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
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
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Wait your turn and then when you approach the lectern please state your
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council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted
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and equal opportunity to be heard. The city council handbook outlines decorum
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Performance.
Good evening, I am Cindy Darling, mayor of the City of Walnut Creek and welcome to the
Tuesday November 4th regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council.
Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for
which it stands, one nation under God.
City Clerk Susie Martinez, would you please call the roll?
Councilmember Divani.
Here.
Councilmember Francois.
Here.
Councilmember Silva.
Here.
Mayor Pro Tem Wilk.
Here.
Mayor Doran.
Here.
All right.
And tonight, the first thing, first order of business is it is Lung Cancer Awareness
Month.
And we are issuing a proclamation recognizing the significant health impacts of lung cancer
in our society.
And the fact that it affects us all, it affects—I had a friend of mine, her mother passed away
without ever having smoked.
We always think of it as being something like that.
So it's an important health problem here, and we wanted to raise awareness of it.
And I would like to invite Lena Lee with the American Lung Association up to accept this
proclamation for Lung Cancer Awareness Month.
And you can go ahead and introduce yourself, and then I will come around and present the
proclamation and then we do the picture.
Hi, my name's Leanna Lee, and I'm a member of the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative.
Hi, my name is Hannah Popoy, and I'm also a member of the American Lung Cancer Screening
Initiative at Berkeley. So American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative is a
national nonprofit that's composed of students and physicians that are
working together in order to raise awareness about lung cancer and lung
cancer screening. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank the
Walnut Creek Council for recognizing Lung Cancer Awareness Month this November
2025. It's truly an honor to be here today. Lung cancer is now the leading
cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. It is the second most common cancer in the
U.S. with an estimate of over 230,000 diagnoses and over 127,000 deaths this
year alone. Anyone can get lung cancer. It claims more lives than breast, prostate,
and colon cancers combined. Lung cancer has become the deadliest cancer in the
U.S. However, it doesn't have to be. Early detection through lung
cancer screening can catch lung cancer early when it's easier to treat and the
survival rates are higher. Unfortunately the national screening rate is as low as
18% and only 16% of high-risk Californians are being screened. We
strongly encourage all individuals aged 50 to 80 with a smoking history to ask
their doctors about lung cancer screening. It's also important to spread
the word to anyone who you may know who may benefit from the screening. By
advocating together we can help bring awareness to lung cancer and remove the
stigma surrounding it. By disseminating together we can increase screening rates
and decrease lung cancer mortality.
Together, we can help save lives.
Thank you.
Thank you guys very much.
Who's going to do the picture?
I'm going to be right there.
I could do this.
And then we're going to make Matt come out
and do the real picture.
This is a test of my organizational skills here.
Thank you.
You guys want to come on out and join us?
Thank you guys for coming in.
Thank you for having us.
Next on the agenda is I would like to invite Deputy Fire Marshal McAllister from the Contra
Costa County Fire Department or Fire Protection District up to make a presentation to the
Council.
Hi, good evening.
Aaron McAllister with Contra Costa County Fire.
We are your fire department in Walnut Creek.
Thank you for allowing the district a few moments on your agenda just to give you the
latest and greatest and what's happening at Con Fire. One of our big milestones
this past year was the annexation of Rodeo Hercules Fire District. Why is
that important to Walnut Creek? Because it it put together an organization that
had been an outstanding issue for a long long time on the west side and our
resources flow seamlessly throughout the day wherever they're needed. If we have
multiple fragmented fire departments then there's permissions and delays and
coming into a larger organization it really smooth things out and we're able
to serve that community better and serve our other communities better. We added all of their
employees are paramedics and they're kind of scattered throughout the county so some of them
are actually working in Walnut Creek now getting used to the county and seeing new areas they're
not used to working in. So that brings us to 35 staffed fire stations and 41 fire companies.
So here in Walnut Creek we have one engine and one ladder truck so there's seven people.
four on the ladder truck, three on the engine that work at station one, Downtown Walnut Creek,
and of course we have station seven, station four, and then the adjacent stations as well that serve
Walnut Creek. So that takes us to over 670 total staff. We do have a reserve station in Briones
Valley, and the Byron Boys Ranch that is in Byron is now the Byron Wildland Fire Center. That's where
hand crew is located. Fourth of July this year saw a little bit of decrease in our calls for service.
Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was multiple factors, but we did statewide have some very high
profile impacts such as the Asparto incident. Our fire marshal Chris Bachman is serving on a
statewide panel that's going to review fireworks related regulations and hopefully that brings some
positive change as to the fireworks industry and how it's regulated in California to help make
things safer. You can see from the numbers Walnut Creek had very, very few calls for service. In
fact, I don't think we had a fire in Walnut Creek on July 4th this year. New this year was a full
fledged aerial firefighting program locally. Copter One, we hired a helicopter company.
We spent about 1.8 million dollars on that contract. In addition to that, we put a staff member on that helicopter every day.
So the pilots talking to pilots and the fire officers talking to fire officers on the ground,
so one of our employees in the front seat, about a 300 gallon capacity in that tank.
On the helicopter, it's a belly tank, which is distinguished from other aerial firefighting
where there's a bucket which poses an issue flying over occupied homes and the swing.
So we went with the belly tank, which it's able to fly loaded and then respond immediately to the
fire. And they saw busy season. They had 40 fires, they had 232 drops, almost 70,000 gallons of water
was delivered by that helicopter. I do want to point out we had a partner, PG&E paid about
one million dollars of the cost of this helicopter. We wouldn't have been able to do it without them.
But just to give you some glimpse into the future, the need for that is not going away.
We were able to get multiple drops in before the CAL FIRE aircraft arrived,
so the CAL FIRE state aircraft comes from the north and comes from the south, and we're kind
of in Contra Costa where the Olympic rings meet. So we have some longer ETAs for their aircraft,
and so it came in really, really valuable for us. We are looking at what the next version of this
this program looks like. Is it, do we continue to contract at full build out? Do we have
our own aviation program? So we're taking all that into account now. The helo pods,
the board of supervisors dedicated money for five of those, and that's what you see underneath
that helicopter. We've got two of them deployed, and we're looking for homes for the other
three. They need to be near a water source, but we're trying to shorten the reflex time
where the helicopter picks up water to the scene of the fire. A couple significant fires in Walnut
Creek. In the first half of the year, we did have 37 exterior fires. We've had a couple of working
structure fires, a residential fire and a commercial fire through the first half of the year.
A number of working fires as well, compared to last year, were probably on track to hit about
the same number. Okay, the heat map. It's consistent with what you might expect to find.
Downtown Walnut Creek has a density in downtown where we have high number of calls for service.
The other thing that really stands out on this map is Rossmore. It's very apparent where Rossmore is.
It's that valley, and you got some red on the map there. We have a high frequency of emergency
medical calls in Rossmore, but overall throughout the year, fairly steady in the calls for service
in Walnut Creek running about 1000 calls a month.
As you might expect, there are mostly EMS calls.
A couple of those other categories, and I'm sorry that slide didn't quite translate.
It's a little jumbled.
But we do have some ambulance-only calls, and I do want to bring your attention to that.
A lot of people ask, Chief, why do you send a fire engine to everything?
The answer is we don't.
We EMD our calls through our dispatch center.
We triage those calls, and some calls get an ambulance only.
So we don't always send a fire engine to everything.
A lot of those are triage to ambulance only.
And at Walnut Creek, the first part of this year,
we had 1,500 of those calls that got only an ambulance.
I also wanna highlight that we're in the middle
of a remodel at our communication center,
about an $18 million investment in our comm center.
It's been quite some time since that building
has had a refresh and we're actually moving it
from its current location into what was formerly
our headquarters on Geary.
And in addition to rebuilding the comm center,
we're spending about $5 million in technology upgrades,
really the brain of the fire district, the backbone.
We can't do it without our comm center
and all the technology that supports what we do every day.
Feels a little bit odd to be talking about
wildfire preparedness with a storm coming in,
but it is a year round event in California.
We are gonna see significant winds
and we're in that tween period right now
where we do have still a lot of dry grass out there
for the green starting to show through.
So that potential still exists.
On our website and through this QR code
is a preparedness guide
with some recommendations for homeowners.
And I wanna go off script just a little bit.
I got two other items I'd like to cover with you.
First, in the last couple of weeks
we had an EV fire in Walnut Creek.
It was a Jeep, an EV Jeep plugged in charging
in a below grade parking structure
with chargers below grade.
This is kind of worst case scenario for us.
EV fires produce hydrogen fluoride.
It's a highly, highly toxic gas.
And that's in a confined space when it's below grade.
If that's on the roadway,
we can keep a safe distance and try to control smoke.
The good news is all the building systems
worked as intended.
The smoke management system, the sprinkler system.
But at the end of the day,
we had a number of employees and protective equipment
exposed to this toxic gas, their gear is going to have to go back east and be cleaned by
a specialized cleaner at great expense, and if that gear is not able to be cleaned, it
could cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace that equipment.
So I was just at the California Fire Chief's Association annual meeting last week, and
we brought this up with some of our peer agencies, the 15 largest departments in California,
Nobody had had one of these yet in a below grade,
this kind of worst case scenario.
So we are talking to peer agencies,
considering what we should do in the future,
how to address this new hazard that presents itself
to firefighters and the public.
The other item I wanna add in is the fire district
is happy to report that we purchased 1300 Civic Drive.
It's right next to station one,
it's formerly the Mills on Wheels building.
We believe that in 10 years or so,
We're gonna rebuild station one.
There's a lot of construction and development
happening in Walnut Creek,
and this helps the fire district secure that site
and the corner for a future rebuild of station one.
In the meantime, we'll probably do some paint,
carpet HVAC work and occupy that in some form
until we get to a master plan
to rebuild station one in the future.
And with that, I'm happy to take any questions.
Thank you.
I know I had one question.
We hear a lot now about the changes
in defensible space recommendations
and the idea of the zone zero around the house.
Are we gonna see that getting implemented
in Contra Costa County in the near future?
The Board of Forestry is taking up
the zone zero regulations and we expect that to be adopted
by the Board of Forestry by the end of the year.
You may recall there's a delineation
between state responsibility and local responsibility area.
We think that will be pushed into the high
and the very high of local responsibility areas.
So yes, we do anticipate that happening.
Do you anticipate it being something
for new structures or existing structures?
It's gonna be both.
It's gonna be a lot easier to implement on new structures.
And I think the first year or two,
we intend education as does the state
in the existing structures.
Heavy, heavy education.
We don't wanna be heavy handed or anything.
give you my husband's name and phone number. Other questions for Cindy Sillick?
Thank you for being here tonight. So I sit on the Governor's California seismic
safety commission and we're currently conducting a study through Cal OES
which we're a part of on the capability and seismic readiness of the 3,200
fire stations around the state. One of the issues that came up in the Rio del
earthquake three years ago was that the roll-up doors on the fire station when
the shaking was done were stuck. They were jammed and they couldn't get the
doors up for 20 minutes, which could be catastrophic, both for medical as well as
for fire issues. How do our stations in the Contra Costa Fire District
fair. And Vince Wells is on the commission with me. You might know Vince.
Yes, of course. So our stations vary. I mean, we have a number of stations that were constructed
in the last five years. They're, of course, built to the highest, newest standards. We
also operate older stations, such as Station One, that was built in the 60s that do not
meet those current standards. New fire stations for a single company, just for one crew, is
about $12 million, and for a double company for two crews
and enough bedrooms for seven or eight people,
is running $23 million.
It's a very expensive proposition to replace stations.
We do intend to embark on a master plan.
I mean, I could rattle off stations that need replacement,
but we are gonna go towards a master plan
and identify those older stations
that would be the higher priority.
Lastly, I'll add that we do have policy.
Anytime there's anything 3.0 or greater,
we do roll up, all the doors get taken up,
apparatus comes out of the base.
As fast as possible?
Yes.
Okay, thank you.
Other questions?
Councilmember Definni?
Yeah, hi Chief McAllister.
Thanks for coming down to talk to us.
