Yes, we are all set. Chair Galdo. >> Wonderful. Well, good morning everyone.
It is Thursday, March 19th, 2026 and we are gathered here for the Sacramento
board of directors meeting. I want to welcome everyone to this beautiful
location and thank you for being here. For those of you that took the tour, I'm
I'm sure you enjoyed it as much as I do and we look forward to hearing a lot
more about West Sacramento. this morning. But if we could, madam clerk,
would you start with roll call? >> Thank you. Good morning. Director Andrea
absent. Baines >> present.
» Boom garden >> present.
» Rollins for Branskum >> here.
» Bulahan >> here.
» Chapterene >> here.
» Chapman >> here.
» Clark Kretz here. >> Clarici
» here. >> Desmond. Don Calvo.
» Early >> here. How
» here. Hume. >> Jennings
absent. Jones >> here.
» Kennedy. >> Kazowski
» here. >> Lauren
» here. >> Maple
absent. McCully >> Rodriguez absent. Sander
absent. Lopez. Taffer Schaefer >> here.
» Soon >> here.
» Teter >> here.
» Beeramp >> here.
» Vega >> here.
» Viegas >> here.
» Vice chair Bradford >> here. Chair Galdo
» here. >> An exeicio member attacker for a seis
here. >> And it sounds like most of you figured
it out, but just in case you have u you need some more instruction for your
mics. When you push the button, it will light green and that means your mic is
live. You have to push it again to turn it off. Thank you.
» Except for me. >> Except for director How to shout
» whose light is red. >> Oh, they the Yes, you're good. The red
works. >> We have a block. Thank you. If you could
join me and for the pledge, please.
» And I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
stands under indivisible
and justice for all.
So, >> thank you.
Our next up on our agendum is an opportunity for public communications
and it's an opportunity for anyone who wishes to address the board on an item
that does not appear on the agenda. Madam clerk, do we have any speaker
cards for public comment? >> There's no public communications.
» All right. Thank you. Next would be our opportunity for directors if they have
any conflict. Do we have any directors that would like to share conflict?
All right. Well, seeing none, we're going to move on into the the heart of
our agenda. We're so excited to be here in West Sacramento and really excited
for the tour that we had this morning and to learn so much. I've already
learned how large West Sacramento is that I was not aware of. Um, and so I'd
like to introduce the mayor of Sacramento and our former SECOG board
member, Martha Guerrero, who's going to share a little bit about West Sack with
us.
Good morning, Madame Chair and members of the board, directors. It is such an
honor to be here and welcome to the beautiful West Sacramento. West
Sacramento um is thriving. That's thanks to your leadership, thanks to the
leadership historically that we have achieved over the many years um since
the since the presence of our and future of our region. When you look back over
the years um when SECOG history blended with West Sacramento, when we were
working together, the one thing that is very clear is that this body has helped
move the region from planning ideas to delivering real tangible results. And
this change occurred in this beautiful community that some of us have toured
and thanks to our city manager and wonderful team provided an excellent
tour of some of the great things that are happening. We are proud to say we
are living that progress every day. SEICOG has been a vital partner
consistently making investments that reflect a bigger vision. Not just roads,
not just housing, but a coordinated strategy that brings together
transportation, land use, climate, and equity. One of the transportation ideas
that had came to fruition was via our ondemand ride share program when Chris
Leesma wanted to strike out and figure out a way to reach out to the most
underserved area of our community. That was our initial investment in West
Sacramento in the Bright and Broadick area. And I'm proud to say that that
that that pilot, that experiment that we thought we needed to reach out to bridge
where we see all these, you know, barriers in connecting people, that
particular project demonstrated that the people in that area, our most
disadvantaged community, the mothers, the children, the elderly, the older
adults were able to access grocery store, medical care, getting to school,
first and last mile to get to work. These are per these are individuals that
have only one car. These people are living much more stronger today. Thanks
to SECOG for believing in that opportunity.
So year after year through your funding programs, you supported projects that
improve safety, reduce congestion, and expand mobility options
in West Sacramento. As you've seen in touring around, that has meant safer
streets, pedestrian pathways over a bridge, our beautiful sign on there that
says West Sacramento. So, we'll indulge a little bit and add our our flavor to
it as well. And especially for working families, seniors, and young people, as
I just described, but in so many ways. So, this has been that powerful movement
that SEIKOG has brought. And so a shift toward integrating housing and
transportation is what we've seen in our Grand Gateway project. That project that
we see as a result of a $43 million affordable housing and sustainable
community funding is going to provide affordable housing. is going to fund
various regional um transportation connections like our light rail and
other forms of mobility to get people connected and to get them out of their
cars, but also putting them in a place where they're going to have access to
jobs as we're going to create more jobs. So, it's about delivering that promise
that growth in our region can be both sustainable and inclusive. At the same
time, SEIKOG, all of you has continued to prioritize that regional connectivity
and West Sacramento sits at the heart of it where we have our Clarksburg trail
that is going to connect us much farther beyond. So these physical conditions
that bring our region connect together, they connect all of us. They connect all
of us in a way that make sure that we bring all of our communities together
and help our residents and our businesses. So with that, I just want to
say we want to think about the people. We want to think about the businesses.
We want to think about the young persons and the older persons because when we
invest together as a region, we just don't build infrastructure. we build
opportunity for our future. So, thank you for all that you do and thank you
for allowing me to share a few words here and welcoming you to West
Sacramento.
» Thank you. Uh thank you board members for being here in West Sacramento. I'm
Aaron Laura. I'm the city manager and port CEO. Uh those of you that weren't
able to join us on the tour, um want to especially uh thank you for coming to
West Sacramento to uh spend some time with us today. I think it's very import
uh important and and and relevant that you're here in one of the most special
places in our region. Uh not just uh sitting with the backdrop of of Sutter
Health Park, but also in the Legacy Club. Um this was an upgrade that went
along with many of the other upgrades that came about last year uh with the
stadium. But when we talk about regionalism, I think it's it's easy to
forget that this this project was actually a result of a regional effort.
Uh, Supervisor Viegas uh was actually on um our uh he's actually on our planning
commission at the time this came about. Uh but Yolo County, who he represents
now, actually had a role. Sacramento County had a role. Uh the the this is a
privately owned stadium. Many people don't know that. They assume that we own
it, but it's actually owned by the Sacramento Rivercats, who were gracious
enough to host us today. Um and and the way the financing worked, it was done
through a regional approach where the bonds were backed by our city, Sack
County, and Yolo County. Um that was something that would not have been
possible [snorts] without that spirit of cooperation that was present at the
time. And it was the only reason the stadium was made possible because
someone had to kind of back the the possibility that hey, if the the private
uh revenue wasn't enough to to finance the stadium, um how are we going to
backs stop it? And so, uh, it's because of that that we're sitting here today on
on this great site, Sutter Hill Park. Uh, as you all know, uh, it's no secret
that, you know, we have the the A's here for the next couple of seasons, but, uh,
we are looking ahead as well, and I want to give a chance for, uh, one of our
council members, your board member, uh, uh, Council Member Early, and Supervisor
Vega to speak a little bit about, uh, what's next. Um, and I can't say too
much yet, but I will say, you know, we are definitely, um, in the game when it
comes to looking at the future. Uh, we're doing a lot of work at the city
side, working on updates to our Bridge District Pacific plan, which you, if you
were on the tour, you heard about earlier. Uh, working with our local
partners on building some momentum around what the possib possibilities
might look like for a future of Major League Baseball in our region right here
in West Sacramento. So, uh, stay tuned on that. There'll be a lot more to come
and and many of you will be involved if uh once that effort uh gets going. Uh
but for now uh please enjoy the uh the baseball season that we have coming up,
both Rivercats games and A's games. Uh and I will turn it over to Council
Member Early and Supervisor Vegas. Thank you.
