Or call to order and then roll call and pledge of allegiance kind of one right after the other here and then I'll have a little explanation for you.

So can you take the role, please?

Councilmember Aston Nielsen.

Councilmember Maramahoka, excuse.

Councilmember Roll.

Present.

Councilmember Stanley.

Here.

Vice Chair Cushman.

Chair Weitler.

Here.

We have a quorum.

Oh, did she get you?

I think so.

Oh, good.

Okay.

Did you get the time when I say call to order?

I did.

Okay.

Because maybe I forgot to actually say call to order.

Before you did roll call.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

Yeah, before the United States is America.

All right.

Um before we actually get started.

Well, we've kind of started, but there's a little bit of change to the format of the meeting.

Um, it's how I put this, but things change.

The laws change, so in trying to be in compliance with new laws, old laws, new interpretations.

Um, what we're gonna have to do, and this will be more standard from now on, is have an open public comment period after each agenda item, and then we'll close public comment.

And it will be after each item, including what we just did.

So I am now asking if there are any um public comments regarding call to order, roll call or pledge of allegiance.

So if you're online, I guess you have to raise your hand, and if you're here, you can come to the um podium up here.

All righty for non-agendized items.

Let's start with Kristen Hackett.

Wait, um, okay, wait, this is just on those items.

So this is just I'm sorry, we we have to have public comment on roll call on call to order, roll call, and pledge of allegiance.

Uh if there's no comments on those three items, and I'm not seeing any, then I will close public comment.

Okay.

Now, um, now is public comment for items not listed on the agenda.

So now is our regular public comment period.

Got it.

Let me share the timer.

All righty.

Kristen Hackett.

Good evening.

Thank you guys so much.

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Okay.

Good evening.

My name is Kristen Hackett.

I'm a community organizer with my Eden Voice.

Over the last six months, Eden Renters United has spoken to about 80 residents across five buildings in Ashland and Cashew Valley and learned about a new displacement pressure that's making it difficult for our families to afford and maintain housing.

More specifically, 84% of these residents are currently paying additional monthly fees for garbage, water, and sewer.

These charges have historically been included in their rents and continue to be included for some residents at these properties.

But in recent years, landlords are increasingly separating them out.

These fees have become more prevalent since the passage of the tenant Protections act in 2019, which created state rent control for most renters.

These fees show up in newer contracts or are introduced via written notices for tenants on month-to-month leases.

Sometimes they're also illegally verbally communicated.

These fees can be very high, ranging anywhere from eighty-five dollars to $700 per month.

A lot of people are paying more than $200, $300, $400 a month just for these fees, in addition to rent.

These fees are currently unregulated.

They can charge whatever they want.

They don't have to provide any transparency.

They don't have to charge all residents equally or at all.

And according to our legal partners, there's really nothing that residents can do on their own to challenge these fees.

Furthermore, if residents refuse to pay, they could be subjected to evictions for nonpayment.

So we're starting to look into policy solutions, and we just want to like be transparent and informational at tonight's evening meeting.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next, Lindsay Wright.

Hello, my name is Lindsay Wright, and I'm here with Mobile Homeowners Unite to give an update on what was once the mobile home closure and conversion overlay and is now the change in use ordinance.

Two years ago, we brought this ordinance to both Eden and Castro Valley Max.

Then we were supposed to go to planning in the fall, but that meeting was pushed to April and then to May.

In October, we had a second meeting.

At that meeting, we thought it might move forward, but instead the chair of the planning commission allowed a different ordinance to be presented on and discussed by the park owners, creating a lot of confusion.

In that meeting, we became very concerned about the behavior of the chair, who seemed to express personal interest in redeveloping the parks, and contradicted state law and procedures several times, preferring to defer to his own interpretations.

We brought our concerns to our supervisors at the unincorporated services committee meeting two days later, and Supervisor Miley offered direction to staff on the ordinance and clarity on the role of planning commissioners to those that had showed up to the meeting.

We are concerned about this protracted process.

We have blown through the initial timeline set forth by supervisors Miley and Tam, which expected the ordinance before Board of Supervisors last spring with possible passage by the end of the year.

We are concerned that this delay is caused by a crucial conflict of interest that needs to be addressed.

As we figure out how to address this issue, we feel is important to notify all political and elected officials as you two may be impacted, and there may be some way you can help.

Thank you for your time today.

Thank you.

Next, Martha.

Yolanda.

Soy resident de Shamur Place, an edificio de 80 apartmentos in Ashland in the Distrito 4.

Oh, you stoy aqui porque soy una mujer jubilada, mayor y con discapacity discapacidad.

Algunos de mis vecinos están obligados a marcharse debido a estas tarifas.

Porque de repente el alquiler is 200 más caro de lo que pensaban y is insostenible.

Me estoy involucrando in este tema porque me afecta a mí andos.

Desde medica hasta los programas extraescolares.

Quisiera pedirles como authoridades that representan el gobierno inco in the area no incorporada.

Can we mala Junta de Supervisors appoy la estabilidad de nuestras familias, approvando la prohibition of necessarios?

Muchas gracias por su tempo.

Thank you.

And here is her translated comment.

Good evening, Eden Mack.

My name is Martha.

I'm a resident of Shamore Place, an 80-unit building in Ashland in D4.

Today I'm here because I'm a retired senior woman with a disability and I'm struggling to keep up with housing costs.

On top of my rent, I now have to pay $200 every month for garbage and water.

I've never had to pay this before, but now if I don't pay these fees, I can be evicted.

It is very difficult for my husband and me to complete the rent payment and to pay for groceries and gas.

We've applied for rental assistance, but we are not sure if relief will come.

Some of my neighbors are being pushed out because of these fees.

Because all of a sudden the rent is $200 more than what you thought it was going to be.

And it's unsustainable.

I'm getting involved in this issue because it's affecting me and my neighbors, and with the current policies and budget cuts impacting everything from Medicare to after school programs, we're all struggling financially.

I would like to ask you as the authorities representing the government in the unincorporated area to help us stop these abusive charges.

We want to see the Board of Supervisors support the stability of our families by passing a ban on junk fees.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments.

That was the last public commenter on non-agendized items.

Sergeant Cullen.

Yeah, good evening.

I won't need that much time.

Oh.

Go ahead.

Alright, uh, my name is Fenton Cully.

I'm the supervisor of our real-time information center, which includes most of our technology up at the Eden Township substation.

And I'm just here to let the board and our residents know that we are putting forth a contract for 18 months that will be presented at the unincorporated services meeting coming up here on the 24th at the library here, I believe.

And we will I will be presenting on some technology that we'll be asking the board to approve, which allows us to continue to provide law enforcement services and public safety while we create a what's known as a request for proposal or a bid process for potential new vendors for our technology.

So I welcome everyone to attend that and ask questions.

And we will have a formal presentation for the board, and their vote will be on the 30th.

And that'll be at the board chambers in Oakland.

So on incorporate services here on the 24th.

And the board meeting on the 30th.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, that was the last speaker.

Let's see.

Okay, public comment is now closed.

We'll move on to the approval of minutes from our last meeting.

That's from May 12th.

The council members have any edits or comments.

I think they just didn't know they didn't put their hand up.

There was a speaker on Zoom for that public comment, but they didn't realize they had a vote.

What was their name?

Anika.

There's no.

Maybe they got off.

Sorry, they're okay.

Thank you.

We maybe we'd just thought maybe we missed somebody on Zoom.

Um all right.

So let's go back to are there any edits to the minutes from the May 12th meeting?

From the council members.

I'm not seeing any.

All right, um, I'll open this issue.

This is how this is going to go, um, up to up for public comment.

Are there any comments from the public regarding the minutes from our last meeting on May 12th?

Anyone on Zoom?

And nobody commenters on the minutes.

Okay, thank you.

Then I'll close public comment.

And since the council members had no comments, um I will entertain a motion um regarding the minutes.

I assume to approve.

I'll motion to approve the minutes.

Thank you, Megan.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay, thank you.

Um it's been approved and seconded.

Would you take the vote, please?

Councilmember Asa Nielsen.

Aye.

Councilmember Maramahoko, excuse.

Councilmember Roll.

Aye.

Councilmember Stanley.

Yes.

Vice Chair Cushman.

Aye.

Chair Wilder.

Aye.

Motion passed.

All right.

So those who passed our regular um calendar for tonight.

Item number one is the dissolution of the economic and civil development MAC subcommittee.

Um, and this is presented by Eileen Dalton.

Thank you very much.

Good evening.

Eileen Dalton, I'm the uh director of economic and civic development with the counties community development agency.

