Okay, City Council for Tuesday, July twenty eighth, twenty twenty-six.

You stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the Plague of the United States America.

Undergone invisible Liberty Justice Broad.

City Clerk, will you do roll call, please?

Councilmember Eklund?

Present.

Councilmember Carkle?

Yeah.

Councilmember O'Connor?

Here.

Mayor Pertem Jacobs.

Present.

And Mayor Farrak is absent.

Okay, we had a closed session before the uh council meeting.

Uh Mr.

Bell, is there anything to report from closed session?

Thank you, Mayor and Council members.

There's no reportable action.

Thank you.

Uh we have no ceremonial matters this evening.

Do I have an approval of the final agenda?

I'll move approval of the final agenda.

A second.

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle?

Yes.

Councilmember O'Connor?

Aye.

Mayor Pertem Jacobs?

Aye.

And Mayor Farack is absent.

And uh I'd like to move reports of the city council and city manager to the end of the meeting.

Any public comment on non-agenda items?

I have one card and I'd like to see if there's any others.

If there are, please fill out a yellow card and give it to the city clerk.

I have a River L.

You like to approach the podium and speak?

You have two minutes and there's a timer right here.

Okay.

Okay.

Can we start?

Okay.

Um I come to you today as a could uh concerned citizen um about flock cameras in Navato.

Um I would like the council to consider putting it on the agenda for the next meeting discussing um the termination of flock um contracts with the city of Novato.

Um including all cameras and the automatic license plate readers and the deletion of any currently stored data.

That's all.

Thank you.

Do we have any public comment online?

There are no raised hands online.

Okay, we'll close public comment.

Before we close public comment, um I would like a little bit more information from the gentleman that spoke earlier.

Is it possible, Gary, for us to ask a question so I can understand what his request is at the council's pleasure.

Um council, I would like to ask the gentleman who spoke earlier to help me understand what is requesting.

So young man, if you want to come back up.

And I just want to first of all thank you very much for coming to a city council meeting.

I know that sometimes um I know when I first started I was really scared to death.

So when you sorry, what uh pardon me?

No, sorry, what what did you say?

Oh, I said when I first came, started getting involved I was not I was pretty timid about addressing people in public.

So yeah, I have dry mouth.

Yeah, so no, no, no.

You did a great job.

Can you have me to understand what you're asking for?

I'm not sure I totally understand.

Um so there are about I think six operating um flock cameras currently right now.

So who's operating cameras?

Flock.

Fox, F O S.

Fox No, Flock, like uh like a flock of birds.

Flock.

It's a brand name.

A flock.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so that was brand name.

So they have cameras in Novato.

Are they um put in there at the city's request?

Um I believe so.

I think they have a contract with the uh Novato Police Department.

So did we have a lot of people?

I've been reading this petition about it.

Yes.

Can can we ask the chief to help confirm whether he does or does not have those cameras?

Also at the council's pleasure.

My only word of caution is that this is not on your agenda this year.

I know it's not on the agenda, but so you're concerned.

Let me get the concern and then I'll sit down and talk with the the chief.

And then just before you leave, be sure to give me your contact information so that I can contact you later.

Okay.

Okay.

Sure.

Because I I want to help you find out about them and for me to learn a little bit more too.

Sure.

So I guess that the police department will probably understand what these cameras are for, and that's really to read license plates so that people would automatically get a ticket if they went through red light or something.

Is that what you're talking about?

Yeah, but there, I mean it's just that there were you know, like recording sort of unnecessarily people who are just kind of going about their day-to-day.

I I think it's an overreach personally.

Okay, so that's great.

Then uh before I talk to the chief, then why don't you and I meet and because I would like to um help you help us deal with that issue.

Okay.

Okay.

Cool.

So I'll give you a scratch of paper with my phone number on it.

Sure.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Uh we'll close public comment at this time and on to the consent calendar.

Do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

I'll make the motion.

Did you want me to take the paper now or I'll come I'll come over to you.

Just stay a few minutes.

Okay.

Sure.

I'll second.

Um I I'd like to pull an item, but I don't have this council agenda in front of there it is.

I forgot what it was.

I'm okay.

I'm okay with the consent.

Okay.

Councilmember Ekling, can you vote on the consent calendar?

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs.

Aye.

And Mayor Farak is absent.

Thank you.

That passes.

4-0 absent.

We have no work study session this evening.

We will move on to we have no public hearings.

We move on to general business.

J 1.

Receive a presentation from staff.

Okay.

Good evening, uh Mayor Pro Tem.

Good evening, Council members.

I'm Chris Benini, Public Works Director, and I am joined by Deputy Public Works Director Maheed Lurrie.

We're here before you this evening to present on the item uh regarding the Buck Gulch Falls Creek Restoration and Trail Improvement Project.

And for the rest of the evening, we might be calling this the Falls.

We might be calling it uh Buck Gulch Creek or just generally the project.

This was previously brought forward as a proposed uh agenda item on July 14 by Councilmember Eklund.

Council voted unanimously to discuss this item tonight.

And just as a broad overview, just in case anybody is not familiar with the project, uh the Marin County Open Space District, or MCOSD for short, uh has a project that's happening on the south side of Novato.

Uh the majority of it is in the Ignacio Valley Open Space Preserve.

Uh on the left of the screen you can see an overview of the project area.

Uh the restoration is a trail project, and on the very bottom right of the screen with a green triangle is is the trailhead, which is also at the end or dead end western terminus of Fairway Drive.

Uh this project entails trail realignment, adding two new bridges, adding a boardwalk, and also adding a punch-in area, which is a small boardwalk.

As the district is moving its plans forward on this project, it uh circulated a draft initial study mitigated negative declaration.

That's a mouthful.

Uh initial study mitigated negative declaration.

We'll call it IM ISMND or just the study for short for the evening.

Um public comments on this draft study were accepted from June 23 to July 24.

Uh and so a lot of the discussion that happened at council two weeks ago on July 14.

We discussed this at length.

There was a lot of concerns from the community about the timeline.

And so just to bring everybody up to speed and show the process that's happened over the last two weeks.

Two items were discussed and voted on by council on the 14th.

The first item was to uh send a letter to the county executed by the mayor requesting a 90-day extension on the draft comment period.

The second item uh was voted on to bring it back tonight for further discussion on a staff drafted letter to the district.

Uh on July 21.

Uh the mayor executed the letter and it was submitted to the open space district the next day on July 22.

Um the open space district district they responded and they declined to extend the public comment period as it's a standard practice for the open space district.

Uh they did welcome us to submit our substantive comments on the draft, I and uh ISMNV D.

So the period for comment did close on July 24 uh and we're here tonight on July 28 to discuss, and like I just said though, um the county did say that they would accept accept our substantive comments.

So as part of the agenda packet, we have uh included a draft comment letter uh for everyone to review.

Uh wanna go over the in broad brush strokes what the contents of that draft letter are.

Uh we really had five uh major categories.

So first, the there were a lot of uh comments about construction, traffic, and parking.

Um a lot of this uh activity, especially when there's construction in a city right of way.

Uh this is handled through the uh our encroachment permit process.

So something we handle on a daily basis.

We're very used to doing this in public works.

Um, we sub or drafted comments on the trail surfacing and accessibility changes.

Um there is concern expressed at last meeting as well regarding the material, uh, the extent of the restoration, and uh just kind of inquiries about exactly what was happening with specific types of material and compaction.

Uh the third category of comments would be emergency access and evacuation uh during construction.

Uh this is something uh that as part of the encroachment permit process, we would be coordinating with the fire district to ensure that there is fire safety provided throughout.

And there was one draft comment about fire safety following construction.

The fourth category is public outreach.

Uh this was another item that was discussed at length uh during last uh city council meeting.

The outreach began in 2022.

Um the county district uh open space district has detailed it on their website.

Um but issues have been raised uh by the community and uh having ample time and opportunities to engage with the district.

And the fifth uh is a catch-all.

It's our additional comments.

And there's a lot of small uh items such as typos, technical corrections, uh, but there's a lot of uh substance in there as far as you know what the long-term visitation and neighborhood impact neighborhood impacts would be and just uh the document accuracy.

So that summarizes the five main categories of what's included in the draft comment letter and to tee up our conversation, uh our next steps.

Today we are seeking council direction on our draft letter to the county.

And the hope is tonight that council will vote to authorize uh initially uh I wrote this as the mayor, but it's going to be the uh mayor pro tem authorized the mayor pro tem to execute and send the letter to the open space district and uh conditioned you know we can discuss uh the encroachment permitting process that will uh happen as they if this ever does go to construction.

And uh in the future, when an encroachment does happen, staff intends on coordinating with the coordinating with the fire district and long-term monitoring and reporting.

So, with that, our request is to review and provide additional comments on our draft comment letter and uh authorize Mayor Pro Tem to finalize transmit the city comments incorporating uh council direction.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Councilmember Eckland, you have some comments.

Actually, I have questions of the staff.

Thank you.

Um first of all, I wanted to um let you know as our public works director and the community to know that I think that your draft lever letter was great.

Um but there are some changes that I'm gonna be requesting.

But before I do, um I have some questions for you.

You indicated in the second line that there were approximately 25 curb space par spaces nearby.

Um I went up there the other day, and um I'd I'd like you to identify where those 25 spaces are because my memory is that cul-de-sac where the trail begins, which is on city property.

Um there's three no parking signs.

Um and I did take pictures of them on my cell phone yesterday, so if there's any debate, I can show pictures of them, but I think of Chris, you know that the three no parking signs.

So people cannot park in that cul-de-sac, and that's partly because fairway is one way in and one way out.

And if in case of an emergency um people may need to have a turnaround access or something, and so um they're they're gonna need that space, and they don't have time to find people who are hiking to move their car.

So I'm assuming we're not gonna remove those parking, no parking spots, but can you identify where those 25 parking spaces are?

I believe the source of the 25 spaces came from the draft uh study from the district.

And so you did not check to see if there are 25 spaces there.

I believe the nature of it being the right of way and uh the phrase nearby.

Um if there's a certain length of distance that we can verify and make sure that that's in that area of nearby.

Um but qualifying the phrase nearby might be a little difficult, but we're happy to follow up on that.

Um I would like to know.

And I think the community would like to know also.

And in addition, um did you get uh a chance to take a look at some of the photos that were submitted where um they even were parking in the no parking zone.

And so um uh parking is very limited on Fairway Drive, and it's um uh uh primarily used right now uh for homeowners.

And so people who want to use the trail, there's not really a lot of available parking out there.

So I um we didn't have the opportunity to um ask the document where the 25 spaces were, so I had assumed that you went out and counted and disappointed that we didn't.

So I feel like that question would be better directed to the county since it um was sourced from their document.

So I think that they're the ones who would be able to respond to that question rather than city staff.

Um great.

And so um I had asked you yesterday whether you were gonna um ask the county to come and did were you able to ask them.

They previously knew about the meeting, and as you requested, I formally invited them to come today, and they all had um other commitments, and so they are happy to meet with staff after tonight to have a conversation.

Okay.

Well, I am disappointed that the county is not here because this is their project.

And um, but uh to put that in our letter, I think is inappropriate because we didn't validate that there's 25 parking spaces, we're just validating what the document stated.

And so that that would need to be taken out.

So I have questions throughout the letter.

So I hope that the council will bear with me because it's all based on technical information.

Um I'm proposing then that we eliminate uh that one sentence on this letter if we choose to send a letter.

Eliminate um uh that there are no curbside pay spaces nearby.

Um in fact um I will make a comment here that's gonna be pertinent to my future comments.

I understand that the purpose of this project is to make an accessible trail for those people who might be in a wheelchair or other supportive walking equipment.

And I had asked one of the supervisors, and I'm not going to name names.

Well, if this is supposed to be an accessible trail, where is the handicapped parking?

And the question back I got was there's no parking?

I said there's no additional parking and there's no accessible parking.

So I'm going to ask that that asset actually be included in our letter, that the letter fail fails to identify any handicapped parking that would be used by those who will be needing the we're would like to see the trail that are handicapped.

I don't like the word handicapped, but we could use have accessibility difficulties or something.

Let's see, the other question or the other statement in that same paragraph, you talk about using heavy equipment and it's going to span roughly six months over two seasons.

And the question that is not in this, or what I'm not sure is in the document, is where is the construction equipment all going to be stored?

Are they going to be storing it on site?

Or are they going to have to take it back to their courtyard at the end?

Has that was that identified at all in the in the document?

A standard practice when we go through the encroachment permitting practice is to uh designate staging areas.

And so the city is anticipating the open space district to identify uh spaces within City of Nevada rights of way where they can fence off and secure equipment during the construction process.

So I'm having a little trouble hearing you.

Could you get a little bit closer to the microphone?

Thank you.

And so if they're going to develop a parking management plan for their construction equipment, then my question is is that is the public going to be able to have an opportunity to comment on that draft plan?

What I'm hearing is if we're asking for it, um are we going to be also allowing the public to have a look at it before we approve it?

We would be following our standard encroachment permitting practices, which is an internal process.

Umless the city attorney knows of a different method.

That's a staff led process.

Yeah, your municipal code delegates to the public works department the issuance of encroachment permits.

Right.

So if the encroachment permit um conditions are not going to be able to be viewable to the public, can we make them viewable to the public in special circumstances because of the potential impact of the equipment on the neighbors?

Absolutely.

Yeah, just because it's handled by staff, these permits are public records.

So sure.

Yes.

But can we do a draft review or can we provide copies if they want to see them so that they could provide comments to us?

Um certainly.

If the council direction is to have a public comment period on encroach permit, my only word of caution is that documents quite long and a lot of those conditions are very technical, and there may be a timeline to do it, but yes, you can go public with it and invite comment if you'd like.

Great.

Because I have to say this project is something different.

This is a dead-end street.

Right.

And lots of construction equipment.

And since this has been in the Marin IJ, I've been getting calls from all over Marin County and had a chance to talk in depth with someone in Fairfax who experienced major impacts during the construction of the Cascade Canyon Trail, which is one of the last projects that they did.

So I I will be asking the council then, and I got I've got to make a note of this for us to make the encroachment permit public so that the public can have a chance to comment on it.

And then the question is is they provide comments, and then uh can we ask staff to share those comments with the council, or can I come look at them as a member of the public and if I have an issue bring it to the council?

Um, or can I come look at them as a member of the public and if I have an issue um bring it to the council?

I think we'll need direction from the council as a whole or a majority on the process there.

Is that something that staff's going to do?

Is it something that we'll be agendizing?

What sort of back and forth are you envisioning?

Um we would need all that direction.

So we we could we could state that that permitting process should be public.

I don't think there's anything that prevents placing it on an agenda for comment and discussion.

Great.

Councilmember Ekling, do we have some other comments and then we can come back to you?

Um that's fine, but I have a lot.

Okay.

And um I just want to warn the council because this is a big project.

There's a lot of impacts, and um it's uh sad that the county has done this project in this manner.

Could you tell us if the county gave any type of timeline for this project for our comments to be submitted to them since they are taking them after the uh closure time?

They did not provide us a timeline.

Okay.

Um I have one question.

Um is there a map that shows uh what is city property and what is county property?

Yes, uh there is a map that is in the agenda packet, and it would be the attachment number five under this item.

Okay, and I don't know if we're doing a pull that up.

I don't know.

Can you put it up on the screen too?

Thank you.

No, that was there goes.

See, I was sorry work my magic.

Oh, there we go.

Okay.

So if this is viewable, I can zoom in a little bit.

So if you look to well, I guess the labels really help out a lot more than I can verbally, but the trailhead is pointing uh to the end of the orange shaded area.

This is the cul-de-sac as it exists.

Um where the orange shaded areas are are City of Novato rights of way as um as part of a subdivision map.

And there are two roads that were designated and not developed as part of a prior development agreement, but the yellow shaded areas are parcels that are owned by the City of Novato.

And so that shows where the City of Novato's you know owned areas are, two different types of ownership.

Um and it this kind of gives you an idea of where the different features of the project are gonna be located.

The kind of blue shaded lines are where there are parcel lines.

These are the property lines between different parcels.

As you get to the western end, these are open space district parcels.

However, there is an entity that owns several of these parcels.

I believe it's the MCC investment group or something similar to that uh name that are privately held, but this map shows you where the city of Nevada owns.

Okay.

So there part of this is going to be on City of Novato property, but the open space district is taking care of everything.

Huh.

Correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember Eckland.

No other questions from other council members?

Oh my goodness.

Okay.

So on the construction equipment issue, which I hadn't finished.

It's great that we can be able to put that in the encroachment permit.

But also I think that there needs also to be notice to all the neighbors in the valley.

That includes not only fairway but also the offshoots of the streets streets.

They need to be noticed where the equipment is going to be parked, because if it's going to be parking on the street, it can't be parked in the COLTISAC because that's not legal.

And we wouldn't want them to anyway, because that would prohibit an emergency evacuation if we had to.

So I think that's important to make sure that the project applicant and we can put that in the encroachment permit requires the we require them to actually provide copies to all residents in Fairway and in the side streets along Fairway.

And let's see, okay.

My third point is the last sentence in that first paragraph.

The mitigation described appears discretionary, stating that traffic may be slowed and that parking restrictions may be posted on certain days.

Because again, we've got a one street in and one street out.

And a lot of families already use that street.

And so it's important for us to be able to make sure that the neighbors are informed of all of this.

Okay, the fourth comment is under your construction traffic and parking management plan, which is great.

But my question is is that construction traffic and parking management plan that we require as part of the encroachment permit, correct?

Okay, good.

Yes.

Okay, good.

Um can we make that document available to the public before we take action on it?

Gary?

And the reason is is because there's been no disclosure in this mitigated negative declaration or in any of the documentation that we've got from the uh project proponent to where how they're gonna handle the construction and how they're going to um handle um any parking or um even people who want to come up and visit people.

Uh there's gonna just gonna be a parking issue.

Yeah, this might be a timing or sequence question for the public works department.

So typically the encroachment permits have conditions that have to be met, and one is a plan or other documents that are in, and so that would come after you issue the permit, but uh I don't know the normal process that's done in and for these types of plans.

We will need to do some follow-up investigation on what our turnaround time is.

I think uh in practical terms, uh what the city attorney is referring to is if we receive a permit application in, we have to turn around and do something on the clock is ticking as soon as we receive and receive the permit application and verify it's complete and receive payment for it.

Uh and so the timing can be quite restrictive and take us well uh out of bounds as far as our own uh Right.

But so could we also send comments to the Marin County and the Open Space District, both entities, uh because as you know, the Board of Supervisors serve uh as the uh board for both the county and the uh space district.

Um can we, as part of this, include all these um uh conditions that the council agrees to include.

Could we send them to the county and inform them that they need to condition the applicant to do these for us?

Well, the city would the city would be conditioning the applicant.

In the encroachment permit.

Through the encroachment permit, right.

So we wouldn't need to ask the county to do that.

My assumption is that the open space district would have their contractor apply, and then the city would be issuing the encroachment permit to the contractor with the conditions in it.

I don't know if the open space district has a contractor, do they?

They'll probably need to go through some type of, I can't speak to their actual purchasing process, but I'm sure that they need to go through some kind of bid process or something of that nature in order to identify who the contractor would be.

Well, that's another important aspect that I didn't even realize.

So I think that that's important that we also to ask in our minutes that that process also be disclosed to the neighbors and identify who that contractor is so that they have one point of contact so that they can provide complaints.

Otherwise, they be calling us.

And they'll be calling the county.

So Mayor, can I just make a quick question?

The process you're describing seems to be the process that the county has to go through.

That's this is their project.

So in terms of the bidding process, selecting the vendor they're going to work with, that's the process the city's or the county rather is going to go through as part of their process.

But we have two processes.

There's two things that we have to do.

We have to issue an encroachment permit, and what's the other item too?

I've got it written down, but I've got a lot of papers and I'd have to look for it.

Sure.

Whenever another local agency purchases property or has a project in the city limits, they also need to receive a general plan consistency determination from the city's planning agency, which could be the planning commission.

Typically is the planning commission.

And it could be it's appealable to the council, correct?

Like other planning commission decisions, yes.

Yes.

And so we could I could do a directed referral to bring it to the council as well if the neighbors are not satisfied with uh understood.

I'm just we have we have established processes for encroachment permits, which we've applied for very complicated developments like dozens, if not hundreds of homes in across the city, correct?

And we have a process in place for this uh certification as well.

That can be appealed to council.

I'm just trying to understand what it is you're proposing outside of our current processes, because I I think that things get complicated when we deviate from what it is we're meant to do.

So I think um you need to understand that this is all in one document that the county and open space district released.

It's a mitigated negative declaration, but it also at the same time identified what the project was, and it's too bad that they didn't separate the two, but they didn't.

And so we as a um entity that's going to be affected by this project, have to need to review this, staff reviewed it, and um we need to send comments.

And we agreed uh when I brought it to the council that we're gonna bring this this issue up and go through the issues, and so what I'm trying to do.

Now, if you guys want to just say yeah, Pat, all of your questions and all your issues are fine.

That's fine.

Then I won't go through it all here.

But I did a lot of research and a lot of work to identify the things that are wrong about this document.

And that brings me to the fact that a lot of people don't realize that um uh as uh I worked for the federal government for 43 years, seven months and eleven days, and I didn't count.

Um and the Army Corps of Engineers for five years, and then the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency uh for 35.

And most of the time I spent in water, I did a little pesticide work and bat work in back DC on municipal sledges, but primarily in water.

And so I know, and I've done EIS EIRs, which is the NEPA and the CEQA, federal and state, with states.

I did them also with cities.

And so um I did combine documents.

And so I'm very familiar with this document, and it is incorrect.

It's not complete.

And in order for us to send comments from the council and the staff, we need to go through those comments.