» Thank you so much to our city manager. Thank you to our mayor
and and I would say I I know that you have seen both the mayor of West
Sacramento. So, our mayor, uh, Martha Guerrero, as well as the mayor of city
of Sacramento talking about Major League Baseball. So, I know our city manager
said, "Hey, can't say too much." I'm probably going to say more than than
what he [laughter] said. So, we have the A's here for the next few years and we
are excited that they are here. The reason why we are excited is not only
because we have a major league team here, one of actually the only city in
the country that is hosting both aa team as well as an MLB team, but also what it
means for the future. And what it means for the future is that we will have
Major League Baseball here, not from the A's, but from an expansion team. And we
are excited about that because that's not just our team, West Sacramento's
team. That's not just Sacramento's team. That is all of our team. that is
regionally we all together will be coming to these games and so here we are
we have this opportunity but as great as it is to have the A's here it also could
be a liability because what we need to make sure we are doing is filling the
seats what we need to make sure we are doing is actually having sponsorships so
that we can show that an MLB team can be successful in this region and I know
they I know they can because I've seen the
Kings. How many Kings fans do we have here? Everyone should be raising their
hands. [laughter] Pat, you too.
The Kings is not just Sacramento's team. The Kings is all of our team. And here
we have an opportunity to bring an expansion team here to this region to be
all of our teams. Not the A's, but our own team. But we need all of your help.
We need your help in getting people here and getting them excited over the next
two seasons because when we put our proposal in and we will be putting our
proposal in, we need to show that we got people here. We need to show that we had
sponsorships. And so we're looking to you guys. And so one of the things that
we need from you and true SECOG fashion is we need you to bring out get your
your constituents and your residents excited about baseball here because
again this isn't about the A's. This is about our future team, right? The team
that will get the name, the team that will be ours and ours alone. They will
start here. So, we need you guys for that. We also need you guys for the
sponsorships. When I think about the businesses that we have here in West
Sacramento and here in Sacramento, right, we've got business, but we have
businesses throughout the region. I think about Rockland and I think about
Quickquack, right? Wouldn't that be great to have that out here, right? I
think about Pespros and Autotois. There are so many businesses when we spread
out through the region that could be here helping sponsor, but that starts
with us. When I toured two years ago and I was looking at all the different
suites and the sponsorships, all I thought was, you know, there's more. If
only we came together, as we do in true SECOG fashion, to lift up the entire
region. And so, I'm excited about that. And so Oscar and I put our heads
together and we started to think, well, we've got these suites and wouldn't it
be cool if we had like a city of Rockland day here where we we had you
guys come out with a business that would be interested in coming? And so we
wanted to make that pitch to you guys over the next couple of years. We would
love for you to go back to your city councils and your uh county supervisors
and say, "Hey, I want to go see an A's game." Not only want to see an A's game,
I want to bring someone who'd be interested in sponsoring.
I want to feature you guys. Guys, I want you to come out, see the views, because
this is not just Sacramento's team. It's not just West Sacramento's team. It's
all of our team. And I'm not talking about the A's. I'm talking about the
future. We've heard the MLB commissioner say there's going to be two expansion
teams by 2028. Two. One on the West Coast and one on the East Coast. And
guess what, guys? We are in the running. We are part of the top five. We are
right there. But the only way we're going to be able to do that is together.
Again, in true SECOG fashion. I'm going to turn it to my veteran um because he's
been here way longer than I have. So, we can talk for [laughter]
» I promise I'll only take 30 seconds and then you get the meeting back to to
actually conduct the professional business. But I I wanted to just first
of all, thank you Dante for your leadership and all the work. And I think
if you were on the tour and you heard about all the kind of visionary
components of the growth of West Sacramento, it didn't just happen by
accident. It was by design, by investment, by grit, by long-term vision
and stickuitiveness that was needed to make this stuff happen. We didn't just
magically show up in this beautiful building. There was tremendous work that
went into it. Jumping forward, we all know what what what Sacramento what the
region feels like when the Kings are winning. We can rally around a
professional team like none other. Given today's circumstances, the environment
that we're in, we need things. We need things to pull us together rather than
apart. Professional sports teams, the Olympics, a good example. They bring
people together in ways that people feel really, really good about themselves.
We're a baseball there. We're a baseball region. There's absolutely no question
about it. We're in this weird moment right now where while we're hosting a
professional team, the prospects the prospects of a real Major League
Baseball expansion coming to this region and potentially West Sacramento is very
real. Is very real. You heard Aaron give his sort of spiel around the city. Um
he's in part part of the discussions around what can happen. But at the end
of the day as we look around the room and in Seikk we talk about what we can
do as a as a collective region often asking yourselves what can you do? I
think I'll just double down on what Dante said. The city has access to a
suite. It's really simple but you guys all have access to your corporate your
business entities within your respective region. There's no cost to you to
contact the city to bring some of your partners within your respective region,
your cities, and enjoy a ball game. Enjoy a ball game hosted by the city of
West Sacramento in their suite and expose your business um partners to what
it can be like so that when the very near future, the opportunity presents
itself to actually submit that application to the MLB for an expansion
team that we're sitting in good positions. Thank you very much for your
time.
Thank you. And both is your end. And of course, I have one question. So, as a
longtime Ace fan, there was that part when they first came of a little bit of
the guilt, quite honestly, the Oakland impact. And so, I think there was that
little bit of hesitation and then um the lack of embrace of Sacramento. It's
the best way to put it when and so there was that for sponsors and that is like
hey I mean I started making my hats long ago I'm not going to lie I got a couple
Sacramento hats. Um so I think for when you're working with the MLB I'm I'm sure
you are but that is um I think hopefully they're they realize the the slow start
to get the embrace those factors came in. Absolutely. So I but I love your
idea of having all of us as our cities and our counties. Heck yeah. Let's do
it. >> I can't wait. So, you're going to be the
first to to raise your hand. >> I absolutely I will. I' I've already got
several games lined up. So, uh I'll add to my list. Absolutely. Thank you so
much. I appreciate it. >> Well, it's not nearly as exciting and
fun, but let's move on for our regular agenda
» and we're actually going to adjourn to SECOG and convene as the Capitol Valley
Regional Service Authority for freeways and expressways. Are CVR safe? Now,
madam clerk, would you please note for the record, are there any changes to the
roll call since we started? >> Thank you, Chair Galdo. We will note
that our safe directors recommen are absent. Excuse [clears throat] me. We'll
note for the record that director Maple and Sander are also present.
» Thank you. Uh we'll move on to public communications for the CVR safe meeting.
And so again, an opportunity for anyone to speak on an item that does not appear
on the agenda. Do we have any public comment for the CVR safe?
» There's no public comment. >> Great. Thank you. Then and again, do we
have any uh conflicts that any directors would need to disclose for the CVR safe
portion? >> All right. Seeing none, then I will take
up the consent calendar. We have three items. the minutes from the January 15,
2026 meeting, the extension of the Capitol Valley Regional Service
Authority for freeways and expressways operation assistance, and requests for
proposals for Capitol Valley Regional Service Authority for freeways and
expressways motorist aid, call answering. Um, there anyone need to pull
anything from this consent calendar? >> Move to approved by Baines.
