e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the 3:30 p.m. meeting of the Bakersfield City Council is now in session good afternoon it's my pleasure to call to order the 3:30 regular city council meeting of August 28th 2024 Madame clerk please call the role mayor go here council member Arius council member Weir here council member Smith I am here council member Freeman council member gray here and council member core council member Gonzalez is here I'm sorry mayor Gonzalez thank you in keeping with council's resolution public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I'll call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card card and place it in the tray on the counter next to the speaker Podium we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on today's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a 2-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for all non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call for you at the appropriate time if public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of decorum established by resolution of the city council failure to abide by the city's rules of decorum including any disruptive behavior that have interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts the meeting May result in expulsion and or the chambers being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speaking out of turn outbursts from the audience and surpassing the two-minute time limit Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda may go we've received no um speaker cards for items not on agenda and then Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items listed on this afternoon's agenda yes mayor we've received three speaker cards thank you and for the record council member Freeman entered at 3:31 uh would you please call the first public speaker Michael turnup seat welcome please introduce yourself welcome thank you very much I kind of expected to be like last two weeks ago we could speak afterwards because we weren't given the information and the presentation in advance so really be the case so if you don't want to speak right now you don't have to we will wait until thank you very much we have the reports and if there is there anybody else Madam clerk who needs to speak at this point they're all for item 3A okay so we'll just wait until we hear the presentations um would you please read the next item please reports item 3A improvements to the development review process Mr C thank you mayor and Council we have a series of team members who are going to help with this presentation today but I get to kick us off so the first thing that I will say is that uh this is an update we don't have an action item that's in front of Council on this we have lots of work to do still in this area but we want to report back to the council that we've been working diligently over the last six um plus months on several uh pieces of this initiative and wanted to just provide that update to council today as you'll see on the screen of course this is a very high Council priority in fact for the listening public um uh a year ago we sat in workshop with the city council and identified priorities of the city council and I will uh uh acknowledge that we have a fairly aggressive work plan that has more than 40 different priority initiatives but we never narrowed down even amongst those initiatives the top 10 and the number one priority of your council at that Workshop was creating greater ease of the development process so this topic today is your number one priority that was identified um we have created a number of different areas because it's not just one or two things that we think we can do to be better so we created a number of different areas where we're going to streamline processes offer and create new tools and Technologies and resources to help with this look at Best Practices and other uh uh areas but also really listen to the community so we've created a stakeholder Advisory Group of developers that are from our Bakersfield community and we've brought them together with us several times to just a couple first times was just to listen about their thoughts and ideas around the development process but then also bring them back and share with them some of the ideas that we had had and we're going to continue we thank them for their time and effort cuz um it's you know it's a volunteer effort on their part but continue to come back and share with them you know we we heard you suggest this we think this gets at that but we still want to hear it does it really and and continue to have that feedback loop with our stakeholder Advisory Group from the development Community also as I noted at the beginning we're going to have several uh individuals from our team come up and talk about this because it's not just a singular Department you know this covers multiple departments development process uh itself just going through the permitting process um it covers multiple departments but then also there's uh work that departments do that are in support of trying to have make sure we have good projects happening uh good things coming forward and then just wanted to reflect you know for a couple of minutes on you know what is the overarching goal here in the ease of the development process and being a developer friendly Community we have you know public made the statement in our strategic plan and Council goals that we want to be the most business friendly city in California uh we did acknowledge the California piece there because we know sometimes there are some regulatory challenges that we deal with here as a member of the State of California that aren't totally within our control but here in this context we want to be the best uh that means that things are um predictable it means that things are consistent it means that we've again we've tried to make it easy and streamline there are some obligations that we have as uh the public entity to make sure that life and safety codes are upheld and that you know we're also being thoughtful and strategic about land use development patterns but outside of that it means that we're finding Solutions and finding ways to get to yes not ways to get to no and again the two things that we've heard most from our developer stakeholders are that you know that we needed to be predictable and we needed to be consistent timely and so so again it's it's even not not to say that of course you know we're looking hard at how do we make it cheaper but even it's not always just about the fees uh folks are willing to um contribute what is fair if they know that they can get it done timely and predictably and so we're working towards that end and so we'll walk through several different pieces today for how we've been um moving down that path but of course recognize as I mentioned that uh there's much more to do um but we're we're we're making progress so with that I will turn it over to Mr Hen who has been helping coordinate the efforts amongst departments to work on these different facets of this initiative good afternoon Gary Howen assistant city manager excited to share this topic uh We've uh as as city manager CS mentioned we've poured a lot into this over the last uh not only six months but goes back uh a few months prior to that so this is being a a high priority it involves a lot of departments so I want to go through kind of our uh the meat of our presentation today and then introduce those that will come up and and share um because it won't just be one of us who takes uh uh the line share of this so I'll just quickly go through our agenda topics we'll we'll first talk about that developer and internal feedback we we've done two surveys at this point both in uh 2022 and 2023 so we'll share a few of those results results they were both qualitative and quantitative so it it gave uh meaningful feedback uh we have a red team this is not our White Glove team which uh we we've talked about before but this is a cross- departmental team that is in the system in the permitting system in the development review system that's giving us feedback on what's working what do we need to tweak uh and that's been meaningful uh We've we realize this is Phase One and it's a continual process we need to get better and so we'll talk about uh some of the progress we've made during this phase one phase and then in future uh we'll then have our our brand new uh development services director Mr Phil burs come up and talk about uh the online permitting uh where where that's at and how that's going to improve uh in in a short time uh and then he'll also share the set time frames uh that we've landed on on some of our planning uh processes specifically the the site plan VI um after Mr Burns we'll have Jenny buers come up and talk about our business success team this is the the white glove team that that helps uh those looking to develop here those that are here and want to expand um how do they do that and and what's uh the best way to to help them how that ties to uh many efforts that we're already working on from a Economic Development strategy uh we're going to hear from a couple of our developers that I've invited uh to share some of their feedback one that's actually in the proc process right now of developing uh a project um so you'll hear a couple messages there and I've also invited our developers that we've had some of these feedback sessions with to come up and share uh some of the feedback so you can hear uh hear that process we're we want to hold a mirror up we want to have folks tell us how are we doing how can we get better um and that's part of the process um we'll we'll get a little bit into the next phase what we want to come back to this council with of new uh new improvements after this phase one and then um we'll have a close out of how this relates to the mission and goals of uh your Council so I'll first touch on our survey uh this is a a little bit of a complicated chart but I'll try to go through it uh briefly we as I said we've done two surveys one was in 2022 and then our last survey conducted was in November of 202 three the reason I share that exact date is because that was the date that our online permitting system was down I just so happened uh to be we had the survey out for three weeks and the system went down after week one the survey was out so timing is everything uh so the survey results in 2023 do not share a very good story but again we want to hold the mirror up and and see uh you know how we look and and how we can get better a couple of just uh quantitative data that I want to share and and we're asking you know basic questions you know how easy is is our process um and and we ranked it from five would be the score of five would be the highest you're doing really well or the score of one would be you're not doing so well and then what you have there is the average for both the developer responses and then we also wanted to ask our internal staff that work in this process you know give us a self sense assment uh so we have our developer column our staff column and then a blended column a couple of those questions down at the end um of this of this section we're showing are you know would you pay for or or feel that in a preapplication meeting would be valuable we got some good feedback from developers however they didn't want to pay for it so there was that that that feedback so we're still looking at that as a future phase um I think the qualitative I summarized there they they can see that we have a desire to improve and they they like that they want to see that we're being Innovative we're looking for ways that we can improve and so some of those comments you'll see that you know it's it's a friendly environment um when we compare ourselves to those that are down south on environmental review uh many of those environmental reviews take a long time and sometimes it's an entire eir is required on many projects but uh we we have found ways to do that uh better and faster so you're seeing that in some of those some of those comments there just a few more questions on the survey I I won't dwell too much on this but I think the the main point on the qualitative data you will see that we have an opportunity to improve um because the survey the timing of the survey in November of 2023 that's that's a baseline it is a low bar but I think there's opportunities to improve I again summarize ized some of those uh qualitative uh comments of where were we seeing these comments frequent frequently and upgrading the online imp permitting system was obviously highest on our developers list because the system was down so we know that's an area that we can improve we also heard that communication between our public works department and our development services department and maybe some of these other interdepartmental Communications was not where it needs to be and so that was also a high priority as number two um they they mentioned that uh staff could could be trained and that could help uh so we we realize that's an that's another area and then and then more just on customer service and clear guidelines which is things that the red team actually identified as well so the the feedback from our developers the feedback from our inal group align so that tells us these are the areas that we can we can focus on um we had two different sessions with everyone in the city that touches the development re review process and these two sessions so I've talked about the two surveys these sessions were hosted by Nick KD um we hired Nick KD to come in and look at our processes talk to our teams train us on things that we can do to specifically Target these steps in the process and he he did some great sessions where he taught our teams he gave them tools taught our teams how to do process mapping which is a really interesting concept where you look at each step in the process you identify it what's a decision point and does that need to be made and is that important and our teams are already using that we're seeing some successes and and director Burns will will talk about uh that in our site plan review um he had another session where we talked spefic specifically about site site plan review because we heard some feedback of there's that's an area where we can focus on and that that uh process resulted in a set time frame which Mr brms will talk about and everybody in the in that room all 65 of us that work on the development review process all came out of there with an agreement of here's here's where we need to go so that was that was a a pivotal moment and and good improvements as part of this process I've talked a little bit about the red team team but I want to identify them because they have been valuable to me I meet with them on a regular basis and we talk about what are areas that we need to focus on I've had Ernie Medina from City fire I've had Adrien Castro uh Susanna cormeny uh Tony hakz Jason humph Martin lezma Uh Kevin trolson and uh Chris Hines all of those individuals touch the development process somewhere and and they've been valuable of giving feedback not only to each other and talking to each other but to the to the rest of their teams that they work with of you know here's what we're talking about here's where we need to get better um and most of it is communication informing each other and being uh more a part of the process but that team can definitely uh continue to move in in the right direction we can see some good teams coming at uh good things coming out of that team uh the last thing I want to mention is uh we we did have some sessions with our developers um and it wasn't just developers we also had engineers at the table Architects those that submit these plans and and go through this process and uh we in fact we had some followup with with blae Neptune because he gave us uh four pages of of information on on areas to improve which I love you know if if he's if he's in the middle of this I want to hear from from our Architects and Engineers on how do we get better we had a session with uh Dave dmowski