To order.

This is the Belmont City Council meeting agenda.

Regular meeting.

It's Tuesday, April 28th, 2026.

We've just had our call to order.

May we please have roll call.

Good evening, roll call.

Councilmember McCune.

Present.

Ladimerlow?

Here.

Vice Mayor Jordan?

Here.

Mayor Mates?

Here.

Thank you.

And absent tonight is Councilmember Pang Meganares.

Okay, great.

There are four ways to join the meeting tonight.

You can join with Comcast Cable Channel 27, streamed live via the city's website at W.Belmont.gov via Zoom and also here in person.

So on our published agenda has all the different ways that you can join us and also how to make public comment.

We had nothing, no special study sessions or presentations before seven o'clock.

That leads us to Pledge of Allegiance.

Please rise if you're able.

Okay, thank you.

Item five, report from closed session.

Good evening, Madam Mayor.

As you noted, we did not have a closed session tonight, so we have no report.

All right, great.

That brings us to item six special presentations, and we have a handful of them tonight.

The first is 6A, a destination marketing organization for San Mateo County New 2025 through 28 strategic plan.

Good evening, Mayor Mates, Vice Mayor Jordan, and Council, City Manager Asquay, and uh city staff.

I'm John Hutar, President and CEO of the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

And joining me uh at the podium this evening is Ajay Walia, owner of the Amara restaurant in Belmont.

Our board chair, Kevin Kretsch, who is the general manager of the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame, Paul Wilson, uh board member uh manages the Grand Bay Hotel in Redwood Shores.

Um Michael Holloway, general manager of the Hyatt House in Belmont, uh serves on our board, and Nova Maldonado, our chief advocacy officer.

Next slide, please.

Maybe there's a quicker.

Sure, if you'd just like to click this button.

Okay.

So our organization was formed in in 1971 by San Mateo County Hotel Years.

Uh we also uh operate the Office of Film Commission and the county's as fresh as fresh as it gets farm to table program.

In 2022, we rebranded our marketing materials and references to the region as the San Francisco Peninsula.

In 2024, we set up a modernized tourism marketing district in 2025, launched a board advisory council, and now are making our way through our 14 cities, uh talking about tourism and uh ways we can best activate it.

Uh though we are here to talk about our strategic plan, we thought we would weave in uh some of our public relations and media successes.

Um here is an example of an article placed uh in uh traditional media featuring uh uh Jai and Rena and their wonderful restaurant Amara.

Uh a marketing campaign we have with Caltrain.

Uh once guests are here, we're lean on them to move our visitors up and down the peninsula.

And uh part of the beer trail uh story comes here to Belmont featuring the uh Brewing Brothers, uh, and that is uh supported by our social media, which uh achieved 30,000 media impressions, uh hundred and seventy thousand views, and uh uh quite quite popular.

Our board of directors, I introduced Michael Holloway, general manager of the Hyatt House, and you see all of our cities represented along with some key attractions such as San Francisco International Airport, the car rental industry, Mitch Postal from the Historical Association, and a few others.

Next slide, please.

Stands on the pillars of education, and these are folks in the community that I I know you are know well in education, business and tech, government, hospitality, labor attractions, parks and recues, and community at large.

And we are grateful to these individuals for bringing a fresh set of eyes to how we can grow the tourism footprint in our county.

And that brings us to the three pillars of our strategic plan, supporting destination asset development.

Three uh tactics are to advocate for a significant upgrade to the San Mateo County Event Center.

And in conjunction with that, analyze opportunities to develop tournament great sports facilities throughout the peninsula.

The corporate market covers corporate group convention, take care of Monday through Thursday, but then there is the weekend, and we feel that there's opportunity there if we have the proper facility.

And depending on the outcome of the first two initiatives, uh we would then uh fund a tourism master plan so each of our communities uh would have a path on how they could lean in and help further develop the assets uh that would support tourism.

Uh the second pillar endeavor to maximize the destination experience, uh bringing to the peninsula events that would be synonymous with an annual destination event, and uh I'll we will share a few of those uh uh two slides down in the deck, uh advocating for the completion of the bay trail.

Uh what we have is very nice, but there are pockets that are missing and in disrepair.

And being the uh center of uh the aggregator of events, uh music, nightlife, et cetera, that would further power visitation into our community.

Uh and the last uh objective continue to build organizational uh excellence, uh further engaging our advisory council, our board of directors to come out in the community and to have uh opportunities like this to talk about tourism.

Next slide, please.

Uh so with that, we have uh uh activated four major events uh for the community.

Uh as we speak, Flavors of the Peninsula, a county-wide restaurant week, dine around town type of event uh started uh last week through May 3rd.

Uh then in July bringing the Heritage Fire Tour that will be at Coyote Point July 26th.

Uh, and this has some uh celebrity chefs coming into our market and then featuring uh several prominent chefs from our communities for a large event, uh complemented by whiskeys of the world uh on the coast side at the Halfman Bay Brewing Company, an upscale whiskey tasting event complemented with food, and then the uh restauranteurs were uh quite adamant that we should have our our tasting uh restaurant event in January, as that's the slowest month of the year.

And uh our vision there is to claim the last two weeks of January starting January 21 through 31.

And with that, uh we uh congratulate uh the city of Belmont on your upcoming 100 anniversary.

You have uh some 45 years on our organization, and uh we appreciate uh the city of Belmont making it a lovely place to live, which makes it a wonderful place to visit, and and those two things are synonymous.

So, in case you weren't aware that you're involved in tourism, you are in a very big way, and we appreciate it.

And with that, you you may have some questions of of our organization or of any of our uh board or advisory members.

Great.

Well, thank you so much for the presentation.

Thank you all for being here and letting us know all that you're doing.

Um colleagues, do we have any questions or comments at this time?

Yeah, uh, sure, let's just start with uh Councilmember.

We have some international visitors who are visiting us from the Canary Islands this summer.

And what what interesting things can we offer to our visitors from the Canary Islands?

Well, we have a lot of great restaurants.

Uh we have uh 14 charming cities with hotels.

Uh we we have the world-class airport that they'll arrive in, uh assuming they're flying in uh to our destination.

Uh we can whisk them on uh Caltrain to explore all of our cities.

And uh Belmont is uh uh a must-stop.

Uh hopefully they'll stay with either Michael or or Paul, Redwood Shores isn't too far away.

Uh and on our website, uh we have deployed AI, so if if these guests were to put in what their interests are, the AI would come back with them with with an itinerary, and it would help them plan their day or hopefully many days while they're here.

Great, thank you.

Yes.

Um, I'm curious what you're visioning as the annual destination event.

Is it like a cook-offs where we would like kill, or like what sort of events are you visioning?

Uh so those are are the uh flavors of the peninsula to bring uh individuals, visitors into the neighborhoods, and then the heritage fire and whiskies of the world, uh that is a tour that is uh we we brought on the promoter of Pebble Beach Food and Wine, uh, an agency called A21.

They also handle the South Beach Food Festival in Miami, and that's more of a fly-in event or or drive-in event to experience the destination.

Okay, cool.

And then my other question is are you thinking about connecting the Bay Trail for like you know, cyclists really enjoy doing centuries and riding up and down the coast?

Or is that what you're thinking in terms of getting that completed?

So ultimately, yes.

Uh we we have some areas, for instance, in Burlingame where it just stops for a few miles, and then there are in several of our cities uh there's maintenance that is woefully behind uh just to make it safer.

Uh and then, yes, we could uh the sky becomes the limit on what we could organize uh but a couple of baby steps that that seemingly uh shouldn't be complicated, but lots of agencies involved that we're trying to navigate.

Great, thanks.

Iceman?

Yes.

Um I just want to congratulate you for being on Cron this morning.

I saw Ajay and I texted a picture of you to Rena saying I'm so happy to see you know, see the flavors of the peninsula being advertised, but specifically uh your restaurants and one of them being in Belmont.

So congratulations on that.

And one other thing I will mention, as you know, we're celebrating our hundred-year anniversary, and we are promoting a hundred different celebrations.

So I'm really encouraging people to get out and share a meal with their neighbors at the local restaurants, and um, I'll be reaching out to do some stuff for myself as well so we can get to our hundred celebrations.

But thank you for sharing, and I'm excited for um all the things to come.

Great.

Thank you so much, and thank you for all the work that you do, uplifting all that we have to offer on the peninsula and in Belmont.

So thank you very much.

Well, thank you.

And as a leave behind, uh, we have our annual report and the uh San Francisco Peninsula magazine.

And uh again, thank you for the opportunity and hope you have a very pleasant evening.

Great, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Council member, uh, have the Canary Island visitors download the San Francisco Peninsula app.

Lots of information.

Oh, that's the other thing I was gonna ask.

So there is an app.

Okay, good to know.

Is it called San Francisco Peninsula?

Well, it's a um it's not necessarily an app, is it?

But it's on Instagram and Facebook and so on.

Oh, good to know.

Okay.

We'll follow that.

Link through our website, uh the San Francisco Peninsula.com.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we should all follow those.

Um great.

Well, uh moving on, we have uh a few other proclamations, uh special presentations this evening.

Whereas National Arab American Heritage Month is observed annually from April 1st through April 30th to celebrate the rich heritage, culture, and contributions of Arab Americans across the United States, and whereas Arab Americans have made significant and lasting contributions to our nation in diplomacy, science, technology, medicine, education, business arts, literature, and public service, and whereas the observance recognizes the diverse backgrounds, cultures, and traditions of Americans of Arab descent, representing over 20 countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

And whereas the initiative for National Arab American Heritage Month was spearheaded in 2017 by the Arab America Foundation, growing from local celebrations into a nationally recognized observance.

