City Council, Planning Commission, Design Review Page 1 of 24 May 22, 2023 Commission Meeting
7 City of Lafayette
City Council, Planning Commission, and
Design Review Commission Meeting Minutes
Lafayette Library and Learning Center – Don Tatzin Community Hall May 22 2023 3491 Mount Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette, California 7:00 p.m.
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City Council, Planning Commission, Design Review Page 2 of 24 May 22, 2023 Commission Meeting
Mayor Anduri called the Regular City Council meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL
Present: City Council: Mayor Anduri; Councilmembers Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok
Absent: Vice Mayor Dawson
Present: Planning Commission: Vice Chair Anna Radonich; Commissioners Gary Huisingh, Gregory Mason, John McCormick, Kristina Sturm
Absent: Chair Stephen LaBonge, Commissioner Farschad Farzan
Present: Design Review Commission: Vice Chair Arman Hadilou; Commissioners Glenn Cass, Jon Gray. Absent: Chair Kristen Sidell and Commissioner Eugene Sim Staff Present: Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager; Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director; Greg Wolff, Planning and Building Director; Patrick Golier, Transportation and Circulation Program Manager; 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 (Candell/Gerringer) to adopt the agenda, as amended. Roll Call Vote: 4-0-1 (Ayes:
Anduri, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None; Absent: Dawson).
5. PUBLIC COMMENTS – (For Closed Session items)
There were no speakers.
6. CLOSED SESSION – None.
7. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Planning Commissioner John McCormick led the Pledge of Allegiance.
8. PUBLIC COMMENTS (For items not on the agenda)
CAROL REIF, said she has been an advisor to the Lafayette Memorial Hillside or the Crosses, reported the annual Memorial Day vigil will be held on Monday, May 29th at 5:30 p.m. and it is open to all. Songs, poetry, and remarks will be provided by selected area representatives. The land may be sold soon so this may be their last vigil there. She asked to park across the street at the BART parking lot, and those interested can visit their website at www.Lafayettehillsidememorial.org.
JANET THOMAS ceded her time to Ramsay Thomas.
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RAMSAY THOMAS, Acalanes neighborhood, said he and other speakers want to be allies in making the segment from Mt. Diablo to Acalanes High School safer for pedestrians. Last Friday, they participated in a Zoom meeting and learned 1) that this was not a grant to study the median road strip given to a single person. It came from the City Council; 2) the grant can only be used for median strip plans; 3) if there was some desire to repurpose the remaining monies the requirement would be all monies or $238,000 would have to be given back and then there would be the possibility for repurposing; 4) what if the Council decided to say they are done with this study and they want to give back the remaining amount of money and go from there. Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan’s staff was perplexed by that, and they suggested the City contact them and they could discuss what would happen then because they had never had that happen before.
They think whatever happened, they want to move forward and would have suggestions. Given what they know, it might make sense to spend the remaining money on the plan the City has started. They would only agree this is sensible, so conditions were met which is: 1) that there was an honest attempt to do a study of an east of Pleasant Hill Road Class I path. They were told perhaps some staff time could be used for pursuing that as a preliminary study while money is sought for a real study in the future. They suspected it would not be nearly as much money as $238,000.; and 2) They would urge City staff to stay true to what they read on the Vision Zero handout.
One phrase is that any approach to changes would be a data driven approach. It is their sense is there has not been a lot of data yet such the data to confirm this stretch of road is really all that dangerous to bikers and pedestrians. They think the proposal could be more dangerous because it involves 2 traffic lights for entrance and exit. They hope there could be some study of a median strip or south side strip. The east side strip is more used by bikers and they think evidence on use should be gathered ahead of time; and 3) They would like to encourage some evidence gathering by a firm of, if there was evidence of more bike use, would the preference would be for more bikers to be in the middle of the road strip or on a side strip.
Councilmember Gerringer shared that during the item on the agenda later, she will make a request to ask staff to come back with a proposal for the east side Class I study.
JOEY THOMAS ceded his time to Michele Greer.
MICHELE GREER said she lives in the Acalanes neighborhood off Stanley Boulevard with 2 children who attend schools and involved with sports. She said she can appreciate researching other modes of transportation other than cars; however, just because something should be done it should not be done hastily and without the involvement of the entire community. If Vision Zero does not make someone feel safe as soon as they step out their front door, anything done to compromise that first step should be done with a lot of thought, precaution, and possibly not taken at all. This center median pathway would make the sidewalk from Acalanes Avenue onto Pleasant Hill Road much less safe and would prevent her and her daughter from walking to school because it would eliminate the bike path as the buffer. This Vision Zero is not fulfilled because she can no longer get to the school in her community which is less than one mile from her house. This is why she is in favor of exploring a widening of the east side of Pleasant Hill Road.
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She also came across the Traffic Calming Guidebook and it was written and created as a tool to help address the challenge and restore and maintain balance between mobility and neighborhood quality of life. It has a long tradition of citizen volunteerism, community participation, and local decision-making.
The neighborhoods surrounding these intersections should have been involved from Day 1 and they were not.
Per the City’s own Traffic Calming Handbook, the community should be involved and those in the direct surrounding areas should be involved in a voting process for Phase 1, 2, and 3 changes that will be made.
She knows it states Pleasant Hill Road does not constitute a Phase 3 level; however, if the voting in the local communities happens for even just a Phase 3 level and Pleasant Hill Road is such a main artery for the community and County, she asked why this would not be a part of something drastic as changing bike lanes, making sidewalks safe, and putting a center median bike and pedestrian path in the middle of one of the busiest roads in the County. She asked the City to involve residents in an official or unofficial vote.
This center median pathway will make surrounding neighborhoods less safe and will make neighborhoods trying to get to school almost impossible.
Lastly, she presented the Acalanes Cross Country Team that currently runs on the street running and this would no longer be possible if that center median bike lane were installed and the side bike lane eliminated.
JACKIE GARCIA said she and her husband are here as residents and representatives of 350 Contra Costa, a grassroots climate organization. Her husband is also a representative for Physicians for Social Responsibility and Climate Health Now. The world is in a state of climate emergency. They should leave fossil fuels in the ground and accelerate the transition to clean, renewable electric energy sources.
Likewise, the data on negative effects of fossil fuels on human health is also overwhelming. A Stanford analysis on 14 years of California air quality data measured higher level of pollutions as far as 2 ½ miles away from oil and gas wells and associated negative health outcomes for residents within that area.
She asked the Council to adopt a resolution urging the County to end new permitting of oil and gas drilling in the County and to phase out existing oil and gas development activities and associated infrastructure in the County as well as within Lafayette. The resolution is about oil and gas development and extraction, and not about residential or commercial gas services. Although the County acknowledged the climate crisis by declaring a climate emergency, land use policy in the County General Plan does not align with their climate emergency and their just transition policy declarations and still allows oil and gas development. They feel this needs to change.
The County has more than 15 producing oil and gas wells, mostly in unincorporated areas and 656 nonproducing wells. There are 2 plugged wells in the Lafayette City limits. This resolution is important to show solidarity with the people in unincorporated East County who live near operational or reactivated wells and may suffer health and safety impacts from escaped toxic gases and groundwater contamination.
This movement started in 2020 as a response to new drilling activity near Heritage High School in Brentwood. Subsequently, Brentwood Hills residents discovered their housing development was built over an old gas field and methane vents were disguised as lampposts.
