CITY OF PACIFICA
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Council Chambers
2212 Beach Blvd
Pacifica, CA 94044
Mayor Sue Beckmeyer
Mayor pro Tem Christine Boles
Councilmember Mary Bier
Councilmember Mayra Espinosa
Councilmember Greg Wright
City Council Regular Meeting 1 February 10, 2025
SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETING
February 10, 2025 (MONDAY)
www.cityofpacifica.org
Mayor Sue Beckmeyer called the meeting to order on February 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM. 5:00 PM - CLOSED SESSION
Mayor Beckmeyer called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. 00a. CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS - Government Code section 54957.6 - Agency designated representatives: Mark Wilson, Allison Hernandez of Burke, Williams, and Sorenson; Employee organizations: Fire Battalion Chiefs, IAFF Local 2400; Fire Fighters, IAFF Local 240; Management Unit, Teamsters Local 350 ; Miscellaneous Employee, Teamster Local 856; Pacifica Police Officers Association; Police Mgmnt (PPMA) & Police Supervisors (PPSA); Wastewater Treatment Plant Teamsters Local 856
00b. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-EXISTING LITIGATION, pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1): City of Pacifica v. Millard W. Tong et al., San Mateo County Superior Court No. 18CIV05455, Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District (Division 1), Case No. A168115, A169714, A169273 7:00 PM OPEN SESSION
Call to Order
Mayor Beckmeyer reconvened the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Attendee Name Title Status Arrived
Sue Beckmeyer Mayor Present
Christine Boles Mayor pro Tem Present
Mary Bier Councilmember Remote
Mayra Espinosa Councilmember Present
Greg Wright Councilmember Present
City Clerk Coffey took a verbal roll call.
Councilmember Bier requested participation remotely via Zoom pursuant to AB 2449 Emergency Circumstances clause.
City Council Regular Meeting 2 February 10, 2025
Mayor Beckmeyer asked her to describe for the record the general circumstances related to her need to appear remotely.
Councilmember Bier stated that she is currently suffering from a contagious illness.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that Councilmember Bier is also required to identify whether any other individual, 18 years of age, is present in the room at her remote location and identify the general nature of the relationship with any individuals physically present in her location.
Councilmember Bier stated she was alone.
Councilmember Boles moved to approve Councilmember Bier’s remote participation pursuant to the Emergency Circumstances; seconded by Councilmember Wright.
City Clerk Coffey took a vote by verbal roll call.
APPROVE REMOTE PARTICIPATION PURSUANT TO AB2449 - Bier (EMERGENCY
CIRCUMSTANCES)
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Greg Wright, Councilmember
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
Staff Present: Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager; Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney; Yulia Carter, Asst. City Manager; Samantha Updegrave, Community Development Director; Maria Sarasua, Police Chief; John Mullins, Interim PW Director; Scott Leslie, PB&R Director; Marisol Gómez, Finance & Administrative Services Director; Louis Sun, PW Dep. Director-Wastewater Div.; Roland Yip, PW Dep. Director; Sarah Coffey, City Clerk; Emily La, Dep. City Clerk.
Reading of Land Acknowledgment
Mayor Beckmeyer read the Land Acknowledgment.
Salute to the Flag led by Councilmember Boles
Closed Session Report
City Attorney Kenyon stated there was no reportable action.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
A. Proclamation: Pacifica Sports Hall of Fame Week Feb. 17 - 22, 2025 Mayor Beckmeyer read a proclamation honoring Pacifica Sports Hall of Fame Week.
Horace Hinshaw accepted the proclamation honoring the members being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year and encouraged everyone to come to the dinner celebration.
CONSENT CALENDAR
City Council Regular Meeting 3 February 10, 2025
Mayor Beckmeyer asked if anyone on Council wished to pull any items and, seeing no one, opened public comments.
Clif Lawrence, Pacifica, referred to Item #4 and asked what happened between the two fiscal years regarding the intergovernmental transfer drop of $5 million.
Mayor Beckmeyer closed public comments and asked staff if they can get an answer on that question.
Finance Administrative Services Director Gómez stated that intergovernmental transfers decreased from the prior year. The City received the last ARPA funding in FY 2022-23, and compared to FY 2023-24, that is $4.9 million less.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked if the ARPA fundings were related to COVID-19 relief.
Finance Administrative Services Director Gómez responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Boles expressed gratitude to the finance team for the extensive work on the report to help when planning for the next financial year.