And whereas National Arab American Heritage Month provides an opportunity to honor the achievements of Arab Americans while also promoting greater understanding, inclusion, and appreciation of Arab American culture and history.

And whereas it is important to recognize and affirm the role of Arab Americans in strengthening the social, cultural, and economic fabric of our nation.

Now, therefore, I Julia Mates, mayor of the City of Belmont, for and on behalf of the City Council to recognize and do hereby proclaim the month of April as National Arab American Heritage Month in the City of Belmont and encourage all residents to celebrate the contributions and culture of Arab Americans and to participate in activities that promote understanding, inclusion, and community connection.

So happy National Arab American Heritage Month.

And we're getting a head start on our May proclamations.

May is at starts at the end of this week, so we will go ahead and recognize Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which is May 1st through 31st.

Whereas Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is observed annually in May to recognize and celebrate the rich histories, cultures, and contributions of people of Asian Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander descent in the United States, and whereas this observance honors the achievements of generations of AANHPI Americans who have strengthened our nation through their contributions to science, education, business, public service, arts, culture, and civic leadership.

And whereas the origins of this commemoration date back to 1978, when Congress established Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, which was later expanded and permanently designated in 1992 as a month-long observance observance each day.

And whereas the month of May was specifically chosen to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10th, 1869, built largely by Chinese immigrant labor.

And whereas Asian and Pacific Islander communities represent a vast and diverse range of cultures and regions spanning the Asian continent, the Pacific Islands, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

And whereas this month provides an opportunity for all people to learn more about the history and culture of AANHPI communities and to participate in programs, events, and activities that promote understanding, inclusion, and respect.

Now, therefore, I, Julia Mates, mayor of the City of Belmont, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby bribe proclaim May 1st through 31st is Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the City of Belmont and encourage all residents to recognize the invaluable contributions of AA and HPI communities.

And I would be remiss if I didn't recognize that there are three AANHPI Council members on this council.

So we appreciate Native American Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

This month is also Jewish American Heritage Month.

Whereas Jewish American Heritage Month is observed each May to recognize and celebrate the more than 350 year history of Jewish contributions to the United States.

And whereas Jewish Americans have made lasting and meaningful contributions to American culture, science, education, business, government, law, medicine, literature, music, entertainment, and public service.

And whereas Jewish American Heritage Month provides an opportunity to honor the stories, traditions, and achievements of Jewish Americans, while also recognizing the resilience of the Jewish community throughout history.

And whereas the observance encourages reflection on the lessons of the Holocaust, the continued importance of combating anti-Semitism, and the need to foster understanding, inclusion, and respect among all people.

And whereas Jewish American Heritage Month also highlights the rich diversity within the Jewish community, including the many cultural traditions, histories, and identities that contribute to the fabric of American life.

And whereas the City of Belmont values the many contributions Jewish Americans have made to our local communities and to the nation and recognizes the importance of celebrating and preserving the heritage and accomplishments of all cultures and communities.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the uh mayor and city council of the city of Belmont do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Jewish American Heritage Month in the City of Belmont and encourage all members of the community to learn about, celebrate, and honor the history, culture, and contributions of Jewish Americans.

So a lot to uh celebrate and recognize in the uh months of April and May.

And I want to recognize that we have a our mayor is of Jewish Heritage and Asian Heritage.

So this is your month.

This is your birthday month too, right?

Yes.

Yeah, happy Julia month.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for that.

Um, great.

Then moving on to item seven.

Public comments on items not on the agenda.

These this portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the body on any city matter that's not on the agenda.

And uh you will have three minutes to speak.

Um, and I will um remind everyone that the code of conduct for public comment is uh in the published agenda agenda.

Uh so madam clerk, do we have any public commenters for item seven?

Um we do have one speaker slip in house here.

Um for Andrew.

Oh, what?

So let me say we say hello.

Hello, my name.

We're getting a little shy.

So we talked about my name's Elaine.

This is Andrew, my son.

He had so much fun at the Easter egg hunt you did, and the Parks and Rec department did.

And he said, we need to say thank you.

And he said, We need to say thank you to the church.

And I said, Well, hold on.

The church did not do the Easter egg hunt.

This was done by Belmont Parks and Rec.

And we're very happy and a little tired to live in Belmont that does such wonderful events for children.

So can you just say thank you to them?

Can you say thank you?

Okay, maybe we're not gonna get the thank you, but that's that's why we're here.

That's why we're here.

These people put on all the events that we go to, okay.

Andrew, Andrew, did you get any eggs at the egg hunt?

Did you?

How many?

Like five?

Wow, that's a lot of eggs.

I think we caught Mayor Julia because she took got a picture of us.

Remember, we were in red by the fire truck?

I saw you at the fire truck.

That's right.

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

Come anytime to tell us how much fun you've had and keep coming back to different events that we have for you.

Okay, Andrew?

Thumbs up.

Can we give a thumbs up?

Thank you.

Awesome.

Do you want to see if she can give you knuckles?

Can you can you give you knuckles?

Knuckles, oh.

Yeah, can you give them knuckles?

Come on.

I kind of like this move.

Fist bump.

There you go.

Gentle.

Oh my gosh.

All right.

Thank you for coming, Andrew.

Thanks for the public comment.

That is awesome.

Right.

Oh, for them.

Thank you.

And Andrew, Andrew got his comments in well under thir three minutes.

Excellent.

Oh, yeah.

Not a problem.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming.

That was great.

That was really cute.

Any other public comments for item seven?

No further comments or uh raised hands on Zoom.

Madam Mayor, I might just take this opportunity, so this is kind of very appropriate to introduce you to Kevin Kobayashi, our new park and recreation director.

Kevin, should the mic on up?

I know I have to.

I'll use the So Kevin, you see, we have all ages that uh that are high expectations for Parks and Rec.

I I think Andrew is uh appropriate example of uh the legacy I think that Bridget is leaving, and she made the mistake of giving me her cell phone number.

Uh but I'm very excited to be here.

Uh today's my second day, and uh I'm really looking forward to continuing all of the great work that she's done.

I've met uh pretty much the entire team, and I think a lot of the things that uh that she's been able to accomplish in her career uh has uh a lot to do with the team, and I've met um some really really great people, both on the park and rec staff, but also my colleagues over here.

So very excited to be here.

Great, thank you.

Well, welcome to Team Belmont.

Feel free to lead.

I know the Parks and Rec team is amazing, as you said, as as is the whole entire team.

So we're all here to support you.

You're welcome.

And I'm glad you had a great time, Andrew.

Thanks.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh that brings us to uh council member announcements.

Do council members have announcements this evening for us?

Um just one very quick one that I had an unexpected hospital stay this week.

So I'm moving a little bit slower than uh usual, but I think I'm getting through it, and I'll I'll be back to normal speed here in about a month.

So bear with me.

I may move a little slower, but I'll I'll get there.

That's all.

But I see you're also carrying a big stick, so nobody's gonna mess with you anyway.

Well, we we miss you at the Save the Music, uh, celebrate the music.

I know you were supposed to be there with your band, but hope you I know I missed uh I miss save the music and I missed uh a couple of other things, but we're glad you're here, Tom.

Glad you're on the band.

Yeah.

Councilmember.

Um, just seeing our new parks and rec director reminded me uh about our youth advisory committee is hosting a hygiene project drive now through May 11th.

Um, donation bins are at the Twin Pines Senior and Community Center and at the Belmont Library, and all of the donations of hygiene products will benefit Samaritan House.

That's great, thank you.

Uh I just have a couple.

Um, the Chamber San Mateo County is hosting as the state of the city on Wednesday, May 6th from 5 to 7.

Uh it is going to be at Artisan Crossing, located at 1325 Old County Road in Belmont.

This program is limited to the first 100 uh registrants.

Prior to COVID, we used to always um do these uh estates of the city in person.

Um it's since moved to Zoom, but is coming back in person for this uh centennial celebration.

So we hope that folks will go ahead and join us, please.

RSVP via email to Allison with two Ls at chamber smc.org.

And you do need to RSVP in order to attend.

And then mark your calendars for the public works open house, which will be in Twin Pines Park Thursday, May 21st, 11 to 1 p.m.

Um, I see our young uh commenter and member of the public has left, but they they bring out all their big equipment and um all the cool stuff that uh people of all ages like to like to check out.

So um come join us from 11 to 1.

And then remember to visit our Belmont Centennial web page for upcoming events and ways to get involved.

I know people have seen the schwag and want some as well, so we have that um also on our centennial webpage.

All right, uh that takes us to consent business, which are routine in nature and will be enacted white by one motion without separate discussion unless staff or um council members want to remove any items for separate discussion.

Um we can also ask questions or uh comments as well.

It looks like we've got about six items, I believe.

Um looking to my right first, council members, vice mayor.

Anyone want to um have a question or remove anything for separate discussion?

Okay.

Uh then we will take public comment.

Uh any public comment on the consent items.

Um no speaker slips in house and no raised hands on Zoom for this item.

All right, then we can entertain a motion.

I can move approval.

Second.

Okay, uh Councilmember McCune.

Aye.

Ladamerlow?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Jordan?

Yes.

Mayor Mates?

Yes.

Motion passes four zero.

All right, thank you.

Uh that moves us on to uh item 10, which is public hearings.

Uh the first one is 10 A, TEFRA financing for the ridge at Ralston 678 Rawlson Avenue Apartments Project.

Okay.

Uh good evening, Mayor Mates, members of the City Council, Toby Lieberman, Housing and Economic Development Manager.

I'm here tonight to make a presentation regarding the 678 Rawlson Avenue, Affordable Housing TEFRA tax exempt bond hearing.

As a background for this presentation, I wanted to review some of the prior actions on this development.

Uh the 678 Ralston development was approved by Belmont in May of 2024.