Now, if you just slightly go through them as the let me finish.

I think you're misunderstanding what I'm asking.

I'm not asking whether or not you're providing meaningful feedback on the document.

What where I'm getting lost is we're deviating down paths procedurally about how it is we're gonna take in and review a construction management project or plan rather as part of an encroachment permit, which are well established processes.

I would say if we just stick to giving feedback on the plan, which I think it's valid and fair.

I think that's meaningful and stack and staff can act on it.

If we're asking them to disrupt existing workflows and sp and handle these in special one-off methods, it's it's just going to get muddy, and I don't know that we're going to get anywhere.

We're here for hours.

Well, we need to submit comments on the environmental document.

100%.

So I would suggest we stick to the comments for now rather than deviating off into the my comments.

So that's what I'm trying to do.

I'm trying to go through the comments.

And I'm not asking for uh public works to make all these changes permanently with all the other projects.

I'm talking about this project.

And so because this project is going to be very disruptive on the community.

And it also is unfortunately has not been thoroughly released.

And there's been not a lot of give and take.

Well, no, I understand.

But the when we start going down the pathway of discussing ways that we're going to review what bidding process the county uses to select a vendor, I think your comments get lost in the fog.

So I think if you have comments and feedback around the report, I think those are fair and valid.

I'm going through the report.

Please let's stick to the report.

That's what I'm exactly what I'm doing.

And I uh if and also I'm using his letter to bring his letter out.

That's the process that I'm going through.

So I see that no other council member.

I can't see your desk.

We do have another council member who would like to speak at this point.

I I know that.

But I'm trying to answer his question.

I know.

Come on, you guys.

This is really unacceptable treatment in my opinion.

Um I'm trying to go through the letter.

So if you have that in front of you, you can you can hopefully go through it with me.

I'm supportive of you continuing those comments.

All I was asking about is why we're asked talking about the city's bidding process.

Well, we could do it after public comment, but I think it's important for the people to hear some of the things that I've noticed in here because I I think so too.

And I'm encouraging you to s to provide that feedback rather than going down the pathway of discussing the county's bidding process because that's outside of scope.

Uh that I'm not talking about changing the process.

I'm talking about changing the process for this project.

You just asked the city attorney about whether or not we can set up a special review process to discuss the county's review process and how they how they assess bids.

Right.

For this project.

We're gonna have to.

We're gonna have to set up special processes because of the fact that we don't have processes that will be able to provide the feedback to um the applicant who is going to be the county and the open space district.

So anyway, so if you don't want me to answer my question number four, then I'll wait until that other council member has their question.

Councilmember Carkel.

Um so uh at this point I really have I have a number of questions and comments, but I think I would like to defer them until I've heard from uh members of the audience.

I'd like to hear some public comment.

I'd like to, as you know, I was not here at the last meeting.

I would really be interested in hearing um more public comments we have to, so um I would be interested in commenting on questions.

I have questions at the doc.

Thank you.

Our typical process is we ask questions of staff and then we open it up for public comment.

That's our typical process.

It is but with Park will missing the last meeting and missing the public comment, it would be good for him to get that input from the public.

Oh, he's gonna get the input from the public.

Yes, I'm looking forward to it.

I know, so am I.

Great.

Okay.

Okay.

So we just spent what, five, ten minutes debating this process where I could have gotten through several more questions.

We we can't rebuild the process the county uses to put out a contract.

I'm not asking to do that.

I am.

These this these are questions on the subject.

Okay.

Tell me where they weren't.

Councilmember Eckland, please continue.

Thank you.

Um does the So the Construction Traffic and Parking Management Plan is not just uh available for public comment, but in this particular instance we can, correct?

We can make it available to the public so that they can see what the proposed plan is for um dealing with this heavy construction um equipment and so.

So typically what we would do is we would encourage the county, and we could also do it ourselves to make sure that that information is public so that the residents in that area would understand what to expect during the construction process.

That's about what you're asking.

That's a great suggestion.

That's a great suggestion.

So then can we put that information in our response to the county and the open space district to have them provide that material in advance so we can put it in the construction management plan, but also that the public would have that information as well.

Because right now they have no idea.

So let's see, number five.

There we go.

So they give they say here that they the construction, we say here that the construction management plan should provide a written notice, should advance written notice to residents.

I think that's a great idea, Chris.

And can we state that they either I don't know, can it be 30 days or 70 days?

Can we give them before before when you say advanced notice, advanced notice is really not defined.

And so I think we need to define it either as 30 days or seven days or 15 or something like that.

Um I I don't know what's appropriate in the construction world.

Um do you have any suggestions?

I think what we can do on that one is we can talk to the county at much as you've said.

Um the county doesn't have a construction plan at this point in time, so we don't understand what it is, so we don't know what advance would mean in this context in terms of their timeline and what they're putting forward as in terms of the project construction.

So that's something that we could certainly ask them to get clarification on.

So can you give them a range between seven and fifteen days for them to be noticed or even 30, depending on what type of activity it is.

Um do you do you actually approve this construction management plan that they submit?

That's part of the encroachment permitting process.

So if they're not clear, and if you think that the public is going to be unsure about being noticed, I'd really like to make sure that we are very detailed.

Um looking at I trust that you will uh very much so.

Um the next point temporary parking restrictions limited to delivery days.

Delivery days for what?

Is this for construction material?

Or um what delivery days for what and where would they need to go?

And I think the simple answer is yes.

Um the times when a project is starting up, you have mobilization of a contractor.

It can be equipment, it can be supplies.

Um topic that was discussed at length uh during the last council meeting was uh fill material uh dirt for new pass.

So as those types of materials are delivered and staged, uh that type of delivery is heavy machinery, it's dump large dump trucks delivering material, and uh that's what that refers to.

That's my our understanding that it refers to that type of delivery.

And you say temporary parking, and that's not going to be on the street, correct?

Because right now there's not a lot of parking on the street for the residents, because remember, they um have limited parking in front of their homes.

Um there's no parking in the cul-de-sac.

So I I would actually um suggest that they have to prepare a um a parking program for all aspects of this project.

Um they develop that and then submit it to us for approval and suggest that street parking is not going to be made as uh well, I don't know if we can say this or not, Gary.

Um, that you know the street parking is not to be used for construction equipment.

Um I think that because that could damage the streets.

Um what do you think?

I would likely be accomplished through the encroachment permit, I would think.

So that could be a condition and and staff could include those sorts of requirements through the encroachment permit.

Right.

But we they will need to submit a parking plan.

If I may, um I I would think a traffic control plan is a pretty standard part of uh encroachment permit, correct?

Yes, they are.

We've reviewed them every week.

So if it is a standard, can we also make that public as well so the public has an opportunity to review that traffic parking plan?

Because especially for the people who live at the end of fairway and the other streets that go up the hills near the near the cul-de-sac.

Um parking is already limited.

So council member Eklund, we we did touch on this a few minutes ago um when we were talking about the construction traffic and parking management plan, which is the first bullet point in the um in the letter.

So I think we've we've agreed that this is something that the uh neighbors definitely need to see and know about and understand so that they know what to expect when the construction is happening.

So I'm glad to hear that the construction traffic and parking management plan also deals with temporary parking.

And so that's gonna be made available to the public as well.

You know, uh never mind, I'm not gonna say what I'm gonna say.

Um additional point that might make this uh a little more clear in the minds of public works, we have a unique scenario where beyond the cul-de-sac there is a previously paved section.

Right.

Uh that is within a city right-of-way.

And so it is already impervious, it's already asphalt material.

Uh it's already graded uh properly and uh from a practical standpoint.

If I were to give input to the county as managing this project to create the least disruption for residents and to be able to exercise domain and control over their project and staging materials, that's the better location.

That that's perfect.

And so we own that property, correct?

Yes.

Okay, great.

Um and so then um the the last point on here it says maintenance of two-way or and emergency vehicle access at all times.

So I think that's a great comment to put in there.

Um but um when you say maintenance of two-way, that's public traffic, right?

Correct.

You might want to clarify that.

Um and then the other condition I would like to add is that um I believe that there should be information posted at the beginning of fairway and also on the project site about the project and a status um maintained at least weekly so that anybody that's visiting the area uh would know of what has happened last week and what's going to be happening this week so that people know what to anticipate in advance.

Is that something that we can put as a condition on the encroachment permit?

It's within our operations.

It's it's possible it goes outside of the standard practice.

Uh I think there's some distances, but at council's direction, uh I think this can be revisited.

Okay, so now Gary, should we revisit all of these or um how should we hand it logistically tonight?

Because obviously I have uh a lot of suggested changes and I've just started.

Yeah.

And so um it's unfortunate we did have a chance to talk about this ahead of time, but I tried, but um isn't successful.

So sorry, what was your question?

So um how are we going to um uh incorporate this?

I mean how I do I do think these are two separate issues.

I think on your agenda this evening is the comment letter on the M and D, which is fairly narrow, which is what revisions do you want that in that letter so that staff can sign that and get that over to the county.

Right.

Um that comment letter is going to be um commenting only on the MND draft that's been released and that we've all seen as part of the public.

There's a separate question, which is what sort of input and oversight should the city have on the rest of what happens next, which includes the encroachment permit, um other things, interactions with the contractor notice to the public and the like.

I do think those are separate issues, and I think the agenda this evening is is just about the comment letter.

So in terms of um process for encroachment permits or what conditions to put in there or what other process the council would want, we can take that direction, but we would need to come back, I think um when we are better prepared to discuss those issues and come up with a recommendation on process.

Okay, great.

So um and so that will be brought back to council though for us to to approve before it's sent to the county or the open space district.

Um if that's the direction of the council, yes.

Okay.

So I will be asking council to do that as well so that um we can make sure.

Um so did you get the posting part, uh Chris?

Posting at the uh at fairway, and then also uh down um at the site.

Yes.

Um the other question I had is it wasn't clear in the document whether or not the trail would be in use, and I'm glad that you um highlighted that here.

Um but um uh so do we need um so if the trail is still going to be used, are are they gonna have to try to provide parking for the trail users?

And is that something that we should ask them to do?

Because it says here you say identification of off-street parking and alternative accommodations for trail users if access is restricted.

I I would change access.

I mean, I would say for trail users, because um not sure who would be, I I circled it saying access for whom.

Um so if it's for the general public and um and others, I guess, but I don't want contractors parking in those spaces if the trail is still gonna be opened.

So I don't know if that's something that's easy for you to correct in that point, or if you accept what I'm saying, then just say accept, and I can move on to the next one.

There's a lot.

I think there's room for interpretation.

Uh so if I could ask you to clarify uh the part of the document that references trail access, you're speaking of during construction or during and after construction.

Well, I know after construction there will be access to the trail.

Um I don't think they're gonna close it, spending all that money.

Um, but it's really primarily during the the staging, construction, and cleanup, all phases of the construction.

So thank you.

That helps, and I think your point of clarity uh accessing for trail users, that's a useful edit.

So yes.

That's helpful.

