Good afternoon everyone. I'm Cindy Silva, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek and I want to welcome
you to the Tuesday, June 20th, 2023 special closed session meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council.
The City Council is conducting this meeting from the City Council Chamber and we are complying with
the current regulations of the State of California regarding public meetings. Members of the public
are welcome to join us in person here at City Hall or you may watch the meeting through the
the city's TV channel, through the city's YouTube channel, or on the city's zoom
video conferencing platform. Before we take public comment, I will ask our city
attorney to review the subjects of today's closed session meeting. Mr.
Mattis? Thank you mayor. The City Council is holding a special meeting today. The
purpose of the special meeting is for the City Council to consider two closed
session items. The first closed session item relates to real property
negotiations in relation to lot A, a small 50 square foot parcel the city
owns near the end of the potential Ken Ross extension. The City Council will not
take any final action as part of the closed session. If following
negotiations between the parties there is a potential property conveyance
agreement any action that the council would take involving the potential sale
would be considered and potentially acted upon in an open session at a noticed City
Council meeting. It would likely be several weeks or months before any such action may
be presented to the City Council for consideration. The second closed session item relates to
anticipated litigation and potential exposure to litigation. On a related matter, please
note that public comments during a special City Council meeting, which is what we're
holding today are limited to items on the Special City Council meeting agenda.
Therefore any comments that the public might make relate would relate to either
of the two closed session items. If anyone desires to make public comments
on a subject that's not on the Special City Council meeting agenda, we recommend
that you hold those comments and speak during public comments as part of the
regular City Council meeting scheduled to start at 6 o'clock this evening. Thank
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you.
Do council members have any questions of the City Attorney?
Alright, thank you very much.
I will now begin the public comment period.
We will first take public comment from those who are here in person today.
Then we will hear comments from those who are joining us through our video conferencing
platform.
We have collected speaker cards from those who wish to speak here in the chambers.
If you have not completed a card and you would like to speak and you're willing to tell us
your name. We would love that for you to do it now and then give it to the city
clerk so we can get you into the queue. I will now call the names of the first
ten speakers and ask that you line up behind the speaker podium which is right
there and line up along the window while there and wait your turn to speak so I
will read the first names. Karl Lofthouse, Jim Fry, Steve Curtis,
Alessia Epps, Marsha Nui, Carol Curtis, Marilyn Cole,
Osbir Karasachi, I apologize if I mispronounced it,
Eleanor Days, and Francine Ruotolo.
While you're all queuing up,
there's a reminder to those who wish to make comments remotely.
Please be sure to log into the Zoom video conferencing meeting.
The webinar id is 899-877-4145 and the passcode is 273525.
Now as the city attorney explained under California law public comments at special
meetings are limited to subjects on the agenda only and in this case in case you weren't able
to hear it. We will accept comments on the two closed session items, first the
conference with real property negotiators about lot A of subdivision
map 4006 and the other is conference with legal counsel regarding
anticipated litigation. A few other notes and I apologize for making you wait.
Please remember this is a city business meeting. The city council has adopted
rules of decorum to ensure that our meetings are conducted efficiently and
effectively. Also, we want to ensure that all members of the public have a full,
fair, and equal opportunity to be heard. And we want to ensure that everyone
feels welcome to speak. So, that means we ask that you have no clapping or
cheering. Because in fact, clapping and cheering, although it sounds great to
those who support your point of view, is intimidating or can be intimidating to
those who might disagree. In all cases, please address your remarks to us. This
City Council and please do not use profanity. Each speaker will have two
minutes to make your remarks and you can see the countdown clock whether you
are here in the council chamber or you're speaking remotely. The two-minute
time limit is consistent with city policies related to public comments
which are in section 9.5 of our City Council Handbook. These policies were
initially adopted in July 2014 and were last amended in September 2019. Now if
you are representing a group and you are speaking on behalf of the group you will
have up to 10 minutes to speak but as a courtesy we assume that the other
members of your group will not be speaking this afternoon. And now we will
start with our first speaker. Good afternoon. Good afternoon council members.
My name is Carl Lofthaus. I've been a resident of Walnut Creek and a voter for over 30 years
I'm also a board member of Heather Farms Homeowner Association
I've come to speak in opposition to transfer of Lade to the developer
My main concern is about increased traffic in our neighborhood
Kinross entrance will connect to March Banks Drive with the recently incorporated bicycle lanes
March Banks has been effectively reduced to a two-lane road when going each
direction. This project could load March Banks with an extra 1,100 vehicles per
day. Not a good idea when the current 25-year general plan is stressing
bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Those vehicles that don't use March Banks will
no doubt take a shortcut on the private portion of Kenross right through our
community. In doing so they will pass within feet of the front doors of 75
homes in our neighborhood, many of which have young families with children. Another
traffic issue relates to nearby Heather Farms Park, the developers proposing that
North San Carlos Drive be used for emergency vehicles. When we consider that
over 1 million people use this park each year and that a fair number of those
Those people, including many children, will need to cross North San Carlos to get from
the parking areas to the recreation and play areas, then back to their cars.
