CITY OF PACIFICA
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Council Chambers
2212 Beach Blvd
Pacifica, CA 94044
Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck
Mayor pro Tem Sue Vaterlaus
Councilmember Sue Beckmeyer
Councilmember Mary Bier
Councilmember Christine Boles
City Council Joint Study Session 1 March 21, 2023
JOINT STUDY SESSION
March 21, 2023 (TUESDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck called the meeting to order on March 21, 2023 at 6:04 PM 6:00 PM OPEN JOINT STUDY SESSION
Call to Order
Mayor Bigstyck called the joint meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Tygarjas Bigstyck Mayor Present
Sue Vaterlaus Mayor pro Tem Present
Sue Beckmeyer Councilmember Present
Mary Bier Councilmember Present
Christine Boles Councilmember Present
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call of Planning Commissioners and City Council.
Planning Commissioners Present: Lauren Berman, Chair; Samantha Hauser, Vice Chair; Alex Ferguson, Commissioner; James Godwin, Commissioner; David Leal, Commissioner; Greg Wright, Commissioner.
Staff Present: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager; Karen Murphy, Asst. City Attorney; Christian Murdock, Planning Director; Stefanie Cervantes, Senior Planner; Sarah Coffey, City Clerk, Elizabeth Brooks, Mgmt. Analyst.
Reading of Land Acknowledgment
Mayor Bigstyck read the Land Acknowledgment.
Salute to the Flag led by Mayor Bigstyck
City Council Joint Study Session 2 March 21, 2023
CONSIDERATION
1. Joint study session of City Council and Planning Commission to consider and provide direction on the Draft 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan.
PROPOSED ACTION: Receive a presentation and provide direction regarding the Draft 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan.
Planning Director Murdock introduced the staff team and consultants then presented the staff report. Mayor Bigstyck and Planning Director Murdock explained in this session the City Council / Planning Commission would have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions, followed by public input; and after the session, Planning would take feedback and public comments, analyze and make edits and responses, send the Housing Element to the State’s Housing and Community Development Department for a 90-day review, and issue a clarifying comment letter regarding meeting state law, followed by adoption or going for another round or another community engagement opportunity.
Planning Director Murdock and City Manager Woodhouse advised on and clarified questions from Councilmembers and Planning Commissioners regarding control of a mix of uses, meeting deadlines, compressing timelines, and verifying funding/staffing funds. Planning Director Murdock also advised on builders remedies, conversion programs, policy implementations, and other jurisdictions’ experiences, assisted by Consultant Nick Hamilton.
Mayor Bigstyck opened public comments.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, was concerned on the timeline and agreed that they should take advantage of the silver lining regarding getting the rezoning done.
Michelle McEntee, Pacifica, was worried on Pacifica’s infrastructure and the zoning and preferred housing be mixed income.
Ken Miles, Pacifica, stated concern about the Housing Element adding up to 7,000 more Pacificans, infrastructure problems on highways and greater density.
Suzanne Moore, Pacifica, appreciated the needs assessment, but thought they missed including a goal to assist our unhoused and keep housed citizens in their homes and offered options on prioritizing goals.
Kirk Miller, Pacifica, shared thoughts on development of his client’s property which he submitted to staff and consultants, but was left off the list of vacant private higher density sites.
Tom Olsen, Pacifica, questioned who subsidizes low-income housing, and expressed concerns regarding adding housing on Oceana High School’s property.
Dan Briesach, Pacifica, was concerned that he hasn’t heard about design functions and if the building will fit in with the marine environment, and questioned not giving priority to housing for Pacificans raised in the city.
Albert Romero, Pacifica, stated Oceana High School property is good open space for kids and he is against anything being built on Oceana High School’s property.
City Council Joint Study Session 3 March 21, 2023
Angela Wilson, Pacifica, echoed comments on Oceana High School, and stressed her concerns regarding potential housing development on any school campuses.
Clifford Lawrence, Pacifica, submitted a response regarding housing for low income and felt city property should not just be a percentage for low-income housing.
John Kontrebechi, Pacifica, stated he represents clients with applications for three projects totaling 187 units that are not listed in the Draft Housing Element, and asked staff to add them and stated there are other sites that could be developed for residential and not shown in the document.
Mayor Bigstyck closed public comments.
The Council and the Planning Commission asked follow-up questions and addressed speaker concerns, which were answered by Planning Director Murdock, Consultant Hamilton, and City Manager Woodhouse.
Planning Director Murdock offered the Council and Planning Commission three overarching questions to guide the type of feedback they need: 1) Are housing sites criteria reflective of the community’s values? 2) Is the order and priority for the programs appropriate, with the rezoning component being critical so that it is likely needed to be the first implementation on adopting the housing element? 3) What are their top priorities among the lists of action items and programs so staff can shape the timeline and thinking about resourcing and planning? Mayor Bigstyck proceeded with guiding the Council / Planning Commission through the Draft Housing Element document chronologically, receiving specific feedback and questions.