and the whole Builders Association on you know H how can we improve and I I talk through some of these uh continuous improvements and and we'll continue to go back to them and seek that uh that input and that advice because we only get better as as they are our customer and and they can help us get better so this will be a continuous improvement process so with that I will turn it over thank you Mr Howen um this my opportunity to talk to you guys a little about our system upgrades and I kind of want to step back before I move to our our new system and talk about some of the other items that have happened over the last six months um our project deck system is our plan review system and about March of last year we had a pretty major upgrade and that was some of the the downtime was related to uh that upgrade uh which also provided additional transparencies which I'll get to in a little while but these upgrades are intended for the customer experience right our applicants make things easier to use make them transparent that way it's clear where a project is in the process what needs to be done and if there's a delay on both City side or the applicant side it it's there it's clear um this what we're what's shown right now is our Clarity system and this is actually on the city side it's it's a dashboard that each individual person uh City employee can create their own specific dashboards they're able to set it up so that they could track the type of projects that they review again trying to ease a process if they know they have 10 projects it's going to show them the 10 projects that they need to take care of um along with that we start getting into the customer side this is a new permitting system not a new plan review system so it's that interface that will allow the applicants to create an account to be able to submit the various type applications to process their plan reviews in one location to do their inspections pay the pay the bills get their job card and I'm going of walk through that to go over the the the process so as as an applicant once you set up your uh profile you're going to have your home you're going to have what's my permits so you're not going to see um everyone's permits but if you have a business account and you're a subset in that business account I'm going to have access to all of my permits for that business so if I am a home builder and maybe I'm the person that submits the plans but I'm not the person that does the inspections long as I'm part of that business now I have have access to that that permit and all those records same thing with the application so again trying to provide those intuitiveness and make it more user user friendly once a permit is applied for again moving towards the the transparency you'll see that blue box that application that's a ribon that's going to be found in all of our our new permitting system that shows an applicant Where You Are so at this point in this particular one it's only an application that's been submitted it hasn't been uh accepted for review so there's other other tabs there that the review the issuance it's under inspection certificate of occupancy again is showing that in ususer where we are in the process below that you're going to see some different items details inspections task I'm going going to get to that in a second um intuitiveness our current system it's based on an old mainframe system it's very it's kind of clunky this is more of your hey Google Maps I'm going to start typing an address is going to start fing those valid addresses it's that type of intuitiveness that this cloud-based system is going to bring to our our pring system just to make it easier um I talked about our plan review system still saying what this this integrates completely with the plan review system so that an applicant doesn't have to to log into one system to uh submit my plans another system to check the status and a third system to pay it's now one one location talking about a little more of the transparency because that that that is something that our developers have asked where's my project this is a current plan review uh routing slip and it provides a a detailed um record of where our project was who reviewed it who is the coordinator does the applicant have it does the city have it this is out there for every single project so there is no question if someone wants to know a status of a project this is available online to both the applicants and and the applicants kind of touching more up on our the new system a little bit is my permits um current system you have you have to go record your own numbers yourself and know where where your permits are this when you log in as your business account you're going to have exactly your list of of what you've applied for and their statuses again providing that added uh transparency to our our applicants same thing with the inspections it's going to have those inspections so for instance if I am a superintendent and you know I'm not at the job site I can pull up my inspections and see actually what those uh results were that day and further we're moving electronic on the corrections so now I can go to my corrections I can then get a hold of my you know uh maybe inspection supervisor and go hey I disagree with this now my inspection supervisor also has access to that so it's it's going to provide a quicker um way of communicating between uh our field staff and and office staff the uh approved records right now our approved records are over in one one system you have to come down sign for a job card you get your receipts um and you have to those are multiple locations this now consolidates those records into one files location so if I had to permit a approved plan here I would have my approved plan set I would actually have my job card I would have my signed permit if I um a home builder and I get my certificate of occupy this is where it's going to show up so everything is going to be in one spot for that project again providing that ease of use and transparency our our new system right now uh is almost done with its uh migration efforts staff is doing testing as we say I sent out email before this meeting for our training schedules we have eight planed training sessions uh those training sessions will also be placed on the City website uh we have about 170 or so developers that do business with the city all of those uh developers have been sent the the email training for those eight sessions so they're able to either do a virtual session or a inperson session again we don't just want to roll out a new system we want to make sure that we have supported that system and our development Community is able to process permits um Mr Howen talked about our process mapping and when start looking at our various development processes and this this is yes it's small I understand you guys can't read the text and that was done on purpose but this this is what staff went through to look at a site plan review to look at all the different places and where a decision was made and assess do we need to keep that uh decision point do we need to modify that decision Point how is this impacting both staff and a developer or is it something that's a legal requirement so all those it were were assessed and again this is just one example of one type of permit the staff's trying to go through and and uh address and this a little blow up and just showing you kind of an example of what one of those decisions would mean in that process so there's there's a a lot of work that that's been done on the on the staff side to really look at our process and try to to ease it part of the um process too is how do we convey this information to the public staff developed a two-page brochure this is part of that brochure just to kind of uh make it easier to kind of convey the what was discussed at one of our staff uh meetings with the the 60 plus people is that department review that second one from the left um that section in that meeting was agreed upon that we within 15 working days business working days if a project was sent to that site plan review committee all comments would be be completed and that was so that our overall process we could get it done 30 35 days trying to get it closer to that 30 days so if you turn in something from site plan review you have those comments well planning staff cannot process their piece without getting all the comments back from the individual departments so we had some departments that were five days others maybe were 25 days so it is to F provide uniformity and that's really important because it provides certainty to the developers and that's really what they're looking for is that certainty um I kind of alluded to already that site plan review checklist and that's something else we're trying to work for as we're working through these different processes to also create that additional layer of of um brochures or pamphlets that we can put on our website to provides more clarity on the process so it's it's not just a new system but it's it's what can we do better overall and that's kind of what the this St City staff's trying to do um as far as easing our process and just to touch upon real quick before I hand it off to Mr CLE um we've seen a five to seven days overall per application average on this side point of view uh far as reducing the amount of time frames we're still trying to trim that further but that's kind of where we are today and we we know that on that pre-screen side we're looking at some of those days and able to um based on some some new reporting maybe get those from uh five days down to maybe two days so I think we're going continue to trim off times to make things quicker and better for the developer Mr yeah thank you Mr Burns uh we I just wanted to highlight for Council again that we have seen already a significant reduction in the amount of time to get through site plan review because we dug in looked hard at the process found some ways to cut some steps out found some ways to streamline we also believe again that the technology tools which you know we we had initial initially one piece about a year ago and then we've had the second piece coming in now that's going to enhance the user interface significantly um and those technology tools are also going to help us along with this process review but this is just for Sight plan review we use this as our first uh pilot uh uh um example we've uh made a guarantee of that that 15 days here and that's the standard that's for any typical I mean that's across the board all site plan reviews we're looking at that time frame and many will be faster than that this is just the first so we're going to also continue to go through each of our um permit types or review types and we're going to develop guaranteed time frames for all of them this was just the first one and so we've actually already been we're not ready to unveil some of those but we've already started some of the conversation about what our what do we think our reasonable starting points for some of those time frames I'll admit that you know there's a mix of opinions and there's some of us are saying no I think we're going to get it a little bit shorter than that um and uh we're you know pushing hard but we're going to have guaranteed time frames for all of those permit types across the board the second piece that I will suggest also is we've had some feedback from our uh development Advisory Group that there may be uh some uh either um high volume uh types of activities or high-profile types of reviews where we want to even create a a a a distinct um timeline tier that we're exploring where there are some you know communities that say if you you know if you pay a premium and you use a preapproved review or excuse me pre-approved list of um firms that um you know are very familiar with our processes we could even offer a a different tier with a different time frame um but again under a certain set of conditions we're even looking at at that as well is that you know for certain instances where a premium is is needed or warranted it would be available with even a different set of timelines we want to continue to work hard to work across the board and get um improvements for all of our review processes but then we're going to go to that next level as well and look at can we even have a faster tier for some of those um projects that are again coming at a premium uh with that we'll turn it over to miss buers to walk through a couple other pieces okay thank you um city manager Cay as city council knows the economic development department was established in 2020 we previously were a part of development services and so moving out from there and making it a department we went through the process and did an economic development strategic plan it includes 17 goal or 17 strategies and 77 actionable items to make these 17 items but what I wanted to talk about today was two of these and two of them the number one is to focus on business retention expansion and attraction efforts around our industry clusters and so as we talk about uh streamlining these are one of the ways that we get our businesses to expand this is a way that we get our businesses to attract new development here is by having the Streamline process as well as having a strategy to elevate the city's reputation for business development friendliness we know that that is one of council's top priorities for us but it is included as well in our strategic plan there are actionable items uh for business friendliness we have four action steps three of which we're talking about today uh and those include establishing a formal business success team composed of highlevel Representatives of key City departments focused on expediting approval of major development projects and that's really this process that we've been going through for the past year having uh directors involved having the red team involved trying to find ways that we can streamline and um not pass off from one Department to another we also have established ongoing Forum with development Community we haven't developed this as a formal process yet but as Mr Howen explained uh we have done the survey for the two years so we are starting our engagement with the development Community uh we've met with the homebuilders association and so trying to establish those relationships and having an ongoing Forum that the development Community feels that they can reach out to us that they have access instead of being shut out from the process and I think that's one thing that they've uh struggled with a little bit in the past before is how do we get to this point that we get our building permit approved we're stuck in the system and we don't know how to get out and so we're working on those relationships so they know who to contact UM in this process and then the last thing is to launch a formal development coner program at City Hall we've kind of been calling this the white glove treatment this is where um again we have those relationships with developers they feel like they can reach out to us and not be um dinged or have their project set back because they have opposed something that we've done we've heard that before from some of our developers that um can this be an Anon Anonymous survey just because they haven't wanted to put their name out there as one that's going to complain about a city process because they have applications in and so as we look at this white glove treatment or development coner that's really some of the goals of the programs um so our business success team when we talk about true Economic Development and the city's role in economic growth we have a lot of incentives we had a lot of programs that we work with but when it comes down to it what can the city truly control when it comes to economic growth what do we have absolute control over because that's also one of the complaints about submitting a building permit they can't go to anyone else it's not like they can get different quotes or anything they are stuck in our process and so what is it that the city can do in