Good afternoon.

I'm Cindy Darling, mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, and welcome to the Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 special meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council.

This special meeting is called for the purposes of holding a closed session related to the following conference with legal counsel on existing litigation on two separate cases.

Does any member of the public wish to comment on a closed session item?

As a reminder, each speaker will only have two minutes to make their remarks.

Seeing no speakers, the city council will convene in reconvene in closed session.

Thank you.

As some attendees may be participating in their first Walnut Creek City Council meeting, I wanted to welcome everyone and talk briefly about the public comment process.

For each agenda item, there will be an opportunity for public comment on that item.

Thus, if you desire to speak to an item on the agenda this evening, please hold your comments until the city council considers that item.

Additionally, we have a section on the agenda titled Public Communications, which is for public comments for items not on the agenda.

Any comments during public communication should not relate to an item that is on the agenda this evening.

Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook.

30 minutes will be initially allocated for public communication for items not on the agenda.

Additional time for public communications for items not on the agenda will be provided at the end of the open session portion of the meeting if necessary.

If you desire to provide a public comment, please complete a speaker identification card and line up behind the lectern at the appropriate time.

Wait your turn, and then when you approach the lectern, please state your name, City of Residence for the record.

You will have two minutes to address the City Council.

Please keep in mind that this is a city business meeting.

The City Council has adopted rules of decorum to ensure that meetings are conducted efficiently and effectively, and that all members of the public have a full, fair, and equal opportunity to be heard.

The city council handbook outlines decorum expected in the council chamber and can be found on our website.

All remarks should be addressed to the City Council.

Please do not use threatening, profane, or abusive language, which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the council meeting.

Again, each speaker will have two minutes to make your remarks.

Written comments submitted and received up to two hours before the meeting have been posted to the city website for public review and are included in the meeting record, but will not be separately read into the record.

And that just should make everything crystal clear.

Good evening.

I am Cindy Darling, Mayor of Walnut Creek.

Welcome to the Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 concurrent meeting of the Walnut Creek City Council and the Walnut Creek Parking Authority.

So please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under our individual liberty and justice for all.

Councilmember DeVini.

Here.

Councilmember Francois?

Here.

Councilmember Silva?

Here.

Mayor Pro Temwell.

And Mayor Darling.

Here.

All right.

We're going to start off tonight with a proclamation on United Against Hate Week.

And this is a really critical time here in our country.

I think.

We have all seen people on all sides just behaving in ways that um are unbecoming and vilifying one another.

And I think it's really important.

We here at the city model the idea that we may not all agree.

But we treat each other with respect and we treat each other as human beings, and we see the humanity and those who come before us, even if they don't like what we're doing, or even if they have an opinion that is difficult.

Um so that's why I really wanted to make sure that we, you know, and I have to thank my mayor pro tem Kevin Wilk.

He arranged some great people here to accept the United Against Hate Week proclamation.

So I would like to invite Rebecca Goodman from the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Reverend Leslie Takahashi from Mount Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church up here.

And um why don't you guys step forward and introduce yourselves and tell us a little about about your organization and what you guys are doing to help in this difficult, difficult time.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, mayor, council members.

My name's Rebecca Goodman, and I serve as director of Jewish Community Engagement for the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area.

JCRC is the largest collective voice of Bay Area Jews, representing over 70 congregations and organizations and um throughout the region.

I am honored to join you today to accept the proclamation for United Against Hate Speech with others.

Um during COVID, the congregation where I was working before JCRC, we hung a banner unequivocally stating that black lives matter and stop Asian hate.

Over the past two years, the Jewish community has seen a drastic rise in hate speech against Jews.

The banner, unfortunately, is still hung in the window at that congregation because, like you said, we are still in this together.

JCRC advocates for Jews to be able to live their own authentic Jewish selves, and we believe that by working together with other communities, the full vibrancy and diversity of Jewish identity will be embraced and celebrated.

We mobilize Bay Area Jews and allies to counter anti-Semitism and rising hate, advance social justice, strengthen civic engagement, and ensure a combined response to critical issues that we all face.

Unfortunately, the incidents of hate speech continue.

As I mentioned, the banner still flies, and together, though, we can make a difference.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And thank you to all of you for your recognition of this week on this very important time in our communal lives.

I'm Leslie Takahashi.

I minister at the Mount Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church just down the street from here, and we have partnered with the city in so many different issues over the years to make sure that all of our neighbors are taking care of as much as we possibly can because we know that through many traditions, um, particularly the Abrahamic traditions, we are advised to love our neighbors as ourselves and to be able to treat them this way.

And I appreciate this this week so much because we know that our neighbors who are unhoused, our neighbors who are black and brown, our neighbors who are LGBTQ, and our neighbors who are immigrants, and our neighbors who are disabled, and we could go on and on, are all feeling of sense of insecurity and unsafety.

So to continue to honor this week in this town is so important at this time.

We continue to work to be an advocate and also to provide practical services as other services are becoming less available to folks through other cuts and changes.

I am just back, as as um Mayor Pro Tem Wilk knows from a trip to Japan, which, as a third generation Japanese American ancestor, that that's my first time going.

And I come here today with a special um sense of importance having being the daughter of a man who was incarcerated as part of the Japanese-American internment to remind us that it is so important that we speak out, that we are not silent, and so I honor and thank you for your service.

Thank you, guys.

I know we as the whole council, and I invite fellow council members if you wanted to weigh in, and then we'll come up here and do the proclamation and the picture and say thank you for coming and sharing with us.

Thank you both for being here and thank all of you just for for being part of our community and local grassroots discussion and being part of a city council meeting because it shows that when we collaborate and talk with each other, we understand each other more, and hate exists where we don't understand each other.

In fact, it was just a few years ago, I guess it was just prior to COVID.

We actually had I don't know how many hundreds of people that were out at Civic Park for NHATE, a people banner out there.

In fact, we have that upstairs in our city hall chambers that uh upstairs where it shows that there we all were, and I was there as well.

And at this time, as we heard with this unfortunate back and forth, and I'm not even talking political, but as Abraham Lincoln had said, a house divided itself cannot stand.

And as I look at the room in the chamber here, for those that are uh they're at home, it is all ethnicities, all shades of all of us.

We are the diversity, and when we're together like this, hate can't exist.

And as we all know, hate lives in a vacuum, and so by being able to have conversations and stand up against it and be united, as all my fellow council members are, uh, makes me very proud.

And I'm just so thankful that I live in Walnut Creek that we're all part of this community.

And I'm proud that we're issuing the proclamation.

There you go.

Any other I'd just like to thank the mayor and the mayor pro tem for bringing this proclamation tonight and thank both of you for being here.

Uh I think the mayor said it best that we we model the behavior, and uh we are each in our own way, performing a city ministry, if you will, and that when we're out there in the world and interacting with people, uh the interactions that we have with each of you today, tonight, tomorrow, next week, those can all filter out and be a positive influence on our community.

And uh I think it's it's probably more important now than ever that we recognize uh that we are united against hate and that we see the common humanity in one another, and that we work for a more perfect and just world, starting right here at home.

So thank you for being here to recognize this proclamation.

Thank you.

And now for the picture.

Here is one for you, and one for you.

Thank you guys so much, and thank you for coming out.

Absolutely.

Okay.

We'll come over here and you can bring your problem.

Sorry, are you?

Okay, okay.

And one of the fundamental ways we solve problems in this country without coming to blows is by voting.

And so I would like to get county clerk recorder Kristen Conley up here to join us at the lecture and give us a little rundown of what the next couple weeks are going to be like.

What?

Okay, great.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, uh, Mayor Pro Time, Council members.

I appreciate it.

I'm committed to keeping this to five minutes.

You have a big agenda.

Um, but thank you for the opportunity.

I would say, City of Walnut Creek is very committed to the success of this election.

You do that, you have two secure drop boxes of our 45 that we have.

Um you have two here on this site.

Um we are standing in what will be a regional early voting site opening on Halloween.

I don't know if you're gonna be dressing up for the Halloween holiday.

You can vote in costume if you haven't voted already.

But we are standing here 28 days before a statewide special election that we didn't expect to come our way.

But the staff of our office, you know, with our city partners were able to confirm 141 polling places.

Seven of those are in the city of Walnut Creek.

Um and so really I'm here to tell you that a lot of people are not aware that we are having this election, but in four weeks it will be election day.

You should be receiving your ballots this week.

A show of hands, Contra Costa voters, did you get your ballots yet?

Okay, a bunch of you, great.

If you do not get your ballot, if you're listening anywhere, if you do not get your ballot by next Monday, October 13th, call our office because we are open Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 with humans answering the phone.

If you spill coffee on anything, your voter guide or your ballot, we can issue you a new one.

But I really want to emphasize that there's only one thing on this ballot.

Our staff can serve you at any of the 141 polling places, but your um assigned polling place is on your voter guide.

And so if you want to wait and vote in person, you can do that for three days of early voting starting Friday, October 31st, Saturday, October 1st, or Monday, October 3rd.

We have no early voting open on Sunday.

If you're really eager to vote in person, you can come down to our office at 555 Escobar.

We open for early voting.

I'm happy to report we've had 57 Contra Costa voters come and vote in person in our office.

Um but and the and we've started um emptying the drop boxes.

So again, there's 45 of those.

And you know, I did want you to know we we have to the extent that we can addressed the interest in early voting.

There were long lines right here at City Hall.

Some people waited 90 minutes to vote.

I I asked questions.

I tried to keep people happy in line, and I will say people were great.

People were really just happy and engaged and excited to be a part of the process.

And so we are planning for 60% turnout, but we will be ready for 100% turnout.

And I would just my ask for you is to let people know that we are having this election and encourage them to participate and that a place where they can get all of their information is our website, ContracostaVote.gov.

Um, we contemplated that there might be some changes that we needed to make to the polling places.

So in the voter guide, there is a QR code that takes you directly to the list of polling places.

None, there were no changes for voters in the city of Walnut Creek.

I'm happy to report.

Um, but we did have to mail a postcard to almost 48,000 of our voters, because there were changes.

San Ramon got hit the hardest.

Um, but uh, but but our staff remains very dedicated.

We're staffing up with about 40 additional seasonal staff to get us through this process.

Um, and we only we have fewer than 40 assignments left for clerks for poll workers on election day.

And as you may recall, we had 1,209 poll workers work our election last fall.

And so we really just appreciate the commitment to civic participation and just would ask that throughout any networks that you have, please encourage people to participate.

But we're here to help ContraCostaVote.gov.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, just a quick question.

If somebody is not already registered, and I know we have youth commissioners here, what's the deadline to register so you can vote?

The deadline, the deadline to register to vote.

No, that um so October 20th, which is also 15 days before the election, under California election code, you have until 15 days before the election to register to vote online, and we can still get your ballot mailed to you by then.

However, you still can vote.

Um so even if you don't register before that deadline, you can do conditional voter registration in person at our office at 555 Escobar and Martinez or at any of those regional early voting sites or any polling place.

So you really can be an unregistered person and show up on election day and vote.

And and our poll workers are trained in how to help you go through the it's we call it conditional voter registration, but people should know that under California Election Code, we have same-day voter registration in Contra Costa where you're completing your registration and your vote at the same time.

Thank you.

And I must say we should all give Kristen and her team a huge round of applause.

This was something that just was.

We had about six months less planning time than we normally do right now.

They have done, they went through.

She she got all of our cell phone numbers so that if anything happens in Walnut Creek, she knows who to call.

So thank you for everything that you guys do.

And let's give voting a big round of applause.

Well, thank you.

Thank you for your service.

All right.

Next up is our youth leadership commission for the next presentation.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

It is my pleasure to introduce to you the 2025 to 2026 Youth Leadership Commission.

This year we have six returning commissioners and nine new ones.

Although some of them are absent, they will be presented by present youth commissioners.

And we're gonna kick them off with mine.

Hello, my name is Keaton Petraco.

I am a senior at Los Lamas High School, and this is my third year on the youth commission.

I am excited to attend more of our events like Teen Arts Night and excited for new projects that we're working on, like e-bike safety.

Hello, I'm Bertie Michelangeli.

I'm currently a junior at Los Lomas High School.

This will be my first year on the Warnut Creek Youth Leadership Commission.

This commission is such an exciting opportunity for me because I can't wait to make a positive impact in our community through projects, campaigns, and more.

Being able to give back to our city means a lot, and I can't wait.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and fellow city council members.

My name is P.

Shrias.

I'm currently a senior at Los Lamas High School.

This is my first year on the Walnut Creek Youth Leadership Committee and uh commission.

And I'm joining the commission was such an exhilarating experience for myself, and I can't wait to learn much more as we go.

Something specifically I'm more uh very excited about teaming up with my fellow counselor, um commissioners and going through and passing uh innovative projects and learning more about the city as we go.

And I'm truly I truly can't wait, and I'm super excited uh to help the city drive together.

Thank you.

Hi everyone, my name is Jennifer Alice.

I am a sophomore at Northgate, and it's going to be my second year on the commission.

I am so excited to be planning and attending new events that we hold for the youth, and I cannot wait to contribute to the community and make new friends and help the city in every single way that I can.

And hello again, Shredi unfortunately cannot be here, so I will be presenting her.

She is a senior at Northgate and is going to be her first year on the commission.

She's super excited to make a real impact in the community and to amplify the youth voice.

She's so excited to have this opportunity and to work with other passionate students to grow as a leader and connect with our city.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Julia Chow, and this is my third year serving on the Youth Commission.

I'm a current junior at Northgate, and over the past two years, I've gotten to learn so much about youth engagement and youth involvement, and I'm so excited to continue building on it for this upcoming term.

It's so awesome to see how the commission has grown and developed with each project, and I really hope you do look forward to the new ones we're starting and also the ones we'll be carrying on.

And I'm so excited to learn more about our city and also shape the city through my knowledge and experiences.

And thank you for having us.

Thank you.

Okay.

I hope you're having a great evening, Council members and mayor.

My name is Emily Kim, and I'm a senior in Las Lamas High School.

This is my second year on the Youth Commission, and I'm very excited to meet new people and spend another great year working on projects like Teen Arts Night.

And I'm also looking forward to participating in other community initiatives to make a positive impact.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

I'm Ash Migar, and I'm a senior at Los Lamas High School.

This is my second year on the commission.

