City Council Meeting Page 1 of 46 October 10, 2023
7 City of Lafayette
City Council Minutes
Lafayette Library and Learning Center – Don Tatzin Community Hall October 10, 2023 3491 Mount Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette, California 5:30 p.m.
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Mayor Anduri called the Regular City Council meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL
Present: City Council: Mayor Anduri; Vice Mayor Dawson; Councilmembers Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok
Absent: None
Staff Present: Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager; Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director; Greg Wolff, Planning and Building Director; Matt Luttropp, Engineering Manager; Anna Tolle, Planning Technician; Jenny Rosen, Public Art Committee Staff Liaison; Arly Cassidy, Senior Planner; 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 (Dawson/Gerringer) to adopt the agenda. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Mayor Anduri led the Pledge of Allegiance.
6. PUBLIC COMMENTS – (For closed session items) – None.
7. CLOSED SESSION
A. Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation
(Gov. Code 54956.9 (d)(1))
Nahid Nassiri v. City of Lafayette, et all,
California Court of Appeal First District, Division Two, Case No. A165324 OPEN SESSION – 6:00 p.m.
Mayor Anduri announced there was no reportable action taken in Closed Session.
8. PUBLIC COMMENTS – (For items not on the agenda)
DAVID CLARK referred to his comments at the last meeting regarding homeowner insurance being terminated, and he spoke with his Farmers Insurance agent who said all of Lafayette and Orinda are covered by adjustment notices. Farmer’s is planning to schedule an appointment 2 months out to go over a transition from the existing policy which Farmer’s will no longer underwrite to the same coverage with the California Fair Plan. It is not an issue of being able to get insurance but the cost will be different and it could be 3 to 4 times as expensive to get coverage and the deductible will be much larger than in the past.
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JENIFER PAUL said on February 24, 2022 Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine and 4 days later during the February 28th virtual Council meeting, Councilmember Anduri with a Ukrainian flag visibly behind him asked for the Council to authorize the City Manager at their next meeting to purchase a Ukrainian flag and arrange to have it flown from the flagpole in the City. Councilmembers unanimously voted their support and adjourned that meeting in honor of the brave people of Ukraine and any Lafayette community members who have family there.
At the next meeting on March 5th, Councilmembers followed through with that and voted unanimously to authorize the staff to hoist the Ukrainian flag at the Lafayette Plaza which they did on March 11th, taking down the U.S. Flag and replacing it with another nation’s flag for one month in an effort, as the Weekly Round Up stated, to show solidarity with Ukraine. When the Council chose to do this, she wondered what precedent this would set. She asked would the City in this community respond equitably when other countries are invaded. It has been 3 days since the beginning of barbaric and truly vile attacks on Israel and its civilians. A wave of hatred towards Jewish people has been unleashed in the U.S. and around the world. She asked if the Council will be giving Israel and the Jewish people the same treatment and stand in solidarity raising the Israeli flag, and said she doubts this. She therefore asked the Council to stop with all flags because what gets omitted speaks volumes. She is an extremely proud Jew and a huge supporter of Israel. She has watched in utter horror as terrorist ravage Israel and show a complete disregard for human life. She has watched as anti-Semitism and protests grow in number, and heard the shouts to gas the Jews. As an American, we should never ever be taking down the United States Flag. It is the most inclusive flag and the only flag that should be flown by our City and our schools. Under it, this is where we should all stand united.
JEAN FOLLMER said she is speaking in full support of Jenifer Paul’s comment. The United States Flag Code is very clear—no flag is to be flown in place of or above the American Flag. Further, the California Flag Code requires municipal buildings to fly the American Flag with the California State Flag under it at all municipal buildings in the state. This also includes all school campuses, both public and private, and she will share this with both of their local school districts. As Ms. Paul said, the American Flag is the most inclusive flag in the world. People are currently streaming over our border for the promise of our freedom.
She asked the Council to adopt and follow a municipal code that adheres strictly to the United States Flag Code and the California Flag Code and she will ask their local schools to do the same.
ROBERT LAVOIE said he concurs with speaker comments regarding the American Flag. He referred to the situation with the City Housing Element. He thinks it is critically important for residents to understand if they use the actual yields on their housing production, they would not have to do any downtown upzoning except for the narrow strip from Whole Foods to Risa Court in order to meet the City’s housing goals.
Secondly, if the City Council is unable or unwilling to challenge HCD on their arbitrary ruling that they must use projects that were old or prior to all of the State density laws being enacted, then they still have an option to avoid massive downtown upzoning. This is by getting the DeSilva South parcel back into the project mix. It was removed after being determined it was not a significant impact on fire evacuation and he believes it can be put back into the EIR with minimal effort. There are many reasons to focus density in other places than downtown.
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The DeSilva South parcel is 62 acres. It allows housing to be spread around so it is much less intrusive. By building downtown in these small parcels they end up with 5 foot setbacks, 50 foot heights on their current density, let alone going to 60 or 50 units along Mt. Diablo. Merchants have expressed their concern about this and if HCD does not see enough progress they will mandate additional upzoning after only a couple of years of the City’s new housing cycle. It is critical the Council take decisive action now and puts DeSilva South back into the mix so they can keep the downtown preserved and he thinks they already have high density sufficient for the City’s needs.
9. CITY MANAGER’S UPDATE
City Manager Niroop Srivatsa said this item usually occurs at the end of the meeting, so this is her attempt to provide a peek as to what goes on at City offices on a bi-weekly basis. Lafayette had a very robust Shop Local Ecard program and she highlighted the promotion is now underway. If someone purchases an Ecard valued at $100, $50 or $25, the City will match the purchase with a bonus Ecard valued at 50% of what was paid for, so an additional 50% can be spent anywhere in Lafayette. All details can be found on the City’s website.
They also have another way for the community winning a gift card. They recently launched a new website called “Experience Lafayette, California.” This was done with the ARPA funds in order to help the business community recover and thrive after the pandemic. People can visit the website, Facebook, or Instagram by October 15th and they will be enrolled in the chance to win another Ecard. All monies spent go into the downtown and to the local merchants.
From the Engineering Department, in addition to getting ready for the winter repairs are being made to the culvert crossing on Orchard Road at Deer Hill Road that failed during last year’s storms so there could be some delays on that road. Notices went out to nearly 30 properties with regulated water treatment facilities informing them that the City will be conducting inspections this month so that they want to ensure they are in compliance with State water regulations.
From the Public Art Committee (PAC), they are holding a reception this evening in the lobby. The PAC completed the installation of the Utility Art Boxes, which is a replica featured at the lobby of the Library.
It has a QR code that leads you on a walking tour of the downtown and these utility boxes describing the history of Lafayette. The PAC also held opening receptions for 2 artists at the Town Hall Theater and at the Library. They have begun to catalog the works in the City’s Library collection that need maintenance or repair. The City holds a valuable stock of very well-known and renowned art work in the Library and one of the PAC’s charges is to ensure they are in good condition and maintained at their best.
From the Police Department, they are encouraging every neighborhood to sign up for Firewise. Residents can contact the Police Department who have been working with the Fire Protection District to get applications approved. She reminded everyone that October 19th is the Great California Shake-Out. At 10:19 a.m. everyone is encouraged to pause, take stock of their emergency preparedness kits and plans in case there is a big earthquake.
Two exciting events coming up in October include the Res Run on October 22nd, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. All donations collected during the run go to schools through their PTA’s. Last year, the Chamber donated over $28,000 to schools. She asked to sign up and people can either run that day or do a virtual race for the next 2 weeks where you can take time to walk the Reservoir which counts towards the Res Run.
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Finally, October 31st is Halloween and she asked everyone to get their tickets for the Lafayette Youth Commission’s Haunted House. This year, it will be outdoors on the Geoff Bellenger Trail and all details can be found on www.lafayetteRec.org.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
10. PRESENTATIONS
A. Mary McCosker, Lafayette Historical Society
History Presentation – Lafayette Celebrating 175+ Years Recommendation: Receive and file.
Mary McCosker, Lafayette Historical Society, provided a historical background of Lafayette before its incorporation and before things were decided upon by a City Council. She said in 1911, Lafayette was a village. There was a hotel, saloons, a blacksmith shop, a general store, a church, and a school. A small group of Lafayette citizens gathered at the R.E. McNeil Pioneer Store on November 11, 1911 to form a club to be known as the Lafayette Improvement Club, later to be named the Lafayette Improvement Association (LIA). The purpose of this organization would be to address issues affecting the community in the absence of formal City government. Some issues discussed were fencing of Plaza Park, muddy roads, the postal service and improving the train service. There was a need for a permanent place used for meetings and social gatherings. A piece of property was deeded along with $200 by the Ghiglione family to the Improvement Club to help construct a building. Fundraising in the form of dances and suppers raised more money and stock certificates for shares in the Lafayette Improvement Club were also sold to raise the needed capital.
The roads in Town were so muddy in the rainy season, children could not get to school for weeks, and vehicles often got stuck. When going to Oakland, people had to travel via Martinez or Richmond because the road to Oakland was so muddy. The LIA was determined to get some of the local roads rocked.
In 1914, Town Hall was completed and quickly became central to the community’s life. The LIA celebrated the opening with a grand ball. The Sacramento Northern trains ran 40 minutes apart from Lafayette to Oakland. The cost was $5.40 a month. By 1915, dances sponsored by the LIA at Town Hall were so popular, a special train came to Lafayette from Oakland at 9:00 p.m. and returned at 3:30 a.m. The roads of Lafayette in 1915 were unpaved and often impassable in the winter months. In 1925, the lack of water was a barrier to continued development. In the drought of the 1920’s, many wells dried up. LIA’s priority became the formation of a water district. They were successful in establishing the district, and in 1930, LIA lobbied to have it become part of the East Bay Municipal Utility District.
In 1926, Postmaster, Carrie VanMeter attended an LIA meeting to announce her retirement after over 20 years as the Post Mistress. She had also served as Lafayette’s first librarian with books available to check out in the Post Office. In 1926, the LIA asked the County Supervisors to push hard for a low level tunnel as the route to Oakland was problematic and an obstacle to growth. The tunnel opened in 1937 and the LIA threw a gala celebration dance at the Town Hall. Stock was sold to build and maintain the Town Hall.
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Colonel Manuel M. Garrett built the Garrett Building (today Postino) in a style he hoped would be used for the developing downtown. Unfortunately, even though he offered to donate bricks, other builders did not take him up on the idea, opting for cheaper and more quickly constructed buildings. By 1938, one year after the opening of the Broadway Low Level Tunnel (todays’ Caldecott Tunnel), Lafayette had experienced considerable growth--225 new water meters, 66 new telephone connections, 300 boxes in the Post Office, and Lafayette School was so crowded, overflow classes were held in Town Hall. By the late 1930s through the 1940s, a major problem was traffic on Mt. Diablo Boulevard. It was still the main road from Oakland to Martinez and very unsafe for pedestrians to cross. Businesses were confined to the south side, as no one could get to the north side of the road. By 1948, 20,355 cars went through the downtown each day. A stop light was put in at Moraga Road in 1947 and in 1949, it was made 4 lanes but it remained a busy and dangerous road.
In 1939, the Library and Post Office which had been housed in a combined space provided by the LIA, became too crowded. It was decided to begin raising funds to build a library. The Acalanes High School District was formed this year and the original Veteran’s Building was approved. In 1940, the LIA sold its Post Office property to the dismay of many and turned the responsibility of providing space over to the U.S.P.S.
There was a serious problem with flooding which the LIA tried to address in 1940 by forming a Soil Conservation District. Both residential neighborhoods and the downtown were flooded frequently in the rainy season. Heavy rains sometimes caused slides which closed the road to Oakland and isolated Lafayette. In 1945, the Town Hall was functioning as a true community center, booked by groups six nights a week. The lower level was used as a teen canteen. The LIA was concerned about the number of liquor licenses that had been granted in Lafayette. Mt. Diablo Boulevard was becoming known as “The Strip” with people coming from as far as San Francisco to drink and listen to music. The LIA formed a Saloon Cleanup Committee to deal with the problem of drunks downtown and to try to limit the number of new liquor licenses. The LIA also was concerned with land use. They felt there were too many small lot subdivisions.
By 1940, the LIA stopped being involved in social events. Lafayette was no longer a small, tight-knit community and with the advances in transportation, people had more entertainment options. By 1948, Lafayette had grown to have 1,184 phones; an increase in 60% in just 2 years. The LIA was working on increasing the phone service available. The numbering of houses had become haphazard with the rapid growth. The numbers were no longer sequential and there were even duplicate street names. The LIA helped form a new address system to avoid the confusion.
The only solution to traffic on Mt. Diablo Boulevard was to build a bypass. In 1957, a 2-mile bypass was built where Hwy 24 is now to take the thru traffic off the main downtown street. There were only two exit ramps; one at each end of town. LIA lobbied for a downtown ramp, but that did not happen until later.
Once the heaviest traffic was off Mt. Diablo Boulevard, plans to beautify downtown began to be made.
Town Hall was leased in 1958 for theater productions. The LafFrantics shared the space. Dramateurs were instrumental in preserving the Town Hall when, in 1964, the Fire Marshal deemed it unsafe and closed it.
The Dramateurs raised the money needed for repairs so it was not torn down. One vision the LIA was determined to keep alive was of only one business district downtown. There was pressure to have satellite business districts.
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In 1958, the LIA defeated a proposal to build a 12-acre shopping center on St. Mary’s Road between Burton School which is the current Community Center and the Fire Station on St. Mary’s Road. By the 1960s there were 22 gas stations on Mt. Diablo Boulevard. Signage was out of control. The Lafayette Design Project was begun in 1958 as part of the LIA. The first focus was to reconstruct Plaza Park. Next, was Mt. Diablo Boulevard. It had poor paving, bad flooding, missing sidewalks, rundown buildings, and a mass of ugly signs. PG&E was convinced to put its wires underground and a new sewer was placed down the middle of the road. That was an opportunity to create a landscaped center strip. Lafayette’s downtown won the California Roadside Council’s Award in 1976. One reason cited was that the beautification was locally driven with many donations of materials and volunteer work over the many years. The transformation was major.
Plans for BART began in 1958. BART wanted to use the old Sacramento Northern right-of-way which today is the Lafayette Moraga Trail. The LIA responded with an adamant “no.” They believed BART should use the median of the freeway. The Chamber of Commerce joined the fight and by 1961, BART agreed to use the freeway route. BART felt the Lafayette Station should be at Pleasant Hill Road. The LIA felt it should be downtown. They were also repeatedly asking for a freeway ramp into downtown which the State rejected many times. Finally, in 1964 BART agreed to the downtown station and a ramp was built into the downtown.
In 1965, the San Francisco Helicopters wanted to stop in Lafayette by the Hillside Motel. The LIA was told that the flight path would be over the Reservoir and that noise would not be a problem. The LIA supported the heliport. The FAA only approved a flight plan that took the helicopters over residential neighborhoods.
