Walnut Creek City Council: 3/17/2026

Transcript

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Public communication should not relate to an item that is on the agenda this

evening. Consistent with section 9.5 of the City Council Handbook, 30 minutes

will be initially allocated for public communications for items not on the

agenda. Additional time for public communications for items not on the

agenda will be provided at the end of the open session portion of the meeting

if necessary. If you desire to provide a public comment, please complete a speaker

identification card and line up behind the lectern at the appropriate time.

Wait your turn, and then when you approach the lectern, please state your name and city

of residence for the record.

You will have two minutes to address the City Council.

Please keep in mind that this is a city business meeting.

The City Council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted efficiently

and effectively, and that all members of the public have a full, fair and equal opportunity

to be heard. The City Council handbook outlines decor expected in the council chamber and

can be found on our website. All remarks should be addressed to the City Council. Please do

not use threatening, profane or abusive language which disrupts, disturbs or otherwise impedes

the orderly conduct of the council meeting. Again, each speaker will have two minutes

to make your remarks. Written comments submitted and received up to two hours before the meeting

have been posted to the city's website for public review

and are included in the meeting record,

but will not be separately read into the record.

All right, good evening, I'm Kevin Wilk,

mayor of the city of Walnut Creek,

and welcome to the Tuesday, March 17th, 2026,

regular meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council.

And 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, individual, with liberty,

and justice for all.

All right, city clerk Susie Martini,

would you please call the roll?

Council member Darden?

Here.

Council member Davini?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Francois?

Here.

Mayor Wilk?

Here.

And council member Silva is absent

due to a planned vacation.

All right.

So, first we have a proclamation

that is for International Transgender Day of Visibility.

And I would like to invite Alex Bakaro with Rossmoor LGBTQ Plus

Alliance forward to accept the proclamation.

And I'm first going to read it and then I'll come there,

present it, you have a few words too,

and then we'll take a picture.

All right, well, so International Transgender Day

of Visibility was founded in 2009

by US-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall,

a licensed psychotherapist and the executive director

of Transgender Michigan created

to acknowledge and honor the successes

achieved by transgender people.

Whereas organizations across the world

celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility

as an annual day to celebrate the accomplishment

and victories of transgender

and gender non-conforming people

while raising awareness of the work

that is still needed to address the discrimination

they face and save transgender lives.

International Transgender Day of Visibility

is intended to recognize and celebrate the work

that is being done by transgender advocacy groups

as they fight for dignity and equal rights

for members of the transgender community

to build inclusive and healing spaces

and to protect and defend those who are most vulnerable.

And the City of Walnut Creek recognizes

the significant contributions made by transgender people

and is committed to creating a community

where all are welcome, safe, feel fully accepted

and embraced, respected, and can live openly

in authentic and accurate representation of who they are,

free of violence, harassment, and discrimination.

And I, therefore, Kevin Wilk,

mayor of the city of Walnut Creek,

on behalf of the city council,

do hereby proclaim March 31st, 2026

as International Transgender Day of Visibility.

And Alex, if you'd like to say a few words.

Sure.

Hi, thank you so much.

This is really an honor.

And I'm here representing a lot of people.

We have a wonderful LGBTQ plus community at Rossmore,

and I want you to all know that your support,

and it's not just this year,

but it's been over several years,

has really been appreciated,

especially in the time that we're in right now

where there's so much negativity,

and we have someone on our board who actually is an ally,

and she just retired as a librarian

at a middle school in Palo Alto, three transgender students

over the last year have committed suicide.

So to make such a positive statement

and to let people of all ages, young people up to my age

of 70, that were valued is, I can't tell you

how important that is.

And we so, so appreciate it.

And we have some pins that we share with our allies.

And I wanted to give them to you.

And it just says, you are safe with me.

And the top of it, the rainbow is in the LGBT rainbow colors.

And the bottom is for the transgender colors.

And it's amazing the difference that when somebody

walks into your office, or I know walking into Kaiser

and seeing a doctor with a pin like that.

I know that I can talk to them freely and be safe.

It really makes a statement too.

So thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts

for continuing to give us support.

Absolutely, well, thank you for being here.

Thank you.

Oh, okay.

We'll come over here first.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, we're gonna go with you.

All right.

Before we get too comfortable,

we have another proclamation

or Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month,

and I invite Thea Hallin with the CCC Meds Coalition

forward to accept the proclamation.

So the proclamation is when used as prescribed,

medication play an essential role in supporting

the health and well-being of individuals

across the United States.

Whereas misused, improperly stored,

or unused prescription medication can result

in accidental poisoning, overdose, and misuse,

creating a significant public health concern

both nationally and within California.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, or the DEA,

and the state of California encourage safe storage,

responsible use,

and proper disposal of prescription medication

to prevent misuse, diversion, and accidental harm.

And according to the Center for Disease Control,

105,007 drug overdose deaths occurred nationally

in 2023, 80,000 were from opioids, which is 70%.

And 183 of those opioid-related overdose deaths

occurred in Contra Costa County, so it is at home.

The Walnut Creek County Meds Coalition encourages

residents of Walnut Creek to use prescription medications

only as directed by their healthcare providers

and to never share medication with others.

And proper disposal of unused or expired medications

at pharmacies or take-back days helps protect public safety and the environment.

The DEA's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday, April 25, 2026 provides a

special opportunity for residents to safely dispose of unused medications and participate

in efforts to prevent prescription drug misuse in our community and promoting awareness,

education, and responsible behaviors regarding prescription medications strengthen the health,

safety and well-being of all Walnut Creek residents.

And I therefore, Kevin Wilk,

mayor of the city of Walnut Creek,

on behalf of the city council

do hereby proclaim March, 2026

as Prescription Drug Awareness Month.

And if you'd like to say a few words about this.

Awesome, good evening, everyone.

Thank you, Mayor Wilk and city council

for declaring March as,

March, 2026 is Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month.

I want to sincerely thank the City of Walnut Creek

for taking this important step to protect the health

and safety of our community.

As you know, prescription drug misuse continues

to be a serious issue here in Central Costa County.

In our region, thousands of residents

are prescribed opiates each year,

and opioid-related overdoses and emergency department visits

remain a significant public health concern.

In recent years, Central Contra Costa County

experienced rising overdose rates with youth and young adults increasingly impacted by counterfeit

pills containing fentanyl. Many teens do not realize that pills bought online are from friends

can be deadly, even if they look like legitimate prescriptions. This issue impacts older adults and

our queer community too. People from all ages and backgrounds are impacted by prescription drug

abuse and misuse. Walnut Creek is a strong, family-oriented community with a prominent

business center, and proclamations like this that y'all made today matter. They send a

clear message that the city is committed to prevention, education, and reducing stigma

around substance use and mental health. This declaration and proclamation also supports

efforts to promote safe medication storage, proper disposal, and conversations between

and parents, youth, schools, and healthcare providers.

By recognizing March, 2026

as Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month,

Walnut Creek is helping to increase awareness,

encourage responsible prescribing and disposal practices,

and protect our youth and elders from preventable harm.

It also demonstrates leadership

in addressing a crisis affecting families

across our community.

I would also like to remind everyone

that DEA take-back date will be on April 25th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The local police station participating will be conquered.

You can also dispose of medications year-round at your local pharmacy or

police station but we definitely recommend to call ahead to ensure they

have capacity. Thank you again for your commitment to public health and for

standing with residents, educators, and prevention partners to keep Walnut

Creek safe and healthy. Thank you so much.

This is crime and strength and trust in our city's commitment to public safety.

Thank you. Thank you. So you said you have reported this to the police. Yes. Okay

we hear about this throughout the state and it just is so upsetting because

obviously there's nothing we can do in the middle of the night. What I'd like

you to do is talk to is Captain Slater you want to handle this? Captain Slater

in the back just for any other additional information and what I would

like to see is something in the future of something that we may be able to get

behind and support as a city that we can help to discourage the resale of these.

I'll put it that way. Absolutely. Thank you for coming. Thank you.

And Mayor, if I could add to that, this has been discussed over the last couple

of years on a statewide level in terms of legislation. We can, if you're

interested as well, provide an update on legislation that's been passed or that

is still pending that might need a nudge to move forward if you're interested and we can

do more outreach with our state legislators on this issue. It is a statewide concern and

ongoing problem.

Yeah, actually, I would like to see something about that. I think that this is something

that we don't hear about something for two or three months, then it flares up again.

And when we hear about overnight burglaries, it's almost always something like this. Thank

you.

Yes, I would be very interested in that. Thanks.

we have any other public comment it looks like not okay so we'll close the

public comment and we will move to council member and staff announcements

reports on activities or requests do we have any closed session announcements

there are no reportable actions that are being reported this evening the manager

reports do have one update this evening some good news to share our deputy city

clerk Lena Branson received her certified municipal clerk designation

from the International Institute of municipal clerks which is put more

succinctly a big deal. Wow, all right. It required a lot of effort and I want to

thank Elena for her commitment to this and your commitment to the profession

so congratulations. Congratulations, wonderful. Councilmember Davini. Sure, good

evening. Just a few things to report this week. I had my meeting with our new

chief, Chief Hibbs, where we had a chance to discuss kind of his vision for the

department crime fighting in Walnut Creek and an opportunity to share some

thoughts as well. And I've always appreciated the open lines of

communication and really looking forward to working with Chief Hibbs to move us

forward in a positive direction so you know thanks for that time. Had my

orientation meeting for MCE as council member darling's backup alternate as I'll

be serving later this month and it was a quite a lengthy orientation of a four

hour zoom call but it was a full of a lot of good information and looking

forward to serving in that role as needed and then we had our transpac the

regional transportation board meeting

that I'm the representative to from Walnut Creek.

It was not, there weren't a lot of controversial

or items of note, but one thing I thought

was really interesting was getting a presentation

from a senior mobility service called Mobility Matters,

and just for those of you who don't know what that is,

a reminder, there's a transportation service for seniors

that are aging in place, so maybe they've lost their license,

and they don't have family or friends to come and pick them

up, drive them around, take them to appointments,

and they're not able to use, like, taxis or Uber.

They need someone to actually come into the house,

help them in their house, get into the car, their ambulatory,

and then help them maybe into their appointment,

into the grocery store.

So Mobility Matters is a volunteer organization

that pairs you up with somebody

for each service appointment.

It's all volunteer run and they will come out,

do an assessment, match you with the right services

and it's all free for any member of the Contra Costa.

So if you have a senior that's aging in place

and has lost their ability to drive

and needs transportation services,

I encourage you to reach out to Mobility Matters

and see if that's a good fit.

That's all I have.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Mayor Pro Tem Francois.

Thank you, Mayor.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone.

My update is relatively brief.

I am chair of the personnel committee for Recycle Smart.

Recycle Smart is a joint powers authority that collects garbage recyclables and organics.

And as chair of the personnel committee, I have the enviable position of meeting with

with my colleagues in talking about COLA adjustments

for our great staff and a performance evaluation

of our executive director who is equally great.

And our recommendations will move forward

on the COLA to the finance committee

and in terms of the performance evaluation

to the full board.

One thing that we instituted a few years ago

was in addition to how things are working

in the Recycle Smart organization generally

and it seems to have been well received.

so that will be going forward in the next few months.

I was at the, I happened upon the Coffee with a Cop event

at Starbucks last week, where we had the full contingent

of our PD there, including the chief and the captains

meeting with many members of staff.

And it was a fun event.

There were a lot of freebies and people stopping by

and interacting with the police and asking questions.

And so glad to see that we've resumed that

and that it was so well-received.

And then finally, next to last, I

was at the farmer's market booth this last Sunday.

Good turnout, great weather.

Always like talking to my friend Pete Sutherland

from Cali Craft and maybe coming home with a six pack from him.

Paid for, of course.

But some of the people that stopped by,

one resident kind of mentioned along the lines

of our all-abilities playground,

and she's a speech therapist,

the idea of kind of a communications board

for children that are nonverbal,

that might be able to easier for them to interact

with other kids when they're at a playground

or an event like that.

Got a question too about our office vacancy rates,

I talked about some of the developments that are in the works around the Ignacio Center

and then also kind of this dichotomy we have between close to downtown the vacancy rates

are actually quite low and a little bit further out closer to BART they're higher and so trying

to build more of a center and amenities that people office tenants will want to be closer

to the spaces near BART was an item that I mentioned as well.

I wanted to give a shout out to a staff planner and his name is Gerardo Victoria and I have

not had the opportunity to meet Gerardo yet but the city manager shared an email that

an applicant shared with him and I just want to give him an attaboy and say thank you for

His good work in making the city look so good,

the letter says,

Gerardo was professional, responsive,

and extremely helpful.

He handled this matter with patience, clarity, and speed.

And his diligence and commitment to quick service

made what could have been a difficult

and time-consuming process much smoother.

So thank you very much, Gerardo.

Your hard work and the work of all our staff

is very much appreciated.

That's my update.

Thank you Mayor Pro Tem.

Council Member Darley.

All right, I don't have a whole lot to report.

Just the one, going back to MCE,

I sat in on about the first 20 minutes of that briefing

for the new board members and the new alternates.

And I appreciate them sticking around for four hours.

It was everything electricity in the state of California.

And I was like, whoa, they're drinking

from the fire hose here.

But I really appreciate Council Member Dafini

will be representing me later this week

because the mayor, myself, and Council Member Silva

are off to Kita City, our sister city in Japan,

which I am really looking forward to,

but I do miss the MCE meeting.

A couple of really important things are coming up at that.

As I've mentioned previously,

we are dropping the rates for MCE customers

in this coming year that starts April 1st.

So that will get final approval on Thursday night,

if all goes well.

The other thing that is happening,

there's two other things happening with MCE.

We have grown over 15 years from just a few cities

in Marin County to four separate counties

and a total of 34 board members.

And so we are undertaking a governance review this year

to look at how that big of a board can operate better,

more efficiently, how communication can get improved.

And we're really looking forward to engaging

the services of consultant.

The request for proposals is on the agenda

for next Thursday night.

And we're hoping to get that consultant on board here soon

to begin that process to help us do a better job as a board

and do a better job as an agency.

The other thing that we met in closed session on Monday

and talked about how to do a better job as a board

of providing the oversight over contracting

for power in the short term.

There's a lot of one- to five-year contracts that come through the agency that have had

oversight, but it hasn't been as regularized.

And so we now have an ad hoc contract oversight committee that will be operating until the

governance review is done, and that'll be on the agenda Thursday night.

There's myself and four other board members representing kind of the diversity of the

geographic area will be on that, looking at the individual contracts as they come forward.

been a lot the energy world is changing and we're still trying to figure out

what the current events back in Iran are going to do to that but it's it's a

really complex field right now and we want to make sure that we are providing

the robust oversight in helping make sure that we're getting the best

customer the best deal from our customers and our rate payers so we're

doing that and I will be in Japan and I will leave councilmember Dafini to take

care of all that. We are looking forward to Kita City for a couple days and it's

gonna be a lot of fun. Thank You councilmember Darling well I'll just

extrapolate on that a little bit so just to let people know we have a delegation

that we are going to a partner city it's a little bit a little bit different than

a sister city but there's a lot of similarities as well and so that's Kita

City Japan that's on the outskirts of Tokyo I was there with two former mayors

about eight years ago and the mayor invited the mayor and council to come

this year so we're going to be going there for spending a couple days with

the mayor at their City Hall and council members they have about 40 council

members by the way so if you think you get tired listening the five of us up

here imagine 40 of us up here I do want to mention this is important we are

paying our own way there these are not city dollars these are not taxpayer

dollars, we are funding our own trips. It's very important to make sure that that's

mentioned and we're looking forward to this. This is a great opportunity for

exchanging cultural ties and we have exchange students that come over twice a

year from Quita City and stay with host families here and we have our students

that come from both Seven Hills as well as Los Lomas and go to Quita City. So

there truly is a large exchange program that happens with this and we're looking

forward to being able to formalize those even more solidly. So I'm looking

forward to going with Councilmember Cindy Darling and Cindy Silva and we'll

report back at our next council meeting because we're not missing a meeting. Next

I also was at the Coffee with a Cop which was the safest corner in Contra

Costa County that morning. There was probably a 10 or 12 police officers

there, some spouses were there, it was great to meet them as well and it sounds

like a future coffee with a cop, maybe an afternoon coffee where students from Las Lomas

or Northgate or maybe would be able to join in and ask questions that are really pertinent

for them.

So look forward to that in the future.

I think many of my fellow colleagues here did the Read Across America just prior to our

last meeting.

I did the one afterwards where all the second graders that I read to, of course they wanted

to know, did I live in a mansion?

How much am I paid?

How old I am?

important questions that are asked of mayors

and city council members.

But it's always great to be able to read.

They're so excited when we come there as well.

I did wanna give a quick reminder that April 1st

also brings two things that people need to think about.

One is that gas powered leaf blower ban goes into effect.

Check the city website on that.

There's a lot of good information.

And again, this is about really education

and making sure that people can make that transition

into electric blowers, or by hand.

So that's April 1st.

And also the grant program for $10,000

to build outdoor dining at restaurants

also expires March 31st.

Kathy at Walnut Creek Downtown,

if you could do, maybe let the restaurants know

that this is it, it's coming up.

And I know there's a couple of restaurants

that are still interested in doing this.