Councilmember Boles moved to approve the Consent Calendar; seconded by Councilmember Bier.
City Clerk Coffey took a vote by verbal roll call.
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Christine Boles, Councilmember
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles Espinosa, Wright
1. Approval of Disbursements for 01/01/25 through 01/31/25.
PROPOSED ACTION: Receive and file the Monthly Check Register Report for the month of January 2025.
2. Approval of Minutes
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to approve the minutes for the January 13, 2025 City Council Regular Meeting.
3. Continuation of Proclamation of Local Emergency of the Pacifica Coastline from Westline Drive to the End of Beach Boulevard.
PROPOSED ACTION: Accept report and make a determination that conditions of local emergency continue to exist within the Pacifica Coastline from Westline Drive to the end of Beach Boulevard.
4. Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 PROPOSED ACTION: Accept the City of Pacifica Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), Independent Auditor’s Report, and other related documentation for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024.
5. Notice of Completion for the Fire Station 71 & Annex Garage Roof Project City Council Regular Meeting 4 February 10, 2025
PROPOSED ACTION: Move to Adopt the Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica accepting completion and directing the City Manager to file Notice of Completion for the Fire Station 71 & Annex Garage Roof Project; and authorize the City Manager to release the retention funds to the contractor.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ITEMS NOT ON THE POSTED AGENDA
Aren Clark, Pacifica, questioned the City Manager’s management of grant funding for projects in Pacifica and shared his concerns about what the City did and did not do to care for Pacifica and offered to assist the City.
Suzanne Moore, Pacifica, stated she was speaking about the closure of Ocean Shore School and the lack of transparency and community input in this decision and shared her thoughts on what she feels needs to be done for the sake of our children.
Ricardo Guerra, Pacifica, stated that he was beaten and had his dogs stolen, and he expressed concerns about being a victim of racism and no one being willing to help him.
Clif Lawrence, Pacifica, was speaking on an award to Mr. Tong which was discussed in closed session regarding liability of $2.4 million and suggested listening to the judge’s suggestions on handling issues.
Mayor Beckmeyer called for a short break and then reconvened the meeting.
Lynn Adams, Pacifica, thanked the City for supporting the Pacific Beach Coalition on Earth Day. She added that April 26 is Earth Day and the activities that will be taking place that day with many people participating from outside Pacifica as well.
Anita Rees, Pacifica, provided the Pacifica Resource Center’s hours of operation and shared their housing team’s assistance for the homeless, tax services, veterinary help, and other available programs.
Amanda Nordquist, Pacifica, referred to Recology of the Coast’s pickup time at her apartment complex before 5 a.m. four days a week and shared her concerns about the disruption and problems it creates.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, agreed with the previous speaker, and shared his concerns about the early hours for trash pickup and suggested alternative times for pick up. He also expressed concerns about the trash situation on Esplanade where there are oversized vehicles as well as the need for more spaces for oversized vehicles.
COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor Beckmeyer and Councilmember Boles asked about following up on Recology’s contract and hours at a future Council meeting.
City Manager Woodhouse stated that staff can follow up with Recology on compliance with their contract provisions as well as a summary of the contract.
Councilmember Boles stated that the Airport Community Roundtable met with the new members and she was excited that County Supervisor Jackie Speier is now a representative.
City Council Regular Meeting 5 February 10, 2025
She and Councilmember Wright received a private onboarding for the Emergency Services Council with Director Shruti Dhapodkar, who is building for emergency response, education, preparedness, and mitigation, and invited our coastal representative, Logan Ruggles, in a coastal tour she was doing for Stanford students. She was excited to be on that committee to learn more about fire risk, etc., what the county is doing and what money they can bring to Pacifica. She was also asked to be on their finance subcommittee as they do not have a coastal representative. She mentioned that the coastal tour was separate from Council but was fun and a professor at Stanford contacted her about a potential grant to apply with the university and the City. Partnership for Bay’s Future had a meeting in San Francisco about aligning policy and financing for affordable housing with a presentation from the Planning Director in the City of Richmond.
Mayor Beckmeyer asked if that was the fellowship through the San Francisco Foundation.
Councilmember Boles stated they are one of the founders along with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Councilmember Wright stated he and Councilmember Boles attended the PCE meeting. He attended a workday event with the Rotary Club at Sanchez. He attended a League of Cities training in Anaheim with Councilmember Espinosa and it was very informative for new members. Lastly, he listened to the Town Hall with Senator Becker and former Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.
