Good evening, I'm Cindy Darling, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek and welcome to the regular
meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council. The City Council is conducting this meeting from
the City Council Chamber. This meeting is being video streamed and can be viewed live or later
on the City's website. As some attendees may be participating in their first Walnut Creek City
Council meeting, I wanted to welcome everyone and talk briefly about the public comment process.
For each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on that item.
Thus, if you desire to speak to an item on the agenda this evening,
please hold your comments until the City Council considers that item.
Additionally, we have a section on the agenda titled Public Communications,
which is for public comments for items not on the agenda.
Any comments during public communication should not relate to an item that is on the agenda this
evening. Consistent with section 9.5 of the City Council Handbook, 30 minutes will be
initially allocated for public communication for items not on the agenda. Additional time
for public communications for items not on the agenda will be provided at the end of
the open session portion of the meeting if necessary. If you desire to provide a public
comment, please complete a speaker identification card and line up behind the lectern at the
appropriate time. Wait your turn and then when you approach the lectern please
state your name City of Residence for the record. You will have two minutes to
address the City Council. Please keep in mind that this is a city business
meeting. The City Council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings
are conducted efficiently and effectively and that all members of the
public have a full, fair, and equal opportunity to be heard. The City Council
handbook outlines decorum expected in the council chamber and can be found on our website.
All remarks should be addressed to the City Council.
Please do not use threatening, profane, or abusive language which disrupts, disturbs,
or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of a council meeting.
Again, each speaker will have two minutes to make your remarks.
Written comments submitted and received up to two hours before the meeting have been
and posts to the city website for public review
and are included in the meeting record
but will not be separately read into the record.
And that just to make everything crystal clear.
Good evening, I am Cindy Darling, mayor of Walnut Creek.
Welcome to the Tuesday, October 7th, 2025
concurrent meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council
and the Walnut Creek Parking Authority.
So please join me in the pledge of allegiance.
pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
All right, City Clerk Susie Martinez, would you please call the role?
Councilmember Davini? Here. Councilmember Francois? Here. Councilmember Silva? Here. Mayor Pro Temwel? Here. Mayor Darling? Here.
All right, we're going to start off tonight with a proclamation on United Against Hate Week.
And this is a really critical time here in our country. I think we have all seen people on all
sides just behaving in ways that are unbecoming and vilifying one another. And I think it's really
important we here at the city model the idea that we may not all agree but we
treat each other with respect and we treat each other as human beings and we
see the humanity and those who come before us even if they don't like what
we're doing or even if they have an opinion that is difficult so that's why
I really want to make sure that we you know and I have to thank my mayor
pro tem Kevin Wilke arranged some great people here to accept the United
Against Hate Week Proclamation, so I would like to invite Rebecca Goodman from the Jewish
Community Relations Council and the Reverend Leslie Takahashi from Mount Diablo Unitarian
Universalist Church up here, and why don't you guys step forward and introduce yourselves
and tell us a little bit about your organization and what you guys are doing to help in this
difficult, difficult time.
Thank you so much.
Good evening, mayor, council members.
My name is Rebecca Goodman and I serve as director
of Jewish Community Engagement
for the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area.
JCRC is the largest collective voice of Bay Area Jews
representing over 70 congregations and organizations
and throughout the region.
I am honored to join you today to accept the proclamation
for United Against Hate speech with others.
During COVID, the congregation where I was working
before JCRC, we hung a banner unequivocally stating
that black lives matter and stop Asian hate.
Over the past two years, the Jewish community
has seen a drastic rise in hate speech against Jews.
The banner, unfortunately, is still hung in the window
at that congregation because, like you said,
we are still in this together.
JCRC advocates for Jews to be able to live
their own authentic Jewish selves,
and we believe that by working together
with other communities, the full vibrancy
and diversity of Jewish identity
will be embraced and celebrated.
We mobilize Bay Area Jews and allies
to counter antisemitism and rising hate,
advance social justice, strengthen civic engagement,
and ensure a combined response
to critical issues that we all face.
Unfortunately, the incidents of hate speech continue.
As I mentioned, the banner still flies.
And together though, we can make a difference.
I want to say to Daraba in Hebrews saying,
thank you very much to all of you on the city council,
because together we are united against hate speech.
And we look forward at JCRC to continuing to work with you
in pursuit of a more just world where all people can thrive.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
And thank you to all of you for your recognition of this week
on this very important time in our communal lives.
I'm Leslie Takahashi,
I'm minister at the Mount Diablo Unitarian Universalist
church just down the street from here.
And we have partnered with the city
in so many different issues over the years
to make sure that all of our neighbors
are taking care of as much as we possibly can.
Because we know that through many traditions,
particularly the Abrahamic traditions,
we are advised to love our neighbors as ourselves
and to be able to treat them this way.
And I appreciate this this week so much because we know
that our neighbors who are unhoused,
our neighbors who are black and brown,
our neighbors who are LGBTQ,
and our neighbors who are immigrants,
and our neighbors who are disabled,
and we could go on and on,
or all feeling a sense of insecurity and unsafety.
So to continue to honor this week in this town
is so important at this time.
We continue to work to be an advocate
and also to provide practical services
as other services are becoming less available to folks
through other cuts and changes.
I am just back, as Mayor Pro Tem Wilk knows,
from a trip to Japan,
which as a third generation Japanese American ancestor,
that's my first time going.
And I come here today with a special sense of importance
having, being the daughter of a man who was incarcerated
as part of the Japanese American internment
to remind us that it is so important that we speak out,
that we are not silent.
And so I honor and thank you for your service.
Thank you guys.
I know we as the whole council,
and I invite fellow council members if you wanted to weigh in
and then we'll come up here and do the proclamation
and the picture and say thank you for coming
and sharing with us.
Thank you both for being here and thank all of you
just for being part of our community
and local grassroots discussion
and being part of a city council meeting
because it shows that when we collaborate
and talk with each other, we understand each other more
and hate exists where we don't understand each other.
In fact, it was just a few years ago,
I guess it was just prior to COVID.
We actually had, I don't know how many hundreds of people
that were out at Civic Park for and hate,
a people banner out there.
In fact, we have that upstairs in our city hall chambers
that are upstairs where it shows that there we all were
and I was there as well.
And at this time, as we heard,
with this unfortunate back and forth,
and I'm not even talking political,
but as Abraham Lincoln had said,
a house divided itself cannot stand.
And as I look at the room in the chamber here
for those that are there at home,
it is all ethnicities, all shades of all of us.
We are the diversity.
And when we're together like this, hate can't exist.
And as we all know, hate lives in a vacuum.
And so by being able to have conversations
and stand up against it and be united
as all my fellow council members are,
it makes me very proud.
And I'm just so thankful that I live in Walnut Creek
that we're all part of this community.
And I'm proud that we're issuing the proclamation.
There you go, any other?
I'd just like to thank the mayor and the mayor pro tem
for bringing this proclamation tonight
and thank both of you for being here.
I think the mayor said it best that we model the behavior
and we are each in our own way performing a city ministry,
if you will, and that when we're out there in the world
and interacting with people,
the interactions that we have with each of you today,
tonight, tomorrow, next week,
those can all filter out and be a positive influence
on our community.
And I think it's probably more important now than ever
that we recognize that we are united against hate
and that we see the common humanity in one another,
and that we work for a more perfect and just world,
starting right here at home.
So thank you for being here to recognize this proclamation.
Thank you.
And now for the picture.
Thank you guys so much.
And thank you for coming.
Absolutely.
We'll come over here.
And one of the fundamental ways we
solve problems in this country without coming to blows
is by voting.
And so I would like to get county clerk recorder,
Kristin Connelly up here to join us at the lecture
and give us a little rundown of what the next couple weeks
are gonna be like.
What's up?
Okay, great.
Thank you, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro-Time Council members.
I appreciate it.
I'm committed to keeping this to five minutes.
You have a big agenda.
But thank you for the opportunity.
I would say, City of Walnut Creek is very committed
to the success of this election.
You do that, you have two secure drop boxes
of our 45 that we have.
You have two here on this site.
We are standing in what will be
a regional early voting site opening on Halloween.
I don't know if you're gonna be dressing up
for the Halloween holiday.
You can vote in costume if you haven't voted already.
But we are standing here 28 days
before a statewide special election
that we didn't expect to come our way,
but the staff of our office, with our city partners,
We're able to confirm 141 polling places.
Seven of those are in the city of Walnut Creek.
And so really, I'm here to tell you
that a lot of people are not aware
that we are having this election,
but in four weeks it will be election day.
You should be receiving your ballots this week.
But show of hands, Contra Costa voters,
do you get your ballots yet?
Okay, a bunch of you, great.
If you do not get your ballot, if you're listening anywhere,
if you do not get your ballot by next Monday, October 13th,
call our office because we are open Monday through Friday 8 to 5 with humans answering
the phone. If you spill coffee on anything, your voter guide or your ballot, we can issue
a new one. But I really want to emphasize that there's only one thing on this ballot.
Our staff can serve you at any of the 141 polling places. But your assigned polling
place is on your voter guide. And so if you want to wait and vote in person, you can do
we do that for three days of early voting,
starting Friday, October 31st,
Saturday, October 1st, or Monday, October 3rd.
We have no early voting open on Sunday.
If you're really eager to vote in person,
you can come down to our office at 555 Escobar.
We open for early voting.
I'm happy to report we've had 57 Contra Costa voters
come and vote in person in our office.
And we've started emptying the drop boxes.
So again, there's 45 of those.
And I did want you to know,
We have, to the extent that we can,
addressed the interest in early voting.
There were long lines right here at City Hall.
Some people waited 90 minutes to vote.
I asked questions.
I tried to keep people happy in line.
And I will say, people were great.
People were really just happy and engaged
and excited to be a part of the process.
And so we are planning for 60% turnout,
but we will be ready for 100% turnout.
And I would just ask for you is to let people know
that we are having this election and encourage them
to participate and that a place where they can get all
of their information is our website, contracostovote.gov.
We contemplated that there might be some changes
that we needed to make to the polling places.
So in the voter guide, there is a QR code
that takes you directly to the list of polling places.
There were no changes for voters
in the city of Walnut Creek, I'm happy to report.
But we did have to mail a postcard
to almost 48,000 of our voters,
because there were changes.
San Ramon got hit the hardest.
But our staff remains very dedicated.
We're staffing up with about 40 additional seasonal staff
to get us through this process.
And we only, we have fewer than 40 assignments left
for clerks for poll workers on election day.
And as you may recall, we had 1,209 poll workers
work our election last fall.
And so we really just appreciate the commitment
to civic participation and just would ask that
throughout any networks that you have,
please encourage people to participate.
but we're here to help, contracostavote.gov.
Thank you.
Thank you, just a quick question.
If somebody is not already registered,
and I know we have youth commissioners here,
what's the deadline to register so you could vote?
The deadline?
The deadline to register to vote?
No, so October 20th, which is also 15 days
before the election, under California election code,
you have until 15 days before the election
to register to vote online,
and we can still get your ballot mailed to you by then.
However, you still can vote.
So even if you don't register before that deadline,
you can do conditional voter registration in person
at our office, at 555 Escobar and Martinez,
or at any of those regional early voting sites
or any polling place.
So you really can be an unregistered person
and show up on election day and vote.
And our poll workers are trained
in how to help you go through the,
we call it conditional voter registration
but people should know that under California election code
we have same day voter registration in Contra Costa
where you're completing your registration
and your vote at the same time.
Thank you.
And I must say we should all give Kristin and her team
a huge round of applause.
This was something that just was...
We had about six months less planning time
than we normally do.
And they have done, they went through,
she got all of our cell phone numbers
so that if anything happens in Walnut Creek,
she knows who to call.
So thank you for everything that you guys do.
let's give voting a big round of applause. Well, thank you. Thank you for your service.
All right, next up is our Youth Leadership Commission for the next presentation.
Good evening, mayor and council members. It is my pleasure to introduce to you the 2025 to
2026 Youth Leadership Commission. This year we have six returning commissioners and nine new ones.
although some of them are absent they will be presented by present youth commissioners
and we're going to kick them off with mine. Hello my name is Keaton Petrocco I am a senior at
Los Alamos High School and this is my third year on the youth commission. I am excited to attend
more of our events like teen arts night and excited for new projects that we're working on like e-bike
safety. Hello, I'm Bertie Michael Angeli. I'm currently a junior at Los Lomas High
School. This will be my first year on the Warnock Creek Youth Leadership
Commission. This commission is such an exciting opportunity for me because I
can't wait to make a positive impact on our community through projects, campaigns,
and more. Being able to give back to our city means a lot and I can't wait. Good
evening Madam Mayor and fellow City Council members. My name is Piyush Chbias.
I'm currently a senior at Los Alamos High School. This is my first year on the
Walnut Creek Youth Leadership Committee Commission and I'm joining the
Commission with such an exhilarating experience for myself and I can't wait
to learn much more as we go. Something specifically I'm more very excited about
is teaming up with my fellow Councilor, commissioners and going through and
and passing innovative projects
and learning more about the city as we go.
And I truly can't wait and I'm super excited
and to help the city drive together.
Thank you.
Hi everyone, my name is Jennifer Alice.