Dolores Drive and Via Roble were especially affected with people being blasted in their houses. The LIA tried to reverse the decision but it took until 1968 to stop the flights.
Fast-food franchises were sweeping the nation in 1967. The LIA only allowed Foster’s Freeze, KFC, and Jack-in-the Box with conditions placed on them, thus preventing the takeover that many main streets at that time experienced.
The LIA had been talking about and supporting the idea of incorporation since a meeting in 1927. They always advocated for local control instead of having to petition the County Supervisors for action. In 1958, they had an incorporation study done and got the issue put on the ballot. They worked hard to publicize the issue without taking sides; however, incorporation failed. Finally in 1968, the issue was again put up for a vote and it won. On July 9th, 54.9% voted to incorporate Lafayette. Many LIA directors were appointed to new City commissions.
On June 13, 1966 the Reservoir was open to recreation. The LIA had long been a proponent. 8,000 attended the opening and by December of that year, 120,000 had used the recreation area. In 1971, LIA invited people to organize the Lafayette Historical Society to preserve and share the history of our town.
In 1978, Town Hall was designated a historic landmark. By the 1970’s LIA membership changed. Prior to incorporation and a new city government, the LIA had 750 families as members. Now, they consisted only of a board. General Lafayette concerns were now taken up with the City Council and the LIA’s main focus became the maintenance of the Town Hall.
In 1977, LIA contributed $100 towards the purchase and restoration of Old Betsy. You can see her in her restored glory downstairs in the new Library. In September of 2022, the Board of LIA voted to dissolve the organization and deeded the Town Hall to the Town Hall Theater Company.
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Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
Mayor Anduri and Councilmembers thanked Ms. McCosker for her presentation on Lafayette’s history.
B. Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director
Introduction of New Employee: Lisa Hurt, Accountant
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Administrative Services Director Tracy Robinson introduced new employee, Lisa Hurt, Accountant. She provided a background of Ms. Hurt’s experience and welcomed her to the City.
Lisa Hurt introduced herself to the Council and said it is exciting to work with the City. She said this is her third week with the City and she processed her first payroll for the City.
C. Sarah Yoell, Government Affairs at Pacific Gas and Electric Electrical Safety and Reliability and Gas Pipeline Safety: Responses to questions raised by the City Council
Recommendation: Receive and file.
Sarah Yoell, Government Affairs representative, PG&E, thanked the City Council for having her. Chris Warner, Senior Director of Gas Transmission Engineering, introduced himself to the Council and said he was available to answer any questions.
Ms. Yoell said they were before the Council about one month ago and said they received some questions and prepared a PowerPoint presentation covering layers of safety to protect customers from wildfires through improvement of programs and technology that monitors, forecasts, and responds to wildfire risk better, safety work done in Lafayette, strengthening poles and covering power lines which is called system hardening, and have moved some overhead lines underground in the highest fire risk areas.
Ms. Yoell provided an overview of the enhanced power line safety settings which are turned on when wildfire risk is high and automatically turn off power within 1/10th of a second if a wildfire hazard is detected. They have completed one undergrounding project of .7 miles near Rohrer Drive. Since August, they have scoped 47 safety devices across 11 circuits serving Lafayette and the surrounding area, made all 37 devices capable of operating with the EPS settings, and 23 are planned for down conductor detector installation.
She then spoke about loss of power and PSPS events, installation of 13 false indicators to help restore power faster, and a sectionalizing device to help limit the number of customers impacted by the safety outages. She spoke briefly about factors due to the PSPS events, said since 2019 they have not proactively had to turn off power in the City due to PSPS, and over the past few years their focus has been making PSPS events shorter, smaller, and smarter. They are continuing to update models with current outage and weather data which provides them with the greatest views of wildfire risk across their service area.
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Ms. Yoell then provided an overview of underground work where they can have the greatest impact in reducing wildfire risk for customers. Currently, undergrounding work is planned through 2026. Their forecast miles exceed their annual targets to account for project delays. If a project is not completed in the intended year, it will continue through planning and construction phases the following year.
Underground is one of many wildfire reduction tools they use which provides customers with multiple layers of protection.
She then spoke about inspection work, review of exterior equipment components and visible underground secondary services and substructure, and said they prioritize repairs using a risk based system. Regarding transmission pipeline safety, there is no set lifespan or limit as to how long a pipeline may safely remain in operation. With regular maintenance including an active cathodic protection program to prevent corrosion of the pipe, on-going integrity management activities to inspect the pipe and routine maintenance, the pipe can last an indefinite period.
PG&E performs a number of maintenance activities to ensure the longevity and safe operation of their natural gas pipelines. This includes regular patrols, an aerial and ground leak surveys, as well as using an active cathodic protection system to protect their pipes from corrosion. Their federally approved integrity assessments include In-Line Inspections (ILI), direct assessment, direct examination, guided waive ultrasonic testing and pressure testing. If they identify any issues that threaten public safety, PG&E addresses them immediately. If any of their maintenance or assessment activities indicate that the pipe needs to be replaced, they schedule and complete the work before pipeline integrity or public safety can be compromised.
She then presented a slide showing the most recent patrol, leak survey, and cathodic protection inspections conducted on their distribution feeder mains specifically that serve the Lafayette community.
No findings were observed during ground patrols completed in August of this year and no leaks were found from this survey in April of this year. Inspections of the cathodic protection systems on the lines in Lafayette took place between February and September this year and all but one read were found to be operating correctly. Corrections to the single identified location were immediately made on September 18, 2023 and all locations are now operating correctly.
Lastly, Ms. Yoell then displayed a table showing the most recent assessments of the gas transmission pipelines L-191-1 and L-191-B in the City of Lafayette, as well as their approximately locations. All tests were successfully completed. They performed In-Line Integrity assessments on the sections of transmission pipeline in high consequence areas at least every 7 years. She then provided PG&E contacts and an app where residents can send in pictures of any concerns.
Mayor Anduri thanked Ms. Yoell for her presentation and answers received in their materials. He asked if there were questions of Councilmembers.
Vice Mayor Dawson thanked Ms. Yoell for the information provided and referred to the in depth questions asked of PG&E. She has been working with different teams with PG&E since 2017 and her big question were details of what PG&E was telling the City about the local status of the pipeline. What triggered her questions was the marketing around the program was the San Bruno incident having to do with pipeline safety. Those people were killed were innocent victims of a negligence of detail of what was part of the infrastructure. That commenced an on-going program to make sure Lafayette has a baseline knowledge that all I’s are dotted and t’s are crossed, but she still has questions.
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The first thing she would want is to ensure they can have an on-going conversation with someone like Ms.
Yoell where answers can be received and also explore the electrical side as well. She does not think there was a good answer to the first question about the EPS rollout, but she will wait for her fellow Councilmembers to ask any questions and then return.
Mayor Anduri suggested written follow-up as he also did not feel some of the written questions were answered either. He thinks probably the most effective way to get what they need would be through written responses.
Vice Mayor Dawson said she would volunteer to have meetings and document those answers for the Council or ask PG&E to. This is how the Council received the most information through the Gas Safety Task Force meetings and meetings the Council was a part of and listening to, as well as ensuring they are asking good questions.
Councilmember Candell referred to the table on page 8 of the answers. It was regarding the 2023 Wildfire Mitigation Plan and it has priorities with labeled B’s, but there was no explanation of what that table represented. In the gas line monitoring and testing, she asked if there were any more details on what was found in these lines and what was fixed on those. And, apparently PGE& is backing off from doing the repair on the gas line on the Moraga Boulevard Bridge at Third Street. She asked when this might be done.
Chris Warner, Senior Director of Gas Transmission Engineering, said they have an extensive program across the state looking at where they have older pipelines that may have components in them which were historically bad like grosser couplings or oxy settling welds, but he believes they have gotten rid of most of those though, and are also intersecting with ground movement concerns, primarily liquefaction active slides themselves. In their recent ILI of that line, none of those features were in that bridge area.
The only features they identified were 7 pups which are 5 feet or less that were welded back to back in that area. But, in the area where those pups were located, his understanding is this was not a high liquefaction area. So, the risk prioritization on that replacement has dropped. They are open to working with Lafayette if they want to relocate, but in looking at that versus other risks throughout the system it is not a high priority for them any longer.
Mayor Anduri said he had been told that one of the reasons PG&E was thinking of replacing that was because of safety and also to increase capacity. He asked if this is no longer a concern. Mr. Warner said this is not a concern he has heard.
Councilmember Candell said the L-191-1 pipeline in Briones where PG&E put the new valve on there, PG&E says they can remotely isolate it. The City asked for an automatic switch but she asked what remotely isolating it means in terms of response time and other factors.
Mr. Warner apologized, as their manager is in Houston right now, and their Supervisor who was going to be at this meeting is sick. He called this afternoon to find out about that valve location in Briones. It is his understanding is that the valve is not automated. He needs to verify that, and what is automated is the valve at the C Street station in Martinez. So, if an event was to happen in Briones, they would shut the valve off at C Street Station which is a one-way feed to the BTU valve here in Lafayette and that would shut off the gas supply. But, they do not currently have an automated valve in Briones.
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Councilmember Candell said the automated valve upstream is automated and it will immediately cut that one off, and Mr. Warner confirmed.
Vice Mayor Dawson said this is a bi-directional pipeline so if the gas was coming towards Lafayette, they would have all that volume of gas coming towards them they would not be able to stop except by a manual remote up in Briones. So, if there was an incident in that park which is a very high fire zone, there would be a problem there.
Mr. Warner said if there was an incident in the park they would automatically shut the valve at C Street which is the direction the gas flows. The only times it is bi-directional is in very, very extreme cold weather.
To prevent loss of customers in Lafayette and elsewhere, they would go and open up the BTU valve. Then, there would be gas flowing in 2 directions. That does not even happen on an annual basis so it is a very rare situation. This is why they just have the automated valve at C Street.
Councilmember Candell said the Council had an email from a resident, David Casseras and he said PG&E was being thwarted with a rate hike. She asked what is the current status of the possible rate hike PG&E was considering.
Mr. Warner said the rate case is currently has the proposed decision out but has not received a final decision from the ALJs and they should have it by the end of the year. There have been significant reductions in what they proposed both in upgrading pipelines for ILI and over-pressure protection so the CPUC is weighing the overall risk to the customers with the rate increase that would be impacted by installing that. Recognizing how much has happened since San Bruno, the CPUC is turning them back and reducing the amount of upgrades in particular they are doing. The CPUC also reduced the number of ILI runs. They typically do runs a year or two before the compliance date because if the run fails due to having first-time runs that encounter fittings they did not anticipate or conditions in the pipe, they must address and cut the pig out and cut the fittings out and then re-pig it. The CPUC clearly said they did not want PG&E to run prior to the compliance date. So, the CPUC reduced the number of runs PG&E proposed and the funding for those runs.
Mayor Anduri said in terms of Lafayette’s 11 miles of pipeline, he asked what percentage has been pigtested. Mr. Warner said he does not have this answer, but can get it. He knows they inspected 191-1 and 191-B. He was looking at the history of it and it looks like it is very piecemeal because likely there are sections that are lower pressure that they cannot run a traditional pig through and they must put a nontraditional pig through. So, he would have to get a map and lay that out before answering that. They have not assessed the two DMF’s. They are such low pressure and small diameter that they are not easily peggable and they are very low stress. In fact, all of one and a lot of the second DFM is below what is considered transmission by most operators on the code.
Vice Mayor Dawson said this is a concern because she does not know why those DFMs were included in the transmission program when there is much higher standards which that clearly does not meet and those have not been tested federally or per California. They know San Francisco had a distribution main of very low pressure fire ball in the middle of the City. Lafayette cannot have that here, and even though it is low pressure, it still has a great effect on urban environments, let alone high wildfire areas. So, this is one of the main things she would like follow-up on together—why those lines were included in the transmission program, why they are not treated as such, and making sure the HCA is clearly identified and the testing will be done. She is encouraged with the new technology, and if it can be used she hopes it can be prioritized.
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One of the issues with PG&E and the CPUC in general is they mask the information so at a local level, the City does not know what the highest risk is they should be advocating mitigation of. If the CPUC says no, they will not do that testing, this does not mean it reflects in each city that way, and she would hope PG&E can address this issue as well as a policy. In the meantime, she hopes they can create the baseline knowledge in Lafayette.
Mr. Warner said they would also appreciate some help on the City’s part in terms of the understanding of the test requirements because the two regulations around strength testing he is aware of was the CPUC requiring testing of pipelines over 30% that were in HCA’s Class 3 and Class 4, which would not have included the 2 DFMs. There is the CPUC 958 which is requirement that over time all gas transmission lines will be tested.
Vice Mayor Dawson said after San Bruno, all pipelines needed to have a credible testing record and if it did not, it needed to be tested or replaced. Mr. Warner said those are the ones over 30% and the current federal code has a 2034 date for doing verification of the MAOP. So, there is nothing that has sunset that they have missed in terms of testing the pipelines and the testing is still occurring.
Vice Mayor Dawson said she would like to take this up because this is not what they spoke about with the CPUC and Mr. Barnes from PG&E. Mr. Warner said what they could provide are references to the different code requirements from the CPUC and from the federal government.
Vice Mayor Dawson stressed the need for assurances given the age of the pipeline, and Mr. Warner agreed and said they have been audited by the CPUC, including a specific audit on Lafayette so all assessments have been to the code requirements but they would be happy to talk about any concerns of additional assessments they think are warranted and they can have a discussion around that.
Vice Mayor Dawson said she believes they have electrical questions regarding the pole that fell during the fire, and Ms. Yoell said this is still under investigation and in litigation, and they provided information they were able to provide on that. When it is out of litigation, they can provide any additional information.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked if there are any outstanding work orders for electrical. She knows there are some bees mentioned and a 90-day repair. She would like to track outstanding work, particularly in their high fire zones. She can follow-up on questions that have not been answered and provide that to PG&E and the City Council. She also thinks they should have an in-person meeting with appropriate PG&E staff and she can report back to the City Council.
Mayor Anduri referred to the 2019 fire and the pole safety and asked if they can assume that PG&E is applying any lessons learned of any safety lessons learned from that incident. Ms. Yoell said safety is always their number one priority and they are applying what they have learned from previous incidences and always improving their system.
Councilmember Kwok asked about the future of gas and what if California no longer had gas pipelines any longer. He heard a talk by the California Energy Commission’s Research Director 5 years ago and she commented that in order for them to meet climate goals, California would have to stop burning natural gas by 2030 which was a surprising and aggressive date. He asked if PG&E has been doing studies to retire the gas lines and shrink the system, and if so, he asked where Lafayette would fall in the schedule for ending the use of gas in the City.
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Mr. Warner said they can provide a more detailed answer, but there is an actual code requirement that they provide gas service when required so they cannot stop providing this service to those who want it.