I was wondering, we're seeing a lot of
technology about their activities.
The police were there, the fire department was there,
live music, food trucks, so it was a very good time.
Thank you.
Mayor Pro Tem?
Sure, yeah, the Made in the Shade event is really amazing,
considering that Shadelands was this,
so it was a business park,
but there really wasn't a lot of resident activity there
for many, many years,
and it's just really changed in the last few years.
Big kudos to the Chamber of Commerce
and really the whole Shadelands group
and the PBID and putting all that together.
It is a terrific experience,
and fun for the whole family, as they say.
I also had a walkthrough of the Chick-fil-A
that's going up in the Northgate area.
So along with council member Silva and some staff,
just wanted to see what was happening there,
making sure that some of the things that were brought up
that we had provided direction on Chick-fil-A
were being handled, including expanded sidewalks
and some of the traffic potential issues
that were being mitigated.
And obviously we're going to revisit that
about six months after they opened.
They're expected to finish construction
by about the second, third week of December
and expected to open by the second week of January.
So I'm sure we'll be hearing
about the grand opening at that time.
I did wanna make a plug for our own city
which had a terrific Halloween event
for the city employees last week.
Council member Silva and I were judges
for the costume contests and the carving of jack-o'-lanterns
And it just shows that Walnut Creek,
while we take ourselves seriously
when it comes to the work that we all do
and provide for our residents,
we also have fun within the city itself
and providing a great work-life balance
and fun experience for our own employees.
And I just take real pride in that.
And thank you to our city manager and the fun bunch
for putting all that together.
And lastly, I had the opportunity to visit
the Chamber event, the Business Expo,
which was at the Marriott.
Again, I saw Council Member Silva,
I think you were shadowing me
over the last two weeks.
Or maybe I was shadowing you.
Okay, all right, we'll put it that way.
Whatever you say on that.
But anybody else that might have gone to that,
great event by the chamber, bringing together,
I think it was over 50 different businesses
from Walnut Creek as well as,
I think there were a few from Lafayette.
And just really showing what there is
in terms of commerce in Walnut Creek.
It felt to me like, you know what, we are back.
Walnut Creek is back.
We've been saying that for several years now,
but it's just great to see this level of activity.
And I believe we are now down to the lowest vacancy rates
in downtown that we've been at since prior to COVID,
which is at about 7%, I wanna say.
It was something like that.
But I mean, just to give an example
of the relative vacancy rates in the state.
A lot of us were at the Cal Cities event
where we meet mayors and city managers
and council members from all over the state.
they're at 10 to 15% vacancy rates still downtown
in many, many cases.
They look at Walla Creek and they say,
it's amazing what you've done here.
How can we get there?
And these are people that bring that conversation to me.
It's not like I talk about it.
They say, Walla Creek, oh my gosh,
you guys are doing great.
So again, just a real pat on the back there
to the city staff and the Chamber of Commerce
and our business community
that really makes sure that Walla Creek
is a terrific place to workshop, dine, live,
and just enjoyment for everyone, so it's my update.
Thanks, I'll just jump in now since we're going this way.
I got to do the opening night kickoff
for the Citizens Institute.
For those of you who don't know what that is,
we invite people to apply, and it's a six-week program
where they learn all about the city.
They get to go out and kick the tires on the big trucks.
They get to go down and get locked in the jail,
And we explained to them what a city does.
And it's always a great opportunity
to learn if any of you are interested in what's going on.
We offer it once or twice a year.
Got to go to the ribbon cutting for WC Kitchen
and Bar, which took over the former Opa space.
And it's a local couple who really just
are passionate about their food.
They've really done a nice remodel on the inside.
So it was great to welcome them to our community.
Marin Clean Energy, I sit on the boards, MCE now.
We had our executive committee meeting the other day
and we are working through some issues
that some of the folks up in Marin County have brought up.
As I reported out last time,
the cost of power has been fluctuating wildly.
And so while MCE did not manage to increase
their net position, their income from electricity,
sales was not equal to the amount that they paid for electricity and so we're
looking at ways of balancing that out and the executive committee is working
on that and lastly for those of you who have been following the news with SNAP
and food security which SNAP is called CalFresh here in California. It is not
clear right now what the federal government is doing but the benefits
that are normally distributed as of the first of the month were not distributed
staff has worked to get out information on social media about the various
programs that are available if somebody is experiencing food insecurity. The
local food banks are stepping up and if you are in a position where you can help
the both White Pony Express and the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano are doing
a food drive specifically to help overcome the the gap that is currently
Existing and we'll be out at the farmers market this Sunday and the Walnut Creek farmers market is working with White Pony Express
The White Pony Express already comes and picks up all the extra fruits and vegetables all the perishables from the farmers market
but if you're coming to the farmers market on Sunday, you can bring your
Non perishable items not in glass and there will be a barrel there at the farmers market to help provide
Some resources for those people who might need it
Councilmember Francois.
Hey, thanks mayor and thank you for that update on the food drive at the farmer's market.
I too was able to attend the Citizens Institute at the Lesher Center last week.
Carolyn was gracious enough to host me and it was great to see
the civic engagement and the ability really to showcase one of the crowning jewels in
Walnut Creek's crown, I guess, in terms of the Lesher Center plus our open space, just the ability
kind of to connect with fellow residents. And it was great to see a good group of people there,
civic-minded, engaged people. I told them that I was a graduate of Citizens Institute back in 2007,
so be careful. You never know where this might lead you. And it was a good group, and I think
I think they learned more about the Lesher Center,
and I saw we had an email in our correspondence
from one of the Citizens Institute members
who's already getting civically engaged.
So that's great to see.
Other than that, I had a pretty light couple of weeks.
I did staff the farmer's market booth.
For those of you who don't know,
each of us will take turns.
You'll find a council member there at the farmer's market
on Locust Street from about 10 to noon.
We all kind of call it, in the morning,
sometimes on Sundays.
Two hours, two hours.
Most Sundays, not a holiday Sunday.
And then it's an opportunity to come up,
talk to us about something that's happening
in your neighborhood, a pothole that needs to be fixed,
an issue you're having with a broken street light,
just to say we're doing a great job.
We always like getting those.
But if there's a question or concern or an issue,
it's an opportunity.
And I want to give a shout out to Brianna Byrne.
I had a woman come up to me and ask about safety improvements
at Ignacio and Walnut, and pedestrian improvements
and traffic safety improvements on Sunday.
I emailed Brianna on Sunday, and by Monday morning,
she had already contacted with the resident
and let her know that actually we
have a plan to make improvements at that intersection.
It's funded.
It's underway and here's the timeframe when it will happen
and if you have any follow up questions to contact.
So that's the kind of customer service you get
when you're at Walnut Creek
and if you come to the farmer's market,
we're happy to connect you with the right folks and staff
who will let you know what's going on in the city.
And then just finally a reminder that today of course
is election day and there's about an hour and 10 minutes left
before polls close.
So get down and vote if you haven't already
or turn in your ballot here at City Hall.
We have two ballot drops, one on the parking lot side
and one on the main street side.
And that's my update.
Council Member Silva.
I'll just add to the election reminder,
but those two drop boxes get locked at 8 p.m.
So they will be picked up promptly.
So don't delay.
And every vote counts.
So the mayor and I attended the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission retreat that was held two weeks ago.
It was after our last council meeting.
And with us was Erica Vandenbrandt,
our director of community and economic community development.
And Henry Root was a member of the planning department.
We pleaded our case in a minute time.
We each got a minute.
That's 120 words in case you're wondering.
At rapid fire speed.
They heard a lot of comment about concerns
about the policy.
I'm cautiously off.
I know they heard our comments.
It's not that we are not supportive
of transit-oriented development.
In fact, we've been doing it for 40 years.
It's just that there are some areas
that they've included in the proximity to transit
are unbuildable or unrealistically expectations
with them.
So we have to keep fighting the good fight.
I'm glad you went first.
So more to follow on that.
Last week, I attended the October meeting of the,
I used to say, the Golden Rain Foundation at Rossmore,
but it's now Rossmore Walnut Creek Board.
They have changed their brand.
They are Rossmore Walnut Creek.
and reported on things that we're doing in the city,
listened to some of their reports.
They were very interested in hearing what happened
with the e-bike discussion,
and so I brought them up to speed on that,
and more to follow on that.
Last night's Walnut Creek sister city board meeting,
they had a debrief on the trips to Italy and Sheaf Oak
and the night here in the council chambers,
and they were very excited about how it went here
at the council chamber.
Their plans are underway for the Sheo Folk
students and the Nacetto students
to visit Walnut Creek in the last week of March
and the early part of April.
And so their plans are underway on that.
And also plans are underway for recruiting students
who are eighth graders to participate
in the program for 2026, 2027.
And more information will follow on that.
The Northern California Organization of the Sister
Cities International will have a meeting
and Linda this Saturday and I will be attending that along with the president
of sister cities and finally I will mention that councilmember Francois and
I are the representatives from Walnut Creek to the board of the recycle smart
which is the central cluster Costa solid waste authority it's a joint powers
authority partnership with Danville la marinda the county and Walnut Creek to
provide the trash services,
the organics recycling services,
and the regular recycling services.
Unfortunately, you missed
a great and interesting meeting this last week.
Because we received a report on our waste characterization study,
the results of that study.
In vision, how many of you always wanted to do dumpster diving?
There are people in this world,
at least I got a laugh.
There are consultants that actually collect samples from all of the bins, not
all of the bins, but a representative sampling of the trash, the blue bins, and
the green bins to determine when you basically take it apart and see what's
going on. Are we putting the right stuff in the right bin? It's part of our efforts
to encourage people to recycle more, but recycle the right things in the right
bins and not put the wrong things in the wrong bins.
So the results are in and it gives us a the reason to do a study like this is to actually
be able to determine what you should be putting on the sides of the garbage trucks, you know,
the promotional and educational material.
Like do you remember the the billboard on the side of the trucks with the dog licking
the peanut butter container?
You're not supposed to put the containers in the recycling until it's been reasonably
cleaned out.
A wet paper towel, something like that.
Or a dog.
Dogs are very good at that.
So what we have learned from this study is that first of all there are 62 types of things
that are put in these three bins in six categories with paper, plastics, metal, glass, organics,
and other.
Other being everything that shouldn't be in there.
So some learnings from this study.
While our single family homes are doing well, there are still excessive amounts of organics
in the landfill stream in all three sectors, the customer sectors being single family homes,
multi-family homes, and commercial.
So too much green is in the black or the blue.
The single family sector is highly successful at diverting yard trimmings into the organics
cart, but it's not yet fully embraced putting organics waste from your food scraps in the
green bin.
So, if you're not putting your food scraps into the green bin, you should start.
There is an ongoing need to promote opportunities for hazardous waste and household hazardous
waste disposal opportunities.
A hazardous waste is things like needles, prescription drugs, medications, et cetera.
ways to dispose of all the information about what to do properly is on the
Recycle Smart website. And here is the takeaway from what they found is that
right now our single-family homes are doing 64 percent diversion. That means
that only 36 percent, 36 percent of the trash, I mean is is and that's better
than the state law which is 50% diversion but what they found in the
black in the wrong bins equated to if we put it in the right bins we'd be
diverting 88% of our trash we can do better remember to read the sides of the
bins and there's in even an online I'm gonna bring the online quiz of can you
put it in the right bin and to do with during one of these thank you very much
Mayor. Okay, now that we're all clear on what's going where, next on the agenda is
a public hearing for consideration of to waive the first reading and introduce an
ordinance amending various sections of Title 10 chapter 2 the zoning of the
Walnut Creek Municipal Code to implement the FY 2331 housing element program a
little bit of residential care facilities minor code clean up edits and
and find that amendments are exempt under CEQA,
and I invite staff forward to make a presentation.
Good evening, mayor and the city council.
My name is Frank Kang.
I'm the building official for the city.
It is my honor tonight to present to you
with ordinance for the adoption
of the 2025 building code.
Here is an overview of my presentation.
I will begin with some background information
about the California Building Standard Code
and then discuss the proposed adoption
and the city amendment and then conclude
with recommendations for council's consideration.
