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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021_08_03 - RegularMINUTES Regular meetings of the City Council and the Board of Directors of the Successor Agency of the former Redevelopment Agency of the City of Redlands held in the Council Chambers, Civic Center, 35 Cajon Street, on August 3, 2021 at 5 00 P M Present Staff Paul Banch, Mayor Eddie Tejeda, Mayor Pro Tempore Paul Foster, Council Member Denise Davis, Council Member Jenna Guzman -Lowery, Council Member Charles M Duggan, Jr , City Manager, Dan McHugh, City Attorney, Robert Dawes, City Treasurer, Jeanne Donaldson, City Clerk, Carl Baker, Public Information Officer, Chris Catren, Police Chief, Danielle Garcia, Management Services/Finance Director, Chris Boatman, Facilities and Community Services Director, Brian Foote, Development Services Assistant Director, Jim Topoleski, Fire Chief, John Harris, Municipal Utilities and Engineering Director, Janice McConnell, Assistant City Manager Mayor Banch called the meeting to order at 5 00 P M CLOSED SESSION LATE BREAKING ITEM City Attorney McHugh reviewed the need to take immediate action on anticipated litigation Mayor Pro Tem Tejeda moved to add to the City Council's closed session agenda as a "late breaking item", the consideration of a conference with legal counsel for possible initiation of litigation by the City The motion was seconded by Council Member Foster and carried unanimously The item was added to the Closed Session Agenda RECONVENE CITY COUNCIL MEETING The meeting reconvened at 6 00 P M with an invocation by Council Member Foster followed by the pledge of allegiance to the American flag CLOSED SESSION REPORT City Attorney McHugh announced that no reportable action was taken during the closed session PUBLIC COMMENT Advisory Commission on Water Policy - Richard Corneille, Chairperson of the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District, fisted several benefits of the Advisory Commission, including education of elected officials, increased transparency and an opportunity to receive input from agencies He urged the Council to support the Commission's continued presence and send a letter to the Valley Board stating they opposed abohshmg it Online Platform - John Roach described his ongoing efforts to create an online platform that bridges the communication and collaboration gap between the pubic and public office holders, and CC_SA_August 3, 2021 Page 1 he saw this as a great opportunity for the City Website www votelaser com Licensing Fees for Therapy Dogs - Mary Jean Stevenson asked the Council to consider excluding the annual dog license fee for her therapy dog, Ginger, since she provides comfort to students at the University of Redlands and the residents of Brookside Nursing facility CONSENT CALENDAR Minutes On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously approved the minutes of the special meeting of June 29, 2021, and regular meeting of July 20, 2021 Vote 5 - 0 Passed Aerial -imagery Services Agreement On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously approved the agreement with Nearmap US, Inc to provide aerial -imagery services for an annual amount not -to -exceed $19,250, with two optional one-year renewal terms for a total amount not -to -exceed $57,750 for three years Vote• 5 - 0 Passed Ca1-ID / Identix Maintenance Payment On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously authonzed the annual payment to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department (Cal -ID / Identix) in the amount of $83,723 for providing Fingerprint Identification Services for the Redlands Police Department Vote: 5 - 0 Passed Automated License Plate Recognition Cameras On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously approved the purchase of Automated License Plate Recognition cameras to supplement the City's existing program utilizing the preapproved funding of FY 2018 and FY 2019 State Homeland Security Grant Program and the FY 2019 Riverside Urban Areas Security Initiative for the amount of $85,387 51 Vote: 5 - 0 Passed Vehicle Donation Acceptance On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously agreed to accept the donation of a 2021 Toyota RAV 4 for the Redlands Police Department's Citizen Volunteers, valued in the amount of $32,297 14 from the Redlands Police Community Foundation, and authorized an additional appropriation of the same CC_SA_August 3, 2021 Page 2 Vote 5 - 0 Passed Resolution No 8237 Sports Organization Agreements On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously determined that approval of the agreements and amendments is exempt from environmental review pursuant to Section 15301 (b)(3) of the State's guidelines implementing the California Environmental Quality Act, and approved