Councilmember Espinosa referred to the training she and Councilmember Wright attended, and they learned a lot about the budget and the Brown Act. She attended the Sanchez Museum of Art which held an event on democracy and they had a roundtable where people talked about how they perceived democracy. She stated that she took pictures of the coast the past weekend and found it interesting to see the erosion and thought it a good idea to keep monitoring it. She mentioned that many people from outside the City come to Pacifica for the ocean and she wondered what more we can do to encourage more tourists to come to Pacifica and spend more money here.
Councilmember Bier stated she attended the Library JPA meeting and congratulated Ashley Larsen, a Pacifica Librarian, who received special commendations for her years of service.
She thanked CORA for coming to PCT and the Pacifica Collaborative to do Speak Up. She went to the leadership training and they visited ALAS and coastside non-profits. She attended the Hope Interagency Committee and they are going to start re-imagining their mission. She gave a special shoutout to Vicky Moore for all the time and effort she put into Pacifica locals for the last few years and apologized to her for some of the negativity she received and felt she did the right thing to step aside. She asked if we can adjourn in honor of Philomena O’Shea.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that there has been a lot of talk at the Pacifica School District Ocean Shore School which has been the subject of many meetings and will continue to be. She encouraged the public to check the school district website and meetings. She stated she was in San Jose learning about school librarianship. She thanked Councilmember Bier for welcoming CORA. She thanked PCT for recording a townhall with CORA explaining their services regarding partner abuse, the City’s program, and the services they offer. She stated that the Beautification work schedule keeps getting rescheduled because of rain but she did her own beautification project on the weekend; she and Councilmember Espinosa did some weedout spots in the Civic Center area where they also met at the Little Brown Church to do some research on Andy Pappas who passed away last year and they had access to the archives.
City Council Regular Meeting 6 February 10, 2025
She had lunch with Councilmember Boles yesterday and had the opportunity to bring Councilmember Espinosa to the Beautification Advisory Committee as the new liaison. She referred to Councilmember Espinosa’s comment about Economic Development Committee opportunities and stated that was coming up at their next meeting.
STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
City Manager Woodhouse spent most of the previous week in Southern California at the League of California Cities City Manager’s Department meeting, and it was an excellent annual gathering of City Managers and Asst. City Managers. There were great sessions on California economics at a macro state level and more micro sessions about tax increment financing tools.
He stated there was a session about the City of Bell corruption scandal and an update on the recovery. There were many discussions about fire recovery, particularly related to the Los Angeles fires, as well as updates on CalCities advocacy efforts. He was installed as the president-elect for this year for the ICMA, the California affiliate for the International City/County Management Association.
Councilmember Wright wanted to express his appreciation that, while the City Manager was away on training, he was still receiving communications from him and, busy as he was, he was still keeping his fingers on the pulse on Pacifica.
Mayor Beckmeyer thanked Asst. City Manager Carter and Police Chief Sarasua for filling in on site in Pacifica when the City Manager is away. She mentioned the heavy rainstorm we had.
While it was a serious situation, she was very appreciative of the quick responses from our first responders. She then shared that the next Zoom meeting for questions and answers with the North County Fire will be on February 25.
PUBLIC HEARINGS - NONE.
CONSIDERATION
6. Appointment of Mayor Pro Tem
PROPOSED ACTION: Appoint a Member of Council to serve as Mayor pro Tem City Clerk Coffey referred to what Council directed for process on this item.
Mayor Beckmeyer opened public comments.
Lois Marshall-Ward, Pacifica, appreciated Council revisiting this issue. She spoke positively about this issue being resolved and appreciated Councilmember Bier’s decision. Her suggestion was to appoint Councilmember Boles as Mayor pro Tem.
Suzanne Moore, Pacifica, appreciated Council, staff, and the public for giving a chance to revisit this issue. She expressed her appreciation of Councilmembers Bier and Boles and hoped Council would vote unanimously for Councilmember Boles to fill this position.
Clif Lawrence, Pacifica, shared his appreciation of Councilmembers Bier and Boles and looked forward to Council unanimously appointing Councilmember Boles as Mayor pro Tem.