I'm really grateful to be able to continue serving.

Walnut Creek's a great city, and it's also super awesome to be able to serve with all these amazing people.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Anna Sophia Ivanova.

I'm a junior at Las Lomas High School, and this is going to be my third year serving on the Walnut Creek Youth Leadership Commission.

Over the past two years, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with other passionate and driven teens.

I've had the chance to engage with my community through events like Teen Arts Night, and I've had an opportunity to learn more about how this city runs and each of you guys.

This year I'm looking forward to serving my second consecutive term and to seeing how we can make the biggest change possible in our community to empower and uplift youth voices.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Ken Yu, and I'm a freshman at Northgate High School.

It is my first year on the Youth Leadership Commission, and I'm super excited to help strengthen and empower my community.

I'm looking forward to becoming more engaged with my city and its people while promoting safety and meeting new colleagues.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Sherwani Raj.

I'm a junior at Los Almas High School, and it's my first year on the Youth Leadership Commission.

I'm thrilled to be on this commission to meet and to meet other proactive voices in my community and uh and other um proactive youth and I joined this um commission to share my uni unique voice and um also empower other people's voices as well and I'm excited to make impact through the youth leadership commission.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, council.

My name is Naomi Spivak, and I'm a junior at Los Lomas High School, and this is my first year being a part of the Youth Leadership Commission.

I'm excited to collaborate with other motivated students and make a positive impact in our community.

I'm especially eager to help create more opportunities for youth voices to be heard and valued in the city of Walnut Creek.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council.

My name's Zuria Fruki, and I'm a senior at Northgate High School.

Um I joined this commission in order to lead and learn alongside other inspiring commissioners and also learn more about city government.

Um I'm so grateful for this opportunity, and I can't wait for a great year.

Um I'll also be introducing Ian U.

Ian is a junior at Northgate High School, and this is his first year being a part of the Youth Leadership Commission.

He can't wait to look he can't wait to work alongside other commissioners to help change to help uh to help with change within the community.

He also hopes to utilize the voices of those around him to empower the city positively, and he looks forward to collaborating with others to come up with beneficial and service serviceable ideas.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, council.

I'm Coris Zabai.

I'm a senior at Los Lomas High School.

This is my first year serving on the commission, and I'm really looking forward to collaborating with other like-minded peers in order to make a positive impact on our community.

I'm especially excited to share ideas that reflect the voice the needs, the voices and needs of youth in our lovely city.

I'm also the final commissioner this evening, and I want to thank you all for your time tonight.

On behalf of our commission, we are very excited to begin our work this year and to successfully complete projects that have a positive impact on youth in Warnut Creek.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And let's give them all a big round of applause.

Every year we all take turns so we get to come to the youth commission, and it is always one of my favorite things to do as a city council person because the enthusiasm and the idealism and the vibes are just great.

I really appreciate it.

Any other oh, we're gonna do the photo now.

We're gonna have to squish our.

This is a squishy photo, so my presentation goes crazy.

I know, I'm not sure not gonna yield.

Yeah, that's really good.

Okay.

So we see it.

That's good.

Two, three, thank you.

No, no, we'll just go to the house.

Okay.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

All right.

Next on the agenda is the consent calendar.

Does any council member wish to pull an item for discussion?

Yes.

Okay, which one do you want to pull?

All of them, but I'll pick.

You only get to.

I would like item E, which is the She likes to get me on that one.

Which one?

Item E, which is about the Treat Boulevard Corridor Improvements Project.

Okay.

Anybody else?

Same.

Everybody wants to talk about treat.

Okay.

Going once, going twice.

Um motion on the remaining items.

Move to approve.

Okay.

Mayor public comment.

Oh, public comment.

Does anybody member of the public wish to talk about anything other than treat boulevard?

Okay, seeing no one back to where we'll also hang on.

This is not public.

This is not the general public comment.

This is just comment on the the consent calendar, sorry.

Okay, now back to where we were.

Okay.

You're gonna I'll move to approve consent calendar items two A through D and two F through K.

Second.

Alright, roll call, please, please.

Mayor Pro Temwell.

Aye.

Councilmember Francois.

Hi.

Councilmember DeVini.

Hi.

Councilmember Silva.

Aye.

Mayor Darling.

Aye.

Motion carry.

Alright, now we're gonna go to um to E, the treat boulevard.

Do you want to have staff come up or do you want to have, do you have some questions?

It will probably take a little bit of time.

Thank you very much.

So this is a big project to improve some, what is it, maybe half a mile at the at best?

Segment from North Main to Jones Road of Treat Boulevard.

Engineering drawings are lovely, but I don't get quite the picture of what's really about to happen.

So is there a way for you to even possibly visually show us what the current conditions are and what's going to change and why so we understand the benefits of the 1.3 almost 1.4 million dollars that we're going to contribute as our share of the project with the county?

Yeah.

So I do have a couple slides prepared.

Um I'll do my best to walk through it.

Um so starting on the city side.

Um, so yes, I do I I yeah, so from Main Street to essentially the bridge deck is what the city so for the audience at home, because I did watch the Transportation Commission hearing on this, it was really hard to follow if you're not pointing to the point where the P where the locations are on the slide.

Thank you.

Actually, it's hard in the room, too.

Yes, and let me let me move forward a slide as well.

So the whole project is to add a class for um protected bikeway to treat boulevard.

So um where there's enough width, all that would require is some lane narrowing.

There is some section that lane narrowing isn't enough.

And so a travel lane would be taken to accommodate that bicycle lane and that buffer.

So moving, this is the city portion.

This is North Main Street at Entreat where they intersect.

Correct.

This is we're looking at Treat Boulevard from Main Street looking east.

Okay.

Yeah.

So what is existing is above.

We have that right turn lane, that slip that's where that gas station is right here.

And then we have two through lanes and then two left turn lanes with the project.

And this is the only portion within the pro within the city that would lose a lane, and it's right at the actual intersection.

So one of these through lanes, we would have to lose it to essentially accommodate the bike lane that would go between this right turn lane and one of the through lanes.

In the other direction, we would keep our two lanes, they would just be narrowed, and that bike lane would be accommodated with uh striping and posts.

So we're getting a protected bike line, which is class four.

In both directions on both sides of the treat boulevard.

Correct, for the full length between Bain Street and Jones in the county.

Okay, thank you.

And then the other improvement within the city is we are making this right turn lane.

So again, this is that gas station on the corner.

Um this right turn is currently a free movement, so any pedestrian that would be crossing the street here, they're they're hoping that a vehicle yields to them.

So we would be adding a protected uh a green arrow to this movement.

Um in practice, it would operate as it would today.

So it'd be green for those vehicle movements until there's a bicycle or a pedestrian crossing, they would push the button, that movement would get the right turn arrow.

So no matter whether there's a even when there's a red light or a yellow light to go continue west or make a left turn on to north to go south on north main, I it will always be green unless the pedestrian or the bicyclist has paused it.

Correct.

Okay, where's the city limit?

So um in this graphic you can see um this Caltrans Red of Way line.

So there's there's actually three three parties at play here.

We have the city, Caltrans, think of it as the bridge deck.

This is a Caltrans facility.

There's um agreements in place with the city and the county to kind of maintain the surface treatment.

But so we're this is the property boundary right here.

So what do the green big dots or mean?

Is that the pedestrian?

That's the bicycle path.

Yes, so the green striping is what's called conflict markings, and it's where um we wanted to emphasize that potential vehicle bicycle conflict points.

So it's it's that bright green thermo.

All right, continue.

Please.

Um, so this is talking about how the lanes will change within the city.

Um, so we'll still be maintaining three travel lanes across the bridge.

It's just how they split up at the intersection would change.

Going into the county jurisdiction, um, and I guess to back up, so my name is Brianna Byrd and I'm an associate traffic engineer here at the city of Walnut Creek.

Um we've been collaborating with the county on this project, doing the operation design with me tonight.

I do have Jamar Stamps.

Uh, he's a principal planner at the county.

So if there are county questions, um I'll ask for his assistance.

So, so within the county jurisdiction, we're now looking at this off-ramp.

This is Buskirk, and then Oak Road.

Think about this this leads up to BART if you were to go up to the north.

So um we're continuing east on Treat Boulevard.

This is where you would see that lane drop start.

So right now, under the existing conditions, there is this northbound right turn slip lane off the freeway.

That would be by slip line you mean free right turn.

I mean free right turn correct.

That free right turn would be closed, and then that travel lane that hugs the curb and goes underneath that pillar, that would be converted into a bike lane and a buffered space with the closure of that free right turn lane.

A queuing analysis was done, and in order to accommodate the vehicles, the volume of vehicles off the freeway, that one right turn lane is being converted to two right turn lanes, and it is getting its own protected green arrow.

So think about Ignatio and Civic, where there's two right turn lanes, and so you can make a right turn on red, or you can go with the green arrow.

So moving continuing east through the intersection, or to visualize that.

So again, this is that free right turn off the freeway.

It would be converted into this buffer bike lane, and then you would have three through lanes along treat.

If we look at the other direction, that westbound direction.

So if you're coming from BART to Sprouts, you would get you'd still keep those three through lanes and that right turn lane.

Um this the bike lane could be accommodated by lane narrowing.

Now looking between Oak Road and Jones Road.

So Jones, think about where we have that pedestrian bridge.

So that lane that is currently next to the curb, again, that would be converted into this buffered bike lane, and then in the other direction, um there was a constraint with width.

There's the Contra Costa centers here, there's parking here.

So in the other direction, you're again keeping, you're keeping the two left turn lanes, the two throughs, and with a lane narrowing, we're adding or the county is adding a bike lane, a right turn lane, and the parking is staying.

So hopefully that so the elimination of the is it two slip lanes or three slip lanes when you count everything, there are four slip lanes.

So there is the one at Treaton Main in the city, there is at Jones Road.

There is this eastbound right turn that is getting closed.

Okay, and then oh sorry, I think you're correct.

There's three, and then freeway off ramp and southbound oak road.

So there are four slip lanes.

So that's safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and even drivers.

Correct.

Yeah, by closing that lane and pushing the vehicles through the intersection, we're we're able to control them in time, so with signal phasing.

So pedestrians will get their walk phase and they'll be separated from say a vehicle having to yield to them.

And then we're getting a class four bike lane from north main across the freeway, and on the north side through the oak road intersect, the bus kirk and the oak road intersection, and then it becomes a class two.

Correct.

In the westbound direction, between Jones and Oak, it is a class two.

Okay.

I have a question about the source of funds, but maybe others have questions about the configuration of all of this.

Council member Francois.

So thank you for pulling the item.

Um, this is a pretty congested area, as we all know, in the morning and the afternoon, pretty much, and it can be pretty much any time of day.

So, and I I appreciate the efforts that are being made to improve uh bike and pedestrian safety.

Just so I'm clear, then we're not losing any vehicle lanes on Main Street.

Correct.

Okay.

We're losing that one slip lane, like you said on Westbound Treat, going towards uh northbound Maine.

So we're not so that one we're just modifying it.

So we will be keeping it.

Okay.

Um this is a very, very heavy truck movement.

Um, and so we had run, it's called like the truck template, and we couldn't close it the truck's kind of um path of travels too wide.

It's a second through lane that we lose there.

Correct.

Okay.

Um, and I noticed from the report that there were some changes to the level of service and some kind of big ones, and I can't remember which intersection went from C to F or segment went from C to F.

So is that a concern among staff or you know, how is it from a day-to-day standpoint?

How is it going to affect the traveling public in that area?

So, to your point that you would start off with Tree Boulevard is already congested.

Um, from the city side, we we have an agreement with the county, and the county has agreement with Caltrans.

The city, we manage the signal timing here.

So with this project, there would always be some staff level of ability to monitor the signal timing.

It would of course be in dunnet coordination with the county and Caltrans, but there is still some staff um ability there.

Um but the to your point about the level of service.

We I want to say back in 2017-2014 when they did this, um, they looked at it then and we looked at it now.

Um there's there has been changes in the methodology over that time, which can which if we get into the weeds, that can attribute to that jump, but it's it would be something that we'd be monitoring, and the improvements ultimately would be for the safety, for the safety of the corridor.

Okay, and can you just talk a little bit to maybe generally about the outreach that was done or how is continuing probably to be done on this project?

Yeah, so I can speak to the city side.

I'm gonna ask Jamar to come up.

But um, so on the city side, we've been working at I've been with the city for about four years, and during that time, um I know the county spoke with uh the county pedestrian and bicycle advisory committee, which is essentially their transportation commission.

They brought that project to them at the city's request.

The county also brought this project to our transportation commission, um, and then leading up to that when they were doing kind of this outreach about what the quarter wanted to look like.

I'm gonna ask Jamar to step up and address that.

Thank you, Brianna.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council members.

Again, my name is Jamar Stamps.

I'm a principal planner with the Contra Costa County Department of Conservation and Development Transportation Planning Section to touch on the outreach a little bit.

Um, as mentioned, we did initiate this feasibility study in 2017, and we organized a technical advisory committee that consisted of the available staff member at the time at the city of Walnut Creek, staff from the city of Concord, staff from the city of Pleasant Hill, obviously staff from the county, um, the transit agencies, including Bard County Connection, to go over some of the concepts that we were developing for uh what eventually came eventually became what you see before you today.

Uh we also extended that outreach to the public.

We had meetings with the Contra Costa Center, or the Contra Costa Center Municipal Advisory Council, which since then has been dissolved.

Um, we had several meetings there.

Uh, we had meetings with the Contra Costa Center Business Association.

They have annual meetings to discuss various issues, and this project was on their agenda for several years in a row.

Um, we also remember coming here to a transportation commission meeting manycle advisory groups in the area, many moons ago when we were working on the feasibility study.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

I didn't have any other further questions.

Thank you.

Other questions?

Council Member DeFini?

Yes, um, I was curious, especially on the um getting off the freeway there on treat.

There was some analysis on how it might impact um like folks exiting the freeway, especially during peak times.

What what was the what was that?

Was like a minute perhaps it would add to exit, or what was the C.

Yeah, it was right around during that AM.

Yeah, during the AM, it would jump from C to F.

So around a 60-second increase.

I mean, one of the concerns having taken that exit many times at that hour, um, is that it already, and I believe that it's it was looked at, but it already seems to sort of back all the way up to the freeway in a minute at that time might really be significant.