And maybe I can cover items one and two as a staff presentation and happy to answer any questions.

So as you recall, the this was oh, I didn't write the date down.

It was in December, November or December of 2023.

We formed the MAC formed an economic development subcommittee and met uh regularly on just general economic development items.

The focus of the committee then shifted to the preparation of our economic development strategic plan.

And so those members were Elizabeth Warren and then at the time um Tyler.

And so in sort of in the vein of this meeting and its organization, in order to ensure that we're transparent and sort of up to speed on proper subcommittee uh formation, we need to dissolve that committee, and we're asking them to form a new committee specifically on the topic of the economic development strategic plan, and that committee would stay formed for the duration of the preparation of that plan until it's adopted.

Um the way the committee was formed could be construed that it was too general and too um sort of not time-limited.

And so for transparency, we need to have a more specific scope for that committee.

And going forward, we'll do that if this once this committee um for the economic development strategic plan wraps up.

There's nothing that stops us from forming another committee on maybe the implementation of the plan as we go forward.

You know, as the MAC desires.

So the purpose of tonight's meeting is to formally dissolve the economic and civic development MAC subcommittee, and then the item number two would be to form a new subcommittee for specifically for the economic development strategic plan.

We'll call it the Economic Development Strategic Plan ad hoc subcommittee with three members, and then that committee will then conclude the work with us on the strategic plan specifically, and just a note that we are we have a placeholder on your September 8th agenda to bring the draft plan to the full MAC.

We will meet with the subcommittee at least once before that after tonight's meeting.

So happy to answer any questions.

We'd recommend you dissolve the committee as it stands and then reform with the same people or new volunteers, whoever would like to participate going forward on this committee.

It will last until the strategic plans adopted by the board, which we think will happen sort of mid-next year.

Thank you.

Okay, maybe you don't need to go too far.

But um, so item number one is the dissolution of the current committee.

Yes, composed, and this is these members would then are no longer members, so that would had been composed of Elizabeth Warren and Tyler.

Yes.

Okay, so that is um the first Taylor, sorry.

Um, been a while since we've met.

Okay, so that's the first motion, and do the member council members have any questions or comments on that motion.

They didn't Tyler became Taylor for clarity.

So, oh okay.

That's my question.

Who was on the who was on the committee?

It was Tyler and I took his time.

So it can made it really confusing.

Okay, yeah, I that's what I thought it was, Taylor, but I thought, oh well, maybe I'm wrong.

All right, so are there uh so that's the only kind of question and correction is that it had it was Taylor uh Warren Um and Elizabeth.

All right, so uh any other comments or um questions regarding the dissolution of the economic um subcommittee.

Um I'm hopeful that the folks who are currently on the committee once it's dissolved are able to rejoin the committee.

Um, but just in case not, and for the sake of transparency for the public, can you let us know where you are in the stages?

Sure, happy to if that's okay.

The um we've done quite a lot of work on the strategic plan.

We're pretty far along.

The committee hasn't seen um the draft yet, but we have a draft ready to go, a full draft of the plan.

So we'll be reviewing that with the subcommittee.

Um it would be wonderful if the the group the solid group has um can stick with us, but it'll be fun for whoever plans to be with us on it.

Um, but we're almost done if that helps.

anybody else on the council?

All right, then we will open this um item up for public comment.

Is there any public comment regarding the dissolution of this um current committee?

There are no public comments on this item.

No comments, all right.

Then I'll close public comment on this item and um ask any council members if they have a motion on this.

Yeah, I have a motion to dissolve.

Okay, that's fine.

I have a motion to all sorry, subcommittee.

Okay, is there a second the motion was to dissolve the subcommittee?

Is there a second?

I'll second the motion.

Thank you, Megan.

So there's it's been moved and seconded to dissolve the current subcommittee.

Um take a vote, please.

Councilmember Assin Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Maramahoko, excuse council member roll.

I council member Stanley.

Yes.

Vice Chair Chrisman.

Aye.

Chair Whitler.

Aye.

Motion passed.

Okay.

Um, the second item then is the formation of an economic development strategic plan ad hoc subcommittee.

Yes, uh, second item pursuant to the discussion on item number one is to create a new economic development strategic plan ad hoc subcommittee.

This committee would be made up of three members of the Eden MAC.

They would be advising the Economic and Civic Development Department and the Community Development Agency on the preparation of the new economic development strategic plan for the unincorporated county.

We are mostly completed with it.

The committee will work on, will um stay on the committee until the board adopts the plan, and then at such time we can have another discussion with the subcommittee or the with the MAC about if we need to set up a new subcommittee on the implementation.

But tonight we'd like you to form the economic development strategic plan ad hoc subcommittee, three members, and um we'll can complete the work.

Okay.

Are there any comments or questions from the council?

I have one.

Yes, go ahead, Warren.

Yes.

Okay, so I'm happy to step back from this role, and I um I'm happy to support the the formation of the new ad hoc, but I will not be serving on it.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

So Warren is saying that he would step back from this.

Are there any other comments?

Maybe I should ask if one of the comments is is the rest of the committee still willing to serve.

That would be um Taylor and Elizabeth.

You can't dissolve me, I'm back.

I've been on the shortest amount of time, so I'm eager to see it actually progress.

Thank you to participate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Since Ray's not here, uh, the other option potentially.

Can I I'd like to learn more about the time commitment and when you all meet?

Yes.

Yeah, we have um between now and September, hopefully sooner than later.

We were waiting for tonight.

We'll have a meeting with our staff, and it's usually about an hour and a half.

Um you'll have some material to read.

We may have a second meeting if you have questions, too many questions or comments that we can't handle in the one meeting.

Um, so it'd be up to two meetings, hour, one hour and one hour and a half, maybe at the most between now and September.

Um, we schedule usually schedule these meetings, you know, at your convenience.

If we need to do in the evening, we will for you know, people with work.

We've we've had usually we have the subcommittee meetings.

Remind me like five sometimes five, five thirty four between four and five, depending on folks' availability, but we'll be flexible if that um helps.

And we can do it online if that helps also.

It's better to do it in person.

We like that.

And so it's your staff as well as this ad hoc committee that we're forming.

Anyone else?

It would be our consultant potentially.

Mm-hmm.

Dina Belzer.

Okay.

I would like to express my interest in joining the ad hoc uh subcommittee.

All right, thank you, Megan.

Um, there are any objections to having Megan take um Warren's place, or is anybody else interested?

And anybody else, I guess it'd be me.

Ray's not here.

Um right, so then we'll leave that as part of the motion, then part of the motion will be um.

Sorry, Chair, I just need to interrupt you.

It's actually uh before you take a motion.

Did you already do public comment for this?

No, oh sorry.

I no, I would go on to that.

I guess I was thinking part of the part of the um part of the item will be to reform the ad hoc committee with Elizabeth Taylor and Megan as the members.

So that that's part of your request.

Yes.

All right, thank you.

Any other comments from the members?

Council members.

Okay, um, now this item is now open for public comment.

Are there any public comments regarding this item?

This is the formation of the Economic Development Strategic Plan ad hoc subcommittee.

There are no public comments on this item.

Okay, no comments from here.

Alright, then public comment is closed on this item.

Okay, now I need a motion from um one of a council members to accept this um formation of a new committee with um the members being Elizabeth Taylor and Megan.

I saw move.

Thank you, Warren.

Is there a second?

Uh sure, I'll second okay so it's been moved and seconded that we accept this um formation of a new subcommittee and um the members of Elizabeth Taylor and Megan.

Take roll call vote please.

Council Member Casson Nielsen aye council member Marmahoko excuse council member roll aye council member Stanley yes vice chair cushion aye chair whitley.

Aye motion passed all right thank you.

Thank you very much appreciate it.

All right item number three um is plan number 2026 00057 this is for conditional use permit um for veterinary clinic and the presenter is aubrey.

Aubrey Rose Alameda County Planning Department again this is case number PLN 2026-00057 at 1884 Hesperian Boulevard suite 18894 proposal is for a conditional use permit or CUP to allow a small animal limited service veterinary clinic with no surgeries hospitalization or boarding of any kind the application was submitted April 9th this year.

Um the property owner Veronica J.

Morrison Trust the applicant is Jasmine Barrcioni who is in attendance tonight.