To date, Antioch, Richmond, El Cerrito, Pinole, and Hercules have all recently passed no drilling resolutions within their City limits. The Mt. Diablo Water Board also passed such a resolution. She would like to send the Council a resolution template based on climate and health science.
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Mayor Anduri asked Ms. Garcia to provide the template to the City Clerk.
RUSSELL EISENMAN (via Zoom) said he has lived off Stanley Boulevard off Pleasant Hill Road for over 25 years, has seen more accidents and fender benders since that new bike lane on Pleasant Hill Road was constructed than in all his other years of living here. The bottlenecking is worse than ever before, and merges off the freeways onto Pleasant Hill Road are almost non-existent. It is much worse and much more dangerous for drivers now. The City now wants to spend $3.5 million so bikers get a bigger lane in the middle of the road and bikers usually only use that lane on weekends, so they are already making a horrible drive down Pleasant Hill Road even worse. He does not understand what the benefit is and, as alluded to, it seems the surrounding neighborhoods will be made a lot less safe by proposing and doing something like this. He could not understand why this was happening until he saw the person proposed this does not live in Lafayette and who will not experience the negative effects or consequences of this.
He understands making a more bike and pedestrian-friendly area but just to get to this meeting tonight he stopped getting off the freeway for those folks and those on bikes crossing. Something that would help that would cost a lot less than $3.5 million is to install flashing lights at those crosswalks. It would alert drivers for pedestrians, but he questioned how people are supposed to get into the middle of a bike lane, and the right-hand turn will be eliminated.
Mayor Anduri clarified there is no elimination of the right turn lane, noting this was approved at the last meeting.
CHERYL MACDONALD said she wanted an update from the City Manager from the February 27th meeting.
She made a public comment and request that workshops and Town Halls be hybrid and some Councilmembers supported the idea and the Mayor indicated GPAC should also be hybrid. She supports that as well. There was also discussion about a calendar being created, having a list of projects that might need grants, and for there be time where the public could learn of those projects prior to grants being submitted which she wanted to hear an update on.
Lastly, she said notices within 500 feet of any project in the downtown and all major streets including Pleasant Hill Road should be done for any project that affects any major thoroughfare whether it is vertical or horizontal. She believes those neighbors should have received a notice at the very beginning of this project.
Mayor Anduri said in terms of bringing forward a review of the hybrid meetings and whether it should be extended to other bodies, they are now in the third month of these meetings and the Council does intend to bring it back. It may be in the second meeting of June, but it will be agendized.
City Manager Srivatsa responded on the calendar, stating their Transportation Manager Patrick Golier is working on a system by which they would maintain a list of projects that have been approved by the City Council and then would apply for funding, but it is not ready yet.
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BRAD ROSENTHAL said the only additional comments he has in addition to others is that there was no real democratic process followed here, whereas in the Burton Valley work, which is also on the agenda tonight, that did follow such a process. He has seen the public comments from supporters of that project saying it was not democratic but a survey was sent to several hundred households asking them to vote on it, and they did whereas there was nothing for the Pleasant Hill Road pathway until after the funding was secured and design work had been submitted. So, he asked the Council to take into consideration this should follow some democratic process.
9. PRESENTATIONS
A. Design Review Commission
Annual Update
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Arman Hadilou, Vice Chair, Design Review Commission, gave a PowerPoint presentation of the DRC’s annual report of FY 2022-23.
He provided a background of the role of the Design Review Commission, spoke about their work to serve as a referral body to the Planning Commission on land use permits, subdivisions, and City bonus projects, and policy developments. The Commission includes Chair Kristen Sidell who is absent tonight, himself as Vice Chair, Commissioner Glenn Cass, and Commissioner Jon Gray. He spoke about various policies and documents reviewed, meetings held, and work accomplished, items considered, and described the various homes built, said the Commission reviewed planning documents for revisions as requested by the Creeks Committee, and transitioned back to in-person meetings.
Looking forward, they continue review projects as a decision-making body on design review and hillside development applications, continue their role as an advisory body on land use and City bonus and other projects, and assist in development of downtown objective design standards considering new density and height limits necessary to accommodate RHNA.
Councilmember Candell stated the Council heard feedback that they might want to look at the objective standards again and asked and confirmed with Commissioner Cass that they would like the standards changed to some extent. What they are seeing is the current scoring system that exists where they are still not getting things they would really like. He thinks they need to eliminate the scoring system or revise it as a way of doing business.
Councilmember Kwok echoed his thanks and he said as they look into the future, they have a lot more activities. He asked if the group is resourced adequately to handle the workload.
Vice Chair Hadilou said two members will be stepping down, and they will be going through interviewing new candidates and selecting a one or more members.
Commissioner Gray said he thinks their workload in this last year has been lighter than the previous year.
Many of their meetings go about one or more hours and some less. The previous year they were much busier with longer meetings. They had many more multi-family projects that were controversial. If they get into more of that, they would like their compliment of 5 members back again as they will be down to 3 soon. That said, he thinks they have the capacity to accomplish the work, even though it cranks back up again.
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Councilmember Gerringer thanked the Commission and she hoped members of the community will be applying to serve on the DRC.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
Mayor Anduri added his thanks, and said given his prior experience on the Planning Commission and being a liaison, the DRC has a lot of work and he asked to pass onto Chair Sidell and Commissioner Sim the Council’s thanks, and said they are sorry they are not continuing as members.
B. Planning Commission
Annual Update
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Vice Chair Radonich gave a presentation and spoke about the role of the Planning Commission, said Chair LaBonge and Commissioner Farzan are not present tonight, but she is the Vice Chair, and Commissioner Huisingh, Sturm, Mason, and their newest member Commissioner McCormick are present. She described the guiding policies and documents for the PC, which is the General Plan, Downtown Specific Plan, the Downtown Objective Standards, Municipal Code, Residential Design Review Guidelines, Hillside Development Permits, and the Downtown Street Improvement Master Plan (DSIMP).
In 2022, she described the number and scope of PC meetings, statistics, projects reviewed over the last decade, work reviewed and accomplished, and said in looking forward to the next year they will review and consider land use permits, variances, design review, hillside development permits, and subdivisions, and update the elements of the General Plan, develop downtown objective design standards Phase 2 in light of new density and height limits to accommodate RHNA, establish thresholds of significance for evacuation times, and initiate update to the DSP Mt. Diablo Corridor Plan.
Councilmember Candell thanked the Planning Commission and welcomed Commissioner McCormick. She said in Phase 2, she asked if the PC wanted to change the objective design standard point or scoring system.
Commissioner Sturm said they have not used the scoring system as much because some of the larger projects go to the DRC first and they vet it against those points. Commissioner Cass has shared some of that feedback. She was on the subcommittee that developed them and as soon as they were launched they hoped and planned to evaluate and revisit them in the future, but they have not had the time. So, she was thankful for Commissioner Cass’s feedback.
Commissioner Huisingh said regarding staffing in general, they are thankful they are fully back to 7 Commissioners. They were working under 6 Commissioners for a while and were doing a lot. He recognized Vice Chair Radonich as she was on GPAC for the Housing Element and there were so many meetings. Commissioner Mason is now on the Safety Element committee. This commission was new when the Terraces came to the City and it was coming back with entirely new concepts, so he recognized this Commission for its heavy lifting with new members.