Also, many bicyclists use North San Carlos when entering and exiting the trail system.
These two facts alone should be a big red flag on the potential danger of emergency
vehicles speeding through the park at any time of day.
Therefore, I urge you to refuse transfer of Laudate to the developer.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Mr. Lofthouse.
The next speaker, please.
City Council members, Madam Mayor, thanks for the opportunity to speak.
My name is Jim Frey.
I am a Walnut Creek resident.
I live in Heather Farms.
I am one of more than 4,000 people who signed a petition
against the speaker project.
We felt that the county supervisors somewhat ignored
our concerns about the project and the changing
of the general plan.
We are against the use of Ken Ross Drive
as the interests of the development.
A speaker spokesman, who shall remain nameless but is sitting
there, told our group that they were ambivalent about which
road would be the entrance.
There are several historical documents that state that Ken Ross shall not
connect to Seven Hills Ranch.
But now, they have decided that they want to have Ken Ross Drive as their entrance.
Speaker not only wants to invalidate these city documents,
they have already published information on their development.
That they say that they have a right away to use Ken Ross Drive.
The great majority of the residents of Heather Farms
and Club Terrace are against using Kenross.
We live there.
We pay property taxes.
We deserve to have our voices heard.
Ned Speaker got his development project.
He will make millions more than what he's already made.
He has everything that he wanted on the development.
We residents of Heather Farms, very simply,
do not want to have Kenross become a thoroughfare.
and we ask that you do not ignore our position on this,
nor the governing documents,
and please put these residents, your constituents,
ahead on this.
Thank you very much, Mr. Frey.
Next speaker, please.
Good afternoon.
My name is Steve Curtis.
I'm a residential architect and real estate broker
for 50 years.
I've lived in Heather Farms.
I am very pro-housing, especially affordable
and moderate income housing for sale.
The underlying concept of the speaker project is excellent,
but unlike their sister project in Pleasanton,
this project is fatally flawed.
From a zoning standpoint, the project was approved
by the county about 15 years prematurely
because it will take that long for the downstream
neighborhoods between Oak Road and the project
to be appropriately transitioned so as not to disturb
the cultural fabric of the overall community.
Even then, the transition zoning only works
in actual practice, if the primary access is off
of Southern Hills Ranch Road directly down to Civic Drive
via Walden, then left to either Downtown Walla Creek
or right to the Pleasant Hill Barts Station.
A major commercial arterial with very little traffic
that can easily accommodate the increased commercial
and residential traffic from the project.
It makes a zoning and the project make sense.
It does not make any sense and simply does not work
to feed this traffic onto already impacted
Ignatia Valley Road through residential infrastructure and neighborhoods.
Instead of acting transparently, the county has dumped all of these challenges onto the
City of Walla Creek.
That should not be your responsibility, nor should the failure to act properly be your
problem to solve and our mess to live with.
The commercial level traffic belongs on Oak Road.
The existence of lot A was intended, at least in part, to prevent the exact manipulation
of the city of Walla Creek's orderly plan for growth that is now being thrust upon it
by the County Board of Supervisors.
Regardless of any ultimate ownership issues that may exist regarding Lot A, the city of
Walla Creek should clearly and emphatically instruct the county that if they want to provide
increased density in whatever form, the county must take responsibility to manage the infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Curtis.
Hello, my name is Alessia Epps and I'm a Walnut Creek resident raising three young kids
in the city. We live right across the street from the proposed development and our lives and
lives of my family, my kids, our neighbors will be directly and greatly impacted by all the decisions
that you're about to make. I participated in past public hearings and attended county boards of
of supervisors meeting last fall.
So I'm very familiar with the issue.
I respectfully request that the city of Walnut Creek
does not allow for any transfer of the Lot A parcel
as the developer is requesting.
The city of Walnut Creek originally
took Lot A from our community as the security instrument
to prevent the through traffic between Kinrose Drive
and the Seven Hills Ranch Road.
This promise to the people should prevail.
Also, in this incredibly unbalanced act,
the county made a decision that benefits the county
but pushes all the responsibility and the cost
of associated deliverables of this massive project
to the city and its residents to all of us.
The development can be approached by the county road,
and the city does not have to allow
this disruptive main access through the city's
neighborhoods when the entrance via county road already
exists and is available.
Having main entrance in Kenross would greatly
impact the quality of life in our neighborhood
by bringing commercial type traffic through our neighborhoods
through March Banks, the Heather Farms Drive,
and the San Carlos Drive.