The general plan designation is Eden area general plan general commercial and medium density residential zoning C1 retail business district this application is exempt from environmental review under CEQA as a section 15301 existing facility next slide please and so this is the location uh across the street from the park and uh near the city limits with um Hayward to the south and next slide please and this is uh zoomed in it's uh flipped around so this is actually uh north facing down as you can see this is the uh third suite along the the right side where the blue arrow is pointing next slide please here's a street view of the site again the blue arrows indicating the uh the space is formerly a bar business that's closed now here's the site plan the parking lot uh 26 parking spots two of which are ADA there's uh seven suites currently used uh counting this space in the um one-story building and here's the floor plan there'll be a waiting area examination area restroom for clients and a restroom for staff so some minor tenant improvements and here's the um elevation with uh windows and uh uh entry door to the right in that lower left hand image there's some photographs uh of the exterior and and then interior middle and right uh the conditional use permit is required uh from the board of zoning adjustments for an animal hospital or a vet clinic in other words in the C1 commercial district here are the conditional use criteria from the zoning ordinance which are met by this proposal next slide please so in conclusion staff recommends that the Eden Area Municipal advisory council recommend approval of case number PLN 2026-00057 to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Planning Department staff will convey the Eden Area Municipal Advisory Council's recommendation to the West County Board of Zoning Adjustments during their deliberations of this item.

So that includes concludes staff's report I'm available to answer any questions you may have and again the applicant is present and available as well.

Thank you.

Okay are there any um questions or comments by the council for the Warren.

Yeah I do have a couple um just as I walked in here I was I was told about a letter that was written by another veterinarian I believe who who called in the question and we can get specific if we need to but saw this proposal based on um a lack of accuracy can you comment on that uh Aubrey?

Yes thanks for mentioning I uh forgot to say there was one um uh late mail item that's uh before you uh and that was from um somebody who received the notice and called into question a few um items mentioned in the report the the number of and distance to other veterinary clinics in the area and the um parking count so staff doesn't disagree with um with their assessment of other veterinary clinics uh we did a Google search that's what came up it missed a few so there's there's more than in the area than what was stated in the report as far as the the parking I I don't find any area error in the in the parking count we have the plans and we've been to the site okay um they're just speaking about Elizabeth did you guys all see this it was at our spot um some okay good um who had a Taylor sorry I thought I saw Elizabeth reaching for okay yeah Taylor you have a question so with that adjustment in mind would that change staff's recommendation no that would that would not change staff's recommendation thank you from a technical perspective do we need to update your presentation or the the item to include those accuracies or is your verbal report sufficient from a technical standpoint on the item.

I believe the latter I don't believe any other updates are in order other than to include the letter in the file.

Elizabeth you have anything uh anything else uh Warren not at this time I would like to hear from the public but not at this time okay Megan anything um if I will reserve my comments for after public comment okay um the way I read this it sounds like it they won't do there's no spaying neutering right or no euthanasia it just said it says no surgery so I assume that that means they were not going to span a neuter animals correct that's staff's understanding is that accurate no euthanasia either okay um okay yeah maybe we'll go ahead and then see if the public does have any um comments so let me open this up for public comment at this time are there any comments from members public members yes Randy Wagi left let me see if he's online he's not online all right we'll go to the next speaker Hafneet Mavi.

Hi, my name is Papneed Mavi.

Um thank you for um this is my first time speaking in a public place there.

So thank you, Chair and uh the council.

So I'm a veterinarian in San Lorenzo.

I've been here since 2011.

And uh so I'm here to talk about a couple of things.

Uh the first of uh the first of the things is uh the uh that Mr.

Rose was talking about was uh I am the clinic that's closest to where this is going to be opened, and we are about roughly 1980 square uh feet, feet not square feet, feet of A.

And so then the application is on public need, so if we are eliminating two clinics, there's another clinic that's close by that's not on the list, so I'm just questioning the need there.

Is there a need or not?

But that's up to you guys to see this is a conditional youth permit.

I noticed the first line item on the conditional use permit is that whether there's a need or not.

So I'm just questioning on that part.

Um the other part is uh this is more of me being a veterinarian serving the local community for a while there, so uh just a couple of uh uh things there.

I mean, the application itself uh just say that it takes about 45 minutes to 60 minutes to utilize the parking space.

I know our veterinary hospital um appointments do run into the time, and I've seen this place.

Is that the best use of you trying to use parking?

And I they have they're going to have five staff members, one veterinarian, and four other people there who are gonna be working there, and it's already two parking spaces short.

So something is that should be a consideration there.

How is the parking going to be on this on that place there?

That's that's up to you guys to look into that part too.

Um the third is me just speaking off as a veterinarian.

I hope you had said you had opening an emergency hospital over here.

I would have loved that.

So it's it's that's not the case there.

So I have to say, um, I we do offer low-cost vaccines at one of our clinic over here, so that's one of the things there.

And then uh my other question is more on the veterinary side of safety thing.

I mean, if there's no hospitalization and everything.

Sorry, the time is run out.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Okay.

It was basically then how do we handle something when you're doing vaccines?

And something happens, that's all.

Carlin Jones.

Good evening.

Um my name is Carlin Jones.

I'm actually the hospital administrator for both Arroyo Veterinary Clinic and San Lorenzo Veterinary Hospital.

I work for Dr.

Pavni Mavi.

Um I think lack of public need is really the the primary concern because our uh our clinic, San Lorenzo, um, veterinary hospital.

Currently, we're actually rebranding um, and it's becoming San Lorenzo Community uh pet clinic, and we're gonna be focused on lower cost spay neuter vaccinations, preventive care.

Um some of you may be aware that uh aroyo veterinary clinic is building a new facility up to date, much larger, has more opportunities to um serve the community with a variety of needs.

Um our uh location, San Lorenzo Veterinary Hospital is located about like less than half a mile from this location.

Um so as he had mentioned.

We do feel like they're the service gap is not there that they're looking to fill.

Um really the emergency services are what are lacking, although I hear that uh the former formerly Babbs Bay area veterinary specialist in emergency um is reopening under new ownership um under new name.

So hopefully we'll have some uh more emergency care that way.

Um and in terms of adverse impacts on neighborhood welfare, the location that this uh small clinic is is looking to enter.

Um this little strip mall doesn't really seem compatible with um safe elimination for pets is one of my top concerns.

Um, there just doesn't seem to be like an easily accessible place for pets to eliminate to urinate and defecate on their way in and out of the clinic.

There's a restaurant right next door, so I can just see that becoming uh a big problem as well.

That was something that came to mind for me.

Um other than that, thank you so much for your time.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you for your comments, Brandy Waggy.

Uh I kind of missed the presentation, but I am always for economic development, and I welcome a veterinary clinic to come in, however small, however big.

If you're a good vet, you're just gonna have competition.

So please, I welcome, please vote yes on this.

I I I welcome any any good new business that comes in there.

If you look at that place right now, there's a smoke shop in the back.

We want a good business.

I mean, smoke shops are just kind of shady.

I mean, there could be another smoke shop.

So please, San Lorenzo, we've been pushing so much for good businesses to come in.

The dogs will find a way to pee in the back or a P Mat or whatever.

Uh, you know, I think there's always room for another good business to come in.

So I applaud you for choosing San Lorenzo.

Welcome is how I see it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

No other comments.

All right, thank you.

So let's close public comment and go back and let's see uh some council members wanted to hear from the public.

Um prior to offering some comments or questions.

So let's go back and see now.

Megan, you had something out you wanted to go back to something.

Yes, I was going to say that um hi, Dr.

Mavi and your staff.

Um, my Chihuahua's um patronize your businesses or your business, I should say, um, at Arroyo Veterinary Clinic.

I did not know that you also operated the clinic on Hisparian.

Um, when I moved here initially, I lived closer to that clinic, and I have called many, many, many, many, many times trying to get an appointment there, and I was told it was full.

Um, and the way that I see it is that there's no one's really having kids these days, and everyone has dogs, and so I also would welcome um another another veterinary service in San Lorenzo because the need is extraordinary and I imagine there's enough business for everyone to go around.

But I do appreciate you raising your concerns and your issues, which we can't really have a discussion, but yeah.

So, anyways, those are those are my comments um about about the item on the agenda, not necessarily about um what other issues have been raised.

Okay, thank you.

Warren, anything else?

I'll just say that I'm swayed by my friends in San Lorenzo.

I think that, you know, generally speaking, um it sounds like there is a need um with all the uh residents in San Lorenzo who um you know have animals and and need them taken care of.

So I I looks like I'm gonna support this this uh application.

Taylor, anything?

Uh yes.

So we've already talked a lot about economic development, and I drive by this shopping mall every single day, and it's vacant most of the time.

So I welcome some cars in that parking lot.

Uh there's a phrase if you build it, they will come.

And we have a lot of animals, so I'm hopeful if we build it with both of your lovely businesses, maybe we'll get that emergency hospital too.

