California Capital Airshow Sponsorship Agreement
City of Rancho Cordova
SPONSOR shall use only the official logo provided by CAG and only with the advance written approval of the CAG Executive Director.
4. Force Majeure
Sponsor acknowledges and understands that the successful presentation of an air show is dependent upon numerous factors such as weather, performer cancellation and public apathy, all of which are beyond the control of CAG, and CAG makes no warranty or guarantee, except as written in this Agreement, that SPONSOR will be entitled to the benefits set forth herein.
CAG shall not be liable or responsible for delays or failures in performance resulting from events beyond its reasonable control and without fault or negligence. Such events shall include but not be limited to acts of God, strikes, lockouts, riots, acts of war, epidemics, acts of government, fire, power failures, nuclear accidents, earthquakes, severe weather, acts of terrorism, or other disasters, whether or not similar to the foregoing, and acts or omissions or failure to cooperate of third parties (except as otherwise specifically provided herein).
5. Term
The term of this Agreement shall commence upon signature by both parties and shall terminate on June 30, 2025
6. Duplicate Counterparts
This Agreement may be executed in duplicate counterparts. The Agreement shall be deemed executed when it has been signed by both parties.
7. Notices
Any notice, demand, request, consent, or approval that either party may or is required to give the other pursuant to this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be either personally delivered or sent by mail, addressed as follows:
City:
City of Rancho Cordova
2729 Prospect Park Drive
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
Capital Airshow Group:
Executive Director Capitol Airshow Group
10425 Norden Avenue
Mather, CA 95655
Either party may change the address to which subsequent notice and/or other communications can be sent by giving written notice designating a change of address to the other party, which shall be effective upon receipt.
ITEM 12.1.
ATTACHMENT 2
California Capital Airshow Sponsorship Agreement
City of Rancho Cordova
8. Compliance with Laws
CAG shall observe and comply with all applicable federal, State, and County laws, regulations, and ordinances in the performance of this Agreement.
9. Performance Standards
CAG shall perform the services, tasks, and functions described in section 4 of this Agreement in accordance with the industry and/or professional standards applicable to such services, tasks, and functions.
10. Termination
Either party may terminate this Agreement without cause by giving ninety (90) days written notice, which shall only be provided between March and April each year. Notice shall be deemed served on the date of mailing.
11. Entire Understanding
This Agreement contains the entire understanding by and between the parties hereto.
12. Authority to Execute
Each person executing this Agreement represents and warrants that he or she is duly authorized and has legal authority to execute and deliver this Agreement for or on behalf of the parties to this Agreement. Each party represents and warrants to the other that the execution and delivery of the Agreement and the performance of such party's obligations hereunder have been duly authorized.
Capital Airshow Group City of Rancho Cordova
Darcy Brewer
Executive Director
Micah Runner
City Manager
DATE:_____________________________
DATE:_____________________________
ITEM 12.1.
ATTACHMENT 2
ITEM 12.1.
ATTACHMENT 3
LOOKING BACK
ITEM 12.1.
ATTACHMENT 3
WHERE ARE WE NOW
ITEM 12.1.
ATTACHMENT 3
WHERE WE’RE
HEADED
VIDEO
ITEM 12.1.
ATTACHMENT 3
QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU!
ITEM 12.1.
ATTACHMENT 3
MEMORANDUM
City Council Staff Report - Page 1 of 2
ITEM 12.2.
DATE: June 19, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Kim Juran, Administrative Services Director
SUBJECT: PRESENTATION OF THE CITY'S SMART CITY ROADMAP
RECOMMENDATION
Receive the presentation and provide input.
RESULT OF RECOMMENDED ACTION
Receiving the presentation would inform the City Council and community about the City's plans and work efforts in the Smart City realm.
BACKGROUND
In the 20 years since Rancho Cordova incorporated as a city, technology has evolved at a rapid pace, changing daily life to a degree not seen since the rise of the automobile in the early 20th Century. Innovation in mobile devices, camera systems, sensors, and wireless communication has unlocked new ways for local governments to provide public services and interact with constituents.
From the beginning, the City of Rancho Cordova has used a variety of technologies to provide better service. Unlike cities with decades or even centuries-old ways of operating, Rancho Cordova has had the freedom and flexibility to seize new opportunities and innovate. Over the last few years, the City has sought to capture the benefits of the ever-increasing connectivity of technology platforms to foster an integrated and data-informed approach to government. Thus, Rancho Cordova is in many ways ahead of other cities in terms of technologies, but the City is still working to realize the full value and potential of many of these investments.
The City engaged with the firm Madaffer Enterprises to develop a Smart City strategic roadmap to outline and identify where to focus city efforts over the next several years as it seeks to increase the utility of existing technological investments as well as expand into new areas.
Madaffer Enterprises provided an overview of the process to develop a Smart City Roadmap at the October 17, 2022, City Council meeting and sought input and ideas from the City Council for incorporation into the roadmap. Since that time, Madaffer has done extensive research into City operations, including interviews with more than 15 key City staff members, consultations with local business leaders, reviews of the City’s various strategic goals and plans, and recommendations and best practices that have been offered by leading organizations and advocates working in the smart city space.
City Council Staff Report - Page 2 of 2
The roadmap is organized into four “big ideas,” each of which comprises a collection of objectives and initiatives. These big ideas are as follows:
1. User-Friendly City: describes the City’s efforts to simplify and streamline the everyday interactions between staff and the community. This idea also encompasses the steps the City will take to build the internal capacity needed to deliver on smart city commitments.
2. Equitable and Inclusive City: describes the City’s efforts to ensure that technology and data analytics are employed in a way that includes all community members. This idea also encompasses the need to establish strong privacy protections and transparency processes.
3. Safe and Efficient City: focuses on how the City uses technology to strengthen public safety and provide a safe and efficient network of transportation options.
4. City of Opportunity: outlines strategies the City will use to facilitate economic development and establish Rancho Cordova as a hub of technological innovation and growth.
Work on many of the identified goals is already underway, with several significant accomplishments recently achieved. The role of this roadmap is to incorporate ongoing work into a shared vision for the direction of future initiatives and investments.
FISCAL IMPACT AND FUNDING SOURCE
No direct fiscal impact. Funding for many of the initiatives outlined in the Smart City Roadmap are incorporated into the City's budget.
ATTACHMENT(S)
1. RC Smart City Roadmap - Final
2. Presentation
City of Rancho Cordova
Smart City Strategic Roadmap
Final - June 2023
Executive Summary
In the 20 years since Rancho Cordova incorporated as a city, technology has evolved at a rapid pace, changing daily life to a degree not seen since the rise of the automobile in the early 20th century.
Innovation in mobile devices, camera systems, sensors, and wireless communication has unlocked myriad new ways for local governments to provide public services and interact with constituents.
From the beginning, the City of Rancho Cordova has used a variety of technologies to provide better service. Unlike cities with decades or even centuries-old ways of operating, Rancho Cordova has had the freedom and flexibility to seize new opportunities and innovate. Over the last few years, the city has sought to capture the benefits of the ever-increasing connectivity of technology platforms to foster a integrated and data-informed approach to government. Thus, Rancho Cordova is in many ways ahead of other cities in terms of technologies, but the city is still working to realize the full value and potential of many of these investments.
With many recent investments in new technologies and more on the horizon, the purpose of this Smart City Strategic Roadmap is to outline and identify where to focus city efforts over the next several years as it seeks to increase the utility of existing technological investments as well as expand into new areas. This roadmap is a high-level look at the work the city will do to capture the full potential of the data and integrations provided by new technologies while being deliberate and proactive in addressing potential privacy, cybersecurity, and equity issues.
The roadmap is based on extensive research and into city operations, including interviews with more than 15 key city staff members, consultations with local business leaders, reviews of the City’s various strategic goals and plans, dialogue with the City Council, and recommendations and best practices that have been offered by leading organizations and advocates working in the smart city space.
The roadmap is organized into four “big ideas,” each of which comprises a collection of objectives and initiatives. These big ideas are as follows:
The first big idea, User-Friendly City, describes the City’s efforts to simplify and streamline the everyday interactions between the city and the people it serves. This idea also encompasses the steps the City will take to build the internal capacity needed to deliver on smart city commitments.
The second big idea, Equitable and Inclusive City, describes the City’s efforts to ensure that technology and data analytics are employed in a way that includes all community members, not just those who are technologically savvy. This idea also encompasses the need to establish strong privacy protections and transparency processes.
The third big idea, Safe and Efficient City, focuses on how the City uses technology to strengthen public safety and provide a safe and efficient network of transportation options.
The fourth big idea, City of Opportunity, outlines strategies the City will use to facilitate economic development and establish Rancho Cordova as a hub of technological innovation and growth.
Work on many of these goals is already underway, with several significant accomplishments recently achieved. The role of this roadmap is to incorporate ongoing work into a shared vision for the direction of future initiatives and investments.
It is important to note that this roadmap does not replace or supersede any existing City Council goals or City policies or plans. It is instead intended to complement and provide direction with respect to the City’s investments and activities in technology and data. Many of the initiatives outlined here will require City Council action, budget allocations, or further refinement before they can be implemented, and thus this roadmap should be considered a flexible and dynamic document that does not constrain future action of the City.
Building on a foundation of smart city successes
The City of Rancho Cordova is already a leader in its use of technology and data to serve the public, particularly in comparison to other California cities of similar population and with similar financial resources. A few notable examples include:
• The use of a variety of advanced technologies to assist law enforcement in responding to calls for service and investigating crimes, including automated license plate readers and gunshot detection systems.
