Rules of decorum. No person attending a public meeting shall engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including but not limited to, applause, whistling, stamping of feet, booing or making any loud, threatening, profane, abusive, personal or slanderous utterance that disturbs, disrupts or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting.
All remarks by members of the public shall be addressed to the mayor or the chair, and not to any other member of the public or any other single council, board or commission member, unless in response to a question from the member. Signs, placards, banners or other similar items shall not be permitted in the audience during a public meeting.
If the presence of such item disturbs, disrupts, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting. All persons attending a public meeting shall remain seated in the seats provided, unless addressing the body at the podium or entering or leaving the meeting. All persons attending a public meeting shall obey any lawful order of the preceding officer. To enforce the rules of decorum. Treat everyone courteously.
Listen to others respectfully. Exercise self-control. Give open minded considerations to all viewpoints. Focus on the issues and avoid personalizing debate. Embrace respectful disagreement and dissent as democratic rights that are inherent components of an inclusive public process and roles for forging sound decisions. Thank you. Welcome, everybody.
Tonight is the official starting of the Planning Commission meeting. Uh, Madam Secretary, roll call, please. Madam chair Thomas here by Chair Diaz is excuse. Commissioner Monte. Claro here. Commissioner Johnson. Here. Commissioner Mfume. Here. Commissioner. Guerra hasn’t arrived. Commissioner, Hough, present. Commissioner. Doctor. Present. Commissioner Wilson. She has not arrived. We have a quorum. Thank you.
And now we will ask Commissioner Johnson if he would lead us in our flag salute for this evening. You write that over your heart. Great to see you again. 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. Amen.
Thank you. Next, regarding oral communications for matters not listed on the agenda, the public may at this time address the members of the Planning Commission on any matters within the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission. No action may be taken on non-agenda items except as authorized by law.
Speakers are requested to limit their comments to no more than three minutes each. Speaking once. Madam Secretary, do we have any speakers? There are none, Madam Chair. Thank you. Next, we have oral communications for non public hearing items listed on the agenda.
Members of the public may at this time address the members of the Planning Commission on any matters within the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission. No action may be taken on non-agenda items as except as authorized by law. Speakers are requested to limit their comments to no more than three minutes each. Speaking once. Madam Secretary, do we have any speakers? We have none. And, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Uh, as we follow the agenda, we have three presentations that will take place tonight. And so we will begin with item six A and I will yield to the staff. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, honorable chair and members of the Planning Commission. My name is James Nguyen.
I’m the real property services manager for the City of Carson Community and Economic Development Department. I’m here to present on the Transformative climate Communities initiatives, or TCC. So just short TCC is a grant application that is out and open right now. The grant application is due September 30th.
Um, previously, my colleague Cammy Dini, uh, presented this, uh, grant, uh, to this commission back in April. It’s been a while since that presentation, so I just wanted to, um, refresh everyone’s memory and let let everyone know that we are going forward with a grant application submittal, and, um, um, just to let everybody know about our efforts.
Um, so the TCC funds climate resilience, community driven projects that bring environmental, economical, economic and public health benefits to disadvantaged communities with a core goal of reducing GHG emissions. So we are building upon our brownfields work in Carson.
Um, a lot of the grants that we’ve gotten over the past couple of years have been cleaning and assessing sites, and now that they are going closer to the cleanup stage, we are we want to actually build things on it. So this is what the TCC would fund. Uh, it would fund affordable housing project. It would fund, um, infrastructure like roads on former landfills and, and a lot of programmatic things as well.
So I’m just here to present on what we are envisioning for this and also seeking the input from this commission on as to any other ideas or suggestions before we submit on September 30th. So, um, with that, um, just a high level overview. This is the sixth round that the state of California is offering this grant opportunity. It’s with the California Strategic Growth Council.
The funding available is 27.5 million per application. They they are anticipated to probably award 3 to 4. So this is a really big endeavor. Um, but it is also very competitive. There’s 49 pre proposals. So the chances of winning is less than 10% of all else are equal. So this is our first attempt at it.
We’re going to put our best foot forward and see how far we get in the process. So um what does transformative mean? It’s really addresses everything very holistic, very comprehensive. Uh, we address housing and community stability. We address urban greening, clean energy and mobility and environmental justice and brownfield remediation, which is a core focus of this application.
Workforce and economic opportunity and community health. So our pre proposal title was Clean Land, Green Futures Healthy Communities and Building Opportunity Together. And so to do all of this there is a lot of partnerships required. You can’t do this with just staff or just hiring a consultant. And it requires all hands on deck.
So we’ve leveraged a lot of the partners that we have already been working with. Have a good relationship as well as a main new connections in the process. So here on the list are the partners that we’ve been working with.
So CSU, um, the university, our local university here, we’ve been working with them on the brownfields, developing, um, an advisory committee, which, um, at least two of you are on, uh, we work with the university on a lot of other brownfield stuff.
Um, um, with the South Bay workforce, we’ve recently got a federal EPA grant to develop job training and environmental sector, getting people into the green fields and assessing sites in the community. So, um, you know, away from, you know, the fossil fuel industries. Um, and to the green field. So we that’s a partner that we’ve already established. A new partner here is the grid alternatives. Um, we’ve met them on Earth Day on, um, at the CSU campus.
Um, and they are have been a recipient of the TCC, uh, in many other cities. What they do is they, um, they work on solar projects for low income households, installing solar batteries and very low energy efficient. Um, a green energy to a low income household.
So our proposal would potentially fund up to 80 households in Carson for this type of work. So, um, that’s the third partner. The fourth partner on here is Alma Backyard Farms, which you guys may have heard it before. They work on, um, they work on creating urban farms.
They have a site in, uh, in, um, Compton and in San Pedro, and they open every first and third, fourth Sundays for Compton and second and fourth and San Pedro. And they, they, they build, you know, farms in their community. So it’s a really nice place. People gather there. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a, you know, it’s a, it’s very a warm place. So they have actually successfully located in Carson.
We help them with the site selection. And um, they are eventually going to build a facility here in Carson, um, on Main Street right next to the motel six, so close to where the power lines are. So this application would potentially fund that development as well. Um, next is the Center of Creative Land Recycling.
They are a nonprofit in the brownfield space. They are you know, they have helped us in this brownfields journey since our beginning and a couple years ago, and we want to bring them along on to the next stage of the process. Uh, next one is the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.
They are very active in our community, especially with the closure of the refineries. And so as part of this effort, we are we want to have a partner that really focuses on community engagement. I think they’re the only partners listed on here that actually want door to door and knock on 20,000 households.
So they are very active in our community. And I’m actually actually surprised that one of them is here today. So, um, and then there’s our city affiliated property, uh, partners, which is just our housing authority for loading donating land for affordable housing projects. F.D.