So California Building Standard Codes
garbage design and construction of new buildings
and alterations of the existing buildings.
So here are the 13 parts
of these California standards code.
The California WUI code is highlighted in red,
means it is brand new code for this year.
So I will talk a little bit more, update in a minute.
So the California Building Standards Commission
updates the standards codes every three years
in alignment with the revisions of the model code.
local jurisdictions are permitted
to adopt more restrictive amendment
if those amendment can be just justified
by local climatic, geological,
and topographical conditions.
However, now we have AB 130
passed on June 30th of this year,
which has essentially created a six-year memorandum
for the local amendment impacting the residential construction, except you know with two those
amendments meet the following two exceptions. Exception one, even the amendment are substantially
the same as those previously filed in the city and currently in effect. Second option it is
regarding the home hardening. If those amendments for home hardening are proposed by the fire
district, it is acceptable. So this is some information here about the new vehicle. Current
building code chapter 7a only mandated new building in a very high fire hazard severity zone.
and you want a creek, we don't have any of them. However, the new weed coat in the 25, well
mandated building in high fire in a higher, not only the very high, also in a high fire hazard zone,
and we have quite a bit. Here is a map. So the orange color, it is the high, high fire hazard
zone here. You can see some area in rush more surrounded, some area in towards the end of the
right gear and all the way around to the north southeast of the boundary oak area. So they are
the in orange color. The property in those areas will be impacted and codified for the California
we code to be enforced. And what is the impact? So the code requires the exterior wall of the house
to be either non-combustible or one or far away. Roof need to be either class A roof
or it is non-combustible like metal stone or you know those kind of a roofing material.
here it is regarding glazing right if you have an open you have for windows you have to be 20
minutes far ready because the envelope of the wall already one door so the window need to be
20 minutes the door either need to be either 20 minutes far ready or it is if the wood door it
had to be sorry the wood corridor with a one and a three eighth inch of thick just like right now
the garage door we're using right now. So the code also has some requirements for the accessory
structures. If the accessory structure is less than three feet from the main house, then the
accessory building neither comply with the same requirement for the house, regardless of how big
or small it is there. Now if the accessory building is further away from the house,
more than three feet but less than 50 feet and the accessory building is more than 120 square feet,
then again the accessory structure need to comply with the same requirement for the new building.
So the staff proposed to adopt the following 11 parts of the building code.
Amendment, so staff proposed three structural amendments and six flood plan amendments.
All these totally non-amendment are substantially the same as we currently have in enforced,
so we are in compliance with AB 130. Three structural amendments
will restrict certain type of residual materials in commercial and residential constructions,
and also require special inspection for the concrete spread footings to improve the quality
control and the quality of the construction. Again the intent it is to minimize the damage
caused by the earthquake and these two-three structured comments are carried over from the
previous co-section, co-cycle. Six floodplains are made here including the requirement of a higher
standard of freeboard to elevate the building to minimize the water damage and we increase
the area instead of a one-year construction valuation we increase three years accumulated
improvement period to determine if the building existing building qualify you know as a substantial
improvement or repair. If the executive building qualified it, then they had to
elevate the entire, you know, floor and other measures as a new building
proposed in that flood zone area. Justification is this is amendments are
supported by local climatic and the topographical conditions. They are
carried over from previous coast cycles, identical the same. We have one
administrative change, staff proposed to repeal entirely chapter 11 in title 9 of the municipal
code, time of sale, residential weatherization disclosure. This ordinance was adopted in 1983,
required a homeowner to disclose the status of weatherization measures when at the time of sale.
So now, right now we are 42 years later, right?
So the current modern real estate practices,
particularly the routine use of home inspection, you know,
have made this voluntary disclosure ordinance
unnecessary.
Now I'm going to switch gear to two fire ordinance, 25, 14,
and then 25, 15.
So on October 7th, Fire District introduced these two ordinance to adopt a California
Fire Code and a California Wii Code.
The state or county fire have some funding to adjust the amendment unnecessarily.
They set up the public hearing date on November 18th, which is the same day as we are having
the public hearing.
The fire code amendment are carried over
from previous code cycle.
And per the state law, as a member of the city,
we have to ratify the fire amendment,
fire ordinance in order to enforce it.
Now, I wanna talk about the 25-14 ordinance
regarding the Wii Code.
Fire district proposed two amendment.
One is regarding the home, existing homes.
So if the existing homes under substantial addition
or alteration, then the existing home need to comply
the same requirement for new homes.
You may ask, what does that mean?
What's the definition of a substantial addition?
The definition is if somebody proposed addition,
which is more than 50% of the existing square footage
of the house.
And the accumulated area, including existing and the new,
is more than 6,000 square feet.
That's a very big house.
Then the whole entire house need to comply with the requirement.
I just went over, right?
The exterior wall, the roofing materials,
and the glazing door requirement.
Second, Second Amendment, it is for larger development,
more than 30 dwelling units.
And when the perimeter fences,
when it's within 30 feet of a structure or house,
then the fence need to be built
over non-combustible materials.
Cannot be wood anymore.
Here's a picture to show what's that mean.
So this is the show, the fire started as a grass fire,
and then the fire jumped on the perimeter fence
of this neighborhood.
And then the fire started traveling
along the interior fence separate each unit, buildings.
And then the fire jump on the shed,
okay, behind, in the back of the wall, the house,
or next to it, and eventually the fire jump on the house
and burn the entire neighborhood down.
So this is just fine.
It is important way, you know, for the perimeter fence,
if they are less than 30 feet from the main house,
then they had to be built with non-combustible materials.
Again, for larger residential development,
30 or more units over here.
So the staff recommendation is recommended council
to introduce and wave first reading of this ordinance
to adopt 2025 California Building Standard Code
with amendment and set a public hearing date
on November 18th.
So this will conclude my presentation.
or happy to answer a question.
Thank you so much.
Questions?
Council Member Dafini.
I don't have any questions.
I just wanted to pass along a compliment.
I had an opportunity to spend a week
with our fire marshal last week,
and he spoke very highly of you
in the work that you do here in Walnut Creek,
so thank you for your work here,
and we're lucky to have you.
Thank you, Council Member.
Appreciate it.
Questions, council member Francois.
Thanks Frank, good report.
So is it correct that the 2025 building standards code,
will that be the code essentially that remains locked
in place for six years?
For three years, and then I need to come back again,
to do the adoption for the 2028 code.
Again, we need, but the AB 130 lock six years, right?
So when I come back to adopt 2028 code,
I still need to follow the same requirement by law.
I cannot propose any more restrictive amendment
than the code, unless for those already carried forward
from 25 codes, I request it.
That's correct, and additionally,
there are very limited additional exceptions
that some cities have implemented
this round of code updates but three years from now most of those will have
passed as well too so it's really why you have in your codes right now that
you can carry forward. The building standard codes will continue to be
updated on the three-year cycle but in a very narrow window of changes. Correct
yeah they will continue to be updated. The law prohibits local agencies from
amending them it doesn't prohibit the state building standards code from
making the changes I see because the model code update every three years so
we have to follow it in alignment with the revision in the state level all
right thank you sure so another way to say it is our hands are tied in three
years from doing anything at the local level that is over and above what
they're doing at the state. Correct. That picture of the burning fences, that
applies the the additional structural requirements that the fire code has for
apply to developments of 30 houses or more which we have. We don't have
that much land. Unless we start taking over the open space which we're
not going to do. Okay. So it really isn't related to multifamily high rises or low rises.
It's related to single family homes of developments of 30 homes or greater.
30 units or more. They didn't clearly say is that if that is requirement applied to
a condo or something, you see residential. Am I applied to a building with, you know,
building with more than 30 units I need a more clarification for that but right
now the language is that it's more than 30 residential units that's the
language they propose all right yeah I think that's all I wanted clarification
on thank you okay thank you as somebody in the very high zone so it sounds like
the requirements do not kick in unless you're doing a really major remodel just
a kitchen remodel or something like that.
The remodeling, substantial remodeling,
thank you Darren for this question,
basically said substantial remodeling definition
is alteration definition.
If you run, if you altered the both interior wall
and exterior wall, more than 50% of it, the lens.
Plus you remove more than 50% of the roof.
So that's a very substantial alteration, you know.
But a simple re-roof wouldn't.
No, but not a trigger.
I mean, you would obviously not be
replacing it with a wooden shake roof,
but it doesn't bring in all those other things.
The justification from Fire Marshall, Fire District is,
if you already changed, modified more than 50% of the wall,
and also you modify 50% or more of the roof,
Now, why not just to kind of with the entire house
probably current code to make it a home
RNA for the entire house?
That's your justification.
I think it makes sense.
That does make sense.
Thank you very much.
Any additional questions?
All right, we'll go ahead and open this up to public hearing.
It's open for public comments, if somebody
has comments on the building code and all those fun things.
Step forward and I do not see anybody
We'll go ahead and close the public hearing and turn it back over to the council for discussion deliberation and a motion
Not a mayor
I'd move to waive the reading and introduce the attached ordinance amending title 9 of the Walnut Creek
municipal code to adopt the
2025 edition of the California Building Standards Code by reference and with local amendments and to set a public hearing for November 18th
2025 second
Roll call, please
Thank you very much as a complicated subject, I appreciate you walking us through that
Next on the agenda is the public hearing on consideration to waive the first reading and introduce ordinate an ordinance prohibiting the use of
gasoline powered leaf blowers. Oh
Did I miss one? Oh
Shoot darn it. I thought we were doing good
Okay, yeah
Hello, Mayor of Mayor Pro Tem Council. I'm America van and brand the community development director
I will do my darndest to get us through this so you can get to that item, but
Okay sign or sign ordinance
So today just to go through this room very briefly. We have a project overview for the sign ordinance update in the timeline
Share results with you of the outreach stakeholder outreach that we did as well as we have a sign
You know working group
composed of our members from our public or planning Commission and then design review Commission and then next steps
so with that
The purpose of this is to eventually create contemporary standards that provide flexibility
to address our communities evolving needs the last time the city went through a
Comprehensive update of the sign ordinance was back in 1995. I remember it well because I have a daughter at that age
but
So what we would like to do is to clarify the intent of the signage in the community in the city's roles and we're looking
Tonight for you to give some feedback around that
Ultimately, then to update the city's signed regulations and then along with that are signed design standards and guidelines
So just you know a quick time arc over here
We started this project before covid in 2019 and there had been some initial
You know outreach to the community and then covid came and so the project was paused. We restarted it
again last year and
in earnest this year where we
had a joint meeting of our Planning Commission
and then our Design Review Commission
to get feedback about the project
and also to select two individuals,
one from each commission to help serve
as a working group to help us serve
as a touchstone for the project.
Subsequently, we did quite a bit of community outreach,
reaching out to a variety of folks
which I'll share a little bit later,
and then this fall coming back to you
because you had asked to come back to you
before we started drafting any kinds of ordinances
or anything for your consideration.
And then ultimately in early 2026,
we hope to be able to bring forward to you
a new revised updated sign ordinance for your consideration.
So for those of you who haven't memorized the sign code,
This is just some excerpts from our municipal code.
And so back in 1995, the intentions by council
were these, to provide minimum standards for the signage
for all the reasons that are listed there,
to promote traffic safety by controlling the design,
quality of materials, et cetera.
But also to encourage creative and innovative approaches
to signage, not signing.
That would be really clever.
And then signs that are a quality design that are pleasing the parents, the aesthetics and
appropriate and sized materials, the type of activity in the neighborhood they're located
in.
Fortunately signage is not regulated the way that housing is.
Continuing that is that also to encourage signs that are compatible with the building
that it is attached to because, you know, these are tended to be attached to buildings
for the most part, and they're compatible with neighboring buildings and businesses.
To also support, you know, neighborhood values, property values in the visual environment
by discouraging signs that contribute to visual clutter in the streetscape.
And then additionally to identify businesses in attractive and functional matter, not serve
primarily as general advertising for the business.
And keep that one in mind because that's one area of discussion I'm sure that you'll want
to have some talk and debate over.
And then lastly to discourage signs that cause a traffic hazard or interfere with ingress
or egress.
So trying to make sure that things don't block people getting to and fro.
So with that, we conducted quite a bit of outreach.
We had an online questionnaire.
It focused primarily on businesses, property owners,
but we also received feedback from the public.
And this questionnaire really was focusing on
what is the intention that people wanna use signage for?
And I'll get into those details in just a sec.
We also met with the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce
and the Walnut Creek Downtown Association
to request feedback.
And also they helped us amplify getting the message out
to their constituencies.
And we also requested specific feedback
from recent businesses within the last two to three years
that had gone through the sign permitting process.
So with that, the online questionnaire
that we just shared with you,
we received 23 total responses.
And while that may not seem like a huge universe,
it is a big universe for signage.
And many of those responses were for groups of businesses,
think shade lens and so forth.
But most of them, or significant proportion,
were from retail businesses
and then business property types.
So that shopping centers, business parks, et cetera.
So we did have a broad array of representation for people
that have been very vocal over the years
about the sign ordinance and wanting to see some changes.
So summary key themes of this, so that business and property
owners generally expressed a need desire
for more permissive regulations that
met more modern marketing needs through a balanced approach
to standards, but really focused on business visibility, branding, creativity, and maintaining
the city's character, and so that's a balance over there, and in these four areas, we've
summarized and subsequent slides for visibility and location, A-frame signs, one of our favorites,
sign and design flexibility, and then process improvements.
So in terms of visibility and location, the stakeholder feedback was that they wanted
to be able to have more visibility from both the street and sidewalk because they felt
was essential for their business success.
And they had requests for updates to the sign standards essentially for more signage on
building sides, upper levels and intersections so that more.
The working group offered that for businesses that are on the upper floor or setback businesses
to look at requiring directories or allowing for additional A-frames for upper level setback
businesses, so allowing that specific sign type, and also to promote visibility at the
ground level in downtown, but avoid skyline signs for a number of different reasons, one
which was light pollution from signage for nearby residential uses, because we're
having more and more of them in the downtown area of the residential uses.
And then also to avoid visual clutter. A-frame and temporary signage. So
stakeholder feedback was that A-frame signs are considered crucial for foot
traffic and seasonal promotions. The request was for clearer, more flexible
rules for A-frame signs and temporary signs, especially in downtown, citing confusion over
current restrictions and consistent enforcement.
The working group feedback was that if there's a desire for A-frame signs that they'd be
more temporary in nature rather than permanent, to develop design standards to minimize the
visual impact of A-frame signs so that one of the things that they talked about was limiting
the size, and then also trying to find ways to address the difficulty of enforcement standards.
I'm going to pause right there to share with you that in 2015 there had been a pilot program
that had been, you know, launched and that trying to have down, you know, to figure out
in the downtown A-frame signs what that might look like, and it kind of went its own way,
if you will, during the COVID period.
And so now we're trying to figure out how to help better navigate that through the sign
ordinance.
And the reasons why are that temporary turned into permanent and that in this picture to
the left, you have six A-frame signs all in a row despite the fact that on the buildings,
the business names are there, similarly in the top middle area that there are A-frame
signs.
And then the lower middle, there's an associate, there are, quote, temporary signs because
they can move and so forth, but they all advertise the same business.
And similarly, on the right-hand side, there are three signs, several which are actually
blocking, you know, pedestrian access and right away here in the downtown.
heard a lot from the
signed committee and then earlier whenever there was a joint meeting between the Planning Commission and the
Design Review Commission about that which is why a frame and temporary signs are highlighted
Okay onward
size and design flexibility
So the stakeholder feedback basically they wanted more they wanted to be able to use signage for branding so more marketing
And having more design flexibility and that to avoid
overly uniform or prescriptive requirements.
And also, you know, wanted to, you know,
enhance community character or local character.
The working group feedback was that to establish
pedestrian-oriented sign standards in the downtown area,
and that's true not just simply for A-frame signs,
but also we have blade signs now that are perpendicular
to a building that in 1995 we didn't allow.
And then look at the use of exploring overlay zones
or form-based codes to allow for flexibility
in the standards and allowing it to evolve.
Modifying the sign and height standards where appropriate
so that looking at things in different neighborhoods
and so forth, and having more tailored towards specific areas.
And then also providing more flexibility within master sign programs.
So right now, we require a master sign program whenever there are more than five, six buildings
with signs associated with them, or there's going to be some complexity of signs.
We asked for that to be done voluntarily for larger buildings, that there may not just
simply be one if there are two or more businesses there.
So to be able to do that, but then also to establish
a scheduled update of requirements and incentives
for property owners to update master sign programs
because right now many of our sign programs
are done in an earlier age and it's quite a process
to actually update them and so there was some recognition
that trying to provide those incentives
to offer more flexibility.
And it's not just our flexibility,
it's the flexibility being asked for by the property owner
for the master sign programs.
In terms of stakeholder feedback,
we received comments about process improvements.
So to improve permitting processes to be clearer
and use less technical jargon.
Creating tools to help people
through the permitting process, like a checklist
or online information hub, and then also a recognition
that outdated master sign programs can be restrictive
to the tenants.
So, we've got at least one of these underway
in terms of improving the processes
and process improvements.
And then the corollary with that is that we're looking
at also refinements as part of that process
for our online information hub and checklists.
Working group feedback was that they were highly supportive
of a central online hub for signed standards
and requirements to help lead people through the process.
So that's a customer service kind of thing.
And then also finding ways to help the city
to help users, especially first time users
through the process.
And so as part of the process improvements
that we're undertaking, that is indeed,
as I had mentioned earlier,
one of the things that we're working on.
With that, it is a lot of information.
And I can go back if you want me to, et cetera,
but we're looking for your feedback on this.
And you don't have an action to take tonight,
but it's more what, given everything you heard,
what your feedback is and any guidance or direction
you'd like to offer before we go back to the working group
and planning commission and design review commission.
Thank you, Erica.
That was quite a lot of work represented there
and I really appreciate it
because I've heard about this issue for a while
and I think it's good that we're getting back to it.
Questions on the part of council?
Go ahead.
Thank you, Erica.
That is a lot of information.
We certainly have heard about signage whenever there's something, a new business goes up.
Talks about temporary signage.
What is the definition of temporary, like a temporary A-Frames?
Yeah.
There's so many things that happen in development.
It depends.
And it depends on whether it's a real estate sign, that it's more ephemeral, whether it
is a seasonal A-frame sign or whether it is a grand opening
sign.
And all those are types of temporary signage,
but they have different time requirements on it.
And so each of them will be identified
so that there's less ambiguity when somebody
does put up an A-frame?
That there would be less ambiguity and clarity
about whether it's actually allowed or not.
OK, OK.
And then ultimately, who would approve these?
still go through the DRC and the Planning Commission?
So right now, for design review and these actions for signage,
it stops at DRC.
They still have decision-making authority over there.
OK.
Did we get Walnut Creek downtown's perspective?
I see Kathy here in the audience.
But I would be interested.
Maybe when there's public communication,
actually, then you can speak to that.
That would be helpful.
Great.
Thanks, that's it for me now.
Councilmember Silva.
Thank you, first of all, this has been a long time coming.
Who are who is on the working group and how big is it?
So it's one member from one member from Design Review Commission.
So Phil Newsom and then Stephen Kwok from the Planning Commission.
and they were they were identified as the representatives for the respective
commissions and a joint meeting between the planning commission and the design review commission
and are there staff members on it as well there are not staff members on the committee but i am
the staff to this so i carry forward their um i'm carrying forward their message right now
How big is the sign ordinance or guidelines if I came in and I had a new
business and I wanted to how many pages would I be handed? I think it's 18. Is it
read like an ordinance or does it read like a guidebook with pictures? It reads
like an ordinance. Oh how delightful. Councilmember Francois. Thank you Erica
This has been a long time coming in.
What comes out of the other end of the sausage grinder?
Will it be something more like the objective design standards
that we apply to housing projects?
So there will be a set of objective standards
that come with this.
Unlike the housing projects,
it doesn't need to be nearly quite as defined
because we can, the city still has the ability
to have a level of subjectivity involved with it,
but for clarity for the business community,
the most, the better we can get
to these objective design standards
and be able to articulate what they're allowed to do
and not allowed to do, it makes it so much easier
for the development community to be successful.
I agree with that.
Can you broadly kind of characterize
what the subjectivity factors are?
or is it the size is set, right?
The size is set.
Recently, within the past year, we
had a question about whether or not
you could have a chicken on three sides of a building
versus two.
And things like that.
Sometimes it's bigger than breadbox,
smaller than an elephant, for how much of your window space
that you can put things on, et cetera.
but those are really the kinds of things.
And there are some, usually where there's more subjectivity
and discretion involved is to where on the dial
or where on the needle in terms of the number of signs
for any individual business and how,
what the balance is between identifying place
and the business name versus advertising
and branding and marketing.
Then in terms of the feedback, I can think of a few instances,
and I can share them with you offline,
but one retail establishment downtown and then
one medical establishment out in the shade lens, who both had,
it seemed like, difficult sign permitting experiences.
Was there an effort made to reach out
to kind of recent disgruntled applicants, or?
yes. And so we have gotten, I think the feedback is represented, you know, here
and in a kinder, nicer, gentler way. Maybe that's, I'll save it for a comment for
later. Thank you. Thank you for this. It's been a long time coming, especially
on the A-frames because it seemed like it was kind of the Wild West there for a
while downtown, and I know that's COVID related and everything like that. So is
the intent to identify specific pots of types of signs like grand opening signs,
second floor science, second floor business signs, daily special signs? So
what we attempted to do in the construct of the questionnaire was to get clarity
about what do you want to use signage to do.
So do you want to use signage to be able to identify place
and business?
Do you want to be able to use signage to evangelize
about your business?
Do you want to be able to use signage to talk about
the daily special, whether it's ice cream or a restaurant
or some, you know, sale or seasonal sale?
Or, you know, do you want to be able to project it
to the freeway so that people know where they're going to for a hospital, for example.
Okay.
And so, as far as how long a sign can be out, is there going to be direction?
Because there are some signs that pretty much turn permanent downtown.
Is there going to be direction on who gets to leave theirs out all the time and which
signs are expected to only make periodic appearances?
So that is one question, if that is something the council would like to see with clarity,
can offer that the sign ordinance update working group had made suggestions about dialing things
in specifically so that the signage that was A-frame signage, for example, would be supplementary
so that here's the special the day the soup de jour as opposed to this is what
we do all the time or if there was in the grand opening special or if there
were a seasonal sign but seasonal not being defined as 365 days a year okay
all right um anybody else have questions thank you for guiding us through this
and we will open it up for public comment and then we will bring it back up here to
provide that generous feedback that we are good for doing.
Open it up for public comment, step forward to the podium if anybody wants to.
Please complete a speaker card once the podium introduce yourself and City of Residence for
the record and everybody gets two minutes.
You might get a little longer since there's many of you.
Thanks.
650 of us.
the Matthew Hemingway Walnut Creek Downtown Association.
I live in Lafayette, but live here as well,
on behalf of the Walnut Creek Downtown Association.
Yes, we have been involved,
our businesses have been involved in the outreach
that Erika had mentioned, both in focus groups
and in surveys, and it's been a project
that we've been working on the 18 years that I've been here.
Erica had mentioned the previous program that started
or was facilitated in 2015.
So through the city, we helped facilitate
the temporary outdoor display program.
And so that was seasonal.
That was something that pre-COVID we had been talking about.
Could that be something that could be adjusted
to be year round for the reason
that the seasonal permit took place in April to October,
and then all the signage and the displays
had to be brought in, mostly because of the weather,
but then the businesses feedback to us was,
well, that's when they really needed it,
kind of post-holiday time,
mostly in the first quarter of the calendar year,
when things are a little bit quieter.
So that's where we were starting to lean into
working through a year-round program.
So, happy to revisit that and also happy to help
facilitate any of the programs as they get finalized.