order to control and provide economic growth the first one's going to be infrastructure and that's our in uh essential Services police fire water sewer those are all classic uh City functions and um when we look at things like sewer we have the project that's going through Southeast Bakersfield for a sewer line it hasn't been able to develop uh unfortunately it's in Ward one and Eric is not here tonight but that project just the sewer line is really providing the backbone of future growth in that community and so that's where we're going to see a really new community pop up just because a sewer line is being run through the area but the biggest topic for me for economic growth uh that the city can control are the regulatory items uh things like the building permit process every developer I've ever asked what do you think I can do to assist the answer is always get me through the building process quickly time is money if you tell me 3 weeks mean it uh because I'll have a Contractor on standby waiting to go and if we are behind that contractor will move on to another project and so I'll frequently get calls help me get through this because my contractor is leaving come Monday and so um that's one of the things as a city that we can control directly is our regulatory issues permitting um zoning those type of things that we're working really hard to do and provide for Council and provide for the community uh when we talk about recruitment of businesses we get asked sell me me sell me on your city what do you have and that's one of the quality of life things that we talk about it's also number 11 of our strategy is to launch a Citywide quality of place initiative and so we're going to be working on that but the work that we're doing is creating that narrative about what makes us special I know what makes us special I on purpose came back home to live in the city of Bakersfield um because I wanted to be a part of this community and I wanted to be a part of its quality of life we have 20 30 miles of class one bike Lanes we have activities restaurants shopping for the ninth largest city in California we have some amazing things and that becomes part of our narrative for quality of life um quality of place and then the last thing that we can do uh for the city to provide this economic growth is our work that we do with our local business Community we have incentives EA entrepreneurship Workforce Development but it's also where we built this ecosystem around the needs for small businesses we've done that with our Partnerships with our financial institutions with our educational opportunities but also our role in the regulatory uh process so with that um I've talked about the relationships that we've created and the strategies to elevate the city's reputation we have a couple of guest presenters first I'm going to uh ask up Jeff rrum with bolt House properties and then after that we're going to have Troy H Hancock with California daries just to present what their experience has been with the city of Bakersfield so no you're on the other side hi it's nice to meet you there you go thanks so much welcome okay I know you're a little bit taller yes sorry okay I'll be very brief I've only brought up uh play Neptune and Freddy Porter's Eight Pages of notes and comments uh to share so Jeff etram uh vice president development at bolt House properties uh we're a family company we've been uh here in Bakersfield for uh a very long time uh and have development opportunities for 30 40 years out here within the city of Bakersfield so we we certainly have a bested interest in this we appreciate very much having a seat at the table I think I speak for the development Community HBA um the the staff Gary Christian Phil uh has been very engaged enging and trying to get us to the table and and ask what the needs are um we are the ninth largest city that means growth that means implementing the system the system I love holding up a mirror today uh it's appropriate that we're having this today since the system's down right now too uh send the survey back out and uh and and we'll see where it goes um but no the system is uh the upgrades are are needed uh the upgrades are appropriate and it's it's really working out those Kinks and and we appreciate the opportunity to be able to uh to share where we're at uh I think the transparency is fantastic and and that starts with the communication back and forth with the development Community what sells Bakersfield I've been here for 12 years now moved up from Orange County so in terms of developers it's a paradise compared to down south um but what sells Bakersfield as mentioned is the time frames and the certainties and we've had that historically and that's what we look to continue to have when we're selling to to home builders within our 7 Oaks neighborhood when we're selling or leasing one of our retail places time is money and being able to explain to them exactly what the time to Market is going to be is extremely important and uh and that's what we're continuing to strive uh to help the city uh and shed some light on that uh I think that one of the things that the inter uh departmental Communications is something that I think is is very very important to continue to progress with uh there's been talks in some of our workshops about a One-Stop shop and bringing in uh Public Works and Engineering uh from uh key members from the the uh subdivision side over under development services uh and Phil and I think I think that would be tremendously positive I know we're supportive of that because sometimes through the site plan review process or or uh plan review proc process it is it's nice to be able to go to one location have those conversations when you come up against something I think we're we incredibly supportive of that effort uh should that be something that you guys try to implement uh and then being a large city I think at the end of the day being able to to if you hit a roadblock in the system still call development services director planning director Paul Johnson and and be able to set a meeting whether it's pre-development we're supportive of of the predevelopment uh i' I'd pay a modest fee for that um I think I said that in the survey uh I I think being able to anticipate problems and sit down with staff that's something that Bakersfield's done for years and even though we're going to the entire electronic system I I think we want to encourage and make sure that that is not lost because we're a big small town at the end of the day and being able to have a a face-to-face conversation with someone is is uh is extremely important during the development process to be able to work through those issues so uh appreciate the opportunity to to come up and talk and and uh yeah I'll turn it back over thank you very much thank you mram thank you for the bolt house investment in our community we see so much growth and really appreciated welcome good afternoon I'm Troy Hancock with California daries let me slip over to this so just to give you some background California daies is uh owned by by a group of Dairy Farmers with the majority located in the Central Valley and a number of those located in Kern County so as part of their desire to continue to to uh produce more milk um they were looking for opportunities to to build a milk plant in Kern County and with that um I was tasked with identifying a location within Kern County that would support this this business model so just to give you a little bit of background um we are actually in the process of building this plant over on gos McCutchen so this plant is a milk bottling plant that will produce ESL and aseptic milk to give you a little more background on what that means ESL stands for extended shelf life aseptic stands stands for shelf stable so this will be the most technologically advanced milk bottling plant in the world so first phase is approximately 200,000 Square fet we're making an initial investment of roughly $210 million we're going to be bringing on staff of approximately 115 people we we have plans and and and based on what we're seeing with customer demand to grow this facility out in in in three phases um third phase will be an investment of roughly total investment of roughly $650 million and we'll will hire a staff of approximately 400 people so with this being the most te technologically advanced uh fluid milk bottling plant in the world we are in need of hiring um that level of educated team members um staff and we've actually found Bakersville to be a great Community where we can attract and and hire that level of of people that we need so we feel very fortunate so just to give you some background on on how this this came about I'm going to share you a little bit more with you so these are the the renderings of of what we're doing this is actually the current state of the of the site this is a recent recent photo so with this being the case um we are um full speed moving moving forward to to bring this side um into production in December of this year so to give you a timeline as to what's happened um we initially reached out to the city of Bakersville The Economic Development Group and I look at Jason back there because Jason was a key partner in this not only did we reach out to the city of Bakersville economic U Development Group we we reached out to other cities within Kern County so in having you know Jason support and the economic development team um partner with this they helped us identify this location they've helped us um you know really understand the process to to bring this side on as quick as possible so we were able to purchase this this location in um uh it was actually June of 2023 so we expect to have like I stated earlier expect to have full production um December of of 2024 so it's it's a quick turn and you know and that's really due to the support of of of Jay and his team you know um Jennifer's been extremely helpful Gary's been helpful and you know Phil so really appreciate the group and the support that's been provided to us to really make this a positive um relationship with the with the city of Bakersfield so for me personally I moved over here with my wife um from Gilbert Arizona so we are now part of the community we are excited to be here um we feel fortunate that that we've been able to move to this this this beautiful location so not only do we feel fortunate that we were able to build uh this plant here I feel fortunate as a you know as a citizen of Bakersville to be part of this community so again um much appreciation to the group and and to all the support that we've been given not to say that we haven't had some challenges and some roadblocks but overall um we feel like we we've had a a voice at the table we feel like we've been heard and when we've had needs they've been uh quickly addressed so thank you all and appreciate the support that we've had so look forward to being a great business partner with the city of Bakersville and appreciate again everybody supp in this project thank you thank you Mr Hancock you use the phrase we feel fortunate to build a plant here and to move your family here the city of Bakers pH and our residents feel fortunate to have you here so welcome and thank you all right U I'm just going to run through this last couple of slides and then turn it over to city manager CLE uh I I did not pay uh Jeff or Troy to come and and share that message they uh they I I did ask them to come and share their experience because I wanted you to hear you know uh their their story uh but exciting uh new developments uh coming uh to the city of Bakersfield um where do we go from here so you've you've heard some of the first phase of our improvements uh some other phases like our next phase of process improvements that we want to get into is is we we know that we need more training with staff you heard the the cross uh communication something that we need to work on so how do we get better at that we need to bring them together and unify these groups um so C customer service enhancement and customer service training is is definitely on the list uh I did we do have on record that Jeff said he would pay for a a pre-application meeting so it's been recorded Jeff I'm sorry uh you can't take that away so we know that that modest I I I did I did qualif he qualified that so uh but that's good it's on record uh so we know that that that pre-application uh effort uh can can be an enhancement I think along with that and this is a message that I always carry with me is do better be better today and that's one of uh the things that is the Mantra of this group uh anyone who's involved in this effort you can only get better by doing it consistently and then you become better you be better and then don't wait for tomorrow to get better we we're going to start today so these enhancements will continue to go on um a little bit on some technology Advance advancements that um director Burns and I have been talking about is we're going to get through this next phase but there's there's future phases of Technology upgrades that we can do uh Clarity the company that we're currently working with has shown us an upgrade where it's an AI application that you answer 20 questions through uh your uh the AI model that they have and then that generates the application instantly um which is would be incredible for our development Community to be able to have something that easy that they can you know hire staff to to get those applications processed uh city manager CLE talked about our permits and having those set time frames we're going to focus on that in this next round of what are those other permits whether it's grading permits or or the like there are are several permits in our in our que that can be over the- counter as well and we need to look at that of what can be uh you know very quick permits that we can process uh director Bruns and I have talked about our adus uh we've seen great progress in these in these last few years of adus and those can easily be over-the-counter permits with uh a basic set of plans that's pre-approved and and pre-approved vendors as uh city manager CLE has talked about and then finally um Jeff talked about it and we've been talking about this for quite some time but we do want a One-Stop shop we we feel that is the right direction to go in having our our uh fire uh we have fire plan Checkers and fire inspectors we've got those at Public Works that touch Land Development um having that all Under One Roof at development services there there is some space and we're we're going to make more space uh over there in the coming coming weeks but it just makes sense no business is successful if they say if I'm a restaurant I say I want you to get your appetizer over there down the street and then get your entree at this other place and then come back here and you can get your dessert no business would be successful in doing that so we want to operate like a business and have one one place where people can get everything that they need and under one leadership so that there's there's no excuses at that point there's there's accountability built in um so with that I will turn on the remainder of presentation now that there's a lot more in the presentation but just wanted to round out uh with this slide of reflection that you know we have established a set of values and principles of City staff of how we're going to function and wanted to just reflect that uh this is consistent you know this process of doing better and how we collaborate with our um business partners how we collaborate with one another uh that we want to be accountable that we want to have Clarity and meet those expectations or we want to to be Innovative and creative and resourceful and coming up with solutions that uh are uh different and we're we're you know we want to what I always say is you know I'll I'll I'll entertain any idea at least once let's let's talk about it let's let's let's dream big and think big here and and you know we aim to be U not just better but we we aim to try things that that if together we say we