And we'll just grow as a community.

Um, I know there's a need, and I've I've also called around and I'm so appreciative when I am able to get in, but I think that the more we grow it, the more we'll just have a better community.

So very much looking forward to growing on both sides.

Elizabeth.

Well, I feel like I'm the only cat person in the whole unincorporated area.

So I definitely see a need.

And if there isn't a need, then she'll go out of business.

But for now, she wants to try, we should let her.

Um, is the only is are you?

You're from staff.

Okay, can can I ask you a couple questions?

Um, yeah.

I I just I guess what I'm one question that I did have is um would there be meds stored on site there?

Um there won't be any narcotics, it would just be um like antibiotics or some pain medications and things like that, but no controlled substances um because I'm not doing sedations or euthanasia, I don't need any of any of that on hand.

I will have emergency drugs for if there were to be an allergic reaction.

Um and there is the emergency opening just down the road.

Um they open on June 22nd, so there will be a local emergency to refer to if there were to be a vaccine reaction.

Okay, thank you.

And then I was you're a veterinarian now, right?

You work at a full service veterinary clinic, correct?

Yeah, I've actually oh, sorry.

Sorry, I I just wanted to verify.

What how do you see this your this clinic as being more a vanish and justified with the other veterinary clinics around?

I appreciate that.

I've been a veterinarian in um this area actually, just you know, down the road, um, for almost 20 years, and over the the time I've seen that there's been a need.

People were coming against, there's you know, a rising costs, limited availability, um, and people are waiting longer to have care, and so my goal is to provide care earlier on.

You know, I won't have the overhead, and so I'll be able to provide services at lower costs, and hopefully, we can get those, you know, the smaller things fixed because before they become larger things that are now an emergency and more expensive.

So if I can kind of get in there and not only do preventative care but also treat the little things to free up some of the larger full-fledged hospitals so they can see more patients.

Um, you know, I I personally have heard many times, you know, we've been calling, I can't get in.

It's been two weeks my dogs had an ear infection, and they end up with the ER, you know, with an ear infection that could have been treated with me or with another local vet.

Okay, thank you.

Well, while you're there, does anybody else have any follow-up questions for I guess I do can you and you've already answered in a little bit, but can you detail a little bit more about what that support would look like?

Because I always think of I'm not a doctor.

Yeah.

So I think about that experience differently.

What what is branding you?

Good question.

So my whole focus is to not only do vaccines but also to educate and to really focus in on the smaller stuff that can be handled in a smaller area.

So I don't need the surgery suite to be able to clean an ear and treat for an ear infection and and and diagnose and treat skin issues.

Um so I'll be able to free up some of the larger hospitals so they can see the really sick urgent patients.

Um and by being able to do that, I'll be able to see more patients throughout the day.

So for me, right now I see you know, vaccines, puppies, kittens, surgeries, emergencies, and so if I'm in, you know, if I got an emergency, people have to wait because I have to triage.

And so in this situation, I won't have that poll so I can focus in on the wellness and really the preventative health and really provide that service.

If do you do referrals if there's something more serious?

Absolutely, yeah.

So there's a lot of local hospitals in the area that I can refer to, and you know, I again I've been in the community for 20 years.

I know most of the people around, um, so I've got relationships, and then uh again, we'll have the emergency hospital back up and running.

Um, so you know, there would definitely be opportunities for referrals.

And so the services that you provide are essentially wellness visits, and what else can you kind of say what the services are?

Absolutely, treatment of minor um ailments.

So if somebody comes in with an ear infection, I can look in the ears, take a sample, diagnose it, clean it, give them meds.

Um if they come in with a skin infection or can treat with flea medicine and the antibiotics they might need.

Um, but anything more severe like a laceration that needs to be sutured or you know, some sort of other injury, I would have to refer out to a you know full-fledged hospital or to the emergency hospital.

Anyone else?

I just have one other question that came to my mind is we have seems to have a lot of um feral colonies in San Lorenzo, and you wouldn't spay your neuter, but if people got their animals spayed or neutered then they could routinely just figure once a year or however often they could just go to some place like like a clinic like yours just to get the vaccinations that they might need to then be returned out there to their feral colony.

Absolutely, that's kinds of things.

Yeah, that's my goal.

I have a local um rescue group that I worked with in the past, and so to be able to provide that service at a lower cost so that we can make that happen and get everybody vaccinated in.

Okay, that's all I had.

Um, thank you.

Thank you.

Ashley, um, this is a technical question.

There's no reason why I shouldn't go back to public comment, right?

And reopen public comment after they've heard.

Yeah, you can reopen public comment and then close it when you're done with.

Okay, I'm just thinking since we've got a little bit a lot more information now that it might be fair to see if I will reopen public comment and see if there's any um speakers who would like to address again after hearing the more information.

Are you taking speakers that already spoke?

Yeah, so public comment is now reopened.

Are you taking speakers that have already spoke or anybody or new speakers chair?

Oh, any anyone that's present now, right?

So what I would say is welcome.

Uh, first of all, you can vaccinate those straight cats.

This is what we're trying to do at San Rosabet Hospital.

We were trying to create a low-cost vaccine clinic over there.

So we can work in tandem in that sense there too.

So my only understanding, as I already said, was how they handled stuff.

If they can handle everything, I have no objections to it.

Okay.

Any other public comment?

No.

Um, yeah, there's somebody out here with their hand up, sorry.

I got it.

No, are you can state your name for the record?

Uh my name is Lindsay Wright.

Um I think this is a great idea.

Uh, like to echo everyone else.

We could always use more vets in the area.

I had to leave the long time vet I had been going to because no matter what the problem was, there was no availability unless it was two weeks out.

So I totally get it.

And like if airports all across the country have managed to figure out indoor potty areas for animals.

I think their clinic can figure it out too.

You know, you don't outside is nice, but if inside is where the animals need to potty, they'll figure it out.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other public comment?

All right.

So I'll close public comment.

Um I will entertain a motion from a council member regarding this item.

I'll motion to approve.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

Is there a second?

Yes, I'll second.

Thank you, Warren.

Any other discussion?

All right, would you take the roll call both then, please?

Councilmember Aston Nelson.

Councilmember Maramahoga, excuse.

Councilmember Roll.

Uh, Councilmember Stanley.

Yes.

Vice Chair Cushman.

Yes.

Chair Weiler.

Aye.

Motion passed.

I'd just like to thank everyone who had some input into this because it is kind of an important issue for all of us, animal lovers.

All right.

Um, our next item on here is um it's a Bayfair community-based transportation plan, CBTP.

Um, we have updates.

This is an informational item.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Angelica Gonzalez, supervising senior planner with Alameda County's planning department.

I'm joined by Dominic Lucchese, also planner with Alameda County's planning department.

Uh, this is an informational presentation on the Bay Fair Community Based Transportation Plan, also known as the CBTP.

This is a joint effort led by Alameda County and the City of San Leandro's planning departments.

We're also working closely in coordination with agencies, including the Public Works Agency and also BART.

So the CBTP is an important part of planning department's work.

Just want to recognize that it is equity focused and centers on the transportation needs of underserved communities and identifies gaps related to access, safety, and mobility in order to identify potential solutions to community-supported transportation improvements.

So this exhibit highlights various planning efforts relevant to the Bay Fair area, just to acknowledge the various projects that we're working on.

In Ashland and unincorporating Alamo County, and also our neighboring jurisdiction in the city of San Landro.

So the work that is on the left is county-led, and the work on the right is led by the City of San Leandro.

We'd like to acknowledge that while these projects are led by respective jurisdictions, we're working closely with our BART partner and also the City of San Leandro's planning department on these various efforts as well, and also with county departments.

County efforts include pre-planning work, also known as the Priority Sites Technical Assistance, which is on the top left there.

And so this one really focuses on the Bay Fair BART TOD site.

The other that the county is working on is the transit oriented communities policy.

So this one explores compliance with the Metropolitan Transportation Agency's transit-oriented communities policy.

So this one focuses on four legs there, which includes parking management, access and circulation, housing, and zoning density.

And then on the city side, their relevant efforts are highlighted in red on the right, and that focuses on advancing implementation of the city's adopted Bayfair TOD-specific plan vision for the development at Bayfair and also transit oriented communities compliance.

So just acknowledge the city will hold separate outreach meetings on their development plan in the future with opportunities for public input.

So again, we recognize there's a lot of work happening within the Bayfair station area.

And today we're focusing on the Bayfair Community-based transportation plan, which is highlighted in yellow at the top center.

And then with that, I'll hand it over to Dominic Lucese who'll be walking us through updates and next steps on the CBTP.