» Bradford will second. >> Cenfield second. I was going to move.
» Thank you. >> Thank you. I know they're so fast. That
is too slow. >> Annette, you caught that. All right,
perfect. So, I thank you. I appreciate I have a motion. Is there any public
comment on the consent calendar? >> There's no public comment.
» All right. All those in favor? >> I opposed abstain. Thank you.
Well, now we get to adjourn as the CVR safe board of directors and we will
reconvene as the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. Um, so we again we're
starting off with the consent calendar. Is there anyone that would like to pull
anything from the consent calendar? >> Madame Chair, I'd like to pull item 11
from the consent calendar. Participation in the water form agreement 2015.
» Thank you. Did you want to have a conversation about that or
» I will leave it to the pleasure of staff whether we have time to have this
conversation today or move it to April. >> Thank you.
Is there any um any rush on this that has to be done this
week or this meeting? All right. If seeing none, then we can move that on to
our next meeting agenda. Um again, any other items anyone like to
pull off the consent calendar? >> All right,
» Madam Chair, I'll move the balance of the consent calendar for approval.
» Second. >> Thank you very much. I do have a request
to speak on item 18. Oops. Not on consent. So, any uh public comment on
consent? >> There's no public comment.
» Thank you very much. We've got a motion and a second. All those in favor?
» I opposed. >> All right. We're moving.
» Galdo, um I think you director Howell had asked uh in terms of staff
recommendation on the item pulled off. You you are welcome to have a
conversation on that today. There is no rush. Uh we've been talking to Director
Howishel and Director Kaslowski as well. So, pleasure of the chair. If you'd like
to uh try to have the conversation and move the item today, you're welcome to
do so. >> Madam Chair, I think we can do this like
in 90 seconds. >> Let's do it then.
» All right. So, I saw this and uh having been an alumni of Water Form One, I
thought, well, well, this is uh this is a different lane that than SEKOG is
usually in. So, I reached out to James and Casey and u we had a conversation.
So Casey, can you tell us a little bit why uh you're asking for SEIKOG to be um
part are you a participant or a signatory? And if you know based on your
answer, tell us why. >> Yes. Uh thank you Director Howell. Yes,
SEIKOG uh has been invited. Seikk was first invited to participate in the
update to that agreement. It's called the water forum successor effort because
the current agreement expires in 2030. So the new agreement would go to 2050.
Uh SECOG was invited a number with a number of other organizations to
participate in the public caucus. There are four caucuses of that um uh of that
effort and then also to become a signatory of it. And so that's what's on
the agenda today to sign theou which is in the attachment there as well. The
reason that uh SEIKOG uh participated in it and that staff is recommending that
we become a signatory to it as an agency is that this is a network of both um
water purveyors, environmental interest, business interests and also public
interests in uh supporting the co-equal goals of this agreement, right, which is
the environmental health of the American River as well as the um supporting
economic growth in the region. And so those two co-equal goals we feel align
very well with SECOG's triple bottom line goals. It also brings us into a
network um that is focused on uh adaptation of the American River wershed
over that time period. And so we would be part of a network that understands
what are the regional like project priorities uh to be able to advance to
ensure the continued growth and sustainability of the region. And then
finally um we find that we've participated in other networks that have
um similar uh environmental and climate focuses and when we are able to be there
coordinated we can coordinate advocacy we can also put forth SECOG's priorities
to get support and so we find that to be very helpful and then lastly um we were
invited in as well as uh an expert agency that does long range planning um
doing long range economic and demographic forecasting to be able to
contribute that to the water forum's ongoing work.
» And the you may have said this and yeah, I know you said this to me this morning.
Um some of the other public members include
» SAFEA. Yes. Um other public members include uh this SAFEA. So Sacramento
Area Flood Control Agency, American River Flood Control, SMUD, um all of the
cities and counties that are within the American River wershed. So that's in
Placer, Elorado, and Sacramento counties as well as League of Women Voters and
maybe a couple other non-governmental organizations.
» So again, Madam Chair, I wanted to daylight this so somebody didn't see the
agenda item and said, "Wait, I thought SAT SEIKOG was air quality and
transportation. Are they getting outside their lane by going into the water form
agreement?" Having that explanation, I don't think you're outside. I don't
think SECOG's outside its lane and so I would move approval of this item.
» Second. >> Thank you. I have a motion to second. Is
there any other public comment on this item 11?
» There's no public comment. >> Thank you. All those in favor?
» I opposed and stay. Motion carries. Thank you. Next up is item 17. It's an
action item. It's our 2026 SEIKOG federal funding cycle. and David Pap,
our staff will do the presentation. >> Stay in your lane.
» Good morning. >> Uh good morning. Uh David Pap, principal
planner. Um so I'll be presenting an overview uh of SEIKOG's 2026 federal
funding cycle. So this will include uh funding outlook, program structure and
implementation timeline for the congestion mitigation air quality or
CMAC and surface transportation block grant or STBG funds.
So today we're asking the board to take three actions related to the 2026
federal funding cycle. One is to adopt the federal funding estimate, two
approve the program budget, and three authorize staff to open the call for
projects. So together these three actions will formally initiate the
funding cycle. Um before I get into the funding
overview, I did just want to provide a little bit of context on where we
started and and where we've come from. Um so as the region's designated MO and
consistent with federal requirements and the corrective action, SEIKOG is
responsible for administering CMAC and STBG funds on a regionwide basis.
Um through a nearly two-year process, SEIKOG staff working with the multi-
agency working group and in coordination with the board, many of which you've all
participated in this, um completed the transition from a 4count
to a sixcount performance-based competitive funding framework that
defines how these funds will be administered. So since then, program
guidelines have been adopted, funding assumptions for fiscal years 28 through
30 are in place, and the proposed evaluation criteria and program budgets
are finalized. So today's action really allows staff to move from framework
development into the implementation phase.
So for this cycle, it's expected we're expected to program approximately 230
million across federal fiscal years 28 through 30. So, this breaks down to
approximately 102 million in CMAC funds and 128 million in STBG with the STBG
funds uh split between two programs at 65 and 35% per previous board action in
September. Um, and I do want to note that these
figures are still estimates and assume federal reauthorization. Um, if any of
these numbers were to change, uh, staff would return to the board with updated
funding levels. So, in terms of how the funding will be
used, it's really structured around three core programs that balance
regional priorities and implement the 2025 blueprint. Um, approximately 91.9
million of the CMAC funding will be available through what we're calling the
next generation solutions and clean air program. And this focuses on funding
projects that reduce emissions and explan expand clean mobility.
Um roughly 72 million or 65% of the SDBG funds will go to the system performance
program and that will be funding projects that at a high level improve
safety, reliability and the overall function of the transportation system.
And then finally roughly 38.8 million will be going to the system preservation
program to fund projects that explicitly maintain and extend the life of key
roadways. So in addition to the competitive
programs approximately 9.1 million or 27.3 million over three years is
proposed for board directed priority programs. So collectively these
investments support regionwide services targeted programs and planning
monitoring and implementation activities that are necessary to administer the
federal funding and advance uh regional policy. So this includes things like the
uh Sacramento emergency clean air for transportation program, sustainable
milability, uh our new region regional payment management program and freeway
service patrol.
