments.
City Council Meeting Page 21 of 26 March 13, 2023
• Mayor Anduri, Vice Mayor Dawson, Economic Development Manager Thomas Myers, and she worked with the Chamber and were assigned to various shopping centers in downtown. They went and visited businesses throughout the downtown just to say hello, here is the Chamber, here is the City, what can they do for them. Today, the report out was that it was a very positive experience. Most people are very happy in Lafayette.
• There was some concerns about parking and this is something Mr. Myers is addressing. There are also concerns about parking in the private lots. At La Fiesta Square, the new owners had significantly raised the Costs of Common Area Maintenance (CAM). She and Sarah Regan had some conversations with them and they have reduced the CAM by about one-third. It is still high and they have pledged to be more involved with their tenants. • Tickets are available for the Recreation Department’s Family Dance this Friday, which is usually a sold out event. Also, spring and summer registration opened today, Camp Awesome, Carpentry, and Lego Camps remain the most popular and may fill up very quickly.
Councilmember Kwok asked and confirmed with Ms. Srivatsa that Moraga is hosting the Smart Signals Project meeting and she did not believe they were posting a staff report. Councilmember Gerringer would know more about it as it was funded through CCTA.
Councilmember Gerringer stated Moraga is providing a presentation, and there will be members from CCTA will provide updates and answer questions. It is her understanding there will not be a staff report ahead of time.
C. Councilmembers Candell and Gerringer
Bills and Initiatives of Local Importance and Bill Matrix Recommendations:
a. AB 478 (Connolly) Wildfires: Insurance
Recommendation: Support.
b. SB 411 (Portantino) Open Meetings: teleconferences: bodies with appointed membership.
Recommendation: Support.
c. SB 423 (Wiener) Land Use: streamlined housing approvals: multifamily housing developments.
Recommendation: Oppose unless amended.
d. Resolution 2023-19 Opposing Initiative 21-0042A1: Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-19.
e. Bill Matrix
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Casey Elliott, Townsend Public Affairs, stated he met with the Legislative Committee on February 28th and said he will provide recommendations of the committee, and noted Item E is informational-only. He gave an overview of each bill as outlined in the staff report and the subcommittee’s recommendations.
City Council Meeting Page 22 of 26 March 13, 2023
Councilmember Kwok referred to Item A, which Mr. Elliott said is mainly about protecting seniors. There were 3 bullet points on the part of the summary. The second one states it “caps the insurer’s ability to initiate a premium increase only once in a 5 year period.” He asked if this cap is just for seniors or is that a cap or all clients. Mr. Elliott confirmed this is for those 65 and older residing in a high fire severity zone and this is who the increase in the premium applies to.
Councilmember Kwok referred to Item C relating to SB 423 and the recommendation to oppose unless amended. He asked if the subcommittee or Townsend or someone else came up with the amendments.
Councilmember Gerringer stated it is a combination of the committee and recommendations and input from Mr. Elliott. Councilmember Candell said the League of California Cities is also looking into this but have not made recommendations yet and have a “watch” position.
Councilmember Gerringer referred to taking a position on SB 411 early, and she asked Mr. Elliott to talk about taking an opposed position unless amended versus a watch position. Mr. Elliott explained that particularly early in a 2 year session now, the best opportunity to work with an author’s office on a piece of legislation like this where he is inclined to think this will go through a couple of sets of revisions as it moves through the legislative process, taking an opposed unless amended position as opposed to a watch position allows them to engage a little easier and provides a method by which they can get specific amendments into the author to begin that conversation. A watch position often is not communicated through an author’s office with a letter stating the position. If there was something, there would be a letter of concern that could suggest amendments. With an opposed unless amended position, they can indicate they oppose the bill in its current version, indicate what amendments would make the bill better, and if so they could consider removing their opposed position.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
CHERYL MACDONALD complimented the presenter for an easy to understand presentation. When going to the state website to look up bills, she has a hard time getting something easy to understand. She asked if there was a different link to find an easier form to read the bill. She also wondered if the information should be on the City’s website.
