Good morning.

I will now call the city council meeting of Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 to order.

After yesterday's deadly shooting, I reaffirm our council's commitment to root out hate in any and every form.

Hate may have no safe place in our city.

As a city and a city council, we stand in solidarity with the Islamic Center, the San Diego, and the broader Muslim community.

No, we are with you in your pain, we are with you in your weeping, and we are with you in your sorrow.

Three lives were lost yesterday falling victim to senseless vile and hateful violence, including the life of a security guard whose heroism prevented additional loss of life.

I am grateful to him and for the swift action of our first responders who secured the building and ensured a safe outcome for the children and school staff.

My heart is with the families and loved ones of those lost and those affected by yesterday's tragic events.

Please join me in a moment of silence.

Would any of my colleagues like to share a few words?

Councilmember Campbell.

In the strongest terms, I condemn this act of anti-Islamic hate and all hate and all hate crimes.

There's absolutely no place in San Diego for hate or violence of any kind.

All San Diegans deserve dignity, respect, and safety.

And we send our heartfelt sympathy to the families involved.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Campbell.

Um, with that, clerk, please call the roll.

If I may.

Wait, yes, Councilmember Foster.

Thank you, Council President, and my apologies for coming on the mic late.

But I just want to take a moment.

Yesterday's actions is just heartbreaking.

And I think we have said over and over from this dais that there is no place for hate in San Diego but I think as much as we say that I think we all need to understand as San Diegans that our words matter no matter the challenges that we face the rhetoric that is being provided it has never been more divisive in my time in the 50 years that I've been walking what I'd like to think is the United States of America and um I just want to throw caution to the wind we can disagree on a policy but I'm just not understanding where the hate continues to come from.

And so if we can as we continue to move forward and as we continue to look at how we make the United States a better place as we look to make the city of San Diego a better place.

Please please let's spend more time.

Loving our neighbors learning our neighbors accepting our neighbors all of us are different.

I'd like to say all of us are custom made that's why you have your fingerprints I have my fingerprints we are going to be inherently different.

But different is not wrong religious beliefs are not wrong.

We must embrace and we must love on one another.

The security guard that lost his life he was a district four resident and as the chief of police said yesterday he is a hero it's my understanding if he would not have intervened that potentially those shooters would have found their way to a classroom full of young kids and so I think we all need to understand that um and and again I just ask that we let's spend more time loving on one another and trying to understand one another and accepting one another no matter what the differences are.

And thank you council president and thank you to our first responders and thank you to the families I can only imagine what the phone call could have been as a parent and you get that phone call of a situation like that happening with your kids.

So my heart goes out to the community the entire city of San Diego and my heart goes out to um Mr Amin Abdullah and his family he had a family kids wife so thank you thank you for the courage but this is just a tragic a tragedy that we have to endure this so thank you Council President that concludes my comments thank you Councilmember Foster Council President Pro Tam Lee.

Thank you, I'll just be short here but thank you for offering some remarks on behalf of the council and of course adjourning yesterday's meetings in light of everything taking place.

I think as a parent, like many others um hearing the news, recognizing that uh it involved not just the mosque but a school, um, was very jarring.

I think for many of us to see the images and videos of um children having to be evacuated and led to safety.

Um I appreciate the words of councilmember Foster um because I think we we do talk a lot about hate, and we've seen it in its many forms in our community over the years, and I think there's no doubt in people's minds that what we've seen in terms of hate has risen, and it says a lot about where we are as a society and our need to respond.

Um, there's one, there's something that I think we often say, which is that we have to be better than this.

Um, and I just want to share the words from uh our arts commissioner from District 6, Dennis Desiduan, who was capturing this last night, some of his own thoughts, and he very simple, but he he noted that at some point we have to choose to be better than this.

And for me, that single sentence has been quite profound because I think we all think we know what's right and wrong and how we can be better, but at the end of the day, there's a choice to be made, and um, it's not just whether folks are inflicting hate, it's also how we respond as a community, and especially in a time of mourning, how we choose to come together.

So, and that's what I hope we continue to do as a city moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President Pro Tem Lee.

All right.

With that, uh Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Council President.

Councilmember Campbell here.

Councilmember Whitburn here, Councilmember Foster, here, Councilmember Von Wilper.

Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Here.

Councilmember Campillo.

Councilmember Moreno.

Present.

Councilmember Elo Rivera and Council President Lacava.

Present.

Also attending the meeting, our Chief Deputy City Attorney Cathy Steinman, independent budget analyst Charles Matica, Council Affairs Advisor and the Mayor's Office, Coda Zeiser, and myself, your city clerk, Deanna Fuentes.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, City Clerk.

Quorum is now present, as we too often do at City Council meetings.

I want to remind everyone about the city's practices and procedures for public comment at City Council meetings.

The city welcomes public participation at our city council meetings.

Speakers may address the council during public comment and also in connection with a specific item of business on the agenda.

However, the city must make sure that no one person or group of people disrupt the meeting in a way that prohibits other speakers from expressing their ideas and opinions.

Excessive yelling and screaming or speaking beyond one's allotted time are examples of such behavior that disrupts the meeting.

So to make sure that everyone here has an opportunity to address the council, I will alert an individual or individuals if I think their conduct becomes disruptive.

If the disruption continues, I will rule the individual out of order.

And if the disruption continues further, I will declare recess so we can restore order.

At that point, I will direct the individual to leave the room, and if the individual refuses, police will escort the individual out of the building.

If we have to repeat this process of warning and recessing the meeting, all members of the public will be excused from the council chamber.

Credentialed media will be allowed to remain.

Once again, we have these practices and procedures to protect the rights of others who wish to address the council and to allow the council to conduct the public's business.

With that, we will begin this morning with the land acknowledgement and the pledge of allegiance led by council member Moreno.

We could please stand.

We respectfully acknowledge that the Kumia Nation are the original inhabitants of the unceded land now known as San Diego.

Despite enduring the horrors of genocide and colonization, the Kumiai spirit remains unbroken.

We honor the resilience of their ancestors who fought to protect their culture and land.

Today they carry their legacy forward, ensuring that their traditions continue to thrive in gratitude and strength.

We stand with the Kumeyai Nation connected to our past and committed to a thriving future.

If you could please face the flag, put your hand over your heart and repeat after me.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Clerk, please go over how the public can offer their testimony.

Thank you, Council President.

I'd like to I'd now like to highlight the slide on the screen that reviews how the public can offer their public testimony during today's meeting.

Please note the time allocations for proclamations and consent items for meeting management purposes, one item one minute per item with three minutes max for three or more items.

The order can be found on the agenda summary found online or at the table in the back of the room.

If you're in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of chambers and bring it to the front of the room.

Council ambassadors are available near the entrance and can assist with questions and speaker slips.

No further in-person testimony will be taken once the council begins virtual testimony.

Thank you, Council President.

Alright, thank you, clerk.

For our first order of business this morning, I will be returning a few items back to staff.

First, from our excuse me, proclamations.

I am returning items 33 and 39.

Again, 33 and 39 will not be heard this morning.

Then two items scheduled for our afternoon session.

Item 330 and S503.

Again, item 330 and S503 will not be heard this afternoon.

These items are now returned to staff and will be heard at a later date.

With that, we will dispense with the balance of the proclamation items.

City clerk.

Thank you, Council President.

The proclamation items being approved are items 30 through 32, 34 through 38, and S500 to S502.

With as the council president noted, item 33 and 39 being returned to staff.

We did receive comments on item 31 in favor of VRE comment form, which have been distributed to the council.

Public comment period for the proclamations is now open.

Each speaker will have one minute per item per person.

If you would like to speak on three or more items, you'll have a maximum of three minutes.

If I can have the following individuals, please come forward.

Katrina Spears Bucket.

If you can please come forward, and you have time seated to you by Cynthia Gilliam.

You can please raise your hand.

Cynthia, thank you.

And you're speaking on item S502.

You'll have two minutes once you get up to the microphone.

Good morning, everyone.

First of all, I want to acknowledge all the council members and thank you for having us here today.

Everyone here as well.

I have here my mother in the pink hat.

That is Tomasha Billy Jill Spears.

And I'm here today to not only honor her, but to recognize her and acknowledge all the goodwill and work she's done in the city of San Diego since 1958.

My mother was a young girl living in Louisiana.

And with a big dream, she used to always tell us when we were younger, but the big dream she had about a bit.

I'm nervous, excuse me, a big city with water surrounding it.

And that city happened to be America's finest city, San Diego, California.

Here she had seven, she brought her four kids out with her, and the three that came later in San Diego.

And I want to let everyone know, not only was she a great mother to us, but a great teacher and a great pastor.

And she holds the title of a pastor.

As a young girl, she always wanted to help.

She surrendered herself to God at a very very early age, and in doing so, she left behind her career.

She had a career with the San Diego, the city of San Diego.

She was a real estate agent.

She is now full-time and always has been a pastor.

My mother unselfishly gave her life to street ministry.

She had a church in normal heights, had a church, several churches in San Diego.

And doing so, she not only served people, but she served God in providing rehab set rehab homes for men and women.

She also did um street ministry with tents, tents at Ocean View Park.

She had revivals.

She did church.

You name it.

My mom was one of the first women as a pastor and recognized as a pastor in the city of San Diego.

In the community, she held many meetings feeding the homeless, all while sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Thank you for that concluding sentence.

Her 90th birthday.

She turns 90.

Mom, raise your hand.

There she is right there.

Would somebody else like to cede your time?

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Sorry, we do have to be fair, but somebody else could have seated your time.

We have no additional speakers here in council chambers going to those participating remotely.

We have four speakers in the queue.

Please note again that items 33 and 39 were returned.

So no comments to be should be to those items.

Hector, if you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to.

Uh the proclamation items.

Which one?

Uh I don't know what which the proclamation is, but 30 or 30.

Item 30.

Yeah, item 30.

Please proceed to have one minute.

So in the history of our city, especially at the time it is now, we have got to make more proclamations to other groups of people, you know, and acknowledge their suffering and kind of wide open, especially right now.

I proclaim we're gonna be in for a long meeting in the next couple days.

And you guys might want to order in order some Uber for uh some food in and just keep the meeting going so everyone can talk and play.

Have a good day, guys.

Okay, bye.

Blair Beekman, if you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to.

Hi, uh Blair Beekman.

I wanted to speak on three items.

Is that okay?

If you can please let me know which three items for the record.

Uh yeah, uh, item 31, item uh 36, and item um uh S500.

Please proceed.

Thank you.

Um, you know, it's my understanding that uh the Brown Act.

If a meeting, if an item is not been spoken before uh in council or committee, uh you have to allow public comment if you take it off.

Uh so uh just a real note that I we can talk about at a later time.

Um about the Buddha Buddha birthday celebration uh day.

Um, this is a day to consider all of our religions and uh here in San Diego, and that all have a good standing.

Uh Buddhist traditions have a good way to uh understand that concept, and that all religions can be uh uh decent and respectable.

Good luck what we can work on in San Diego.

Um, I I would want to talk a lot more on this subject.

I feel a lot of sorrow in what's happened and ways that we can come together as a community.

Thank you for the words of uh uh council person foster as a time to really uh work together in our differences and and uh find good results in our differences, and I think we can do that.

I think there's ways to do that.

Good luck in our efforts.

Um there's two other items you have on um uh S500, uh Filipino, American Employee Day, City of San Diego Filipino American Employee Uh Association Day.

Um I spoke yesterday, I made uh I really tried hard to speak on issues yesterday, and um I was really um uh I it's not my intention to bring out the worst of ourselves.

If I am, it is with the real purpose of what can how to bring out the best of ourselves and what we need to be looking for.

I try to work in a way where conversations are not kind of the regular conversations you guys have, I feel, yet you have them personally and internally, but they're not conversations that are allowed openly, and um I I hope I when I do that, it's with the intent to to offer fair, decent conversation, not to inflame and not to play gotcha.

I really want to work towards uh constructive good answers in a future.

So with the San Diego uh Filipino item again.

I hope you guys can consider um what a pay cut to city workers can mean to the community.

I think they would be incredibly appreciative and and ways to find to to address you know uh uh morale issues that we're having is as the San Diego community, and uh good luck in considering that concept.

And uh finally uh to mention morale emergency medical services week um important things uh again Andrea Evan has had difficulties with emt and and sdpd I hope this can be a time to really decently review best practices and and discover together learn together you know if there are problems we can correct our problems thank you thank you Tony if you can please unmute I can unmute for you and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to hey good morning can you hear me yes please proceed let me know which item or items I wish to speak to um the declarations the declaration as part of the consent yes the item number what was it uh which were the two that were uh excluded that can't be spoken to right now items 33 and 39 33 and 39 okay I will speak to item uh 31 please please proceed you'll have one minute thank you uh hey good morning council um just uh just wanted to say thank you I know it's gonna be a long day today um and uh yeah but wanted to call in to support what Blair Beekman said agree with what he was saying um not sure I I don't have much to say about these proclamations so just wanted to uh say good morning and wanted to say uh look for looking forward to today's meeting thank you thank you and our final speaker is 8700 the five minute timer has also concluded so no additional speakers will be taken 8700 if you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to yes uh thank you city clerk I will be speaking to all of them please I'll have three minutes please proceed uh good morning everyone and my condolences to all and the way I'm going to proceed with this I hope it helps a little bit uh please forgive me if I mispronounce anything and I won't say the numbers but you'll know what they are national public works week thank you for making this a better world I hope I can do this fang temple and Buddha's birthday thank you for making this a better world Troy Wilson Day thank you for making this a better world Pietro catering thank you for making this a better world Cali Day thank you for making this a better world emergency medical services EMS thank you for making this a better world Amy Kuller Martinez thank you so much for making this a better world scanty bodies day thank you for making this a better world filipino american employees thank you for making this a better world Kirita Rita Buenamino Andrew's day thank you for making this a better world Billy Joel Amisha spears if I got that right day thank you for making this a better world and to everybody else who works to make this a better world and there's so many people in the world thank you so much it's a difficult day in a way it was difficult for me yesterday and I just send love to everybody thank you does that conclude your comments?

Yes, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

That does include public comment on the proclamations.

All right.

Thank you, City clerk.

And with that, I'll turn it over to my council colleagues for any questions and comments, entertain a motion.

We'll start with council member Moreno.

Wonderful.

Thank you um I have comments on item number thirty seven uh which is Amy Crayer Martinez, and I would ask her to please come up to the podium.

Thank you.

Come right here.

In honor of Teachers Appreciation Week, we recognize an educator whose leadership has transformed Southwest High School into a place where students feel seen, supported, and inspired.

Last year, Southwest High School celebrated its 50th anniversary, and Ms.

Clayer Martinez has shown unwavering commitment to young people in District 8, ensuring that every student has access to opportunities that help them thrive.

As a graduate of Bonita Vista High School, Southwestern College, CFU Fullerton National University, and Point Loma Nazaren University, Ms.

Clayer Martinez embodies the strength and promise of the South Bay educational community.

Since 2011, Ms.

Clayer Martinez has served the Sweetwater Union High School District as a teacher and administrator, pouring her heart into the community that raised her.

Through assemblies, athletic support, visual and performing arts programs, and student engagement, Ms.

Clayer Martinez has strengthened campus pride and created a culture of belonging.

Ms.

Cueller Martinez's inclusive programming and equitable system ensures that every student from every background has a chance to participate, lead, and shine.

She has forged meaningful, meaningful connections with families, staff, and community organizations, reminding us that schools thrive when communities come together.

Now, Ms.

Cuera Martinez has attended National Night Out at Robert Egger Park, where Southwest High School students consistently showcase a variety of performances.

The event is recognized as the largest attended national night out celebration in San Diego County.

Now, as a first generation college student, Ms.

Cuero Martinez has shown students what is possible when determination meets opportunity, inspiring them to break barriers on their own.

She is joined today with her loving husband Nick Martinez, mother and father, and also Southwest High School ASB president Daymar Bejerano, future ASB president Zoe Garcia, and future ASB Attorney General Adamai Gonzalez.

Think yet another uh exemplification of how she brings and uplifts students.

So, Ms.

Crayer Martinez, you represent the very best of our educators, those who change lives, not with grand gestures, but with daily acts of care, advocacy, and belief in their students.

Those who show up with heart, who live students when they doubt themselves, and who quietly shape the future one young person at a time.

So for those reasons and many more, the city of San Diego proudly proclaims May 19th, 2026 as Amy Cuyer Martinez Day.

Thank you.

I'm seeding her my time, Council President.

Thank you.

If that's okay, I'd like to welcome my students to come over.

They'd like to say something.

If it wasn't for the support of my family at home and my family at work.

So I'd like for them to say a few words because this really is because of them.

Hello, everyone.

Um my name is Zoe Garcia.

I currently serve as a Southwest High Attorney General, and I was recently elected as the future AAC president for the 2026-2027 school year.