And then as it relates to project evaluation for these competitive
programs, um SEIKOG will use a standardized performance-based
evaluation framework that will support consistent and transparent funding
decisions. So the proposed evaluation criteria is included in your packet
today and this would be applied through a technical evaluation committee
composed of subject matter experts from across the region. Um but ultimately the
final funding decisions will be made by the SEIKOG board and at a high level
projects will be evaluated based on deliverability and readiness, financial
capacity and cost effectiveness in alignment with uh per sorry performance
and alignment with local and regional priorities.
Um so in terms of timing the cycle would begin uh with a system preservation call
for projects. Uh ultimately we would be opening the call today. Um and award
recommendations for that program would be in August. Uh the calls for system
performance and nextg clean air would open in June and follow a unified
schedule with applications due in September and award recommendations in
December. Um the reason for the staggered timing is to allow ample time
for folks to prepare their applications um and not overwhelm by doing it all at
once. Um let's see here. And then
yeah uh programming activities would begin um in February 27 for for all
three programs. So just to summarize, um staff is
recommending board approval of the 230 million in CAMAC and SDBG funding
estimate and program budget and authorizing staff to open the 2026
federal funding cycle call for projects. And with action today, staff can
officially launch the first ever sixcount federal funding cycle.
So that concludes my presentation. >> Thank you very much. I know we've had
multiple discussions on this item in our different committees. Any other
questions or comments?
All right. Seeing none, is there any public comment on this item?
» There's no public comment. >> I'll bring it back and ask for a motion.
» I'll move approval down. Thank you. Down to Calvo and a second.
» Thank you. All those in favor? >> I I opposed.
» All right. Motion carries. Thank you. Next up is our action item number 18.
It's our mobility zones early action project approval and Kathleen Aziz will
be our presenter. >> Thank you so much, Madam Chair. It's a
pleasure to be with you all. Always fun to get a staff presentation at an
off-site meeting. Um, so the item before you is an action item. Staff and the
transportation committee are requesting approval to fund six early action
projects that have been identified through the multi-year mobility zones
process.
Oh, there we go. Okay, my presentation this morning is going to have three
sections. I'll provide you a little bit of background on on the various
presentations staff have brought to the board on mobility zones over the last
couple of years. The bulk of the funding that is recommended for approval today
is carbon reduction program funding. So, I'll talk a bit about where that funding
comes from. Um, and then I'll provide an overview of the six early action
projects that are recommended for approval. Both how those were identified
and what the six projects are. And then we'll talk about next steps on what's
going to happen with these six projects and with the other 27 projects that were
identified through the process but are not recommended for funding today.
Many board members will remember the first major action that we took on the
mobility zones project was to adopt 10 phase 1 mobility zones. You can see them
here in pink um on the slide. There's also a link in your staff report to an
interactive map if you want to zoom in on any of those boundaries. Um, and so
these 10 mobility zones represent parts of the region that have both a high
level of demographic inequity, high proportions of low-income folks,
non-white communities, and also a lot of transportation need places that have
poor pavement condition, little access to transit, difficulty walking and
biking in their communities. Following the selection of the 10
mobility zones, staff and consultant support did a need assessment of each of
the 10 mobility zones to really understand exactly what's going on in
each of those places, what are their key transportation challenges, getting us
towards, you know, what are some transportation projects that could
actually improve quality of life for these communities. So, you'll see here
that these are some of the themes that we heard across the 10 very different
mobility zones in this region. Um, and the full details of those reports are
are linked in the attachments. We last presented to the board in
December of last year where we talked about where we were on getting to the
final stage of this process, which is identifying the six early action
projects that are before you for action today. And so we started with over a
hundred projects identified by the community last summer and have been
working through a multi-step process of winnowing that down in partnership with
city, county, and transit operator staff. And so when we last came to you
in December, we were at a list of 33 high priority projects. Those are also
linked in your staff report. Um, and so really the focus of my presentation
today has been on the progress since December to go from that list of 33 down
to the six, one in each county that are recommended for your approval today.
As I mentioned, the bulk of the funding that's recommended for approval is
carbon reduction program or CRP funding. This is a federal formula type of
transportation funding. It's a new type of funding that was created in the
infrastructure investment and jobs act in 2021. So this is sixcount federal
funding that comes um in a formula basis for a total of 22.6 million for the
whole SEIKOG region over 5 years. In 2023, the board took action to direct
how those CRP funds would be spent. And the board's um action was a sort of
two-pronged approach with a near-term approach and a long-term approach. The
near-term was a competitive funding round. I believe attachment C in your
staff report lists those projects that were funded in that initial funding
round. And then the long-term approach is to put the funds towards mobility
zones and trails. And so this action before you today and one of your items
coming next month really uh formalizes that long-term action and implements the
board's direction from 2023. This is how those funds have been um
allocated so far. just to give a reminder of sort of the spread of where
CRP funds have been awarded throughout the region. So you can see in the blue
column on the left the award recipients from that initial competitive CRP round
in 2024. The pink in the middle is the recommended awards as part of this item
and then the remaining $3.2 million will be programmed through the trails via ATP
and that should come before the board in early 2027.
All right, all that background aside, we'll
talk a bit about how updates since we were last here in December on how we got
down from those 33 high priority projects to the six before you. So,
looking at all three of those 33 high priority projects, I want to be clear,
there's no bad projects on this list, right? We have a limited amount of
funding and the initial board direction in 2023 was to have one project in each
county. So, it's been really a multi-step process to figure out what
makes sense to go right now with the money that we have. And so all 33
projects went through both a technical evaluation, you can find the results of
that evaluation in attachment E, and through robust community engagement in
partnership with our community- based organizations. We have our teammates
here from Civic Thread in the room. So I just want to thank them for all their
hard work to do such incredible engagement on this project. Just in our
third round of engagement in October and November, we reached more than 2,000
people around this region, many of them in person, as you can see. um in just
four weeks of that engagement cycle. So the recommended projects before you
really represent sort of a robust community identified projects that serve
these very localized communities that were identified.
Once we had the results from both of those two types of evaluations, we
brought them to the project's advisory committees and task force. These are
bodies that were appointed early on in mobility zones and meet every quarter
and have been directing the progress of the project and developing
recommendations that come before you at the board. So ultimately those bodies
recommended the final list of six projects that's been before
transportation committee and board this month.
I'll now walk you through each of the six projects um to give you a sense of
what they include and how much funding is recommended for approval. The project
in Sacramento County is a Floren bus stop bundle project. This is a bundle of
13 bus stop improvements in SA South Sacramento on both Bruceville Road and
Floren Road. So, this adds shelters and benches to existing bus stops in that
area. And the recommended approval award is $1.3 million for construction.
The recommended project in Yolo County is the Woodland Transfer Point Project.
This relocates the existing Woodland transfer point from the county fair
mall, which is largely vacant, to downtown Woodland, which is a a much
better location. It's consistent with YOLO Transportation District short-range
transit plan and really provides a better location for transit riders to be
making those connections and getting to downtown Woodland. So, the recommended
award is 1.07 million also for construction.
The recommended project in Pler County is the Bowman Road sidewalk infill
project. Bowman Road is a frontage road along Interstate 80 in North Auburn. And
so this closes an important sidewalk gap outside of uh school to provide those
students safer access from their school grounds into the adjacent neighborhood
where many live and also where many families do pick up. So this is also a
construction recommended approval of just under $3.6 million.