think it's really going to work nobody else has done it let's give it a a shot let's give it a try we're not going to do that lightly but we're willing to do things that are different um that that make sense and of course strive for a standard of Excellence which again is customer service and it is uh Solutions oriented and it's getting to yes while we're being good stewards of the public trust public dollars and again Public Safety um we see um this is a again a council number one priority uh something that's going to um lead to more prosperity in our community and really be a differentiator uh amongst other competitors that that is really important to us and just weaved throughout with the types of values we're trying to um instill amongst our employees and it's a great um project uh to be able to uh remind and point to that for folks as we work forward with our partners again we we've already taken some steps of course there are Council approvals that will come along the way in certain areas but where we are finding winds that come at the administrative level we're just doing it we're moving but we'll come back and inform Council of those things uh but there will probably be some uh steps where you know we'll want you know Council to acknowledge or ratify some of our timeline guarantees we're going to come back with some resource considerations to the council but this will be an iterative process but we're um you know we have our sleeves rolled up and we're working hard in the space and already making moves but there's many more moves to make with that we're happy to have some questions and discussion thank you Mr CL Mr Howen and staff and now we'll go to the public for comment Mr turnup seed Madame mayor member of the council I'm Michael turnips seed I represent the current County taxpayer Association uh it pays to see the program first before you talk uh obviously all this is very very important to the future of the community uh we looked at Economic Development and changing world eight years ago when oil start started to have its problems and I didn't know much about Economic Development so I recruited Barry hiber to our board for the last eight years we've been working together and I think it's been three or four years that we we've been pounding the idea that we have to get the permitting process fixed because very tells lots of stories of examples in the new world of Economic Development the first guy in if he's happy and says I had a great experience the next guy's coming and the third guy is coming but if he goes ah it was okay they're not going to come and invest 25 3040 $50 million and I think that is where the real key and where this is all going is nothing is more important your Economic Development the b3k being successful and Bakersfield and Kern County reestablishing its economy post oil Decline and a decline because of water issues and other things and uh you're on the right step and an article last week in the LA Times stated they did a survey one-third of the people in LA in Orange County that replied to the survey or were surveyed said we're moving because we can no longer afford to live in Orange County uh we're we're inexpensive especially with t commuting if we're not taking every advantage of that and it's not just the people that live there it's the small businesses that are trying to survive in that environment if we don't uh the opportunity is here we better take care of it thank you Mr turnup seat Madam clerk next speaker please and Dave demski and Madam clerk for the record council member arus entered at 4:23 welcome good afternoon U mayor and council members Dave dwy with the Home Builders Association of Kern County just wanted to thank your staff for a great overview uh we're very interested in the organizational changes that may be required to implement the one stock uh permitting process uh but our board of directors uh had a discussion about your efforts to uh improve the permit streamlining uh of the city and we're we're strongly supportive of your efforts here we do appreciate it I think it's all about creating a culture of helpfulness within the city I think that's essentially what your your staff has said and we look forward to partnering with you on that going forward thank you thank you and next speaker please Blain Neptune good afternoon mayor and council members I want to thank and reiterate what Jeff said the city staff for their efforts with this initiative and and thank Gary and the city manager's office for including the the development Community I support everything I've heard I think it's great streamlining is very important currently it takes about 6 to n months to process the tentative map and 9 to 12 months to get Improvement plans approved I currently have my office currently has 35 subdivisions in design and in development which comprises about 5,000 residential lots the number one question I get from developers and clients is you know how long until I get this approved how long before I get comments back and I can just answer what it takes me to do the design but not how long I get it back so knocking off a month on a tentative map knocking off a month or two on Improvement plans will greatly help this process I support an a One-Stop shop and uh I think it'll be great I will say one thing this is all on the front end and it's fantastic one thing the city should look at too is on the back end right now there's a lot of issues that home builders are having getting occupancy permits based on a notice of completion for a subdivision uh I think we need to look at doing partial loot occupancies you know let people move in before they you know a sidewalk is cracked or or fixed or minor little issues but all in all I appreciate the city's effort it's been a fantastic uh uh opportunity to work with the staff on this and I look forward to Bringing on those 5,000 Lots thank you thank you Mr Neptune Madam clerk are there any other public speakers Mara that was the last speaker thank you very much and to all of you developers thank you so much government does not generate Economic Development primarily it's all of you out there and we really appreciate your input Mr turnup seed you you mentioned Mr Barry Hibbard and we've heard many times from him about our inability as a city to control everything but the one thing that we can control is that permitting process so thank you all for your input staff thank you so much and now we'll go to the council for comment vice mayor thank you mayor uh first and foremost thank you staff uh thank you thank you thank you for hearing the uh cries of the city council certainly our developer community and getting right on this and certainly this is a top priority for the city council and we've said it over and over and over and over and over again and it's C it's very exciting to see a lot of this progress moving forward so uh my hats off to all the key uh uh staff who have been part of this effort for so long um I just want to Echo some comments I love uh the timeline guarantee that was a referral that I had made a while back I'd love to see us establishing guarantees for our developer community so that they can have a sense of uh what what it would take what time it would take that to me is transparency um I love the idea of these feedback loops the fact that through this process we will continue to hear from the developer Community all of our uh all of our applicants so that we can imp continue to improve our process not just one time but continu it uh uh continuously in perpetuity um and I love the idea of the Central Development Office the One-Stop shop it's something we have discussed several times time and time again um I can't wait to get that shop up and running I know that there are some challenges U but uh I'm I'm certain that with the staff that we have at City Hall that we can push through those challenges and we can get that One-Stop shop up and running sooner than later and we'll all be there to celebrate hopefully Mar go will will cut a ceremon or Ribbon of of this One-Stop shop um we were we were going to do that um just a couple of comments one is I I wrote and Jeff I love the fact that you um that you said time is money because I wrote that was my first comment right here and this is every time we this topic comes up I always mention time is money and uh those folks that I represent in downtown in central Bakersfield they communicate that very clearly time is money and so as much as we continue to work and improve our processes I think there's also an improvement in the culture within the city um you know I love the fact that several folks have commented that they can call Paul they can call Phil and we can work with them directly that's wonderful and I hope that we can continue that but my hope really is that anyone who has an issue can talk to anyone up and down the chain of command and get just as has much help and and and that customer service quality is exceptional up and down the system and throughout the organization and and for me this is about getting to yes really really changing the culture from having folks within City Hall who are sort of the gatekeeper for certain U you know code or compliance issues to really being a partner in development and really really trying to change the Nar within the city so that folks feel like they're really a partner in development and that they can um they can really understand first and foremost start with understanding the the needs and the goals of the applicant and they can treat them more like a customer as opposed to um as opposed to uh penalizing them for mistakes or missing information or whatnot um that's a different shift and I'm hoping that we can work towards that through training um Mr Clay can you speak to some of that yeah thank you vice mayor and mayor and councel uh I would acknowledge we've actually done a couple of trainings already and so there's either good news and bad news in there the good news is we're working on it the bad news is there's still work to be done despite having done some of those trainings but we we know that that culture is something that does take time and sometimes it's not even just it's not necessarily A A willingness or unwillingness it's you know that that's sort of sinking into you know almost the you know not just the mind but the soul of the individuals to really just have that be their mindset all the time ongoing and also in some instances um providing you know more and more tools and U examples to those individuals of what does success really look like so uh a year ago we held a customer service Workshop that was internal to the city that we had some of our um best experts on customer service in the in the City do a workshop with staff we also brought out as um Gary had mentioned we have a a government Innovation and um and uh Improvement coach Nick KD um who has worked with our team twice now um and one of those was specifically a customer service Workshop that was targeted just to those individuals who are in the permit review process but we've we have Nick KD on retainer to bring back we we we we want to create some appropriate uh we think sort of time Windows um where we're going to you know provide this training keep doing internal trainings work on those issues and have them come back at you know as whether that's a quarterly or or a six-month type of frequency but we're going to continue to provide those types of trainings that uh are really focused on Solutions oriented customer friendly how do we you know get to yes and and I I will say it is important to make sure that that yes is again it's within legal parameters it's within you know safety codes but find a way to get to the yes absolutely it has to be within all of those things I just think the the the weight has been always towards uh being more punitive than it has been trying to be helpful and moving projects forward and and I want us to to shift our weight towards trying to be helpful as much as possible and really I think that starts with having a clear understanding of what the goals are what what the real needs are of the applicant because that may not be articulated in the application clearly or you know and so being able to First understand that and and having our staff our teams really empowered to to be more proactive in in identifying those needs and being helpful early on um I have another question and then I'll um be done it's related to the business success team what Authority does the team really have to give direction across Department in order to move um applications forward uh that's a good question vice mayor um I think um as the context to to that answer you know we do recognize that for example you know the city engineer you know has some ultimate sign off on certain things and also the Chief Building official has ultimate sign off on certain things and so I will acknowledge that we have not given the business success team necessarily um you know um formal authority to say this is you know that's you know you you have to do it that way but they are uh both facilitators and advocates for uh those project U proponents they have the authority to bring up issues to department heads they have authority to bring up issues to myself where we you know maybe have some roadblocks or sticking points they also have the authority to obviously at at other levels bring that up to you know reviewers supervisors to say um you know help help us understand what really is the issue here and this is what we're hearing from our folks and can we get some clarity can we get some timelines for those individuals and so they're really an ombudsman and a facilitator more than having formal authority to make those decision calls thank you council member Freeman council member Freeman thank you mayor uh and thank you staff and Industry Representatives um I think I think we have the right Concepts I think we have the right goals I think we have the right Spirit um I would say that um more than six months to get an attended map approved is not acceptable as a Bakersville St it might be an LA but uh no one will regard us as business friendly and want to come here if they start hearing it takes longer um to record your map Improvement plans nine months it shouldn't take longer than that um but I guess the only thing I would really encourage because you may already be doing it is that every project every single application of the city needs to be reviewed at least every two weeks we used to do staff meetings because we had a lot of projects out over the country to go but and they might be many hours long and all the people have to be at the table who are responsible every single step of that process did this get done this week or not and why didn't it and the next person the next and the next every single Department every single project meticulously gone over because and with a name by the responsibility if there isn't an Name by okay you were supposed to get the grading permit reviewed this week what happened well pretty soon if you find out well the plans were dirty well did you get back to the developer I mean you're you're supposed to solve problems but if the individuals aren't held accountable at our end for solving the problems not the Builder it's our job to make sure that project was done in six months or nine months it's our responsibility as a city or as Mr turny said we don't get economic activity we don't create jobs we don't get taxes it's we have to take the responsibility and we have to have names on every single thing and part of it is if you if we have meticulous reviews you got to get into the nitty-gritty but the boss has to do that or if we're so big he's got assistant bosses but everything has to be reviewed constantly or those steps don't get taken and it takes 12 months instead of six because we didn't solve the problem right up you find out real quick if it isn't happening I just say the process has to it may sound oldfashioned you go over everything with every people constantly and there's goals and the names by everything but that's the