• The construction of a privately owned and managed citywide gigabit-speed fiber-optic network with the capacity to support new, data-intensive applications and promote greater competition among internet service providers.
• Recent upgrades to enterprise licensing, land management and permitting systems that enable online application submittals, providing greater integration among City teams and stronger analytical tools for city staff.
• The use of geographic information systems (GIS) to create customized maps to support work on variety of City initiatives, including the Building Strong Neighborhoods program, and related services to provide publicly accessible maps illustrating the status of city services.
• Pioneering new ways of connecting with residents, from partnerships with social media startups to providing a comprehensive mobile application to facilitate communication and service requests.
• An ongoing transition from paper records – which have been difficult for the public and staff to access – to an electronic records management system, providing greater transparency to the public and greater efficiency in the processing of requests for public records.
• Collaborating with regional transportation partners to plan for and implement integrated Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) solutions along the arterial roads and major intersections throughout the
Additionally, recognizing the need for greater strategic direction in the realm of information technology and innovation, the City in 2021 established a budgeted staff position for a Chief Innovation / Chief Technology Officer.
Understanding and mitigating risks
Sound strategic planning requires consideration not only of benefits, but also the risks and drawbacks associated with innovation. These risks are acknowledged and addressed in a variety of ways throughout this roadmap, particularly in Initiatives 4.1 (Develop evaluation standards for technology acquisitions),
5.1 (Adopt a privacy protection and technology transparency policy), and 9.4 (Coordinate with Sheriff’s Office to update and align privacy and technology policies) , but key issues of concern are summarized here.
1. Information security. As the City transitions more of its operations into a digital and often cloud-based format, sensitive information that was formerly only available in one physical location can now be accessed remotely, from practically any location in the world. This approach provides convenience and reliability under normal operating conditions but presents new threats from individuals or groups who look to exploit weaknesses for financial gain. Compounding the problem is that the growing number of cameras and sensors connected to networks provide a greater “attack surface,” or points of vulnerability that can be targeted by malicious actors. In recent years, cities and institutions all over the U.S. have had entire departments shut down and held at ransom by threat actors for extended periods of times. The City must maintain a strong cybersecurity strategy to fully evaluate these risks and mitigate against them. That strategy must include regular testing of the city’s cybersecurity defenses. It should also include a security analysis and review of proposed technology acquisitions.
2. Privacy. Cities have always dealt with personal and sensitive information, such as home addresses and bank account numbers, but the rise of cameras and sensors in a growing array of technologies has led to a surging volume of personal and sensitive information held by the City or its contractors. This information includes new data points such as license plate location data, cellphone location data, and images and videos of people’s faces and behaviors. Even when data has been anonymized, researchers have shown that linking multiple sensitive data points can be enough to reveal a person’s identity and private behavior. The availability of this data raises concerns around the potential for abuse – such as identity theft or stalking – as well as the potential chilling effect on the freedoms of expression and association. The City must proactively work to recognize privacy risks and protect individual privacy as it evaluates technology acquisitions and manages systems and data on a day-to-day basis.
3. Efficiency tradeoffs. Many technologies are marketed with the promise that they will save staff time or even reduce the number of staff needed to provide a particular service. While this may be true within the context of a specific task or process, these efficiency gains are often offset more broadly by the need for additional staff time to manage, maintain, and troubleshoot problems. As the City incorporates more complex technologies into its operations, there will be a greater need for IT technical support, trainings, upgrades, and other incidental impacts on staff time and the City’s financial resources. The City must carefully consider these impacts as during the decision- making process for proposed technology acquisitions.
4. Proprietary data and analytics. A growing variety of technology solutions offered to cities involve the creation of proprietary data or proprietary analysis derived from City-owned data.
When data is owned by a vendor, the City loses control over how it may be used and shared, creating privacy and cybersecurity risks as well as raising ethical concerns about the sale of data collected without express consent. Even when the data is clearly owned by the City, it may be organized or coded in proprietary formats that can only be read by a particular vendor. Such arrangements are intended to lock the City into a continued relationship with that vendor by
creating overwhelming barriers to integrating that data into platforms or services operated by competing vendors. Considerations of data ownership and control must be carefully considered in contract language as well as specifications and requirements that data be maintained in an open or portable format.
5. Unfair bias and disparate impacts. Technology is not inherently neutral. In recent years, practitioners and researchers have observed the ways in which some smart city technologies may contribute to disparate impacts among certain groups in the community, especially among groups that are already marginalized. Researchers and advocates have expressed their strongest concerns in the area of artificial intelligence, or AI, where research has found that some face recognition algorithms returned higher rates of false positive matches for Asian, Black, and native American faces relative to white faces, leading to the costly involvement of innocent people in the criminal justice system. Similar concerns have been raised around the use of AI in hiring decisions.
Beyond algorithms, a greater dependence on technology has the potential to exclude participation and engagement among groups that have less access or less willingness to use technology to interact with government. Careful consideration of all possible bias and disparate impacts must be included as part of the decision-making analysis, and the City must adopt strategies to ensure that technology does not unintentionally exclude any group.
Index of Initiatives
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
• Objective 1: Simplify digital interactions with the City o Initiative 1.1: Establish a digital public records request system o Initiative 1.2: Improve digital access to City records o Initiative 1.3: Simplify facility rental process
o Initiative 1.4: Evaluate and expand opportunities for hybrid drop-in meetings • Objective 2: Build staff capacity for innovation
o Initiative 2.1: Boost staff training and support opportunities o Initiative 2.2: Provide strategic leadership support for innovation • Objective 3: Refine new technology implementations
o Initiative 3.1: Establish internal policies to regulate use of newer systems o Initiative 3.2: Evaluate and respond to feedback and user analytics o Initiative 3.3: Improve documentation and succession plans for key systems • Objective 4: Establish standards for new technology adoptions o Initiative 4.1: Develop evaluation standards for technology acquisitions o Initiative 4.2: Develop guidelines to support responsible use of AI
Focus Area: Equitable and Inclusive City
• Objective 5: Protect individual privacy and promote transparency o Initiative 5.1: Adopt a privacy protection and technology transparency policy • Objective 6: Expand internet and technology access
o Initiative 6.1: Evaluate the potential for creating a City-operated internet service provider o Initiative 6.2: Partner with private sector to identify opportunities to improve service levels
o Initiative 6.3: Complete a needs assessment and establish standards for fiber infrastructure
• Objective 7: Broaden opportunities for digital civic participation o Initiative 7.1: Experiment with new online participatory tools to facilitate community input
o Initiative 7.2: Promote public training and support opportunities • Objective 8: Use data to inform equitable neighborhood service delivery o Initiative 8.1: Refine GIS mapping tools
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
• Objective 9: Improve emergency response and support criminal investigations o Initiative 9.1: Pilot and expand a drone response program o Initiative 9.2: Broaden the distribution of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras
o Initiative 9.3: Modernize and optimize City security camera network o Initiative 9.4: Coordinate with Sheriff’s Office to update and align privacy and technology policies
o Initiative 9.5: Establish a real-time information center o Initiative 9.6: Coordinate with regional partners to implement traffic signal pre-emption • Objective 10: Monitor effectiveness of public safety technologies to guide future decisions o Initiative 10.1: Provide regular analysis and reports on effectiveness of public safety technology
• Objective 11: Expand the City’s smart, multi-modal transportation network
o Initiative 11.1: Review and prioritize next steps to implement the Smart Region Master Plan
• Objective 12: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
o Initiative 12.1: Explore technology solutions to support Climate Action Plan measures
Focus Area: City of Opportunity
• Objective 13: Create economic development opportunities focused on civic technology innovation
o Initiative 13.1: Establish a smart city innovation fund and challenge program • Objective 14: Enable seamless, up-to-date support for new and existing businesses o Initiative 14.1: Partner with stakeholders to improve economic data dashboards • Objective 15: Establish a national reputation as a hub for business innovation o Initiative 15.1: Launch a solicitation for partnerships to pilot innovative new technologies locally
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 1: Simplify digital interactions with the City
Initiative 1.1:
Establish a digital public records request system
Background:
As the population has grown and a culture of civic participation has matured, the City has seen a dramatic increase in the number of public records requests filed by the public. Where the City Clerk’s office once processed a few dozen requests per year, they now process nearly 600 requests annually. When the City only processed three requests per month, it was reasonable to manage the process using a simple spreadsheet to track requests and progress. Now, however, there is a clear need to automate this process as much as possible.
There are several digital public records request solutions that are widely used among local governments in California. Among the benefits of such systems: the ability to automatically route requests to the right point of contact in a given department; the ability for members of the public to view the progress of their requests; the ability for members of the public to review the results of other residents’ previous requests, potentially eliminating the need to submit a new request; and the ability to automatically remind staff of statutory deadlines to fulfill requests.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: City Clerk
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 1: Simplify digital interactions with the City
Initiative 1.2:
Improve digital access to City records
Background:
The majority of City records are not easily accessible to staff or the general public in a shared network.
The City Clerk’s office has begun a transition to an online document management system through OnBase. Providing an online document management system enables city staff to more quickly and easily locate and access documents for day-to-day business purposes as well as to respond to public records requests. Staff can also make portions of the document management system accessible to the public, potentially eliminating the need for public records requests when the documents can be accessed directly.
Due to the large number of files currently held in paper form only, transitioning all documents to a document management system is a labor-intensive process that is ongoing and likely will not be completed in the near-term.