But, they are currently looking at smaller lines that are feeding a small number of customers and are not needed for manufacturing and power related needs and trying to convince them to transition to either electric or other fuels other than natural gas. There is a real resistance in California and many people like their gas cooking and his own opinion is that 2030 is not going to be the date when gas disappears from California. It will be a lot longer than that, although they are currently looking at how they can “green” the gas more and spoke about their efforts to bring gas emissions from dairies into their pipeline so they are saving the methane from going into the air. They hit a BCF total that they have done so far from methane emissions and they are also looking at hydrogen; however, hydrogen has its own issues in terms of threats to inside the pipeline. There is a lot of study that must be done before PG&E can safely make that transition.
Vice Mayor Dawson referred to methane emissions and any leaks on a distribution system that might be here in the high fire zones and the City would like them to be prioritized as well. This is also helpful in terms of the City’s Environmental Task Force keeping track of this.
Mayor Anduri said mention was made of the 2 cameras that are installed that have the AI. He asked if those are part of the alert system run by UC San Diego. Ms. Yoell said these are PG&E’s cameras but they share access to those cameras with Cal Fire and others.
Vice Mayor Dawson said a public comment referred to the manual valve in Briones. She asked if the EBRPD can be trained on how to shut that off because they will have close access, as well as the local fire department. Mr. Warner said he would need to verify that it is a manual valve, and then they will check but they typically do not like other authorities operating their valves because they could have unintended consequences, but they will check on that.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
MICHAEL DAWSON said they have been working on this with the Gas Safety Task Force for 6+ years and it is great it is coming to the City Council for continued discussions. He appreciates all of the questions asked, appreciates PG&E coming and being part of this discussion and the more held, the better he feels they are as a community. This is a very dangerous infrastructure historically in California with gas explosions they have seen, and the electrical issues they have seen in the State. It is very important and this is a worthwhile discussion to have. He sees improvements and sees electric lines are being increasingly insulated which is something they have been asking for a while. The shut off potentials for the electrical lines is important to have, as well, even though it needs a little bit of tinkering. He also sees PG&E’s willingness to come back and talk about it.
He sent a list of questions he had after PG&E’s response to the City Council and highlighted a couple of them. One is the HCA designation which triggers the integrity management. In the Gas Safety Task Force they found 2 instances where PG&E for decades ignored HCA requirements which is a violation of State law. One was up at Girl Scout Camp where they had it designated as a farm and there are hundreds of children playing there every day during the summer.
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The latest one was actually on a DFM not far from his house, which is Growing Light Montessori Pre-school has a pipeline running right from it. When he questioned PG&E and the CPUC about this, they said they have looked at it and it is fine and not near the preschool. He had actually sent PG&E a map and then received a response back saying PG&E was incorrect. So, this engagement is important to do. He would ask they sit down together as a City and look at HCA. He pointed those out because he was looking at a low resolution map so he thinks it would benefit PG&E and the City if they look at that a bit closer.
And, as far as the valve at the top of Briones, he is increasingly worried about that. The fact there is that amount of gas coming in from Martinez, if there was a problem downtown Lafayette and that shuts off in Martinez, that is a large volume of gas coming that would continue to flow in a high wildfire area. So, he spoke with someone at PG&E at the top of the Sunrise Hill and asked if they were putting it in to be automatic, and they said no, it is manual. They could not access the hill for 3 months during the winter rains, and it is still manual. His excuse was because of cows. He knows this is not true and that it is based on population because PG&E sent the decision tree. So, in conclusion, he also has some concerns with electrical. They want to increase activity within town to make sure everyone is safe, given rates are increasing, and he asked to keep up the improvements and work.
JEAN FOLLMER thanked Michael and Gina Dawson for all of their work over the years with PG&E and trees. She knows it is appreciated by many. She understands there are some Councilmembers who would like to move to a fully electric and alternative fuel source world, and they like PG&E gas in her house and she frankly knows the majority of the population in town does as well. They are always looking to help out with the environment, and she thinks everybody has different ideas about how to get there.
Vice Mayor Dawson thanked the speakers and also recognized Gas Safety Task Force member Dennis Kuzak who is a catastrophic risk consultant and has been very helpful.
Ms. Yoell thanked the City Council and staff for the open dialogue and on-going discussions, especially Ms.
Srivatsa. Mr. Warner said he welcomes discussing the HCA’s. They have very high level of commitment and pride to doing that right. The Girl Scout Camp in the data they used to identify HCA’s was called a farm so for years they missed that. Local eyes on property can help PG&E catch some of those things that may be misrepresented in the data they are using. He does not know the issue around the Montessori School, but he will go back tomorrow and find out what was going on there. They should not be missing Montessori schools because their licensing is known to PG&E and they are using this to figure out where HCAs are. He appreciates the feedback which makes them better. The men and women doing that work take is seriously and have a lot of pride in doing it well and right, so they welcome learning.
Mayor Anduri and Councilmembers thanked Ms. Yoell and Mr. Warner for their presentation and assistance in answering additional questions.
11. CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Anduri asked if there were removal of any items, and there were none and no public comments.
A. Minutes – Sept 26, 2023
Recommendation: Approve.
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B. Ordinance No. 688: Prohibiting the Use of Gasoline Powered Leaf Blowers: City-initiated Municipal Code Revision adding Chapter 8-23 entitled "Gasoline Powered Leaf Blowers" to Title 8 Public Welfare, Morals, and Safety of the Lafayette Municipal Code. The project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 15061(b)(3).
Recommendation: Waive second reading and adopt Ordinance No. 688.
C. Major Subdivision Tract 9487, 3408 and 3410 Mt. Diablo Boulevard (The Mill on Brown) Acceptance of Subdivision as Complete
Recommendation: Authorize staff to file a Notice of Completion and release payment and performance bonds per the subdivision agreement for Tract 9487.
D. Lamorinda Village Supported Memberships
Recommendation: Approve funding City Supported Lamorinda Village Memberships for Lafayette resident individuals and couples that meet the means tests at a rate of $360 per individual or $600 per couple up to the program total of $60,000 per year for the ongoing period of 2 years.
Remove the program requirement that applicants are not already Lamorinda Village Members for residents of Chateau Lafayette and Belle Terre.
E. GP01-23 Housing Element & EIR – The City of Lafayette 6th Cycle Housing Element and the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) analyzing impacts of growth stemming from the housing plan and housing opportunity sites identified to accommodate the mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation of 2,114 assigned to Lafayette, plus a buffer, which total approximately 3,000 new housing units between 2023-2031. The Housing Element is also required by State law to contain programs to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing. The draft Housing Element Update can be found at www.planlafayette.org; the draft and final EIR can be found at www.lovelafayette.org/CEQA.
Recommendation: Continue without consideration to October 23rd.
F. Resolution 2023-54 Authorizing Closure of Certain Streets and Establishing No Parking Zones for Trick or Treat Street on Friday, October 27th.
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-54.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to adopt Consent Calendar Items A, B, C, D, E, and F. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
Mayor Anduri stated the Council has finally approved the ordinance prohibiting the use of gasolinepowered leaf blowers and on behalf of the Council he expressed thanks to the members of the Environmental Task Force past and present, City staff, the PTR, Engineering, and Public Works for taking the lead in converting the City to electric leaf blowers, and thanks to Finn, Scout and Jamie Renton for their early advocacy.
12. OLD BUSINESS
A. Matt Luttropp, Engineering Manager
Pleasant Hill Road East Side Pathway Feasibility Update Recommendation: The alternatives offered previously are still valid. Discuss and direct.
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Engineering Manager Matt Luttropp stated at the May 8th City Council meeting, Council directed staff to complete the design phase associated with the center median pathway design option. At that meeting, the Council asked staff to return to discuss the feasibility of other alignment options for the pathway.
At the June 26th Council meeting, staff provided preliminary options and costs associated with a potential future study of alternatives to the current center median pathway design scheme. Some costs were to provide a strip map concept for an east side pathway or a west side pathway. Each of those would cost $17,000; provide a concept sketch for signalizing the ramp terminals on the east side which would cost about $3,500; basic traffic analysis for the signalized ramps which costs another $4,500; develop design concept for signalized ramps which costs approximately $10,000; and once a final alternative design is arrived at, to develop full design plans and specifications without signal design work which would cost $110,000.
At that Council meeting, the Council deferred making a decision on the alternatives listed and asked staff to contact stakeholders with additional questions regarding the impacts that a center median or east side pathway design may have. They went and asked many people many questions. They were asked to contact Acalanes Union High School and ask the school for their thoughts on the center median pathway project and how many kids they think use the pathway. He reached out to the Superintendent and also to Principal Sean who returned his call. He said he thought about 50 kids rode their bikes to school now but he does not know how many would ride after the pathway is constructed, but he said he supported anything that would make safe bike paths and would encourage more kids to ride their bikes to school.
His co-worker, Patrick Golier worked with Street Light to get some data for the City to try and get a feel for how many people are biking on this corridor and from the data he was able to gather from 2021 during the school year, he found that during weekdays, Monday through Friday, there is something in the neighborhood of 18 bicyclists coming from north of Deer Hill and 20-21 bicyclists coming from the south.
It does not get into detail or parse out commuters who are getting a late start in the day or parents riding their kids to Springhill. This afternoon, Mr. Golier gave him more data because he was able to find out what the average trip lengths were. For pedestrians during weekdays it is 2 miles and for bicyclists it is 6 miles. If these are kids coming from points afar coming to Acalanes or Springhill, that would make sense to him, with bicyclists coming from Burton Valley and pedestrians coming somewhere north of Olympic.
The Council also asked him to contact the bike community to ask them for input on the possible removal of the proposed bike lane on the southbound Pleasant Hill Road portion. It is proposed as part of the future trap lane that the Terraces project will be building. He had a detailed conversation with Robert Prinz who is the Advocacy Director for Bike East Bay and he indicated that he had some concerns about the bike lane in the southbound direction being adjacent to the trap lane because it can create an awkward weaving pattern and putting bicyclists in front of that weaving pattern. He liked the idea of having a protected, dedicated bike facility such as the center median pathway or arguably, the east side pathway because it would get people who do not wish to be in that conflict zone out of it. He indicated he would still like to see sharrows on the street for the more advanced bicyclists who wish to ride in the street. He also indicated he would be willing to write a letter of support for the center median project if the City asked him to.
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The Council also asked him to contact the Fire District and ask them for comment on the potential addition of a buffer that would be constructed along the east side of the road to separate vehicles from pedestrians on the sidewalk and other concerns about emergency vehicle access and evacuation routes. The first part of that question was, if the center median is constructed what sort of buffer can the City create on the east side to keep cars away from pedestrians. He made a sketch for this and he displayed it for the Council.
Mr. Luttropp said when he spoke with Fire Marshal Bachman about this, he indicated his preference is for a configuration that would allow emergency vehicles to travel on the left side of any direction of travel and have all vehicles move to the right side so the emergency vehicles could get through. With the construction of the center median pathway, the City is using some of the real estate on the side of the road to accommodate the new configuration. In spots, they will not have enough room on the side of the road for cars to go there.
He displayed the sketch and zoomed it in at Acalanes Avenue and he pointed to the right turn lane on Stanley. Here with the center median, there is a little over 10 feet so vehicles can pull over in that area, but if going to the south it pinches down so vehicles would not be able to pull over in that location. The way it looks now is they have almost 10 feet because there is a painted buffer between the bike lane and vehicle lane so vehicles could encroach into all of that and pull off to the side of the road. If they build the pathway project on the east side of the road, they will be encroaching into that same area to make the pathway wider and to create a buffer between that pathway and the vehicles. So, in either option you will be losing the pull out area to one extent or another. He believes the east side pathway is not as severe an encroachment as with the center median, but either way, there is still not enough room for a car.
He also discussed with the Fire Marshal his thoughts on making a bulb out at Acalanes Avenue to keep people from treating that wider shoulder as one elongated right turn pocket. He did not see an issue with creating a bulb out there and felt a plastic bollard island or even a concrete island would be fine because it does not take up much room. Cars could move forward or pull over sooner and still allow vehicles to move to the side of the road if there is room. So, he did not take particular issue with that and this was the Fire Marshal’s comments.
Mr. Luttropp said he also spoke with Police Chief Alldritt about his thoughts on the center median or east side pathway as it relates to emergency evacuation routes and he indicated his primary concern is going to the freeway, not going past it or going away from the freeway, so he was much more concerned about the southbound side of Pleasant Hill Road than the northbound side because if on the northbound side you have already gone past the freeway. So, he did not see a particular issue with either the center median or the east side pathway.
The real time-consuming effort was to contact Caltrans and discuss with them possible alternative pathway locations or enhancements that could be implemented on the east side of Pleasant Hill Road.
Engineering staff and Councilmembers Gerringer and Candell met with he and Greg Curry and Patrick Golier. Mr. Curry is the Caltrans Pedestrian and Bicycle Branch Chief for District 4, and he listened to all of their concerns. He indicated he would contact all the people the City needed him to contact. He was in favor of all of the ideas staff had and thought they were good ideas, including center median pathway, east side pathway, with and without signalized on- and off-ramps, elimination of slip lanes at the Mt.
Diablo and Pleasant Hill Road, installation of raised crosswalks at the on- and off-ramps.
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He indicated Caltrans would only perform one courtesy review of a project and after that, further reviews would need to be part of a formal project submittal which is typically when you have 100% plans and you are seeking an encroachment permit. He also received confirmation from other people at Caltrans about the process for getting an encroachment permit. They indicated anything the City does will require them to go through a rather lengthy process which he knew in advance after having paved Pleasant Hill Road, because there are many non-standard design elements on this road, which he described. They would need to submit a Design Standard Decision Document where you explain why you are doing what you are doing, and Caltrans either approve of the rationale or they do not. This can either be approved at the local level or sometimes it needs to go to the State level for approval depending on how interesting the ideas are.
He also spoke via email with Mark Wan, Project Manager for Caltrans. He spoke to the Highway Operations Office about signalization of the ramps and indicated that in order for them to consider the signalization of the ramps, they would need to see a traffic study that spoke to traffic volumes, queue length information, delay calculations, ramp impacts, etc. He also indicated that they would need to see minimal degradation to mainline operations to allow signalizing of the ramps. That concerned him because he thinks this will be a very difficult bar for the City to get over because there is traffic backing out onto Hwy 24 on occasion and many times nearly on Hwy 24. So, as soon as they put a traffic signal at the end of the off-ramps, he has grave concerns this will be a minimal impact. He is also somewhat concerned about traffic backing up at the on-ramps because it would be located very near Pleasant Hill Road so there would not be much of a queue length. Once traffic starts backing up onto Pleasant Hill Road, it would start potentially impacting the through traffic on Pleasant Hill Road as well as the off-ramp traffic from eastbound Hwy 24 onto northbound Pleasant Hill Road. So, those combined impacts leave him less than hopeful about that.