It is a privilege to be here today recognizing Ms.

Clayer Martinez for her dedication and hard work.

As the A assistant Principal of Student Activities and our ASB advisor.

Ms.

Martinez always goes above and beyond for our school and students.

Since I joined ASB as a freshman, she has been nothing but kind, supportive, and encouraging.

Throughout the years, she has become someone I look up to and turn to for guidance.

Her passion for her work and the care she shows to every student truly makes her a role model.

I can confidently say that she has helped shape me into the leader and person I am today, and I will always be grateful for her support.

Ms.

Martinez truly deserves this recognition for the positive impact she has made on so many lives.

Congratulations, Miss Martinez, and thank you for everything you do, and thank you all for your attention.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

I am Laimarve Carano, current 50th Proud ASV president at Southwest High School.

Honestly, being president, I would have not gotten into that position without the support, and Miss Martinez believing in me and encouraging me to take on new positions and new roles, challenging myself on the daily basis because she saw a potential I didn't see in myself.

I have had the honor to work with her all my four years since I started in ASB my freshman year to almost leaving.

I'm gonna miss her so much, but I know she will continue to push me beyond graduating Southwest High School.

She's been a role model, and she's been one of the key people that will continue to motivate me.

And from winning the Laurels for Leaders Community Service Project, I knew she was a big part of that.

She made a huge impact in that project.

And overall, she's just been like a second mom to me at school.

I know I can always run to her or tell her anything, honestly.

But she's been a great model, great role model, and this recognition is beyond deserved.

So thank you guys.

Thank you.

And without uh with that, Council President, I'm happy to make a motion to move proclamations.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

So we have a motion by Council Member Moreno.

We'll go next to Councilmember Foster.

Uh yes, thank you.

Um, Council President, and I'm going to try to keep my comments brief.

Um, just congratulations to all of the um organizations and individuals receiving the proclamation um today.

Um, but I want to um say a few words on item S502, Billy Joe Tomasha Spears Day, as we are here to celebrate Pastor Spears.

As we approach your 90th birthday on the 21st, it is truly a blessing to recognize and celebrate you today.

Your life has been grounded in faith, service, family, and love for community.

And so many people across District 4 have been touched by your care, leadership, and generosity over the years.

Whether through ministry, feeding families, mentoring young people, or simply showing up for those in need.

You have poured into this community for decades.

And I have to say, 90 years young and still going strong is something we can all aspire to.

On behalf of District 4 in the city of San Diego, happy early birthday, and thank you.

Thank you for all that you do and all that you have given, not only to District 4, but to the City of San Diego.

Thank you so much.

And yes, indeed.

Um, I just want to read one line from the proclamation.

Um, as we are in this time, I just think for me personally, family is just so so important.

And in the proclamation, it reads, as a devoted mother of seven, grandmother of nineteen, and great-grandmother of twenty six, Pastor Spears has built a lasting legacy grounded in love, guidance, and generational impact.

That truly is a blessing, and God is good.

And thank you.

Thank you for everything that you have done for the city of San Diego.

With that, Council President, I do have some time remaining on the lights.

I will second the proclamations, but I would like to offer any time to any other family member that would like to come up and say a few words.

Please.

Oh, we would have to go.

I want to say that all the way.

I would be the whole thing.

I really thank God.

I'm praying all joy and done today.

I'm just so grateful that the Lord bless.

One of my children's passed away about five years ago.

God's been good to me, been good to my children.

I just thank God for the youth program.

Everything helped me, and I'm in tears.

I thought about how I did it.

I'd put their age up as well.

They're supposed to have been 15.

That youth program brought a lot of help to this city in San Diego in the Southeast area.

I wish they would get it back.

We wouldn't have so many people on the street, young people, if we could get that program back.

So I don't know if it can be done, but I thank God.

But I you can do it if you put your trust in God.

Sometimes I sit and think, how did I do it, Lord?

Seven children are not all wealth.

I received about six months.

I sent the checks back to them and told them I'll do for myself.

And I thank God for the city of San Diego, because you all have truly been good to my family and my children's.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, thank you so much.

And uh may God continue to bless you with his love, with his grace, and with good health.

Thank you, Council President.

That concludes my comment.

All right, thank you.

So we have a motion by Councilmember Moran on a second by Councilmember Foster to move the proclamations.

We'll go next to Councilmember Campbell.

Thank you, Council President, and uh thank you and congratulations to everyone receiving proclamations today.

Um I will speak on three very briefly, 32, 34, and 36.

And I'd like to start on behalf of my colleague, Councilmember Von Wilpert, who couldn't be here today, but who uh like to uh give a proclamation in honor of Al Teatro Catering Company.

Um she asked me to share her congratulations on this proclamation, recognizing Al Teatro Catering Day.

For more than two decades, Al Teatro has been an important part of San Diego's small business community and a place that has brought people together through great food.

Councilmember Von Wilford has been at Al Teatro many times over the years and wanted to share that the food is always incredible, especially the baked goods.

Al Teatro has created a welcoming space in the heart of downtown in San Diego, where people can enjoy quality food and European-inspired cuisine.

Nancy Danielle's leadership and commitment to the community have helped make our Teatro such a longtime local favorite.

Congratulations on 22 years of service to the San Diego community and best wishes for continued surf uh continued success in the many years ahead.

Would you please wave if you there you are?

Yes, I knew you were here.

Thank you.

And thank you.

On behalf of uh Councilmember One Wolper.

And to I would also like to make some remarks today for Dr.

Troy Wilson, who I believe may also be here.

Dr.

Wilson or his family.

Dr.

Wilson received the 2026 Dwayne Roth Achievement Award for his leadership in developing a medication, a new medication to treat cancer.

His groundbreaking work to advance the treatment of certain aggressive types of leukemia will change the lives of many patients for years to come and give them many years of good living.

As a family physician, I can tell you firsthand how important it is to constantly be developing new innovative treatments so that we can help improve the lives of our patients.

So congratulations to Dr.

Wilson on receiving this award.

My last remarks will be for item 36, emergency medical services week proc.

I want to thank the emergency medical services for all that they do and say how much I appreciate this work, which is observed across America to honor our first responders and our emergency medicine providers.

Emergency medical service providers are EMTs, paramedics, also firefighters, dispatchers, lifeguards, and police department personnel.

First responders go through many hours of training so they can administer care to residents in emergency situations, which often makes the difference between life and death.

And I want to thank our wonderful first responders for all that they do to keep San Diegans safe every single day.

And thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember Campbell.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Uh so many wonderful proclamations today and organizations and individuals being recognized.

Congratulations to everybody uh being honored.

Uh, I have comments uh in relation to some, including sub-specifically in District 3.

Uh, it is my honor to bring forward a proclamation recognizing the Xi Fong Temple at University Heights and celebrating Buddha's birthday on May 24th.

Uh, this is an important cultural and religious observance for many members of San Diego's Buddhist community.

And I want to thank the Shi Fog Temple for the role that it plays in fostering compassion, mindfulness, service, and community uh connection here at District 3 and around the city of San Diego.

Uh, I would also like to extend a special thank you to Superintendent Biaozong for being here with us today.

And I would like to welcome the superintendent up to say a few words.

Good morning, Council President and honorable council members.

On behalf of Shifan Temple and the Greater British Community of San Diego, we sincerely thank the City of San Diego for this proclamation, recognizing May 24th as the Buddha's Birthday Celebration Day.

This recognition carries deep meaning for us because Buddha's birthday, also known internationally as Visak, is a celebration shared by Buddhists throughout the world.

In 1999, the United Nations officially recognize Visak as an international observation, acknowledging Buddha's message of peace, compassion, wisdom, and harmony for humanity.

More than seven decades ago, our founder, Darvo Masa Xingyong, began promoting public Buddhist birthday celebrations across the communities in Taiwan.

He believed that through kindness, mutual respect, and understanding the society could become more peaceful and harmonious.

Today, that message feels especially important as the sad happening affecting the Islamic center of San Diego yesterday.

We are reminded that our communities must continue standing together with compassion, friendship, and mutual respect.

Moments like this remind us that regardless of our different faith or backgrounds, we are all interconnected as one big family.

This proclamation is not only an honor for Shifan Temple, it is also a recognition of contributions of the entire Buddhist community and all those who work together to foster compassion, mindfulness, service, and peace in our society.

Buddha's birthday is truly a celebration for everyone, regardless of background of faith, tradition, because the values we celebrate are universal.

Peace, gratitude, compassion, and a coexistence.

We will only invite everyone to join us on May 24th, Buddha's Birthday and Family Festival, as we celebrate together in the spirit of harmony and friendship.

Thank you.

Superintendent, thank you for those words.

Very well said.

Today I'm also pleased to join my colleagues in honoring the highly recognized restaurant Cali and proclaim June 4th as Cali Day in the city of San Diego.

Over the past five years, Chef Travis Swickard and Cali have helped to establish San Diego as a nationally recognized culinary destination through an extraordinary commitment to hospitality and creativity and excellence.

Beyond the restaurant itself, Cali has made a meaningful impact on our local community by supporting local farmers and fishers and producers, contributing to the East Village economy and helping to better the next generation of hospitality professionals here in San Diego.

And I also want to recognize the restaurant's commitment to giving back, including its partnership with Feeding San Diego.

June 4th also carries a deep personal significance for Travis and his family as it honors the life and memory of his brother.

I think it is particularly meaningful that they have chosen to transform a day rooted in loss into one that is centered on generosity and purpose and family and community.

And I would like to thank Chef Swickard and Mia Swickard, the owners of Cali and their staff for everything that they have contributed to San Diego.

And I would like to invite Mia and Travis to come forward at this time and share a few words with us.

Well, thank you so much for this uh recognition and this proclamation.

Um as a born and raised San Diego kid, uh it's a lot for me to stand up here today and feel this emotion.

Um, but I traveled all over the world cooking to learn how to be the very best chef I could be and be the best restaurateur I could be.

And when I moved home after doing that, I really felt uh strong responsibility to be more than a chef and more than a restaurant tour and um have a true impact on my hometown.

And I think that uh outside of having just a great restaurant, it's been a true honor to um have that ability and uh to really uh focus our energy and uh on giving back to the community.

Uh, just recently we've been able to open up a school pantry in our in our neighborhood in uh Barrio Logan, and uh, I can't tell you a more meaningful uh thing I've ever done in my life.

So uh to give this recognition today means a lot to us, and thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Travis.

Thank you, Mia.

Uh, congratulations and thank you for being here this morning.

Thank you.

Um I'm also pleased to join uh my colleague, Councilmember Campbell and Councilmember Von Wilbur to recognize the Al Teatro catering.

Uh, as you heard, for over 22 years, uh, it has been a staple of our civic center, providing city employees and theater goers and visitors with great service uh and a wide variety of tasty foods and drinks.

So, congratulations uh to Al Triatro on 22 years.

Uh, as Councilmember Campbell uh pointed out, uh this is also Emergency Medical Services Week, and I am delighted to join my colleagues in bringing forward the proclamation, recognizing EMS Week.

Emergency responders have incredible courage and strength.

They are there for every member of our community when the call comes in for help no matter the circumstances.

They are a lifeline for people facing life-threatening injuries or illness, and their ability to quickly perform their duties could absolutely be the difference, as we all know, between life and death.

I'd like to recognize all of our emergency responders across our city for their outstanding work to save countless lives, many times putting themselves in the way of danger.

And I would like to invite first responder Carlos Valdez Acosta to come up at this time and please say a few words.

Good morning, City Council.

On behalf of American Medical Response, I'm truly grateful for receiving this and uh for acknowledging EMS week.

I'd take a second to have my team stand up for a second.

I just want to take a moment to highlight what it takes to make EMS week great.

We have EMTs, paramedics, dispatchers, nurses, dispatchers, sorry for repeat that one, and all our support staff that work together to make this, you know, put a great service to the city.

Um, along with all our partners that we collaborate, San Diego City Fire, San Diego City Communication Center.

Um, it truly is a team sport, and it truly takes all of us to show up and really serve this community every single day.

We're truly grateful and proud to serve the city of San Diego, and we're extremely humble for everyone here to put their trust in us to provide that care.

Thank you for recognizing EMS week, and thank you for the people behind it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Carlos, thank you to all of you for your service to our city.

I'm pleased to join Mayor Gloria and Council Members Lee, Campillo and Ila Rivera in proclaiming City of San Diego Filipino American Employees Association Day as we celebrate the important contributions of the City of San Diego Filipino American Employees Association.

Filipino Americans continue to play a vital role in strengthening San Diego through public service and community leadership, health care, education, and so many other fields.

And I want to thank the association's leadership and members for their dedication and continued commitment to serving the people of San Diego.

And finally, I will join in the thanks to Rita Buen Camino Andrews for 30 years of dedication to our city.

Congratulations for decades you served our city, and we are deeply grateful for your service.

Thank you, and thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilmember Whitburn.

We'll now go to Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Thank you, Council President, and I want to thank my colleagues for the number of recognitions today, including to uh everyone in EMS.

Um thank you for being here to Cali.

I've actually had a chance to visit once with my friends from Kingfisher, and uh it was very enjoyable and um congratulations to you and all your work in the community.

Um I'm gonna speak specifically to a couple of proclamations starting with item 31, uh, where I want to thank Councilmember Whitburn for uh having us join him in proclaiming May 24th, 2026 as Shifang uh Temple and Buddhist Birthday Celebration Day in the city.

Um I think you've already heard a little bit about them, what they do, and I just want to thank you for your remarks, um, especially in light of um the incident yesterday at the Islamic Center of San Diego, and especially in recognizing that when it comes to getting people together of all faiths and all cultures, I think there's one thing that we can share in common in terms of um calling out hatred and violence, and um that was meaningful for you to share in your time up here.

Um, for item 32 um for Troy Wilson Day.

Uh, we actually originally had intended to have Dr.

Wilson and his team with us today.

Um, and I just want to share that in light of yesterday's events um that they did make a choice um, you know, not to attend this morning.

But I do still want to um take this moment to um join Council President Lacaba, my colleague Councilmember Campbell in proclaiming June 11th, 2026 as Troy Wilson Day in the City of San Diego.

On June 11th, Dr.

Wilson will be presented with the 2026 Dwayne Roth Achievement Award for his leadership in cancer drug development and his impact on cancer patients.

The Dwayne Roth Achievement Award is presented to healthcare leaders whose focus is solely on patients by overcoming institutional and scientific challenges to bring forward new research that leads to revolutionary treatment methods.

And as President CEO and Chairman of the Board for Cura Oncology, Dr.

Wilson has been a pioneer in that field.

He's proven to be a complex leader in biotech through the founding, building, and leading of innovative companies that deliver transformative therapies for patients' benefit, and with more than 25 years of experience, has delivered groundbreaking therapies that have resulted in life-changing results for oncological patients.

So we're certainly honored to celebrate his innovation and achievements, and Dr.

Wilson's deep commitment to innovation and patients.

Certainly make him worthy of that recognition.

Thank you to UCC Diego for recognizing him, and uh we're honored to join them in that.

And then finally, for item S 500, we're proud to recognize Philippine Independence Day and to celebrate the lasting contributions of our Filipino American community, especially through the dedicated city employees who serve our residents every day.

This proclamation celebrates the city of San Diego Filipino American employees, and they hold a fantastic cultural celebration every year surrounding the Independence Day.

Um it's a great luncheon.

Last year they had a city band that performed, which was fun in its own right.

Um and in these moments, I think we we are appreciative that we get to be a city that really values this sense of diversity within our city and the impacts that Filipino employees have throughout the city of San Diego.

So with that concludes my uh comments.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Council President Pro Tem.

Uh not seeing anyone else in the lights, I'll offer a few concluding comments uh as well.

Um recognizing uh everybody who got a proclamation, an individual a cause.

Um, congratulations, thank you to my colleagues for bringing these and highlighting what makes San Diego so special.

Uh, to emergency medical services, thank you to the first responders and what you do every day.

Um, as was said, unfortunately, too often yesterday you run into the danger to serve those in their most vulnerable conditions.

So uh we're so appreciative.

Um Teatro, as the only Italian up here, I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't get my name added to the proclamation.

Uh, but I will honor you by saying you have the best and freshest cannoli in the city.

And that's a very high bar, so thank you for for that.

Um, and to the proclamations on item 30, uh, excuse me, I'm gonna do 32 first.

Uh Troy Wilson Day, I'll join um Council President Pro Temley and Councilmember Campbell in congratulating Dr.

Wilson on receiving the 2026 Dwayne Roth Achievement Award for your remarkable research in the field of oncology.

Your research and contributions are nothing short of remarkable from being the founder of multiple cancer research companies to developing groundbreaking therapies and medication.

Dr.

Wilson's work continues to advance technologies that help fight cancer and improve the lives of so very many.

Thank you, Dr.

Wilson, for not only making San Diego a leader in biotechnology research, but for advancing life-saving research that is changing the future of cancer treatment in the field of oncology and for countless patients.

Item 30, National Public Works Week.

Today I invite my colleagues to proclaim this week, May 17th through 23rd as National Public Works Week in the City of San Diego, so that we can highlight the public works employees who help keep our city up and running.

From maintaining our roads and buildings to protecting our water systems, these are the people that every day ensure our city's quality of life and protect our public health and safety.

Thank you to all the engineers, maintenance workers, managers, and public works employees who continue to make our city as safe as it can be.

Your knowledge, expertise, and public service do not go unnoticed by the people of San Diego.

And with that, I will invite our chief community services officer and city engineer, Ron Yemen, to make some remarks.

Good morning, Council President La Cava and members of the City Council.

On behalf of the public works professionals across the city, thank you for this proclamation recognizing National Public Works Week and all our dedicated public works employees.

This year's theme, advancing quality of life for all, reflects the essential work being done across so many disciplines and departments, from maintaining our streets, sidewalks, and stormwater systems to delivering clean water and wastewater services, managing capital improvement projects, protecting public spaces, supporting fleet and facilities operation, and responding during emergencies and storms.

Public course is often the unseen work that keeps our city moving safely, reliably and efficiently every single day.

Behind every service is a team of hard-working professionals who are deeply committed to improving the daily lives of residents in every neighborhood.

Even with aging infrastructure, growing service demands and limited resources, our employees continue to be to do the absolute most with what they have.

The resilience and dedication allow critical services and project to keep moving forward, often behind the scenes.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

And with that, we will take a brief pause for photos, and we will start with item 31, which is the Saifang Temple and Buddha's birthday celebration day.

Thank you.

All right.

Continuing on with this morning's business, we will now proceed with the approval of the consent items.

Item fifty, which was previously heard at the budget committee, will be returned to staff.

Again, item fifty, which was previously heard at the budget committee, will be returned to staff.

Are there any requests to pull an item by my council colleagues?

Not seeing any such request.

Clerk, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Council President.

Please don't you speaker will have one minute per item per person.

If you would like to speak on three or more items, you'll have a maximum of three minutes.

The consent agenda includes items 10, items 100 through 104, item S504 and S505.

Item 50 was returned.

We also received comments on items 100 and 101, two in favor, respectively, VRE comment form, which have been distributed to the council.

We have Brian Helmick here to speak on item 100.

You'll have one minute.

Please proceed.

Um thank you to staff.

Team ad is not just a funding board, but it's actually the embodiment of community.

Uh community that voted into it into existence, and it's residents coming together to show pride in their shared neighborhood in San Diego.

TeamAD fully supports this banner district and has approved related funding for display celebrating Talmud's centennial year.

Our theme, putting down roots since 1926, recognizes not only Talmuds' founding, but also all who have made this part of San Diego their home through the last 100 years today and also going forward.

We hope the council will support the community in authorizing this district.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry the five-minute timer going to those participating remotely.

We have four speakers in the queue.

Hector, if you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to today.

Uh the 100, the 104.

You'll have two minutes, please proceed.

You guys got to circumvent the mayor.

Our mayor is opening his dumb shit mouth and talking about America's finest city.

America's finest city would not be closing the libraries, letting Mexico dump their shit on us for 20 years.

He needs to calm his jets down.

He's known for the mayor who charged to go to the park and park how he put up with Tijuana shit for 20 years.

Who did the Ast Street 150 million dollar debacle on TV?

You need to tell him to shut up on the phone white racism on CNN or white supremacy or something like that.

That's just augmenting hate.

So do your job and tell the mayor to shut up, man.

And uh this is not right what he's doing.

I couldn't find the number there to the con on the so the mayor's way out of line and tell the chicks, chicks with blue hair to cool their jets at the uh meetings, man.

And we got to do a proclamation for the Gaza Strip, the genocide, genocide at Gaza Strip proclamation.

We need to denounce that.

So okay.

Thanks a lot.

Next is 8700.

If you can please unmute and please let me know which item or items you wish to speak to.

Thank you.

I will be speaking on 102, 103, and 505.

Thank you, please proceed.

Thank you.

102.

Oh, first of all, here are two grant items and one donation items.

So thank you for all for helping us make this a better world.

Uh 102, yes, and thank you for 1.5 million dollar grant for general fund help for wild fire prevention.

It's just a great item.

So love so much uh to the fire rescue uh people and their entire department.

103, yes to accepting donations from the San Diego Parks Foundation or FY25, totaling one million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand five hundred dollars.

That's a wonderful sounding amount.

And uh um also add a big thank you to parks and rec and for all of the employees there and for everything you do for our wonderful parks, and uh, you know, thank you to the donors.

We just love you.

We love on you a lot, and uh we just appreciate your support, and the more help you can get us, uh is really appreciated so much.

Uh 505, yes to accepting the highway bridge program grant and agreement, Santee irrigation district, and I'll just conclude with saying love to the entire engineering and capital projects uh people for everything they do for us and wasn't the uh the proclamation timing at the beginning of the meeting uh just the most beautiful spot for it to be today.

That was so helpful for me and thank you so very much and uh we'll have a beautiful day.

Love to all.

Thank you.

Next is Blair Beekman.

If you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to.

Hi, uh Blair Beekman.

Hold on a sec.

I gotta climb up here and find uh my okay.

Well, I'm starting from item S five oh four and then items 101, 102, uh 103, and that's it.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

Yeah, hi, uh Blair Beekman.

Um I've been in uh two of these mass shootings in the San Jose area uh in the past 10 years and uh or been around and you know attending council meetings, getting into uh the work we do as a community uh going on to these items, uh, you know, our consent calendar, regular agenda.

It can be really helpful just to see us and feel us practicing again and uh what we do well and uh good luck out what we can be doing well today.

Uh for the Sally ordinance for fiscal year 2027, again, uh like I said earlier, uh good luck to the uh rate and uh rate uh decrease salary decrease idea.

And uh uh I just wanted to quickly add whatever you can um uh manage, you know, whatever sort of cut you can take.

I think would make an incredibly helpful and important statement to everyone of San Diego.

And um, I think it can be really small and actually accomplish a lot because we we'd be have good ideals and working towards good intentions and and that would open our minds up to better ways of thinking and better logic is what I'm hoping for.

Uh with set with budget issues.

So good luck with that and to really consider it.

Um item one oh one is um uh budget items for uh funding for uh Montgomery Gibbs Field and Brownfield Airports.

Um how is the item going?

There was supposed to be kind of a uh after the accident at the recent airport.

Um it was really noted that there is a lack of communication between the different airports and perhaps you know at the one airport that um not there's uh basic problems and how and maintenance issues.

Um how is all that communication going and maintenance up upkeep?

Is better dialogue being created, better openness, good luck in the good luck in that effort and work with item one oh two is uh wildlife uh wildfire funding for uh the Lake Hodges and San Pasqual Valley area.

And um I I think you've been doing some interesting work as a community, uh local neighborhoods with with fire issues in in the summertime.

It's been really interesting to see that over the past year.

Keep up that good work.

And to mention the DRA, you know, don't be afraid to have conversations about fire issues and where they come from and what exactly and where exactly they're coming from.

Uh we need to have those conversations and about weather.

Um we we can't be afraid of those conversations and that they they can't be open.

They can be open.

Let's find ways to make an open and safe conversation.

And finally with 103 Parks Foundation issues, um I think we're making important strides to understand even council personal is asking is there a difference between parks foundation funding and money that's going to the general fund at this time.

It can be okay if that's happening.

Let's just be clear with each other about it and uh your time has concluded.

Thank you.

We have two speakers in the queue and the five minute timer has concluded no additional speakers will be taken.

Tony if you can please unmute after that is Catherine.

Tony, please let me know which item or items you wish to speak to.

Yes.

I would like to speak to uh item one oh three I'd like to speak to item uh 102 and I would like to speak to item one oh one please.

Please proceed you'll have three minutes.

Thank you.

Um these seem like some pretty uh slam dunk knock out of the park uh resolutions here um it seems like we would just be accepting grants which I I can't I can't think of any reason why we wouldn't want to accept that money um the California Natural Resources agency is a is a wonderful uh program and I think that's a fantastic grant.

Um I'd love to see us accept the one point five million to support uh the general fund for wildfire prevention activities.

Um and again I I just want to reiterate something that I mentioned last week in council I I hope that we are looking into Citrotech um and how the fire department can be utilizing uh Citrotech in more ways I know they're using it in North County already um and I know that the uh uh fire chief is already starting to implement it in some of his practices so um hopefully we can get acquainted with that process here as well and then moving on to item one oh three um let's see uh looks like uh that would be awesome to receive the that those donations uh from this for the San Diego Parks Foundation um looks like uh we uh will can possibly receive up to two million from that grant I'm I'm reading sorry I'm just reading the uh the agenda right now so um yeah hopefully uh we can utilize that money you know for everything that it's needed for and um yeah that's all I wanted to comment on.

Thank you and and good morning.

Thank you.

Catherine Rhodes if you can please unmute and let me know which item or items you wish to speak to I yes if I could speak to item S504 salary ordinance and S505 the bridge.

Sure go ahead.

Those two items yes please thank you have two minutes please proceed.

Okay for the salary ordinance here it looks like you um uh you know did you uh already approve your uh memorandums of understanding or did you not during closed session yesterday or um the other time before where people said you actually signed something anyway this report here um that's about um a month old it said you know at this time it didn't say exactly what the pending salary and wage impacts are on page two of your report so exactly how much more in salary and wages are you um expecting to um bring in you know I don't know I think this should actually be a discussion item where we could actually get a um an analysis of this but anyway um you know what I of course go back to what I think you should you guys should be doing is I think you should be um um firing all 300 of the non-union unclassified employees who got double and triple their pay rates um compared to their regular union counterparts doing the same work um in the same job description but because they're called middle managers and they're um I would say friends of Todd's or friends of somebody who somehow they get to make more money than the regular union people in our I believe our um our our budget problems or structural budget deficit can be solved in part by firing all these people and then hiring um back as regular union workers and you could call them managers if you want to.

You just can't call they you know they just have to be um not the middle managers who are non-union who have no um you know labor protections at all and then for the El Camino Real uh bridge to the um via de la Valley.

Um I look forward to actually um reading all about it.

I don't I didn't know about this, but it seems like that would be um quite lovely.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And that concludes with a comment on the consent agenda.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

Um with that, we'll turn it over to my council colleagues for questions, comments, and entertain a motion, and we'll start with council member Moreno.

Thank you.

Um I have comments on item 103, the acceptance of donations from the San Diego Park Foundation during fiscal year 2025.

Uh first and foremost, I want to thank the San Diego Parks Foundation for this donation.

Um I'm pleased to see that several projects in my district receive funding through this item.

Um infield laser leveling and soil improvements has been a longstanding request by the board of the Lucky Waller Little League Board at our monthly community rec group meetings.

And I'm pleased to see their commitment to the park and its players being recognized through these improvements.

Uh these upgrades directly support the longstanding tradition of baseball practice in District 8, and also ensures that every player has a field worthy of their hard work and passion for the game.

Uh the South Crest Lighting Project illuminates the pedestrian path to ensure that residents can utilize the park in the evening and increase their feeling of safety.

Additionally, the illumination allows park and rec staff with the opportunity uh to broaden their offerings uh by hosting programming like soccer in the evening hours.

Now, with the San Isidro Larson Field Community Center being one of the most visited rec centers in San Isidro, the installation of retractable backboard standards, modernize the facility that is uh home to many families, and help support the growth in the recreational recreation and a growth in recreational needs of the community.

Uh the improvement will provide hundreds of local children and families with a significant enhancement uh experience for their indoor basketball and sports programming.

Um I would also like to record a no vote on item S504, which is the salary ordinance for fiscal year 2027.

Um I understand that it's the intention to bring an amendment forward at a future date, but as it stands today, I cannot support this item in its current form.

Um I don't believe a car allowance is an appropriate use of city resources for the mayor's DCO and Deputy Chief of Staff, especially in light of the city facing significant uh fiscal challenges.

Uh so with that no vote, I am happy to make a motion um to support the balance uh of the agenda.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, Councilmember.

So we do have a motion by council member Moreno to move the consent items and we'll go next to myself, I guess.

Um councilmember Foster, see if I can help you out, Council President.

Um I guess just if I may, um, if I heard you correctly, you said item 50 was sent back to staff.

I did not have that in my notes as being sent back to staff.

Can you let me know why it was sent back to staff?

Is something changing?

Is something changing with the item?

Uh no, council member, um, but with um the absences on the council today.

Um, we do have a technology in place that will ensure no interruption of services.

Um for that software.

Uh, it'll return sometime in June.

What is I'm sorry if you can clarify what do you mean by it's it's all six vote items.

It's a six-vote item, council member.

Okay.

You didn't pull the salary ordinance, correct?

Not yet.

That that's a charter requirement.

That's a little stickier for us, but it requires six, correct?

Uh I believe it's a five vote item, sir.

Is it a five?

Well, I thought it said six.

Okay.

Um, all righty.

With that, um, I will second um the member's uh motion, but I would also like to register a no vote on S504.

So thank you, Council President.

Um all right.

So um to the city attorneys, uh the salary ordinance is actually a charter requirement that mandates that we take action before May 30th.

So there's six of us here.

Looks like there's two no votes.

What's what's next?

Uh council member assistant city attorney Jim McNeil.

Thanks for the question.

So, yes, under Charter Section 11.1, uh the council is charged with uh setting the salaries by May 30th uh through the salary ordinance.

Um, if it isn't passed by then, then there's some ripple effects that take place because the appropriations ordinance, which must be passed by June 30th, relies on the adopted budget and the salary ordinance.

Um and so in looking at it, if it's not passed and the appropriation ordinance comes forward, we still don't have a passed salary ordinance.

The appropriations ordinance would be relying on the salary ordinance from last year.

Which means that we have an issue of trying to uh deal with the MOUs that are coming forward for approval by the council and being able to actually pay under those MOUs at that point in time what the authorization would be for that.

And then I'll add this is uh a second reading, so we can't change the ordinance, which was clarified for me because that starts the make it a first reading, then we'd have to have a second reading, which we cannot do before the end of the month.

Um correct, council president.

So the council's already passed this once.

The mayor has uh returned it to council.

Now it's up for its second reading.

If you made any changes, it would have to be a first reading.

And I think it's pretty clear where the council wants to make amendments, but for the June 16th amendment item to incorporate the uh newly agreed upon MOUs, you can't make an amendment there if there's nothing to make amendments on.

If we don't pass something today, there's no future decision um to make.

And so I think if something fails today and then we go forward with introducing a new ordinance incorporating the council's um, you know, uh desired amendments.

We kind of go into uncharted territory here um post June basically.

Um I want to respect my colleagues uh voting uh their conscious.

Um I do note that some council members uh may show up in this afternoon session.

So unless there's any objection, I'm gonna uh suggest that we trail the item so you can vote the way that you feel like you need to vote.

Um and I don't know if it'll make a difference this afternoon, but um I know at least one more council member will be attending.

So again, without objection and without um any protests by the city attorney's office as I navigate new waters, uh we will trail S504.

Um I guess what we'll do is pull S504 and trail it to this afternoon.

Uh and so uh each of the council member can continue to uh vote their conscious um uh going forward and we'll see if we can navigate the charter requirement and the ripple effect.

So unless there's any objection to that, we'll I'm on the lights, but I don't know if you trailing it means we're not commenting on the item anymore.

So I think uh no well I'm uh I'm happy to take any comments, but we clearly don't have five votes with us today or this morning.

I guess I'd like to understand the approach from the administration bringing this item back this week, recognizing that there were challenges last week, and as I can tell.

Is the response simply that there's not a willingness to make any changes and therefore there's a desire to just test the waters?

I yeah, no pro time.

I someone count the vote.

I appreciate the question, Pro Tem.

Um pro Temley, it's a second reading.

I can't change the item from what was originally voted on and passed by council several weeks ago, and so it had to return as is.

Um I wasn't anticipating some of the uh absences, I guess, for today, and we are also it's a timing issue with respect to what it's coming back for the rest of this month, um, which is which is set up in this current MO this current salary ordinance is the fact that we have to have MOUs that are in process that are being approved, and so it's going to have to be changed as noted in the salary ordinance to adapt to those MOUs.

And so it has to be brought back at that point in time for an amendment.

And so if you pass it now and you have commitment, at the same time the MOUs are brought back, any of the amendments that you want can be brought back at that point in time.

But in the meantime, you've passed a salary ordinance in compliance with the charter.

And there's at least two, if not three members that were anticipated to be present this morning that are not here for various personal reasons.

I I understand that, but I think the implication in that front is that somehow we're here because either people are voting their conscience or because they're unable to be here for whatever reason.

And frankly, some I I don't I don't think it's as simple as just saying our colleagues are the ones that are leading us to this position if we're just gonna see the same thing brought forward over and over again and to see the same issues come up over and over again.

So I understand that that we're gonna argue that we can't make a change in the second reading.

Fine, we've made changes in second readings and brought them back for a second reading to get them approved.

We knew this was a problem a week ago.

So I you know we can get this look as if no one cares that that's the case, but I don't think that's an acceptable response from what we're seeing.

Council member, if I can just again maybe I wasn't clear in terms of even if we made the change today and then brought it back to a second reading, we still have to come back and make an amendment again for the MOUs.

And so the notion was just doing it once.

That that was always the case, it's part of the process.

Uh, we're gonna hear this again.

I I think what I heard was that if all else fails, if nothing happens, we'll be in uncharted territory and we'll bring forward a new salary ordinance for consideration in that June meeting, not a not a amendment to the existing one.

Um so either way, I assume something's gonna get brought forward um in June.

Uh where it differs from the charter, I think is the issue that that we seem to be at.

So, um I have additional thoughts, but I don't think they're particularly relevant.

We'll trail we'll pull this item and uh bring it back uh this afternoon and see if there is a outcome one way or the other.

All right, people continue to vote their conscious.

Um let's see, we did have a motion by councilmember Moreno and a second by Council Member Foster.

Was there any other comment on the consent items?

I'll make um not seeing any.

I'll make a a quick comment on item 103.

Um, as some of my colleagues highlighted.

Um thank you to Parks and Rec staff and the San Diego Parts Foundation for working together in delivering community events programs on park improvements across the city.

As was mentioned, programs and improvements range from new basketball backboards to summer long programs like parks and after dark.

There's all of the same Sandy Guns increased enjoyment engagement with our neighborhood parks and recreation centers as we create safe places for all San Diegans.

Once again, thank you to the Parks Foundation and the donors for improving our parks and recreation centers.

So we have uh item 50 uh was um previously heard of budget committee and have been returned to staff.

Item S 504 has been polled and will be trailed to the afternoon session.

But we have on the balance a motion by council member Moreno and a second by council member Foster.

So clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you for casting your votes.

That passes unanimously six to zero with council member Ila Rivera, Council Member Campion, and Council Member Von Wilper absent and item S504 trailed to the afternoon.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

Uh do we have any comments by Mayor's office, council members, city attorney, independent budget analyst, or city clerk?

Not hearing any request.

We will now take up non-agenda public comment.

Council members respect and appreciate the public's input and are fully committed to protecting every participant's free speech rights at council and committee meetings.

With that, clerk, please proceed with public comment.

Thank you, Council President.7 non-agenda public comment is an opportunity for members of the public to comment on items that are not on the agenda but within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

Please know if there are eight or more speakers on a single topic.

The maximum time for the topic will be 16 minutes.

If you're in chambers, please submit your speaker slip.

If you're joining us virtually, please raise your hand to speak by tapping the raise your hand icon now, or the call-in participants, star nine.

Jean Wong, if you can please come forward, you'll have two minutes.

Right here.

Thank you all for having me here today.

Yesterday was a very hard day, and I just want to acknowledge that it's not what I'm talking about today, though.

Uh let's talk about transparency.

I really thought that Marnie was going to be here today because apparently love that word at City Hall right now, transparency, accountability, and trust.

So let's do that.

So my question was actually for councilwoman Marnie Wilpert.

According to reports and a settlement agreement now publicly circulating, taxpayers paid $50,000 over disputes and controversies in warming and for involving her former chief of staff, our tax paper money, our taxpayer money.

And the allegations tied to this are not pretty.

Reports and witnesses are alleging an employee was battling cancer while fired while taking care of her time off with chemotherapy.

Now maybe that's not true.

Maybe there's more context, and I would love for her to have an I wish she was here because I would love for an opportunity to speak to this because right now the public gets stuck paying the bill while the details disappear behind settlement language and PR cleanup.

You can't stand and brand yourself as a health care advocate and protector of workers while people are reading allegations that someone in your own office got pushed out while literally fighting cancer.

That's not worker protection.

That's the exact kind of political behavior that people are exhausted by, and honestly, this is why we've lost trust in our government.

Regular people don't get golden parachutes and confidential sediments when they screw up at work.

Regular people get fired.

But somehow elected officials always seem to find taxpayer money when things get messy.

And now she wants a promotion to Congress before asking for more power, more staff, clean your own house for house first.

Because transparency doesn't count when you're pointing fingers at everybody else.

It counts when the spotlight is on you.

Thank you all so much.

I appreciate you.

Sharak Sadat Najad, if you can please come forward.

My name is Shirak Sarat Najad.

I reside at 3713 Mount Ashman Place in 92111.

I brought some paperwork here with me to leave uh to leave here with you guys.

So one is a uh copy of the building permit for my home for the address that I just read.

It was built by uh by a man named Harry L.

Summers.

He used the fake address for his contact information.

I checked with the city permit department, and there is no history for issuing a permit for 4430 Cast Street, and I also checked with the county tax collectors.

There's no history of ever collecting tax for that property.

Um a lot of things are wrong with the house.

One of them uh is a huge concern.

It's a rectangular box in my garage.

It's attached to the ceiling of the garage.

It has a uh electrical uh cables, wires, uh, a gas pipe, and two water pipes inserted into the box.

The box is about eight to ten feet long, and it's connected to a duck box, which is connected to the furnace uh of the house.

And that duck box is connected to another duck box uh VIA uh a duck tube.

And uh I have pictures of those I brought with me to leave for the record.

Um, the the duck box, uh, one of the duck boxes sits a hundred inches above ground level and it stands at 33 inches.

It doesn't have a bottom, and one of the sidewalls is missing.

About a foot away from it is a duct tube, it's just hanging down.

Again, it's about a hundred inches uh above ground level.

All of these are connected to the box that has the gas pipe and leaked into it.

We got this house in 1979, and as a child growing up in that house, always smelled gas frequently, things of that nature.

But the people that build the house and design the house, may I continue?

No, I'm sorry, your time has concluded.

If you have any written comments, we can definitely distribute that and we can make sure that gets into the record.

Yes, my staff will go down there and get it.

Sorry, the five-minute timer going to those participating remotely.

We currently have 10 speakers in the queue.

Blair Beekman, if you can please unmute.

All right, Blair Beekman.

Um thanks for the meeting today.

It's a sad time.

Like I said previously, um, you know, um the work we do as local government, as community together.

Um, it's usually a labor of love.

You know, we disagree on issues, but man, when we get into our work, it's just it's we're doing our love, you know.

And it's sad that um this uh incident has happened, and um that uh these young people can better understand concepts of love in the future.

I think they do have their own concepts of love, and it's I think uh probably a little out of whack.

And I mean, we really have to learn concepts, you know, like uh COVID 19.

Somebody has some great design to do something beautiful for our humanity human future, but we don't have to kill each other in order to get there.

And that's an important lesson.

I hope we're learning.

Um I think we we've actually made strides in working on gun issues and gun violence with young people, and this incident that happened yesterday can be kind of an end, hopefully.

We can really see it as a beginning of an end.

You know, that I think young people are in better understanding that you know if this is possibly is gonna create more violence, more uh, you know, surveillance tech laws.

Uh hopefully we're not gonna go in that route, and everybody's keeping a cool head about what to do with this time, and um we work on our issues, we continue the practices of love, negotiation, working together, and um, I think we can do that on a number of issues uh and different parts of our community or religious communities of San Diego.

It's really a time in figuring out the ways how we can work together, and I think there is good ways, and good luck how we can be doing that.

Um, thanks for the meeting today.

Thanks for the words of Tony and other people that we're trying a lot to be helpful and constructive, and hopefully those good voices won't be marginalized and heard at this time.

Thank you.

Next is Connor.

Connor D.

If you can please unmute after that will be Catherine Rhodes and Becky Rep.

Uh, thank you, Clerk.

This is Connor from District Three.

Uh I wanted to start by offering my condolences to the families of the three individuals who were killed yesterday, uh, and yet another act of violence, hatred, or harassment against members of the Muslim and Jewish communities in this city and across the country more broadly.

Uh we've heard testimony from members of those communities at city council meetings in the past, and some of the things we've heard are just truly horrific, and one left unchecked.

I I'm afraid that can lead to events like what occurred yesterday.

Now it's gotten exponentially worse since October 7th, and the Gaza War may be a conflict that's occurring halfway across the world, but we're feeling the repercussions of it here at home.

I genuinely believe that each additional dollar that we add of American taxpayer money to this conflict makes things worse and not better.

And in that respect, I do want to express my disappointment, although I don't think she's here with the uh council member from District Five for accepting an endorsement from DMFI.

Uh, this is, of course, an organization that is calling for yet another multi-year multi-billion dollar MOU of the U.S.

sending military assistance to the state of Israel.

And again, I really think this is going to make things worse and not better.

I would encourage her to reconsider her position on that issue.

To the council more broadly, I would encourage members to consider what they can personally do to help fix the broken poisonous political culture of this country, uh, to help lower the temperature and to allow us to have robust, meaningful, productive debates on issues that are really important that and that need to be discussed without it careening off into hatred, invective, and and potentially up to the loss of life, like we saw.

We can't afford to continue with the status quo.

We can't afford to have more people, more innocent people die overseas, and in our own community here at home.

Uh, and I would encourage council members to consider what they could do to help curb some of that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Catherine Rhodes, and after that is Becky Rapp.

Catherine Rhodes, please unmute.

Hello, this is Catherine Rhodes.

Our council president Joe LaCava, Mayor Todd Gloria, the city attorney and the IBA working with expedia.com and/or other online travel companies to undermine the city council and the rules committee by not allowing the public hearing to repatriate the 20% to 34% amounting to 77 to 144 million in existing top transit occupancy top um tax revenue from national and international online travel companies to the city's general fund.

Um city council district two candidate Mandy Havlick and my transit occupancy tax reform ballot measures that were to be heard at the upcoming Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 rules committee hearing at 9 a.m.

Um they also included um four other uh ballot measures from city council members.

Now none of us are having our hearing on Wednesday because they want to sabotage our our hearings and um I think it's just terrible.

So anyway, on May 11th, we received an email from City Council President Joe Locava's office stating that we are kicked off the rules committee's agenda and no longer involved in presenting our top reform ballot measures to the rules committee or the city council, then Joe Locava by myself without the rest of the rules committee or the full city council will be deciding the fate of our top reform ballot measures that can delete the city's structural budget deficit by spreading the taught wealth.

So what I'm asking for now is one of you other city council uh members here to send this to the um city attorney.

You can um during non-agenda public comment, you can still refer things to the city attorney or to the mayor to the IBA.

So I'm asking you to um send it to the city attorney and the IBA.

This is a question of leadership.

Um so anyway, um, is it possible that Joe La Cava is being influenced by online travel companies, expedia.com or others to sabotage.

Becky Rapp, if you can please unmute after that, is Tony and then 8700.

Becky Rapp.

Good afternoon.

My name is Becky Rapp, and I'm here today to ask the city to prioritize enforcement against illegal kratom, flavored tobacco sales and intoxicating hand products happening and selling openly across our neighborhoods.

According to recent reports, the police and code enforcement seized more than 6,300 prohibited products during one operation alone.

Under their municipal code, every violation can be treated as a separate offense, and each day the violation continues, can create additional penalties.

Businesses are reportedly facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Meanwhile, San Diego, we have smoke shops selling flavored vapes, illegal nicotine products, kratom extracts, and high potency substances with little to no oversight.

Our penalties are minimal, and many businesses simply treat them as a cost of doing business.

If San Diego has roughly 200 smoke shops and enforcement officers seize just 100 illegal products from each location at a penalty of 500 per illegal item, the city could potentially collect 10 million dollars in fines.

That estimate does not even account for repeat violations, daily penalties, or the sheer volume of products.

Many of these stores appear to be selling at a time when the city is constantly discussing budget shortfalls, cuts to services, and limited resources.

Why are we ignoring laws already in place that could both protect public health and generate substantial revenue for enforcement and prevention efforts?

I urge this council to direct code enforcement and San Diego Police Department to prioritize inspections of smoke shops, strengthen penalties for repeat offenders, and begin um treating these violations seriously.

Thank you.

Tony, if you can please unmute, then 8700 and then Madison.

The five-minute timer also did conclude.

There were nine speakers of the Q.

At that point, there are eight speakers in the queue now.

No additional speakers will be taken.

Tony, please proceed.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes, please proceed.

Hey, good morning, city council.

What I have to say is gonna sound really harsh, uh, but it's it needs to be said.

Um, some of you have blood on your hands as a result of yesterday's incident.

You were warned several months ago that the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism was woefully inadequate, that it did not protect our brothers and sisters in the Muslim community, in the Islamic community.

You were warned and you were told that the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism needed to include those members of the community.

Stephen Whitburn, you had ample opportunity to take that definition back to your office and work on it, as was asked you by Sean Elo Rivera.

You chose not to, and the rest of you chose to be cowards and vote for something that ultimately does not protect all of the people of San Diego in giving preference to the Jewish community over our Muslim and Islamic community.

You've shown that you that you are biased in favor of Zionists and favor of Israel, which is currently dragging us into war with Iran, which is currently bombing Lebanon, which is currently putting us in such a precarious position all over the world with this draconian disastrous foreign policy.

That for y'all to accept it, that for y'all to protect uh the Jewish people and not protect any other people of Semitic background is shameful, and it's contributing to what happened yesterday.

And guess what?

The fact that uh Chief of Police Scott Wall is claiming that ALPR could have been utilized or or was utilized yesterday uh to prevent this from happening is a shameful, blatant lie.

These kids were out for two hours.

The police knew that they were out, that they had weapons, that they had stolen a vehicle, and they weren't stopped.

How's that for a response time?

How is that serving and protecting our community?

Shame on all of you.

Do better.

Next is 8700.

If you can please unmute 8700, and then it'll be Madison.

Uh, thank you.

Uh Joy Sanyaka.

Uh, before I start, uh, I just want to say this.

Um council member Foster the third.

Thank you for these three words, and I like the order of them.

I don't know if you meant that.

Loving, learning, and accepting.

That's what I had to do just then.

Okay, so I'm gonna talk about the uh structural budget deficit, uh, the um SBD.

So I'm gonna say words that were spoken by key people.

I'll start with the IBA.

They said critical to align ongoing expenses with ongoing revenue to provide stability and restore public trust.

Isn't that it's so vital that that that quote?

And then from the Department of Finance.

These are both very recent.

Uh, it's from their staff report.

As the city continues to address the structural budget deficit, the importance of maintaining cash reserves to strengthen the city's fiscal position and effectively manage potential future economic down terms.

I'll repeat that, has never been more critical.

So end of quote.

Now, this is for me.

So I can't get why we can't get a handle on this core issue of the structural budget.

That's it.

I think it's 20 to 30 years old now.

And I just don't get it.

All of you are extremely intelligent.

You love your constituents, I'm sure.

And you get it.

You get the structural budget deficit and you bring it out here and there.

You put it on your time for it.

My apologies.

Uh Madison is our next speaker after that.

Is Hector?

Hi, thank you.

Today I want to address the growing public safety impacts of marijuana commercialization, especially on impaired driving.

A new bipartisan transportation bill in Congress would require federal agencies to develop evidence-based impairment standards for marijuana and other drugs, while also investing more than 100 million dollars into better crash data collection, toxicology testing, and impaired driving prevention research.

That should tell us something important.

At the federal level, leaders from both parties recognize that marijuana impairment on our roads is a serious and unresolved issue.

Unlike alcohol, there is still no universally accepted standard for marijuana impairment.

Yet communities like San Diego continue expanding access, normalization, and visibility of high potency marijuana products.

Meanwhile, families share the roads every day with drivers who may be impaired by marijuana or multiple substances combined.

Federal transportation officials themselves recently stated that marijuana use is not compatible with safety-sensitive functions.

Airline pilots, truck drivers, and other transportation workers are still prohibited from using it because the risks are real.

As our city discusses public health, transportation safety, and youth well-being, I urge you to take these warnings seriously.

We should not move faster on marijuana normalization than the science and safety standards can keep up with.

Parents should not have to wonder whether the driver next to their child's school bus or crosswalk is impaired.

Please prioritize policies that protect public safety, support prevention education, and recognize the very real consequences of impaired driving on San Diego families.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If you can please unmute after that, we'll be 7499.

Can you hear me?

Yes, please proceed.

Oh, yeah, thanks for taking my call.

Yeah, I was thinking about those license plates readers.

And uh I live uh up on top of Mission Valley where those fires were.

And if I go to Ralph's down the hill about a mile and a half away, I pass through like five cameras, four license plate readers.

Yeah, it's no problem with me.

And uh I'd say maybe the moss and the churches have got to get some license plate readers of their own or or hink up to the system.

I wouldn't be against it.