As a related part of this initiative, the City will eventually replace all paper-based workflows with digital workflows. Many interdepartmental reviews and authorizations are still done on paper with physical signatures. City staff recently selected Adobe Sign as its system of choice for enabling electronic document routing and signature and is in the process of designing the system configuration in preparation for rollout in summer of 2023. .
Another component of this initiative is to fine-tune file-sharing and file transfer capabilities for parties doing business with the City. Staff and residents have sometimes experienced confusion and inefficiencies when faced with restrictions on the size of files that can be emailed to or from city servers.
These issues are most likely to arise when sharing large, graphic-heavy PDF and image files, such as development plans. The City’s IT staff will work to review and modify restrictions on the size of email attachments and may consider other solutions, such as establishing a portal where large files can be uploaded or downloaded.
Timing: Near-term / Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: City Clerk, IT
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 1: Simplify digital interactions with the City
Initiative 1.3:
Simplify facility rental process
Background:
The City makes several rooms at City Hall available to rent for meetings, parties, and other events. The largest of these rooms can seat up to 150 people in a banquet arrangement and comes with a large catering kitchen. Traditionally, reservations for these spaces were made using paper forms submitted at a desk at City Hall. When the City transitioned to using Energov (also known as Rancho Cordova Online) for all licenses, permits, building plans, the facility rental process was moved online as well. While digitizing this process was intended to make it easier to find and reserve an available room, it has for some residents added unnecessary complexity. Residents are required to create a new username and password, verify their email address, and answer a series of questions on Rancho Cordova Online to access online reservations. While the City has provided links to training videos, there is opportunity to simplify this process. City staff will evaluate and implement add-on modules that can make the process easier for those who are not used to interacting with the City using the Rancho Cordova Online platform.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: Facilities, IT
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 1: Simplify digital interactions with the City
Initiative 1.4:
Evaluate and expand opportunities for hybrid drop-in meetings
Background:
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the City expanded its capacity to schedule and host virtual meetings with members of the public in lieu of in-person meetings. Virtual meetings provided a new way for residents and businesses to connect with City staff without requiring a trip to City Hall. While most operations and interactions have returned to in-person, scheduled virtual meetings are still a convenient option that is available in some situations. One area the City has yet to explore is offering drop-in meetings virtually.
These unscheduled interactions simply provide residents and businesses the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback on more routine matters, similar to the way residents might walk up to the Development Services counter to ask questions about zoning or permitting requirements. Other local governments have experimented with virtual drop-in or “office hours”-style offerings with varying degrees of success. City staff will evaluate the staff and resources required to make this initiative successful and may pilot a hybrid drop-in offering on a limited basis. If successful, this approach can be expanded to more hours and/or more departments.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: Development Services, IT
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 2: Build staff capacity for innovation
Initiative 2.1:
Boost staff training and support opportunities
Background:
Beyond the initial transition period to a new technology system, providing additional training and support opportunities is key to realizing the value of investments in technology systems. Such additional training is particularly useful when new features or new functionalities are added onto an existing system. Staff members have identified access to technical support — whether through the City’s IT staff, the system vendor, or third party contractors — as an important resource to clear obstacles and ensure services are delivered to the public effectively and on time.
Even when there have been no changes in the technology itself, regular education and training is valuable as best practices and legal requirements can change on a surprisingly frequent basis. Privacy protection strategies, data governance principles, information security practices, and other critical considerations are constantly evolving. It is important to keep staff up-to-date to protect the city from risks and liability and to ensure systems continue to work properly.
To implement this initiative, staff will identify opportunities to provide additional in-house training and technical support and/or opportunities. External educational opportunities may come from organizations such as the League of California Cities (Cal Cities), City Clerks Association of California, Municipal Information Systems Association of California (MISAC), or from contractors.
Timing:
Near-term, ongoing
Dependencies: None
Lead: IT
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 2: Build staff capacity for innovation
Initiative 2.2:
Provide strategic leadership support for innovation
Background:
Achieving the smart city goals identified by staff and community members requires more than just streamlining and upgrading existing systems. Achieving these goals also requires stepping back from day- to-day technical issues and thinking more broadly about new ways to respond to the needs of the organization and the needs of the community.
In recent years, many larger cities have established new positions to provide strategic leadership and support for innovation, typically appointing a Chief Innovation Officer, or in some cases a Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer. These high-level leaders typically work across departments to identify opportunities for process improvement, integrate data to reveal new insights, build relationships with like-minded partners at other public agencies and in the private sector, and generally provide support, training, and inspiration to City staff as they work to find new and more effective ways to serve the public.
The City of Rancho Cordova has established a staff position for a Chief Innovation Officer or Chief Technology Officer, but this position has not yet been filled. The City is continuing to evaluate the best approach to providing strategic leadership and support in the area of innovation and plans to move forward to meet this need later in 2023.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: City Manager’s Office
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 3: Refine new systems
Initiative 3.1:
Establish internal policies to regulate the use of newer systems
Background:
As the City experiments with new technologies and adopts more modern systems, staff members need ample time to learn new systems and processes. Some staff may have many years of experience with the “old” system and process. Adapting to a new system, changing workflows, and developing new habits can be uncomfortable and takes more time than is often contemplated at the outset. Even when multiple training sessions are offered, adequate time also must be provided for practice and learning on the new system. Additional training opportunities and refreshers may need to be provided once a new system goes live to ensure that new skills are not forgotten.
When considering the logistics of transitioning from an older system to a newer one, City staff will outline technology transition plans that provide multiple trainings — before, during, and after full implementation — and provide adequate time and opportunities for individualized practice and learning.
This approach may involve slightly greater expense and slightly lower productivity for a period of time up front, the medium-term benefits will outweigh. Without multiple, well-timed training opportunities and extended practice time, some staff will not be equipped to use the new system as it was intended to be used, resulting in conflicts, inaccuracies.
Newer internal business systems promise to help the City collect and analyze data in a more efficient and robust manner, improving staff ability to make recommendations and decisions on where to allocate limited resources. The promise of these systems, however, is undermined when they are not used consistently across the organization. Issues may range from the seemingly minor, such as inconsistently abbreviating addresses, to much more significant, such as recording data on a desktop spreadsheet instead of within the application as designed. When applications are not used consistently across the organization, users lose trust in the data and analysis provided through that system, eliminating its value as a business tool.
To implement this initiative, staff will identify usage issues in key applications and prepare a policy that clearly defines how those. The policy may require managers and supervisors to work directly with individual staff to correct any inconsistencies.
Timing:
City staff responsible for introducing new systems have continued to incorporate extended training opportunities into transition plans and have offered continuing training and process review opportunities.
Dependencies: None
Lead: IT
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 3: Refine new systems
Initiative 3.2:
Evaluate and respond to feedback and user analytics
Background:
The City has implemented a number of new internal and public-facing applications in recent years, including Rancho Cordova Connect, Rancho Cordova Online (Energov), RC Recycles, OpenGov online budget book, and an open data map library. Beyond providing the public with convenient new ways to interact with their local government, these apps also generate usage data that can be extremely valuable to City staff in refining the implementation and ensuring equity in the deployment of services. In some cases, these applications also offer channels for users to provide direct suggestions and feedback on their experience with the app.
To continue improving these applications and the user experience, staff will assess the usage data that is available from each application and determine how best to analyze that data to uncover insights and improve the user experience. For example, staff can analyze trends in the locations of service requests and compare these to population levels to determine if a particular neighborhood is underrepresented in the use of app-based service requests. Such an insight might reveal that marketing and outreach should be targeted to underrepresented neighborhoods to ensure equity in the delivery of services such as pothole repairs or overgrown vegetation. Additionally, direct user feedback and reviews should be carefully studied to identify areas of friction and requests for new features.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: IT and respective departments
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 3: Refine new systems
Initiative 3.3:
Improve documentation and succession plans for key systems
Background:
City staff have identified several technology systems that lack adequate operational documentation and backup information. Due to the small size of the City’s staff, some systems are operated and maintained by as few as two to three individual staff members. While these systems may currently be functioning as intended, there is a risk that the loss of key individual staff members could result in the loss of basic knowledge about how to operate the system, leading to unnecessary expenses to reset, repair, or replace systems that would otherwise be functional.
To implement this initiative, staff will identify which systems lack sufficient documentation and will work with the respective department to document operational information and a strategy for training and perpetuating operational knowledge to successive staff in the event that current staff leaves employment with the City.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: IT
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 4: Establish standards for new technology adoptions
Initiative 4.1:
Develop evaluation standards for technology acquisitions
Background:
Technology vendors market their products to the City on a regular basis, focusing on exciting features in demonstration versions of the product. Vendors, however, rarely understand exactly how a particular product will fit within the unique circumstances of the City’s policies, technology infrastructure, cybersecurity architecture, staff capacity, and other characteristics that might affect how well a particular technology solution will actually perform once implemented. Many smart cities have responded to this dynamic by establishing internal committees responsible for reviewing and approving potential technologies prior to any decision to acquire. The limited size and capacity of Rancho Cordova’s city staff makes this approach less favorable, but the same objective can be achieved by developing a detailed set of standards against which IT staff and department leadership can compare potential technology options. Such standards might include interoperability with other systems, portability of data, data security, privacy protections, product support guarantees, audit logs, single sign-on capabilities, availability of add-on modules, and any other standard or requirement that aligns with the city’s priorities.
This checklist should be developed and regularly updated by the city’s technology and innovation staff.