Mr. Luttropp then said he talked to their design consultant to find out what this traffic study would cost if the City wished to do that. She indicated it would be approximately $30,000. Greg Curry also forwarded the City’s center median project and eastside design alternatives to the District Design Liaison to see if they would be willing to provide preliminary high level comments on the center median project and eastside design alternatives. Today, he only received comments with regard to the process for applying for an encroachment permit and an indicate the City would need to enter into a revised maintenance agreement for any new facility within the Caltrans right-of-way. At this time, staff does not believe additional information will be forthcoming until such time as they apply for an encroachment permit for the project.
At this time, the alternatives offered previously are still valid and he was looking for direction from the Council on next steps.
Vice Mayor Dawson referred to the medians not meeting standards right now, and Mr. Luttropp explained the median width Caltrans wants to see is 12 feet wide. So, as you get down towards Mt. Diablo there is 12 feet, but once getting under the freeway, it goes down to 7 feet and it stays 7 feet until the left turn pocket for going up Deer Hill and then it is down to about 4 feet. So, Caltrans would want all of this to be at least 12 feet wide.
Councilmember Candell asked if Caltrans is going to require the City if they get an encroachment permit for either one of the projects or she asked if they recommend that the City do changes.
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Mr. Luttropp said the beautiful thing is if they do the center median project they have a 12 foot median.
It would be part of the Design Standards Decision Document, and if they said they do not want to do a 12 foot median, the City would need to explain why, what the impacts are, and why they cannot do one. He is not hopeful if they respond with “because we do not want to” being well-received. He did some rough sketches of how the eastside pathway would impact things if they completely reconstruct the center median as part of doing the eastside pathway, because that project called for shifting the lanes over towards the west. So, if they continue shifting everything to the west and then not use all of the real estate, if you only use 12 feet and make it a regular median, now you have 10 feet you can use for the eastside pathway, if that is the direction the Council wishes to go. This is about what is needed to make that work. So, he thinks they would ultimately end up with a 12 foot wide median on Pleasant Hill Road irrespective of the design unless they came up with something different than eastside or center.
Councilmember Candell thanked Mr. Luttropp for his report and for using Street Light and getting real data. She said there was a striped shoulder and she asked if this is part of the current design for the center median anyway or she asked if this was new.
Mr. Luttropp said this was something new because the Council asked him to look at what can be done as part of the center median pathway project to the east side to make the east side better and ameliorate some of the concerns people had with regard to cars moving closer to the sidewalk. That is what this striping was intended to do.
Councilmember Candell asked about the one in the middle.
Mr. Luttropp said this is just the striped out area you typically put in to create the turn pocket.
Conceivably, they could make this space landscaped if they wanted to soften the center median pathway design a bit where that area could be a landscaped feature. The same thing could be done down towards Mt. Diablo where there is an already very wide median and convert some of that area to landscaping.
Councilmember Candell said the Caltrans Pedestrian and Bicycle Branch Chief did agree he liked all of these things and said there was a new Caltrans policy that said safety is important for pedestrians. This is great, and the Branch Chief even said they were going to make a little trade-off between performance, levels of delays, and service and safety. He was less concerned about the impacts on traffic with the possible streetlights.
Mr. Luttropp agreed, but said he did indicate it is up to the Highway Operations Division to make that decision. He said they are not quite on board with that policy decision yet, so he wondered if they would be in 5 or 10 years, but ultimately, the Highway Operations people said you need to tell us what the impact is first and then they will talk with the City about it.
Councilmember Candell said she thought that the off-ramp will only be signalized if they have someone that wants to walk. So to her, they are putting RRFBs in there which is the same delay. You put it on and someone goes through and then the traffic will move again. So, there is a delay and she does not imagine the streetlight would be that much longer.
Mr. Luttropp said it depends because there is nothing preventing people from driving through the RRFBs.
So, if someone walks through quickly or rides there bike through quickly, vehicles can go very quick. With a traffic signal, someone pushes the button and they will wait 15-20 seconds before they can go no matter how fast a person goes across the intersection.
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Councilmember Candell asked if they would have a right turn on red if no one was there. Mr. Luttropp said no. It would be green if no one was there and it is not a right turn but a through lane. You would put them at where the crosswalks are right now, so if you had a 90 degree intersection then you could conceivably do a right turn on red; however, as they are finding in many locations in Lafayette, there are then some serious downsides to right turns on red in terms of pedestrians having close calls or getting hit by vehicles.
Mayor Anduri said to clarify where they are after the Caltrans discussion is that at a minimum, they would have to do a $30,000 survey to demonstrate there is not a backup or degradation of traffic flow before they would have a change of getting Caltrans’ approval for the traffic signals. Mr. Luttropp confirmed.
Councilmember Candell asked what would happen if the City does not do traffic signals and just keep the RRFB’s. Mr. Luttropp said they could do this.
Mayor Anduri said at the May meeting the Council approved proceeding with the design on the center median. There was no decision made about constructing the center median but it was to design it and then they would look at it. If they wanted to be in a position where they could a comparative analysis of the two, he asked what they would have to spend in order to do that A) if they wanted to have traffic signals; and B) if they did not want traffic signals.
Mr. Luttropp said if you wanted to include the traffic signal option, it would cost about $60,000. If not including the traffic signal option, it would be about $30,000.
Mayor Anduri asked for more details as to what this includes.
Mr. Luttropp said the $30,000 without the traffic signal would be provided a strip map concept drawing for the east side pathway with a summary of pros and cons and potential impacts. This would look a little like the map they have for the center median. He said it might be a little less than $30,000. It would be $17,000 if all you want is the strip map so the Council could talk with the public about what they want to do. This would be no signals. If you wanted to do the signals, you would be adding $3,500 for a basic concept sketch and then another $10,000 for more of a detailed design concept for the signalized ramps.
This is what the Council would need if they were to go to Caltrans and say they want to build signalized ramps. It would be another $30,000 for the traffic study, so it would be $43,000 for the extra for the signal version.
Mayor Anduri said if they were to do it without the signals, he asked if the strip map concept drawing would give the Council sufficient information to do a comparison or he asked if they would have to go further down the design road.
Mr. Luttropp said it would likely give the Council a good starting point. One of the cons if you eliminate the traffic signal is you have not solved the stated problem which are the conflicts between pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles. You just put them right at the ramps. So, he was not sure if that would satisfy the public’s concerns or the stated goals.
Mayor Anduri said between the two options, he asked if Mr. Luttropp would suggest the Council move forward without the lights.
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Mr. Luttropp replied that from an engineering standpoint and traffic safety standpoint, he does not see the point of doing any side pathway if you cannot eliminate the conflict at the ramps because that is the whole reason behind why the City is doing any project in this area, which is to try and make the corridor as safe as they can for people using it.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
JANET THOMAS said she appreciates staff getting the information requested, but she is here again as someone is a proponent of doing more research and investigation into the eastside pathway Pleasant Hill Road. She is joined by most of her neighbors and a number of other community members who would like to see more study done on that as a viable alternative versus the median strip. Since this is being called Safe Routes to Acalanes, it would be important and not that hard to get much more information from Acalanes about desirability and potential usage of both alternatives, and she volunteered to help in that effort.
She reminded the Council that she has lived in the neighborhood for 39 years which is off of Acalanes Avenue. She has taught at Acalanes High School, and she feels the best way to make the corridor safe is to improve the existing eastside path.
Over the past year, neighbors have given many reasons why they think this is better, but she wanted to outline a number of the remedies she feels would dramatically improve safety which is the main goal: 1) strategic cutting of vegetation near the ramps which would improve driver, biker, and pedestrian visibility; 2) improvement of signage on the on- and off-ramps in addition of blinking lights and possibly stop signs; 3) brightly painting, shifting the crosswalks a little bit which are in an awkward position; 4) replacing the current side with a much wider pathway that would allow 2-way biking, walking and jogging. It would eliminate northbound bikers now who use the green painted lane that have to cross over a lane of car traffic to get to right side of the road which is a huge safety concern; 5) taking out the merge onto Hwy 24 lane at the east corner of Pleasant Hill Road and Mt. Diablo Boulevard near the Vet’s Hospital and replacing it with a right turn; and 6) and aside from safety condition, making the whole pathway more attractive by resurfacing and landscaping. She feels such changes would be easier to implement, more acceptable to the public, cheaper, and safer.
Councilmember Gerringer referred to the different improvements, but again it is back to the conflicts at that location. She agrees some things can be cut down, but it is very dangerous and she would never ride a bike through there. She asked which of the elements actually solve those conflicts.
Ms. Thomas said she thinks signage on the on- and off-ramps would solve conflicts, as there is no visibility now from drivers coming off the ramps to see in either direction. The vegetation obstructs visibility. The crosswalks themselves are placed at an awkward angle which should be changed, and she really thinks flashing lights alerting people and a stop sign as a possibility. As someone who has walked and biked in younger years, and she sees kids bike. She asks them if they ever feel unsafe doing it, but they do not.
Runners from the cross country team use it, and while neither of the alternatives are perfect, especially wait time at the on- and off-ramps which will slow down traffic which will create problems on the highway.
So, neither of these is perfect, but she does not think signals are the answer. If there is a larger pathway there, it will heighten anyone’s awareness who drives that corridor regularly.
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STELLA WOTHERSPOON said she advocates for pursuing grant funding for an alternatives analysis of an east side multi-use path with ramp controls such as stop signs like Janet Thomas just mentioned, signals, and ramp configuration. She is glad Caltrans is giving higher weight to bike/ped alterations of its infrastructure because it has adopted the safe systems approach recently. This information opens up possibilities. The key flaw of the ramps is that they are uncontrolled. They are the reason the City had a Pleasant Hill Road Corridor Study on the books from 2009 to 2020 and they are also the reason a center median path was proposed. However, a center median path that leave the ramps as is, is not the right solution. There is already a 6 foot wide sidewalk and an adjacent 8-9 foot bike lane plus buffer and the City should evaluate consolidating those into a multi-use path in conjunction with ramp modifications or controls and a 10 foot path with a 6 foot buffer on one side which is exactly what is being proposed for the center median, except the center median has an extra side so it needs an extra 6’. She understands highway operation studies are needed for ramp controls and the effect on main line operations, and she thinks the City should pursue funding for those.
She is not saying a center median path is good or bad, but rather that they just do not know if it is better or worse than an alternative and this is why the City should pursue funding for that alternatives analysis before seeking funding for construction of the center median. An expenditure of significant public funds requires a thorough evaluation of all alternatives.
She has some questions on Attachment 1, the diagram. She wonders about the measure of the buffer close to the right side of the drawing. It looks very small compared to the 6’2” buffer at the corner of Acalanes Avenue. She asked what is the measure of the buffer itself of the right edge of the drawing, or off of the drawing and she asked how close is the traffic to the sidewalk. The traffic speed south of Acalanes Avenue are the highest, and she has never seen a clear schematic of the proposed buffer for that stretch where the parking is removed and the traffic lanes are shifted immediately adjacent to the sidewalk. The sidewalk north of Acalanes Avenue on the diagram has adjacent traffic already because it is the turn lane, but speeds are lower. Additionally, she referred to the northbound left turn pocket and said it is lengthened for the Terraces, so she wondered if this is the actual length of it, or she asked if it will become longer. Lastly, the northbound freeway off-ramp traffic is very fast, and the merging lanes have always been hazardous to through traffic. The new speed radar sign encourages the thru traffic to 35 mph but the problem is the merging as it is very dangerous.
JOE THOMAS said he thinks the traffic signal could be a dangerous idea, stating there is already a bad backup when there is traffic on Hwy 24 and this would make it worse, noting he saw a rear-end accident recently. He is in favor of the east sidewalk proposal. Everyone he has spoken to has been in favor of that.
It seems the center median proposal focused on bikers but he thinks pedestrians have not considered closer because everyone he spoke with said if a center median was built, they would still walk and run on the east sidewalk. He ran cross-country for Acalanes, ran track for Acalanes, lived in the neighborhood his whole life and has run in that corridor over 1,000 times, never felt unsafe, ran with his fellow runners on the east sidewalk, now coaches cross-country and can assure the Council that the hundreds of runners who use the Pleasant Hill corridor very frequently will not use the center median. They will not wait at a traffic light and then run into a center median for one-quarter mile and then sit at another traffic light and then run out of the center median. They will continue to use the east sidewalk so if the City is putting all of the work into the center median and keeping the east sidewalk the same, this would be a huge detriment to runners and pedestrians. If the City spent its time and money into focusing on the east sidewalk and making that safer which people use, this is the much better alternative.
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MICHELE GREER said she spoke on this issue in the past and she decided to do a little research last week.
On Friday at 10:00 a.m. she walked to Acalanes High School to count the number of bikes in the bike rack.
She counted 23. She does not think there are any more than 23 bikers on any given day because there are only 2 small bike racks and they were bursting with bikes. So, if Acalanes High School’s principal wanted to start a movement or have more people bike to school she asked why they do not have more bike racks for their students to get to and from school. The answer is clear—the desire and feasibility is just not there, weather permitting, instruments, sports equipment, heavy backpacks, and other items are all things that prevent high school students and the “coolness factor” from biking to school. If half of those bikes are coming from south of the Pleasant Hill Road and Stanley intersection with approximately 1,200 students at Acalanes High School is 1% of the Acalanes student population that could potentially use this path.
Regarding traffic signaling at the ramps and backup, she asked what would happen when there is a traffic signal in the middle of Pleasant Hill Road that is being pushed 12 different times between 8 and 8:30 a.m. when traffic is at its worst. She started a Facebook group called “A Smart Route to Acalanes” where she has posted pictures and videos of this intersection at its worst moments between 8 and 8:30 a.m. She welcomed the Council to look at the videos and the mayhem that is already happening on this major corridor. In a perfect world, everyone would bike to wherever they needed to go all the time, but in reality, people are using Pleasant Hill Road from Pleasant Hill, from Martinez, Concord, Walnut Creek, and from all over the county and it is not feasible for them to bike. In order to upheave everyone’s life that uses Pleasant Hill Road with cars and must use cars for potentially 12 bicyclists that want to bike to school, she does not see the point. Lastly, she takes her 2 children on the current sidewalk down to the LafayetteMoraga Trail all the time on bikes and have never felt unsafe crossing the freeway sidewalks.
Mayor Anduri asked what the 1% calculation based upon and asked if it was the number of bikes in the bike rack. Ms. Greer said if there are 23 bikes in the bike racks and there are 1,200 students at Acalanes, and say if half would use the bike path, this is 1% of the Acalanes student population.
Mayor Anduri said in terms of alternatives, he asked if Ms. Greer would favor not having stop lights on the east side. Ms. Greer asked where, and she confirmed at the Hwy 24 off-ramp. She said if the data shows that is the best option, she is in favor of it. What is lacking is there is no real data to show what a middle of the road bike path will do to traffic times and it is already now a mess.
ROBERT LAVOIE said it was great to get some actual data and he was not surprised by the traffic counts from Street Light, but it seems like the concept of spending $3 million for 21 bikes is not where the City should be focusing its hard-earned money. He heard comments from Janet Thomas he thought were helpful. The idea of straightening out the weird angles where the bikes cross the car lanes is a great idea.