Chair Berman and Vice Chair Hauser suggested holding another study session to review the document site by site and allow for additional comments from HCD to inform future discussions.
There was Council and Planning Commission consensus on holding another study session.
Mayor Bigstyck and Councilmember Boles suggested raising the inclusionary ordinance to 20%.
Councilmembers Boles and Bier raised their concerns on housing the homeless, and Planning Director Murdock advised that Council could direct staff to plan for more lower incoming housing units. Later on, Councilmember Beckmeyer suggested incorporating this discussion into the policy to proactively market available housing opportunities.
Mayor Bigstyck, Chair Berman, Vice Chair Hauser, and Commissioner Wright discussed protecting Sea Bowl and Pacifica Brewery.
Vice Chair Hauser and Councilmembers Beckmeyer and Bier discussed adding additional sites as a buffer for future study sessions. Vice Chair Hauser also suggested creating a new category of potential sites.
Chair Berman suggested establishing objective criteria to help align the sites with the city’s values in future study sessions.
Mayor Bigstyck and Councilmember Boles discussed adding language regarding ownership to the document in conjunction with rental housing and workforce housing.
City Council Joint Study Session 4 March 21, 2023
Commissioner Wright requested consideration of other properties regarding large field space in the city-owned properties section. Councilmember Boles added moving up evaluating potential city sites in the priority list to facilitate building affordable housing sooner.
Mayor Bigstyck asked to clarify the responsible agency for their partnership with Pacifica School District, and Consultant Hamilton noted his direction.
Mayor Bigstyck and Councilmembers Beckmeyer and Bier discussed including bilingual interpretation services and marketing materials in order to provide information to the community.
Mayor Bigstyck moved to extend the meeting to 11:30 p.m.; seconded by Councilmember Beckmeyer.
EXTEND MEETING TO 11:30 PM
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor
SECONDER: Sue Beckmeyer, Councilmember
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles
Councilmember Boles noted moving the priority of the housing fund up in the list.
Commissioner Leal strongly felt that they should preserve existing affordable housing units in the priority.
Councilmember Boles noted the importance of encouraging development near public transit.
Councilmember Boles and Chair Berman also suggested that staff identify the needs for capacity improvement, i.e. water/sewer/police/fire infrastructure.
Councilmember Boles moved to extend the meeting to 12:00 a.m., seconded by Mayor pro Tem Vaterlaus.
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Sue Vaterlaus, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Bigstyck, Vaterlaus, Beckmeyer, Boles
NOES: Bier
Councilmember Boles added that she would prefer staff reincorporate co-housing into the document. She further asked about possible repercussions in allowing housing to be built in commercial zoning.
Overall, the Council and Planning Commission provided administrative edits to the document, including adding a glossary for ease of public reading, adding columns in existing charts for additional categories, revising lists/charts/graphs/maps, improving visual depictions, adding annotations and scales to photos/images, updating classifications, refining language for comprehension especially in relation to timelines, adding clauses pertaining to rental/ownership, specifying agencies for clarification, and incorporating up-to-date reference files.
Moreover, the Council and Planning Commission discussed planning for balancing the number of sites for any removed or amended sites, giving priority to Pacificans in new housing, noting feasible options for retaining the Sea Bowl site, adding objective criteria for existing and new City Council Joint Study Session 5 March 21, 2023
sites, increasing the number of sites in conjunction with the criteria, expanding considerations of certain properties regarding field space, reducing timelines for responsible agencies where possible, ensuring bilingual interpretation services and marketing materials, emphasizing housing opportunities for the unhoused, reviewing funds to enact priorities, introducing additional developer fees, preserving existing affordable housing, highlighting infrastructure capacity improvements (such as transit and utility), and protecting commercial zoning.
All the Councilmembers and Commissioners agreed next steps would include transmitting the information to HCD for their 90-day review, staff processing the comments, and then reconvening at another joint study session thereafter.
Vice Chair Hauser discussed the inherent risks of the timeline, such as missing the January deadline, and facing state mandates. Vice Chair Hauser, Councilmember Beckmeyer, and Commissioner Wright emphasized the need to provide staff with needed materials to meet the January submission date. There was consensus among the Council and Commission.
All councilmembers and commissioners expressed their appreciation to all of them.
RESULT: NO VOTE REQUIRED
ADJOURN
Mayor Bigstyck adjourned the meeting at 11:45 p.m.
Transcribed by Barbara Medina, Public Meeting Stenographer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED AS AMENDED: 4 – 1 (No: Boles); 4/24/2023
__________________________
Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor