[00:03] Speaker 1: All right. At 6:30, we'll call to order our March 9th city council meeting. Let the record show that all council members are present for adoption of the agenda. We will need to remove item 16B. Could I have a motion for adoption of the agenda as revised?
[00:25] Speaker 2: So moved.
[00:27] Speaker 3: I'll second.
[00:28] Speaker 1: All in favor? Favor say aye. Aye. All right, we're. It's time for comments. Public comments on items on the closed session. Is there any public comment?
[00:40] Speaker 4: Mayor Andure, I have no speaker slips for persons in the Don Tatson Community hall and I have no hands raised in our virtual audience.
[00:49] Speaker 1: Okay. So we will now go into closed session and we will return at 7pm.
[04:55] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[05:33] Speaker 5: Okay.
[12:29] Speaker 2: Okay.
[12:50] Speaker 6: It.
[13:21] Speaker 4: Okay.
[13:21] Speaker 1: Thank you.
[29:24] Speaker 4: Let me know when we're ready.
[29:25] Speaker 6: It.
[30:02] Speaker 4: Are we ready?
[30:11] Speaker 1: It's seven o'.
[30:12] Speaker 7: Clock.
[30:12] Speaker 1: The council is back in session. We completed the closed session. There was no reportable action. Please join in the Pledge of allegiance.
[30:24] Speaker 2: Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation.
[30:41] Speaker 1: As we gather this evening, we acknowledge that Lafayette is part of the unseated ancestral homeland of the Bay Miwok people. The Bay Miwok and neighboring Ohlone people have lived in and moved through this place for thousands of years. They stewarded and shaped this land for hundreds of generations. We express our appreciation and gratitude for this profound legacy which enhances and contributes to our lives to this day. We will strive to honor this land and strengthen our ties with the indigenous communities that continue to live and work in our East Bay region. As our neighbors and community members, we acknowledge and honor them and their ancestors, elders and next seven generations. We're on to public comment. It's an opportunity for anyone in the public to address the council on any item that is not on tonight's agenda but is within the purview of the City Council.
[31:42] Speaker 4: Mayor Andure, we have no speaker slips for persons in the Dontatson Community hall
[31:48] Speaker 8: and we have no hands raised in our virtual audience.
[31:52] Speaker 1: Okay, we'll move on to the city manager's update.
[31:56] Speaker 4: Thank you so much. Good evening, everyone. Here are updates from various city departments. The Public Art Committee will host Poetry for the ages on April 21st. It's at noon and. And it's a salon style poetry reading celebrating National Poetry Month at the Town Hall Theater. And if you're a budding local poet, please submit your work to Jenny Rosen, who staffs the Public Art Committee. This Thursday, the city's management team will meet to kick off the budget process by reviewing the City Council's priorities for for fiscal year 2627 and developing departmental work plans to support the Council's priorities. And finally, on March 1st, the Lamarinda Muslim community temporarily installed a crescent moon sculpture in Lafayette Plaza to welcome Ramadan lmc, which is the lamarinda Muslim Community Commission. Bushra Gill to create the sculpture of a crescent moon which symbolizes the beginning of Ramadan. You can stop by Lafayette Plaza to see the display through March 20, which coincides with the celebration of Eid Al Fitr. Thank you.
[33:24] Speaker 1: Are there questions for the city manager? Is there any public comment? Okay, we're on to our presentations. So just as a background for our first presentations, let's Lafayette's mission statement calls out our commitment to lifelong learning. And through the city's Public Art committee and its newly expanded focus, the city seeks to embed the arts in our civic life and in the fabric of our community. During the next two years, we will help strengthen those civic values through presentations at the beginning of the first council meeting of each month by an arts organization or an organization that offers lifelong learning opportunities. This month's featured organization is both of those. Morgan Daly, managing director of the Town Hall Theatre, will talk to us about the Town Hall Theatre as a venue for the arts and about the opportunities the Town Hall Theater provides for lifelong learning. Welcome.
[34:22] Speaker 9: Ooh.
[34:23] Speaker 8: So official. Hello everyone. My name is Morgan Daly and I am here representing Town Hall Theatre. I first want to thank those from Town hall attending tonight. We have Brian Foley, who serves on our board of directors. And also we have Colette Hudson, who's a part of our team. I serve as managing director for Town hall and I am so, so grateful to be speaking to all of you. Thank you first and foremost for your commitment to the arts and to lifelong learning. Although I've only been a part of Town Hall Theater for a short time, it is clear that Lafayette is a warm, positive community that is committed to nonprofits. Only nonprofits, but nonprofit arts organizations. And Town hall is proud to be a part of this community. So let's talk a little history. First established in 1944 as Dramaturs, it was then reorganized in 1992 as the name that we know and love, Town Hall Theater Company of Lafayette. And we are the oldest continuously active theater company in Contra Costa county, which is amazing. Our building is an icon. She's very old. She's 110 years old, and during that time there have been a lot of performing arts companies that have filled her space, including the two I previously mentioned. One of my favorites is called the Lafayette Play Shop. They began holding theatrical performances in 1941. In fact, their first opening night was December 3rd of 1941, which was just before the United States entered World War II. So four years after that time, Town hall supported the war efforts again. There was a couple of other groups like the Straw Hat Review is a popular one in Lafayette. They were there in 1947, but we quickly became the Dramaturs and then switched over in 1992 to Town Hall Theater Company. And we've delighted all ages and won numerous local Shelley awards for the work that we've created. Life Theater continues in Lafayette because of the generosity of its community and the existence and the use of the Town hall building for this purpose over so many decades is a testament to this spirit. But Town hall is more than just a performance venue. It's a place where our community gathers to tell stories, to learn, to collaborate, and to grow. For many people in our city, it's a place where they step on stage to perform. They learn teamwork through our adult improv classes, or they attend live music and comedy shows every season. Town hall serves hundreds of students, artists, volunteers and audience members. Most of our programming falls under one of three categories. Our main stage, our education, or our community co productions. This programming brings together people of all ages and backgrounds, from young kids that are learning to discover their creativity for the first time through our on site or our in school programming or our camps. We offer a lot of camps as well for the youth, but then we also have adults that are reconnecting with the joy of performance and storytelling. So in our main stage programming, we do four shows a year, and through those shows we explore the past, we embrace the present, and we dream about the future. At Town hall, we're committed to accessibility for our patrons and we always offer pay what you can performances for all main stage performances. And we aim to have our storytelling reflect the community that we serve. For many of the young people that we serve in education, theater is not just an extracurricular activity. It's a place where they build confidence, they develop communication skills, and they learn how to work collaboratively with others. They learn to solve problems, support their peers, take creative risks, they practice teamwork, and they practice empathy. The arts create opportunities for growth that are difficult to replicate anywhere else. Town hall theater is also a vital cultural and economic asset to our community through our community partnerships with other organizations like Front Porch Music and the La Miranda Art Council. With Poetry through the Ages, our productions bring in audiences to our downtown, which supports nearby restaurants, shops and local Businesses. Audience members come not only from our city, but from the greater area surrounding communities, and they travel here to attend our performances and events. But I think maybe the most important thing that the theater provides for the community is connection. At a time where many people feel increasingly isolated, spaces where people can gather, create, and share experiences together are more important than ever. Theater brings people together in a unique way. There's performers, audiences, volunteers, and families all participating in something that is shared, that is visceral, that is live, and that is meaningful. These moments create a stronger, more connected community. At Town hall, we believe that the arts are not a luxury. They are an essential part of a healthy and thriving community. They teach creativity, they encourage empathy, and they remind us of the power of a shared human experience. On behalf of Town Hall Theater, I just wanted to thank you. Our students, volunteers, artists, staff, thank you so, so much for supporting the arts and lifelong learning in the community. We're grateful to be a part of a city that values creativity, educational and cultural life. So thank you so much for your time and your work and thank you for all you do for us. I'd like to open the time for any questions.