Carson Reclamation Authority and all the other affiliated Carson entities. So that’s our partners. These are the TCC strategies that we would undertake. Um, we don’t have to take all 13 of them. We take at least three of them to qualify and and integrate them together. So, you know, housing, brownfields, um, food access, workforce development.
So all of that is, is what we’re going to go for. Um, and so, so it’s all kind of centered around brownfields, but they’re all interrelated. It’s not um, it’s not very, um, you know, one random project put together. So, uh, on our projects, um, it’s just a working draft list.
It’s been changing. Uh, we kind of add and eliminate based on project eligibility. So these are the five projects that we have. We have two affordable housing sites in Carson that the city owns. They’ve been vacant for some time. They’re going through cleanup or assessment right now.
Um, and eventually we would like to get them built into affordable housing units. The last time the city built affordable housing units is in 2019. And so even if you start today, it would still be a ten year drought until we get another affordable housing project in Carson.
So it’s, um, it’s been a long time, but we are we have a lot of funding mechanisms in place. We have a lot of environmental work. That’s been progress. And hopefully with the infusion of TCC grant application, this can accelerate that.
The third project here is the grid alternatives one, helping the low income residents with energy efficiency, solar installation for funds. The backyard farm that I mentioned. And the fifth one is Leonardo Drive. Um, there’s a road in the middle of a city in a middle of 157 acres that potentially could use additional, more funding.
And so we just proactively put that on our capital projects list, because that’s a very expensive project. So this is more in detail of the projects list of what we’re proposing for this application. Um, with that, oh, there’s also programmatic components with each of these components. There’s a workforce development component, right.
Like you have to help people installing homes with solar trained up for that. So we are there’s a workforce component to that. Yeah. People assessing sites. You train people to that. The university is leading this, um, having a formal training session.
They would be a sub grantee here and they would have certificates, and they’re working with all of our partners together to get the workers trained in each of these components. And also with with regards to engagement, I mentioned a pen is very active in our in our community. So we I talked to them this last week. This is very like we’re developing as we fly right here.
We talked to them last week about them potentially leaving the community engagement because they’re very active in our community. Um, this is the collaborative structure that they have drafted so far.
So that’s going to be part of the, um, the grant requirement to to kind of, you know, inform and be transparent on how decisions are going to be made in the process. So working on a pen on that, because this is under the umbrella of the community engagement. Um, and so that was a lot of information.
But um, if you guys have any input or anything you want to say, we have a survey, um, asking you guys on your opinions on projects, what should we prioritize? Anything you can think of, feel free to add to it. Um, we have printouts too. If you don’t want to use the QR code. So, uh, with that, I. That concludes my presentation on this item. Thank you. Madam Chair, if I may. Yes. For the record, Commissioner Wilson has joined the meeting.
Yes. Thank you. And. Oh, no, he was here for the roll call. Yeah, he was excellent. Okay. Thank you. Uh, to my colleagues. Any questions at this time? I just have a quick one. Um.
And I was there some years ago, and I’m wondering if it’s the same place that alma backyard farm is that located on Greenleaf? Greenleaf and Compton. Where is that located? I can’t remember the street off the top of my head. Um, I could look on my phone for a second. Sure. Look it up. It’s. I know it’s a they’re occupying a church property right now. Are they? Yeah.
Like I it’s been a few years since I was there, but it was very, uh, I found it to be very interesting. Kind of hidden over in there. Yeah. Okay, James, I hope out. Yeah. Thank you. You have it. No, no. Okay. It’s, uh. Action. Redondo Beach Boulevard, 801 East Redondo Beach Boulevard in Compton. Okay.
And so they’re they’re going to be building a facility here in Carson at some point. Is the projection maybe. Yeah, they’re very early in the stage. They just acquired a property in March. Um, we help them with the environmental due diligence. Um, and so in terms. Of we ask where that’s located in Carson.
Um, they’re the site. And Carson was next to the motel six on Main Street. 17 505 South Main. Street on Main motel six. Yeah. So it’s next to motel six. And next. Picture that I know the motel six on on Dominguez, but I didn’t. I didn’t know we had one on main. Yeah.
By near. Is it Albertson? Tony or, Albert? Tony. Yeah. Oh, Albert. Tony. That direction. I’m sorry. I’m going south. Um, okay. So. Albert, Tony and Main, I got it. Thank you. You’re welcome. Any other questions? Thank you for your presentation. Thank you. It’s very enlightening. Looking forward to all of that.
And, um, I have a priority already for you. So. So, yeah, I think we probably already on the priority. List. All right. Happy to hear it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. The next, um, presentation that we have is an update on the comprehensive fee and special tax study. Again, staff. Hi, everyone. It’s me again.
It’s you. again here on the oops update on the comprehensive development comp, community development fee study and special tax. So this item has gone to this commission before. I cannot remember the last time it’s gone, but the last time we were seeking community input, going out to the community and getting more surveys.
Uh, I know we had guidance on to showing up to the community where they are, and we were very successful in doing that and got over 100 surveys. So, uh, prior to that guidance, we had a lot less.
So, um, but now today I want to just give you guys an overview that we are ready to now meet with developers. And so we have a virtual town hall next, um, Monday on August 31st at 3:00. So it’s a virtual town hall. Um, you may have gotten an email forwarded from Laura. If not, I can resend it.
Um, but that’s a town hall geared towards more for the development community to talk about the fees that are coming. So just want to do a quick refresher here. This is going to be a shorter presentation. So we are embarking on various types of fees and special taxes as part of our, um, comprehensive community and economic development fee update.
Um, those fees include the development impact fees, which funds infrastructure, community benefits, which funds a broad range of things in exchange for, you know, a certain zoning benefits, inclusionary housing that funds affordable housing requires a certain amount of units for residential projects to be set aside for affordable housing.
Or a developer can, in lieu pay and in lieu for you to opt out of that. And that in lieu fee would be used for affordable housing elsewhere. Um, we also have a commercial and industrial linkage fee. This is also a new fee that we’re looking at.
This would be a fee imposed on commercial development, industrial development, because they use those development generate jobs, and those jobs will create a demand for housing. And so a portion of that would be used for more affordable housing. And then the last one is our CFD community facility district, which focuses more on ongoing services.
So just to quickly recap development impact fees, fund infrastructure, community benefits fund a broad range of things inclusionary housing, funds of housing, commercial linkage fees, funds, housing and CFD funds, services. So, um, you know, obviously you cannot charge everything an infinite amount, then you would not have development, they would not come. And so there’s a balance in all this.
So that’s what we’re studying right now. How much, you know, how much of the funds that we are charging to developers can be, um, bare by the market.
How much of that can be allocated to infrastructure? Is affordable housing more important to infrastructure? So a lot of questions we’re going through right now. And that’s the type of feedback we’re seeking from both the development community and from our residents. Um, and so, um, that virtual fee study, uh, update next Monday, we’ll talk about all of that.