A lot of residents, not only from Walnut Creek,
but surrounding areas, are coming and visiting
the Heather Farms Park, and all of that
will be disrupted by this development traffic that
would be a lot different than any simple suburban
residential development traffic. My last command is with regard to how the city
discusses this topic. Thank you very much. Next speaker please. It may depend on
who's speaking. So some people have louder voices than others. When you come up to
the microphone you need to basically move it but move it gently, don't yank on
it or otherwise we'll be done with public comment. And we don't want
that to happen you can see. Okay next speaker please. Yeah I'm honorable mayor
and council members I'm Carol Curtis a lifelong county resident almost 20 years
of that in Walnut Creek and I'm also the president of the board of directors of
the Heather Farms Homeowners Association and I respectfully ask to extend my
comment time to two minutes and 25 seconds. I'm here today on my behalf and
that of approximately a thousand of your constituents urging you to exercise
your discretion and deny any offer concerning lot A proposed by speaker
senior development partners. Some have dismissed us as nimbies, not true. We are
Walnut Creek residents wholeheartedly in support of sound residential development
which we would welcome on this parcel. The developer may tell you that they
tried to work with us and that we did not negotiate in good faith. Also not
true. We entered negotiations expecting compromise. What we got was an agreement
to repair construction caused damage, something they'd have to do anyway, and
an indeterminate limit on the number of delivery trucks, but with an admission
that some of them would be semis on our residential streets. The developer
thought buying new locks for our pools and tennis courts would address our
concerns, but it doesn't. We took the developer at his word when he said he
did not care which access roads they used. Turns out that's not true either.
In a significant compromise, our HOA asked them to limit traffic over lot A
to members and guests and to use a different entrance for commercial and
employee access. They declined to go back to the county to revise their project, so
So I ask you who actually compromised in these negotiations.
What is true is that this developer has tried repeatedly to negotiate everything surrounding
lot A behind closed doors.
What does he want to hide?
We're not asking you to evaluate the merits of this quasi-commercial development.
The county has approved it.
But the county also outsourced all the negative impacts.
We and you do not have to accept that burden.
They say you can't fight City Hall and we don't want to fight City Hall.
We want City Hall to fight for us.
And remember I said we're not going to clap and cheer because there may be some who disagree
with you and might like to speak.
So next speaker please.
My name is Deli Malkowitz and I've been a resident of Walnut Creek since 1978.
I have lived in my home at 330 Kinross Drive since 1978.
The last time I came to speak to the city council
about matters concerning Kinross Drive
was when the unused whole of the Diablo Hills Golf Course
was being considered as a site
to build what is now the terraces.
As a president of the board at that time,
my concerns then are as they are today.
the use of our private street, Kinross Drive.
The city approved the building of these homes
and promises were made by the developer
that no heavy duty equipment
would enter our private streets.
I'm here today to tell you
that these promises were not kept.
I saw cement mixers, bulldozers, backhoes,
and heavy duty trucks go past my home
on their way to the building site
off the Kinross Spur through March Banks.
Now residents of the terraces use our street
to get to their homes, coming off Ignacio to Kinross.
Nobody pays attention to our signage
that says Heather Farms Homeowners Association Private.
You can find on a GPS the way to Ignacio
to reach March Banks is via Kinross.
With all due respect to the developer
of the Glennet Heather Farms and to the City Council
who must choose an entrance for this development,
I can say to you that promises are made,
but for some reason or other are not kept,
even though the best of intentions are presented.
I fear that for the duration of the excavation
and building process, we shall have heavy duty equipment
on our private street, Kenross Drive.
Upon completion of the project,
I see a nightmare of new residential traffic
and service trucks associated with new development.
Thank you very much.
Kenross Drive is...
Thank you very much.
With two minutes limit.
Thank you.
We appreciate your comments.
Next speaker, please.
Good afternoon.
My name is Marcia Newey and I've been a resident
of Walnut Creek for 38 years and 28 years
in Heather Farms Homeowners Association.
We are at a crossroads.
Either you, as our representatives, continuing to support our neighborhood as previous City
Council members have done over the years, or you sell Lot A.
As you know, Lot A was created for the public purpose that Ken Ross Drive would not be connected
to Seven Hills Ranch.
This was stated in the City's 1970s General Plan and has since been restated in many City
documents and in the 2005 general plan. The reason for this was to protect our
neighborhood. My husband and I and our neighbors attended the city planning and
city council meetings in the fall of 2004 when the city was looking at
approving what is now Club View Terrace. We were assured multiple times that Ken
Ross Drive would not be connected to Seven Hills Ranch. We are not denying the
developer access to Seven Hills Ranch as there is access via County Road onto
the property. Our neighborhood should not take the hit because the county approved
this project. So are you going to do the right thing and protect our neighborhood?
Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Hello, this is
Uzgir Kozaje. I'm a professional geologist and a resident of Walnut Creek.
I moved to Walnut Creek in 2003 and ever since I believed it was a safe and fun
place to live and to raise a family eventually. Today I left my newborn at
home to be here because I believe her future is not safe if this proposed
entrance is approved. Because we live right across the street. Ignacio Valley Road is
the main artery to Heder Farms Park area of Walnut Creek. And as a professional geologist
with a PhD in earthquake hazards, I believe adding such an industrial scale facility to
this area will pose significant and unnecessary risk on the residents, especially during emergencies.
Earthquakes, fire hazards, you name it. Furthermore, this area has narrow streets where our kids
bike and walk to schools.
Such traffic will put them in harm's way every single day.
It is your responsibility to represent thousands
of voting residents who live in this area
and protect their well-being.
Please deny this entrance.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And before the next speaker can come forward,
but I'm going to read some additional names.
Rosemary Nishikawa, Richard Scow,
Mary Howard Hollis, Barbara Gilbert,
Terri Ann Sturell.
Good afternoon. Hi, my name is Eleanor Dassey, and I've lived the last 53 years in Orinda.
I just want to begin by thanking you, the City of Walnut Creek, along with the county,
for bringing this important project to a neighborhood near me.
I lost my husband two years ago and see the Glen at Heather Farms as a perfect next place to live and age.
I want to reassure people that live in that area that part of my objective in
moving there is so I can be in my car on a very very limited basis. I love the
idyllic setting and look forward to hikes on the many trails around there.
As a former independent school educator I would love to volunteer and help
students at the Seven Hills School with math as long as my brain stays as good
as it is now, of course, and I hope that there would be many other active seniors that would
love to get involved in the classroom, the library, with sports or the arts at Seven
Hills.
And finally, I would be so happy to be able to remain close to two of my three children
and many grandchildren, but I do not want them to assume responsibility for my health
care.
you again for your dedication to Walnut Creek. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please.
Hello, City Council. My name is Marilyn Cole. I've lived in the City of Walnut Creek for
more than 35 years. I'd like to share how happy I am that the Contra Costa County Board
of Supervisors has approved the Glen at Heather Farm. I am so excited to be able to retire
in the same community where I have lived for so long. Living at the Glen at Heather Farm
will free me from home maintenance and allow me to age in place with other seniors. Long-term care
will be available in the same community should I ever need it, eliminating the need for me to
navigate this myself in a crisis. The Glennet Heather Farm is perfect for a widow like me.
Thank you City of Walnut Creek for bringing this project to my neighborhood.
Thank you very much.
Next speaker, please.
Well, I'm going to keep this short and sweet,
as we say in Boston, my birthplace.
I think the HOA president said it so well, so succinctly,
really, covered a lot of territory.
And I think she spoke incredibly seriously well for all of us
because we feel strongly.
I've lived here and had the farms development for 27 years.
And I feel close to the park.
I smile every time I go by.
The swimming pool filled with children,
had the farms filled with children, families, tents.
I mean, it's a joy to be a part of this community.
And I've always felt like that for Walnut Creek.
But we do not need all this transportation.
We do not need to open up a road that has been bound by contract by people who thought
it was going to be intrusive.
It is extremely intrusive.
It will be intrusive.
Who wants trucks loaded with dirt up and down your streets when you go into the post office?
Are you going to Pete's for coffee?
I do not.
Thank you very much, councils.
Excuse me, ma'am.
Are you, excuse me, are you Francine?
I am Franc, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself.
I'm Francine Bertolo.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Next speaker, please.
Rosemary Nishikawa.
I wanted to give some dimensions of the vehicles that are going to be going up and down Ignacio
Valley Boulevard that look like this and like this.
The dimensions of these vehicles are quite large and my concern is when we all go home
going up Ignacio, making a left-hand turn onto March Banks.
That only holds about eight or nine cars.
The dimensions of the dump truck is,
they're about 20 to 30 feet long
and about eight to nine feet wide.
Off-highway trucks are 15 to 30 feet long
and about, excuse me, the length is 30 to 50 feet long
and 15 to 30 feet wide.
Typically, a scraper truck is about 40 to 50 feet long and the width is 10 to 16 feet.
Now, when you're making a left-hand turn, you're getting out of the fast lane
and you're going to the left-hand turn lane.
If these trucks are in that left-hand turn lane, there's not going to be a lot of room
for other people to make a left-hand turn.
It's going to press everybody over into the fast lane and it's going to be a freaking mess.
So I just want you to take that into consideration.