The recommended project in El Elorado County is a series of crossing
improvements in Georgetown along Main Street. So this is kind of the the core
downtown Main Street, if you will, of Georgetown in in unincorporated Elorado
County. And so this improves the existing crossings at three locations,
making it safer both for local residents, but also for the economic
development that they have when they have events in Georgetown. It's also a
recommended project for construction with an award of $1.75 million.
The recommended project in Sutter County is Sandborn Sidewalks and Bus Stops. So,
this is at the southwest corner of Yuba City Limits. Um, and so this adds
sidewalks on the eastern side of Sandborn Road as you can see in the map
here from Nan to Bogue. Um, there's also a bus stop at this location. So, the
project scope includes providing some upgrades to that existing bus stop.
You'll notice in the bottom left of the map shown there that this is also where
the Sik Temple is. And so in addition to providing access for residents in this
neighborhood, it improves transit and walkability access to a key regional
destination. The recommended award is $900,000 for construction.
And last but never least, the recommended award in Yuba County is for
a volunteer driver program study. So what this study would look at is what uh
opportunities there are for Yuba transit to be able to work with existing rural
communities in the Yuba foothills to provide um better transit access. So
there are some very informal volunteer driver programs that exist in these
communities right now. Basically neighbors loaning vans and helping each
other get down. If you haven't been to this part of the region, it's like 45
minutes from Mary'sville. So if you live up there, you know, you're 45 minutes
from your major grocery store and hospital and all of that. And so looking
at what opportunities there are to be able to formalize that um or otherwise
improve those folks access to the major destinations in Mary'sville and Yuba
City. And so because it's just a study um the recommended award is $100,000.
I'll also note that this recommended award isn't for CRP. It's for the raise
funds that we have on the mobility zones project. This just helps us use the
funds that we have in the vest place since this is planning work and
stretches our CRP dollars a little farther on the other projects.
So, those are your six projects recommended for approval. On next steps,
um should the board choose to take action and a award the six projects
today, staff will work with the city, county, and transit operator partners to
get those funds programmed and get them underway. It'll be a different timeline
for each project, but SEIKOG will provide that technical assistance as
they get through delivery over the next few years. And then really critically, I
want to note that the other 27 projects are still on the table. And so we'll be
developing implementation toolkits, doing more analysis to understand what
those 27 projects need. Some of them are very construction ready and and you'll
likely see them coming through for competitive funds through other SEIKOG
processes. Others of them are really early in ideation and need more
technical assistance to get developed. So we'll be doing analysis to understand
what each of those 27 projects need and what SEIKOG can do to help over the
coming years to get more of them under construction and funded. And so that
concludes my presentation. I'm happy to take any questions.
» Thank you very much. Questions? All right, seeing none, I do have u I'll
open up for public comment. I do have one public comment card. Any others
besides this one, Madam Clerk? >> There's no other public comment.
» All right, then I'll call up Auburn Bernstein.
Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning. Autumn Bernstein with the Yolo
Transportation District in Woodland, California. And I'm here today to urge
your support for all of these phenomenal projects um in this round, but in
particular for the down uh downtown Woodland transfer point project. This
will fill a critical need in Woodland and in Yolo County's uh transit network
as a whole by getting our transit hub out of a nearly abandoned mall on the
edge of town, which is the place where we receive the most complaints about
safety in our entire system. Um, by relocating this to downtown Woodland,
it'll not only make things safer for our bus passengers that have to transfer
there, but also for the first time ever have a one seat bus ride from downtown
Woodland to other key destinations like downtown Sacramento, the airport, UC
Davis, etc. So, I think it's going to really be a benefit for downtown
Woodland as well in terms of increasing access to all the opportunities and
businesses in that area. And lastly, I just want to commend SEIKOG for pursuing
this really innovative approach um that elevates the viewpoints of community
members. It's not often that you get to hear from bus riders. They're not a very
politically active group and so really appreciate SEIKOG for taking this
approach to reach out to them and hear from them along with other
vulnerableities. Thank you. >> Thank you.
All right, we'll close public comment and I will bring it back for action on
this item. >> Lauren moves the item
» second. You were so fast. And we're right next
to each other, so it just works. Perfect. Thank you. A motion in a
second. All those in favor. Okay. Opposed. Extensions. Motion carries.
Thank you. I'm excited to see these projects.
» I need I need
» Oh, that's a lot of lot of work to come up with that list. Our last action item
is our to approve our draft budget and overall work program and adopt the
salary schedules for fiscal year 2627 and Loretta Sue is our presenter.
» Thank you chair. Good morning. Um the draft budget and overall work program
for fiscal year 2026 27 is ready for board consideration. This is um sec
required annual planning and budget documents. So this morning I'm going to
briefly go over the overall work program and some of the activities that will be
carried out in fiscal year 2627. Um touch on the draft budget for fiscal
year 2627 and then also discuss a little bit about the fund balance
considerations and then I will close out with the um request for approval on the
salary schedule and also the request for board actions on the draft budget item.
So the budget and OWP or overall work program I'm just going to use OWP
throughout this presentation here are required by state and federal mandates
and must be prepared annually together they document our transportation
planning activity in the secog regions. The OWP is more than just a uh more more
detailed than a typical budget. It show how our planning work implement the
metropolitan transportation plan and sustainable community strategies also
known as the blueprint. The budget and OWP require board approval and then also
approval by CALR and federal agencies for expenditures starting July 1st 2026.
Consistent uh with prior year in February, staff submitted a draft um OWP
and budgets for CALR and federal agencies for review and comment. And
this morning, staff is seeking board approval to release the draft budget and
OWP for public comment. And then in April, staff will bring back the final
budget draft and then um for board adoption and also followed by approval
by CALR and federal agencies.
So I just want to highlight some of the work plan activities um in fiscal year
2026 27 with the adoption of the 2025 blueprint.
Seikkok and its region's partner are moving forward with implementation of
the plan through the overall work programs. Seikkok has identified 18 work
programs within the five-year work plans focusing on these priorities.
The first priority is build vibrant places and inclusive places. Um the
major priority program in this priority is housing and some of the activities
includes support local delivery of the green means go grants and then also
preparations of the regional housing needs process.
The second priority is the next generations of mobility solutions
priority program include transit. This includes um completing completing the
SB125 funding allocation plan and also updating to the FTA allocation process.
And then also you just heard from Kathleen on the mobility zone. The focus
will basically fund projects through the creation of the meaningful community
engagement. The third priority is about modernizing
how we pay for transportation. Priority program include the strategic quarter
planning which includes support for Carta and then also preparations for the
managed lanes for future grants opportunities.
And the fourth priority is um building and maintaining a safe, equitable and
resilient transportation system. Now, of course, you just heard from David on the
uh federal um funding round cycle and then also um the focus is also
implementation of the trail plan within the regions.
Then also across all four priorities, Seikko also carry out the regional
monitoring reports which include the publications of the AB350 monitoring
reports and also the annual progress report. These are some of the example of
work included in the OWP along with other requirement activities associated
with Sikkok roles as MO regional transportation planning agency and also
at council of governments. Before I go into the draft budget, I
just want to point out a few thing that is maybe unique a little bit unique to
SEIKOK budgets. So SEIKO managed two separate budget which first budget is
the general fund budget which including all the operation activity as I just
mentioned earlier and it also include the board and advocacy activities.
