Good evening everybody.

Welcome to the August 19th session of Half Moon Bay City Council.

Thank you all for.

How's that?

Okay.

Thank you for letting me know.

We will start with a roll call, please.

Councilmember Johnson.

Here.

Councilmember Nagengast.

Here.

Councilmember Penrose?

Here.

Vice Mayor Ruddick.

Here.

Mayor Brownstone.

Here.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

Now I ask that we please all stand for the pledge of allegiance.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody.

Regarding the agenda, before I asked for uh that we move for approval of the agenda.

Um I just want to let everybody know that we will be continuing item 10 appointment to the planning commission decision till our next meeting September 2nd.

And we will also be um continuing to take applications until next Friday.

So thank you for those who showed up for that, but we will not be making a decision on the uh final appointments of the planning commission tonight.

Thank you.

So with that, um I'd like to move that we approve the agenda.

Um I think we could say all in favor, say aye.

So moved.

Aye.

Aye.

Anyone against?

The ayes have it.

The agenda's approved.

Um proclamations and presentations, none tonight.

Um I have no announcements tonight.

Report out from closed session, please.

From Catherine.

Uh thank you, Mayor, Council Community.

Um, I do have a couple items regarding uh closed session.

So first um the council actually met in closed session on Thursday, August 7th.

Um that was a special meeting to discuss several items of existing and anticipated litigation.

And I did just want to note um that the council did take reportable action at that meeting in the matter of Ellingston versus City of Half Moon Bay.

Um the uh council did approve um uh defense of that litigation by a vote of 3-0 with um Councilmember Penrose absent and council member um Nagangas recused.

So that's the report out from August 7th.

Um the council also met in closed session prior to tonight's meeting uh to discuss the uh case of Half Moon Bay versus Granada community services district and Monterra uh water and sanitary district.

Um there is no reportable action taken.

I would just note that uh as was noted in a in a press release issued uh following the the end of trial in this case the city is disappointed at the results in this uh matter and is considering um uh all options going forward.

Thank you, thank you, Catherine.

Um, city manager's updates, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um the agenda is listed the sewer authority um lawsuit update.

We've heard the update from the attorney, so there won't be anything further on that.

We do have a couple of other items of update um from staff, and I think we'll start with um Maggie Rodriguez.

Or is Karen are you first?

No, I'm gonna go first, but she's running my slides.

Okay, all right.

Hello, council, Maggie Rodriguez, Assistant City Clerk, and I just wanted to talk about some agenda changes that you might have noticed on this in this meeting.

Um we started numbering our agenda from top to bottom now, so roll call is now item one, and I just wanted to point it out to everyone here and to the public that we're gonna be doing this moving forward, and Karen, if you could go one more.

And the reason we are doing this is we are indexing all of our videos on our website.

So right here on the website, you can see the search archives.

You can type in any item that has been on an agenda and hit search, and it will pull up that item.

And certain items on our agenda that weren't numbered, you couldn't pull up.

So say we had a proclamation celebrating IDES.

You couldn't type that into the search bar because it wasn't recognizing it as an item.

So when we number, we'll be able to search easier.

It's just a best practice, and it's going to help us with our behind the scenes indexing.

So just wanted to bring that to your attention.

If you had any questions about it, that's the reason we're transitioning.

Thank you.

Thank you, Megan.

Any other um updates?

Yes, we'll have a couple of updates from Karen Decker, our economic and community vitality manager.

Great.

Great.

Thank you, Matthew.

And good evening, Mr.

Mayor and Council and Community.

My name is Karen Decker.

I'm your economic and community vitality manager.

I have some exciting updates from your economic and community vitality division and wanted to flag a really unique opportunity in that there's two iconic sporting events coming to the Bay Area next year.

Santa Clara is going to be hosting the Super Bowl in February and the FIFA World Cup in June and July.

I think there's a six matches in total.

And the reason that I'm bringing this up now in 2025 is because a lot of series, a lot of cities are gearing up for some incredible opportunities for small businesses and performing groups to create some uh really um momentum and fun opportunities for both residents and visitors.

Um, we want to attract visitors, we want to bring in revenue, and we want to make things fun for our local residents as well, and just showcase our incredible region.

There's expected to be about a hundred thousand people pouring into the Bay Area.

They're all gonna need places to stay, they're gonna need places to shop and to eat, and so we want to put Half Moon Bay on their radar.

Um, the city is passing along some valuable guidance from the Bay Area Host Committee.

There's a lot of precedent for this, and there are some really creative and fun ideas for local businesses, particularly bars, restaurants, and hotels to take advantage of, in addition to performing arts groups.

Um, there's watch parties, there's fan activation ideas, and there's a science to marketing this.

So when it comes to flyers and social media, there are some pretty strict do's and don'ts with regard to trademarking, and a lot of businesses accidentally violate uh trademark regulations.

So, for example, you can use general phrases like um drinks half off for the big game, but you can't say Super Bowl 60 NFL with logos from the team, right, or logos from the NFL.

Um, you can say things like hashtag I love soccer, but you can't do hashtag FIFA World Cup 2026.

So the city wants to make available is making available a playbook that was developed by the Bay Area Host Committee in partnership with San Francisco Peninsula, and this could be accessed on our city website, and there's detailed information coming out on Thursday's e-news.

Um basically on the city manager homepage on the left, you'll see listed projects and Bay Area Sports Events 2026 is one of those tabs you could click on to get that playbook.

Um, also there are employment opportunities that come when such large iconic events come to our region, and the Super Bowl 60 teammate program just opened up an application portal for temporary paid positions in the past.

They were volunteer opportunities, just taking advantage of the buzz and the excitement, but they're paid.

Um applicants must be 18 years or older and also legally authorized to work in the US.

So uh the guidelines will continue to evolve.

An update is expected in October and again in December once the teams are announced, and we will update our website um subsequently to support our local businesses.

Also, wanted to um bring your attention to the fact that last year Business View magazine uh interviewed chamber president Crystal and Heat and Matthew and myself about different initiatives and economic development within our city, and they did a full feature story on Half Moon Bay in last October's edition.

And I received a call from the pre-production assistant recently, and she just wanted to follow up.

What's going on a year later?

Um, so we chatted about the new welcome center designation that the chamber was able to secure.

We chatted about Stone Pine Cove, we talked about Carter Park, and before the call ended, she said, We're coming back.

We really want to talk to staff.

Um, we'll narrow in on what we want our focus to be, but look out for another feature in the November issue, free of cost to the city.

And then she also let me know that she was nominating Half Moon Bay for their best manage cities series.

Um, so just wanted to share that exciting update with you.

I don't know what the arc of the feature will be.

Um we passed on a list of names for subject matter experts that we think would elevate um the work that's happening in our incredible community.

That includes my concludes my updates, and I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you, Karen.

Any questions?

Comment, comment, good work, Karen.

And thank your department.

Everybody in the department's doing a great job.

Looking forward to the November issue of the business magazine.

I really appreciate that.

Thank you.

Any other items?

That concludes our city manager updates.

Okay.

Um, are they the public forum?

Okay, well, now open public forum.

Everyone who um, I will call on everyone who has filed a request to speak.

And for those of you who may not be familiar with public forum, each speaker gets three minutes, and there will be two warning tones.

The first will be two and a half minutes, and that means you have 30 seconds left, and the second tone will be after three minutes.

Uh the only things that um we ask that people bring up during public forum are items that are not on the agenda.

If you want to talk about an item that's on the agenda, you'll have an opportunity for each agendized item.

We have a separate opportunity for public comment.

So, public forum is to comment on anything you want to comment on.

It's just not on the agenda.

Okay.

So our first speaker will be Deborah Penrose.

Good evening.

Is this on?

Thank you.

I'm speaking tonight as a citizen of Half Moon Bay.

I'm speaking tonight as an elected official and as an angry and frightened human being.

Donald Trump, left unchecked, is going to destroy everything that we hold dear in these United States.

He has already shown unequivocally that he has no respect for the rule of law, that he is willing to jail the folks that you vote into office, that he will never allow a question to be asked from a public official that may have the potential to put to question his agenda.

And what will the consequences of your disobedience be?

We're already seeing it.

He will federalize the National Guard, usurping the power of your elected governor and others.

He will call in the armed forces.

He is saying, be quiet, shut up, or if you defy me, I will come after you, hunt you down, and make you pay.

I know that my tone of voice and some of the words that I'm using tonight may seem extreme, but we do not have the luxury of mincing our words and pussy footing around.

It is not a struggle between progressives and conservatives.

What we have now is a battle between what is lawful and what is criminal, between what is sane and what is crazy, between what is good and what is evil.

When democracy dies, be careful which side you are on.

If it's the wrong side, you and your children and your parents and your neighbors will lose your power.

You will lose your right to choose.

You will lose your right to speak out and be in dire peril of losing your freedom and your life.

If you are an elected official, speak up.

Now is the time to protest.

It is critical that every elected official who swore to uphold the constitutions of the United States of America and of California show that they are willing to defend them.

If you live in the United States of America, please speak up.

All of our voices need to be heard.

Please protest against what you feel is wrong or dangerous.

Do not allow evil to triumph because you were afraid to speak.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Carlisle Ann Young.

Hello.

I'm here tonight on behalf of the entire coast side to ask the city council if they can possibly ask the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department why there's been no law enforcement regarding illegal fireworks.

In the county, there's a thousand dollar fine in the unincorporated area.

Not sure about the city, but there have been continuous setting off of very loud explosives since mid-June that I've noticed from Pacifica through Half Moon Bay, and that's by reports on next door.

And as early as more as recent as last night, but reading through the sheriff's coastside logs and the county logs, there have been no mention of it.

So I wonder if they are being asked to stand down by our sheriff who's being turned out or whatever, I guess recalled or whatever you want to call it.

I'm not sure why there's been no enforcement, not even going to a call when people have tried to make complaints about it.

But I would like to see if maybe you guys could ask for shot detectors like they have in East Palo Alto so you can triangulate where the shot where the explosions are coming from and maybe catch the perps more in the act.

I realize we don't have those here because we don't have a lot of gunshots, but we sure do have a lot of explosives.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Anita Rees.

Hello, Anita Reese.

I am I want to start off by thanking you for the opportunity to share some information about our Unhoused on the Coast outreach work.

It's a program of the Pacifica Resource Center.

We provide street outreach and engagement services to unhoused folks on the San Mateo County coast from Pacifica through Pescadero.

This work starts with harm reduction services, including groceries, hygiene supplies, and connection to health services to build relationships and trust, then progresses, hopefully, to intensive case management with the ultimate goal to help folks return to housing.

We have staff available to respond to homeless service requests Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

Saturday, Sunday, and holidays from 9 to 5.

So if you see someone living outside or in a vehicle, please reach out to us.

You can contact us by email at UC Outreach at PACResource Center.org or by calling 650 452 6279.

We do our best to respond within three hours during our outreach hours.

And just to give you a sense of the breadth of our work in Half Moon Bay, I pulled data before coming here, and in Half Moon Bay there were nine encampments with 19 people, and another 30 people who aren't in encampments but are unhoused for a total of 49 folks in the city of Half Moon Bay.

All of those folks are people that we are regularly engaged with.

And I also wanted to share that over the last two months, over 30 folks have been matched to a housing subsidy.

Most of those matches are folks who are in Half Moon Bay.

And housing subsidy, the process can take up to six months from application to lease up.

And so the work of connecting unhoused folks to services and housing takes time, unfortunately.

We like it to take less time.

And there are setbacks.

You know, we do a lot of work with folks, and then they choose not to maybe move forward with a housing opportunity.

But in the end, it's worth it for folks who we serve.

The folks, it's worth it for the folks we serve and the community as a whole.

So I'm happy to share more specific info for the council or the community.

And City Manager Chettester has my contact information, so I'm happy to follow up anytime you'd like.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Anita.

Appreciate that.

Next speaker is Joe Farrell.

Good evening, Mayor, and Council members.

I want to first start by acknowledging that you serve the city of Half Moon Bay on a voluntary basis.

Joe, can you move the microphone a little bit closer up?

Yeah, great, thanks.

How about that?

Beautiful, thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, you can just raise your hand like that.

Can you set my time back?

We start again.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I want to start by acknowledging that you serve the city of Half Moon Bay on a voluntary basis, but that you spend a significant amount of your personal time understanding the issues before the city and strive to address them in the best way possible.

And I thank you for that.

It's very tough, and you do a great job.

Uh at the June 3rd City Council meeting on the issue of the 2800 Shauncy Lyce Council.

Uh council persons Ruddick and Penrose commented before voting something to the effect that I'm not an engineer, so I have to rely on staff recommendations.

Certainly that's the case.

How else could this happen in a voluntary organization like yours?

But tonight I'm here to say that the staff may not be providing you information or recommendations according to LC LCP policy for you to make an informed vote.

And I will give you uh two examples.

Um can we stop this for a second?

The slides aren't showing up.

Okay.

Yeah, here we go.

So this uh first example uh is a picture of 2804 Chance to Lyce, which is a known flooding area.

The first picture shows the permitted lot before building, and picture two shows the completed house a year later flooding.

LCP policy 7-55 covers this exact issue and states that the house should be built at least two feet above ground.

Okay, slide three, and you're on it.

Thank you.

Staff knew about the flooding event uh yet it issued a permit without requiring the house to be built according to 755.

The house has had nine flooding events since 2020.

Next slide, please.

This slide is the tentative parcel map of the Stolotsky subdivision.

We appealed the Shanti, we say to the Coastal Commission, and had to get into a great deal about the subdivision, the 2,800-foot lot itself, and all the hearings and recommendations.

What we found was in 2016-17, the lot was raised with a substantial amount of soil.

Upwards of four feet, and that action was unpermitted.

It changed the contours of the land, it changed the water flow significantly.

That violated LCP-751 and 757, which is a major deal.

The lot pad grading was not permitted, and no permit was ever found.

Slide five, please.

Yet the staff conveyed to the coastal commission that lock grading was unpermitted, was permitted, and soil ads were not material.

This is not factually true, and the city staff misled the coastal staff, which is reflected in their report.

The report should be corrected by Hackman Bay to reflect the facts.

The city planners, for whatever reason, don't seem to have a comprehensive understanding of LCP policy, and these examples bear that out.

Council members and planning commissioners are getting only a partial story.

This has now become obvious to many HMB residents, and now it's an issue of trust.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joe.

Our next speaker is Mark Ramakin.

Pronouncing your name correctly.

Hello.

Hello.

I'm here in regards to 55 555 Kelly.

I read almost everything I could find about it.

I have some questions that I haven't found answers to.

How long ago was the cost estimate done for this building?

Is it has it been updated?

Is half Moon Bay liable for any cost overruns or construction addendums?

Are we collecting building fees for the building?

How are the future residents for this place picked?

Who gets the fifth floor view lot uh view unit up on the top?

And do the rent do the residents pay any rent or their utilities.

All these I think are kind of pertinent to our uh financial responsibility.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mark.

Our next speaker is Harvey Robeck.

Good evening, council.

Uh maybe some good will come out of the debacle of the lawsuit that uh Half Lumbay just lost against uh Granada and Monterra.

And that good might be a realization that the JPA is just not the appropriate way to have sewer and I believe water services on the coastside.

Our education uh department is a coastwide thing, works very well.

We have coast uh district elections for the board members.

Our fire department is coastwide.

We have district elections for the fire department board members, everyone gets along because they're all concerned about the entire coast side being doing the right thing.

With the sewer authority, up to now, we've thank you.

Um up to now with the Sewer Authority, we've had three different fiefdoms.

The Half Moon Bay people, the Granada people, the Monterra people are only interested in preserving their interests in for the community and keeping rates low for their um constituents.

If we had a special district, a single special district that included all coastside sewer, and that also I believe should include all coastside water because water and sewer are very much related to each other.

If we had a single um water slash sewer district, we could implement uh recycled water, which we've talked about for 15 years now.

Uh it just makes perfect sense to me that we advocate to get a special district.

The uh LAFCO has in the past said that we should have a special district that could collect its taxes uh that could uh go out for financing and that would be responsible for the entire coast side instead of each individual fiefdom.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Hari.

Uh let's go to uh one of our remote attendees, um, Evelyn De Sauza, if you are here, you can speak, please.

Can everyone hear me?

Yes, we can.

Oh, thank you.

Uh good evening, Mayor Brownstone, Council members and staff.

Since arriving in Half Moon Bay, it has taken me nearly four years to finalize my measure D.

In that time, construction costs have risen by about 20% each year.

Every month of delay has translated into real, tangible financial loss for me and for this community too.

When I first set out, my intent was to provide affordable housing for teachers.

That was my vision, to create something that would directly benefit the people who give so much to our children and our city.

But after four years, stuck in this process with costs multiplying and timeline slipping, I'm no longer sure I will ever realize that vision in my lifetime, even if I were to commit four times the original budget allocation.