When riding a bike it can be tricky making the sharp curves, and there is no reason they need to be that sharp. He thinks the blinking lights would be sufficient for people coming off the freeway as well as clearing the brush so people can see those on the sidewalk. The other thing would be good to have the ones that blink across the crosswalk, but the ones on the side would be sufficient. Also, if you come up to Acalanes Road and make an angle there, you could go off of the EBMUD median over to Acalanes and just have a nice bikeway away from the cars. Lastly, he thinks the Council should re-think the pinch point at Acalanes Road where they have chopped off one lane so you go from 3 lanes down to 2, and this creates a traffic mess, and leave that as a shared lane between the people getting ready for right turns off of Stanley and people merging on from the freeway to get over into the traffic rather than having that abrupt stop.
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BRAD ROSENTHAL thanked the Council and staff for their continued time and work on this matter, said he is a proponent of evaluating the east side alternative, and asked where Mr. Golier got the data regarding the average trip length. He heard 6 miles, and asked how someone figures out someone went 6 miles.
On the bollard island, the first issue with it is that it will likely push more people to Acalanes Avenue because it will cut off the right hand turn lane going into Stanley. The second is related to the emergency vehicles that the Fire Marshal Bachman brought up. If the right hand turn lane is cut down, emergency vehicles will not be able to pass on the left side of the street.
The third is related to the interaction with Acalanes. He asked how Mr. Luttropp reached out to Eric Law.
He has an email from him from last week saying he spoke with the City last year but has not been reached out by anyone this year. The fourth is that he really thinks the City should study student demand. They can do an outreach to Acalanes and ask the students. There are precedent for surveys on projects like this. Valencia Street did a survey, the Contra Costa Countywide Bike and Pedestrian Path did a survey, Caltrans Bay Area Bicycle Plan did a survey, 511 Contra Costa which connected northern California’s Bike Plan did a survey, San Mateo did a survey, and on. So, he suggested the City do surveys on demand to understand what the usage will look like before spending $4 million and create a lot of disruption. Mr.
Law’s email indicates he would be supportive of a survey to the extent the City reached out to him to help conduct one. To him, this is a low level of effort and it would cost zero dollars to do a survey. He asked why the City would do one unless they are afraid of what the data will show.
He has also been monitoring the bike racks at Acalanes. 23 bikes is the highest number he has seen, so with that, 23,000 vehicles go through this intersection every day. For 23 bikers, traffic will get worse for 23,000 vehicles and this does not make sense. He asked the Council to look at an alternative that will not cause as much disruption to anyone.
CHERYL MACDONALD said many people brought up good points, and she is in favor of pursuing alternative ideas on the east side of the boulevard. She thinks doing signaling and putting an overpass for pedestrians so they do not have push buttons to get kids to Lafayette Elementary School. This is the same thing except on steroids here. So she asked to either look at alternatives or go over, and she asked the Council to listen to comments people have made which she supports.
Mayor Anduri said there were several questions raised by the public, stating Ms. Wotherspoon asked about the buffer measurements. Mr. Luttropp said the buffer she was referencing would be at 6.2 feet and down further it is much narrower and she wanted to know what was going on to the right of this.
Where it starts flaring out, this is the off-ramp. There is a bit of a pinch point but that is because the whole road pinches there. Regarding what is happening down Mt. Diablo is he believes it is about a 2-3 foot buffer between the edge of the travel lane and the face of curb so it is still pretty tight. Also, what he has drawn shows the length of the Terrace’s left turn pocket.
Mayor Anduri said Mr. Rosenthal asked about the data Mr. Golier brought about the trip length data, and Mr. Luttropp said he spoke with Mr. Golier because he wanted to know how he figured out how the average length of travel. His understanding is how the streetlight data set works is it is captured from cell phone data. You make indications on a map and say here is where I want data gathered and it will say this cell phone started 12 miles away before it got here or 2 or 6 miles, so that is how that average length is determined. It came from streetlight data.
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Mayor Anduri asked if the City gets the use of streetlight data through the County. Mr. Luttropp said yes, at CCTA and they get a nicely discounted cost which is helpful. They are trying to use that data more to see how useful it is. He pointed out that there seems to be a bit of a narrative going on that this is only for people going to school. It is not. If you look at the streetlight data from his staff report, there were 21 students, but there were 150 people using this, so there are many people using this corridor for biking. It is not just for students, and he wants to be sure this is clear.
Mayor Anduri said there were several improvements suggested. He asked what involvement would be necessary from Caltrans for these improvements. The first is taking out the merge when going north of Pleasant Hill Road and going onto Hwy 24 at Mt. Diablo Blvd. or the slip lane. Mr. Luttropp said this is one they are going to include as part of the center median pathway design and getting rid of the slip lane. This requires Caltrans’ approval, and he is hopeful they will get approval, although after his conversations with Caltrans, his hope is tempered. But, he would think that one would be one of the easier lifts because there has been study after study documenting that slip lanes are very dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Mayor Anduri said the second is signage on the off-ramps. He asked if this was difficult getting from Caltrans. Mr. Luttropp said staff could make requests. He does not know what signage in particular is desired, but Caltrans will be fussy about what they do with their signage on their off-ramps. The City has no jurisdiction so it would be up to Caltrans if they want to do something or not, and the same with the vegetation clearing.
Mayor Anduri said third is putting stop signs at the ramps, and Mr. Luttropp said he did not think that was remotely possible because they are non-warranted. Warranted is a technical term where there is not a technical reason to put in stop signs, such as high cross flow traffic at a 4-way intersection, and this is how stop signs are analyzed. This would not be warranted and they would not be adhered to by a large percentage of the public because they are not warranted.
Mayor Anduri then said lastly is reconfiguring the crosswalks and changing the angles. Mr. Luttropp said he was not sure he was following what the desire was there because right now the crosswalks are set up to be the shortest distance possible across the ramps at a 90 degree angle. He did not understand if the idea was that people wanted the crosswalks to occur closer to Pleasant Hill Road and be more in line with Pleasant Hill Road rather than the ramp which would mean this would be a dramatically longer crosswalk going across the on- and off-ramp traffic which, if this is the case, he would strongly discourage that.
Councilmember Candell said she understands the stop sign, but she asked how staff was justifying the light if it is not warranted. She asked if it wouldn’t be the same criteria. Mr. Luttropp said no, because a light you are pushing the button for crossing. The stop sign is a stop sign and does not matter if anybody is there.
Councilmember Kwok referred to vegetation management. They have heard about problems with vegetation and asked if the City has requested Caltrans to cut down vegetation and improve visibility since the initial meetings. Mr. Luttropp said no, not to his knowledge, but he can do this himself on the website as a maintenance request. They will want to know how much, etc. Mayor Anduri said he thinks there have been citizen requests, and Mr. Luttropp said he will go out and see what the sight distance is because this is what Caltrans will base it on.
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Councilmember Gerringer thanked staff for answering questions regarding conflicts at the ramps, the vegetation management which she supports and knows there have been requests.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked when the flashing lights will be installed. Mr. Luttropp said they are currently working on them. Last month, they put in the electrical lines going across the street, but he was not sure when they will finish.
Mayor Anduri asked if the Council could make a decision tonight that they know enough about the east side and do not want to look at it any further. They want to wait until the central pathway design is completed. They have made no decision as to whether that will be built or they seek funds for the building or the City would encourage the advocacy group to seek funds, which they have said they would do.
The second alternative is if they do go down the east side route, because of its financial impact, the question is whether they look at traffic signals at the off-ramps or go with the way they are now. Then the question is the $17,000 strip map study which would be sufficient to move forward on with the understanding it would give them enough information, and the final question is how would the City finance that; whether direct staff to seek a grant to finance that which would be equivalent with what happened with the center median or would the Council authorize it out of the General Fund. He asked for general discussion about how Councilmembers feel about these questions.
Councilmember Gerringer said if they go down the path of doing Option 1 in the staff report which is provide a strip map concept drawing for east side multi-user pathway with summary of pros and cons and potential impacts for an approximate cost of $17,000, there is nothing they need to do right now for Caltrans. She said the $30,000 was if they were ready to move forward with something and they will have to ask Caltrans to do anything along the ramps. Mr. Luttropp confirmed and said this is if the Council wants to do the signalization, although the $17,000 just gets you the strip map so he asked for direction to staff on what they would do after they have the strip map.
Councilmember Gerringer asked if they will get a level of detail higher for the $17,000. Mr. Luttropp said the Council would get something that looks like the strip map they had for the pathway project. It is not a lot more level of detail than his sketches so it is basically a nice visual you can use for public presentations and discussions of what it would look like.
Mayor Anduri asked if they would get a more detailed level of pros and cons than Councilmembers as lay persons would be able to identify. Mr. Luttropp said yes; they would get a professional analysis of the pros and cons of both systems.
Councilmember Candell said for the $17,000, she thought they were really going to change the on- and off-ramps to put in the lights, and staff is saying “no”; they are not really doing that but just throwing them down there with the current off-ramp configuration. Her question is whether this strip map concept drawing also apply with the street lights or without the street lights.
Mr. Luttropp said the general alignment would probably be the same but some of the details of how it would work would not be included in the $17,000. The general alignment of the pathway would be there but not enough details and not enough information for Caltrans to render any opinions on street lights.
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Mayor Anduri said in the original options there was one for concept sketch for signalized ramp terminal, and this was an additional $3,500. What he understood was if the Council wanted to introduce street lights, they were not going to get enough information to make a decision with the $17,000 study so they would need the $3,500 and the $10,000 for developed design concept. So, lights or no lights is a decision.
If it is lights, it is more money. Mr. Luttropp confirmed.
Councilmember Gerringer said if they only do the concept, they are not addressing the conflicts which is the whole point of this exercise. The $17,000 does not give them enough information to talk about how to address that as an alternative. In terms of looking at the signalized ramp terminals and talking about changing the angles of the crosswalk, she thinks if they are going to do the additional study that would be her first choice, the strip map drawing would be three on her list, looking at a sketch for signalized ramp terminals on the east side and possibly other things to look at out there, the basic traffic ramps analysis of $4,500 and then she asked if they can get information for everything up to the design concept or would they need to have that to identify all pros and cons, all data, and everything they need to give to Caltrans.
Mr. Luttropp said you could add all of those things into the initial swing at this except for the $30,000 detailed traffic study so they could present it to the public and say, conceptually this is how it will look like without signals, with signals, here is the traffic analysis they did to see what will happen to the flow of traffic on Pleasant Hill Road which is a worry if signals are put in, and that will give them that kind of information. He suspects if the Council says putting in signals will add a 15 second delay on Pleasant Hill Road going past the ramps, that may make the signals not overly popular. Then the Council would not need to worry about Caltrans because the community will have told them not to do it.
Councilmember Candell asked where staff will get the data to estimate the traffic impacts based on how many people are going to use the east side pathway once it is constructed. Mr. Luttropp said he suspects the consultant will do exactly what they did with the center median, which has created some confusion about the center median because the assumption is many people will use it, especially during school drop off and pickup at high commute times. They are going to get a signal activation every time. He would assume they would do the exact same thing for the on- and off-ramp signalization, assuming a signal activation pretty frequently.
Vice Mayor Dawson said they have a good idea for the center median and another good idea for the east side, but they do not have real data or alternatives, and it feels they are working backwards in figuring how they might spend money they do not actually have to allocate towards this. She asked if they are budgeting for money they do not have, she asked if doing a survey would make sense and make it a wider discussion. What they are looking at is impacting traffic patterns for years out. They want more people to use the bike paths, and thinks they should educate people as to whether a 15-second delay a good trade-off for having kids go to school or get to the downtown safely.
Mayor Anduri said he does not know they need a survey, but if they were to develop an alternative here, it will come back to the Council for a decision between the center pathway, the east side nothing. At that point, they will get public input. He does not know if this is the type of thing that is any different from other things they get input on. He said he and Mr. Luttropp had a conversation today about other alternatives, and he must say one of the things he is looking at in this whole process to make sure whatever they do between Deer Hill and Mt. Diablo Boulevard does not preclude having a safe bike path from the northeast neighborhoods to eventually get downtown.
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In his mind, this is a big consideration, so he questioned if they should step back and look at the whole corridor and say they are not just looking from Stanley to Mt. Diablo Boulevard but to start at Reliez Valley Road with one of the goals to have a separate bike path that is completely safe. He would want to preserve the ability to have that kind of bike path. He thinks in the future, they must have that in his view.
Councilmember Gerringer said if they are going to look at any study and the $17,000, she thinks they need to do the other pieces of it. She is in favor of this. What Mayor Anduri said at the beginning was that one of the options is they are still moving forward with the design of the center median. There is a $240,000 grant for that and they do not expect there will be any overages for that. They do not have any money to build it so they are not wasting $3 million. Tonight, she asked if they were getting ahead of it. She wondered if they should continue with this piece of it as all studies they do are not going to get rid of that conflict at those ramps unless they do something major. So, she is reluctant to go through all the studies, but she was trying to get to how an east side study at this cost get them more information than they already have.
Mr. Luttropp said in talking with Mr. Golier this evening, he also pointed out that the 2023 Lamorinda Action Plan does call for a corridor study of the area because it is a route of regional significance. That would be a study likely to be paid for by CCTA. So, now the Council is mentioning the desire to study more, they could steer the CCTA’s discussion in that corridor to include a more robust discussion of bike and pedestrians.
Mayor Anduri asked what is the timing for that. Mr. Luttropp said he was unsure as to when it would be done.
Councilmember Kwok commented that he thinks the tail end of this discussion talks about the very big picture going on, which is this intersection is the most problematic in the City for all reasons heard. Other cities’ residents cut through this thoroughfare, and the route was designed to be much bigger than it is today, so it is a problem Lafayette has inherited as a community. With their limited budgets there is no way to fix this with the City’s own dollars. They have to be the squeaky wheel to say this is unacceptable and do everything they can to make it better, but he would like to be realistic that this is tens of millions of dollars to go all the way up to where the Mayor mentioned. They actually do have to think bigger, but that said he thinks what the median pathway project was before “boiling the elephant” let’s try making it better and win one little thing. He salutes the group for finding the money to go design this in order to make it better. As to whether it is better or not accepted by the community, if it was $3 or $4 million, it was to do an incremental improvement and if they cannot do that, to make it even better.
Therefore, he wonders if they put more and more money and time into doing something without really getting anything done. He was glad that if they escalate this whole energy to make it positive, eventually they might get the allies to pay for this and engage earlier. Otherwise, there is just a lot of frustration in the community and they will talk more about how they have no dollars to do this. So, if they want to do this they will have to raise very meaningful money to do it. Otherwise, let’s not use their time and effort if they have no money. He does not have a specific recommendation, but he does not see any obvious choice between what they should choose. He questioned whether it is even the right choice to spend money only analyzing a design criteria on the east side when really the larger question is, why does it have to be either/or. Why can’t it be a combination of both. He thinks 22 feet is too wide, having walked the San Mateo version which is thinner, so if they gave designers just to study the east side, that is almost too limiting an assignment for themselves. So, he does not know the answer and sees that no options are viable.