And the city approved a funding commitment in May of 2025 for one million dollars.

The project was successful in securing tax credits in 2025, and the tack the type of tax credits awarded required at the project include tax exempt bonds as a part of the financing.

The project is a pipeline housing site in our adopted housing element.

And funding for the project is consistent with our housing element policies.

I'm sorry.

So what is TEFRA?

TEFRA stands for the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Why is a public hearing required?

The TEFRA hearing is an IRS requirement for nonprofit borrowers seeking tax exempt bonds through conduit issuers, such as the California Municipal Finance Authority, CMF CMFA.

The hearing is held to allow members of the public to comment, contest, oppose, or support the use of taxes and bonds for a nonprofit borrower that is providing a public benefit.

Next, I'd like to highlight some of the public benefits of the development project.

The project provides 65 100% affordable residential apartments, subterranean parking, and salary space, including a lobby, bike room, and office.

The residential mix includes 30 one bedroom units, 18 two bedroom units, and 17 three bedroom units.

The development project entitlements were approved in May of 2024, and construction permits were filed in October of 2025.

We anticipate construction to start this spring in 2026.

So this slide provides an overview of the roles and responsibilities of the borrower, aka the ridge at Ralston, and the bond issuer, which is CMFA.

The ridge at Ralston applied for 24 million in tax bonds, of which the proceeds will be used for the development and construction of multifamily housing at 678 Ralston Avenue.

CMFA is a joint powers authority.

Its sole purpose is to provide California's local governments with an effective tool for the timely financing of community-based public benefits projects.

The following is a summary of Belmont's role in the TEFRA process.

The city must hold a TEFRA hearing in order to approve the bonds for state and federal tax law in order for the obligation to qualify as tax exempt bonds.

The proposed bonds are not an obligation of the city.

The city will have no financial, legal, or administrative obligations for the debt.

And the city, for some context, the city has in the past has conducted TEFRA hearings for other affordable housing projects, including the Rome project at 803 Belmont Avenue, and the Firehouse Square Development, both of which utilize tax exempt debt.

So the following is staff's recommendation on this item.

Conduct a public hearing under the requirements of the TEFRA and Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended.

And secondly, adopt the resolution approving the issuance of bonds by the CMFA for the benefit of the ridge at Ralston, the borrower, to provide for financing of the project.

Such adoption is solely for the purpose of satisfying the requirements of TEFRA, the code and California Government Code Section 6500.

And that concludes my formal presentation.

We do have uh Jared Suzuki with CMFA on Zoom, who would like to say a few words on this item.

We also have Ryan Andrews, who is with CRP Affordable Housing, to answer any questions.

Um, Jared, go ahead whenever you're ready.

Good evening.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Excellent.

Yeah, thank you, Toby.

It's a wonderful presentation.

I just wanted to reiterate some of the points.

Um, this evening's item is about the issuance of the tax exempt financing uh associated with the project.

And again, the city is has no legal or financial obligation or responsibility with the repayment of these bonds.

And I'm available for any further questions, should the council have any.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

And thank you to Toby for the presentation.

Uh council members, do we have any questions for staff at the moment?

I do not.

Questions?

Go ahead.

I just want to kind of further like publicly clarify that these bonds are also not from Belmont.

Correct.

So the developers went through a really large process with the state to prove the worthiness of this process in order the worthiness of this project in order to access the bonds.

The bonds are not from the city of Belmont.

Yeah, that is absolutely correct.

So the and Ryan can add to this if necessary.

So the project applied for tax credits with which go in conjunction with the four percent bonds, and then SIDLAC, which is the California debt limit allocation committee, approved that uh application and gave gave the bond allocation.

This is kind of like the formality of that process where the bonds are issued by the conduit issuer and they're sold on the market, and then the project gets the revenues to provide funding for construction.

Okay, I see.

And this project is a part of our state submitted and approved housing element.

That is correct.

And we did, and as I mentioned earlier, we did provide, we did back in May of last year.

Um, this came before us as a funding request, and we did approve one million dollars in funding for the project.

So this is kind of a natural continuation of the process, actually, a necessary step for the project to be successful and actually close and start construction.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Uh we will go ahead and open the public hearing.

Uh are there any public comments on this item?

Um, no public comments for this item.

All right.

And then we'll close the public hearing and close the public comment period and bring it back to council for any deliberation, thoughts.

Nothing.

Okay.

Um then I think we can go ahead and entertain a motion.

Move approval.

Second.

Okay, council member McCune.

Aye.

Latimerlow?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Jordan?

Yes.

Mayor Mates?

Yes.

Motion passes four zero.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh item 11 is general business, and these items are considered separately, typically in the order listed, although um tonight I'm going to ask if we can uh switch items A and B and first tier item B to allow staff to just keep rolling as opposed to having to wait for another item.

If just some head nods, if that looks okay to you, then uh we will start with uh item 11B, which is 951 Old County Road Affordable Housing Loan.

Uh good evening again.

Umusing and economic development manager, and um with a presentation for our funding request for the development at 951 Old County Road.

So just some basic information.

The project developers CRP affordable housing community development.

This is the same developer as 678 Rawlson Avenue.

The proposed project is a 63 unit, 100% affordable development with rents ranging from 30 to 70 percent of AMI.

The development is located within a short walk of the Caltrain station at Old County Road in Masonic Way.

The development replaces an existing commercial building which houses the UPS store and other existing commercial uses at that site.

The structure is seven stories over parking with corner retail as well as other ancillary uses.

The entitlements for this project were approved in January of last year by SB 35 streamlining provisions.

With regard to the funding for the development, here is a brief overview.

The applicant has secured three million in county funds.

The applicant is in the process of preparing a low-income housing tax credit application.

The request tonight is for approval of two million city contribution.

The city funding would come from our affordable housing fund.

And a funding contribution would be structured as a residual receipts loan with a minimum 55-year term and 3% interest.

And that is commonly known as a soft loan because there's no required minimum payment, it's basically from available cash flow from the project.

So next I want to briefly review the benefits of the project.

The project will provide deeper affordability with 10 units at 30% of area median income.

The funding of this development is consistent with adopted housing element and pro and providing city financial support to 100% affordable housing developments.

The project will help with achieving our sixth-cycle housing element goals.

The project supports high density affordable housing in close proximity to transit.

The development includes ground floor retail space, which can support neighborhood serving uses.

And the project will create a number of high-paying construction jobs.

The housing development enables the leveraging of county and state funding to generate additional units.

So our money will be amplified by both the tax credit funding and the county funding for the project.

The housing development enables the development of a housing inventory site.

Excuse me.

This is not a pipeline project, but it's a housing inventory site that we have identified in the adopted housing element.

And next, I'd like to provide a little bit of context by way of previous developments and city funding.

The project funding we have provided in the past has ranged somewhere between 15,000 per unit for 678 Ralston to a high of 135,000 per unit for the Link project, which is a combination of a loan and land, which is at 900 El Camino.

In comparison, the requested 2 million for the 951 Alcati Red Development is about 32,000 per unit.

Our proposed resolution is summarized in the following.

Authorize the city manager to negotiate and enter into a loan funding agreement with CRP affordable housing and community development or one of their affiliate entities or partners to provide up to two million residual receipts loan for 951 Old County Road.

And that ends my form presentation.

I'm gonna hand it over to uh Ryan from CRP Affordable Housing.

He's got his presentation.

I'll queue them up here.

All right, I'll get out of your way.

Let's see.

Do you know how to start the set?

Toby.

Yes, thank you, Toby.

Um definitely described how great this project could be.

And good evening, uh Mayor Mates and City of Belmont Council members.

Uh, thank you for your time this evening and the opportunity to discuss a second community in the city of Belmont.

And as Toby mentioned, it feels just like yesterday that I was sitting as an exact chair talking about the ridge of Ralston, and then we just passed the agenda item for the TEFRA just a second ago, and it really would not have been possible without your contribution this time last year.

And now we're able to break ground on 65 new homes in the city of Belmont, and it just shows a shiny example of what public private partnerships are able to do.

And we really think we have a good opportunity to see that formula right here a second time right here in the City of Belmont with the Ridge Masonic.

And CRP, we bet we started in 2019, and we have found a variety of creative and innovative ways to find viable sites for good affordable housing in great locations while also exploring innovative financing sources.

And in this current economic climate, a lot of developers stay on the sidelines due to high interest rates, increasing construction costs, but we still find ways to stay ahead of the curve.

And we're happy to announce, including the 65 unit ridge of Ralston, that we're gonna bring 760 units of new affordable housing and start construction this year.

And we believe that we have the track record and we have the ability to repeat that same formula with the regional Masonic.

And very similar to the ridge at Ralston, uh, we believe in the city of Belmont and its location, and we can say the state agencies think the same with the same highest resource designation.

In short, it's a great place to live as we are very close to public transportation options, necessary retailers such as medical facilities, pharmacies, grocery stores, and a variety of public parks that are that our city of Belmont residents can enjoy.

And a little bit about the community.

It's very similar to the bridge of Ralston, where we're gonna find amenities that are rare to typical affordable housing products, and that you only see in the newer market rate inventory housing.

There's gonna be plenty of indoor community rooms, outdoor community spaces, various laundry rooms for tenants to complete their laundry on site, children's play areas, and as Toby said, we'll be offering 1300 square feet of retail space within the community that residents and tenants can enjoy.

But the inherent challenges that we see in the industry, increasing construction costs, increasing interest rates, and ever competitive tax credit application landscape.

We really believe that this $2 million request that we are graciously requesting today will allow us to start construction, and hopefully this time year we'll have a similar hearing that we did for the ridge at Ralston.

And hopefully this time of year we'll have a similar hearing that we did for the Ridge at Ralston.