The big part of the problem is being stuck in a loop with the city.

I've repeatedly sought responses from the planning department, but too often the answers don't come at all, come late, or are inaccurate.

I've raised this with Matthew, and to his credit, I received I'm so sorry.

I believe he means it.

But apologies without improvement don't solve the problem.

What is hard to swallow is the repeated need to follow up, sometimes multiple times, with silence in return.

And when I copy you, Mayor Brownstone for visibility, I get silence there too.

As a resident, I am left wondering what is the solution.

What accountability exists for no response, but delayed responses, or for an accurate information.

I urge the city council to take a hard look at this issue.

I urge you to have stronger service standards, in fact, set service level agreements for replies to emails, ensure better accountability and clear escalation paths.

Something must change.

Residents should not spend years in limbo watching their vision and their resources slip away.

Thank you.

Thank you, Evelyn.

Our next speaker is Joaquin Jimenez.

Good evening, honorable mayor, council members, uh city staff, members of the public.

My name is Joaquin Jimenez, and I'm here to talk about the event that we had last Saturday, uh Vaquero Days.

To our eyes, uh Vaquero Days was a success.

We had uh hundreds of people, uh the location of uh Main Street and Kelly Avenue, Amagutra Plaza, beautiful horses, music vendors, and then we also had a hundreds of uh people, uh Higgins Canyon Road, enjoying the music horses.

We had live music starting at eleven in the morning, and then you see in there at five.

Uh as we know, there were no incidents, uh none of the riders, none of the horses, no accidents with vehicles.

Uh so we consider that to be a success.

I also would like to thank all the uh the sponsors, uh, Cosa Horse Council, Seahorse Ranch, uh Firon Fuel, Pastorino, Hapitacotaqueria, Tres Amigos, Yehuada de Altesa, San Benito Cantina, Rancho San Benito, Acevedo Feed, and many more.

The some of the sponsors they're not loco.

Uh, and we actually have visitors all the way from Fresno.

Uh, families came from Fresno, and we hosted their horses.

Uh, the families came in Friday, they went to a uh to a game.

I believe they went to a baseball game or one of us a game over to San Francisco.

On Sunday they went to uh to Santa Cruz.

So we hosted uh a lot of families coming from the Central Valley.

Also, would like to thank the City of Halfum Bay, you know, and uh for your support and uh celebrating Vaquero Days uh second time, is our second annual Valquero Days, uh or uh sheriff's department for providing security and uh safety uh crossing the main highway in Halfum Bay Highway One, uh the crosses of South Main and across of uh Kelly Avenue and Highway One.

Uh and I have two requests from you.

I think uh we deserve, you know, I would like for you to give us the opportunity to give you a presentation with pictures with images of what or racked up days.

Uh, we would like to uh present to you uh how the day went uh with pictures taken from our local uh community members and also uh it will be on your best interest, you know, to sponsor events like this.

You know, something that's becoming a tradition.

As you know, Halfumbe is known to be a uh a uh equestrian community or heritage, you know, being a question community, also a farming community.

So it's something you know I'd like to plant you the seed about celebrate Raquero Days, you know, years to come.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kane.

Margaret Cosset is our next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor Brownstone and Council members.

It's nice to see you all tonight.

I read this statement to the Coastal Commission meeting uh commissioners on Friday, and I wanted to share my statement that I read to them with you.

The public entrusts the commissions with decisions that shape the coast for generations, and that trust depends on shared commitments to facts, verified, complete, and accurate.

But sometimes important decisions are made based on information from local governments that proves to be inaccurate, and when that happens and it's not corrected, it doesn't just undermine the outcome of one case, it undermines the confidence in the process itself.

Staff work under enormous time pressure.

I understand that, but this makes it all the more important to verify key facts independently, especially when they come from a party with a stake in the outcome.

The Coastal Act was built on a promise.

That decisions rest on the best available information at that and the public could trust the process even if they disagree with the outcome.

Once it's gone, it's very hard to get back.

And finally, sometimes even after a vote, important facts already in the record come to light as never having been verified, and they have the ability to revisit a decision when fairness and accuracy demand it, and I was hoping they would consider using the tool that allows that.

And Matthew, I've known you for a while, and I've worked with you, and I've appreciated my uh experiences with you, and I appreciate that you're going to fix this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Margaret.

Our next speaker is Alice Lindsmeyer.

Good evening, Council members.

Can you hear me okay?

Um, you know, right now this is the time of year that I almost want to say welcome back from vacations because so many people do that over the summer, and you know the kids are back in school.

Um, but with my work with farm workers, the opposite is true.

It's the peak season, and they've been really working hard all summer.

Um, you also know probably for them that this is a time of fear with what we've seen with being chased in the fields and other things.

When I talk to them, they say they still are willing to go to work because they're actually happy to bring us the healthy food that is feeding us.

So I feel like it's time for us to be the beacon of hope and start moving forward on 555 Kelly.

Um, you know, it's the hope is for the end of the day of vacation would be a nice safe bed for people to be able to rest in after they've been working hard all day.

And I know this is a great community of care.

I'm so proud of the community doing um so much work on affordable housing with Stone Pine and now moving forward with 555 Kelly.

So, you know, I appreciate Councilwoman's um Penrose's piece about what we can do in these times.

One thing we can do is we can uh we can act with our vote and moving forward really good projects that are kind of the antidote to all this separation that's going on right now.

So I want to thank you for your getting back to work and doing the good work of providing decent affordable home for those who provide us our healthy food.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Alice.

Our next speaker is Nancy Hanares.

Good evening to all of you.

Um I am here because I'm worried.

I'm worried about all the explosions and booms, not just fireworks that have been going on really since the beginning of June.

Um, last night was the first night I wasn't upstairs where I live to go and try and look for fire.

I was downstairs watching the end of the giants.

That was at like 923, two huge explosions.

And I have called to report it different times.

I I've I see uh cars and trucks speeding down Redondo Beach Road from my window when I'm looking, but I am worried about the city, about the people, about the homes here.

Remember 2020 and the fires.

I actually saw lightning strikes then.

I don't want to repeat, and this is human-made, not God-made.

We need to do something.

Someone said there are shock trackers in Palo Alto.

I have a friend who lives in San Pablo.

They have more money because of the Indian casino, but they have shock trackers that are up on polls or somewhere where they can tell where things are coming from.

So I urge you to really look into this.

I did make a visit to Cal Fires some years ago.

I'm worried.

That's what I'm here for, is to make you all aware that this needs to end before there's a tragedy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nancy.

Our next speaker is Eric Tabood.

Good evening, Mayor Brownstone, members of City Council, and our dedicated city staff.

Um, I'd like to start by thanking Anita Reese for being here from the Pacifica Resource Center.

I just want to say they do fantastic work with the homeless community, providing uh very professional and caring services to folks.

I'm also here tonight to speak in strong support of the senior affordable housing development at 555 Kelly.

I had understood that both the Planning Commission and City Council had already approved this project, but I recognize that progress has slowed during the lease negotiation phase.

I've also heard ongoing concerns raised in the community regarding height, parking, and aesthetics, issues which to my understanding had already been carefully considered and addressed during the approval process.

This project, which will create 40 affordable housing units for senior farm workers, is not only much needed, but profoundly just represents the very best of who we are as a community.

The fact that the building is four and a half feet taller than a standard four-story structure should not be seen as a deal breaker.

Mercy Housing has already made significant adjustments based on community input, reducing the height, addressing parking concerns, and redesigning the building to ensure it is both functional and attractive.

I urge you to finalize the lease and allow this project to move forward.

The reasons are compelling.

This development provides a thoughtful, well planned response to a part of our housing crisis.

It honors the senior citizens who have spent their lives working in our fields, often for minimum wage and without retirement benefits, and it relieves pressure on families who are currently living in overcrowded conditions, doubling, tripling, and quadrupling up.

This project is more than just housing, it is a statement of our values.

It demonstrates that we are a compassionate, inclusive and caring community that honors our elders and recognizes the contributions of the hardest working among us.

For me, this building is a beacon of hope.

It tells our neighbors we care.

We are not callous or indifferent.

We are compassionate and committed to justice.

We all remember the appalling housing conditions revealed in the aftermath of the tragic shooting two and a half years ago when we saw farm workers living in storage sheds, and worse.

As a community, we were heartbroken and ashamed.

Now we have the opportunity to set things right.

Let us move this project forward and ensure that our senior farm workers, those who have given so much to sustain us, are finally provided with the dignity they deserve.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Eric.

Our next speaker is Nancy Fontana.

Excuse me before you start the timer.

So clapping is now allowed, is that right?

Because I've gone to two meetings, so I'm a little confused now.

Is allowed.

There was quite a bit of clapping, and I thought, oh, I guess the rules have changed.

So I just I'm curious.

Typically, I make a statement for people not to applaud so people will feel intimidated.

Okay, that's fine.

I just wanted to know because for asking that appreciation.

Let me give you this.

So members of the Halfman Bay City Council, city staff, and members of the public.

My name is Nancy Fontana.

I'm a citizen of Half Moon Bay.

I've been attending city council meetings on a fairly regular basis for just over a year.

The first meeting was on the Kelly Avenue project, which I attended only because I learned the project had been changed to a president setting height.

I noticed a situation that gave me cause for concern and decided to attend the meeting on the housing element, where my concerns were confirmed as I witnessed the conduct of the former mayor.

I publicly expressed my concern about potential exposure to litigation.

During the meeting break, I approached the city attorney and asked what type of introductory training, counseling she provides new council members or reminders and updates she might provide counsel on conduct, and she identified review of the Brown Act and updates as needed, which is what I pretty much expected.

During the preceding months, I looked into a number of things related to my concerns by reviewing city policies on council conduct and comparing them with those of other cities, finding Hafen Bayes to be weak to say the least.

The city responded and committed to reviewing and revising its policies and procedures with regard to council conduct.

I appreciate this commitment.

I also understood the reasoning that other more pressing issues might take precedent for the time being.

However, after all this, the conduct exhibited at a recent meeting brings me here this evening.

I am requesting that the city take immediate and definitive action before some of the more pressing and controversial matters come up for consideration this fall and going forward.

The quickest manner I can think of is that the city attorney prepare an emergency briefing, educational and informational session on the issues of council bias and the council's duty and oath to protect and uphold the First Amendment rights of the people during public meetings and any other issue the city attorney may think appropriate or have a concern about.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Nancy.

Our next speaker is Willard Chapman.

Mr.

Mayor, City Council and staff, it's good to see everyone.

I'm here to speak briefly about the significance and importance of the Vaqueto Day celebration that we had, but with a slightly different angle to it.

It occurs to me that one of the most powerful forms of protest is the celebration of what exactly is being vilified.

The Mexican community is being targeted.

Well, we have a fabulous history in this state, all through the Southwest, of the influence of the Vaqueto on the American cowboy, on the American West, and how wonderful to protest by celebrating in positivity and in beauty and in celebration of this whole part of our culture which has gone by the wayside and a section of our population which has been vilified and terrified.

So I encourage us as a community and you as the city council and staff to support this and understand the significance of this protest and this form of protest in a very beautiful way.

There was good, happy, strong community support for this event.

Thank you.

Thank you, Willow.

Hold your applause, folks.

Thank you.

That concludes all our comments for this evening.

Public forum is now closed.

Our next item on the agenda is the consent calendar.

Does anyone want to pull an item from the consent calendar before we make a motion?

Okay.

Um council member.

Let me make sure I got that.

Eight B is in board.

No, no, D is in dog.

A D is in dog.

And eight E is in Edward.

Great.

Okay.

Would anyone like to then make a motion approving the other items, excluding items eight, D is in David, and eight E and as in Edward?

I also I want to abstain from uh the there's three special meetings that I wasn't on the council.

The ones in 2024, the minutes shows February 6th, June 20th, September 3rd.

So can we, I don't know how we do that.

Uh I could abstain.

I don't know about council member to my left if he was wanting to do the same.

Yeah, I think I would suggest uh approval of the consent calendar via two motions.

So the first motion would um approve item eight B.

Uh the minutes uh one, two, and three.

Those are the 2024 minutes where you were not a council member.

Um so that would be the first motion, and then the second motion would be everything else except for the pulled items.

So if that makes sense, Mayor, I guess I would suggest um you can see you could ask for a motion to approve item eight B, two, and three.

Those are the 2024 meeting minutes.

Can I get a motion?

Um, I'll make the motion to approve items eight B, numbers one, two, and three.

Second.

All those in favor.

All those against motion carries.

And you might just clarify abstentions on that one.

Ask for any abstentions.

Right.

Takes care of our.

I'd like to ask for the abstentions to upstream.

Why don't you do a roll call vote for that one?

So make the record clear.

Roll call regarding the uh two abstentions.

Thank you.

Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Nagingast.

Councilmember Penrose?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Ruddick?

Yes.

Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Can would anyone like to make a motion?

Regarding the other items on the consent calendar, again, excluding items eight D is in David and eight E is in Edward.

Yes.

I move that we waive the reading of resolutions and ordinances that we accept the treasurer's report for the quarter ending June 30, 2025.

Um that we accept the warrants list for the month of July 2025.

And could we also add 8B items 4 through 8?

8B, where are they?

Oh, that's the other minutes that everybody's got.

Got it.

Yep.

And that we approve the minutes for.

So she has to list all the dates.

No.

Okay.

All those dates that were not pulled.

8B items 4 through 8.

4 through 8.

Thank you.

Get a second.

I'll second.

Great.

We'll take another roll call.

What the heck?

Councilmember Johnson?

Yes.

Councilmember Nagengast?

Yes.

Councilmember Penrose?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Ruddick?

Yes.

And Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Okay, let's circle back to item 8 D.

Resolutions of support for two grant applications to the San Mateo County Transportation Authority for Cycle 3 Transportation Demand Management Program.

Do we need a staff report on that or do you want to proceed on what questions?

I think there's just questions for stocking.

Okay, we'll just go to questions.

Can we treat each item separately instead of commingling?

So each of the grants separately.

Yeah, just deal with one.

Well, no, I understand it's the same item, but can we do our quest question and answer on the um the school safety connectivity project and then finish that and then ask all the questions on the next one instead of just or we can't because it's all one up?

And there's separate resolutions, so you could even vote on them separately as well.

So the answer is yes.

Yes, no concerns.

Do you just let me go ahead and okay?

So I I wanted to pull this item and just talk a little bit about several things, and I'll lead in it all come back to what one major concern I'll have that's on an item later on in the agenda.

But I I just want to make sure you know I have two data points as a council member, not totally involved in, but but seeing process through that we're grant projects that oh yeah, the grant will get us through, but it it things happen, and and we actually paid a lot more city money, and that I'll specifically speak about Carter Park and um Poplar Street.

So I want to make sure that the proposed project, we're pretty confident of that estimate.

I just want us not have to come back and ask for more.

I mean, I I I've gone out there and walked it, and I agree it it could use some some improvement.

We have rubber tire stops out there, bumpers that keep cars from hitting people pedestrians that are walking pretty close to them as they park, but a couple of things I did notice, you know, and I did talk it over uh with the public works director Maz, is um, you know, there is there is improved walkway out there for a portion of it, but I noticed it's gonna have to be removed, and I didn't know it's because of uh current ADA requirements and or you know, I can recall matching flow lines, your gutter, uh, where your watery went against the curb.

Sometimes the elevation changes trying to improve upon there, you have to play around with it.

That could have been something involved.

But the other thing, because there's another item on this agenda.

Currently, there's 12 parking spaces, and the improve improved project provides seven.

So there's a loss of five.

So I was curious.

Had we talked?

There's a business right there on the corner.

Have we talked?

Let them know, you know, this is coming.

I'm not saying it it's the end of the world, but that's five.

That's 40 something percent, you know, uh current available parking.

And again, I just want to get back.

I I don't see any improved parkway, which is fine.

I I think that's great.

You know, we are planting trees there, but I want to be comfortable with the uh estimate that we're not having to come back.

Um, you know, and I I get it in this crazy environment.

Once once you get bids, who knows now, right?

There's tariffs, there's all kinds of things playing out right now, but I'm just trying to make sure we've dotted I's and t's cross as much as we can.

Um learning from our past experiences.

Yeah, and I think those are all very fair questions, and and obviously, if this item were to be approved, there's additional work that would happen.

But um, Dale Lita or uh one of our engineers is here and can speak in more detail about some of those questions.

Thanks, Dale.

Good evening, counsel mayor.

Um, the Alita associate engineer here of the staff.

Um so Paul, your first question regarding um cost estimate.

So we we spent a great deal of time looking at recent construction costs from from Caltrans and other related uh projects to ensure that the numbers we have are current and conservative with regard to kind of projected costs through next year as well as construction contingency within the estimate, we also have allocated time within our budget for staff costs associated with the project.