[40:09] Speaker 1: Thank you very much for all you do. Thank you. Are there questions?
[40:13] Speaker 5: Yeah, just a question, a comment, or just a reflection. I know both our kids went through Town hall theater education programs growing up. And obviously Town hall also has all their camps and a lot of classes happen along. Raider Music, the spillover. And I will tell you, you have never seen such energy as 25 theater kids for like an hour and a half session and they have a great time. You can just tell it's. It's where they belong and, and the sense is really striking. So thank you very much for everything you do for the community.
[40:41] Speaker 8: Gosh, thank you. Yeah. It's maybe my favorite to compare the first week kids with the last week kids because I think they get over their shyness and build their confidence throughout our skills based process. So thank you for that.
[40:55] Speaker 10: Yeah, thank you so much. Really appreciate your presentation. Yeah. I'm also a family that had a Town hall actor. One of them is actually in the room right now. And yeah, I can say as a parent, it was a wonderful experience. I think she was in several, several performances and really were just very impressed with the quality of the acting, but also with the quality of the education that they got to bring them to that point to have a wonderful performance.
[41:22] Speaker 4: So we're happy you're here.
[41:23] Speaker 10: Thank you.
[41:24] Speaker 8: Thank you so much.
[41:31] Speaker 4: No public comment.
[41:32] Speaker 1: Okay. Well, again. Oh, Jim.
[41:34] Speaker 3: So I'm sorry. So I was going to go 3 for 3 because both of my, our kids were on the stage too.
[41:40] Speaker 10: I love it.
[41:41] Speaker 3: Maybe just high level, but like we're the city. Opportunities, challenges that you see with respect to Town hall theater, where the city is maybe has a part of that. What can you think of anything off the top like, that we should be mindful of?
[41:56] Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, I think it's just getting people into the space. One of my main drives I started in June with Town hall, so I still am kind of new. But one of my main drives is to get the community back into the space. Right now we have a full rentals program where we are inviting like birthday parties and magicians and things that wouldn't necessarily be in a theater company. But I think it's really, really important that the theater serves the community as well as the community serves us. And so that's maybe my one pitch is that I would just say, please come join us at a show. Please come see something that we have going on. We have things that are happening almost every weekend at Town Hall. We're really hopeful to get the community in and with us so that we can better reflect you and serve you. So maybe that would be. My only pitch is to see if we can get you to see a show. But other than that, we're, we're just grateful to be here.
[42:47] Speaker 1: Great. Thank you.
[42:49] Speaker 7: Right.
[42:50] Speaker 10: 444.
[42:50] Speaker 2: Both of my kids. I love that.
[42:53] Speaker 10: That's so great.
[42:54] Speaker 4: Thank you.
[42:57] Speaker 1: Right. Thank you very, so much. And just as a reminder to everyone, these presentations are being recorded and are available on the website. So so far we've heard about the city's public art collection. We heard about the Park Theater Trust. And of course, tonight and next week, we'll hear from the Lafayette Community Garden and Outdoor Learning center what they're doing for lifelong learning. Okay, we're on to the next agenda item. Tracy Robinson.
[43:36] Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. Members of council, I would like to introduce you to our newest employee. That is Craig Tambernini. He is a new senior planner. Craig grew up in the North Bay Area and his first public agency job was as a lifeguard for the Greater Valet Vallejo Recreation District. And after earning degrees in urban planning and economics from Sonoma State University, he worked for several agencies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. After a brief break from public service, he began his search for work with a local Bay Area community. And we were lucky enough to snag him, which we're extremely happy about. He has a lot of great experience. And then we asked Craig if he could instantly become an expert in one specific topic, either work related or not, what would it be? And he said if I could become an instant expert, it would be in cosmology, not cosmetology, as I misread, which means the stars in the universe. He says he finds the topic fascinating and believes that scientific pursuit unites humanity towards a more positive future. So we welcome Craig.
[45:01] Speaker 1: Well, welcome, welcome.
[45:05] Speaker 8: Thank.
[45:05] Speaker 3: Thank you, mayor and councilmember, and thank you, members.
[45:08] Speaker 8: And thank you, Tracy.
[45:10] Speaker 10: I'm pleased to be here.
[45:11] Speaker 3: I'm pleased that the opportunity existed and I was able to land a position here successfully. Now, look forward to working with all of you. Look forward to working with the commissions
[45:21] Speaker 10: and helping support our planning efforts and
[45:24] Speaker 3: serving the community as best we can.
[45:26] Speaker 10: And I promise to do the best that I can to achieve those goals.
[45:29] Speaker 3: So thank you very much. Thank you.
[45:32] Speaker 1: 1 Comments. Okay, thank you. We look forward to working with you. And now can I invite the Youth Commission to come forward for their annual report?
[46:27] Speaker 7: All right, so I'm Yellow Shoe. And I'm Addison Stevens. And we're the co chairs of the Lafayette Youth Commission. And we've been doing this for how long? Like I've been here for.
[46:39] Speaker 2: Try to speak into the mic.
[46:41] Speaker 7: Sorry. Yeah, we are Addison Stevens and Miela. Um, thank you so much for having us here tonight. Um, we are both are your co chair. The Lafayette Youth Commission co chairs. And I think I've been here for around six and a half years. Yeah, I think I've been here for six
[47:01] Speaker 8: and.
[47:01] Speaker 9: Yeah.
[47:02] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[47:03] Speaker 7: This is our 2526 presentation. So in April. This starts in April. It's kind of up to like last year to now. It was our day of bunny fun. This is an event we do every year. It's really, really enjoyable. And so we have Easter eggs that we hide all over the playgrounds at the community center. And. And then fur tales and Scales comes and does an animal show, which is really cool even for me. Like, it's a lot of fun to see, like, all the different animals that he can pull out. And then we have our Easter bunny, who is always one of our commissioners. And that's always fun, like with making one person end up being the bunny. But we have enthusiastic people who like doing it and so you could take photos with kids. And it's just a really fun opportunity to kind of start the year off, but a nice spring activity. And then pretty much annually we are invited to participate in Earth Day every April. This past year, we decorated tote bags to try to promote sustainability and reusability for kids. And so we invited children to come and decorate tote bags as they wished. And we thought it went very well this year. We had a lot of positive feedback, and it was overall a great way to start off that month of appreciation for the earth. And then our next event in May was our family dance. We had kind of a outdoor event, which focused more on, like, outdoor activities. We had face painting, some fun, interactive music activities, and everything with the children. And it was a really fun way to start off the year with the youth, and it went well. And community day, sorry, we don't have very many photos of community day, but that was. We were invited to have a booth at the community day in May, and we partnered with the senior services commission, and we had a booth that was about spreading information about native pollinators, like the monarch butterfly. And so for the kid part of it, we had monarch butterfly coloring pages that kids could come and color on. And then we also were giving out milkweed seeds to anyone who came out, and hopefully they planted them in their garden to support native pollinators. Alrighty. For our annual fan favorite, we had the haunted house. This past year, our theme was kind of centered around the idea of, like, haunted campground ranger station. And so our not so scary centered around a bit of a scavenger hunt and task cycle within a national park. Just kind of spreading little messages about picking up trash and being conscious about how you treat your environment around you. And then for our scary, we had our typical haunted chase through the woods, I guess you could say. But it was a wonderful year. We did, unfortunately, get caught off a little bit early with the weather. We got rained out for the last day. But that first day of the haunted house did have wonderful rates of participation, and we thought it went very well. And in December, we worked with Santa's sleigh, like, craft fair, and we had a photo booth and craft making stations. We got to help little kids write letters for Santa, and we took photos with different. With different kids. And we're dressed as elves. My favorite part was a little kid came in and he gave me an elf, like, entire carrot because he wanted someone to give it to Santa's reindeer for him. And so I got to take that carrot home and hopefully pass it on to Santa. And then in December, we also did adopt a family and toys for tots. And so we went to Target and we shopped for, I think, two different families, both with, like, teenage kids. And that was a lot of fun. And then we also had a budget for Toys for Tots, where we shopped around for toys for all different age groups. All righty. And then another big event that kicked off this year was bringing back the Tri City dance, which we thought went very well. We had all ages sixth grade to eighth grade, so middle schoolers come in and celebrate in a Hollywood themed dance. And we had food and beverage available and it was. Our entertainer was DJ aj, who always comes as a great presence there. But we're definitely really excited about bringing this back and it came in strong. And so we're hoping to continue this in the coming years. All right, and thank you. Any questions?