I’ll talk about our housing needs, the market feasibility, because they looked at actual cost of construction out there and how much the city can actually charge, and talks about, uh, other cities in our competitors, essentially, um, other cities in the market. And, um, and talk about the progress to date. So more updates if you’re interested in that next Monday. Um, this is the link and information.
Um, you can call in it’s virtual, uh, really geared towards development community. And um, this is an overview of the agenda. So, um, this is what we’ll be talking about. And that concludes this presentation. Thank you once again to my colleagues. Anyone have any questions of James. Uh, yes. Have a question. Yes. This, uh, have any impact on property tax that, um, yes.
The property tax, that housing providers. And now. Yeah. So this only applies to a new development. So all five of them would apply only to new development. It would not affect existing owners. Yeah. It’s in connection with new development. Yeah. Thank you. , Commissioner Johnson. Thank you.
Is there a minimum density that this would be applied to or is it just kind of broadly applied to development? Um, we haven’t established the the thresholds of when certain fees would apply. Um, generally, for example, like development impact fees, if you build like a five unit projects, you would pay five times.
However, over dollars per unit. Um, here we may even switch to square footage to accommodate the size. Um, so what all the those details have not been hashed out yet. That’s probably later in the stage when we’re getting ready to draft the ordinance. Understood. Thank you. Yeah.
Anyone else? So just just for my clarity to, uh, we currently have development impact fees right now on projects that we have approved in the past, since we’ve been sitting here, we call them diffs. Um, and so this is an enhancement of what we already have. Is that accurate? Yeah. That’s correct. The current dev program is actually an interim program. And it was pending.
Uh, well, back in 2019 when we adopted it, it was pending the general plan to be updated before we adopt a permanent one. And which we that’s where we are right now. We have the general plan updated. So we’re going to focus on adopting a permanent diff. And diff has to be amended or updated every eight years.
I’m looking at ban uh, something like that. Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. There’s a yeah. You have to update it every now and then to make sure it’s. Oh we did that in 2019. And this is 2026. It’s time to. Yeah okay. Yeah very good very good. Yes Commissioner. And for me. What is the D diff. What are the acronyms.
Uh yeah. Development impact fees okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. So an example of diff. And like what you can use it for is like if you needed to build a new fire station or a new police station, like when new development comes in, the idea is okay, it’s creating impacts.
You know, more demands on our society as development comes in. You know, our city is growing, so eventually we may need another fire station. We may need another police station to to serve, to respond to the impacts that development of development in our community.
And so it’s a contribution of developers toward that infrastructure that the city will eventually need. All good. Thank you. Very good. Exciting things are happening. Thank you. Appreciate it. And our last presentation then is training work is a training workshop for us. Meeting and hearing protocols and procedures. It’s a refresher and I will turn the floor over to our assistant City attorney, Ben Jones.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Do we have the presentation? There’s a way to do it so that my notes can show that would be better. Otherwise, I have my own time. Um. This one? Yeah. Oh, perfect. And do I. Use this for the soft? So how do we. Do, like, full screen? Is there a way to keep.
This showing. The note in that one? So we keep the laptop showing the notes. But on the screen it shows the all the slide. Oh perfect. Thank you. All right. So this is a refresher for the commissioners. If you you’ve probably had this training before. This is like an abbreviated version.
This is only going to be like 13 slides. Um, to just go over um, planning commission meetings and hearings and how to, how to run meetings and how to do it the right way, how to follow the laws and conducting your meetings, which is the planning Commission meeting itself, and then your hearings, which is
when you’re considering a project. Um, this is not a 1234 training, which is required per state law for um commissioners as well as city council members. Every two years. Um, it’s a two hour training. Um, uh, this presentation covers some of the topics, but not all of them.
Um, if you need a 1230 for training, you can contact the city clerk’s office. And they there are online courses that you can take. Also, our office can provide an AB 1234 training if the city would like. So this training will cover public hearing procedure.
Brown act insights and quasi judicial versus legislative matters, discussing due process, decision making, duties bias ex parte de contacts and commissioners. Oral communications. After today’s refresher, you will have a framework for how meetings are intended to run and a better understanding of your role as both a decision making body and an advisory body to the City Council.
So the public hearing procedure on the screen is a sort of a recommended, um, public hearing. The order of how to conduct a public hearing. Um, you’re familiar with most of this, but some of it is a little bit different than what we’re used to. So the first step, after calling the agenda item is the chair will ask about any recusal and ex parte contacts.
And what that means is making sure none of the board members have a conflict of interest. So, um, that’s an opportunity for if anyone does have a conflict of interest, they can recuse themselves, which means they announce what the conflict is and say, because of that, I’m not going to participate.
And then they would step down from the dais. Um, that could be for a number of reasons. We’re not really going to cover conflicts of interest today, but that could be because of owning property within 500ft of the project site.
It could be because you have a financial interest in the developer or the applicant. You may own shares in the in the applicant, you may work for the applicant, things of that nature. So that’s when a recusal might be, um, in play.
And obviously reach out to our office if you have any questions, if you have any doubt, um, and then asking about ex parte contacts, that means do you have any information that the rest of us don’t have? We don’t have the benefit of the same information you do.
Have you gone to the site? Have you visited? Have you driven by, have you talked to the developer outside of the meeting? Share that information so that everyone can have the same information, so that we’re all basing our decision on the same information. So then open the public hearing, take the staff report. Um, ask questions of staff, and then the applicant will have an opportunity to make a presentation. Um, then there will be questions of the applicant. Then the public will have an opportunity.
Anyone from the public who may want to oppose the project or speak in favor of the project, will have an opportunity to comment and then rebuttal if necessary. This rarely occurs, but it is theoretically available, which is that if you have the project applicant speaking obviously in favor of the project, and then you have members of the public
who are opposing the project, the applicant should be given an opportunity to provide a rebuttal to, um, comments against the project, if necessary. Um, and then any closing remarks by staff, then close the public hearing and then discussion motion and a second debate and vote.
Um, applicants should be given sufficient time in the judgment of the chair to present their concerns. Um, all other persons normally will be limited to three minutes. Um, the chair with majority concurrence may limit the number of speakers or the amount of public testimony time on a particular issue in order to avoid repetitious or cumulative comments, and to hear those interested in testifying, except when
necessary, for immediate clarification of a particular point. No person should be allowed to speak a second time until all others wishing to speak have had an opportunity to do so, and then only at the discretion of the chair, with the concurrence of the Commission.
The chair may declare the public hearing is closed when commissioners indicate they have heard all pertinent testimony. After the public hearing is closed, no additional testimony may be given unless the public hearing is reopened. If necessary, to permit additional testimony and evidence, public hearings may be reopened during commission deliberation at the meeting in which the public hearing was held.