I know everyone's worried about with the immigration thing going on with uh, but it looks like we've passed the mark, and then uh I don't know how anyone could beef up their place better than those guys did already, the Muslim guys.

You know, it's uh an armed guard right there, he's a big dude.

You just can't defense everything, but um, one thing in the neighborhood, I've talked to a guy who used to own a house up there.

There is a beef in the neighborhood about the parking.

Like all the Muslim guys parked there on Friday, and they take up all the parking spaces in all the neighborhoods, kind of in a bad way, and he didn't like it.

And uh he was worried about uh they're gonna put the call of prayer out, and he was like really incensed about that.

He didn't want the Muslim guys having the call of prayer, but there could be a beef in the neighborhood.

There, I think I think there is a beef that they take up the parking.

They might need to build a parking lot.

There's a vacant lot right in the front of them by the freeway.

They could build like a five-story parking garage right there and have a walkway over to their mosque.

That would kind of alleviate that, or the city could work with them.

And uh, but you know, that's no reason to do what they did.

But we'll have to get all the facts, get the guns, get the letters before we give our opinion about why it happened.

But good luck.

Say bye.

Next to 7499, if you can please unmute, and then after that, Terry Anskelly.

Bob Kazuski here.

I'd like to start off by thanking City Clerk Fuentes for truly remarkable citizen support over the last few days and weeks.

I had originally complained about not being able to bring media to council on thumb drives, and it appears that City Clerk Fuentes has resolved that issue.

Thanks and good job.

City Clerk Fuentes and Matthew Hilario have also been extremely responsive to email requests, even responding late in the evening and on weekends to help me track down a few city documents.

Good job again.

Having said that, however, I'm increasingly concerned about the outsourcing of the city's public services to private businesses.

I don't think citizens should be forced to interact with private businesses, such as Highland Cloud or Next Request or Constant Contact in order to obtain basic information and services from the city.

I am particularly disturbed to hear that the city's entire municipal code and council resolution systems and possibly others may be contracted out to private businesses later this summer.

I believe that all of the city's support for citizens should be direct without any third-party gatekeepers involved.

The city is certainly welcome to hire contractors who provide services within the city's infrastructure, but it is disturbing to see citizens have to go to third-party vendors and to third party websites to get basic city services and resources.

That's another example where our city resources have been turned over to a private commercial business at the public's expense.

Shame on you, Joe LaCava, and shame on every member of this council for ignoring this problem for decades.

Thank you.

Next is Terry Ann Skelly.

If you can please unmute.

Recently, the California Department of Public Health wrote that suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24.

Teen and young adult mental health is a complex situation.

However, the risks of today's high potency THC marijuana products must never be overlooked for its role in generating suicide ideation.

Hopefully, our city council can be counted among those trusted adults who are concerned about the harmful effects of its sales and consumption and not enlarge the footprint of marijuana storefronts in our city.

Now would be a great time to reduce the pot business's impact on our youth with its predatory advertising and bellboards and remove them.

Thank you for hearing my concerns this afternoon.

Thank you, Judy Strang, if you can please unmute.

Judy String, I can't unmute for you.

There you go.

Hi, good afternoon.

Always difficult to call in from my work site.

I wanted to share a stream of thought that I had when I read the Wall Street Journal article this morning that talked about the role of allergies in health care.

And it pointed and health cost.

It pointed out that for allergies related to food that there's an admittance into our health care, our hospitals, one every three minutes.

I did a little research more on allergies, and I'm well acquainted, I think as many of you are with the role that allergies plays in health care cost and miserable living experiences, I might also add.

And it pointed out that second-hand smoke and vape is a serious trigger for allergies.

And it goes on to point out that what happens is it triggers the immune system, our individual immune systems, to react.

And in doing so, it can inflame our nasal passages and airways.

It can lower the threshold for other allergens to bother us even more.

And it causes a sort of sensitation that in childhood can lead to asthma.

And I got to looking at our policies here at the city, and many of us have asked you about smoke free public places and smoke-free MUH.

And I thought from a cost perspective, this has got to be wise.

Anything that would lower our city's citizens' allergic reaction that they can have the second-hand smoke and vape would deeply decrease the cost of our EMS services, our hospital cost, and improve the quality of life for everyone around us.

So perhaps this is a way to save ourselves some money.

It's not one you'll see automatically, but it's certainly one that will happen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And our final speaker is Peggy Walker.

If you can please unmute.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, and thank you for your compassionate remarks this morning.

I came today to acknowledge that Sunday is world no tobacco day.

In light of that observation, which calls attention to smoky smoking's devastating health and environmental impacts, I want to congratulate the city attorney's office and law enforcement for recent actions against smoke shops selling hemp and marijuana products without a license.

Smoke shops, gas stations, and other small convenience stores have become exceptionally bold in selling what's called gas station weed, products like Delta 8 vapes and THC infused beverages without a license.

As noted earlier, some also blatantly sell prohibited flavored vapes and unregulated mushroom kratom and nitrous oxide products that can be highly addictive.

These are often hidden in back rooms, which makes ongoing undercover compliance checks especially critical.

Prohibited flavored tobacco is timely as the FDA in a controversial move just approved two fruit flavored nicotine vapes for adult users.

The FDA called this neither quote approval nor endorsement.

I bring it to your attention because the FDA's action does not mean flavored tobacco products can be sold locally.

Flavored tobacco remains banned in California, and we're assured FD authorization does not override state or local prohibitions.

Please remain vigilant in helping kids keep tobacco free and in keeping unauthorized intoxicating tobacco products off-store shelves.

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you.

That does include non agenda public comment for today's meeting.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

We will now adjourn for the noon recess and reconvene.

Open session at 2 p.m.

or shortly thereafter.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

I will now reconvene the city council meeting of Tuesday, May nineteenth, twenty twenty-six.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you, Council President.

Council Member Campbell.

Council Member Whitburn.

Councilmember Foster.

Councilmember Von Wilper.

Council President Pro Tem Lee.

Council Member Campillo.

Here.

Council Member Moreno.

Council Member Ela Rivera.

And Council President Lacava.

Present.

Also attending the meeting or Assistant City Attorney Leslie Fitzgerald, independent budget analyst, Charles Monica, Council Affairs Advisor in the Mayor's Office, Coda Zeizer, and myself, your city clerk.

All right.

All right, thank you.

So item S five oh four is uh the clerk indicated, is the second reading for the salary ordinance.

Uh we did take public comment on this this morning.

Uh there is no need for a presentation.

I think the council all understands and recalls this item.

So I'm going to move item S504 to kick things off as a purely procedural item, which doesn't actually fund anything or allocate appropriate any dollars or set a budget, but as a procedural thing mandated by the charter.

So I will put a motion on the floor to approve item S504 and turn it over to my colleagues for questions, comments, looking for a second.

Councilmember Campbell.

I will be glad to second that.

All right.

Okay, this is um who was it who said the law is an ass.

I think was it Shakespeare?

This is this is one of those deals where because of dates in the charter, we have to do certain procedures by a certain time.

However, it is my understanding that in the further revisions of the budget to come, there will be amendments to this, such that the council last week had given its information as to how we felt about a certain part of this, and uh my understanding was that we had been uh promised, promised, we have been uh assured by the administration that that particular item would be uh considered and put in there to meet what we expected uh in the final version.

And so therefore, I'm happy to second it.

I'm happy to meet the legally required dates, and I uh I will be in favor of it today.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, uh Councilmember Campbell.

Um Coda, I got a little ahead of myself.

Did you want to speak to what Councilmember Campbell referring to?

Yeah, thank you, Council President.

And to follow up on Councilmember Campbell's comments, um, yes, you have the commitment of this administration to modify and reduce the car allowances.

Um I realize this has been a frustrating process over the last two weeks.

Um I realize there are pieces in here that do not have the support of this council.

I am limited in what I can change in a second reading, but yeah, the commitment of this administration to work with this council before the June 16th uh amendment uh to make those modifications and bring this back for um council's consideration.

May I just add I I believe uh Councilmember Campillo had uh educated me a little bit on that statement about the law being an ass, and I think who else was it that had said the law is an ass?

An English writer, right?

An English writer, yes, that's as far as I am.

That's important beside Shakespeare.

Another one okay, thank you.

All right.

Um council uh council president pro tem Lee.

Thank you, Council President.

Um Coda, thank you for um thank you for talking through the back and forth about this.

I think certainly we're all dealing with the same frustrations trying to get um something across the board, and so that acknowledgement um does mean a lot, and I'm not sure I fully grasp exactly the changes that Dr.

Jen um Councilmember Campbell uh is alluding to in the degree to which those changes are being made, but I think knowing that we're gonna get something delivered that that matches the intent is helpful.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, sir.

And council member Foster.

Uh yes.

Um, um as I stated earlier, I'm still going to be voting no.

Um I think we set a bad precedent as we um you know.

I think we kind of pick and choose what we consider the law at certain times and how we do certain things.

Um but I do think um as we continue to move forward, that as we found ourselves in a situation that um hopefully we can plan better as we continue to move forward.

Um, but I would like to request, um, as I am unclear as to what's in here, what the discussion was on what's in, what's out, what that looks like.

If um when we finish our negotiations or whatever we where we land as we continue to move forward, I'd like to formally request a briefing to where I can be fully well-versed to understand where we land and all the changes that are being made to the salary ordinance as we move forward.

Yeah, councilmember.

I think um the initial introduction of this ordinance had its challenges, um, and so yes, you have the commitment to brief your offices while in advance.

Thank you for that.

Right, and Councilmember Moreno.

Thank you.

Um, and I want to put this on the record as I stated earlier.

I understand an amendment will be brought forward, but my concern with this item stems from the city's failure to fully address the fiscal challenges we're currently facing.

Um, I thank councilmember Campbell for bringing up dates, and I want to put on the record when did staff work on this ordinance.

I could uh call Abby from HR on the timing.

Thank you, Councilmember Moreno.

Um, this is an ongoing item that's addressed each year in preparation for the budget.

Um we have to have a first reading by April 14th.

So we work with our city's departments, the personnel department, risk management, department of IT, and we get all that information in preparation for the fiscal year.

Um, so it's multifaceted, but we work from January through April and the changes that happen as changes happen daily depending on where we're at with negotiations and the like.

So we finalize up to the day of the beginning of the year is when you guys started it.

Was this after the mayor's state of the city?

Um or during around the same time as the state of the city.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for uh council member Campbell uh for bringing up dates because this action proposes a car allowance for the mayor's DCO and other staff while at the same time the city's cutting funding for arts and culture.

Um now I do understand that while the savings from eliminating these car allowances alone would not fully restore arts funding, the optics are deeply concerning.

Deeply concerning to me.

Sends the wrong message to provide perks for top officials while residents in my district will feel the impact of reduce investment in their community.

This was first heard in April, and I think that gave uh plenty of opportunity for this administration to take out the line item that states adding the assistant of the city manager, deputy chief of staff, and chief financial officer officer classification.

Sorry, I am reading the wrong one.

Adding the assistant DCO and assistant to the city manager, deputy chief of staff, classification to exhibit F auto allowance.

I just I can't believe we're you know, we're being told that we're at the we're we have to pass it.

This is this we have to make this, we have to finish this, we have to complete this.

Your procrastination is not my emergency.

I want to state that very clear.

We're talking serious talk.

The mayor has proposed very deep cuts in my district while at the same time adding a car allowance to one of his top chiefs.

I'm not gonna be supporting this before us, and I hope that.

And this is not the first time this administration doesn't listen to what this council is saying, or the second or the third.

And I want to make a distinction.

I want to put a line in the sand so that the residents of the city of San Diego understand very clearly what is happening, not only with this budget, but with a lot of things happening here at City Hall.

So I will be registering a no vote.

All right, thank you, Councilmore Moreno.

Uh I don't see anyone else on the lights.

Um I made the motion to move the staff recommendation on S504.

We have a second by Councilmember Campbell.

And please call the vote.

That passes five to two, with Councilmember Moreno and Councilmember Foster voting no, and Councilmember Elo River and Councilmember Von Vilper absent.

Thank you, Council President.

All right.

Thank you to the clerk.

So that does pass with five yes votes, and I appreciate everybody's candor in communicating to the mayor's office where their levels of concern exists as we did last week.

We'll look forward to this coming back, and also part of the budget conversation as well, which is what we do before we do the appropriations and the four what we do before salary.

So with that, clerk, please introduce item 331.

Thank you, Council President.

Item 331 is the appeal of site development permit, coastal development permit, and tentative map project number 1085883 through regarding 8303 La Jolla Shores Drive.

This item is not subject to the mayor's veto.

If you'd like to speak to this item, now is the time to raise your hand or press star nine.

If you are in the virtual queue, and if you are here in council chambers, please be sure to submit a speaker slip to the front of the room in the clear box.

Thank you, Council President.

All right.

Thank you.

So for those of you who have not been at a quasi-judicial hearing, and especially in particular or in particular an appeal hearing, uh, the way the run-of-show will go is that staff will make their presentation.

We will then invite the appellant to make their presentation, uh, and then the applicant will be invited uh to make their presentation.

Uh after that, we will open it up for any other public comment that might be interested in speaking, and then from there we will turn it over to council members for questions, uh comments, and to entertain a motion.

So with that, uh staff, please introduce yourself for the record and let us know how much time you need for your presentation.

Uh good afternoon.

I'm Veronica Davieson, project manager with the development services department, and I will need 20 minutes, please.

All right.

Begin when you're ready.

Uh good afternoon, Council President La Cava, uh, Council members and members of the public.

Um, the item before you is the 8303 La Jolla Shores Drive Project Appeal, PRJ 108583.

The project site is 4.45 acres and is located in the La Jolla Shores Plan District, single family zone, the coastal overlay zone, and the coastal height limit overlay zone within the La Jolla Community Plan.

The site is previously developed to an existing 5,958 square foot single dwelling unit and an attached barrage.

The project site is located within an urbanized area, approximately half a mile east of the Pacific Ocean, and is not between the first public roadway and the ocean.

The site is currently accessible via via Kaye Frescoda connecting westward to the La Jolla Shores Drive.

The project site does not contain any sensitive biological resources or special flood hazard areas.

The project includes uh consolidating three parcels into a single lot for its subdivision into six residential lots with uh common access to the public right of way, demolition of the existing single dwelling unit and garage, construction of a single dwelling unit at each new lot plus an accessory dwelling unit on lot six only for a total of seven dwelling units.

In addition.

The project includes underground drainage and sewer improvements on Calle Frescoda connecting to public utility systems along the La Jolla Shores Drive.

As previously noted, the project site comprises three parcels.

Parcel one is developed with a single dwelling unit and an attached garage proposed for demolition.

The existing structure is older than 45 years and requires historic evaluation.

City staff determined that the property does not meet the local designation criteria as an individually significant historic resource.

Calle Frescota, shown in yellow, is a 60-foot wide strip of land identified as a shared easement in the original deed recorded in 1949.

The proposed subdivision will result in six numbered residential lots and one letter lot designated as a private access road to Cayo del Cielo to the north.

The project involves the construction of a single dwelling unit at each new lot ranging from 11,729 to 16,270 square feet with pool facilities and landscape related improvements.

Lot 6 would also include an accessory dwelling unit and has vehicular access to Calle Frescota.

City staff reviewed and accepted a geotechnical study for the project, which concluded that the site is suitable for the proposed development.

In addition, a preliminary drainage study prepared for the project complies with current stormwater regulations.

All improvements are subject to the approval of the city engineer at the time of the construction permits.

The project is surrounded by one and two-story single dwelling units with site amenities including tennis courts and swimming pools.

The project aligns with the community character of the surrounding neighborhood and is consistent with the average development patterns within a 300 foot radius of the project site as required by the La Jolla Shores Plan District Ordinance.

The project complies with all the development standards required by the base zone, including density, building setbacks, floor air ratio, land coverage, and the 30 foot maximum structur height allowed in the coastal limitation overlay zone.

The required approvals are a process 4 tentative map for a land subdivision creating five or more parcels, a process 3 site development permit for the development of a major project in the La Jolla Shores Plan District, a process 2 coastal development permit for the increase in density and demolition of an existing single dwelling unit.

The project includes an addendum to program environmental impact report PEIR number 920199 for the La Jolla and Pacific Beach Community Plan and Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan updates prepared in accordance with CIQA guidelines.

These consolidated approvals were presented to the planning commission on December 4, 2025.

The planning commission voted 502 to approve the project and adopt addendum to PEIR number 920199.

On December 17, 2025, an appeal was filed by Kenneth C.

Jones of Higgs Fletcher and Mac LLP representing Arthur and Lynn DeCavanau, citing factual error, conflict with other matters, and findings not supported as grounds for appeal.

Legal standard for appeal.

Pursuant to San Diego Municipal Code Section 1120508C, an appeal of a process for decision may be granted with evidence supporting one of the following grounds for appeal.