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Commissioner Mason said very seldom do they have tie votes on the PC. One area he and others struggle with is what he calls “The Lord of the Manner Houses” where there is a house before them which is looking down on their neighbors. That occurs frequently in Lafayette and unfortunately, often it gets down to who organizes the best and can get all neighbors out. This also falls in with expensive lots and how big a house an applicant can build and get away with it. They want to gradually increase sizes of homes, but a 3,000 square foot home in a 2,000 square foot neighborhood is probably acceptable, but he questioned how far out they can go before drawing in a comparable.
He knows they represent the City Council in this, and they are always free to appeal to the City Council, but he asked for guidance from the Council which would help. None of them want to have contentious meetings. He still remembers the car wash at the station at Lafayette which had been zoned for it for 20 years and that meeting went until 11:30 p.m. Those are the projects they would like to streamline and make their lives easier.
Vice Chair Radonich referred to objective standards and said in her opinion, she thinks a perfect example of where they failed the City is for the project on Gateway just across from the Library. As the developer checking the box to get credit for some of the scoring, he thinks if the City revisited some of the standards or assigned different points, they could have had a product that would have better benefitted the whole community.
Mayor Anduri said at their next meeting on June 12th, the Council will hear how objective standards will be prioritized.
Councilmember Kwok referred to going back to in-person and hybrid meetings and asked how that is working for the Planning Commission.
Commissioner Mason said he personally likes going back and thinks it is important for the community to physically see Commissioners. It is easy in Zoom meetings to look around and have other things going on.
But, when you are at a table, looking at Commissioners, that is a big help. He also thinks it better serves some of their long-time elderly residents who are not as comfortable with Zoom and thinks they should be seen.
Commissioner McCormick stated his first meeting was an in-person meeting but has seen the Zoom recordings. He was skeptical that the hybrid meetings would work, but the technology the City has in this room and on-line has been heartening. He thinks it will increase participation which can help the process.
Commissioner Sturm said she likes it as well but must get a babysitter sometimes. This screen and setup is amazing and it shows thought and care, and she voiced appreciation of that.
Councilmember Gerringer recognized the amazing work of the Commission, and while in-person meetings have benefits, it does create issues for small children. She welcomed Commissioner McCormick as well.
Commissioner Mason said he thinks the Council chose the Commission well. It is a diversity of talents so certain things can be deferred to certain members.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
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Mayor Anduri thanked the Planning Commission for another great year of work and said he would love to talk about his views on issues raised by Commissioner Mason.
C. Gary Parkhurst, Mount Diablo Interpretive Association (MDIA) Mount Diablo Education Center at Mitchell Canyon
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Mayor Anduri welcomed Gary Parkhurst to the City Council who is with the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association (MDIA) who will talk with the Council about plans for the Mt. Diablo Education Center at Mitchell Canyon.
Gary Parkhurst, said he is a volunteer with MDIA, and he gave a PowerPoint presentation. In thinking about education, it is an important element in every community. In Contra Costa County they have an opportunity to expand education opportunities to everyone when they transform the Mitchell Canyon Visitor Center into an education center. The center is an asset to Contra Costa County, a beautiful place to go, and he would encourage everybody to go. MDIA is the organization behind the Mitchell Canyon education center. They are a 501.3(c) and are a cooperating agency with Mt. Diablo State Park, an allvolunteer organization that was founded in 1974. In 2020, they approved a feasibility study to see if they could transform the existing visitor center into an education center.
He spoke about the popularity of Mitchell Canyon, noting 34,000 to 35,000 people visit Mitchell Canyon, and as a docent, they come from all over, but the majority are from Contra Costa County. They come because of the outdoor opportunities that exist, which he described as biking, hiking, wildflower viewings, and said they are excited with the opportunity to move it to an education center.
He displayed their current visitor center of 400 square feet, dedicated in 2004, and it just is not accommodating the kind of visitor flow and education opportunities Mitchell Canyon can provide. What is missing is no real outdoor space, and they are looking to develop 2 components; one would be a large outdoor pavilion open every day of the week, rotating exhibits, and accommodation for field trips. It would also provide a visual connection with their native plant garden, and they would have a 1,500 square foot of indoor space with exhibits. They would also look as creating a media or education room where rotating video could be accommodated or subject specific orientation.
He then presented and described a sketch of the proposed education center, which will be an ADA compliant facility. It will increase assess to Mt. Diablo State Park for people of all backgrounds and abilities, particularly students. The center will provide indoor/outdoor education, natural history, and environmental science opportunities for everyone. The inside of about 1,500 square feet allows room for expanded exhibits, audio visual, a media room, as well as the pavilion that will be open even when the interior building will be closed. Mt. Diablo would be able to welcome field trips, so they are excited about this one educational opportunity alone.
He presented a photo of the native garden and said the challenge is that it sits behind the trailer. The beauty of the new pavilion is you will be able to see through it. The new education center will provide a timely model for energy efficient, environmentally responsive building model for urban wildfire zones. All materials they will use will be sourced locally and the building is going to take full advantage of prevailing winds for cooling and sunrise and sunset for indoor lighting.
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He lastly presented a photo of the proposed new Mitchell Canyon Education Center. The question is, how can the City Council help them make this vision a reality. He asked to help spread the word. They began their campaign in November, are trying to raise $3 million and said they have thus far raised over $760,000. He asked to share their story through the City’s website and newsletter. He asked for support through a City endorsement and he can provide a resolution. They are currently endorsed by Save Mt.
Diablo, by John Muir Land Trust, by the Mt. Diablo Audubon Society, Chevron, PG&E, and others as examples. He asked to become a referral source for them.
Individually, the Council knows companies where their project might resonate with them and he asked to share those people with them. If their project resonates with the Council he asked to join their mailing list by going to MDIA.org and contribute. They have announced a matching campaign through July 31st, so every dollar donated are matched, thanks to the generosity of Save Mt. Diablo and an anonymous donor.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
MARY ANN HOISINGTON asked to have this information included in the Round Up if possible so residents would all have the address and information to participate and learn about it.
CHERYL MACDONALD said she is very excited about this, is glad to hear young people will be able to learn about Mt. Diablo and the environment. She echoed Ms. Hoisington’s idea as well and would also encourage the information going into the Vista. She asked if there will be any Native American information that lived on and around Mt. Diablo.
Mr. Parkhurst said the Native Americans that inhabited this area are the Bay Miwok tribe. There are currently no docents that represent this group, but there is information about them, and it would be displayed at the indoor facility.
Mayor Anduri thanked Mr. Parkhurst for coming and presenting this project.
10. CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Anduri asked if there were requests for removal of items. Councilmember Kwok said he has a comment about the minutes of May 8th and sent his corrections which are not substantive to the City Clerk. There were no public members wishing to speak or remove items.
A. Minutes – May 8, 2023
Recommendation: Approve.
B. Award of Construction Contract for 2023 Paving Project, Project No. 014-9736 Recommendation: Award construction contract to JV Lucas Paving in the amount of $2,099,374.70 for the 2023 Paving Project, No. 014-9736.
C. Award of Construction Contract for 2023 Pathway Project, Project No. 014-9737 Recommendation: Award construction contract to Grade Tech in the amount of $757,732.12 for the 2023 Pathway Project No. 014-9737.
D. Acquisition of Trail Easement on APN 239-111-015 (3370 Sweet Drive) City Council, Planning Commission, Design Review Page 11 of 24 May 22, 2023 Commission Meeting
Recommendation: Direct the City Manager to execute documents necessary to acquire a Trail Easement from the property owners of APN 239-111-015 for the negotiated price of $20,000 and find it exempt from CEQA pursuant to Public Resource Code section 15304, class 4 exemption, as the trail is a minor alteration of land that does not involve removal of healthy, mature, scenic trees.