I, I feel like I don't know why the official current entrance to
Seven Hills Ranch property is being considered as the main
thoroughfare for speaker on this property. It should not be our
problem that the entrance is not suitable for speaker. That
should not be something that is our problem. It's their problem.
But this is a big 30-acre business complex.
It's half the size of downtown Walnut Creek.
Movie theaters, hair salons, bars, restaurants, hospital,
nursing home, bocce courts.
Thank you very much.
You bet.
Next speaker, please.
Good evening, council.
My name is Mary Hollis.
And I live in the Heather Farms neighborhood.
I bought my house 27 years ago, but I've
lived in Walnut Creek for 33.
I wanted to just make one point that I don't think
is going to be made by other speakers today,
and it's going to be quick.
Please, before you consider deciding your vote on this access
to Kenross from the Seven Hills Ranch area,
go drive these streets.
If you've never been on that piece of Kenross, drive it.
If you've never been on March banks
before because you don't live in that part of Walnut Creek,
please drive it, and you'll see how tight it is already on March Banks,
just coming in and out of our neighborhood.
So I would just encourage you to please drive the area and get a feel
for why we're upset about this to begin with. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please.
Thank you. Good afternoon.
My name is Barbara Gilbert,
and I've been a resident of Contra Costa County for my entire life over 50 years.
I've been working for Speaker for nearly 16 years and have been involved in
the Stone Ridge Creek development in Pleasanton.
Like Heather Farm, when I started in Pleasanton,
the community had not yet been approved and construction had not yet begun.
Having had the experience of working with retirees and
their families as they made the decision to move to a speaker life plan community,
and then watching them make that transition,
has been the most rewarding career I could have ever asked for.
It is a privilege to provide an option which allows seniors to decide for
themselves how and where they will age.
I've watched them and their families breathe easier,
knowing that the long-term care is available if ever needed.
I've also watched them develop real and meaningful friendships and
relationships at a time in their lives when worlds typically get smaller.
I'm so grateful to the city and to the county,
and I'm thrilled to support so many Walnut Creek seniors
who'll be able to call Heather Farm their home. Thank you.
Thank you. As the next speaker is walking up,
I'm going to read some more names.
Jack Waddell, Kristen Lemasny, Gregory Reed, Lesley Hunt.
I am Terri Ann Sturiale, and I want you to know that my husband and I are delighted that
you are discussing the Glenn at Heather Farm.
I was fortunate enough to teach in the Walnut Creek School District for 25 years.
of those years were teaching third grade where part of the curriculum is studying the Walnut
Creek history. I brought my students to city council meetings such as this one so that
they could see how our local government works. I also took them to the historical tour that
Brad Rabinpova conducted for all third graders and was using this pictorial chronicle of
of Walnut Creek that Mr. Robe and Perro compiled.
Learning about the history of Walnut Creek
added to my love for this city.
When my son-in-law's job was relocated,
my daughter and her husband moved to Florida.
Her wish is that we follow her
so that she would be able to monitor our care as we age.
We don't wanna move to Florida.
The Glen and Heather Farm provides us the opportunity to remain in our community.
My daughter will not have to worry about finding the needed support for us from a distance
because when age robs us of the ability to handle issues independently, the Glen would
be the agent to see that we receive the necessary care.
I have much for which to be thankful to Walnut Creek, but right now I am most grateful to
you for bringing this project to our neighborhood and allowing my husband and myself the opportunity
to stay in our community as we age.
We hope that your discussion includes any aspect that will make life at the Glen at
Heather Farm easy and convenient for the Walnut Creek seniors.
you so much. Next speaker please. Yes, my name is Richard Scow and I'm a long-term
resident of Contra Costa County and I presently live in Rancho Paraiso. We've
grown, we've aged, we've grown our family, two sons live in the area and we enjoy
living here. We look forward to the rest of our life being here and we really
appreciate what the City Council and the Board of Supervisors have done recently
in approving this project and you're having the foresight to see this project
now it's going to be implemented for Walnut Creek and really improve our
community. We won't have to go to Pleasanton or Fairfield to see the
continuing care that the Glenn is going to offer to us and that means a lot to
us and to our children as they look at our care and going into the future.
Again, we really appreciate the foresight that you have shown and look forward to having
you come and visit the facility after it's built there.
And perhaps many of you will be residents yourself one day and be able to enjoy the
facility when it's there because it's going to be a real charm for the city.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Next speaker, please.
My name is Jack Waddell, and I'm a long-time resident of Contra Costa County.
I've been in this division for about eight years now, but I just have to note that we've
been to the breakfasts sponsored by the developer, and it certainly is a great project.
It seems like a really nice project, just not for here.
Because any ingress or egress to this facility once it's done would be totally disruptive
to a large number of neighborhoods, including ours, you know, the Cherry Lane and back into
the Seven Hills School.