[51:50] Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. Questions.
[51:52] Speaker 3: Great.
[51:53] Speaker 5: Thank you very much. You got definitely the most entertaining presentation we've had so far in the annual reports. Thank you very much. You have set a high bar for everybody else. You guys both do a great job. I know you've been doing it for years. Very impressive, the leadership. So I think my question to you is, how are you doing nurturing the next set of leaders? Right, because you're both graduating, right. You're both going to college next year. So what's, what's the future of youth commission look like as leadership?
[52:15] Speaker 7: We have a lot of new associates currently. Like, you have a lot of people. And I'm really amazed at the interest in like middle schoolers and like early high school students because we were very much the odd ones out joining when we were like sixth graders. And seeing these kids being like, I'm committing to college and I'm like 11 years old, which is kind of crazy. But yeah, we have a lot of students who are in middle school and early high school that I think are really enthusiastic and really eager and so like any of them would be really great candidates.
[52:39] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[52:40] Speaker 7: Over the past few months, the beginning of this year and late last year, we were started our interview process to get start onboarding new commissioners and associates. And it's been really great, like Miela said, to see all the interest just right now. We rounded off our meeting at 6ish this afternoon and we got into talks of starting out our new board members for chair commission positions and everything, which was a little bit sad for me and Miela. We've been quite the duo for a while. But so it's. That's kind of how we've started off on that.
[53:15] Speaker 1: Great.
[53:15] Speaker 5: Thank you.
[53:18] Speaker 10: Well, thank you guys. This is really a great presentation. I just know how much you work on all of these events and just how important they are to our community for all these little kids. Who have this thing to look forward to and also to have it be run by big kids who they look up to. And I just think that you've all done really amazing work. Amazing job. I'm want to thank you, Addie, for all of your leadership with the haunted house. Mila has said that you've really, you know, you've brought people into the. Into the work process who aren't part of the commission usually. And you've just done incredible, incredible productions. So I hope that you're able to pass that. That knowledge on to the next. The next folks. And then I think I saw one of your members in the room, so I just want to do a shout out to. Maybe you can introduce him briefly.
[54:05] Speaker 7: So, yeah, that's Marley. And he was actually one of the people that you were talking about, people who jo and participated in the haunted house and liked it a lot and joined the youth commission after that. Hi, Marlee.
[54:15] Speaker 10: Welcome, Marlee. Thank you.
[54:20] Speaker 2: You guys should be really proud of everything that you have accomplished here. We really appreciate it. And I know this woman is a very proud mama to see you here after doing such an amazing job for our community and the youth in our community. Thank you.
[54:39] Speaker 3: Yeah, and I want to echo that. I think you guys do an amazing job. I just was looking at the presentation, all the activities. A lot of work goes into that. I was with then council member, now Vice Mayor McCormick for the interviews. And I was so impressed by the energy and talent that's in your group. And I know you're going to do a lot. I guess my one question would be, are there things the city could do to help? Help, like make youth in the community feel more engaged? I mean, you guys are doing amazing work, but the things you think about, like, gosh, I wish if we had X, we could do Y squared or something. Just a thought.
[55:16] Speaker 7: Overall, we really appreciate all the support that the city council gives us. You guys are amazing and getting us out there. And it's. For us, it's mostly just having connections with other commissions in Lafayette. We love to talk to anybody that reaches out to us. We've done a little bit of work reaching out to other commissions like the senior commission and everything, but it's really just a matter of exposure. I mean, it is. It's difficult to get us out there sometimes just because of the nature of us being on the younger side and having trouble getting taken seriously. But overall, we think that as like the Lafayette City council, you guys have done an amazing job, and we cannot be more grateful about how much active participation you guys have with us and everything. I guess one thing, this is totally, like, a very small thing, but if you guys ever wanted to show up to the haunted house, we would gladly have you. We have both the scary and the not so, so scary. So if you guys, like, you want to. If you want more of like a trick or treating experience, that's also an option. But I would just love it if you guys could come to that.
[56:15] Speaker 3: That's a good job for the mayor, I think.
[56:19] Speaker 7: I think a group effort could be good.
[56:23] Speaker 1: Is there any public comment?
[56:27] Speaker 4: No public comment at this time.
[56:29] Speaker 1: Okay. Well, I echo all the. Thanks. All the comments. You're just doing a great job. And yeah, we'll. We'll miss you, but you'll be off and college eventually, so. Thank you.
[56:41] Speaker 7: Thank you.
[56:55] Speaker 1: And now for something completely different. Welcome. The Transportation and Circulation Commission.
[57:01] Speaker 5: Hard act to follow.
[57:07] Speaker 10: Like, so.
[57:28] Speaker 7: It.
[57:55] Speaker 10: 80.
[58:19] Speaker 6: It.
[59:00] Speaker 9: There we go. And for the second year in a row, we had to follow the Youth Commission. And they're a hard act to follow, so. But I'll do my best. Good evening, Mayor Andre, Council members. I'm here. We're here to review the work plan for the Transportation Circulation Commission for the city. And so I'm going to do that. What do I. Oh. So before we go get into the work plan, I just want to let you know who we are, because there has been some changes. So obviously you know me. I'm. I'm the chair. Bart Carr, the chair we have. Michelle Sahar is our new vice chair. She took over for Stella when Stella left. Greg Brown continues as a commissioner. And we have Lynn Hidane, who's been with us for a while. How many. How many years? How many years? Quite a few.
[60:05] Speaker 1: You.