So under the TA's program, uh staff effort is a reimbursable expense.

We're planning to handle design internally within city staff.

Um, and so that provides us an additional buffer within within our budget, should costs um extend a little bit above uh what what's anticipated.

Um question regarding parking.

So, yes, there are existing 12 stalls.

Currently, as planned, we're reduced to seven stalls.

We could possibly squeeze it to eight stalls, but that's still a significant loss.

Um Cafe Capistrano at the corner, they are actually aware of the project, and they have uh provided a letter of support, which was included with our application to the TA.

Um, and then as far as kind of the existing improvements that are out there, um, there is some existing sidewalk within that stretch between the corner and the driveway aprons at Cafe Capistrano, which are 88 compliant, but um we want to be conservative in terms of our estimating uh and with the proposed plan we're matching the existing curb face there.

It's a six and a half foot sidewalk width today from back of walk to face of curb.

We think that should be adequate if if uh for needed if we wanted to tie into those existing improvements without disrupting flow lines, so that's another avenue where um if we need to we can conform and and reduce that scoping a little bit.

Thank you.

And the trees, any we're not proposing to put any um irrigation out there, are we?

No, no, we're not.

But TA actually, well, we had our um initial discussions, they were pushing for us to add uh like bioretention planners, and you know, there's um part of the discussion was around the the challenges we have with irrigation and the cost of water here on the coast, and um and so we we resolved to propose several street trees, which it's kind of a middle ground and helps us um, and just quickly because I I know that this can be challenging too, the tree wells.

You know, whether you leave them open with DG or something, or do you actually try to put a grate there?

I don't know if we have a standard on that, or our current protocol has just been DG within the planner.

All right, thank you.

That's all the questions you have on this one, right?

You have a question.

Right, great.

Yes, I'd like to go back to the parking issue.

And I think a loss of five spaces downtown is is a problem.

Um so what I'm wondering is, can you look at something uh to regulate time that you can park?

You know, there's the library, there's a few businesses, there's the school.

So maybe, you know, one approach to at least alleviate or mitigate the loss of parking spaces is to shrink the amount of time that people can park in those spots.

And that that might be helpful.

I think that's certainly something we can explore within the project scope.

Um one thing I should point out is the right-of-way width there is 70 feet.

So there's actually quite a bit of width to play with on both sides.

Um because the south side of Maremontas is unimproved.

There's kind of this informal shoulder, which kind of creates the spot where people park today.

Um but if if we if we really wanted to try and maintain kind of the current parking count out there, um I anticipate there's enough room there that we can we can get creative and look at ways to increase capacity on that side.

I would recommend it that if we're gonna do this grant that we look at somehow to retain parking or to mitigate the loss through um time limits.

I'll make a note of that.

Assuming we get the grant and move forward, then yeah, absolutely.

Was there anything else under AT or no?

I mean, no, okay, great.

I mean the parking study piece.

Yeah, okay.

The other item, but no, not this one.

A D.

I mean ADE.

No, A D.

There's there's another thing about the parking study.

Great, okay.

Let's move on to that one.

Mr.

Mayor, could I just add one clarification on this?

Um this item is really just for a resolution of support to submit the application for the grant.

Uh it's the first step in many steps, and this will come back before the council uh multiple times.

And so as it evolves, we'll continue to update you on the plans incorporating some of the ideas we've heard.

And um, you know, you'll you'll have more bites at this apple.

This is just the first step.

Right, and we'll consider that one.

And again, I'll just clarify the other questions you have, and then we'll make the motion to for the grant.

Um, so uh I find the idea of another parking study questionable.

We've done them about you know local capacity, and I think it's kind of clear to everybody what we need is like a parking garage.

And I I don't like the idea of spending any more money, whether it's theirs or a portion of ours, you know, doing a downtown parking study.

Um, uh I think we we had a shot at doing that, you know, when we were looking at developments like CSM and the 555 Kelly process.

I'd rather just see us spend the money to just go directly to looking at a parking garage because that's that's the answer.

You know, we might like you know shrink the sizes of the parking spaces or angle them differently or whatever.

Um, but I think we have a pretty good handle that we're gonna be inundated, you know, between Carter Park and you know, if we have a hotel and you know there's other uses that haven't come to fruition yet, but are in planning.

I just kind of see this frankly as um kind of a fool's errand.

Um so I'd rather see us shrink this down to something that's um makes a lot of sense, which everybody's already remarked about, and that is we need a parking garage.

Where do we locate it?

How do we fund it?

Um that might not be fundable through this grant process, I understand, but um, I don't want to just do the grant just because, because we already have a lot of information on on parking downtown.

You know, one thing we might consider instead is looking at um, you know, what is our capacity to support cyclists?

Do we have enough bike parking?

Do we have enough bike storage?

You know, when people come to town, you know, they'd like to be able to maybe store their bike for a few hours, go to a concert or whatever it is.

So I think for me, I'd rather be submitting a grant to look at how we can make downtown not just safer for riders getting there, but um how do we invite them to come with proper bike storage and and lockups?

That makes more sense to me than another parking plan I just want to throw that out there.

Thank you.

Yeah I I would absolutely agree with Councilmember Ruddick on that.

I think another parking another parking study is going to show us that we need more parking um that's and we know that so why do the study I I don't get the point of the study.

I'm not sure about spending money on looking at bike storage is an answer but um maybe a comprehensive look at where we would put a parking garage and the size of the parking garage might make sense I'd like to see something like that done.

I think we have some we do have some opportunities in town we have places where we could put a parking garage the question is which one of those do we use and how big should the garage be so that's it.

Thank you.

Paul did you have another I I'm not gonna disagree at all what I heard in fact I I was looking at this and immediately attract my attention was the connection to the um the downtown streetscape master plan which wasn't a priority for me.

I mean there was made that connection to it and I was like well why we do it and then I was told we you know we have an approved priorities as a council so I don't know if we're relaying on past priorities to look at stuff but when I looked at that if you're gonna do a a parking study you got to use the whole to me is the downtown specific plan area which is a much larger area and I don't know maybe eventually you have to do that looking for a parking garage.

Because remember daylighting we just heard we lost five spaces on the improvement side we're losing parking space we're gonna lose some downtown with daylighting you know for folks who don't know what daylighting is it's a state law that requires us to have the ability parking not so close to the corners for pedestrian safety and that's that's by law so we we're doing that and we're gonna be doing it downtown in fact and we could be looking at even you know changing some of the parking arrangements in different areas of town so I was and I I agree I'm not I was not going to I didn't like moving forward with this particular plan but if we do something and I think if and I agree if we it's tied to a um a parking area or parking garage or whatever we're gonna call it that you've got to look at our whole downtown specific area and I looked at the last one we have is 1995 because we I don't think we've updated one yet or and and I look at that and I have that and I looked at that and oh my gosh it goes from you know highway one up I mean it's a much much much larger which is is going to be a much more a bigger endeavor than here so I I I'm trying to be careful you know I know this match was only uh I think this one was 10,000 but you know I get into this philosophy 20 nickels makes a buck there there's an item on tonight's agenda about the highway one project which to me is a big priority and that is creeping money really bad.

Yeah it is you know and it looked like the cities might have to find a million dollars and that's something I keep in the back of my head so I'm trying to be very careful any of these uh smaller projects I look at but again 20 nickels makes a buck things that come up there and I think I would rather see us do a more comprehensive uh study um later on or or part of whenever if we're gonna you know really seriously look at a garage yeah and and I agree with them it needs to be like the whole downtown area because we're gonna be having an application for potentially you know 70 dwelling units we have a bunch now in in Stone Pine I expect there'll be more you know the Zabala house is converting um and already we've lost an additional I think what three or four parking spaces on Poplar near Main Street because of the trees there so um I agree with Paul if we're gonna do any study at all it needs to be how to accommodate it basically in the entire downtown area but I think we need to look seriously at a at a parking garage because I think that's going to take a lot of the pressure off so agreed.

So I was uh at um nanos over the weekend and meeting and doing a lot of the meetings and stuff and and Scott who owns that that t-shirt store across on Main Street and he comes pulling in and I just greeted him and said hi to him and he's like he was all fired up on this AB 413 and he's educating me on it.

I had no clue what he was talking about.

He's shown me pictures of look at all the spots we're losing downtown.

So I mean I'm just getting wind of this and I'm seeing it now also.

We've I think we've all had the same issue at Evelyn's on Popular Street how that is yeah and that's where it's already started.

So we need to kind of get a hold of this now and I think going to a parking structure has been on the books for us for a long time.

And I totally agree that we should just go forward with something and try to go that route because as we're going along here no matter how many times we restructure and bigger vehicles over here, smaller vehicles over here it's not going to work.

It's not going to work so let's come up with a solution and that should be on one of our priorities and I think we kind of missed the boat on that one but I think we should start focusing on that.

Thank you.

Would anyone like to make a motion mr mayor if you wouldn't if you just give me a moment uh and all the points taken and understood uh but I think I'd be remiss if I didn't just talk about you know the thinking behind this that it wasn't just chase a grant that there was thinking behind this the grant specifically needed to be connected to the streetscapes master plan and that's why it's what's referenced in the staff reports and in the application and it would help inform that one of the recommendations in that master plan was to shift from the angled parking on heritage main street back to the parallel parking which used to exist and there's safety enhancements that come with that and creates opportunities for bike uh lanes and other things on Main Street but would come with the loss of parking and then as has been mentioned the daylighting laws are going to lose parking downtown they already are our staff are already implementing that because that's the law.

We've also since some of our past studies um on on parking in our downtown we've had CSM built we've had the new building at the corner of Maine and Kelly built there's a proposal coming for more affordable housing in our downtown we could have a new hotel downtown at some point there's a lot of projects in the pipeline that we would we felt like it would be important to get a really strong baseline considering what we know already and what we can anticipate in the future and that was the purpose of this the scope would be more than just the heritage downtown that was focused on in the Streetscapes master plan uh the way that the the grant application was written it really can and should encompass the entire downtown from Main Street or from highway one to highway one on Main Street up Kelly and of course many of the side streets downtown this kind of a study would help inform planning for a parking garage and our needs in our downtown so uh again you all will need to make your decision we understand there's a concern about the the match that we would have to include for this and um we just want to make sure you understood all the thinking behind this and the justifications for it beyond just the Streetscapes master plan which was what the grant itself required us to tie it to so and and we we of course have Karen Decker and Mazbo's are getting it here and and as you can tell, Dale is well versed in all of this.

So if you have other questions about anything that I just shared, we're happy to answer, but ultimately we'll respect your decision.

Yeah I I think any study needs to look at what the impacts are of all this new development.

Um the residential areas along uh Johnson Street and San Benito Street.

These are zoned for single-family homes.

Who knows how long that'll be.

But um, you know, if if we're continuing to lose parking, parking on those residential streets is only gonna get more in demand and cause, you know, more impacts, more trash, and on these streets where people are already living.

So we need to take that into account too, that the parking problem, the part of the parking problem are the impacts to residential neighborhoods.

So there's lots of them downtown.

Yeah, okay.

I would like to move on.

I would like to remind us all that at the end of tonight's session, we have an opportunity to propose an agenda item, which can very well be a parking garage, and have some time uh specifically to um have staff put together, you know, what that approach would look like, what it would have to happen, expense, etc.

Um, because we all agree it should be a priority if it hasn't been listed as a priority, and so we'll make that an agenda item at the end of the day, at the end of the night.

Great.

So again, we need a motion here to close out AD.

Can I ask another question?

It's a good almost rather not, but a lot more on the we haven't even got through the consent calendar yet.

So this is just and it's maybe it's standard language all the time, but uh authorize the number five on I think on both resolutions might have, but it says authorizing the city manager or their designee to take any other actions necessary to give effect to this resolution and execute applicable amendments.

What really what does that mean to do just whatever?

I mean, typically it's it's about being able to sign whatever paperwork, provide whatever documentation is required.

Um it's not about finan additional financial authority.

So and it's not changing anything that we did or some to make somewhere it's just whatever paperwork that's required for whatever is being authorized to move forward.

Correct.

Okay, cool.

Well, I'll try to make it.

I just want one last thing to respond to you.

So to me, the most important um section in there, and it's a section in all state grants, um, and that is that the grantee will uh pay whatever is necessary above and beyond the grant to complete the project.

You have to complete the project, and if you run out of the grant money, you've got to put up the money to complete it, right?

That's standard language.

So that's that's why I'm glad that you raised the issues you did, you know, early on.

But it's but it's something to just be aware of that that is always part of you know grant.

Okay.

I think that's what Paul's trying to say just real quick, to make sure that that estimate goes forward with the conditions that we have now currently with the economy and all the things that we don't know.

Because every subcommittee I've been on, like for instance PC, the batteries now just went up.

Their bids are changing now, they're backpedaling now, and you have to be ready for this change, and they're not.

And so we're in the same boat.

We don't know what construction costs are gonna be, we don't know.

So we're worried about what it's gonna cost us as a city down the road.

So I think Paul's asking to make sure that we double check everything across our T's and dotter I's before we go forward.

But we have plenty of time because it's just the beginning stages of it.

So Paul, you have a yes, um, and I'm gonna uh recommend adopt the resolution directing staff to submit one separate grant application to the San Mateo County Transportation Authority for Measure A and W transportation Demand Management Funds for one for this for the following project.

The 465,000 grant funding from the TA with a $35,000 local match for the CUNY intermediate school safety and connectivity project.

And authorize the city manager, the design to to execute a funding agreement or memorandum of understanding and any amendments with the TA to encumber measures, A and W transportation Demand Management Funds should the applications be successful, committing to the completion of the project, including the required local funding contribution of $35,000 for the CUNY Intermediate School Safety and Connectivity Project.

Should the application be successful?

Certifying that any funds awarded by the TA will be used to supplement existing funds for program activities and will not replace existing funds or resources and authorize the city manager their designee to take any other actions necessary to give effect to this resolution and execute applicable amendments, right?

There's no six.

Second, we'll take a roll call, please.

Councilmember Johnson.

Yes.

Councilmember Nagengast?

Yes.

Councilmember Penrose?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Reddick?

Yes.

Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Move on to item consent item 8E.

Authorize the acceptance of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission capital approvement implementation grant for charging infrastructure.

Is that new manner?

Thank you.

Hello, Councilmember.

Good evening, Council members.

Honorable council members.

But in this your capacity, you are public you're the city of Half Moon Bay's public works management analysis.

I am representing the city of Public Works Department of Hap Moon Bay, the CD.

So I have a couple questions, and I was it was interesting to see it's great that the city got awarded this project.

And in the way I read the report, it looked like we were trying to infiltrate into residential areas with more uh multi-family, not you know historically EV charges ended up in commercial areas.

We have the one right by city hall, but now we're trying to get them in.

So I'm trying to understand, and apparently there's also whether it's a level two, level two versus level three, that's apparently a whole nother discussion.

And I think if you could touch on that a little bit, because I think that's important why these where they're being located, but also who pay who maintains them and who pays for the electricity.

I was trying to absolutely I'm happy to answer those questions, and I appreciate you um asking them.

Um so let's start first of all with the locations.

Um the grant was specific for multi to target multifamily and for commercial districts.

Um what we have seen is the private sector, because you can make money off of the you know selling these setups, um, is has been targeting commercial areas.

I've been trying to figure out, for instance, how to get chargers out at Poplar, and boy, no one wants to touch that, right?

Um Rivian called me and wanted to figure out where we could put chargers, and I was like Poplar, and they were like, no way, right?

They want um commercial amenities for people to while they're charging.

I personally think the beach is a great amenity, but um, so um, so when I saw this grant come up because serving um renters is tricky, right?

Um, so when I saw this grant come up, I thought it was a great idea because 27 is it 27 percent um 20 no no 27% of our housing stock and 25% of all cars being sold in San Mateo County are electric vehicles, right?

So, um, so the it's been a hard nut to crack the multifamily, you know.

How do we make sure multi-family residents have access to elect EV chargers?

So when I saw this grant come up, I thought it was a good idea for our community.

Um, and that's why um I got permission to apply for it.

Um, and so that's and so four of the sites, I believe, are um are in multi-along multifamily housing, and um, and then two of the sites have are more commercial.

The one one of the ones at Church Street, it's right next to Transformer.

The thought was that it would be in close proximity to 555 Kelly if that is actually built, my understanding.

So that site would serve the commercial district as well as have access for off of highway one for people, plus the multifamily at 555 Kelly if that is built.

So and level three is a faster charger.

Um level two is more for um a few hours or overnight parking.

Um so that's that was what the plan, the strategy in what the sites as well as the power.

And oh, your next question, how is it being paid for?

Um so the way we set up the grant is that um it's we're doing it with three other cities in the county, um, San Carlos, East Palalton, Portola Valley, and so it's um each city is um is applying on its own, but it's a coordinated effort.