E. Award of Construction Contract for Lafayette Community Center Playground Project, Project No. 012-9181
Recommendation: Award construction contract to Kerex Engineering in the amount of $1,289,974.00 for the Lafayette Community Center Playground Improvement Project No. 012- 9181.
F. Lafayette Children’s Garden Lease Agreement
Recommendation: Approve the Lafayette Children’s Garden Lease Agreement which extends the lease for five years beginning August 1, 2022, expiring on July 31, 2027.
G. 2022 Housing Element Annual Progress Report
Recommendation: Receive and file.
H. Appeal of Planning Commission’s approval for: HDP05-23 (Owner), R-20 ZONING: Request for reapproval of: (1) Phase I Hillside Development siting & massing; (2) Exception for Development within a Class II Ridgeline Setback; (3) Design Review for height exceeding 17’; (4) Grading to exceed 200 cu. yards; and (5) Tree removal of seven trees, to construct a new 2,850 sq. ft., 35’ tall single-family residence on an undeveloped lot within the Hillside Overlay District and Class II Ridgeline Setback located at 3933 Quail Ridge Road.
APN. 248-130-012. CEQA: City Council certified the EIR for the project on September 30, 2020 (SCH# 2019071038)
Recommendation: Continue the matter without discussion, as more information is needed to address the issues raised in the appeal. New notification will be sent out when the hearing is rescheduled.
I. Quarterly Financial Report - 3
rd Quarter, Fiscal Year 22/23
Recommendation: Receive and file.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to adopt Consent Calendar Items A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I.
Roll Call Vote: 4-0-1 (Ayes: Anduri, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None; Absent: Dawson).
11. OLD BUSINESS
A. Patrick Golier, Transportation Program Manager
Burton Valley Elementary Traffic Calming Pilot Project Final Recommendations Recommendation: Authorize staff to retain all traffic calming measures installed as part of the Burton Valley pilot project except for the part-time parking restrictions and the delineators at the ends of the speed humps. In addition, staff should not pursue a permanent sidewalk in Burton Valley.
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Transportation Program Manager Patrick Golier gave the staff report, PowerPoint presentation, and overview of the project which he said is based on the results of the data collection and evaluation effort done and the recent community survey. He gave a high-level overview of the project, discussed what was installed, the data collection effort that was conducted, the results of a recent public survey, and staff’s recommendation for conclusion of the project.
Councilmember Gerringer asked why the numbers might have gone down for bicyclists, drivers, and pedestrians considering they are coming out of COVID. Mr. Golier said he spoke with the Principal about this but does not have a good answer about reasons for that.
Mayor Anduri said Mr. Golier mentioned the 85th percentile speed went from 32 to 27 mph. To a lay person that sounds great, but he asked how to evaluate that degree of change and he asked what impact that has on safety in the neighborhood.
Mr. Golier said 32 mph for a 25-mph posted speed limit is high, so they brought these down by 5 mph which is collectively throughout the neighborhood. Each street had different starting and ending points, but the reduction in vehicle speeds is a great success story for safety and for pedestrians and bicyclists as well. It has a lot to do with Mr. Moran’s siting of where the speed humps are located, making sure there is consistent expectation of speed humps along the corridors, and he thinks collectively Burton Valley is safer today than 2 years ago.
Mayor Anduri asked if he would have expected with the lower speeds that there would be more pedestrians and bicyclists than there were when the pilot program began.
Mr. Golier said he would have expected that except that the part-time parking restrictions did not come with any physical separation between bicycles, pedestrians, and drivers. He did go out to the site several times for pickup time in the afternoon and watched students disperse through the neighborhood. Many students collectively cross Indian Way and over to Silverado rather than going up and down Merriewood so he would say in the future they might want to work with parent groups to identify preferred routes to school so they can be informed more about how parents are taking their kids to and from schools.
Councilmember Candell said the speed humps did this, but she noted the striping also changed dramatically. She asked if this helped around safety around Burton Valley, as well. Mr. Golier said yes; narrowing lanes on Silverado was a simple striping project, but that the lane widths were reduced from 12 feet to 10 feet which visually makes the road look narrower and drivers travel slower.
Councilmember Kwok referred to the study conducted in March which went to 750 households in the survey area. He asked where are those households, asked if was where the work was performed, or he asked if it includes all parents and students of the school.
Mr. Golier said it was where the work was conducted. The study area was a large circle around Burton Valley and roughly he included streets that had to use streets that have these measures to get into or out of their homes.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
BETH FALKSON ceded her time to Williams Falkson.
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WILLIAM FALKSON, Burton Valley Safe Streets, said they have a coalition of 415 Burton Valley residents who have been working for 2 years in making their neighborhood safer while at the same time preserving its character. He asked not to listen to him tonight but his fellow residents. On March 1st they wrote 300 pages of letters to the Transportation Circulation Commission expressing their opinions and demonstrating their amount of research, data collection, and analysis in Burton Valley. Those letters are in the Council’s packets. If necessary, he can message those folks and ask them to Zoom in. They come here to urge the Council to unanimously approve the City staff’s final recommendations of the Burton Valley Pilot Study.
He said at the end of the Council meeting on August 23, 2021 Vice Mayor Dawson requested City staff to bring back data that demonstrated the need, success, or failure of any pilot study measures. Toole Design must have collected 10,000 pages of raw data which, when distilled down, showed that prior to the pilot study the average speed in this 25-mph neighborhood was 26 mph. It also showed that each of the 4 entrances to the school averaged only 17 kids walking or biking per day. After the pilot study, the average speed had been reduced to 21 mph. Other numbers remain the same. The data the Council requested showed there was not a big speeding problem to begin with, nor was there a high volume of cars interacting with kids walking or on bikes. The pilot study did achieve a 5-mph reduction in speed.
Councilmember Kwok often asks questions regarding fiscal responsibility and efficiency. The City has now spent at least $250,000 to discover 2 things—1) there was no major speeding problem to begin with; and 2) speed bumps reduce speeds here by 5 mph. If City staff listened to his 400 friends and neighbors 2 years ago, they could have learned this information for free. This is the second time in 2 years City staff has recommended against a protected pathway. They cannot imagine the City would want to spend more time, money, and manpower on this twice rejected issue.
They know Councilmember Gerringer is dedicated to the buildout of some type of protected pathway from one end of town to the other to connect all neighborhoods. They also keep hearing the argument that kids need a protected pathway from Burton Valley to downtown and BART. Burton Valley’s wide streets already have pathways on both sides for all to use. These pathways have a perfect safety record.
While there may be reasons for young kids to ride bikes downtown, they wonder why someone who feels Burton Valley is dangerous would want their children riding downtown and why to BART. According to the LRSP, downtown is one of the most dangerous traffic areas in Lafayette, no Burton Valley. The LRSP indicates that the effort should be focused on downtown and on other busy arterials.
He thanked Councilmember Candell for listening and coming to understand that the original proposals put forth 2 years ago by the so-called professionals would knowingly violate the civil rights of people with disabilities under the ADA laws. To this date, proposals are still being floated that would have the exact same civil rights violations. No one has ever proactively reached out to the disabled community to engage them in any conversation about a protected pathway.