Um what's the what's the lens on that?

So and this this gets into kind of my previous comment about how the methodology has changed over time.

So that when that no build 2040 analysis, that was in 2017.

Um, so there's been an update with how LOS is calculated, but the kind of the the big jump goes into signalizing that free movement.

So LOS, it takes like an average delay of all vehicles that pass through the signal.

And currently, if the vehicles have a free uncontrolled movement, they're not controlled by the signal, so they all count as zero.

So that existing or no build condition may actually be higher than that C.

So the difference is actually likely much smaller.

Rihanna, maybe if if I may, if you could just address uh if I recall correctly, is it Caltrans that's involved in some of the analysis to understand whether or not there's a risk of vehicles backing up onto the freeway, and what was the outcome of that analysis?

I think that might um address some of Councilmember DeVini's question.

Yeah, thank you.

So the um as part of this process uh the county they've applied for grant funds through, and that would be funneled through Caltrans.

We're working on their facilities, and so they had they have direct oversight of essentially what we're doing here.

So they had to review the operational analysis, and again, this went into that iterative design process of adding those double right turn lanes.

They reviewed it, they provide comments.

We provide we address those and yeah, they've been okay.

Um, and then uh as the bike lanes, their their class four was there thought of I believe class three is actually better than class four, right?

Is class three the one where like you're you have a physical barrier or you're removed from the street.

So class four is that physical barrier.

So this is that um the most protected.

What's the iron horse?

The iron horse is class one, and so that's like an off-street, that's what I meant.

Yeah.

Well, as I I guess I was just trying to address the pylons.

Um, because we have them out right now in shade lens, right?

And so, how what's been that that was supposed to be sort of a temporary like let's let's look and see how these pylons are working or how we like them.

How have they been going in shade lens and are we wanting to add more pylons?

Uh, or is you know, like a lot of to me, they're not as pleasing to the eye as say like a raised curb or some other um like perhaps more attractive design.

Is that was there talk of doing the the bike trail or the bike lanes?

Not not with the the pylons.

So the the bike trail, um it's really dictated by whether or not there's space.

So there is actually a very short portion between Bus Kirk and Oak Road.

Um, it's like a newer uh build over there, so it's already pretty wide sidewalk.

And so from that portion, they are adding kind of a nice wide facility there, which could not be accommodated within the city portion, just given the width.

Um in terms of the material, um really it comes down to cost.

There's and to to the examples of shade lines.

Um Lennon Lane was the first in the city wiggit, we've done some tweaks and modification to the material as we learn about the material, where once we you know get funds someday, it can be something concrete or something more visually appealing, but it's really cost.

So this is striping with those posts.

And I assume that the county to do the work is predicated on us doing the work as well.

Not necessarily, it is a county-led project, so it would be at their discretion to either proceed with their portion and or not.

Thanks.

Thank you to all the transportation staff.

Uh, no, there's been a lot of questions I certainly I've asked over the last week or so.

Um how many cars estimated go through?

Do we uh and I apologize I should have sent this out maybe a day ahead of time, but do we know how many cars actually use that tree corridor on a day-to-day basis?

Not off the top of my head, we might be doing some some research.

Okay, well, get back if Smidar is able to find that.

Um I have I go through this intersection almost every day, so I'm very very familiar with it.

I know that the backup, certainly during commute times, goes all the way to um to Cherry Lane most morning commute times, uh, which is not even on the other map that you showed.

I don't think it goes back pretty far.

And coming in the afternoon commute times, that traffic is backed up definitely to the freeway off ramp, and again, all the way pretty much a cherry lane where that fourth lane does disappear, and that is a far enough path that the traffic does smooth out.

So I am concerned.

What is the estimation of how many extra bikes will use this bike lane then?

Do we do we have that information or does the county?

So it's it's not necessarily a fair um comparison because there is no facility for cyclists now, um so it's and not only that, but it's like if there were cyclists, then they'd be either riding the road or on the sidewalk.

Um it's not it's not a comfortable experience for them.

So it there's no natural or there's no reason to encourage that type of mode choice under the current conditions.

So what was and I know I've had I made more comments and questions here, so here is a question.

With the with the canal trail and the bike path about was about maybe a half a mile to the south, uh that parallels the entire way.

What was the thought process in changing tree the tree corridor to have bikes when we already have a bike path very close?

So um speaking to addressing gaps in a network, uh so on, I guess just to the west of Main Street, is Geary and Geary does have bike lanes.

Um so if if a cyclist were on Geary heading towards BART, there is that gap in the network of, you know, if this whole project's a half mile, this is maybe a quarter or less.

Um, and in order for a bicyclist who reaches this intersection to go around, it's actually a two-mile detour to make that half a mile gap.

Okay.

So and we're looking for our our approval of this essentially is the monies that would go towards the city portion of what's being done, which was the beginning of your presentation, or the the slides.

Correct.

So the funds that we've laid out would go to cover the city portion of the project.

So our vote doesn't influence the county vote.

I mean, this is the county project, whether we're voting yes or no, this is the county project that is being pushed through.

Yeah, it yes.

Right.

Okay.

Okay.

Um, I think those are my questions.

I may have comments later, but those are my questions.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

This is actually a question to the county.

So if you can help me.

When I'm driving west on treat, say I got on treat at Cherry, go through Jones Road.

I'm in front of the Starbucks, and get to Oak Road, and all of a sudden there are these lanes doing this.

There's like a big swoop in the road, real technical term.

But if you're trying to get to make sure you're in the right lane to turn right on North Main to get on the freeway, it's very confusing.

Is this getting fixed?

Um I so uh you'd have to try to see if we could see it in the in the photos.

Yeah.

Oh go ahead.

Uh sorry, which intersection?

The uh Jones at Jones.

And when it crosses Oak.

Okay, so it's where Oak Road and the BART tracks are crossing.

All of a sudden, you think you're in the aiming correctly.

Oh, I know what it is.

You think you're aiming correctly to get out across the bridge and get onto the freeway going west, and in reality, you're in the wrong lane because you're going on to Buskirk and going north.

Right.

Yeah, sorry for the confusion.

I know exactly what you're talking about, yes.

Yeah, I had to figure out where I was.

No problem.

No problem.

Um, yes, uh, it is in theory getting fixed because we're removing the free ride turn uh from southbound oak to westbound tree.

Okay, so it eliminates that weaving behavior.

That is a nightmare.

Do I from the hundreds of times I've done that every time I have to figure out where I am and to not end up in the wrong lane because it's very dangerous, so thank you.

Can I ask questions about the funding?

Yes, the funding has um the good chunk of it is coming from another project, the California and Ignatio Valley Road intersection improvements.

How dramatic is it to move that funding to this project?

What is there a lost opportunity, or how do we get that California YVR interchange intersection done in the future?

So there act actively is um it's a CCTA um Contra Casa Transit Authority project.

It's a joint, it's a shared mobility hub project with the city BART and Barton, they've already acquired some funds for this project.

Um we did the 10% and we're moving into the outreach and the 35% design for that project.

So are you basically saying that the funds will be found?

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

And what are we sacrificing on the measure J 28A fund?

Okay, to help answer that project, I'm gonna ask Smidar Boardman, the city engineer.

Hello, Smidar Boardman City Engineers.

So our measure J that um that funding is specifically for transportation planning and for transportation and types of improvements, that's return to source money that we receive from CCTA on an annual basis.

So it would have been used for what that won't it's it's funding that we have available for projects just like this.

Okay, so for other sacrificing any particular project that it was pre-allocated for.

That's correct.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Francois.

Just one final one.

And I appreciated the explanation in terms of the gap.

Um between, you know, Gary and Treat.

I think that that was helpful to answer Mayor Pro Time's question.

And um, I also appreciated Councilmember DeVinny's question about the right turn lane on to treat going eastbound because that is busy in the morning.

I've had the opportunity to go uh through on that, dropping my daughter off at work who works near there, and it is backed up.

So in terms of that actual signal for the two rights, who's in control of the timing on that?

That's not city, right?

Is that Caltrans or County?

So Caltrans' main concern is that the backup does not extend to their freeway.

So in that sense, they they have like we as the city and as the signal timing.

As we set the signal timing, that is kind of the control.

Um, and then everything else we can kind of design around.

So if it becomes a problem and there's back up onto the freeway, that's when the conversations would be had between the agencies about changing the timing.

Correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

We through with questions.

This would be a good time for me to see if there is anybody here for public comment on this issue.

Anybody here for this particular item?

All right, I'll bring it back up to the council for um closing comments.

We'll start.

Well, my general sense is that I'm I'm always for improving you know, bike and pedestrian access, and so in the spirit of that, I I like the spirit of what what we're proposing here.

I have a lot of concerns about this area, not really understanding what the driver is from the standpoint of like are there already a lot of like bikes trying to make this crossing that are struggling.

Is this an area that will really be utilized?

Um I'm somewhat conflicted in that way.

Uh so um I I would actually maybe move to um like postpone the vote so that we have a chance to spend more time on this issue.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Um, regarding the city portion of this, I don't have a problem with that.

I think that uh that does seem pretty straightforward and I trust the city and the signaling and turning making that right turn onto North Main Street to hit the freeway on ramp.

I do have a lot of concerns about the county portion of this.

So I I'm going to support the item because our overview of this is the actual city portion of it.

So I support that.

If I were on the county board of supervisors, I would not approve this.

I think we are looking at something that is going to be a tr a traffic catastrophe in terms of the backup that's going to happen.

Maybe not on the freeway on ramp, maybe we're gonna take care of the freeway off ramp, we'll take care of that.

But the backup on the streets is going to be significant, especially that left turn from uh from North Main Street as you get past the Wendy's and you make that left turn onto treat, that is always backed up.

It takes two or three signals for me sometimes to even get through there, and then you're stuck in the middle of that intersection, and then you're gonna have all the traffic coming off from the freeway uh from the freeway off ramp.

I just don't know how that's going to be resolved easily.

In terms of coming on the on the commute in the mornings, I just foresee this getting backed up all the way to Bancroft now.

I just don't see any way around that.

And uh I would uh I would ask that the County Board of Supervisors review this and take a deep look at this.

While I am all for bikers and making bike paths safe, it seems to me like bicycle advocates have gotten an overweight of uh of wanting to get a path for them and putting tens of thousands of drivers daily at more inconvenience.

And frankly, as a parent, while my kids are older now, as a parent, I wouldn't want them driving down Treet Boulevard or Ignacio Valley Road if there was even with the protected bike path.

I would want them to take the bike path even if it's a little bit out of the way where it's safe.

So that's just me as a parent.

Again, I'm going to support this overall because that is our purview, but I asked the county board to please take another look at this.

This is not something that I'm in favor of on the county side.

Thank you.

Um Councilmember Francois.

Say you.

It's a very challenging area, as as we all know and we've all experienced.

So I it seems like it's fraught with danger to make any changes, especially to take out travel lanes.

I do appreciate the mayor pro tem's comment that the area that we have jurisdiction over, I'm relatively comfortable with.

I think it's on the other side of the freeway that I'm less comfortable.

But I, you know, I think staff made a good point when it said we're trying to connect these two very uh transit-rich areas in terms of bringing people where we have parking standards for within one half mile of BART and the whole idea is that people will be taking transit and ideally getting there uh through alternative modes of transportation.

So if we don't build the network to allow people to do that, they're not able to do that.

And I think this is a critical, it is a missing link between kind of the Larkey area and BART.

And I appreciated your question about the canal trail because I was I thought that was a good point, but I it given that it's a two-mile detour, it's unlikely that somebody would take that extra time and effort.

So I shared council member silva's concerns about the funding for California and YVR, but I understand that we that will be replenished with Measure J funds and come up to speed when we do the the BART uh that side of the BART uh programming.

So I will support this as well.

I uh I hope that we stay more than hope.

I would ask uh our staff to be diligent and following up with county staff.

Stop checking the baseball.

And the Dodgers aren't playing tonight, so I'm not sure what he's looking at.

Just go ahead and look at it.

So just would ask our staff to work closely with county staff and Caltrans staff on the signal timing if there are any issues as this gets implemented to make sure that we're staying on top of that.

Thank you.

You know, was I don't want to hear what he said what the guy's saying, I'll make the joke.

So we'll have to look at the pictures.

I got this big blue mountain, unplug it.

Let's throw it out the window.

Get up and leave the room.

In Arlington, Texas.

What was what was that feeling like?

And you know, I apologize to all of Walnut Creek.

Okay.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

So I'm gonna thank the staff, both of the city and the county, for their work on this.

It is hard to do interjurisdictional um projects like this.

But I think it can only, I think the problems we've cited are problems that are most likely to get the situation is going to get better, not worse.

Because they're aware of the issues that those um free right turn lanes cause, and that is part of the problem, that whole stretch in there.

Um I appreciate that members of the community think that the Counter Costa Canal Trail would provide alternative access.

It actually enters almost at Buena Vista Avenue and to Jones Road.

You cannot get onto the canal trail from North Main.

You cannot get onto it from Pioneer.

You cannot get it onto it from Hall.

It it is literally a no-exit route.

And one of our transportation commissioners lives very close to it and said she wouldn't take it because it is too far out of the way.

So I think that this um these improvements will encourage people to be able to use alternative means of transportation, which may slow the rising increase in traffic.

It's the only way you can describe it because the but there will be more traffic as there are more people.

So I'm going to support the project.

I appreciate the answers to the funding questions and the alternatives.

And I also appreciate that we have to recognize that we have no authority over certain portions of this, and we can only hope that some of our supervisors will listen to this and just you know be attentive to, hey, let's really make sure that this is going to work and that these lanes don't braid.

I think that's the term I read someplace.

You know, that braiding interaction that occurs.

So thank you very much.

Let me just ask the the city manager a quick question.

It sounds like there are some folks that are thinking bring it back, some people that are thinking approve the city part, express our concerns about the county part.

Um is there, and maybe between the two of you, you know, is there an urgency to act tonight, or if we bring it back at a future date, is that cause a problem?

I'll answer it generally and Brown and maybe we'll preside provide more specifics.

I think we have some time in terms of if it were not approved this evening in terms of maybe a couple months at most, but it's not as if we have a really extended duration to decide.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Um I appreciate all the questions that my fellow council members have asked.