Okay, great.

Um so um so you you say in the next point the plan should identify the anticipated maximum number of truck trips per day and the expected frequency of oversight delivery so residents in the city can understand the anticipated level of construction activity.

I would add so uh that the residents and the city can understand and plan for the anticipated level of construction activity because if there's going to be a lot of construction activity, some people may have to change their patterns of living, or we may have to change our service, whatever.

Okay, going down a comment number three.

Um let's see, that's eight.

Oh let's see, comment number nine.

Councilmember Eckland, can I ask you how many comments there are?

Um I don't know, I didn't count.

Um the aggregate material.

I'm very concerned about the use of the aggregate material.

And um in the first paragraph, it says the emergency access and wildfire evacuation.

Will this route also have that aggregated material?

Do you know?

That again would be a great question for the county.

Okay, if it's not in the document right now, then it should be.

Right.

So can we ask them in in your question there to add?

Um will aggregate aggregated material, and then if so on the emergency access, um, I don't know what kind of impact the construction equipment would have on that aggregated material.

Um so that's something that would have to be looked at.

And then also too.

I'm glad you uh talk about the Nevado Fire District because um in this letter um uh and asking them to coordinate with them.

So I especially because I have a couple I have a lot of friends in the country club, but one of them specifically said that we haven't had a fire in these hills for decades, and we're long overdue.

So okay, um the next let's see.

Let's see.

So my my big question, and that's gonna be a question of the council.

And I have concerns about the use of the aggregate material for the trail.

And the reason is it would have to be compacted.

And so it could act like concrete.

We're going to have water going over the aggregate material that's compacted.

And so they have not done a study of what impact that aggregate material is going to be on the trail.

And so that's a question that I'm going to ask us to later add to the report.

But I also would like to have a discussion of the council about their feelings about the aggregate material, because frankly I think it's great to make this an accessible trail, but there's a fundamental flaw in this document, and that is that there's no parking for handicapped.

And so when you have an accessible trail and no parking, then I'm not I don't know, Gary, what kind of federal law steps in right away.

You call this an accessible trail, and there's no handicap parking.

So we would be signing off on a project that could possibly be breaking federal law.

I'm not sure that's the case.

It's not the case, okay?

Yeah.

There's two uh there's always two separate questions when you are doing any kind of construction project.

There's the ADA, which is a statute, there are the ADA guidelines, which are the regulations adopted by the U.S.

Attorney General, and then you have the California Building Code, which has its own accessibility standards.

And often more stringent than the ADA requirements, California um building code accessibility.

So when you are undertaking new construction, you must comply with the accessibility standards.

The parking requirements is a separate question.

And so the construction and the building and the trails need to be accessible because that's the standard that applies when you build something.

And then there's a separate issue of whether or not something else requires additional parking to go in.

So in this case, if there isn't some requirement for the county to put parking in, um there wouldn't necessarily be parking as part of this project, which is what we've seen here with the uh that's a that's a basic flaw of this project altogether, too, because they say in the mitigated negative declaration that they do not anticipate additional use of this trail as a result.

My question when I read that sentence is then why are they spending millions of dollars not only to do a mitigated negative declaration, but also to construct the project and to maintain it, and that's going to be something I want added there.

Um because right now they're not planning on maintaining the trail.

Um so to me that's a oxymoron for um uh for us.

So yeah, I I don't know why the county decided on the scope of the project.

I don't know.

Yeah, okay.

Um let's see.

Okay, the next one.

Um the next point is a great one, Chris.

Really, your staff had a great you and your staff did a great job.

The city recommends that the the final document describes your emergency access and wildlife wildfire evacuation routes that will be maintained when the trail is operational.

I think that's a great issue.

Um, but I think we need to also state um that we believe that it should also this emergency evacuation plan should also be posted on site and also on the internet and given to adjacent neighbors, or even just maybe the country club association, so that um every and also the city of Navado, so that we know what the um what the plan is.

Um because it remember this is one way in, one way out on a city street.

Okay, great.

So no problem with that.

So I'm gonna be asking the council at then if there's any problems with any of these issues, and if you have problems with one of them, I hope that you can articulate articulate them at that point.

Um however you want to handle it.

Um the next one is on page three.

And um I think that this is great.

Um describing the um the the draft, a mitigated negative deck describes an extensive public outreach process.

Um but um you're right, they really haven't identified dates, what they heard, if they heard anything.

And some of these um uh public events were not even uh this the city council wasn't even noticed.

Um and I do not know whether or not the city was noticed with all of these.

Was the city noticed of all these outreach activities?

We can certainly look into it.

There has been contacts between the Open Space District and staff in the past.

However, initial searches or file system, and we I don't have access to prior emails between prior staff members.

And that certainly may have happened, and it might have been lost since uh the change in staff.

So looking at the county's website on this project, they are listing seven different public meetings and or neighborhood meetings where this project was discussed between August of 2023 and January of 2026.

So that's what we can speak to.

That that's what they've posted on their website.

Unfortunately, as the public works director said, there have been a lot of personnel changes in our public works department.

So you know, Chris can speak to him being public works director for the last four months.

Um but prior to that he's not going to be able to say.

Right.

But I I believe that those those are not specific, they don't provide dates.

Um I could go through them for you if you'd like.

So excuse me, if um if it's in the letter, uh they I identified five things that um what are the principal issues raised, which is great, key comments received from accessibility stakeholders.

I think all of this is important to get significant environmental concerns raised during outreach, project modifications made in response to the community, great comment, concerns which could not be accommodated and basis for those decisions, great.

But also too, we need to know what what I've heard is that there were not a lot of notices sent to all of the neighbors.

And so anyway, that's what I've heard.

And hopefully some of the public can help me to understand too or us um whether there was really good communication between the two.

Would you like me to go through the public meeting dates?

Um, that because that's something that they're going to also provide us as well.

Okay.

Um if anybody's interested, they're list listed on the county's project page website.

Right, but it also uh needs to be provided to the council.

I might be interested in those dates if you have them.

That way they could be provided to us right now.

Yeah, I I do believe that we provided a link to this um in the Friday memo to the city council, so you have seen this information already.

Um the county lists, and obviously I can't validate it, but I don't think that they'd put it up there if it wasn't true.

Uh two neighborhood outreach meetings, one in August, August 29th of 2023, and one May 8th of 2025.

The Commission on Aging met at the Novato Margaret Todd Senior Center on May 4th, 2023.

The Marine Community Service Area 20 Advisory Board met on September 8th, 2025.

The Marine Conservation League Parks and Open Space Committee met to discuss the project on June 12th of 2025, and the Marin County Parks and Open Space Commission met on July 17th of 2025 and January 15th of 2026 to discuss the project.

Since we're talking about community outreach right now, um the county has committed to because we have stabilized our staffing here at the city, they have committed to working with us so that we can give them tips and tricks on how to better engage and do outreach within the neighborhood out there so that everybody's kind of on the same page and under has the same information and that they understand all of the different concerns that the the residents and neighbors have and where they feel like they need information so that they can safely and effectively and peacefully live through the construction of this project.

So, council, I want to tell you that I believe that the county of Marin and the Open Space District approached this project totally incorrectly.

In my opinion, and based on my experience, the county should have developed a proposed project with alternatives with the city and the public.

And especially the neighbors and the entershood parties, including the regulatory agencies of the California Fish and Wildlife of which I've talked to, and other state agencies that are involved in this project as well as well.

And then after evaluating the proposed project and the alternatives, then the project applicant or the proponent, like the county and the Open Space District should have then developed a preferred project.

But that is not the way they chose to do it.

And in my opinion, that's totally inappropriate.

Never and so nor were they brought to the city.

And so all of the communications between the other things.

So you're saying that they didn't talk to staff.

No, I'm saying that you're jumping into a conclusion about something staff did or did not do.

And if you have a concern about something that staff did or did not do based on information they may or may not have had, that's something that you should be addressing to me in private, not in a public open meeting.

Excuse me, but um I I really think that you you may not have been here in 2023.

Maybe you were.

If I may interject, we've been we've been taking feedback for an hour an hour now.

This we're here to review a letter.

It's a simple document, Stephanie.

If I may finish my comments now, please.

You've had an hour.

We've sat here, we've listened to all of your feedback.

Staff did a wonderful job of reviewing the document and putting together meaningful feedback.

I I've I've heard the changes you want to make, but I'll be honest with you.

I I can't follow some of the points you're making.

I just I just can't.

And I think we've had a very patient audience that's waited a long time to provide public comments.

I think it's only reasonable at this point.

Maybe we hold some of our comments, give them the opportunity to do that.

Oh, yeah, I I don't have a problem with that at all.

But I want to complete all the work, but I need to tell you that I did offer another solution uh uh alternative to talk to staff before the meeting.

Okay, about some of my comments because they're pretty detailed.

So um that offer was made.

And so member Eklund, I I texted you this afternoon because yesterday we talked about you submitting your comments, so staff had the opportunity to review them before the meeting.

This afternoon I hadn't received them.

I texted you, and you said that you weren't yet done with them, and you would bring them now.

So here we are with this.

So again, I need to say please don't accuse staff of doing things that they didn't do.

I'm not include accusing staff of anything I didn't see a text.

And so um Councilmember Eklund, you responded to my text.

I know Council Member.

Can we take a break and come back and have public comment and then come back to any comments you have from just time?

That's fine.

Let's take a uh seven-minute break and come back at 725.

All right, we're taking a break.

Okay, we're taking a break.

Let's calm it all down.

Okay, we're back in session.

We're gonna open it up for public comment.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor Pro Tim.

My name is Leonard Shaw.

I live at five nine five Fairway Drive.

My wife Judy and I bought a vacant lot fifty-six years ago and built on it, and we've been there ever since.

Chris Chamberlain, who heads up the Marin County Parks Department, wrote a letter to this council.

Mr.

Shaw, your two minutes is up, but can you please wrap it up?

You know, I I've been working on this matter since December of 2022.

If the council is interested in knowing the facts of how much we have been involved, I would like to present it.

I'd like to ask your indulgence maybe for another minute.

Let's give you another minute, and then can you put it into an email and send it to the fine?

Thank you.

The county has been in touch with the Marin Conservation League.

I think that was mentioned.

Not all of us are members of the Marin Conservation League.

The County presented this plan to the Citizens Committee of the County.

It was presented.

We had two minutes to put in our point of view.

And only three or four of us were able to get our positions stated.

So we have not, no matter what Mr.

Chamberlain has said, we have not been involved in this process.

So I hope that clarifies that particular point.

I'm grateful to the Council and particularly grateful to the staff, because you have had almost no time to delve into this 300-page document that they have prepared.

They've disrespected you, and they have disrespected us because we have all asked them for a reasonable extension of time to respond.

Thank you, Mr.

And they have denied it.

So that's the position of the county.

Those are the people that you will be dealing with in your efforts.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

And Mayor, excuse me.

We usually do a three-minute comment period, and I did not hear the council agree for a two-minute.

So I would really plead.

We have a lot of speakers.