Resolution No 8237, approving agreements and amendments with various sports organizations including, Pateadores Soccer Club and Redlands Baseball for Youth, and the amendments to the agreements with Chris Gaspar, Major League Softball, Quick Strike Sports, and Redlands Crush Baseball Vote: 5 - 0 Passed Limited -Term Position On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously approved a limited -term position of an Administrative Assistant II within the Facilities and Community Services Department effective September 13, 2021, for a term not -to -exceed two years Vote. 5 - 0 Passed Proclamation Community's Collaborative Efforts for Public Health Mayor Banch presented proclamations honoring the collaborative efforts of the University of Redlands, Redlands Community Hospital, Esn, Redlands Unified School Distnct (RUSD) and the City's Fire and Police Departments for their contribution to the public health and welfare of the community in reaching the milestone of administering 32,000 vaccinations Representatives accepting the proclamations, included, University of Redlands President Knsta Newkirk, Redlands Community Hospital President of Business Development Karen V Zirkle, Esn Chief Human Resources Officer Chris Nowlin, RUSD Director of Secondary Education Julie Swan, Police Chief Chris Catren and Fire Chief Jim Topoleski On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously authonzed issuance of a proclamation honoring the Redlands Fire Depaitinent, Redlands Police Depai anent, the University of Redlands, Redlands Community Hospital, Esn and the Redlands Unified School District for their contribution to the public health and welfare of our community in reaching the milestone of 32,000 vaccinations Vote. 5 - 0 Passed COMMUNICATIONS Citrus Preservation Commission Annual Report CC_SA_August 3, 2021 Page 3 Citrus Preservation Commission Chairman Michael Day provided the annual report of accomplishments and activities for 2020 Preserving the City's citrus is vital and essential, and every Commissioner was honored to serve He was pleased to report the good news that all the groves were picked this year, although the Citrus Industry in the valley did face enormous challenges such as issues with ACP and HLB In response, the Commission continued their public outreach efforts to educate the public The farming and labor shortage was still evident, and the age of the trees with their dechmng productivity remained a challenge Review of the revenue and expense figures was ongoing With the partial retirement of Larry Jacinto, he explained the City hired two full time employees dedicated to the groves The Commission expected the work to require at least three employees and possibly four to maintain properly Special thanks was offered to Larry Jacinto for his help to onboard the new employees and for his years of service to the City University Village Presentation Mayor Pro Tem Tejeda introduced University of Redlands President Knsta Newkirk, who provided an overview of the University Village, a project that has been in the planning stages for almost a decade The vision is to develop a transit -integrated neighborhood surrounding the new rail station, as a new town -gown village center that will include diverse housing types, retail and restaurant destinations, a boutique hotel, an entrepreneurial office, and work -live spaces, that would benefit all Redlands residents The plan will grow the financial health and stability of the University, and they are currently in the final stages of selecting a developer She added that if the Initiative Petition submitted by Redlanders for Responsible Growth Management (Petition) was approved and adopted, it was highly unlikely the project would move forward, as the density and parking restrictions would significantly impact the Village Their attorneys have questioned whether the Petition would be in compliance with State laws Vice President of Finance Kevin Dyerly focused on the numbers and explained that in order for the project to be financially feasible, the Village would include higher density housing than what would be allowed in the Petition Chief Executive Officer of Inland Action and former Mayor Carole Beswick highlighted the unique nature of the University and reminded everyone this project will be built over time and not happen overnight She expanded on the sense of urgency and reiterated that adoption of the Petition would negatively impact the University and limit the viability of the Village plans The University requested the Council push the election to November 2022 and in the meantime seek the court's opinion to determine its legality As public comment, University of Redlands Life Trustee Pat Morns described the heavy investment of time, talent and money that has already been made He and Jacob Madden, 2019 