And despite these challenges in this current time, we are we believe we are at a critical juncture in that in the last couple rounds of SIDLAC and the tax credit applications, they are awarding more projects.

Although they're awarding more projects, they're awarding projects and being more selective in their applications and awarding projects that have the important soft funding sources, just like the Ridge at Ralston.

And we believe that this time next year we'll be having the same tougher hearing for the region Masonic.

Thank you for your consideration and be happy to answer any questions you may have.

All right.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

Um council members, any questions for staff at this time.

So it's um the this um it's for Ryan.

Yes, um so it's been my impression that you've been partnering really well with us with our city um and are listening to our city's vision that includes both affordable housing.

I think we have a proven track record of just being really passionate about that.

Um but part of our vision, of course, is also having destinations for walking and gathering for our residents of all of Belmont.

So I just want to make sure and confirm that the commercial space is open to everybody.

Yes, that is correct.

There will be about 1,800 square feet of space dedicated to just the residents, but the 1300 square feet that we just discussed, that will be open to everybody.

Okay, awesome.

And I'm I'm just gonna be kind of frank here.

Uh we've been burned before, and so I just need your word that it's your intention to follow through with it, because it's really important to us to take care of the new folks who are coming into our community, but also take care of the folks who have have created the community as well.

We want to take care of everybody.

So we're we're doing it.

Sure, exactly.

And I like to add, and maybe Toby can opine on this.

The current 1300 square feet of space, that's included in the approved plans.

So that is not something we can change.

That is something we actually just closed on a similar, pardon me, a similar project in Santa Cruz with similar retail space.

So we know how to incorporate retail space within these communities and retail space that fits the surrounding neighborhood.

Great.

So then I think I'll just tag on that.

I appreciate that you as developers are working well with us.

Perfect.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

Any public comment at this time?

Um currently no raised hands on Zoom or speaker slips in house.

Okay, thank you.

So bringing it back for deliberation and comment from council.

Any comments?

I just want to make one quick comment to kind of echo uh council member Lana Merlow's comments.

I I do appreciate that you are working within the community given that you have two um projects that are very close together and will it will impact our community.

So I appreciate that you're making that effort to provide the ground floor retail and really enhance the quality of life for not just people that are moving in, but the people who live here.

And I appreciate that you also talked about the walkability and access to parks.

So I'm hoping as we move forward that we'll continue the good partnership.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Anyone else?

Uh the only comments I had uh I did want to talk a little bit about the retail, but I think we've um we've managed to talk about that quite a bit.

I you know, loss of existing commercial space is always difficult because we have done a great job with housing, but of course, we need to balance that.

So retail um below, especially in this walkable neighborhoods is great.

I'm hoping we will also have every time we build these, we also get current um Belmont residents who are able to move in too.

So um, of course, new folks, but then it'd be great obviously to have um affordable housing for folks who already are are um living here.

And then I also just wanted to thank um Toby.

Uh I had asked for the slide that shows um all the contributions that the city has made to affordable housing over time.

Um, and so that thanks for including that.

I think it's helpful and certainly helpful to remind the public.

Uh and with that, if there's uh no other comments, then uh we can go ahead and entertain a motion.

I can move approval.

Okay, council member McCune.

All right.

Vladimirlow, yes.

Vice Mayor Jordan, yes.

Mayor Mates, yes.

Motion passes four-zero.

Thank you, Council members.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, then we will be moving now to 11A: Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, Draft Measures, and Actions Review.

Good evening, Mayor Maids and City Council members.

We are here with you tonight to give you an update on our climate action and adaptation plan update process.

We'll be going over a project overview and our greenhouse gas emissions, our baseline conditions, forecasts, and targets in alignment with the state.

We'll then go into our shared roles in climate action between what the state does versus the city and the community.

Then we'll go over the structure of our measures and actions and review what some of the key ones are and go over our community engagement to date and next steps.

The team working on this project has included Kathy Kleinbaum, our former assistant city manager, myself, Karen Clark, I'm a management analyst with the city of Belmont.

We also have Jeremy Ruiz from the community development department, and we've engaged Rincon consultants on this project, and they are represented by Ryan Gardner and Olivia Mendoza.

And I will pass the presentation off to Ms.

Mendoza.

Good evening.

Happy to be here tonight.

So what is a climate action and adaptation plan?

This is really the strategy on how Belmont is going to address climate change.

And there's two major pieces to this.

So on one side, there's mitigation, which is how are we reducing greenhouse gas emissions?

And the other side, we have adaptation.

So we know the climate is changing.

We're already seeing those impacts and know they're gonna get worse over time, so we need to start adapting and planning for the changes.

So this plan builds on the 2017 climate action plan that the city adopted, and there's been sizable improvements since that plan.

We're currently updating the plan with uh new data, current best practices, as well as incorporating those adaptation measures.

So the first plan was only focused on climate action and the mitigation side.

This plan will focus on adaptation as well.

We're also updating the targets to align with current state legislation, such as SB32, which is the target for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and A B 1279, which is California's long-term target of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.

So this is the plan to achieve this, and by aligning with state targets, you get benefits such as being more competitive for state funding.

So we kicked off the CAP in March of 2025 and completed the greenhouse gas forecast and targets over the summer.

We then conducted the first round of community engagement in September as well and as well as introduced the project to you all and um planning commission.

Based on the inventory forecasts and community engagement, we began drafting the measures and actions that are relevant to Belmont.

We reviewed the measures and actions with relevant city departments and made revisions based on their applicability to the city.

We then did a brief measure quantification to understand which strategies get us the highest emissions reductions.

Next, we conducted our second round of community engagement to get feedback on the drafted measures and actions.

And finally, today we're here with you all to review the drafted measures and actions and make any refinements before drafting the CAP in preparation for adoption next fall or this fall.

And a quick note that this presentation mostly focuses on the mitigation measures and actions as we aligned the adaptation measures and actions with the safety element, which you'll see later today.

So on the mitigation side, here's a pie chart of the emissions and where they come from within Belmont.

And right away you can see the two largest sectors that create 90% of emissions in Belmont are transportation and natural gas.

And this is pretty standard throughout California, with one thing that's pretty noticeable is the impact of carbon-free electricity you all have from Peninsula Clean Energy.

So in other cities that still use PG, PGE and other sources, there's more of a split between natural gas and electricity.

But here you can see that electricity only accounts for 1% of emissions.

And this is important because it if we can convert something from natural gas to electricity, those emissions essentially go to zero, which is a really easy way for the city to decarbonize.

So after looking at current and historic emissions, we did the forecast.

And there's three different forecasts we look at.

First is the business as usual, and that's that blue line.

And that's if you take the average person's emissions today, don't take into account any state legislation and continue to grow at the general plan and arena growth rates.

And you can see that blue line just keeps trending upwards as more people move into the city.

And then there's the legislative or the adjusted forecast, and that's that red line, which accounts for state legislation.

And it pretty much offsets most of the population growth, but it still trends upwards towards 2045.

And then there's the target pathway, that's that green line.

And that's if we hit all the state targets, our emissions essentially go to zero by 2045.

So the goal of this plan is to really close the go the gap between the adjusted forecast, that red line, and the target pathway, the green line, with our measures and actions I'll share with you today.

So this slide explains how climate action actually works on a local scale in California.

And there's three main roles here.

So first is the state, and the state sort of sets the rules of the road.

They establish the greenhouse gas reduction targets, set building codes like Title 24, require zero emission vehicle sales, and mandate organic waste diversion targets like SB1383.

They also provide funding and rebate programs that make local action more affordable.

And then there's the city, and this is sort of the framework that Belmont's working within to implement and accelerate solutions locally.

So there's things like adopting building codes and development standards, improving infrastructure for electric vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians, and expanding composting programs and running outreach and incentive programs.

And lastly, there's the community.

So these are the decisions made by residents and businesses on whether to upgrade electric appliances, choosing to get around sustainably, composting food scraps, so these individual choices that really help move the needle and get us to our targets.

So before we get into the specific strategies, it helps to understand how these measures and actions are organized.

So this particular plan is built around three levels.

On the top, we have systems, which is how everything is grouped and can sort of be thought of as the chapters of this plan.

So because we're talking about mitigation and act and adaptation together, the system covers both of these things.

So there's four systems.

There's healthy and resilient buildings, mobility, electric vehicles, and urban ecosystems.

And together they cover the main sources of emissions and climate risks within Belmont.

The measures are the broad goals and outcomes we're trying to achieve.

And today we'll share a few of them from each of the systems.

And then lastly, there's actions, which are our specific strategies, and they're either led by the city or community.

We break it down by both, and they help support each measure.

So we'll also share a couple of the top ones today.

So like I said earlier, building natural gas is one of Belmont's biggest emission sources.

Buildings are a major infrastructure in Belmont, so it's important to make them more efficient and more resilient.

So this system focuses on reducing natural gas consumption and shifting to electric systems.

And the same upgrades makes homes more comfortable during heat waves and outages with the change in climate.

So to hit the 2030 target, we're focusing on three high impact measures, which cumulatively reduce about 12,000 metric tons of CO2 by 2030.

So the first is cutting natural gas use in existing buildings by 18%.

The second is leveraging peninsula clean energy's carbon-free electricity.

And the third is targeting 90% all electric new construction.

So specific strategies for buildings that the city needs to focus on within that get us the great greatest greenhouse gas reduction are one implementing the 2025 Title 24 building energy efficiency standards and updating local codes to ensure 90% of new construction is all electric.

Supporting the implementation of Bay Area District Rules 94 and 96 to ensure that all new in-replacement space and water heaters meet zero-nox standards.

So zero knock standards advance all electric solutions to improve air quality, public health and climate outcomes.

Evaluating the feasibility of adopting a non-residential AC to heat pump ordinance to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions in new construction.