Mr. Elliott said unfortunately since they are in the early stages of the legislative session, most of these bills have not had a committee hearing. www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov is the main bill search engine for legislative information which he guesses Ms. MacDonald is using. Once bills start receiving their committee hearings which will be later this month and into April that website will include the committee analysis of those bills which will be more digestible.
Mayor Anduri suggested taking each item one at a time and he thanked the Legislative Committee, along with Townsend and preparing the letters of recommendation. a. AB 478 (Connolly) Wildfires: Insurance
Recommendation: Support.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to support AB 478 (Connolly) Wildfires: Insurance. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None). b. SB 411 (Portantino) Open Meetings: teleconferences: bodies with appointed membership.
Recommendation: Support.
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ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Gerringer) to support SB 411 (Portantino) Open Meetings: teleconference:
bodies with appointed membership. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes:
None).
c. SB 423 (Wiener) Land Use: streamlined housing approvals: multifamily housing developments.
Recommendation: Oppose unless amended.
Councilmember Candell commented that there are several people who are trying to study SB 423 and she brought this up in the Legislative Committee meeting that one of the things that were not covered in this report is how this interplays with the 6th Cycle Housing Element. There are many of them that believe that SB 35 kicks in halfway through a cycle and this is when ministerial approvals can happen. But since the original SB 35 had such high affordability requirements, those projects did not get a lot of opposition because they had a lot of affordability. This bill changes all of that. It reduces the affordability down to 10% which is drastically different than the original SB 35.
In addition, it is exempting the coastal zones, which is a big deal for many people in California. The real impact is that since the 6th cycle is so big, the City gets the SB 35 and the SB 423 if it passes, and it comes into play when they have not built half of the projects in the 6th cycle by 4 years. It is not that they permit them. They will have had to build them. There is no way any city is going to build half of their 6th cycle halfway in.
Because this goes in, Scott Wiener has also taken words they are reading and there are a lot of things about being in compliance and not in compliance with Housing Elements. It looks like he is taking out the ability of cities to self-certify their Housing Elements, which is what Lafayette did and others did. They are saying they are substantially in compliance with the Housing Element, and that is potentially getting removed. It means they must get HCD approval of their Housing Elements halfway through the cycle when they all fail. Otherwise, they will be out of compliance and then the builder’s remedy comes in. So, many of them call it “Scott Wiener’s end game” to get unlimited control and there will be no local control and no CEQA halfway through their cycle which is 2027 for Northern California and only 2025 for Southern California. This is a big deal and they are taking opposition.
Senator Glazer does not know anything about it and she is setting a meeting with him, but she thinks they really need to be reaching out to legislators and let them know this bill is very much a game changer if it passes without big changes.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Gerringer) to oppose SB 423 (Wiener) Land Use: streamlined housing approvals: multifamily housing developments. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
d. Resolution 2023-19 Opposing Initiative 21-0042A1: Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-19.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Gerringer) to adopt Resolution 2023-19 Opposing Initiative 21-0042A1:
Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
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e. Bill Matrix
Recommendation: Receive and file.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Gerringer) to receive and file. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
D. Mayor Anduri
(1) 2023 Lamorinda Sustainability Challenge and the 2023 Lamorinda Zero Waste Challenge Recommendation: Approve the attached 2023 Lamorinda Sustainability Challenge and the 2023 Lamorinda Zero Waste Challenge.
Mayor Anduri said this is the 2023 Lamorinda Sustainability Challenge and the Lamorinda Zero Waste Challenge which both challenge Moraga and Orinda. The intent is to present these to the Mayors of those cities on Wednesday. Sustainable Contra Costa’s representative will be there and the challenge will be on.