In addition to the data, the entire community has now spoken in a clearly definitive voice. In a vote the community voted by 2/3 majority for the recommendations before the Council, the Council may hear this was not the appropriate forum for a vote to be taken, but according to page 17 of the current Lafayette Traffic Calming Manual it is certainly legitimate and has precedent. He asked not to be fooled by another Trumpian big lie. This was not a rigged election.
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They are asking the Council not just to consider the vote count nor to simply consider the data. They are asking the Council to consider both along with common sense. As combined, they make a powerful package argument supporting the City staff recommendations, and they ask that the Council pass them unanimously to send the message that this issue is now resolved, resulting in a sane method to improve safety where nobody is at any risk while preserving the character of their neighborhood. There is an added benefit for voting unanimously for these recommendations.
They also conducted a community survey. The percentage results were virtually identical to the survey the City conducted; however, they asked an additional question—"As a result of the pilot study process, do you now trust Lafayette City government to act in the common good and in your neighborhood’s best interests. 92% of them answered “no”. The Council’s vote tonight can help restore the community’s faith in the Council’s governing credibility. In these days of State mandates and decreasing local autonomy, the Council can demonstrate that the democratic process is still alive and well in Lafayette. He asked not to choose to conduct a study to only ignore its results, do not choose to conduct an election to only ignore its results, do not ignore the City’s own Transportation Circulation and City staff’s unanimous recommendations, and do live up to the City’s democratic commitments and obligations. He asked to vote unanimously to prevent a few extremist voices from tyrannizing our neighborhoods and give some hope to other neighborhoods the Council is at least listening to the lifeblood of this City.
DOROTHY MOORE, 583 Silverado, said she is also representing Burton Valley Safe Streets. She was on a committee in the 1990’s to try to get speed humps in their neighborhood and is one of the people very happy about them. She thinks they have done a lot to make the streets safer, especially the narrowing of the street with the striping. She encouraged the Council to vote in agreement with the proposed package ratified by Transportation Circulation last week, namely keep the speed humps, extend them to the curbs, remove the plastic bollards, remove the no parking or part-time parking signs, and stop further consideration of a sidewalk or Class 4 shape shifting pathway.
The last 2 years have presented many learning opportunities for them as a City. Going forward, she hopes they work towards a fair process for nominating and selecting traffic projects that are based on City policy and engineering design, and not necessarily on cookie cutter quick build installations. Projects should be based on community support across all age groups. Data and equity should drive decision-making. One person who is a professional in a field should not have a megaphone that appears to be a fast-track to City Hall. The loudest voices should not be the only ones heard. They ask that going forward there be more transparency in the process of selecting and implementing traffic calming and safe routes to school projects, although in Burton Valley they feel enough is enough.
Regarding Safe Routes to School and Vision Zero, she pointed out that neither of these platforms mandate a protected pathway. In the case of Burton Valley many of the residents feel that a Class 4 type pathway or sidewalk that constrains junior bicyclists and pedestrians to a narrow pathway is not safer than what they have now. The data collected by the City shows that Burton Valley is safe and that their children are safe walking to school. She thought this is the goal of Vision Zero and Safe Routes to School. They should congratulate themselves on the changes made. Not everyone is happy with them, but that is the way change in democracy often occurs. They should celebrate the traffic calming measures made and go forward, and she thanked the Council for voting to adopt.
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Mayor Anduri asked if there are other safe route to school recommendations still outstanding with respect to Burton Valley. Mr. Golier said there may be a few. The Burton Valley Toole report done was not as extensive as the other schools because of this project so it was an adjunct to this project. He thinks there are a few minor tweaks that still need to be done.
GAIL WHERRITT said she has been a resident of Burton Valley since 1971. Their 3 children safely walked and rode their bikes to school and the swim club over many years. She was never concerned about their safety on their streets. There was one incident when their young son hit a patch of gravel and fell off his bike. He and his bike were picked up by an Eagle Scout and driven home before a visit to the doctor for stitches. This is the neighborhood in which we live—a safe and caring place.
Burton Valley residents were sent a survey vote on speed bumps, delineators, restricted parking, and a sidewalk. The results were clear. Speed bumps remain. She voted to eliminate them or at least have them shaved down to match the older ones on Rohrer. Delineators and parking restrictions would be removed, and a sidewalk was rejected. The people have spoken, and the Transportation Circulation Commission voted to send these recommendations to the City Council. She asked the Council to abide by their decision. The pilot study is over and done. She asked to return their neighborhood as it was—safe and beautiful. Burton Valley streets are much safer than the roundabout in its present state. The new sudden right turn onto Olympic is distracting and a dangerous mess, and she thanked the Council for the opportunity to speak.
DAVID MARTINO said he has lived on Merriewood Drive since 1977 and he wanted to address the issue and support of the staff recommendations and the Transportation Circulation Commission’s recommendations for the improvements made. In addressing the issue of the perception of sidewalk and its improvement in safety, he does not think it is supported by data. The Vision Zero requires no project should be considered without data to justify it. There is no supporting data or justification that indicates the project sidewalk is needed to improve pedestrian safety and what is already a very safe neighborhood as it has been mentioned. He believes the project as delineated in the Toole Design Group drawings would have just the opposite effect. They would see significantly reduced parking or 90 spaces by his count, pedestrians unable to walk on both sides of the street as they can now, bicyclists would be forced to ride in the vehicular traffic lanes. He is talking not just about children but adults too, and the City is effectively narrowing the traffic lanes with parking now restricted to one side and a sidewalk on the other which is a very dangerous situation. The City will have increased pedestrian hazards crossing traffic lanes when parking is restricted to one side and more.
He also referred to the study itself. As a retired partner with a 1,300-person architectural and engineering firm, he believes the cost estimates regarding the sidewalks are significantly low. They do not address or account for escalation, do not come close to reflecting all challenges the project would need to address, including ADA impacts on the street itself. The street would have to be completely rebuilt and while the project is implemented, he questioned the safety and security of the neighborhood while under construction. Lastly, he believes the City would see significant pushback from their neighborhood should the Council continue to consider this idea of a sidewalk that is deemed an improvement over what they have now.
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CLAUDIA COHEN, Burton Valley resident, stated she speaks as a dog walker, a bicyclist, a pedestrian, a hiker, a swimmer, and a driver. The community has gone through the one-year pilot study and a binding survey for Burton Valley residents. By all measures, the pilot study was a success, as well as from a Vision Zero perspective. Following the tenants of Vision Zero, the City added speed bumps and successfully reduced speeds, collected data before, during, and after the pilot study, engaged the community, and kept car caused injuries and deaths at zero. The one tenant of Vision Zero not followed was the focus on high injury network of which Burton Valley is not a part of. They can all agree that Burton Valley is safer now than before with cars driving more slowly and that Vision Zero was successfully implemented in Burton Valley.
She shared from last Monday’s Transportation Circulation Commission meeting, stating Charlie Knox at PlaceWorks was hired to consult the City’s traffic calming program and clearly stated that Vision Zero is about traffic calming, about reducing vehicle speeds, and that sidewalks and bike lanes are separate from traffic calming. He also mentioned 50% of the residents of a City block or a side of the street as the threshold needed to bring up problems to the City. This 50% majority threshold would prevent 1 or 2 people from bringing up a problem that does not exist and he noted that this is exactly what happened in Burton Valley. Mr. Knox is also in favor of keeping community character regardless of how much money a City must spend. Finally, he mentioned that Vision Zero dictates that high collision areas have priority and Burton Valley is clearly not that. She finds somewhat curious the claim by some to want to protect the most vulnerable. Since 1 person claiming to do so stated at the August 23rd City Council meeting that it is essentially better for the City to handle a few ADA lawsuits in order to implement safety. Violating the ADA does not sound like protecting the most vulnerable to her.