The checklist, or some variation on it, could also become part of the documentation provided to the City Council as a measure of added transparency and oversight in the final steps of the procurement process.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies:
Lead: IT
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 4: Establish standards for new technology adoptions
Initiative 4.2:
Develop guidelines to support responsible use of AI
Background:
The recent release of generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Google Bard have raised popular awareness about the power of AI and machine learning. These systems produce new, customized text and images based on relatively simple written prompts provided by the user. Leaders in all industries and sectors have begun to imagine the way that AI tools could help increase productivity and efficiently solve difficult problems, and local governments are no exception. In the past several years, several cities have moved to ban the use of AI in law enforcement investigations or in employment decisions, citing evidence that certain applications of AI can perpetuate unfair biases related to attributes such as race, gender, disability, income level, etc. More recently, cities have begun to identify ways in which AI tools can safely and responsibly be used in support of city operations. For example, a tool such as ChatGPT could help staff condense a large amount of text into a short memo or staff report.
It could also help staff draft a job description for a new position. Or it could help staff quickly draft a few lines of software code to assist in modifying a large spreadsheet or database.
The City of Boston recently released a set of generative AI guidelines for city staff that could serve as an excellent model for a similar set of guidelines for the City of Rancho Cordova. The Boston guidelines emphasize that generative AI is a tool and that staff must always take responsibility for the outcomes of using that tool. It clearly states a set of principles upon which the use of generative AI tools should be based; these principles include inclusion, respect, transparency, accountability, innovation, individual privacy, information security, and risk management. The Boston guidelines also include a clear set of rules as well as a list “do’s and don’ts.” For example, staff should never include confidential information in the prompt they provide to an AI tool, and staff should always disclose when they have used AI to generate content.
With the guidance of a Chief Innovation Officer or similar leader, Rancho Cordova city staff should produce a set of guidelines to help staff responsibly and safely explore the use of generative AI. The guidelines developed at the staff level should eventually be formalized into a policy with formal standards that have been publicly reviewed and approved.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: 2.2 (Provide strategic leadership support for innovation)
Lead: IT
Focus Area: Equitable and Inclusive City
Objective 5: Protect individual privacy and promote transparency
Initiative 5.1:
Adopt a privacy protection and technology transparency policy
Background:
The range of technologies used by the City has expanded from standard office software to more complex systems that collect and analyze a broad range of data, including information generally considered to be sensitive or personal in nature, such as location data. The trend in technological development over the past 10 – 15 years has been toward tools that involve the generation or collection of large amounts of data that are then processed or analyzed, often using automation or algorithms. The growing scope of data collected and analyzed by government agencies around the country has led to greater public concern around risks to individual privacy and greater public interest in establishing guard rails and transparency in decision-making involving technology that might impact individual privacy.
City staff should develop a recommended privacy protection and technology transparency policy applicable to any current or future technology that involves the collection or processing of sensitive personal data. The goal of such a policy is to protect individual privacy as well as to strengthen public trust in the City’s approach to technology and privacy. Similar policies in other California cities will likely serve as a helpful starting point, but a policy for the City of Rancho Cordova must be shaped to fit the unique characteristics of the community and the city government. Staff may seek the advice of community members, local business leaders, and experts in technology and privacy in developing a local policy. The City Council will have an important role in providing direction and ultimately adopting a formal policy.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: City Manager’s Office
Focus Area: Equitable and Inclusive City
Objective 6: Expand high-speed internet access citywide
Initiative 6.1:
Evaluate the potential for creating a City-operated internet service provider
Background:
Contemporary consumer apps increasingly involve the use of video and data requiring large amounts of bandwidth, especially in households or businesses where multiple devices are streaming video or using other data-intensive applications simultaneously. The need for high-bandwidth service became particularly evident during the Covid-19 pandemic as school classes, business meetings, and doctor’s appointments shifted to online video-based platforms.
The city is generally well served by internet service providers (ISPs), with Xfinity/Comcast offering gigabit-speed broadband service to most residences and businesses. Slower, copper-wire service is available from AT&T, and several other ISPs offer wireless or satellite-based services at advertised speeds of 25 – 100 Mbps. Despite these available options, the cost of service is a burden for many families and businesses, with gigabit-speed service plans typically charging over $100 per month after a promotional period.
A small number of California communities currently offer fiber-to-the-home service as a way of increasing competition and offering service to residents and businesses at more affordable rates. The most well established of these is in the City of Santa Monica, where the City has been working since the early 2000s to build out its own fiber network. The City of Loma Linda and the City of Beverly Hills are also in the process of building out broadband infrastructure to expand the availability of city-operated high- speed internet.
The arrival of Sifi Networks in Rancho Cordova and the launch of GigabitNow, the first ISP on the Sifi infrastructure, will have a significant positive impact on service availability and price competition. Sifi’s open-access business model means that other ISPs can also take advantage of the new fiber infrastructure to offer their own new services. The City of Rancho Cordova will observe and evaluate the market impacts of the Sifi/GigabitNow offering as it rolls out beginning in 2023. Based on feedback and interest expressed by residents and businesses, the City may commission an independent analysis of the feasibility, costs and benefits of establishing a City-operated ISP, particularly one that might better serve the needs of lower-income residents and neighborhoods. Alternatively, instead of providing service direct to end-users, the City might find that it can play a role in other parts of the broadband ecosystem, supporting “middle-mile” infrastructure needs.
Timing: Long-term
Dependencies: Initiative 2.2 (Provide strategic leadership support for innovation)
Lead: City Manager’s Office
Focus Area: Equitable and Inclusive City
Objective 6: Expand high-speed internet access citywide
Initiative 6.2:
Partner with private sector to identify opportunities to improve service levels
Background:
Members of the business community have expressed concern over the inconsistent levels of cellular service available in parts of the city’s business districts. While cellular carriers are increasingly offering 5G service to local customers, the quality and availability of this service is not yet broadly consistent.
Additionally, as described in Initiative 6.1, not every property has access to affordable high-speed broadband internet, potentially impacting educational opportunities, access to health care, and economic development.
While there are clear limits to the City’s ability to influence the activities of the various private sector companies involved in providing broadband and cellular service in Rancho Cordova, there are also many opportunities for the City to partner directly with them to identify opportunities for improvement and to clearly establish the City’s priorities for investment and expansion. Additionally, there are a number of public and private grant programs, often coordinated through federal and state initiatives, that may provide funding opportunities to support discounts for lower-income families, educational training, or other resources. Third party data aggregators, such as Ookla, use proprietary methods to gather finely detailed data on actual internet speeds available on wireless cellular networks as well as wired broadband services.
To implement this initiative, the City will build relationships with private sector service providers to identify opportunities for partnership and collaboration. The City will gather input from local residents, businesses, and organizations to identify priorities. The City will also track funding opportunities with state and federal governments and nonprofit organizations.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: Initiative 2.2 (Provide strategic leadership support for innovation)
Lead: City Manager’s Office
Focus Area: Equitable and Inclusive City
Objective 6: Expand high-speed internet access citywide
Initiative 6.3:
Complete a network needs assessment and establish standards for fiber infrastructure
Background:
Land developers are generally required to build fiber-optic infrastructure, such as conduit, as a condition of their permits. This conduit is generally used to deliver broadband internet to users on the property and can also serve other uses, such as supporting nearby public infrastructure. However, a lack of consistent standards and general guidance has resulted in isolated networks of non-redundant conduit that do not connect at property lines and are in some cases built to different specifications. New subdivisions are being built with fiber infrastructure that does not properly connect to the infrastructure adjacent neighborhoods. At the same time, the City’s partnership with Sifi Networks is dramatically reshaping the availability of fiber conduit and fiber-optic cable throughout the city. To ensure consistency in the development of fiber infrastructure, the city should commission a study of the status of existing fiber infrastructure standards and develop a standard set of guidelines for future installations.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: Planning / Public Works
Focus Area: Equitable and Inclusive City
Objective 7: Broaden opportunities for digital civic participation
Initiative 7.1:
Experiment with new online participatory tools to facilitate community input
Background:
A growing number of online participatory tools have provided powerful and convenient new ways to ensure that important decisions are made in an inclusive manner that mobilizes the local knowledge of residents and provides opportunities to build toward consensus in the community. Instead of requiring participants to write a letter or attend a meeting at a set time, online participation tools provide flexibility to residents and enable them to participate at their own pace.
Academic research has shown that online participatory tools work best when they are part of a suite of participation options rather than a single substitute for traditional forms of participation. The idea is not to replace traditional public participation methods but rather to open up new venues and new formats for ways to engage. Examples of these types of technologies encompass a broad range of tools, including virtual public forums; online budgeting challenges; collecting feedback through SMS / text messaging; location-based apps to report problems; etc.
Online participatory tools have the potential to open participation to a much wider and diverse audience, improving participation opportunities for groups such as families with children, people who work multiple jobs with inconsistent schedules, homebound or disabled residents, and those who simply do not feel comfortable speaking in public. At the same time, relying on technology also has the potential of excluding.
To implement this initiative, the City will identify ways to provide alternative forms of participation in addition to traditional methods and use the insights from each experience in an iterative process to improve the inclusivity and reach of non-traditional participation methods.
Timing:
Dependencies:
Lead:
Focus Area: User-Friendly City
Objective 7: Broaden opportunities for digital civic participation
Initiative 7.2:
Promote public training and support opportunities
Background:
Providing a broad range of city services and information online can increase convenience for the public, reduce barriers to civic engagement, and reduce the need for staff to answer phones or sit at public-facing counters. However, many online services and systems are not self-explanatory and require some level of computer literacy or intuition to use. Even among those community members who have internet and computing devices, many are not familiar with or comfortable enough to navigate new systems and applications without some guidance. Therefore, the City must ensure that residents are aware of existing documentation and training opportunities.