We have taken a lot of time already.

I bet I know that, but we don't have very much on our agenda either, and this is a very important project.

We are going to keep it a two minutes.

I'd like to address uh several concerns that I have regarding the uh turning the Gulch Waterfall Trek into ADA accessible, into ADA accessible, an ADA accessible area.

Having been badly injured in a skiing accident and with roughly nine surgeries over the years, I have had the need and need for ADA access many times over.

I am completely perplexed by why this is this area is being considered when the topography and the need for the ADA access is so prevalent.

There are so many other locations in Navado that the surrounding uh areas that have less topography than the hike to Buck Gulch at the end of Fairway Drive.

As you know, emergency vehicles are unable to pull into the cul-de-sac and and at the end of Fairway and turn around.

This is a huge issue, especially when lives are at stake.

There is no dedicated parking places and the trailhead at the trailhead.

In the past, visitors parked their cars along residential curves, often blocking residents' driveways, leaving one way leaving no way for the homeowner to come and go from their homes.

Imagine if there was an emergency evacuation and the owners were unable to live leave the area.

I can tell you that you that the area where the developer graded and started at the and started to add three driveways many years ago will not provide enough parking for the number of visitors that frequent the area year-round.

Book Gulch Falls Falls run through Arroyo San Jose Creek.

Even if the signs are placed for hikers to stay on the trails, many hikers will go off them.

The increased foot traffic leads to trample.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Mark Scorone Scarion Scariona?

Scardina, sorry.

Mayor, Council members.

My name is Mark Scardina, obviously.

And I thank staff for the wide scope of the letter that they put together.

And in fact, it is aligned quite well with the Marin Country Club Neighborhood Association's comments to the county and which we copied you on.

And so we're pleased of this alignment.

Since Friday, when you published your draft over the weekend, we reviewed it very carefully and produced a document that we consider a technical resource that covers your issues and also goes into perhaps potentially more complete questions you may want to ask the county based upon your existing draft.

And we encourage you to look at that resource because the end goal is the same.

We want the county to come back with a final ISMD that fully mitigates proactively, not reactively, the actual negative declaration, so that our consequences or our impacts are less than significant.

The document today is nowhere near that, and we hope you will hold the county responsible for delivering one.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Mark Sebastian.

Council members, I'm a Navado resident who lives adjacent to Buck Gulch Falls Trailhead.

As many of my neighbors have shared, we have experienced the growing burdens associated with increased visitors and vehicular traffic to and from the falls.

This project will only exacerbate those existing impacts.

We have hoped that the district's obligation to comply with CEQA would at a minimum provide residents with confidence in the impacts associated with the inevitable increase in visitors would be thoroughly analyzed, disclosed, and appropriately mitigated.

Instead, our review of the ISMND revealed the opposite.

As outlined in our written comments, the ISMND fails to satisfy several CECAs most fundamental procedural requirements designed to ensure public participation in decision making, including its mandatory tribal council requirements.

During that meeting, the tribe requested revised architecture uh archaeological studies because of the potential presence of sacred cultural sites within the project.

The district completed those revisions at the end of May and provided an update memorandum to the tribe in June of 26, the very same month it circulated the ISMND for public review.

The ISMND itself acknowledges the district continues ongoing consultation with the Federated Indians of the Great Ranchiera, but CECA expressly requires the tribal consultation be concluded before a lead agency may consider adopting MND.

By the district's own admission, therefore it is not fulfilled this straightforward legal obligation.

If the district cannot comply with the clear procedural requirements, how can the public be confident that the that it has complied with CECA and other public disclosures, environmental review and participation requirements?

Although the district states that the begin they began the public outreach in 2022, residents have received the little meaningful information since.

This procedural shortcomings are emblematic of a broader pattern and deprived both the public and decision makers of the information necessary to fulfill understand and the project's true scope and impacts.

For these reasons, in the interest of protecting Navado residents, we respectfully urge the council to closely scrutinize the district's actions moving forward and recognize its apparent failure to comply with CECWA's procedural requirements.

Thank you for your Gary Jones.

Gary Jones, uh thank you for the opportunity.

I think this uh whole democratic process is not easy.

Uh I I do believe that the City Council and the City staff have done a good job.

I think the county has done an abysmal job.

Uh my issue, my big issue is parking.

It's a huge problem.

Visitors exiting their cars through the street or wheelchairs is a problem.

Uh neighborhood parking neighbors hate it.

All the cars parked in there.

Plus the uh real danger is if we have an evacuation or medical emergency or something like that.

So uh if this project goes forward, there has to be alternatives to just street side parking.

It's just I just don't see that working.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Gail Perrin.

Thank you.

I'll just go right to it.

There's so much to talk about here that it's just impossible, as you can see.

And we've all written letters, so you have our written documentation.

So I don't even know what to address at this moment.

But so I will just tell you at first one thing.

The falls is one of those rare places where geology, a hidden waterfall, an oak woodland, a gushing winter creek, and a neighborhood come together in a sense of discovery.

This is why I care and why the neighbors care so much about this place.

It's become for some of us, most of us, a pilgrimage, at least once a year, but during all seasons.

It's a very special place with very steep terrain, and yes, the creek needs to be restored.

But we aren't coming here in a dispute.

We're really coming here to protect a piece of nature that we all love and a neighborhood where we all live.

If I was to get into any one particular point, it would be about the aggregate and the level of compaction and what is firm and stable mean, and what are the different Caltrans requirements, and how much runoff is there going to be, and is that runoff now sized into the downstream storm drain?

The issues are just cumulative, and that is one of the major problems with this entire report is that there is no cumulative analysis of any one area.

So I see my time is running out.

The other thing on the final report, which again I do commend the staff.

It says physical physical impact.

There is no direct physical impact with this action.

I don't understand that.

Maybe someone can explain that when I sit down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleen Arnold.

Hi there.

Uh Dr.

Colleen Arnold, and I'm here tonight to ask you to support the bulk the Buck Gulch Falls Creek Restoration Project.

I just want to start by saying as this discussion has unfolded, I ask that we focus as a city of Navado on the right questions.

Let's talk about safety, environment, trail design, and responsible access.

Those are legitimate issues worthy of thoughtful discussion, and I appreciate those being brought to this group.

Let's not reduce it to parking.

At the heart of this debate, it is often felt like a small privileged neighborhood asking that public lands remain primarily for those who live beside them.

Many of these homes have three to four car garages that I walk by with my toddler and my 73-year-old mother.

I have seen older adults turn around on the trail access, being able to unpass when the water is high, as well as dangers for small children.

Wheelchairs are not the problem.

So if we're talking about transportation, absolutely, let's talk about marine access, paratransit, how we gain access to this space.

But this aligns with Novato's commitment.

What we've done at Pioneer Park, what we've done with aging disability friendly Novato.

The truth of the matter is we are all aging, and disability touches nearly every family.

So what I find ironic are the people speaking loudly and threatening.

Do I have Tourette syndrome because I have strong reactions to some things being said today?

Those are the same people that in 10 years are going to require this accessible access in order to get onto the trails in their own neighborhood that they are fighting so deftly against tonight.

I am going to say I have seen Leonard, I have seen Mark make public comment to Marin County in the past.

That public comment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You guys got an extra minute in case you missed it.

Please don't allow threatening activities and ableism within the city council chambers.

Thank you.

I'm going to ask people in the in the chambers to not make any comments, please.

It's inappropriate.

Cara Brown.

Hello.

I have no prepared comments.

This is just going to come straight from here.

I live at 597 Fairway Drive, five houses from the end.

My concerns are these.

The construction is not going to be fun.

We're going to all live through it.

And what's going to happen afterwards.

With the increased assuming, and hopefully, why would we do the improvement unless there was going to be increased visitation?

People speed.

I mean easy 40 miles an hour in a 25.

And I I just want to know what's going to be done by that with that.

And the other thing is I think that there's a certain naivete that creating a fence at the waterfall is going to keep people out of the creek.

People are going to do what people do.

We walk this trail often.

We see the crap that's left around.

We uh silly string.

Oh my God, I got down on the ground and I was picking up silly string, which is plastic, and we'll end up in the creek.

I mean, I uh it's a tricky problem, but none of us want this land to be overrun, and we don't want people speeding in our neighborhood.

So I know that the process has been crappy from the standpoint of the of the county, and I I'm so grateful to know that you, the Council of Novado is the City Council is involved because you may have more leverage than we.

I know that this part of the county will do what they want to do.

I have been part of other projects sort of adjacent adjacent to it, not actually part of it, like the San Geronimo golf course, and they're gonna do what they want to do.

And the rest of the public comment, be damned.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Lauren Veland Long.

Uh thank you, Mayor uh Pro Tem Jacobs and the rest of the City Council.

My name is Lauren Vreeland Long, and I'm here um to advocate for older adults and people with disabilities.

I am part of age and disability-friendly Novato.

And for a lot of seniors and people with mobility challenges, getting outside and enjoying nature isn't always easy.

But access to our local parks isn't just nice to have.

It's vital for our physical health, mental well-being, and staying connected with our community.

Right now, conditions on these trails can be really tough.

The unimproved rock crossings and eroding paths aren't just inconvenient.

They're major fall hazards.

For anyone with balance or mobility concerns, or anyone using a wheelchair, a walker, a cane, or a stroller.

This project changes that by following the district's inclusive access plan.

It creates safe year-round all abilities access along Spyglass Trail and Buck Gulch Falls Trail.

Upgrading these paths and fixing those creek crossings means older adults and residents with disabilities can actually get out there and experience Buck Gulch waterfalls safely and with confidence.

At the same time, it fixes the heavy erosion and restores the creek habitat along Arroyo to San Jose Creek, protecting the local wildlife.

We all care about.

A great community means it makes sure that public access works for everyone, regardless of age or ability.

This plan protects our environments while opening up public lands for all our neighborhoods.

We strongly urge you to approve the project tonight.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you.

I did a terrible job on that one.

You clarify it to me.

Yes, I will.

Hi, I'm Melissa Incho OGA.

You are close.

Um I am a Nevada resident, mom of three.

I'm here this evening to show my support for the Gulch Falls Restoration Project.

Uh the last time I was here, I was speaking out in support of the inclusive features at Hope Park.

Before that, I was here speaking in support of making Pioneer Park an inclusive playground, and I'm so glad that the board um supported both of these initiatives.

As the parent of a child with a disability, I am uniquely aware of the limitations that she faces in this world.

From school to playgrounds, recreational activities, summer camps, and trails.

Things were not made for her or others like her in mind.

Excuse me.

So we have to create and build these spaces to ensure that people with disabilities have access to all the things that you and I might take for granted.

I've heard some of the arguments from the residents who live near Gulch Falls.

And I wanted to offer my perspective.

And we get a lot of people driving down Vineyard and parking in front of our homes in order to access these trails.

And I thought about how I would feel if this was happening to the trails near my house and if I would oppose them because it might affect my quality of life or increase visitors or traffic.

And the conclusion that I came to is that my husband and I bought our home.