And um so it will be one RFP then, we think it might, you know, but each city has to take care of the logistics once once the contractor would arrive.

And because of the way that it's paid for, um, these contractors once it's installed, the electricity is paid for by actually by the agreement that you make with the implementation of the charger.

Um so usually the company because they get to put their charger in, you know, if it's charge point or another company, for instance, so they usually um it's free for the first two to five years.

We set it up for three years is what we were, and then and then the fees we need to do a new rate study for our fee structure, but the fees will then cover the cost of the electricity.

Well, a couple of things, good point, you know, the maintenance, you know, if you still have a three-year period, and then what fees.

I'm trying to I'm trying to figure out how who charges whom.

Right, right.

So the um, so generally when you sign a contract with like a chart, like these companies, EVGo, charge point, um, then they give you, they pay for the electricity for the first, it's part of the service agreement.

And then after the set term of the service agreement, and that is not we do not have that, we have not chosen who are con you know who that um agent that uh merchant would be.

We have not chosen that at this point, so we do not know exactly what they're asking for, um, but we do expect the first few years um to not cost the city in those for those fees.

So they'll per you know they'll be paying for the electricity, but as a because they get to be the charger, the company, and they'll make they'll be making, you know, that they're the middleman.

Yeah, maybe mod.

Thank you, Ma.

Thank you, Ellen.

Um, you can get public works director.

So yeah, I think the the question it's a great question.

So the for the first number of short-term period, there's gonna be uh oversight maintenance, um, you know, power costs, everything would be part of the service agreement that we'd be signing.

Long term, it's a different story, obviously.

At some point it gets reverted over to city um oversight, like the charge point structures that we have throughout the downtown.

When we get to that point, then you're talking about city overhead uh uh O and M operations maintenance responsibilities, um, taking care of the power costs.

What Helen was alluding to was we are um on our current work plan.

Um we have not done any a rate study um for our EV chargers uh over uh since they started uh popping up.

I think the first ones we put in probably were 2017.

It was uh right before my time with the city.

But we have not reviewed those rates, quite um uh frankly, and uh given the cost of our increasing, we do want to take a closer look at that, and this would be part of any rate city that we do.

Um we want to make sure that we're cut we're charging a fair market rate, but we're also covering our expenses and ideally would love to have some cost recovery with uh ongoing operations, maintenance, and uh long-term replacement um for these structures because they will need replacement over over the course of time.

So so let me see if I understand this.

Now now we've had that.

The one at City Hall, do we know we don't know how much we're not paying for that yet, or is that still being covered by somebody else?

One on um Kelly Avenue in front of City Hall?

Yeah.

No, that one was under a different type of structure with charge point.

We bought the we bought those units, yeah.

And that uh we we owned them outright.

There was a service uh um there's a service agreement that was signed as part of that.

Um we are we own it, we um are covering the cost for the PGE.

That is all uh at this point, that's all city-owned maintained.

So okay, so these other ones which we haven't defined, we we don't know yet what it's gonna cost us in the future, right?

So for the first three years, whoever this comp these whoever owns these or chargers will cover the maintenance.

That's part of the negotiation ultimately, correct?

And they will cover the cost of these.

At some point, we're just saying three years, but whatever gets negotiated, then it becomes ours to maintain, right?

City, and then do we who do we charge?

Or we or is that just something we'll do as a part of our yeah, that benefit to whoever where we put these?

No, we would that would be part of our oversight, so it's uh similar to what we're doing with our current public-facing EV chargers, there is a cost to charge your vehicle.

Right.

And so that would be it would just be basically it can go, it would go from this third-party company, it would go to city operations and oversight.

So it would still be a cost related to it because there is a cost for the power that we're providing.

And again, like I mentioned, I'd like to have we would I think ideally we'd like to have a cost uh recovery mechanism for operations maintenance and long-term replacement as well.

Right.

Um, one thing that was what I I wanted to be we we were going back and forth with MTC on this particular grant application.

Um, we uh I had held off uh for several months to bring this forward because one thing we wanted to make sure was cost overruns.

There are no detailed designs right now for any of these infrastructure locations, and we all know that with PGE as you submit an application, costs start getting uh defined, and then you'll understand what those costs for connections really are long term.

So we do have an uh there is a metric uh uh mechanism with MTC based on the costs that come up, we can actually go back and renegotiate the terms of this grant.

Um so because for me what was important was if we're saying we're doing X number of units, but we only have enough money to do Z number of units, what are we gonna be stuck with that additional cost?

Or is there an opportunity to renegotiate the scope?

And MTC said that we could renegotiate that scope.

There is a process for that so we could do Z if that's all exactly could be afforded because we we want and that was that was the intent was making sure that we are able to deliver the units based on the funding that's available, but not having to go into our bank accounts to try to come up with additional funding if those costs are higher than originally anticipated.

So I just want to try to use an example.

So I see one in Kenya Co.

Right.

What happens in three years?

They say we don't want to pay for this, but we we have to pay.

No, but the city's already agreeing it's gonna cover the cost of this charger in Canada Code.

As far as the oversight and maintenance, but again, there would be a fee that would be charged to the users of that, like any other like if you're going to um I mean any other charging station that we have in town right now, if you have an electric vehicle, you it it's available, you are welcome to use it.

But there is a cost, none of it, none of it's free.

But but to me, normally those are like in commercial areas where oh my god, I need a charge before I go home.

You're doing a quick and these are those level threes you talked about.

I need a quick charge while I'm shopping, so then I can get home, and I'll pay two bucks or whatever the charge is.

This seems to be a lot different.

And I didn't even know if when we do our um uh housing development projects, do we require EV charges in a multi-residential house uh uh development?

I don't know.

I don't think they're I don't think they're required quite yet, but there are um the planning the planning commission, I will use that as an example because they're historically whenever there's a parking exception, one of the conditions of approval for the CDP is to um provide additional EV charging public facing, and so that's something that's been added to projects over the course of time.

Um I we don't have the set policy for new EV chargers as part of uh projects, although larger developments we don't have a lot, but when you have a larger project, we do try to incorporate that.

And one I think one example would be the um affordable housing project at 830 Stone Pine.

Um that had a couple of EV chargers that was incorporated as part of that.

Well, I see something on the later on the agenda.

Are we having one at 880 Stone Pine?

Um, an EV charger at the courtyard?

I mean, at some point we would like to incorporate.

I mean, we have a charge EV charger out of the courtyard right now because we do have an EV vehicle, so yes, we do have that.

Um, you know, some of our other electrification projects like the um solar array that we want to put at City Hall that was previously approved.

We are looking at um having that ready ready connect for another EV charger potentially in that parking lot.

We're trying to get we're trying to anticipate the the ongoing demand for electric vehicles, and um obviously so when we do these infrastructure improvements, we want to try to provide that.

And this was this grant provided an opportunity to try to serve some of those multifamily areas that were harder to find.

Uh let me some of the things that we had heard were um, you know, if you have an HOA, who's gonna pay for that cost?

How are they gonna incorporate into it?

New development is easier to incorporate, but for these some of these um older um developments, um, where we have multifamily, it seemed to be a challenge to be able to implement something, and this grant opportunity provided us an avenue to try to provide.

And I think it's fantastic.

Yeah, I'm just a little nervous not knowing the future.

I I I I should we I think we share that um concern with respect to the overall cost, not just with the install but also the long-term operations means.

That's it for me.

And Ma's kind of to that point and to some of the questions earlier.

Again, this this would be acceptance of the grant.

There's gonna be more touch points on this with more details before we fully commit and move forward.

You kind of hear my concern.

So I mean when it comes forward, I it it's fascinating.

I think it's great.

Yeah.

I mean, I mean, and we pass this resolution, and you know, if we come back and you know, for some reason we we have to reduce the number of chargers based on the funding that's available, or um, we find that it's not viable for us, for example.

We're you know, these costs, these are things that we're gonna be able to flush out as we move forward.

And it's good to know that you're using the PC incentives as our match.

Exactly.

It's not using center city.

On this one, we're on this one.

We are fortunate to be able to use that PC credit, correct?

Yes, thank you.

Do you want to make a motion?

Um I recommend to adopt a resolution authorizing the acceptance of an award for funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, capital program implementation grant for the EV charging infrastructure.

Second roll call, please.

Councilmember Johnson?

Yes, Councilmember Nagengast.

Yes.

Councilmember Penrose?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Radder?

Yes, Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Uh let's see, before we move into the next item on the agendas, downtown gateway project.

And um we're gonna take a 10-minute break and then start in on that.

And I think we'll get a staff update first, or I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you on the last part.

For the downtown gateway project, we have a staff report.

Yes, great.

That's not working.

How about now?

There we go.

Okay.

Hello again, council and community.

I'm Karen Decker.

I'm the economic and community vitality manager within the city manager's office.

And joining me for this presentation is my colleague, Dale Lita, Associate Engineer, and we're pleased to provide an update on the gateway project.

Okay.

But by way of some background, we had a task force that uh was put together assembled for the Coast Site Recovery Initiative, and that group had brought forth a recommendation to redesign the streetscape of Main Street, our main uh business district.

And the goal of uh the wisdom behind that recommendation, the goal and marching orders for staff was to improve the mobility and the economic activity and the general vibrancy of down the downtown core.

Another big priority coming from that recommendation was to preserve and enhance the existing character of downtown Half Moon Bay.

We already have great bones.

We um need not overly design anything, but there might be some priority improvements that could benefit both residents and visitors.

Throughout that effort, there was um extensive community input.

There was a steering committee providing oversight on the right.

I won't read it, but um, it kind of it shows a glimpse into a lot of the people that were contacted.

And I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating.

Uh, when we talk about two hundred and forty participants, we're not talking about people who were uh past a flyer as they were walking by, um, or uh did not engage in a meaningful way.

Um, everyone were counting, and we can use this for future grants when appropriate, was there talking with the design team, attending charrettes, pop-ups, public meetings, looking at graphics around workshop tables.

So I would consider it meaningful engagement.

In addition to these public meetings, I think all of our current commissions and committees were involved in the streetscape master plan process.

So planning commission, parks and rec, architectural advisory, bike and peds, of course, City Council had several bites of the Apple.

So the results that came out of that plan, I feel confident in saying were a result of really robust community outreach.

So just some additional background.

When initial when starting down the path of the gateway, I'm sorry, the streetscape master plan, staff didn't know what would emerge from the community.

There were marching orders to focus on Heritage Main, but to take into account the totality of Main Street, as well as a thorough existing documents review because a lot of people have studied downtown and produced some really valuable documentation.

We didn't want to reinvent the wheel.

But something that came up a lot during the outreach process from multiple constituents was this concept of a gateway.

Some feedback that we heard was that it would make an attractive arrival experience.

We heard from a lot of businesses that said, you know, we have customers that kind of stumble on downtown.

That's so unfortunate that they kind of accidentally come upon us when they've been coming here for pumpkins or beaches for years, and they don't know we have this adorable quaint downtown.

We heard a lot about, especially members from beautification committee, that this is not a new concept, that there was a historic arch, kind of by Tom and Pete's near the historic bridge, so it would kind of be a return to our roots, and that this could be considered a shorter term improvement as opposed to the totality of the Streetscape Master Plan.

It's a multi-million, multi-year endeavor.

So, what could we potentially focus on that could be yielding benefits faster?

And we started to have donor conversations and in floating some of the most popular ideas by a potential donor.

The idea of a gateway was described as a no-brainer, which was encouraging to the council last year, and so by way of council support, this gateway project was adopted within our capital improvement program, and staff submitted a request for proposals out to the community and received very competitive bids, and ultimately selected RHAA as the contractor who would provide a site analysis and technical studies and some of the early design work.

RHAA had a reputation for really strong community engagement.

We like that a lot.

Just a little bit more project context.

Staff understood going into this project that there would be big challenges in implementing a gateway at that location, and that RHAA was well equipped to respond to the challenges of this location, and they proceeded in a measured and methodical approach.

We knew that site visibility from multiple angles, actually, all four was going to be needing analysis.

This location does bring us into the Caltrans right of way, which poses its own issues and challenges.

We knew that we needed to do some of that analysis to better understand those constraints and if they could be worked a meeting right away with the Architectural Advisory Committee.

And the committee, they focused on a fundamental design concepts, and RHAA explored things like site inspiration and common motifs and materials are that are in Half Moon Bay.

There are some beautiful archways and monuments and other uh downtowns, but they don't fit our community.

There was a lot of reference to the Half Moon Bay Library, which is a jewel in our community, and it really blends in with our aesthetic.

So the consultant explored shape and form, and they tried to nail down what styles represented the community well, with guidance from the architectural advisory committee.

And that committee emphasized their preference for a design that was historic, not too modern, iconic but not majestic, and suggested colors that would be soft and quiet, not flashy.

And the committee also encouraged the design team to look at alternatives to an archway.

It need not necessarily be an archway.

They uh included both a bookend column approach at each corner.

If uh those of you who have been to Burlingame, that's an example of kind of two pillars as opposed to an archway.

Um the the committee asked the design team to look at a repeating pattern to direct drivers toward Main Street, so honed in on three design concepts.

And then the design team took that into account, they looked at the streetscape master plan.

Uh, they did a sidewalk, uh, a site walk with local businesses and constituents, some of who are here tonight, and then decided, uh proceeded with some initial design work.

Um I'm gonna turn it over to Dale to talk a little bit more about site constraints.

Thank you, Karen.

So, with that feedback from AAC, um RHAA proceeded with a constraint space design approach, and they took in the existing information provided by the city as well as our surveyor who went out and um located utilities and and mapped the existing right-of-way.

And what you see here, most prominent in this slide is uh the red hatched area, which is the limits of the Caltrans right-of-way across Main Street.

So it extends into Main Street to capture the uh the traffic signal loops that extend into those lanes.

Um, combining that with the obstructions from visibility from the Texaco station and the coast site optometry building, you could see uh challenges with uh obtaining good site visibility as well as avoiding the Caltrans right away.

Um, so that was a suspicion we had early on the project.

Kind of getting into design that was confirmed, kind of looking at these items and moving forward.

Um RHAA also kind of looked at the other constraints such as existing driveway cuts, you know, existing neighboring businesses.

They looked at how those businesses are using kind of their drive aisles and parking, as well as existing surface and underground uh utility structures for those businesses and also to support the intersection.

Once those features were all considered, uh, they moved forward with three different design concepts to present back to AAC, which you see here.

Um, the first one you see the solid blue line kind of inset on Main Street that that represents a kind of conventional or classic archway spanning over main street outside of the Caltrans right away.

Um that represented a good position because it was avoided impacts to driveways and other utilities, but obviously with that setback, it presented a visibility challenge.

So it accomplished the the gateway element well, but did not really was not really successful in in the wayfinding element being being visible from highway 92.

Um the dashed outline you see kind of closer to 92 is an alternative to that.

They looked at which gets it up and more prominent where you have better visibility from the highway, um, but that has its own challenges associated with uh utilities, impacts to the neighbors, and also given the span and conflicts with the existing street lights there.

You it would it would create a condition where an archway would need to be roughly four times the size in order to accomplish the same goals there.

So in addition to the archway, they looked at two other concepts uh the orange kind of lines you see at the corner.

That's the book and approach, and and the pink dots are kind of this repeating concept.

Um, RHA kind of studied these concepts and ultimately decided with input from AAC that they were underwhelming and wouldn't really meet the goals of the project.

So these design concepts were presented to AAC in March, along with site renderings of the various approaches to show how they would look in the field from different angles and with context from other existing improvements, including the street lights, gas stations, other kind of background data.

And weighing those weighing the cost scale and timeline for each approach, the architectural advisory committee ultimately found that a combined wayfinding and gateway project at the intersection of Maine and Highway 92 would be overburdened by the existing constraints and would result in an unacceptable compromise in design that would not adequately fulfill the objectives of both the wayfinding and creating a gateway experience.

Given these findings, AAC, the design team and staff came to consensus that splitting the project up into two distinct projects would better maximize the intent and efficiency of establishing both a gateway experience and providing wayfinding signage to direct visitors towards Main Street.

So we have kind of two projects.

One would be the wayfinding signage focused on capturing attention from westbound travelers on highway 92 with exploration of other opportunities throughout town to direct travelers to Main Street.

So after the march, after the March meeting, staff took we we recognize that the project was at a pivot point where we were looking at splitting it up into two separate projects.

So we we hit the brakes a little bit.

We wanted to take stock of where we are in terms of spending.

We also wanted to check in with our potential donor to get input on where they stood with it.

The donor was admittedly critical, skeptical about the cost and the timing associated with it, but ultimately very supportive of both projects and agree that they were both very important elements that needed to be addressed.

So the original scope of work would have would have got us to a design to completion of uh preliminary plans that would have been sufficiently detailed for moving forward with CEQA and moving forward with coastal development permit process, and getting preliminary cost estimates for that combined project at 92 in Maine.