And lastly, on the city side is working to identify grants and other funding sources to support the development and implementation of heat pumps space heating rebates for existing buildings.

And then for the community actions, it's residents choosing all electric appliances and new homes or major renovations and replacing aging gas furnaces, water heaters, and AC units with high efficiency heat pump systems.

Next is the mobility system.

So on the greenhouse gas side, the goal is to reduce vehicle miles traveled by supporting active transportation and public transit.

On the adaptation side, it's about making public transit more feasible during extreme heat events.

Oh, sorry.

So the top measure here is increasing public transportation mode share from 4.4% to 7% by 2030, which gets about 3,000 metric tons of CO2 reduced, and increasing active transportation from 0.5 to 1.5% by 2030, getting about 100 metric tons of CO2 reduced.

So on the city side, the focus is on making biking and transit safer and more reliable by converting high stress roadways into safer bikeways by adding things like lighting and signage and partnering with Caltrain and SAMTRANs to improve services and connections.

There's also an action to upgrade bus stops with shade and seating features for extreme heat events.

On the community side, it's about behavioral shifts like choosing to bike to work once a week or using SAMTRANs for school commutes instead of driving.

Next, we have the electric vehicle system with the main goal here to replace internal combustion engine vehicles to zero emission vehicles, which supports cleaner air and grid resilience.

So this is the largest emission reducing measure we have, which is to achieve 32% passenger car EV and 25% commercial car EV by 2030.

So currently Belmont's at about 12% passenger EV cars in 2023, which is one of the highest splits we've seen throughout California, and really shows the ability for Belmont to make this switch.

And that, if we achieve that, will get us about 9,000 metric tons of CO2 reduced.

The city is planning to support this with the installation of 200 new publicly accessible shared private electric vehicle chargers.

Currently, Belmont's at 70.

So on the city side, the focus is on scaling up electrification by adding those 200 chargers, strengthening EV requirements in new development, and phasing out small gas-powered city lawn equipment starting in 2027.

On the community side, it's about making the switch to electric vehicles and replacing personal gas-powered lawn equipment with electric options and taking advantage of available rebates along the way.

These strategies also help reduce extreme heat and support soil health through increased tree plantings.

So on the city side, it's about reviewing and updating as needed the city's waste hauler franchise agreement with Recology to promote alignment with SB 1383 and including a dedicated fee-to-fund staff oversight of organic waste programs and compliance and supporting the public education on proper sorting and composting practices.

Now moving on to the community outreach.

So throughout the entire CAP development process, there have been several touch points with the community, including a dedicated website, two community surveys, two workshops, three pop-up events, and outreach to key organizations.

So phase one of outreach was conducted in fall of 2025 and really just used to raise awareness of the CAP, update, and understand key community priorities.

Some themes we heard here were the top climate hazard concerns at 75% was wildfire.

At 51% was air quality and smoke, and then at 50% was drought.

There's a strong interest in healthy and resilient buildings, especially around incentives, clear guidance, and learning more from others.

Safe transportation came up as well with 49% of respondents wanting safer biking and walking infrastructure.

And lastly, food waste stood out with 80% of respondents willing to compost and reduce waste.

And then phase two of outreach, which was conducted through from winter through spring of 2026, was used to solicit feedback on the drafted measures and actions that you saw today.

So after today's meeting, we plan to take all the community feedback we heard, as well as feedback we heard from planning commission and tonight at City Council and update the measures and actions.

So for healthy and resilient buildings, we heard there was strong interest in electrification, with 62% of respondents open to installing solar or battery.

We also saw willingness to take resilience actions with 54% willing to integrate water efficient landscaping and 52% willing to install heat pumps for cooling and air filtration.

Again, as long as there was clear guidance here.

And then workshop feedback reinforced that broader adoption really depends on accessible financing, trusted guidance, and clear cost benefit info for both owners and renters.

And then for mobility and electric vehicles, survey respondents favored transportation behavior change with minimal cost or incentives, particularly combining errands into a single trip.

81% of respondents were willing to do that.

And 52% were willing to choose businesses they could walk or bike to.

As long as there were safer sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes, those were cited as the biggest motivator with 70% 67%.

And then many respondents, 56% were interested in purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle with financial incentives as the primary motivator at 59%.

And then workshop participants emphasize that upfront costs remain a major barrier to EV adoption.

For urban ecosystems, we saw a high willingness to act with 84% of respondents willing to separate organic waste, but people want clear guidance on composting and recycling practices.

So overall, a few clear themes that came out of the engagement is number one, cost is the biggest barrier, especially for building upgrades and EV adoption, which are the two biggest sectors in Belmont.

At the same time, people are very interested but want simple practical guidance on what to do and how to do it.

We also heard that infrastructure gaps are limiting behavior change in transportation, so there's interest in walking and biking, but safety and convenience need to be improved.

Another key theme is that hands-on support matters.

People want help navigating programs, finding contractors, and actually actually implementing projects.

But on a positive note, there's already many sustainable behaviors happening in Belmont, especially around waste and EV adoption.

And then finally, we have next steps.

So after today's meeting, we plan to update and refine the measures and actions from all the feedback we've heard.

We'll also finish quantifying the measures and actions and comparing them against our targets.

Then we'll begin drafting and refining the plan and making it available for public feedback before we bring it back here in the fall.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thanks very much.

This is a great presentation.

A lot of really great information.

And I appreciate the way you've laid it out for us.

Any questions right now for staff?

All right.

Any public comment?

We have not received any public comment for this item.

Okay.

Bring it back then if staff has comments.

I mean, if uh council has comments, yes, please go ahead.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

Um it's cool that we're ahead already on the EVAs.

I think that's neat.

I actually thought our numbers would be higher.

Um, but they will be soon.

Yeah.

Um and I also wanted to give a shout out to Planning Commission.

I thought their suggestions were really good.

Um I agree with the public education and to encourage electrification of existing buildings, especially with for with incentives.

Um and I like the idea of having some technical assistance.

I think that's a really good insight.

I think just helping people understand it's not going to be upgrading and electrifying won't necessarily be as um complicated and intrusive as maybe they think.

So I think the more we can make it easy for folks to um, okay, I want to go solar.

What are some reputable solar contractors just laying things out really simply for people, making it making it easy for them to say yes.

Councilmember McKay?

Yeah, I uh a lot of good information or a lot of very good uh things to think about.

I think one thing that happens when people respond to these kind of questions and surveys.

The question is, would you like to do something?

Would you like to do something in the way of decarbonization?

And frequently the answer is yeah, that sounds good.

I'd like to do that.

But a lot of the respondents don't really know what it requires to actually implement that in terms of cost.

And the answer is if it was easy and if it was cheap, sure, we'd we'd do it.

And Peninsula Clean Energy has done a lot of good work on simplifying this and getting pre-qualified contractors.

So there's there's been a lot of good work done to um make the implementation of this easier.

But I just I kind of wonder how many people that respond affirmatively to those questions have actually been through the process.

Because it it didn't used to be that easy or that clean.

It it used to require some real dedication and some real work on it.

I don't know.

Did you ever look at that or I would I think it would be easy, I think it would be interesting to stratify the response from people who've actually been through an electrification project of an existing house versus people who have not.

And uh that's the only the only comment I think it'd be interesting to see how that stratifies out.

Yes, uh, that would be interesting.

It wasn't something that we specifically asked in the survey, um, but we did try to um dig into what would motivate you to act and try to highlight that so we can integrate it into our measures and actions.

And you mentioned um PCE, they do have some great programs, and one of the roles the city can play is in making sure that those programs reach our residents.

Thank you.

And I'll I'll also just add um we didn't explicitly ask for that in the survey, though I do think that would be really interesting data to see.

Um we did hear from respondents in our workshops of people who had gone through the process, and something that came out of that that I think we're including as an action here is people are really interested of with um learning from their neighbors who have gone through the electrification process because they have like the details, the best practices, the lessons learned.

Um, and so we're trying to think through how to best kind of frame that into an action.

Um that is something we did here the thank you.

Sorry, C DJ.

I um that's an interesting idea.

I mean, to go through some of like in my district, we have a number of active neighborhood associations.

Um, and like maybe um getting some of the neighbors to host open houses, like I would host an open house of like my my solar program, and we you know, electrolyte electrified some things that were prior gas.

But yeah, maybe an open house day or something.

Hey, check out what we've done.

I'm gonna vice mayor.

Maybe that could be one of our hundred-year celebrations.

Nice.

Love it.

Uh thank you so much for the presentation.

And I really do appreciate also the planning commission, uh, the commission and their questions and suggestions.

And I I agree with Councilmember McCune that a lot of things, if you if you ask the question, it's like, yeah, this sounds great.

But there is something that we can all do in our own home.

So I'm participating in the uh San Mateo County Chamber leadership class.

And last week we had environmental sustainability and climate resilience day, and we were at Recology.

And if you have not done a tour of Rethink Waste, once you go there and you take that tour, you're gonna really take some efforts when you're deciding what goes where.

Now, sometimes we get confused because I I was very surprised at some of the things, but one action we could all take is go to what bin, W H A T B I N dot com, and then you can type in whatever it is you're not sure if it's you know, if it's compostable, if it's recyclable, or if it's landfill, and it'll show you that.

And so it's an education, because I did see in the survey that people said we're not sure, and even though some of us may think we're sure, like the milk cartons that aren't refrigerated, aren't recyclable, even though it might say it's recyclable.

So if you type all of that stuff in, then you you learn that.

So I'm thinking something we can do as a city, and even at council meetings for the people who you know watch and listen, is we can kind of try to re-emphasize that that's not something that costs money, that's something that's that we can actually do to help save our environment and not spend any money, and then we can maybe save some money because we'll get a smaller black camp.