Good evening, Council members.

Dominic Lucese, Alameda County Planning Department.

Thanks for the opportunity to talk about the Bayfair Community-based transportation plan, also known as the CBTP.

So I'll start with an overview of what the CBTP is all about.

And like Angelica mentioned, the CBTP is a collaborative planning effort between Alameda County and the City of San Leandro, funded through a grant from the Alameda County Transportation Commission.

The goal of the project is to make travel to and from Bayfair BART schools and local destinations in Ashland and San Leandro easier, safer, and more convenient, especially for people who rely on walking, biking, and transit to get around.

The project is community driven, and staff are engaging residents, businesses, and community groups to identify neighborhood transportation challenges and solutions.

There's also an added emphasis on outreach to equity priority communities, and this is a designation made by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to identify census tracts that have a high concentration of underserved populations, such as households with low incomes and people of color.

Next slide, please.

So we've given several presentations in the past year, including a few stops here at the Eden MAC to provide informational updates and gather feedback about the plan.

Next slide.

So what will the Bayfair CBTP result in?

The goal is to produce a final plan with recommended transportation projects and the public right-of-way that directly reflect community priorities.

The final plan will include separate lists of prioritized projects for the city and the county with potential funding sources identified.

We also hope that through this process we can forge stronger lasting relationships between CBOs, community members, and public agencies like the planning department.

So here is a map of the Bayfair CBTP boundary.

You can see it's focused on the area surrounding the Bay Fair BART station, which sits at the intersection of San Leandro and Ashland.

It includes communities with equity priority populations, including low-income residents, people of color, seniors, youth, and people with disabilities who face distinct barriers to travel that the CBTP will seek to address.

So CBTPs have been conducted in many communities across the Bay Area.

And this slide shows examples of improvements that may be recommended in the final Bayfair CBTP.

So things like improved access to BART, programs to slow past cars, separated bike lanes, streetscape improvements, ADA access improvements, sidewalk and crossing improvements, just to give you a sense of what you might see in the final plan.

So next, just a quick overview of our engagement thus far.

So again, the project seeks to center the voice of community members through participatory approaches, meaning residents are co-creators of the plan and not just recipients of information.

To this end, the project builds in several opportunities for the public to provide feedback at open houses, pop-up events, and through two online surveys.

The outreach strategy is guided by a steering committee, which is made up of residents from unincorporated Alameda County and San Leandro, CBOs like the Ashland Community Association, an Eden Mac representative, and public agencies, including Public Works, Hard, BART and AC Transit.

Next slide, please.

So the first phase of engagement occurred last year and focused on gathering feedback about existing transportation gaps.

We held a multilingual online survey and received over 150 responses.

We conducted interviews with community representatives.

We held pop-up events at National Night Out in Cherryland and at the Bayfair Farmers Market.

And finally, we took a tour of the site with the steering committee.

Next slide.

The focus here was to share our findings from the first round of engagement, share improvements that are already underway, and ask participants about any additional desired improvements and locations.

Phase two kicked off of the steering committee meeting in March, followed by a community open house at the Reach Ashland Youth Center in April.

It was a really fun event.

We had about 50 attendees.

And to specifically engage with equity priority communities, all materials for the open house were presented in Spanish, Chinese, and Tagalog with translation services available on site.

We also partnered with local CBOs La Familia and San Leandro 2050 to help spread the word about the event.

And I'll give a quick overview of what we learned through two rounds of community engagement.

So six major themes emerged from phase one.

Consistent across all themes was a focus on reducing infrastructure and social barriers to travel and increasing connectivity.

So what we heard was convenient and safe access to BART and major destinations is limited.

The auto-dominated landscape creates safety barriers to walking and biking.

The bike network is disconnected and stressful to navigate.

Safety and personal security concerns are a barrier to travel.

Structural barriers restrict equitable transportation access.

And we also heard that the lack of amenities like shade, lighting, and seating made the area uninviting.

So going a little deeper, here's a few direct quotes from community members that highlight top priorities from the previous slide.

So I'm not going to read them out loud because we have a limited time, but we wanted to include them in your materials so that you could review them.

So here's a map that displays the types of feedback we received through the online survey and the pop-ups that highlight specific locations that the community identified as needing transportation improvements.

The 10 streets in the county mentioned most often for improvements are listed on the slide here on the left.

And please note that four of these streets, which are highlighted in green, have active public works projects that will address some of these concerns.

Next slide.

And to drill down even further on the types of improvements people want to see, we asked community members to vote on their top priorities at the open house event at Reach back in April.

And after vote after the votes were tallied, the top priorities were better street lighting, benches and shade at bus stops, improvements to make it easier and safer to cross the street, and more street trees.

And then I'll close with the next steps.

So this slide shows our engagement approach across the four phases of the project.

As I mentioned, we held the first open house in April and we're wrapping up phase two by developing draft recommended projects based on the feedback we've received thus far.

The next phase of engagement will focus on finalizing project recommendations through a second open house, a second survey, and pop-up events, which will all be taking place over the course of the summer.

So plenty more opportunities to get involved.

Next slide.

Here's the upcoming meeting schedule.

After tonight, we'll be presenting to the planning commission next Monday before coming back in the fall to present a draft of the plan.

And that concludes my presentation.

Just want to give a shout out.

We do have a project website.org, which is probably the best way to keep up with all the updates for this project.

And we're happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Comments from the council.

Let me start with Elizabeth.

Hi.

I live just outside that boundary.

So I was just, it's nice to hear what people actually have to say.

I was just wondering if there's anything more active you could do than just kind of have an event and hope that people show up.

I mean, how are you letting the people in that know about your events?

And it is nice to hear, like I said, instead of just for a while now, it's been this idea, but now that you're running it through the people actually live through there, I actually appreciate what they have to say, and I hope that you get more responses.

And it does seem like the responses you're getting, you're getting you're hearing the same thing over and over, right about safety and um, so I appreciate that.

I just think that a lot of these people in that map probably still don't have any idea that it's going to happen and are looking for a way once they do know to let you know, but I'm wondering what you're still doing to like spread the word.

Yeah, um, so like I mentioned, we are doing a second round of outreach.

I know um there's no perfect solution for getting the word out.

We appreciate any any ideas and help that you can provide to spread the word.

Um, like I mentioned, we have done an online survey, we've done pop-ups in the community, we've done a community open house, and we'll continue to do that into the summer.

Um, in addition to that, we've also done kind of the door-to-door flyering, um, posting flyers in the neighborhood, um, sending email updates to people on our listserv, so um, all of those things put together uh is kind of our our outreach approach at the moment, but certainly open to ideas.

And the city of San Leandro is doing the same.

Taylor, go to your tick.

How do you plan to integrate that phase two of feedback if it's different than phase one?

Um, and then also for the areas of identification, how do you see digging deeper into those layers?

Like it's talking about planting trees, for example, where the highest impact might be outside of that.

Do you have visibility into what those phases look like?

Um, right now it's pretty much uh high level.

Um, the next step is will be to basically analyze all the feedback we've received to develop a project list, and we'll be taking that list to the community.

So what we're seeing here may still yet evolve, and it might be different recommendations.

Totally.

Okay.

Totally.

And to your point about where uh these projects may be implemented, that's where the mapping exercises really come in to highlight um which locations in the boundary area people really want to see improved.

Will you be mapping it against transportation itself too, I assume, or like maybe where you have higher patterns of people.

Yeah, part of the process will be developing a scoring criteria.

Yeah, I was thinking so that effect.

Okay, thank you.

Warren?

Yeah.

So I've been following this project since the beginning.

Um, and there has been an evolution.

I really enjoyed the open house in April, where there were a number of people there, folks speaking different languages.

Communication of different languages and people were interacting from different points of view.

I think those kind of events work well in the community when you have CBOs and other partners that bring people into the into the community to get feedback.

These were people who didn't necessarily engage on a uh on a long-term basis, but they were uh people who I thought brought really good ideas to the uh to the fore.

Also, I think uh as we move into the next phase where we get where we get into a deeper dive of um projects and uh where we're gonna be going, uh I think that we really should be thinking through what the community partners are.

I know we have a list of the Bard being one of them.

Perhaps we can utilize uh some of our neighborhood parks more uh more broadly uh and that may be said for others from other partners in the community.

And um, you know, uh I I think we can think through, and I would certainly be willing to volunteer as a member of the steering committee, uh, how we can do a better job at outreach because honestly, um if we're going to get uh a community flavor as we drill down into a project list, we really want to try to outreach as much as possible.

Thank you.

Megan.

Um thank you for the presentation.