And then as far as specifics,
as far in the signage space and size and all of that,
we get a little bit of both from our businesses.
Some have had it with the amount of A-frames
dot the blocks and others express that that's an important part of their
business in communicating the soup of the day or different specials or
different ideas. So we get a little bit of both but I think some type of
continued effort to create some formations and guidelines would be
helpful. And I think that pretty much focuses or answers the questions that I
talked about or that we had also oh and then one other thing was just the
flexibility to be extended into the proposed artwork to reflect the
business's unique brand so just some flexibility to have some creative artwork
in the outdoor signage. Thank You Kathy. All right make sure I'm in the right
place we're done with the sign ordinance next on the agenda is public
hearing on the ordinance amending various sections of the zoning code to
implement a housing element program regarding residential care facilities
and a minor code cleanup and edits and I will turn it over to staff for the
presentation. Thank you. Good evening Mayor Darling, Mayor Pro Tem. Welcome
members of the council. I'm Crystal DiCastro, principal planner in the
community development department and for tonight's following item is a request
for council to consider and adopt an ordinance amending various sections of
the zoning code related to residential care facilities along with minor code
cleanups and edits. State law requires cities to address barriers to housing
development for a vulnerable population such as persons with disabilities, low
income households and seniors. Consistent with this requirement the city's housing
element requires an amendment to the zoning code to increase the flexibility
residential care facilities or RCFs in all zones that allow residential uses
and to reduce their parking requirements. The City's zoning code defines two types
of residential care use. The first one is residential care home and the second one
is residential care facility. A residential care home refers to a small
facility that serves six or less individuals allowed by right in
residential care in residential zones for state law. A care facility refers to
larger facilities that serve seven or more and they're allowed in some zones
and others require use permits. Both types provide 24-hour non-medical care
for daily living and are licensed by the state. State law requires cities to treat
care homes like any other residential use. To support and implement the city's
housing element program and expand housing opportunities, the proposed
amendment would update the definition of care homes and care facilities to
clearly distinguish that care homes includes six or less fewer persons and
care facilities are seven or more persons. It would update the base district
regulations to allow care facilities where care homes are allowed and it
would reduce off-street parking for non-residential zones.
In residential zones, the same parking standards
for the underlying zoning district would apply.
But in non-residential zones, a reduction in employee parking
is proposed.
The proposal includes reducing the required number
of off-street parking spaces for employees from one space
to 0.75 spaces per employee, while maintaining
the current 0.25 spaces per bed requirement.
So how was this proposed parking ratio determined?
So staff evaluated four existing care facilities
in Walnut Creek, analyzing their existing parking condition
under three parking alternatives.
These outcomes were then compared
to the existing parking standards of three nearby cities,
the city of Dublin, Pleasanton, and Pleasant Hill.
As highlighted in green in this table,
alternative one provides a moderate reduction
total parking. Helps avoids over parking in residential areas, maintains adequate
capacity for both staff and visitors, and aligns with regional practices and
trends. Yesterday on November 3rd the city received a letter requesting
additional language to specify the maximum number of beds permitted for
care facilities to be based on what can be feasibly be placed in a building. For
For clarification, staff reviews care facility applications on development standards such
as setbacks, height, parking, and landscaping or floor area ratio in non-commercial areas,
in non-residential areas.
So staff doesn't regulate the number of beds as this is governed and licensed by the State
Department of Social Services.
The proposed zoning amendment does not change this process or override the DSS licensing
authority.
Therefore, with the proposed ordinance, the City's reviews will remain the same, focused
on local development standards, while the State continues to determine how many beds
will be licensed for each facility.
Also proposed are minor code cleanup items, and they include adding the definition of
objective standards for clarity, removing outdated summary use table.
This will avoid redundancy, reduce conflicting information and also this data is available
online on the city's parcel viewer that's through our GIS system.
Also these uses are listed with each zoning district chapter.
And then next is amending the ADU ordinance and JADU regulations.
the ADU ordinance aligns with the recent state laws related to occupancy, fire
sprinklers, demolition pyramids, and noticing. And then updating the JADU
regulations are related to owner occupancy and prohibiting short-term
rentals for JADUs. These minor code edits reflect the city's current
practices. On October 9th, the Planning Commission recommended City Council
approval of the proposed ordinance. Therefore staff recommend City Council
to find the zoning ordinance exempt from CEQA and waive the first reading and
introduce the zoning ordinance including the revisions on the errata sheet. This
concludes the presentation and staff is available for any question. Thank you
very much for that. Questions? Councilmember Francois. So thank you
Crystal for that and for the summary and for the Planning Commission update too. In
In terms of the comment we received on beds,
I thought you staff provided a good explanation,
but just to kind of clarify,
and our regulations and these regulations
would not restrict the number of beds
that could be put in a residential care home
or a residential care facility.
No, it would not restrict that.
We're not restricting residential care facilities
or care homes.
The State Department of Social Services
regulates the number of beds within the facility.
We define the envelope of a building
of a residential care home or a residential care facility
based on whatever standards apply in that zoning district.
Correct.
So in residential areas it's defined by setbacks or height.
In non-residential it's typically by floor area ratio.
Okay.
And then the number of beds could come into play
in terms of how we characterize it.
Like you were saying, if it's six or fewer,
it's a residential care home.
Yes, by definition.
But still the number of beds,
how many beds you can fit into that building
is set by the state?
Yes, by the State Department of Social Services.
Okay, do those processes run concurrently?
Like how do you know how many beds you can have
and you get the zoning approvals first
or do you get the licensing from the state first
so you know how many beds you can have?
So it would be up to the applicant
to obtain that information from the State Department
they would say how many beds they're going to have and then once we get the
application and it says how many beds they have then they have to follow
specific building and safety codes. Okay so likely they would get the state
approval first and then come to the city? Likely typically. Thank you. Thank you.
Councilmember Silva. So what is like in our experience to this point residential
care homes are more like single-family homes that have been converted to
residential care facilities? Yes we typically see them in residential zones,
duplexes, or single-family homes. The residential care facility is more likely
to be in a non-residential? Yes. But if you have a four-bedroom house and you
put two beds in each of the four bedrooms you have a residential care
facility, right? You would. Okay. So you really, it's it's what he said. Yes, so
it's it's it's really based on the definition, so the capacity of how many
individuals are residing there. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Other questions?
No, it sounds like, have you heard back from the party that commented on
Larky Lane that they're satisfied with your answer or do we know no sitting in
the audience okay we'll get to that we'll hear from them tonight all right
I don't have any questions at this time so thank you very much for that and we
will go ahead and open the public comment period up everybody anybody that
would like to comment on this agenda item come on forward fill out your
speaker card come up and identify yourself and your city of residence and
you have two minutes. Good evening how's it going you guys my name is Tyler
Wagner coming from Concord California soon to be a Walnut Creek resident. Yeah
so I think it's great that the city is moving forward in making the zoning
amendments necessary for the residential care facilities in the residential zone.
I think that goes to show that you guys are for the seniors especially the upcoming wave of incoming
Senior population that we're going to be seeing
And so yeah
So part of the reason I'm coming here today is behalf on behalf of the property owner to six fourth to four six three
Larky Lane
yeah, we just wanted to clarify and
talk to you guys in terms of the
interpretation on how you got this municipal codes interpretation on the maximum bed count
I believe in a Planning Commission meeting last month
There was talk about and there was just talk about again about how the maximum bed count would be set by you know
The governing agency the DHS over
The maximum bed count and what they would allow
Our only concern is that there's nowhere in the code in the municipal code that actually says this and so you know
our concern is just memorializing the fact that you know in your guys's
municipal code that it states this and that it's clear and that we're all kind
of on the same page so that the zoning code can be more easily interpreted from
developers who want to build residential care facilities in Walnut Creek in the
future. Thank you very much. Any other public comment? All right we'll go ahead
close that and then bring it back up here and I knew there was going to be
some reaching for the buttons. Yeah no I appreciate the public comments and I
you know I think we made it probably about as abundantly clear as we could
tonight and I'm happy to say it again that the city doesn't regulate the beds
that that's regulated by the state so we have no control it's not part of our
zoning code it's not something we limit or restrict you to that's something
that's licensed by the state not by the city of Walnut Creek. What we have control over
is that the foot the development envelope and those code standards are already set basically
and we're simply saying that these care facilities in order to blend in and fit in with the neighborhoods
that they're going into have to fit meet the height size setback limits of existing development
in that area. So I think staff did a good job of clarifying that and I appreciate we have something
in writing too that's part of the record that makes it clear so not just us saying it on the
record but unless there are any other comments I think this is good public policy that we're
planning for the wave of seniors that are already here and that are coming and that we're allowing
people to age in place in their neighborhoods or in neighborhoods, not necessarily having
to go to a dedicated senior retirement area if they don't want to, to be able to, you
know, live and be able to walk downtown and do all the sorts of things that they did when
they perhaps owned their own single family home.
So I'm prepared to support this, but I'll allow my colleagues to make their comments
as well.
other comments? Just I'm supporting it as well. I think this is important at this
time. And I think I'm supporting it. I want to say we have a clear response to
the issue that you're concerned about. I understand why you're concerned about it
but I think we've made it clear, not legislative intent, but you know we're
clear on what we're doing here tonight. Councilmember Silva did you have anything?
I'm supporting it as well and I think we have we have no evidence that we have
been in a practice of not abiding by state law and not staying in our lane
and we have many residential care homes and residential care facilities in the
community and we know what DSS's responsibility is and we know what ours
is. I was truly amazed during COVID I was helped distributed some materials to
of the various, I was like, wow, that's a care home.
What?
That's a care home.
It was, you only can find them by the little COVID signs
that were on the door.
And Kai, would you like to make a motion?
I would.
So I'd move to waive the first reading
and introduce an ordinance amending various sections
of Title 10, chapter two zoning
of the Walnut Creek Municipal Code
and making a CEQA exemption finding
under section 15061B3 of the CEQA guidelines.
Second.
will call please. Councilmember Francois? Aye. Councilmember Silva? Aye. Councilmember
Davini? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Wolk? Aye. Mayor Darling? Aye. Okay now thank you and thank
you all for thank you Crystal and thank you for supporting Walnut Creek and
being willing to invest in it. So now we will move on to the deeply anticipated
next agenda item where we waived the first reading and introduced the
ordinance prohibiting the use of gasoline powered leaf blowers and I
invite the staff forward to make the presentation. Good evening Mayor and
City Council. My name is Candice Rankin-Mumby, I'm the city's sustainability
manager and I'll be providing the presentation tonight on the proposed
gas-powered leaf blower ban. So we'll start by providing some background on
both the legislative landscape and some of the environmental and health reasons
that have led to similar bans and other jurisdictions. Then we'll go over the
proposed policy, give overview of outreach that's been conducted and then
discuss what plans we'd have for implementation if adopted. So to begin
with the background on the state and local regulations, the sale of small
off-road internal combustion engines, which includes gas powered leaf blowers,
has been prohibited in California since January of 2024. The implementation of
that state policy is managed by the California Air Resources Board. Local
Regulations have existed in California cities long before then and our research
Indicates that at least a hundred other cities in California have some sort of restriction on the type of gas power or the type of
Leaf blowers that are able to be used
Some of the nearby cities with these kinds of restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers include Lafayette, Pleasanton, Piedmont,
Emeryville, Oakland, and Nevada
During outreach for our sustainability action plan, which was adopted in July of 2023 by the city council
Staff received interest from the community and including a gas power leaf floor ban as part of that plan
This feedback resulted in two actions in the plan to address the health and environmental concerns from gas power leaf floors
action 15.1 is to adopt a community-wide ban on the use of gas power leaf floors for homes and businesses to be phased in over
three years following plan adoption
The item before you tonight would allow staff to implement that action and then action
Two addresses the city's own use of leaf blowers in our fleet and that action is already been addressed
So one of the main drivers for this type of policy that's led to it being included in our sustainability action plan are health concerns
So the health impacts of gas power leaf blowers
Are you know various and they result from several different pollutants that are listed on this slide here?