We didn't buy Vineyard Road.

We didn't buy Big Tree.

We are not more entitled to it just because we live steps away.

The residents opposing this project bought their homes and that's it.

And they bought these homes knowing that they are that there was a popular hiking trail located there.

And I think it's shameful that they would try to keep others from accessing it.

I'd like to thank the Marin County Parks Department for proposing these upgrades and valuing access.

I hope that this opposition uh doesn't deter them from continuing to create inclusive spaces around Marin County.

Lastly, I asked that the board uh think of the disability community when deciding whether or not to support this project.

I ask that you think uh of what the impact, this the impact that this would have on a family like mine, the impact that this would have on wheelchair users, on aging adults, uh people who otherwise would not be able to access this trail.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jeremy Hogan.

Uh thank you.

My name is Jeremy Hogan, and I'm a Novato resident, and I appreciate the opportunity to chat uh here uh to talk to you today.

Uh I'm a father of four.

Uh also live close to a popular uh trail in Novato, and um I'm not gonna speak nearly as eloquently as anybody tonight because I I was not planning to speak, but um I just want a lot there's a lot of misinformation here, and I can't there's not enough time to clear all of it up, but I just want to remind folks of the facts that Marin County open space does not belong to just Fairway Drive residents, that Marin County open space should be open to all.

Um I I feel like the residents in this in this town get really excited about the open space that we have access to.

Um, but when others besides maybe the people who live close to the trailhead want to access it, then then there's then there's an issue.

I also would like to clear up that this is beyond just an accessibility issue.

There is an environmental restoration aspect to it that I think is being ignored.

Um that this is actually helping the salamander ecosystem within the creek by building the bridges.

So uh this project uh has been uh people have been uh had opportunities to talk about this project.

The community I've seen some of these folks at at meetings talking about this very project where they gave alternatives.

So some of this misinformation, I'm not sure where it's coming from, but um I would just really urge the council to support the permit um encroachment.

Um just don't the just really don't put the no in Novato.

Don't disappoint the rest of the city when this Novato gets a bad rap as it is for you know, no in Novato.

Don't don't play into that.

Don't don't be that that uh that type of citizen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Judy Shaw.

I hate to admit it, but I'm responsible for this debate tonight.

In 1975, another Navarre and Tom Telford and I convinced Truesdale to donate all this land to open space.

And then later, my husband convinced the developer in a legal battle to donate the last 35 lots to open space, except for the little city park at the joint of what was two trails.

And you hold that wild card.

You own that city parcel.

So you are able to do an awful lot in return for granting access.

I don't walk very easily anymore.

I'm 87, my husband's 93.

We've been fighting and trying to help the city for years.

I'd like to see the creek preserved, the less erosion, but erosion is natural.

The less erosion, but erosion is natural.

The deer would cause erosion.

A lot of work can be done mitigating problems and still allowing access for 87-year-olds.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Do we have any comment online?

We do.

The first is Bridget McDonald.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Bridget McDonald of Bremmi Moose Manley, and I'm speaking on behalf of my clients who live on Fairway Drive adjacent to the Buck Gold Trailhead.

Like many of the other neighboring residents, my clients have concerns about the project's potentially significant impacts, particularly those to parking and safety, emergency evacuation, and wildfire risks.

So we appreciate the city's consideration of these issues, but hope they incorporate those that we raised today.

As our written comments explain, the ISMND that the district published is insufficient under CEQA because it fails to provide the public with meaningful information about the true nature and scope of these impacts, much less any assurances that they'll be adequately mitigated.

Critically, many of these impacts, as others have highlighted, will occur on city property.

So as a result, we implore the city to rely on its authority as a responsible agency to require the district's compliance with protective mitigation measures.

For instance, apart from the contraction construction traffic management plan that the city has proposed, what can and will the city do to ensure increased visitor vehicular traffic is mitigated once the trail reopens?

Has the city considered implementing a permitted permitted parking program on residential streets or restricting parking hours as it's done in the past or as contemplated in chapter 15 of the city code?

Will the city city allocate more parking enforcement measures to ensure vehicles are elite that are illegally parked in fire zones or properly cited and towed as required under Chapter 18 of the code?

Relatedly, in the absence of a wildfire impact analysis, how does the city intend to tackle significant impacts to its evacuation access plans and emergency plans, especially those that are on city streets, such as Fairway Drive.

Introducing more visitors to a wildfire prone area exacerbates the risk of a major disaster.

So what resources will the city utilize?

Transparency, disclosure, public participation, and informed decision making are at the heart of CEQA.

So we encourage the city to uphold these principles in its comments and as a responsible SQL agency when considering the requested encroachment permit to ensure these impacts are adequately mitigated.

Again, we appreciate your consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There's no other raised hands online.

Okay, thank you.

I just have a quick comment and then I'm going to call on Councilmember O'Connor.

I just want to say something, two things.

One, it's nice to see a hiking trail being made inclusive for access for people, especially with a situation my brother had years ago.

He's passed, and my mother both were in wheelchairs.

And it would have been wonderful to have something like this at that time.

The second thing is, and this is a question.

I don't expect an answer, but I would recommend that everybody bring this to the supervisors meeting and discuss it there in their open comment time also.

Uh second thing, Councilmember O'Connor.

County supervisors, yes.

Is it coming back to the case?

Yes, sir.

I I raise my hand because I'd like to call the question.

That requires a vote.

Yep.

Would you mind happy to advise on that?

So uh council has adopted Rosenberg's rules.

There is a motion included in there to call the question or limit debate.

Um if it's made, it requires a second.

It would then require a supermajority.

In this case, since there's four of you, three of you would need to vote in favor.

If that's the case, it would end debate, and then you would vote on the item in front of you.

Okay.

Does anyone want to make a second?

I will make a second.

So excuse me, what is your motion?

I'm calling the question.

Um I'm not finished with my comments, and I think that's very inappropriate to do it.

I have gone through and I have scaled down the number of additional issues that I want to read.

You've had over an hour on the floor to provide your comments.

Staff time was available to you since Thursday when you received the I'm I'm not I'm I'm not interrupting you.

We're two hours into this item.

Two hours.

That's and most of that time was C the two already.

So I appreciate that you have more things you would like to say.

I have a right to call the question.

That's that is allowed.

And if it passes at that point, we can move forward.

Well, if it doesn't, you'll have an opportunity.

I also have a right to speak on the issue, right?

Uh well, if there is a second on the motion to limit debate, there needs to be a vote on that.

It's not a debatable issue.

The chair needs to stop and call for the second.

And if there is, call the vote.

That is what the voice is.

Would you like to call?

Councilmember Eklund.

No.

Councilmember Carpal?

Yes.

Councilmember O'Connor?

Yes.

Mayor Pur Tem Jacobs?

Yes.

And Mayor Farack is absent.

So I think that staff has done a good job of summarizing the council and residents' concerns.

I recognize it may not be a perfect letter, but getting it to the county in a timely manner is critical at this point, so they have a time to respond and engage with the community.

For that reason, I would like to make a motion to move the letter forward as drafted.

I would like to amend the motion that we include the items that I have identified so far.

Will the maker of the motion include that in the motion?

No.

Why not?

I couldn't even begin to summarize what you have said tonight.

Because they these are not complete.

May I suggest you send them in to stand?

No, I'm making a motion, Kevin, to send Mayor Pro 10 to move forward.

Like we can't spend weeks and weeks on debating the wordsmithing in language that needs to get to the county now.

We've already missed the deadline.

Yeah, I would just add procedurally.

There's a motion here that needs to be a second.

If the amendment is not being accepted, there could then be a substitute motion, which would then require a second or die for last year.

I'll do a substitute motion for us to be able to at least add the items that I have already identified, which were taken notes by, I believe, um, our public works director.

And he's nodding yes that he did.

So I would add ask that the maker of the motion and the second or at least agree to include those.

Is there a second for that motion?

Okay, then we go on to There was no seconds.

There was no second.

So that motion fails.

Council members O'Connor's motion.

This is really unacceptable, Council members.

Councilmember Eklund?

No.

Councilmember Carkle?

Yes.

Councilmember O'Connor?

Yes.

Mayor Pur Tem Jacobs?

Yes.

And Mayor Frack is absent.

Thank you.

So we didn't even discuss the wildfire issue and the bridges and the maintenance of the open space.

I'm going to receive an informal informational update on the City of Novato's fleet electrification plan and regional efforts to transition public agency fleets to zero emission vehicles.

Sustainability coordinator.

Gretchen Schubeck.

I'm sorry.

Next time.

Next time.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor.

Pro Tem, Council members.

Chris Benini.

Joining me tonight is sustainability coordinator, Gretchen Schubek.

We're here this evening to provide the city an update on the city's progress toward developing a fleet electrification plan and provide an overview of efforts of other jurisdictions in the North Bay to meet the requirements of the stated uh advanced clean fleet regulation at this point.

Uh I'm here to support Gretchen, but you're in her good hands to explain and present to you tonight.

Thank you very much, um Chris.

So uh just for some background, the advanced clean fleet regulation was adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2023 to accelerate the adoption of zero emission vehicles and reduce emissions from medium and heavy-duty vehicles in city and state fleets.

The regulation applies to state and local government fleet vehicles in um heavy uh medium and heavy-duty vehicles used for public works and also in municipal operations.

Beginning in 2024, 50 percent of these applicable um vehicle purchases or leases must be zero emission vehicles, increasing to 100 percent by 2030.

The regulation does include some exemptions, and those are for emergency vehicles and also light duty vehicles.

In 2024, the city applied for and was awarded consultant uh no cost consultant support through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, um referred to as MTC going forward, to develop a fleet electrification plan for the City of Novato.

MTC approved that support in May of 2024, and there was a kickoff meeting with the consultant opteny in August of 2025.

The plan is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026.

The fleet electrification plan will provide a roadmap for transitioning eligible fleet vehicles to zero emission technologies to meet the advanced clean fleet regulation.

The plan will evaluate which vehicles are suitable for replacement, recommend replacement timelines, assess charging and infrastructure needs, and provide some preliminary cost estimates.

We're very fortunate to have received the funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

There were 32 other Bay Area agencies that participated in the grant program, including nine in Marin County.

Several North Bay agencies have added one or two medium duty vehicles since 2004.

And I did some research in preparation for this presentation, and noted that several are in various stages of planning and evaluating their options.

Meeting the advanced clean fleet requirements will continue to be challenging due to a number of factors.

Namely the high cost of zero emission vehicles in the medium and heavy duty categories, installing EV charging infrastructure, limited vehicle availability for comparable models, the evolving evolving federal policy landscape, and changing market conditions.

The good news is that CARB is indicated that they are focused on outreach and education, and that working and they're committed to working with public agencies on a case-by-case basis to resolve challenges as they arise.

In terms of next steps, we're working hard to complete the fleet and infrastructure evaluation and finalize the electrification plan.

Like I said, we're expecting that to be completed later this fall.