Reopening requires majority consent of the Commission and as best practice, it’s encouraged not to to seek to avoid reopening the public hearing after it’s been closed. This prevents the possibility of neglecting those who are no longer present at the meeting, but spoke during the hearing, neglecting public comment or additional evidence received or expressing views on
the project prior to conclusion of the public hearing. So the Brown Act is the state law that requires meetings of the City Council, as well as the Commission to be open in public. There are certain exceptions, which is what we would hear of a closed session.
So in certain circumstances, such as discussing pending litigation, you can have a closed session. Other than that, you have to have all of your meetings and deliberation and decisions have to occur in public.
If a meeting occurs and must be open in public, and an agenda must be posted in accordance with the Brown Act, a meeting for purposes of the Brown Act is defined as any congregation of a majority of the members of the Commission at the same time and location, including a teleconference location, to hear, discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item that’s within the jurisdiction of the Commission.
So if there’s a meeting, there has to be an agenda has to be posted 72 hours before regular meeting. If there’s a special meeting, it’s 24 hours. Um, it must contain a general description of each matter to be transacted or discussed.
It must provide an opportunity for public comment on agenda items before the action is taken, and no discussion or action may be taken on a matter that’s not on the agenda, except the that commissioners may briefly respond to statements or questions from the public. Ask questions for clarification. Make a brief announcement, or make a report on the commissioner’s own activities. Um. Provide a reference to staff or other resources for factual information.
Request staff to report on any matter at a later meeting, or request staff to place a matter on a future agenda. The agenda also has to be posted on the city’s website and in a location that’s freely accessible to the public. Um, discussion on an item not appearing on the agenda may occur if immediate action is necessary.
This necessity is determined if the Commission establishes by a two thirds vote of the members, um, that the need exists to take um, action immediately, and that the need for action came to the attention of the city after the agenda was posted. So that’s what sometimes is referred to as a subsequent need item.
And that’s you’ll see that occur at council from time to time, could could theoretically occur at commission too, if there was an action that needed to be taken. Right now, it wasn’t known when the agenda was posted.
Then the commission can make a motion with two thirds vote to add an item to the agenda on the floor. So the Brown Act prohibits meetings that are not public. And it also and that also extends to what’s called serial meetings, a serial meeting, the serial meeting prohibition in the Brown Act is that a majority of the members of the Commission shall not, outside of a
meeting, use a series of communications of any kind, directly or through intermediaries, to discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item of business. This can occur through in-person contacts, technological contacts such as text, email or social media, or via intermediaries.
So for this reason, this might be why you’ve seen. Please do not reply all on, um, emails sent to the commission. Um, and if you see that you should not reply all to the group to discuss items.
If, say, an agenda is sent to the entire commission, you wouldn’t reply all of that and say, oh, agenda item six A seems I love that item. That seems great. You wouldn’t like discuss like on an email group email chain. Um, so common types of serial meetings are the chain, which is where Commissioner A speaks with Commissioner B, Commissioner B speaks with Commissioner C, etc., resulting in a majority discussion, deliberation or action.
And then there’s also the hub and spoke uh, concept where like through the planning manager, commissioner A speaks to planning manager who, um, you know member let’s see. Member A speaks with member B, member A later speaks with member C on the same subject, resulting in majority discussion deliberation or action.
So oh that’s that’s the the planning manager is the intermediary concept where agency manager speaks with member A, then member B, then member C, etc. the manager can speak, can separately answer questions or provide information to the commissioners, but not share the comments or positions of one commissioner with with another commissioner, resulting in a majority consensus through the manager.
The Brown Act also has some special restrictions when it comes to social media, so the General Brown Act rule, or the traditional rule, is a majority of the commissioners shall not use a social media platform to discuss amongst themselves business of a specific nature. That’s within the Commission’s jurisdiction.
Um, and discussing amongst themselves mean includes use of comments or likes, emojis, etc.. Um, but there’s also a stricter rule when it comes to social media, where it doesn’t even require a majority of the commission to be involved, which is that, um, a commissioner, um, may not respond directly to another commissioner.
Social media post regarding a matter that’s within the the commission’s jurisdiction. This applies to any two commissioners, does not require a majority of commissioners for a violation to occur, and includes commenting, using emojis or liking posts.
So if a commissioner posts about a certain development project that may be coming before the commission, or maybe it already has come to the commission, it hasn’t gone to city council yet, then could come back. Um, regardless, like first of all, it’s probably not a great idea to do that. But if you do that, another commissioner should not comment or like and say, oh yes, I agree, that kind of thing.
So the brown Act, uh, provides certain remedies for violations. Criminal prosecution is possible for members attending public meetings with intent to deprive the public of information. This has never occurred.
There’s never been a criminal conviction of a public official for a Brown Act violation, but it is theoretically possible for extreme situations where there’s intent to deprive the public of information. But the more common, uh, risk is the what’s called the pure and correct letter.
So what happens is any interested person may demand that the Commission declare any action taken in violation of the Brown Act to be void and cure the defect within either 30 or 90 days, depending on the circumstances, which then requires the agency to respond as to whether or not there was a violation, whether they admit there was a violation or not, if they admit they can cure it. If not, then the person may sue to invalidate the action.
Um, and in that case, if the city loses and it’s determined that there was a Brown Act violation, the city would have to pay attorney’s fees. So it just goes to the validity of the commission’s action. So that’s it for the Brown Act. And then now we’re going to talk about the nature of the actions that you take.
Because as a commission, all of your actions fall into one of two buckets, either the legislative actions or quasi judicial, also known as quasi adjudicated actions. So the easiest way to think about this is legislative matters is you’re acting in your role as lawmakers, as though you were Congress.
Think of yourselves as a state legislature or Congress. You’re making new laws. The city makes its own laws. The city’s municipal code, zoning code, ordinances. Those are laws. They have local effect, but they’re local laws. And the commission’s role in legislative matters is to make recommendations to the city council. So the City Council is the one that adopts the laws.
But the commission, especially for the zoning code, not only can the Commission make recommendations, the Commission is required to make recommendations before the City Council can act to adopt these new laws. Um, so when it comes to legislative matters, the commission only makes recommendations. They don’t make final actions.
Um, it has to do with making laws or rules of general applicability. And the actions may be city initiated, or they may be property owner initiated. And there are no due process rights involved of of a of an applicant. There’s no developer who has a right to a fair hearing on a legislative action.
Examples of legislative actions are general plan amendments. Specific plan amendments, zoning code, text amendments, and rezoning ordinances and development agreements. So that’s the right column that you see there. The left column that you see on the slide is quasi judicial or quasi adjudicated actions.