I am a sophomore at Northgate
and this is going to be my second year on the commission.
I am so excited to be planning and attending new events
that we hold for the youth
and I cannot wait to contribute to the community
and make new friends and help the city
in every single way that I can.
and hello again, Shruti unfortunately cannot be here,
so I will be presenting her.
She is a senior at Northgate
and is going to be her first year on the commission.
She's super excited to making a real impact
in the community and to amplify the youth voice.
She's so excited to have this opportunity
and to work with other passionate students
to grow as a leader and connect with her city.
Thank you.
Good evening, council.
My name is Julia Chow
and this is my third year serving on the youth commission.
I'm a current junior at Northgate
and over the past two years,
I've gotten to learn so much about youth engagement
and youth involvement and I'm so excited
to continue building on it for this upcoming term.
It's so awesome to see how the commission has grown
and developed with each project
and I really hope you do look forward
to the new ones we're starting
and also the ones we'll be carrying on.
And I'm so excited to learn more about our city
and also shape the city through my knowledge
and experiences and thank you for having us.
Thank you.
Okay.
I hope you're having a great evening,
council members and mayor.
My name is Emily Kim and I'm a senior
in Las Lomas High School.
This is my second year on the Youth Commission
and I'm very excited to meet new people
and spend another great year working on projects
like Teen Arts Night.
And I'm also looking forward to participating
in other community initiatives to make a positive impact.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening, I'm Ashmi Ghar
and I'm a senior at Los Angeles High School.
This is my second year on the commission.
I'm really grateful to be able to continue serving
Walnut Creek's a great city
And it's also super awesome to be able to serve
with all these amazing people.
Thank you.
Good evening council members.
My name is Anna Sofia Ivanova.
I'm a junior at Los Loomis High School
and this is going to be my third year
serving on the Walnut Creek Youth Leadership Commission.
Over the past two years,
I've had the opportunity to collaborate
with other passionate and driven teens.
I've had the chance to engage with my community
through events like Teen Arts Night
And I've had an opportunity to learn more
about how this city runs and each of you guys.
This year I'm looking forward
to serving my second consecutive term
and to seeing how we can make the biggest change possible
in our community to empower and uplift youth voices.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Ken Yu
and I'm a freshman at Northgate High School.
It is my first year on the Youth Leadership Commission
and I'm super excited to help strengthen
and empower my community.
I'm looking forward to becoming more engaged
with my city and its people while promoting safety
and meeting new colleagues.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Sherwani Raj.
I'm a junior at Los Alamos High School
and it's my first year on the Youth Leadership Commission.
I'm thrilled to be on this commission
and to meet other proactive voices in my community
in another proactive youth.
And I joined this commission to share my unique voice
and also empower other people's voices as well.
And I'm excited to make impact
through the Youth Leadership Commission.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening, Council.
My name is Naomi Spivak
and I'm a junior at Los Lomas High School.
And this is my first year
being a part of the Youth Leadership Commission.
I'm excited to collaborate with other motivated students
and make a positive impact in our community.
I'm especially eager to help create more opportunities
for youth voices to be heard and valued
in the City of Onla Creek.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening, Council.
My name's Zure Frucke,
and I'm a senior at Northgate High School.
I joined this commission in order to lead and learn
alongside other inspiring commissioners
and also learn more about city government.
I'm so grateful for this opportunity
and I can't wait for a great year.
I'll also be introducing Ian Yu.
Ian is a junior at Northgate High School,
And this is his first year being a part of the Youth Leadership Commission.
He can't wait to look, he can't wait to work alongside other commissioners to help change,
to help, to help with change within the community.
He also hopes to utilize the voices of those around him to empower the city positively,
and he looks forward to collaborating with others to come up with beneficial and serviceable
ideas.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening, Council.
I'm Cora Sabai, I'm a senior at Los Alamos High School.
This is my first year serving on the commission, and I'm really looking forward to collaborating
with other like-minded peers in order to make a positive impact on our community.
I'm especially excited to share ideas that reflect the voices and needs of youth in our
lovely city.
I'm also the final commissioner this evening and I want to thank you all for your time
tonight.
On behalf of our commission, we are very excited to begin our work this year and to successfully
complete projects that have a positive impact on youth in Walnut Creek.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And let's give them all a big round of applause.
Every year we all take turns and we get to come to the Youth Commission and it is always
one of my favorite things to do as a City Council person because the enthusiasm and
the idealism and the vibes are just great.
I really appreciate it.
Any other?
Oh, we're gonna do the photo now.
We're gonna have to squish our, this is a squishy photo, so, next on the agenda is the
consent calendar.
Does any council member wish to pull an item for discussion?
Yes.
Okay, which one do you want to pull?
All of them, but I'll pick.
You only get to pull them.
I would like item E, which is the.
She likes to get me on that one.
Which one?
Item E, which is about the Treat Boulevard corridor
improvements project.
Anybody else?
Same, everybody wants to talk about Treat.
Okay, going once, going twice.
motion on the remaining item. Move to approve public comment. Oh public comment.
Does anybody remember the public watch to talk about anything other than treat
Boulevard? Okay seeing no one back to where. Hang on. This is not public. This
is this is not the general public comment this is just comment on the
consent calendar sorry. Okay now back to where we were. Okay you're gonna move to
approve consent calendar items 2a through d and 2f through k second all
right roll call please please mayor pro temuel aye council member Francois
aye council member diviny aye council member Silva aye mayor darling aye
motion carries all right now we're gonna go to 2e the treat Boulevard do you
want to have staff come up or do you want to have you have some questions it
will probably take a little bit of time. Thank you very much. So this is a big project to
improve some, what is it, maybe half a mile at best segment from North Main to Jones Road
of Treet Boulevard. Engineering drawings are lovely, but I don't get quite the picture
of what's really about to happen. So is there a way for you to even possibly visually show
us what the current conditions are and what's going to change and why, so we understand
the benefits of the 1.3 almost 1.4 million dollars that we're going to contribute as
our share of the project with the county.
Yeah, so I do have a couple slides prepared.
I'll do my best to walk through it.
So starting on the city side, so yes, I do I yeah, so from main street to essentially
the bridge deck is what the city so for the audience at home because I did watch the transportation
commission hearing on this it was really hard to follow if you're not pointing to the point
where the peak where the locations are on the slide thank you actually it's hard in
the room too. Yes and let me let me move forward a slide as well so the whole
project is to add a class four protected bikeway to treat boulevards so where
there's enough width all that would require is some lane narrowing there is
some section that lane narrowing isn't enough and so a travel lane would be
taken to accommodate that bicycle lane and that buffer.
So moving, this is the city portion.
This is North Main Street and Treat, where they intersect?
Correct, this is we're looking at Treat Boulevard
from Main Street looking east.
Okay.
Yeah, so what is existing is above.
We have that right turn lane, that slip,
that's where that gas station is, right here.
And then we have two through lanes and then two left turn
lanes with the project.
And this is the only portion within the city
that would lose a lane.
And it's right at the actual intersection.
So one of these through lanes, we
would have to lose it to essentially accommodate
the bike lane that would go between this right turn
lane and one of the through lanes.
In the other direction, we would keep our two lanes.
They would just be narrowed.
and that bike lane would be accommodated
with striping and posts.
So we're getting a protected bike lane,
which is class four, in both directions
on both sides of the, of Treat Boulevard.
Correct, for the full length between Bain Street
and Jones in the county.
Okay, thank you.
And then the other improvement within the city
is we are making this right turn lane.
So again, this is that gas station on the corner.
This right turn is currently a free movement,
so any pedestrian that would be crossing the street here,
they're hoping that a vehicle yields to them.
So we would be adding a protected,
a green arrow to this movement.
In practice, it would operate as it would today.
So it'd be green for those vehicle movements
until there's a bicycle or a pedestrian crossing.
They would push the button.
That movement would get the right turn arrow.
So no matter whether there's a,
even when there's a red light or a yellow light
to go continue west or make a left turn onto north,
to go south on North Main,
it will always be green unless the pedestrian
or the bicyclist has paused it.
Correct.
Where's the city limit?
So in this graphic you can see
this Caltrans red of Wayline.
So there's actually three parties at play here.
We have the city, Caltrans, think of it as the bridge deck.
This is a Caltrans facility.
There's agreements in place with the city and the county
to kind of maintain the surface treatment.
But so we're, this is the property boundary right here.
So what do the green big dots mean?
Is that the pedestrian, that's the bicycle path?
Yes, so the green striping is what's called conflict markings, and it's where we wanted
to emphasize that potential vehicle-bicycle conflict points.
So it's that bright green thermo.
All right, continue, please.
So this is talking about how the lanes will change within the city.
So we'll still be maintaining three travel lanes across the bridge.
It's just how they split up at the intersection would change.
Going into the county jurisdiction, and I guess to back up.
So my name is Briana Byrne, I'm an associate traffic engineer here at the city of Walnut
Creek.
We've been collaborating with the county on this project, doing the operation design.
With me tonight, I do have Jamar Stamps, he's a principal planner at the county.
if there are county questions I'll ask for his assistance. So within the
county jurisdiction we're now looking at this off-ramp. This is Buskirk and then
Oak Road think about this this leads up to Bart if you were to go up to the
north so we're continuing east on Treat Boulevard this is where you would see
that lane drop start so right now under the existing conditions there is this
northbound right turn slip lane off the freeway that would be by slip line you
mean free right turn I mean free right turn correct that free right turn would
be closed, and then that travel lane that hugs the curb and goes underneath that pillar,
that would be converted into a bike lane and a buffer space.
With the closure of that freeright turn lane, a queuing analysis was done, and in order
to accommodate the vehicles, the volume of vehicles off the freeway, that one right turn
lane is being converted to two right turn lanes and it is getting its own protected
green arrow.
So think about Ignacio and Civic where there's two right turn lanes and so you can make a
right turn on red or you can go with the green arrow.
So moving continuing east through the intersection or to visualize that.
So again, this is that free right turn off the freeway.
it would be converted into this buffer bike lane.
And then you would have three through lanes along treat.
If we look at the other direction,
that westbound direction, so if you're
coming from BART to Sprouts, you would still
keep those three through lanes and that right turn lane.
This, the bike lane, could be accommodated by lane narrowing.
Now looking between Oak Road and Jones Road,
So Jones, think about where we have that pedestrian bridge.
So that lane that is currently next to the curb, again,
that would be converted into this buffered bike lane.
And then in the other direction, there
was a constraint with width.
There's the Contra Costa Center is here.
There's parking here.
So in the other direction, you're
again keeping you're keeping the two left turn lanes, the two throughs and with a
lane narrowing we're adding or the county is adding a bike lane, a right
turn lane and the parking is staying. Hopefully that. So the elimination of the
is it two slip lanes or three slip lanes when you count everything? There are
four slip lanes. So there is the one at Treat and Main in the city. There is at
Jones Road there is this eastbound right turn that is getting closed. Okay and
And then, oh sorry, I think you're correct, there's three.
And then there's three ways off ramp and?
And southbound Oak Road, so there are four slip lanes.
So that's safety for pedestrians, bicyclists,
and even drivers.
Correct, yeah, by closing that lane
and pushing the vehicles through the intersection,
we're able to control them in time, so with signal phasing.
So pedestrians will get their walk phase
they'll be separated from say a vehicle having to yield to them and then we're
getting a class 4 bike lane from North Main across the freeway and on on the
north side through the Oak Road intersection the bus kirk and the Oak
Road intersection and then it becomes a class 2? Correct in the westbound
direction between Jones and Oak it is a class 2. I have a question about the
source of funds, but maybe others have questions about the configuration of all
of this. Councilmember Francois. So thank you for pulling the item. This is a
pretty congested area as we all know in the morning and the afternoon pretty
much and it can be pretty much any time of day so and I appreciate the efforts
that are being made to improve bike and pedestrian safety. Just so I'm clear then
and we're not losing any vehicle lanes on Main Street?
Correct.
Okay, we're losing that one slip lane, like you said,
on Westbound Treat, going towards Northbound, Maine.
So we're not, so that one, we're just modifying it.
So we will be keeping it.
This is a very, very heavy truck movement.
And so we had run, it's called like the truck template
and we couldn't close it.
the truck's kind of path that travels too wide.
It's a second through lane that we lose there.
Correct.
Okay.
And I noticed from the report that there were some changes
to the level of service and some kind of big ones
that I can't remember which intersection went from C to F
or segment went from C to F.
So is that a concern among staff or you know,
how is it from a day-to-day standpoint,
how is it going to affect the traveling public
that area so to your point that you would start off with tree Boulevard is
already congested from the city side we we have an agreement with the county and
the county has agreement Caltrans the city we manage the signal timing here so
with this project there would always be some staff level of ability to monitor
the signal timing it would of course be in done at coordination with the county
and Caltrans, but there is still some staff ability there,
but to your point about the level of service,
we, I want to say back in 2017, 2014 when I did this,
they looked at it then and we looked at it now.
There has been changes in the methodology over that time,
which can, which, if we get into the weeds,
that can attribute to that jump,
but it would be something that we'd be monitoring
and the improvements ultimately would be for the safety,
for the safety of the corridor.
Okay.
Can you just talk a little bit too maybe generally
about the outreach that was done
or is continuing probably to be done on this project?