To implement this initiative, City staff will review public-facing web applications and services to ensure that instructions and training materials are conspicuously displayed and easy to read and follow. Staff may also evaluate opportunities for promoting computer literacy and support offered by other local agencies, such as the Cordova Recreation & Park District and Sacramento Public Library.
Timing: Near-term, ongoing
Dependencies: None
Lead: Public Affairs and Communications
Focus Area: Equitable and Inclusive City
Objective 8: Use data to inform equitable neighborhood service delivery
Initiative 8.1:
Utilize GIS data to better inform decision-making
Background:
The City has been building its GIS capabilities since 2007 and now has a robust GIS program that provides city departments and members of the public with a range of internet-based apps that allow City data to be sorted, mapped, and more easily shared. The recent implementation of Energov has enabled new integrations between the City’s permit-tracking system and map-based data displays, enabling city staff and members of the public to more easily find valuable information about projects and developments in their neighborhood. The City’s GIS capabilities have also been an important component of the “Growing Strong Neighborhoods” initiative that identifies areas within the city that have the greatest concentration of quality-of-life issues — such as overgrown weeds, graffiti reports, and public safety calls for service — and helps city staff track trends on a neighborhood level.
GIS staff have been experimenting with a variety of tools to deliver new sets of information in new ways to respond to additional needs from different departments. Using Growing Strong Neighborhoods as a model, city staff will continue to explore new ways to draw additional data from different systems to assist in making informed decisions about the deployment of city resources in areas beyond. This could include traffic, stormwater, communications, economic development, and other city priorities. Such data can be presented using GIS tools to support internal analysis as well as to provide greater transparency and interactivity for the community.
As part of this initiative, City staff will also continue to refine the presentation and functionality of GIS tools to ensure that are easy for the public to use and responsive to the needs of the community. The frequent addition of new products and features in the GIS world means there is no one “right answer” but rather a need to continue iterating, measuring, and adjusting to ensure that city staff and community members are able to realize the full value of the data and tools available.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: GIS
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 9: Improve emergency response and support criminal investigations
Initiative 9.1:
Pilot and expand a drone response program
Background:
One of the most impactful advances in public safety technology in recent years has been the use of drones to respond to calls for service. Cities that have developed comprehensive drone-as-first-responder programs have found that this approach enables responding law enforcement personnel to get an accurate, real-time visual representation of what is happening at the scene of an incident within minutes. In many cases, a drone is able to arrive on scene minutes before a patrol vehicle, streaming live video back to incident commanders and documenting evidence that can later be used in investigations. This resource has helped de-escalate tense situations, prevent misunderstandings, and protect the safety of everyone involved, including suspects, bystanders, and responding officers.
The City of Rancho Cordova contracts with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services. While the Sheriff’s Office generally sets policy, staffing, and programs, the City can provide the Sheriff’s Office with technology and equipment to support law enforcement operations within the city limits. The Sheriff’s Office already has already incorporated drones into some of its operations and is continuing to evaluate and develop new policies. Significant opportunities exist to expand the use of drones as first responders within the City of Rancho Cordova to improve response times and protect the safety of all involved in calls for service. To advance this initiative, city staff will coordinate with Sheriff’s Office staff to identify the specific actions the City could take in support of expanding the use of drones within Rancho Cordova. Such supporting actions may include providing drone launch points from city facilities; procuring new drone devices and software; assisting in community outreach, education, and engagement; among others.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: Because this initiative is likely to raise privacy concerns, it is recommended that this initiative be closely aligned in timing with Initiative 5.1 (Adopt a privacy protection and technology transparency policy).
Lead: Public Safety
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 9: Improve emergency response and support criminal investigations
Initiative 9.2:
Broaden the distribution of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras
Background:
The City of Rancho Cordova began installing Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology nearly 10 years ago and now has cameras focused on four to five fixed locations, generally at major intersections leading into and out of the city. The ALPR system automatically photographs and reads license plates, recording the date, time, and location of each license plate in a database that can later be searched by Sheriff’s investigators as well as authorized personnel at partner law enforcement agencies. ALPR has proven to be a valuable tool that assists the Sheriff’s Office in tracking stolen vehicles, finding missing persons, and locating persons of interest in criminal investigations.
There are significant opportunities for the City and the Sheriff’s Office to expand the deployment of the ALPR system to further enhance public safety and support criminal investigations. First, the City can procure new ALPR cameras for deployment at additional key locations, such as major intersections within the core of the city. The Sheriff’s Office can provide a prioritized list of locations that would provide the greatest benefit. Second, the City can procure mobile ALPR systems that are built in to patrol vehicles. These mobile ALPR systems are capable of providing automated real-time alerts to patrol officers when a license plate on the system’s “hot list” is detected nearby. Mobile ALPR systems can also provide a more comprehensive set of readings at locations throughout the city, which can be particularly valuable when a vehicle of interest has not entered or left the city limits within the investigative timeframe.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: Because this initiative is likely to raise privacy concerns, it is recommended that this initiative be closely aligned in timing with Initiative 5.1 (Adopt a privacy protection and technology transparency policy).
Lead: Public Safety
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 9: Improve emergency response and support criminal investigations
Initiative 9.3:
Modernize and optimize security camera network
Background:
The City has installed a variety of security cameras in public places throughout the community, generally focused on major intersections and roadways. These cameras provide video evidence that has proven to be valuable in investigations of traffic accidents and violent crimes, but much of the camera technology is outdated and inconsistent. For example, some cameras record only to memory cards that must be physically accessed to create copies for investigations. Some cameras stream video wirelessly or via an existing broadband connection but are not integrated into a single network. Some cameras can be moved from location to location but require a bucket truck to do so. Some cameras are attached to mobile trailers that can be easily repositioned to a shopping center or other public place when police notice a crime series trend.
The growing availability of fiber-optic and 5G cellular infrastructure in Rancho Cordova provides many new opportunities to expand and modernize the network of security cameras, making it easier to retain video for longer periods and to access video recordings remotely. High-quality cameras have also grown significantly more affordable in recent years. To implement this initiative, City staff will closely coordinate with Sheriff’s Office staff to create a prioritized list of locations based on crime reports, calls for service, types of calls, traffic patterns, and other factors to maximize utility. Staff will also assess the cybersecurity to ensure video cannot be accessed by unauthorized parties. As part of this modernization and optimization project, City staff can also standardize and increase the period of time during which recorded video is retained; this period currently ranges from three days to three weeks depending on device and which system it is a part of.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: Because this initiative is likely to raise privacy concerns, it is recommended that this initiative be closely aligned in timing with Initiative 5.1 (Adopt a privacy protection and technology transparency policy).
Lead: Public Safety
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 9: Improve emergency response and support criminal investigations
Initiative 9.4:
Coordinate with Sheriff’s Office to update and align privacy and technology policies
Background:
While the City will work to develop its own (Initiative 5.1) privacy protection and technology transparency policy, the reach of this policy will be limited by the fact that many technologies used by government agencies in Rancho Cordova are not under the direct control of the City. Most of the technologies that have generated the greatest public concerns over privacy are used for law enforcement purposes, such as Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), drones, body-worn cameras, and similar camera-based or sensor-based systems. The Sheriff’s Office in 2022 began a comprehensive overhaul of its policies, also known as general orders. These orders set specific rules and standards on key topics, such as the period of time that ALPR data is retained. While the City does not have a direct role in the development or, City staff should coordinate closely with Sheriff’s Office liaisons to ensure that the priorities of the city in terms of privacy protection and transparency are consistent with the policies, especially as these policies are being updated.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: Because this initiative is likely to raise privacy concerns, it is recommended that this initiative be closely aligned in timing with Initiative 5.1 (Adopt a privacy protection and technology transparency policy).
Lead: Public Safety
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 9: Improve emergency response and support criminal investigations
Initiative 9.5:
Establish a real-time information center
Background:
It has grown increasingly challenging to manage the numerous streams of data and information available through new technology systems, especially in emergency situations when decisions must be made immediately. Public safety agencies are beginning to respond to this challenge by establishing real-time information centers, which provide a single location where incident commanders can simultaneously access multiple data feeds with the support of analysts to make quick, well-informed decisions with minimal distractions.
A real-time information center would allow emergency operations managers to integrate 9-1-1 dispatch calls, camera feeds from traffic signals, gunshot detection dashboards, drone video, automated license plate reader data, police radio communications, building records, news broadcasts, and any other data source that would be useful during an incident. The information center does not provide new sources of data but rather unites existing sources of data in a single location.
Locally, the City of Elk Grove has established a comprehensive real-time information center that might serve as an effective model for Rancho Cordova. Because of the contract relationship between the City of Rancho Cordova and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, a real-time information center for Rancho Cordova would need to be set up and operated in a somewhat different manner, since data sources would be pulled from multiple agencies. City staff will research vendor systems, gather requirements, and work with Sheriff’s Office staff to determine the best approach to implementing this initiative.
Timing: Long-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: Public Safety
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 9: Improve emergency response and support criminal investigations
Initiative 9.6:
Coordinate with regional partners to implement traffic signal pre-emption
Background:
Traffic signal pre-emption systems allow emergency vehicles to temporarily alter the timing of a traffic signal as they approach, changing the signals to green long enough for the emergency vehicles to make their way through. Typically traffic signal pre-emption is managed through a device attached to a signal arm and a remote control inside the emergency vehicle.