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Mayor Anduri said there are many variables here and even the 22 feet on the median, this is a sore point with many people thinking that in order for it to be safe in terms of the variety of users, it may be necessary to have the 22 feet, which is actually 14 feet within the barriers. He would say he thinks Councilmember Kwok is right. It is a big issue when stepping back and looking at it, but he does not know it is that big because there are a number of pieces that are in place in terms of his not so hidden agenda about getting from northeast to downtown. They have the new widened pathways along Reliez Valley Road, the widened pathway between Reliez Valley Road and Springhill, they have from Springhill to the staging area coming up, and they have the staging area to Deer Hill which will be looked at in conjunction with the Terraces project. So, it is conceivable that they will have this. The new information for him that is key tonight is the CCTA study. He hesitates to kick things down the road, but if they are going to be looking at that and they have the money to look at it, that seems to be the best solution for the City.
Councilmember Candell said that sounds great but it does not sound like it will get into this level of detail on a corridor study, but it is new. The whole purpose of the east side path is an alternatives analysis. It is not whether they do the median OR they do the east side. That is a possibility here—whether they can achieve their goals or enough of their goals and not disrupt the roadway so much, make neighbors happy and bikers happy too because they will be getting something way better than they have now. This is how she looks at this as an alternatives analysis and thinks that is how it has been pitched. Even in the first comment with the $17,000, she questions it. Number 1 says “Provide a strip map concept drawing for east side multi-user pathway with a summary of pros and cons and potential impacts.” Whether the City is getting enough for that, staff says they are going to get some pros and cons, but she questioned whether they will not get the traffic impact for signals which is the piece missing.
Mayor Anduri said his understanding is that in order to get the understanding about the impact of the signals, they need to do 3 and 5. Mr. Luttropp confirmed. Mayor Anduri said if they do not do those, 1 is not going to give them enough information, and Mr. Luttropp agreed and said it will not give enough information to have a conversation about the traffic signals. But, if the Council decides they do not want to do the traffic signals at all, in some ways they are now picking one that does not solve the stated problem. The pros and cons list will not look great.
Mayor Anduri said they have a number of members of the public tonight have said for them, they understand that and that is a better solution. Mr. Luttropp said this is a fair point.
Mayor Anduri said if the Council were to move forward with that, he takes it that number 4 in the June staff report, the $4,500 traffic analysis of signalized ramps would be subsumed in the $30,000 study if they went forward. If they do not authorize the $30,000 he asked if they have to do the $4,500 to get preliminary information. Mr. Luttropp said yes; the $4,500 would provide basic information about the impacts of traffic on Pleasant Hill Road.
Mayor Anduri said then they are looking at $34,500 as a first step if they want to include signals. So, looking at the decision tree, he asked if they want to scope an alternative now or he asked if the Council wants to wait to see what CCTA does. The next question is, if they want to move forward now, do they want to include traffic signals. With the funding issue, maybe nothing happens anyway for a long time and the CCTA study comes along.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked if it would be helpful to ask CCTA formally to insert this request and not wait.
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Councilmember Gerringer said because this is new information and she knows these are in the local plan and in the original plan to expand the regional look at things. While it will likely be a longer timeframe, it would be good for the City to have that information before spending money to look at the alternative.
They would know then if they need to work with CCTA on grants and applications which is the normal route. So, she thinks the additional information would be good to have before looking at an alternative study and recommended bringing back the item so they have more information.
Councilmember Kwok asked when the next CCTA meetings is and asked for the process to get on their agenda. Councilmember Gerringer said she thinks staff would talk with CCTA staff and then potentially CCTA can come back at the next meeting or so to talk about the whole plan.
Councilmember Gerringer asked when the design work would be done, and Mr. Luttropp said he would expect the design work on the center median will be at 65% in January and 100% in March. He can talk with Mr. Golier and knows November and December are very awkward times of the year to try and get people to move quickly on anything, but he will ask Mr. Golier to find out whether the City can change the scope of what CCTA’s study will be to make it more robust in this area and whether they would entertain that for free or whether they would want money from the City to do that.
Councilmember Candell suggested finding out what the scope of the corridor study is and how long they think it will take to finish. She asked if the specific ask would be whether they could do this alternative study.
Councilmember Kwok said he thinks it is a broader ask. They have the bigger problems with the traffic to solve as well and need help. The side pathway, even if they did it, is not solving the traffic problems at 5:00 p.m. He would like to use this opportunity to think bigger, get a bigger solution with more money to do this, and then satisfy more of their community, ensuring they know that the City has had a robust discussion on this and they need CCTA’s help.
Mayor Anduri agreed with that. They want to step back given the goals they have to get CCTA’s views as to what the best recommend and fits in with what they are envisioning for the corridor. He would not limit them. He said he would ask for a motion to continue to November 13th and if needed, put it on Consent Calendar if moved further.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Dawson/Gerringer) to direct staff to provide an updated report and continue to November 13, 2023. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
BREAK
Mayor Anduri called for a break at 9:05 p.m. and thereafter reconvened the meeting at 9:15 p.m.
B. Land Acknowledgment Task Force
Presentation of a draft Land Acknowledgment Statement and accompanying recommendations Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-55 approving the land acknowledgement statement and the task force’s recommendations.
John McCormick said the Council had authorized the Land Acknowledgement Task Force to answer 4 questions:
1. Should the City adopt a Land Acknowledgement Statement? City Council Meeting Page 31 of 46 October 10, 2023
2. If so, what should the wording in the Statement be?
3. If so, when should it be used and what protocol should govern its use; and
4. If so, what other actions should the City undertake in addition to the adoption of a Land Acknowledgement Statement.
Mr. McCormick then introduced task force members, stating they held 9 meetings this year. They will each address an aspect of this. There was a question when they did the initial presentation of what is a Land Acknowledgement Statement. He said it is “A formal statement that recognizes and respects indigenous people as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists with indigenous peoples and the traditional territories, and how we continue to benefit today.” They want to have a brief overview and each member will take a different aspect of this project. They will start with Mary McCosker who will give them some historical context, remind everyone of what they heard earlier this year, and he will talk about their approach and the statement itself, Janet Thomas will talk about their proposed usage, and Steve Kalogeras will then talk about some of the other ancillary recommended actions they have.
Mary McCosker provided an historical account of the Bay Miwok people who cared for the land where Lafayette sits for thousands of years, times when they were forced off of their tribal lands and taken to missions, the Spanish government’s large land grants given to settlers, Mexico’s independence from Spain and the land came under the control of the Mexican government, and only a small number of Bay Area tribes ever received land. They lost it to new American settlers who came looking for land and later for gold. Natives were freed from forced labor in the mid-1800’s but had no land of their own and no way to return to their former lives. They suffered from unjust and cruel treatment and Lafayette wants to acknowledge their past, their presence, and stewardship of these lands.
Mr. McCormick said when they looked at this, their goals were to be respectful, honest, and educational.
For most, elementary school children will learn a lot about this, but as an adult who has moved to the area, they do not know. So, they looked at this as an educational opportunity for everyone. In doing this, they found most Land Acknowledgement Statements are done by other cities and counties in California.
Many universities have done it but they wanted to look at the civic side of it, and they identified 5 key elements of those ones they liked: 1) they want to recognize people by their name they call themselves; 2) they want to acknowledge that we all continue to derive benefits from stewardship of original tribal members; 3) they want to acknowledge that indigenous people are still here. They are in the East Bay and some are in Lafayette; 4) they wanted to make it aspirational for on-going engagement; and 5) acknowledge the past unfair treatment.
With the City Manager’s guidance, they also reviewed it with a couple of indigenous people who are very involved in the advocacy area. Marge works with Janet Thomas and Mary McCosker and local school children in educating them of the history of indigenous people. Korina who is the founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust works with many different organizations and cities in the area about Land Acknowledgement Statements and also getting land and pulling land back into the ownership of indigenous people. Advocates have reviewed the task force’s statement, liked it very much, and both were insistent that it cannot stop at just a statement. He read the statement as follows:
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“We acknowledge that Lafayette is part of the unseated ancestral homeland of the Bay Miwok people. The Bay Miwok and neighboring Ohlone people have lived in and moved through this place for thousands of years. They stewarded and shaped this land for hundreds of generations. They express their appreciation and gratitude for this profound legacy which enhances and contributes to our lives to this day. They will strive to honor this land and strengthen their ties with the indigenous communities that continue to live and work in our East Bay region as our neighbors and community members. We acknowledge and honor them and their ancestors, elders, and the next 7 generations.”
Janet Thomas said they looked at how other cities use the statement, but also looked at, knowing Lafayette, how the statement would best be used. They recommend it be read aloud monthly at the beginning of the City Council meeting and annually at the beginning of a Panning Commission, Design Review Commission, Transportation and Circulation Commission, PTR Commission meetings sometime during the year, and at all openings of new City facilities such as parks and buildings. They hope it will be posted at the top of every City Council agenda, included in the City’s annual budget document, and on the City’s website. Another recommendation would be it be read at the Business Person of the Year State of the City Dinner and at the Citizen of the Year Dinner.
Steve Kalogeras said he will talk about recommended accompanying actions. He echoed what John McCormick said about this being a great group to work with. He also applauded the Mayor and City Council for making sure that part of this task force directive was to consider the accompanying actions. He thinks this is crucial. The first reason is that actions are stronger than words. They do not want this to be a once and done box checking exercise—that both indigenous leaders they spoke with as well as every writing or discussion of this he has ever seen by tribal leaders is that Land Acknowledgements are a start; that it is an opportunity to begin a discussion of engagement with the current indigenous communities here today and an opportunity to begin a learning process and self-reflection process for the whole community.
He is glad there are accompanying actions because all of them do take that step forward of beginning a dialogue, education, and engagement process of these issues. All 6 are very doable in terms of resources, cost, and time.
1. Create a dedicated web page on the city website with links to resources about indigenous issues and indigenous people;
2. Add the Land Acknowledgement Statement in the new wrap for the utility box which is part of the Lafayette Historical Society’s effort to have Lafayette history on the different utility boxes down Mt. Diablo Boulevard. The one on Lafayette Circle is the one dedicated to the Bay Miwok Saklan Tribe;
3. Replace the current street sign at Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Lafayette Circle where the utility box is to have a new design. It would be a bigger sign that still said Mt. Diablo Boulevard on it, but there would also be space below where it says Mt. Diablo Boulevard where the native Ohlone were from Mt. Diablo, which is “Tuyshtak”. Mt. Diablo translates to Devil’s Mountain, but it happens that this mountain is the most sacred site for the indigenous tribes in the East Bay and much of the Bay Area. It is considered the site of creation where the world and humanity was created. To have that Ohlone word as part of the sign and as part of what people are learning, it could be very impactful for the community and also for the descendants of the Ohlone and Bay Miwok folks in this area.
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4. Install an educational sign at the Community Center and perhaps other locations like the Lafayette Reservoir and the Rain Garden. They have a mockup of the sign. Mr. McCormick reached out to an artist who donated their time to create the design and is close to being done. It would be a sign on a pedestal like seen in pull-offs in national parks of a couple of feet wide and a couple of feet tall. This is a good opportunity to kickstart the education process.
5. Invite a speaker to present on indigenous history and land management at a future Council meeting. There are folks in the East Bay who are positioned to do this.
6. Lastly, to support a public mural recognizing indigenous culture. They think this is doable. There are public mural projects underway and having indigenous themes for the mural would be a great asset to the community and another opportunity to engage with the local indigenous community and artists.
Mr. McCormick said they were happy to take any questions or comments.
Mayor Anduri thanked the task force for all the work that went into this and the thoroughness with which they approached this project, as well as the City Manager for being closely involved.
Councilmember Kwok referred to strengthening ties with the indigenous communities. He thinks this is a lovely phrase to do something actionable that engages with those who are still walking with us. The last line item was inviting speakers to come speak to the Council. He asked if there were any other suggestions on how the City would strengthen the ties with indigenous communities.
Mr. McCormick said they really tried to focus the recommendations on actual ones that were under their control, that did not require much money, and they had some very interesting ideas which Ms. Thomas will explain.
Janet Thomas said one is underway. Now that they have the 3rd grade field trips at the Lafayette Community Garden in the next 2 weeks, they will have all 130 3rd graders come through for a 2 hour field trip. This is combined with a visit by Marge who goes to each of the schools and talks about her contemporary life as well as the fact she has tattoos and her name changed during her life, and why that was. She is seen as an Elder, and what does that mean. There has also been some discussion among the task force but more with Marge and others of maybe having in Lafayette a pow-wow. The tribes often get together and like to share dances. They are looking for sites at times, and there are a number of tribes in the Bay Area. They were thinking of the Stanley School field as a site, and possibly some of the commissions could get involved in the future.
Steve Kalogeras said one more thought is the Lafayette Library. The City Council does not run the Library so they did not include that in the presentation, but there are so many great educational programs there.
One suggestion from Karina Gold, the leader of the Sogorea Te Land Trust was to have indigenous artisans come to Lafayette, give demonstrations or seminars on indigenous trades, crafts, and life. He thinks integrating them into the Library’s programming could be a great option. There are other venues for doing that, but this is another great option.
Mayor Anduri said the task force has done great, have fulfilled every part of their charter, and have done what the Council has asked them to do. He asked if they could continue and meet once a year to review what the City is doing and to make recommendations for what else they might do. Otherwise, he is not sure who will carry this forward other than the City Manager.
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Steve Kalogeras said this was a thought he had as well. Assuming this task force is disbanding after this presentation, he wondered how accompanying actions will move forward. City Manager Srivatsa said she thinks it is a good idea that they continue.
Steve Kalogeras said he is happy to work with the City Manager as the liaison on issues in terms of coordinating with outside entities to either bring speakers to the Council or help find indigenous artists for the mural, and he can stay involved to help facilitate those efforts with the City Manager.
Mr. McCormick said they would all be happy and feel passionate about making sure they can fulfill the long-term goals as well.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
ERLING HORN said he had a flash of inspiration while listening to the report for the street sign. He was thinking that the City has a small segment of Dewing Avenue that goes between Mountain Boulevard and Town Center III that might deserve a new name. He thinks Town Center III is 100 Dewing but he was not positive. He thinks it would be wonderful to have it “100 Tuyshtak and Ohlone” and they would have an intersection with a proper name on both of the Mt. Diablo Boulevard and the Indian equivalent.
Councilmember Gerringer thanked the task force for their work, the statement and ideas that have come forward. To her colleagues and City Manager, she wants to be sure the City has enough resources and asked if they budgeted for any of these action items or implementation. City Manager Srivatsa said the Council allocated funds for the 175+ year anniversary celebrations throughout the year. They have remaining funds in that budget that can be used for some of these action items. The task force was careful in ensuring nothing was pricey or the City did not have to spend resources or a lot of money, so they were very mindful. Should they exceed that amount, she would return to the City Council with a request for funds.