Yeah, so I can speak to the city side.
I'm gonna ask to Marta come up.
But so on the city side, we've been working,
I've been with the city for about four years
And during that time, I know the County spoke
with the County Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee,
which is essentially their transportation commission.
They brought that project to them at the city's request.
The County also brought this project
to our transportation commission.
And then leading up to that,
when they were doing kind of this outreach
about what the quarter wanted to look like,
I'm going to ask Jamar to step up and address that.
Thank you, Brianna.
Good evening, Madam Mayor.
Mayor Pro Tem and council members, again,
my name is Jamar Stamps.
I'm a principal planner with the Contra Costa County
Department of Conservation and Development,
Transportation Planning Section,
to touch on the outreach a little bit.
As mentioned, we did initiate this feasibility study in 2017,
and we organized a technical advisory committee
that consisted of the available staff member
at the time at the city of Walnut Creek,
staff from the city of Concord,
staff from the city of Pleasant Hill,
obviously staff from the county,
the transit agencies, including Bart County Connection,
to go over some of the concepts that we were developing
for what eventually became what you see before you today.
We also extended that outreach to the public.
We had meetings with the Contra Costa Center,
or the Contra Costa Center Municipal Advisory Council,
which since then has been dissolved.
We had several meetings there.
We had meetings
with the Contra Costa Center Business Association.
They have annual meetings to discuss various issues
and this project was on their agenda
for several years in a row.
We also met personally
with some of the bicycle advisory groups in the area,
including Bike East Bay, Bike Walnut Creek, Bike Concord.
And I also remember coming here
to a Transportation Commission meeting many, many moons ago
when we were working on the feasibility study.
Thank you for that. I appreciate it. I didn't have any other further questions. Thank you.
Any other questions? Councilmember Dafni? Yes, I was curious especially on the getting off the
freeway there on treat there was some analysis on how it might impact like folks exiting the
freeway especially during peak times. What was the was that was like a minute perhaps it would add to
Is it exit or what was the seat?
Yeah, it was right around during the AM.
Yeah, during the AM, it would jump from C to F.
So around a 60 second increase.
I mean, one of the concerns having
taken that exit many times at that hour is that it already,
and I believe that it was looked at,
but it already seems to sort of back all the way up
to the freeway.
in a minute at that time might really be significant.
What's the lens on that?
And this gets into kind of my previous comment
about how the methodology has changed over time,
so that when that no-build 2040 analysis,
that was in 2017, so there's been an update
with how LOS is calculated.
But the big jump goes into signalizing that free movement.
So LOS, it takes an average delay of all vehicles
that pass through the signal.
And currently, if the vehicles have a free uncontrolled
movement, they're not controlled by the signal,
so they all count as zero.
So that existing or no-build condition
may actually be higher than that C,
so the difference is actually likely much smaller.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Brianna, maybe if I may, if you could just address,
if I recall correctly, is it Caltrans that's involved
in some of the analysis to understand whether or not
there's a risk of vehicles backing up onto the freeway,
and what was the outcome of that analysis?
I think that might address Councilmember Davini's question.
Yeah, thank you.
So the, as part of this process, the county, they've applied for grant funds through and
that would be funneled through Caltrans, we're working on their facilities.
And so they have direct oversight of essentially what we're doing here.
So they had to review the operational analysis and again, this went into that iterative design
process of adding those double right turn lanes, they reviewed it, they provide comments,
provide we address those and yeah okay and then as the bike lanes their their
class four was their thought of I believe class three is actually better
than class four right is class three the one where like you're you have a
physical barrier or you're removed from the street so class four is that
physical barrier so this is that the most protected what's the iron horse the
The Iron Horse is class one, and so that's
like an off-street path trail.
Well, I guess I was just trying to address the pylons.
Because we have them out right now in the shade lens, right?
And so that was supposed to be sort of a temporary,
like let's look and see how these pylons are working
or how we like them.
How have they been going in shade lens,
and are we wanting to add more pylons?
or is a lot of, to me, they're not as pleasing to the eye
as say like a raised curb or some other,
perhaps more attractive design.
Was there talk of doing the bike trail or the bike lanes?
Not with the pylons?
So the bike trail, it's really dictated
by whether or not there's space.
So there is actually a very short portion
between Buskirk and Oak Road.
It's like a newer build over there,
so it's already pretty wide sidewalk.
And so from that portion,
they are adding kind of a nice, wide facility there,
which could not be accommodated within the city portion,
just given the width.
In terms of the material, really it comes down to cost.
There's, and to the examples of shade lines,
Lennon Lane was the first in the city,
Wigot, we've done some tweaks and modification
to the material as we learn about the material.
Where once we get fun someday, it
can be something concrete or something more visually
appealing, but it's really cost.
So this is striping with those posts.
And I assume that the county to do the work
is predicated on us doing the work as well?
Not necessarily, it is a county-led project,
so it would be at their discretion
to either proceed with their portion or not.
Mayor Pro Tem?
Thank you, Brianna.
Thank you to all the transportation staff.
There's been a lot of questions I certainly,
I've asked over the last week or so.
how many cars estimated go through,
do we, and I apologize, I should have sent this out
maybe a day ahead of time,
but do we know how many cars actually use
that tree corridor on a day-to-day basis?
Not off the top of my head,
we might be doing some research.
Okay, well, get back if Smidar's able to find that.
I go through this intersection almost every day,
so I'm very, very familiar with it.
I know that the backup, certainly during commute times,
goes all the way to Cherry Lane most morning commute times,
which is not even on the other map that you showed.
I don't think it goes back pretty far.
And coming in the afternoon commute times,
that traffic is backed up, definitely,
to the freeway off-ramp.
And again, all the way pretty much to Cherry Lane,
where that fourth lane does disappear.
And that is a far enough path that the traffic does smooth out.
So I am concerned, what is the estimation of how many extra bikes will use this bike lane then?
Do we have that information?
Or does the county?
So it's not necessarily a fair comparison because there is no facility for cyclists now.
So it's, and not only that, but it's like
if there were cyclists and they'd be either
riding the road or on the sidewalk,
it's not a comfortable experience for them.
So there's no natural, or there's no reason
to encourage that type of mode choice
under the current conditions.
So what was, and I know I've had,
I made more comments and questions here.
So here is a question.
With the canal trail and the bike path about,
was about maybe a half a mile to the south.
That parallels the entire way.
What was the thought process in changing the tree corridor
to have bikes when we already have a bike path very close?
So speaking to addressing gaps in a network,
so on, I guess just to the west of Main Street
because Gary and Gary does have bike lanes.
So if a cyclist were on Gary, heading towards BART,
there is that gap in the network of,
you know, if this whole project's a half a mile,
this is maybe a quarter or less.
And in order for a bicyclist who reaches
this intersection to go around,
it's actually a two mile detour
to make that half a mile gap.
Okay, and so and and we're looking for our our approval of this essentially is the monies
that would go towards the city portion of what's being done which was the beginning
of your presentation or the the slides, right? The funds that we've laid out would go to
cover the city portion of the project. So so our vote doesn't influence the county
vote, I mean this is the county project whether we're voting yes or no this is the county
project that is being pushed through. Yes. Right. Okay. Okay. I think those are my
questions. I may have comments later, but those are my questions. Thank you. Any
other questions? This is actually a question to the County, so if you can
help me. When I'm driving west on treat, say I got on treat at Cherry, go through
Jones Road, I'm in front of the Starbucks, and I get to Oak Road, and all of a
sudden there are this lanes doing this there's like a big swoop in the road
real technical term but if you're trying to get to make sure you're in the right
lane to turn right on North Main to get on the freeway it's very confusing is
this getting fixed I so you'd have to try to see if we could see it in the in
the photos. Yeah. Sorry which intersection? The... Jones. At Jones? And when it
crosses Oak. Okay so it's where Oak Road and the bark tracks are crossing. All of
a sudden you think you're in there aiming correctly. Oh I know what it is. You
think you're aiming correctly to get across the bridge and get onto the
freeway going west and in reality you're in the wrong lane because you're going
on to Buskirk and going north. Right, yeah, sorry for the confusion, I know
exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, I had to figure out where I where I was. No
problem, it's no problem. Yes, it is in theory getting fixed because we're
removing the freeride turn from southbound oak to westbound tree. Okay. So
it eliminates that weaving behavior. That is a nightmare, doing it for hundreds of
times I've done that every time I have to figure out where I am and to not end
up in the wrong lane, it's very dangerous, so thank you. Can I ask questions about the funding? Yes.
The funding has, the good chunk of it is coming from another project, the California and
Ignacio Valley Road intersection improvements. How dramatic is it to move that funding to this
project? Is there a lost opportunity or how do we get that California YVR interchange intersection
done in the future. So they're actively is it's a CCTA Contra Costa Transit
Authority project it's a joint it's a shared mobility hub project with the
city BART and BART and they've already acquired some funds for this project we
did the 10% and we're moving into the outreach and the 35% design for that
project so are you basically saying that the funds will be found correct thank
you and what are we sacrificing on the measure J 28 a fund to help answer that
project I'm gonna ask Smidhar Boardman the city engineer hello Smidhar
Boardman city engineer so our measure J that that funding is specifically for
transportation planning and for transportation and types of improvements
that's return to source money that we receive from ccta on an annual basis
so it would have been used for what that won't
It's it's funding that we have available for projects just like this
Okay, so it's not sacrificing any particular project that it was pre-allocated for that's correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much
Councilmember Francois one final one and and I appreciated the explanation in terms of the gap
between, you know, Geary and Treat, I think that was helpful to answer Mayor Pro Tem's question,
and I also appreciated Councilmember Davini's question about the right turn lane on to Treat
going eastbound, because that is busy in the morning. I've had the opportunity to go
through on that, dropping my daughter off at work who works near there, and it is backed up. So
In terms of that actual signal for the two rights,
who's in control of the timing on that?
That's not city, right?
Is that Caltrans or county?
So Caltrans' main concern is that the backup does not
extend to their freeway.
So in that sense, they have, like, we as the city
and as the signal timing, as we set the signal timing,
that is kind of the control.
and then everything else we can kind of design around.
So if it becomes a problem
and there's backup onto the freeway,
that's when the conversations would be had
between the agencies about changing the timing?
Correct. Okay.
We're through with questions.
This will be a good time for me to see
if there is anybody here for public comment on this issue.
Anybody here for this particular item?
All right, I'll bring it back up to the council
for closing comments.
Start.
Well, my general sense is that I'm always
for improving bike and pedestrian access.
So in the spirit of that, I like the spirit
of what we're proposing here.
I have a lot of concerns about this area,
not really understanding what the driver is
from the standpoint of are there already
a lot of bikes trying to make this crossing
that are struggling.
Is this an area that will really be utilized?
I'm somewhat conflicted in that way.
So I would actually maybe move to
postpone the vote so that we have a chance to
spend more time on this issue.
Mayor Pro Tem.
Well, regarding the city portion of this,
I don't have a problem with that.
I think that that does seem pretty straightforward
and I trust the city and the signaling
and turning, making that right turn
onto North Main Street to hit the freeway on-ramp.
I do have a lot of concerns about the county portion of this.
So I'm going to support the item
because our overview of this
is the actual city portion of it.
So I support that, and while the county can listen to us
or not, if I were on the county board of supervisors,
I would not approve this.
I think we are looking at something that is going to be
a traffic catastrophe in terms of the backup
that's going to happen.
Maybe not on the freeway on-ramp,
maybe we're gonna take care,
or the freeway off-ramp will take care of that.
But the backup on the streets is going to be significant,
especially that left turn from North Main Street
as you get past the Wendy's
and you make that left turn onto Treat,
that is always backed up.
It takes two or three signals for me sometimes
to even get through there
and then you're stuck in the middle of that intersection
and then you're gonna have all the traffic coming off
from the freeway, from the freeway off ramp.
I just don't know how that's going to be resolved easily.
In terms of coming on the commute in the mornings,
I just foresee this getting backed up
all the way to Bancroft now.
I just don't see any way around that.
And I would ask that the County Board of Supervisors
review this and take a deep look at this.
While I am all for bikers and making bike paths safe,
it seems to me like bicycle advocates
have gotten an overweight of wanting to get a path for them
and putting tens of thousands of drivers daily
at more inconvenience, and frankly, as a parent,
while my kids are older now, as a parent,
I wouldn't want them driving down Treat Boulevard
or Ignacio Valley Road if there was,
even with the protected bike path.
I would want them to take the bike path,
even if it's a little bit out of the way, where it's safe.
So that's just me as a parent.
Again, I'm going to support this overall
because that is our purview.
But I ask the County Board to please take another look
at this.
This is not something that I'm in favor of
on the county side.
Thank you, Council Member Francois.
Say you.
It's a very challenging area.
As we all know, and we've all experienced,
so it seems like it's fraught with danger
to make any changes, especially to take out travel lanes.
I do appreciate the Mayor Pro Tem's comment
that the area that we have jurisdiction over,
I'm relatively comfortable with.
I think it's on the other side of the freeway
that I'm less comfortable,
but I think staff made a good point when it said,
we're trying to connect these two very transit rich areas
in terms of bringing people,
or we have parking standards for within one half mile of BART
and the whole idea is that people will be taking transit
and ideally getting there through alternative modes
of transportation.