An emerging approach to traffic signal pre-emption uses cloud-based mapping. As long as traffic signals are connected to the internet, and the emergency vehicle is connected to the cloud, the system will anticipate the route of the emergency vehicle and adjust traffic signals as the vehicle approaches the intersection. This cloud-based method does not require additional equipment to be installed on traffic signal poles. An initial pilot of the technology in Rancho Cordova yielded promising results, with Metro Fire crews observing a noticeable difference in terms of efficiency and time reduction to a location.
Subsequent pilot projects have been conducted in the City of Folsom and with a transit-based version in the City of Sacramento.
Given the strong potential for improving emergency response times, City staff will continue to explore cloud-based traffic signal pre-emption. Implementing this technology on a citywide scale will require coordination with multiple regional partners, including Metro Fire, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, Sacramento Council of Governments (SACOG), and potentially neighboring municipalities. This coordination is necessary to ensure the region does not install a patchwork system with different vendors and technology.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: Public Works
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 10: Monitor effectiveness of public safety technologies to guide future decisions
Initiative 10.1:
Provide regular analysis and reports on effectiveness of public safety technology
Background:
The City has made considerable investments in emerging public safety technologies in recent years, including ShotSpotter, Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) systems, security camera networks, and other tools designed to improve public safety. As technology evolves and best practices change, it is important that the city monitor how these newer technologies are being used and how effective they are in achieving the outcomes discussed. At the same time, as a measure to build trust and support for further investments, it is valuable for the community to receive regular reports that detail how the technology is being used and what protections are in place for individual privacy.
To implement this initiative, City staff will coordinate with the Sheriff’s Office to determine an appropriate reporting schedule. Different technologies may merit different reporting schedules. Other California cities provide reports on a basis ranging from once every three months to once every two years.
Reports typically focus on technologies involving surveillance or the collection of personal data. These reports identify how frequently the technologies have been deployed, changes in usage patterns over time, an evaluation of whether the technology might be having a disproportionate adverse impact on certain groups or neighborhoods within the city, mitigation measures in place to protect privacy, data retention periods, number of investigations involving the technology, number of users authorized to access sensitive data, and other relevant metrics. City staff, with the direction of City Council, should work with the Sheriff’s Office to tailor the scope of these reports so that they provide the information most valuable to future decision-making on those technologies.
Timing: Near-term
Dependencies: None
Lead: Public Safety
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 11: Expand the City’s smart, multi-modal transportation network
Initiative 11.1:
Review and prioritize next steps to implement the Smart Region Master Plan
Background:
The city has laid some of its best smart city groundwork through its Public Works Department, which in 2017 completed a major project to connect most traffic signals with fiber optic communications. This fiber infrastructure enabled a gradual expansion of video detection systems at key intersections, replacing older and less dynamic loop detectors, which have traditionally served most intersections in town. The fiber infrastructure also enables interconnection with the larger regional traffic management network, which enables remote monitoring and optimization of traffic signal timing along major regional corridors (primarily Sunrise Boulevard and Folsom Boulevard).
In 2018, the City of Rancho Cordova was one of eight local agencies that participated in a regional Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) planning process called Smart Region Sacramento designed to establish a framework for the incorporation of connected, autonomous vehicles and advanced traffic management systems into the regional infrastructure. That process resulted in the 2019 Technology Implementation Plan for Rancho Cordova, which applied a detailed analysis to determine the cost and priority level of a broad range of potential future transportation technology projects within the city limits.
Now, nearly five years after the completion of the 2019 Technology Implementation Plan, it is time to review the City’s progress in implementing that plan, re-evaluate those priorities in light of evidence gathered over the past five years, and consider new projects and priorities. The outlook for autonomous vehicles, for example, has become much less optimistic since 2018, so investments focused on enabling autonomous vehicle technologies might be demoted in favor of technology that has more immediate impact. On the other hand, a successful pilot program recently demonstrated the effectiveness of cloud- based traffic signal pre-emption for emergency vehicles, so investments related to traffic signal pre- emption might be promoted in the priority list. In addition to project prioritization, a forward-looking revision of the 2019 plan might place a heavier focus on ways to maximize the utility of traffic data collected through ITS infrastructure.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: Public Works
Focus Area: Safe and Efficient City
Objective 12: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Initiative 12.1:
Explore technology solutions to support Climate Action Plan measures
Background:
The forthcoming Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) identifies a comprehensive set of strategies and measures to achieve significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and even greater reductions by 2045. In many areas, the CAAP aligns well with the Smart City Strategic Roadmap, with particularly synergistic opportunities in the area of transportation.
For example, the CAAP currently identifies transit signal priority systems as a high-priority measure to increase the availability of accessible, reliable, and convenient transit options. Transit signal priority systems respond dynamically to approaching buses, minimizing delays by slightly modifying signal phases to lengthen or shorten the duration of a green light. Such systems rely on robust intelligent transportation systems (ITS) infrastructure that enables installation and seamless integration.
As another example, the CAAP recommends implementing a bike-sharing or scooter-sharing program for on-demand rentals. Bike/scooter sharing platforms rely on ubiquitous access to high-speed cellular data to enable users to find and operate shared mobility devices. Moreover, data generated by these shared mobility devices can provide valuable insights to city staff. Several cities have required bike-sharing and scooter-sharing companies to provide anonymized trip data.
These are just two of several CAAP measures that are complementary to the smart city innovation concepts outlined in this roadmap. Continued innovation in the private and public sectors will likely reveal even more opportunities for technology to support sustainability measures as well as for the data collection and data analysis to support related smart city goals. As the city works to implement the CAAP over the next several years, identifying these opportunities and pursuing them should be a high priority.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: Housing / Public Works
Focus Area: City of Opportunity
Objective 13: Create economic development opportunities focused on civic technology innovation
Initiative 13.1:
Establish a smart city innovation fund and challenge program
Background:
Economic development is a top priority for the City of Rancho Cordova. The City’s economic development strategy includes not only attracting existing businesses to relocate or expand their operations to Rancho Cordova, but also assisting small and medium-sized businesses grow into larger, even more successful enterprises. One component of that strategy is to identify the innovative individuals and small startup businesses who have a clear vision for advancing the field of technology and would benefit from coaching, financial support, and connection to other resources. An innovation fund or challenge program would create a spirit of collaboration and competition, drawing attention to the strengths of the Rancho Cordova community in incubating and supporting the growth of innovative businesses.
The City has a number of local examples from which to take inspiration. The Sacramento Kings have an annual “Capitalize” startup competition that provides participants with support in the form of workshops, pitch coaching, opportunities to present to investors, and network with other innovators. The competition has numerous local partners from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Another example is the MAKEHERS program offered through the HackerLab in Sacramento. MAKEHERS offers an 8-week small business accelerator and bootcamps focused on helping women become successful entrepreneurs in the manufacturing and technology space. Elsewhere in the region, the Roseville Rising program is a partnership between the City of Roseville and the Growth Factory business accelerator; it focuses on educating and inspiring high school students to explore entrepreneurship and innovation. Roseville Rising offers a 12-week program that gives students the opportunity to gain practical experience designing products or business solutions, learn business tools, and network with the entrepreneurs behind innovative local companies.
An important component of any City-sponsored grant program or challenge fund is to welcome and encourage ideas and participation from underserved communities and populations that are generally underrepresented in the technology world.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: Economic Development
Focus Area: City of Opportunity
Objective 14: Enable seamless, up-to-date support for new and existing businesses
Initiative 14.1:
Partner with stakeholders to improve economic data dashboards
Background:
One of the most valuable offerings of the Rancho Cordova Economic Development Department is its ability to provide current data and information about demographics and other economic indicators. Many in the business community contact City staff for information about employment rates, education levels, average age of residents, workforce statistics, job openings, income levels, vacancies, planned developments, etc. Property owners and business managers also reach out to City staff to learn more about developments they are seeing in their neighborhood, with questions about what is being built, who is moving in, and what permits are under review. Department staff spend significant time responding to these inquiries, cross-referencing multiple data sources, updating information, following up with leads, making referrals, and more. The more these tasks can be automated, the greater impact staff can have on recruiting new businesses and retaining existing businesses.
The City of Rancho Cordova is part of The 50 Economic Alliance, a group of local governments and business organizations pursuing similar economic development goals for the eastern Highway 50 corridor between Rancho Cordova and Placerville. The 50 Economic Alliance provides a regional overview dashboard with current demographic data and statistical information of interest to businesses. City staff will continue to work with the 50 Economic Alliance to improve and expand this dashboard in ways that allow users to drill down into more specific indicators. For example, the dashboard currently shows the number of people employed in various economic sectors in the region, but does not yet allow the user to display the same data on a city-by-city basis. The dashboard shows the median home value for the region but not on a city-by-city basis. By making the dashboard more robust, the City and its partners can provide even more useful information to its target audience.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies: None
Lead: Economic Development
Focus Area: City of Opportunity
Objective 15: Establish a national reputation as a hub for business innovation
Initiative 15.1:
Launch a solicitation for partnerships to pilot innovative new technologies locally
Background:
In addition to directly supporting startups with funding and services (as described in Initiative 13.1), the city can also attract innovative startups and small businesses by launching a solicitation for opportunities to directly partner with the City to pilot and validate innovative technologies in a real-world civic environment. The solicitation could be structured as a competitive bidding process or as a more open- ended request for expressions of interest. Depending on the exact focus and priorities of the City at the time the solicitation is launched, such a solicitation could provide access to City-owned buildings, traffic signal networks, streets, or other assets to test or deploy emerging technologies in a real-world environment. The solicitation could be widely construed or narrowly tailored, focusing on everything from community-based mesh Wi-Fi networks, 5G cellular applications, traffic signal prioritization systems, autonomous vehicle technology, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), and more.