So because their engines burn fuel inefficiently and in close proximity to people they result in
potential health concerns including increased risk for respiratory issues,
challenges with coordination and focus, skin and eye irritation, and potential increase in cancer risk.
There's also environmental concerns from gas-powered leaf blowers. They create a few different types of environmental pollutants.
The first type
relates to urban smog and
Research from the California Air Resources Board has found that one hour use of a typical leaf blower
Is equivalent to smog producing pollution that would be produced if you drove from Los Angeles to Denver
further gas-powered leaf blowers produce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and
Implementing the gas-powered leaf blower ban will result in approximately 2% of the emissions reductions included in our sustainability action plan
So the proposed policy structure would add a chapter to the sanitation and health section of the municipal municipal code
banning the use of
Deployment of someone to use a gas-powered leaf blower or to use one yourself within the city of Walnut Creek
The property owner would be responsible for ensuring compliance with the policy on their property
The policy does allow for limited exceptions by first responders in emergencies
So next we'll give an overview of outreach that's been conducted
so this has been a focus of our sustainability team over the last two years. We've conducted
general outreach to the community in person at community events including the locust fair and at
the Shadelands farmers market. We've also met with representatives from the business and
environmental community and we shared information through the nutshell or eco newsletter, the city
managers update, and through the creation of a leaf floor webpage and related interest list,
interest email list. Over 90 percent of the feedback that we've received from
the community has been in support of the ban. We've also done more targeted
outreach to those stakeholders that we feel would be more impacted by the
potential policy. That includes commercial property managers, homeowners
associations, and landscaping businesses. So we've developed an outreach list of
about 400 contacts in these categories and in September we sent that pictured
mailer and English and Spanish to those addresses. We also followed up with landscaping companies
when phone numbers were available, which was about 90 of the businesses on our list.
And we left voice messages with those who did not answer, but we were able to talk to about a third
of the landscaping businesses that we had phone numbers for. And of those that our staff spoke
with, 40% already had some electrically floors in their fleet and indicated that they'd be able to
comply with the policy if adopted. Another 11 percent shared some concerns about the
potential policy and that was focused mainly on the cost to transition and the effectiveness of
electric equipment and then the remaining 49 percent were relatively neutral on the policy and
mainly just asked when it would be implemented if it was adopted. And we intend to continue outreach
with this list if the policy is adopted with updates. So following up on the main concern that
And that we heard the cost to comply.
Costs vary greatly depending on the business structure and the quality of equipment that
businesses would choose to use.
Batteries do make up a significant portion of the cost.
Research that staff have reviewed indicate that the cost to transition one commercial
equipment and the associated battery equipment could be approximately $1,000 to $3,000 for
that one piece and supporting equipment.
And the overall cost to operate the equipment should save about $10,000 over the life of
the equipment in lower fueling costs, so for electricity versus the gasoline.
And then also they require less maintenance kind of similarly as you might have heard
about electric vehicles compared to internal combustion engines.
So with that savings over the life of the vehicle, they're expected to break even the
cost in one to three years of regular use in the type that a landscaping company might
have. There are, from our outreach that we've done to local retailers and
manufacturers, there are often financing opportunities available that can also
help offset the upfront cost. So additionally we've heard concern about
the equality of available equipment. Technology has improved significantly
over the last several years in electric leaf blowers and as mentioned previously
for the last almost two years they're the only options that you can buy in the
state. And so our understanding from our research is that though the operation of this equipment is
different and might take some adjustment on the end of the user when used appropriately following
manufacturers instructions, what's available now is equivalent to the potential older gas-powered
equipment that these businesses may be currently using. So education is critical to the successful
implementation of the proposed policy. Sharing information and resources will likely be a faster
and more effective way to encourage change than enforcement action. If adopted, community outreach
on the policy will be our primary method to achieve compliance. When complaints are received,
staff will plan to share information on the policy and resources for transitioning away from
gas powered equipment and services with the property owner with the potential violation.
If enforcement action is needed, the policy would follow the same process as our other
regulations in the municipal code.
This process does require significant staff time and also significant evidence of violation
for a citation to be issued.
And staff will continue this targeted and general outreach throughout to try to achieve
voluntary compliance.
So with that, I'll turn over to our recommended action.
before I'll take questions I might ask our city attorney to give you an update
on a potential amendment we'd recommend to the ordinance that's included in your
packet. Thank you Candace. One of the comments that the council received today
was specific to the wording of the ordinance and there was a question about
whether it was confusing to the reader or might not be fully accomplishing what
we were trying to do and so what we've done is revised the language in section
which is really the essence of the prohibition in the ordinance, to make it clear that the
ordinance is intended to prohibit any person, business, or entity who owns or manages a
rent's property in the city, so that's the actual owner, manager, if you will, the person
renting property, or anyone that they retain to use gas-powered leaf blowers within the
limits and so we thought this language is clear and makes it clear that we are
having this ordinance apply to the property owners the property managers if
you will not directly to enforcement against the landscapers themselves so
let me make sure I understand that so if you get a complaint the initial contact
will be to the person who owns the property not tasting down the
landscaper? That's correct yeah and the and the enforcement and as
Candice is indicating the educational efforts will be geared towards that
person because they're the ones who are in control of the property as we're
going forward. And our intent would be in the education that we provide to share
materials to share with the landscaper business owners so that they can help
facilitate that conversation. Okay, questions for staff. Councilmember Phinney?
Are you done with your presentation? Okay. I like this wording. I had a similar
concern, so I guess, so I have a few questions. The thing that we've
heard about, well I guess it's comments. I'm sorry I'm getting ahead of myself.
I don't have questions right now. I have comments. I'll wait until afterwards.
Hold the comments.
I've got some questions, thank you, Candice.
Obviously, we've been hearing a lot about this for, oh my gosh,
probably ever since I've been on city council, eight or nine
years.
So understanding that there are still
going to be this cost to independent individual
landscapers.
We're talking about one leaf blower, maybe they have one,
maybe they have two.
I doubt they have an extra few thousand dollars lying around
in many cases.
So how can they afford to quickly transition
to electric blowers within 30 days without help?
We haven't budgeted for this.
Some of the assistance that's in the county
isn't available now for it.
So what do we recommend?
I mean, are we recommending this to staff or it's like,
well, out of our hands, you gotta make the transition.
So as staff, we wish we had money available right now
in the budget to provide financial incentives,
but there are also complicated factors
with putting in something like that
and you often need some sort of residency requirement,
following up the business license,
it can be quite a bit of paperwork
to put a local process like that in place.
The state has previously had funding available
when the statewide law first went into effect in 2024
and the funding that was allocated for that did run out.
And some other air districts
have had local funding available.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has not,
though they indicate that they are in development
of a voucher program.
So if we are, as staff, are made aware of anything
from back mode or from other sources,
that's part of the reason we're developing
this leaf blower specific interest list
so that we could share that information quickly
with our stakeholders.
And what is, what are we doing within the city
of Walnut Creek on our own leaf blowers?
What's the status on that?
Would you like to talk about that, Mike?
Oh, phone a friend.
Good evening, City Council.
Mike Vickers, Public Works, Assistant Public Works Director.
In regards to the operational side of things,
whether it's our street maintenance team or our park
and open space team, we've started transitioning
about a year and a half ago.
And we have approximately 15 to 20 electric leaf blowers
throughout the staff.
And we've, for the most part, put the electric,
sorry, put the gas-powered leaf blowers aside
and focused 95% of our effort
with the electric leaf blowers.
I say 95, from time to time,
we do have some, what we would consider,
public safety issues or potential challenges.
For example, in the downtown,
like tonight, we're gonna get a heavy rainstorm.
If we had a lot of leaf litter down there,
we would probably get the gas power blowers out
because they have a little more-they put out a little bit more pressure
and they can clean it up quicker.
So what happens if this ordinance passes?
What happens 30 days after that?
Do we put them away for good or are we still using them at a 5 percent rate?
Yeah, we can use them for what we would consider emergency type situations,
public safety events.
It's in the ordinance that we're authorized to use the gas power for those types of incidences and this would go
Thank you, Mike. I don't know if this is back to Candace on that, but maybe
Stay close
So this would go into effect 30 days after we went through the second reading and pass everything, right?
So then everybody has to be it's enforced at that point
Yes, the way it's currently drafted. It would go into effect 30 days after the second reading
so if it moves forward tonight that would be December 18th. So at that point in time we could
you know begin responding to complaints. We would be starting with the education first so
no one on a first violation would be receiving any sort of citation and then we're going to be
working through education with property owners as much as we can and at some point after that it
it may be escalated if necessary.
So on the summer 18th, no one's getting a fine,
but that-
So it's a warning.
We're starting off with warnings.
Yes.
That's good, that answers one of my questions.
So how does enforcement occur?
What do we expect to happen
if somebody's using a gas-powered leaf blower,
a neighbor sees it, who do we think they're going to call?
Hmm?
Well, that's what I wanna hear.
Yeah, so the initial complaints would be directed
to sustainability staff and we'd be following up with,
either through phone calls or see click fixed.
It would be directed to us.
And then we would be following up
with that educational information first.
So I'm-
As a potential violation too, right?
Right, so putting myself in the position of a resident,
I see what's going on.
I'm probably not going to be looking up
who the sustainability person
what the number is at City Hall. I'm probably going to dial hopefully the
Walnut Creek non-emergency police line, but I imagine some people will be dialing
911. What protocols do we have for that? Because I mean I'll get into my
comments afterwards and let me just first say that I absolutely like the
direction of what we're talking about, but I'm really concerned about an
inundation of calls that are non-emergency on a police staff that
probably has five, six people maybe in the daytime that are out and about doing
actual police duties. Yeah so we've been in preparation before coming tonight
we've been working very closely with our police team including dispatch and our
code enforcement team to come up with internal processes to direct that as
quickly as possible to the appropriate avenue. I think thank you very much I
I mean, I know these are, these are challenging questions, but I, I don't think.
Um, and can there be a rolling transition?
I mean, you, you, several of you said you, 30 days from the implementation, people can
call up and say, you're not, you're going to get phone call there and we'll be cited.
It's crazy that we have to have time to transition to this new policy, so I don't know, I was
thinking since there was a three-year implementation, maybe citations wouldn't happen until after
that, and then they weren't noncompliant.
Anyway, if there's any way that we could leave 5% or a certain percentage of our gas
blowers for this time of year in the rain and when we have branches fall and we have
to clear many sidewalks, we have lots of pathways through country wood that have to be clean
and because the leaves are slippery.
So if there's any way that we could have some kind of an exclusion for sites or communities
like ours, I would appreciate it. Thank you. You know what? That is my rule. We
don't clap for people. It's nice to offer moral support, but it can
sometimes intimidate other people on some of these issues, so I didn't say that at
the beginning. Good evening Madam Mayor, Council Members, I'm Martin Engleman and
and I'm a resident of Walnut Creek.
I moved here at the turn of the century to Red Gear Meadows,
way up on the east side of 680 up the hill there.
We have a very bucolic community
with a lot of deer and wildlife and open space.
And I used to go to work too,
and didn't know about this.
Now I'm retired.
And the thing that bothers me the most
about the gas powered blowers is the noise.
I mean, I see their environmental impacts,
but what's killing me is the noise.
And these things go, they gotta be over 90 decibels.
You've probably done studies, but I mean, they're loud.
And at the beginning of the century,
there weren't that many of them.
And a lot of the homeowners,
they used to change their own oil
and landscape their own yards.
And then slowly we started aging out.
And the guy across the street, he had a shoulder operation,
so he hired a landscaper, started blowing.
And then the neighbor stopped by, hey, can you do my yard?
So that landscaper then started doing the neighbor's yard.
And now we have one landscaper that comes,
and we call it Tuesday Blower Hill, Blower Hill Tuesday
today.
He comes at 8.30, and he blows all day at the four houses
around my house.
If I'm out in the garden, there's no peace.
If I go inside, the noise leaks through my double-pane windows,
so there's no escape.
And so it's really the noise that bothers me.
What can I do?
Nothing.
I really have nowhere to go, but government can do something.