And I think they're still trying

to get some things together, so.

conducted preliminary outreach together input from the community, stakeholders,

city departments, and council on key topics for the upcoming general plan

update. This outreach included engagement at community events such as the Locust

Street Festival, Trunk or Tree, and Made in the Shade, and initial conversations

with local business groups including the Chamber of Commerce, Walnut Creek

Downtown, and Walnut Creek Downtown. At the community events, residents shared

what they value most about Walnut Creek and that's walkability, shopping, dining,

arts and culture, parks and most importantly safety and the sense of the

sense of a community. Local business groups emphasize updating the zoning code

to support economic growth and expand business opportunities. This work will

occur after the general plan update is completed. City departments highlighted

the update should focus on modernizing infrastructure,

leveraging technology to improve services,

maintaining a safe and livable community,

and ensuring financial sustainability.

At the October 7, 2025 Council meeting,

Council recommended that the RFP framework

include a topic-based approach to community engagement

to allow for more focused discussions and meaningful input.

All this feedback helped inform the RFP

and the development of the RFP.

Following that direction,

the city initiated the consultant selection process.

So in November, 2025, the RFP was issued and distributed

to over 24 firms and advertised

to the American Planning Association and the city websites.

In December, staff hosted a virtual question and answer session, which was attended by

ten firms, and the result of the question and answer session was posted on the city

website.

By January 2026, the city received three proposals, all meeting the RFP requirements.

So these three proposals were invited to participate in interviews in February.

The interviews were conducted by a multidisciplinary team representing several city departments,

ensuring a thorough and balanced evaluation of each team's qualifications and approach.

Following the interviews, staff completed the evaluations and then identified the preferred

consultant team.

So we are here tonight bringing that recommendation forward to council for consideration.

will are evaluated on several criteria as you see here. Proposal quality,

experience with similar projects in California, qualifications of key

personnel, the proposed community engagement approach, understanding the

city's objectives, the reasonableness of fees, and the project management

capability. Based on this criteria, Raimi and Associates, now part of Alta Planning

and design was determined to be the most qualified

and offer the best value for the city.

So before introducing the consultant,

I'd like to note a recent organizational transition.

In February, 2026, Raimi and Associates

joined Alto Planning and Design,

which is a nationally recognized firm

focused on sustainable community planning.

While the firm name has changed,

the consultant team selected through the RFP process

remains the same.

the project team, the scope of services,

and the leaderships are unchanged.

What this transition brings is additional resources

and a capacity to help support the general plan update.

With that, I'll turn it over to Eric Yerkovic,

Principal and Deputy Director of Community Planning

at Ulta and Design, who will serve as a primary contact

and the project manager for the firm.

Good evening, Mayor, council members.

My name is Eric Yarkovich.

I'm a principal at Alta Planning and Design.

I'm still getting used to saying that, as you can imagine.

It's just really just a great opportunity

to get a chance to meet you all,

introduce myself and our team to you this evening,

and just talk a little about the process

that we laid out in our response to the proposal.

Alta Planning and Design is really a company

that was built on a vision for more active, healthy,

and sustainable communities where they work.

You may know them, they've been around for 30 years

and they've been pioneers in active transportation

and sustainable communities work.

As Crystal mentioned earlier this year,

ALTA acquired Ramy and Associates

where I've been a principal for 14 years.

Ramy was a 20 year planning and urban design firm,

really mission driven and focused on creating healthy,

sustainable and equitable communities where we work.

We have all come over and become Alta's new community planning group.

All of our team and all of our staff are here to support you and the community through

this process.

We have extensive experience working throughout the state of California and across the country

really working on comprehensive planning and general plan work all over the place.

We've been fortunate enough to get an opportunity to collaborate with the state office of land

use and climate innovation on the update to the state's general plan guidelines, as well

as their specific planning guidelines. Our desire to do something exceptional with you all

in the community here in Walnut Creek is why we brought together this like-minded group of

collaborators who we've worked with across numerous projects. Harris and Associates is a

firm that you probably know well. They've been working on your safety and housing element updates.

they're going to be working on some of the technical elements of the general plan as well

as the environmental impact report. Farron Peers is a leader in multimodal transportation,

has been working here in the city across the East Bay and Contra Costa County as well as the state.

Plan to Place is really a leader in facilitating engagement processes that meet people where they

are and really motivate participation in the process. Bay Area, BAE, or urban

economics, is an expert in real estate economics, finance, and residential

feasibility, and really help us to convert our visionary policies and

practices into things that are implementable on the ground. And the

cultural planning group is really a leader in arts and cultural elements,

community arts master plans and public art processes.

And then all of our team at Alta,

the community planning group will be led by myself,

Tiffany Eng, who will be the deputy project manager

and a great group of staff who will be collaborating

with you and the city on this process.

Now, we're really here today to help you create

a general plan that helps to really center priority

populations in places, to really engage the community

in a meaningful and inclusive engagement process

to make sure that arts, culture, open space,

and mobility are part of context-sensitive design

and placemaking that create special places and moments here

in Walnut Creek.

That we create diverse opportunities for new homes,

new businesses, and community amenities

that both meet our current needs

as well as the future needs within the city.

And that we focus on safe and comfortable travel

and a vibrant arts and cultural community

that not only supports those resources,

but also supports placemaking

in the wonderful places here in Walnut Creek.

And then ultimately we want to really make sure

that you have an attractive and practical general plan

that you are able to use,

staff and the community are all able to use.

Now to kind of meet those objectives

or outcomes for the project,

we've kind of laid out a kind of a five-phase process,

really to build a strong foundation

and then to deeply engage with the community here.

We'll kick off the process with sort of a discovery

and learning phase,

where we'll be reviewing existing conditions,

developing communication engagement plans

and strategies for the process,

and then creating a draft vision

instead of project outcomes,

which will guide our work

and the vision of the general plan.

We'll then move into phases where we look

at different land use and mobility alternatives.

We'll create and revise goals, policies,

and implementation activities for the general plan.

Ultimately, updating the chapters or elements

of the general plan to review with the community,

and then ultimately for you all to consider for adoption.

Now, underpinning every phase of that process

is a deep and broad engagement program.

In the first phase, we're really going to be doing things that lay the foundation for

the rest of the work.

We're going to be developing a communications and engagement plan, a communication strategy,

an interactive website, and then project branding that we'll use from now through the completion

of the general plan.

We have included specific activities like community partner meetings and focus groups

to really ensure that we hear about the lived experiences of a diverse set of members of

community. And then we have more of those traditional community engagement activities like

workshops, pop-up meetings, and online surveys so that we can meet people where they are in the

in their lives. And then we're also going to host a series of informational forums that really bring

people together in an informal way to talk about housing, mobility, open space issues here within

the community. And as part of this process we're also really excited to launch an interactive

online Open House that we'll be using throughout the workshop process.

So this is an online tool that will allow people to go and listen to video presentations

that will go and look at informational boards and be able to comment and post ideas and

their thought.

Community members are able to post their ideas and thoughts about the specific topics that

we're focused on in that meeting.

It's like going to an Open House in person, but you can do it online.

our goal really is to create a lot of diverse opportunities for people to

engage in the process. And then finally I just wanted to highlight that we're

going to be meeting with you all as council members as well as all a number

of commissions throughout the process so we're going to kick that off in the not

too distant future with a joint meeting with six different commissions so that's

arts, transportation, park rec and open space, youth leadership, design review and

Planning Commission, and then we'll come to you all.

And in those early meetings,

we're gonna be talking about the process.

We're gonna be talking about project outcomes

and the engagement strategy we're gonna be using

in this process to get your feedback and thoughts early on.

And then we're gonna be meeting with the commissions

and you all at various points during the process

as we cluster engagement around existing conditions,

visions, issues, strategies

to meet our project outcomes and goals.

So thanks again for the opportunity to be here this evening,

I'm gonna pass it back over to Crystal,

but happy to answer any questions that you have tonight.

Thank you, Eric.

So I'll briefly review the key terms

of the proposed agreement

and the recommended action before council tonight.

So the proposed agreement includes a total budget

of $3,160,705 million.

The contract term is four years

with the option to extend for 12 months.

In the case that we needed the extra time

to complete the general plan.

So based on the evaluation process,

staff recommends that the city council

approve the resolution and authorize the city manager

to execute the consultant services agreement

with ALTA planning and design for the general plan 2050.

This concludes the presentation.

Staff and our consultants are available here

for any questions that you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Crystal.

We'll start over here.

Why don't we start now?

Thank you, Crystal and thank you, Eric.

This is really exciting.

I'm glad to see the progress it's made.

It sounds like you have a really great team

and then a big bench back at the home office

that can help bring this home.

I'm particularly interested in kind of maybe

just the proposal process, kind of what you learned

through that and kind of the different approaches

people had to kind of community engagement, particularly,

but maybe also kind of best practices

for a major undertaking like this.

Okay, so what we learned from the three firms

that we interviewed is that they really leverage

on technology for that.

They're very aware that people want things

pretty quickly and convenient.

So therefore, a lot of it was based on websites

and getting out there to the public as well,

because sometimes people don't come to the meetings

or workshops that we have.

So we understand that we have to go to them.

So we learned that and also the fact that

we want to make things convenient for people 24 seven.

We want input from them.