Factual error, when the statements or evidence relied upon by the decision maker when approving conditionally approving or denying a permit, map or other matter were inaccurate.

New information.

When new information is available to the applicant or the interested person that was not available through that person's reasonable efforts or due diligence at the time of the decision.

Findings not supported.

When the decision maker's stated findings to approve, conditionally approve or deny the permit, map or other matter are not supported by the information provided to the decision maker.

Conflicts.

When the decision to approve, conditionally approve or deny the permit, map or other matter is in conflict with a land use plan, a city council policy, or the municipal code.

Or citywide significance when the matter being appealed is of citywide significance.

Appeal issue number one.

Unresolved easement in the right-of-way.

Consent is required before utilities are installed within this private right-of-way, and any reliance on easement language concerning public utilities does not authorize private drainage and sewer facilities serving a single development without co-owner approval.

The claimed easement, its scope, and any required consents must be conclusively resolved prior to city approval.

Staff response to appeal issue number one.

DSD's position is that the applicant may construct the proposed underground drainage and sewer improvements within Kaye Frescota because of the original grant deed document number 43967, recorded in May 18, 1949, states that the 60-foot wide strip of land or parcel is to be used for road and street purposes and for the installation, repair and replacement of public utilities.

The proposed improvements are designed to connect the subject property to an approved public utility system and public drainage system.

Installation of private utility laterals within private roadways and utility easements is a customary and accepted practice, provided the improvements are constructed in accordance with city standards and do not unreasonably interfere with existing access or utility rights.

The extent of the improvements would not interfere with existing access or utility rights since it would not encumber a significant portion of the easement.

The city, in reviewing the original grant deed and the project, determined that the proposed improvements fall within the scope of the recorded easement and comply with applicable regulations.

The project permit includes conditions of approval to ensure conformance with the current version of the stormwater standards manual and drainage design manual.

The city does not interfere with third-party disputes over the use of private easements.

Appeal issue number two.

Right of way scope, public utilities versus private improvements.

The right of way, as characterized by the applicant, allows use for road and street purposes and for the installation, repair, and replacement of public utilities.

The project's drainage and sewer improvements are private, serving the project rather than constituting public utility infrastructure and thus exceeds the scope of any easement permitting public utilities.

City approvals should not rely on private works through horned into public utility easement language without a clear legal basis and documented consent from all necessary parties.

Staff response to appeal issue number two.

As stated before, DSD determined that construction of the stormwater and sewer improvements is permitted based on the language in the original granteed for the easement and what is customary practice for private infrastructure being tied into public systems.

The appellant interprets the term public utility as requiring that all facilities within the easements be publicly owned or operated.

Private sewer laterals, drainage conditions, and similar facilities that serve individual properties by connecting to a public utility system are allowed within utility easements.

The proposed stormwater facilities constitute utility infrastructure that connects to and relies upon a public system for discharge via a curb outlet.

The proposed sewer lateral is designed to connect to the public sewer main via an existing public sewer easement within CAF Escora.

Appeal issue number three.

Ownership and authority within the private right-of-way.

The right-of-way parcel is privately owned in undivided fee by five co-owners, including the applicant, and there is no recorded easement burdening that parcel in favor of the project's proposed private stormwater discharge over the other owner's interest.

The applicant lacks written consent from the other co-owners or such use.

This raises fundamental authority and access concerns that should be resolved before any city approval dependent on the use of the private right-of-way.

Staff response to appeal issue number three.

The city's review of the original grant deed led DSD to determine that the rights to allow construction of the stormwater infrastructure and sewer lines are permitted based on the easement language and because they both tie into public systems.

These improvements comply with applicable regulations.

This city does not interfere with third-party disputes over the use of private easements.

Appeal issue number four.

Drainage system concerns requiring commission direction.

In addition to the easement and authority issues above, our clients request that the Commission ensure the following issues are addressed to the city satisfaction and reflected as enforceable conditions of approval.

4.1.

Disruption during construction, 4.2, maintenance responsibilities, 4.3, potential drainage problems and downstream impacts.

4.4 risk of backup at the 12-inch PVC pipe outlet.

4.5 hedge replacement and surface restoration.

Staff response to appeal issue number 4.1.

Disruption during construction.

All standard city policies regarding construction, access and use, including emergency access and ingress and egress issues, hours of operation, and noise control will be required as part of the ministerial review process and will be verified to the satisfaction of the city engineer.

The project is subject to temporary construction best management practices per stormwater standards.

Construction work hours of operation and noise regulation are applicable.

Fire safety and access during construction are required for San Diego Fire Rescue Standard A 7.

The project is also subject to street damage repair to existing pavement from excavation work as determined by the city engineer.

Staff response to appeal issue 4.2, maintenance responsibilities.

Permit conditions require a stormwater mitigation and discharge control management plan to the satisfaction of the city engineer.

An encroachment maintenance and removal agreement will be required for the proposed private storm drain right-of-way encroachment into the La Jolla Shores Drive Curb Outlet Discharge.

Indemnification and insurance between property owners is a third-party matter not enforced by the city.

Staff response to appeal issue number 4.3.

Potential drainage problems and downstream impacts.

A drainage study for the proposed project includes peak flow attenuation details.

The project is required to mitigate developed condition peak flows to levels below predeveloped conditions to the satisfaction of the city engineer.

Runoff will be fully contained in the proposed storm drain system and the corresponding sizing will be determined through a hydraulic analysis to ensure the proposed development does not cause flooding of surrounding properties to the satisfaction of the city engineer.

The proposed storm drain will discharge directly to the curb line in the La Jolla Shores Drive via a proposed curb outlet system.

Staff response to appeal issue number 4.4, risk of backup at the 12-inch BVC outlets.

Permit conditions require an encroachment maintenance and removal agreement, including specifications to prevent potential clogging or backup of the curb outlet discharge or other potential clogging impacts associated with the proposed private storm drain.

This agreement will be subject to review by the city engineer.

Staff response to appeal issue number 4.5.

Hedge replacement and surface restoration.

All graded, disturbed or eroded areas that will not be permanently paved or covered by structures shall be permanently revegetated and irrigated.

Updated landscape condition number 26 require complete construction documents for the revegetation and hydro seeding of all disturbed land in accordance with the City of San Diego landscape standards.

The development services department.

Staff recommendation.

Staff has reviewed the proposal and concluded that the improvements are consistent with the purpose and intent of the recorded easement and the applicants' rights to the easement.

Further, the project is conditioned to comply with all standard city policies and regulations for construction, access, and maintenance.

Staff recommends that the council deny the appeal and affirm the planning commission's decision to approve with modifications.

Coastal development permit number 3213964, site development permit number 3213965, tentative map number 3213966 and adopting addendum number PRJ 1085883 to PERR number 910199.

This concludes the staff presentation.

City staff and the applicants team are available for questions.

Thank you.

Staff has um revised four conditions and provided two new conditions that will as follows.

Yeah.

Copies of these conditions have been provided in hard copy.

Um the there's engineering condition number 25 addressing requirements of the drainage study, two landscape conditions, um addressing requirements of the uh replacement of the existing hedges were needed, uh two public uh utilities conditions to address sewer facility requirements, and one um one tentative map condition requiring drainage and sewer improvements to comply with the California Civil Code requirements.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Now that concludes your presentation.

Right.

This concludes my presentation, thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Before I turn over to the appellant, uh, I'll turn it over to the Office of the City Attorney for comments.

Thank you, Council President.

When hearing and deciding upon a project appeal, the council may affirm, reverse, or modify the Planning Commission's decision.

A decision to reverse or modify the planning commission's decision must be based on one or more of the following.

Factual error, new information, findings that are not supported, conflict with the land use plan, council policy, or the municipal code, or citywide significance.

A court will uphold the council's decision if it is supported by substantial evidence in the record.

Thank you.

That concludes my comments.

All right, thank you for that reminder as we do these appeals.

So now I will turn it over to the appellate for the project.

Well, you I think you've been advised you'll have 15 minutes.

If you could introduce yourself for the record and begin when you're ready.

Good afternoon, Council President, Council members.

My name is Anna Ludke, and I am from the law firm of Higgs, Fletcher, and Mac.

I am here today on behalf of Dr.

and Mrs.

Kavanaugh, who live at 8275 La Jolla Shores Drive, and are downstream neighbors of the proposed project.

The Kavanaugh's timely filed a project appeal after the planning commission approved the permits on December 4th, 2025.

The appeal challenges the planning commission findings on drainage adequacy and applicants' legal authority with respect to the private roadway kaya for SCOTA.

Through this appeal process, I have discussed these issues with neighboring property owners who also have concerns about the project, and we are here today.

I am here today to respectfully request a short continuance of this hearing so that we may further study and review the new and modified project conditions and also continue our discussions with the project applicant prior to this hearing.

We were in discussions with them on some modifications to the conditions of approval did you ask the applicant I have not asked the applicant for a continuance yet no it's a little difficult because I think there are some people here that are not connected with either the appellant or the applicant who came down here in good faith.

The council is ready what I will give you is kind of a half response is the applicant also has a 15 minute presentation I don't know if 15 minutes is going to be enough for you to confer with them andor staff with this very lengthy and very small print modification to the conditions.

But why don't you go through that and see where you land and see if there's any comfort level there I know that's a lot to ask of you but I think you can understand docketing these items don't come easy.

Of course and again there's other people that I want to extend a courtesy to them for showing up here with their own issues which may be different so do you want to run through your presentation anyway or do you want to use that time to confer with the applicant.

If I elect to take a few minutes to confer with the applicant and they do not agree may I come back and complete my presentation yes we extend the courtesy of having you go first but yes at your request you can certainly go second okay yeah I'm putting you in a tough spot so I I understand that I appreciate them trying to navigate running the meeting so uh is any member of the applicant willing to I shouldn't have put words in your mouth but to sit down with her and work through the changes you have a copy of them yes.

Good after good afternoon council this is Chandra Slavin on behalf of the applicant we have reviewed the conditions that staff has provided and we're in agreement with them and we believe they more than address the issues that were raised both in the PowerPoint and the letters we've received thus far therefore we're asking that the hearing continue.

Okay we were asking you that question what we were asking whether you would be willing to talk with the appellant's representative about the conditions.

You may or may not agree with them but um I think what I'll I mean I would expect can we have a few minutes please yeah so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go to the rest of the public and take their testimony um for the public I have a Bernard Siegel Bernard Siegel are you here?

Okay if you'd like to come up to speak.

After Bernard Siegel I have Michael Feinstein.

Lynn Shank sure Lynn Shank you have time seeded to you by Kyle Alderman if you can please raise your hand and by John Domini thank you.

How much time?

I think Mr.

Domini uh ceded his time to Mr Siegel.

Oh I have here John Domainey and Kyle Alderman both ceded their time to you Lynn Schenck.

Okay.

And then you will be having three four three four and a half minutes.

It's gonna be a minute and a half for each person so you'll have four and a half minutes.

All right.

Well, thank you, uh President Lacava and members of the city council.

My name is Lynn Shank.

I reside at 2446 Valacitos Court in in La Jolla.

Let me just start by saying that my attorney Robin Madaffer, who was going to be here, I just learned a few hours ago, is quite ill.

And for that reason uh uh and others, I would support the continuance request so that we could uh have her here.

But uh if if not, I will go on with my remarks if that's okay.

Uh frankly I haven't been in this council chamber since the late 80s when I was appointed to the port commission by a previous counsel and never thought I'd be here again.

Uh but this project is of such magnitude.

The whole project, the uh the entire four and a half acres and the the six McMansions that are being proposed have such an impact on my life that I I had to show up.

Yes, this project is in La Jolla, but but the incompatible construction that impacts the lives of neighbors can happen in any neighborhood in any district.

My property is immediately contiguous to the project, separated only by a chain link fence.

There's no alley, there are no roads, nothing.

It's just one continuous piece of land.

The plan is to build six very large homes, uh, two of them immediately abutting my home, and they will be three, maybe four times the size of my house within 10 feet of my house.

Now I'm 5'7 and I don't know, adding a few feet here above my hand.

That's the distance from these very large homes to to mine.

Uh I'm not here to ask you to kill this project.

I'm here to ask you to either grant the continuance or to delay approval so that we can work in a very real neighborly and good faith manner to come up with mitigation measures.

Uh I didn't appear before the planning commission.

Uh, well, first my my daughter, my stepdaughter died just a couple of weeks before.

But also we had we thought, my uh attorney and I, that we had come up with some uh uh agreements with the owners of lot three, and we relied on that in good faith.

But I'm here to tell you to say that from that moment on they have not acted in good faith.

Their applicants, lawyers, uh applicant of the project have have delayed and generally ignored entreaties by my lawyer to reduce our agreement to writing.

Uh their lawyer uh uh say delayed, didn't return calls, and in fact, finally called her when the uh notice of this hearing finally came out.

That's when he called her.

But that's been the tenor of this saga.

It's been cloaked in secrecy, lack of transparency, and devoid of a fair process.

We've tried to find out who the owners are of these six slots.

Uh, who's gonna be our neighbors?

One must wonder about this secrecy.

Uh, who are the unknown three out of state owners that the UT referred to when they wrote about this project?

I have no idea who are going to be my neighbors, who who do I talk to.

It took over a year to learn about one neighbor.

We met uh the Sunett's very nice people, uh, refused to tell us who the other owners were.

Uh a couple years later, meaning a few months ago, I met with the owners of lot three that does abut my house.

Again, very nice people.

I thought we had an agreement, but not nothing.

Uh lot four, and I uh have passed out this lot, lot four, uh, will immediately butt my my home.

And the way it is designed, the windows and their entertainment deck looks right into my house, into my living room, into my my dining room, uh, because I have cathedral ceilings.

A house was built in the 60s by owners who never thought that they would have a house right next to them looking in on their life this way, built on an artificial pad.

They're gonna tear down uh a big a hill and create a pad filling in a valley uh that should not be done.

That does conclude your time.

I'm not sure if anybody else wants to see due time, but that is the full time.

Uh I'm sorry.

Well, it's it's a mystery why the local uh advisory board was ignored, would voted against us unanimously.

Thank you for that conclusion.

And I thank you for your time, and I hope that you will read my letter.

It's just too hard to ask you.

Thank you.

Bernard Siegel.

Bernard Siegel.

After that is Philip Merton.

Mr.

Burton.

Are you okay with that, Mr.

Burton?

Because we do do first come first serve unless you're okay with it.

Please come up.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Philip Merton.

I reside at 1236 New Orleans Vista Way in the community of La Jolla.

I'm here today representing Ms.

Lynn Schenck.

And all my comments are also on my own behalf as a uh 15-year member of the La Jolla Community Planning Association and as an elected trustee for 12 of those years.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the residents of La Jolla Shores concluded that the character of their community was unique and deserved protection.

In 1974, the San Diego City Council adopted the Lahoya Shores Precise Plan, the La Jolla Shores Design Manual, and the La Jolla Shores Plan District Ordinance.

The La Jolla Shores Plan District Ordinance has been the controlling regulations in La Jolla Shores for more than 50 years, and are contained in Chapter 15, Article 1 of the San Diego Municipal Code.

The design principle section of the Shores ordinance states originality and diversity in architecture are encouraged.

The theme unity and variety shall be a guiding principle.

Unity without variety means simple monotony, but variety by itself is chaos.

It says that no structure will be approved, which is substantially like any other structure located on adjacent parcel.

And also says conversely, no structure will be approved that is so different in quality form.

Thank you for that concluding statement.

That does conclude, but if you have written statements, you can definitely hand those to my staff and then we can distribute those to the council so that they can continue reading them.

Do you have a handout for council members?

Great.

Mo Samak Samuk.

Good afternoon, Council President La Calva, Council members.

My name is Mo Samek.

I um with the Office of San Diego's land lawyers, and we represent Ms.

Linchank, who um actually, as you mentioned, uh owns property directly adjacent to this particular project.

In addition to the concerns that was raised by others, there are a couple of technical items that I would like to uh bring it to council's attention before uh their their decision.

First is about the grading.

Uh, this project proposes uh grading of six different lots with no particular uh order in which the lots are going to be graded.

Uh the amount of grading is significant.

It varies uh from for each lot, there is from uh 560 cubic yards to about 4800 cubic yards of uh excavation and uh 460 cubic yards to about 2500 cubic yards of fill.

And if there are no conditions to properly address the amount of grading, uh it is possible that this type of activities continues on for a significant period of time, uh which you can imagine if you're next door neighbor.

Uh you would be impacted by trucking, by dust and noise for an indefinite period of time.

So uh we believe there should be some requirements for uh adjusting the grading.

Uh with respect to drainage, which uh council actually mentioned uh I want to briefly mention that we understand that they're discharging something.

I'm sorry.

That does conclude your time.

If you have any written statements, we can definitely distribute those to the council.

I just wanted to mention that the amount of discharge is significantly higher than what the care of capacity is.