City will also continue to pursue funding opportunities to support vehicle and infrastructure investments.

To share information, lessons learned, and best practices.

That concludes the presentation.

Thank you.

Councilmember Eckland, you have some questions for staff.

Yeah, my first question is.

Actually, do we have do we current where do we currently have charging stations on our properties?

So for fleet charging, we have we have charging ports at the corptyard.

We have charging stations at 92 Machin Avenue, the City Administration Building, and also the police, the police station.

So what about Margaret Todd and some of the other public buildings that we own?

I was those are specifically for fleet charging stations.

In addition to those fleet-only charging stations at the three locations, we also have public charging stations at Margaret Todd, 922 Machin Avenue and the Garage Downstairs, and also upstairs.

The gymnastic center, the Zenklot.

You have it at the gymnastics center out of Hamilton.

We do have one, yeah.

There's a dual port charging station at the gymnastics center.

And there's one in Hamilton as well.

At where at Hamilton?

Next to the community center in the parking lot.

Okay.

And what about the Art Center?

I'm sorry.

The Art Center.

There isn't one at the Arts Center.

The one at Hamilton is a dual port station, and it doesn't get a tremendous amount of use, honestly.

It's in kind of a hidden away spot, but it does it does get used.

So are you planning to do an analysis of at least on the pieces of property that we own throughout Novato to make sure that there are charging stations where we where they're needed on each of those properties that we are currently occupying and using?

Yeah, so tonight's presentation was really about fleet, fleet charging and fleet electrification.

There is a separate countywide initiative that's happening to look at the countywide needs around public charging stations, and so we could return with information about that if requested.

So we do probably have then all charging stations near where the fleet is being used, whether it's corporate or city hall, whatever.

And do we have enough?

So part of the work that we're undertaking with the fleet electrification plan is to identify which vehicles could be transitioned to meet the advanced clean fleet regulation and then what infrastructure charging needs would be required for those vehicles.

And those are the three locations where we've identified we could expand charging.

There's oh there's three more stations, three more areas that we could place electrical chargers, that's what you said.

Um no, I was referring to the three places where there already are fleet stations.

So we would just expand what's already there.

So we're we'll we'll find you'll let us know where you think we need to place additional fleet um uh charging stations.

Yeah, as the plan is completed, we'll we'll identify if there are additional um sites, we can certainly let you know.

And so then your plan, though, is also to develop a schedule for um expanding charging stations throughout the city.

Um, this particular plan is just for fleet.

Just for fleet, yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um other council members have questions?

Okay, I've just got a couple questions.

Does the city backup generator system supply power to the charging stations for the EVs?

No.

Okay.

Um could it in the future?

Probably not.

There currently we have diesel generators.

I th yes, so we would we would need to look into that.

Would you like to answer that maybe?

So this uh as many municipalities around a country are adopting uh for this exact situation where you do have no electricity and a growing electric fleet.

Uh diesel backup generator powers is something that's being adopted throughout the country.

Um the opportunity in my career to do exactly that.

Um you are faced with limited resources when we are out of electricity.

And if we were fighting for diesel fuel between our vehicles and generators tasked with charging vehicles, it's uh it's an exercise in resource management.

Um but if we were to do so, it would be at a limited capacity, and it would be for the emergency response vehicles only in this situation.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Um seems to be no other comment from council members.

I'm gonna open it up for public comment.

I have no cards.

Is there anybody in the public who wants to speak about this matter?

Okay, do we have anybody online who would like to speak about this matter?

There's no raise hands online.

Okay.

Um just a presentation.

Thank you very much.

J3 is considered adopting a resolution authorizing the city of Novato to participate in the multi-jurisdictional grant application to be submitted by the county of Marin to the California Ocean Protection Council Senate Bill 1 sea level rise adoption planning grant program to fund preparation of a regional shoreline adaptation plan.

Gretchen.

Good evening once again.

I'm joined tonight by my colleague Brett Walker, senior planner in our planning division, to request that council authorize um the City of Nevada participate in a multi-jurisdictional grant application led by the County of Marin to prepare a regional shoreline adaptation plan in partnership with several other jurisdictions.

Just a little bit of background.

Uh, under Senate Bill 272, all California coastal jurisdictions are required to prepare a regional shoreline adaptation plan by January 1st, 2034.

Um the intent of the plan is to protect shorelines from sea level rise.

And the legislation also establishes minimum planning requirements and encourages regional coordination to address vulnerable shorelines that span multiple jurisdictions.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission is responsible for reviewing and approving local shoreline adaptation plans to ensure that they're coordinated with neighboring jurisdictions and are aligned with regional shoreline adaptation priorities.

I'm now going to pass it along to Brett, and he's going to do the next few slides.

Good evening.

So the SB1 grant funding, which is distributed distributed by the Ocean Protection Council, includes three separate funding tracks.

Track one is for sea level rights planning, which is what the City of Novato, along with some other cities in Marin, along with the county would like to accomplish with the preparation of the SB 272 RSAP document.

Once the RSAP is completed and adopted by the city and approved by BCDC, the Marin jurisdictions would likely apply for track two monies to implement projects identified in the RSAP.

Um the third pathway is specific to tribal organizations that the city would not qualify for on its own.

So the city did recently update its general plan safety element to include policies and programs regarding climate adaptation and resiliency.

Uh this work included a vulnerability assessment, which identified parts of the city that are susceptible to sea level rise, and some of these areas are already impacted during king tide events, especially when when combined with a storm surge.

As mentioned in the staff report, the RSAP will identify public infrastructure and public and private assets that are vulnerable to sea level rise.

The R SEP RSAP should provide the city and other jurisdictions with a pathway towards resiliency through year 2100.

So at this point, I'll hand the presentation back to Gretchen to for conclusion.

So in addition to administering Senate Bill, um, the sea level rise adaptation planning grant, the Ocean Protection Council has partnered with Coastal Quest to provide no cost technical assistance to jurisdictions developing sea level um regional shoreline adaptation planning grant applications.

Because sea level rise and floodwaters do not stop at jurisdictional boundaries, a regional approach will enable will enable j neighboring jurisdictions to coordinate planning, leverage technical expertise, and pursue state and federal funding more effectively than working on their own.

The County of Marin is well positioned to serve as the lead applicant and coordinating agency, building on its experience, leading regional planning efforts and collaborating with local jurisdictions on issues that extend beyond individual municipal boundaries.

This slide shows the uh the jurisdictions that are um proposed to be part of the partnership, and with the county of Marin being being the lead and Coastal Quest being um the technical advisor.

Uh, one important note that um which is also highlighted in the staff report, but I wanted to um highlight it tonight.

Mill Valley Tiburon and Sau Salito have already received SB1 planning grant funding, so they're not able to participate in this grant application.

Uh Ross um doesn't have the shoreline.

Um and so the intent is that as should the grant funding be approved to develop the plan that that there would be um reference to those other jurisdictions, Mill Valley Tiburon and um and Sousolito.

So our request this evening from council is to adopt a resolution authorizing the City of Navado to participate in a multi-jurisdiction grant application to be submitted by the County of Marin to the ocean California Ocean Protection Council's Senate Bill One Sea Level Rise Adaptation Planning Grant Program to fund preparation of a regional shoreline adaptation plan.

And that is it.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Eckland.

Thank you.

Uh great report.

I'm glad that we're thinking about joining the county.

I have a couple of questions though.

Have the county um uh or these participants, have they started meeting yet to determine kind of a process we're gonna go through in order to formulate this regional shoreline adaptation plan?

You know, I serve on BCDC, which is requiring this plan.

And uh so I know a lot about what is being required and what needs to be done.

Um so have they talked about the process of how this is gonna be done or with waiting until we all get together and then um make that decision.

There have been several exploratory meetings with the other jurisdictions, Coastal Quest and the County of Marin.

Then the new climate resilience officer, I can't remember her exact title, has been involved in those meetings, and the intent is that an application would be ready to submit for the September 11th deadline.

So we have a little bit of time.

So we have a climate resilient officer here?

The County of Marin.

Oh, the County of Marin.

Okay.

So September 11th is when we would know whether or not we're getting a grant or no.

So the awards would happen in December.

I think that's the next time the Ocean Protection Council meets in December.

And then we would be notified shortly after that.

And so we wouldn't join them until 2027.

So what we're hoping to happen tonight is that the council adopts a resolution that we formally join this collaboration and then continue to work with Coastal Quest over the next month and a half, developing the grant application, which would then go to the Ocean Protection Council by the deadline of September 11th.

And then, like I said, I believe they meet in December, and we would know shortly after that if it's been approved.

Following that, an RFP would be prepared to hire a consultant to develop the plan.

Right.

So they haven't developed a plan of action for the for the how to how to get this done.

Okay.

So we're in the early process then.

And then with the other cities, have they identified who their representative is?

So the team that has been meeting is is city staff.

And so yes, we you know, there's an initial group that's been meeting.

Um whether that's the final group uh remains to be seen.

And so when would it bring uh be brought before the policy um policy decision makers?

So um part of the process will be um coming up with the plan, and that plan will be um assembling the team members and then a public outreach component to make sure that we're uh getting out there to the public, especially some of those uh disadvantaged communities, uh the tribal organizations and other um communities that might not have always had a voice in the planning process.

And then uh there will be a process for a uh uh vulnerability analysis, and then from that vulnerability analysis, um that's when the plan will really be developed.

Um and also through the outreach, um we anticipate that certainly there'll be some regional meetings.

Um I would, while nothing is set in stone, I would anticipate there would probably be a meeting here in Novato that would talk about the shoreline here in the the north part of the county.

You've got the unincorporated Marin County along with the City of Novato that share some shorelines with the Bell Marine Keys area, the Bell Marine Keys Industrial Park, Hamilton, and all the areas in between.

Um all of that process and outreach will be developed through the RFP process and then ultimately the consultant that's uh chosen to lead the project.

So um to avoid a misstep, like I think the county did on the trail plan.

Um this could be another mishap as well.

And my suggestion is is that um uh at some point the committee, if they're gonna be composed of staff, talk about how to get input from the decision makers in each of the cities.

So, like whoever represents Novato should bring it to the city council at pertinent times so that we can provide input so that when we get the final plan, we don't um end up having a big problem and um creating another scene like tonight.

So um I I'm really concerned about the county taking the lead on this, but um I I will be involved in this um as a member of the public because of my involvement with the BCDC.

And um I think it's important that um uh everyone get involved in it early, and I'm just really concerned about how this is gonna be handled.

Um I'll talk about that, I guess, um after public comment period.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilmember Eckland.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, and thank you for the presentation.

I was wondering, has have any projects been identified in Navado?

Do you guys have a wish list put together things you'd like to see addressed?

Uh so I think through this process um part of the plan component does include um well adaptation strategies and pathways, and then um towards the end of the elements, um, there is a line for project implementation and funding plan and also a uh project list.

Can they be used to repair infrastructure like levees?

Are they tied to waterways or is it kind of open-ended?

So the current funding that we're discussing tonight is to prepare the plan.