And that could be through our websites or through apps.

So those are the things that we'll be working on

with our consultant.

That makes sense.

And in terms of adaptability, I know that, you know,

in my time on council and planning commission before that,

we've adopted several kind of specific plans

and other plans that it seemed like they would get dated

pretty quickly or, you know,

we had a big push for ground floor retail, for instance,

and that space seems hard to fill in

with things other than services.

I'm just kind of wondering,

with a large scale planning effort like that,

you know, how flexible can we be and how malleable,

what are some of the strategies

that we're thinking about employing

to make it a living, breathing document.

Eric, do you wanna take that one?

Okay.

I love talking about general plans,

so happy to answer any questions you have.

You and me both, yeah.

So it'll really depend on what you want

to have flexibility on, right?

And so our job will be to kind of listen

and learn from you all during the first phases

of the process all the way through the writing

and drafting the process.

So where do you want to be very directive in your planning

approach?

We need this.

These are the steps we're going to take to do that.

And it's a very clear and linear pathway.

And other things are going to be more open,

and need to be more open and flexible as to how you

address them in the future.

So we often talk about this in climate planning and policy.

That's a very easy one, because that's

an area where we are going to be adapting over time.

sometimes that's gonna happen quickly,

sometimes that's gonna happen more slowly.

And so we need to think about how those policies

and implementations are implemented over time,

and then how we can take corrective actions partway through

to make sure that we're still meeting the objectives

we're trying to do, but we might be using different tactics

or activities to get there.

Well, often as part of this approach,

we've implemented a digital general plan

through those digital general plans,

we often include things like tracking metrics,

implementation activity metrics,

so that you can kind of go side by side

and see how the staff is doing

across different activities that you're doing,

maybe what needs to change in the future.

It can be part of the reporting that you use

to take corrective and adaptive actions

if you're not meeting your housing needs

or you're not meeting your business growth needs

that you need in the community, to name a few.

So I think we can design it in the ways

that you find the flexibility is important,

but then also the ways that you want to make sure

that you're achieving very specific outcomes

through your policy goals.

That makes sense.

And, you know, in terms of what do you,

maybe for staff or both of you,

what do you envision in terms of the outline

or the framework of the plan, in terms of the elements?

I know we have unique ones that I think are important

to Walnut Creek in terms of quality of life element.

we don't have an economic development element,

so will that happen kind of earlier on in the process

that we'll talk about what the broad outline

or framework of the plan will be?

Yes, I believe that in the beginning

we'll be collecting a lot of data,

and also with part of the visioning,

finding out what people want, like the stakeholders,

we talk to the local business groups

to figure out where we want the general plan directed.

I don't know if Erica you have anything else to add to that.

The most important thing is that we will listen

to all of you, the commissions, the community at large,

and there are things like the economic development

and DEIB, et cetera, where those are thematics

that really cross across the different elements

and that they live and breathe in that way

rather than necessarily having a static element

in and of themselves.

So they have the ability to evolve much more rapidly

than even our land uses and our transportation system.

So that is woven into the proposal

that Alta has given us.

That's great, thank you very much.

Yes, Council Member Darling.

And kind of playing off of, whatever he is,

Vice Mayor Pro Tem Francois there's going to need to be some flexibility in

the planning effort because of some of the major unknowns right now such as

adoption of alternative modes of transportation like self-driving cars

and Waymos that can dramatically change what people are expecting in the built

environment like do we really need parking lots if we have self-driving

driving cars, that really shifts where the plan is going to go if that becomes reality.

Same for how AI is going to change how people work and what office space looks like.

How are we looking at those kind of flexibility opportunities that may or may not, you know,

that are happening but we just don't know how fast they're going to happen?

You want to take that one, too?

I'll try to give you a really concrete example,

because sometimes these things can feel a little bit abstract.

With self-driving cars and maybe even

if we step back to the advent of companies like Uber and Lyft,

what we have done in the planning world and the design

world is focus on curbside.

So how do we adapt our curb side to accommodate

fewer parked vehicles, but more vehicles that are coming,

dropping off people, picking up people,

dropping off deliveries, food service.

And so what we have done in a lot of cases

is thought about how we actually adapt the curb space, right?

So maybe there's fewer parking spots along the curb.

Maybe there's requirements for more pickup and drop off

in front of new developments when you build them.

So what we try to do is think of

how those particular technologies are going to change

the physical and built environment and anticipate that

and then drive the changes in our regulations

that affect the built form of the community.

So in that case, we've gone in and we've changed

how the curb is used in a lot of places, right,

to allow that integration to come in.

I'll be honest, I don't know how AI is fully going to change

how we work over time, right?

We can ask it, but, you know.

Yeah, exactly.

I can ask Claude, right, after he finished this.

Claude will give me a nice answer.

But, you know, this is, in a lot of communities,

that means data centers,

but that doesn't mean data centers here, right?

But how does it change our work?

Are we going into offices?

What are those office spaces like?

What are the kind of, what are the composition of jobs

within the community?

You have a big healthcare sector here.

AI is gonna really affect healthcare

and life sciences moving forward in the future.

So how is it gonna affect the staff and personnel?

And those are things we can explore through this process,

especially if they're important issues for the community.

And then the other opportunity for flexibility

is that we have a housing element,

we have a sustainability action plan,

we have a fair number of planning documents,

some of which speak well to each other

and some of which are disconnected.

how do you go about respecting the current,

the current planning that's gone on and finding the holes

rather than just redoing everything?

Oh, that's a great question.

So we really do try and build on the foundation of work

that you as a council and the staff

and the community have done.

It's really our job to honor that work.

And if we're just scrapping it and throwing it away,

we're not honoring all the hard work that community members

in particular have put in after hours

in the evening staff does as part of their daily assignments.

Some of those plans are framework plans,

like a general plan.

They're high level, visionary, and overarching plans.

Some of those are implementation plans.

A housing element, for example, is really

an implementation plan now.

It's very unlike every other element of a general plan.

So we have to think about how they relate to one another.

So how do the land use policies in your land use and community

design element really allow you to effectively implement

and adapt your housing element programs

that you're gonna be doing in, you know, six years.

We're done already, yeah.

Oh, well, four more years when we do the next one, right?

So you have to just think about how they align

with one another.

Your sustainability action plan, climate action plan,

those are really implementation programs for these items

that are in the general plan.

And our job is to capture the themes, the programs,

ideas at a higher level and provide sort of an umbrella or a nest for all of those activities

to happen underneath.

Okay.

Thank you.

I look forward to this.

It's going to be entertaining.

Yes, thank you for the presentation.

Yeah, when I was reading it, I thought, well, what a nice merge from, you know, merging

with ALTA because ALTA, I guess, born out of active transportation, as we've been talking

about for communities that struggle

to break free from the auto centric paradigm.

And I thought that we have some areas of the city

that are definitely struggling with that.

So I'll be very interested to see how we approach that.

I think it'll be a challenging area to explore.

I had a question just sort of about the process.

So can we go back to the slide

that had the different years that were?

So this is over three years, and one of the concerns that I have about just sort of generally

processes like these is that we do a lot of upfront sort of exploration of ideas, and

then folks who are professional at whatever that thing is sort of feel very comfortable

with the process, and the process moves along at a pace that those who are not familiar

with the process have trouble keeping up

with and providing input to.

So I worry about this process getting away from us

a little bit.

And I was looking at, in section 2.12,

it talks about the ongoing meetings.

And it says that the scope and budget anticipate

up to four additional meetings not defined elsewhere

in scope of work.

One presentation for each round will be developed along

with the first draft of the staff report.

That's for additional council and commission meetings.

And I took that to mean that maybe there's

like four meetings over these three years,

and that didn't seem like a lot.

And so I was wondering how much feedback we'll

get from you to the council, to the commissions,

about the process, how many updates.

like what would that process look like for us?

What can we anticipate?

Great, clarified question.

So those are in addition to these meetings

that are up here on this.

I think I counted and I wanna say it's 30 something meetings

with city council and planning commission

that our team is scoped to participate in

as a consultant team.

Those additional four are ones that are not on here,

but you need an update right now.

We can come and do the update in the future to give you in between these different phases

or if we need to do another meeting on alternatives, you need us for a second meeting.

Those are the kind of flexibility we built into our scope of work so that if you need

us to come back for a particular reason, we can do that.

Our staff needs us to come back for a particular reason.

So it's for our in addition to, I think, this 30-something odd meetings with commission

and council here.

Okay, thanks for clarifying that.

Okay, we'll open it up to the public now.

If anybody from the public would like to make any comments, please come to the podium.

You'll have two minutes.

Don't all rush.

All right, we'll close the public comment, bring it back to council if there's any further

comments and or a motion.