That's all.

Thank you for that concluding statement.

Michael Feinstein, Michael Feinstein.

And then our last um public comment is Bernard Siegel, that's here in council chambers.

Good afternoon, Mr.

President, and to the same for the members of the council.

Um I reside at 2406 via Cito's Court, which property uh on the street adjacent to this development.

Early on, I spoke with Mr.

Foch, the architect uh involved in this project.

I asked him to identify who the owners actually would be in the homes that are being built.

And he refused to give me that information.

I asked Mr.

Foch if he would give me a copy of the agreement between him and the owners that would show his authority to act on behalf of the owners, and he would not furnish that to me either.

He referred me to a man by the name of Scott Sinett, who happens to be the managing partner of a limited partnership called the Cielo Mar project.

I met with him.

Now this is the limited partnership that was reputed to be from Mr.

Foch, the owner of the actual parcel that is being developed and is the subject of seeking these permits.

Mr.

Senate refused to disclose to me, give me a copy of the escrow instructions that showed who the limited who were the owners of these things.

So to this day, the applicant, so-called applicant, has refused to tell us who the actual individual owners of these six homes are gonna be.

Now we have to have that information, and now Mr.

Foch is presumably seeking a permit on behalf of people.

That does conclude your time, sir.

I have one six party succeeding to me.

I have nobody who ceded time to you in my records.

Sorry.

I'm up here.

There's nobody that seated time in your records.

If they can raise their hand, we can get a speaker slip from them.

I have mr.

Domini, I think it's here, it's a ceded time to me.

Mr.

Donovy seeded his time and his speaker slip to Lynn Schenck.

He ceded his time to Lynn Schenck.

I can't hear you, I'm sorry.

He seated his time to Lynn Shank.

My staff will come down and talk to you and show you the speaker slip.

Uh I actually need more time to show you that Mr.

Fosch does not have the authority, legal authority to speak on behalf of this applicant.

Understood, sir.

You if there's anybody else that can cede you time, then they can give you time, but there's no other speaker slip here, and I have to be fine.

But I can must express the hope that if the applicants are not going to do I do have to move on to the next speakers.

Do you want to go to the um I'm gonna be looking for an update?

We're gonna go to the folks participating remotely, get take their comments, then we'll circle back with the two parties.

Going to those participating remotely, I'm sorry, the five-minute timer.

We have three speakers in the queue.

Tony, if you can please unmute.

Hey, just wanted to say that I'm in support of the residents of La Jolla.

Um not acquiescing, and I hope that the council won't acquiesce to the demands of the developers.

I know from my own personal experience how much um our living conditions are affected by um incessant development, and a lot of times the development doesn't necessarily support the community.

Um, and it does it doesn't give the local residents um anything particularly uh beneficial.

And in this case, it sounds like that's uh what a lot of the local residents are saying.

So um I hope that this town can be one that continues to accommodate um the people that live here, not the people that want to build here.

Um, and it's very quickly becoming a town that is uh building homes for uh uh private equity to sit and hang on to.

I know that was the case, it was reported back in uh 2024 in the Union Tribune that almost 19 percent, 20 percent of the homes sold um in La Jolla were for private equity.

So I I just have some concerns about um, especially with the last gentleman who spoke uh raised about um not knowing who the uh purchasers of these uh developed uh lots would be.

Um yeah, that's a that's very concerning.

So anyway, thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Next is Hector.

If you can please unmute after that, our final speaker is 8700.

Thank you for taking my call.

Hey, uh Lynch, she's like a great person in San Diego.

Give her a break.

This is the fight for us.

Even the rich guys in La Jolla can't get their say.

So I know the La Jolla game is, you know, it's a therapy session.

Do those guys, do this, do that.

But just think it could be like how about if black lives matter owns and they turn it into a ditty party or something.

Who knows?

Going to buy it, but it's gonna be a battle.

Let's say you take the La Jolla guys, give them a grain of salt, let them have let them let them have the way, Matt.

Because they all got buddies and they're older.

Defend them in porn.

It's gonna be a lawsuit, and who knows what's gonna happen.

They're obviously the lawyers are definitely uh conceal and reveal the truth.

That's what they get paid for.

They're gonna lie, that's the whole game, man.

So good luck with that.

Thank you.

That concludes your comments.

Uh, yeah.

Thank you.

Next is 8700.

8700 if you can please.

There you go.

Uh sorry about that.

Thank you, uh, city clerk.

Uh city clerk, I apologize, is it one or two minutes?

It's a minute and a half.

A minute and a half, thank you so much.

Uh Joy Asunyata.

Uh first of all, uh, come out of the gate saying this that I agree with the staff and in their uh recommending that you deny the appeal.

Now, a couple of things I want to say as I live in District 3, but I try to get uh stay abreast of what's happening in our entire uh San Diego area as best I can.

I this kind of process really, really upsets me.

And the reason it does is because you know, appeals are good and they're not so good at the same time.

But what causes these appeals, as I begin to listen to uh the parties involved, I feel very sad and very upset at the same time because I see this this push-pull this fight uh in a negative way between the parties that are involved, whether it's neighbors or you know, uh making the appeal, the developers, whatever, and uses of the word that somebody used the word today secrecy and non-transparent, and there were some other very negative words news, and yet uh she was I believe it was a woman she was asking uh that if we could have a neighborlyhood neighborly good faith collaboration.

Well, you know, it where was that?

Where has that been?

And in a lot of cases, that just doesn't happen.

So that's what we want.

We want all these parties to sit together and collaborate and and share and that does conclude your time.

My apologies.

And that does conclude the five-minute timer, so that does include public comment on this item.

All right, thank you, City Clerk.

So at least we got through that part of that.

So where do we stand with the appellant and the applicant?

Chandra Slavin, on behalf of the applicant, we respectfully request that the hearing be continued today and not be extended.

The appellant, we've reached out multiple times, and this is the first time we've heard from them in six months.

They do not have their civil engineer nor their clients here.

We are accepting of the conditions that staff took a lot of time and effort to write, and we would like our hearing to continue and the appeal to be withdrawn today.

Thank you.

All right.

The appellants.

Realizing that puts you in an awkward position.

Sorry, again, that'll be could you come to the mic?

Just so everybody else can hear.

Yes, of course, thank you.

We are not going to withdraw our appeal today if the uh applic or the applicant has not agreed to continue the hearing to a future date.

I put that to the council, but I understand, Council President Lakava, your hesitancy to do that.

So we are prepared.

I am prepared to continue with the hearing if that is the direction given to me.

I believe my clients, the Kavanaughs are online.

So they are also here with us today.

All right.

So we'll give you.

So did they reach out to you during this hearing?

Not yet, no.

We spoke we spoke prior to the hearing.

Okay.

So for the second time, that was the question I was asking whether the two sides could sit down, not thinking there was anything fenceful or rose colored glasses that would be resolved.

But I remember the good words of uh Frisco White.

Who else?

Eric Nazalin that said, just talk if there's an opportunity to talk.

But people make their choices, so I will invite you with your 15 minutes to make your presentation.

Excellent.

Thank you very much.

Well, good afternoon again.

I'm sure this doesn't happen often, but you know, always a good time.

As I previously mentioned, my name is Anna, and I represent the appellants, Dr.

and Mrs.

Kavanaugh, who live at 8275 La Jolla Shores Drive.

Downstream neighbors of the proposed project.

We were here today to request a continuance, but given that that is not an option on the table, we will continue, and we respectfully request that you, after hearing my presentation, decide to continue and require future study, future analysis of the applicant.

The Kavanaugh's appeal challenges the planning commission findings on drainage adequacy and the applicant's legal authority with respect to the private roadway Kaya Frescota.

The applicant has hired a third-party engineer who reviewed the grading and drainage plans provided by the applicant and has found substantive and legitimate concerns with the drainage and grading report.

The project proposes to discharge approximately 6.7 cubic feet per second of stormwater towards Kaya Frascota and La Jolla Shores Drive.

This equates to roughly 50 gallons of water per second, or approximately 3,000 gallons of stormwater per minute.

During a storm event, this is the equivalent of draining a typical residential swimming pool into the street system every few minutes, creating a concentrated discharge that raises substantial concerns regarding the downstream impacts, street capacity, and public safety.

This is La Jolla Shores Drive, a very significant roadway in this part of the town.

It is our engineers' belief that the curb cannot handle this amount of water.

We are requesting that the applicant perform downstream analysis for the water being discharged onto La Jolla Shores Drive.

The current drainage study that was presented with this project does not currently contain this downstream analysis.

The Kavanaugh residence.

Oh, please continue.

Perfect.

So here you can see the proposed project location.

The Kavanaugh residence is at the corner of Calle Frescota and La Jolla Shores Drive at the furthermost edge.

You can see it there on the far left.

It is particularly also downhill of La Jolla Shores Drive, so therefore it is particularly vulnerable to any concentrated discharges or failures in the proposed drainage system serving the project and adjoining parcels.

My clients and other adjacent homeowners would be directly affected by any surface or subsurface discharge routed through that corridor.

The Kavanaugh's third-party water resources engineer conducted a study of the stormwater assessment and a produced a memo reflecting its findings and proposed conditions.

A copy of said memo was provided last week, and I believe you all have a copy in hand.

So if you go back.

Key concerns identified by the engineer were the following.

Western boundary routing, the brow ditch along the western boundary, is shown routing directly into the 12-inch storm drain on Kaya Frescota, bypassing the West Basin and undermining Q100 mitigation and water quality treatment.

Prior versions also reference prior versions of the applicant's plans also referenced a pump to lift flows to basin B1, but current documents lack the clarity on whether or not that pump is there or not.

Additionally, the engineer found that the basin A2 is marginally undersized for water quality performance.

Also, a conjunctive use basin shows inadequate free board for Q100 water events and appears to rely on low flow under drain orifices for Q100 discharge, which is not allowed.

Conjunctive use just means shared uses for both stormwater treatment and the collection during storm events.

Pump design and failure contingencies.

If a pump is used to lift western flows to basin B1, the applicant's submittals lack design sizing, housing, power reliability, and redundancy of this pump.

Emergency overflow analysis has also been absent from its report.

And lastly, the 12-inch storm drain proposed in Kaya Frescota omits hydraulic sizing and inlet capture analysis, and as I previously mentioned, that downstream water analysis of the flows coming off from the project site and flowing into La Jolla Shores Drive.

In addition to the question as to the drainage design and the stormwater deficiencies identified by the third-party water resources engineer, there remains the issue of the ownership of Kaya Frescota, this private roadway, and whether or not the applicant has the right to utilize Kaya Frascota for the installation, repair, and replacement of public utilities without the consent of the other co-owners, including the Kavanaughs.

According to the document that was referenced, document number 43967, the original grant deed, it states that an interest is granted in the property in interest, which implies fee ownership.

The appellants advocate that Calla Frescota is not an easement for use by the developer, but instead it is privately owned in undefided fee interest by five co-owners, including the Kavanaughs.

Further, Kaya Frescota has its own assessor's parcel number, and for many years, the county tax collector issued a secured tax bill specifically for this private right-of-way.

In California, paying property taxes is a strong inditia of fee interest.

To date, the applicant has not received written consent from the other co-owners for installing private drainage and sewer improvements proposed for the project from my clients, the Kavanaugh's, or any of the other property owners along Calla Frescota.

We therefore state that there remains fundamental authority and access concerns that should be resolved before any city approvals of the project dependent are given that are dependent on the use of this private right-of-way.

The third party engineer also provided corrective conditions in its report.

Here are a few.

Prior to granting approval, we recommend again that the council continue to study these conditions and whether or not they actually meet with the uh concerns addressed today.

But first we requ we request that the council require final stamp plans that positively route all tributary flows from the western Brow ditch into basin B1.

Also, before permits are issued, we require detention revisions demonstrating one foot of freeboard above Q100 ponding in each basin and no reliance on under drain orifice for Q100 discharge.

Condition approval on field pump design peak flow head calculations, exposure and power reliability, emergency overflow routing and redundancy, including a backup pump for the Western system if a pump is used.

And again, is there going to be a water pump?

Is there not?

What is going to happen for this water flow?

Require complete hydraulic sizing and inlet capture analysis for the 12-inch waterline, reconciled alignment across plan sets, and demonstrate the concentrated discharge at La Jolla Shores Drive is safely accommodated in the public right away.

We maintain that it is not clear from the applicant's plans whether or not it will be safe for that amount of water to be discharged into La Jolla Shores Drive.

We'd also like the applicant to confirm all biofiltration facilities meet minimum water quality sizing, including the correction of any undersizing.

The applicant believes that there are significant questions about the drainage studies that were done and submitted to the city staff for review, and therefore we would like the council to continue this hearing to further analyze the applicants' plans and tell us whether or not the plans adequately address stormwater concerns.

If they are available on Zoom.

Yes, we are available.

Hi, let me know when to start.

We can hear you here in Council Chambers.

Okay.

All right.

Well, thank you to the council members.

And uh Marty Kavanaugh, my wife Lynn, and we live here and lived here for a long time.

And we are just trying to do what's right for the overall community here.

I was very disappointed to hear the applicant's lawyer say that they had reached out to us.

That is absolutely not true.

We have reached out to them multiple, multiple times, and what we have found is when they finally did respond, it was bullying, barely responsive, basically saying they could do whatever they want, and that basically that was that.

So not transparent at all.

We did engage some engineers to look at this.

We went with one.

The engineer had a difficult time because the plans kept changing.

In fact, throughout this whole process, is not clear what the final result is going to be, which for an engineer, it makes it very difficult to estimate the accuracy of the plans and how that will sort out.

We asked them about the maintenance, and that's of course very important when you're talking about situations in which a drain can be blocked, uh, maintenance can be very important.

And there was no answer on that, and now I begin to understand with hearing from other neighbors about the fact that it's an issue if they have a legal authority to act on behalf of the whoever the owners are, which is not up to us, but uh we need to know that there is some maintenance plan for complex set of drainage designs such as this.

Um, we need to see those new additions.

We had not seen those shown by the city, the uh the city staffers until just now, and with all due respect, Mr.

Lucava, uh, the if I was uh seeing a patient and said, here, here's a new medicine, read this 20 pages of POMT 10, and decide right now if you want to take this medicine, that would be malpractice.

So I think we need time to look at what is proposed, and I'm a little worried when I see the things that are proposed because it all says to be approved by the city engineer.

It's almost like we have to approve the project and start it to be able to see what the final plans are, and then by then it may be too late to know if they're going to be adequate for the situation.

So I think a continuance is absolutely indicated so we can address these issues and was as raised by councilman Schenck.

Uh, has the city engineer weighed in on this as of yet?

I'd be pretty uncomfortable kicking it down the road and saying, well, they'll review it and make sure everything is okay by them.

We understand that the easement versus the uh title, um, that's a dispute that the city doesn't want to get into, but we think it's very important, uh, and again, trying to approach the applicants.

They've been bullying and just say we basically can do whatever we want.

We'll tear out all your bushes, don't have to put them back.

Now we understand that that's not actually the case either.

So we would request further time to look at this, further analysis.

We may have to get the engineers re-engaged because the plans keep changing, and they couldn't actually tell how adequate it was.

But as you heard from the attorney, a lot of serious issues are raised just based on the information that they had provided to them, very little by the applicant other available online.

So uh respectfully, we would ask that this be continued because we think these are very important issues, and for the good of this community, they need to be resolved before proceeding with a very substantial project such as this.

Thank you.

Any other concluding remarks?

Or still some time on the clock.

If not, we will if I I would like to give some concluding remarks, then see whatever time I have left to Bernie Siegel that is allowed.

Your time is running.

So all right.

Well, thank you, members of the council, for for our hearing our hearing hearing our appeals here today.

We believe that there are substantive drainage issues and legal questions surrounding the applicant's ability to perform this work in the public right in the private right of way, as well as the applicant's ability to control stormwater runoff from the project site.

Applicants, appellant stated intent is a responsible approval of this project that protects downstream properties while allowing compliant drainage resign design.

We are not in we are not in total objection to the project, we just have questions that need answers.

There are gaps in the analysis, and the applicant has not been able to answer those to our satisfaction.

Thank you.

You have very little time.

If you'd like to come up, there's 30 seconds, not we have to continue.

Can you tell Bernie he only has 30 seconds so that he knows?

I believe that the count this council does not have jurisdiction to hear the project that's being proposed by Mr.

Fosch because he the owner of record is still the limited partnership, which was the original according to the internet, original applicant, the named applicant in this proceeding.

And Mr.

Foch does has nothing in writing of that's been displayed publicly to show that he has authority to do any of these things or or file any documents or speak on behalf of the actual members, the six members.

Thank you for showing.

Thank you for that concluding remark.

All right.

Um now uh give the applicant equal opportunity.

Does the applicant want to speak?

Introduce yourself for the records, and you have up to 15 minutes for your presentation.