Lynn Adams, Pacifica, shared her appreciation of Councilmember Bier stepping down, approval of Councilmember Boles’ abilities, and request to Council to appoint her to the Mayor City Council Regular Meeting 7 February 10, 2025
pro Tem position.
Cata Gomes, Pacifica, shared her appreciation of Councilmember Bier stepping down, approval of Councilmember Boles’ abilities, and hope for a unanimous approval of her to the position. She added appreciation of Councilmember Espinosa’s comments on ecotourism and expressed the need for helping the unhoused in our city.
Cindy Abbott, Pacifica, shared her respect for Councilmember Bier doing the right thing in this unfortunate situation and looked forward to Council approving Councilmember Boles as Mayor pro Tem.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, thanked Councilmember Bier for her graciousness in her letter and spoke in support of Councilmember Boles as the most qualified person on Council for this position. He urged Council to appoint Councilmember Boles as Mayor pro Tem.
Irene Lee, Pacifica, thanked Councilmember Bier for stepping down as Mayor pro Tem and she favors the selection of Councilmember Boles for the position. She also hoped for a rotational process so every district can be represented.
Lyla Reinero, Pacifica, thanked Councilmember Bier for her graciousness and compassion and voiced her support of Councilmember Boles as the next Mayor pro Tem.
Summer Lee, Pacifica, stated she is moved by Councilmember Bier’s actions and appreciated her legacy of kindness. She supports Councilmember Boles as the next Mayor pro Tem and hopes for a unanimous vote by Council.
Betty Duran, Pacifica, appreciated Councilmember Bier stepping down courageously as Mayor pro Tem and hopes the Council supports Councilmember Boles for Mayor pro Tem.
Mayor Beckmeyer closed public comment. She then asked if any Councilmembers had an interest in being appointed to the position of Mayor pro Tem.
Councilmember Boles stated she was interested. She stated that the December 9 meeting was a difficult meeting for her, as well as for Councilmember Bier. She is glad we are working on this process, adding that she would never do anything to hurt Councilmember Bier or question her ability to lead the City as Mayor pro Tem. She was okay if Councilmember Bier wanted to put her name back in for that position. She thought that Council was not able to talk about it and that was the problem with the process and we did not have clear rules. The community wants a democratic process, to follow the Council handbook and be respectful of each other, and show Council’s leadership roles to the community. She agreed that, when Councilmember Bier was Mayor, there was a change; Councilmember Bier reached out to the public and listened to them and, even when the public disagreed, it was Council’s job to listen more to their concerns and explain the situation to them or learn something from them. She feels that Councilmember Bier always puts the interest of the public over her interests. If she wants to be considered again, she is okay with it as having that title is not the only way for Council to contribute.
Councilmember Bier stated she has spent a lot of time comparing herself to Councilmember Boles and realizes that they have different thoughts and feelings, and they see the different parts of each of them and be okay with that, and she is willing to do that. She has no desire to put her name back in. She stated that she was disappointed that Councilmember Boles did not City Council Regular Meeting 8 February 10, 2025
want to be on the ad hoc committee with her; she is also looking forward to working with Councilmember Espinosa who will bring great energy into the discussions. She thanked Councilmember Boles and the public for their kind words. She felt that, if we can come together as Council, recognize our humanness, forgive each other, and build trust, we will be alright.
Councilmember Espinosa asked if she can make a motion.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that she can but Councilmember Wright has some questions. She asked, as Councilmember Boles has expressed her interest in the position, and we will have deliberation, can she consider her as seconding the motion.
Councilmember Espinosa agreed to that.
Councilmember Wright asked if Councilmember Espinosa had any deliberation comments before the nomination.
Councilmember Espinosa responded that she did not.
Councilmember Wright then stated he appreciated Councilmember Bier’s demonstration of leadership in choosing to step down as Mayor pro Tem. He felt horrible about the treatment Councilmembers Bier and Boles faced and felt this was the right thing to redo the process. He wished we could go back in time and do it better from the start so that all councilmembers and the public did not feel the way they do now, but added that the process has brought Council to a better place in working together and getting closer through this situation.
City Attorney Kenyon clarified that Council will be making a motion to appoint Councilmember Boles as Mayor pro Tem.
Councilmember Espinosa moved to appoint Councilmember Boles as Mayor pro Tem, adding that she will do an excellent job in that position as well as in the position of Mayor. She looks forward to working with Councilmember Bier and thanked her for trying to keep the community together.