way things get done it is the oldfashioned way so I would encourage you that it's management that gets it done if this the system doesn't manage itself it's individuals being responsible for steps and so we solve the problem and we see the bottleneck um and some and then that includes the fire department sitting at the table and the police department sitting at the table they're all sitting in the same room every two weeks why didn't you get the plants back from the fire department why didn't they get it done somebody's name's on that and heads roll when it doesn't get done it's a serious process those aren't fun meetings we didn't used to have happy meetings they'd go many hours and some people you know got put on the spot when things didn't get done uh but you have to have somebody responsible for their stage that it has to get done within the time assigned or the or those 15 Steps never get done so it doesn't get done in six months so I'd encourage you to if you're doing it keep doing it if you're not look into it uh because it's personal management in the end that makes all this stuff happen okay thank you thank you council member Freeman council member gray well good afternoon gentlemen first of all I want to thank all you Developers and Builders to come and to speak to us and be part of the process because there's no way we can make Corrections if we don't know what to correct and you all have been a vital part of that um when I first came on the council three years three and a half years ago um the permitting process was something that was bugging me and I had meetings with development uh with small Builders I speak to you today not as a city council woman but as a small business owner who who built uh homes and had a very successful Remodeling Company here in Bakersville for 41 years and so I have a little bit more um uh experience but not as a developer so today what I heard was the the development process is you know number one we've got to get new development in to be able to grow our city and I appreciate that Troy the what you the investment your company has made in Bakersfield with over 5 00 people going to be hired in your company I mean or more that's amazing so thank you for coming and sharing um but I think I'm going to be speaking on behalf of the small builder in Bakersfield the remodeler the ones that's doing the oneoff the ones that are replacing air conditioning units and doing remodeling kitchen and bath like we did at Dream Maker Bath and Kitchen those are the those are the builders that contractors that I'm speaking on behalf of today because I believe that our department uh building department needs to be well balanced that no matter if you're a small Builder like we were or a remodeler or your large developer we're all part of this city we're all making a difference and whether we're holding up 5,000 homes or a woman that excuse me has been dreamed of her new kitchen for 25 years and now we're we're holding that up because you know we can't get it done it's important that we're a well balanced um develop uh building department so I want to excuse me um I want to commend the culture that you all are working on Mr Burns Mr Cay that you're really building this company culture we had a a written code of values in our business and Superior customer service was at the top of the list and we've got a provide provide Superior customer service but below that was that we've got to rearn our positions every day and every way and just because XYZ developers had a great um relationship and a great experience doesn't mean that ABC will unless we understand every time a new developer a new contractor whether small or large steps up to that desk or puts that application in online that they're important to and building thaty company culture where accountability as our my colleague um council member Freeman has spoke of that's extremely important so that's re earning our position every day and every way and it's kind of an easy thing to think about um I want to remind you that um at one time a small contractor could go and get a permit right at the desk over the county service I want to remind you because Mr Burns and I have had meetings with some of these gentlemen that don't have a staff you know we I did I had an office manager that could could manage some of this but a lot of these Builders they don't have a staff they're contractors they know how to use a hammer they're electricians they're plumbers they don't knew they don't know technology they don't know how to get on the um internet and start working through the process so I would encourage the building department that you keep those people in mind that you are able to work with those that don't have staff to be able to support their effort because again time is money and uh they need to be able to get right on on those projects so I am just excited that you all have taken this so seriously that what I've seen today I'm thrilled with I I'm it sounds to me like the developer out in the audience are thrilled with it and um we are just going to keep getting better like um uh Mr Howen said we're just going to keep getting better day by day building on what what we're doing and I'm amazed at at how much progress we have made as a city so thank you very much thank you council member gray council member Smith thank you mayor and thank you staff I like council member Freeman was on the other side for 30 plus years as an engineer and developer and Builder and uh Mr turnup SE mentioned you know three or four years he's been talking about it well I've been talking about it for 30 years and 12 years I've been on the council um a lot of good direction I guess specifically the the One-Stop shop everybody says yeah yeah yeah and we've talked about that for a few years now and we got to get past yeah yeah and actually make it happen um the T of map timing I will say when I first started processing ten maps in the city of Bearfield they had a calendar if you got to the planning department before 5:00 you turned in took your check you get a date 45 to 60 days you go to Planning Commission and I know we're a lot bigger now and slower but again I agree 6 to n months for a ten map you know 3 to four months is very doable we're we're just we're continuing development the the sewer there the water there the the streets are there and we exit the conditions are the same every time it doesn't make sense that it takes six months to get a ten of map and I would agree on the other side also that bla NE to mentioned on the notice of completion and when I developed in the county for years they they would give you notice of completion forever while you were working out the punch list and you know you you've got the city has the letter of credit there's no Financial Risk for the city and as long as you you know there there's no health and safety issues you know the streets pav the drainage is in and you're working on punch items then you should be able to to move people in so the culture of helpfulness the culture of how we make it happen uh I know it takes time but anxious to get there thank you thank you council member Smith receive and file motion to receive and file you have a motion please cast your votes motion was approved with council member core absent thank you and thank you again to all of you staff thank you also uh we stand adjourned at 4:50 and we'll reconvene we'll start the next meeting at 5:5 te [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] [Music] welcome to the Bakersfield City council meeting this television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies the county of karna and the City of Bakersfield you can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 700 p.m. Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and the following Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. you can download the agenda for this meeting at www. bakersfieldcity.us preci over this evening's meeting The Honorable mayor Karen K go good evening it's my pleasure to call to order the 5:15 regular city council meeting of August 28th 24 Madam clerk please call the role mayor go here vice mayor Gonzalez council member Arius here council member Weir here council member Smith I am here council member Freeman here council member gray here and council member core thank you welcome to all of you and we are very happy that you're here to engage in the Civic process we have the pleasure tonight of having Pastor Ley stepp the lead pastor of Bakersville Christian Church to offer the invocation pastor stpp and her congregation have been very very involved in community service and community outreach they host numerous events on their campus and we're just so grateful for your leadership pastor and then following the invocation ecor Singh who is a junior at stockdell high will lead us in the pledge ecort is the first place winner in an international public speaking and debate competition he competed in a competition hosted by the Sick youth Alliance of North America in Dallas Texas he is a 4.2 GPA he's played JV Basketball run cross country for Stockell and he's on the stockdell high debate and forensics team would you all please stand let's bow our heads dear heavenly father we just come before you Lord in just recognizing of who you are the Mighty God the creator of everything Lord and that's why we exist here Heavenly Father we thank you so much Lord now we bring petitions unto you Lord we bring our council meeting Heavenly Father we bring our city of Bakersfield and our community Lord that we ask that you be with each one of them Lord that we our community will come together Lord and help each other heavenly father and that we continue to watch over our children that they need Lord protection Lord Lord we thank you for for Karen go our mayor Lord that you continue to give her wisdom discernment and knowledge Lord and to be able to just deal with everything that it comes before her and all of them that are here in her staff Lord we thank you for them Lord that everything that we do Lord we do it for you and we help the community and that everyone would just continue to help each other encourage each other in loving and caring and we thank you for our servicemen all over the world Lord they are serving for for our world and all the community and all like people Lord and we thank you for this and Lord most of all we thank you because of who you are and everything that we do we want you to bless everything bless all thy hands that do all the work Lord bless all thy feet that walk everywhere heavenly father and we thank you for Bakersville that we can come together and do mighty words for for you and for all and all of us heavenly father in the name of Jesus Christ amen amen everybody place your right hand over your heart repeat after me I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated and thank you so much Pastor step eor if you just stay up there colleagues we have an international winner here and we are so pleased to be able to celebrate eor representing Bakersville in an international competition among sick youth it's an international competition Bakersville really hasn't I haven't seen b notice that Bakersville has captured first place maybe sometime way way back but we are proud to have ecor uh representing us capturing first place for public speaking and debate in this International competition eor it is my honor to be able to present to you the mayor's medal and today we also have uh Dr manier Singh who has who's the regional representative for the association that sponsored uh this and Dr thank you so much for being here and then we have ur's father thank you so much for uh being here and for sharing ecor with us let's give it up again for ekor respected mayor and city council uh my name is Dr manir Singh I am the convenor of the this national uh children's youth program for the Bakersfield from last 25 years we started this uh program in 1999 where we have taken the children up to the age of 6 to 22 and given them different books to read and they are asked to answer three questions and write them down or remember them and and speak we are doing it for many many years and this year we had six of our local children they were selected from Bakersville to go to the National Conference that took place in Dallas Texas and uh in that conference there were children from different areas of Canada and America they came and Nur Singh the one you have just noticed that he was here he stood number one an entire conference between Canadian and American children and this was first time like mayor said it happened that our youth from uh from The Bakers will won the prize number one and we are very proud of it and I'm so happy that city council has decided to recognize him today also during this conference they have decided that the next year they allowed us to host the program next year uh right here in Bakersville so we are expecting about 80 to 100 young youth coming to Bakersfield with their parents and family so I'm expecting about 300 people will be here next year in the month of first week of August so we'll have lot of uh excitement about it we are going to host it uh and uh run the program so I'm very excited about things happening for our Bakersville I think these youth who participate in my opinion from last 25 years I've seen that the six years old child participating every year most of them are somewhere today some of them are doctors some of them are uh practicing attorneys and one of them is already uh assembly woman just me B and she was one of our uh student participant so I think the future is bright if they keep doing it they become better orator they communicate very well they they're doing very well in their studies also so it's a win-win situation and I hope that Ur and other children there's a Akash deepor here also are you here can you stand Dr Dr thank you so much uh for your leadership we really very much appreciate it I uh there are many friends of yours eor you have quite a fan club so congratulations do we are just so grateful that you have led Bakersville to be recognized on an international level thank you thank you very much [Applause] here a few guidelines to help our meeting run smoothly we request that you turn off your phones uh please be courteous in the use of cameras and videos for safety reasons and it's a courtesy to others no signs are allowed in the council chamber or in the lobby Applause is allowed during the presentations portion of the meeting but not during other portions of the meeting everyone in attendance is expected to adhere to the rules of deorum established by resolution of the city Council failure to abide by the city's rules of deorum including any disruptive behavior that interferes with our ability to have an orderly and efficient meeting prevents the city council from conducting the business of the city consider this a first warning to everyone in attendance that conduct that disrupts the meeting May result in your removal from the meeting and or the chambers being cleared behavior that disrupts the meeting includes repetitive statements shouting interrupting staff or presenters during the meeting speak speaking out of turn Outburst from the audience and surpassing the two-minute time limit Madam clerk next item please public statements thank you in keeping with council's resolution public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I will call on the city clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak if you wish to make a public statement please fill out a public speaker card and place it in the tray on the counter next to the speaker Podium we ask that you mark whether you're here to speak on an item listed on tonight's agenda or in a matter not on the agenda speakers who do not identify a specific agenda item will be presumed speakers for the non-agenda portion of uh the public statements if you're here to speak on an item not listed on the meeting agenda you will be called first to speak statements are given a two-minute time limit per speaker 20 minutes total for