There was no, I recall the members of the council were not particularly enthused about
the project when it was presented to them originally.
And I would submit that there's no reason
why they should change their mind about that.
The mere fact that there may be a situation in the future
where you might have this project completed,
maybe it'll be annexed by the city at some point in time
and you'd have some increased taxes,
that would be a reason that I hope you would not consider.
So I really hope that you will try to maintain
the peace and tranquility of this neighborhood
by refusing to sell this little piece of land.
And you're under no obligation to sell that piece of land.
And that would require them to start over
and go to the county and perhaps they could find another place that would be a little bit better
in terms of the quality of life. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Waddell. Next speaker please.
I'm Kristen Lemassney and I'm a Walnut Creek resident who lives on March Banks at Kinross
and I'm against the sale of Latte. Upon learning about this development in 2020, I did a Zoom
call with speaker which I appreciated during which they told me the city and the county directed them
to place the main entrance at Kinross.
This shocked me because, as you must know,
in order to go east on Ignacio from the east end of March
Banks, you have to go through Heather Farm Park
to get to the traffic light on San Carlos Drive.
I mean, that's already hairy.
You've got kids on skateboards and bikes, tennis players,
kids, cars coming from the school and the dog park
and the playing fields.
I just can't imagine adding hundreds of employee cars
and commercial vehicles a day to this main that would
be required by this main entrance, especially
given the city's recent and considerable investment in the park. So I wonder what
would the city's plan be to address a possible March Banks entrance impact on
the traffic flow on March Banks and Ignacio. Would a traffic light be
installed on the east end of March Banks or would you have cars continue to cut
through the park? Note that Kinross through Heather Farms HOA is narrow,
winding and full of speed bumps so it's not a viable through way. And note that
the west end of March Banks would need adjustment as well because making a
right turn on Ignacio is already difficult with cars coming over the hill
down Ignacio at really high speed. So to turn safely you have to wait for the
light, the light favors Ignacio through traffic so cars are already backed up
there. So this decision really affects a lot of people, park and golf course
visitors as well as the area's many residents, both apartments and condos. And
March Banks is already a very complicated street as we've discovered
when Ignacio was closed this past January due to the downed power lines at
we found ourselves locked in with no way out, Ignatio is the only way out of March Banks.
Please don't add to the bottlenecking that we have on March Banks at Ignatio by letting
this development place their main entrance on an already packed street.
And I would also ask if it's possible to disclose any of the communications the number of times
with Speaker.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Hi, my name is Greg Reed.
I know at least 12 couples who are friends of ours
who have signed on to try to get into this project.
It is unique, as you know, in Contra Costa County.
There's not another one like it.
It affords both housing as houses they call villas
and apartments or whatever name they apply.
It gives us an opportunity as a couple, my wife and I,
to go there, live in an outdoor setting,
and have the availability of nursing care and memory care
if either of us should need that.
It's a wonderful project.
I've lived in Contra Costa County for more than 50 years,
having grown up in the Midwest,
and I commend and thank you
for your approval of this project.
Before the next speaker, if she's on her way up,
come on up, Leslie.
I have two more cards.
If anyone else here in the council chambers wishes to speak,
but Marilyn Bolz and Troy Bourne.
And if anyone else wishes to speak,
please come forward if you needed to, get us the cards.
I am here today, am I speaking into this microphone?
Lean in a little.
Practically kissing it.
Yes, stand on your toes.
I can hear myself on the phone now.
Okay, I am representing both Friends of the Creeks
and the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation today,
and therefore request 10 minutes,
although I will not use it all.
I have lived in Walnut Creek for 47,
I have lived in Walnut Creek for 47 years now,
and as many people in this room know,
I have been deeply involved in open space
and other natural things.
We were delighted to discover
that we had accidentally moved to a place
that shared our values.
But I do not think that this program or this project
represents the values that the city holds, most importantly.
It doesn't matter so much what I think.
But this is a city which has valued its open space, which
has valued its citizens, its economic equity.
It has been progressive about many things.
And this project to me represents none of that.
We voted against gates in this city.
This project is gated.
We believe that our citizens should
be able to use our downtown, et cetera, et cetera.
But this city or this project is walled off from the city
that it happens to be located in.
There were many things that,
well, let me finish that point.
It is my understanding that the county still collects,
no matter what, most of the taxes,
both property tax and sales tax.
There's nothing much about this city or this project
that brings the residents out into the city
because so many of the facilities they need
are right there on the grounds with them.
We are not going to benefit.
We are simply going to suffer when they're on our streets.
It's our responsibility to fix our streets, which
they will help to use.
I don't know how many more arrangements there are
with law enforcement, cooperation agreements,
and things like that.
But I have a feeling that we're bearing more of a burden
than we're getting in benefit.