So if we don't build the network to allow people to do that,
they're not able to do that.
And I think this is a critical,
it is a missing link between kind of the Larky area and BART.
And I appreciated your question about the canal trail
because I thought that was a good point,
but given that it's a two mile detour,
it's unlikely that somebody would take
that extra time and effort.
So I shared Council Member Silva's concerns
about the funding for California and YVR,
I understand that we will be replenished with Measure J funds
and come up to speed when we do that side of the BART
programming.
So I will support this as well.
I hope that we stay more than hope.
I would ask our staff to be diligent and following up
with county staff.
And we're talking about the failure.
Stop checking the billboards.
The Dodgers aren't playing tonight so I'm not sure what he's looking at.
So just just would ask our staff to work closely with county staff and Caltrans
staff on the signal timing if there are any issues as this gets implemented to
make sure that we're staying on top of that. Thank you.
I want to hear what the guy is saying.
Unplug it.
Let's throw it out the window.
Get up and leave the room.
I apologize to all of Walla Creek.
Okay.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch.
So I'm going to thank the staff, both from the city and the county, for their work on
this.
to do interjurisdictional projects like this.
But I think it can only,
I think the problems we've cited are problems
that are most likely to get,
the situation is going to get better, not worse.
Because they're aware of the issues
that those free right turn lanes cause.
And that is part of the problem,
that whole stretch in there.
I appreciate that members of the community think that the Contra Costa Canal Trail would
provide alternative access.
It actually enters almost at Buena Vista Avenue and to Jones Road.
You cannot get onto the canal trail from North Main.
You cannot get onto it from Pioneer.
You cannot get onto it from Hall.
It is literally a no-exit route and one of our transportation commissioners lives very
close to it and said she wouldn't take it because it is too far out of the way.
So I think that these improvements will encourage people to be able to use alternative means
of transportation, which may slow the rising increase in traffic.
It's the only way you can describe it, because there will be more traffic as there are more
people.
So I'm going to support the project.
I appreciate the answers to the funding questions and the alternatives.
And I also appreciate that we have to recognize that we have no authority over certain portions
of this.
And we can only hope that some of our supervisors will listen to this and just, you know, be
attentive to, hey, let's really make sure that this is going to work and that these
lanes don't, that braid, I think that's the term I read someplace, you know, that braiding
interaction that occurs.
So thank you very much.
Let me just ask the City Manager a quick question.
It sounds like there are some folks that are thinking,
bring it back, some people that are thinking,
approve the city part, express our concerns
about the county part.
Is there, and maybe between the two of you,
is there an urgency to act tonight
or if we bring it back at a future date,
is that the cause of problem?
I'll answer it generally and Brianna maybe
will provide more specifics.
I think we have some time in terms of
if it were not approved this evening
in terms of maybe a couple months at most,
but it's not as if we have
a really extended duration to decide.
Okay, all right, thank you.
I appreciate all the questions
that my fellow council members have asked.
I think looking at the city portion,
the city portion makes sense.
It sounds like the biggest concerns
are with the county portion over which
we do not have jurisdiction,
although it is a joint project.
And so we have moral suasion with the county
for whatever good that does us.
So I would be willing to support the city portion
as long as we ask the county to make sure
that their part is operationally and functionally
going to work and not cause the kind of impacts
that Mayor Pro Tem is concerned about.
So I would point out we're not actually
approving the project.
We are not.
We are adopting a resolution.
To put the city manager to form a JPA with the county
for this and allocating the 1.4 million
from our transportation funds to fund this.
Now, by right, if we don't approve the money,
it ain't going anywhere.
but this is kind of out of our authority
to approve how the lanes intersect and all of that.
So if we were to, if someone were to make a motion
to adopt the resolution and yet ask the city manager
to carry these concerns forward in that discussion,
that might be a good way to go.
So I can make the motion to adopt the resolution
authorizing the city manager or a designee
to sign the joint exercise of powers agreement
with Contra Costa County,
and to appropriate the $1.4 million
from capital projects and outside grants for the project,
pending also a conversation between the city and the county
as to how those lanes are really going to work
from Jones Road to the freeway.
Do we want it to be more than just a conversation?
Do we want the JPA itself to kind of,
to the extent it can have those ongoing collaborations
and conversations.
I think there's a couple options.
We could certainly do that.
And certainly if your council would like,
we could formalize a letter to the county,
to the county board of supervisors, to staff,
to share the concerns that were raised this evening
with additional detail.
Is that what you meant?
That's what I meant.
And I really have the sense
that there was probably more detail back in Martinez
in their offices where they've analyzed
the county portion of this.
and we have concerns because it interconnects,
but it's right, you have more detail back at the office.
There you go.
Okay, yes?
Okay.
And I'll second that.
All right.
I will ask for the roll call.
Council Member Silva?
Aye.
Council Member Francois?
Aye.
Council Member Davini?
So I'm conflicted still and I felt like this was a lot
for a consent item calendar would have liked
to have had a maybe more in depth, you know,
presentation and discussion.
So based on that and my sense of conflict,
I'm gonna abstain.
I will support it.
So I, along with the concerns that I expressed earlier.
And I will support, I will vote aye
and lay it on the capable hands of the city manager
because that is what we do.
Thank you all, and thank you for the county
for coming tonight, and thank you to all the members
of the public who have expressed opinions on this.
We hope we're going the right way.
And next on the agenda is public communications.
This portion of the meeting is reserved for comments
on items not on the agenda.
Under the Brown Act, the council cannot act
on items raised during public communications,
but may respond briefly to statements made
or questions posed.
We can request clarification or refer the item to staff.
Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook,
we get 30 minutes at this time for public communication,
and then it will be,
the remainder will be after the rest of the council meeting.
So we, it is 7.13 and we'll go till 7.43.
So if people are interested in addressing us
for public communication, step on up.
everybody gets two minutes.
Hi.
Hi, good evening.
Mayor Darling and members of the council,
my name is Renee Zimer.
And I'm here tonight because I was just so pleased
that you passed a proclamation earlier
tonight against hate.
I am the former youth and family services coordinator for the city.
I also served for many years on the board of Contra Costa Midrisha, which is a Hebrew
high school program located here in Walnut Creek.
And I just wanted to share with you that it just so happens that the governor today signed
two landmark bills AB 715 and SB 48 and those bills will strengthen California's fight
against hate, anti-Semitism and discrimination in our schools.
So these bills are significant in that they create a new accountability systems, require
stronger responses to anti-Semitism, harassment, and discrimination, and support every student
in learning in a school free from fear and prejudice.
So your timing is wonderful, and I appreciate the action you took tonight.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi.
I wanted to echo the comments.
And don't forget to tell us who you are.
My name is Diana Honig.
I am here in a lot of different capacities. I am very active in
our community. I am elected as the Contra Costa Community
College District Vice President of our governing board as well
as the representative to the Central Democratic Committee for
the Contra Costa Jewish Democrats, and in those
capacities, in both those capacities, I know the importance
that hate is not tolerated and
that we create a warm and
welcoming space for all people.
I wanted to elaborate a little
bit too on those bills that were
just signed AB I'm sorry SP1715
as well as SB48. I wanted to
highlight the second bill will
actually create an office of
civil rights that addresses, that creates coordinators who will advise our educators
about how to avoid discrimination and that office of civil rights will include coordinators
from a variety of communities, particularly communities targeted right now for hate and
And that includes the LGBTQ plus community, the immigrant community, Latinos, BIPOC individuals,
etc.
So I just wanted to say that it's very broad based protections against discrimination in
our school systems and I'm really excited that those bills have passed and I just wanted
to say thank you so much for presenting a proclamation against hate today.
Thank you.
thank you um good evening mayor darling and members of the walnut creek city council
my name is julie jones i'm a resident of walnut creek and i live directly across the street from
the planned parenthood health center um i'm here today to speak about the experiences that i've
had with the protesters that stand out front the main issue is with the amount of noise and
disruption that the protesters cause recently they have been bringing a loudspeaker that they speak
into all throughout the day talking about very graphic and inappropriate
scenarios. When they are not talking they are playing music loudly. I can hear
them talking from my apartment which is a disruption of my peace and personal
space and I'm sure that my neighbors would agree. I have seen the protesters
bother my neighbors, people getting off the bus which stops right in front of
the clinic, delivery drivers including mail carriers as well as people who work
in the buildings around the health center. Also when the protesters are
people honk as they drive by them both to show support of the protesters and an
opposition of them and once the protesters are done for the day the
honking ceases. If I'm walking on the opposite side of the street they yell in
my direction begging me to come talk to them. If I'm walking in the direction of
the health center trying to get home they come up to me and ask me if I'm
pregnant and tell me not to kill my baby. Tracking me down and any other
pedestrians that are walking through is alarming and invasive. Additionally, when
the protesters are parking on the street, they park in a way where they are
leaving large spaces in front and behind of them so that people can't fit
into the available parking spots. This makes it difficult for me and other
residents to get street parking near my apartment. I fully support the right to
free speech and peaceful protest, however the way that the protesters go
about speaking their opinions is not peaceful and our community cannot excuse
behavior that disrupts and harms others. At the end of the day the people going
into the clinic are going there to receive health care and do not deserve
the harassment that they are being subject to. I hope that you will help us
find a solution to address these problems. Thank you for your time. Thank
you. Good evening Mayor and Darlene, Councilmembers. My name is Christian Garcia. I'm the
Vice President of Government Relations and Communications for Planned
Parenthood Northern California and you know one of the things that we've
We've come to you multiple times, we're appreciative of the buffer zone, the noise ordinance that
we put into place, but this now has become a larger problem beyond just us.
This is now becoming a neighborhood issue.
We did a survey and went around the neighborhood, which I will submit to the public record.
Spoke with the business owners and residents, and a lot of them wanted to come out tonight
but did not want to be put in a situation of retaliation from some of these protesters.
So you will find their information in there.
But I really want to come here and figure out how do we find a solution to this.
We are seeing more and more freedom of speech being used in ways that are protecting people
just because of differences of opinion, but not in the way that free speech was originally
intended to be used for.
And so I think there's an opportunity for us to find a solution here that will fix the
neighborhood and that will fix the business community.
I do want to provide one quick story of a neighbor next to us, which is a massage chiropractor
office.
They're losing patients.
A lot of their patients are deciding not to come in for their appointments because of
not wanting to be attacked by these protesters.
It doesn't matter if they're coming in for a Planned Parenthood appointment or not.
People are just being attacked left and right.
So I'm hoping tonight that we can begin the conversation and figure out a solution to
this and that we engage other community members around that part of the Oakland
Avenue to fix this issue. Thank you. Thank you. I think we have a question.
Just for clarification, I know this is that I think it's a couple of times a
year in which the protesters come every day as opposed to just a couple of days
a week. Are we still in that period of time? Is that what part of the problem
So couple things, so yes we are the 40 days of life protest starts every
September through November and then again from whenever Lent begins all the
way through Easter so that's still happening but we would have also seen
in the last year more and more emboldened protesters show up that are not
religiously associated but are connected to just everything else that's happening
across the country there's divisiveness and so the group that is becoming more
amplified is a new group that has fallen into our group of protesters that we're
dealing with now. So how is it the other times of the year is this new group more
frequently during the week? Correct. They've just found a place to protest.
They've created alliances with other protesters.
Okay, thank you.
Quick question myself.
One more quick question.
On the, it sounds like the amplified noise, which they're not allowed to do within, is
it 50 feet?
100 feet.
100 feet.
Is that up front?
100 feet.
So they're on the other side of that, but from what I gather, are they using more amplification?
Is it louder in general?
Yeah, so they're in two places it in the mornings
They'll set up right directly in front and have their speakers up and you know
It's a whole sound system and then when they know that PD is coming by they'll move across the street
Because they know what the laws are and then they'll just crank up the noise more
But as the resident mentioned, they're also playing music now. Like they're trying to find other ways to just disrupt services
And is this all day long? Is this in the mornings?
Usually all day. Tuesday, Fridays are all day.
And then different periods of time between Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
For Thursdays, yeah.
Thank you. Thank you for bringing this up.
Oh, I've got a comment?
Well, we're-
Yeah, no we're not. I know this isn't on the agenda.
I just wanted to make a suggestion that this is something that's, you know,
becoming or has been but is continuing to become problematic is this something
that we could form like a study session on or to look at what my inclination is
is to refer this matter to staff I know they have been working closely with them
but ask them as staff to bring this back to us with more thorough update and some
suggestions if there are additional ways we can help protect the piece of the
neighborhood. Does that sound acceptable? Yeah. I don't we don't need a motion to
do that but I think you guys have the message. Thank you. Next. Hello my name is
Barbara Guinness. I've been a resident of Walnut Creek since 1996. Just wanted to
talk about a couple things today. First thing was around September 1st I wrote a
note, an email to the Concord Mayor and City Council regarding some Lime Ridge graffiti
that appeared to be on the Concord property. So I thought, well, okay, they may take care
of it, although I think Walnut Creek is supposed to manage that area for them. Within a couple
weeks, I got a note back from their facilities maintenance division manager. He's in the
Department of Public Works for the City of Concord.