I think looking at the city portion, the city portion makes sense.

It sounds like the biggest concerns are with the county portion over which we do not have jurisdiction, although it is a joint project, and so we have moral suasion with the county for whatever good that does us.

So I would be willing to support the city portion as long as we ask the county to make sure that their part is operationally and functionally going to work and not cause the kind of impacts that Mayor Pro Tem is concerned about.

So I would point out we're not actually approving the project.

We are not.

We are adopting a resolution.

And allocating the 1.4 million from our transportation funds to fund this.

Now, by right, if we don't approve the money, it ain't going anywhere.

But um this is not this is kind of out of our authority to approve how the lanes intersect and all of that.

So if we were to if someone were to make a motion to adopt the resolution and yet ask the city manager to carry these concerns forward in that discussion, that might be a good way to go.

And make the motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the city manager to or a designee to sign the joint exercise of powers agreement with the Contra Costa with Contra Costa County and to appropriate the 1.4 million dollars from capital projects and outside grants for the project pending also a conversation between the city and the county as to how those lanes are really going to work from Jones Road to the freeway.

Do we want it to be more than just a conversation?

Do we want the JPA itself to kind of to the extent it can have those ongoing collaborations and conversations?

I think there's a couple options.

We could certainly do that, and certainly if your council would like, we could formalize a letter to the county to the county board of supervisors to staff to share the concerns that were raised this evening with additional detail.

Is that what you meant?

That's what I meant, and I really have the sense that there was probably more detail back in Martinez in their offices where they've analyzed the county portion of this, and we're we have concerns because it can interconnects, but nod that it's right, you have more detail back at the office.

There you go.

Okay, yes.

Okay, and I'll second that.

All right.

I will ask for the roll call.

Councilmember Silva.

Hi, Councilmember Francois.

Hi.

Councilmember DeVinnie.

So I I'm conflicted still, and I I felt like this was a lot for a consent item calendar.

Um would have liked to have had a maybe more in-depth, you know, presentation and discussion.

So based on that and my my sense of conflict, I'm going to abstain.

Uh I will support it.

Uh so I, along with the concerns that I expressed earlier.

And I will support, I will vote aye, and lay it on the capable hands of the city manager because that is what we do.

Thank you all.

This is a and thank you for the county for coming tonight, and um thank you to all the members of the public who have expressed opinions on this.

So we hope we're going in the right way.

And next on the agenda is public communications.

This portion of the meeting is reserved for comments on items not on the agenda.

Under the Brown Act, the council cannot act on items raised during public communications, but may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed.

We can request clarification or refer the item to staff.

Consistent with section 9.5 of the city council handbook.

We get 30 minutes at this time for public communication, and then it will be the remainder will be after the rest of the council meeting.

So we it is 7 13 and we'll go till 7 43.

Um, if people are interested in addressing us for public communication, step on up.

Everybody gets two minutes.

Hi, hi, good evening.

Uh um Mayor Darling and uh members of the council.

My name is Renee Zimmer, and um I'm here tonight because I was just so pleased that you um passed a proclamation earlier to night against hate.

Um I am the former uh youth and family services coordinator for the city.

I also uh served for many years on the board of Contra Costa Midrasha, which is a Hebrew high school program located here in Walnut Creek, and um, and I just wanted to share with you that it just so happens that um the governor today signed two landmark bills, AB 715 and SB 48.

And um, and those bills will strengthen California's fight against hate, anti-semitism, and discrimination in our schools.

So these bills um uh are significant in that they create um a uh new accountability systems, require stronger responses to anti-Semitism, harassment, and discrimination, and support every student in learning in a school free from fear and prejudice.

So your timing is wonderful.

I and I appreciate the action you took tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Hi, I wanted to echo um the comments.

And don't forget to tell us.

Okay, my name is Diana Honig.

I am here in a lot of different capacities.

I'm very active in our community.

I um am elected as the Contra Costa Community College District Vice President of our governing board, as well as the uh representative to the Central Democratic Committee for the Contra Costa Jewish Democrats, and in those capacities, in both those capacities, I know the importance of ensuring that hate is not tolerated and that we create a warm and welcoming space for all people.

Um I wanted to elaborate a little bit too on those bills that were just signed.

A B uh 1707 15 as well as SB 48.

Um I wanted to highlight the second bill will actually create an Office of Civil Rights that addresses that creates coordinators who will advise our um educators about how to avoid discrimination.

And that Office of Civil Rights will include coordinators from a variety of communities, particularly communities targeted right now for hate.

And that includes the LGBTQ community, the immigrant community, Latinos, IPOC individuals, etc.

So I just wanted to say that it's very um broad-based protections against discrimination in our school systems, and I'm really excited that those bills have passed.

And I just wanted to say thank you so much for presenting a proclamation against hate today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Good evening, Mayor Darling and members of the Walnut Creek City Council.

My name is Julie Jones.

I'm a resident of Walnut Creek, and I live directly across the street from the Planned Parenthood Health Center.

I'm here today to speak about the experiences that I've had with the protesters that stand out front.

The main issue is with the amount of noise and disruption that the protesters cause.

Recently, they have been bringing a loud speaker that they speak into all throughout the day, talking about very graphic and inappropriate scenarios.

When they are not talking, they're playing music loudly.

I can hear them talking from my apartment, which is a disruption of my peace and personal space, and I'm sure that my neighbors would agree.

I have seen the protesters bother my neighbors, people getting off the bus, which stops right in front of the clinic, delivery drivers, including mail carriers, as well as people who work in the buildings around the health center.

Also, when the protesters are there, people honk as they drive by them, both to show support of the protesters and in opposition of them.

And once the protesters are done for the day, the honking ceases.

If I'm walking on the opposite side of the street, they yell in my direction, begging me to come talk to them.

If I'm walking in the direction of the health center trying to get home, they come up to me and ask me if I'm pregnant and tell me not to kill my baby.

Tracking me down and any other pedestrians that are walking through is alarming and invasive.

Additionally, when the protesters are parking on the street, they park in a way where they are leaving large spaces in front and behind of them so that people can't fit into the available parking spots.

This makes it difficult for me and other residents to get street parking near my apartment.

I fully support the right to free speech and people peaceful protest.

However, the way that the protesters go about speaking their opinions is not peaceful, and our community cannot excuse behavior that disrupts and harms others.

At the end of the day, the people going into the clinic are going there to receive health care and do not deserve the harassment that they are being subject to.

I hope that you will help us find a solution to address these problems.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Darling, Council members.

My name is Christian Garcia, the vice president of government relations and communications for Planned Parenthood Northern California.

And you know, one of the things that we've we've come to you multiple times.

We're appreciative of the buffer zone, the noise ordinance that we put into place, but this now has become a larger problem beyond just us.

This is now becoming a neighborhood issue.

We did a survey and went around the neighborhood, which I will submit to the public record, spoke with the business owners and residents, and a lot of them wanted to come out tonight, but did not want to be put in a situation of retaliation from some of these protesters.

So you will find their information in there.

But I really want to come here and figure out how do we find a solution to this.

We are seeing more and more freedom of speech being used in ways that are protecting people just because of differences of opinion, but not in the way that free speech was originally intended to be used for.

And so I think there's an opportunity for us to find a solution here that will fix the neighborhood and that will fix the business community.

Um I do want to provide one quick story of a neighbor next to us, which is just a massage chiropractor office.

Um they're losing patients.

They're a lot of their patients are deciding not to come in for their appointments because of not wanting to be attacked by these protesters.

Doesn't matter who they if they're coming in for a Planned Parenthood appointment or not, um, people are just being attacked left and right.

So I'm hoping tonight that we uh can begin the conversation and figure out a solution to this and that we engage other community members around uh that part of Oakland Avenue to fix this issue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think we have a question.

Just for clarification, I know this is that I think it's a couple of times a year in which the protesters come every day as opposed to just a couple of days a week.

Are we still in that period of time?

Is that what part of the problem is?

So a couple things.

Um so yes, we are the 40 days of life protest um starts every September through November, and then again from whenever Lent begins all the way through Easter.

Um so that's still happening.

But we have also seen in the last year more and more emboldened protesters show up that are not religiously associated, um, but are connected to just everything else that's happening across the country.

This div this divisiveness, and so the group that is becoming more amplified is a new group that has fallen into our group of protesters that we're dealing with now.

So how is it in the other times of the year is this new group more frequently during the week?

Correct.

They've just found a place to protest.

They found they've created alliances with other protesters.

Okay, thank you.

Quick question myself.

One more quick question.

It sounds like the amplification the amplified noise, which they're not allowed to do within is it 50 feet?

Like a hundred feet.

100 feet.

Is that about it?

100 feet.

Um, so they're on the other side of that, but it from what I gathered, are they using more amplification?

Is it louder in general?

Yeah, so they they're in two places.

It in the mornings they'll set up right directly in front and have their speakers up, and you know, it's a whole sound system, and then when they know that PD is coming by, they'll move across the street because they know what the laws are, and then they'll just crank up the noise more.

Um, but as the resident mentioned, they're also playing music now, like they're trying to find other ways to just disrupt services.

And is this all day long?

Is this in the mornings?

Usually all day.

Um, Tuesday, Fridays are all day, um, and then different periods of time between Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Or Thursdays, yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you for bringing up.

Oh, a comment.

Uh well, we're yeah, no, we're not done.

No, this isn't on the agenda.

I just wanted to make a suggestion that this is something that's, you know, becoming or has been, but is continuing to become problematic.

Is this something that we could form like a study session on or to look at?

What my um inclination is is to refer this matter to staff.

Um I know they have been working closely with them, but ask them as staff to bring this back to us with a more thorough update and some suggestions if there are additional ways we can help protect the peace of the neighborhood.

Does that sound acceptable?

Yeah, I don't we don't need a motion to do that, but I think you guys have the message.

Thank you.

Um, next.

Thank you.

Hello, my name's Barbara Guinness.

I've been a resident of Walnut Creek since 1996.

Just wanted to talk about a couple things today.

Um, first thing was around September 1st, I wrote a uh note, an email to the uh Concord mayor and city council regarding some Lime Ridge graffiti that appeared to be on the Concord property.

So I thought, well, okay, they may take care of it, although I think uh Walnut Creek is supposed to manage that area for them.

Uh within a couple weeks, I got a note back from their facilities uh maintenance division manager.

He's in the Department of Public Works for the City of Concord, and he wrote me a note and said not only did he clean up the graffiti, uh, but he took the time to write me, you know, an email, and even sent me a picture of the cleanup.

So anyway, I was really impressed with that.

I call that good, you know, public service, and really impressed with that, but I know it's hard to expect that all the time.

But anyway, I just wanted to bring that up about our neighbor, neighboring community.

Second thing I wanted to just talk about, and you've heard me talk about it before.

Uh, the community really appreciates the work that's being done to try to control and enforce the e-bike activity that's breaking municipal codes in the city.

But we all know that there's existing uh parks and open space municipal codes.

So it seems like a lot of the signage though that's getting posted at the open spaces and some of the brochures, which I just picked up the other night when I was here, have um incorrect information on it regarding the open spaces and parks.

So I know the website, you know, now when you go to the uh website mentioned on the Ride Safely uh sign, it takes you to a city website, and some things have been changed, so it's a little bit better, but there's still inaccuracy.

So I'm just kind of wondering, and a lot of people are wondering.

If we're trying to change municipal codes, we know there's a procedure to follow.

So we'd like to follow that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um are people doing?

Do any people need a break or we're okay?

We're gonna keep going.

All right, which brings us to council member staff announcements, reports, and activities.

First off, city attorney, is there any closed session items to report out?

Yeah, thank you, madam mayor.

The council had um two closed session items this evening regarding um existing litigation and for the first item on the agenda, closed session agenda.

There was no reportable action for the second item, which is related to case number 80j 203-54870, a workers' compensation matter, the council by a 5-0 vote authorized uh final resolution of that matter.

That's all I have this evening.

Thank you.

City manager.

I do not have an update this evening, Mayor.

Thank you.

All right, um our AB 1234 reports.

Umber Francois, take her off.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh let's see.

I am an attendee at the chamber's economic, I guess I'm a member.

Am I a member?

Okay, I'm a member.

Uh of the chamber's economic development working group.

We met uh just right after our last council meeting.

And of note, um, chamber staff and others involved are working uh very diligently and cooperatively with um city staff on uh updates to the economic development action plan and providing feedback on amendments to the sign ordinance.

They also announced that I think this is the second annual or second uh conducting of the funders and founders event that'll happen out in the shade lens on November 12th from 4 30 to 7 30, and that's an opportunity to get entrepreneurs together with venture capital and see what happens.

And so it's an exciting that that's happening in the one.

The lot the one you held last year was extremely successful, and so they're they're uh excited that this is happening again in Shade Lens at the community art center on November 12th.

I it's invite only, but I just told the whole world so show up.

No, if if especially if you're an entrepreneur or in the VC world.

Um at our next meeting on October 15th, we're gonna have a market study update, but I thought there were some encouraging numbers that were provided uh from California Plaza and Growers Square that their office occupancy rates are in the 90s.

So uh they're close to downtown, close to BART, and uh doing well from an office occupancy standpoint.

More to report after the next meeting when I think we'll get details on on retail and uh and other office.

Uh along with council member Silva, I serve on the recycle smart board.

We take care of the your garbage, your recycling, and your organics composting.

We received a report um from our schools.

We there's a waste busters program in all the schools in our district, which includes Walnut Creek, Arinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Danville, and the and parts of the county that are situated within those cities.

And I'll be happy to report and brag that Walnut Creek schools have exceeded, we're at the top in terms of the diversion rates at 78%, and the target is uh 75.

The one area where we have some progress to make is with the high school students, and so we need to get out the message that it's cool to be Captain Planet, and um get those programs in place or sustainability clubs, but it's also a question of getting the administration on board, we understand, and making sure that the facilities are there so that the clubs can work with the administration and it's easy for the kids kind of to do the right thing by the environment there.

Let's see.

We had uh just a preview of our annual rate adjustment and um republic services uh projects about a five percent increase in cost of services, so that'll be coming forward for a formal action in January, but that's uh just a little bit of a preview of what we're to expect there.

And we got our annual compliance report on uh diversion rates for uh landfill and organic composting, and we're at 65 percent, so we're exceeding the 50 percent metric, but we really should be at 75 percent, and that's what we're shooting for.