You know, I just had one follow-up question and to Eric, kind of interested based on your

experience on kind of lessons learned or best practices especially at this

kickoff beginning processes you know how things that you know things that went

extremely well in some other cities or things that you wish you would have done

better if you could just kind of elaborate a little on yeah what we're

what we might be facing in the next six to twelve months. We do everything

perfectly so I can't tell you what we do better, right? No, just kidding. We're constantly evolving

the methods and practice that we use in our planning work. One of the things that I have learned

actually in the last couple of general plans that I've done is to actually do the thing that says

kickoff and project outcomes right up front. And so really it's a way to establish and set expectations

both for the process and the outcomes of the general plan.

So we're gonna work with all the commissions,

as well as you all and community members

who are participating in that practice to say,

hey, these are the things that in our process

we wanna make sure we achieve.

Those could be around community engagement

and how we engage different groups in the community.

They can be on the outcomes

that we want our general plan to achieve.

So we wanna make sure that we can accommodate

three additional regional housing needs allocations

in our general plan land use map.

that can be quantitative in that way and directive.

So establishing those outcomes so that when we come back

after we do the vision and everyone tells us

what their issues are and we say,

well, here are some land use options

that help you meet these project outcomes.

People are like, oh, okay, I helped create these outcomes

and these alternatives do in different ways,

help us meet those outcomes or objectives.

And so we can kind of line those up

because I think one thing that does happen

is that people kind of lose the connective tissue

over two or three different years in a planning process.

And so establishing those early

and then continuously like connecting back

the alternatives, the policy.

We're really here to meet those project outcomes

and objectives.

That's one way I would just say that in recent times

I've been reframing the work that we're doing

because otherwise I think you can kind of lose that thread.

And then the other is just we want to do engagement

in many, many different ways.

Because some people like to be high touch, low tech.

Some people like to be high tech, low touch,

and everything in between.

So we want to give people, and you

can see that in our proposal, a lot of different opportunities

to meet us in different ways.

That's helpful.

Appreciate that.

So I'm really pleased that we're at this process.

I think it's really exciting.

I think we definitely have the right consultant team.

Thank you to staff for doing the hard work

of soliciting the proposals

and interviewing all the candidates.

And so Mayor, I'm happy to make the motion to adopt

the resolution authorizing our city manager

to execute a consultant services agreement

with Alta Planning and Design

in an amount not to exceed $3.1 million for a four-year term

with an option to extend for 12 more months

to prepare the 2050 general plan and programmatic EIR.

And I will second that.

We have a motion to second.

City Clerk, could you read the roll please?

Mayor Pro Tem Francois?

Aye.

Council Member Darling?

Aye.

Council Member Davenny?

Aye.

Mayor Wilk?

Aye.

Motion carries.

All right.

Moving right along here.

Everybody okay?

Okay.

Next consideration item.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

Adoption of resolutions approving

the Downtown Walnut Creek Business Improvement District

and downtown Walnut Creek South Business Improvement

District assessment reports for fiscal year 2026,

intent to levy assessments for the fiscal year 2027

and setting public hearings for April 7th, 2026.

And economic development manager, Mike Nieman.

Pleased to have you here.

Thank you and good evening mayor,

members of the city council, members of the public.

I'm Mike Nieman, the economic development manager.

And the item in front of you today

is the annual assessment for the business improvement

district in downtown, as well as the south business

improvement district.

These are annual assessments that come in front of you.

And you could see here a little bit of the history.

The business improvement district

was originally formed in 2005.

Later, the south portion of the improvement district

was formed in 2010.

This is the most robust area in the city,

and ground zero for economic development.

There's about 680 businesses located in downtown.

A lot of them are retail.

There's a lot of other financial services

and other types of services as well.

The district is funded through the assessments,

and these assessments are proposed to increase

by 3% this year as they have been in the past.

The process is a two-step process.

The first step happens tonight,

and this is the meeting and presentation

of the annual report that we have representatives

from the Walnut Creek downtown prepared to share with you.

And then the second meeting is scheduled for April 7th,

and that will be the public hearing

where we tally and ensure that there is no chapter.

From successfully managing the first year

a new 501 C3 entity to developing a comprehensive five-year vision plan for

both the downtown and the organization to launching a new wellness focused

event just a couple weeks ago. This has been a year defined by momentum and

progress. We expanded our services in meaningful ways including strengthening

our partnership with the Walnut Creek Police Department to introduce a crime

Watch program most recently and enhanced safety throughout the district and at the same time

we brought increased vibrancy and energy to downtown through a consistent lineup of street

festivals and markets that continued to draw both visitors and residents to the downtown

district. Behind the scenes we made strategic investments in data platforms that are making

our organization more fiscally efficient while also equipping our business

community with real-time insights on visitors, competitors, and marketing

strategies, particularly through the partnership with the Economic

Development Department size-up Walnut Creek program. One-on-one engagement with

business owners and operators offering more detailed and tailored support

through data-driven insights and social media assessments. So overall it's been a

really positive and productive year and we're just getting started. With

ambitious plans ahead guided by the vision plan we've developed we are well

positioned to continue building a thriving dynamic and resilient downtown

Walnut Creek. So this evening I'm proud to share our annual report for fiscal

Year 2526.

This is a map of just as a reminder of the district, which includes 29 blocks of both

the bid and the south bid within the downtown district.

Our committees vary through the arts and beautification, a wide range of committees and alliances,

including two boards of directors and business members to help advance the organization's

initiatives.

Our team currently consists of three full-time staff members and one part-time staff—actually,

four full-time and one part-time staff member.

The advocacy role that we helped this year with the Outdoor Dining Program, WCD championed

of city funded grant initiative aimed at encouraging businesses to establish permanent outdoor

dining structures and with the strong partnership between WCD and the city to date six structures

have been completed within the program and stereo 41 was recently approved so we're

looking forward to their addition.

The considerable positive impact this program will have on the overall vibrancy of downtown

is truly immeasurable, serving as an exemplary model of public-private partnerships.

This past weekend, many of the outdoor dining spaces were full with diners enjoying the

outdoor weather, or the warm weather, and it's just an example of more to come.

Community partnerships include the business watch program that I mentioned, the business

data support, and then also participating in a variety of city efforts, including the

the downtown curbside management, management planned.

WCD invested in a new data platform

that helps turn raw privacy compliant data

into insights that strengthen the economic vitality

of the entire district.

In collaboration with the city and the chamber,

the size up on the creek,

and our internal program place or AI

helps businesses analyze their performance,

map competitors and discover new customers and suppliers.

Additionally, WCD engages in increased number

of one-on-one consultations

to assist our downtown businesses.

The last year has included a deep dive

into creating a five-year vision plan.

It will establish a shared framework for WCD

informed by community and member input,

data analysis in reflection on prior accomplishments.

Priority efforts will align with WCD's current pillars

led by individual committees

that include advocacy, beautification, events,

marketing and engagement, and community partnerships.

So we look forward to sharing the plan with council

and members in the community in the very near future.

The second year of the Summer Arts Walnut Creek

showcase 13 programs across performing visual and culinary

arts last summer.

And an update with this program is

that in light of programming and logistical challenges faced

by several of the partners, the Arts Alliance

has opted to shift its focus from summer activities

to year-round.

Strategic group discussions are currently

underway to identify ways to maintain the program's

strengths while addressing its challenges,

all while fostering positive and unified efforts.

So it's those 13 groups working together

have continued to strengthen over the last year.

Holiday decorations were used for,

were installed within the downtown via the Measure O funds.

The over a thousand strands of lights

along with 60 lamp posts adorned garlands,

bows and banners transformed the area for the holiday season.

And the seventh season of Painted Pianos

was a huge success featuring six beautifully transformed

pianos on display April through October.

We had 80 volunteers come out to paint the pianos to prep

and beautify them.

And a special thanks to Waters Moving in Storage

as a presenting sponsor that, through their generous support,

it helped continue this program for the next three years.

Downtown Stages brings the energy of a curated, live music,

arts fairs, and partner activations

to a dynamic open-air setting,

transforming the downtown into a vibrant year-round hub.

During the 2025 season,

WCD partnered with the California Symphony,

Diablo Ballet, and the Arts Alliance

to promote their programs across the stage.

More Besker-style performances

and additional pop-up events are scheduled

for the coming year, to continue to expand access

to the arts.

And in collaboration with the city of Walnut Creek,

WCD and the Community Partnership for Walnut Creek

Downtown Association also advocates for public art

by encouraging downtown property owners to participate

in the Big Belly Program and the mural matching program,

helping to bring vibrant murals and creative place making

to the heart of the downtown.

Their marketing efforts continue to be very strong and far-reaching.

These are a few stats for the year.

And the website has seen over 182,000 annual visitors with higher engagement from our business

members who can now easily add their own events to the website calendar.

We have a combined following of 400, or excuse me, 45,000 individuals that over the various

social media platforms and individual posts have reached up to 87,000 for one single post.

And this continues to be a highly effective free marketing tool for our business members.

In 2025, we continued with the Head West Marketplace Program for a four-date season on North Main

Street, hosting markets in response to business requests for increased activity on this and

foot traffic.