And he wrote me a note and said not only did he clean up
the graffiti, but he took the time to write me an email
and even sent me a picture of the cleanup.
So anyway, I was really impressed with that.
I call that good public service and really impressed
with that, but I know it's hard to expect that all the time.
But anyway, I just wanted to bring that up about our neighbor
and community.
Second thing I wanted to just talk about,
and you've heard me talk about it before,
the community really appreciates the work that's being done
to try to control and enforce the e-bike activity
that's breaking municipal codes in the city.
But we all know that there's existing parks
and open-space municipal codes.
So it seems like a lot of the signage, though,
that's getting posted at the open spaces
and some of the brochures,
which I just picked up the other night when I was here,
have incorrect information on it
regarding the open spaces and parks.
So I know the website, you know,
now when you go to the website mentioned
on the Ride Safely sign, it takes you to a city website
and some things have been changed,
so it's a little bit better, but there's still inaccuracy.
So I'm just kind of wondering,
and a lot of people are wondering,
if we're trying to change municipal codes,
we know there's a procedure to follow.
So we'd like to follow that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
How are people doing?
Do people need a break or were you?
Okay, we're gonna keep going.
All right.
Which brings us to council members staff announcements,
reports and activities.
First off city attorney,
is there any closed session items to report out?
Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor.
The council had two closed session items this evening
regarding existing litigation.
And for the first item on the agenda,
closed session agenda, there was no reportable action.
For the second item, which is related to case number ADJ20354870,
a worker's compensation matter.
The council by a five vote authorized a final resolution
of that matter.
That's all I have this evening.
Thank you.
City manager.
I do not have an update this evening, Mayor.
Thank you.
All right.
our AB 1234 reports.
Councilmember Francois.
Okay.
Thank you, Mayor.
Let's see.
I am an attendee at the Chamber's Economic,
I guess I'm a member, am I a member?
Okay, I'm a member.
Of the Chamber's Economic Development Working Group,
we met just right after our last council meeting.
And of note, Chamber staff and others involved
are working very diligently and cooperatively
with city staff on updates
to the Economic Development Action Plan
and providing feedback on amendments to the sign ordinance.
They also announced that I think this is the second annual
or second conducting of the funders and founders event
that'll happen out in the shade lens on November 12th
from 4.30 to 7.30 and that's an opportunity
to get entrepreneurs together with venture capital
and see what happens.
And so it's an exciting that that's happening
in the one you held last year was extremely successful.
And so they're excited that this is happening again
in shade lens at the community art center on November 12th.
It's invite only, but I just told the whole world, so.
Show up, no, especially if you're an entrepreneur
or in the VC world.
At our next meeting on October 15th,
we're gonna have a market study update,
but I thought there were some encouraging numbers
that were provided from California Plaza
and Growers Square that their office occupancy rates
are in the 90s, so they're close to downtown,
closed to BART, and doing well from an office occupancy
standpoint.
More to report after the next meeting,
when I think we'll get details on retail and other office.
Along with Council Member Silva, I
serve on the Recycle Smart Board.
We take care of your garbage, your recycling,
and your organics composting.
We received a report from our schools.
there's a waste busters program in all the schools
in our district, which includes Walnut Creek,
Arendelle, Lafayette, Maraga, Danville,
and parts of the county that are situated
within those cities.
And I would be happy to report and brag
that Walnut Creek schools have exceeded,
we're at the top in terms of the diversion rates
at 78% and the target is 75.
The one area where we have some progress to make
is with the high school students.
And so we need to get out the message
that it's cool to be Captain Planet
and get those programs in place.
They're sustainability clubs,
but it's also a question of getting the administration
on board, we understand,
and making sure that the facilities are there
so that the clubs can work with the administration
and it's easy for the kids
kind of to do the right thing by the environment there.
Let's see.
We had just a preview of our annual rate adjustment
and Republic Services projects about a 5% increase
in costs of services, so that'll be coming forward
for a formal action in January,
but that's just a little bit of a preview
of what to expect there.
And we got our annual compliance report
on diversion rates for landfill and organics composting.
And we're at 65%, so we're exceeding the 50% metric,
but we really should be at 75%
and that's what we're shooting for.
And then all these programs that went into place
in 2014, 2016 timeframe with SB 1383.
And that's, I mean, just simplified,
it's put as little as you need to in the black can
and put as much as possible into the blue can
and the green can.
And that includes food waste and food scraps
into the green can,
and obviously yard trimmings and all those.
And so we're well on our way to compliance
with those mandates.
And let's see, we had an update on recyclable processing,
which is done by Mount Diablo Resource and Recovery.
And they reported that things are going well generally.
they also do the reuse and recycle day
that twice a year in our district, in our service area.
And they were asked kind of what's the most interesting thing
that has been left out for reuse or recycling.
And they reported that it was a coffin
that was left out on the curb.
And they were without any human remains in it.
And they were able to repurpose it
for some Halloween decoration.
They also report kind of challenges with the plastic bags that generally we want you to
recycle those.
If you put them into another bag and bunch them all together, it doesn't gum up their
machine and that things go a lot more smoothly.
And it's just plastic bags in general are a challenge to recycle, but we'll keep working
on those.
or taking all the thunder on Recycle Smart.
I serve as Walnut Creek Downtown Liaison
and I served up plenty of beers at their Oktoberfest
on September 27th that was held in Civic Park
and it was a very well attended event.
There were, looked like a lot of people having fun
and families too and rides and things like that.
So happy to see that.
And then with all of you got dressed up
went to on Broadway to celebrate our great Lesher Center 35th anniversary and
had a very fun evening and hopefully they had a successful evening as well.
That is my report. Thank you. Good question. All bags go in the recycle. So
it has to have a symbol on it, kind of one to four is recyclable. Can you tell
my husband about this? I'd be happy to come drop by and give him a tutorial on
on plastic bag recycling.
Thank you.
Council Member Silva.
Well, I'll continue on the theme.
It's not just the random plastic bags,
but for your recyclables, the blue bin,
don't put everything in plastic
and then put it in the blue bin.
And the same thing for the green bin,
organics just go in loose and not in a plastic bag.
You can haul it to the container in a plastic bag,
but you have to empty it, and then dispose
of the plastic bag in the black container.
So I will continue on the recycling theme
because Mountain Shadow Film Society
held its 11th annual International Short Film Competition,
and among the films it had 1,000 or more entries,
but among the films that it screened and that won a prize
was a documentary about a nonprofit
in the state of Tennessee that is called Spring Back.
And it recycles mattresses.
And it hires the unhoused men and women
in their communities who take the mattresses apart,
and then they recycle the parts.
And this is happening in Utah.
It's happening actually in the East Bay Area as well.
but I think it was just a great play on words, spring back.
And the unhoused in this documentary
are talking about how their lives have changed.
They have skills now, and they have a job,
and they have responsibilities,
and some of them have become supervisors.
So it's really a heartwarming story.
The planning has started
for the Spring Community Service Day,
which will be April 18th
after a successful food drive on September 27th.
I wanna thank the community for volunteering
help us get it organized and collect a lot of food and also for those who
donated food and we exceeded our goals. We collected food and monetary
contributions that provide for more than 21,000 meals. So a couple of
things to note when you donate food it turns into a meal but if you donate a
dollar it turns into two meals because they're able to use the cash
contributions very effectively to be able to procure what's needed at the
right prices. So thanks to the community and money is you can still donate to
directly to the food bank. The I want to commend Center Rep for their production
their first production this year of the play called Indecent. It's a one-act play
that tells the story of censorship and where it conflicts and intersects with
art and it's from the story takes place in the early 1900s to 1923 and right on
into World War II. It is the most enthralling play and it's so unfortunate
that it's not continuing but I want to really commend Center Rep for its
production of it and the next next up on Center Rep's repertoire is Woman in
Black which is a thriller it sounds a little like film noir I don't know it
It looks a little ghosty, and it'll be playing in November.
So please consider getting tickets to that.
We will be attending the Cal City's annual conference
at the end of this week.
And there is a program tomorrow afternoon
on general plan updates and innovative approaches to it.
So I look forward to that.
There are also programs on parking, child care,
and its importance in economic development, et cetera.
So there should be some great programs.
I would also mention that the governor still
has not signed a number of bills
and is still making his decision on things.
And so if we haven't already sent our letters of support
on AB 650, AB 996, and SB 346,
but I would also mention that I'm hoping we get an update
on what SB 707 means to us,
because it's a little hard from the generic description.
This affects the Brown Act
and is an effort to improve transparency,
but it looks quite complicated
and it's going to affect every city and county
in different ways.
And finally, I would mention we're getting a lot of questions
about e-bikes and what the rules are.
And I know we're having a session on it
at the next meeting, but can we be sure
that we explain what rules are dictated by this date
and how that gets overlaid on our various travel routes.
And thank you.
Thank you.
Council member Dafinney.
Just on AB 707, we did send in a letter
asking the governor to veto it,
so we're still waiting to hear on that one.
Yeah, he signed it.
Okay, we will bring that back.
Right, and we'll provide a memo to the council,
we're working on a memo right now regarding.
He didn't listen to us.
Anyway, Council Member Dappetti.
Thank you.
I had the pleasure of attending a few nice events
these last couple weeks.
I was at the East Bay League of Cities Division meeting
here in town.
We were at the primer about the garden
and had a very delicious primer of dinner there.
So if you haven't had a chance to sample that yet,
I would recommend it.
We, Oktoberfest attended and volunteered there.
that was I was there Friday night and it looked like a great turnout. I assume
that continued through the weekend. The mayor's conference in Martinez was a
nice event and of course we all were at on Broadway which was my first time
attending and it was I was very impressed with with the event so if you
haven't had a chance to attend I would I would recommend attending and and also
So just congratulations to the Leisure Center for 35 years.
I also was at a fundraiser gala for the Miles Hall Foundation.
They had a golf and dinner.
And then on a welcome home note, our kids just
returned back the youth ambassadors that just went
to Sheafoke, Hungary in Nochetto, Italy for 10 days.
My son was lucky enough to be one of the kids that
It was in Noccetto, Italy, and he had a fantastic experience.
I've been talking it up to the families with younger kids.
So if you have a kid that's in sixth or fifth or seventh
grade and has an opportunity to apply for that program,
it was an amazing experience for them.
And then finally, had been having some conversations
with folks in other cities and other counties
to have been looking at the e-bike legislation,
and it is interesting,
and I'm sure we'll hear more about it next week
to find out the areas that are under county jurisdiction,
like the roads, the state jurisdiction,
and then what the cities can, how they can affect change.
So I'll have more input and more report
during our next meeting.
Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.
All right, well first of all, as liaison to County Connection,
there are going to be some Route 4 changes
that are gonna be coming in January of 2026.
So the Route 4 is our free shuttle that's downtown.
Sometimes it's a trolley, sometimes it's not,
but it is free for all riders.
The current route suffers from reliability issues
due to multiple left turns and busy intersections
and the detour around Broadway Plaza.
So the new routing will provide access
to the residents in hotel,
the Ignacio Center office complex and Target.
The service frequency is going to improve
from every 20 minutes to now every 15 minutes on weekdays.
And any stops that are being removed
will be located within a short walk of the new route.
And many are also served
by the existing county connection routes,
including the free route five.
So for more information,
if people are taking the route four on a regular basis,
visit the county connection website.
And again, these don't go into effect
until January of 2026.
A few other things that I also did
in addition to what you heard my colleagues mention.
I was at the opening for the Bedford Gallery
Observation of a Still Life.
If you enjoy art and you enjoy creativity,
then by all means, this is something you should be going to.
It's open through, I believe it's through December,
but yes, I'm getting a nod, yes.
I also attended with the mayor the opening of the,
well, I guess it's already been open,
the ticket office at the Lesher Center,
but it's now known as the Angie and Pete coffee ticket office
as of last week due to their just wonderful donations
and involvement with the Lesher Center for the Arts
over the decades.
A couple of openings I just want to let people know about.
Extreme Pizza used to be downtown.
Now the new franchise is in the Sprouts Shopping Center.
It's almost like a little food court going on there now.
So they just opened up.
and Pitta G down at the Encina Center,
which is sort of Turkish flatbreads.
It's unique to Walnut Creek.
If you haven't tried it out yet, check it out.
It's definitely a feather in the cap
for Walnut Creek there.
I also attended the coffee with the cop.
Thank you to our Walnut Creek Police Department.
That was at Tell Us Coffee last week.
Lots of residents came on by.
It's always a great opportunity
for the residents to come and ask just a police officer
questions that they wouldn't probably stop somebody
ask on the street, or don't know how to ask the questions,
but I really appreciate our police department
being involved in those.
And then lastly, I spoke at the Mothers Against Drunk Driving
annual fundraiser and walkathon,
which was this last Sunday.
It's just wonderful to see that that level of involvement
from all the different officers from not just Walnut Creek PD,
and again, thank you all for being there,
but Alameda Police Department,
the Contra Costa Police Department, and CHP.
And this is such an important issue.
As we all know, we want to curtail
as much driving under the influence as possible.
I really appreciate that they have chosen Walnut Creek
as their annual fundraiser.
That's my report.
Thank you.
Last but not least, I represent the city on MCE,
which is the electricity supplier
for most of the households here in Walnut Creek.