And then all these programs that went into place in 2014-2016 time frame with uh SB 1383, and that's I mean, just simplified it's it's put as little as you need to in the black can and put as much as possible into the blue can and the green can, and that includes food waste and food scraps into the green can, and obviously yard trimmings and all those, and and so we're well on our way to compliance with those mandates.

And let's see, we had an update on recyclable processing, which is done by uh Mount Diablo Resource and Recovery, and uh they they reported that it's things are going well generally.

They also do the reuse and recycle day that we twice a year in our district in our uh service area, um, and they were asked kind of what's the most interesting thing that has been left out for reuse or recycling, and they reported that it was a coffin that was left out on the curb.

Um, and they were with without any human remains in it, and they were able to to repurpose it for uh some Halloween decoration.

They also report kind of challenges with the plastic bags uh that generally we want you to recycle those if you put them into another bag and bunch them all together, it doesn't gum up their machine, and it things go a lot more smoothly.

Um, and it's just plastic bags in general are a challenge to recycle, but we'll keep working on those.

Sorry to take all the thunder on recycle smart.

Uh I serve as Walnut Creek downtown liaison and I uh served up uh plenty of beers at their Oktoberfest on September 27th that was held in Civic Park, and it was a very well attended event.

There were look like a lot of people having fun and families too and rides and things like that.

So happy to see that.

And then with all of you, uh, got dressed up and went to on Broadway to celebrate our great Lesher Center 35th anniversary and had a very fun evening, and hopefully they had a successful evening as well.

That is my report.

Thank you.

All bags go in the recycle.

So it has to have a symbol on it.

Okay, kind of one to four is recyclable.

Can you tell my husband about this?

I'd be happy to come drop by and give him a tutorial on plastic bag recycling.

Thank you.

Um, Councilmember Silva.

Well, I'll continue on the theme.

It's not just the random plastic bags, but for your recyclables, the blue bin, don't put everything in plastic and then put it in the blue bin.

And the same thing for the green bin.

Organics just go in loose and not in a plastic bag.

You can haul it to the container in a plastic bag, but you have to empty it and then dispose of the plastic bag in the black container.

So I will continue on the recycling theme because I Mountain Shadow Film Society held its 11th annual international short film competition.

And among the films, it had a thousand or more entries, but among the films that it screened and the won a prize was a documentary about a nonprofit in the state of Tennessee that is called Springback, and it recycles mattresses, and it hires the unhoused men and women in their communities who take the mattresses apart and then they recycle the parts.

And this is happening in Utah, it's happening actually in the East Bay Area as well.

But I think it was just a great play on words spring back.

And the unhoused in this documentary are talking about how their lives have changed.

They have skills now and they have a job and they have responsibilities.

And some of them have become supervisors.

So it's really a heartwarming story.

The um planning has started for the spring community service day, which will be April 18th.

After a successful food drive on September 27th, I want to thank the community for volunteering to help us get it organized and collect a lot of food, and also for those who donated food, and we um exceeded our goals.

We collected food and monetary contributions that provide for more than 21,000 meals.

So a couple of things to note.

And where it conflicts and intersects with art.

And it's from the story takes place in the early 1900s to 1923 and right on into World War II.

It is the most enthralling play, and it's so unfortunate that it's not continuing, but I want to really commend Center Rep for its production of it.

And the next next up on Center Rep's repertoire is Woman in Black, which is a thriller.

It sounds a little like film noir.

I don't know.

It looks a little ghosty, and it'll be playing in November.

So be please consider getting tickets to that.

We will be attending the Cal City's annual conference this end of this week, and um, there is a program tomorrow afternoon on general plan updates and innovative approaches to it.

So I look forward to that.

And there are also programs on parking, child care and its importance in economic development, etc.

So there should be some great programs.

I would also mention that the governor still has not signed a number of bills and is still making its decision on things, and so if we haven't already sent our letters of support on AB 650, AB 996, and XB 346, but I would also mention that I'm hoping we get an update on what AB or SB 707 means to us because it's a little hard from the generic description.

This affects the Brown Act and is an effort to improve transparency, but it looks quite complicated, and it's going to affect us every city and county in different ways.

And finally, I would mention we're getting a lot of questions about e-bikes and what the rules are.

And I know we're having a session on it at the next meeting, but can we be sure that we explain what rules are dictated by the state and how that gets overlaid on our various travel routes?

And thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember DeFini.

I just uh on AB 707.

We did send in a letter asking the governor to veto it.

So we're still waiting to hear on that one.

Yeah, he's signed it.

Okay.

He did sign that.

We will bring that back.

Right, and we'll we'll provide a memo to the council.

We're working on a memo right now regarding he didn't listen to us.

Anyway, Councilmember DeFitty.

Thank you.

Um I had the pleasure of attending um a few nice events these last couple weeks.

Uh, the uh East Bay League of Cities Division meeting uh here in town, we were at the uh primary about the garden and had a uh very delicious primary dinner there.

So if you haven't had a chance to uh sample that yet, I would recommend it.

Um we Oktoberfest uh attended and uh volunteered there, and that was uh I was there Friday night, and it looked like a great turnout.

Um I assume that continued uh through the weekend.

Um the mayor's conference in Martinez was a nice event, and of course, uh we all were at on Broadway, uh which was my first time attending, and it was I was very impressed with with the event.

Uh so if you haven't um had a chance to attend, um I would uh I would recommend attending and and also um just congratulations to the Leisure Center for 35 years.

Um I also was at uh a fundraiser gala for the Miles Hall Foundation.

Uh they had a uh golf and dinner, and um and then on a welcome home note, our kids just returned back uh the youth ambassadors that just went to Shia Folk Hungry in Nochetto, Italy, uh for 10 days.

My my son was lucky enough to be uh one of the the kids that was uh in Noccetto, Italy, and he had a fantastic experience.

Um I've been talking it up to the families with younger kids.

So if you um have a kid that's in sixth or fifth or seventh grade and um has an opportunity to apply for that program, it was it was an amazing experience for them.

Uh and then finally uh had been having some conversations with uh folks in other cities and other counties who have um been looking at the e-bike um legislation and it is interesting, and I'm sure we'll hear more about it next week to find out the the areas that are under um county jurisdiction, like the roads, uh the state uh jurisdiction, and then what the cities can how they can affect change.

So um I'll have more to um more input and more report during our next our next meeting.

Thank you, Mayor Portem.

All right.

Well, first of all, as liaison to uh county connection, there are going to be some Route 4 changes that are going to be coming in January of 2026.

So the Route 4 is our free shuttle that's downtown.

Sometimes it's a trolley, sometimes it's not, but uh that it is free for all riders.

Uh the current route suffers from reliability issues due to multiple left turns and busy intersections and the detour around Broadway Plaza.

So the new routing will provide access to the residents in hotel, the Ignacio Center office complex and target.

The service frequency is going to improve from every 20 minutes to now every 15 minutes on weekdays.

And any stops that are being removed will be located within a short walk of the new route, and many are also served by the existing county connection routes, including the Free Route 5.

So for more information, if people are taking the Route 4 on a regular basis, visit the County Connection website.

And again, these don't go into effect until January of 2026.

Uh a few other things that I also did in addition to what you heard my colleagues mention.

Uh I was at the opening for the Bedford Gallery observation of a still life.

If you enjoy art and you enjoy creativity, then by all means, this is something you should be going to.

It's open through, I believe it's through to December.

But yes, I'm getting a nod, yes.

Uh I also attended with the mayor the uh opening of the, well, I guess it's already been opened the uh the ticket office at the Leisure Center, but it's now known as the Angie and Pete Coffee Ticket Office as of last week to uh due to their um just wonderful donations and involvement with the Leisure Center for the Arts over the decades.

A couple of openings, just want to let people know about Extreme Pizza used to be downtown.

Now the new franchise is in the Sprouts shopping center.

It's almost like a little food court going on there now.

So they just opened up and Pitta G down at the Incena Center, which is sort of Turkish flatbreads, it's it's unique to Walnut Creek.

If you haven't tried it out yet, check it out.

It's uh definitely a feather in the cap for Walnut Creek there.

I also attended the coffee with the cop.

Thank you to our Walnut Creek Police Department that was at Tell Us Coffee last week.

Lots of residents came on by.

It's always a great opportunity for the residents to come and ask just a police officer or questions that they wouldn't probably stop somebody to ask on the street or don't know how to ask the questions, but uh I really appreciate our police department being involved in those.

And then lastly, I spoke at the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Annual Fundraiser and uh and Walk a Thon, which was this last Sunday.

Uh it's just wonderful to see that that level of involvement from all the the different officers from not just Walnut Creek PD, and again, thank you for all for being there, but Alameda Police Department, the Contra Costa Police Department, and and CHP.

And this is such an important issue as we all know we want to we want to curtail as much driving under the influence as possible.

I really appreciate that they have chosen Walnut Creek as their annual fundraiser.

That's my report.

Thank you.

Um last but not least, um, I represent the city on MCE, which is um the electricity supplier for most of the household here in Walnut Creek.

Uh we closed out our books um last April, got the audited results.

A couple things are going on there.

One is energy prices in 2024 were unusually high.

And so we and we knew that going into, but in closing the books, we did end up closing with a significant difference.

We paid more for energy than we collected because we have not adjusted rates since 2023.

Um then this summer has been unusually cool, and we tend to we try to buy energy in advance for a typical summer.

Well, this was the coolest July on record, and so while we can turn around and sell energy that we've acquired, once it's clear that we don't need it, you don't sell it for as much as you paid for it at the beginning.

So the first quarter of the fiscal year, we we operated on an odd fiscal year.

In the first quarter of the fiscal year, there were continuing losses.

The good news is is that energy prices have come down dramatically from those 2024 highs, especially energy costs associated with um volatility and it's called resource adequacy RA.

And with the number of battery storage units that have gone in around the state, that and the the release of some of their RA by some of the big investor-owned utilities, the costs that we're seeing paying for the rest of this year.

We expect that to be significantly lower.

And we're looking at that, trying to continue to sort it all out.

I know PGE is looking at rate cuts, and MCE may be looking at this later later this year.

Um, but it's it's it is such a volatile industry, and I know it impacts all of the people that pay their electric bills, and we're trying as hard as we can to keep things steady and not surprise people.

Um, as part of the mayor's visit, we went to Madsen Chipping, who has recently relocated to Walnut Creek.

We got to tour their office.

They are very proud.

They are a longstanding company with deep ties throughout the Pacific, especially in Hawaii, and they have some great art in their office from the cruise lines that used to go to Hawaii back before uh right after World War II.

Um they talked about why they pick Walnut Creek, and it was it was our downtown, it was our safety, it was we're at the crossroads, and we were central to all their employees, and so it was great to welcome them here.

I also got to represent um elected leaders everywhere with um two of my fellow um Deion Adams from Pittsburgh and Cynda Um Satinder Malley from Martinez at the Leadership Contra Costa event where they walked through what we do.

You know, what does a city council person do?

And we answered a lot of great questions from the people that are going through Leadership Contra Costa, which is always fun to do.

In addition to Pity G's and Muse Salon and a bunch of others, we also had a great event at Five Star Bank.

They are the, they took I think the last vacant spot, and they have the best balcony in the building right there at the corner of California and Mount Diablo.

And you know, Bob Lynchide and I both got to talk to Channel 2 News and talk about the economic vitality of Walnut Creek and what's driving that, and Five Star was a great example of that.

And of course, it was the same day that original Joe's opened back up.

So we got a twofer out of that one on the e-bikes.

The Walnut Creek PD and staff are working hard on uh e-bike education, and so uh one of the officers and I went down with our crew to Mike Spikes as a partner, and we've recorded a video as part of the educational campaign.

Our staff will be looking to get that campaign video out on social media, but also to target it to the schools to get it in the e-news and things like that.

We walk through what the recommendations are for different ages of kids and what is the difference between an e-bike and an electric motorcycle, and why you shouldn't let a 12-year-old ride an electric motorcycle around town because that's just bad.

Um, like everybody else, we got to put on our fancy dress and go to on Broadway, and I just wanted to give a shout out to Angie Coffey, who represented DRAA up there on stage, wearing the same dress that she wore 35 years ago when the Lesher Center opened, and I know very few other people that could even begin to replicate that feat.

So I'm in awe of the woman.

So that is it for this.

I want to talk about the business license.

Oh, yeah.

Business licenses are up 21%.

That was one of the little bits that we got to share in the Cron News report.

And uh, you move on, can we ask questions of a couple of you?

Sure.

Um, that's what some of these reports are really intended to do, which is to say, you know, information.

Um council member Wilk, the Route 4 will still go to Broadway Plaza.

It will go to Broadway Plaza, it won't go around Broadway Plaza, it will not hit.

Okay, so it can't get all the way up to Newell around.

Okay.

And does MCE have the money to cover these revenue shortfalls?

Yes, MCE has we saw what was happening mid-year 2024.

We have a a really deep balance sheet because of the volatility that we've been seeing the whole all five years I've been on.

We also have a rate stabilization fund.

When we closed our books on last fiscal year, we did not have to use the rate stabilization fund because the um investment returns on our reserves were enough that it offset the losses that we experienced on energy.

It was a moment of clarity for us all, but it was not, you know, we it was something our staff was very well hedged and careful about.

Not okay, thank you.

Yeah, all right, moving right along.

Let's see.

Now this is part where I have to go back and figure out where I am.

Next up on the agenda is the consideration of acceptance of the Shade Lands Property and Business Improvement District and your report for FY2425.

And I invite Bob Lynchide to come up and provide the presentation.

Thanks, Melana.

Evening Mayor Darling and members of the council.

Uh, for the record, I'm Bob Lynchide, President and CEO of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau and the administrator on behalf of the Shade Lands Property Owners Business Improvement District.

Before I begin my prepared remarks, I do want to add to Councilmember Francois's remarks regarding funders and founders.

It is at the Walnut Creek Executive Park Building, not the Community Arts Center.

So if you show up, you'll be at another event.

But any anybody from the public interested, send me a note and we'll see that you're accommodated.

So as in your uh in your packet, uh the staff uh provides you a report on the shade lands uh PBID for 24 25, and we've prepared a publication that's at your seat and also digitally offered on the Shade Lands website.