[60:05] Speaker 9: Anyway, and she served the city well and continues to do so. So thank you for that. We lost two valuable members last year, Stella and Viani Seriere. But we got three new members. Mark Dreger, Mario Depril, and Tony Ratner. So we're very pleased with that. This is the first time in a long time that we've been completely fully staffed, full membership, which is. Which is really nice. And then finally, we are expertly supported by Patrick, who is our Transportation and Circulation program manager, as you all know. So that's who we are. And before we get into the work plan itself, I just want to quickly go over some of the things that we accomplished in 2025, starting with the Connecting Lafayette, the Downtown Pathways, and School Safety Project. You're all familiar with that. We received a 65% plan design plan that we looked at, made some comments on, took a lot of comments from the community on that. We voted to endorse it and pass it on to you. And that is right now, I guess, getting ready for construction later this year. So. And obviously the two centerpiece items of that are the pathway on Topper and the pathway on School Street. So we're looking forward to moving forward with that with the traffic calming program. We had two projects that were brought to us by Patrick, one on Glenn Road and the other one on Glenn side, both speed humps. I believe we reviewed those and supported those and those came to you for approval. The Mount Diablo Boulevard right turn on red restrictions. We received a report from consultants providing their technical findings on that regarding right turn restrictions at three very busy intersections on Mount Diablo Boulevard, First Street, Oak Hill and Moraga Road. And we, we provided comments on that and that is still under consideration. But that is those are restrictions changes that I think are deserving of, of our attention. Our decision on that because it's important to protect pedestrian safety, especially at those busy intersections. And then the BART Town center bike station project, which is the really the entrance for people leaving the BART station, walking or biking from the BART station to the central downtown area. There's going to be a whole new look to that and I need to look at my notes here. There's going to be a new shared use bicycle and pedestrian pathway connecting the south side of the BART station and the Town center city center. It's going to include a new plaza in between the shared youth pathway and the BART entrance. And a new passenger vehicle turnaround featuring a suspended public art installation. And then a new unedited attended bike station providing secure parking for 82 bicycles, which will be really nice because I ride my bike to Barton. It'd be nice to be able to use that facility to park my bicycle. And then ebike safety, we have our subcommittee that we had to reconstitute because we lost two of our members, Stella and Vi. But we now have Mark Drager and Tony Ratner has joined me on the subcommittee. And we, as you know, the E bike safety effort is being led by the Lafayette Police Department under the slowdown Lafayette. So the role that we've taken is sort of advisory to work with Andy Comley and the police department to provide our advice, our opinions based on what's happening in the Bay Area region with that and also give them suggestions for outreach. And we will continue to do that. So that's what's happening with E bike safety and our involvement with that. Now moving on to our 2026 plan work plan, beginning with the Lafayette Aqueduct pathway. Again, I think you're all very familiar with that, but that's the east west pathway that is going to be built, is partially built now on the East Bay mud right of way. And it currently exists, it has been built between from Risa Road on the far western side to Dolores. And now we're looking at detailed plans to extend that at some time in the future, funding permitting, from Dolores to Pleasant Hill Road. And so that's a long time, a long term, I should say, project for the city. But we are making strides to complete that incrementally. And again, at the point, we're at the point right now where we're looking at detailed plans and determining how we want to go forward with that. And then the Smart Signals project. This will be an upgrade to our signals, traffic signals and interconnecting them, making them smarter to be able to optimize traffic flow on our city streets. Basically this will make them much more responsive in real time to traffic volumes so that they can be changed almost. Well, really in real time in order to respond to that. So it should help take care of maintaining better traffic flow in the downtown area. Next, the Downtown Parking Management Study. This is something that the commission looked at at our last meeting a week ago. This is to identify strategies to achieve a balance between the parking supply, which is fixed that we have here in the city and growing demand. So we listened to, received a very long study from the consultants and we considered that study last last week, looked at the strategies they were recommending. We made some comments, changes, suggested changes to sequencing those, those strategies. That's going to come to you and you'll have a chance to take a look. That and then the Mount Diablo Quarter Multimodal Mobility Plan. That's a mouthful. Is going to look for ways to expand multimodal options for all users in the downtown area. That's a plan that I assume is scheduled for later this year and we'll be taking that up. And, and then as a subset to that, there's going to be two other planning efforts. The Moraga Road planning exercise, taking a look at any changes that can be made to Moraga portions of Morag Road that will make it more accessible for pedestrians and especially for bicyclists. And then there'll be a return to the right turn on red restrictions on Mount Diablo Boulevard and take another look at those. And maybe you want to comment on how all of that fits together.
[67:38] Speaker 3: Yeah. So we're, we're actually, I have a microphone. We're looking at everything together rather than a piecemeal approach to all of these studies. So that's the idea behind the sub studies which I had initiated technical studies on those two before, but then decided to pause on them until we could look at it collectively with everything else in the downtown.
[68:04] Speaker 9: Thank you. And then the BART station access and circulation analysis. MTC is asking us to take take a look at access routes for pedestrians and bicyclists within a half mile radius of the BART station to identify any gaps and ways to bridge those gaps. And again, this is in response to MTC's transit oriented communities policy. So that's something that we'll be doing as well as update to the city's circulation element. I think this has been on our work plan for the last two years and we're waiting for the planning department and GPAC to initiate this process and we will support it through taking a look at the circulation element and updating that as part of the general plan update. And then finally, and something that's very close to my heart, the active transportation master plan. This will be to basically take our existing bicycle bicycling bike plan and walkways master plan. Both are outdated. The bikeways plan was written in 2006 and has not been updated. I think the last day update to the walkways plan was in 2015. So they both need updating. And the, the idea is to join those two together in one big update and do that this year, which is grant dependent. We don't have funding for that right now, but as you know, Patrick is very good at attracting grant funds and we're hoping that he might be able to do that and allow that to happen. So not to put any pressure on you, but we hope to make that happen. And then very quickly, ongoing programs, response to TAR's transportation action requests. This is where, as you know, is where residents, neighborhoods can identify maintenance needs on our streets and have those address consideration of traffic calming requests, review of any large development applications that we receive and consideration of grant funding opportunities. And then finally there could be some ribbon cuttings this week. This week, this year, Lafayette Town center pathway bar bike station project connecting Lafayette project base. Depending on dependent on completion, we maybe have ribbon cuttings for those, for those projects. So with that, is there anything that either of you want to add? No, I said everything. Patrick, did I say everything correctly? Then with that I'm going to conclude. Thank you very much. And I'd Be happy to try or we would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
[70:56] Speaker 1: Okay, thank you very much. Questions,
[71:01] Speaker 10: not question, but just thank you so much for all of your hard work. I'm really happy that you have a full complement of seven right now. And I really appreciate the thoughtfulness in which you've done your analysis of all of the different projects that Patrick has brought to you in particular. You know, I watched many of the meetings. I've attended some of them and I think that you've really did really good, good detailed work on the right turn on Red Restriction report, which was considerable, very technical. And the commission just brought forth a lot of good questions that I'm sure Patrick will be taking back to the consultants to help refine that whole process in addition to the parking study that you just looked at and many others. But so thank you. Thank you all for your work.
[71:47] Speaker 2: Echo Stella's praise for all the work you guys are doing. It's been really great to watch. So two things. The Transit Oriented Communities MTC thing, that hasn't been finalized, right?
[71:58] Speaker 1: It has now.
[71:59] Speaker 2: Oh, it has now.
[72:00] Speaker 4: It has just I would say a week or 10 days ago.
[72:03] Speaker 2: Okay.
[72:04] Speaker 4: And planning stuff, looking at it. And we'll bring you a report.
[72:08] Speaker 2: Amazing.
[72:08] Speaker 4: Thank you.
[72:08] Speaker 1: Yes. I can just mention at the mayor's conference, Sue Nowak was there and she mentioned that where they've ended up is that of the $700 million of funds, they're going to separate 45 million that people who meet targets can go for. But as I understand it, the rest of it, you don't have to go through that process.
[72:29] Speaker 4: Got it.
[72:30] Speaker 1: But we're conf.