Councilmember Bier seconded the motion.
City Clerk Coffey took a vote by verbal roll call.
Mayor Beckmeyer called for a break and then reconvened the meeting.
APPOINTMENT OF COUNCILMEMBER BOLES TO THE POSITION OF MAYOR PRO TEM RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mayra Espinosa, Councilmember
SECONDER: Mary Bier, Councilmember
AYES: Beckmeyer, Bier, Boles, Espinosa, Wright
7. Model Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement for Continuing Authorities Program Projects with the US Army Corps of Engineers for the Continuing Authorities Program 103 and 204 Studies
PROPOSED ACTION: Adopt the Resolution entitled “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Authorizing the City Manager to execute Model Feasibility Cost City Council Regular Meeting 9 February 10, 2025
Sharing Agreement and Initiate the Feasibility Studies for Continuing Authorities Program 103 and 204 Projects with the US Army Corps of Engineers; and execute budget amendment appropriating $1,290,000.00 from available fund balance in Fund 38 - Disaster Accounting Fund”
PW Dep. Director Yip stated that he was joined by Juliette Hayes, representative from the US Army Corp of Engineers.
Representative Hayes stated she is the Regional Continuing Authorities Program Manager and thanked them for having her be here.
PW Dep. Director Yip presented the staff report.
Mayor pro Tem Boles stated she was confused about the Manor project, which was from the Bluffs apartments to Manor, and she knows the City has another project on 400 Esplanade.
She asked what does project entail and how does it tie into the other project.
PW Dep. Director Yip mentioned the 400 Esplanade section is unarmored and the City’s request to the Army Corps is to study the unarmored section in the hopes of it leading to the General Investigation. Currently, the City only has the CAP 103 to study the unarmored section.
The City is trying to get 400 Esplanade permitted with the Coastal Commission for riprap placed there around the 2016 storms and, as a part of that project, there may be mitigation fees. For that project, there could be a trail parallel to Esplanade at this location.
Mayor pro Tem Boles asked if he means at the top end of the bluff, not a trail down to the beach.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated it could be either.
Mayor pro Tem Boles stated that there was a ramp that PW used to access the beach but she did not know if it was part of this site or the 400 Esplanade site.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated, if that were to be part of the project, it would be part of 400 Esplanade. He stated that now there is no project defined for the 380 Esplanade site. When we do the feasibility study, we will figure out what project could come out from that.
Mayor pro Tem Boles asked if there is a reason that we are trying to do this now. Knowing the federal government is changing positions on funding, she asked if that is why we are trying to do this more quickly. She asked if the funds we were granted could be rescinded for any reason.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated he would pass the funding question of possible rescinding of funds to the Army Corps, but regarding the project, in his two years with the City, we have been trying to get the CAP 103 and 204 studies in place. He stated that there has been a CAP 103 study from 2017 for the 310 and 330 Esplanade project, so it is a long process.
Representative Hayes stated, regarding the funding, most Army Corps projects have to be authorized by Congress and then appropriated. She stated the continuing authorities is continually authorized and then goes through the budgetary process. She stated that these projects were authorized as were determined appropriate for the authority and the appropriations have already been set aside by the headquarters. She added that she cannot speak with any definite certainty but it is a solid program.
City Council Regular Meeting 10 February 10, 2025
Mayor pro Tem Boles asked if the $1.34 million was paid all at once or paid along the way.
Representative Hayes stated that the City can terminate the relationship with US Army Corps but the critical part is that it is a cost-share balance and that relationship is checked every month and every quarter so we will not be dramatically out of balance any time. She added that we can also check in more and have their project delivery team meetings every two weeks with the City Manager or City staff. She stated, hearing the concern, she will take that back to her team to make sure the cost-share and spending is communicated regularly.
Councilmember Wright thanked her for being here and helping us come up with good solutions to our problems. He wanted to understand the bounds of the project.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated the CAP 103 study is only the gap, that section with no riprap on Esplanade, and the CAP 204 study is the sand nourishment at Beach Boulevard from Paloma to Clarendon.
Councilmember Wright assumed that includes the tie-ins with the existing infrastructure there and making sure we do not create more harm next door by doing this here.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated that we do not know what project will come from the feasibility study. There will be engineers working on it who will take into account armoring and they will be looking at neighboring properties to make sure it does not disrupt their properties.