The ANVR report is grounded on basic guiding principles established by the Shade Lands P Bid Committee in their strategic plan that serves as a roadmap for the district's growth development over the next decade.

Um the conclusion of this particular fiscal year, we will be six and a half years into the uh the plan.

You may wonder why half year.

Well, the district actually began in January of 2020.

And three months later, we all experienced uh COVID.

And so while we collected the assessments, there wasn't much accomplished during that period of time, and so we've accumulated somewhat of a fund balance, and through that fund balance, we're investing in some unique uh opportunities, and I'll I'll share those with you as we proceed with the goals.

Uh the first goal, in fact, I should probably advance this to be in concert.

Um Angela Ashley sends her best.

Her son is getting married on Thursday, and so they're uh they're busy, as uh the mayor will appreciate how busy weddings can be.

Goal number one uh is to track support and retain innovative growth companies.

Um we partner with property owners to develop and implement a targeted strategy aimed at innovative growth companies, which could include uh medical technology, sports technology, AI, and the like.

Uh the strategies include exploring land use designations that support the clustering of employment centers, such as new office uses converting into to medical uses.

Evaluate the potential role of educational and research institutes that are in alignment with sports and medical technology.

Uh goal number two is to enhance wayfinding and signage.

Um, this fiscal year, we're investing quite a bit of time, effort, and money into improving wayfinding and signage within the shade lands.

Uh essential to enhancing the experience for both visitors and employees.

Um clear, concise signage not only improves navigation, but also strengthens the district's identity and supports access to alternative transportation options, which is extremely important is part of the plan.

Uh, in this wayfinding uh process, we're partnering with the City of Walnut Creek's uh community development department to establish Shade Lands uh wide signage program that enhances branding and supports placemaking efforts within the Shade Lands.

Also on that same page is goal number three, which is to improve mobility, infrastructure safety, and services.

Uh, you know, transportation technologies and development uh patterns evolve, and shade lands must also adapt to meet the growing demand for alternative mobility options amongst employees, residents, and visitors.

Uh, enhancing pedestrian infrastructure and traffic calming, which has been part of the PBID support mechanism, including narrowing uh lanes, particularly on Mitchell, and uh electronic um crossing technology, which uh the PBID has invested in uh over the last year or so.

Goal number four is to continue to promote shadows as a destination through branding and marketing exposure.

Last fiscal year we invested considerably, as you know, because we spent some time with you on the rebranding of shade lens, and it has been worth the investment.

And I'll get into some of the things that we've done, but we'll continue to host the made in the shade annual event, which the next one is November 2nd.

It is a Sunday, it just happens to be the day we turn our clocks one way or the other.

I can't remember at this point, but um engaging uh the community on the benefits of shade lands through the sports mall has been a chosen uh success story for our annual basis, and uh we're encouraging the public to show uh for that event.

We'll also continue as the mayor uh council member Francois brought up the funders and founders venture capital event, bridging the relationship between sports tech and medical tech, and I can tell you we have about a hundred and fifty people already registered for this event, bringing people from Silicon Valley, uh funders and founders, judges to look at the newest technology, and it's surprising how AI is becoming more and more prevalent, particularly in the sports tech arena.

We'll continue rebranding initiatives to communicate shade lands, vision values, and a wide range to our stakeholders.

And finally, on goal number five encourage the development that enhances shade lands as a premier place to live, learn, work, and play.

And this is a collaboration with the city of Walnut Creek on the implementation plan that includes the economic development action plan.

Uh the transformation reflects growing emphasis on health, wellness, and community vitality supported by retail and service-oriented development.

In this, on this page, you'll realize that the planning process over the past year, implementing the strategic plan, guiding the overarching goals.

We're proud of the progress on key progress projects and initiatives as well as tangible achievements, including the branding and marketing campaign.

You probably saw the signage that on billboards as well as the traveling billboard, which we also call this the Shadeland Shuttle, as well as significant investment in uh social media and other uh attributes to uh enhancing our outreach and business engagement.

Uh the wayfinding project is underway at this point, and you'll see some unique signage there now, and we anticipate through uh Shannon Lee, our signage consultant in collaboration with Erica Vanderbrand and the community uh development department.

You'll see more and more uh newness in the signage program.

And then activation on events.

You'll see some photos there of made in the shade, the ribbon cutting, delayed ribbon cutting of the sports mall.

The sports mall was scheduled to open on uh March 18th of 2020, and it was delayed until the 22 uh opening uh there at the sports mall.

Um, the infrastructure, uh we did a ribbon cutting of the new shuttle.

Um it's becoming quite the uh, you know, even if the electricity goes out, you can still see the bus.

And then uh public safety that I want to thank in particular Lieutenant uh Connor uh for working with property owners and engaging discussions on public safety out at the shade lands as well.

And I think that concludes uh the formal portion of it, and I'd be available to answer any and all questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bob, for all your energy and attention to this.

Um questions for Bob.

No questions.

I'm just thank you for leading the charge on this, and I know you've got a good committee that you work with you on the steering uh of it all of.

Yeah, I want to acknowledge uh Blair Sniches who's the vice chair of Shade Lands here, and Jared Ash who's consulting with us on the implementation strategy.

Um we're pretty happy and proud with the progress we're being made, realizing that uh the Shade Lands P BIT was formed to combat um chronic vacancy.

And while we do experience some vacancy factors uh, particularly in the office, uh obsolete office in particular, uh the health side uh of the space is growing exponentially.

You're seeing more and more conversion of uh office space to medical, and uh it's becoming quite a thriving enterprise for us, and we're we think this wayfinding exercise will be really beneficial ultimately to shade lens.

Thank you.

Councilmember DeFinny.

Well, also, yeah, just a comment.

It's just really impressive to see like all of the sort of the multifaceted approach to promoting the shade lens.

Um, makes me think, you know, for anyone starting a business of any size just to see sort of the breadth of the things that you've taken on.

There's um you know great to see.

You know, my my team uh uh compliments to the mayor for getting out to to seek uh companies on uh October 15th, which is week or so away.

Um my team has adopted a program called uh walkabout Wednesdays.

That's kind of a cool thing, but they're gonna go to the shade lands on that day, and we've identified 12 I think so buildings that we're gonna do this significant outreach, and we're had been doing it recently with the economic development staff, and it really makes a difference to these companies to know that they're A wanted and B that the community, the business community in the city are listening.

So kudos to you for continuing that.

Thank you.

You mentioned walkabout Wednesdays, and you know I love that program.

So thank you for doing that.

Thank you to your staff for taking the time and the effort.

I think it does pay off.

And uh I'm curious about the the branding and the wayfinding.

If you can kind of just generally is the overall strategy, you know, Kaiser's here, Calicraft is there.

Is there more nuanced than that?

What what's the overall kind of goal and mission of the way?

Yeah, it's uh thank you for that question.

Uh council member.

It's not so much um uh in notifying the specific location like Kaiser.

It's more about medical, it's more about uses.

And in the wayfinding program, how do you navigate once you're inside the 270 acre uh monstrosity of 3.4 million square feet?

You can get lost, yeah.

You you can easily get lost and uh you know there's there are plans underway, as you folks have probably heard, to grow certain sectors of the the sport sports mall in particular, but also um you know medical is becoming more and more prevalent out there so uh directional signage is important, but also we're gonna be talking about investing in corner pieces to get into the shade lands so uh bear with me.

Oak Grove and Mitchell, um Via Mate, and Y VR, and then down at Lennon Lane.

Some of those entree points are not clearly marked off, so we'll we'll be talking about how to enhance those opportunities.

And do you have any kind of uh initial numbers or feedback in terms of the marketing and branding or things you want to showcase?

What's been successful as part of that effort?

Uh well, I think just acknowledge you know, we we did some temporary signage out there to get a feel for um what folks when folks felt left out that their particular type of business wasn't included.

Um my feeling to your question is is I think that uh it's been a a really good secret as to what's out there.

So we're just trying to expand social media.

We've tripled the the number of uh um hits and that sort of thing coming on our social platform, so we know we're we're getting somewhere, and those events that we're doing out there really help get that known.

That's great, thank you.

Yeah, and it's also regarding link trips.

So when you you go to the shade lands and you have a kid that's participating in gymnastics or basketball or soccer, uh parents also want to get their nails done, go to lunch.

Uh since they've got a babysitter or something, maybe they go to Callicraft.

Maybe not.

Maybe.

We know you would.

So I thank you very much.

And these are very exciting reports to get them.

Initially, six or seven years ago, there was a, well, many years back.

There's been a continuing concern about vacancy rates and the slow degradation as a result of the properties.

Do you have data that you can provide?

If not tonight, but subsequently just tell us what the vacancy rates are or occupancy levels and what industries you're seeing, because that's the shift that you're always already looking for, is not just the data-based industries that were there before, but I worked for Verizon there, and that's evolving.

We we can give you all sorts of data.

That'd be great to get the the thing we work on with the city manager's office to ensure that we're sharing the same data, meaning that we're gathering it from the same uh sources and um we're not quoting numbers that don't make any sense.

So we can provide you whatever data you want.

Yeah.

You know, just even for Yeah.

Thank you.

Happy to thank you, Bob.

Um, yeah, at least two of our mayor's visits have been out there, both Joybound, UCSF um Benioff Children's Hospital, and the amount of energy that goes into those and peep it has people thinking.

I know JoyBand has some ideas on how to spruce things up, and I think it's really um been great to see what's going on out there and and how it's all working together.

So I appreciate all the effort that you guys have put into this.

Yeah.

The last comment, I just want to thank the staff in particular for the collaboration that's been really uh genuine from uh Mr.

Buckshire's office to Charles to Mike to Cassava to Erica.

All have been just real supportive of those efforts.

So I just want to acknowledge them.

Great, thank you.

Thank you.

Um any member of the public wish to address us on this agenda item.

All right, we will close it and bring it back up here.

Our job here today is move to accept the Shade Lands PBED annual report.

You made the motion.

Oh, I made the motion, roll call, please.

Mayor Darling.

Yes.

Council member Silva.

Hi, Councilmember Devini, Councilmember Francois, Mayor Pro Tem Walk.

Motion carries.

And now you guys have all been very good and you've earned a break, so we can now take 10 minutes off, and we'll let all the Shadelands folks go home now.

So thank you.

All right, and we are back in session.

The next up on our agenda will be resolution the resolutions of the city council, the city of Walnut Creek, and the Walnut Creek Parking Authority establishing the JPA and resolution of the City Council declaring its intention to reimburse expenditures related to the Heather Farm Project from lease revenue bond proceeds.

So Chris Lynch of Jones Hall.

On the Mall on that.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

I'm Chris Lynch from Jones Hall.

We're working as the city's bond council in anticipation of the financing of the Aquatic and Community Center.

And as you know, that project's underway.

Bid the request for proposals are out, and they're expected soon, with the uh expected award date of November 18, with the financing also being brought to council for its consideration on November 18.

One of the things we wanted to talk about in anticipation of that was a declaration of the intent to reimburse expenditures with taxes and bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service limits the use of taxes and bonds to reimburse past expenditures unless there's been a declaration of the intent to reimburse.

And there's two types of costs.

I mentioned this at our the last time I spoke with you.

There's soft costs, which there is a fairly flexible ability to re to uh reimburse with or without a declaration.

But if you want to reimburse for hard costs, then uh you have to declare uh your deck an intent to reimburse, and then you can reimburse hard costs that were incurred no earlier than 60 days before the declaration of reimbursement.

In the context of this particular project, where portions are going to be used for swim groups and other uh masters programs and youth swimming programs on a reserved basis.

Um, there's going to need to be some tax work done where we allocate certain portions of the project to the city's equity and certain portions to taxes and bonds, and so having the flexibility to reimburse prior expenditures will be important to make sure that you can maximize your access to tax exempt bonds.

So uh the first action tonight would be declaring the intent to reimburse expenditures, it does not commit you to reimburse and it does not commit you to issue bonds.

Oh, advanced slides, thank you.

Yes.

The next action that you're being asked to take tonight is to have the parking authority and the city council adopt resolutions approving a joint exercise of powers agreement.

As we talked about at our last meeting, the government code allows two or more public agencies to establish a joint powers authority.

That joint powers authority has two types of powers.

It can exercise the common powers of its members, and it can exercise certain statutory powers expressly given to it by the government code.

In the context of a lease financing, like the city is considering for the Aquatic and Community Center.

What's important is that the joint powers authority has the ability to lease real property, which it would have as the exercise of the common powers of the parking authority and the city, and that it have the ability to issue lease revenue bonds, which it would have as a statutory power under Article 4 of the JPA law.

So staff recommends that the city and the parking authority approve the joint exercise of power agreement.

The agreement would establish the authority, it would appoint the city council to act as the board of directors, it would appoint certain staff to provide administrative services, for example, the city manager would act as executive director, the city clerk would act as a secretary, and it would also empower the authority to provide assistance with city financing when necessary.

So I thought it would be helpful to describe the various players here in the entities involved in this transaction and the roles they would play.

So the parking authority plays one role only.

It is the second party of the joint powers agreement, so you can have a functioning joint powers agreement.

After that, it plays no role in the transaction.

The city will be the party a party to the joint powers agreement.

And it will, as a way of establishing the financing structure, it will lease an existing city asset to the joint powers authority.

Right now we're talking about that either being city hall or even perhaps the lesser performing arts center, then the city will sublease that asset back from the Joint Powers Authority.

And in that sublease, it will agree to pay semi-annual lease payments to the joint powers authority.

The city will be responsible for drawing on the bond the bond proceeds and constructing the project.

The joint powers authority will lease the leased asset from the city and the first part of that lease-lease back transaction, and it will pay a one-time lease payment to the city, and that's the proceeds of the bonds.

And then when it receives the sublease payments from the city, it will use those lease payments to pay debt service on the bonds.

The bonds securitize the lease payments being made by the city.

So that's the final slide is uh one more, sorry.

If you um the recommended actions are that first the city council move to adopt the resolution of the city of Alnut Creek authorizing the execution of the joint powers agreement and adopting a resolution declaring the intent to reimburse expenditures, and for the parking authority to adopt a resolution authorizing the execution of a joint exercise of powers agreement.

And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much.

I know this is a little bit different for us, so I really appreciate the time to make sure it's clear to people.