[72:31] Speaker 2: That's, that's. That's okay. Excellent. And then second, Patrick, do you want to give an update on the school's project? I know, I think a lot of us know about the changes to what the project is, but maybe you can give a quick brief update on that.
[72:47] Speaker 3: I'm sorry, which project?
[72:49] Speaker 2: The School Street.
[72:50] Speaker 1: School street in Topper that's now being
[72:52] Speaker 3: managed by Lori Sukang, our new senior engineer. But I'm understanding that there's some natural resources issues associated with the environmental review. So that's going to be looked at this month. And so construction timeline is. Is TBD at this point will still happen, but. But she has to resolve that first.
[73:15] Speaker 1: Noop. Do you want to add anything?
[73:18] Speaker 4: Certainly. Thank you. Patrick. Yes, because of Caltrans, it's. It's federal funded project. We have to go through this process. So it appears that this year we will be focusing on relocating utilities and there are several on school and Topper and the actual project will commence next year. That's the. I mean it's still tentative, but that's what we believe it'll happen.
[73:55] Speaker 5: Just briefly, I'll just. I just want to say thank you very much for all your work. I think it's very exciting. I know. I think Councilmember Kendall and I were on the interviews last year, I guess when we interviewing the new people that have come on and it's just such a great mix. I think of you got some experienced people who really know what's going on and some new people that have a lot bring a lot of energy and thoughtfulness to the team. So I think you're the commission right now. It's. It's very exciting and I know Patrick's got a big workload teed up for you guys. So we thank you for everything that you do
[74:24] Speaker 1: and.
[74:24] Speaker 3: Thank you. And I'd like to add this is. There's a lot going on here.
[74:27] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[74:27] Speaker 3: And I was looking at. Trying to get a sense of timing. There's a chart at the back of the. Of the staff report. So my guess is like latter part of this year, many of these projects are going to be being presented here. All the work that you're doing, the studies and so on. I'm trying to get a gauge on like when we're going to be getting our hands on this. Yeah. Right now a lot of the work is tied to the Multimodal Mobility study, which we're hoping will launch in the summer. And so that will be kind of the parent study for many of these other studies. With that said, the MTC study, the Transit Oriented Communities, BART Access and Circulation, that is a project that MTC handed me a consultant team very recently, about two weeks ago. And so we did have a kickoff to that project, I believe about two weeks ago.
[75:18] Speaker 1: Yeah. Thank you. Okay, just some quick questions on the, the BART project. When. When are they going to start?
[75:30] Speaker 3: I.
[75:30] Speaker 1: Well, do you know when they're actually going to begin work? Straight.
[75:34] Speaker 9: Right this.
[75:35] Speaker 1: It started.
[75:36] Speaker 9: It has started week of February, I believe.
[75:38] Speaker 1: Okay, great, great. And then the aqueduct pathway, you know, we have the funding for the 100% design work. When do you anticipate that will be completed?
[75:51] Speaker 3: I'm hoping by the end of this year. Calendar year.
[75:54] Speaker 1: So 2027 will be. And then the Active Transportation Master plan, bicycling and the pathway. How is that? That? Well, I. I know that's not going to start until maybe after the the multimodal mobility plan. But the multimodal mobility plan is going to definitely be looking at those along the. The corridor area because that's going to be so important to the success of any plan. Planning for pedestrians or bicycles, how do you see those integrating?
[76:29] Speaker 3: So the timing is a little misaligned. The grant for the active transportation master plan is a caltrans grant. They had said late spring, early summer would be. They'd let applicants know that their decision about who would get funding or not. Regardless, it won't start when the multimobility study starts. But that study is focused on downtown. And yes, the bicycle and pedestrian routes in the downtown area in the study area will be identified through that process. And then I'm imagining that the. The active transportation plan will kind of layer on top of that and capture the rest of the city.
[77:05] Speaker 1: Okay, great. Thank you. Okay. Other public comments.
[77:09] Speaker 4: Mayor Andure, There are no public comments at this time.
[77:13] Speaker 3: Wow.
[77:13] Speaker 1: Okay. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you to our new member, thank you to our permanent member, thank you to our chair, and thank you to our staff. Great work. Okay, we are on to the consent calendar. I'd like to pull item 11A. Is there any other item that needs to be pulled from the consent calendar? Okay. Seeing none. Are there any members of the public who would like to request that an item be pulled?
[77:55] Speaker 8: I have no request to pull an item from consent.
[77:58] Speaker 1: Okay. Can I have a motion for adoption? Well, for approval of the consent calendar, all except item 11A.
[78:05] Speaker 5: So moved.
[78:07] Speaker 10: Second.
[78:08] Speaker 1: All in favor?
[78:09] Speaker 2: Aye.
[78:10] Speaker 1: It's unanimous. We are on to item 11A. City council minutes. The reason I polled it, I just wanted to keep. Keep it clean and adopt the. I strike on page three, the reference to the land acknowledgement statement. Since we just do that at the first meeting of each month, make sure that that's clear. So does anyone have anything else on the minutes? Okay, can I have a motion for adoption of the minutes as amended?
[78:42] Speaker 10: So moved.
[78:43] Speaker 2: A second.
[78:44] Speaker 1: All in favor?
[78:44] Speaker 2: Aye.
[78:45] Speaker 1: It's unanimous. We're on to council commission reports. Who would like to go first?
[78:55] Speaker 2: I can go first. I looked. So for the DEIB committee, we had a. There were two things going on. So on April 11, they're going to throw a big event at Akalani's high school celebrating the leaders, not just the youth leaders, but also the other members in the community and all the work that they are doing, doing. And just on a side, neither John and I can go, which is unfortunate. We're both out of town. And so if some other council Member wants to go, please reach out to, I guess me. Okay. Okay. Carl, go. And hopefully Joanne will get a proclamation to take to thank them for all their work to that committee. So that is exciting. And then the next piece is that there we really need to have the committee be a 501C3, a nonprofit. And so we met with Steve and he is going onto the path of becoming a nonprofit. And so the city can put the funding into a nonprofit. And. But in the interim, if. If he doesn't get it done so soon, the Community foundation of Lafayette will fill in as a stopgap measure. And so we're going to try to get it on the Community Foundation's agenda before all the funding ends in June 30, so they won't have a gap in their funding. So those are the two things we're working on.
[80:22] Speaker 10: Can I ask a question?
[80:23] Speaker 8: Sure.
[80:24] Speaker 4: About that.
[80:24] Speaker 10: So I'm not clear. Oh, I'm not following. The DEIB committee. The funding. June 30 nonprofit. What is that?
[80:30] Speaker 2: We gave. We give them money. We gave them for a. Money for like a block grant for like four years.
[80:35] Speaker 1: We have money available.
[80:37] Speaker 2: We have money available.
[80:38] Speaker 5: Only money available.
[80:38] Speaker 2: And so. But there's just. We're not writing checks to a 501C3. We're writing a check to a person.
[80:45] Speaker 4: Oh.
[80:45] Speaker 2: And that is unusual.
[80:47] Speaker 4: I see.
[80:47] Speaker 2: And we want to make sure that we don't. All the other groups that we give money to, like, that are formalized groups.
[80:53] Speaker 10: I see.
[80:53] Speaker 4: That's the.
[80:54] Speaker 2: The effort and it should be fine.
[80:57] Speaker 10: No, thank you for the explanation.
[80:58] Speaker 2: Sure.
[81:02] Speaker 5: Couple things or. Yeah, a couple things from the commissions that actually both Jim and I represent. But I think Jim was having fun last week. So a couple things to report out. One, for emergency preparedness. Officially, we have. Burton Valley is now a Certified Firewise neighborhood. 917 homes. 3,000 people are in this one Firewise neighborhood. It's the. It's incredible.