Additionally also managed the capital rally regional service authority for
freeway and expressway budget also known as the CVR safe. This budget is being
appo approved by the CVR safe board.
SECOG operation budget does include significant pass through funding and
then um also it fluctuates yearbyear but because of these fluctuations
sometime the actual expenditure may be lack due to those pass through cost that
is being submitted for reimbursement by member jurisdictions and also sometime
of the consulting costs assoc associated with some of the discretionary grants
and also I want to point out SECO often begins the year planning for use of some
um fund balance but with the goal of filling that gap during the fiscal year.
This has proven successful over the last few years as I will go into a little bit
more detail when I share the fund balance um used for this budget year.
This is just a um quick overview of all the different revenue source that SICKOK
receive as a metropolitan planning organizations, RTP, council of
government and also discretionary grants.
Now just a quick high-level overview of the draft 2026 27 budget.
So this is the total budget makeup for fiscal year 2627.
Total um revenue projected is 52 I'm sorry 51.2 million in revenue and also
use of um restricted and unassigned fund balance of approximately 1.5 million.
This represent a 6% increase over 25 26 budgets. As you can see from the chart
here, the state and federal funds makes up majority of the revenue and this is
mainly associated with the green beans go grant um from the federal level and
then also from the state side. And on the expenditure side, the
year-over-year increase is largely driven by the higher pass through cost
as I noted earlier on the green beans go program and um and other uh
discretionary grant like the mobility zone.
The staff and benefits increased slightly. This is due to the cost of
living adjustment but it was a partially offset by excluding two vacant position
from the current fiscal year. But I want to note that seikkok budget is approved
in tandem with the OWP and then um sikok's management exercise the
budgetary control at the fund level. So rather than budgeting at a fixed number
of positions, this approach offer management greater flexibility in
managing sikco personnel resources according to the work plan needs or in
this case is to keep position unfilled due to some budgetary consideration
as we all heard you know obviously there's still unknown with the um the
federal reauthorization bill so decide to put these two position on hold for
now and then what might back later if we feel that there would be a need or
obviously there need to carry out the work plan but then also that the
additional funding may be secured either through discretionary grant or other
means and then as you this also reflect the
consulting cost that is slightly lower. This is also due to ending some of the
discretionary grant for the fiscal year and then the near completion of the
blueprint EIR work. For more information, comparison
information to the current fiscal year, the staff report and the attachment
offer further detailed analysis um regarding this draft budgets. Um
attachment A present a summary of revenue of changes by funding source
while the attachment B outlines the revenue and expenditure for summary for
the fiscal year.
As I noted earlier, the the draft budget includes the use of um some restricted
and unassigned fund requests. So this um obviously included some one-time needs
and then also this approach is consistent with the SIKCO policy and
then also to maintain long-term fiscal sil
stability and preserve flexibility for future years. As you can see from this
slide here, this you show the total use of one approximately 1.5 million in plan
use of fund balance across the different category which include the use of
managed fund and restricted fund of 618,000
for grant match and board approved program um such as the EI and also the
match for the mobility zone grant and then it's also include a proposed use of
250,000 from the pension trust to smooth out Kalper's unfunded
liability payment and then lastly included 660,000 of unassigned fund
balance. This include both carryover of the previously approved fund balance
where work spent multiple fiscal year and then also the prop sorry proposed
use of 500,000 for the f first phase of the travel household travel survey which
the board approved in March for the release of the RP.
This is just a quick um highlight of what the estimated fund balance as of um
fiscal year ending uh June 30th, 2026 and also um based on the proposed use of
the fund balance for fiscal year 2027.
Lastly, staff is requesting approval of an updated salary schedule effective
July 1st, 2026, which reflect a 3.2% 2% cost of living cost of living adjustment
increase based on the California consumer price index. This is consistent
with the labor agreement SECOG has with its employees associations. The detailed
schedule are included in attachment K. So the recommendations for the board um
that the board the policy and innovation committee recommended that the board
approve release of the draft budget and OWP for fiscal year 202627
for public comment and then also adopt the salary schedule for fiscal year 2026
27.
This concludes the overview of the uh my presentation. happy to answer any
questions or any feedback from the board.
» Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I know you've done this presentation at
our committee, so we had an opportunity to get into detail, but there are any
further questions for Loretta at this time.
All right, seeing none, I will open up for public comment. Is Excuse
[clears throat] me. Is there any public comment on this item?
» There's no public comment. >> Bring it back.
» I move approval. Hey, that was like if we do that together, that was chorus.
» I literally I know. So, I'm looking and I'm going to say who was it? Who was it?
» Yeah. Please. >> Uh I know that we are going to have
potentially what we're seeing um is some uncertainty at the federal level and
still
» in which in which area? it feels like in all it.
» Um, and I'm just curious, you referenced the the two positions. Is there any
other concerns um in regards to the money or other dollars that we have
already built in at the federal from the feds um that those two could potentially
be fought back? >> Well, obviously um included in the
budget is our uh formula fundings for the um from the federal governments for
the planning work, right? So we basically just assuming that funding
will be continue at the current level with a slight increases. Um so that you
know obviously depending on what's going to happen with the reauthorization bill
that may potentially aris >> are there any um plan B's or C's in
regards to if if there is a world where that might change
» a plan B in terms of uh hiring those positions or or or going the other way.
Um, so just got back from DC, my third trip in 3 months where, um, I'm really
glad hopefully all of you are going back in April for CAP to CAP. Um, the federal
transportation bill expires in September, September 30th, the IIGJ. Uh,
we will not have a bill that's nearly as big and wellunded and robust as, uh,
going forward. There may be a new transportation bill uh certainly that is
marked up in committee possibly passed and signed by the president this year
but highly unlikely. Um if there is a new bill we could see anywhere from an
increase not only in funds that come directly to SEIKOG but funds that come
to all of you and that funding round item you just approved. We're working
really hard. I know uh director Jones came back from Niko and talked about the
basics act. So, we have a possibility of of putting things in the right direction
or um probably we would likely >> the probably the most likely outcome is
we won't get a bill this year. We'll have a continuing resolution. That is
the most likely. The reason that and I just want to put a finer point because
the board's been very engaged the budget the last few years. It's been great. Uh
we basically have a balanced budget we're submitting to you because we're
holding off those two hires. But for the 500,000 for the household travel survey,
we feel this is a pretty conservative budget. If it if the bill comes through
and gets done this year and it goes in the right direction, we will we will
come back accordingly with uh budget amendments to go in the right direction.
If not, I feel pretty confident that what you see before you is going to
stick.
» Thank you. Thank you for the question. I believe and just because you were
closest, I heard a a motion from director soon. Chair, I have a quick
question um before we go on. I'm sorry. >> Okay.
» And Loretta, thank you for the presentation. What are the two
positions? I I don't know if I missed that or could you tell me what they are?
» Um one of the position is um for the transportation team and then also the
other one is from our data team. Obviously, as I mentioned, um the way
the budget is structured is all based at the um more fund level. So management
sort of kind of determine when a a position is open to more looking at the
overall agency needs. So the replacement of the open position may not you know be
exactly you know replacing the existing or the you know the the open position.
So >> yeah one last check. Any other
questions? I have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second down and count.
Thank you. Nobody wanted to say second after that
motion. All right, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed
and abstensions. Motion carries. Thank you.
That is the last of our action items. And so we are back up for our workshop
on the city of West Sacramento. And so we will going to bring director I don't
know if you wanted to introduce again or any comments, but uh we will bring Erin
Thural back to do our workshop presentation.