Are there questions?

Councilmember Silva.

First of all, what train are you trying to catch?

Because I don't think I've ever heard anybody who presents.

That's uh inherent.

Sorry.

Could you go back to the slide with maybe it's slide six or right there?

Let me be sure.

So the parking authority has no role other than being the mover of money?

No, the parking authority has one purpose only.

Just to be the second party of the joint powers agreement.

So you may not know the answer to this.

Does the parking authority have any of its own assets or money?

And what was it originally established in the old redevelopment days to build the parking garages that were developed?

Built with parking money?

I believe the latter is correct.

Yeah.

So the city and the parking authority create this new joint powers authority for financing.

The joint power authority doesn't have any money.

But it who issues the bonds?

Right, the joint powers authority issues the bonds.

With the collateral being with the revenues it receives from the city under the sublease.

And the collateral for lack of better term, you know, I'm gonna use a home mortgage analogy.

You have to make to borrow money from people, you need to have some asset available.

So that has to be held by the new joint powers authority.

Yeah, so the collateral word is probably imperfect in this context because there's no mortgage.

What there is is a lease.

And so this the city leases, let's say it's city hall to the joint powers authority.

The joint powers authority leases it back to the city.

If the city were to fail to pay its lease payments, there are two remedies available to the bond trustee on behalf of the bond owners.

First, it could enter and release the city hall, but that's not a very practical solution in the context of a city hall.

Now not clear that a court would allow that.

The second remedy is to simply sue the city on an annual basis for its lease payments.

There's no right to sell City Hall to someone.

It's not a collateral like your home is subject to a deed of trust when you uh borrow money to buy your home.

So who makes the debt service payments?

So the joint powers authority will make the debt service payments, but it only pays it from one source of funds, and those are the city's semi-annual lease payments made under the sub lease agreement.

Because the city cannot use those funds that we got from the bonds.

So the bond proceeds will be placed into a trust account with your bond trustee and will be requisitioned so as to maintain an excellent uh trail of withdrawals.

Um it will be withdrawn for project costs of the aquatic and community center.

So periodically the city will submit a requisition to the trustee for a million dollars to pay for you know the installation of concrete and steel, and that will be kept by the trustee as a record.

And this is all because the IRS says that certain entities we couldn't do this ourselves.

So the California Constitution limits the ability of cities, counties, and school districts to commit future year revenues without a two-thirds vote.

The lease structure does not involve a commitment of future year revenues.

It is an agreement on an annual basis to pay lease payments in consideration for leased asset.

If, for example, the city hall was the least asset and it was destroyed in an earthquake, the city would not be obligated to pay lease payments for it.

That would be a debt.

So what what the financing structure does, it includes uh insurance, casualty insurance, and an amount sufficient to repair and replace city hall, and it includes two years of rental adoption insurance to make sure that you have enough time to pay your lease payments while it's being constructed.

That's how this has been structured to maintain a high credit quality financing, but maintain consistency with the California Constitution.

Okay.

Thank you for explaining it again.

I know you explained it a couple three weeks ago, but it's not easy to read the words and see the see how the funds are moving around.

So thank you.

No, thanks.

Councilmember Francois.

No.

Um I just wanted to say for the record, I did go back and watch the presentation that I missed while I was um out of town, and so have an understanding of the city council's role, whether we be acting as the joint powers authority as the parking authority or as the city.

My only real question here, it sounds like the sole combined power that we're looking for between the city and the parking authority is the ability to lease.

That's the only real power, joint power that we have.

That's the well, that's the extra that's the common power that the authority is going to exercise.

It has a statutory power to issue lease revenue bonds to the extent it receives lease payments, but that's a separate power from the city and the parking authority.

And it's important to understand the way joint powers authorities work.

The debts of the joint powers authority are not a debt of this of its members.

So it the parking the joint powers authority has an obligation to pay debt service on that bond from one source of funds from the city's lease payments.

It's not a debt of the parking authority, it's not a debt of the city.

Those that debt remains with the parking authority.

That's right.

Okay.

All right.

I am glad that you understand the pictures.

And this, like all of these arrangements, I understand them in an ephemeral way at the time the point is being made.

So thank you for that.

Um, if there are no other questions, I will open it up to many member of the public who might have a question.

Seeing no one, I will bring it back up here to the council.

And we have the recommended action up here.

If there are any I personally, I didn't get a chance to say this because I wasn't here last time.

This seems as boring and dry as popcorn, but it is really exciting to be on the verge of being ready to issue bonds to build something that we have been hoping to build for almost 20 years now.

So I I don't want to minimize this by talking about it being as dry as pop.

I really appreciate where we are.

So but it's also really important that we get it right.

Yes.

Yes, and I appreciate the care are very important, and that we all have an understanding as best we can of how this is working because it is a serious step, and we must get it right.

Yes, and we take our obligations under this.

So I'll make the first motion, move to adopt the resolution of the city council of the city of Walnut Creek authorizing the execution of a joint exercise of powers agreement for the establishment of the Walnut Creek Joint Powers Financing Authority.

I'll second that.

Roll call, please.

Councilmember Silva, hi.

Mayor Darling.

Hi.

Councilmember Divini.

Council Member Francois.

Mayor Pro Tem Wall.

Motion carries unanimously.

Keep going.

Your Honor.

All right.

Um I move to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Walnut Creek declaring the intention to reimburse expenditures from the proceeds of these lease revenue bonds to be issued by the Walnut Creek Joint Powers Financing Authority.

I will second that.

We'll call.

Council Member Sova.

Hi.

Mayor Darling.

Hi.

Council Mr.

Divini.

Council Member Francois.

Mayor Pro Tem Well.

Motion carries you.

Okay, I'll be the parking authority.

I will move to adopt the resolution of the Board of Directors of the Walnut Creek Parking Authority authorizing the execution of the joint powers, joint exercise of powers agreement for the establishment of the Walnut Creek Joint Powers Financing Authority.

Second.

Thanks.

Matt's it.

Mayor Darling.

Hi.

Councilmember Francois.

Hi.

Councilmember David.

Hi.

Councilmember Silva.

Hi.

Mayor Pro Tem Walk.

All right.

And with that, we are ready to do stuff.

Now we will move on to consideration and direction on the request for proposals framework for the general plan update.

So Principal Planner Crystal DeCastro, come forward and provide the staff presentation.

Okay.

Good evening, Mayor Darling, Pro Tem Wilk, and members of the Council.

I'm Crystal DeCastro, Principal Planner in the Community Development Department.

The following item for consideration is a consultant request for proposal for the general plan update.

As an overview of tonight's presentation, it includes a brief summary of the general plan requirements, an outline of the consultant's request for proposal or RFP framework, a review of community engagement, and then conclude with council's feedback on the proposed RFP framework.

Earlier this year, Council identified the general plan update as a top priority for the city.

The update will establish a vision through 2050.

The general plan goals, policies, and actions provide a blueprint to guide decision making across all aspects of the city's physical, social, and economic landscapes.

It will reflect the community's evolving vision and values, address emerging priorities, and ensure compliance with the state law.

So what is the state law require?

The state law requires that the general plan address seven key elements or topics, ensuring important community needs are addressed.

These are listed here on the slide.

Walnut Creek adopted a 2023-2031 housing element and anticipate the safety element to be completed by 2026 or in 2026.

Therefore, the general plan update will focus on the remaining elements.

So for most cities, the general plan update only happens every 20 to 30 years on an average of four years to complete.

So phase one is a launch.

It officially begins once we have a consultant on board to launch the process with community conversations.

Based on community input and council direction, vision and values are established.

Phase two is research and analysis.

Through research and analysis, data will be collected, and technical studies will begin to understand the city's current conditions.

Curving areas such as inventory of land use, the economy and the environment, transportation, and public safety.

Technical studies will look at demographic trends, economic and real estate trends, infrastructure and circulation needs, and GIS mapping will be prepared.

Next, phase three looks at future scenarios.

Scenarios are developed based on community desires, research and analysis, and council direction grounded on the community vision and values.

Each scenario will be evaluated for its feasibility and opportunities for successful implementation.

Concurrently, an initial study will review potential environmental outcomes.

Phase four is drafting the plan.

The draft plan will identify comprehensive goals, policies, and actions to achieve the vision.

A draft environmental document or environmental impact report, also known as the EIR, will formally assess environmental impacts and mitigation measures of the preferred scenario.

Both documents will be available for public review and comment.

The last phase is adoption and implementation.

Both documents will be revised based on feedback that we received.

Once finalized and reviewed by the planning commission, the general plan and EIR will be certified and adopted by council, which will serve as the city's official roadmap for growth and development.

Following adoption, implementation efforts will include updating the zoning code and preparing action plans or amending specific plans as needed to align with the general plan.

It's important to highlight that ongoing community engagement and public outreach are consistent throughout the general plan process, ensuring transparency, inclusive participation at every single phase.

Given the complexity and the scale of the update, staff is seeking assistance from a qualified consultant team to efficiently and effectively update the general plan.

The consultant will assist the city in every phase.

So over the past few months, staff has proactively engaged with the community to obtain preliminary feedback for the general plan update.

This included outreach at the Locust Street Festival and initial conversations with the local businesses through the Chamber of Commerce and Walnut Creek downtown.

At the Locust Street Festival, community members shared what they value most about Walnut Creek, its walkability, shopping and dining options, arts and culture, parks, and most importantly, the sense of safety and community.

From the initial conversations, staff recognizes the need to update the zoning code to support economic growth and increase business opportunities, which will be considered part of the general plan update.

Staff has found that speaking to members of the community and other stakeholders offers greater inclusion, flexibility, and reaches a broader audience.

So a key component of the development of the general plan update is a community engagement framework as it sets the foundation for a successful general plan.

It creates an opportunity to plan with the community, not just for the community.

It brings voices to the table from residents, local businesses, community organizations, and other stakeholders.

It builds shared ownership of the vision and pride in the community.

To be effective, engagement must be inclusive, continuous, and meaningful as it defines the city's vision.

As we prepare the general plan update, a key early decision is selecting the framework for community engagement.

To guide this effort, staff are seeking council's preferred approach to community involvement and engagement.

The more traditional approach is a citizens advisory committee.

This hierarchical approach would establish a general plan advisory committee, also known as GPAC.

Council appointed or invited community members representing various interests by the council.

The GPAC would meet regularly throughout the process, serving as a key touch point for input and helping to shape recommendations to the Planning commission and city council's consideration.

In today's environment, a more modern and inclusive approach, which staff recommends, is a broad based topical engagement model.

This model emphasizes more continuous community participation throughout the planning process by engaging participants on topics they care most about.

Rather than relying on a single advisory body, engagement would incorporate a range of creative tools and strategies to support inclusive and iterative participation, such as targeted workshops, meetings, pop-up events, digital platforms, targeted outreach to interest groups and community-based organizations.

Study sessions will be held to ensure active engagement with the existing commissions.

A summary will be presented to back to council to identify feasibility and to refine the direction before moving forward with the draft elements.

This feedback informs a real-time adjustment and can shift direction as needed.

Lastly, the approach streamlines outreach at key milestones by organizing and simplifying public engagement efforts for a wider audience.

In conclusion, staff request council's feedback on the proposed community engagement firm framework to inform the consultant RFP, and staff are available for any questions.

Thank you for that.

So I appreciate it.

Questions?

Councilmember DeFini.

I had I had um yeah, a questionslash comment.

One was the way we're approaching this, we're looking for it looks like you know, a consultant to sort of be the lead overseer.

And uh, I know there's smaller firms and bigger firms, and some of the the bigger firms might contain everything in house.

One of my concerns about that is that if we have if we engage a consultant that does everything in-house, they might have a sort of prescribed way of doing things already, and there may be um lack of diversity of thought on different ways we can approach different parts of the plan.

So, sort of a comment slash question.

You know, what are your thoughts on that?

So, what we see that works very well is having a lead consultant where they have subconsultants that have subconsultants that are say best in class that are experts in the field of transportation or public engagement, and that's something that really works because although there might be one firm that might have everything, they might not be great at one part or another, but we always see them sub-consult with other subconsultants that have that expertise.

So, sort of the general contractor with um a bunch of what subcontractors.

Yes, so a lead consultant with subconsultants.

And that those would be under the same company umbrella, or they would potentially be subcontracting work out to other agencies that they have a relationship with?

It could be either.

Either, okay.

So that was that was one thought concern.

Um, the other is that you know, so during the do you mind going back to the slide that did the one year, two-year, three-year?

Yeah.

So I don't know where this would fall in or if this is listed in here, but when we say collect and analyze data and perform technical studies under the research and analysis, um is there opportunity here?

Because you know, I think you could you could poll the public here and and do very great workshops, and we could brainstorm on best things to do, but sometimes ideas come from looking around the country and seeing you know what cities we want to be like, or maybe just part of another city, or sort of what's best practice that's already being done, and that's sort of looking outside of of our community.

So, is there where does that fit into this um research and analysis uh phase?

So that would be provided by the consultant.

They'll help guide this effort, and with the consultant, they could look at other examples or sample scenarios or other cities or in other locations that may fit within the context of what we want as a goal and a vision within our units.

We would have a chance to to have a like a presentation on, like, okay, we want to do this thing, and so here's different cities that are doing it different ways to see, you know, because maybe when we're engaging with the community, I maybe even having those concepts, and then they can say, Oh, yeah, you know, we really like that one, or that type of thing.

Yes, that could be built into the framework when we um prepare the request for proposal.

Well, thank you.

Good questions.

I like those.

And I appreciate the presentation.

I know this is the first of many, many, many over several years.

Uh one of the things that I've seen in the past when we've put these, whether it's public outreach or the community conversations together, is that we get that information and then we sort of keep it, and then it goes out to commission and it goes out to council for updates.

What is the plan of letting the public know the steps along the way?

Uh just as an example, even now, we're asked what's happening with the pool heather farm.

I mean, we live and breathe this, we know what's going on all the time, but it it's always interesting to me that public that has been around for years, that's the first day they've heard of it.

So what is that plan, whether it's using social media or whatever else to continually let the public know what's happening throughout the process?

Exactly, and that's a good point.

And what we've learned from talking to other cities is that education is gonna follow throughout the process as part of the ongoing community um engagement that we have because it's it's not only we're preparing a general plan, but we're also educating and informing them of what a general plan is and how important their input is for creating this general plan.