In addition to establishing new partnerships with innovators who might choose to continue doing business in Rancho Cordova, a secondary benefit of this initiative is to raise the City’s national profile as a place that values growth and innovation.
Timing: Intermediate
Dependencies:
Lead: Economic Development
City of Rancho Cordova
Smart City Strategic Roadmap
June 19, 2023
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Smart and getting smarter
• Law enforcement investigative
technologies
• ShotSpotter
• Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR)
• SiFi Networks agreement
• Transition to Energov
• GIS support for Building Strong
Neighborhoods
• Budgeting for a Chief Innovation Officer
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Defining the roadmap
• Extensive review of existing plans, programs and policies • Research on recent developments in other cities
• More than 20 interviews with key City staff members
• Feedback from City Council meeting
• Multiple roundtable meetings with Rancho Cordova Area Chamber of Commerce ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Structure of the roadmap
4 Focus Areas
15 Objectives
30 Initiatives
The Four Focus Areas
1. User-Friendly City
2. Equitable and Inclusive City
3. Safe and Efficient City
4. City of Opportunity
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
User-Friendly City
• Objective 1: Simplify digital
interactions with the City
• Digital public records request system
• Online access to city files
• Streamlining facility rentals
• Hybrid drop-in meetings with staff
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
User-Friendly City
• Objective 2: Build staff capacity for
innovation
• Boost training and support
opportunities for staff
• Provide strategic leadership support for
innovation
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Equitable and Inclusive City
• Objective 6: Expand internet and
technology access
• Evaluate the potential for a City ISP
• Partner with private sector to improve
service levels
• Needs assessment and guidelines for
fiber installations
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Equitable and Inclusive City
• Objective 8: Use data to inform
equitable neighborhood service
delivery
• Refine GIS mapping tools
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Safe and Efficient City
• Objective 9: Improve emergency
response and support criminal
investigations
• Drone response to calls for service
• Optimize ALPR camera distribution
• Modernize security camera network
• Real-time information center
• Traffic signal pre-emption
• Privacy and transparency policies
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Chula Vista Police
Department Video Link
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
City of Opportunity
• Objective 13: Create economic
development opportunities focused on
civic technology innovation
• Establish a smart city innovation fund and
challenge program
• Solicitation for partnerships to pilot
innovative new technologies locally
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
Next Steps
Questions and Discussion
ITEM 12.2.
ATTACHMENT 2
MEMORANDUM
City Council Staff Report - Page 1 of 3
ITEM 12.3.
DATE: June 19, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council Members
FROM: Darcy Goulart, Planning Manager
SUBJECT: AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF RANCHO CORDOVA ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY
MORATORIUM ON THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, OR
MODIFICATION OF USES IN THE VILLAGES OF ZINFANDEL
SPECIAL PLANNING AREA DESIGNATED THEREIN AS M-1 (LIGHT
INDUSTRIAL) AND MP (OFFICE INDUSTRIAL PARK) ZONES
RECOMMENDATION
Introduce and adopt the Urgency Ordinance.
RESULT OF RECOMMENDED ACTION
The Urgency Ordinance, if adopted, would immediately go into effect, which would be a temporary moratorium on the establishment, expansion, or modification of uses in the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area (VOZSPA) designated therein as M-1 and MP (Office Industrial Park) zones. An Ordinance amending the VOZSPA and/or 2003 Sacramento County Zoning Code will be brought to the City Council at a future regular meeting for consideration and adoption.
BACKGROUND
Government Code Section 65858(a) expressly authorizes the City Council, in order to protect public safety, health and welfare, to adopt as an urgency measure, an interim ordinance prohibiting any uses that may conflict with a contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal that the City Council is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time; that adoption of such urgency measure requires a four-fifths vote of the legislative body; that such measures shall be of no effect 45 days from adoption, and may be extended a maximum of two times and have a maximum total duration of two years. The City desires to establish, on an urgency basis, a temporary moratorium on the establishment, expansion, or modification of uses on the M-1 and MP zoned properties, including Warehouses, within the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area through the adoption of the attached Urgency Ordinance. This Urgency Ordinance would not apply to properties with a M-1 and MP zoning designation that have received entitlement approvals, including a Major Design Review permit, from the City Council prior to June 22, 2023.
ANALYSIS
The Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area (VOZSPA) was adopted by the County of Sacramento in 2002, and has been subject to a Development Agreement for the last twenty
City Council Staff Report - Page 2 of 3
years that has constrained the City’s ability to adapt and modify the allowed uses based upon City Council input and community insights related to the build out of the VOZSPA. The Development Agreement expires on June 22, 2023, and thereafter the City will be unencumbered by it and will be authorized to update the General Plan, Special Planning Area, and zoning applicable to the VOZSPA.
Due to the recent and rapid expansion of e-commerce in recent years, the VOZSPA has seen an increase in industrial developments within the City, particularly warehouses, distribution centers, and logistics facilities, which include any use for the conduct, business, or management of warehousing, storing, safekeeping, freight forwarding, handling, keeping inventory, and/or distribution activities for any product or component, including but not limited to goods, wares, consumer products, materials, or merchandise, partially or wholly within an enclosed space, building, or other structure. During hearings that occurred in 2022 and 2023, the City received voluminous public feedback regarding the perceived negative impacts of warehouse development in the community. Additionally, in the course of working on these projects and other non-industrial projects within the VOZSPA, numerous permitted and conditionally permitted uses in the M-1 and MP zoning classifications have been identified as having significant potential conflicts with existing developments within the VOZSPA and may potentially degrade the quality and character of existing residential neighborhoods. Some of these uses include, but are not limited to:
• Animal slaughter
• Sawmill
• Milk Products, Dairy
• Egg processing facilities
• Towing services
• Agricultural uses
• Contractor storage yard
• Parking yard for damaged vehicles
• Recycling Center
A temporary moratorium on the establishment, expansion, or modification of the development of uses on M-1 and MP zoned properties within the VOZSPA, including warehouses, would allow the City to:
1. Study and develop policy guidance to ensure there is a logical relationship between the placement of uses to avoid the deleterious effects of routing trucks past sensitive uses.
2. Study and develop policy guidance regarding the health and environmental impacts related to uses in order to create standards related to these uses that adequately address negative environmental health, safety, and environmental impacts to protect the community in accordance with current recognized environmental regulatory standards and accepted industry and state recommended best practices.
The City intends to update the Rancho Cordova Municipal Code and Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area to further address the impacts of specific uses to ensure there are proper regulations to immediately address the potential for degradation of the quality and character of the existing residential neighborhoods in the Villages of Zinfandel. City Staff, the City Planning Commission, City Attorney, and the City Council, in consultation with the residents and businesses in the Villages of Zinfandel, require a reasonable period of time to study and recommend potential modifications to the regulations applicable to various uses, and in
City Council Staff Report - Page 3 of 3
particular Warehouses to determine, document and attempt to prevent the potential adverse impacts on the character and quality of properties within the VOZSPA.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Pursuant to Section 15378(b)(5) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), this Ordinance is an organizational or administrative activity of the City that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment, and therefore not a project. Additionally, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), this Ordinance is exempt from CEQA review because there is no possibility that the Moratorium may have a significant effect on the environment, insofar as it prohibits the construction of or alterations to, Prohibited Uses within the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area. Furthermore, even if the Ordinance is considered a project, the proposed moratorium is categorically exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15308, because it is clear that the Moratorium will not create an environmental impact and the action will assure the maintenance, enhancement, or protection of the environment through the eventual adoption of regulations and development standards on Prohibited Uses. Accordingly, no further environmental review is necessary. Furthermore, as the Ordinance is an administrative procedure related to uses, facilities, and regulations identified in the Rancho Cordova Municipal Code and General Plan, and given that the proposed Ordinance is not related to a specific project, the Ordinance (i) by virtue of the location of affected improvements, will not impact a sensitive environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern; (ii) will not have a cumulative impact on the environment through successive projects of the same type, in the same place, over time; (iii) does not have any unusual circumstances that will have a significant effect on the environment; (iv) does not impact a scenic highway; (v) is not located on a hazardous waste site; and (vi) will not adversely impact a historical resource. Accordingly, none of the exceptions to categorical exemptions set forth in the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15300.2, apply to this Ordinance.
FISCAL IMPACT AND FUNDING SOURCE
There is no Fiscal Impact.
ATTACHMENT(S)
1. Urgency Ordinance
ITEM 12.3. ATTACHMENT 1
Ordinance No. XX-2023 Page 1 of 5
CITY OF RANCHO CORDOVA
ORDINANCE NO. XX-2023
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
RANCHO CORDOVA ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON
THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, OR MODIFICATION OF USES IN THE
VILLAGES OF ZINFANDEL SPECIAL PLANNING AREA DESIGNATED
THEREIN AS M-1 and MP (OFFICE INDUSTRIAL PARK) ZONES
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RANCHO CORDOVA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1.This interim ordinance is adopted under the provisions set forth in Government Code Section 65858 and imposes a 45 day moratorium on issuing any and all City approvals, including, but not limited to, variances, conditional use permits, design review permits, grading permits, and building permits for the establishment, expansion, or modification of uses in the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area designated therein as M-1 and MP (Office Industrial Park) zones (the “Prohibited Uses”).