That's all great.

Okay, well, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Um, yeah, I think this is great.

I I um thank my council colleagues for the um remarks.

I think hopefully, you know, to me you're on the right track.

Um, I think I spent a lot of time looking at the surveys and their results, mostly because I was interested in what people had to say, and and some of it I think applies well, and you can integrate um into the action, you know, the responses you got.

Others, I think you're also on the right track in that um, and when I was on the PCE board, this was a common thing is that there are programs available, all kinds of help, all kinds of, and it's just how do you make sure that the word gets out and people know.

Um, and so even though that may not necessarily fit into a plan like this, I I just would love it if staff could also just kind of make a note of all of these things that have come up that wouldn't necessarily fit in a plan, but could easily be answered, or at least you know, in all the ways we're talking about now, getting more of that communication out.

And it's not the fault of PCE or staff, it's just a matter of there's no amount of communication that is too much in terms of getting people where they need to be in the information they need to have.

Sorry, we're gonna say something.

Oh, uh absolutely.

I I just wanted to say we do have some actions that are specifically um the city communicating on those programs to residents.

Great, perfect.

Consolidating the information to London.

That's great.

I know just uh anecdotally, I have gotten actually several emails over the the past couple of years, but um most recently, probably in 2025 and 26 about our climate action plan.

So people are interested.

I don't know how it came out in the survey in terms of if you had enough folks to participate, but uh, there are people watching this and people in our community who are very action-oriented and want to do something.

So um so no comments from me on anything uh, you know, substance substantive in terms of you being on the right track.

It looks like we're we're in good shape.

So yeah, thanks for your hard work.

All right.

Uh with that, then did you do you think you have everything you need from us to go forward?

Um yes, thank you for your time tonight.

And um again, if you want more information, you can go to Belmont.gov slash slash climate action.

Um you can also sign up for an email list there, and we'll notify you once the full draft plan is available, which we do anticipate posting this summer, and then bringing back to the planning commission and the city council, hopefully for adoption this fall.

Great.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

All righty, moving on to uh item 11C, which is our um draft general plan safety element update.

Thank you, good evening, Mayor, members of the council.

I'm Laura Russell, Deputy Community Development Director, and it's a pleasure to introduce you to Adrian Smith, our principal planner.

Um, she's met some council members and members of the public, but not others.

Um, so we're happy to have her here presenting with our team tonight related to the update of the safety element of the general plan.

So I'll hand it over to Adrienne and team.

Wonderful, thank you.

Thank you, Laura.

Um, good evening, Mayormates and Council members.

Um again, Adrian Smith, Principal Planner.

Joining me tonight is our consultant Eli Crispie with Placeworks, who's done great work and played a key role in getting us to this stage.

While I took over this effort when I joined the city last March, the city began the update process in 2023.

So it's really nice to be presenting to you this evening.

Um it really means we're in the home stretch.

So, in terms of presentation format, I'll be with you through the next slide, and then I'll pass it off to Eli to go through the nuts and bolts of the safety element update effort, and then I'll jump back in towards the end to wrap up the last few slides.

So here's our agenda for the presentation.

We'll begin with an intro with the what and why of the safety element and the update process.

Then we'll get into the components of the safety element.

We'll also cover the public outreach process.

We'll talk a bit about the goals, policies, and actions.

I'll summary, uh we'll summarize feedback that we've received from the planning commission when we met last week.

Then we'll talk a little bit about timeline and next steps, and finally we'll get into uh discussion and questions.

So with that, I will pass it over to Eli.

Thank you, Adrian.

Uh, good evening, Mayor Mates, members of the council, Eli Crispy with Placeworks.

Uh we are the technical consultant that is helping the city with this effort.

I should say at the beginning that the safety element update is part of a larger regional effort that we are calling the Peninsula Resilience Planning Project.

This is a nine jurisdiction effort in San Mateo County.

It involves a county and eight incorporated communities.

And the idea is that all of these communities are working together to update their safety elements and to analyze climate vulnerability.

By working together, the communities can not only share data and analyses and conduct activities in partnership with each other, but this also allows us to integrate similar policies where appropriate, and that allows us to have more of a regional response to a lot of the natural hazards in the safety elements, since of course fires and floods do not stop at our city limits.

So to back up a little bit, the safety element is a mandatory component of the city general plan.

Every city and county in California must have one.

And its role is to identify hazards, predominantly natural hazards that are present in the community and issues related to disasters and to emergencies, and to establish policies that help to protect the community against these hazards and other dangerous conditions.

There are a number of reasons why we are being prompted to update the safety element, which we'll get into in a moment.

Primarily, that is due to a number of new state regulations that have come into effect since Belmont's last safety element was adopted in 2017.

I should also note that in addition to being required, the safety element also supports a community in a number of ways.

It is what, as part of a general plan, it is what staff use when they review projects to make sure that those projects are consistent with Belmont's goals and priorities and pathway for development.

It supports environmental review of new development projects, and of course, it acts as a city's high-level framework to ensuring that Belmont and the community members are safe and as protected, with of course being the highest uh responsibility of government.

So, as I mentioned, there are a number of new state laws that have come into effect since 2017.

One of the primary ones is a requirement that now every time the housing element is updated, that the safety element also needs to be reviewed and updated.

So that generally means that the safety element has to be adopted in a similar eight-year cycle as the housing element.

We also want to respond to a number of new issues that are now mandated in the safety element.

State law now requires that safety elements look at climate vulnerability, climate change hazards, looking understanding that the hazards that have occurred in Belmont in their frequency and severity in the past are not necessarily going to be the same in the future.

Many hazards are expected to become more frequent and more intense.

We want to make sure we are planning for that.

There's also some new state requirements around addressing evacuation in the safety element.

Part of that is being done through this update.

Another part is being done through a countywide all-hazard uh evacuation plan, uh, which the city is participating in with San Mateo County emergency management, and that effort is currently in progress.

We also want to make sure that we are incorporating the most recent draft of the countywide multi-jurisdictional local hazard mitigation plan.

This is a short-term technical plan that the county and all incorporated communities, along with a number of special districts are participating in.

Uh, this is a plan that is uh determined by federal policies.

It has some very short-term technical language in it, but it is generally doing a lot of what the safety element does.

It's looking at what are the hazards that are present in the community and what are ways the city can protect against these hazards.

Maintaining consistency with the 2021 hazard mitigation plan, which is currently the active one, that makes the city potentially eligible for increased grant funding, and it also makes a city eligible potentially for increased disaster relief funding from the state, should that become necessary.

In addition to updating the hazard, the safety element to ensure consistency with the hazard mitigation plan.

We also want to make sure that we are consistent with other plans that the city either has adopted or is developing or is a party to.

That includes the other parts of the general plan, the city's emergency operations plan, which is a detailed response, detailed mechanism for how the city will respond to emergency events.

And also, as you've heard, the climate action and adaptation plan that is in progress.

We have also coordinated with one shoreline, which is the county wide body for guiding flooding and sea level rise preparedness and response.

So we are using data in the safety element that is recommended by one shoreline.

We are ensuring that the policies that are in the element and the way we have described the hazards, that those are consistent with what one shoreline recommends and with their understanding and guidance.

And doing so also provides the city with opportunities, as you may be aware, to work together collaboratively with one shoreline and other communities in the region, such as San Carlos, East Palo Alto.

I know there is some ongoing and planned work around sea level rise in the South San Mateo County area.

This all ties into and supports the safety element.

One shoreline was a key member of the safety element steering committee.

They have already reviewed the safety element and provided comments, and their comments are reflected in the draft that is before you tonight.

The safety element has been in progress for about three years now.

We have been doing a number of technical work and studies early on to identify what are the hazards of concern and in particular how might climate change affect these hazards.

We are we've gone through the process of developing strategies, and now we have a draft element that we hope to bring back to you all later for adoption later this year, in the next few months, in fact.

And I should note that throughout this process, there has been some very extensive community engagement.

And we'll talk more about that in a few moments.

So the safety element contains a number of items.

In particular, it is focused on what are the hazards of concern, what are the issues, and then what is the city intending to do about it.

So for that first question, we are looking at what are the hazards that are present in Belmont, what is their history, where are the areas that are likely to be impacted by these hazards, and then for most but not all of the hazards, how are they likely to change as a result of climate change given current understanding and science.

For many of the hazards, we have mapped out where the at-risk areas are, other hazards generally occur more broadly or cannot be mapped, but we still try to identify if there are areas or populations or infrastructure or other physical assets that might be more at risk, and that ties back into that climate change vulnerability assessment that we are required to include.

There are a number of goals and policies for each one of these hazard issues, which are laying out the city's response and preparation for these hazards, you know, what will the city do about these?

And then under those goals and policies, there are also a number of what are called implementation actions, and similar to those in the CAP, the implementation actions are specific direction for the city for staff and for decision makers to help uh enact the goals and policies that are higher level, uh more general plan type language.

The goals generally fall, the goals for the safety element are focused on specific hazards, but they do generally fall into these topics, climate adaptation and resilience, you know, preparing for future changes, emergency preparedness and response, making sure that the city's emergency response and responders are prepared for these changes and prepared for future hazards, that they have the resources uh to enact these response activities, uh, making sure that infrastructure is well protected and resilient and that it can function as best as possible during an emergency and of course after an emergency.

Community equity was a very big priority for this plan for Belmont and for all participating jurisdictions.

Many of the people who are likely to be most affected by climate change are those who have uh the fewest resources or may have the fewest means to prepare themselves, frontline communities.

We often refer to them as they are already being impacted, they are likely to face more severe impacts as climate change goes on.

We want to make sure that Belmont is in a position to help protect these community members and to guide resources and assistance to them as best we can.

