Alameda CPWD Regular Meeting - May 14, 2025
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Alameda Commission on Persons with Disabilities Regular Meeting - May 14, 2025
The regular meeting of the Commission on Persons with Disabilities was called to order at 6:35 PM and adjourned at 8:30 PM. Key agenda items included a study session on proposed amendments to the Universal Design Ordinance, a review of commission bylaws, and a discussion on priorities and areas of focus. The commission also approved a recommendation regarding the Universal Design Ordinance updates.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes: The commission approved the minutes from April 24, 2024. Minutes from June 5, 2024, and March 12, 2025, required revisions and will be resubmitted for approval at the July 2025 meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-Agenda Public Comment: Tristan Suire, Planner II, invited commissioners to participate in a Universal Design Ordinance Housing Panel hosted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) on either June 16 or June 17. The panel would include a commissioner, a staff member, and an HCD representative.
- No other public testimony was offered.
Discussion Items
- 4-A: Zoning Ordinance Amendment – Universal Design Ordinance Updates: Tristan Suire presented proposed amendments to the Universal Design Ordinance. Key changes included: (1) narrowing exemptions for townhouses and small projects (5–9 units) based on unit count rather than acreage; (2) shifting the financial hardship waiver authority from the Planning Board to the Building Official, with a 20% project valuation threshold; (3) clarifying a partial waiver process; and (4) updating definitions and annual reporting language. Commissioners expressed concerns about cumulative erosion of the original ordinance, but noted the narrow scope and careful design of the amendments. After discussion, Chair Mullings moved to recommend the amendments to the City Council, seconded by Commissioner Bonsmith. The motion passed.
- 4-B: Request for Review of Proposed Commission By-Laws: Lilian Jewell presented draft bylaws for discussion. Commissioners suggested edits including: changing membership from nine to "up to seven" members, updating the purpose and mission to reflect current values, clarifying quorum (five members) and special meeting calling requirements, and removing gendered language. The purpose section requires City Council action to change; the commission may add a mission statement by two-thirds vote. The bylaws will be revised and brought back for a formal vote at a future meeting.
- 4-C: Commissioner Discussion about Priorities and Areas of Focus: Commissioners brainstormed priority topics for the coming year, including: mental health, aging population, visitability in housing, broadening the definition of accessibility, supporting families impacted by disability, community outreach and engagement, cross-collaboration with other boards and commissions, inviting presentations from community organizations (e.g., CARES, Meals on Wheels, Alameda Food Bank, Special Olympics), regular review of SeeClickFix data, sidewalk repair programs, and monitoring access to care given federal policy changes.
Key Outcomes
- The commission voted to recommend the Universal Design Ordinance amendments to the City Council (motion passed).
- Bylaws were discussed and will be revised with the identified edits; a final vote is expected at a future meeting.
- Priorities for the commission were identified and will guide future agenda planning.
- Staff noted upcoming events: Boards and Commissions Gala (May 29), Universal Design Housing Panel (June 16/17), ADA 35th Anniversary in July (with a request for impact stories), Bike to Wherever Day (May 15) featuring Access Trikes, and the annual ADA Transition Plan update at the July meeting.
- Commission communications included welcoming new Commissioner Lipp, planning for the July 4th parade (banner in production, coordination offline), and announcements for the Hearing Loss Walk (May 18) and a free pet microchipping clinic (June 8).
Meeting Transcript
We're going to call to order the Commission on Persons with Disabilities regular meeting for May 14th. We'll start with roll call. Commissioner Bieler. Present. Commissioner Hall. Present. Commissioner Lip? Present. Commissioner Roloff. And Commissioner Bond Smith. Thank you. I have one additional copy. Just one second. Sometimes I print my own, but usually they have them printed for us already. If we have any speakers, we do member of the public here with us. All right. Commissioners, thank you very much for your time. Before we dive into the subject matter for tonight, I do have a brief non-agenda item. The planning division was contacted a couple of weeks back by a member of MTC who's interested in having both a member of the staff and a member of the Commission on Persons with Disabilities join us for a panel on the Universal Design Ordinance, the recent amendments that we've been working on, and also sort of the original adoption process that we went through for that. And the folks at MTC have asked me to talk to you folks to see if there would be a commissioner who's interested in participating as a panelist. The subject matter would be focused, as I mentioned, on universal design ordinance. And the nature of the session would be about an hour-long panel during which the audience would be comprised primarily of members of the disability community, advocates, and folks who aren't necessarily uh subject matter experts on the actual ordinances or the state laws, but who have a sort of vested interest in the topic. So the sort of structure of it would be it would be a staff member, likely myself, hopefully a commission on persons with disabilities member, um, and uh likely somebody from HCD who's got experience working on the issue. Um we would speak both to our personal experience in the city uh working on you know the recent amendments and the original adoption um as well as areas that we see um there could be coordination with HCD on making improvements over time. Um a lot of what we're what we do in the ordinance is somewhat limited by state law. Um and so uh there would be sort of an introductory uh beginning part to this session uh where we uh explain sort of the the what the universal design ordinance means and um ways in which we try to apply it so that um new residential development is constructed in a way that's actually universally designed, um, and then beyond that to have um an additional sort of listening session and then to follow that up with some sort of responses to the the main themes of those comments. So um would love if the commissioners would take the time to speak amongst themselves and see if anybody would be available. Um we don't have a a date yet, it'll be either the 16th or the 17th. Uh I've been told it'll be an hour-long session, likely between 3 and 4 p.m. Um, it does look like they have a virtual attendance option for what it's worth. Um, otherwise it is being held in uh the city of San Francisco. Um and there's some other relevant sort of uh logistic information there on the the flyer I have for you. So um the hope would be that the commission would be able to settle um if anybody is interested on a member who would be willing to participate uh in this panel relatively quickly. The hope is that we would be able to meet with MTC and uh hopefully also this individual from HCD who'd be joining us on the panel uh sometime late next week. So uh I know this is a quick turnaround time throwing a lot at you, but um, if you think you'd be available for that date, if you think this is something you'd be interested in participating in, um certainly we'd love to have you so um that's all I have to say about that. But uh if you have any questions, certainly happy to answer those um, you know, either now or after the meeting. Thank you. Okay, thank you, speaker. Uh now I'll move on to the there's no other public comment. We'll move on to the next um item on the agenda, approving the minutes. There were three batches of minutes for you guys to read at your uh leisure. And I just wanted to try to maybe do a vote to approve all at once, if that's okay. Um so I have one comment on that. And it could be that it happened, but it seemed like on B and C the commission communications was the same. And I'll admit I looked at it on my phone, so it might have been a user error when I was accessing them, but it seemed to me like there was a duplicate portion on the second and third ones. Okay, thank you. Sure. That was the only it's a knit, nothing dramatic, but that was one thing I wanted to flag. Okay. Um Commissioner Hall here speaking.
openpublica.com