So I urge you to adopt this ban on gas-powered blowers,
and I support the ban.
Thank you.
Thank you.
City Council, et cetera. Thank you for your consideration of a ban of gas leaf blowers.
I've been a fan of banning them for many years. The science is clear. There's really no need
for this kind of pollution as well as the noise pollution we just talked about. And
We did adopt the sustainability action plan in 2023 that we would ban gas leaf blowers.
It's time.
And we don't have to keep inventing the wheel.
I think many communities have done this all over California and the U.S. in terms of how
How do we enforce, how do we get other community members to get to come along, how do we pay
for this kind of thing?
So again, I would just really encourage us to follow along with us and ban this as soon
as possible.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Cherise Gown speaking now as a resident and property owner in Walnut Creek.
So I just wanted to say that I absolutely support the idea of us moving away from these
gas powered devices that are unhealthy for us as community members and workers.
And thank you to the team that has gotten us as far as we have today with our sustainability
plan as a city.
So my only concern is about the implementation of this.
You know, how can we make sure that we are clear about the expectations and how do we help people make that transition?
I think about as a property owner when I saw those banners that said lose your lawn and it was a campaign from the water
you know
Department and
You clicked on that and it was very clear how to lose your lawn. They had the rebates
They had the dollar amounts that you would get they had free
Consultations of people who would do a design for your space
For you to lose your lawn and it was very helpful for people who wanted to make that transition and it was a great incentive
So in this case, how do we make sure that people are clearly educated and have the information and the
Resources to make the change so I sent to you guys earlier today
Via email an example of the town of Hillsborough
They have not only they gave six months
Time period before before it went into effect. They had a city rebate program
they also had an excellent detailed presentation where a
property owner and landscaper came together and
Presented how they successfully transitioned from gas to electric and it was fully in English and Spanish presentation
And then they had a printable fact sheet for the city that included clarity around
the dates and the expectations and the resources.
So I would just encourage you to look at those examples of how
this has been done effectively and see what we can do.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Well, hallelujah.
We're here.
And we're talking about banning what we've
been talking about for years.
And I can repeat what everyone else has said.
But I'd like to thank Candice, I mean, thorough.
She's done a thorough job of trying to validate every question and all the folks that have
already done it and I remember us the council saying no no we don't want to do it first you
know or early because there's going to be all this contention and now that there's more people doing
it that should be easier. So I want to highlight Carole Weed's written comments. Somebody I read
all the letters this afternoon talking about the noise level. Somebody has a comment about
Los Gatos having some kind of noise cap. I don't know anything about it. But education,
we've been out there talking about this, and not that people aren't aware of it, and it's
never going to be 100% right away. We've talked about people who've already bought electric
blowers for their workers. And so it's a matter of bringing them along. I guess I don't understand
why there's the angst that I'm hearing tonight. We can make this happen. I thought of the same thing
that somebody already commented on about the cigarette butts. I can remember walking down
the Broadway and going, look at all these cigarette butts.
But, you know, everything takes a little bit of time.
But whether you're changing your garage door or changing out
your lawn, the people next door to you
start talking to you and saying, oh, who did you use, you know?
And it becomes a wave through your neighborhood.
So it's just, it's time.
So let's do it and celebrate.
Thank you.
Good evening, Mark Colburn, East Bay native, Walnut Creek homeowner since 2005.
As a six to seven day a week runner, I've seen an exponential rise in the use of gas
blowers in Walnut Creek.
As I jog through the city streets, I hear and smell the blowers all day long, seven
days a week.
The majority of work performed by the blower dudes is 45 minutes of nonstop debris spreading,
exhaust slash raw fuel spewing and racetrack decibel sound levels, onto our adjacent properties
and city streets.
As cars drive by, the cycle is complete, sending debris back onto residential properties, thus
ensuring job security.
It's gotten so bad that our neighbors, our neighbors crew, were on their rooftop, two
guys for 47 minutes, blowing gutter debris, asbestos, and filth into our yards, the pool
window sills, window screens that were clogged and into our lungs. We were
having an outdoor baby shower that had to be taken inside. I'm fed up with
spending personal time raking up their mess. This blower topic has been teased
since 2021. It's time to outlaw these gross polluters. Did you know that per
hour of use, five pounds of particulate matter is blown into the air by each
blower. This is brake lining dust, lead, fungus spores, pathogens, pesticides,
herbicides, and animal feces. Take a deep breath, Walnut Creek. Smell good? How do
we, how much do we breathe in each year? About 265 tons. The California Air
Resources Board has stated that gas leaf blowers are the leading source of
ozone-forming emissions in the state ahead of cars. The cumulative damage that
these gross polluters exhort on Walnut Creek residents contributes to reduced
life expectancy. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. We'll go
ahead and close public comment and bring it back up here. Do we have additional
questions for staff based on the public comment? The page of the book first here.
I'm going to support this.
All right, this is something that I think is really important, and I think that we as
a community do need to support this, and I'm glad to see the movement in that direction.
But I'm going to talk about a few cautionary notes that I think we need to take as a community
as well, because it's not the kind of thing where we say, great, we're going to flick
the switch, and now all's copacetic, because that's not going to happen.
When we talked about this at the California League of Cities, and I talked about how we
We were talking about implementing this in Walnut Creek and looking at the right timing
on this.
We hung up that Zoom call with 50 or 60 cities and mayors from the state, and the mayor of
Santa Barbara called me, and at the time I was mayor and he goes, Mayor Wilk, I just
want to let you know, be very careful when you do this, because we implemented it in
Santa Barbara.
We were inundated with police department calls.
Neighbors were calling on neighbors.
We've turned everybody into whistleblowers.
Social media has absolutely blown up.
Next door, if you thought next door was bad before, be prepared, because next door is
now just going to be people calling out other people, their neighbors.
Social media on Facebook is going to be horrific.
Just be prepared that you're going to turn the community into chronic busy buddies.
This is what we've experienced in Santa Barbara.
I mean, he called me directly to let me know after we got off that call.
We understand the hardship here when it comes to landscapers.
I think that that is something that is real.
Walnut Creek, we've just made budget cuts.
We don't have the money for a grant program or a loan program.
It's great that Hillsborough does, as one of the top wealthiest communities in the country.
I do like the fact that, when Charisse counted,
mentioned that there's the fact sheets that,
both in English and Spanish, I think that's great.
I think those are some great ideas.
I think a presentation by a landlord and a landscaper
talking about the transition and how they made it work,
I think that's excellent.
I would love us to implement something like that.
But there are these concerns that are going
to inundate police and, unfortunately,
make social media even more problematic than it already is,
I think we can all agree upon that.
And lastly, there's a concern,
I was thinking about this yesterday
when I was going through the entire report,
and I wish it wasn't a concern,
but we have to be realistic in this day and age
of what's going on.
And I am concerned that a neighbor gets upset
seeing a gas-powered leaf blower by a landscaper
who is most likely a minority,
and he's upset and he calls ICE.
Is that, can any of us say honestly
that is out of the realm of possibility?
I don't think we can.
I hope, certainly that doesn't happen, of course,
but I think these are serious, unintended consequences
that we are going to have to address should we approve this.
And again, I'm in support of this,
I'm going to approve this,
but I don't think that we can go in with blinders
thinking we've just made a great decision,
everything is gonna be great from year on out,
and we've reduced noise and we've reduced pollution,
which we will have done,
but there's consequences with that.
That's my comments.
No, I agree with Council Member Wilk.
There will be challenges.
I think it will probably be something
that settles down over time,
but I'm sure the first part of that
will be challenging.
I'd like to sort of propose the following items.
In addition to the ban on the gas power,
I think we should set hours
during which leaf blowers can be used.
Do we have that already at the city?
What are the current?
So maybe I should have asked that during my question, Brett.
We do have a noise ordinance, which has hours.
apologize I should have that in front of me but I don't but it's um you know
the early morning hours and evening hours that you'd imagine so if the
equipment reached the decibel level limits and all the associated parts of
that ordinance the noise ordinance will continue to apply in this case as well
so going back to Hillsborough I thought they had reasonable time eight to five
on weekdays ten to five on weekends is that so that would be my suggestion for
for leaf blowers and then for the decibel limit I think we should set a
a decibel limit for the electric blowers,
since I think that's one of the biggest things
that people are responding to is the noise.
So I would say like 60 decibels,
maybe for the decibel limit on the equipment.
I would also like to propose
that we create a rebate program.
I know it will take a little time,
but maybe we can accelerate it.
We did have some money left over
from the resurfacing item to G.
So perhaps we could allocate some of that money
to a rebate program, fund it with $25,000 or $50,000,
and then use that money to help folks transition.
Because I think that's a valid concern.
I'm not as it's not about the big landscaping companies.
It's more about the smaller individuals
some might have a harder time with this.
The rebate program could be for residents
or commercial operators with a Walnut Creek business license.
And then I'd like to see if we can,
in the future do we have plans
or can we create plans to start transitioning
our other equipment to electric starting at the city level.
I don't know if that's in our sustainability action plan
but would be nice to see that.
and then the last side last item is as far as you know because i'm hearing
that when it rains and it's wet it's hard to get the leaves up but i think that's going to
be true for for everybody i mean and it's going to be true for these these big complexes especially
and so you know if we as the city are saying that we need to use the electric blowers when
it's wet and there's there's leaves that are difficult to get up you know i i think that's
than a tough ask for some of these bigger communities to have to deal with the same problem,
but not be able to use the gas. So, I would ask that as a city, we don't use it for that reason.
You know, that we really restrict the use as a city to the most extreme circumstances where
issues of safety and health are really like some sort of natural disaster and not just the rainy
leaves. Thanks. Councilmember Silva what are your thoughts? So I think we have from a
health standpoint and a sustainability standpoint this is the right thing to do
but I think all major policy decisions and this is a major policy decision it's
not minor and it is not in comparison to smoking. Smoking doesn't have a three to
$4,000 price tag on it to change your behavior. This behavior is a business
behavior so it it's not comparable in my mind but the I think we have an
obligation to do this but I'm very concerned about the way we're
implementing it. I would say that my interpretation of phased in is different
than the interpretation that we're receiving tonight. Doing three years of
outreach when we don't need we didn't really even know what the outreach
program was and couldn't offer advice on it is different from actually a phased
in approach where there's you adopt the resolution you have a time frame you
have to comply certain stages so I'm struggling with the implementation I'm
also struggling with it in the fact that a large preponderance of our gardening
services are being provided by those who are small business owners and then
they may or may not be in our community and so we would have to be mindful of I
think about my neighbors as we're an aging community our neighbors who have a
landscaping service the property is required to have implement this and they
lose the landscaping service because they the landscaper can go to Concord
can go to Danville, can go to San Ramon and not and pick up more business and
now someone who really needs their landscaping done for them doesn't have
the service. So I mean I just see these things these are these unintended
consequences that you were mentioning Council Member or Mayor Pro Tem. The so
if we were going to adopt this tonight I want us to talk about a phased in
approach and what that would mean. How we could do this such that we slow-roll it.
I appreciate the idea that Halesboro is primarily a residential community, large
expensive homes, large, I mean, very wealthy property owners, and it's a small
community. It is very easy and they implement and they still phased it in.
So I think we need to look at that. We are a business community, we are a
residential community, and we have a good portion of our residential properties, our
single family attached, such as Countrywood, 299 units.
There's Bancroft Village, there's Sons & Sons Park, there's Rancho Dorado, there's Stratton
on Lake.
All of those have beautiful trees, and in the next few weeks, all those leaves are coming
down and tonight's rain are going to bring a preponderance of them down.
And to suggest that it's not a safety issue to remove wet leaves.
They're slippery.
People are more likely to fall.
You can't see what you're walking over landscaped areas.
You can't see what you're walking on.
You could trip over a hazard that's in there.
So I don't think we should wait for the natural disaster to say it's an emergency.
think removal of leaf litter is a consequence of the environment that we
live in. Loss of business, loss of jobs, inability and loss of services in our
community, those are the implementation issues that I'm thinking about and I'm
trying to figure out a way for us to provide direction without making it
appear that we're trying to say no to the underlying policy because I think we
we are a yes for the underlying policy.