Mayor pro Tem Boles asked how sand nourishment relates to the Beach Boulevard Infrastructure Resiliency project.
PW Dep. Director Yip agreed that there is sand nourishment as part of the Beach Boulevard Infrastructure Resiliency Project. The reason why BBIRP is not discussed in this staff report is because they are also short listed for a federal grant from Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC). He stated that there is a local match that is non-federal for that grant as well. We do not know if we will get the BRIC grant but will look at that as we get closer to finding out information.
Councilmember Wright asked if there was any economy of scale of doing them concurrently.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated there was a scope on the Beach Boulevard Infrastructure Resiliency Project that we need to keep for the BRIC grant. It is not just about the monetary value of trying to do everything at once but keeping to what we applied for on the BRIC grant.
Mayor Beckmeyer opened public comments.
Clif Lawrence, Pacifica, stated he heard that we have two concurrent projects being envisioned and asked how we protect the investment of one if the other has to undo it or replace it if there is conflict with the two and how the decision affects the future of BBIRP.
Kimberly Finale, Pacifica, had concerns about this proposal and future impacts on the City.
She stated this area has been studied for decades and stated Council should revisit previous studies to understand it has been exacerbated.
Cata Gomes, Pacifica, stated sea walls and armoring the coast is not a good approach. She City Council Regular Meeting 11 February 10, 2025
stated the best scientific way is to protect and restore marshlands, dunes, and wetlands. She suggested more research be done before we move forward with this.
Remi Tan, Pacifica, shared resources on the coastline and artificial reefs proposals that should be looked in conjunction with the CAP 204 study. He also stated the CAP 103 study needs to be more holistic, in light of Coastal Commission’s record against armoring, and perform costsharing with the property owners along the area that gets most of the benefit.
Irene Lee, Pacifica, shared her concerns about the new situation in D.C. that could cancel funding, as well as the timing of the projects’ processes and possible future debt to the City.
Kimberly Williams, Pacifica, stated, as a representative of San Mateo County Surfriders, they had concerns about the success of sand nourishments and suggested the City take an alternative approach to a hard armoring strategy for Pacifica.
Mayor Beckmeyer closed public comments.
Councilmember Bier thanked the Army Corps representative for being here and asked if she can talk about their working relationship with the Coastal Commission in any respect.
Representative Hayes stated they are working on delivering a workshop together, along with Coastal Conservancy and other regulatory agencies, to explore the different permitting requirements for different solutions and is a collaborative relationship. She stated the Army Corps has a regulatory component to it. She concluded that it is respective and collaborative.
Mayor pro Tem Boles saw there was public engagement as part of this process and asked if she could talk about that a little bit.
Representative Hayes thinks their goal is to deliver a project that meets its purpose and supports the community in a sustainable way and takes social and environmental considerations. There are agency specific procedures that will apply to their programs and look at comprehensive benefits, not just the economics of a project but social and environmental impacts to decide which alternative moves forward. She stated they want build on what has already gone forward and bring in the public in a meaningful way so they can comment on ideas brought forward, such as the benefit-cost analysis inherent in the selection of the best path forward. She stated that the study is looking at the site-specific study by looking at all the project sites and components and they come up with a variety of alternatives. She stated that the alternatives are evaluated based on criteria developed with the community. She stated the Continuing Authorities program is for small projects and this will not solve all the problems on the coast in Pacifica. It is going to be of smaller scale and shorter duration. That is another piece of the public engagement as they want to be clear about what the projects are and are not. She welcomes any ideas on how to engage well with the community.
Mayor Beckmeyer stated that the community is very interested in engaging on public issues, especially coastal issues. She asked how CAP 103 and CAP 204 relates to a General Investigation study as she heard in public comments that the whole coastline in Pacifica needs to be studied and cannot look at them piecemeal. She asked if they can describe the scope.
PW Dep. Director Yip stated that the CAP 103 study can lead to General Investigation from studying the unarmored section and possibly the need to study the whole coastline and added that they could trigger it with the monetary value. If you start with the unarmored section of 380 City Council Regular Meeting 12 February 10, 2025
Esplanade and it exceeds the $10 million threshold in CAP 103, then the recommendation comes from the Army Corps staff for the General Investigation. The reason the City went with this approach as it has been done before in San Francisco; a project that started with a CAP 103 study eventually led to the General Investigation.