There are many ways in which this project could
have been designed to be more in line
with our environmental values.
There are ways in which many projects could have been designed
to provide the kind of housing that this whole area has
a crying need for.
Housing that would welcome new families, young families, in.
But they aren't here.
You need to be cognizant that you're
drifting into another subject, which is what the project is and isn't, and that's not what
we're here for. So try to stick to our post-session topics.
I will move back.
Thank you, Leslie.
So what we are looking at is a discussion of whether we will sell this piece of property
or not. You have a certain amount of room to negotiate. I hope that you will bear in
mind what the people today have said and what our municipal values are as you
consider what to do about this and that you will find a way to derive equal
benefit for Walnut Creek for what Walnut Creek is giving this project. Thank you.
Thank you, Leslie. Next speaker, please. Let me see if I get this right. I do.
Good afternoon. My name is Marilyn Bowles and I want to thank all of you and all
of your predecessors because I think you've done an extraordinary job for
Walnut Creek and of all the people I've heard I think and I don't relish this
but I think I've lived in Walnut Creek longer than any of them. I've been my
present home for 50 years and I lived in another home in Walnut Creek for several
years before that. And like other people, I am in strongly in favor of, they've
changed their name, but the gland at Walnut Creek, and I do hope to live there
someday. My understanding is when we look back that it was zoned for either a
place like this or single-family homes and all the environmental impact reports
shows that this would have far less impact than single-family homes.
I appreciate and I realize that the people there will be impacted when it is
built. I think most people here have had their kitchen remodeled. It impacts us in
a severe way, but we look forward when it is finished to something better and we
We give up that temporary inconvenience, major, for something better in the future.
And I think that's what the board needs to consider, is the future, looking forward.
And you have done that in the past, and I hope you do that for this project in the future.
The census shows that the group that's going to grow the most, guess what?
And that's not fortunate, but it's people like me.
It's not kindergartners.
So I think you should consider all aspects of this.
And I am a former educator, having taught at DVC for 10 years, and other places as well.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for coming today.
I have two more cards, Anne Hassett.
And is this Hope Egan?
Hello, my name is Ann Hassett and I live in Walnut Creek in the Heather Farms Development
and I just decided to stand up because I want to back it up to the beginning here and remind
us we're not here to talk about the project, that's a done deal.
We're here to talk about this strip of land that as small as it may be, the decision to
vote yes will be have a mighty impact on the local neighborhoods and I think so
many of us feel that the Contra Costa board of supervisors just negated our
voice at their last and final meeting so the projects are done deal and we get
that it's just our concern and our request is that you hang on to this
little strip of land so that our neighborhoods are protected, we don't
have all the traffic and everything everybody else has talked about, and just
our request is that you just find another route in that is less disruptive
to our peace and quiet into our neighborhoods as we know them. Thank you.
Thank you very much. And Hope Egan, it's Hope. Hi, my name is Hope Egan. Thank you for giving
me the opportunity to speak. As the last speaker said, I wasn't planning on speaking either,
but I just feel a little agitated at the fact that we're starting to stress the importance
of this development, which I don't feel is what we're here for. It's already been approved.
What we're here for is to save that property and not have it be a bypass for more traffic
and all the dirt and the complications that will come with it.
I respect and I'm excited for these people to move to this place.
I've seen the one in Pleasanton and it's quite lovely.
All we're asking is that as you are our elective officials and we voted for you, that you represent
the people that already live there as well as the people that are going to live
there and consider how this will impact our quality of life severely. Thank you.
Thank you. I have one more card for Troy Bourne here in the room and then we'll
go to the speakers on Zoom. So if you are on Zoom and you would like to
speak, now is the time to use your raise hand feature or press star 9 if you're
on audio only to let us know that you wish to speak and we'll put you in the
queue. I'm not seeing any hands raised. Are you paying attention? Mr. Bourne.