We closed out our books last April, got the audited results.
A couple things are going on there.
One is energy prices in 2024 were unusually high.
And so we, and we knew that going into,
but in closing the books,
we did end up closing with a significant difference.
We paid more for energy than we collected
because we have not adjusted rates since 2023.
And then this summer has been unusually cool
and we tend, we try to buy energy in advance
for a typical summer.
Well, this was the coolest July on record.
And so while we can turn around and sell energy
that we've acquired, once it's clear that we don't need it,
you don't sell it for as much
as you paid for it at the beginning.
So the first quarter of the fiscal year,
we operate on fiscal year,
the first quarter of the fiscal year,
there were continuing losses.
The good news is is that energy prices
have come down dramatically from those 2024 highs,
especially energy costs associated with volatility
and it's called resource adequacy RA.
And with the number of battery storage units
that have gone in around the state that in the release
of some of their RA by some of the big investor
utilities, the costs that we're seeing paying for the rest of this year, we
expect that to be significantly lower and we're looking at that trying to
continue to sort it all out. I know PG&E is looking at rate cuts and MCE may be
looking at this later later this year but it's it's it is such a volatile
industry and I know it impacts all of the people that pay their electric bills
and we're trying as hard as we can to keep things steady and not surprise
people. As part of the mayor's visit we went to Matt's and Chipping who has
recently relocated to Walnut Creek. We got to tour their office. They are very
proud. They are a long-standing company with deep ties throughout the Pacific,
especially in Hawaii, and they have some great art in their office from the cruise
lines that used to go to Hawaii back before, right after World War II, they
talked about why they picked Walnut Creek and it was it was our downtown, it
was our safety, it was we're at the crossroads and we were central to all
their employees and so it was great to welcome them here. I also got to
represent elected leaders everywhere with two of my fellow Dion Adams from
from Pittsburgh and Centender Mallie from Martinez
at the Leadership Contra Costa event
where they walked through what we do,
what does a city council person do?
And we answered a lot of great questions
from the people that are going
through Leadership Contra Costa,
which is always fun to do.
In addition to Pity G's and Muse Salon
and a bunch of others,
We also had a great event at Five Star Bank,
they are the, they took I think the last vacant spot
and they have the best balcony in the building
right there at the corner of California and Mount Diablo.
And you know, Bob Lynch and I both got to talk
to Channel 2 News and talk about the economic vitality
of Walnut Creek and what's driving that.
And Five Star was a great example of that.
And of course it was the same day
that original Joes opened back up.
So we got a two-fer out of that one.
On e-bikes, Walnut Creek PD and staff are working hard
on e-bike education.
And so one of the optimally, the shade lens.
Thank you.
Council Member Defendee.
Oh, also, yeah, just a comment.
It's just really impressive to see,
like all of the sort of multifaceted approach
to promoting the shade lens.
makes me think, you know, for anyone starting a business of any size, just to
see sort of the breadth of the things that you've taken on there is, you know,
great to see. You know, my team compliments to the mayor for getting out
to seek companies on October 15th, which is a week or so away. My team has
adopted a program called Walkabout Wednesdays. That's kind of a cool thing,
but they're going to go to the shade lens on that day and we've identified 12 I think so
buildings that we're going to do this significant outreach and we had been doing it recently with
the economic development staff and it really makes a difference to these companies to know that they're
a wanted and b that the community the business community and the city are listening so kudos to
you for continuing that. Thank you. You mentioned Walkabout Wednesdays and you
know I love that program, so thank you for doing that, thank you to your staff
for taking the time and the effort. I think it does pay off and I'm curious
about the branding and the wayfinding. If you can kind of just generally is the
overall strategy, you know, Kaiser's here, Cali Craft is there, is there more nuance
than that? What's the overall kind of goal and mission of the way? Yeah, thank you for
that question councilmember. It's not so much in notifying the specific location
like Kaiser. It's more about medical, it's more about uses and in the way-finding
program, how do you navigate once you're inside the 270 acre monstrosity of 3.4
million square feet you can get lost you can easily get lost and you know
there's there are plans underway as you folks have probably heard to grow
certain sectors of the sports mall in particular but also you know
medical is becoming more and more prevalent on there so directional
signage is important but also we're going to be talking about investing in
in corner pieces to get into the shapelands,
so bear with me, Oak Grove and Mitchell,
Villa Mate and YVR and then down at Lennon Lane.
Some of those entry points are not clearly marked off,
so we'll be talking about how to enhance those opportunities.
And do you have any kind of initial numbers or feedback
in terms of the marketing and branding
or things you wanna showcase?
what's been successful as part of that effort?
Well, I think just to acknowledge,
you know, we did some temporary signage out there
to get a feel for what folks,
when folks felt left out
that their particular type of business wasn't included.
My feeling to your question is,
is I think that it's been a really good secret
as to what's out there.
So we're just trying to expand.
Social media, we've tripled the number of hits
and that sort of thing coming on our social platform.
So we know we're getting somewhere
and those events that we're doing out there really help
get that known.
That's great.
Thank you.
And it's also regarding link trips.
So when you go to the shade lenses
and you have a kid that's participating
in gymnastics or basketball or soccer.
Parents also want to get their nails done, go to lunch.
Since they've had a babysitter or something,
maybe they go to Collicraft.
Maybe not, maybe.
We know you would.
So, thank you very much.
And these are very exciting reports to get them.
Initially, six or seven years ago, there was a,
Well, many years back, there's been a continuing concern
about vacancy rates and the slow degradation
as a result of the properties.
Do you have data that you can provide if not tonight,
but subsequently just tell us what the vacancy rates are
or occupancy levels and what industries you're seeing
because that's the shift that you're always already looking
for is not just the data-based industries
were there before but I worked for Verizon there and that's evolving. We can
give you all sorts of data. That would be great to get. The thing we work on with the City Manager's
Office is to ensuring that we're sharing the same data, meaning that we're
gathering it from the same sources and we're not quoting numbers that don't
make any sense. So we can provide you whatever data you want, yeah. You know just even for...
Yeah. Thank you. Happy to. Thank you Bob. Yeah, at least two of our mayor's visits have been out
there, both Joybound, UCSF, Benioff Children's Hospital and the amount of energy that goes
into those, and it has people thinking, I know Joybound has some ideas on how to spruce things
things up. And I think it's really been great to see what's going on out there and how it's
all working together. So I appreciate all the effort that you guys have put into this.
And the last comment, I just want to thank the staff in particular for the collaboration
that's been really genuine from Mr. Buckeye's office to Charles to Mike to Casava to Erica.
all have been just real supportive of those efforts,
so I just want to acknowledge them.
Great, thank you.
Thank you.
Any member of the public wish to address us
on this agenda item?
All right, we will close it and bring it back up here.
Our job here today is move to accept
the Shadelands PBED annual report.
Oh, I made the motion, roll call please.
Mayor Darlene.
Yes.
Council member Silva.
Aye.
Council member Davini.
Aye.
Council member Francois.
Aye.
And now you guys have all been very good
and you've earned a break.
So we can now take 10 minutes off
and we'll let all the shade lens folks go home now.
So thank you.
All right, and we are back in session.
The next up on our agenda will be resolutions
of the City Council, the City of Walnut Creek
and the Walnut Creek Parking Authority
establishing the JPA and resolution of the City Council
declaring its intention to reimburse expenditures related
to the Heather Farm Project from lease revenue bond proceeds.
So Chris Lynch of Jones Hall, on the lawn up.
Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council.
I'm Chris Lynch from Jones Hall.
We're working as the city's bond council
in anticipation of the financing of the Aquatic and Community
Center.
And as you know, that project's underway.
Bid requests for proposals are out, and they're expected soon.
with the expected award date of November 18, with the financing also being brought to
Council for its consideration on November 18.
One of the things we wanted to talk about in anticipation of that was a declaration
of the intent to reimburse expenditures with taxes and bonds.
The Internal Revenue Service limits the use of taxes and bonds to reimburse past expenditures
unless there's been a declaration of the intent to reimburse.
And there's two types of costs, I mentioned this the last time I spoke with you, there's
soft costs, which there is a fairly flexible ability to reimburse with or without a declaration.
But if you want to reimburse for hard costs, then you have to declare your intent to reimburse
and then you can reimburse hard costs that were incurred no earlier than 60 days before
the declaration of reimbursement.
In the context of this particular project, where portions are going to be used for swim
groups and other master's programs and youth swimming programs on a reserved basis, there's
going to need to be some tax work done where we allocate certain portions of the project
to the city's equity and certain portions to taxes and bonds.
And so having the flexibility to reimburse prior expenditures will be important to make
sure that you can maximize your access to tax exempt bonds. So the first action
tonight would be declaring the intent to reimburse expenditures. It does not
commit you to reimburse and it does not commit you to issue bonds. Oh, thank you,
yes. Sorry. So you can see on the slide lays out the suggestion to declare the
reimbursement. The next, the next action that you're being asked to take tonight
is to have the parking authority and the City Council adopt resolutions approving
joint exercise of powers agreement.
As we talked about at our last meeting, the government code allows two or more public
agencies to establish a joint powers authority.
That joint powers authority has two types of powers.
It can exercise the common powers of its members and it can exercise certain statutory powers
expressly given to it by the government code.
In the context of a lease financing, like the city is considering for the aquatic and
Community Center what's important is that the joint powers authority has the ability to lease real property
Which it would have as the exercise of the common powers of the parking authority and the city and that it have the ability to issue
Lease revenue bonds which you would have as a statutory power under article four of the of the JPA law
California cities and counties established joint powers authorities to help with financings both enterprise and general fund lease financing as a regular course of
Conduct the city has had such an authority and because of the dissolution of successor agency
It's necessary to create a new one for this financing
So staff recommends that the city and the parking authority approved the joint exercise of power agreement the agreement would
Establish the authority it would appoint the City Council to act as the board of directors
It would appoint certain staff to provide administrative services
For example, the city manager would act as the executive director, the city clerk would
act as the secretary, and it would also empower the authority to provide assistance with city
financing when necessary.
So I thought it would be helpful to describe the various players here in the entities involved
in this transaction and the roles they would play.
So the parking authority plays one role only.
It is the second party of the joint powers agreement, so you can have a functioning joint
powers agreement.
that it plays no role in the transaction. The City will be the party a party to
the Joint Powers Agreement and it will as a way of establishing the financing
structure it will lease an existing City asset to the Joint Powers Authority.
Right now we're talking about that either being City Hall or even perhaps
the Lesher Performing Arts Center. Then the City will sublease that asset back
from the Joint Powers Authority and in that sublease it will agree to pay
semi-annual lease payments to the Joint Powers Authority.
And then the city will be responsible for drawing
on the bond proceeds and constructing the project.
The Joint Powers Authority will lease the least asset
from the city in the first part of that lease back transaction,
and it will pay a one-time lease payment to the city.
And that's the proceeds of the bonds.
Those proceeds of the bonds we put in the project fund,
and the city will draw on those from the trustee
as it incurs authorized expenditures of the project.
The Joint Powers Authority sub-less leases that asset back
to the city, and then when it receives the sub-lease payments
from the city, it will use those lease payments
to pay debt service on the bonds.
The bonds securitize the lease payments being made by the city.
So that's the final slide is the recommended actions
are that first the city council moved to adopt the resolution of the city of
Walnut Creek authorizing the execution of the joint powers agreement and
adopting a resolution declaring the intent to reimburse expenditures and for
the parking authority to adopt a resolution authorizing the execution of
a joint exercise of powers agreement and I'd be happy to answer any questions
thank you very much I know this is a little bit different for us so I really
appreciate the time to make sure it's clear to people are there questions
councilmember Silva first of all what train are you trying to catch because I
don't think I've ever heard anybody present oh sorry that's inherent sorry
could you go back to the slide with maybe a slide six or right there let me
be sure so the parking authority has no role other than being the mover of money
no the parking authority has one purpose only help to form the just to be in the
second party of the joint powers. So you may not know the answer to this. Does
the parking authority have any of its own assets or money? And what was it
originally established in the old redevelopment days to build the parking
garages that were developed built with parking money? I believe the latter is
correct. Yeah. So the city and the parking authority create this new joint
powers authority for financing. The joint power authority doesn't have any money.
But who issues the bonds?
The Joint Powers Authority issues the bonds.
With the collateral being?
With the revenues it receives from the city under the sublease.
And the collateral, for lack of better term, I'm going to use a home mortgage analogy.
To borrow money from people, you need to have some asset available.
So that has to be held by the new Joint Powers Authority?
So the collateral word is probably imperfect in this context, because there's no mortgage.
What there is is a lease.
And so the city leases, let's say it's City Hall, to the Joint Powers Authority.
This Joint Powers Authority leases it back to the city.
If the city were to fail to pay its lease payments, there are two remedies available
to the bond trustee on behalf of the bond owners.
It could enter and release the city hall, but that's not a very practical solution in
the context of a city hall.
Not clear that a court would allow that.
The second remedy is to simply sue the city on an annual basis for its lease payments.
There's no right to sell city hall to someone.
It's not a collateral like your home is subject to a deed of trust when you borrow money to
buy your home.
So who makes the debt service payments?