And there think of yourself as acting as a judge. So it’s more like you’re acting like a court. So the idea is you’re applying rules, existing rules to individual development projects that are being considered for approval, conditional approval or denial.
Um, examples of these type of actions are conditional use permits, site plan and design reviews, variances and subdivision maps, including tentative parcel maps and tentative track maps. In these actions, the Commission is the primary decision making authority. You’re not just making a recommendation to the council, you’re you’re taking the action, you’re giving the approval, or you’re giving the denial. And, um, however, it is subject to appeal to the city council within a certain time.
If the applicant is not happy with the decision, they can appeal to city council, and then that would be the final city decision on the appeal. Um, the decision in a quasi judicial action must be supported by written findings, and the written findings must be supported by substantial evidence in the record.
So that’s what’s known as the substantial evidence test. Um, and also that’s where you have due process rights of the applicant involved, which means they have a right to a fair hearing, which we’ll get into in the next one of the one of the next slides. Due process.
So procedural due process requirements apply to quasi judicial actions. This means, uh, the applicant has a right to reasonable advance notice, a reasonable opportunity to be heard. That’s why we do the public hearings and fair treatment of those similarly situated.
So one developer has a right to be treated fairly as another developer would, and impartial decision makers, which you’re the decision maker. So you have to be impartial. So the commissioners must strive for impartiality and remain unaffected by personal matters. The decision should be based on evidence and an established factual record. So the duties in decision making due process requires a fair hearing for quasi judicial matters.
This means, as a commissioner, you should not express your opinion before the public hearing. Um, the hearing is for the purpose of taking testimony and deliberation, and decision occurs only after the hearing is closed. That’s why you probably become accustomed to when you open the public hearing.
Until that public hearing is closed, you should really just be asking questions because you’re gathering information as a neutral decision maker. And then once the public hearing is closed and you’ve received all the information, you’ve received all the evidence, that’s when, for the first time, you express your opinion, you say, I think we should approve. I think we should not approve.
And you can try to convince the other commissioners to agree with you. So, uh, the commission should base their decision on whether the required factual findings can be made from the evidence presented. That’s the substantial evidence test.
So to invalidate a quasi judicial action, the court must find that either the ultimate decision is not supported by the adopted findings or that the adopted findings are not supported by substantial evidence. So all decisions should be made based on whether the required findings can be made, and the required findings must be based on substantial evidence in the record. The required findings are dictated by the zoning code.
For example, it’ll say to approve a conditional use permit, you must find number one that that the proposed use is consistent with the general plan. Number two, that the proposed use will not be detrimental to public health, safety and welfare. Number three, there will be, you know, adequate site circulation, etc., etc.. So the zoning code will dictate the required findings.
You have the discretion to apply to gather the facts and apply them to the law, which is those required findings, and to determine whether all of those findings can be made in the affirmative. If so, you approve.
If not, if you find that any one of those findings cannot be made, you explain why that’s put in the resolution, and then that is a basis to deny. So even after the hearing this is important. So after you’ve made your decision on, say, a conditional use permit or another quasi judicial matter, the the applicant has the right to appeal. So you deny a conditional use permit.
The applicant has the right to to appeal that to the city council. Even if you approve. Another person could appeal that decision to the city council. Uh, and then when it goes to city council, the city council has multiple options, one of which is to send the matter back to the commission for further review.
So it’s it’s always best to refrain from commenting on the project in the interim between the time of the Planning Commission decision and until the council has finished their decision on the appeal. Even though there may not be an appeal.
But if an appeal is going to be filed, it’s going to be have to be within 10 or 15 days. So while the appeal period is going, and then if there is an appeal until it goes to council, you should try to avoid, uh, speaking publicly in favor or against the project, even though you’ve already made a vote on it in the commission meeting.
So, um, and that touches on one of the types of bias that can result in having a conflict of interest that can require just disqualifying yourself from a commission, from participation in a commission decision. So what is bias? It’s prejudice in favor of or against.
One thing, person or group compared with another. There are three types of bias when it comes to the commission’s decisions. One is a personal interest in the decisions. Outcome. Another is a personal bias, and the third one is factual bias.
So an example of the first one, a personal interest in the decisions outcome, uh, came from a case where, um, a commissioner, uh, participated in a decision of the Planning Commission on a project where a residential project that would have blocked the it was a city council member, the city council members view from his rented apartment, and the court held that he had a closed mind about the project.
The court found that even even though the type of personal interest, which was an interest in protecting his view from obstruction, was not a financial interest, um, the council member still had a common law conflict of interest, which is from due to bias that resulted in a denial of due process to the applicants.
The applicant wasn’t given a fair hearing because the council member who had their view would be blocked by the project participated in the decision. Um, the second type of bias, personal bias, has to do with expressing your opinion in favor of or against a project before the public hearing.
So the the best example there is, uh, the case of Nassar versus City of Los Angeles, where, um, a Los Angeles planning commissioner had anonymously, anonymously authored a critical article in a newspaper in a neighborhood newsletter concerning the developers Project.
The commissioner had then participated in an appeal of the project approval to the Planning Commission that resulted in the staff’s conditional approval of the project being overturned. The court found that procedural due process principles applied because the proceeding was quasi judicial. It involved the determination and application of facts peculiar to an individual case.
The developer had shown that there was an unacceptable probability of actual bias on the part of the commission, based on the Commissioner’s authorship of the article attacking the project, the court found authorship of the article sufficient to preclude the Commissioner from serving as a reasonable, impartial, and uninvolved reviewer. So that’s why when you when you hear me harping about, don’t express your opinion in favor of against the project before the public hearing, it’s based on that case law.
And then factual bias is the third type of bias, which has to do with ex parte communications, ex parte contacts, which means you you have a factual bias if you have information that other commissioners don’t have.
And if you base your decision on that information, rather than disclosing it to the group, um, because you’re only supposed to base your decision on information presented publicly during the public hearing, if you have outside information that you acquired and you base your decision on that instead, and no one else had the benefit of that, that’s factual bias, because not everyone is on the same page when they don’t have.
They’re not reviewing the same thing and basing their decision on the same thing. They can result in different decisions because they’re they’re taking into account different information. So these types of bias may result in a disqualifying conflict of interest, requiring recusal.
Recusal is where you have to disclose the conflict and leave the bias before the or when the item is taken up, and it requires not only not voting, but not participating or influencing the other commissioners in the decision. And then, um, those types of bias, those are all non-financial conflicts of interest when it comes to financial conflicts of interest.
You have the Political Reform Act, which I’m not going to get into because it’s a whole big, um, body of law. But, um, the most common example that you’re probably aware of for a commissioner is the 500 foot rule, which is where if you own a property that is close to the site of the project, that’s going to be
considered by the commission, you should let staff know if it’s within 500ft, like property line to property line, you’re probably going to have to recuse yourself or not participate. It’s presumed that you have a financial interest in the in the decision, because the decision will affect the value of the property.