» Wonderful. >> Again, welcome. you've already heard um
me be a cheerleader for our region and for West. We like to say West Bessack.
Yeah. Yeah. Um we are very very fortunate to have an amazing city
manager um in Aaron Laurel. He has been with us uh well he has been city manager
for nearly eight years. I actually think you've been with us for 18 21 years. Um
we've gotten to really see him grow up. that is um unusual to have that level of
longevity and um hopefully he talks a little bit about his history here in
addition to West Sacramento um because he has been foundational. Uh, Supervisor
Viegas actually noted um Erin will talk about our EIFD and how we were the first
city um in California to do that, but what he didn't say on the tour was he
wrote that he has not only advocated for it, but he [laughter]
[gasps] he is part of it. He could teach a class on this and so we're really
fortunate to have him here in West Sacramento. And I'm uh very very excited
to introduce uh my friend, my city manager, Aaron Laurel.
Thank you, Council Member Early, very much for that was very gracious. U some
of it was true. Um but no, I app I appreciate that. I will talk about uh
some of the the legacy here um that I've been fortunate to uh witness a lot of.
Uh we also refer to West Sacramento more recently as the baseball side of the
river. Uh you'll see that branded everywhere. Uh talk about a little bit
more about baseball in a minute. Um I know some of you are going to have to
leave around 11:30, but um I'll just if if it entices you at all. Uh, Supervisor
Pie did promise to open the bar if you'll stay till the end. So, uh, so I'm
gonna get in >> the best move to adjourn
» soon. Soon. >> Okay. Uh, when I when I talk about West
Sacramento, I like and and those of you that are on the tour today got to see a
good glimpse of sort of the present and future of our city, uh, especially
around the riverfront and, uh, tried to give some historic context of how we got
there. But, it's very difficult when you're looking at it today to kind of
envision what it used to be like unless you were there. And so, and it's also
difficult to understand West Sacramento and appreciate just how far we've come
and some of the reasons it took us a while to get there uh without that
historic context. And so, do the boring stuff first. Uh we uh we are a full
service city here in West Sacramento. We uh uh do everything from uh police and
fire to we are also the water uh purveyor. Um we are a city of I say
around 60,000. I think we've been historically undercounted by the census
which uh can hurt or help you in some ways. Uh we're also a major employment
center um on par with some of the major uh centers out there like Rancho Cordova
and downtown Sacramento uh just in terms of total employment. Um I think uh we we
hopefully made it clear on the tour that you know we we were sort of formed by
different communities that pre-existed the city. Uh but we're still only a city
of less than 40 years old. Uh we also get confused sometimes um you know as as
uh the name indicates we are not in uh Sacramento County. We are Yolo County.
uh we're proud of that, but we're also proud to be uh culturally, economically,
socially connected to the center of the region and and uh downtown Sacramento.
So, we very much uh cross both boundaries. Um the organization, like I
said, we are a full service city, so employment wise, we are a larger
organization. I think the most notable thing here, two points. Uh one is we
have a huge CIP. A lot of your cities do as well. Uh but when you see some of the
projects we're working on, it'll make more sense. And because of that, um as
as Dr. early mentioned uh we were one of the early actors when it came to what
are we going to do after we lost redevelopment about you know it's been
almost 15 years now um we were very quick to act in both rebuilding uh the
toolbox through different tools but especially focusing on uh what became
the EFD law I I didn't I wrote some portions of that of that law but there
were very there are a lot of people a lot of great people that were involved
in in the uh reconstitution of that uh about 10 years ago and so uh if you're
not familiar what that is it's a it's a tax increment financing district using
property tax growth to help finance infrastructure. Um there's more and more
of these uh springing up around California. It's kind of the best thing
we have. We're still working on improving it, but uh we were the first
to act on it. We also just issued bonds for the first time. So hopefully that
helps pave the way for other cities to be able to to do that with it not being
a a strange um instrument in the debt market. Uh so we kind of overcame some
of those hurdles. Um I I mentioned the growth here. You know, we started as a
city of u less than 30,000 people. Um we've doubled since we incorporated. Um
experiencing some major growth during u the same times when you all did. But I
think what's notable about us is we still have a lot of ways to go. Um it's
not just in the Southport area, which is a more suburban part of town, but most
of the growth, believe it or not, is kind of where we are today. Um it's in
the Bridge District, it's on the riverfront. We have a lot of highdensity
housing that's yet to be built uh by design. And uh we we plan to top out
around 90,000 people. So, uh, we'll never be quite as large as some of the
bigger cities like Elkrove, but we'll be, uh, definitely, um, you know, a
larger city in the region. But when you look at us, you know, and this is a good
vantage point, I think, from a modern standard. This is looking west from
downtown Sacramento. Across the river is West Sacramento. You'll notice right
away, you know, there's there's a lot of um, vacant land still in the urban core.
Um, there's it's sort of a underdeveloped uh, setting on that side
of the river. And you can't help but ask yourself, well, why why is that? Why did
West Sacramento take so long to kind of come about and and grow to where it's
kind of on the same um density and trajectory as as say right across the
river in downtown Sacramento. And there are good historic reasons for that. Uh
this is dating back. This is probably I mean it's from a plane, so it's got to
be probably at least in the 1920s, 1930s. Uh but it shows you on the left
is is Sacramento. On the right is what then was East Yolo. Um, now West
Sacramento, the the Broadderick neighborhood of the Washington District
that we saw earlier. And you can see right there, it's it's very
underdeveloped. Uh, West Sacramento was kind of the stop on the way for people
that were coming up from the barrier during the gold rush. Um, as a result,
there were a lot of unsavory things that happened on this side of the river. Um,
you know, uh, bars, brothel, hotels that were just a stop on the way for people
that were getting across the river, but no one really settled there other than
that in that one little enclave. Uh part of that was because there weren't many
connections back and forth and that kind of stayed true. The other reason um and
this is something that's kind of a you know a reality of our history. Uh if
you're familiar with redlinining um West Sacramento was actually a redline
community back in the uh 19 late 1930s. That legacy really stuck with us. uh
just if you're not familiar with the term, uh it was it was something that
was uh really embedded in in in you know, racism and and um just sort of
institutional uh racism back in the the uh pre-war days. Um this if you were a
redline community, the federal government basically wouldn't back your
mortgage. And so as a as a a you know, percentage of total mortgages in in uh
communities back then, less than 2% of them in Redline communities were
federally backed. And as a result of that, you didn't have a lot of
investment. So there were other parts of Sacramento that that saw the same
history. A lot of people don't know that West Sacramento was actually a Redline
community. Um this is 1947. Kind of same thing. You know, you look across the
river and this is on the left. Not a lot there. Um and that just sort of
continued until uh we jump ahead to when the freeways were built. So this is now
looking from West Sacramento over across the river. Uh this is roughly in the
area where we are today uh at the foot of the the bridge there. Um this is the
the kind of the first highway that was built was West Capitol Avenue. It was
the Lincoln Highway. Uh if you have other people that went on the tour
today, you saw it. Um at one point we had 35 motel. We had RV parks. We had
very much autooriented uses. That was the East Yolo economy at the time and it
was thriving around the highway back then. This is like in the 1950s. Um we
had the capital in that's a real place. Uh they had the capital. We had the
capital in. This is actually on the site where uh city hall is today. Uh and this
was sort of that there were a lot of cool structures like this, neon signs
and everything. People would drive on their way to Tahoe or points eastward
and stop in West Sacramento. People didn't drive as far back then. And so
that was our legacy. That's kind of how our our community started. Um but then
the then the federal highways came around and and this these are the big
highways, you know, building the Pioneer Bridge, building Interstate 5. Uh West
Sacramento was effectively bypassed at that point. Uh this kind of shows it
illustrated where if you're going to San Francisco now, you know, West Sacramento
is kind of an afterthought. You can go there, but you can also just keep going.