And then you've heard before about this approach, this interjurisdictional approach, working together with the county with neighboring communities and with other key community partners, and that is something that is woven into the policies as well.

There were a number of common hazards of concern throughout San Mateo County.

Of course, every community is unique, but this is a fairly tight-knit smaller urban area impacts in one part of San Mateo County are likely to carry through and affect other parts.

In Belmont, as you similar to what was heard from the CAP outreach, we heard a lot of discussion from our outreach as well about wildfire.

That is one of the most prominent issues of concern in Belmont.

And related to that, there were concerns from the community around evacuation and making sure that evacuations could be conducted in a safe and timely manner.

Another topic of concern is sea level rise and a related issue known as emergent groundwater.

And this is essentially where, as the seas, or in this case the bay, as those levels increase, the water that is in the ground is actually forced upwards.

So it causes a rising groundwater table, which can affect underground structures or infrastructure systems.

And in some parts of the community, that groundwater can be forced high enough to where it actually comes up through the surface and causes localized flooding.

That is something that once Shoreline and other regional agencies have really identified and are concerned about, and that is something that we've heard similar echoes of that from the community as they are hearing about this through their friends and neighbors and other other systems.

The policies in the safety element, we have prepared a number of new ones to respond to these new issues and to meet new state requirements.

We've also revised a lot of the existing policies where necessary.

But if something was in is in the current safety element and is still working and it's still effective, there's no need to change it.

We have carried forward a lot of that language into the new draft of the safety element.

The policies, as you can see here, were informed by numerous things.

Community feedback and that that outreach process that I mentioned, of course, but also the direction that we've heard from local staff and from city officials, complying with state requirements, discussions with service providers, with utilities, with county agencies, and then what are the best local and regional practices that we've seen to address some of the issues that have been identified by the technical analyses.

As I mentioned, this was conducted throughout the process through a number of in-person and online activities.

Many of these activities were open to all community members.

Some were a little more focused, where we were trying to have discussions with particular segments of the community or with particular service providers or particular agencies.

There's ways to help expand the knowledge base through a map survey that we have, and that the website is still live, and we are trying to do our best to maintain it throughout the lifespan of the project.

There is on that website a full 270 or so page report with all of the feedback from community engagement, but at a very, very high level, here are some of the things that we heard.

Again, flooding, sea level rise, and wildfire were some of the issues of greatest concern to the community.

There was a lot of concern about communication gaps during emergencies, making sure that information is distributed accurately and timely.

And this is especially the case for non-English speakers.

Related to that, community members expressed a request for more equitable distribution of resources.

Again, making sure that the people who may need the most assistance are able to get it.

Community members identified a need for a number of infrastructure improvements, making sure that roads were safe were a top priority for them, making sure that the storm drains were cleaned and maintained regularly, and that they were large enough to accommodate flooding, and also ensuring that local power infrastructure was resilient and that it could stay operational.

And some community members also expressed a desire for more emergency preparedness resources and some more training and education around that.

We held, as I mentioned, discussions with various service providers.

You can see the some of the categories of providers that we spoke to on the right-hand side of the screen there.

And in many cases, they echoed similar concerns as the community members.

They expressed a need to see infrastructure better protected.

They wanted more education and preparedness activities, and they wanted to ensure that Belmont was working together with other local and regional partners.

Service providers also identified some concerns about limited funding and staffing and a lack of key information for certain hazards.

In particular, they recommended that we look at what are called nature-based solutions, which is using plants and other green systems as opposed to gray systems such as concrete to provide protection against certain hazards, in particular flood protection and protection from extreme heat.

So in the updated element itself, you will see a few entirely new sections that are not in the 2017 element.

This includes a section on climate change impacts, on sea level rise and emergent groundwater, a section on severe weather, and a discussion of human health hazards, since that is also something that is related to climate change.

There is an existing seismic and geologic hazards section in the current safety element.

We have split that into separate sections so we can provide some more detail about those hazards.

And then for the other sections, we have kind of kept the general organization, but we have gone in to add a lot of the new information and details that are now available.

And the maps in the safety element have been revised throughout where necessary with the best available new science and information.

Similarly, as I mentioned, we have revised existing policies and actions and added new ones to address these issues and to make sure that we are staying consistent with state law.

Similar to the new background sections, there are new policy and action sections on sea level rise, emergent groundwater, and extreme heat.

Although it is not yet required by state law, we have made some updates to the conservation element as well.

And that is because in the conservation element, there is some discussion of topics that relates to the safety element.

So we wanted to update conservation as well and make sure that it is consistent with the updates to safety.

These updates are relatively minor.

They are mostly focused on water supply and drought issues, and then discussions of wastewater infrastructure, identifying again infrastructure vulnerability from various hazards and making sure that that infrastructure can be better protected.

And with that, I will turn it back to Adrian.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Eli.

So we had a great study session with Planning Commission last week.

The draft was very well reviewed by commissioners, and they had a lot of great comments, a few comments and a few questions.

So several commissioners spoke to the centrality of wildfire as a key concern in the community and touched on the associated service disruptions and health risks that come along with that.

The commission appreciated the multi-jurisdictional approach to updating the safety element, and they emphasize the importance of ongoing interjurisdictional cooperation as well.

We did have a question about city communication with non-English speakers, and we did provide some information about that.

We uh the city contracts has a contract with a translation service that provides uh translation services, I think about approximately 30 different languages.

We were also asked about how we communicate with proximate jurisdictions in times of emergencies, um, those jurisdictions that didn't participate in the safety element update process.

Um, so we gave a few examples of existing interjurisdictional cooperation as well.

And then in terms of recommended changes that came out of the planning commission discussion, staff would like to fine-tune the language in policy 6-6.10.

And we want to add a little clarity to what existing development located in fire in a fire hazard zone would be responsible for in terms of construction standards versus new development.

So we just want to fine-tune our language a little bit there.

And this would reflect updates to recent fire hazard mapping as well.

So, what comes next?

We are going to incorporate feedback from this ongoing public review period.

It uh ends on May 14th.

Also, simultaneously, we've submitted the draft to state agencies for their review, and that's the governor's office of emergency services and the California Geologic Survey.

And then, of course, we're hoping to proceed to Planning Commission and City Council adoption hearings tentatively scheduled for early June.

So, um we want your input, and this is both from uh council as well as members of the public that might be tuning in, and we can do that today with comments during discussion.

Um I'm available to to talk about the draft any time.

There's also the county project website that Eli discussed as well.

We have a dedicated web page uh on the city as well uh to view the safety element.

And then of course there's the upcoming adoption hearings that will hopefully wrap up this period for us.

Um that's what's coming up next.

So just to wrap up this presentation, we have a few review questions that you might want to consider as you're getting into discussion.

So are the proposed goals and policies aligned with Belmont's priorities?

And do these policies address your safety concerns as council members?

And then, of course, any additional feedback you have for us, anything that we haven't thought of that you'd like to raise this evening, we'd be happy to hear from you.

So thank you very much.

All right.

Thank you.

Um this was great presentation, a lot of information um contained in that the draft actually has a lot of changes since 2017.

I think I might have been on the planning commission then.

Um but better part of nine years ago.

So um a lot has changed.

Um so thank you for the updates and the presentation.

Uh council, do we have any questions at this time?

Just limited to questions for staff.

No, yes.

Excuse me.

So I'm I'm always reminded of the old Donald Rumsfeld joke about the things we know that we know, the things we know that we don't know, and the things we don't know that we don't know.

And everybody always kind of got a giggle out of that that comment.

But the point he was making is that things we know that we know and things that we know we don't know, we can plan for.

We can anticipate those things, we can develop a plan.

The things that are really the most dangerous are the things we don't know that we don't know because we don't plan for them.

And um, you know, the I I'm thinking about things like a major widespread IT outage that uh, you know, the power might be on and there might be backup generators, but there might be a significant IT outage that wipes out communications and wipes out the utility network.

I don't know how you plan for those things.

Uh I don't I don't know if you have a sort of default plan that says if the zombie apocalypse happens, you know, here's what we do, here's what we do, because we can't really plan for it other than at the most broad brush kind of level.

Is there any consideration for the zombie apocalypse or you know, the the things that we don't know that we don't know?

Well, what I can maybe shed light on, there's continuity of operation perspective from emergency management that we at least plan for.

We what we don't know, we don't know, and I think there's a lack of, you know, maybe it was a uh training actually this morning about emergency preparedness.

And one of the things that came up was to your point is basically lack of imagination, because we don't know is because we didn't think about certain things that might happen.

That said, uh, you know, whether it's IT or other things, it it's there are uh continuity of operation planning that we do that provides us with the foundational aspect of how we continue working.

IT, it's again goes back to the good old adage of going back to paper and tablets.

They are they are here, and part of our emergency planning is once cloud goes away, whether it's because of lack of power or other things, we still got to go back and rely on the good old paper and where do we have our documents sourced so that we have some backup plans for those kind of things.

So the short answer is we plan for continual operation when disasters happen, whether we know those things or not, are things that we p pivot and our professionals uh practice and train on a day-in-day basis to be prepared as best as we can to respond to those kind of emergencies, whether it's cyber, whether it's plan climate, those those things happen, and we have plans that we put into motion, and we have a lot of good uh professionals that pivot uh based on conditions and resources and ability to to get things activated, and also partnership with community, because ultimately a lot of that also is gonna, you know, and it's one of the things that I think came up through the climate action plan and some of this is community members have a role in being prepared to fend Fort Del CEM for a certain period of time when an emergency happens.

And so we've got to do a better job of communicating that, and we try to do that, and we have you know, we'll continue messaging and planning and preparing as best as we can given the given the circumstances.

One example of an old-fashioned technology like that is ham radio.