Um when we made the determination to split the project up and move the arch to the north side of the bridge, that represents a change in scope, which we understood and and through discussions with RHA was going to impact their ability to deliver that same final project within the same original budget that was allocated.

So this kind of left us with it left staff with kind of a just a decision to make whether or not we could move forward with one or both projects, and if we were going to choose one over the other, how do we make that decision?

So the first just to get into the gateway monument, which is an archway or transitional feature, uh closer to the main street bridge where uh the historical archway was located.

Um so consensus with AAC and with RHAA and staff that this location would would be better suited for a transitional experience because compared to 92 intersection, you have a much narrower right-of-way here.

Um the road narrows, there's much less kind of buildings and other background noise, which would allow a gateway to sit very prominently and span across Main Street.

Um it also works well with the transition across the main street bridge where um to inform visitors that they're traveling, they're about to experience something special as a as they enter historical downtown.

There's other benefits here.

You know, there's there's more room for staging and construction.

There's uh there's fewer utility obstructions.

Um we feel if we move forward with this option, RHAA would be well suited to continue to lead a design team.

They have a full team of consultants on board already.

Um they've already spent the initial time kind of reviewing with AAC, and we think they could deliver an excellent project here.

Uh the challenge really is uh limit limitation on funding.

So even if we move forward with a project at this location through coastal development permit approval, we anticipate there's probably another hundred thousand dollars in additional costs associated with development of construction drawings.

And although we've received some positive input from our potential donor, to date we have no guarantee of funding for construction.

The other option would be to move forward and and reallocate funds towards a project focused specifically on wayfinding and signage opportunities.

Um there's quite a bit of existing signage out on highway 92 and in various areas that as you can see is in dire need of some refreshment.

Um there's other locations where there's no existing signage, either within the right of Caltrans right-of-way or within private property or within city right-of-ways that that create other additional opportunities where we feel like there'd be um significant added benefit with with some wayfinding.

Umwayfinding has other benefits over kind of a gateway arch because it's much more flexible in terms of the structure that it's supported on.

It could be, as you can see, it could be something painted on a building, it can be located more easily within Caltrans right-of-way and and meet kind of more standard permit requirements that they have as opposed to an archway.

So there's there's better opportunity, it creates more opportunity along highway 92 and other locations within Caltrans right-of-way.

Um it's also notably a much more uh cost-effective project, so we could we get more bang for our buck with allocation of the funds in that direction.

Um, it's also something staff um can help more with in terms of permitting with with Caltrans.

I mean, we've we've have a lot of experience going through and just getting specific signage permit, and I think it's something that we can we can do and help to expedite.

Um, and then lastly, um through the end of March and kind of other discussions.

We've we've heard about other community um interest in pursuing with uh wayfinding and signage development in town.

And so we feel like a project that moves in this direction, staff could be well suited to work with the community and and develop something that's successful.

Okay, almost done.

So um given the feedback from the architectural advisory committee across two meetings and the expertise of the consultant and community feedback and engagement during those meetings.

Staff have three options for council's consideration.

Um the first option would be um staff's recommendation, which would be to prioritize the wayfinding.

In this scenario, uh we would reallocate the contractor's remaining balance.

Um it's 34,000 and some change, and unobligated funds, just under 17,000 towards a new scope of work focused on wayfinding signage only.

Um, the city would lead this effort.

We um as Dale just made the point are familiar with the permitting process.

This would be supported by a professional graphic design consultant, and the funds would cover that graphic design service, which I think would ensure a more cohesive product at the end, versus trying to address individual sites kind of willy-nilly based on our ability to leverage resources.

Um, it would also cover any needed easement negotiations, which we anticipate.

Like Dale said earlier, a lot of these signage opportunities exist in the city right of way and the Caltrains right of way on private property.

It's not a one-and-done that's very straightforward.

Also, there's the cost of installation of new signage and what that signage is and how much it costs is why we have that disclaimer if feasible.

Another option could be prioritizing the gateway monument, like we originally set out to do when we started this project based on all the feedback from the streetscape master plan and otherwise.

In this scenario, we would reallocate all the available funds towards continuing that those designs and technical studies for the gateway monument.

It would just be at that new location.

So it would be a shorter crosswalk, it would be more accessible by construction vehicles, no more intersection of 92 and highway one.

I'm sorry, in Main Street.

We could allocate some of the remaining funds towards a gateway monument, and then we could designate the rest of the funds towards a wayfinding signage effort.

But in this scenario, um both projects would require additional funding.

So they would both make headway, but they would both not be realized, which is why we didn't go with option three.

Um but we gave you a lot to consider, and we were um definitely not wanting to draw down any other funds or proceed without uh a visit to council.

Um we're looking for your guidance.

We welcome any clarifying questions you have, and that concludes our presentation.

Okay.

Um here's how we're gonna do this.

First we'll have counsel just ask clarifying questions only.

Then we have some public comments here.

We'll go to public comments, and then we'll have discussion.

Um can you go back to the options?

I'll start on some clarifying questions actually.

Just so I'm absolutely sure.

Number two.

Option two.

I want to make sure I understand some language we have here.

So when we're talking about additional, all the extra funding you've mentioned so far, back when you began your presentation, you said we need another 100,000.

It was for design.

Not the actual construction, correct?

Am I correct?

That's right.

So we keep talking about additional funds, maybe needed for design.

We're not even talking about the cost of construction, right?

I just want to clarify that for myself and everyone else, because that's kind of critical.

We're playing around the numbers here.

Great.

That's my number one clarifying question.

Oh, next, any clarifying questions?

Yeah.

When you talk about um the gate the wayfinding option, and you're talking about using graphic designers as well as RHAA.

You would eliminate RHAA and just go straight with graphic design.

Got it.

And do you have any idea what the total cost for that would be for them to come up with the design?

Um the cost for a graphic designer is gonna vary depending on how many opportunities we're looking at.

But um we've we've looked at comparable kind of RFPs from other cities and and find um scoping right in that range of the 40 to $50,000 for a small, for a small town for comparable town kind of wayfinding program of comparable scale.

Okay, and that is you're talking about maybe having a uh uh 10 to 15 signs.

Are we talking about that number?

We were we were looking at around 10 opportunity locations.

Yeah, okay.

Okay, thank you.

And as part of that effort, um staff would also kind of leverage our own ability to help with permitting.

So I mean, if if it's signage within Caltrans right-of-way, we we can prepare all the all the design drawings that are necessary to regardless of what's on the sign.

We we can handle that lift of getting the encroachment permit.

And and that's you know, that's that's well within our ability to alleviate a design team from having to do that.

Vice Mayor.

So if you go to San Francisco, say, and you're driving on 19th Avenue, or you're driving on, say, Geary, all the major streets, there's just a sign at the stoplight that says the name of the street.

It's on the light pole, usually.

Um, could you have not have a like a sign like the you see in San Francisco that says downtown with an arrow pointing left when you're coming westbound, or right when you're coming, you know, eastbound.

Just something hanging from the light fixture.

You know, you're sitting there at a red light, maybe, and you look up and oh, downtown's this way, you know, that kind of a thing, or um, you're going through, you see it, yeah.

You gotta do a U-turn down Highway One, but yeah, well, that would make a big sign.

But I mean, just downtown with an arrow.

Isn't that something possible?

I guess you would need a Caltrans encroachment permit for that.

Yeah, there are standards within Caltrans to allow for signage to to share kind of their their booms with their street lights, but there's limitations to that also.

But that's certainly something that we could incorporate into a project.

Yeah, I would certainly look at that.

That's just something simple, you know, and something people would see, you know, maybe not in enough time to make the right turn, but it still makes sense to me.

Can we move on to comments from the public?

Questions from public.

Great.

Okay.

So we will now um entertain.

Um I think we have four speakers here.

And again, um during this public um comment period, we will also have the same timing uh agenda that we did for public forum.

So each person will have three minutes with a two and a half minute warning, and then the second tone will be your three minutes are up.

Okay, great.

So our first person, Amber Stowe.

Good evening, Mayor Council, and city staff.

Um, thank you very much.

My name is Amber Stowe, and I am representing the paper crane.

We are in our 40th year of business in Half Moon Bay.

And um I was actually at that architectural advisory committee meeting on 313 with RHAA.

Um we saw very clearly that the approach on the westbound side of 92.

You could not see a single feature that they had proposed for the entrance to downtown.

And the original um reason that they were proposing an arch was for wayfinding.

The idea of a monument is a nice idea, um, but we have a very serious need for wayfinding to downtown.

There are a lot of lower-hanging fruit options that could be explored.

We have the traffic sign that's sitting on the westbound approach where it's uh it was warning of beach hazards during the winter time.

Um it talked about when school was going to start recently, it's used for pumpkin festival.

Something very simple could be a flashing sign, shopping beaches, shopping beaches on the weekend for when people are actually coming here for the reasons they're coming here.

There's wayfinding that we could possibly do at the corner of um Kelly and one on the fence for CUSD, pointing the way into downtown from the uh west side of downtown.

Um, there's there's a bunch of small things like this that could be done.

There's wayfinding in downtown itself that can point people to parking, not just on Main Street, but on Parisma and Johnston, so that people actually feel like they have a place to go when they're within downtown.

Um you know, even we could put a sign close to the coastal trail near the beaches where it stops being state beach property and starts being city beach property right at the end of Kelly, where Kelly Dead ends, um, showing visitors who are already at the beaches that there is a place to go shopping in downtown Half Moon Bay.

Um I think that there is a danger of very serious scope creep when it comes to a large monument like this, and I unfortunately think that this is not the right time to do such a thing when the whole proposed purpose of the arch in the first place was specifically for wayfinding for downtown.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Amber.

Um, our next speaker is uh Colleen Heading.

Good evening, council members, mayor, staff.

Um I was involved from the beginning with this project for the purpose, as Amber said, of wayfinding.

Um the architectural when we went to that meeting, we were super disappointed.

You know, we thought this was gonna be the great thing to have this arch and man, all our problems are gonna be solved.

And so that was super disappointing, and I would really recommend that like Amber said, we go with the wayfinding option because that's really what we need, and as a graphic designer who has currently a graphic design firm on the coast side, $50,000 is a really inflated city price.

Just FYI.

Some of us would be willing to donate graphic design time, um, have professional expertise doing that.

So there are ways around it, um, the cost of that option to keep those costs super low.

Um, as Amber said, there are ways to, there are properties, there are property owners on 92 who have volunteered uh space on their property for billboards, and we could have something professionally designed, a billboard before people get to the intersection.

That would probably be a quick and easy fix to a lot of these issues, and then as much as I would love to see a monument at the bridge, maybe we wrap that into the streetscape project while we're already redoing the streets and all that design that comes with that.

So I would really recommend the wayfinding situation, and we can certainly talk about a very cost effective way to get that done.

Thank you, Colleen, appreciate that.

Uh next speaker is Betsy Del Pierre.

Good evening, everybody.

First, I have to say, thank you.

What a job you guys, you five of you do.

You're giving all your time, and we appreciate it.

Wow, I could never do that.

So thank you very much.

Okay, um, I'm also here to speak on this subject.

So, first of all, I think we're all frustrated with this the fact that we've spent 48,976 on this work to find out basically that it's not gonna work.

I think everybody agrees with that.

But we have to ask ourselves.

We're talking about two different things.

We're talking about wayfinding, and then we're talking about beauty, the archway, the monuments.

Those are beautiful, those are meant to entice, invite, excite, bring people into Half Moon Bay.

But first, we have to show them how to get there.

So wayfinding is what we need now.

Smart wayfinding signage done by smart local graphic design people that know our town, that love our town, that are familiar with the patterns of our town would be a good way to go, I think.

So again, maybe we need to think about the beautiful sign, the archway.

I'd love to have it all eventually.

I'd love a monument on 92 as you come into uh Half Moon Bay in the median.

I'd love an archway on Main Street.

But for right now, let's think of some really effective wayfinding.

And Debbie, your idea above, you know, if Caltrans lets us put a sign up there, downtown this way, beaches that way.

I think that should be explored.

I'm not sure RHAA has given us the right bang for our buck.

I'd press harder with them.

I don't think they've given you what you need, frankly.

That's my opinion.

Um, maybe we should just pause and really think about how to move forward here.

Remembering who we are, remembering the little town we are.

We don't have to compare ourselves to big cities because we're not that.

So I wouldn't look there for advice or inspiration.

Um, and then finally, in in this effort, I hope you're you're tingling with excitement to also beautify downtown.

We need cleaner streets, guys.

We need Republic to do their job, okay?

And we need better banners, and we need um better garbage situation.

That's a whole other subject that we'll be talking to you about soon.

But thank you.

Thank you all for your efforts and for this time to put my opinion forth.

Thank you, Betsy.

Appreciate that.

Next speaker is Nancy Fontana.

Hi, thank you.

Um, I happened to go to the March meeting by accident.

I thought it was going to something else, and it was it was interesting.

Um, and I was a little surprised.

The idea of the huge archway at 92 I thought was a real mistake, but I do believe that that's what the group was tasked to do was to design something at 92.

So I don't I don't completely agree with that criticism because I think when they were given a task, they did it, and that's what happened.

I do agree with the business owners here that the the during that meeting it was interesting because it did become clear it was two separate things.

An archway is a welcome, it means you've gotten there, but again, like you said, they first have to get there, and so the wayfinding should I think come first, uh cost-wise, it's you know, it's a lot cheaper, and someday an archway.

And I was very supportive of an archway moving further in on Main Street because 92 is uh visual, there's so much visual clutter, and the only one that's gonna really have a time to see it are the people stopped on the north side of the intersection facing on Maine because they're stopped there for a while.

But the people turning, they don't have time to be looking at Bring.

Oh, yeah, welcome to that.

You know, you don't have time.

And having commuted over 92 for many years, I can re-I knew my way to downtown Half Moon Bay, okay.

So I because I did it every day.

But if people are driving over 92 and they're, you know, they're trying to get wherever they're trying to get, and the kids are in the car, and people have to go to the restroom, whatever's happening, they just want to get through that intersection.

There are there's too much going on visually, and they have to pay attention traffic wise.

Once you get on Main Street, you can feel the blood pressure go down, and that's where you can have the more welcoming part of the project.

But the the first they have to get there.

So I do support them on that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nancy.

Our last speaker is Crystal Geet from our Chamber of Commerce.

Hello, Crystal in the Coastal Chamber of Commerce.

Um, like my colleagues, I would like to support switching the focus to wayfinding signage.

Um, but I would also like to request that the funding that is left over in that project, the 16,000 and 34,000, um, be held for permitting and implementation, because as was noted before, we actually have designers on the coast who are willing to donate that $50,000 worth of time and expertise, and it's actually already started.

So we did not know that this was coming up on this agenda, and we've actually asked to do a presentation for the next city council on the work that we've been doing together collectively as the beautification committee, the chamber, the downtown association, and um with some help from city council and city staff.

So by way of downtown association meetings and collective um conversations that we've been having.

Um so much of this work has actually already started and is much farther down the road than people might think that it is, and we would love the opportunity to work with city staff to see it through and help save the costs that are unneeded bearance on the city in light of everything that is going on with um all of the many projects the city has to deal with.

This is one that's actually kind of easy for us to help take part of it off of your plate and allow city staff to focus on the harder parts, which is the permits, um, and many of us have spoken to the landlords and landowners and have already gotten permission as noted the signs that were seen there, whether they were put there by beautification, we've gotten permission to redo them.

We also have help with three professional sign makers to make sure that the things that we bring forward and work with everybody on are actually feasible and viable, and as a part of this, we strongly recommend that a signage program and banner program be combined into one so that everything is cohesive and we stop doing onesie twosies things because we only have a couple bucks here and there, similar to the streetscapes plan.

We need a big beautiful plan.

Lastly, there's banner poles at Maine.

We're working with Moz to put teardrop banners on there, so at least there'll be something there until a beautiful RPC can go there.

Thank you.

Thank you, Crystal.

Appreciate that.

Okay, so that ends our public comment.

Time for discussion by council about the options or anything in addition.

Yes, yeah, I appreciate everything that the um business operators and our chamber and our um graphic designers have said tonight.

Um my sense when I came into the meeting tonight was we don't need a monument, we need wayfinding.

The idea of the monument as you expressed, um, was as a wayfinder.

That was why we were talking about a big monument over 92.

I have an objection to a big monument anyway.

When I look at what was done in the past, uh that photograph that we have of old Half Moon Bay with the the uh cranes and the half moon bay sign on it, that didn't look like Half Moon Bay then, and it certainly doesn't look like Half Moon Bay now.

Um, as I enter Half Moon Bay, one of the things that I am enjoying is looking here and there and finding my own way.

Not that we don't need banners and signs to tell us where to go, because I already know, but a big monument isn't gonna tell me I've entered a special place.