And also will have impacts on the surrounding area. So within 500ft, generally, you should not participate between 500 and 1000. It depends on a variety of factors, and over 1000 generally is okay to participate. But let staff know and staff will work with our office and provide an opinion for you. If you want, about whether you should participate or not.
Ex party contacts I’ve already kind of covered, but what ex party means is from one side it means the receipt of information outside of the formal process. Um, so the best thing to do is avoid initiating contact with developers and avoid extra meeting or outside of the meeting contacts.
What can you do? Uh, you can tell them I’m not permitted to discuss this issue outside of the hearing, or you can disclose. You can. If you do talk to them, you can disclose that you should disclose the information at the hearing and based your decision only on the information presented at the hearing. And, um, uh, factual.
If this is not adhered to, it can create factual bias and it can give rise to give rise to the appearance of impropriety. And so site inspections are generally discouraged, but they are allowed. But visiting a site should be disclosed prior to the hearing.
Avoid initiating a contact with a developer or a citizen. If contacted, be polite and avoid stating your viewpoint. That’s important. Avoid stating your viewpoint. Recommend that the person submit their comments in writing, or state them at the hearing so that they can be considered by everyone at the hearing prior to the staff presentation.
Disclose any information received that is relevant to the hearing. Then, uh, outside of the due process world, we have meeting decorum. So this is more back to your standard. Um, all commission meetings as opposed to when you’re dealing with a public hearing on a project.
And the city council has adopted rules of decorum that apply to city council meetings and generally apply as well to commission meetings. And the idea is it applies to commissioners or council members, as well as members of the public and everyone who’s attending the meeting.
And the idea is that everyone should conduct themselves in an orderly and professional manner to ensure that the business of the city is attended to efficiently and, and, um, and they should be polite and respectful when addressing one another. Um commissioners should address their request to speak to the chair and do their best to avoid repetition and limit comments to the subject matter at hand, which means refraining from discussing matters that are not on the agenda.
Meetings are meant to be a space for everyone to share and express their views on the business at hand. Um and the City Council member, the City Council rules of decorum cover a number of things, but the general rule is that if someone is actually disturbing the meeting, actually disrupting the meeting, they can be kicked out
of the meeting. Normally there will be like a warning first, but then if the person continues to engage in conduct that actually disrupts the meeting, they can be kicked out.
They can be taken out by security, whatever the case may be, however, um, you you you can’t remove someone just because they, for example, criticize, um, you know, the city council, they say it’s a city council meeting and you have members of the public who want to criticize a certain council member. They can do that because they have their First Amendment rights.
Also, if they are using profanity, that’s not necessarily a basis to remove them. It has to rise to the level of actually disrupting the meeting. And that’s what the city council rules of decorum say. So lastly, I just wanted to cover commissioners oral communications real quick. As you know, there’s a standing item on every commission agenda.
Basically last item on the agenda that gives the commissioners an opportunity to provide oral communications. During this time, commissioners are free to share brief announcements or updates from their attendance at other regional boards, committees, workshops or events.
When the commission, uh, makes a decision on a development project, though, it is subject to appeal to the City Council, as I mentioned, and if an appeal is filed, the council will decide the appeal. Or may consider it and send it back to the Commission for further review. The city’s decision on the project is not final until the conclusion of the appeal process.
Keeping this in mind, during oral communications, commissioners should not vocalize their opinion on a Commission decision on the project after it has already been made. Commissioners are still expected to uphold due process, which includes a fair hearing and impartial decision makers. If the matter is appealed to council and then sent back to the commission, the comments may result in recusal being required.
When the matter returns to the commission. Commissioners should also avoid commenting publicly on dangerous roadway conditions. Please direct these comments to staff after the meeting. And that concludes my presentation, and I’m happy to take any questions. Thank you very much. Um, to my colleagues.
Any questions? You, um, Madam Chair, you said that the commission should not refer to what was the last thing with the traffic. Or dangerous roadway conditions. Um, during the public oral communications. Uh, and the reason for that is just it creates liability for the city.
Um, when the city does receive, if someone, say, gets in a traffic accident, um, and or they trip and fall on the sidewalk and they, they, uh, sue the city for a dangerous condition of public property. Um, one of the things they have to prove is that the city was on notice of the dangerous condition.
And the commissioners oral communications providing that statement publicly to staff can be seen as putting the city on notice. And so it’s better to the city will look to do something about it, but it’s better to just tell staff directly than to make the public statement that could create liability for the city. Okay. Thank you.
Anyone else? Commissioner Johnson? Oh, for me? Yes. A follow up question. The next part. I’m not sure if I’m saying it right. At what point do you have an opportunity to meet with your your fellow commissioners to speak on this? If if you needed to.
To speak on a project before, before it goes to the planning Commission. Well, generally, if there’s if less than a than if less than a majority of the commission is involved in the discussion, it wouldn’t create a Brown Act violation.
So since we have a nine member commission, technically up to four people could discuss and it wouldn’t be a Brown act because it wouldn’t be a majority. But the problem is, if any of, say, it was for people that have a discussion, if any of those four people then talks to a fifth person, now a majority has, and it’s not just making a decision, but discussing, deliberating, hearing a project, hearing
information or or actually making a decision. So, um, it’s not prohibited to talk to one other commissioner about a project leading up to a commission meeting. But the danger is, if one person talks to another and then that person talks to another.
And especially if you’re sharing your views on you think this is a good project, how should I vote? Should do you good or bad? Like, should I approve it now? You should probably refrain from that because honestly, you’re not supposed to be making up your mind until after the public hearing. You’re supposed to be in the information gathering mode.
Think of yourself as like a neutral sponge, just looking to absorb information on the project until Chair Thomas says, I’m closing the public hearing at that point. That’s when you go into decision making mode, and that can include convincing your other commissioners that you think it’s you. You think the project should be approved.
You could say, I’m going to vote for this, and I think everyone else should too. You can absolutely try to advocate at that point, but that it’s that moment when the public hearing is closed that you go from neutral information gatherer to, uh, advocate, decision maker, etc.. Thank you.
Commissioner Johnson, did you have and did that take care of it? Oh, no, I did have one. Uh, do the sequel exemptions fall under the quasi judicial matters? Yes. Great question. So Ceqa would apply to both the quasi judicial matters and the legislative matters. Um, it’s just that on the legislative matters, the commission is only an advisory body.
So only making a recommendation to the city council. And so the recommendation would be on the Sequoia as well as on the legislative action versus in the quasi judicial actions like the conditional use permit. The Planning Commission is the decision making body. So they’re making the decision on Sequoia too. So they’re deciding you would be deciding on a conditional use permit.