He asked for questions, and there were none.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Kwok/Dawson) to approve the attached 2023 Lamorinda Sustainability Challenge and the 2023 Lamorinda Zero Waste Challenge. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
(2) Resolution 2023-17 Support for the Park Theater Trust Renovation Campaign Application for $2.5M as part of U.S. Senate 2024 Congressionally Directed Spending Request and Resolution 2023-18 Support for the Park Theater Trust Renovation Campaign Application for $2.5M as part of The House of Representatives Fiscal Year 2024 CA-10 Community Project Funding Request.
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-17 and 2023-18.
Mayor Anduri asked if there were any questions regarding this item, and there were no Council questions.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
TRACEY FARRELL thanked staff for bringing this resolution before the City Council. The Council has the opportunity to join with Senator Glazer’s office, Supervisor Andersen’s office, the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation, Las Trampas, and many others in supporting their submission for congressionally directed spending.
They contacted Congressman DeSaulnier last fall and he became very interested in this project. There has been back and forth which culminated in a visit to the Park Theater by Congressman DeSaulnier and his staff. Mayor Anduri, their architect, and operators were present and Congressman DeSaulnier was very excited about the opportunity for funding to help them re-open as close to schedule as possible. They thought they would have a few months to pull this together but it was 8 days when they received word they had 2 opportunities—a submission today to Senator Diane Feinstein’s office and a submission to Congressman DeSaulnier’s office on Wednesday, March 15th. They were so gratified and reached out to the community, as well as Chateau Lafayette, Sunflower Hill, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahn’s office, and others to send letters, and the support was overwhelming.
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Staff was able to create this resolution and she urged the Council, on behalf of the Park Theater Trust, to adopt the resolution.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Dawson) to adopt Resolution 2023-17 and 2023-18. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes:
Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
16. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
A. E-mail from Gayle Israel, Contra Costa County Leadership Council Member, requesting a proclamation recognizing March 2023 as Red Cross Month in Lafayette.
Recommendation: Approve the proclamation recognizing March 2023 as Red Cross Month in Lafayette.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Dawson) to approve the proclamation recognizing March 2023 as Red Cross Month in Lafayette. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes:
None).
B. E-mail from Callie Cranfill, Contra Costa County MEDS Coalition Member, requesting a proclamation recognizing March 2023 as Prescription Drug Awareness Month in Lafayette.
Recommendation: Approve the proclamation recognizing March 2023 as Prescription Drug Awareness Month in Lafayette.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
Councilmember Gerringer noted in the proclamation it states “Recognizing March 2023 as Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month in Lafayette”, and she asked that the word “abuse” also be included. Ms.
Robbins stated she will add this to the proclamation.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to approve the Proclamation recognizing March 2023 as Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month in Lafayette. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
C. Letter from Brad Crane, Sustainable Lafayette Board Member, requesting permission to use Lafayette Plaza on Sunday, April 23rd from 11am to 2pm for their annual Earth Day Festival including street closure and no parking areas as described in Resolution 2023-14.
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-14.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Kwok/Dawson) to adopt Resolution 2023-14. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer and Kwok; Noes: None).
17. CLOSED SESSION
Recusal:
Councilmember Dawson recused herself from participating in Closed Session and left the meeting.
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Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
Mayor Anduri convened to Closed Session at 10:30 p.m. to discuss the following matters:
Conference with Legal Counsel -Existing Litigation (Gov. Code 54956.9(d)(1)) A. Save Lafayette Trees, et al. v City of Lafayette, et al., Contra Costa Superior Court Case No. 17- 1142
B. PG&E Corporation v. City of Lafayette, United State Bankruptcy Court – Northern District of California, Case No. 19-30088 (DM)
REPORT FROM CLOSED SESSION
City Attorney Subramanian announced no reportable action was taken in Closed Session.
15. ADJOURNMENT – 11:08 p.m.
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Carl Anduri, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Joanne Robbins, City Clerk