Representative Hayes added that one piece of good news is that the Continuing Authorities program project limits were increased to $15 million under the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 which passed in January 2025. They received implementation guidance and approval for that $15 million project limit. Because it is a partnership, if Pacifica staff finds that the alternative the Army Corps came up with will not cut it, then they would make a recommendation to do a GI study that requires authorization and appropriation and, thus, is a longer term engagement with the correctional representative and D.C.
Councilmember Wright asked typically, when looking at these studies, what kind of lifetime are they looking at to provide a solution.
Representative Hayes stated that it depends on the goals of the community. When doing hard infrastructure, you are often looking at a 50-year timeline and making a benefit-cost analysis based on that 50-year project life expectancy. It is possible they would not be able to find a solution that lasts 50 years and hits that ratio as they have to have that benefit-cost analysis.
The costs and benefits, largely economic, social and environmental, have to balance out, and that will drive the solution. They do not what alternatives they come up in the study.
Councilmember Wright stated, in terms of consideration, there is armoring, artificial reefs, groins, sand nourishment, etc. and asked what other ones will be thought about and contemplated in this study.
Representative Hayes stated that with the Beach Boulevard CAP 204 the area that looked most promising, based on the short review of existing information and looked quite separable from the rest of the project planning, was to do specific dune recreation at the Clarendon gap and designing it in a way to hold the sand. She stated that they cannot do the whole front of Beach Boulevard with the funds they have; thus, being strategic about where that funding makes sense was one idea. She stated it was geographically separated from the Esplanade/Manor area which looked more like closing that gap with riprap to make it contiguous. There were public comments about armoring and they are looking closely at that idea.
Mayor pro Tem Boles stated, from what she read in our vulnerability assessment, she thinks there are more choices at Beach Boulevard where we do not have high bluffs and erosion issues and can look at dunes. She has not heard of any nature-based solutions possible for tall bluffs. She thought it was a matter of buying time knowing that erosion will continue and potential losses to the beach that are narrowing more every year as a tradeoff. She referred to the Coastal Commission and Coastal Act possibilities for protecting existing buildings and more leniency for infrastructure. She asked if they usually checked in with them along the way to see what might be possible. She stated that we were also in the process of updating our Local Coastal Land Use Plan with them and the policies we are looking at that may mean it is more difficult to do armoring in other parts of town besides Sharp Park and Rockaway. She is curious if they have thought about that, looked at our policies, and if there are any red flags they have seen.
Representative Hayes stated Pacifica is in a tough spot and she did not see moving forward without everyone participating and she thought we would have to bring along the regulators.
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They are not ignorant of how hard this is and time is not on our side and all those agencies take a while, so we have to keep partnering and problem solving. She thought leveraging our good relationships and their interest in moving things forward and finding solutions they did not build into our policies ten or twenty years ago.
Mayor Beckmeyer wanted to echo something she said regarding partnership. We are here because of the work we have been doing collaboratively with partners, bringing them and having them tour our area with our congressional representatives advocating with Army Corps.
She stated that there are group meetings with Army Corp and Coastal Commission as well as 17 different agencies in the state that meet regularly to look at these issues and recognize the overlaps. She agreed with her that we are in a very high energy wave environment, especially in the CAP 103 area, and looking at what our options are is the point of doing this. She mentioned public comment referring to this area being studied to death; however, it has not been studied by the US Army Corps under a CAP 103 study, and that needs to happen for us to move forward with the Coastal Commission issues. In terms of our community, she appreciates the close observations and appreciates having well-regarded coastal engineers who are working on issues daily. She asked City Manager how he would imagine the two studies, CAP 103 and CAP 204, with the proposals in our Local Coastal Land Use Plan, Coastal Management Plan, and Mitigation Plan.
City Manager Woodhouse has stated for his eight years here that Pacifica’s coastal issues are complex, and solutions will involve local, regional, state, and federal partnership for funding in addition to studying and implementing programs. He thought this is a tangible beginning to these CAP projects and it is exciting to be bringing a federal partner into this. In terms of how this rolls forward related to our shoreline adaptation planning processes that are an action item in our Local Coastal Land Use Plan, everything is on the table as we move forward in future years; all of the ideas and all the stakeholder agencies, including local community, county, state and federal, should be at the table to look at solutions to the complex problems we have, and what is the best path forward in the short term and emergency needs to buy time for mid- and long-term solutions in the best interest of Pacifica. He thus believes these CAP studies are part of the formula that need to happen. He felt we were on the cutting edge of action for future shoreline adaptation and this all adds to that.