all non-agenda public statements if you're here to speak on an item listed on the agenda I will call for you at a later time so please listen carefully if public statements become disruptive and I have to clear the chambers to regain order of the meeting you will be called in one at a time to provide your public statement when your item is called Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding items not listed on the agenda Mayo we've received four speaker cards thank you and would you please call those at this time Nathaniel Catalan followed by Zach Griffin then Cecilia and Carmen thank you Mr kathlin welcome please introduce yourself good evening mayor council members City staff and everyone U my name is Nathan Catalan um I'm a freshman at garus Memorial High School and I'm interested on serving in the you City's youth commission um allow me to tell you about myself I'm a Boy Scout of troop 125 and have been actively involved in multiple community service projects additionally I've taken leadership roles in the past at my previous School St Francis and at my church St Francis Church I've been part of many successes during my middle school years and now that I'm a high schooler I'm prepared to help tackle the issues that pertain to the Youth of this city if a appointed to the commission I will do my best to Aid the community I'm dedicated resourceful and prudent I hope that you will consider me for the commission thank you thank you and next speaker please Zach Griffin I want to be a freshman again may go council members I Zach Griffin Zachary Griffin special education teacher today uh I have come before the council and I apologize for not coming years ago um I I stopped working at standard school district and so I don't usually use the uh garca Circle as much as I had for the 10 years previous the other day I was coming back from riding Breen Ridge so I was about four and a half hours into my ride and I came into uh the newly designed Gara Circle and uh without mincing words it's a it's an terrible design I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go when the bike lane ends into the curb I'm curious who would be responsible for that um in poking around I spoke to some people in public works and they mentioned to me that somehow the bikes were supposed to go up onto the sidewalk which I thought was contradictory to our no sidewalk bicycles in downtown which has been the norm so I am one I would love to know what would it cost to destroy a very wonderful thorough Fair like the garus circle we've hedged it down to single Lanes again I would love to invite any of the council members or any of the Public Works staff to come and ride it with me during peak hours and it makes no sense I I'm struggling to understand I've been living in this community since I was knee high to a grasshopper and um I'm I'm just I'm baffled as to design uh in speaking with some people within the public works department uh this was 60% done two years ago I would love to see what uh input we got from those that have relative experience I've been racing and riding bikes since I was I don't know eight years old um and commuting in this community uh I would love to know councilman uh Gonzalez or Mr Smith's sort of take on these things and how we sort of got to a point where we don't provide at least some sort of insight uh before we spend you know millions of dollars and so with that um I'm going to be at the multimodal subcommittee meeting here next month and I would love to have somebody maybe answer those questions for me provide me from for some Direction so thank you for your time thank you Mr Griffin mayor thank you mayor U Mr griin thank you for your comments Mr Myer correct me if I'm wrong this is you can go ahead and sit down this is a Kell trans project um honorable mayor vice mayor this was a um the gar Circle was a calr project along with some work with the city um where our right where our ride away began and there right away began so there was some joint collaboration between the city and calr so the actual circle is the responsibility of I don't have an answer for that right now all right thank you [Music] council member where he just spoke okay uh thank you and now Madame clerk next speaker I believe um one has already spoken so Cecilia thank you welcome please introduce yourself hello my name is Cecilia marcial I am standing here today as a healthcare worker for Palestine it is my moral and professional obligation to stand against Injustice anywhere to make sure that the city council of Bakersfield does not forget that Gaza is a public health emergency that the scientist genocidal forces this chamber supports and funds is refusing to allow Public Health measures in Gaza blood is on your hands the blood of women infants and children your silence is an act of political violence you condemn innocent beings to murder rape and starvation so that you can line your pockets with blood money is ignoring Palestinians in our community participating in the Civic process do you think that ignoring our concerns is building community in closing I'd just like to play Pray for Palestine for the martyrs and for the inala please protect the innocent from the bloodlust of those in power the hold our families in Palestine when no one will hold them care for their children and give them a safe BL to rest best may you give strength to the in father thank you Cecilia next speaker please Carman welcome please introduce yourself hello this is Christian Gray Patty gray son he was assaulting people in front of City Hall and nothing has been done about it nothing Silence from everybody um if anyone else were to get assaulted in front of City Hall something would have happened to them already um on March 27th a black cat wandered into a green field at the sheriff's pistol range in Kern County two deputies um in tactical gear spotted the cat stocked it and shot it along with a third Deputy who according to a witness didn't draw his gun the group locked on the cat as it rered and pain and died now all these people are back on the job the woman who took the video of the incident said if they treat a little animal with such disrespect what in the world are they doing with people the deputies were never charged under the California penal code section 597 which calls for a prison term of up to 3 years for maliciously and intentionally killing an animal animal cruelty is a predictor of current and future violence including crimes of assault rape murder arson domestic violence and sexual abuse this is from the American of Journal of family law 32 number three early signs of sociopathic Behavior may include Cru cruelty to animals some characteristics of people who abuse animals include lack of empathy need for power and control targeting hopeless and defenseless animals feeling a rush after abusing and killing an animal being consistently irresponsible not showing remorse getting into fights or assaults lying about behaviors these are the people that are supposedly protecting the public rep next speaker please nla Hogan welcome good evening council members uh my name is Nyla Hogan and I am the executive director of Y empowerment otherwise known as Youth Empowerment and I am here today with some of our peer mentors and we're here to talk about our program that we have at y empowerment we have a lot of youth programs but one of the ones that is most special to my heart are is our peer-to-peer mentoring program our peer-to-peer mentoring program the goal is to teach youth in Kern County how to Mentor other youth within their school so they are educated in terms of domestic violence child abuse um sexual assault suicide and all kinds of other things that children youth 11 all the way up to age 22 are facing and so we're here now to ask for your support and tell you about a story of a local teen named Ally Alexandria was a teen who went to very numerous different schools in Kern County and unfortunately she slipped through the cracks she was um a victim of domestic violence sexual assault human trafficking and a number of other issues that ultimately led to death later in life and our goal as why empowerment my goal as who I am as a person is preventive measures within our County and this is what we want to bring and we're asking for your support and helping this spread to all of our schools so we can get middle schools we can get Junior highs we can get high schools and so this program can be implemented and we can help stop something that doesn't need to happen thank you thank you Miss Hogan and thank you also for serving your other role Miss Hogan is Mrs Bakersville she was this uh at this morning she represented her team her court at the H 100th birthday of a veteran and we appreciate you're always honoring our veterans too thank you thank you very much next speaker please Preston Hogan welcome please introduce yourself I'm uh my name is Preston Hogan and I'm with the youth and the I'm with Y empowerment and I'm here to talk about uh Ally and her story um and it comes to a critical need and um with wait hold on this story hits close to home and it brings attention to critical need for ptin mentoring in our schools Ali was a Bakersfield teen whose life was TR tragically marked by domestic violence VI uh uh child abuse and the harsh uh realities of a teen Dating Violence Ali story is not an isolated case um to many of our peers uh are suffering many of our peers are suffering in silence facing abuse at home at uh schools and uh their relationships peer mentoring can be a powerful tool to help those teens that are in need by providing support system uh within schools we can create a safe place for students to share their experience and uh receive guidance um for their problems that uh they need and uh for those who understand uh we ask for your support and uh implementing peer mentoring programs that will educate support and Empower our our youth uh thank you Mr hul your time is up can you bring your comments to a close please yeah uh are you finished yes okay thank you next speaker please Sophia followed by Jazzy welcome please introduce yourself honorable members of the council I am Sophia Gario and today I stand before you to call for action against the rising issues of domestic violence child abuse and teen dating violence in Bakersville Ally A young team from our community suffered immensely due to abuse and ultimately lost her life in a tragic accident her story is a stark reminder of the Urgent needs for support systems for our youth peer mentoring programs can play a crucial role in providing that support by educating teens about the abuse and equipping them with the tools to help each other we can create a network of support that extends beyond the classroom we need your backing to implement these programs and ensure they are accessible to all students across gr County to together we could build a brighter safer future for our young people thank you for your time and consideration thank you Sophia next speaker please [Music] Jazzy welcome please introduce yourself move the microphone just up a little bit thank you Jesse hi my name is jasine Wallace and I'm here to advocate for the implantation of peer mentoring programs in our schools address the issues of domestic violence child abuse and tea Dating Violence Ali's story is a heartbreaking example of what many teens and Bakersville would face daily she experienced unimaginable hardships and didn't have the support she needed we can change this narrative by building a support Community within our schools P maning can provide a safe space for students to share their experiences and receive help from their peers with your support we can fund these programs and train students to become mentors ensuring that no one has to suffer in silence let's work together to create a safer more supportive environment for our youth thank you thank you Jesse and to all our Youth Empowerment youth who spoke today thank you so much it's not easy to come up here and thank you for highlighting a very important topic thank you uh Madam clerk next segment please we agenda item public statements thank you we'll now move to the public statements listed under the agenda if you're here to speak on items listed under consent calendar item six or appointments item 7A your time to speak is now again each speaker is given a two-minute time limit each agenda item is limited to 20 minutes total the consent calendar as a whole constitutes one agenda item if you're here to speak on preferred business item 11a now is not the time to speak you'll be given an opportunity to speak when those items are called later in the meeting Madam clerk uh do we have public speakers regarding items listed under consent calendar item six or appointments item 7A yes mayor we we have received five speaker cards go ahead and call them please um the first speaker is Carter Beardsley followed by tanvi to welcome please introduce yourself good evening mayor vice mayor and council members my name is Carter Beardsley and I am up for reappointment tonight for our recently renovated Bakersfield youth commission I'm here to express would you move the might just a thank you my bad um I'm here to express to you all why I'm hoping to serve for this remaining year of high school as you all know this past year has been nothing short of monumental for our youth commission a year ago we were meeting without a budget just across the street in a conference room drawing little to no attention and I am very proud to say that um an initiative that I helped to spearhead has led to us now having a bigger sense of purpose we now meet in here and this will be the first year that we have a budget should I have the opportunity to be reappointed this year I'm eager to take all of the work that we've done this past year and continue it on and serve the Youth of Bakersfield in a more impactful fashion than we've seen before thank you all again for your support for our commission this past year God bless thank you Mr gley next speaker please welcome please introduce yourself good evening council members my name is ton Thal and I stand before you today to seek reappointment for the Youth commission serving on this commission has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I'm eager to continue contributing to the work we have begun first and foremost I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to those who have made the youth commission so meaningful Hannah Ros April tover and Nathan gutieres their unwavering support and guidance have been has been invaluable and they fostered a space where we as youth Commissioners could explore Challenge and grow and speaking of my youth Commissioners I cannot emphasize enough how much I've learned from each of you together we have shared IDE ideas debated issues and work tirelessly to try to create meaningful change in our community for the Youth as I reflect on our time together I'm particularly proud of our final project which was focused on promoting extracurricular activities for the Youth in Bakers field we recognize the importance of providing opportunities to young people to engage in activities that go beyond the classroom whether it's Sports arts or community service these activities can enrich the life of thousands of Youth in Bakersfield and I believe we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what we can achieve in seeking reappointment I bring with me the experience the lessons and the passion for my time on this commission I'm committed to continuing our work building on our successes and tackling new challenges with the same energy and dedication I'm confident that together we can make an even greater impact in this coming term thank you for considering my request for reappointment it would be an honor to continue serving my community and working along alongside such inspiring individuals thank you very much thank you Miss T Madam clerk next speaker please sorry mayor that's the last speaker oh thank you and next item please consent calendar items 6A through 6i for approval does any member