So the Joint Powers Authority will make the debt service payments, but it only pays it
from one source of funds.
And those are the city's semi-annual lease payments made under the sublease agreement.
Because the city cannot use those funds that we got from the bonds.
So the bond proceeds will be placed into a trust account with your bond trustee and will
will be requisitioned so as to maintain an excellent trail of withdrawals.
It will be withdrawn for project costs of the aquatic and community center.
So periodically the city will submit a requisition to the trustee for a million dollars to pay
for, you know, the installation of concrete and steel.
And that will be kept by the trustee as a record.
And this is all because the IRS says that certain entities, we couldn't do this ourselves.
So the California constitution limits the ability of cities, counties, and school districts
to commit future year revenues without a two-thirds vote.
The lease structure does not involve a commitment of future year revenues.
It is an agreement on an annual basis to pay lease payments in consideration for a lease
asset.
If, for example, the city hall was the lease asset and it was destroyed in an earthquake,
The city would not be obligated to pay lease payments for it.
That would be a debt.
So what the financing structure does,
it includes insurance, casualty insurance,
and an amount sufficient to repair and replace City Hall.
And it includes two years of rental adoption insurance
to make sure that you have enough time to pay your lease
payments while it's being constructed.
That's how this has been structured
to maintain a high credit quality financing,
but maintain consistency with the California Constitution.
Thank you for explaining it again.
I know you explained it a couple, three weeks ago,
but it's not easy to read the words
and see how the funds are moving around.
So thank you.
Councilmember Francois?
No.
I just wanted to say for the record,
I did go back and watch the presentation that I missed
while I was out of town.
And so have an understanding of the city council's role,
whether we be acting as the joint powers authority
as the parking authority or as the city.
My only real question here,
it sounds like the sole combined power
that we're looking for between the city
and the parking authority is the ability to lease.
That's the only real power, joint power that we have.
That's the, well, that's the common power
that the authority is gonna exercise.
It has a statutory power to issue lease revenue bonds
to the extent it receives lease payments,
but that's a separate power from the city
and the parking authority.
And it's important to understand
the way Joint Powers Authorities work.
The debts of the Joint Powers Authority
are not a debt of its members.
So the Joint Powers Authority has an obligation
to pay debt service on that bond
from one source of funds from the city's lease payments.
It's not a debt of the parking authority.
It's not a debt of the city.
That debt remains with the parking authority.
That's right.
Okay.
All right, I am glad that you understand the pictures.
And this, like all of these arrangements,
I understand them in an ephemeral way
at the time the point is being made.
So thank you for that.
If there are no other questions,
I will open it up to many members of the public
who might have a question.
Seeing no one, I will bring it back up here to the council.
and we have the recommended action up here
if there are any,
personally, I didn't get a chance to say this
because I wasn't here last time.
This seems as boring and dry as popcorn,
but it is really exciting to be on the verge
of being ready to issue bonds,
to build something that we have been hoping to build
for almost 20 years now.
So, I don't want to minimize this by talking about it being as dry as public.
I really appreciate where we are.
So.
But it's also really important that we get it right.
Yes. Yes.
And I appreciate the care.
These steps are very important and that we all have an understanding as best we can
of how this is working because it is a serious step and we must get it right.
Yes and we take our obligations under this so really.
So I'll make the first motion move to adopt
the resolution of the city council,
the city of Walnut Creek authorizing the execution
of a giant exercise of powers agreement
for the establishment of the Walnut Creek
Joint Powers Financing Authority.
I'll second that.
Roll call please.
Council Member Silva.
Aye. Mayor Darlene.
Aye. Council Member Davenny.
Aye. Council Member Francois.
Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Wolk.
Aye.
unanimously keep going you're on all right I move to adopt a resolution of
the City Council of the City of Walnut Creek declaring the intention to
reimburse expenditures from the proceeds of these lease revenue bonds to be
issued by the Walnut Creek Joint Powers Financing Authority I will second that
we'll call councilmember Silva aye mayor darling aye
that's number diviny aye that's member Francois aye mayor Pro Temo all right
motion carries yeah okay I'll be the parking authority I will move to adopt
the resolution of the board of directors of the Walnut Creek parking authority
authorizing the execution of the joint powers joint exercise of powers
agreement for the establishment of the Walnut Creek joint powers financing
authority. Second. Thanks. Matt's it. Mayor Darling? Aye. Council member Francois? Aye. Council member
of any? Aye. Council member Silva? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Wilk? Aye. All right and with that we
are ready to do stuff. Now we will move on to consideration and direction on the
request for proposals framework for the general plan update so principal planner
Crystal DiCastro come forward and provide the staff presentation. Okay good
evening Mayor Darling Pro Tem Wilk and members of the Council I'm Crystal
DeCastro principal planner in the Community Development Department. The
following item for consideration is a consultant request for proposal for the
general plan update. As an overview of tonight's presentation it includes a
brief summary of the general plan requirements, an outline of the
consultant's request for proposal or RFP framework, a review of community
engagement and then conclude with Council's feedback on the proposed RFP
framework. Earlier this year, Council identified the general plan update as a
top priority for the city. The update will establish a vision through 2050. The
general plan goals, policies, and actions provide a blueprint to guide decision
making across all aspects of the city's physical, social, and economic landscapes.
It will reflect the community's evolving vision and values, address emerging priorities, and ensure compliance with the state law.
So what does the state law require?
The state law requires that the general plan address seven key elements or topics, ensuring important community needs are addressed.
These are listed here on the slide.
Walnut Creek adopted a 2023-2031 housing element and anticipate the
safety element to be completed by 2026 or in 2026. Therefore the general plan
update will focus on the remaining elements. So for more cities the general
plan update only happens every 20 to 30 years on an average of four years to
complete. So phase one is a launch. It officially begins once we have a
consultant on board to launch the process with community conversations.
Based on community input and council direction vision and values are
established. Phase two is research and analysis. The research and analysis data
will be collected and technical studies will begin to understand the city's
current conditions, curving areas such as inventory of land use, the economy and
environment, transportation and public safety. Technical studies will look at
demographic trends, economic and real estate trends, infrastructure and
circulation needs, and GIS mapping will be prepared. Next, phase three looks at
future scenarios. Scenarios are developed based on community desires,
research and analysis, and council direction grounded on the community
vision and values. Each scenario will be evaluated for its feasibility and
opportunities for successful implementation. Concurrently an initial
study will review potential environmental outcomes. Phase four is
drafting the plan. The draft plan will identify comprehensive goals, policies
and actions to achieve the vision. A draft environmental document or
environmental impact report, also known as the EIR, will formally assess
environmental impacts and mitigation measures of the preferred scenario. Both
documents will be available for public review in common. The last phase is
adoption and implementation. Both documents will be revised based on
feedback that we received. Once finalized and reviewed by the Planning
Commission, the General Plan and EIR will be certified and adopted by Council,
which will serve as the City's official roadmap for growth and development.
Following adoption, implementation efforts will include updating the zoning code and
preparing action plans or amending specific plans as needed to align with a general plan.
It's important to highlight that ongoing community engagement and public outreach are
consistent throughout the general plan process, ensuring transparency, inclusive participation
at every single phase.
In the complexity and the scale of the update, staff is seeking assistance from a qualified
consultant team to efficiently and effectively update the general plan.
The consultant will assist the city in every phase.
So over the past few months, staff has proactively engaged with the community to obtain preliminary
feedback for the general plan update.
This included outreach at the Locust Street Festival and initial conversations with the
local businesses through the Chamber of Commerce and Walnut Creek downtown.
At the Locust Street Festival, community members shared what they value most about Walnut Creek,
its walkability, shopping and dining options, arts and culture, parks, and most importantly,
the sense of safety and community.
From the initial conversations, staff recognizes the need to update the zoning code to support
economic growth and increased business opportunities which will be considered
part of the general plan update. Staff has found that speaking to members of
the community and other stakeholders offers greater inclusion, flexibility and
reaches a broader audience. So a key component of the development of the
general plan update is a community engagement framework as it sets the
foundation for a successful general plan. It creates an opportunity to plan with
the community not just for the community. It brings voices to the table from
residents, local businesses, community organizations and other stakeholders. It
builds shared ownership of the vision and pride in the community. To be
effective, engagement must be inclusive, continuous and meaningful as it defines
the city's vision. As we prepare the general plan update, a key early decision
is selecting the framework for community engagement.
To guide this effort,
staff are seeking council's preferred approach
to community involvement and engagement.
The more traditional approach
is a citizen's advisory committee.
This hierarchical approach
would establish a general plan advisory committee,
also known as GPAC.
Council appointed or invited community members
representing various interests by the council.
The GPAC would meet regularly throughout the process,
Serving as the key touch point for input and helping to shape recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council's consideration
In today's environment a more modern and inclusive approach which staff recommends is a broad-based topical engagement model
This model emphasizes more continuous community participation
Throughout the planning process by engaging participants on topics they care most about
Rather than relying on a single advisory body, engagement would incorporate a range of creative
tools and strategies to support inclusive and iterative participation, such as targeted
workshops, meetings, pop-up events, digital platforms, targeted outreach to interest groups
and community-based organizations.
Study sessions will be held to ensure active engagement with the existing commissions.
A summary will be presented back to council
to identify feasibility and to refine the direction
before moving forward with the draft elements.
This feedback informs a real-time adjustment
and can shift direction as needed.
Lastly, the approach streamlines outreach at key milestones
by organizing and simplifying public engagement efforts
for a wider audience.
In conclusion, staff requests council's feedback
on the proposed community engagement framework
to inform the consultant RFP
and staff are available for any questions.
Thank you for that.
That's a first step on a journey.
So I appreciate it.
Questions?
Councillor Definney.
I had, yeah, a question slash comment.
One was the way we're approaching this,
looking for it looks like you know a consultant to sort of be the lead overseer and I know
there's smaller firms and bigger firms and some of the bigger firms might contain everything
in house.
One of my concerns about that is that if we engage a consultant that does everything in
in house, they might have a sort of prescribed way
of doing things already.
And there may be a lack of diversity of thought
on different ways we can approach
different parts of the plan.
So sort of a comment slash question,
you know, what are your thoughts on that?
So what we see that works very well
is having a lead consultant, where
they have subconsultants that have subconsultants that
say best in class that are experts in the field of transportation or public
engagement and that's something that really works because although there
might be one firm that might have everything they might not be great at
one part or another but we always see them sub consult with other sub
consultants that have that expertise so sort of the general contractor with a
A bunch of what subcontractors. Yeah, so a lead consultant with subconsultants and that those would be under the same company umbrella
Or where they would potentially be subcontracting work out to other agencies that they have a relationship with
It could be either either. Okay, so that was one
thought concern
The other is that you know, so during the do you mind going back to the slide that did the one year two year three year?
So I don't know where this would fall in or if this is listed in here
But when we say collect and analyze data and perform technical studies under the research and analysis
What is there opportunity here because you know
I think you could you could pull the the public here and do very great workshops and we could brainstorm on
best things to do but sometimes ideas come from looking around the country and seeing you know, what cities we want to be like or
maybe just part of another city or sort of what's best practice that's already being done and that's sort of looking outside of of our
Our community. So is there where does that fit into this this?
research and analysis
phase so that would be provided by the consultant they'll help guide this effort and with the consultant they could look at other
examples or sample scenarios or other cities or in other locations
That may fit within the context of what we want as a goal and a vision
We would have a chance to
To have a like a presentation on like okay
We want to do this thing and so here's different cities that are doing it different ways
to see, you know, because maybe when we're engaging with the community, I may be even having those
concepts and then they can say, oh, yeah, you know, we really like that one or that type of thing.
Yes, that could be built into the framework when we prepare the request for a proposal.
Thank you.
Good questions. I like those.
And I appreciate the presentation. I know this is the first of
Many, many, many over several years.
One of the things that I've seen in the past when we've put these, whether it's public outreach
or the community conversations together, is that we get that information and then we sort
of keep it.
And then it goes out to a commission and it goes out to council for updates.
What is the plan of letting the public know the steps along the way?
Just as an example, even now we're asked, what's happening with the pool at Heather
Farm?
and breathe this we know what's going on all the time but it's always interesting
to me that public that has been around for years that's first they've heard of
it so what is that plan whether it's using social media or whatever else to
continually let the public know what's happening throughout the process?
Exactly and that's a good point and what we've learned from talking to other
cities is that education is going to follow throughout the process as part of
the ongoing community engagement that we have,
because it's not only we're preparing a general plan,
but we're also educating and informing them
of what a general plan is,
and how important their input is
for creating this general plan.
I think that's really key.
I think you hit it on the head there,
is that people hear general plan, what does that mean?
So that will be key.
I look forward to hearing more about that, thanks.
Thank you.
I'll just follow up real quick on this comment.
Will there be opportunities to take those public interest
and direct them to the different areas in the committee
to say, oh, yeah, you should really
talk to this branch over here because you're interested
in this and give us your input?
The idea with a broad-based, topic-based approach
would be going to the different commissions
to talk about those.
And there would be city or consultant representatives
or say that we would, oh, you're a biking advocacy group,
you should give your input to these people over here?
Yes, that's the direct approach
that we would like to take with the topic base
where we reach out and have collaboration
with the community groups and interest groups
so we could get to them directly.