Section 2. Findings.
The City Council hereby finds as follows:
A. The City of Rancho Cordova has the police power, pursuant to Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution, to make and enforce within its limits all local police, sanitary and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws; and B. Government Code Section 65858(a) expressly authorizes the City Council, in order to protect public safety, health and welfare, to adopt as an urgency measure, an interim ordinance prohibiting any uses that may conflict with a contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal that the City Council is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time; that adoption of such urgency measure requires a four-fifths vote of the legislative body; that such measures shall be of no effect 45 days from adoption, and may be extended a maximum of two times and have a maximum total duration of two years; and C. The purpose of this ordinance is to protect the public safety, health and welfare by adopting, as an urgency measure, an interim prohibition/moratorium on variance, conditional use permit, design review permit, grading permit, and building permit issuance for the establishment, expansion, or modification of the Prohibited Uses, except as provided herein; and D. The Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area was adopted by the County of Sacramento in 2002, and has been subject to a Development Agreement for the last twenty years that has constrained the City’s ability to adapt and modify the allowed uses based upon City Council input and community insights related to the build out of the Special Planning Area; and E. The Development Agreement expires on June 22, 2023, and thereafter the City will be unencumbered by it and will be authorized to update the General Plan, Special Planning Area, and zoning applicable to the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area; and
ITEM 12.3. ATTACHMENT 1
Ordinance No. XX-2023 Page 2 of 5
F. The City of Rancho Cordova has determined that, due to the recent and rapid expansion of e-commerce in recent years, the Villages of Zinfandel has seen an increase in industrial developments within the City, particularly warehouses, distribution centers, and logistics facilities (collectively, “Warehouses”), which include any use for the conduct, business, or management of warehousing, storing, safekeeping, freight forwarding, handling, keeping inventory, and/or distribution activities for any product or component, including but not limited to goods, wares, consumer products, materials, or merchandise, partially or wholly within an enclosed space, building, or other structure; and
G. In hearings in 2022 and 2023 on the LogistiCenter and Stonecreek Industrial Center, the City received voluminous public feedback regarding the perceived negative impacts of warehouse development in the community, which are incorporated herein by this reference; and
H. A further proliferation of Prohibited Uses in the Villages of Zinfandel beyond those Warehouses subject to a Major Design Review permit approved by the City Council prior to June 22, 2023, may potentially degrade the quality and character of the existing residential neighborhoods in the Villages of Zinfandel and some may be in conflict with the existing or approved non-residential uses in the Villages of Zinfandel.
I. In the course of working on the LogistiCenter and Stonecreek Industrial Center projects, and other recent non-industrial projects within the Villages of Zinfandel, the City identified numerous permitted and conditionally permitted uses in the BP and LI zones in addition to Warehouses that also have significant potential conflicts with existing development in the Special Planning Area. The BP and LI zones currently permit or conditionally permit uses including:
•Animal slaughter
•Sawmill
•Milk products Plant, Dairy
•Egg processing facilities
•Towing services,
•Agricultural uses
•Contractor storage yard
•Parking yard for damaged vehicles
•Recycling center
J. The expiration of the Villages of Zinfandel Development Agreement on June 22, 2023, creates an immediate opportunity and need for the City to protect the existing residents and businesses within the Villages of Zinfandel from the detrimental impacts of additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, building permits, design review permits, or other applicable entitlements for use, expansion, or modification of the Prohibited Uses.
K. The City of Rancho Cordova has determined that the Prohibited Uses may have a detrimental impact upon the character of the existing residential development within Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area, which is not being addressed by the City’s current ordinances and zoning regulations as well as the reliance on an antiquated Sacramento Zoning Code, currently applicable in the Villages of Zinfandel; and
ITEM 12.3. ATTACHMENT 1
Ordinance No. XX-2023 Page 3 of 5
L. There is a need to study and develop policy guidance to ensure there is a logical relationship between the placement of Prohibited Uses to avoid the deleterious effects of routing trucks past sensitive uses; and
M. There is a need to study and develop policy guidance regarding the health and environmental impacts related to the Prohibited Uses in order to create standards related to these uses that adequately address negative environmental health, safety, and environmental impacts to protect the community in accordance with current recognized environmental regulatory standards and accepted industry and state recommended best practices; and N. The City intends to update the Rancho Cordova Municipal Code and Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area to further address the impacts of Prohibited Uses to ensure that they are properly regulated to immediately address the potential for degradation of the quality and character of the existing residential neighborhoods in the Villages of Zinfandel; and O. The City also intends to study and address secondary impacts of Prohibited Uses; and
P. City Staff, the City Planning Commission, City Attorney, and the City Council, in consultation with the residents and businesses in the Villages of Zinfandel, require a reasonable period of time to study and recommend potential modifications to the regulations applicable to the Prohibited Uses, and in particular Warehouses to determine, document and attempt to prevent the potential adverse impacts on the character and quality of properties within the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area; and
Q. The City desires to establish, on an urgency basis, a temporary moratorium on the establishment, expansion, or modification of the Prohibited Uses, including Warehouses, within the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area through the adoption of this Ordinance to further the purposes stated herein; and
R. For the reasons set forth above, this Ordinance is necessary to preserve the public welfare and to avoid a current and immediate threat to the welfare of the community.
Section 3. Moratorium.
Under the authority granted the City of Rancho Cordova under Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution and California Government Code Section 65858, after June 22, 2023 at 5:00 P.M., the City shall not approve additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, design review permits or other applicable entitlements for use, expansion, or modification of the Prohibited Uses; provided however, the City may approve grading permits and building permits and any other applicable entitlements necessary to allow construction of a project for the Prohibited Uses pursuant to a Major Design Review permit approved by the City Council prior June 22, 2023.
Section 4. Duration of Ordinance.
This Moratorium is enacted pursuant to the authority conferred upon the City Council of the City of Rancho Cordova by Government Code Section 65858, and therefore shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its adoption by a four-fifths (4/5) vote of the City Council. This Moratorium shall continue in effect for forty-five (45) days from the date of its adoption and shall thereafter be of no further force and effect, unless, after notice pursuant to Government Code Section 65090
ITEM 12.3. ATTACHMENT 1
Ordinance No. XX-2023 Page 4 of 5
and a public hearing, the City Council extends the Moratorium for an additional period of time pursuant to Government Code Section 65858.
Section 5. Enforcement.
The City of Rancho Cordova may enforce any provision of this Ordinance by mandamus, injunction, or any other appropriate civil remedy in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Section 6. City Review.
The City Manager, or his or her designee, is hereby authorized to administer and interpret the provisions of this Urgency Ordinance, including but not limited to, review of specific use permits applications, variance requests, building permit applications, and other land use approvals, to determine whether the requested use permit, variance, building permit or other land use approval is subject to this Ordinance. During the period of this Moratorium, and any extension thereof, the City Manager or his designees shall: (1) review and consider options for the regulation of Prohibited Uses; (2) issue a written report describing the measures which the City has taken to address the conditions which led to the adoption of this ordinance with the City Council ten (10) days prior to the expiration of this Moratorium, or any extension thereof; and (3) make the report available to the public.
Section 7. Severability.
If any provision of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance, including the application of such part or provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby and shall continue in full force and effect.
To this end, provisions of this Ordinance are severable. The City Council of the City of Rancho Cordova hereby declares that it would have passed each section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause, or phrase hereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, or phrases be held unconstitutional, invalid, or unenforceable.
Section 8. Effective Date and Duration.
This Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon passage and adoption if passed and adopted by at least four-fifths vote of the City Council and shall be in effect for 45 days there from unless extended by the City Council under California Government Code Section 65858.
Section 9. CEQA.
The City Council finds, pursuant to Section 15378(b)(5) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), this Ordinance is an organizational or administrative activity of the City that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment, and therefore not a project.
Additionally, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), this Ordinance is exempt from CEQA review because there is no possibility that the Moratorium may have a significant effect on the environment, insofar as it prohibits the construction of or alterations to, Prohibited Uses within the Villages of Zinfandel Special Planning Area. Furthermore, even if the Ordinance is considered a project, the proposed moratorium is categorically exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15308, because it is clear that the Moratorium will not create an environmental impact and the action will assure the maintenance, enhancement, or protection of the environment through the eventual adoption of regulations and development standards on Prohibited Uses. Accordingly, no
ITEM 12.3. ATTACHMENT 1
Ordinance No. XX-2023 Page 5 of 5
further environmental review is necessary. Furthermore, as the Ordinance is an administrative procedure related to uses, facilities, and regulations identified in the Rancho Cordova Municipal Code and General Plan, and given that the proposed Ordinance is not related to a specific project, the Ordinance (i) by virtue of the location of affected improvements, will not impact a sensitive environmental resource of hazardous or critical concern; (ii) will not have a cumulative impact on the environment through successive projects of the same type, in the same place, over time; (iii) does not have any unusual circumstances that will have a significant effect on the environment; (iv) does not impact a scenic highway; (v) is not located on a hazardous waste site; and (vi) will not adversely impact a historical resource. Accordingly, none of the exceptions to categorical exemptions set forth in the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15300.2, apply to this Ordinance.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Rancho Cordova on the 19th day of June , 2023, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
________________________
Linda Budge, Mayor
ATTEST:
________________________
Stacy Leitner, CMC
City Clerk