The Pacific Grove City Council held a regular meeting on May 7, 2026 (the transcript indicates the meeting occurred on May 6, but the date provided for this summary is May 7). The agenda included a public hearing on an appeal of a coastal development permit for Crespy Pond vegetation management, establishment of a process to fill a vacant council seat, adoption of a policy for council vacancies, a recommendation to initiate a competitive RFP for solid waste collection services, and installation of a four‑way stop at Congress Central and Lighthouse. All actions were passed, most unanimously, with one dissenting vote on the timeline for filling the vacant seat.
Good evening, everyone. It is May 6, 2026, 6 02 p.m. This is a regular meeting of the Pacific Grove City Council. You're here with us at City Hall 300 Forest Avenue, Pacific Grove, California, and Council Chambers. I'm calling the meeting to order tonight. We have five council members present. Uh Councilmember Emilio and Councilmember is well, Emilio is not present. We're down to five tonight. Please join me. Thank you very much, everyone. And uh we'll go on to item one approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda as stated? So tie will um Councilmember Rao, second by Councilmember Paduri. Um, we'll take a voice vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, passes unanimously with proceed uh stated in the agenda. Um, let's go ahead and skip down to council and staff announcements, and I will uh recognize the city attorney for any closed session announcements. No announcements, okay. Um, and Mr. Moganson, do you have any staff announcements tonight? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We do have a couple. First, I just wanted to thank everybody who showed up for our push-in ceremony. That was a great event to see the new fire truck get pushed into the bay and is now in service. So we're good for 20 years. I think it's probably um also, of course. I want to and I want I'm sure this will be echoed, but you know, thanks to our police officers and our public works people who spent the whole weekend making good old days happen. Yeah, that was um, you know, we know that that's a that's a lot, but um it was a well-attended, very well celebrated event. So thank you for that. Um, additional thing, then I I'd like to pass it over to uh George first so he can announce a little bit about Arbor Day stuff. Mayor Smith, Council members. I just want to thank everybody that turned out for our tree planting event to celebrate Arbor Day on April 19th. We planted 2027 mid-sized cypress trees at Esplanade Park. I think everybody had a good time and learned a little bit about trees and tree planting from our urban forester John Kenny. And we're also celebrating our 25th year of recognition as a tree city through the Arbor Day Foundation. And then this year, thanks to the work of John Kenny, we we also received the growth award, which recognizes cities that go on above and beyond the four core tenants of the tree city um award. So thank you. Thank you very much. Any further city staff announcements? I will now recognize my colleagues up here. Any council announcements today? Um, seeing none, I'll just go ahead and say thank you to staff for good old days for another eventful and entertaining good old days. And uh, you know, we always love it every year, and it's a great time. So thank you so much. And uh we'll now move on to item four general public comment. This is uh deals with matters subject to the jurisdiction of the city and the council that are not on the regular agenda. I see one hand went up.