The Belmont City Council held a regular meeting on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, starting at 6:15 PM in the Council Chambers, City Hall. The meeting included special presentations, public comments, consent calendar approvals, and three general business items. Major actions included adoption of a business license regulation cleanup ordinance, approval of the San Mateo Countywide Local Roadway Safety Plan with a Vision Zero goal, and establishment of council intergovernmental assignments for 2025.
All four consent items were approved unanimously (5-0) without separate discussion:
On Items Not on the Agenda:
On Consent Calendar Item 9C (Bike Box):
On General Business 11B (Roadway Safety Plan):
11A – Business License Regulation Clean-Up, Solicitor Regulation Amendment, and Category 4 Tax Rate Adjustment Assistant City Manager Kathy Kleinbaum presented the item. Measure DD passed with 85% voter approval in November 2024, consolidating business license tax regulations into Chapter 23. The ordinance repeals superseded provisions in Chapters 12 and 19 and updates solicitor regulations. The resolution adjusts the Category 4 cannabis business tax rate to 6% (from a maximum of 10%) to align with surrounding jurisdictions. Councilmember McCune asked about fingerprint renewal for solicitors; staff confirmed automatic updates. Councilmember Lademarolo asked about changing the rate; staff said a new resolution could be brought anytime. The item was approved unanimously (5-0).
11B – Adoption of San Mateo Countywide Local Roadway Safety Plan and Vision Zero Goal Tracy Scromalia (Assistant Public Works Director) and Jeff LeCapp (CCAG Transportation Systems Coordinator) presented. The plan, adopted by CCAG in June 2024, uses a Safe System approach and identifies priority locations for Belmont, including multiple segments on Ralston Avenue. The plan includes a Vision Zero goal to eliminate all traffic fatalities and reduce non-fatal crashes by 2040. The presentation highlighted that the plan was developed with input from all 21 jurisdictions, over 500 online comments, and in-person events (e.g., Belmont Farmers Market). The plan positions Belmont for state and federal safety grants. Councilmember Lademarolo asked about crash data context; staff noted that the SWITRS data often lacks detail, but local engineering staff review every serious collision with police. Councilmember McCune asked about measuring safety for school walk routes; staff described annual walk audits and the Safe Routes to School program. The item was approved unanimously (5-0).
11C – Council Intergovernmental Assignments for Calendar Year 2025 City Manager Afshin Oskoui presented the annual reallocation of committee assignments. Four committees were recommended for retirement: Business License Tax Modernization Subcommittee, Carlmont High School Pilot, Crossing Guard Pilot Program, and Placemaking Ad Hoc Subcommittee, and Stanford Ad Hoc Committee. The discussion also included forming a new subcommittee for the Community Center liaison with the Belmont Community Foundation. Councilmembers expressed interest in various assignments. The final assignments were to be approved by motion after the discussion; the transcript cut off before the vote, but the agenda indicates that the council would consider changes and approve the list. (Note: The transcript ends mid-discussion, so the final vote on this item is not captured. The council likely approved the assignments by motion later in the meeting.)
Good evening. Welcome to the Belmont City Council meeting. Today is uh January fourteenth, twenty twenty-five. It is six fifteen p.m. We are in the council chambers. We are going to take roll, have uh any comment on the closed session, any public comment, and then we will move to public comment till our radar regular meeting begins at seven PM. So uh item one was the call to order, item two is roll call, please. Councilmember McCune. Okay, item three is closed session. This is three A conference with labor negotiators and our uh representative Ashana Skewy, the city manager employee organization is the mid management confidential employee association, MMCA and the Belmont Police Officers Association B POA. Good evening, everyone, and happy new year. It's great to see our chambers so full this evening. Um congratulations and good evening to our new city council sitting here tonight. Very exciting night. Um, this is the first council meeting with our brand new city council. So uh thank you for all for joining us. This is the Belmont City Council regular meeting. It is Tuesday, January 14th. We are here in the council chambers. It's seven o'clock. And uh we had our closed session. Uh we already did roll calls, so let's go ahead and move to item four, which is the Pledge of Allegiance. Please rise if you're able. Thank you. We did have a closed session. Item five is a report from closed session. Mr. City Attorney. Good evening, Madam Mayor. We did have a closed session as you've noted, however, we had no reportable action. Okay, moving on to item six, special presentations. Six A is our Rethink Waste poster contest recognition. And I think we have some winners here with us as well. Do we have someone here from Rethink Waste to make a presentation? Good evening. I don't know. Wait one second. Okay, try again. Hello? Yes, I'm better. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Emmy Hashizume, and I'm the environmental education manager at Rethink Waste. Rethink Waste is your joint powers authority that manages all your waste services and programs for Belmont and a lot of the surrounding cities. And one of my favorite programs that we do are our contests for our students. And I probably look familiar to you, or you might recognize the contest because you've actually had a lot of Belmont winners in the past couple of years. So that says a lot about your students, I think. Um but I do have Vincent Lee from Belmont Oaks Academy in third grade. Vincent, are you here? Go ahead.