Finally, she reminded everyone about the democratic process. In the fine tradition of California government, the government allows the community to express its opinion via forums just like this. This is a legitimate part of the process. City government does not have legitimacy if it does not have the buy in of the community. With respect to the binding Burton Valley survey, the community has voted. She asked the Council to listen to hundreds of Burton Valley residents, to most of the community, and not to the voices of a few, and she asked to vote “yes” on staff’s recommendation and Transportation Circulation Commission’s unanimous vote on the survey results.
Councilmember Candell said Ms. Cohen quoted Mr. Knox’s from PlaceWorks comments where he said 50% of the threshold would prevent 1 or 2 people from bringing up a problem that does not exist and he noted that this is exactly what happened in Burton Valley.
JEFF MOORE, said he conducted his own personal study of the traffic calming of before and after the pilot.
What he found was the drop-off in bicyclists and pedestrians was even greater than what the Toole group found. The Toole group was measuring the amount of traffic right by the school and it was picking up people who were being picked up or dropped off, so they were not involved with active transportation.
One might wonder why the drop-off was. His conjecture is probably it is COVID related. Many more people were home earlier in the pandemic and they were walking with their kids to school more often. This is probably the cause of the drop-off, but he also observed that you would typically see the same people walking day in and day out or at least several times a week, and they would tend to be closer in. Most people who go to Burton Valley do not live that close, so they really cannot walk. If someone is more than 10 minutes away, they will probably not walk. For bicycles there is a broader range but there is a much smaller cohort of at least 3rd grade and up.
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Another point is the polling. About 5% of the people of the households polled would have been directly on the affected path and on both sides, likely closer to 10%. This area encompassed a large part of Burton Valley, but it is not north of Glenside or St. Mary’s. He thinks it was not just the people on the streets that are losing their parking. It is the whole neighborhood seeing that it does not make sense. They are losing spots to pull over so you are not distracted while driving, and you would lose bike access and other things.
JOSHUA BAKER (via Zoom) said he lives at the corner of Merriewood and Sandalwood and he thinks this is ludicrous how long this has gone on. He considers himself to be one of those vulnerable residents as he is permanently disabled, and he lives at ground zero at this project. He thinks this group is claiming it would be undemocratic at this point to consider the binding vote of a huge swath of our community, cited claims of bullying and harassment from a small group of people who are consistently refusing to take “no” for an answer, constantly working their requests, advising the Council to ignore its advisors and lawyers, trampling the rights of the elderly and disabled, and castigating any one of the many people who dare to stand in their way by insinuating that anyone in opposition is essentially complicit in traffic-related child deaths.
There was no reason for this debacle. To whatever extent any did exist, it is certainly addressed by the speed bumps and existing results documented here. There is no reason now beating the dead horse and disrupting and alienating the neighborhood further. The Council has heard it to death, have gathered data which confirms nothing else is needed, you have a democratic landslide vote confirming it is unwanted, and you have a unanimous Transportation Circulation Commission vote recommending everything except certain speed bumps be restored to their prior state. He is sorry that somehow for this group almost everyone in Burton Valley and literally everyone on the Transportation Circulation Commission is not enough to convince them, but objectively, it is enough. Enough is enough. It is time to move on, and he asked to please approve the Commission’s recommendations unanimously and then once done, do absolutely nothing involving traffic in Burton Valley until they have had a chance to heal, which he can assure the Council after talking with his neighbors will take a very long time. He asked to approve the recommendations as they stand.
JOHN DORR (via Zoom) said the Council has heard him before. The traffic calming committee he was on over 20 years ago with his late wife came up with the restriping and delineation for the sidewalks, the crosswalks, and they ended up putting a paddle in. Speed bumps were considered but they were going to be lower like the ones on Rohrer. He still thinks the ones on Merriewood are too high, but he will go with the recommendation to keep them.
Kids’ safety is very important to all of them and they would like to see a policeman occasionally in Burton Valley during school hours. When he gets up in the morning and the parking guard parks in his driveway which he allows, he can watch the cars come down in between school hours and afterschool hours. About 80% to 90% of everyone coming out of Burton Valley School do not make the right turn or stop at the sign.
It would go a long way to have a policeman be seen for that right turn and for cell phone use, so they pay attention to the kids. He urged the Council to vote unanimously to go with the staff recommendations and help them heal as Mr. Baker has said and end this madness and leave them alone as a community to heal. They are a safe, nice community and want to stay that way.
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ABIGAIL FATEMAN (via Zoom) said she is a long-time resident of Burton Valley, is someone who has some concerns about the staff recommendation. She submitted a letter earlier today and is included in the Council’s packet. She would like to go back to the Transportation Circulation Commission’s studies identify that there is a problem. There is a safety problem; one with speeds and the other was a shared space for people traveling to Burton Valley where pedestrians and bicyclists would have to move into the lanes of traffic flow around parked cars as they came to and from the school. There was an attempt to resolve this, but first she wanted to acknowledge that she appreciates things done to lower speeds in the community. She also wanted to note that Transportation Circulation last year also put forward a suggestion that all streets around schools should be 15 mph. If that does go to the City Council and the Council votes on it, they still have some work to do to reduce speeds around schools.
In going back to the City’s adopted policy. In November 2021, this Council unanimously adopted Vision Zero policy. In that report written by Mike Moran and Niroop Srivatsa it said, “Addressing safety concerns for the most vulnerable users would take precedence over concerns about traffic, congestion, aesthetics, and public opinion.” She wants to make sure we understand how this is being considered. Her understanding is it is being considered based on a community vote which is problematic and the precedent it sets for all the other work we are looking to do around schools and in Lafayette to not only calm speeds but do safety projects. A sidewalk and a separated pathway is not a traffic calming technique.
It is a safety feature for a community to make people feel safer and to make them safer. This is critical for the community. They have not solved this problem and she does not feel like they can close this issue right now until they have addressed this actual safety problem of not having a separated space.
When looking at what the safest engineered situation is for their community, a sidewalk is not out of context. It is not outrageous. They have compromised in the proposed time of day removal of parking.
They went with that and tried it out and it is not good enough. There was no enforcement. People did not abide by it, and people did not feel safe without a physical separation. So, they did not see a change or increase in people using that method of moving to and from school. So, she suggests they keep sidewalk on the table and continue to work to find a safe way to move people from our community and follow adopted policy, and ask staff moving forward to follow adopted policy. They have a Vision Zero policy and it is not even mentioned in this entire staff report. She asked the Council to refer to her letter. She supports retaining speed humps, acknowledge that a sidewalk is an option in Burton Valley and with appropriate design and funding, it can increase safety. She asked staff to move forward in seeking funding for this design, but in the meantime, seek a way to help protect the most vulnerable people in the community move to and front the Burton Valley Elementary School.
JAMIE HESSION (via Zoom) said she is coming forward to ask the Council to agree with the staff recommendation brought by Mr. Golier on the issue of traffic calming in Burton Valley and the proposal to add a protected sidewalk that spans the link of the west side of Silverado Drive and Railroad Drive. His recommendation is based on a 2-year pilot study and literally hundreds of comments from neighboring residents who think Burton Valley is already very safe and history and data prove this.