And there used to be ham radio clubs that would have these rehearsals, or they you know they had various names for them, but they would organize all the local ham radio operators who had ham radio sets, and they would do simulations of you know the real horrible kind of suit scenario where that really old-fashioned really basic technology would still work when a lot of other things wouldn't.

So we have them here actually.

And they meet oh, yeah.

And I think she can probably talk to them.

Yeah, all right.

They meet actually in City Hall every month or every other month, and it's part of our emergency preparedness package.

I like along with certain other things that we plan for and and partner with the community with.

Cool.

I like it.

All right, any other questions at this time?

Questions for staff?

No.

Um I had a question about, you know, first of all, I I want to acknowledge um Councilmember Keugh's comments that I do think, and there are professionals out there, obviously, who think about these things in terms of uh planning for things that happen.

The thing I always think about is um with any of the the number of um you know crises that we've had over the last few years that we've been able to um, you know, whether it's been wildfires or um you know some of those really smoky days or you know, things like that that we've but the things the flooding, right?

But then what if we had this terrible flooding like we did back in 2023 and there was an earthquake, right?

I mean, there's those types of things too, where yes, again, to your imagination come up.

The the zombie apocalypse thing didn't really that didn't that didn't start um worrying me until just this moment.

But the the two disasters, the two disasters at once kind of um has crossed my mind before.

Um but I was also gonna say m in my question was um how can we use um some of the results in this document for uh our council leadership's priority priorities?

Um I know we have you know priorities and related to that, like which of these issues would require maybe bigger funding or capital investment, or how should we be thinking about these from a budget and priority perspective in our responsibility as planning for these things?

No, it's actually it's part of actually part of the review process is uh it's a collaborative effort by all the departments reviewing and and taking stock of what's being recommended, what the challenges are in the areas of fire, flooding, the number of infrastructure issues that actually it's within your strategic plan right now, and it's a part of our work plan as we try to kind of address uh both the limitation of resources and community engagement on educating on how we can kind of overcome some of those things.

Council has had a good track record over the last 10 or 15 years trying to address some of those deficiencies and and improving infrastructure that relates to those.

So it's an ongoing process that as we review all these elements and and work through our uh yearly work plans, they're kind of weaved into your strategic vision and strategic plans.

And so the the aspects that we kind of manage on a year-to-year basis is actually the allocation of resources, the funding, the staffing that goes with those work plans.

And that's something that then comes before you every year that we review where we are with with those plans, what resources we may need, what kind of community engagement that that those things will drive.

So those objectives and scope of services all kind of plays out in your annual reviews as part of the the overall process.

And I guess I'm thinking we can use this to further tweak.

Absolutely.

This is all built into a lot of the things that we bring in front of you uh on a on a regular basis.

Okay.

If I might just add, safety elements have really evolved.

Um they really were kind of a background document in the front, and we really understand the legislation about bringing it to forward as really um with and containing more action items.

And so this is a new practice for us, is really thinking about how are we implementing our safety element?

And so that'll be something that we'll be working across the departments, weaving into our um work planning as aftion was saying, and into the strategic plan.

So this is a new thing, and that's on purpose, so that we can advance how we're implementing the safety element moving forward.

That's great.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for that.

Uh I think those were all of my questions.

Um I think the rest are just comments.

So do we have any public comment on this item?

Um no public comment uh for this item.

All right.

Then that brings it back to the council for any deliberation, feedback.

Uh, we've got the three questions before us about proposed goals and policies.

Are they aligned with our priorities?

Do they address uh our safety concerns and any additional feedback at this time?

Vice Mayor?

Sure.

Uh I I just want to acknowledge staff with the presentations tonight because we sit here and we get you know a couple of presentations, but I know that there's been an enormous amount of work and effort that goes into preparing these uh not just the presentations, but you know, this is a multi-year process and collaboration with all of the departments within the city.

And I think one thing that uh I'm super proud of uh the longer I'm in this role is I see how our city staff works with each other and continues to uh seek learning and and seeking to know what we don't know, right?

And learning from other jurisdictions and working with other other jurisdictions to make sure we're creating the best quality of life for uh the community here in Belmont.

And so I just wanted to thank you for that.

I don't I don't really have any other feedback other than thank you for all the work that you guys have done on this.

I know it's been a tremendous effort, so I appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

We appreciate that.

Councilmember Ladamerlo.

Yes.

Um yes, uh I concur.

You guys rock, you guys rock.

It's really wonderful that everybody works together.

Um I guess the only um policy that maybe I have a concern about is is the and I'm sorry if I missed it, is the way that um interjurisdictional communication happens.

Like, is that a little codified?

Because I do sort of think that you know, the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara really feel like a cohesive whole almost to me.

There's not a ton of variation.

So that would be something I'd be interested in is there a way of codifying the way that we work together.

Just to clarify as a as a policy, potentially.

Something to look at.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you.

Councilmember McKe.

Good okay.

Uh I wanted to thank the planning commission uh for their really thoughtful comments on this item and the previous item, but um I really liked the things they thought about with regard to um uh some of the things that Eli talked about with regard to language accessibility and um things that a safety element that um are already on the on a daily basis, most vulnerable members of the community would have an equally difficult time.

And that even goes for some of the uh things that our city manager reminded us about community uh trying to make sure that we have everything uh that we need uh to be prepared for uh an emergency too.

Sometimes those can also be hard for folks, you know, in terms of um food, water, keeping all of those things just in perpetuity, you know, switching them out, buying them, you know, all of that.

So it's just something that I think that uh they brought to the forefront that I thought was uh great.

So appreciate their thoughtfulness.

And you know, I don't think I think this for the the questions that uh the proposed goals and policies align very well.

I think they address our safety concerns.

Um they've also there have been a few that have been called out that are kind of additional, I think, that I had that hadn't really come to mind before.

Um so um so there's even more safety concerns now that I had when I first read this.

Um but I think again, I think you're on the right track.

I think this is um uh really good work, and I really appreciate the integration of what the community is saying and getting that feedback as well as the the on the city side of things.

So and if there's anything specific you need from us, that's that's fine for us you to ask now as well if there's things that we should have touched upon.

No, no, this is great.

Thank you.

Really appreciate it.

Uh just the affirmation that we're on the right track is is good for us.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Uh that moves us on then to item 12 brief verbal reports from members and staff.

Uh the first is our verbal part for our council members on any intergovernmental and subcommittee assignments that we have.

Any updates?

Oh, I have one.

I last week I was up in Sacramento attending the Cal City Leaders uh conference, and we were able to meet with our local legislators and advocate on behalf of Belmont and San Mateo County uh some of the bills that are uh before the the assembly and Senate for approval.

So, you know, we obviously talked about the VLF issue, which with you know, um Papin and Becker, they are very well aware of it.

But when we we also met with um Catherine Stephanie's office because she does cover part of Daily City and her staff, you know, wasn't really aware of it.

So it was really great for us to be able to advocate uh for VLF and other other bills that on behalf of Cal City.

So I highly recommend that conference if you guys want to go next year, it was a really good time.

Great.

Thank you.

Um the only thing that I have that's not exactly an IGR, but it's worth um mentioning and maybe should have been under council members' um uh announcements is that uh Belmont did host again the uh Council of Cities, which is uh every city in the county and uh the the county itself is represented in a council of cities, and um uh we had actually taken them last year to see our creek, our Belmont Creek when it was um under construction with the restoration, and um despite the back the fact that usually cities don't go back to back um in terms of hosting, we did get enough uh people wanting to come back and see it uh fully restored, and so they all came back on Friday.

Um and so it was great to have uh staff be a part of that and uh uh with one shoreline and some of the discussions we had here about flooding and things, it does all integrate.

And um the amount of people who showed up and asked a lot of questions uh just goes to show just through that the jurisdictions how um how these types of things uh these types of topics are really of mind right now, top of mind, and also how we can work together.

So uh if you haven't seen, I guess there's the uh YouTube uh video they were uh promoting.

If you haven't seen it, it's worth seeing because it actually does a great job in terms of explaining uh what happened and showing that as well.

So um, so that was interesting.

Uh and then anything from our city manager.

Uh thank you.

No, actually, I was in a couple of meetings this week and yesterday and today, and I heard a lot of good things from from the tour, and I think the appreciation for the cross-jurisdictional uh partnership and collaboration is just kind of what what keeps coming up as as you know, we're 20 smaller cities, and so working together is important how that and how the county operates.

And then uh I have nothing more to add.

You know, you guys have uh announced a number of activities and things, but you know, as our centennials is kicking off.

We're we're kind of encouraging folks to look at our call calendar of events and sign up for the hundredth events, and you can kind of engage your neighborhood and and community to be part of this process while we kind of uh head toward our October main gala and main event.

So uh please stay tuned on our website for opportunities to engage uh with us with the community and and the businesses at large.

That's it also uh kind of in the spirit of I think unfortunately Kathy couldn't be here, acknowledging Kathy Kleinbaum's contribution to City of Belmont over the last two and a half years.

We had a little bit a little bit of a celebration for her uh this afternoon, but that's it.

Uh I think going across again uh multi-jurisdictional collaboration, although we lost the assistant city manager here, we gained the partner uh going down to San Carlos and uh at some point we probably will annex San Carlos and become a larger uh entity and where life is lived, right?

I second that.

Yeah.

But that's it.

Uh we wish her all the best uh moving on to San Carlos, and we look forward to our continued uh partnership on a number of projects and initiatives uh as she kind of takes on the helm over over there.

So with that, great.

Thank you for that.

Absolutely, we wish her the best and look forward to continue working with her.

Um moving on to matters of interest and clarification.

There's nothing on the agenda for that item, so we will then move to adjournment until our next regular meeting.

We're adjourned.