Council Member Silva, you're deep in thought there.
Thank you for the presentation, Crystal,
and this is really exciting.
It's also a bit daunting, I'm sure.
A bit.
So year one starts with the contract with the consultant
and that will happen before the end of the year?
We hope so, yes.
So really year one starts next year?
It's 2026.
And then year two is 27, year three is 28,
and year four is 29.
Do I have, is my math good?
That is our estimate that we would have something
adopted by 2030.
When it comes to research and analysis, gathering data and input, we're not going to paint the
town white and then start all over again.
We're not clearing and making a greenfield environment for everything.
do we address the significant regulatory realities of state law, regional policies, et cetera,
that have to be folded into this? We don't lose sight of that, correct?
We don't lose sight of that, and that's what we need to have a consultant help guide us
through those processes and understanding how it all comes together with the regional,
with the state, with all the laws that are coming into place.
So that's one of the vetting criteria in selecting a consultant is that someone who's not necessarily
married to the Bay Area but has a good, broad understanding of what's going on at the state
level with policy, federal level with policy, and then also the Bay Area.
Yes, they would have to understand the comprehensive needs that we need for this general plan.
One neighboring city has just gone through this process, and one of the shocks that happens,
because people don't pay attention until it's right in their face.
So you can say, we're doing the general plan.
We're doing this.
We're doing this.
We're doing this.
And then all of a sudden, they're at the meeting in year four to adopt the zoning, the implementing
zoning changes, and the neighborhoods are going.
They're very upset.
You didn't tell us this, but, you know, it was happening.
So it's one of the things I assume the consultant will be guiding us with is public education
is not only what do you want but what are the underlying assumptions that have to remain
like Ignacia Valley Road because it's going to carry transportation and isn't going to
become a bike lane.
Just thinking.
Matt, what do you think about that?
Thank you for my questions.
excited about the process and the way to do it because I think it's more
iterative and more engaging and I don't think it's just going to be meetings
everybody give feedback and then walk away I think it's going to be an
iterative process maybe a little like sausage making okay thank you yeah great
presentation crystal exciting process you know I know that you're asking for
or our input primarily on the community outreach part.
I'm wondering if staff has a thought in terms of,
from a timing and staff standpoint,
what is the estimate of going the advisory committee route
versus the broad based topical approach?
Is it adding, is one,
you came up with a recommendation
to go the topical approach.
Is that because I'm imagining that it'd be
a little more efficient and a little less staff intensive
to do that form of outreach.
Correct, with a advisory committee,
we would have to have notices and hearings,
and that would take more staff time and resources
and may increase the budget.
And just as kind of maybe more of a practical example then,
so if it's a circulation element issue or topic
that you're seeking community input on,
First, the consultant and staff would go out to the community.
And I can tell what you did at Locust Street,
and it seemed to work well, because you didn't just ask them,
what do you want to see in the next general plan
and get a bunch of blank faces?
But it was, what do you love about Walnut Creek?
And you elicited a lot of good, positive responses
that are relevant to the general plan.
So you're asking the right questions.
But is it on that there be a circulation topic,
do the community input, gather that, and then go to the transportation commission and let
them know what the community said and seek their input on the element?
We believe that would be the way to do it, but we do want to have the consultant guide
us through that to be more effective.
The commissions would be more like a study session after we collect all the data that's
out there.
We hope that when we go out there directly to the community organization or interest
groups we get more of an honest feedback rather than having more of a formal
like meeting through an advisory committee. These would be separate
meetings one with the community and then follow up with the Transportation
Commission. Exactly. Okay. I wanted to build on your question. Many of these
elements are not isolated silos. The circulation element bumps into parks and
nature because there are trails, bike paths, etc. So how do we how do you create
that environment where it's a little more holistic approach to that walkability
applies a lot across the in a lot of different portions of the elements. We
understand that the elements will be intertwined. We're looking at perhaps
to be joint workshops regarding several topics when needed.
But we're hoping the consultant can help us through that as well.
That's a good point because I could see that if you get too prescriptive in terms of calling
it the transportation element and just going to the Transportation Commission really should
be focused on walkability or whatever that theme is like you were talking about.
Having been on the Planning Commission when this was coming through 25 years ago or 20
years ago. It was the planning commission that had to sort it out, because the impact
of having some of the circulation in the circulation element and some was in the nature and open
space element, we had to figure out how to make sure it was consistent, and that was
an arduous process, which takes a lot more time than if you kind of get it right early
on so that you can see the connectivity.
I would just add more generically that the taxpayers going to be getting their money's
worth out of our advisory commissions in your council over the next few years because there
will be many many meetings to review this information to cover those exact points that
you both made.
And if I may add that there's also an ample opportunity and I would say even an expectation
of having joint meetings between commissions to address the very issue that you're talking
about.
And I appreciate you reaching out early on kind of with a
narrow kind of seeking our feedback on what other
opportunities will there be early on to provide feedback on
the structure of the general plan, the organization, if we're
going to be focused on specific project areas or focus areas.
I know we don't even have a consultant yet, but I'm
I think that will happen earlier in the process that there will be these check-in points on
the structure of the plan and the outline of the plan.
Yes, that would be the check-in points and we are thinking of doing a little bit of preliminary
outreach at Trunk or Treat as well this month.
Excellent.
And then in terms of timing for the RFP, obviously you need our input on the outreach program
but is that going out this year, early next year?
anticipate it will go out this year so we can have a consultant on board in
2026 okay thank you okay I think a lot of the ground has been covered and I do
agree with the idea of the joint meetings where there are issues that are
betwixt in between a couple other things that we're gonna have to wrestle with is
is our Design Review Commission is relatively short staffed.
And we're going to have to figure out how we have you guys
thought about how we can work around that given
as we go forward with this.
I've given it quite a bit of thought actually.
And the sign ordinance is one example
of where there are subgroups that are meeting.
And then having the ability to work together
between the commissions and joint meetings
is going to be critical.
And then I like the outreach model
that you're looking at.
When I first started hearing from people
that you could actually do it without an advisory committee,
I went out and talked to some people.
And they said, yeah, you really can.
I'm assuming that in that process,
you're going to leverage some of the technology that's
come out so that we can make it easy
for people to interact with the process.
Not just seeing that but a street fair,
but using online tools and things of that sort.
Yes, definitely.
We know that there are several cities
that have used this model.
Right currently, City of Davis, Ojai, and Santa Maria.
We know that they have used this type of model.
And then I have been through some planning processes
that have gotten derailed
and wandered in the wilderness for years.
Some which never found the watering hole,
but one of the common problems that you have to deal with
is creating accountability for early decisions,
like visions and values,
and articulating how a direction to go
in a certain way with visions and values,
what kind of outcomes could that lead to
so people understand when they're making those decisions,
the ramifications of those decisions?
Have you guys thought about that part of things?
So we would look at the feasibility
and that's part of the community engagement
when we're taking inventory of the existing conditions
and looking at scenarios.
There is gonna be a give and take,
so it's not gonna be perfect.
So we hope that the consultant can help us
through that process to show the feasibility
of certain scenarios and the choices that we have.
And so when we get to the part where you're asking
as counsel to adopt the vision and values,
you can have some input to us on feasibility
of we can't just wipe out Ignacio Valley Road.
Those kind of things.
It's my favorite one.
I know, yeah.
There are people that might want to do that.
I don't want to do that.
Have you thought about ways to document
those decision points so that we can hold ourselves
accountable to standing behind what the decisions
that are made.
So if I could offer, you know, one of the things
that we need to do as part of this process
is to have a very robust website and essentially
chronicles all these decisions and so forth
and that has the body of work that as we
go through this process, as you just noted in terms of vision,
values, et cetera, and that all these different pieces
and then the discussions that took place
for both the community and the stakeholders,
but also amongst the commissions.
And so it's similar to what's up there right now
in terms of the process.
It will have a we are, you are here now,
as opposed to you might think that you're back
at the starting point,
but we're really in the middle or toward the end.
Yeah, and enough data around that
so that people can understand what that means.
Because I think it is a good point
that there are people that are gonna wake up at the end
What?
You're doing what?
So helping people come along on that.
I see you have your hand on the.
Yeah, kind of on the fence
whether I was gonna push the button or not,
but I would just emphasize something you hit on,
the importance of vision values, principles,
creating objectives that will become more defined
as we move throughout the project.
Those are extremely important because as you noted,
as we work through the project,
there will undoubtedly be dissension in terms of
what should be adopted, what should not,
and really coming back to those vision values,
principles, and or objectives to really focus
on what is it we are overall trying to achieve
to help guide that decision making.
I think that'll be absolutely critical
as we go through this for any really high level project
or complex project, coming back to the fundamentals
of what is it we are trying to achieve
and why can help guide us through those
somewhat ambiguous issues at times.
And my experience has been the more you can articulate why
you're choosing a specific value,
and what you hope to accomplish with that specific value,
the more you can inoculate the process against.
But you meant, I thought you meant
this when you really meant that.
So that'll be a difficult, it's always a difficult part
of the stuff.
One other, we went through two major processes 10 years ago with the west downtown and the north downtown specific plan and the west downtown specific plans suffered a bit and had some bumps in the road and effectively started over.
Because they never established clear goals and objectives or assumptions about what would what would change and what was not changing, which is why I make the joke about Ignacio Valley Road, because when we started the north downtown specific plan, we set.
clear assumptions about what wouldn't change so that everybody knew what the
what the rules were I mean this could be as simple as we will adhere to the urban
lemon line I mean sometimes you have to remind people of what is out there what
are you are you laughing yes I mean I just think that too we're not I mean
we're not starting from scratch there there were these plans in a look and a
lot of ways it's putting up these complicated puzzle pieces together
consisting of the housing element, the north downtown plan, the west downtown
plan, but also coming in with fresh eyes and saying okay that was ten years ago
and to some extent it hasn't really launched. Why didn't it launch? What
changes and tweaks do we need to make to it as part of the general plan to give
it a little bit of a push to get going, but I'll lead off the comments, I think we've
already done that, but I'm supportive of the broad-based topical approach for a couple
of reasons.
I think that given where we are as a community, as a society, as a nation, I think it's really
important for people to, as best we can, to get people to come together and talk
about their common future and vision of their community. Because they'll,
regardless of your party affiliation, every, people love Walnut Creek and you
got that when you went to the Locust Street Festival and I think if we can
provide those opportunities and there will be several of them for people to
come together and see how much they have in common and talk about their shared
vision of the community that's always a good thing and I think we talked about
modeling behavior and I think that that's what we want our community to do
and I also think that we get the benefit of the Advisory Committee through the
Commission's that we have those technical detailed professionals that are
providing their input so we're getting the best of both worlds by doing it that
way and it so I'm in favor of the staff recommendation and excited to see this
take off and go forward go forth and prosper go ahead I'm in favor of it as
well I thought long and hard about even starting this process again and part of
the reason I was I could feel myself dragging my feet was because it is very
arduous when you do it the way that we've done it three times prior to this
because it's convening committees and committees have a role and everybody
Everybody sits in the back and listens, but they don't really have a dialogue as much.
And so this is exciting and dynamic, and the process will be dynamic as well.
And if we engage with the community early on and make them feel welcome to offer their
input, as we guide them into what this input needs to somewhat not be, but what the pride
what we mean when we say what do you want to be 50 years from now not on the
moon I mean I don't know colonized colonized Nevada I'm not sure but I
think it's it will will go slow but we'll end up going faster and more
efficiently as well I'm gonna jump in just because I'm the mayor I can do
that I think I really appreciate the outreach model
that you're using.
The model of a community advisory group
tends to reinforce silos because you pick two people
who like bicycles, you pick two people who like business,
you pick two people who like parks,
and it doesn't encourage the collaboration
that we have the technology,
we have the appreciation for now.
And I'd like council member Dafini's idea
of bringing in innovation from other areas
so that people can help see,
okay, if you break out of your silos,
here's the kinds of things you can do.
So I am in favor of the approach
that you guys are taking to outreach.
Same, I think that's a good approach on that.
Sorry, one other question came up, short one.
You know, I think the research and analysis phase
is perhaps the most important of all of these.
And how do you know when you're done?
Like, what's the, when do you say we've reached
enough people, or is there,
I guess the consultant helps with that?
I mean, how?
We would, yes, the consultant would help with that.
And then, as you said before,
you look at the inventory of what we have now,
and what we're looking for in the future,
and it goes back to the fundamentals
of does it meet our values and vision?
Are we getting there?
Are we getting enough information
to establish what we need in the future?
Yeah, I hope we have a high bar for that in this process.
So I support the proposal.
Any additional questions you guys have for us
that can help you with your RFP?
Are you feeling, you're feeling well-directed?
I'm feeling very well-directed
And the only question I would have of counsel is,
are you ready for this?
I'm ready for this cause I don't have this plane
tomorrow morning at seven o'clock.
So yeah, I'm ready for this.
So thank you guys for that.
I hope, we are your resource as you guys go forward
and feel free to continue to reach out
and we'll get through this and it will be fun.
Thank you.
And with that, is there anything else we need
for the good of the order?
Do we need a motion?
No. No.
In that case, we are adjourned
and everybody can go home and get to bed.