She also mentioned how grateful she is to Mr. Golier and Charlie Knox from PlaceWorks for proposing the revision of the traffic calming program and handbook. At the most recent Transportation Circulation Commission meeting on May 15th the proposal for initiating traffic calming procedures were to put some guardrails once again on the process so members of the public who happen to be experts in the field and a handful of supporters cannot hijack the process to pursue their own dreams of making Lafayette a bicycle utopia.
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To date, the City has spent an estimated $250,000 for Burton Valley alone on the pursuit of pilot study, data, surveys, and design renderings, not to mention staff time and resources to pursue the conversion of 81 parking spaces to a path through the middle of Burton Valley. The City Council appears to keep moving the line at the persuasion of the small minority and advocates for the bike utopia. The data from the Burton Valley pilot study shows what Burton Valley residents already know—that very few kids, 17 on average, walk and bike to Burton Valley Elementary School daily probably because there is so much traffic coming from Saranap which is also within the District of Burton Valley Elementary.
In the lens of Vision Zero and safe routes to school, she asked the Council to consider equity for those families too far to walk and bike and work with the District to consider who comes from and goes where.
LAFSD had a seat at the table for all 4 LRSP Vision Zero task force meetings, but the designated representatives attended none of them. She asked the Council to speak to this. Finally, she asked to uphold the democratic process and vote with most Burton Valley residents, their opinions of concerns, and the safety recommendation of volunteers from the Transportation Circulation Commission who put countless hours in making Lafayette a safer place to walk, bike, and drive. The recent vote in favor of the pathway down the middle of Pleasant Hill Road, despite recommendations from the Transportation Circulation Commission to reappropriate funds and the public panning the idea is suspect for safety and undemocratic.
Councilmember Gerringer asked Mr. Golier to confirm the School District did attend at least one of the meetings along with the Fire District. Mr. Golier said yes, they had representatives from both the Lafayette and Acalanes School Districts in Lafayette on the LRSP Task Force, and he would have to check the minutes on the exact number of meetings that the representative from the Lafayette School District attended. Councilmember Gerringer said she knows at least one of the meetings in person, Greg Barnes from the school district was there.
Councilmember Candell said she wants to thank everybody who has been part of this. She thinks this has been a journey and marathon for some, and she appreciates that everybody waited, even though they all do not agree. She thinks the process worked, was successful, and it is safer because of a couple of different measures implemented, and they have something that achieved consensus. Maybe not everybody is happy, but to her this is about as good as they can get at times. She is very comfortable supporting the staff recommendation on this project.
Councilmember Gerringer said she agrees with all statements made, agree they went through the pilot study and learned lots of information. She agrees with the staff recommendation that is presented before the Council. She has heard many other comments about doing nothing and she has had the notes and Transportation Circulation Commission recommended coming forward with 15 mph speed limits around the schools, and is not comfortable having this limit the Council to nothing around their schools if they study it and if Transportation Circulation comes back and Council. She asked if Mr. Golier has a sense of timing on that, as it was coming up as LRSP.
Mr. Golier said they want to do the 15-mph speed limit around schools throughout the City. It will likely happen in the next fiscal year.
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Councilmember Gerringer said as they had conversations with the neighbors around the Toole report, they did not add things at Burton Valley during the pilot program even though there were some things she knows were on the school property that were discussed in there. But, she is supportive tonight, will vote on this, and she wants to be sure the Council is not committing to something down the road will not meet expectations.
Councilmember Kwok said this is a challenging issue for the community over the years and is grateful for the work staff has done, the Commission has done, the public for attending and have been cordial. Where he lands on this is that this was a pilot to learn something. Some aspects were successful in terms of reducing speeds. He thinks the community has come into an agreement that the humps and delineators are positive aspects and that have been positive outcomes. What was not a positive outcome were the parking restrictions that failed in creating a clear path for morning and afternoon pedestrians and bicyclists. That could be a matter of visibility of the signs themselves, so the public was not aware, or the landscapers, construction workers, delivery people who parked there. Once you have an obstruction, that became a problem and then they do not have enforcement 365 days a year.
So, he thinks the whole aspect of the parking restrictions was not successful and therefore, they did not see an increase in the accommodation they were trying to make for the public, which was to make an existing lane more passable. He thinks that was not successful, and that is disappointing they could not get an easy win on that if that would have been the case. That leaves the question in his mind that they have a partially successful pilot where they learned some things and they will implement some of these findings, but they also have the second half of it where, what happened with the ability for future students to bike and walk safely. There is a question mark in his mind that they have not resolved that satisfactorily in one way or another.
He is ready to vote in favor of the staff’s recommendation because everything is a compromise and it is probably a reasonable place for the Council at this point without closing off the concept that for all schools they want to find safe passageways and the community and Council would like to study better ways for students to get to school. It might be that pathway or others, so he does not see this as the end of the discussion of schools in general and in improving pedestrian and bicycle safety. He hopes they can move on from this chapter, close it, and keep moving on. He thinks the concept that the community needs to heal a little bit and try to find a path forward is also important. He thinks it is important for them to work together as community and try to heal and collaborate much more. He would appreciate the public’s willingness to work with people who do not have your viewpoints but who he thinks hopefully shares the same common goals of a better community and to be more cordial with each other.
Mayor Anduri thanked everyone who contributed to the discussion on all aspects of the discussion for, against, or neutral. He thinks the staff recommendation is the right one and he supports it. So, he suggested a motion to approve the five-part staff recommendation.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Gerringer) to conclude the pilot study by retaining the 11 speed humps installed as part of the project, remove the delineators positioned at the ends of each of them, extend the speed humps to the gutter, remove the part-time parking restrictions, and not pursue a permanent sidewalk in Burton Valley. Roll Call Vote: 4-0-1 (Ayes: Anduri, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None;
Absent: Dawson).
12. STAFF REPORTS
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A. Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager
Recognizing June 19th (Juneteenth) as a City Holiday
Recommendation: Approve the addition of the Juneteenth holiday to the City’s observed holidays, effective July 1, 2023.
City Manager Niroop Srivatsa stated on April 24th, the Council directed staff to bring this item back for discussion and consideration. Staff are recommending that June 19th be added to the list of holidays for staff, effective the start of the next fiscal year which would be July 1, 2023. It is an important date to recognize and honor and there are no fiscal impacts of this addition and she thinks they join 9 other communities in Contra Costa County to honor this day.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Kwok) to approve the addition of the Juneteenth holiday to the City’s observed holidays, effective July 1, 2023. Roll Call Vote: 4-0-1 (Ayes: Anduri, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok,; Noes: None; Absent: Dawson).
13. PUBLIC HEARING – None.
14. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT – None.
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 Gerringer said she would ask that the Council request staff to return in the future with a report on what a detailed design would cost and look like for a Class I multi-use path on the east side of Pleasant Hill Road between Mt. Diablo and the Stanley/Deer Hill. Mayor Anduri voiced his support.
Councilmember Candell asked if it will include a preliminary study, and Mayor Anduri said they can discuss this when it returns, and he would like to know what a full design would cost. Councilmember Candell said she would also be interested in a preliminary design.
Councilmember Gerringer wanted to clarify that this does not impact the action the Council took relative to the center median project that is under design and they voted at the last meeting 3-1 to continue forward with the design with the community benefit grant.