I'm excited about the opportunity to improve access to the Bayfair BART because BART is, you know, a crucial lifeline to our community for many people.

I guess I'm I see a picture of a bus, and I wanted to know AC Transit was involved in any way with with this project or if they've had any input because I feel like our bus lines are kind of the most prominent, you know, um avenue that people take often to get to Bayfair.

Have have they been involved in in this?

Yeah, we do have an uh representative from AC Transit on our steering committee.

So they they're being kept up to speed about all of this, and they're an important partner in the project.

And there's no, I mean, I don't know if they're also in the phase like some of our other transit partners of considering having to eliminate or reduce service lines um due to various, you know, loss of funding from the federal government.

And so I don't know if if those types of changes that are happening within those agencies are gonna potentially impact some of the work that you're doing here if that's been discussed.

I'd I'd have to defer to those agencies.

Okay.

Um and then I would be interested in hearing a little bit about um the feedback uh that you have gotten from the folks that you've engaged with about the people who are within this boundary.

Are they using BART now?

Or the or are they providing ideas that might entice them to use it in the future?

Um do we know about like the user patterns for the people in this area?

Are they actually using BART to commute to work?

Or are some of the barriers that were mentioned preventing them from utilizing BART?

Or is it BART just doesn't go to where they need to go or they only use it on the weekend?

Have you heard that type of feedback?

I mean, the plan is not necessarily um BART-centric.

It's really how people move around the study area um more holistically.

So I think some of the themes that have really like risen to the top are safety.

Um, so people wanting to walk uh somewhere in their neighborhood, but are being prevented from doing so.

Um, whether that's a that there's a physical obstruction or lack of crosswalks or something like that, or um a lack of lighting and they don't feel safe.

So um that could be extended to like getting to BART, but BART is one uh location uh within the study area, although it is very important.

I see.

Okay, so it's transit-oriented around the Bayfair BART, but that's really it's just like a point on a map that and then you're working around it.

A very important point on the map, yeah.

Okay, interesting.

Um, well, I guess I'll be interested in the the next phases and seeing the next steps and how we're all gonna implement some of the feedback and if there's money to do that, I suppose.

Thank you.

Okay, I was just thinking when you mentioned like the pop-ups.

I'm thinking, okay, where do I see pop-ups?

And then you saw like them at the farmers market, but you only did one at one time in the farmers market, and it seems like those are they're we like weekly, right?

It just seems like you might get I don't know how many people did you get there, like in being there one day.

Do you know just roughly?

I mean 50, 100, 25.

I can respond to that, Angelica Gonzalez.

Um, goodness, you're you're not testing my memory here.

It's been a few months since we attended the farmers market, but we did quite um receive a lot of foot traffic.

So I want to say there was about over 50 that stopped by and asked questions and provided their input.

Um, is Dominica showed um on the screen with one of the images that the slides showcases uh where the communities are interested in seeing improvements and so that those data points were incorporated as part of um the information that we received um with the recommendations that we've highlighted.

So around I want to say about 50 is the number of folks that we did um have stopped by.

There were three staff members that attended from the city of San Leandro, and then there was county staff, um, and then uh we did have attendance from uh Robert Reverend, one of the district board members at BART there too, who also participated and answered questions.

Okay, it's just I was just thinking maybe if you went once a month or something more than just you know one time, because how many people are you thinking of servicing with the this transportation arrangement?

More like in the thousands, right?

Is what your hope would be, I would think.

I think our goal would be to uh to get as many as possible responses as possible.

Yeah, um, I think the the tricky part is uh staff capacity.

We do have uh scheduled in the future another pop-up event.

We'll be coming back to the farmers market to um to do another round of um just outreach with the community also is another way to reach out.

Um, and we're also doing, as Dominic has mentioned, um, in the future, another open house.

Um we do have several members um on the steering committee who are also participating to help us with outreach.

Um we're doing quite um heavy lift as far as making sure that we address any communications so that as many folks as possible participate.

So we're seeing both efforts from the city side and the county side.

So we have a pretty robust um engagement and communications related efforts for this project.

Okay, thank you.

It's just kind of a general thing.

It's like I've never seen any of these, and I'm like fairly involved, but then I usually just take my car and drive from place to place.

So it would just be nice to see like there's hundreds of people that know this is going on and and we'll give you, you know, you could gather input from whom you can gather input.

So anybody else from the council right at this moment?

I have to acknowledge public works, right?

Let's say we all agree everybody that you talk to says we hate this intersection, we need new lighting here, and then by the time you get to that, they'll say, Oh, well, that's great, we'll do that in four years, right?

So are they a part of this?

As I feel like they should be, because at the end of the day, they're the ones who are actually gonna physically improve these.

So are they hearing this feedback?

Do they have a proposed place at this table, or because I feel like you could get all the information you need, and everyone could say this sidewalk is horrible, and then you tell them, and then they go, Well, we'll work on it in a few years, right?

So I'm I'm hoping somebody from there is listening to what you guys are hearing.

Maybe.

Public Works is definitely involved in the the entire project.

Um, in addition to being a part of the steering committee, they're also on the project management team, so that means that we meet more frequently with public works than we do the entire steering committee.

They also review all of our documents for feedback and things like that.

And you know, Angelica kind of touched on this with her slide, but there's a lot of concurrent planning going on at the same time, some of which is led by public works.

Um, the bike pedestrian master plan update is happening now, and there's a lot of overlap between the projects.

So that collaboration between the planning department and public works is um really critical to making sure that we're not duplicating efforts and that we kind of come up with plans that um, you know, are made up a lot of with a lot of shared information between the agencies.

Okay, let me just oh, sorry, make it ahead.

Um, I don't know much about this.

I see some of the feedback is about how busy um and fast the cars are traveling and some of the thoroughfares that also pedestrians and bicyclists want to use.

Has there been any consideration or discussion of making any streets like one ways or other ways to slow traffic?

I don't know if that's been thrown out there.

I think that the residents might dislike that.

Um, but I've heard from a planning perspective that it is effective.

So I wanted to hear your feedback.

I don't recall one ways being brought up specifically, but certainly traffic calming measures, which could be a variety of different treatments, may include something like that.

Um, but again, we're not really quite at that point of having specific recommendations, but that certainly is something that could potentially be considered.

Okay, thanks.

Okay, let me open this up to public comment.

Do we have any um public comment?

Any speakers on this?

There are no public comments on this item.

Okay, nobody here.

All right, then I will close public comment.

And that was just an informational item.

So there's no motions or votes required by any council members.

All right, thank you very much for the information.

Okay, um, our next agenda item is unincorporated urban forest plan project updates.

This is also an informational item, and um Ali Abers is here to present to us.

Good evening, council members.

Allie Abers with the planning department.

Good to see you all again.

Do you have my slides?

Okay, awesome.

All right, so I'm here um with the first of what I hope will be a few updates over the next couple of years on our unincorporated urban forest plan.

So we're really excited to be kicking off.

So, next slide, please.

A little bit of background.

Um, in 2024-25, uh, we presented to all of the Macs in the urban areas, including your Mac, um, to explore interest in a tree protection and management, well, just in tree protection and management generally for private property.

So some of you were on the council at that time.

Uh, that was January 14th, 2025, when I presented to your council.

Um, gathered a bunch of feedback from that effort, and then at the same time, we were pursuing a Calfire grant to support this big long-range urban forest planning effort, which was directed by the Board of Supervisors through the environmental justice element.

So we were lucky enough to get that grant um to develop that urban forest plan in late 2024.

Um, we had some funding delays because it was federal funding, so a few funding delays, but we did get authorization to proceed in July of 2025, and um in March of 2026, we engaged our project consultants and kicked off the project in April.

Um, and so I I gave you that earlier context about that 2024-25 uh policy exploration that we did because I just wanted to let you know that that work is going to be wrapped up now into this larger planning effort.

So it's not going away, those efforts aren't for naught, it's just going to be part of this larger effort to look at trees uh in the unincorporated areas.

So, next slide, please.

And I apologize, I know the slides look really busy.

They are in both Spanish and English because we wanted to, I'm not sure if you're having translation for this meeting.

You do, okay, great.

So the project scope, it involves two major efforts.

So the unincorporated urban forest plan has multiple sort of uh goals underneath it.

So fostering civic engagement in urban forestry is really one of our number one goals.

And that includes multilingual outreach and formation of a community tree advisory group, and I'll have a little announcement about that group later in this presentation.

We're going to assess county tree policies, ordinances, plans, programs.

Where we have actually already started an inventory of street trees in all of the unincorporated areas.

So you may have already seen them out there and about.