Councilmember Francois.
Yeah, thank you everyone for coming tonight
and thank you for the comments and thank you to staff
for the diligent efforts over many years.
We have, we're all committed to this policy.
It's the right thing to do from a sustainability standpoint,
from a noise standpoint, from a health standpoint.
So I share the concerns I think
that have been raised previously
about the implementation, the cost that small business owners
will have to incur and they will have to incur those costs.
There has to be a day of reckoning at some point.
And what I'd like to do is be faithful to the language
that we had in our plan,
which was the phased implementation approach
within three years of adoption of the plan,
which like Candice said is July, 2026.
you know quite honestly if the life expectancy though of this equipment is
three to five years not all the equipment is going to be at the end of
its useful life at that point and some contractors will likely have to make
the difficult decision that they can't do business in Walnut Creek any longer
and we'll have to go to neighboring communities to do that which which don't
have these bans and and so I appreciate you you struggling and trying to
articulate the phased in approach because I think that is the right, I mean
it's it seems to me that generally the way Cherise count had explained the
Hillsborough ordinance and I didn't have an opportunity to look at the ordinance
itself, but that essentially they adopted the resolution but didn't take effect
for six or seven months. That general concept seems right to me whether it's
three months or six months. That day is coming though and I think it's incumbent
on all of us primarily as property owners to the extent we hire
landscapers to tell them there's going to be a change that we you're not going
to be able to use gas powered blowers any longer and that you're going to need
to convert your fleet to the electric ones.
I think there's, I like generally the concept of rebates,
but I see the difficulties that staff mentioned
in terms of how do you verify residency.
And yes, you could require business license,
but I think that's really getting at the big guys
that probably can already absorb the cost
more than the small, independent landscapers
who may or may not be based in Walnut Creek.
So they wouldn't be getting any benefit of that.
I think the way to get at that rebate
is through BACMID, or I guess the state program
has run out, but to do it more regionally
and not at the local level.
And I don't think I have anything else to add.
I'm in support of the ban and would like us
to talk about a phased implementation approach.
So let me try this.
I appreciate everybody that came here tonight.
I understand all sides of the question
because in addition to our property here,
we have a big property up in the mountains.
We switched over to electric,
but there's a lot of running back and forth
to get the batteries.
But it's also something that we need to do
from a health standpoint
and from an environmental standpoint.
So my, just thinking about the year in leaves,
the year in landscaping.
We are in November.
This is not the time this month
to make this happen this month.
But if we gave ourselves 120 days
and made the ordinance kick in on March 18th,
hear it next month, give it 120 days, kick it in in March,
that's a time of year where theoretically,
we're through the worst of the winter,
we're through the worst of the wet,
and then it gives us a time period
to help people conceptualize
how they're gonna deal with it.
And there's a couple things that I really like
about the approach we're having,
which is we're not going to chase down
the individual landscapers.
It's an obligation that's on the property owner,
the homeowner.
And if the landscaper can't do it,
you know, in the case of a single family residence,
I know somebody who was really sick
of the leaf blower at his house.
So he just bought an electric one, he recharges it,
and when the landscaper comes, he puts it out for them
and they do the blowing with his leaf blower.
So there is a way for the homeowner to take ownership of it.
But if we have the ordinance implementing in March
and give ourselves some better time
to do the education that we need to do
to get people ready to do the switchover
to help them kind of think it through.
And then move into the start of, well, this is now required,
but we're not, nobody's gonna get a ticket.
They're gonna get, continue to get educated
for another three months or something like that.
You know, well, that in my mind
kind of starts to look like phasing
that'll work in a couple different ways.
It'll give us a little more time to educate.
It'll give people small property
or small business people a little bit more time to plan.
It'll get us through the worst of the leaf season
for this year and reactions.
I think that approach makes sense.
And I mean, you could quibble on whether,
I think March or April or whatever date you're gonna use,
getting through this winter season
gives folks the opportunity to not have to make
the hard changes right during the middle of it.
And then in reality,
it gives a little bit more flexibility.
To use, well, they have to use the electric equipment,
but it would be at a time when it'd be more effective
to blow around dried leaves.
Just for a point of comparison,
I think that the backpack blowers,
which we heard are 1,000 to 3,000 a piece,
I think are the ones that they would use for resident,
even the gardeners would use,
are much more expensive than what an individual...
I purchased one and it was about $200,
but that's just to blow out the garage
and not any heavy leaves.
So, but anyway, I like your approach
and I think it's workable.
I like that approach as well
because I was sitting here thinking,
we must have been reading each other's minds,
I was sitting here thinking,
we're going to do this
and we're talking about a storm tomorrow
and just the consequence.
Is it also a possibility
that we would be looking for some solutions
for these large homeowner associations
that have to blow roofs and gutters, et cetera, et cetera.
I mean, they have a monumental amount of work every season,
and we really don't want them removing tree cover.
I'm not 100% sure what to do with that.
It sounds like, I mean,
I just don't know the technological capacity of, you know,
Mike assures us that the commercial electric ones
still don't have the oomph of a gas power one.
I mean, I think to that point,
and I know that I was keeping notes here
that at least one of your gas ones was down.
So hopefully when you replace that one,
it would be with an electric one.
But maybe we could use this period of time too,
if we haven't already, to conduct additional outreach
to the HOAs to say this is taking effect.
The council decided to phase it in.
it would take effect in middle of March
or beginning of April, whenever it does.
But I'd like us to have that dialogue
with those homeowners associations.
If we haven't already or we need to again,
just to remind them of the date.
And what's our appetite for a decibel level on the electric?
I think the existing sound or the existing noise ordinance,
think we do have an existing noise ordinance that the town has and and so
we could when we bring this back for action we could report to the council on
what those standards are but we do have an existing one right now and it's you
know I would suggest we were just report back to you on that as part of it
because it also factors in ambient noise and whatnot.
So if you're leaf blown next to the freeway,
it's a different issue than if you're doing it
in a pretty quiet residential neighborhood.
But we do have standards
for the quiet residential neighborhoods.
Oftentimes, they're time-weighted standards, though,
and these are pretty quick, 45-minute incidences.
I also, I would just, I would want to advise the council too
because there are, if you think back to the corollaries
of when you were moving to different types
of internal house utilities and whatnot,
whether or not there are some state preemptions
that come into play.
So I would want to advise the council on that
because you're, when you're starting to say a decimal level
you're really getting into the market
of what can actually be sold out there.
Keeping in mind, as you all have noted earlier tonight,
you can't buy, well, you can't buy legally in California
anything but electric ones right now.
So if we're gonna set a standard on electric ones,
I'd wanna make sure there's no preemption issues
that we have going on with that.
Because that's getting to the equipment itself,
not the use of the equipment.
So it sounds like the recommendation is to have,
when we bring it back to us to adopt.
We have some.
We could report that and then the council would understand,
Can we regulate and if so, what are the options?
And then if you wanted to amend the ordinance,
you could do that if you had the legal authority,
but I would wanna advise first
on whether you actually have that authority.
Because I could see challenges with, you know,
for passing an ordinance on leaf blowers
that are used in different parts of the city,
that if they can be so loud in one area next to the freeway,
but they can only be so loud over here,
then that wouldn't really.
Well, I think the underlying premise is that we're getting,
by using an electric leaf blower,
you're getting a quieter leaf blower.
And that you can't,
there's nothing beyond that other than raking.
And so.
Yeah, I was just reading briefly
that some of the electric models
can get up to like 83 decibels,
which is pretty loud.
So since that was a big part of the community's concern
with the leaf blowers,
I just wanna make sure we're not
replacing one loud instrument for another.
are you comfortable with the city attorney's recommendation
that they bring the issue back to us?
For further discussion.
Yeah, sure, yeah.
And I think on the rebate idea,
I, well, I wish we were at a point
where we had the money to do it.
I think there are significant implementation issues
with it as a local rebate,
because to be quite honest,
I know the fellow who does our yard
does not have a Walnut Creek business license.
So it's, and he does not live in Walnut Creek.
And so there's implementation issues with the rebate
that are difficult.
Well, then, and actually, when I think about that,
somebody could be working in Walnut Creek,
Concord and Pleasant Hill,
are we rebating for the whole wall of wax?
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
so as much as I would hope that Bach med
can get back in the rebate business,
rather than try to do it ourselves.
Sure, I mean, I guess my lens on the rebate was,
even if we wind up, you know, supplementing people
who work in neighboring cities,
that's our contribution to the transition,
because we feel it's important.
And so even if it didn't go exclusively to,
even if people somehow took advantage
or they were working in multiple areas,
it would still be an opportunity for us
to try to help move the needle in that regard.
Okay, let me articulate this motion.
I would move to amend the,
and I don't have it in front of me.
amend the draft ordinance to allow implementation
on April 1st, 2026,
and then ask staff to bring back additional information
about noise levels and regional funding efforts
when they bring the ordinance back to us next month.
Just one clarification, we were currently planning
to bring the ordinance back on November 18th in two weeks.
Oh, that would not be,
we have an agenda that is awfully packed.
If it was coming back on consent on a second reading,
it's different than coming back with date changes and.
I mean, if you want us to delay bringing it back,
we could certainly do that.
And alternatively, we can,
if the council's in agreement
with an effective date of April 1st, 2026,
that only requires a minor change to the ordinance
that's before you tonight.
in section five at the very end.
It currently says it's effective 30 days after adoption.
We could just say it's effective April 1st, 2026.
So there would be no enforcement ability even before then.
And the issue of whether we delay enforcement further
to do community outreach is not something
that has to be in the ordinance.
The council can just simply provide direction on that.
I come from, I'm just not quite yet used to the fact
that we were in November.
So that's why I was saying next month,
but we are in November.
I may, Mayor, just apologies.
One other thought.
If there is concern that November 18th is a big meeting,
we could bring this portion back,
could go on consent if there are the modifications
made this evening.
If your council wants to have more discussion
on the noise item, we could bring that
at a subsequent meeting, but not too far into the future.
They don't necessarily have to be coupled.
unless you want them to be coupled, absolutely.
So actually that could work well if we bring this back
with an April 1st effective date
and then ask staff to bring back noise
and an update from BACMED on rebates.
And that doesn't have to get tied together.
That can come in January and.
Yeah, that's amenable to council, we can do that.
So the second reading wouldn't be November 18th or?
Well, we do the second reading November 18th
with the effective date of April 1st.
Get a follow up informational on that.
Because those are not, those are separate issues.
And I think we're all, what I heard from across the board
is that we are all interested in proceeding
with the leaf blower or ban, but we are also interested
in making sure that we find ways to make it more equitable
and to make it more effective.
But those are not linked.
Those actions are not linked.
So my proposal would be to my motion, not a proposal.
My motion is to waive the first reading
and introduce the ordinance and bring it back,
direct staff to bring it back to us at the next meeting
with an effective date of April 1st, 2026.
And then we also direct staff to bring back
additional information relative to noise ordinance
and regional rebate possibilities
at a meeting in the not-too-distant future.
Second.
And can we add on to that,
also to discuss the times of day that,
whether that falls inside or outside of our-
I think that's what we're asking staff to bring back.
Yeah, with the noise ordinance,
I would also include that discussion, okay, yeah.
Right, and mayor, if I may then,
so that's the ordinance that's referenced
the screen right now with the modification that's in there and then
the only other modification is in section 5 to show the ordinance shall
become effective April 1st, 2026. Yes. So if it's that you can actually introduce
it tonight. Okay. And then when it comes back to you on November 18th if you
choose to you can adopt it at that point. Okay so I will move to introduce this
ordinance with the date change and the change shown on the screen. Yes. Second
that. Roll call. Mayor Darling. Aye. Mayor Pro Temball. Aye. Council Member Davini. Aye. Council Member
Francois. Aye. Council Member Silva. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you all very much for this and I
know this is something that some of you are deeply and I know we will work with
you guys to make sure that I and now I have to go home and tell Joaquin what he
has to do in my backyard.