What's gonna tell me I've entered a special place is to embrace what we already have here, which is a small town feel, which is places like feed and fuel, which is, you know, the San Benito house.

It's with it's all of the different little homey places that we've got here.

So I am I am not so sure I even want to entertain the idea of a monument.

Um at any rate, that's a secondary question that my I am strongly in favor of wayfinding.

I think that a unified approach to that is critical.

Uh as um Chrislin put it, you know, little bits in here, little one kind of sign on on for one item and another kind of sign for another item doesn't help us.

A uniform single brand, our Half Moon Bay brand, is what we need to be developing and what we need to be putting our money into.

And I think I'd love the idea of using local folks to help us get there.

I don't know that we can do that in an official way.

I don't know how we do that.

Um we don't want ever to show favoritism from you know from the city toward one particular group of people, even if you are the best graphic designer in the world.

So maybe we need to have some sort of an RFP that goes out again to pick a firm.

Um I think that if we're talking about wayfinding, the most important places we can do wayfinding are going to be on Highway 1 and Highway 92, well in advance of the 92 and main street intersection, but not stopping there, continuing there.

So the you have to when you're at um, say the um Casa del Mar neighborhood, and you're coming south on Highway One, the first signs telling you Half Moon Bay is up ahead, same thing with downtown with uh South South Highway One.

Right when you see the downtown um monument that they've got that we've got at um Higgins Canyon, it ought to be starting there with Highway 92, it's gotta start on the west, it's gotta start well before you even drop down into Half Moon Bay, and it's gotta be on both sides of the street, and it's gotta be repeated and repeated and repeated so that people who are looking at something else, who are looking at their phone, who are listening to the radio and are gonna miss the first two signs, the first, the third sign, are gonna see the fourth sign.

So that's those are my feelings, and I think that um I think using local talent would be fabulous.

Um I love that idea.

I just like to see us find a way to do that that is fair and uh legal both.

Yeah, I'm in favor of option one, which is wayfinding.

I think we need to guard against like too many signs because I think there's already sufficient sign clutter out there, so I don't think we want, like a lot of signs, but I think we want signs that are strategically placed with a common design theme, and I'm really impressed that we have a lot of talent sitting here tonight and in our own community who have a very good feel for what our community is about, and I think that's that will better serve us than outside consultants.

So I agree.

If we can find a way to do that, that's legal.

I I think we should do that.

Um not just to save money, but because it involves community engagement.

You know, we're working on something together to make something good.

You know, those of us who are already here, we're working together on something good.

So I like that irregardless of the price, but yes, we need to be you know cost conscious.

So I just want to thank everybody for coming down tonight.

And uh, you know, I'm happy to move forward with option one.

Um I put a lot of time and effort into this because I really feel this is important for us, and the archway, the monument didn't really excite me over, you know, the main street.

I was looking at uh I'm gonna go with a couple things that I heard tonight, like beach educating our our town.

Basically, people go to the beach, they usually beeline it straight to the beach.

I think that's a great idea, and thank you for bringing that up.

Educate them there at that point with um, you know, the scanners or whatever you do with the phones, whatever it takes.

You guys know more than I do on that.

Lead them from the beach to the downtown.

Uh, the monument and the median, I think it's a great idea.

Somebody brought that up.

I didn't think about that, but in Truckee, they have a lot of that going on with their roundabouts, they have monuments, they have trouts, they have fish, whatever, just to promote what Truckee.

And I use that because I go up there all the time.

Of course, we have our pumpkin.

Uh Cameron has the one that he paid, like 4,000, which was a Peter Hazel, his first pumpkin he ever did.

Uh I talked to him, he's big into Burning Man.

His things go for 40,000 now.

But he's a local guy, and people are utilizing Burning Man art.

I know that sounds weird, but if you go to the San Francisco, the mesh lady, that's from Burning Man.

If you go to the Golden Gate Park, the dragon, that's from Burning Man.

If we can jump on that bandwagon right now and do something creative with Peter Hazel, who's a local and has already agreed to it.

I think we should include that.

I know all this finding bids and all that stuff.

I get all that, but I'm just gonna go with some people that I've already talked to.

I'm not pushing that way, I'm just saying I've got ideas and people that we can contact.

We've got uh Keith Nearhand's building, which was shown on the picture here earlier, which is the one right by the Pillar Sidos um uh cemetery, which he has one of I think it's uh Keith Impink's original design that was on that building.

I think we should move that out of the way and put in a large arrow and have Julie doing something very creative who did the IDS paintings or another artist who we can get more and get bids in.

I create a mural on that wall, leading people saying take a left on historic main street.

I definitely think we should be doing over the lights right by Texaco and fix the wires that are hanging down.

It looks like crap.

Put a sign that says historic downtown to the left, main street to the right.

I think we should utilize that if we can get Altran Caltrans approval.

Um the sign over by Keith Impink, did also was the one that's also shown on this picture is the one over by Cameron's on the cross street.

He did an old classic design.

I brought that forward to the group.

It had this Disneyland kind of look to it, old school, but not I'm not saying we should go that way, but it had that historical look to it, which is kind of like falling apart now.

He presented a new version, a new up to date one, which we've all we have in our possession.

If you guys want to see it at some point, and be staying consistent is what he was doing also, because the same sign that you see over by Cameron's is the same one that you see at Menidas's property.

So everything kind of phases together, and as you go to Main Street, they're all that wooden structure look and that old historical look.

So it's one, two, three.

Definitely highly recommend that we stay in sync with the same sequential the whole way through, utilizing local artists.

That that's what we have been doing in the past.

So let's continue with that tradition that know our town and know what our town is about and pull in that kind of recognition.

Uh let's see.

Uh oh, the sign on the left side as you're coming.

The first sign you're gonna see when you come into town is basically gonna say half home bay on our population.

We should be able to try to get something below that historical downtown district, like you do when you go to a national park or something that could we could say that because we have the bridge that's historical, the brown and white signs or whatever.

So that's your first one.

Then you come down and you're gonna see the one to the left, which I'm not too keen on, and thank you, staff, and public works for cleaning and cutting the weeds down because now that pathway is exposed, that sign's more exposed.

But when you look at the logo that's there, and I talked to Keith, you only have three seconds to figure out what the logo is.

I to this day really didn't get it until I rode my bike down there and I'm looking at the logo, it's downtown.

It's a picture of downtown.

We need something that's quick, three seconds.

Then you have to the right, you have Keats, which granted us to utilize the incoming large structure that says welcome to the Half Moon Bay, with these tiny little signs that says Main Street this way and that way or whatever, and we need to utilize better that structure.

That structure is being obstructed with three trees that are now growing that were bushes, and now they're pretty much trees.

Those trees need to go because you can't really see that as you're driving up.

You see the old white billboard, and then all of a sudden you come up and you see the structure that says half moon bay.

I've asked Keith to clean that area, and he if you look at those old photos, you'll see the old rusted out fences that were the white fences.

He did that, he got that going.

He keeps saying that he's gonna take down that white billboard and those three trees at some point, but I don't want him getting in trouble.

If that's a Caltrans thing, I definitely need to make sure that we work with him on that.

And then as you come down further down, you're gonna look to the right, you'll see the Pillar Ceto Cemetery.

There's another sign.

So one, two, three, the whole way through.

And then on the other side, we talked about menitis, and we talked about the bike cameras.

Consistency is key, and I think coming up with a plan, and Chrislin had a great on Friday.

We went through everything, and she showed us some ideas, preliminaries, they're being very creative.

I think we should definitely work local, and we should try to utilize what we can to get things moving now.

Keep our town clean, get those medians kind of worked up if we can, get the irrigation working.

If they're not working, we need to get it going.

And go back to what we used to do back in the day when we first got those mediums done.

Do you remember how nice and bright that the DG was, and it was it looked like sand?

It was it's while you're waiting in traffic, you're happy to sit there and look at the mediation.

I think that's a key thing in our town right now.

That's it.

Thank you.

Paul.

Thank you, downtown for uh sharing um and hearing also from the fellow council members.

I think there's support on the wayfinding.

I too support the wayfinding.

I think gateway is a uh a bigger project or something.

We can you know, do and I heard some uh some movement to try and put a teardrop banners, maybe or flags on the existing banner poles.

I assume the gateway would go similar to where the banner poles are, which may or may not work just because we already know the utilities aren't there because that's why the banner poles are there.

So, you know, it might be a good location.

I don't even know if you could reuse the foundations, but maybe maybe not.

Who knows?

But I think we could do something in the interim.

I think there's some great ideas.

I'm amazed how much work has already been done.

I think it's fantastic to we find out a way to take advantage of that.

I believe though, regardless of what we do, I would assume some specific sign program would still have to go to the planning commission.

Right?

Yeah, no matter what we want to do, there's got to be a process.

Right.

So there is there.

So I think we we we gotta agree on what the signs will be, and we can bring that.

That would probably go to the planning commission.

And I know from past experience, you know, if you stick to Caltrans right-a-ways, you're not gonna be able to do pretty nice signs.

There, they're they have and I get it.

They just stay very, you know, they want what it's usually the blue or brown, and they want breakaway and they have their own rules.

So it's fantastic.

Folks have already been talking to people on private property, because that's something that usually is the most difficult when it when we go approaching, but if you've you know you have relationships in and they're all in, I think we need to take advantage of that.

I'm trying to understand um there's a presentation I heard, uh, Chris Lynn that you mentioned you have you you're wanting to present something to the council showing us some sign programs you've already or some some things you've already initiated or potential possibilities that we could do.

I I guess I thought I heard that something, and I don't know if should we see that before we officially do something, or can we give enough direct and I'm trying to decide I'm thinking out loud enough direction tonight if we all agree it's wayfinding, and I think I've been hearing uh wayfinding were we're looking at that, and then if there's something we can do where we can partner with some of the work that's already been done, or some of the work that needs to be done, and I try to take advantage of you know what is happening out there and the enthusiasm that comes from local, you know, grow local, build up whatever we can do to have that in place, and then I think eventually whatever sign program comes up, then that will go through its own process through the planning commission.

You know, whether it's in Caltrans right away or not, that that's that's kind of a different animal, I think, than uh things we can the pretty signs we can put on private property.

So, again, I'm trying to figure out ways to take advantage of that.

Should we and talk about should we see this presentation if it is coming next meeting to see what that looks like, or can we just we know enough, you know what?

Let's just move ahead.

I'm trying to figure out what direction we could provide to staff to utilize, you know, working with the um the businesses that have already started.

It sounds like there's been a lot of work already done, you know, process.

So I'm trying to think about all that.

Maybe Matthew can help out there, you know, if council agrees that that's something we should do.

And um I think it's fantastic.

I Patrick, it's great to hear, you know your enthusiasm, just you're just seeing things.

I I want to um, you know, it's it's it's amazing what people come to Half Moon Bay, right?

It's the beach and they sit in uh traffic for a long time, and I've watched this.

They go down to the beach and then 10 minutes there's they're underdressed, they're done, they want to leave, and that I think that's great.

Find ways to capture them down there.

You know, that that's whatever in our control.

I don't know if we can get the state beaches to agree to something, but you know, we have our own beach parking uh poplar.

We also have a stretch of beach down there, you know.

That's still again.

I will bring up that's something else for us to maintain, so I want to be careful what we put down there because that you know it adds to us.

But I I'm very supportive, you know what we can do to encourage folks.

Uh what I tell them bring your checkbooks, bring your credit cards.

Can we take cash even, you know, come on down?

So, um again, I'm I'm very supportive of the wayfinding to do that at this time and how we can take advantage of working, you know, some kind of city partner with uh the downtown group that's been working on this.

Yes, question about how how we legally go ahead with the group that's already come up with some ideas.

Do we need an official RFP to go out?

What do we need?

Well, I was asking staff.

Yeah, but I have some comments to make uh I just have a couple of comments I wanted to make.

Then we'll get to that.

Um volunteerism is still legal in Half Moon Bay.

Okay, so um, which is great.

I'm hearing some incredible, and and frankly, for me it's a no-brainer.

Um I think having local volunteers, you get a different kind of creativity than you do from hired outside firms.

Um and there's a just people who love the area, people who want to contribute, people who are not only volunteers, but they're actually business owners downtown.

You know, this is great.

We have a downtown association, it meets once a month.

I could, you know, see that maybe there'll be a you know separate group that can meet a little more often and start presenting stuff, and have a website where, hey, here's some ideas we're thinking about, and come up with some, you know, central themes.

You know, what's because you know, a real integrated economic development plan, you know, will have some themes about you know what what's this symbol of historic Half Hoon Bay, which then the businesses downtown, you know, can integrate into that.

Hey, we're this restaurant of historic halfhoon, hey, we're this and that.

You have a great image, you have a great symbol.

Um, which, you know, people really build a lot of excitement.

I feel the ownership to a large extent really belongs with the business owners downtown, right?

They have the greatest stake.

And I really trust that the ideas that volunteers come up with in the businesses will come up with will be you know very appealing to Half Moon Bay public because we want to make sure our own folks like to come downtown, and we again we can build that whole marketing plan around that, right?

Um, so and in terms of you know the gateway, you know, I'm glad there's been some you know research by you know an outside firm about what building it could look like, but I'll tell you when I hear that, well, there's a donor and there's supporting it.

The word support is really different to me from a firm commitment, frankly, financially, and that style sounds very iffy.

And what if that donor disappears or wants to do something else?

So I'm very hesitant to start relying too much on um, you know, getting people's expectations around something, which we know the funding at this point in time is very questionable.

So why not put all the effort that people have and the excitement about what we can do?

And you know, everything that has been mentioned by my fellow council members are just great ideas that we can integrate, and there can be that connection between staff and downtown association about hey, you know, here's some cool things we can do, things that are legal, figure out the stuff with counter rents, um, and um, yeah, and just the volunteer aspect of it sometimes really gets you some of the best ideas possible.

So I'm loving it.

Um option one, you know, definitely we have a consensus here, obviously.

And um, and I'll be I'm gonna start coming to your downtown meetings and just want to hear it all.

I just love hearing all the creative ideas and we'll start connecting as many boy, we got some really creative artists.

I mean, we got folks, you know, from all kinds of um what did you mention from um yeah, burning man?

Can't can't compete with the creativity of burning man folks.

So uh I like it.

And um, so yeah, thank you.

Thank you for uh coming tonight.

And really, what is it?

You know, just takes a few people, you know, famous quote, a few dedicated people to make change.

That's what's always.

Margaret Mead's quote.

So here's a great example.

It's what always has worked.

So thank you.

And um go back to um Deborah's question about it.

Yeah, please.

Um, I never ever meant to imply that I didn't want volunteers helping us.

For God's sake, it's the best thing about Half Moon Bay is the fact that we are a town of volunteers.

Um no, my question was how can we do this in a way?

Is there any legal constraint to it?

Um, if not, I am a hundred percent for it.

I think it's fabulous that you've done all the work that you've done so far.

I know it's quality work, because you're quality people, and I know the work that you've done too has been quality work.

So um I'm I wanted to ask, just can we do it?

Is it possible for us to do it?

That's all.

Yeah, yeah.

And I think in a situation like this, we have a lot of flexibility.

Um, you know, Catherine and I were just talking, and and really the main constraint would be just around our purchasing policy.

Well, our purchasing policy.

Well, if it's free or very low cost, we have a lot more flexibility.

The more expensive something becomes, the more processes required to prevent favoritism and you know the the things that used to happen in in the good old days, um, or the good bad the battle days.

Um, and so I you know, and obviously the folks you heard from tonight are people that we work with on a very regular basis.

So um I think there could be different pieces of this project, you know, the implementation.

You know, maybe somebody's not gonna donate, you know, free signs or or free painting, and you know, we may reach that point where if it costs thirty or forty thousand dollars to actually install some of the signage, we will have to go out for some sort of formal bid process.

But when we're talking about the design and people wanting to share their creative experience, that's that's easy.

Um I think one thing that'll be crucial is to ensure that we create a process with them that is still inclusive, involves community input, and it's really transparent, so it comes back to the council regularly.

So um I I'm interested to see this presentation that has been offered, and I think there's it would be easy for staff to sit down with the group and figure out an item that we could bring back to council and share that presentation and start that discussion.

You know, as I've heard, you know, tonight's item doesn't have a resolution attached.

We we asked you know, we wanted you to get this update and provide some feedback and direction.

I think it's abundantly clear where we're headed.

Um we have funding that ideally is as was shared by Crystal and could be used towards implementation depending on how much support we can get from the community.

So, I have one last thing to the mayor.

Um Julie has told me on the sign that on the pillar citoes backside.

I don't know if your mic is on, Patrick, cannot hear you.

Uh Julie told me that uh, and I think Matthew, she contacted you.

Um she has a donor that will pay partial for that sign on where the Pilotitos cemetery is the back side of Keats.