Councilmember Kwok said he appreciates the thoughtful work done. He acknowledged the task force members, Steve Kalogeras who was formerly the Chair of the ETF and a former Tribal Attorney for the Hoopa Valley Tribe. He has deep knowledge of tribes. John McCormick is one of Lafayette’s historians who has spent years researching the history of Napa Valley Chinese immigrants who also suffered during that period. Janet Thomas, visa vi the Lafayette Community Garden, has been a pioneer to have a Miwok hut she built years ago and having summer courses she is teaching has shown she is a decade ahead of them especially on this topic. She has shown a deep commitment and it is wonderful she is part of the task force. Mary McCosker is the City’s deep historian who knows so much of that background and who read the history on this. It is wonderful to see the work accomplished by her, and he is excited about the task force’s recommendations.
Councilmember Candell thanked Councilmember Kwok for making the introductions. She endorsed all of the things, the resolution, action items, knowing they have some funds to do these, and she thanked the task force.
Vice Mayor Dawson echoed comments and thanked the task force for their mindful presentation and tasks. She thinks the Council can determine when to do the Land Acknowledgement Statement announcements throughout the year and move them forward.
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Mayor Anduri suggested having a motion on the resolution and then direction. He asked that the resolution be amended so “acknowledgement” is spelled the same way in each place. He also asked the existing group to meet again and come back with a recommendation to the Council. They may think they are able to meet multiple times a year, but he did not want it to be a burden on them.
City Attorney Mala Subramanian suggested amending the resolution, “to continue to meet as deemed appropriate by the task force” so there is some leeway.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Dawson) to adopt Resolution 2023-55, as amended, approving the land acknowledgement statement and the task force’s recommendations and directing the task force members “to continue to meet as deemed appropriate by the task force.” Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
C. Niroop Srivatsa, City Manager and Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director Initial Report from the Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee Recommendation: 1) Authorize staff to research polling options and return to the Council with a proposal and contract for benchmark polling to be conducted in November/December. 2) Authorize the Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee to move forward with conservations with community members and stakeholders.
Administrative Services Director Tracy Robinson provided an overview of the staff report, stating when the Council reviewed the FY 2023-24 budget, they were made aware when looking at the 5-year forecast that they have on-going sustained deficits going into the future. Although the City will be able to end this FY with a 68% General Fund Reserve, starting next year, that Reserve is projected to go below the 60% standard. Then, every year after that there are on-going deficits. Those deficits are approximately $2 million a year or more, and this equates to about 10% of the City’s budget.
There are a number of reasons for these deficits which she outlined in the staff report, but some include increased costs of road maintenance, additional staff approved to accomplish Council and resident priorities, increased costs of insurance, rent for the City offices, and general inflation. This is coupled with the fact that while revenues have largely recovered from COVID there are concerns about inflations, a sluggish economy and a potential recession. This has caused the forecast for future sales tax to show slower growth than anticipated.
The Council appointed an ad-hoc Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee, which is Mayor Anduri and Councilmember Kwok to look at the situation, to analyze what could be done, and the City staff was asked to review all city services project and programs to get an idea of what a 10% cut might look like. The City has and still does run very lean operations, so a 10% cut would be cutting into muscle. They would be cutting services, programs, and many things that are very visible. There are 3 options to address the problem: 1) the option to cut costs; 2) the option to raise revenue; and 3) the option to do some of both.
Attached to the staff report is a staff report done in 2021 which showed a comprehensive list of ways that the City can generate revenue. The Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee looked through those. Options that seem the most practical at this time would be to raise fees, a property tax, a sales tax, which seem to be the most straight forward options. Also, they could proceed with some or all of the cuts.
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At this time, she thinks there are a couple of ways to proceed. They think the most important thing to do now is to evaluate and benchmark what residents would want, what their core values are, what their satisfaction is with the current levels of service are. In order to solve this problem, they need to evaluate what residents want. There is $50,000 in the current Council budget for polling costs. Another potential recommendation is that the subcommittee could evaluate a couple of polling options and people that could do that for them, and then the City Manager can sign a contract to move forward to get the polling done before the first of the year. This recommendation is slightly different than the one in the staff report which could also be considered.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked what the scope would be for the polling. She asked if it would be how to proceed with getting more revenue or what are they looking as a community with services, how the City is spending money now, etc.
Ms. Robinson said there could be multiple rounds, but the first poll would be to find out what residents value, potentially how much they would pay for things they value, and so it is information gathering. It is also information for the Council to understand messaging and what may resonate, and potentially any educational forums would come later. They think it might be premature for the Council to go directly to a decision without doing a scientific survey polling residents and seeing what they care about, how they would prefer to solve this issue. The messaging would come out of that and they would be polling values of what people want.
Vice Mayor Dawson said Councilmember Kwok had mentioned how little money the City has, and she is not sure residents understand that. She wondered if residents know what they are getting now. Ms.
Robinson said they do the Vistas 3 times a year. They thought this might be a good time to do that education they have done time to time to tell people about the City’s sources of revenue, how much they have, what they spend money on, and she thinks the City will be good pairing with the Vistas, and then the polling.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked if they have learnings from the previous polling that they could bring forward.
Ms. Robinson said yes, there are always lessons learned but something else she and the City Manager have been doing are having meetings with cities who have had successful tax measures. They have learned a lot from those cities already and have a couple more meetings set up.
City Manager Srivatsa added that the last time they went out, they had a series of community conversations, and from then called the information about community needs. They will do a scientific poll this time where the questions would be framed so people can spend 15-20 minutes with the pollster identifying what the needs are. So, they believe they can understand better what the community wants.
The last time they did not have the deficits they are projecting now. This is a different story to tell and education is a big part of it.
Councilmember Candell asked if the poll will be able to tell if they should go out for a specific or a general measure, and Ms. Robinson said yes.
Councilmember Candell said they have $50,000 and she asked how much the initial poll will cost. Ms.
Robinson said she has 2 proposals and both are roughly around $40,000.
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Councilmember Gerringer questioned if they are locked in a November/December timeframe for the poll and how effective that might be. Mayor Anduri said they are advised that it turns out this is one of the best times to talk to people. Ms. Robinson said they had the same concern, and the pollster said people tend to be more charitable in November and December and more willing to talk.
Councilmember Gerringer voiced support of doing it in a way that tests values and helps to define what are needs and wants, having a clear picture of what people want and need and what they are willing to pay for that, ensure people understand Lafayette is a low tax city, but they provide many services. She is also comfortable with Ms. Robinson’s work with polling firms and what the best fit for the community is and having the City Manager making that final decision. She has questions on what “authorize the fiscal sustainability subcommittee to move forward with conversations with community stakeholders” looks like.
Ms. Robinson said she thinks they will amend that based upon what they spoke about with the one pollster they interviewed thus far. This may be premature. Mayor Anduri said they could leave it in but use their judgment, and at this time it would be to not move forward. Councilmember Gerringer suggested leaving it out.
Ms. Robinson said regarding the information coming back, they have had this conversation before because it is tricky where a poll gets tweaked in a public forum, which they do not want. They will have to trust the Subcommittee. She believes the results would come back and if they did it in November/December, it would be back mid-February where the Council could see the results. At that time, they would have a conversation about what is needed based on those results, at which point the Council may want to have a strategy about talking with certain groups of people which will be very important.
Vice Mayor Dawson said she and the Mayor are in the Finance Committee and asked if that would compromise that work. Mayor Anduri said no, by the time the Finance Committee meets he will no longer be on it. Ms. Robinson said there are 2 separate issues, and Mayor Anduri said the Finance Committee’s next task is the final budget and audit.
Councilmember Candell asked if this will also be able to tell the Council whether November 2024 is the right date versus another date. Ms. Srivatsa said yes.
Councilmember Gerringer recommended removing the language, “authorize the fiscal sustainability subcommittee to move forward with conversations with community stakeholders.” Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period.
CHERYL MACONDALD said in regards to pulling residents out, she wondered if that is a good idea and leave it in, but kick that bucket down the street a bit so it happens later on at some point. She suggested stating it be at a future date. If the City will raise the sales tax or property tax, the community will want to be involved. As far as polling, she questioned how it gets out as wide and as far as possible. She thought a bright colored postcard be sent with the survey, or have it part of the Vistas. She asked not to just have it on the website, but have it easy for residents to complete. She also agrees with education, and suggested that if the City is asking about a property or sales tax, she asked why the City cannot cut expenses if they are asking resident to pay an increase and that it be included as part of the education process.
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Councilmember Gerringer clarified that she was not suggesting they do not talk with the community or stakeholders ever in the process, but as far as the scientific poll and information to come out in the Vistas or other ways, she was concerned about the timing and the subcommittee going out versus having it be a very planned outreach and engagement on the different stakeholders in the community. She agrees they must talk with the community.
ROBERT LAVOIE asked if the subcommittee looked at capping growth on the City’s expenditures at 1.5% or 2% for the next 5 years, and identify how much impact that would have on the amount of revenue the City is looking to raise.
Ms. Robinson said no, there is growth and she is confused. She cannot control inflation as much as she would like to, so if they capped the growth it really is just is cutting back on services. For example, if things cost 6% to 10% more and they want to provide the same level of service, it is not possible so they would have to cut back on the level. She is not adding any services. Her 5-year model does not add any additional programs or services. It caps the services at what they have.
Mayor Anduri said responding to Ms. MacDonald’s question, the City is not anticipating doing a survey on the website but rather a scientific survey and looking at a robust sample, so they should have a good idea when they do that. He brought the discussion back to the Council.
Mayor Anduri confirmed they will wait until they get a survey done before approaching different stakeholders in the community.
Councilmember Kwok said one thing he and the Mayor talked about which he wanted to engage the public on and fellow Councilmembers is that if Ms. Robinson had the model able to be displayed you would see they have opportunities in November of 2024 and 2026 to conduct an election for revenue. In looking forward one year, this is one opportunity they have. They would see where they are on General Fund expenditures. They would have dropped their Reserve from 81% down to 53%. When they are voting next year, they will already be at the 53% in November 2024. If they decided to wait 2 more years, they would be at 31%. One question they asked themselves is whether to do this now and engage the public and Councilmembers or push this down the road.
He thinks they had a good discussion that they are not in crisis now, but if the entire Council are long-term thinkers, he asked if they want to act earlier or do they act when they are at a fiscal cliff with an emergency. He thinks the conclusion they came to is to be conservative and careful and to be good stewards of the future. This is why they are doing more action now in preparation for this November so, they are working backwards from November 2024.
Mayor Anduri agreed and another public speaker asked if there could be other things that could be cut.
The answer is that if they do not have the revenue, they will cut. They are saying if they cut, the public will know they cut because services will end.
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Councilmember Kwok referred to the display now and said everyone will see the 5-year revenues. He asked staff to zoom in on the bottom portion to show the red. The total expenditure line to Robert Lavoie’s question—do they cap spending. They are at around 19.9 and it is going to 22.1, 22.4, 22.9, 23, etc. so it is slightly trending up. If you look at the line below as to whether they are running at a surplus or a deficit, they are running at $2.6 million, $2.3 million, $2.3, $2.3. This is eroding the next line item reserve from a great situation where they are now at $14 million. In taking out $2 million a year, they are down to $6 or $4 million by the 5th year. So, he thinks while the chart is an eye chart, it is the key to why they are in the situation they are in and why the timing is either now or later. He and the Mayor feel it is essential to bring this forward now.
Vice Mayor Dawson also pointed out that they make it clear that there are no new programs, nothing being planned now, and it does not include sinking funds on repairs they know they will need to make going forward. The reserves might be more impacted if the City gets unexpected expenses as well.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Dawson) to authorize staff to research polling options and authorize the City Manager to contract for polling to be conducted at a time recommended by the polling firm and subcommittee. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
13. STAFF REPORTS
A. Tracy Robinson, Administrative Services Director
Parking Meter Rate Increase
Recommendation: Direct staff to return to Council with the necessary resolutions to increase the parking meter rates to $2/hour.
Administrative Services Director Robinson said the pandemic had a pretty profound impact on parking revenues. The Parking Fund 32 currently has a negative fund balance of $440,000 and at the current $1/hour rate, the program is continuing to lose money even though business has started to come back.
Parking patterns appear to have changed so the robust income the City used to receive in the past will not come back any time soon. The last time the City raised parking rates was in 2006 and they raised it from $.50 to $1.000 per hour. Right now the going rate for everywhere else that has paid meter parking is roughly $2/hour. It goes as high as $3/hour in certain areas and at certain times. Staff is suggesting the Council increase the parking rates from $1.00/hour to $2.00/hour.
Councilmember Gerringer said staff recommendation is just to raise the parking rates. She noticed there was public input from the Chamber and a previous Chamber member who is an active volunteer to match the private parking lots. She asked if this will be considered here or discussed.
Ms. Robinson said they do not have enough information at this time to make a recommendation. She thinks she and the City Manager spoke and it might be a good idea to open up that conversation with the Chamber to see if it makes sense. She thinks it would be premature to make that decision. There will be a cost and the City will not be getting revenue for one hour per day, so she would like to determine what that is before making a decision. There are some other issues they may want to discuss first. They will not likely be necessarily be matching anyway. There is a potential proposal from the private lots to go until 8:00 p.m. Private lots also charge on Sundays and the City does not so she will not be able to make a recommendation they would match. They are not talking about matching entirely anyway, so there always be a mismatch. So, the issue on the table is whether the Council does not want to start until 10:00 a.m. like the private lots do, but there is a conversation to have before making that recommendation.
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Vice Mayor Dawson asked if whether they would ever consider overnight parking. It is a revenue stream for some cities, and because they are looking at more building and residents going downtown, they might have some parking issues downtown, so she suggested reviewing this proactively and also as a way to monetize it.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
Councilmember Gerringer said she was supportive of staff coming back with a resolution to go forward with the increase for the current hours and, at the appropriate time, look at the other changes to the parking program not connected to this request.
Mayor Anduri asked if the change in the metering will result in any significant cost, and Ms. Robinson said no due to them being electronic.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Kwok/Dawson) to direct staff to return to Council with the necessary resolutions to increase the parking meter rates to $2/hour. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
14. PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. Jenny Rosen, Staff Liaison to the Public Art Committee Introduction of Ordinance 687 Updating the Lafayette Municipal code Section 6-25 Signs and 6- 26 Public Art
Recommendation: Introduce Ordinance 687, waive first reading, take public testimony, and continue to October 23rd for second reading and adoption.
Staff Liaison to the Public Art Committee (PAC) Jenny Rosen said she is joined tonight by Erling Horn and Yukie Fujimoto, members of the PAC, and they introduced Ordinance 687 updating the LMC section 6-25 Signs and 6-26 Public Art. She thanked the Council for reviewing the proposal the PAC put together and that the PC recommended for approval last week on October 2nd. The PAC has worked for a couple of years to put together these revisions with the intention of continuing its mission to bring public art to Lafayette and to broaden its mission to be able to bring public art programming to the City, such as the downtown mural program approved in June.