For part of your duties is to decide what should the Sequoia action be. So it’s a separate thing from approving the project. It’s saying, um, you know, it’s you have to take the sequoia action before you take the action.
Approving the project, and you’re deciding, first of all, is the action subject to Sequoia? If if it is subject to Sequoia, then what Sequoia document do we need to approve? So that’s a whole nother world, this equal world. And we can definitely do a training on that. If the commission is interested. But basically there’s there’s a flowchart that I can provide as well.
And it basically takes you through the decision or the kind of the thought process which is, first of all, is it a sequel project or not? If if you’re taking a discretionary action, like a conditional use permit, it is a sequel project, so you’re past the first step.
If it was a ministerial action that like staff was taking, that they had to take a certain action, it would not be it would not be discretionary. So it would not be a sequel project. And they would it would not be subject to sequel. But the actions that you’re taking generally are discretionary, and they have Sequoia.
They are sequel projects. However, if it was just a site plan, a design review in Carson, it would not be subject to sequel anyway. You then once you determine it’s a sequel project, you determine whether there’s an exemption and there’s a bunch of different exemptions that could potentially apply.
You’ve you’ve heard of, you know, class 32 infill exemption as a common one, which means the site has already been developed in the past. Or the area around the site has already been developed and certain specific criteria are met.
But if no exemption applies, then you get into actually, um, making a sequel determination, which is either an EIR environmental impact report, negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration. And what you’re saying is, does the project have potentially significant environmental impacts? If it doesn’t, it’s a negative declaration if it would. But you can put mitigation to make it so that it won’t. That’s a mitigated negative declaration. And if it would despite mitigation, that’s when you have to do an EIR.
Thank you. We might need the flowchart. Yeah. There’s a really helpful flowchart that I could send you. Appreciate it. Yeah. Are you complete? Yes. Anyone else have any questions? I think this was really, really a good refresher for us. I think it was much needed.
Uh, it makes us feel a little more secure in our deliberations and what we should and should not say after the deliberation is completed. And we have made a decision. It’s, uh, that’s it. So if that there are no further questions. Thank you for the presentation. We will be looking for the flowchart so that, uh, we.
Can there is another resource to the League of California Cities Planning Commissioners Handbook, uh, is very helpful. I can send that to you all as well, if you’d like. Um, it’s just a helpful resource for commissioners to have if you have a binder that you. Bring, I think is it.
It’s it’s not I don’t think it’s too bad. How many pages. I don’t remember. I haven’t looked at it a long time. Then I don’t want it. I don’t want it. If you can’t remember how many. Are probably not. Short. It may not be too too bad. I don’t remember.
He likes to read. It. Could be 500 pages. Anyway, let me know. And if you want a copy of this PowerPoint, I’m happy to email it to you, so let me know. Let’s see. So we do have this. Oh, you already have it. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. It’s wonderful. Thank you.
Thank you Laura I it thank you. Uh, next we have the manager’s report. Good evening. Can you hear me? Okay. Good evening, Chair Thomas and honorable commission. Um, thank you again. Assistant city Attorney Jones, for the awesome presentation. Just to put it in context, our last, uh, training or refresher was in 2021. So.
So, um, it was time. It was time? Yes. Definitely. Yes. 2021. Um, and to kind of clarify some points that, um, Assistant City Attorney Jones mentioned, please, any of your inquiries, please, um, shoot them over, email them over to, to Laura and she’ll do the, um, coordination.
Um, that’s that includes you. We will email you the slides if you already don’t have. I know you have two heart copies, but we’ll email you that as well as the flow chart. And if you’re interested, those who are interested, please let us know if you want the PC book.
The League of California PC book and we’ll get that to you. Also. Okay. Alrighty. Um, that was a great presentation, man. Thank you. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. And another. I have a few things to mention one.
Same still here I don’t I want to make sure that the Planning Commission knows that James Nguyen has a new division under his wing. He is not only the the real property services manager, but you also has his own division within the community and economic development department.
So, um, I want to say kudos to him because of those many years in the making and he finally is getting the staff, or at least the start of the staff to help him out with the many projects that he’s working on. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Congratulations. Congratulations. And then also, uh, I want to share with you that, please, on September 22nd, that’s going to be a robust meeting. Everyone.
Everyone, if you can attend, please attend because we have quite a few items on board for the September 22nd meeting giving you a heads up. You’re normally here. I really want to say please be here for that meeting. Uh, we we we’re making up for lost time. You know, I’ll go with that. Playing catch up with that. That’s fine. Huh? Okay. Uh.
And and then also, I want to bring back a matter regarding our commissioner, Doctor Hassell, and the inquiry was regarding a left turn arrow at the South bound Main Street in Alameda intersection. The, uh, city traffic engineer.
He did respond, and he said that they’re going to collect data and complete a study and let us know what the findings are. And then I’ll circle back to you sometime. It looks like maybe around, um, November, maybe late late October, heading towards November with, with a, with their findings. So either be myself or the traffic engineer that will present that.
Uh. Let’s see. Oh, and that concludes my presentation. And thank you again for your presentation. That’s it. That’s it for tonight. Thank you so much. Uh, this has been, uh, quite eventful.
And by that I mean educational, uh, catching up on a lot of things, a lot of things going on in our great city. And so it just keeps us abreast of all those things and how they will unfold. And the role that we will play as we continue to go forward. We had quite a hiatus early on in the year.
There were so many other things going on in the city that you guys were involved in, but we weren’t necessarily as a collective body involved in that.
But there was a lot of work going on, and I think what you’re telling us is that come September 22nd, we’re going to see, um, a surge in catching up on the things that we, uh, we have put in abeyance for a minute. So we’ll be looking forward to that. So everybody stay healthy. And now we’re going to go to our, uh, commissioners oral communications. We will start to my right with Commissioner Monte Claro. Okay. Hi, everyone. So, um, I’m glad that I’m back.
And I’ve been away sometimes. Uh, but, uh, this year is a milestone for me. And, uh, you know, I turned 80. Yeah, that’s a good news. The bad news is. What’s the bad. News? The bad news is I checked on Google and, uh, I checked on the, uh.
Uh, lifespan of an 80 year old guy, and it gives me 5 to 7 years more, you know? So. But you’re a rock star, so you get extra time. Yeah, but, uh, that would be long enough for me, you know, to be, uh, to be enjoying life, especially here in the city of Carson.
And I’m excited, you know, about the, uh, progress of the development of the, uh, um, sports, uh, carriage del sports, uh, so hopefully that, uh, you know, it will be done, uh, this year, you know, in preparation for the, uh, uh, 1920, 80. 20, 28. 2028, uh, um. Olympics. Olympic, Olympic. Yeah. And sometimes my memory fails me, but, you know, I’m still good.