[81:26] Speaker 1: Can I ask. I thought they were going to do several. No.
[81:30] Speaker 6: Ended up being one.
[81:30] Speaker 5: One. There's like. And there's like a group of 70 that's like leading the whole thing. It's incredible. Incredible what they've done. It's very, very exciting. It's a huge step in trying to gain full coverage by there. So that was. That was. That was exciting. And then for crime prevention, I just wanted to note the. Our citizens police Academy is starting March 24th. I'm gonna be joining that class. So I'll. I'll go. Go see what the police do. So that'll be kind of fun. Assuming I don't take. I don't want to take away anybody's spots but assuming there's room I will join and learn all about from the inside out on the police doing. Doing so it's since they serve us well it's good to know. And then finally I don't know if you you want to talk about mention if I just wanted to mention that on in this room on February, when was it? February 26, we were fortunate to attend an IFTAR meeting sponsored by the DIB committee and local Muslim community. Phenomenal dinner full of fellowship and great food and great conversation and it was really wonderful.
[82:34] Speaker 2: Quick follow up on that. On the emergency prep part of that. We did get a request for a letter for Senator Grayson's budget. Ask for all the wildfire things you guys asked for. And so if we can bring that back to the next meeting.
[82:47] Speaker 4: Actually Councilmember Kandel, that list of asks was already presented to you in November. Andy came and gave you a presentation.
[82:56] Speaker 2: Yes.
[82:56] Speaker 4: And based on that and the timing, I did request letter from the mayor and it's been sent even better.
[83:03] Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah.
[83:10] Speaker 10: Just a follow up to the BART board of directors update I gave last time. I think you, you may know that they met again to take a look at their, their alternative plan and they made a small adjustment which is that they're not going to be considering any station closures if their measure does not pass in the January 2027 time point. So if their measure does not pass in November, then they will not close any stations. They will commence with other cuts. They'll be dropping some lines, they'll be raising some fares and parking fees. They'll be cutting administrative amounts. But any station closures that, that may have to be considered would be pushed out into the following fiscal year. So 27, 28 fiscal year. So stay tuned. The measure will be on the ballot in November.
[84:05] Speaker 5: I did have a quick follow up question on that which I forgot to ask last time. Do they save much money by closing a station? It doesn't feel like it's a very. Do they talk about that? Just kind of what, what the impact is. It doesn't feel like it'd be much.
[84:17] Speaker 10: Yeah, they, they, they did, they had a, they had a graph that was kind of a bunch of three curves and you kind of find the sweet spot where you close something but you're not going to lose revenue, you know, that you need. So they had to kind of find where that, you know, little fine needle Lands. And so for the stations that were on their list, I think of 10 initially, they were the lowest revenue generating stations. And I, I think memory's not great right now for a month ago meeting, but I think that they didn't generate the fares to break even at the station.
[84:53] Speaker 9: Oh, I see.
[84:54] Speaker 5: Okay. Feels like the process.
[84:55] Speaker 10: Yeah. Those were the reasons why I think they, they had looked at those 10.
[85:00] Speaker 3: I'm just curious, did they talk about, are they doing any. These are cuts. If the measure fails, are they doing anything before the measure? They talk about what they're doing to tighten the budget now.
[85:12] Speaker 10: That's a good question. You know, I think they have done things. But don't quote me.
[85:16] Speaker 3: Okay.
[85:16] Speaker 10: I don't know the answer.
[85:17] Speaker 3: And the presentation is a BART website if I wanted to find it.
[85:21] Speaker 10: Good question. I'm not sure.
[85:23] Speaker 5: Okay.
[85:24] Speaker 10: I can look and I can pass it.
[85:25] Speaker 5: It was six and a half hours. Just so, you know. Six and a half or something. Something, something like she, she did some, some incredible duties through that. So just, just FYI. Thank you on that one.
[85:33] Speaker 10: It was, it was good meeting. It's. Yeah.
[85:36] Speaker 7: Good.
[85:36] Speaker 10: I mean, there, there were things they talked about that were their, their achievements for 2026 or 2025, which were all great.
[85:43] Speaker 5: So I wouldn't. We can follow up the conversation we had last time about, about doing the Tri Cities meeting featuring BART has been a follow up on that.
[85:50] Speaker 4: So Moraga is the host this time, so they're coordinating. But I've passed on to the Moraga town manager that we'd like to invite bart. And I've connected BART with Scott Mitnicks.
[86:02] Speaker 1: Yeah. And if for some reason that doesn't happen, because I was talking to a council member and they have something else
[86:08] Speaker 4: in mind, we will invite them to Lafayette.
[86:11] Speaker 1: Yeah, that'd be great. And what date is the Tri Cities?
[86:15] Speaker 4: It hasn't been set yet or it has.
[86:16] Speaker 1: Okay.
[86:18] Speaker 3: You'll do it for less than six and a half hours, though.
[86:23] Speaker 10: So I think one other, one other BART thing we had gotten, we all received, I think, notice of their upcoming work for Brown Avenue and El Nido Ranch Road, I believe. And I'm not clear about whether they're going to need to close the roads down. And they said March was the start part of the project.
[86:43] Speaker 5: And it was very poorly worded announcement. I will agree it was very poorly. It was oddly worded.
[86:48] Speaker 10: Yeah.
[86:48] Speaker 5: It was like the actual impact, but
[86:50] Speaker 1: it did sound like there would be closures because they're going to be. It sounded like they're Working on the base of the support. So I would guess they'd be taking at least one lane part of the time.
[86:59] Speaker 5: Depends. But the base of the things are not really next to the roads. A lot of times. A lot of times they're kind of in the median. So I don't know. It was unclear.
[87:05] Speaker 4: Yeah, I can check with the engineering department. They would have had to pull encroachment permits to do work in our right of way.
[87:13] Speaker 10: Yeah, it's Brown Avenue in particular that I'm familiar with, which a lot of people cut through. And so it will create a necessity for a detour.
[87:21] Speaker 3: Right.
[87:21] Speaker 10: If it is closed in part or in full. So I think the other thing I wanted to report on was city schools council subcommittee meeting happened last week. And this is a meeting of city council liaisons, school board members from each of the districts and the district superintendent. And we heard reports from them about their fiscal situations. Each of the districts are. Have been in deficit spending for quite a while. They've each implemented cuts in prior fiscal years and they reported that they are going to be continuing for the next fiscal year to have to implement cuts. For Lafayette School district. They're looking at I think 1.8 million for this coming fiscal year, but they've already cut in the past two. And so we're looking at a cumulative total of about 6 million that they've had to reduce. And I think what they said was that in the prior two years it was a lot of maybe non student facing areas, but now they really are cutting into instructional staff, PE specialists, library staff. So it's really significant. And they are having to place a measurement on the ballot. And I believe theirs is for June, it's for Lafayette School district and for akalanis. They're cutting 2 million for the next fiscal year. And they had cut 2 million this present fiscal year. So they're looking at cumulative of 4. And I don't know what came of the meeting of their governing board. That was after our meeting, but I had heard they were looking at ways to raise revenue through a measurement as well. So that is the city schools update. And then last thing is there will be a ribbon cutting tomorrow for the all ages. Recreation, downtown Aardvark's Den location next to El Haro. And It's Tuesday tomorrow, 4 to 5pm
[89:26] Speaker 2: One addition to City schools is the crossing guards.