Excellent.

You'd share that with council once it's been developed, presumably.

Seeing none.

Okay.

Did you have any more comments?

Councilmember?

Yes.

Well, the the comments is I I think that we should participate as a group.

And so um and options.

So like the HIA, for an example.

There's different options on how we could approach fortifying that neighborhood from additional sea level rise.

So and up and down in our creeks.

Nevado Creek, obviously, is in some areas it's gonna have to be improved.

And so um the identification of those and then also articulation of some options.

That's the time before the document is finalized if they are going to finalize what the action is, just like they did in the trail, should come to council.

So we don't have the same policy problem that we did with that tonight.

Thank you.

Um I just like to comment, I think it's a great uh multi-jurisdictional grant application.

I think it's a smart move.

Um we get in on it with the county because we have so many mixed areas like you mentioned that instead of doing double work, we're working with them and we can proceed quickly because uh I feel we really need to.

Uh okay, do I have a motion?

I'll make the motion to adopt the resolution.

I'll second.

Call for a vote, please.

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle?

All right.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Aye.

Mayor Pertem Jacobs?

Aye.

And Mayor Farrak is absent.

Thank you.

Yeah, let's take a break for about uh three minutes.

Maybe he fell in right now.

Okay, we're back in session on item J four discuss and possibly establish a city council ad hoc committee consisting of two council members to engage the community in issues related to homelessness.

Ad hoc committee activities may include, but are not limited to outreach, collaboration with those providing services to the unhoused, building relationships with community agencies and service partners, engaging with community members and partnering with regional jurisdictions.

I do.

My comments will be brief.

There are numerous stakeholders.

There's the constant threat of extreme weather, fire.

Some of our service agency partners have changed some of their programming.

The ad hoc committee will be able to address those items in an efficient and effective manner, all in the spirit of collaboration and finding solutions.

This is a timely discussion to have.

I'm very happy to introduce to you tonight Mary Claire Katz.

She's our principal management analyst.

She's been with the city several months now.

She's been working working closely with me on homelessness issues, among many other things.

With the addition of Mary Claire, we've doubled our capacity.

And so an ad hoc committee will add to that, be complimentary.

And we think this is a really a great opportunity to take this issue and address it and go one step further.

The work of the ad hoc committee would uh strengthen community engagement and could ultimately lead to policy discussions and new direction.

As a reminder, an ad hoc committee is formed for a specific purpose.

It's not subject to the Brown Act, and it will complete once its objectives have been met, and the ad hoc committee will terminate.

Staff's recommendation is to establish a City Council ad hoc committee related to homelessness, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Any questions from staff?

Councilmember Eklund, please.

Bill, you mentioned that the purpose of an ad hoc is to deal with specific issues.

So which specific issues about homelessness you think that this ad hoc committee will be providing you some information on?

Yeah.

So at the outset, I mentioned there's a number of stakeholders that are involved, citizens, agency partners, County of Marin we work with closely, and others.

Could be referenced with the Housing and Homeless Committee.

So and there could be others.

I think as this committee forms and begins its work, there may be other instant instances and other groups that they could engage with as well.

My question was what are the specific objectives of this ad hoc committee?

To engage those stakeholders to hear their feedback, and then ultimately, as I mentioned, to discuss and potentially come back with policy direction.

Or policy options.

Exactly.

On how to deal with the issues that are surrounding homelessness.

Correct.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Thank you for the presentation.

I think this is a great way that Strent and relationships knock down bureaucratic boundaries and just help build trust and develop working relationships across the community.

The structure of how we operate is opaque at times, so it can build distrust just because people can't always see what's going on.

So this is a great idea.

Thank you for bringing it forward.

As I've been trying to think about this, as trying to think about ways this subcommittee could be helpful.

Can you just tell me if this is in line with what you had in mind?

So that I'd like four main focus areas in my mind, which were focused on county partnership and coordination.

So working with our partners at the county to just bring ideas to council to discuss at a larger level.

Expanded outreach, so look for opportunities to improve our coordinated outreach model and look talking to PD, county workers again, the safe team, nonprofits, faith community, basically anyone who's in this space.

One thing that I'd love us to be able to spend some time looking at too is getting some real data and performance monitoring in place.

So I mean, that's as I've been thinking about this.

Um of the challenges is getting meaningful metrics.

Like when we do a thing, it's it's helpful to understand how impactful that thing is.

So I think this is a great opportunity as well.

And then over the last few years, I feel like we've done some wonderful work around prevention and housing stability.

I think there's obviously more we can do there.

So just uh with this subcommittee could also talk to different community stakeholders, engage with them, get ideas from them, talk to different groups, and then bring that back to council as well.

Is that in line with the kind of the focus you had in mind?

Couldn't said it, couldn't have said it better myself.

I agree with everything you said, Councilmember.

Um the performance metrics are key.

We're starting to get that data as we go forward.

We've been working closely with SAFE, they've been a wonderful resource, not only in their help, but in the data that they collect.

And I think that what this will also do is it's an incredible message to the community that the council is taking this effort to form that ad hoc committee, work with staff, work with the increased capacity that we have to accomplish exactly those goals.

So thank you for that.

Oh, thank you.

I think it's a great suggestion.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um do we have any comment?

I have two yellow cards.

Are there any more comments in the field?

Okay, Sarah M.

Good morning, Council members.

I want to applaud the idea of an ad hoc subcommittee to explore the very complex issues regarding homelessness.

I love the idea.

One of the things that I would suggest when you're doing community outreach is having an open forum instead of just meeting with specific stakeholder holders individually.

As you said, sometimes things can seem opaque, and this would be a good way to have a very robust and transparent conversation regarding from all different perspectives.

I'm an advocate of the unhoused, and there are other perspectives out there, and I would love the opportunity to meet in an open discussion.

And I think she would be able to contribute some really meaningful uh discussions and ideas and questions and thoughts and analysis to the subcommittee.

So thank you.

That's it.

Thank you.

Jason Saras.

Good evening, Council.

She's even taller than me.

I appreciate the council considering the establishment of an ad hoc committee on homelessness for advocates like myself addressing homelessness as a in a compassionate and humane way is important not only to us but also to the community agencies and service partners throughout Marin.

That the set that the city will be working with collaboratively.

I hope that if you establish this committee, it reflects that same compassionate approach.

I also appreciate that the committee will seek feedback from the Housing and Homeless Committee.

In the past, that level of collaboration with the city did not occur, and it limited the committee's effectiveness.

Learning from those past mistakes should strengthen this partnership moving forward.

As I read the report, I noticed and references the evolving and often time-sensitive nature of homelessness-related needs in Novato.

I would appreciate it if staff could explain that what that means during tonight's discussion.

The report also states that the committee will engage with community members on homelessness.

I would like clarify oh, sorry.

Oh, I would like clarification on what that engagement will look like.

Will those conversations happen privately or will they be taken take place publicly?

I believe the community engagement should occur in a public setting to ensure uh transparency.

Uh last year CenterFell held two public community engagement sessions on homelessness where residents could offer feedback and ask questions directly to staff.

I believe a similar similar approach would be the best way for Novato to gather meaningful community feedback while maintaining transparency.

Please vote yes on establishing the ad hoc committee on homelessness.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jason.

Are there any comments online?

There's no comments online.

Okay, I'll bring it back to council.

Is there any closing comments?

Councilmember Eklund.

Yeah, I I support this.

Um we actually had a homeless committee a long time ago, and that actually resulted in the formation of Homer Bound.

And we wouldn't be where we are today if we hadn't done that.

Um I think that we can take Novato to the next level.

Um with with an ad hoc committee and with the understanding that before policies are made by the ad hoc committee that they actually come back for the full council for discussion prior to that.

And that's one of the rules that we have, Gary, I believe, as part of our ad hoc committee.

Um so and I would be very interested in serving.

I served on it when we first started this thing.

Um and it's grown to an incredible level.

No other city.

There's no other city in Marin County that has what we have here in Novato.

And the thing is is that we serve all of Marin, not just the city of Novato.

So it's really been a change, and Novato initiated that change on how we handle homelessness.

So I'd like to move that we go ahead and form the ad hoc committee, and I'd like to nominate myself as one of the members.

Okay, we have a motion on the floor.

Councilmember Connor.

Yeah, I'm supportive of setting up the committee as well.

I'm happy to serve as well.

I also think Councilmember Carkell should consider it, giving that obviously it's a citywide issue, homelessness, but ground zero right now is in your district.

I'd be interested in actually hearing your thoughts on the matter.

Councilmember, yes.

Oops.

Oh, and thank you very much.

Um I also support the uh notion of having the ad hoc committee.

And just as a point of clarification, uh Mr.

Slier, the ad hoc committee does not actually make policy.

It brings back recommendations to the rest of the council.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Yes.

So the ad hoc committee will not be making decisions or voting, they'll be gathering information and then making periodic reports back to the council, which could include other action items and discussion items with the full council.

Okay, great.

Thanks very much.

Uh so with that, um I uh would like to express my interest on being on the ad hoc committee as well.

So thanks.

I guess I'd like to make an alternate motion.

That we move forward at the ad hoc committee committee, and that myself and council member Carkle serve.

I'll second that.

Laura, could you call for a vote, please?

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle?

Aye.

Councilmember O'Connor?

Aye.

Mayor Pertem Jacobs?

Aye.

And Mayor Faraki is absent.

Thank you.

And now I will bring it back to reports from City Council and City Manager.

City Manager Cunningham, do you have any report?

Um no report tonight, Council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Eckman, do you have a report?

Uh yes.

Um the MCC MC legislative committee did meet.

And um we did um uh have discussions on um uh several different bills.

I'm not gonna go through all of them, but there's a couple that I'm gonna highlight.

Um AB 956, we need to take a look at because ADUs are now going from one to two, and they're waiving all parking, and that is an issue for cities.

As Gary knows, um this is um ADUs are could can be an issue, uh especially relative to to how to parking.

So um and there's a uh a lot of um issues surrounding that.

Um there's SB 866 where we took uh regarding homelessness and we took an opposed position.

Um SB 1164, uh that's rewriting the voting act, which actually which we're opposed to.

Um it actually changes district elections.

Um most cities went to district elections in order to um create a safe harbor so we're not sued for elections.

Um but um so anyway, so uh that's being proposed to be removed.

Um I also volunteered at the Hamilton Museum, as they do every fourth Saturday of the month.

I participated in the North Bay Watershed Association meeting in September, and um I was an active member of the Relay for Life.

Thank you.

Um Councilmember Carkel.

Uh I have no governments, thank you.

Councilmember O'Connor.

No report this evening.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Uh I just have a small one.

Um I was at the ribbon cutting for Crimson Mercantile on Grant Avenue.

It's a new store that just opened, and I encourage everybody to go there.

And I was at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life event at all of school, and that of course is a very near and dear event to me.

And that's all I have.

And do we have any unfinished business?

No.

Would we like to dedicate this meeting to anybody?

No.

And I call for the meeting to be adjourned.