Councilmember Wright believes we all know we have a big problem there and we need the Army Corp’s help. He stated he would like to know some considerations on her list that she brings to these projects, such as the effect on the surf, property protection, fishing, environment, public access, safety, whale and fish migration, etc.
Representative Hayes referred to life safety and property protection as being considered all the time. For the other less common ones, such as whale migration and other impacts on the environment, they would rely on local knowledge to elevate them; they are important considerations to bring to the table and is a critical role for public engagement. She stated that there are things they have to do by authority or the fact that they are a federal agency to protect life and property. There are things they do not know that are important and ask that they get brought to them.
Councilmember Wright stated he looks forward to working with them and having them help us.
Mayor pro Tem Boles thanked him for his question, adding that Army Corps also works on ecosystem reparation and work across agencies. She knows they will be looking at different possible solutions and bringing them to the public and we can talk about it. She stated they City Council Regular Meeting 14 February 10, 2025
were not necessarily marking a decision today about what they are doing, just exploring options.
Representative Hayes added that any change you see in a federal agency, speaking from the perspective of working for FEMA previously and now Army Corps, the best changes are driven from engagement with the community and based on community need. She reiterated that it was critical to get this important feedback so they can change for the better and meet the needs of the community in an appropriate way.
Mayor pro Tem Boles asked about the timing. She asked, for Esplanade, where we have seen 30 feet of bluffs lost, some overnight and others during the winter season, how much time do we have. She acknowledged that it is an initial design process and not a project.
Representative Hayes stated she cannot tell her how much time they have.
Maiyor Beckmeyer asked if she wanted to know how much time the project will take, beginning with the study.
Representative Hayes stated that, once they get the funding from headquarters, probably midMarch, it is their goal to get all of their work done in a year for the feasibility study, and then it gets reviewed by everybody. She stated that the review takes as long as their work, i.e., a district review, division review, and a headquarters review, just to make sure all the math is right, all the assumptions are taken care of. Therefore, two years is the amount of time they would expect to spend on the study. Then they come back but there is not a lot of design done at that point, but just enough for them to move into the design and implementation phase.
Mayor pro Tem Boles stated, even though we are spending a lot of money, by doing it through Army Corp, there is potential funding for the actual project that the community decided was the right project and that is the other benefit.
Councilmember Wright stated it has been his experience that good planning saves you money in the long run. He asked if she could speak a little bit to that and how her expertise in doing the study and review is going to benefit us.
Representative Hayes stated right now what they have is an overview of existing data and what they think they know. The planning process will let them explore that more, find out what they do not know, find out what they need to know and then work with the city to figure out what the priorities are and what the goals are. Then after coming together, they do the tradeoff analysis on the options and alternative. She cannot say what they are going to be but at least it will be documented and backed up by data. They have their assumptions documented up front but they also have the risk register for the unknown so they can adapt if needed as they get through the project implementation.
Councilmember Wright was almost ready to make a motion to move forward with this as proposed by staff.
City Manager Woodhouse asked, when the motion is made or has been made, if they could specify every reference to the $1.29 million that appears both in the recommendation and resolution language needs to be changed to $1.34 million so we have that as part of the record and part of the motion.
Councilmember Wright changed his motion to as amended by staff; seconded by Mayor pro City Council Regular Meeting 15 February 10, 2025
Tem Boles.
Mayor pro Tem Boles asked if they can clarify what our fund balance is for the Disaster Accounting Fund now in light of the earlier decision Council made today.
City Manager Woodhouse stated the current fund balance is $7.1 million.
City Clerk Coffey took a vote by verbal roll call.
RESULT: ADOPTED AS AMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Greg Wright, Councilmember
SECONDER: Christine Boles, Mayor pro Tem
AYES: Beckmeyer, Boles, Bier, Espinosa, Wright
ADJOURN
Mayor Beckmeyer adjourned the meeting at 10:12 p.m. in honor of Philomena O’Shea.
Councilmember Bier stated that Philomena O’Shea was a matriarch of Pacifica who took so many women through recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous and other programs. She stated she was an amazing person and she will be very missed.
Transcribed by Barbara Medina, Public Meeting Stenographer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
APPROVED: 5 - 0; 3/10/2025
__________________________
Sue Beckmeyer, Mayor