287 total vendors and exhibitor booths, ranging from 65 to about 90 per event.

Joint marketing efforts generated more than 500,000 views on Walnut Creek's specific social

media content, expanding our own the downtown's digital reach. The season

reinforced Head West's marketplace as a high-impact activation that drives

visitation, visibility, and meaningful community engagement to the downtown. We

hosted our annual Unquarked event on June 26, bringing 790 visitors to the

downtown and we also included 35 participating businesses and paired with

16 pouring and tasting partners and many of the attendees this year said it was

the best yet mainly because of the increased restaurant and food offerings.

They really stepped it up this year. WCD launched Locust Street Festival

previously known as First Wednesdays as a four-date summer street series held

monthly May through August. The expanded festival footprint activated

Locust Street and surrounding blocks on Wednesday evenings, with live

music, entertainment, kids activities, artisan vendors, and downtown business

participation. We hosted beverage services as a fundraiser at three of

Broadway Plaza's concerts, drawing approximately 1,000 to 2,500 visitors per

event with strong dwell times throughout each event which was very encouraging.

We also started off the holidays with the annual holiday tree lighting

ceremony bringing the community together for a festive evening marking the start

of the holiday season in Civic Park and the family-friendly event included

Hot Cocoa and Frosty and Mayor Wilk and mayor and council members who were able to light

the tree and attendance continues to grow as long as the weather cooperates so we saw

about probably about 300 people that came out for that evening.

Walnut Creek's downtown signature fall festival, Octoberfest returned to Civic Park, September

26th through the 27th with expanded programming across Friday evening and a full day on Saturday.

The event welcomed more than 15,000 attendees

and featured live entertainment, artisans,

local food offerings, and a Chill Zone speakeasy.

New and expanded elements in 2025

enhanced the overall guest experience,

including a larger community stage

showcasing 17 performances by local schools

and community groups.

Oktoberfest continued its strong growth trajectory,

achieving a 20% increase in total attendance year over year,

including a 41% increase on Friday night

and 11% on Saturday evening.

Did I skip?

Yeah, Broadway Plaza hosted its annual Parade of Lights

and Tree Lighting Ceremony.

We participated by operating a concessions booth,

selling hot cocoa as a fundraiser,

and also facilitated the use of the Zamboni

and the rink's mascot, Frosty, as parade entries.

And then Walnut Creek on Ice.

We celebrated the 20th season, and this milestone year

introduced a refreshed event layout

that created a larger, more open visual footprint

and improved guest flow while making Frosty's Summit

Ice Slide more prominent and visible within the park.

New rental skates were added to enhance the comfort

and performance, and improving the overall skating

experience for guests of all ages.

In addition to on-site enhancements,

we also launched a newly upgraded website

elevating that digital appearance and ease

for guests who are planning their visits.

And we look forward to the year 21 in November of this year.

A new event this year that we included on March 1

This was a wellness-focused event that was designed to engage an active audience within

the community while spotlighting the wide range of health, wellness, and fitness offerings

throughout the downtown.

Guests participated in a self-guided walking tour, experiencing pop-up activations, local

wellness vendors, and participating businesses offering movement, recovery, and nourishment

experiences.

The event encouraged attendees to discover new downtown businesses and services while

exploring approachable ways to get active and healthy and connected.

By blending wellness, movement, and community, the afternoon introduced new visitors to downtown

while reinforcing Walnut Creek as a destination for healthy living.

This tiny slide, which you have a larger view, sorry, shows the fiscal year 25-26 budget

as of January 31st with our fiscal year closing

at the end of this month.

So the projected reserve for 26-27 is $18,489.

The projected bid assessments for the upcoming year

is $213,000 with a projected reserve

of approximately $18,000.

The revenue slide here or income, the current accounts receivable is approximately $73,000

that we plan to collect by the end of this fiscal year in two weeks.

Fiscal year 25-26 is the first year when most of these events, most of our WCD events were

produced through the 501c3 entity.

expense notes, the continued success of our large scale events have required an increase

in event supplies, professional services, and rental equipment, and in general, higher

event production expenses.

This table shows the programs year over year net totals, and then the assessment fees which

remain on track with the annual 3% increase for both bids.

And while we continue to serve and support our existing downtown businesses, we are really

excited to welcome all of these businesses to the downtown in the upcoming year, with

North Italia being this weekend.

Our event calendar was recently published.

You'll note that Locust Street Festival this year will maintain a similar format while

we're refining the schedule and its focus.

The series has been reduced from four events to two core summer dates.

The event will continue to prioritize strong foot traffic, business engagement, and a high

energy festival experience.

Oktoberfest, the overall structure and scale of the event will remain consistent this year

with minor layout refinements, refreshed entertainers, and operational enhancements to help improve

guest flow and comfort.

The chill zone experience will be reimagined with updated design elements and programming

aimed at elevating the overall atmosphere.

And building on insights gathered through stakeholder engagements and strategic assessments

with the WCD staff, board of directors, the WCD's vision for the next five years is centered

on downtown 365, creating a downtown that is vibrant, walkable, and active every day,

all day of the, every day, all day of the year.

This vision reflects both the downtown's current strengths

and the clear direction expressed by the community

for its future.

At its core, Downtown 365 focuses on walkability,

outdoor dining, and consistent activation,

creating a downtown experience that feels safe

and welcoming from morning through evening.

The goal is to position Downtown Walnut Creek

as a place people choose daily for routines,

connection, cultural experiences, shopping, dining,

and special events.

And this vision plan reflects both the downtown's

current strengths and the clear direction expressed

by the community for its future.

Our strategies listed here are intended to support,

it's intended to support strategic decision-making,

strengthen partnership, and ensure long-term sustainability.

And ultimately, this vision plan turns vision into action,

aligning priorities to create a cohesive downtown experience.

Through a unified approach, WCD is

positioned to remain resilient, relevant, and vibrant

for residents, businesses, and visitors alike.

Both boards are voting on this vision plan this week,

and we look forward to sharing the complete document

in the very near future.

Another effort that we are working on,

just as a FYI, is an entertainment zone.

I think I may have spoken to you on most of this topic.

But the entertainment zone is a designated area

where people can buy open container drinks

to go drinks from local bars and restaurants,

wineries and breweries and enjoy them outside

in the common spaces.

We're looking at that driven around WCD events

and we'll be meeting with local stakeholders

and share that proposal with you in the months to come.

So that concludes my presentation.

I'm available for questions.

Thank you, Kathy.

Thanks.

Yes, Council Member Darling.

Thank you, that's a whole lot of fun there.

Couple quick questions.

Looking forward to next year,

I know you and I talk briefly about the farmer's market

and potential for a partnership there,

either with Walnut Creek downtown

in the traditional downtown or at a Broadway Plaza.

Have you heard anything more from them

or is that still underway?

We have a meeting with Stacy, the director, tomorrow.

Okay, good.

Yeah, she reached out.

We're excited about the opportunity.

It's something that we've been toying around with

and discussing with their team

and it just wasn't something they wanted to pursue

and it sounds like they are.

So we're gonna, yeah, see what that means

and then bring it to the city and to you

with more information.

We look forward to hearing more about that one.

I noticed that we've had a strong partnership

through our measure O funds with the holiday decorations

and some of the other expenses.

I didn't see a measure O line for next year.

Yeah.

What are you guys thinking?

So what we've been able to adjust the requests

over kind of as a fluidly over the last couple of years

since the measure O began.

So what we'd like to do this year

is align that with our fiscal year,

beginning April 1 and so that is forthcoming within,

hopefully within the next three to four weeks.

So you guys will look at what your plans are

and see if there's an opportunity for synergy

with Measure O and look to come up with the partnership

with the city at that point?

Correct.

Okay, so for, because your year starts now.

April 1.

And our students start till July.

So then whatever comes in would have to go into our budget

for next year.

Yes, yeah.

All right, thanks.

some time and we have some ideas. I always do long scary squirrels in the

background what about this what about this anyway thank you and thank you for

the help. Just just to get a little more clarification on that so what is the

conversation that's going on between farmers market and Walnut Creek downtown

just to let the rest of us Stacy just do you want to I Stacy just approached me

when I was at the farmers market booth and she was really excited because she

had just come from some conference and sometimes you get really excited at the

But she wanted to explore the potential of doing some downtown expansion for an evening

market.

It wouldn't be as produce forward as the current Sunday one, and it would not replace the current

Sunday one, but she said that she had found interest from some of her farmers in coming

to one, even though they weren't going to be as well-featured.

featured said they could either sell it there or put it in the composting rather

interesting anyway I'm not yeah I'm I yeah we'll find out tomorrow right I'll

be sure to share yeah well as long as I'm talking let me just let ask a

question as well a couple of merchants have mentioned to me that they feel they

see Locust Street and they look like Locust Street is just hopping it's a big

party and merchants that that especially you're on like south on Main Street but

south of Cyprus between Cyprus and Mount Diablo feel there's it's almost a

dead zone is what they've said is there any thoughts of wall of Wall Street

downtown doing some things to enliven that area a little bit yeah that's that's

definitely been a topic that's come up in almost all of our meetings over the

last year and we had dedicated meetings with those business owners and operators

Some are no longer on the street, and so we're trying to start the conversation again, but that relationship with Head West specifically came out of their request for more activation there.