I think that's really key.

I think you hit it on the net uh on the head there is that people hear general plan.

What does that mean?

So that will be key.

I look forward to hearing more about that.

Thanks.

Sure.

Thank you.

Um, I'll just follow up real quick on on this comment.

Is will there be opportunities to take those public the interest and and direct them to the different areas in the committee to say uh oh yeah, you should really talk to this branch over here because you're interested in this and give us your input?

The idea with a broad-based topic-based approach would be going to the different commissions to talk about those.

And there would be city or consultant representatives or say that we would, oh, you're a biking advocacy group, you should like give your input to these people over here.

Yes, that's the direct approach that we would like to take with the topic base where we reach out and have collaboration with the community groups and interest groups so we could get to them directly, yeah.

Councilmember Silva?

You're deep in thought there.

Thank you for the presentation, Crystal.

And I this is really exciting.

It's also a bit daunting, I'm sure.

A bit.

So year run starts with the contract with the consultant, and that will happen before the end of the year.

We hope so.

Yes.

So really year one starts next year.

It's 2026.

And then year two is 27, year three is 28, and year four is 29.

Do I have with my math good?

That is our estimate that we would have something adopted by 2030.

Okay.

Um when it comes to research and analysis, gathering data and input.

How do we we're not gonna paint the town white and then start all over again?

We're not you know clearing and making a greenfield environment for every everything.

How do we address the significant regulatory realities of state law regional policies, etc.

that have to be folded into this?

We don't lose sight of that, correct?

We don't lose sight of that, and that's what we need to have a consultant, help guide us through those processes and understanding how it all comes together with the regional, with the state, with all the laws that are coming into place.

So that's one of the I would assume that's one of the, I would assume that's one of the um vetting criteria and selecting a consultant is it's someone who's not necessarily married to the Bay Area, but not but has a good broad understanding of what's going on at the state level with policy, federal level with policy, and then also the Bay Area.

Yes, they would have to understand the comprehensive needs that we need for this general plan.

One neighboring city has just gone through this process, and one of the shocks that happens because people don't pay attention until it's right in their face.

So you can say we're doing the general plan, we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this, and then all of a sudden they're at the meeting to in year four to adopt the zoning, the implementing zoning changes, and the neighborhoods are going.

They're very upset.

You didn't tell us this, but you know, it was happening.

So it's one of the things I assume the consultant will be guiding us with is public education is not only what do you want, but what has to what are the underlying assumptions that have to remain like Ignatia Valley Road because it's going to carry transportation and isn't going to become a bike lane.

Just thinking.

Matt, what do you think about that?

Um, I think you've answered my questions.

I'm excited about the process and the way to do it because I think it's more iterative and more engaging, and I don't think it's just going to be meetings, everybody give feedback and then walk away.

I think it's going to be an iterative process.

Maybe a little like sausage making.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, great presentation, Crystal.

Exciting process.

Um, you know, I know that you're asking for our input primarily on the community outreach part.

I'm wondering if staff has a thought in terms of from a timing and staff standpoint.

Uh what is the estimate of an going the advisory committee route versus the broad based topical approach?

Is it adding is one you came up with a recommendation to go the topical approach, is that because I'm imagining that it'd be a little more efficient and a little less staff intensive to do that type that form of outreach?

Correct.

With a uh advisory committee, we would have to have notices and pub and hearings, and um that would take more staff time and resources and may increase the budget.

Just as kind of a maybe a more of a practical example then.

So if it's a circulation element issue or topic that you're seeking community input on, first the consultant and staff would go out to the community, and I can tell what you did at Locust Street, and it seemed to work well because you didn't just ask them, you know, what do you want to see in the next general plan and get a bunch of blank faces?

But it was what do you love about Walnut Creek?

And you elicited a lot of good positive responses that are relevant to the general plan.

So you're asking the right questions.

Um but is it on that there'd be a circulation topic?

You do the community input, gather that, and then go to the Transportation Commission and seek their input, let them know what the community said and seek their input on the element.

We believe that would be the way to do it, but we do want to have the consultant guide us through that to be more effective, and the commissions would be more like a study session after we collect all the data that's out there.

Um we hope that when we go out there directly to the community organization or interest groups, we get more of an honest feedback rather than having more of a formal like meeting through an advisory committee.

Okay.

These would be separate meetings, one with the community and then follow up with the Transportation commission.

Exactly.

Okay.

I wanted to build on your question.

Many of these elements are not isolated silos.

The circulation element bumps into parks and nature because there are trails and bike paths, etc.

So, how do we how do you create that environment where it's a little more holistic approach to that walkability applies a lot across the community in a lot of different portions of the elements?

We understand that the elements will be intertwined.

We're looking at perhaps maybe joint uh workshops regarding several topics when needed, but we're hoping the consultant can help us through that as well.

That's a good point because I could see that if you if you get too prescriptive in terms of calling it the transportation element and and just going to the transportation commission really should be focused on walkability or whatever that theme is, like you were talking about.

Having been on the planning commission when this was coming through 25 years ago or 20 years ago, it was the planning commission that had to sort it out, because the impact of having some of the circulation in the circulation element and some was in the nature and open space element.

We had to figure out how to make sure it was consistent, and that was an arduous process, which takes a lot more time than if you kind of get it right early on so that you can see the connectivity.

Yeah, I would just add more generically that the taxpayers are going to be getting their money's worth out of our advisory commissions and your council over the next few years because there will be many, many meetings to review this information to cover those exact points that you both made.

And if I may add that um there's also an ample opportunity, and I would say even an expectation of having joint meetings between commissions to address the very issue that you're talking about.

And I I appreciate you reaching out early on, kind of with a narrow kind of seeking our feedback on what other uh opportunities will there be early on to provide feedback on the structure of the general plan, the organization, if we're going to be focused on specific project areas or focus areas.

I know we don't even have the consultant yet, but I'm imagining that'll happen earlier in the process, that there'll be these check-in points on kind of the structure of the plan and the outline of plan.

Yes, there would be the check-in points, and um we we are thinking of doing a little bit of preliminary outreach at Trunk Retreat as well this month.

Excellent.

Uh, and then in terms of timing for the RFP, obviously you need our input on the outreach program, but is that going out this year, early next year?

We anticipate it will go out this year so we can have a consultant on board in 2026.

Got it.

Okay, thank you.

Sure.

Okay, I think a lot of the ground has been covered.

Um I do agree with the idea of the joint meetings where there are issues that are betwixt and between a couple other things that we're gonna have to wrestle with is our design review commission is relatively short-staffed, and we're gonna have to figure out you know how we have you guys thought about how we can work around that given um as we go forward with this.

I've given it quite a bit of thought actually, and you know, there are the sign ordinance is one example of where there are subgroups, you know, that are meeting, and then having that the ability to work together, you know, with um between the commissions and joint meetings is going to be critical.

Okay, and then um I like the outreach model that you're looking at.

I after when I first started hearing from people that you could actually do it without an advisory committee, I went out and talked to some people and they said yeah, you really can.

Um I'm assuming that in that process you're gonna leverage some of the technology that's come out so that we can make it easy for people to interact with the process, not just seeing that at a street fair, but using online tools and um, things of that sort.

Yes, definitely.

We know that there are several cities that have used this model, right?

Currently, City of Davis, Ohio, and Santa Maria, we know that they have used this type of model.

Okay.

And then I have been through some planning processes that have gotten derailed and wandered in the wilderness for years.

Um which never found the watering hole.

But one of the things one of the common problems that you have to deal with is creating accountability for early decisions, like visions and values, and articulating how a direction to go in a certain way with visions and values can lead what kind of outcomes could that lead to so people understand when they're making those decisions, the ramifications of those decisions.

Have you guys thought about that part of things?

So we would look at the feasibility, and that's part of the community engagement when we're um taking inventory of the existing conditions and looking at scenarios.

There is going to be a give and take, so there, you know, it's not going to be perfect.

So that we hope that the consultant can help us through that process to show the feasibility of certain scenarios and the choices that we have.

And so when we get to the part where you're asking this council to adopt the vision and values, you can have some input to us on feasibility of you know, we can't just wipe out Ignacio Valley Road.

We, you know, we can those kind of things.

That's my favorite one.

I I know, yeah.

There are people that might want to do that.

I don't want to do that.

Um you thought about ways to document those decision points so that we can hold ourselves accountable to standing behind what the decisions that are made.

So if I could offer um, you know, one of the things that we need to do as part of this process is to have a very robust website and essentially chronicles all these decisions and so forth, and that has the body of work that as we go through this process, as you just noted in terms of um value vision um values, etc., and that all these different pieces and then the discussions that took place for both the community and the stakeholders, but also amongst the commissions.

And so it's you know, similar to what's up there right now in terms of the process, it will have a we are you are here now, as opposed to um you might think that you're back at the starting point, but we're really in the middle or toward the end.

Yeah, and and enough data around that so that people can understand what that means.

Because I think it is a good point that there are people that are gonna wake up at the end, what you're doing, what?

So helping people come along on that.

I see you have your hand on the kind of fence whether I was gonna push the button or not.

But um I would just emphasize something you hit on the importance of vision values, principles, creating objectives that will become more defined as we move throughout the project.

Those are extremely important because as you noted, as we work through the project, there will undoubtedly be dissension in terms of what should be adopted, what should not, and really coming back to those vision values, principles and/or objectives to really focus on what is it we're overall trying to achieve to help guide that decision making.

I think that'll be absolutely critical as we go through this for any really high-level project or complex project, coming back to the fundamentals of what is it we are trying to achieve and why can help guide us through those uh somewhat uh ambiguous issues at times.

And my experience has been the more you can articulate why you're choosing a specific value and what you hope to accomplish with that specific value, the more you can inoculate the process against, but you meant, you know, I thought you meant this when you really meant that.

And so that'll be a difficult, it's always a difficult part of the stuff, but you know.

One other we went through two major processes ten years ago with the West Downtown and the north Downtown Specific Plan.

And the West Downtown Specific Plan suffered a bit and had some bumps in the road and effectively started over because they never established clear goals and objectives or assumptions about what would what would change and what was not changing, which is why I make the joke about Ignatio Valley Road, because when we started the North Downtown Specific Plan, we set clear assumptions about what wouldn't change so that everybody knew what the what the rules were.

I mean this could be as simple as we will adhere to the urban limit line.

I mean, sometimes you have to remind people of what is out there.

What are you are you laughing?

Yes, adhering to the urban limit line as a given.

Yes.

Not eliminating Ignatio Valley Road.

Yes.

Well, I mean, I just think that too, we're not I mean, we're not starting from scratch.

There were these plans in in a little in a lot of ways it's putting up these complicated puzzle pieces together consisting of the housing element, the north downtown plan, the west downtown plan, but also coming in with fresh eyes and saying, okay, that was 10 years ago.

And to some extent, it hasn't really launched.

Why didn't it launch?

What what changes and tweaks do we need to make to it as part of the general plan to give it a little bit of a push to get going?

Um I'll I'll lead off the the the comments.

I think we've already done that, but I I'm supportive of the broad based topical approach for a couple of reasons.

I think that um given where we are as a community, as a society, as a nation, uh, I think it's really important for people to as best we can to get people to come together and talk about their common future and vision of their community.

Because th regardless of your party affiliation, every people love Walnut Creek, and you got that when you went to the Locust Street Festival.

And I think if we can provide those opportunities, and there will be several of them for people to come together and see how much they have in common and talk about their shared vision of the community, that's always a good thing.

And I think you we talked about modeling behavior, and I think that that's what we want our community to do.

And I also think that we get the benefit of the advisory committee through the commissions that we have those technical, detailed professionals uh that are providing their input.

So we're getting the best of both worlds by doing it that way.

And it uh so I'm in favor of the staff recommendation and uh excited to see this take off and go forward go forth and prosper.

Go ahead.

I'm in favor of it as well.

I thought long and hard about even starting this process again.

And part of the reason I was I could feel myself dragging my feet was because it is very arduous when you do it the way that we've done it three times prior to this, because it's convening committees and committees have a role and everybody sits in the back and listens, but they don't really have a a dialogue as much.

And you so this is exciting and um dynamic, and the process will be d dynamic as well.

And if we engage with the community early on and make them feel welcome to offer their their input as as we guide them into what this input needs to somewhat not be, but what the pri what we mean when we say what do you want to be 50 years from now, not on the moon.

I mean I don't know, colonize colonize Nevada.

I'm not sure.

But um I think it's uh it will we'll go slow, but we'll end up going faster and more efficiently as well.

I'm gonna jump in just because I'm the mayor, I can do that.

Um I I think I really appreciate the outreach model that you're using.

Um the model of a community advisory group tends to reinforce silos because you pick two people who like bicycles, you pick two people who like business, you pick two people who like parks, and it it doesn't encourage the collaboration that we have the technology, we have the appreciation for now, and I like um Councilmember DeFini's idea of of bringing in innovation from other areas so that people can help see okay.

If you break out of your silos, here's here's the kinds of things you can do.

So I am in favor of the approach that you guys are taking to outreach.

Same.

I think it's a good approach on that.

Sorry, one other question came up, short one.

You know, I think the research and analysis phase is perhaps the most important of all these.

And how do you know when you're done?

Like how what what's the when do you say we've we've we've reached enough people or is there I guess the consultant helps with that?

I mean how we would yes, the consultant would help with that.

And then as we said before, you look at the inventory of what we have now and what we're looking for in the future, and it goes back to the fundamentals of does it meet our values and vision?

Are we getting there?

Are we getting enough information to make establish what we need in the future?

Yeah, I hope that I hope we have a high bar for that in this process.

So I support the the proposal.

Any additional questions you guys have for us that can help you with your RFP?

Are you feeling you're feeling well directed?

I'm feeling very well directed, and the only question I would have of council is are you ready for this?

I I'm ready for this because I don't have a plane tomorrow morning at seven o'clock.

So yeah, I'm ready for this.

Okay.

So thank you guys for that.

I hope you know we are your resource as you guys go forward and um feel free to continue to reach out and we'll get through this and it will be fun.

Thank you.

And with that, is there anything else we need for the good of the order?

Do we need a motion?

No.

In that case, we are adjourned and everybody can go home and get to bed.