[89:29] Speaker 10: Oh, thank you.
[89:30] Speaker 9: Right.
[89:30] Speaker 2: So if you want to.
[89:31] Speaker 10: Sure. Yeah.
[89:32] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[89:33] Speaker 10: So I'm sorry.
[89:34] Speaker 4: Forgot about that.
[89:35] Speaker 10: That's an important one. So in the budget discussions that the school board had the Lafayette school board had. They talked about their whole slate of items under consideration for cuts, and one of them was the Crossing guard program, their 50% contribution to it. So they will not be putting that into their budget it this coming year. And they will also not manage the contract.
[90:03] Speaker 5: Did you. Do you know, does that change if measure passes or not?
[90:06] Speaker 10: I don't know.
[90:07] Speaker 1: It. It. It does not.
[90:09] Speaker 10: Okay.
[90:09] Speaker 9: Yeah.
[90:10] Speaker 2: Seemed like they were saying no.
[90:11] Speaker 10: Okay.
[90:12] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[90:13] Speaker 10: Yeah. Thank you for that.
[90:17] Speaker 1: Hey, some updates. The Measure H oversight committee met for the first time. Tracie organized the meeting. All five of our oversight committee members were there. It was a very good meeting. I think we even scheduled the next meeting for a specific date. So that's underway in terms of representing the city. In the last two weeks, I was with John at the IFTAR dinner, which I thought was just a wonderful occasion. The La Mirinda Sunrise Rotary, each year now they've done this for four years. They honor three students at each of the middle schools in the Lombarda area. The Good Character Awards. So I attended that. Again, that's another inspirational event. I went to the mayor's conference. Not necessarily an inspirational event, but always, always interesting. And then the city manager and the police chief and I were at the ELPI gala in San Francisco Sunday night, which was. Was definitely a high energy event. And I just. LPI just does a great job. And there were 500 parents there who were contributing huge amounts to the students in schools. So it was. It was a great event. I mean, Danielle Gallagher has just done an amazing job with, with El Paso. And then. Oh, go ahead.
[91:50] Speaker 5: No, no, if you don't, I don't.
[91:51] Speaker 1: One more thing. Yes. Then yesterday I attended the Scouting America has their annual volunteer recognition dinner for adults who lead scouting. They did that at the Memorial Building. And again, that was. It was a full house. It was. That was very inspirational, seeing all the adults who work with our scout troops. So that was good.
[92:12] Speaker 5: Sorry. Yes, very good. One thing I would be remiss, if not not mentioning, just for public record, Carol Singh Singer, who's. Who's going to be. Who is Lafayette's 2026 Citizen of the Year. Her dinner is next Thursday. There are a few tickets left. You have to buy tickets by the 12th. So if anybody's interested, that one's a. That one's worthwhile. Worthwhile event. So long overdue, I think, for all of Carol's contributions.
[92:35] Speaker 1: Yep. Okay, so we're on to item 16C resolution formalizing the policy for the election of the mayor and the vice Mayor. And as I said in my. My memo. Oh, sorry, we pulled that off right here.
[92:53] Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
[92:53] Speaker 1: That's two meetings in a row. That's a good point. This is also what's going on here. There's two meetings in a row. You've done that. And where we've had no public comment.
[93:04] Speaker 5: That's right.
[93:05] Speaker 1: None whatsoever. I don't know. Oh, maybe they'll be commenting on this item. I shouldn't. I shouldn't say that. Okay. So as I said in the memo, there's no urgency to do this. I just think from. From a transparency standpoint, if anyone asks, you know, how do you pick your mayor and vice mayor, we can say, well, we've got a resolution for that. So here's the proposed resolution. And thank you to Joanne for taking what I had prepared and turning it into a resolution and adding some important parts, too. So there it is. Any. Any questions? Okay. Is there any public comment?
[93:46] Speaker 8: No public comment on item 16C.
[93:50] Speaker 1: Okay. Is there any comment before we.
[93:54] Speaker 3: I just want to say I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into this. I mean, I think you beat chat GBT with this kind of an outcome. And I really like that. Your comment here, doing this while the waters are calm.
[94:06] Speaker 1: That's right. No. No reference to anybody else.
[94:08] Speaker 3: No. But I thought. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into this. Just trying to make it clear. Thank you.
[94:14] Speaker 1: Well, and I. My thanks to Walnut Creek, which first put this in writing. And I reached out to Mayor Wilk to ask him if they had had any, you know, glitches in the implementation of the policy. He said, nope, it's been working fine.
[94:28] Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's terrific.
[94:30] Speaker 1: Okay, so we need a motion for adoption. It.
[94:34] Speaker 3: I'll move approval.
[94:35] Speaker 2: My second.
[94:36] Speaker 1: All in favor say I. I. Hey, thank you.
[94:39] Speaker 2: Thank you, mayor.
[94:42] Speaker 1: Okay, on to 16D.
[94:46] Speaker 4: And I just to say Casey is on.
[94:49] Speaker 2: Oh, great.
[94:50] Speaker 4: On zoom.
[94:51] Speaker 2: Okay, so I'll go through the easy part. They our alleged platform for 2026. The only thing that changed was adding that that statement about monitoring legislation related to electric bicycles and other electric mobility devices, including classification, age restrictions, safety standards, enforcement authority, and local control over use of public rights of way, parks and trails. So we added that so we can cover all the E Bike stuff without having to come back to council to ask. And then I do want to say before Casey, you want to give a just a quick super fast summary of these two bills. But we. There was a third bill that was part of our meeting that we have decided to take a little bit of of a different action on that one. And so we'll come back with you guys when that is done. All right, Casey, you want to tell us Your synopsis of 2346 and SB 2922?
[95:50] Speaker 6: Yes. Good evening. Casey Elliott with Townsend Public Affairs. Briefly, as it relates to AB 2346 by Assemblymember Wilson. She is the chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, and the committee is going to be looking at a number of bills this year that deal with E bike safety. This is her measure, which is in large part based off recommendations from a report issued in November from the Mineta Institute. Her bill does a number of things. Briefly, starting in 2029, it would require that all E bikes sold in California are equipped with a speedometer as well as front and rear lighting for safety and for visibility. It would also require manufacturers and distributors selling E bikes to provide consumers with a summary of state laws and regulations. The measure would also require those retailers to disclose what type of E bike they're selling and the maximum speed, the maximum battery wattage and any age restrictions, helmet restrictions that are applicable to the to the classification of bike. It would impose civil penalties on manufacturers and distributors that violate these laws. Additionally, the measure authorizes local jurisdictions to adopt overall speed limits for E bikes both on bike paths and multi use paths. And then it imposes statewide speed limit of 15 miles an hour on an E bike for any rider aged 15 and younger. And it also sets a statewide speed limit of 5 miles an hour when riding any E bike on a sidewalk. So that's, that's what that measure does. The Senate the second bill, Senate Bill 922 by Senator Laird that measures in response response to a court case that came up last year in the city of Redlands related to the usage of franchise fees. The court in that case found that Redlands and this would be applicable in many other jurisdictions, including the city, was in violation of a 40 plus year old vehicle code section by using the revenues generated from their impact from their waste hauling franchise agreements for road maintenance. There's a archaic vehicle code section that had nothing to do with the topic at hand that says cities can't implement local road taxes. That was cited during the court case as the rationale for not allowing those funds to be used that way. Most public agencies have these type of agreements. So this legislation, Senate Bill 922 is aimed to verify that yes, while while local governments cannot establish local VMTs or local road taxes under this circumstance, the use of these funds to mitigate, to offset wear and tear Caused in providing a public service is an acceptable. Is an acceptable item under the vehicle code. So both of those bills were presented to the legislative committee and the committee is suggesting support amendments. Excuse me. Support position on both of those measures.