The City Attorney has prepared a draft ordinance and revised text for Chapter 6-25 and 6-26. She described the changes as: 1) In Chapter 6-25 Signs, changes will include adding the definition of a mural which is Item 31, and allowing for murals only as permitted in Chapter 6-26 Public Art. In Chapter 6-26; the Public Art ordinance there are 6 changes: 1) creating a distinction between public art generally and public art for projects which is art that meets the City requirement for certain new project applications; 2) the expansion of the definition of public art to include temporary works of art and the definition of public art for projects to include the term “semi-permanent”; 3) broadening the job of the PAC to advise the City Council on the City’s Public Art Program and its administration; 4) the allowance for the establishment of a fund for the City’s Public Art Program, its administration, and the City’ s Public Art collection including City-sponsored public art. This fund would be separate from the Public Art for Projects In-Lieu Fund; 5) the removal of the sunset provision for the PAC allowing it to continue in its role of supporting public art throughout the City; and 6) the addition of a City murals program permitting murals funded or sponsored by the City on public and private property.
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Vice Mayor Dawson asked about public art projects versus public art. She referred to the definitions and asked if it makes sense what a project is and who a project applicant might be. Ms. Rosen said the way the changes were made, the new term “public art for projects” supersedes what had been called “public art” in the ordinance before. When talking about “public art” in the ordinance before, they were only talking about public art that met the 1% requirement. So, “public art for projects” in using that term is in the definition and only refers to projects that require the 1% fee for development.
Vice Mayor Dawson asked about “applicants”, and City Attorney Subramanian stated she believes this is in other parts of Title 6 of the LMC and she would not want to duplicate definitions. She said it is 6-203 is where that shows up.
Councilmember Candell thanked Ms. Rosen for doing some research on the sunset provision. There was nothing the City had in the past and making the PAC continue makes sense.
Mayor Anduri commented that the PAC also came in when the 1% was enacted so the whole thing would have to go away.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
Mayor Anduri asked and confirmed the ordinance number is 687. Ms. Rosen said in putting together the packet and numbering the pages, she used an older ordinance where she had not included the “687” number, but it is Ordinance 687 for introduction.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Dawson/Anduri) to introduce Ordinance 687, waived first reading, and continued to October 23rd for second reading and adoption. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
B. Arly Cassidy, Senior Planner and Greg Wolff, Planning and Building Director MCR05-23 SB 9 Permanent Ordinance: City-initiated update of the Lafayette Municipal Code (LMC) regarding Senate Bill 9 (SB 9), making the provisions of LMC Section 6-38, Housing Developments and Urban Lot Splits, a permanent part of the LMC. [Ordinance 689]. CEQA Determination: Exempt from CEQA pursuant to Government Code sections 65852.21(j) and 66411.7(n)
Recommendation: Introduce Ordinance 689, waive first reading, take public testimony, and continue to October 23, 2023, for second reading and adoption.
Senior Planner Arly Cassidy gave the staff report and overview of the matter of a City-initiated update of the LMC regarding SB 9 making the provisions of LMC Section 6-38, Housing Developments and Urban Lot Splits, a permanent part of the LMC. [Ordinance 689]. CEQA Determination: Exempt from CEQA pursuant to Government Code sections 65852.21(j) and 66411.7(n).
There are 4 small changes proposed, 2 of which would make small changes to the text of the ordinance.
The first has to do with maximum units allowed. There are a few words to be added to the section to clarify the meaning and intent which is red-lined in the staff report as well as the red-lined copy of the ordinance. The proposed new language would read, “No more than 2 primary dwelling units and 4 dwelling units total, including accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units shall be allowed on a parcel that has utilized the housing development provisions pursuant to State law in this chapter.” City Council Meeting Page 42 of 46 October 10, 2023
The second revision has to do with the water efficient landscape ordinance (WELO). The City adopted the WELO ordinance after the SB 9 urgency ordinance but was anticipating having it go on the books. Specifics pertaining to the WELO code were added to the SB 9 urgency ordinance but the City now has the WELO code and staff proposes this subsection 15 be replaced with the simple statement: “Applicant shall comply with the City’s Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance” and it refers to the code section.
The third change proposed is simply formatting clean-up. There is a dangling subsection C that has no content after it, and the re-numbering of Subsection 6-3811 would simply bring it into conformance with the way the code is normally numbered.
The last change is not actually a change to the ordinance but to the internal processing of these applications. Right now, the SB 9 application instructions includes the requirement that a soils report or geotechnical report be submitted for both lots splits and housing development applications, but this is typically only required when actual development is proposed. A lot split typically does not have development on its own. Staff is proposing this requirement be deferred for applications that are only lot splits until such time as physical development is actually proposed, whether it is an SB 9 housing development or a normal construction application.
Adopting this ordinance is exempt from CEQA. Anything to do with an SB 9 ordinance is explicitly called out in the code as not being a project under CEQA. Staff recommends the Council introduce Ordinance 698, waive first reading, and continue the matter to the October 23, 2023 meeting for second reading and adoption.
Councilmember Kwok referred to timing and asked if there are any deadlines the Council needs to do this to make it a permanent part of the LMC by a certain date in November, December, or January. Ms. Cassidy deferred to the City Attorney.
Ms. Subramanian said no, there is no timing deadlines. They did receive some guidance from the Attorney General who encouraged cities who had adopted urgency ordinances to bring back the traditional permanent ordinance which is what they have always intended to do. So, their goal is to get this adopted before the end of the year.
Councilmember Gerringer said in looking at the public comment from Branagh Development, she asked if these were reviewed and asked whether any changes were made based on their concerns or do they agree to disagree on their assertions.
Ms. Subramanian said she would say all if not most of these comments were made when they originally considered the urgency ordinance in the end of 2021. They did re-review the comments, including today’s letter, and do not think any changes are necessary to be made other than the minor changes mentioned in the staff report. The ordinance complies with State law and it is consistent.
Mayor Anduri asked how many applications the City has had and he asked how many have been approved.
Planning and Building Director Greg Wolff stated the City has received 21 applications for splits 9 and it seems like there is a recent uptick in that. Four have been approved, and 1 application for an urban housing development to build 1 unit under construction.
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Mayor Anduri asked if any of those applications in the Hillside Overlay District, and Mr. Wolff said yes. He would estimate one-half to two-thirds are in the Hillside Overlay District and the remainder are not, but he will see if he can obtain this from the database.
Mayor Anduri asked if there is a way to generalize on why there have not been more than 21 applications than have gone through successfully. Mr. Wolff said there were a couple where one was not eligible for SB 9 and they withdrew. Predominantly, the issue is just a matter of completeness of the submittal.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no questions.
Councilmember Kwok said he met with Mr. Stefan Schnitzler with Branagh Development speaking on behalf of himself more than his company. He wrote to the PC before their October 2nd meeting, but the PC did not have enough time to review the letter and this letter before the Council was not considered by the PC when they voted unanimously to present this to the Council. He thinks there are many asks here and in general, he asked Mr. Schnitzler what his goal of what he is trying to achieve here. He thinks the broader question is, SB 9 has not converted as much housing in California in the last year as was expected due to either complexities with the law or barriers created by cities and confusion. His effort in trying to adhere to the spirit of SB 9 and introduce more housing is to simplify language, make sure the City is compliant, and diligently be sure they do not have structural barriers they inadvertently create. He appreciates the amount of time Schnitzler has spent putting these together.
Councilmember Kwok said he did not have the legal expertise to understand whether each of these are things the City should change or not. He asked Schnitzler what was his absolute top priority item on the list, and he said without hesitation the 4 foot setback. They spent time to go over paragraph by paragraph why he felt that way. His understanding of the 4 foot setbacks on the back and sides is that he has a 1- acre property with his house up front and he wants to build a 1,000 square foot unit in Lafayette, he cannot put it within 4 feet of his back fence and within 4 feet of the corner fence. According to this ordinance, Lafayette would like people to observe the City’s setbacks and only in the event the property was so small and had no choice but to put it there and get into the 4 feet, they are allowed to do that. In fact, there are priorities as well, so the City’s language here interprets the State direction you must do 4 feet as a worst-case scenario.
Mr. Schnitzler suggested and notes the State does not allow cities to impose any stated setbacks under SB 9 projects even if there was room to move it somewhere else. The City’s ordinance prefers to have 15 feet on the back and 10 feet on the side. Mr. Schnitzler asserts that once they choose an SB 9 project, they have the right to go to 4 feet, and it cuts away the City’s setbacks. Now that they have had a year of case law, he thought if they have more time he would think this is a question staff could research and find out what is authoritative to be clear in the way they draft the permanent ordinance.
Ms. Subramanian said there is no case law. She would continue to recommend the ordinance as proposed. If the law were to change in the future, there have been proposals and bills to update SB 9 and staff would return and revise it. But, absent that interpretation she would encourage the Council to introduce what is before the Council.
Vice Mayor Dawson said when she was reading Senator Atkins letter, there was something about when something is silent on the issue, the City can interpret that. Therefore, this reinforces Ms. Subramanian’s comment.
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Ms. Subramanian said it is clear in the statute but they simply have different interpretations, so it would be a matter of someone taking this up in court and making it clear which interpretation is correct or likely an update to SB 9 which will clarify it.
Mayor Anduri asked if a relaxation of any of the City’s requirements has arisen in any of the 21 applications. Mr. Wolff said no, not to his knowledge.
Ms. Cassidy added that she has relaxed the requirement of lot width and depth in order to approve an SB 9 application but it was by a few feet.
Councilmember Kwok explained that SB9 is a new law and everyone is getting used to it. He thinks the City’s ordinance can be voted in to place, and if there is something incorrect, a member of the public can highlight that in the future and he would encourage the public to bring it back and the Council can consider making those changes in the future. His own position is that he is supportive of moving forward with the ordinance as is, and acknowledge that everyone is learning about SB 9.
Mayor Anduri commented that he is relying on the City Attorney’s interpretation which he agrees with. It is interesting because when this was brought to the Council from the 6-person committee, there was a presumption on the part of housing advocates that the City was doing something to make it difficult to succeed, and that was definitely not the intent. The intent of the subcommittee was to develop an ordinance that was faithful to SB 9 but that preserved the City’s emphasis on protecting the hillsides. They struck a good balance with that. In his conversations with housing advocates and at Council meetings, he had someone come to him and said he understands what the City is trying to do, that it was all in good faith and it will work out.
Mr. Wolff noted he was able to find 10 of the 21 applications are in the Hillside Overlay District.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Dawson) to introduce Ordinance 689, waived first reading, and continued to October 23rd for second reading and adoption. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
EXTEND MEETING
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Candell/Dawson) to continue the meeting until 11:30 p.m. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes:
Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
15. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT – None.
16. COUNCIL/COMMISSION REPORTS
A. Councilmembers report on activities and consideration of matters a Councilmember wishes to initiate for placement on a future agenda.
Mayor Anduri reported on his attendance to the Community Foundation of Lafayette Senior Symposium which was very well organized and successful. On October 3rd, Moms Demand Action had organized a campus and gun safety forum at Acalanes, which was a very good program.
City Council Meeting Page 45 of 46 October 10, 2023
He also attended a ribbon-cutting on the 15th at Abio Properties. They were at 850 Haugh and lost their lease, and they bought a property on Mt. Diablo Boulevard. There will be another ribbon-cutting for East Bay Health on Sunday and Congressman DeSaulnier may be speaking at that event.
He then referred to public comments at the beginning of the meeting, and he received communications from the American Jewish Committee urging the City to adopt a resolution in support of Israel and the second one that came in 2 hours later was with the JCRC which organized the event at Temple Isaiah saying JCRC believes it is not productive for local bodies to weigh in on international affairs in part because such efforts may create or exacerbate unwanted community tensions.
Councilmember Kwok said on fire insurance, Councilmember Gerringer had in a previous meeting requested the Council agendize a presentation and asked for the status of this.
Ms. Srivatsa said she reached out to the Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan’s office and they provided her with information about the insurance policies dropped by the insurance companies, and where people walked away from insurance companies by zip code. She said it is difficult to get someone from the State Insurance Commission to talk to a city alone. She is working with Gary Pokorny to see if it can be on the Mayor’s Conference agenda because that way it will be more likely to talk to the County as a whole, and staff is shooting for January or February 2024.
Councilmember Kwok said last week he took a BART ride to the Millbrae BART station and when he got off and started walking east, he did not see an empty parking lot, but took a 20-40 seconds he asked to play. He is Council liaison to BART and said the parking lot is completely empty and there is retail, offices above that, and 6 levels of housing with retail on the bottom. He pointed to retail punched forward and the plaza that leads to the BART Station. It was beautiful, and he was inspired what they did with this empty parking lot was wonderful. Therefore, he wondered if there would be interest of the Council, PC, or staff to do a field trip and ask for a tour to study how this got done in thinking about Lafayette’s BART station.
B. Mayor Anduri
Fourth Amendment to the City Manager Employment Agreement with Niroop K. Srivatsa Recommendation: Authorize the Mayor to execute the attached Third Amendment to the City Manager Employment Agreement with Niroop K. Srivatsa.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Dawson/Gerringer) to authorize the Mayor to execute the attached Third Amendment to the City Manager Employment Agreement with Niroop K. Srivatsa. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok, and Anduri; Noes: None).
C. Councilmember Kwok and Vice Mayor Dawson
Resolution 2023-53 Appointing members to the Youth Commission Recommendation: Adopt Resolution 2023-53 Appointing six members to the Youth Commission.
Councilmember Kwok stated there are vacancies on the Lafayette Youth Commission, which is a body of 15 members grade 6-12. He and Vice Mayor Dawson held interviews with co-chair students at Acalanes along with staff. They interviewed 5 candidates, and he recommended they propose appointing 6 members to the Youth Commission to fill 6 vacancies.
City Council Meeting Page 46 of 46 October 10, 2023
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Kwok/Dawson) to adopt Resolution 2023-53 appointing Eden Hall, Abigail Hu, Juliette Lee, Addison McBride, Ava Skidgel and Amelia Tantameng to the Youth Commission. Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
17. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
A. E-mail from Lori McDonald, Contra Costa CAER, requesting a proclamation declaring November 1, 2023 as Shelter in Place Education Day.
Recommendation: The Emergency Preparedness Commission recommends the City Council approve the proclamation declaring November 1, 2023 as Shelter in Place Education Day.
Mayor Anduri supported the request to approve the proclamation as a recommendation from the Emergency Preparedness Commission.
Mayor Anduri opened the public comment period, and there were no speakers.
ACTION: It was M/S/C (Gerringer/Candell) to approve the proclamation declaring November 1, 2023 as Shelter in Place Education Day. Roll Call Vote: 5-0 (Ayes: Anduri, Dawson, Candell, Gerringer, and Kwok; Noes: None).
18. ADJOURNMENT – 11:12 p.m.
APPROVED:
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Carl Anduri, Mayor
ATTEST:
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Joanne Robbins, City Clerk