And this year, it's the third year with that program to actually work with the businesses, keep some space open in front of the businesses that make that request.

And then additionally, we are looking at,

could we move a Locust Street Festival

type of festival onto North Main Street?

The traffic component is a big deal,

but there are things that are within our vision plan

that do target North Main Street.

Great, thank you, other questions?

Just a few, thanks Kathy for the update.

Can you expand a little bit on the summer arts program?

I guess a year round arts program,

What kind of changes are being made to that?

Yeah.

It's mostly marketing and trying to create a little bit more

cohesiveness with the cross promotion that

is available through all of the organizations.

And so it's getting them to learn more

on how to communicate, syncing up also their marketing leads,

and then also being able to just kind of highlight

the programs that are already happening

And how could maybe a partner be able to participate

in a festival culture all, you know,

is maybe Diablo Ballet have something

that they'd be able to kind of cross-promote

or collaborate with.

So it's looking at collaborations

instead of creating something new.

So that's helpful.

And then did the downtown stages still,

is that still part of the program or could it be combined

with some other event?

Right, and it's a space that is available,

Donna from our team manages those,

and so she's known to be able to be that contact person

to create any type of activation,

usually at Waterlight Plaza and the other ones,

and that Arts Alliance are really the groups

that have taken most advantage of that.

That's great, and Oktoberfest, one of my favorite events,

and got to serve beer with Tracy's dad,

who's the champ.

You know, there's changes kind of happening around.

The fall seems to be a real happening time.

People want to be outside and be part of these big events.

Walnut Festival, obviously, was a big event here.

The future of that, I think, is a little unknown now.

What kind of opportunities do you

see for Oktoberfest to kind of build and grow and maybe

incorporate some cherished traditions in Walnut Creek

into that event?

I think it's the last couple of years have proven to be well

oiled machine for the most part.

It's creating more opportunity for our community groups

to be involved, I think.

We had that with the stages.

So with a lot of the, and also engaging the schools

a little bit more.

So it's focused on community.

We're happy with the footprint that exists right now.

We don't see that moving to the other side of the bridge,

to the park just yet,

but really trying to maximize the space

that we have right now and fine-tuning

and making it also be a little bit more authentic,

bringing in more of the German influence

so that we do have that feel throughout the weekend.

Terrific, thank you.

Hi, thanks for the presentation.

I was curious, the assessments, what's your lens on those?

Do you feel they're sort of right sized?

I know there's a 3% increase.

Is there a sentiment within the community

that more or less would be better?

Yeah, there are conversations within our finance committee

and staff to look at that,

to see what would be a palatable increase beyond the 3%.

I think right now, it's comfortable for a lot

of our businesses, especially our smaller businesses,

so keeping that in mind, is there an opportunity

to increase the current assessment fees?

Is there an opportunity to expand the bid?

There's all different ways to slice and dice it,

but I think looking at the current fees right now,

they're okay.

I think they could still go higher

and still be palatable for our membership.

I'm confident with our, sorry to interrupt,

I'm just saying, I'm confident with our services

that we've really been able to share

and be able to engage more one-on-one

over the last couple of years,

that that membership is okay with that

because they see the return.

And for those that don't,

those are the ones that we wanna be able

to engage with even more.

Right, okay, that was all I was gonna say,

is that it seems to me that the feedback

is that it really is a value add,

and is that generally the sentiment

that you're getting from the downtown?

That's great.

I also had the Measure O question.

I was curious, last year did you,

you applied for specific amounts,

I see some of it like 57,000 went to the C3,

44,000 went to the C6.

You had budgeted 120 but received 101.

Did you apply?

Sorry for asking a vague question, but was that,

did that process sort of go well?

And did you, I guess you'll be telling us coming up,

but that amount kind of worked for what you were looking

for last year?

Or you had budgeted more than you received?

What was your thought there?

So two things, one is that the difference between the C3 and the C6 is all of our events

are under the C3 and that's for public facing as opposed to the C6 with the business interface.

And so some of those programs fell under the beautification or the business end of it.

And then the others were for like 32,000 was included for the Locust Street Festival.

So event specific.

So while it's, they come out of two different buckets, they're still under the WCD umbrella.

It was the first year that we've done that and we've got some fine tuning to do on that

for the year ahead, and that's work that we'll do with Charles and City Manager Buxai.

Okay.

And what I wanted to say for the uncorked event, that really the food was really a significant

improvement.

So, we'll put in a plug for that.

There's no way you could stop at all of these places and eat all the good food that was

available.

Yeah.

It was great.

It was a great event, yeah.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Great.

Well, thank you, Kathy.

And let's first open it up for public comment.

Mike, do you have something to follow up?

Okay.

To wrap up, given the presentation, the staff recommendation would be to move forward with

the resolutions approving both the downtown as well as the south downtown bid assessment

rates for 2027 as well as accept this annual report.

Thank you.

All right.

Thanks, Mike.

Well, let's open it up to public comment.

If anybody would like to speak on this, please come forward, and you'll have a couple of

minutes.

All right.

Seeing nobody for public comment, we will close it, bring it back to council.

there are further comments or a motion. How about a move to adopt the resolution

approving the downtown Walnut Creek Business Improvement District annual

assessment report for FY 26, levying the annual assessments for downtown Walnut

Creek Business Improvement District for FY 27, and setting a public hearing for

April 7, 2026, and doing the same things adopting the resolution approving the

downtown Walnut Creek South Business Improvement District annual assessment

report for FY 26,

levying the annual assessments

for Downtown Walnut Creek South Business Improvement District

for FY 27 and setting a public hearing for a surprise

the same day, April 7th, 2026.

How about that? All right.

Second.

We have a second and could you please call the roll, Susie?

Council Member Darling.

Aye.

Council Member Davini.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Francois.

Aye.

Mayor Welk.

Aye.

Motion carries.

All right.

And thank you for all your hard work this year.

Thank you, yeah.

Why don't we take a five minute break

just to stretch our legs.

All right, back here, what time is it?

So we'll be back here at five to eight.

All right, we're back and we will resume the meeting

with our next consideration item

and our last consideration item,

the 2025 housing element annual progress report.

And I invite housing manager, Stephanie Brydon,

forward to provide the presentation.

Good evening, Mayor Wilk and members of city council.

I'm Stephanie Bryan, the Housing Manager.

And the item before you this evening

is our 2025 Housing Element Annual Progress Report.

Tonight's presentation will cover the background

on the APR, Annual Progress Report, and why it's prepared.

We'll discuss the progress in our housing element programs

and the regional housing needs allocation or RINA goals.

And we'll highlight key achievements we've made

since the housing element was adopted in 2023.

The housing element contains goals, policies,

and programs that guide how we work

towards our arena obligation.

The process starts at the state level

where the California Department of Housing

and Community Development, or HCD,

determines the required number of housing units

across all income levels for each region of the state.

Those numbers are then provided to regional agencies,

In our case, the Association of Bay Area Governments, also known as ABAG, which distributes specific

housing units' targets across local jurisdictions like Walnut Creek.

Cities are then required by the state to submit an annual progress report, each year documenting

how they're progressing towards these goals.

The report before you tonight is Walnut Creek's 2025 Annual Progress Report.

The APR is submitted to HCD each year by April 1st.

It includes a snapshot of the city's housing production data from the previous calendar

year, which is the number of units issued building permits and development activities

such as projected applications submitted and the projects completed.

The report also tracks implementation of the housing element programs, which are the specific

actions the city is taking to facilitate housing development.

The primary way the state measures progress towards Reno is through the number of building

permits issued.

The city's total Reno goal is 5,805.

Since the beginning of the housing element cycle, the city has issued 244 building permits,

placing us at approximately 4% of our Reno goal.

The state's methodology for tracking progress, however, doesn't describe the full picture.

Projects currently in the pipeline represent approximately, wait, I think I got ahead.

Right.

Sorry about that.

According to the pipeline report found on the city's website, there are approximately

1,300 units at some stage of our development process.

The pipeline stages go from a project submittal application to project construction, and the

numbers in the circles indicate the number of units at each stage in the process as of

December of 2025.

The timeline for each project type varies depending on state and local laws that define

development processes.

Units currently in the pipeline represent approximately 23% of the city's total RINA

goal.

Significantly nearly half of the pipeline units are identified as affordable.

While RINA progress is measured by building permits issued, this slide gives us a broader

picture of development activity moving through the city's pipeline.

As cities don't build housing directly, the pipeline is one of our best indicators for

how development interests may translate into future permitted and completed housing.

The other key component of our annual progress report is our housing program activity.