Uh the one she shared with me would be potentially on the right-aid.

Only right aid, okay.

But I I think it's they're they're similar.

Okay, and that's another mural that we're in negotiating, but that's that's a good example of the cost of that.

If the city were involved in it, we would have no choice but to go out.

We can't just sole source that, okay.

Um, and and her and I have talked about it.

She gets that.

She was part of a process with us previously.

So thanks.

Well, but couldn't the private property owners just do it themselves?

I mean, they're they'd have to go through the the planning process.

But yeah, if if the city's not funding it, yeah.

Okay.

So do we want to bring up option one and just um again on the screen?

There we go.

Do we need to do any noodling here on um where we're gonna put these funds, the remaining contract?

Well, we don't have to make that decision now, right?

Motion to approve option one.

Second.

Let's have a vote.

That's a yes for sure.

Councilmember Johnson.

Councilmember Johnson?

Yes.

Councilmember Nagengast?

Yes.

Councilmember Penrose.

Absolutely.

Vice Mayor Reddick?

Yes.

Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Okay.

That's 1010.

Moving right along.

Item 10 C, Highway 1, North's CIP project design agreement amendment.

All right.

So yeah.

Do we need uh staff report on that?

How about a short stamp?

188,000.

I'll try and be brief.

I'm an engineer though, so it's perilous territory.

No penalty for brevity.

Good evening again.

So this item is regarding our Highway 1 North Safety and Operation Improvement Project, also known as Highway One North.

We have a resolution tonight specific to our lead consultant and an amendment to their contract, but we're going to give the there's a larger discussion here regarding the project and where we're at from a budgeting and funding standpoint.

So just a brief overview of the project as it exists today.

So the project includes uh several major components along Highway One between North Main Street and Spindrift Way.

Um the most notable feature is a new intersect uh new uh traffic signal intersection at Terrace Avenue and Highway One.

Part of this was motivated by the Pacific Ridge subdivision, which you can see in this exhibit kind of at the eastern limits of Terrace Avenue up on the hill there.

You can see where the subdivision layout is.

Um in addition to the intersection, we have a new Class One bike multi multi-trail on the east side of the highway from North Main up to Spindrift.

Um the section between Main and Terrace Avenue, there's significant change in grade there along the shoulder.

If you drive it, you see the road.

So there's um a series of terraced retaining walls there to help support the widening of the highway as well as the new bike path.

Um on the west side of on the west side of the highway, um, there's some reconfiguration of the existing bike path to make way for a connection to the Terrace Avenue intersection from the north with an extension of the frontage road through the Andreotti kind of pumpkin farm there where the existing turnout onto the highway exists today, and also from the south, Grand Boulevard would would head northward and tie into that same intersection.

Um here you can see kind of a street view of the existing condition at Terrace, and the lower image is a is a rendering of kind of the the proposed condition.

Uh so here you could see kind of the realignment of the southbound class one trail as well as the extension of the frontage road to this intersection and and kind of off in the distance you see where uh Grand Boulevard kind of comes up from the south.

Um this intersection also provides kind of this mid-block crossing, allowing pedestrians east-west from the neighborhood and access to the northbound bus stops.

Um, similar image looking at main street uh northward.

Uh, you could see to the right of the image where the class one extends kind of parallel to the existing highway and and drops down following existing grade with that retaining wall condition.

Um, then some minor improvements at the center island here.

Um, the the new traffic signal at main street and the new signal at Terrace Avenue are tied together and will be synchronized as part of the project.

This is kind of just an overview of some of the stages of construction you can see.

Um, so stage one, which is probably the largest area, although it's probably the least impact from a traffic standpoint because it it primarily considers um the widening of the right-of-way on the west side of of the highway where where the existing trail is now, so it's not impacting lanes at that point.

It's also gonna include the northern third of the northbound class one trail.

Um, stage two is probably the biggest impact from a from a traffic standpoint because it involves the um that area that you see in orange between Main Street and Silver.

Um that's that's where we have the most grading activity to create that class one, where we have that significant drop in grade today.

So there's significant amount of grading there, um construction of two terraced retaining walls.

It's part of that work.

There's significant encroachment into the existing kind of travel lanes there where we're we're we're still working with Caltrons on how we're gonna mitigate that through kind of construction staging.

Class stage three includes completion of the intersection at Terrace and the connection from Grand from Grants and the frontage road.

And then stage four and five are primarily just cleanup stages to to replace kind of temporary improvements with the final build out of the trail realignment and some island improvements.

Okay so um this project has been a long haul.

I think in 2018 we received sequel approval and our coastal development permit we also received approvals on from the water board and CDFW on impacts to sensitive areas in early 2025 we received the go ahead from the green light from Caltrans to move forward from our 95% phase to our 100% submittal which which our design team put together and submitted in early 2025.

At the same time we had begin work on the utility relocation that's needed for the project so there's I think four utility poles out on the east side of the highway that were impacted by the new trail.

So there was significant work with Caltrans in order to kind of resolve those conflicts and shift the poles out of out of the out of the area where they're in conflict.

There's also a couple of existing hydrants on the west side that also needed to be relocated but that work was all done and completed in early 2025.

We've also been we also completed coordination with Caltrans on their shop project that's their multi-asset resurvicing project from Moss Beach down to the south end of town which they're they've completed bidding and I believe they awarded the project and they're scheduled to start construction this fall yeah so Mark Thomas has been our design consultant from the start um this project has grown and changed significantly since its inception in 2019.

I mentioned the design exception associated with the with the power poles and the relocation work that was a pretty significant scope item that required a lot of involvement from and when I say Mark Thomas I don't mean just them as a consultant I mean them and their whole design team so that includes their surveyors their landscape design consultant their their their traffic signal consultant their electrical consultant so all those consultant services are tied under Mark Thomas's contract.

So these amendments all kind of reflect the full the full design team and changes that they've had to make throughout the project.

So to date we've had six contract amendments tonight's tonight's item is is considering amendment seven to their contract and this is in response to our 100% design submittal to Caltrans which was earlier earlier than 2025.

So there's three main funding sources for this project the the largest contributor has been San Mateo County Transportation Authority.

So they started allocating funds for this project back in 2012 before we even started or when we were just getting into environmental and conceptual design and those funds were contingent on getting our coastal development permit approved and our sequel process approved and so I think in 2019 once once those processes were done they they started to we we entered agreements with the TAA for for initial design funds and preliminary construction funds.

In 2022 they added an additional 4 million dollars to their original construction budget which got us to the 8.4 you see up there.

Um city the city funds have primarily been our our our match contribution to um for those for those TA grants um and then the Pacific Ridge subdivision I mentioned um had a series of impact fees associated with um the impact and requirement to create a to build a new intersection at Terrace Avenue as well as just general traffic impacts which amounted to 3.1 million.

On the right hand side you could see project expenses to date um so the we have um we have the project has kind of exceeded its its original design budget and has been dipping into the construction budget um for some time now but um yeah I'll just leave it at that um so this is the this is the tough part um we're we're at a bit of a crossroads here with this project um we had construction cost estimates in 2020 at I think eight million dollars and in 2022 it went up to 10 or 11 million dollars and so I mean and as I think council is aware construction costs have gone up considerable significantly since then um at the beginning of 2025 we had another estimate um which was kind of our first red flag that uh costs had gone up to around 14 million based on based on their um current data that they had and and changes in scope of the project at that point in time from the hundred percent submittal um even since February in 2025 um with with Caltrans shop project we we've gotten access to even more recent bid data looking at what contractors are coming in at and pricing asphalt and other materials at today or I guess our last estimate from July of this year put our construction cost at uh 19.2 million dollars so combined with uh the anticipated cost of construction support hiring consultants for construction management geotechnical services material testing um as well as kind of support from our consultants through uh preparation of bid documents and response to contractor questions and um any value engineering that goes in through the bidding process we're looking at currently we have a budget shortfall of about 11.2 million um so the good news is we've we've shared all of this info with with our original grant funder the uh transportation authority um and they've expressed strong support for the project they they this has been on their as I mentioned this has been on their list since 2012 um that they've been wanting to see this project completed um and I'm gonna turn it over to Maz he can provide a little bit more detail about uh those discussions and where we're at thank you Dale um I just wanted to mention that yes this so there's going to be an additional call for highway pro highway uh improvement project funding um from the SMCTA that's uh shown here on September 12th so we will be bringing back a resolution of support to submit for that grant opportunity we've been talking with the TA staff in advance of this um funding shortfall um because we all we obviously wanted to make them aware of where we're at what we're looking for and so um as part of the conversation um there's gonna be a local match requirement um that there'd be they'd be looking for as well um generally it's 10% so 10% of 11.2 is you know 110,000 dollars um we could be at as low as um we could be looking at I'm sorry a 1.1 million we could be looking as low as five percent um uh but realistically we need to provide something and that's something that we're gonna be um looking at internally and bringing back as part of that resolution of support prior to the submission of the September 12th.

So there'll be we'll be back with more information on where we're looking at um utilizing funding sources um it's we could be looking at um some gas tax funding that we can use for um roads and and and highways we have our street uh fund that is uh that's been something that's accumulated over time we can look at our impact fees and what's available still, but um well, we'll do that due diligence work and come back with a uh proposal as part of that submittal.

Um, so we'll be back with more information on that one um as we move forward.

But we given where we are, we wanted to provide that update to council as far as what's going on and where we're what we're trying to get to.

Um, and then um as far as the timing of everything, that's where we are we're hoping to be able to go out for construction um September of 2026, but a lot of that's contingent on funding, obviously, and then the other pieces, the final sign-off from Caltrance.

Um, and the reason why we're asking for more additional funding, it's uh touched on in the staff report.

We didn't go into a lot of detail in the presentation, but we've gotten uh in an increasingly an alarming amount of comments from Caltrans after the fact.

Um, when we get from 95% to 100% generally, you're doing final tweaks.

We had 112 comments, which is pretty outrageous.

Um we've let Caltrans know, we've let the San Mateo uh County Transportation Authority know, and we're meeting up.

We're we're going to be meeting with the TA and Caltrans higher level staff to determine some of these um comments.

Some of them are realistic and understandable.

Some of them are seem to be throwaway costs.

So we we really need to have that conversation that's gonna be part of that.

Um, and then ultimately, beyond that, we're gonna have we're gonna be coming back to council for final approval before we go out to bid for this project.

Um, at that point, we'll have a updated estimate.

Um, at that point, we would have construction funding secured.

Um, so we're gonna be coming back to council a couple more times with um this project as we move forward.

Um, don't want to without spending too much more time going over this.

Um, so again, our recommendation is to award this amendment number seven so we can finalize uh the remaining um contract requirements um and permitting.

Get received that encouragement permit um as we continue to uh work on the funding for construction.

I think that's it for us.

If you have any questions, we're happy to answer.

So, what would we do if we don't get the uh transportation authority money?

I mean, I think we will, they're they're a good partner.

They've been committed all the way through.

But what would we do if for some reason that money didn't come through?

We would I mean that's a great question, and I think we have to continue seeking uh funding opportunities.

There's gonna be highway safety improvement funding that's coming through from the state level and federal government, um, those come through I think every two year cycles.

Uh we had, I think there was one last year, and there'll be another one next year.

So there's the ATP in the ATP is another one.

Um, the active transportation program, uh, that's a state-funded um uh uh funding opportunity that's pretty significant.

Um although I will say this um I hopefully I don't get in trouble with our TA staff.

This is an older project that is has been on the books for so long.

As they're phasing away from measure A to measure W, this is one of the few projects remaining that is eligible for that measure A funding.

So there is a chunk of change there that they would love to utilize and spend down.

So because we are on that old list, we are eligible for that older funding.

So that's a great question.

If we don't get all the funding we need, then we that would be part of the conversation.

Do we have the local means?

Likely not.

It's pretty tight already to come up with local match.

I think the function the our function would be to start looking at other funding sources at with larger with larger entities and grantors.

Great.

Thanks for that answer.

Then in the resolution, um, it talks about basically the history of the project.

What I would like to know is so what happened between October 4th, 2012 and uh 2018.

There's like six years there.

When this first project comes up, that's what we start moving forward on.

That's a great question.

So what happened?

Um, so I I came on board in 2018, and um, but I will I can share a little bit of what happened.

So 2012, highway one, this highway one project was not just this scope that you see here, it was actually a much larger scope that that actually went all the way down to the southern uh main street highway one intersection.

And so what happened between 12 and 18 was these two projects separated into two separate projects.

Um in the middle of that, Poplar Street was also part of it.

It was unsignalized at the point at that point, but obviously Caltrans came and did some improvements there, so that kind of came off the list too.

So then what happened between 12 and 18 was those two things became two separate projects.

The highway one south, as you all know, did move forward with construction.

It was built in 20 uh 2020, and I mean it's amazing the funding, the how this construction funding has changed.

Five years, that's what we're talking about, right?

That project was three and a half million dollars.

Right now, I think if you bid that project, it's probably close to seven smaller scope scale you don't have the retaining wall elements that we have on highway one north but it's just really telling about the economic climate we're dealing with.

But that's what happened as far as the timing there.

And so uh since 2018 there was a lot of utility relocations.

We didn't have the same amount of utility relocations on the South project.

That was one component that slowed us down quite a bit and then unfortunately this um back and forth with Caltrans has really not been helpful either.

Very useful history.

Then I just want to say I was glad to hear that you're you're pushing back on all the recent you know comments from Caltrans.

I think you really need to set the record straight with them about you know stuff you've already cleared with them and um you know try to minimize any additional changes.

I'm glad they're working on that glad to hear that.

Uh I it's really tough with Caltrans.

I worked on a project with them five different project managers in 18 months.

It's a tough agency to work with so thanks for hanging in there.

That's all I got.

Yeah.

The contract amendment for Mark Thomas is that for work that's already been done.

They've they've started a little bit but not not the majority of it and they did it knowing that there was a potential that the you know something could you know could happen.

But they were willing to do some of the work.

We've held on a lot of the work because obviously I don't I don't we don't want to authorize any additional work without the funding um allocation.

Yeah that's I guess that's the point of my question.

If if we're waiting for um CMTC TA to uh you know give us a grant to give us the money uh can we avoid spending money with Mark Thomas in the meantime until we have to it's um I hear your concern and your point well taken um we want to be as close to being able to go out to bid for this project so it is imperative for us to m work on both tracks.

And because we have even though we are dipping dipping into our construction funding which has been actually we've we've had those conversations with the TA we didn't start taking the money from the construction without checking in with the grantor to make sure that that was okay.

And so that's why we've been you doing that and now we're at the point where we kind of need to finish the package get the encryption permit from Caltrans and get the funding at the same time with the uncertainty of construction bidding we want to be able to have both of those in hand ideally at right at the same time and then jump right into going out to bid so unfortunately um we you know well fortunately unfortunately we want to we do want to move forward with the design finalize that as we continue to seek at the same time the remaining funding necessary for construction.

Okay so it's not necessary but it's something that would be nice.

And I'm not quite sure I guess I would say it's um is it absolutely necessary no but it puts us in a disadvantage to not have the design and permitting in hand which we we will not be able to do without the amendment.

Okay thank you.

And on that same topic I think it's important to show our continuing commitment and skin in the game vis-a-vis the transit authority and the board of supervisors who may allocate some of that extra funding down the road because we're fully committed.

So I can appreciate your pain I mean I've been through Caltrans many times and I also opened bids three million short on the 92 project and I had to go to the TA so I mean I get it and it and you're you're doing you're chasing something I I to me we got to get this thing out to bid I I'm a little worried about the shop project.

I don't know where they're gonna be I saw anticipated construction you were shooting for spring of 2026 will they leapfrog you if you're already out there I don't know if what you guys you don't have to answer that question, but it's just kind of kind of out there, and then we've said this before, but we're gonna have to really communicate this out to the public.

This is this is a big deal.

This might be the biggest project, city's done 21 million.

I'm not sure what else.

I think the only project that was larger was the library.

Yeah.

So since the library, this is the biggest project.

Absolutely.

So I mean it's it's up there.

I guess if you wait another five years, it might be, but I'm not saying to do that.

Have you ever looked at process of the phasing this?

If funding just went kaput, we you know, I think we've talked about it high level, but so these elements are so critical to each other.

It's really challenging.

I mean, the signal you've got the class one facility that was promised to the community, you know.

Well, I know that one.

It's a tough one to be able to do that.

And I don't know how much you would save in the long run if you tried to sit to phase it.

I you know, that's a that's something that we would have to look at if the funding's not available.

Right.

I mean, maybe we have to consider that, but right now our goal is to um really push forward and try to get as much funding as possible.

And council, I think it's telling we'll support what we can on our end.

But you know, I I do my bit with Caltrans, whether that's supporting or not.

But I mean I do my what I can, and I've also talked to our assemblyman Erman and uh Senator Becker.