Good afternoon. My name is Troy Bourne and I represent speaker. I appreciate your
time this afternoon and although I'm representing speaker, I have no intention
of taking in 10 minutes either. I appreciate that that we've been able to
do this relatively efficiently. A speaker for the last three decades has been
operating state licensed continuing care retirement communities and in those
three decades have never sold a single property. We still are operating and
running and caring for the seniors who live in our communities in each community
where we've been approved and given the opportunity to build one of these
projects. We have developed over three decades a reputation for being long-term
good neighbors in the communities and the local real estate values have
reflected that as these communities are maintained as some of the best in the
state of California. I do want to flag that I think it's really unique. I serve
on the City Council elsewhere and I wish, I just want to flag something that's
very unique that's happened here today. I wish that we had more projects with a
lot of neighbors coming saying we really like this project. It's very unusual to
have a room where there's a consistent saying hey we like the project but
maybe not here. And even more unusual to have someone say we really like this
project it's a great project maybe even here if the access is through a
different neighborhood and so I think that we you know there might be some
disagreement now and in the future about how this projects access but I think
that it's probably something to celebrate that we're looking and talking
about a potential development that we can all acknowledge is really good and
needed I think that and I think it's probably one I do want to address that
the as everybody in the room the City Council is aware this project was
approved unanimously by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors after years
of study and deliberations and I appreciated that one of the neighbors
here mentioned that we began meeting with neighbors and talking to them about
project design and impact and different ways that we could impact the
application in 2000 so years ago years before the project was even heard by the
county trying to incorporate their feedback and we appreciate the way the
city of Walnut Creek although this project was processed to the county has
been incredibly proactive in making comments and suggestions to the county and ways that
the project could be modified impacts could be reduced so that the residents of this area
could benefit from it but have the impacts be as little as possible. And I think in part
that project was approved unanimously because the traffic impacts were clearly less than
what was proposed in the current general plan and certainly less than is what's being proposed
currently in the now draft revised general plan, but also because it met a
clear need in the county and in the city of Walnut Creek. I think it's it's
helpful to someone mentioned very early in the meeting that this is incredible
to have this many people come to a meeting and I love this process as part
of the reason I get involved in local politics and to have everybody conduct
themselves the way they have is a compliment to the city. But someone very
early on mentioned, you know, this is just a small fraction of there's a
thousand people in this HOA who doesn't want the road to be access to Jason to
their neighborhood and I think that that's something that this the people
who come out and speak are always a fraction of the people who are impacted
by a board's decision and you've had a few people come out and say I'd like to
live there. I think it's it's probably important that you understand that
nearly 2,300 seniors, local seniors, have placed deposits in the hope that they
would be able to live in this community that's now been approved representing
over 1,300 households. If these were vacation condos we would say that means
that this development represents an unmet demand but when it's a licensed
care facility licensed and approved by the Department of Social Services it's
more accurately described as an unmet need. We're proud to operate these
communities in other areas of the state. For a long time we have hoped to be able
come here to Walnut Creek speaker is a Bay Area native and has wanted to be
here for a long time and we were honored by the Hale family's invitation for us
to be able to propose this project and are grateful for the approvals that are
in place we look forward now to having fruitful conversations with the city of
Walnut Creek to discuss how this project can best be accessed in a way that helps
meet the need for local seniors and also minimizes any impacts experienced by
local neighbors. Thank you. Thank you very much. The, I'm going to turn to the
clerk. I don't see anyone raising their hands in the remote. No, there are no
hands raised. So with that I am going to close public communication and at this
time, since council will reconvene in closed session, I will turn to the city
attorney just to reiterate that we are going into closed session to have why
we're in closed session versus open session to have this discussion and also
what what transpires after this so in closed session the council has the two
items that I mentioned before to consider one would be the real property
negotiations so that could involve some direction
to the staff regarding terms that the council may consider
but that would require any action on that
would require a public meeting, an open session meeting
at which the item would be agendized
and any potential terms would be memorialized
into a potential agreement that would be up
for Council consideration with regard,
and that would, staff estimates that that's a minimum
of several weeks to possibly several months into the future,
depending on whether the Council directs us
to continue in discussions or not.
And then the second thing is the closed session
that's related to anticipated litigation,
and that is a matter that, to the extent that there's any
further potential litigation related to this project,
the Council would be advised with regards to that.
All right, thank you very much.
Could I ask a further question to the City Attorney, please?
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Thank you, Steve.
And so regarding a closed session, is a closed session the normal course of action when it
comes to any real estate property that the City has?
Thank you for that question.
It is.
The Council operates as a body.
And so like any type of real property in negotiations, both sides need to understand the issues
that are associated with a potential transaction, but the Council needs to provide direction
by majority of the Council, however that may be.
And so the purpose of a real property negotiations closed session is for the Council as a whole
to consider potential issues associated with the conveyance, including price and whatnot
and terms.
And then for the Council to provide direction, and that can be by a unanimous vote of the
that can be by direction of the majority of the council.
And then, your negotiators, which are identified
as Mr. Perkschia and myself, would then negotiate
on behalf of the city, report back to the council.
Anything that would come out of that,
potentially come out of that, because it could be nothing,
but anything that could potentially come out of that
would then be brought back to the city council
in open session with the public able to see
all of the terms and to be able to speak to it.
And it's only at that point that the council
would take action on the matter or could take action on the matter.
Finally, the only thing that's happening today is consideration of the issues that are associated
with this, but not any action.
Any other questions?
Then we are closed to the public comment and we will reconvene in closed session.
Thank you all very much for being here this afternoon and for giving us your input.
It will be duly considered.