[99:09] Speaker 2: Thank you, Casey. And, and so the next meeting, I'll make sure that I've got a summary of these so you don't have to come on. Okay. Like Jim did last year. Sorry. So I'll, I'll, I'll cover for you next time. So do we have any questions about any of the three items? Okay, good.
[99:26] Speaker 10: I have a question. So I noticed in, in the legislative platform for housing 10 and emergency preparedness 2, it just says high fire hazard areas. And I wanted to understand is that the, the Cal Fire high fire hazard severity zone definition? And if it is, then maybe it should make that explicit.
[99:55] Speaker 2: I think it was more of a generic term when we put it in there. We put it in there just as a description, not a classification.
[100:03] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[100:03] Speaker 7: Okay.
[100:04] Speaker 1: If that's the case, maybe we should delete high because they are fire hazard zones and they're very high. High and moderate.
[100:13] Speaker 10: That's right.
[100:14] Speaker 2: Okay, so maybe we'll bring, we'll think about some better language there.
[100:17] Speaker 10: Yeah, that's what confused me because I, I know we don't currently have very much very high, so I thought you may have modified it to be only the high. But the technical, you know, know acronym
[100:28] Speaker 1: is if it, if you took out high, it would be all the fire hazard zones. But I guess we, we can approve this and you can come back.
[100:35] Speaker 2: Exactly. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
[100:37] Speaker 8: Okay.
[100:37] Speaker 10: So yeah, that was, that was my only question on the legislative platform. I did have a question about the, or a comment about the bills.
[100:45] Speaker 2: Sure.
[100:46] Speaker 10: So for AB 2346, this is, you know, maybe just my own commentary. I don't know how it fits into what we're doing with, with voting to support but integrated front lamps. Very, very important to have lights on the bikes, no doubt for both people encountering them and by foot, by bike, by car, but also for the safety of the rider to be able to see what's around them. But I will say that there's, there's situation that I've seen around town in my neighborhood in particular where there's a couple folks, maybe two or three who have a certain type of bike that they're, they're, they look more like this E dirt bike kind of, kind of style and they have a very big kind of like an old school 19 like 70s VW bug headlight.
[101:34] Speaker 4: It's like big.
[101:36] Speaker 10: And it's. It's a high beam effectively. It's pointing straight out and it's a super high intensity led. It's. It's an issue, I guess, that the, the regulation will have to just catch up with the mark market. Maybe it's, it's because it's important for them, but it's also coming straight out and frankly, really blinding.
[101:58] Speaker 1: Okay.
[101:59] Speaker 10: So
[102:02] Speaker 3: might add that might be. There's a lot of back channel that goes on through these bills. That's a great point to flag. And maybe that's something Casey takes up with a committee consultant or the staffer for Assemblymember Wilson who's.
[102:16] Speaker 10: I would support that. Yeah. And I could even send Casey maybe an email because I did a little bit of digging to see like what is even the word for these things. And of course, Germany has a standard. Of course they have a name for exactly what these bike lights should do and how they should be calibrated and such.
[102:34] Speaker 3: I will say that there was a really long discussion about e bikes at the Ledge Committee session. I mean, this could be the year. There's lots of bills coming out out. And one of the things was in the discussion is the. The EU has got standards nailed down here.
[102:49] Speaker 10: Yeah.
[102:50] Speaker 2: We like and we do not.
[102:51] Speaker 3: This is a very laissez faire approach we've been taking thus far.
[102:53] Speaker 10: That's right. They have, they have more restrictions. Yeah. Yeah. Different. That's what I actually was going to ask you about because I looked and there are many, many bills currently in the session. So is that something that the Ledge Committee will be looking at?
[103:05] Speaker 3: Definitely. There's another bill that Council member Kendall alluded to that was that we're sort of following up on. Senator Wilson is chair of the Transportation Committee. This may be the bill that rules them.
[103:15] Speaker 2: All right. Yeah.
[103:17] Speaker 10: Okay.
[103:17] Speaker 3: So there's a lot going on on this front right now.
[103:20] Speaker 10: Okay.
[103:20] Speaker 3: But this seemed to have attributes that were net good. This is why we felt was worth supporting.
[103:26] Speaker 10: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I, I agree. I, I think that the, the aspect of giving cities the control over setting speed limits is really important. Important component of this. Yeah.
[103:37] Speaker 1: Okay. Are there any other questions? Is there any public comment?
[103:43] Speaker 8: No public comment on this. Items.
[103:45] Speaker 1: Okay, Back to council then.
[103:47] Speaker 3: Actually, this is sort of a question, but kind of indirectly a comment with respect to the. The Laird bill 9 SB922. There's a dollar amount that these franchise fees represent for the city of Lafayette work.
[104:02] Speaker 1: It's huge.
[104:02] Speaker 5: Huge.
[104:03] Speaker 3: It's a big number.
[104:04] Speaker 1: About a million.
[104:07] Speaker 3: It's over a million, as I recall.
[104:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, we. While Tracy's. While Tracy's looking at that, shall we go ahead and approve the legislative pl. We have a motion for approval.
[104:22] Speaker 3: So moved.
[104:22] Speaker 2: I'll second.
[104:23] Speaker 1: Okay. All in favor?
[104:25] Speaker 2: I.
[104:26] Speaker 1: And then do you want a motion for 2346?
[104:30] Speaker 7: Yeah.
[104:30] Speaker 9: Okay.
[104:30] Speaker 5: Individually.
[104:31] Speaker 1: Okay. Some motion. Is there a second?
[104:33] Speaker 3: Second.
[104:34] Speaker 1: All in favor?
[104:35] Speaker 2: I.
[104:37] Speaker 4: Can we get back to you on.
[104:39] Speaker 2: Sure.
[104:39] Speaker 3: No, it's a meaningful number.
[104:41] Speaker 2: It's a big number.
[104:41] Speaker 5: It's meaningful.
[104:42] Speaker 2: It is. Yeah. The cities are so in favor of this.
[104:46] Speaker 3: We looked at. This is like the ultimate no brainer. Is a piece of legislation to support.
[104:49] Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
[104:51] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[104:52] Speaker 2: All right. So support for 922.
[104:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think we just did that.
[104:57] Speaker 5: No, no, we just did.
[104:59] Speaker 1: Okay. Okay. 9:22. There's the motion.
[105:02] Speaker 3: I'll second.
[105:03] Speaker 1: All in favor?
[105:04] Speaker 4: Aye.
[105:05] Speaker 1: Okay, great. Okay, we're on to item 17, which unfortunately is a resignation from the Creeks Committee by Christy Runbush who got off to a blazing fast start as a member of the committee with a great program for youth involvement. So fortunately, we hope that she's leaving. We hope that she'll come back someday on commission.
[105:30] Speaker 5: Is anybody taking over that?
[105:31] Speaker 1: Yes, we. Last meeting we approved two new members for the.
[105:35] Speaker 5: Oh, good. So. Because I looked at that her program, it's like. Oh, that's.
[105:38] Speaker 1: I know.
[105:38] Speaker 5: Amazing. I know.
[105:39] Speaker 1: She really. Okay. Is there anything else anyone would like to say before we adjourn? Okay, we're adjourned for the evening. Thank you all. Thank you.