As stated previously, the housing element includes goals, policies, and actions that

guide how the city facilitates housing production.

of 145 total actions in our housing element 138 actions have been implemented since the

housing element was certified and only one activity remains scheduled for implementation

this reporting year meaning 2026 these programs include activities such as updated zoning

supports for residents and developers collaborations with our community partners and encouraging

80 you development among others to highlight the city's key achievements in 2025

This is a summary of action items implemented

They include housing production affordability like the increased number of permits by 147 percent over last year

additional affordable below market rate homes rental units and 80 use created and a pro housing incentive program award of 1 million dollars

We also implemented zoning and regulatory streamlining such as improvements in our permitting processes

removal of invalidated residential growth limitation and planned development permit requirements and we updated our residential care facility

regulations

We continued supporting our unhoused residents through ongoing funding of Trinity Center's evening and job training programs

We participated in the Contra Costa County's homeless consortium and maintained the police department's homeless outreach program

The hop team and we sustained our community collaboration activities including the developer forum and our partnerships through the city's community grant program

recipients

And finally 80 use were a prominent strategy that were that in that were enacted since certification

In that time the city has expanded our housing options for 80 use through the creation of pre-approved

adu or Pradhu plans

Through zoning amendments that allow expanded adus on faith-based properties and last but not least creation of an adu

Accelerator program which offers financial incentives for adu construction

Notably all of the rebates in this program are fully allocated within nine months, which were well ahead of our expectations

in conclusion staff asks that the city council approved the 20 25 APR and direct city staff to submit it to the required agencies and

and staff is happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks, Stephanie.

I'm sure we have a few questions.

I saw it in housing committee, so.

Okay, any further questions?

Just maybe, thank you for the report, Stephanie,

really great information.

When you said in the pipeline

that about half of the units are affordable,

is that based on kind of the density assumptions

that they meet the density requirements

to be characterized as an affordable unit?

It's based on information that I got from the planners

for each of the projects in the pipeline

where they gave me the actual number of affordable units

that had been identified for each of the projects.

That's impressive then, that's a high number.

I think that's all I had, others were comments.

I do have one question, just a general question.

I think we asked it before,

but I just wanna bring it forward again.

You'd mentioned on one of the slides that we don't build,

but we make the zoning available to be built on.

So what happens if the RINA targets aren't met?

And what are the consequences,

if any, of how cities would be held accountable on this?

My understanding is that cities in general

are making every good faith effort they can

to meet their RINA goal.

And in a lot of ways, that is exactly what we can do,

is about providing as many program opportunities

as we can to encourage the production of housing.

And those are the only tools

we really have available to us.

And we can hope that the state would understand

that we have literally done everything we can.

Well, we would hope.

If I might add to it.

So what we are held accountable for

is the implementation of our housing element.

and so if we're not able to meet the goal currently,

we are not penalized for that

as long as we've made our commit,

fulfilled all of our commitments in the housing element

to do everything to make the land available.

Now that's under current state housing law.

Who knows what the future may bring.

So we're doing what we need to now,

but obviously between interest rates,

between challenges with construction

when I talk to developers, the timing isn't right

and it doesn't pencil out and those kind of things.

At this point, we're not being held accountable for,

but of course, the goalposts can move.

The law could change.

And then in most cities' housing elements,

including Walnut Creek,

they call for a mid-cycle review

to see how you're doing

against your housing element commitments.

And if a city is below the midpoint, if you will,

which many cities will be,

but if a city is below the midpoint,

then there may be direction from HCD

to look for additional sites

that could potentially provide for additional housing

as part of a mid-cycle review.

So I think 2027 time period.

Interesting, okay, thank you.

All right, Stephanie, thank you.

We'll now open it up to public.

Oh, is there another?

We'll open up to public comment.

If there are anybody that's running in from the hallway

to do public comment, now's the time to come up to the podium.

All right, seeing none, we'll close public comment

and bring it back to council for any comments or a motion.

I just wanna say thank you to staff

from the housing committee.

I think you guys did a good job.

We asked a lot of questions

and you guys are doing what we need to do

to get there on the housing element.

appreciate it. Yeah I concur and I you know I think there is a tendency to

focus on the percent and it seems like a relatively small number but I also like

the fact that we've I mean and I commend staff for the focus on achieving 137 of

145 programs because those are the things we really can control and that

could have the difference in terms of increasing the number of units, and I

think by focusing on those efforts early on in the cycle, it's more likely that

we'll see the numbers grow, and I think the pipeline numbers are significant and

certainly the number of affordable units is significant, and I also want to thank

you for applying for the state funding and funneling that money towards the

affordable housing program so yeah great work I would let's just I think we

should stay focused on it I think who knows what the state will do in terms of

a mid-cycle review or otherwise I mean these units aren't going away and they're

only likely going to increase in the next cycle so you know trying to do what

we can to to achieve accommodate this current cycle and so that we're ready for

the next one that's all I had yeah no thank you for the report and I think as

the city and staff has done a great job keeping us current and that's hence our

pro-housing designation and I think that's what you're referring to was

there's an item on I think our consent calendar this time around applying for

what a million dollars from the state so that's amazing that's great and so I

Move to approve the 2025 annual progress report

and direct city staff to submit it

to the California Department of Housing

and Community Development

and the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation.

And I will second that.

And we have a motion to second.

Suzy, could you read the roll, please?

Council Member Daveney?

Aye.

Council Member Darlene?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Francois?

Aye.

Mayor Wilk?

Aye.

Motion carries.

All right, I believe that is the end of our meeting.

So we are adjourned until the next regular meeting

of the city council, which is April 7th.

Sayonara.

Walnut Creek City Council: 3/17/2026

Agenda

2. CLOSED SESSION

2a. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - EXISTING LITIGATION

3. ADJOURNMENT OF THE CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING - CLOSED SESSION at 5:40 p.m.

1. OPENING

1e. PRESENTATION: 2025 Year in Review (Annual Report)

2a. APPROVAL OF CITY COUNCIL MINUTES of March 3, 2026.

2b. ACCEPTANCE OF WARRANT REGISTERS dated February 27, 2026 (2) and March 6, 2026 (2), and DIRECT PAYROLL TRANSFERS dated March 6, 2026 (2).

2c. ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE rezoning the two-acre parcel located at 2717 N. Main Street, 1530 Second Avenue & 1510 Second Avenue from Service Commercial (SC) to a new Planned Development District (P-D) for the Porsche Walnut Creek Dealership Project. (Introduced 3/3/26)

2d. ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION requesting the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District maintain the City’s Stormwater Utility Area (SUA) fee at $35 per Equivalent Runoff Unit (ERU) for FY 2027 and requesting the maintenance of the City’s Stormwater Utility Area fee.

2f. AWARD OF CONTRACT 20-28, the Walker Avenue Pedestrian Improvement project to FJ&I Engineering, for a contract price of $209,780, with contingency not-to-exceed $41,956, for an authorized total contract amount of $251,736.

2g. AUTHORIZATION OF THE CITY MANAGER to enter into Master Consultant Agreement and Task Order No. 1 with Griffin Structures to provide Construction Project Management Services for the New Aquatic and Community Center at Heather Farm Park Phase 2 Project for a not-to-exceed amount of $1,416,690.

2h. AUTHORIZATION OF THE CITY MANAGER to enter into Utility Service Agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric, AT&T, Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, and the Contra Costa Water District for the New Aquatic and Community Center at Heather Farm Park Phase 2 for a not-to-exceed amount of $750,000.

2i. AUTHORIZATION OF THE CITY MANAGER to execute a Consultant Service Agreement with Sanbell to provide Civil Engineering Design Services for the Newell Avenue and Broadway Safe Routes to School project for an amount of $258,242.

2j. ACCEPTANCE OF WORK for Contract 24-06, the Hofmann Sound System Replacement project, as complete; and AUTHORIZATION OF THE CITY CLERK to file a Notice of Completion with the County Recorder.

2k. ACCEPTANCE OF WORK for Contract 25-06, the North Locust Garage Concrete Repairs project, as complete; and AUTHORIZATION OF THE CITY CLERK to file a Notice of Completion with the County Recorder.

2l. ACCEPTANCE OF the December 2025 Investment and Internal Revenue Service Section 115 Pension Trust Report.

3. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS

5a. ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A CONSULTANT SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH ALTA PLANNING + DESIGN, INC. TO PREPARE THE GENERAL PLAN UPDATE AND THE ASSOCIATED ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENT FOR A NOT-TO-EXCEED AMOUNT OF $3,160,705

5b. ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS APPROVING THE DOWNTOWN WALNUT CREEK BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT AND DOWNTOWN WALNUT CREEK SOUTH BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ASSESSMENT REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026, INTENT TO LEVY ASSESSMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2027, AND SETTING PUBLIC HEARINGS FOR APRIL 7, 2026

5c. 2025 HOUSING ELEMENT ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT

Transcript