U of R graduate, supported the Village plan and also requested the Council send this matter for judicial review Andy Hoder stated the University has had time to prepare their plans, and he was concerned with the congestion and traffic a project like this would bnng to the area Council Member Davis thanked President Newkirk and her team for the informative presentation Voter Initiative Ordinance City Clerk Donaldson explained that on July 6, 2021, the initiative petition entitled "An Initiative Ordinance of the People of Redlands Amending the Principles of Managed Development of the Redlands General Plan" w as certified and deemed sufficient Pursuant to Elections Code Section 9212, the City Council ordered two reports to determine fiscal impacts and legal analysis of the proposed initiative ordinance and contracted with Keyser Marston Associates, Inc and Devaney, Pate and Cameron to perform the work Barry Schultz, Esq of Devaney Pate Morns & Cameron LLP, provided analysis of the proposed initiative for general compliance with the state law governing procedural and substantive CC_SA_August 3, 2021 Page 4 requirements for citizen -sponsored initiative measures, and specifically, the initiative's compliance with the "Housing Crisis Act of 2019" (SB 330) In summary, the legal report concluded that the following provisions of the proposed initiative measure may be prohibited by the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 the proposed amendments to Sections lA 30(c), lA 30(d), 1A 30(e), lA 30(f) and Section 4 40s of the Redlands General Plan The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 provides that any development policy, standard, or condition that does not comply with the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 is deemed void Therefore, should the initiative pass, these provisions of the proposed initiative measure would likely be deemed void, if challenged in a court of law Kathleen Head, of Keyser Marston Associates, Inc (KMA) presented the analysis of financial impacts of the ballot initiative and explained that KMA focused on analyzing the impact of the ballot measure on the following three proposed development projects in downtown Redlands 1) State Street Village redevelopment of the Redlands Mall site, 2) City Center development of the old safety hall site at the corner of Eureka and Brookside, and 3) The Grand redevelopment of the site located at the northeast corner of Eureka and Redlands Boulevard The report looked at the impact of the three-story building height limit and minimum parking standards that are part of the ballot initiative on the feasibility of the three proposed project The KMA report concluded that the ballot initiative requirements, which further constrain development opportunities, are likely to render new development on these sites financially infeasible throughout the foreseeable future As public comment, Tom Atchley, Joshua Hall, Mike Schneblin, Michelle Hayden-Pister, Jennifer Forsythe, representing William Cunningham, Chris Sedmack, Kathy Sadanala and Dale Broom voiced their support of the Petition which they stated would preserve the town's history, small town atmosphere and quality of life They urged the Council to adopt the ordinance tonight, without alteration, or call a special election to allow the voters to make a decision in a timely manner They agreed that waiting for the next regular municipal election in 2022 was not fair and just to the voters and would allow developers the opportunity to push their projects through before the election was held Edward Tessier, of Arteco Partners, Dan and Amanda Otter, Greg Bedell, Jonathan Shidler, Erin Hagstrom, Collor O'Connor, Michelle Rogers, Jamison Stevens, Elizabeth Meade, Carey Tilden fisted several reasons why they saw the Petition as restrictive They supported the mixed use, higher density model represented in transit villages and pointed out 4 stones was not a high rise They opposed a costly special election that would likely produce a low voter turn -out and agreed that voters needed additional time to review the ordinance language Each Council Member provided their own perspective of this challenging decision in front of them Discussion centered on topics that included the legal definition of a high rise (75 feet or 7 stones), what would be considered fair and just to all voters, fiscal responsibility, the historically low voter turn -out with special elections, negative impacts the University could expenence if the Petition were adopted, the message sent from voters that they oppose taller buildings as was evidenced with the defeat of Measure G and the almost 8,000 Petition signers, the Measure U exemption granted to the Mall project earlier this year and State housing laws On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, the