wish to recuse themselves from any item on the consent calendar seeing none council member gray requested that we pull item 6d2 for separate consideration tonight and with that I will move acceptance of all remaining items thank you you have a motion please cast your votes for motion was approved with council member core absent thank you and now council member gray item 6 D2 well good evening everyone we appreciate you coming tonight and I'm just so blessed to hear all these young people that are willing to step up to a mic and speak at your age I would take an F before I'd ever step up and speak to anybody so I appreciate that you're doing a great job good job um I wanted pull this item tonight just to kind of bring some clarity to it because I didn't quite understand it myself until I ran through it with our city manager um but I do have some concern over it so um this item will give us and we're talking about um exempt um ex excuse me Christian speak that for me the State Surplus Land Act exemption thank you um so we're talking about this item that gives us the ability to sell Sur Surplus uh land to a developer and will satisfy the requirements of the state and federal funds used to purchase the property for commercial and or mixed usage um the property that we're talking about tonight if all of you know where the Maya theater is across the street from that um there's an empty piece of property it's been sitting there for some time uh we've had some developers interested in it um but it is been set aside in our master plan for retail and entertainment uh we have the Maya theater there we have other um small businesses we have mcy uh pool um the Marriott Hotel so it's a great place to have more of an entertainment Hub there and it will support those other businesses that are already in place and that's a concern of mine that uh we are going to support what's already started there so I I'm my support for approving this resolution is to allow for a letter of intent um for any potential developer right now we have the Caesar Chavez Foundation looking at that they are legitimate developers to come in and develop that piece but my concern is that um we need to really make sure that we protect what what the the original plan was for that piece of property um for entertainment and food and so forth I think any other usage of that property is going to take away again from those existing businesses so that's what my concern is so I will support um this so that we can move forward on it um to be able to sell it but I I do move forward with um the the intent that we're going to protect it as what it is meant to be and that is for entertainment and so forth so with that I'll make a motion to approve this resolution and support the original intent that this property was set aside for as laid out in our master plan thank you council member gray we have a request to speak Council uh vice mayor thank you mayor uh council member gray thank you so much for those comments and your support of this project um if I may provide also some additional context um you know I'm the city council member representing the area um have been committed to seeing a development on this site for the last eight years and have been working with City staff and with some of my colleagues uh on finding a developer for the last eight years and it has been a uh herculan task um it trying to um uh well trying to find the right developer I think we've had a few um interested and then those deals sort of fell apart and so um I understand what our ideal is in terms of what we' like to see but in all practical reality um some of the conversations I've had with with the sis Chavez Foundation um seem to be the most practical and the most worthwhile and that is a mixed use development site uh where we see uh some housing elements as well as some commercial retail space um and so um you know I I'd love to have a conversation with you outside of this meeting so we can talk about some of the history and and some of the real challenges with this site in particular um but I think that um the vision for the overall downtown is to see a very mixed um use uh uh District where we have people who are living working um playing worshiping downtown and uh and I think this uh project will help us get there thank you and council member Smith thank you mayor I was on the council when um they wanted to build an office building on that property and and I at the time fought hard for what council person gray is talking about that you know it was designed as entertainment and should stay entertainment and not an office building and I I feel that we still should have the entertainment retail I I don't have a problem with mixed use if if if we if we have what we wanted in the beginning plus housing and that's great you know then we're then we're getting a plus but um that's my comments thank you thank you council member Smith you have a motion please cast your votes motion was approved with council member core absent thank you madam clerk next item please next item is 7A appointments the 2024 2025 youth commission appointments we've received the following [Music] applications [Music] um from Danel Catalan Thomas Woods tanvi Tali gonit core Carter birdsley Mia Clifford Rachel Sun jop G core Caitlyn okomo Jr jaw and Naomi worthy thank you madam clerk these appointments are Citywide therefore no ballots are required I will call on each council member for their nomination of a regular youth Commission member and then I'll call on each council member for their nomination of an alternate youth commission member the mayor's regular member position has already been filled by the incumbent so at this point council members I'm going to call on each of you if you would nominate your regular appointee and then we'll move on to the alternates council member arus thank you mayor tonight it's my honor to nominate uh Mr Carter Beardsley as my appointee thank you council member wear thank you mayor uh I nominate Nathaniel kin thank you council member Smith well Mr Aras stole my nomination so I'm going to have to go back and look okay we'll come back around to you or you can delay uh vice mayor um tonight it's my honor to uh appoint Mia Clifford as the award to appointee to the youth commission thank you and council member Freeman thank you mayor well it's it's my honor to reappoint tanvi talali as the ward five youth counselor all my spies say she's been doing a great job so I think we need to have her there for another another year at least thank you council member gray thank you mayor I have no appointment at this time thank you and council member Smith do you want to make an appointment at this time or would you like to hold off I'm good I will make Caitlyn oampo who was the alternate my regular appointee all right so um for regulars we have our nominations vice mayor motion motion to approve you have a motion please cast your votes motion was approved with council member core absent thank you so thank you to uh Mr Beardsley Mr Catalan Miss empo Miss Clifford and Miss talap for your willingness to serve um now okay and now we're are going to go to our alternates I've chosen not to nominate a candidate for the mayor's alternate position tonight and so I am going to call on council member wear if you wish to nominate an alternate yes mayor I'd like I'm sorry RS sorry I messed up I looked right at him or you can take turns go ahead council member will go out of order for sure for sure okay that was my mistake I nominate Rachel sun right council member Arius thank you mayor um I would like to nominate for the um this position Miss Naomi worthy worthy thank you council member Smith they stole my again I'll have to look at your sheet thank you and vice mayor poor councilman Smith uh I'd like to appoint uh Thomas Woods as my appointee thank you council member Freeman thank you may I'd like to appoint jbow from Independent high school as the alternate for word five thank you and council member gray I have no appointment at this time thank you council member Smith I'm going to have to wait okay thank Youk you and so you have a motion please cast your votes oh you we don't uh please move I move the recommendations by council members thank you have a motion please catch your votes motion was approved with council member core absent thank you and thank you Mr worthy Mr Catalan uh Miss worthy Miss sun and Mr woods and Miss core thank we really appreciate your surface it takes a lot of work uh with these Superstars and they all have these amazing GPA and many other activities lots of extracurricular activities and the willingness to serve so thank you again very much we appreciate it next item please deferred business item 11a review accept and adopt the recreation and parks master plan thank you our city manager thank you mayor and Council thank for the opportunity to provide some context on this item we don't have a lengthy PowerPoint presentation on this item uh and the reason for that is that as we did a workshop um just last month on this topic uh we we should have uh taken action to the adopt the plan at that time uh but um we had instead you know prepared it as a informational item uh there's not new information to present to council at this time uh this uh again is a plan that has gone through a lengthy engagement process and uh the reason for um seeking a council adoption of the plan is that you know in a way to formalize as well as as we go and apply for Grant applications they're often looking for the legislative action that formalizes the plan uh but uh this is of course a plan that's had lots of community feedback Council feedback along the way just to share a few other thoughts in context um uh and uh to be responsive to some of the community interest around this plan and its adoption uh I would point out that this is a strategy and planning document it's not a budget it's not an implementation plan we're not locked in to do every project on this list we're not locked in to fund it at the precise amount that it's listed at many of these projects again were uh suggested by the community and so we've included those in in the plan and and we would anticipate multiple different funding sources often for some of these they may be Grant funded there there's private you know funding for anticipated for some of these projects uh like the truck and lakes project uh and uh again this is this does not represent a city budget you as a city council will appropriate funds on an annual basis into our Capital Improvement program with the available funds as you prioritize these many items that are in this plan so it is a aspiration ational document I do I expect that we're truly going to spend $200 million in the next 10 years if we did I would be happy but I don't expect we're going to have that level of resources to do all these projects at that precise value in this precise time frame so it is a planning document uh also just to to comment a little bit about the process again to reiterate this has been a u a very long process we've had multiple advisory uh groups that have been able to to um communicate and and share thoughts and ideas uh we've had multiple opportunities for public input and we we''re been very happy to receive all of that public input uh what we do as staff just like we do for example with the city budget is we take all of that Collective impact collective input and we try to put together a package that we think it balance best balances the competing interests that have been raised by the community and that's what we presented to your council at that workshop last month again is uh what we feel represents uh both the collective uh balancing of those Community interests and what's also staff's recommendations and Council input and what we think is practical and and feasible again as a aspirational planning document um I understand there's uh going to um be some Community interest on this topic and I don't mean to preclude any of that public feedback we're again happy to to receive public feedback but I would invite the council that if um there is some desire or direction to provide additional public input time on this that that um to to have some of that direction from Council may be informative to those wanting to comment on this item as we enter the public comment period That's upcoming um whether we uh delay this plan slightly um it's a 10-year plan it's a big document with a lot of importance um a a slight delay is not going to um um cause issues with our plan that's okay I would suggest though we don't want to necessarily remain in a holding pattern indefinitely that um there are uh often particular interests that uh may be expressed of you know trying to include in the plan or or revise in the plan and I would suggest that again I think um largely that feedback um has been received and taken into consideration but again we're always happy to take um uh uh feedback and Council Direction but this item again tonight is was intended to be fairly routine uh but we will um again take Council Direction on either moving forward or providing some additional time for public input thank you Mr CL Madam clerk do we have any public speakers regarding deferred business item 11a yes mayor we've received three speaker cards um the first one aunti lar Stephanie uh Stephan Steven mcgomery and Rich O'Neal thank you Miss lar welcome please introduce yourself so good afternoon everybody so my name is an LA I'm a professor at CSUB and I'm speaking here on behalf of CSUB which is a an important Community member and when I looked at the master plan today I didn't have time to look into all the details before because I was on vacation but CSUB is not even listed as a community partner and I think a lot of um a lot of my colleagues would love to have a little more time to study that and bring in their expertise so the K River Parkway and the cities and the The Parks of the city you know there's a lot of potential for our experts in the field Wildlife ecologists freshwater ecologists conservation biologists myself and our students to cont contribute to it and I'm just requesting a little more time to study and give some feedback on some of the items there that's all I want to say so overall the plan looks good but it could be improved in a couple ways so please give give CSUB a little time to give some more feedback thank you thank you Mr Madam clerk next speaker please Steven Montgomery good evening mayor go members of the council I'm St Montgomery share the current quer chapter sier club and on behalf of the uh Club um I'd like to ask the um uh we be giving uh at least two to four more weeks of time to consider the uh entire document we'd like to uh we think there we have some potential issues and we hope to be making constructive uh observations as uh time goes on thank you thank you Mr Montgomery next speaker please Rich O'Neal welcome please introduce yourself mayor go city council staff my name is Rich O'Neal and tonight I speak on behalf of the K River Parkway Foundation um I too uh wasn't able to complete uh the 160 Pages uh with a with an appropriate uh review and so uh we're asking if the city council would okay two to four weeks sounds good to give us a little bit time to get some constructive uh uh comments together uh overall Mig did a good job city city park staff did a good job of putting it together but we've noted a couple of errors and uh some omissions in it that we'd like to like to correct before we uh accept it thank you Mr thank you very much thank you madam clerk are there any other speakers on this item mayor that's the last speaker thank you council member Freeman thank you mayor um well given this is a 10-year plan a very long plan um I think we I think we can afford personally four more weeks to get maximum input from our community definitely the parkway is a partner the CSUB absolutely your Partners in our community the more comments we get the more we can improve our plan and I want everybody to think their voice was heard that we had a constructive conversation sometimes it's