They've I actually have a map I didn't have at the time that to add to this slideshow of the dots that are now sort of appearing throughout our inventory.

They're starting in San Lorenzo and in Ashland.

And so we're gonna watch that map fill up and we will share that map with you once it's complete.

So really exciting to have that.

So the first time the county's ever had that complete assessment of street trees.

We're going to analyze canopy equity, urban heat, and fire risk, and we're gonna set canopy goals and then propose actions for what the county could do to get from where we are to those goals to where we want to be.

So that is the urban forest plan portion.

And then as part of this program, we've also partnered with the Hayward Area Recreation and Parks District on what we're calling the Growing Futures Program.

It's a pilot urban forestry job training program.

And I hope to come with you with more information about that soon, but that is very exciting.

It's gonna engage young people who have interest in becoming urban foresters in that profession.

So this is a bit about our project geography.

So that like this shows it's a map of Alameda County.

Uh, it shows the unincorporated areas and the incorporated cities.

Our project scope is limited only to the urban unincorporated areas.

So it is not countywide and it's not even unincorporated wide.

It's not looking at the urban or the rural areas of the county.

It's limited to Castor Valley, Urban Castor Valley, Fairview, Ashland, Cherryland, Hayward Acres, and San Lorenzo.

So only the urbanized areas that's as defined by census.

All right, next slide.

Okay.

So a bit about our timeline.

We plan to have our outreach plan done very soon.

And our outreach plan involves a bunch of different ways that folks can get involved.

We're, like I said, developing a tree advisory group, which is going to meet about every other month now through the end of the project, which is in March of 2028.

We're also going to have four wider public meetings, and those are going to be the tree advisory group will be offered in English and Spanish as a standard.

Just wanted to note that.

And then our public meetings will be offered in English, Spanish, and Chinese as a standard, and we'll also have multiple pop-up and tabling events throughout the project timeline.

By August of 2026, we expect to have our regulatory and program analysis done.

So that includes things like interviews with public work staff, fire department staff, all the staff who are involved in managing trees in the county.

By October of this year, we will have our tree inventory and canopy report done.

And then later, like toward the end of this year, we'll have our urban forestry goals completed.

And we expect to have our first draft of the urban forest plan done about a year from now, so in July of 2027, with a final draft in October of 2027, and then our tree planting celebration in the winter of 27-28, which is the best time to plant native trees, as it turns out.

So a little bit more about the growing futures program.

So I I like I said, I do hope to come back with more information about this.

But just a little preview.

It's going to be an urban forestry workforce development program developed as I said in partnership with HARD, also in partnership with Merit College.

So this pilot program is going to provide five to eight students with fully funded arboriculture coursework at Merritt College, hands-on field experience, paid internships, professional connections, and opportunities to participate in the urban forest planning project that we're undertaking.

So a really comprehensive opportunity for folks from the unincorporated area.

So a little bit about how to get involved.

We do have a listserv, and we'll be sending regular program updates to that listserv.

I have a link to the listserv here on the screen.

It's www.acgov.org slash cda slash planning slash trees.

You can get to all of our various documents and opportunities through that website.

Our tree advisory group.

So we are currently accepting applications.

It says June 10th.

We've extended it to June 15th.

We actually already have a pretty good number of applications.

But we would really love your help recruiting more folks, especially if you know of youth, and especially if you know folks who live in the Eden area who are interested in participating in this.

We would love to get more folks to participate.

It is a stipended opportunity.

So folks who participate will receive some money to help support their participation.

And again, as I mentioned, it's going to be held in Spanish and English as a standard.

There's a link to that as well on our website.

And if you're out and about in the community, please say hello to our tree inventory crew, as they are currently bobbing around counting trees.

And I believe that is my last slide.

So like I said, first of many.

Hope to have a lot more information for you toward the end of the summer once our tree inventory is done.

Thank you.

Oh yeah, and here's yeah, there we go.

There's some um some attachments there about the uh tree advisory group opportunity.

Thank you.

Are you dropping any of these flyers off at schools?

Have they been dropped off at schools or colleges?

We have a lot of session.

Now we did drop them off at Merit.

Um we've shared them through like all of our partners, the Edenary Communities Collaborative, the Reach Ashland Youth Center.

We've, you know, we've shared them through all of the partners that we currently have access to, including um San Lorenzo Unified, but we haven't specifically dropped off flyers because I'm pretty sure they're well, they're either almost out of session or about to be, yeah.

We're all ready.

Sounds like such a good program to try to involve some youth in.

Um right.

Let's see.

Any council members have um questions, comments.

Let me start at the other end.

Megan.

Thank you for the presentation.

This was extremely exciting.

Um I commend you for doing everything in Spanish and English and making it the standard, counting trees is amazing.

Um tree cover.

I mean, you go to the peninsula, you go to Los Altos, you go to all the fancy places.

There's a lot of differences you can't see necessarily, but one of the differences that's obvious to me is how those communities are just covered in tree-lined streets.

It's so beautiful and it's so nice.

And if we can have that too, like bring it on, especially in the industrial area that we live in where we can really use, you know, oxygen, the trees generate for us to breathe and cleaning the air.

So I'm very, very, very excited for this.

And I think it's amazing.

There's a stipend.

Um, I think it's amazing that you're working what you're working with hard.

Um, I'm very excited.

So thank you for the work on this, and I look forward to further updates.

Thank you.

Well, Lizabeth.

Well, yeah, I just look, I mean, I'm I'm for the cause.

So I hope to hear more specifics, like this is how many we have.

This is we're gonna double that, or stuff like that in the future.

And it's good that you're encouraging people to, you know, you said young people to actually pay attention and do something positive.

So I'm all for it.

Warren?

Yeah, um, first of all, on your tree advisory committee, go bother me, mean.

Notice, you'll love it.

Um, but you know, I'm looking forward to hearing more about the process as we go through it.

Um, you know, for people with disabilities, we don't get as much access to exercise and trees and outdoors as much as we'd like.

There are barriers, so it's it might be an interesting discussion at some point along the way how to build in some more recreational opportunities and access to trees for people with disabilities.

Um, but I'm looking forward to the process and hearing more about the canopy and how to uh assist in the process.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Taylor.

Yes.

I would love to learn more about, and I'm sure this is coming later, but will we get to hear more about the different types of local trees you plant?

Uh that we that were mapping or that we're recommending.

Yeah, yeah.

So that um this is not going to be a planting program, it's sort of like the predecessor to a planting program.

It's it's I think of it as like preparing the soil so that we can have plant healthy trees in the future, figuratively speaking.

Uh we will our canopy review will be really robust.

It's going to show the species, so every species species mix, the mix of ages.

So like the age of a tree is also really important.

We'll understand if they're native trees or not.

We'll know what plant family they're in, which is relevant for diseases and things like that.

Um we'll understand things like you know, how do they interact with power lines, like you know, the the maximum height of trees, um, and and like how do they interact with sidewalks.

Um, so that that is going to be a really robust study.

And then we will, as part of this, be making recommendations to the public works agency about updating a list that they have of recommended trees for things like I said, you know, uh overhead wires, um, sidewalks, allergy concerns, but also for things like what trees will be um most likely to survive in a warming climate.

Um, so yeah, all of that's gonna be part of it.

I think I got distracted by the 2027-2028 tree planting of was it seven or eight trees you said that you're gonna.

Oh yeah, yeah.

We're just doing like itty bitty little trees and those are going to be Coast Live Oaks, um, it's already planned, and those are like the big native trees, so um, we're gonna be working with hard to find really appropriate sites for those or the school districts.

Yeah, my other suggestion too to share this.

Um, are you familiar with the CASA program?

Yeah, vaguely, but I haven't shared with them.

I have some contacts that I'm trying to get you in touch with, but they're year-round, and they would have youth that might be really eager to get involved with us.

Um, and then also I don't know if you've reached out to our like little league, but you know, I mean, obviously different ages, right?

So, but it might be a good opportunity because they're gonna be there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Awesome, thank you.

Yeah, I think it's a great idea, but I think you need to start now.

I just regret so much every time I see trees fully established that get cut down because somebody has to rake up the leaves.

Yeah, you know, and um there's just so much pavement right now, and that's just encouraging the county to be more vigilant about trees now being cut down.

We have to save the ones that are there.

Um, the other thing, it's it's really odd.

I don't know, might be this would take education, but people don't seem to understand the value of trees.

It's like if it's a hot really really hot and people are looking for something, what do we look for?

Shade.

Oh, well, we don't have shade, but we have lots of parking spaces because we have a whole bunch of cement out there.