So I’m glad to be here. And I’m glad to serve the city of Carson as a commissioner. Uh, as long as my health permits, you know, hopefully for a couple, couple more years. Very good. Thank you. Hopefully. Yes. Yes, we’re going to do that. Thank you so much, Commissioner Johnson.
Happy to be here. Excited to see the brownfield grant circling back. Um, I know that’s been a lot of work and excited for what’s to come. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner and Puma. Thank you. I’m happy to be here. Uh, thank you for the presentation. Um, Mr.. Mr. Wynn, I’m sorry, I don’t know your title.
It’s a planning. Oh, wow. Okay. And congratulations on your new, um, title and office. And thank you. Um, assistant city attorney, appreciate your presentation. Learned a lot. And thank you to the staff. And also to my fellow commissioners. It’s good to see you and everyone. Have a blessed evening. Thank you, Commissioner Wilson.
Uh, good evening, everyone. I echo the sentiments of all of my colleagues, and I also want to acknowledge the young lady here who’s from the nonprofit who has been very involved over the years.
So thank you for always having a presence, um, at these meetings, you know, and speaking on behalf of the community around the issues that your organization focuses on. I think we all very much appreciate it and understand, um, your mission and your goals. And I think for the most part, we all are very supportive of what you do. So thank you for for being here. And, um, that’s it. I’m complete. Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner Doc Dazzle. Yes. Thank you. Uh, it’s always a privilege to, uh, to attend and to participate in these Planning Commission meetings. Um, and, yes, I definitely echo what has been said. It’s it’s it’s nice to see our public, uh, be involved in these proceedings.
Uh, it’s wonderful to have such capable, uh, presenters, uh, give us so much information. Um, congrats on, um, you know, our manager, the real manager know. Congratulations for for your new, um, new, um, staff as well. And also, congratulations are in order to our, our rising star over here, super lawyer. Uh, thank you so much for for everything that you do.
I know we talked about, you know, this has been a minute since we’ve had, uh, this training, uh, the last training actually preceded my participation in the commission. So this is not a review for me. This is a lot of information that is definitely necessary in doing what we do.
And I do commend our, uh, our, you know, obviously, the staff for everything that you do, our commissioners, uh, for always coming in, um, you know, we’re all passionate. We’re all pulling, uh, in the same direction.
Uh, we might not always agree on, you know, on some of the details, but at the end of the day, we all want what’s best for our community, our city. And I think we can all agree that, you know, having this, you know, all these tools in our arsenal can only help us, uh, in doing our job to the best of our ability.
So thank you. Uh, to the staff, uh, for preparing this for us. And again, hats off to my fellow commissioners for for your willingness to serve. And that completes me. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Hough. My goodness. Good afternoon, everyone. Uh, I certainly do. Ditto all of the comments. That were. Made and agree with them.
I certainly do. I think we are all happy and proud to serve the jewel of the South Bay. I thank everybody that’s in this room because everybody has made their own presentation. Certainly had something beneficial to say to all of us. It is a pleasure to work alongside of you.
I applaud everybody for the time and the effort to. They’re putting in to us being trained for one thing, but also for allowing us to take our place in this great scheme of things. And congratulations to everybody who’s a rising star in this organization. Thank you.
Have a wonderful and a blessed, um, rest of this month and we’ll be ready for September 22nd. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Chair. Yes. Um, to your left. I forgot to ask a question. Uh, when will, uh, do we know when sprouts will open? My neighbor asked me when I was heading over here. They have the signage and everything done, so I. I have no idea. I have no idea.
Uh, the last I heard, it should be sometime this month. I don’t have the exact date, but I can get it to you after I speak with the with the property owner. This is Tuesday and the month is over. Yeah. So. Monday. So. Yeah. So let me change that thing.
Thank you for pointing that out. I’m still like Miss September, my brain. Okay. So we’re looking at sometime October and I’ll get back to you regarding the date okay okay. It’s moved to excited about. Oh absolutely. Very close. Very yes. Thank you.
It’s it’s just a pleasure and honor really to serve in this city, uh, especially with all of the things that are happening, have happen, are happening and are projected to happen. We are on the move.
I mean, and when you think about how small Carson is, comparatively speaking, to the long beaches of the world and, you know, all of these other big cities, we are doing excellent. Uh, I want to say that I am certainly honored to serve with my fellow commissioners, love the staff. I think we got the best staff. But anyway, love the staff. But the city is on the move. We just had a press conference this past, um. Monday.
Was it? And I think, I don’t know, things are moving though. Last week that was last week. Last Thursday, last Thursday with a major, major, uh, announcement.
And that will bring revenue into this city over the next 15 years to the tune of over 400 plus million dollars coming from the oil company marathon and a few others. Uh, but some decisions that have been made, some agreements that have been made that really sets this city on a firm foundation of solvency that is just unmatched. I think, you know, pound for pound square footage, for square footage, unmatched.
It’s a huge thing that was announced last week. And so we are really, really moving in a direction that’s unparalleled to any others. And so I want to commend the city council for that. And the staff that worked on that and made that dream happen. The announcement took place in the amphitheater.
It was just wonderful to have a press conference, and it was in the amphitheater, not in front of City Hall, with people standing around on the grass. It was classy. It was incredible. Uh, there’s so many things going on. Keep your ears to the ground. Keep your eyes on the website. Whatever you.
However you get your news. Uh, and it is an honor. I’ve been in this city now, uh, 54 years. An original homeowner, and my daughter was just visiting. They grew up here, and she was amazed. She said, mom, this city who who knew back then this city would be this. And what is planned for the future.
So our future is bright. Uh, we’ve always had a, uh, a motto of Destination City. And I used to think destination to. What? Well, we are now really becoming a destination city with the things that are proposed to be happening here.
So we can feel proud as residents of the city of Carson, those of us who serve, we can feel proud to serve. We said every time, um, you know, and you say it’s honor to serve, but it really, really is. This is a good place to be. Thank you. Ben, I, I treasure you, McKenna. You guys, uh, the whole staff is just incredible.
So look at your social media. We have the prayer breakfast that’s coming up on the 19th. I was informed today that it is sold out. So you don’t have a ticket, just, you know, plan for next year because we have no more space for you.
Uh, that’s going to happen September 19th. We have the jazz festival that’s coming up on October the 3rd. We have the Women’s conference that’s coming up. Um, uh, on October the 19th, seventh, which what is it, 16? Well, it’s two weeks later.
So from the third, the Friday two weeks after that, instead of Saturday, it would be the day before. Uh, so we have that coming up. We have, uh, um, just a turkey coming up in November and then December, we’re at the Winter Fest, and the toy giveaway. So this year is passing fast. You have to keep up with what’s going on.
But a lot of, uh, benefits and amenities are being taken care of in this city. So we are indeed blessed. We are thankful. And with that, as a proud chairperson, I will say this meeting is adjourned.