just clarifying things that weren't expressed properly in the plan and it's talking to each other to make people comfortable so um I let make a motion that we continue this for I guess it' be four weeks if we have a a meeting in four weeks and then my colleagues can comment have Madam City attorney uh would you like to clarify can I make that motion yes mayor um you can definitely make a motion to continue to a later date if you don't want to give a certain date so that we have time to meet with everyone and have enough process go ahead and say it again for council member Freeman I think can I finish sure uhhuh thank you well before we even proceed with that particular motion and time frame I'd like to hear from my colleagues if anybody has a comment here okay uh C vice mayor uh thank you mayor uh thank you council member fre I was going to make this similar motion just to um clarify if I can um I was going to make a motion that we uh continue this item to a date uncertain so that we can um have staff uh solicit additional feedback but also provide some more analysis and also perhaps some additional uh information related to park fees um so if that's okay with you can we amend the motion hey I can withdraw my motion and support yours okay so that'll be my motion tonight that we continue uh this this item council member [Music] gray council member Smith thank you mayor I just uh I wanted to thank staff I wasn't at the last meeting a month ago but I did watch the presentation and uh great job and I know you've been out in the community and and have gotten a lot of feedback and I I think it's a good plan but I'm more than happy to to hear more feedback and and more direction from the community so I'm in favor of the motion thank you thank you is there anyone else who wishes to speak I just had one question if I may go ahead um I'm sorry mayor thank you um so as we look at the uh our 10-year action plan and one of the first um I think it's page 22 of the plan it outlines various different projects are these prioritized projects just want to verify so we start with the development of the 10 undeveloped Parks second is the MLK Park revitalization third is the renovation to existing Parks good evening Rick Anthony director of recreation of parks uh they are prioritized based on uh departments uh view but again as city manager alluded to it's very Loosely and open to depending on what sort of funding streams we got depending on what the council wishes and desires are so it's not a hard and fast priority okay I hear you and I I appreciate that so much Mr Anthony thank you so much I was looking at U page 322 that's I think chapter 3 page 22 where we asked the public quote how would you spend $100 across the following types of Park improvements number one uh was repair and replace worn or older Park features number two was build more bike and pedestrian trails and number three was add more uh or a greater variety of features in parks and um so on and so forth enhanced the Urban Tree canopy and then it was develop undeveloped Parkland and unserved areas and so I just hope that as we move forward we can reflect reflect what we're hearing from our citizens in the community in that we have to get at our existing Park facilities and making sure that we're enhancing those facilities before we begin uh designing new parks out there I think we should do all of it but when it comes to limited dollars we have to take care of the assets that we have today so with that I'll make the motion you have a motion please catch your votes motion is approved with council member core absent thank you madam CLI next item please Council and mayor [Music] statements vice mayor thank you mayor um I had a conversation recently with the city attorney related to some of our Uh current ordinances related to camping in uh local parks um I'd like us uh to revisit and uh update um some of our ordinances related to those items um number one is U the language around permitting of camping in Parks um number two is uh the prohibition of tents and Parks uh to make that clear that there is no uh allowance of tents and parks at any time in our public facilities um in addition to that I think that we need to uh follow up with our shopping cart ordinance and see where we are what the status is of that and I know one component that I'm not sure has been in place correct me if I'm wrong Mr Cay but it's the uh the hiring of a vendor that will proactively go out and pick up some of those loose shopping carts throughout the community I haven't seen that piece implemented yet in our city happy to respond Vice yeah you're you're correct uh we had actually a a set aside for two different components Beyond just the Ordinance one was for an incentive program and one was and the other piece was for um a firm to go and and do the collections we have not done the firm we have had the incentive in place and interestingly we have not had any applicants okay I appreciate that well if we can work on that additional piece I'd appreciate it thank you council member [Music] Freeman yeah this was my comments prompted by hearing the gentleman come in and talk about Gara Circle which I'm almost afraid to drive up there I don't go there that often and see what has happened but um uh I have something similar happened in Ward five where I happened to live on Buist Road and drove out one morning and uh the road had been transformed no one knew this was about to happen the arterial became a collector and it's one of the biggest arterials busiest in the city it's the Western Beltway since we haven't built the Beltway way and traffic was jamm going to stock Del High people going to work they were backing up two or three lights had to change before they could go and uh when I inquired uh Mr CLE said uh well that was done by our previous Public Work Director without his knowledge or approval and uh I said yeah when when we change the arterial standards in the city there maybe should be some discussion that's a massive Transportation plan change all the IRS were done on certain capacities of these heavily traveled roads and uh anyway uh so it's done is done except that I uh I'm having a lot of leading citizens call and ask it all be repainted right now so what Mr Cay and I discussed and I'm sure we'll have a little more formal uh approach to this is maybe we study this for six months using that as an example um and see how it goes but also uses as an opportunity to figure out how do we create bike lanes that are safe rather than taking one of three lanes there's already a bike lane we took a full Lane and made it a buffer zone that's about cost about a million dollars to build that lane it'll be maintained for the next hundred years this is just a really not a cost effective way to do bike Lanes when we only had to add about four feet to the sidewalk and move it out a little bit would have been much safer for the bikers to make a 10 foot sidewalk into 10 there there's better Solutions than building an extra paveed Lane and never using it for the next hundred years uh so uh I point that out in case any of you drive down bu Vista Road and find yourself in a congested road now but um I'd like to be sure we develop a better standard for bike lanes and how we can convert existing arterials to create a safe bike lane that everybody likes but a costeffective one uh and and not goof up our transportation plan at the same time which calls for three lanes especially on the busiest arterials in town so that's my comment for this evening thank you council member for ment council member gray thank you mayor um I was on the committee uh Andre that we put that shopping cart um ordinance in place and I agree with you we need to follow up on that because everywhere I go there's shopping carts and and I'm asking the owners of businesses and they haven't done anything so I think that getting that incentive out there I don't know how we're going to get that message out but I think that would help a lot um I totally agree with with you council member Freeman I cannot tell you how many people have said to me what the heck has happened on buav Vista Road so um I agree with your comments thank you um what I was going to ask about was I had uh suggested I don't know maybe a couple of months ago um seeing the advertisements with tunnel to Towers how they're now building housing for Veterans all across this country and and I just wanted to kind of get an update from the city manager I know you said that you were going to have staff start doing some research on that do we have any update at all for our veterans thank you council member great we don't have a um especially tangible update but uh we do have local Partners The cvaf Who provide housing to our veterans here in Kern County they are familiar with the um tunnel to Towers uh program it's Prin L A funding program they look for local operators to help sort of with construction and operations and so um uh the uh executive director for the cvf is reaching out to Towers to tunnels to to explore that opportunity and actually there's um there's a Statewide Association that they're part of who's done a couple projects with the tower to tunnels so she's reached out to them and and talked to them about how it's worked in these other areas and the the initial impression was that they have several projects in que going right now uh that you know will take some time for them to sort of fund and complete but that if we get in the queue and we need to get in the queue now if we want to have projects down the road and so I I think our partners there at cvf are are are sort of best resources and Advocates on that and so their executive director is pursuing that on our behalf okay great I think there's no better place than Kern County for uh tunnel to Towers to build housing so that that's exciting okay thank you thank you council member greay council member Smith thank you mayor just back to the point of Vista discussion uh I have received positive comments on that street and I guess uh my question for staff would be what is the capacity of a six Lane arterial and what is the traffic current traffic counts on that road and I would also state that it was never striped for three lane six Lanes all the way it was strip for two lanes and one of the lanes was 24 ft wide so it was very confusing for drivers whether or not they drove in the middle of that 24 ft or off close to the gutter or so I I my feeling is it's a much safer Street and so I'm in favor of the way it's been striped thank you Council Smith I'll take a first cut and then Mr Meer can um help back me up if any my facts are um inaccurate here but um first off I would say that the striping plan is consistent with the complete streets ordinance and resolution is adopted by Council uh that there was a traffic counts study for that Corridor and that the traffic counts suggested that you know two lanes could be sufficient I will say though there's been staff feedback that the number of intersections that are along that Corridor there there's several intersections that are close together and so um we need to watch closely that area U I think there is wisdom to saying let's look at it over the next 6 months and see what happens because while the the traffic counts you know on paper May warrant it we want to make sure that there aren't you necessarily backups um at those traffic signals but the traffic said and I don't have the exact numbers but the traffic counts were that um two lanes could carry that traffic um the other piece uh that I would um you know point to is it is I would agree a fairly notable change to what folks may be used to sometimes those changes take a little bit of time to get to to get oriented towards uh but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be um um uh you know indefinitely problematic we'll see you know how folks um um adjust and get used to that but it is it is a significant change and I think uh we're going to want to take a close look at that over the next six months we um as a rule I would just this is you didn't ask this question but if I may as a rule we have looked at our arterials particularly those that have been large three-lane arterials and I even believe the multimodal committee hasn't necessarily been asking to remove move Lanes of our large arterials for the for the most part we've been looking at narrowing lanes and creating you know larger buffers and for most of our our large arterials we expect that the traffic counts and flows are going to require some of that movement but when Vista is a little bit different in um it's sort of north south trajectory um um really you know ending at Stockell Highway and uh we again you know need to pay close attention to it U but um I I think the question about whether we um have a process for some of those changes um I think is you reasonable uh feedback you know again um I will acknowledge that um we didn't have those uh discussions all the way up to the council level or even the city manager's office level but it's been within the purview administrative purview of staff have to to implement the complete streets um uh ordinance uh but for some of these larger changes we've noticed as some of our other demonstration projects that some of the Outreach and awareness to folks makes a big impact and so we can be better at getting word out to folks of changes that are coming and we actually are you talking with you know Partners uh like blue zones and being able to help us do more of that engagement and awareness so that we're better prepared uh to make some of these changes and also have folks give input and and um and feedback into that process in advance thank you appreciate it thank you council member Smith council member Freeman uh just additional piece of information U the streets are planned for the developments that are approved next to them that is approved for 7,000 units to load onto that street directly with no other artill to load on to other than a half arterial on the other side one-sided uh so we have about a th of 7,000 units that have been built there all to load on and about a mile and a quarter onto that land when we do arterials and approve projects we do eirs for its the next 50 to 100 Years of traffic it's not for the beginning phases of a project when a few houses have been built the congestion will be monstrous someday uh so if we're going to look at traffic counts today are pretty meaningless to permanently change his street uh I just think we should use this as an opport first it's not cost effective to build an extra lane and then put stripes on it and go or terials to do that's the a very expensive way we should look at a much more C we there is room in the land to have three lanes and to have a 10-ft bike path up above the curb we've got seven foot or six already set aside for bike this is an easy fix other than some construction to get them safe above the curb divided so bike rider no one by the way no one's ride on that nobody's riding on it now it's too dangerous even with a buffer most when you plan new bike PA as the West Ming master plan has 10 foot allpurpose bike lane walking behind the Landscaping buffered protected the way it ought to be built everywhere you go around the world when they're built that's the way they build them they don't put them they try not to put them level with the car speeding by that's how we have these deaths each year we need to have a safe bike path there's room for safe bike path and there's room for three lanes when we have thousands of units going to be loading onto it so I caution taking traffic studies at the beginning of a 30 to 50-year project and say that's the capacity and we should redesign take a lane out right now so uh I hope we can design a cost effective way because a lot of our materials be nice to have nice bike Lanes in this town I think there's land for both here is just a better solution thank you council member Freeman I don't see other request to speak have a safe Labor Day weekend and we stand adjourned at 6:29 [Music] e [Music] m [Music] [Music] oh