Thank you very much.

Uh Council President Lakava and distinguished council members.

My name is Brian Will.

I'm the architect for the CLMR subdivision, along with my business partner, Andy Foch, who was previously mentioned.

I'll be brief.

What you're looking at is a subdivision of the proposed development as it would peer within the fabric of La Jolla Shores.

Six new custom homes on a four and a half acre site, each designed with an occupant homeowner who has been directly involved in every stage of this project from the concept through permitting.

Admittedly, these are six gracious homes, but in a neighborhood surrounded by gracious homes.

We're here today on an appeal that centers solely on the stormwater drainage.

However, I'd like to briefly walk through the project's context and community history before turning to the technical question.

Next slide, please.

This overhead view shows the six proposed lot footprints in the context of the surrounding neighborhood.

The site at the sits at the end of Calle del Cielo from the north and Calle Frascota from the west.

Each of the six lots has been designed to be consistent with the scale and character of surrounding properties.

Floor area ratios across the project range from 0.18 to 0.33, well below the zoning code maximum and within the range you see on the neighboring parcels shown on this plan.

All lots comply with applicable setback and zoning requirements with no zone with no variances or deviations requested.

This is not a developer driven project.

Six families came together to form an LLC so that they could purchase this property.

Once six parcels are created by this action, they can take individual ownership, but there's no other way to do that besides to form the LLC previously mentioned.

Every family at this table has been personally involved in this project for the past four years.

That personal investment is reflected in how this project has been handled within the community.

Numerous one-on-one meetings with neighbors, listening to their concerns, incorporating suggestions, and making changes.

Even after receiving unanimous approval from the planning commission, our team has continued to work in good faith with neighbors, relocating a swimming pool and increased sound walls to address neighbor noise concerns over ordinary residential use.

Offered to voluntarily restrict construction hours to minimize disruption to neighbors, and drafting an easement to allow one neighbor to continue enjoying some encroaching landscape on our property.

None of these items were required as part of our approval, but necessary in my clients' eyes as to be good neighbors.

The appeal before you today is focused entirely on stormwater drainage.

We have both our land use attorney and our civil engineer on hand to answer any technical questions on the matter.

But let me first orient you to our drainage design.

Could I see the next slide?

It's on the low-lying slopes in La Jolla Shores.

The three lots in yellow and the majority of the cul-de-sac drain to the bio basin at the top of the page in orange.

The lower three lots drain towards the green biobasin.

And then any access is routed underneath Kaya Frascota to the curb cut that was previously curb outlet that was previously mentioned.

The project approval already carries a condition requiring the stormwater system to be designed by ministerial permit to the satisfaction of the city engineer.

You've heard today that conditions were updated to specifically address the items mentioned in the appellants experts memo.

And we really just want to thank staff for getting that update done.

These are all items that really reside in the ministerial permits where technical questions of calculations should be answered.

Drainage has always moved from east to west across the site, and now with this project, we finally have the opportunity to improve it.

So, council members, we believe the record before you clearly supports the city's approval of this project.

The stormwater system has been designed to meet and exceed applicable standards.

The community process has been thorough and transparent.

Six families are ready to build homes and become neighbors in the community.

They clearly care about.

Before our time expires, I'd like to introduce one of the six families whose home depends on your decision today.

Natasha Alos, a future homeowner at CLMR.

Good afternoon, President Lacava and everybody else, the council members, thank you for your time.

Like Brian mentioned, my name is Natasha Alos.

I'm one of the six families.

We have been painstakingly working on this project for nearly four years, and we just are looking to build a home where all of our children can grow up.

We actually all are friends, all of us, six families.

So I can confirm that we are not developers, we're actually part of the community, and we are families.

Along with the five other applicants, we started this process with the commitments that we would work within all city requirements, not push the envelope, respect our neighbors and the neighborhood that we love along with the city regulations.

That's exactly what we feel that we have done.

We have incorporated input we heard along this journey, both from neighbors, professional engineers, and technical experts, as well as city staff.

On behalf of all of the families, I would like to thank the city staff for their detailed review, and we appreciate their diligence and feedback.

All of that helped earn the res the support of our community's planning association and the planning commission.

There is still a ways to go as the next level of fine details are part of the ministerial process where city staff experts continue to ensure that our plans fully comply with technical and building regulations, and we can continue to have dialogue with our neighbors along the way.

We respect we respectfully request that you deny the appeal so that we can move forward through the ministerial process and eventually occupy our family homes.

Thank you again to city staff and thank you, council members, for your thoughtful consideration.

And Chandra wanted to have a few words.

Thank you.

Mr.

Natasha.

Thank you.

I just wanted to respectfully add for the record that we have been waiting since December to hear back from the Kavanaughs on our grading design and stormwater and so forth.

We have been willing and able to work with them.

Again, this is why we have our civil engineer here today, and we only received their comments a few days ago.

Again, I want to hand it to staff for working with us to address even what they recently brought up.

So just wanted to let you know and put that in the record, and thank you again for your time.

Good afternoon, City Council members.

My name is Lee Andelin of Honest.

First of all, to reiterate what Ms.

Lavan said, we've been asking for the comments of the civil engineer for the Kavanaugh's actually for over a year, and we just barely got them less than a week ago.

So, you know, the request to continue this hearing to consider those comments, it just seems like a predicament that they put themselves in, and they shouldn't be able to uh delay us through those kinds of tactics.

Um, I also want to just very quickly address the property rights issue.

There was a deed granted on May 13, 1949, uh that granted the parcel that is now called Calle Friscota to the five adjacent property owners, which include the predecessor to uh the applicant.

Um that property was granted, quote, subject to the right of each and every grantee in this deed and their successors and assigns, and then skipping ahead a little bit, to use said property for the installation, repair, and replacement of public utilities.

And then it goes on to say said rights of said grantees are for the benefit of and are pertinent to the respective parcels of land now owned by said grantees and immediately adjoining the above described strip strip of land.

So the these are rights that were granted to our clients' predecessor.

It was intended to be a private street for ingress and egress and also for utilities to run under the street.

Um, and uh it gave, and that's an easement whether it uses the term easement or not, but regardless, the document is very clear that it gives each of the adjacent parcels the right to tap into uh public utilities through that street.

I don't think there can be any question about that.

Um, the document was reviewed by not only staff but also the the city attorney's office and found sufficient.

Um, you know, it's really uh uh a specious um argument that the opponents have raised, um, but to the extent it does have any merit, that's a private matter, as staff said in his presentation.

Uh with that, we're available for any questions.

I'm not gonna address point by point everything that's been brought up.

There were a lot of things brought up that are outside far outside any of the issues that were properly raised in the appeal.

Um, questions about design, questions about noise, those kinds of things, but we're happy to answer questions either myself or the appropriate member of the team if there are questions and further discussion is desired on any of those points.

Thank you.

All right, so that closes the applicants to the degree that I have questions for the applicant of the appellant, or my colleagues do, you can be called up.

Um this is in district one, so as we traditionally do, I'll take the lead on this, and um I'm gonna ask my colleagues to bear with me on this as we kind of delve into the issues when I was a baby engineer.

My boss at that time told me, make it easy for the decision maker, and I think I can successfully say that neither side has done that.

So I've taken a lot of notes during the course of the testimony by all the parties.

Uh so when you see me scrambling between my computer and my written notes, you'll understand why.

So I'm gonna start out with the typical preamble as I do when I hear an appeal.

I want to thank the city staff, I want to thank the appellant, I want to thank the applicant for your presentations.

I want to thank those who took the time to come down or spoke online with or submitted comments online.

I've reviewed the material attached to the docket as well as the public comments submitted online, listened to the presentations by staff by appellant by the applicant, and comments uh by the public.

Um I'm gonna state the obvious.

I'm not going to make a motion for continuance.

I don't understand why people didn't get that when we didn't do that at the get-go.

Um, but in case there was any doubt.

Um, so here's the kind of things that have been raised that I don't find relevant to the decision in front of us today.

One of them is the 1949 grant deed.

Now, staff has their interpretation about that.

Um, I believe that the grant deed is a matter between the two parties to arbitrate among themselves and the affected parties the whether the uh development has the right to enter into that or not.

I don't think relevant in my decision, that is the risk that uh the applicant uh is taking in this conversation.

Um the other element that I feel kind of compelled to talk about, bear with me.

Like I said, I'm bouncing a little bit between all the comments things that okay.

Um staff included the applicant's rendering in its presentation.

Um I find the rendering not a true representation of the neighborhood.

La Jolla Shores community has a long history with project renderings given its unique residential zoning.

Sometimes it makes the project look larger, look smaller, blending in, and for the record, I'm not relying on the rendering and my review of the project documents or as part of this afternoon's discussion.

A lot of reasons that are rendering is done.

Okay, one thing that the applicant raised, and actually the applicant raised that I kind of had a question about.

This is for staff.

Uh, the ownership disclosure.

Who owns this property?

I have to make a decision whether I have a conflict of interest, whether anybody has given me a campaign donation in my 2024 campaign.

Who owns the property?

Who are the legal owners?

With all due respect.

Yes, thank you.

Uh I need a few minutes to look for the application.

Um, but um I have that.

Oh, and sorry, I have the permit uh draft here.

So um it's Cielo Mar Lajoya Limited Liability Company is the uh owner of record.

Okay, I'm used to disclosure of individuals that are part of that ownership, and I'm hearing that there's six or maybe seven owners.

One of them is here today.

I have here Scott Sinan as the owner for me T.

Okay, I came in here thinking that he was the sole owner.

He's not the sole owner.

Before this is over, can you give me a list to make sure that I don't have a conflict?

Hello, Councilmember.

Um, is Christian Alice?

I am one of the owners of actually lot three on lot on the proposed lot two.

We have Scott Sinnet on the proposed lot one.

We have Adrian Diaz on the proposed lot four.

We have uh Barbara Santiago Asuna Coppel on lot five, we have Charlie and Charlene Race, and then lot six, we had David and Natalia Bond.

Okay, thank you for disclosing that.

I don't recognize any of those names, so I feel confident that I don't have a conflict or that none of them gave me a campaign contribution as far as I can remember back in 2024.

That wasn't so hard, was it?

Um, those were the harder questions.

Okay, so as I read through all the material over this weekend, um, I will say there's been important issues raised by the appellant, and I'm also encouraged that the appellant has narrowly targeted their focus, especially in their letter of May 14th.

Uh, and while the language the appellant offered is not necessarily appropriate for permit conditions, I thought the tone and the scope resonate with me.

So I don't know about your consultants, but I was able to read the thing in one day and figure out what they were talking about and understood the issues that were at risk.

So I work Sundays, maybe your consultants don't.

I was also equally encouraged by the applicant's response in an undated response to the appeal, as well as information that was in their slide deck, which is attached to this but was not actually used.

So one of the questions I want to ask to the applicant, uh, one of the things that showed up in your slide deck on slide six was indicating that you would be securing letters of permission from the property owners along Cayo Frescoda.

That is an important change to me.

Is that but we have the the um property rights to that's not what I'm asking, sir.

Excuse me.

In your presentation, slide six indicated you would be securing letters of permission by the people who live along that street.

Yes, slide six was prepared by the appellant.

Is what I'm being told.

Yeah.

We we didn't have a six slide, so not you didn't show one today.

Um can you bring up the PowerPoint for us?

The app, yeah, the applicant PowerPoint, so I can that way I can better understand which slide you're referring to, and then I'm happy to address it.

Can you help them?

Whoop, uh go back one.

We almost had it.

There it is.

This slide was not part of our formal presentation.

We had it as a backup slide should any questions arise.

Okay, it's backup material attached to this item prepared, now acknowledged by you.

Correct.

So what am I to make of this?

Because this is this is kind of a big deal.

It is, and can you please repeat your question?

So this slide as part of the slide deck that you submitted to the city as back up as material for this item shows that for each of the lots adjoining, uh, you're indicating an attempt to secure letters of permission.

President Lakava, that uh that's not the case.

Um we have an easement over.

Okay, I'm not asking that personal.

So is the easement allows us to proceed without permission.

Again, that's not the question I'm asking.

I'm asking about you submitted this slide for which I was very excited about because that would show that there was some meeting of the mines.

So you're telling me that that was a false submittal.

A moment we're gonna have our civil engineer Dan Valdez come speak to this slide.

Thank you.

Hello, thank you.

Daniel Valdez, Coffee Engineering, uh engineer of work for the project.

Uh a little bit of background history behind this slide.

Uh, the intention of this slide wasn't to show letters of permission issues, it was uh intended to show the plan along Kaya Pascota.

The call outs for letters of permission, which have blanks, um, they you know don't reflect any letters of permission that had actually been obtained.

Yeah, they were added to this sheet, was a part of the ministerial grading plan that has not yet been approved.

It's currently in review with city engineering staff.

Uh the addition of those call outs was in response to a comment that we needed to get letters of permission.

So it was added to a to address a comment, but as the review process proceeded, um, you know, our attorney determined that we did not need to get letters of permission.

So the final plans will not have that call out.

You realize how that difficult that makes it for me.

Because now I begin to question everything you've put out there, right?

This is part of the ministerial set.

The ministerial set to get secure grading plans.

Correct.

But until the discretionary approval comes through, no ministerial plans will be approved.

No, I understand that, but it's a message to me.

Oh, I understand that.

I understand the the impression that you may have gotten.

That's why I have it up here to provide some clarification on on what it is you're looking at.

Yeah.

So I'm a civil engineer, so I know exactly what I'm looking at.

But so this is a false representation of what your intention is going forward.

It's not a current representation.

I won't argue the words.

That's too bad.

I thought that was a pretty big step forward.

So let me see if there's anything else that we can dance around.

So one of the things that, as I mentioned, was that especially for my colleagues into staff, that I struggle with it.

I said I think some of the issues raised by the appellant actually were on point.

And the challenge is that it's somewhat ironically is that during the discretionary review process, neighbors actually have access to more information than the ministerial process when if this project were to be approved, would be going through grading construction or building permits because everything kind of closes in at that time.

So that presented a little bit of a quandary to me because I think the issues raised that you may in good faith understand everything they're saying and actually actually comply with everything that they're asking for, which is actually just convince us that the design that you have actually works, which is I think quite a gross simplification, of course.

But I think at the end of the day, that's what they're saying.

Now, some of the other folks that spoke have bigger issues with the project, but I think the appellant really narrowed down, just saying, we can't figure out your plans, the plans have been changing, quite evident from uh the exchange we just had, and so they're getting kind of nervous.

And I've done discretionary permits where you have not done everything to a precision that you do during construction documents going forward.

So I started thinking of a number of ideas about how to address that.

Um I exchanged uh some conversations with staff uh and with the city attorney's office because I believe in having my ideas vetted.

And so while I am extraordinarily frustrated by the conversations that we've had today in this particular hearing, at the end of the day, this is not about my frustration, misrepresentations of slides, but whether at the end of the day that I can make the findings or not was what the project actually is, and I was very close to a no, but working with staff um and the city attorney's office, I found that with their detailed changes in the conditions of approval, that um I can get there.

So with the city attorney stand ready to uh correct my language because sometimes I get it wrong, but the two new conditions that have been added and the four modifications uh that strengthen the permit, uh I am able to make findings before I go to the motion.

I do appreciate the other issues that were raised by the other testimony, the neighbors, the community as a whole.

I do note or I did note that the PDO advisory board voted 5-0 to oppose the project, but didn't give me the specifics by which I could actually um take them into account.

The CPA was not unanimous, but it did vote 7-4 to support the project, and the planning commission, as was noted, also supported the project 5-0.

And uh, with due respect uh to uh the community members, I did not file find that the testimony rose to the level overturning the PC action.

Quite a bit was made of who the owners are.

We actually got that answer uh in this afternoon's conversation.

So with that, uh I move the staff recommendation with the amendments to permit conditions 25, 26, 31, and 45, and the addition of a new tentative map condition twenty-eight and permit condition 50, as shown in the staff's presentation.

And that will conclude my comments.

I'll turn it over to my colleagues looking for a second.

Uh, and certainly any questions or comments you might have.

I'll offer second to the motion.

All right, we have a second.

Um I don't see anybody else on the lights.

Oh, though the other part was directing the city attorney to prepare the appropriate resolutions according to section forty of the city charter.

So without any other comments or questions by my colleagues, again, I'll thank uh staff, uh, the city attorney's office, uh, the appellant uh for the work they put in, the community members' time to show up as well as the applicant in answering my questions.

And with that, um, I'll call for the vote.

I'm sorry, the voting system, please cast your vote.

That does pass unanimously, seven to zero.

With Council Member Ilarivera and Council Member von Wilper absent.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh, that was necessary because we adjourned the afternoon and the evening session.

We will now adjourn council to the special council meeting on Wednesday, May twentieth, twenty twenty six at nine AM.

That is tomorrow morning.

Um,