City Council unanimously agreed to receive and file the Fiscal Impact Analysis and the Legal Analysis reports for the proposed initiative ordinance submitted by Redlanders for Responsible Growth Management, and unanimously adopted Resolution No 8241, to submit the initiative ordinance titled, " An Initiative Ordinance of the People of Redlands Amending the Principles of Managed Development of the Redlands General Plan for consideration by the voters at the regular municipal election of November 8, 2022 Vote 5 - 0 Passed CC_SA_August 3, 2021 Page 5 PUBLIC HEARINGS Redlands Palm Investments, LLC Mayor Banch declared the public hearing open to consider the Mitigated Negative Declaration prepared for the project in accordance with Section 15074 of the California Environmental Quality Act and to consider Resolution No 8242 for the development applications related to Redlands Palm Investments, LLC He added staff had recommended continuance of the matter to the September 7, 2021, meeting to allow additional time to prepare for City Council's review No decision was made however, public comment was taken As public comment, Richard O'Donnell raised several questions related to zoning of the parcel, General Plan Amendments and Resolution No 5459 adopting provisions pertaining to the implementation of Measure 'U', approved in 1998 LuAnn Benton was called on but agreed to provide her comments on September 7, 2021 On motion of Council Member Paul Foster, seconded by Council Member Denise Davis, the City Council unanimously approved to continue the public hearing for the Redlands Palm Investments LLC, applications for a socio-economic cost/benefit study, tentative Parcel Map No 20185, Conditional Use Permit No 1143, and tentative Tract Map No 20304 to September 7, 2021, at 6 00 p m , or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard that evening Vote 5 - 0 Passed NEW BUSINESS In -Kind Support The Soul Cal Experience Facilities and Community Services Director Boatman introduced a request from the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce for in -kind support in the amount of $5,742 50 and authorization of the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages related to The Soul Cal Experience The event will be held on September 4, 2021, at the Redlands Bowl Mayor Banch added he was looking forward to a great night of jazz which would also benefit the City economically and culturally On motion of Mayor Pro Tempore Eddie Tejeda, seconded by Council Member Denise Davis, the City Council unanimously determined the authorization for the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages dunng Soul Cal Expenence 2021 event to be held on September 4, 2021, is categorically exempt from environmental review pursuant to Section 15061 (b)(3) of the State's guidelines implementing the California Environmental Quality Act, approved a request for in -kind support in the amount of $5,742 50 related to this event, and authorized the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages during the Soul Cal Experience event to be held on September 4, 2021 at the Redlands Bowl Vote• 5 - 0 Passed COUNCIL MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES CC_SA_August 3, 2021 Page 6 Council Member Davis announced that applications for the Youth Council she is creating are now available She encouraged high school students who are interested in local government to apply by August 24, 2021 at redlandsyouthcouncil com Mayor Pro Tem Tejeda hosted a Community Meeting on July 29, 2021 and was very pleased with the number of people in attendance, via zoom or in -person He reviewed and presented project development in the City Mayor Banch spoke during the Community Wellness Celebration event held at LA Fitness, along with Third Distnct Supervisor Dawn Rowe and State Senator Bogh ADJOURNMENT There being no further action required the meeting adjourned at 8 50 P M in memory of former U S Representative, Jerry Lewis Mayor Banch praised him for his effective leadership of the Inland Empire The next regular meeting of the City of Redlands City Council will be held on September 7, 2021 SUCCESSOR AGENCY OF THE FORMER REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE CITY OF REDLANDS Chairman Banch called the meeting to order and offered anyone present the opportunity to address the Board on any subject, not already on the agenda, within the jurisdiction of the Successor Agency PUBLIC COMMENT None forthcoming Minutes On motion of Vice Chair Tejeda, seconded by Board Member Davis, the minutes of the regular meeting of July 6, 2021, were unanimously approved Vote 5 - 0 Passed ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency adjourned at 8 51 P M The next regular meeting of the Agency will be held on September 7, 2021 CC_SA_August 3, 2021 Page 7