Councilmember Gerringer said Community Day is right around the corner. On June 3rd they have 10-11 projects, and volunteers are signing up. They will have a City team, projects relating to their creeks, several projects such as the Town Hall Theater, an interactive art timeline where members of the community will be able to note different aspects of what Lafayette means to them through art in sustainable materials, and she encouraged everyone to sign up, as well as Councilmembers to volunteer. The Mayor will be welcoming people to Plaza Park.
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They will be raising the flag again, and Suzanne Iarla and the Mayor will go around to various sites, take pictures, and thank people for being out there. They will come back to Plaza Park and have a catered luncheon with the new BBQ place, and their legacy sponsor of Republic Services is joined this year as a premier sponsor with PG&E.
Councilmember Gerringer said one comment made in the last item related to the traffic calming revision and update. She looks forward to that as it comes forward.
Mayor Anduri recognized Patrick Golier for organizing a very successful Bike to Work energizer station in the Plaza. He listened to the video of the last meeting and read the minutes, particularly focusing on the discussion of the EBMUD Reservoir Tower. He will not characterize his reaction to the discussion but was surprised by the EBMUD presentation and lack of openness to suggestions. He appreciates what was said and attempts voiced. He and Councilmember Kwok has spoken about this and they jointly would like to suggest that they put on the June 12th agenda the creation of an advisory task force of engineers, architects, and others within the community who could advise the Council with respect to the Reservoir Tower and would help present a unified City approach to the EBMUD staff.
He thinks it will be important that they get together, as they have great expertise within the community.
It would be great to get them on the same page, take advantage of their experience, and then reach out to EBMUD and come out with hopefully a better result. He and Councilmember Kwok will put together a written proposal and perhaps talk with potential volunteers and discuss this with the Council.
Councilmember Kwok asked and confirmed the number of people would be identified on the agenda for discussion.
Councilmember Candell said she loved hearing from the DRC and PC, and it sounds like they will be addressing the scoring system. Commissioner Mason brought up another item about the residential projects and he would like better policy to help them. She asked if the Council would have time to discuss this. They thought about having objective standards for residential, but she thinks he is looking for something more substantial, so they do not have as many appeals.
Ms. Srivatsa said this is correct. When Commissioner Mason left, he asked her to convey to the Mayor that he would be happy to talk more with him about his concerns.
Mayor Anduri said what he is talking about is the “Lord of the manner” and he looks at it as the worst things that can come before the PC or Council which is someone’s dream house. It is very difficult, and they need to think about how to give guidance on that beyond what is already in the City’s residential guidelines and ordinances.
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Councilmember Kwok asked staff to display an image on the screen and said on Thursday he represented the City of Lafayette at the Contra Costa County Inflation Reduction Act meeting at Diablo Valley College and there were 100 people attending, including County members, staff, and elected officials from more than half the County’s cities. The topic of the conversation was how can cities tap into the Inflation Reduction Act, specifically in order to combat the climate crisis, particularly on the topic of building electrification. In terms of electrifying buildings, there was a great presentation by the Building DeCarbonization Coalition, and he shared a slide that when looking at PM2.5 pollution in California and nitrogen oxides, the biggest polluter today are buildings. They have done a good job of reducing power plant NOX and cars are down to 49. So, the biggest culprit are buildings.
The next slide shows if that is a statewide number of buildings being the culprit, which parts of the state are the biggest culprits. South Coast Air Quality Management District is the biggest blue No. 25 out of 100, so one-quarter of it is this district. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District are the second biggest polluter of nitrogen oxide PM2.5.
This message to Contra Costa County and elected officials was what we do here in our county to address pollution from buildings is meaningful and can move the needle for the State. This is why building electrification and moving away from natural gas in buildings is an essential part of California’s future and why BAAQMD has taken aggressive stances on it. It was inspiring day, but that said there is a lawsuit on the City of Berkeley on their natural gas ban. A court had a ruling a few weeks ago that was against the City’s use of its police powers to ban natural gas in buildings. This put a cloud of uncertainty on how cities and municipalities should and can go about legally enforcing building decarbonization and electrification measures.
Councilmember Kwok said today he was in San Mateo County for lunch and he and his wife took a sightseeing trip to the Third Street Bridge. He wanted to see the example of a pedestrian and bike pathway in the middle of a busy street. While he took many pictures, he did not get a chance to make a home video today. It was good experience to walk a path that was 4x4 feet or 8 feet wide, plus 2 feet of concrete, plus 1 more foot before the painted line. So, it is really 14 feet from painted line to painted line. The one proposed in Lafayette is 22 feet from painted line to painted line. They saw bicyclists, joggers, pedestrians, school groups, and he thinks the experience was very valuable.
Mayor Anduri stated the Lamorinda Challenge and the solid waste challenge ended. Unfortunately, Lafayette was in second place behind Moraga, but Moraga got 88,000 points in the first week in explicably and it was a good experience. Lafayette won 4 out of the 6 weeks and had the biggest increase in its score, and this is on-going for the rest of the year.
He reported the Happy Valley Improvement Association has invited him and Brenna from the Environmental Task Force to speak at their annual meeting at the Community Garden. The subject will be how to use the act to get funding. They will form a team to take part in the Lamorinda Challenge.
Finally, he said the First Street Rain Garden was great, and they now have installed the bench and wooden covering. With those in there, it is fantastic and really a great addition to the downtown.
B. City Manager’s Update
Recommendation: Receive and file.
City Manager Srivatsa reported the following:
City Council, Planning Commission, Design Review Page 24 of 24 May 22, 2023 Commission Meeting
• The Spring Citizens’ Academy started this evening with 11 participants. • The Senior Services Commission is preparing domain reports to help with their Age-Friendly Action Plan, and they will have a large community event this fall. • The Recreation Department is gearing up for summer and they have over 200 individual camps, and they will be offered over all 11 weeks of summer.
• In the Community Center, native flowers are in bloom. • On Saturday, the Lafayette Rotary honored long-time PC member Dick Holt who was one of the original creators or organizers of the Concert at the Res. It was his dream, and this concert was in his honor, and bands played Gershwin, his favorite musician. It was well attended and 100% of proceeds go to schools.
C. Councilmember Kwok and Mayor Anduri
Resolution 2023-32 Appointing one member to the Environmental Task Force.
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-32 Appointing one member to the Environmental Task Force.
Councilmember Kwok stated there is a vacancy on the Environmental Task Force. They have solicited applications from the public, received names of qualified candidates, and he and Chair Nancy Hu interviewed candidates in recent weeks. Both candidates were excellent and for tonight, he would like to recommend the Council move to appoint Scott Minden, an attorney with Meta, to join the ETF.
As some ETF members’ terms come to expiration by June, there may be another vacancy, and they will have another meeting to fill that vacancy.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Kwok/Anduri) to adopt Resolution 2023-32 appointing Scott Minden to the Environmental Task Force. Roll Call Vote: 4-0-1 (Ayes: Candell, Gerringer, Kwok, and Anduri; Noes: None;
Absent: Dawson).
16. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS – None.
17. ADJOURNMENT – 9:38 p.m. in honor of 4 Gold Star Mothers Yolanda Jolie Vega, Heidi Hannah, Liz Jeffries, and Kathy Dexter and in memory of their sons who died while in service of our country, Jonathan Antonio Vega Yelner, Taylor Hannah, Adrian Jeffries, and Kevin Clark Dexter.
APPROVED:
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Carl Anduri, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Joanne Robbins, City Clerk