About they always ask me what's your biggest complaint.

I said it's Caltrans.

I said it's very hard to go through the pro the process you're going through.

Cause here you're almost there, and you got a hundred something comments.

That's unbelievable.

Yeah.

So you got to keep pushing forward, you know, and we'll support where we can.

And I I just think this is a great project.

This is where I'm also concerned.

I don't about our money, you know.

I get it and whatever you can negotiate with them to lower that 10% to something, Laura.

I think we'd be really absolutely I mean, uh, Dale reminded me the TA.

I mean, this is where this is where you feel that they are really anxious to get this project done.

The TA asked us as staff, what if we can get you the money?

Would you be able to go out to bid in November?

And unfortunately, yeah, I don't see it happening with the comments we have with Caltrans, but okay.

That's just telling of where they are as far as their desire to see this project built.

I move that um the city authorize the city manager to execute amendment number seven to the professional services agreement with Mark Thomas and Company Inc.

for the highway one safety and operational improvement project.

North CIP project number 0538, the amount of 188,181 dollars.

Roll call, please.

Councilmember Johnson.

Yes, Councilmember Nagengast.

Yes.

Councilmember Penrose?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Reddick.

Yes.

Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Good job.

Oops.

Next item on our agenda.

It's the purchase of a new all-electric Ford transit van.

I think we had a full we've had a pretty full report on this.

All right.

So we'll just have a just an update or here.

Todd will be as eager as you to provide a very quick update since our last report on this and get to a decision.

Is that a fair assumption, Todd?

You know, you don't need your day in the in the spotlight right now.

Spotlight.

Todd, I thought you're gonna take on a test drive and drive it in here to show us what we've seen.

All the features.

Good evening, Mayor Brownstone, Council members.

Uh my name's Todd Seely, I'm the public works superintendent, and we are here to come back to you and kind of discuss the option of acquiring a new 2026 Ford e transit van.

Uh these are some of the recycled slides from last time.

We'll kind of just go over through these real quickly.

Uh, the current recreation truck is the second oldest piece of equipment in our city's fleet, and it's outused its useful life by years.

Uh, it's not ideal for the uh recreation department's operations based on the size and uh it was previously budgeted in 2024 or FY24, excuse me, but we did have some budgetary issues that we had to address with those funds, so that's why we're back here today.

Next slide, please.

Uh the new ban benefits.

The purchase would allow for the removal of a gasoline vehicle from the fleet.

Uh, the state is getting harder and harder with their uh requirements.

And replace it with a zero tailpipe emission ban.

Uh currently, Public Works Maintenance are maintenance uh guys that are out there on a daily base.

They spend about 200 hours a year supporting the recreation department because of the physical size of the truck that they have now.

The new ban would eliminate this need.

And uh as we mentioned, uh the new band purchases get the city ahead of state mandates mandated by the California Air Resources Board with regards to electric vehicle purchases.

It only has about 46,000 miles on it, but as you can see, it's seen better days.

Plenty of wheels or cargo space in the back has a 148-inch wheelbase, so plenty of uh room to carry on around anything that our recreation folks could possibly think of.

Um at the last, the last time that we came to talk with you guys, uh, we were asked to look at getting quotes from different dealers.

We did so.

Uh town Ford came in the lowest bid 56,451.

One of unfortunately, one of the folks that we reached out to was non-responsive to have Saramoniford, and they were non-responsive for both purchase and for leasing, and the leasing prices are shown in the next slide.

Oh, maybe not.

There we go.

Um, the lease, uh, the leases are a little more difficult to try and compute, but the total cost of ownership basically shows what the lease price is per month, plus uh the residual, which is any amount left over if you decide to purchase that vehicle.

If you don't decide to purchase that vehicle after the term of the lease is expired, then you can just enter into another lease and keep it going in perpetuity.

Uh discussion about lease, uh pros.

It's a small upfront expenditure.

There's very small down payments.

Some of them didn't even, two of the folks that we reach out to didn't have any down payment.

Smaller maintenance obligation.

It is important to note with the smaller maintenance obligation though.

For the lightning, the Ford Lightning that we have, we just had our first maintenance expenditure on it, and it was to rotate the tires because there's no oil or anything that needs to be changed on vehicles like that.

So two and a half years in, and we spent $60 total on maintenance costs on that vehicle.

Uh the cons, uh greater total cost of ownership, no ability to outfit the vehicle to meet operational needs.

When you're leasing a vehicle, um, in a perfect world, we'd like to possibly modify the back of the cargo area somehow with straps and tie-downs and stuff like that, possibly even maybe some jump seats for lack of a better term.

Think like a cargo airplane in the military where they have seats that pull down on the side.

It's possible that we could consider that that would be important in emergency situations.

We could carry more people around if we had to get people out of town.

Uh leasing the vehicle just doesn't give us that that option, and also doesn't give us the option to even put the city logo on the vehicle.

So something that I feel is kind of important, just having that pride in ownership of the vehicle, just driving around in the city vehicle, letting everyone know that that city staff are doing doing their thing.

Um, and also the possibility of locking the city into perpetual leasing cycle.

If we don't decide to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease term, then we're gonna have to look at leasing another vehicle, and then we're just kicking the can down the road.

Um, there was a slide about the purchase options.

I don't know why they're double.

There we go.

Uh the pros of purchasing, again, it gives us the ability to outfit the van.

Lower total cost of ownership.

Uh, we're currently budgeted for it, and no need to renegotiate lease terms periodically.

The con, obviously, it's a large capital expenditure right off the bat.

Um we did look into some potential rebate options.

A lot of a lot of options are out there for purchasing electric vehicles.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we qualify for any of them.

Um, the PCE GovEV program does have an incentive, and they'll give you up to $25,000 if you purchase five electric vehicles.

Um, based on the size of our fleet and current options available to replace the truck, and along with current budget, that's realistically not an option for us to buy five vehicles in the next 12-month period.

Um, there is the possibility that there may be some gap funding available to possibly look at recapturing some of this money.

Um, Helen Walter, who spoke with you guys earlier tonight about another grant opportunity, and myself are working with PCE.

We're in contact with um Philip Cobernick, and he's been kind of leading us through the process.

Don't want to get your guys' hopes up though, it's not looking good at this point.

We don't think that there's gonna be anything available for us.

There are current rebates that PGE are PGE offers them, and it's basically an IRS rebate, but since the city doesn't file any tax returns, we're not eligible for those rebates as well.

And that is my down and dirty presentation.

I'll open it up to questions for any of the council members.

Council members, questions?

Is the van narrow enough to go down into Carter Park if we need to service anything in Carter Park?

Um, absolutely not.

Okay.

Any issues?

Can we make a motion?

I'll just say that to Greg J uh Greg Jameson told me that you're getting a good deal from town.

Yeah, I had a conversation with him yesterday, and we kind of came to the same conclusion.

So it was nice getting to chat with him about all this and getting to know the inner workings of the car dealership game, but based on honestly, I was quite surprised by the price as well, and that was part of the discussion that I had with with Greg, and he agreed.

You know, you guys are getting a great price.

There's nothing that we could even do to come close to that.

So how long will the fans?

Well, so that's an interesting question.

Uh the current average age of our fleet vehicles is about 12 years.

Uh we hope to get at least 10 years out of it.

In the per in a in a perfect world, if we were flush with cash and money was just pouring out of the heavens, we would want to replace our fleet vehicles on a seven-year cycle, seven to ten years.

Um, that's probably an unrealistic expectation.

So 10 to 12 is probably where we would start looking at replacing that vehicle.

Okay.

Um I'll make the um motion.

I move that we adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a purchase agreement in the amount of $56,451 with Town Ford for the purchase of the 2026 all electric Ford Transit Van.

Second, second.

Roll call, please.

Councilmember Johnson?

Yes.

Councilmember Nagengast?

Yes.

Councilmember Penrose?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Redek?

Yes.

Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Thanks for doing the extra due diligence.

That's my pleasure, and I'm glad we were able to.

We actually saved about a thousand dollars from the last time we were here and got a newer vehicle with one more extra option on it.

So it actually worked out well for everyone.

So thank you guys.

Power in the back.

Yeah, we got the power in the back, so that's nice.

The reg, the rec folks are definitely gonna like that.

They can plug their bubble machine into it.

Okay, let's see.

Um item 10E.

Update and information regarding potential organization study.

Um this involves council member gast and myself, because we are the ad hoc committee.

Um, so I don't know if we can kind of those really short.

Yeah, we can expedite this pretty quickly because our neck we've already chatted.

Our next step will be to go to each of these groups and speak with them.

You know, I think the only thing we'd be looking for tonight is um two things.

Hopefully, narrow down the list a little bit if we can, and some general sense of of where we think the budget would be for this, then we would go immediately to a meeting with with the ad hoc committee and look at formal um proposals from the potential firms that we narrow down to try to hone in on what that scope looks like, and then we would come back to council for approval.

Have ever any members of council, you know, have any um history with any of these particular vendors?

I I do a city in the obvious one city eight.

Yeah, I mean, they're well qualified, and yeah, obviously their costs are showing it, and you know, I'm not saying any of the others aren't qualified.

You know, I don't know how these guys sometimes come up with the numbers game and you know how they have uh how they figure out, you know, to me is what fits best for Hapoon Bay, and that's something you know I thought we would look at.

Yeah, Matthew, it's hard to narrow down without us knowing.

I mean, between 20,000, yeah, and 200,000, and knowing what we're really getting.

Um, Mayor, if I could add something.

So the Matrix actually came through.

They had sent the proposal, they sent their um informational material to the wrong address, so that I got it today, and their cost is between sixty-five and one twenty.

So I think the average costs, the three that show the average are kind of between sixty to a hundred thousand dollars for the study.

And um I think with Citigate, they're very advanced.

Um, I've worked with them as well when I worked for the um Alameda County Fire Department, and they're very advanced.

They have well trained exceptional staff, um, but the reason they're high cost is because they do use a lot more staff than the other consultants.

The other consultants are a bit smaller, but they're still as experienced as Citigate.

Um, and so they're all with the exception of Citigate, and Peter still hasn't gotten to me his informational information, um, and I try, I'm still following up with him.

Um, but I think the other three are the average that you'll see about with cost between 60 to 100,000.

I think it just also we dictate the proposal, we dictate what we need, and the committee would do that, would meet with them, kind of see what they're offering.

Um I don't want to say there's a shopping list, but you kind of dictate how you would see the proposal going.

They lay out a couple different options, and so the the committee would actually be able to work within whatever budget the council decides to set for this, and I think that's where it is.

Um, I mean, there I know narrow it down would be limiting because of the information we have here, but I I I think it's clear that City Gate is just a very high-level proposal and um it is gonna come in high no matter what.

Uh if you're looking for a recommendation, I would narrow it down to Jacob Green and Associates, MRG and Matrix.

They're all in the same ballpark.

Uh we know they're all qualified, and um I think we could with the ad hoc committee very quickly sit down and look through some of their more formal materials that they submitted and kind of create a scope that then the three of them could hone, you know, really formalized bids on.

Yeah, it's always an issue working when I've done vendor management and just having a lot of staff at one meeting charging each their hourly rate kind of amps up the price, right?

So if others can do come out with similar results with less people in the room each time.

So I went to all their websites, and for me, only Matrix had the services that seem to be applicable to what we're seeking, and that is a staffing analysis and a management assessment.

You know, I think we would want to be careful about sort of like um Jacob Green talked about this, you know, cool app thing, you know, survey.

I think we just want to make sure that we're getting what we need to make some decisions.

And for me, that's staffing and management analysis.

You know, the size of our staff, what do they do, how do they do it, who is management, how many, you know, that's and is it, you know, does it comport with our budget?

And matrix had previous experience with the city, so you know, to the subcommittee, you might decide against matrix, but at least keep in mind that I think for for me anyway, the two most important things of the staffing analysis and the management assessment so and Lisa you I'm sorry you said matrix was between 65 and 100k yes okay just so it's a double I thought they just sent that in today otherwise it would have been in the staff report right okay oops that's all um Paul and I need to know for now and we'll just yeah um I'm I'm not sure why we need to spend sixty five thousand when there was a there was a twenty thousand dollar option the the twenty thousand dollar number that you see for Peter Rogerson was just informally giving given to Lisa on a phone call he's never provided an actual document like the other ones did so we we don't know what when when he provides a more formal proposal what that looks like and it could be more that 2000 was extremely vague what that would entail it but it's the only number we got from him I'd I'd love to follow up on that though because um if we can get it for 20,000 instead of sixty five I think that'd be great.

Sure.

I adding a fourth to the mix is not big of a deal.

I do think that that might be a sign that they're not interested.

I think that's yeah they're not interested yeah yeah so easy easy for the ad hoc committee to look at with staff and we can be pretty nimble with the ad hoc committee so and I'm pretty good at following up with phone calls until they feel they have to call me back even if it is to tell me they're not interested.

Great okay.

I think staff has enough we have enough that's all we're looking for so next steps we'll immediately schedule our first ad hoc committee meeting uh before we do that we'll send out send you the the formal proposals that we the the more formal proposals they're not based on a scope of work yet but that'll help prepare us to hone that in request formal proposals based on a more refined scope of work and have apples to apples to compare.

Sounds great thank you.

Great moving on any commission committee updates.

Not tonight we have a I'll just say we have a recreation commission meeting next Wednesday night and we'll be talking about the future of Carter Park and fundraising and uh their priorities for the rest of the year.

Great for a future discussion I think we all were um have a lot of enthusiasm around bringing up a agenda and staff looking into a roadmap for what a heck a parking garage parking garage would look like and what the parameters are and what steps would we need to take to start beginning to um it seems like an important element of all else going on downtown regardless and um it's something we needed for a long time so making it more of a priority would be great.

So I got a second second that too I would second that I have a second on that I just want to make sure Catherine has that yeah.

This wouldn't be a future agenda item well it wouldn't be a future agenda item for us right away but um I think you mentioned that the bike and ped committee will be meeting um for the first time the reconfigured one in September sometime but um is that is that the the schedule is September yeah their next meeting is scheduled for early September.

Okay I think we need to get front and center the issue of e-bike safety on the trails.

I can't tell you how many complaints I've had in the last month about especially about young people you know 10 11 12 on class twos with throttles and um I had a near death experience on the coastal trail two or three weeks ago.

I have a class one, so it's pedal assist, and I was going along, you know, a pretty good clip.

And I looked up, and there was a about a 11 or 12 year old boy coming coming at me on a throttle bike, and he was looking at his phone.

And we avoided a head on collision at the very last second.

And um, I've heard other things like that, you know, from people, and I noticed that um some of the cities over the hill are facing the same problem and are actually talking about it at city council level.

But I think I would make that the agenda item for this for this new group because it's become a serious problem as far as I can tell.

And it's a major legal issue, right?

Because there's a law prohibiting us from banning e-bikes based on I'm sure on some interesting goings on in the capital.

As you'll recall, we we did a big a couple of workshops on this I think early last year, and and we couldn't really get anywhere at that point, but we all agreed we'd bring it back when the time was right.

Seems like the time is right.

Um, you know, Matt Nichols in in our public works department did a lot of work on that, I'm sure is uh gonna be able to resurrect that very quickly.

So our initial decision was you know, people are going way over 15 miles per hour.

You're supposed to slow down a five miles per hour when you're passing somebody.

And how and we who the heck knows how to enforce that?

And that's that's gonna be our biggest challenge, I think, even more than coming up with regulations how do we enforce.

But I'd heard of the Sawyer Park Trail, you know by the reservoir.

They were enforcing some stuff, and remember we talked about trying to find out a little more.

A, if that is actually happening, and B, how the heck they're doing it.

I just don't know.

Okay.

I mean, at the time.

At the time, okay.

But we could we can do some follow-up with county parks and and see if they've been able to implement anything since then.

They have they have a ranger program that that helps them.

Um obviously we don't have that here, but maybe to get more of the kind of stories that we're all hearing and observing ourselves if there's a way we can collect more opinions from our citizens because these are children riding very fast machines at very young ages.

And it doesn't look like the parents are giving them you know direction on this.

They're on their phones still with these things.

This is not good.

So, and I've actually seen them doing wheelies with their kid brothers and sisters on their back, which I'm sure parents would be delighted with that.

So I'm on the county BPAC committee.

This is discussion has come up, and I've shared with uh Ma's you know, information and some good things.

Education is something good, partnering with the sheriff and the school.

So that's I'm a source to help get it out here.

So I just want to make you, yeah.

So it's good.

And it's amazing the difference between one, two, and three, and then how they tweak.

Get a cute.

Yeah, so thank you for that.

Well, I second that item to uh agendize that and figure out an approach to that.

So thank you for that.

Any city council reports?

No, great.

This meeting is a gift.

Thank you, everybody, for staying late.