So it's just um, I don't know how we got away from valuing them, but um I think what you're doing is I mean, it's I think it's really good.

I just hope we can start soon.

The other thing that I think, and I don't know how you can ever handle this at a at a governmental level, but people don't know how to maintain them after they have them.

Um, they trim them by you know, topping them and pillarding them and and then making them always more dangerous in a way because they don't grow back right with the right support.

So um maybe there's some kind of education around maintaining the trees, or if there's I don't know, I it seems an impossibility because we actually investigate a little bit in the homes association, but they have governmental maintenance of trees, trimming like PGE, but PGE just scalps them all so they get out of the power lines.

But there's just that component too of trying to then keep it all nice once you establish you know canopies and uh urban forest areas, but I really appreciate the the efforts that you're um going through to try and um keep us on street line streets everywhere, all right.

Um any other things from the council right at this moment, yeah.

Let me open this up to um public comment.

Is there any um public comment on this issue?

There are no public comments, no public comment, nobody online either.

Okay, thank you.

Um then I will close public comment, and that was an informational item.

So unless any of you have any partying words for Ali, um this item will be closed.

All right, thank you very much for your presentation.

Uh next thing on the agenda, this is an action item.

Um, as most of you know that the chair's position is a yearly position and it can only be held for.

Oh, Allie, did she leave?

Oh, I'm sorry.

This I'm going backwards now.

I just wanted to thank you for including the Spanish in there.

I hope we all notice that.

So anybody who opens this online can see it both in Spanish and English.

We've been asking for that, and I want to make sure that we note that you did that.

Thank you very much.

All right, back to item number six.

Um, a chair's position can only be held for two years, and this is the end of my um my second year.

So the action items here are to elect a new chair and then a new um vice chair.

So um I'm asking for nominations to for a chair for next um this upcoming year.

I'll make a nomination.

Um first Diane, wonderful job.

Thank you for setting a high bar.

And many prior to you have continued or have raised that too.

Uh, I think that it might be appropriate to nominate Warren next since he's been wonderful supporting you in that process.

So I would nominate Warren.

Okay, thank you.

So Warren's nominated.

Is there um a second to the nomination?

I'll second.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

Is there um any discussion or comments by um council members?

If Warren is in support of being the chair, I would certainly support that as well.

I'll accept.

Thank you.

Okay.

Warren Warren just said he he would accept this nomination.

We had no Brown Act violations, and this had not been discussed previously, so I don't want to, you know, um put you up for something if you're not agreeable.

So great.

Glad to hear that.

Right.

And my my nomination is really just because he's been in the role previously, but thank you for asking him, Megan.

If you would like to continue, all right.

Any other comments?

Are there any um let's see?

So we have a person and we have a nomination and a second.

Um I have to open this up to public comment also.

Are there any public comments on this item?

There are no public comments.

All right, thank you.

I will um then close public comment and there's no other discussion.

Okay, then let's take a roll call vote.

Councilmember Aston Nielsen.

I councilmember Maramahoka.

Excuse council member roll.

I did not hear who the second chair was.

Are we only doing the chair right now?

Yes, just the chair.

Sorry.

Okay, great.

I councilmember Stanley.

Aye.

Vice Chair Cushman.

Aye.

Chair Whitler.

Aye.

Motion passed.

Alright, so now we'll do um vice chair.

I have a nomination.

All right, I will take a nomination.

I'm gonna return the favor and nominate Taylor as vice chair.

She, I think, would make a great vice chair.

She's done a lot of work uh on the Eden Mac and certainly has a pedigree in her private sector realm.

So I will nominate Taylor.

Alright, is there a second to that nomination?

With her consent, I strongly uh support um Taylor Ash Nielsen as vice chair and echo Warren's comments.

Thank you.

Megan, are you sure, Elizabeth?

Are you sure?

Because you can just in case.

Quite sure.

So you're accepting this.

As long as I'm not taking it from someone who really okay, alright, then yes, I would accept it.

I don't see anybody begging.

It's a team opportunity here.

So all right.

So uh it's been a nominated, and there's a second for um Taylor for vice chair.

Or there I will open this for public comment regarding this item.

Is there any public comment?

There are no public comments.

All right, thank you.

Then I will close public comment.

All right, take the roll call vote, please.

Councilmember Astony Nielsen.

Aye.

Councilmember Maramahoko, excuse.

Councilmember Roll.

Aye.

Councilmember Stanley.

Aye.

Vice Chair Cushman.

Aye.

Chair Wiler.

Aye.

Motion passed.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your cooperation and getting through that.

Um next thing is just the chair's report.

I just I just want to thank everyone for support, appreciation.

I've enjoyed serving you and being in this position for a couple years.

I I appreciate the public comments all the time.

I really like to hear from the public, and I appreciate you staying till the end, even when you probably have not a big vested interest in some of the things that we've done after your items.

But um I wish the new chair and the vice chair, you know, I hope that we all support them just as much as I've had your support.

And um, you know, it's not I don't have anything official to say.

I just have appreciated doing this, and um you learn a lot um about lot of lots of things, just people in general.

I always notice like when you look around and people are presenting, some people looking at the screen and reading things, or I'm looking at my packet and reading things, and other people are hearing things more.

You can tell kind of how people even see things and and learn things and you know, intake the things around them or taking the uh things around them.

So it's it's just a good position, and you just learn a lot, and I just wish um the new chair and vice chair um the best, and I hope that we all give them the same support that I have always felt from all of you.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Diane.

Oh, thank you, Warren.

Um, thank you all.

Um are there any other?

Oh shoot, I have to have is there any public comment on this item?

Sorry, this is the new way we're doing it now.

So there has to be public comment on any item.

Um is there any public comment on that?

My chair.

There are no public comments.

All right, thank you very much.

Um, okay, I will close public comment.

Next uh item on the agenda.

Are there any council member comments and announcements?

No, seeing none.

Just a thank you again.

Okay, we appreciate you.

You're really not going anywhere for a little bit, but thank you.

We value and appreciate your input and look forward to it in a slightly different capacity, but still being here.

Well, thank you very much.

I won't have to do so much work before I come.

You can um all right, are there is there any public comment on the council member comments and announcements?

There are no public comments.

Thank you very much.

I will close public comment on that, and there's no further action required there.

Um staff comments and announcements or anything from staff.

Uh yeah, just a quick comment, Ashley from Supervisor Nate Miley's office.

Uh just a reminder, we do have the Healthy Living Festival coming up in September, September 24th.

Uh those registrations will be open soon.

Um, so just give us a call if you have any questions.

And I know Tona's gonna want to say something, but Diane, thank you for being chair.

Uh it was great to work with you in that position and look forward to keep seeing you.

But that's it for me.

Thank you.

Diane, it really was a pleasure.

This is Tona.

Hi, working with you.

We look forward to continuing our work with you.

And Warren, congratulations and Taylor, congratulations to you.

But Diane, thank you.

You made our work easy and uh comfortable, and uh your efforts and commitment were really great.

So thank you so very much.

Appreciate you.

Thank you.

And I have one more thing.

Sorry, Supervisor Miley reminded reminded me.

We do have the Eden area senior town hall uh July 10th.

Uh check out our Facebook page.

We'll be posting that uh soon.

And uh that will be in Castor Valley at I think 11 o'clock 10 o'clock start time again, July 10th, um, and take a look at our flyer.

I'll pass it to Celine.

Hi everyone, my name is Celine Huang, the district director with Supervisor Lena Tam's office, and we also want to give Diane a thank you very much for leading the group and also leading the community.

Really appreciate everything that you have done for the community.

And in addition, I want to do I want to make an announcement regarding coffee with supervisor Tam.

Our next coffee with Supervisor Tam will be on Wednesday, July 29th from 9 a.m.

to 10 a.m.

at 101 Cowan Avenue, suite 103, Sal Leandro, our San Landro office.

So we hope to have the community come.

And I too would like to congratulate Diane.

I didn't come because it was your last meeting.

I just came to see how you're all doing.

So great meeting.

Uh thank you, Supervisor Miley.

I I should have recognized you when you came in.

Well, I recognized you.

I didn't say anything, but you just made me nervous the whole time.

It's all my god, the supervisors here.

Maybe we're doing something wrong.

That's all right.

Um, seeing there's no other items on our agenda, if nobody has any.

Public.

Oh, sorry, I need public comment on the um public comment on the staff um comments and announcements.

Are there any public comments at this point?

There are no public comments.

Thank you very much.

Okay, I will then close public comment.

And if nobody has any objections, a meeting, we will adjourn the meeting at about 7 50.

No objections.

All right, media and adjourn.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Thank you.