And uh I always like to use this um this comparison because people generally get
the analogy. How many of you seen the movie Cars?
» Yeah. >> Okay, cool. So when I'm doing this in
other places, I'm I'm often presenting at conferences where like the
demographic is like there's like people in their 20s. So I always have to say
some of you saw it with your kids, some of you were kids. Uh but everyone
generally gets the reference. So this is Radiator Springs on the map uh where it
used to be part of the old, you know, sort of fictional Route 66. Then Highway
40 was built. And if you remember, the town's people were so excited because
they thought, "Hey, we're like on this major interstate system. We're going to
get all this business." And uh they they prepped and had this big u you know
banner. They were going to welcome all the travelers. And you know what
happened? You know the rest of the story. It didn't happen. Uh that they
were bypassed. the economy went went to you know what and uh and they had to
figure it out. The difference is and this was West Sacramento story. West
Capital Avenue became Radiator Springs in a way. Uh the difference is we didn't
have Lighton McQueen to come along and save us and instead our legacy was this.
What happened on West Capital Avenue back in the the late 1980s
um was what would happen anywhere across the country that experienced the same
thing. the motel owners that were there, they no longer had those traveler
businesses and and resorted to things that, you know, resulted in a lot of
challenges for a young city. Um, all the things that uh the headline was right,
the crime rate was crazy here in the in the late ' 80s. And I think West
Sacramento's reputation really suffered because of that for many years. So, that
was part of the story. The other part of the story was this. You know, this is
where in the bottom right of this picture is where we're sitting today.
You wouldn't have known that that was possible back then. This was a kind of a
riverfront port. We had rail lines criss-crossing everywhere. We had grain
warehouses. We had uh highways that were built. Uh you couldn't really come up
with a worse setup to try to build a cohesive community than what we were
dealt uh back then in in the 80s. And so this is the bridge district today. I'm
sorry, bridges back then. Um uh today it's a very different picture and and a
lot of that is due to the level of investment the city made once it
incorporated into transportation uh improvements. So, um, like I said, you
know, one of the reasons the city incorporated was around the idea, we
have this awesome riverfront that has great potential. We have great plans for
it, but we really need to, you know, double and triple down on infrastructure
investment and and transform this area into um a shovel ready site where
private investment can eventually come. And a lot of that was also in terms of
building a community and connecting those uh desperate disperate
neighborhoods that were part of the uh origin story. they were all disconnected
by whether it was rail lines or highways. And so a lot of the city's
early investments were on very basic things, rail crossings, undercrossings,
um and and then that that legacy continues today and reconnecting uh
those communities into what is today a cohesive West Sacramento. Uh so again,
this was the bridge district back then. Uh we heavily invested in infrastructure
and the the first big catalyst project that came along was Sutter Health Park.
Today it was field back then. But even then, if you remember what Field was
like back in 2000 when it opened, uh the area around it was a lot like that
former picture. I think there was a hope that, hey, we build this thing, it lands
here, and we're going to have all this investment. I think we learned the hard
way that that's just part of the the recipe. You had to then, like I said,
double down on on the infrastructure investment around it to create the
environment where infill development can really happen. And thanks to a lot of uh
public investment, a lot of help from SEIKOG grants and other other sources
and then our private partners, we were able to really make progress. This is
kind of just a aerial shot of the terraforming and all the all the big uh
you know movement we had to do in the bridge district to get the basic roads
in so we could actually build the first housing. Uh so this all occurred in uh
probably about 2012 to 2015. Uh this is kind of what you see today.
though even in this picture there are buildings the one on the right uh you
saw today is is almost done uh so things are happening very quickly now uh but
there were many many years where nothing happened because we had to make that
investment to make it possible so the bridge district today is uh slated for
up to 5,000 housing units uh 12 million ft of total development which is on par
with the same kind of density that you would see across the river and downtown
um today it has many amenities that uh people know well like the barn some
regional draws. We have an old uh rice pier that we actually converted into one
of the only places you can actually get out on the water in the river and and
you know take in the view. Uh and some of these other projects you saw today.
This illustration um you can laugh if you want, but um this actually
represents if you built the bridge district to its total density uh in
terms of what the infrastructure can support. It's not what the market can
support yet, but this is what it would look like if you built it out uh to the
full density. Um, I would predict that we'll see something that's sort of in
the middle of of this uh this photo in reality. Uh, and it'll take a while to
get there, but we're well on our way uh with the first about thousand units and
a and a lot more development coming up. >> What's
in the river there? >> Yeah. So, uh, if you know Mark
Freriedman, he was the one that uh, paid for this and designed it. So, uh, it's
kind of an aspirational project, but I think the idea was, hey, wouldn't it be
great? We have the Riverwalk and then you can walk along there and and uh take
in the river, but wouldn't it be great if we could actually have a floating
pier where you could you could get in the water? Yes,
» there's causeway like that in Austin. >> Yes, I've been on it.
» Yeah. Not quite. >> Yeah. The difference there is that's
that's a sort of a river and they don't have the the fluctuations in in height
that we do, but but yeah, we we've actually looked at that.
» A real river. >> It is. It is. But they don't have
it >> is awesome though.
» I'll say as a as a Sacramento representative um I might get, you know,
beaten when I'm when I go back home. But I I I'll say that I often look across
the river and I'm um in awe and uh inspired by the work that you guys are
doing on the on the waterfront and I often go talk to our staff at the city
of Sacramento and I say, "What are we doing? How come we can't build like this
on the waterfront?" And there's a lot of reasons for that, including one called
Union Pacific. But anyway, um but you know, it's I think it's it's a great
aspiration. I think something that we should do be doing on both sides of the
river because when you look at great cities all across the United States and
beyond that are especially ones that are on the convergence of two rivers like we
are, they build up on their waterfronts, they build housing, they build
restaurants and bars and and recreation opportunities. And I think that's
definitely in the future for us. And so I'm just really excited about all the
work you're doing. >> And we are too uh likewise in
Sacramento. So, I appreciate that comment because it does really speak to
kind of the promise and and why we do a lot of what we do on our side of the
river. Uh my joke about this and uh we'll talk in a minute about baseball.
Uh but DOCO was the best thing that happened to West Sacramento that we
didn't have to pay for, right? Uh just like everything we're doing over here,
if we if we do the type of thing we're talking about here, um it will just as
much benefit downtown Sacramento. And and that is the idea. We even though
we're two separate counties, two separate cities, our success is their
success. Everything that's happening in the rail yards is great for our city.
Soccer stadium, Kaiser, you name it. Uh but we're trying to do the same thing
for that exact reason. We want to be the regional draw for the whole the whole
region to uh recreate and enjoy. Um you know, we go back to where people live
and there's a great place in the region to live, but this is the economic and
cultural center of of the region and we want to be just as much a part of that
as downtown Sacramento. Um so I'm going to just highlight brief
» Karen. Can I just jump in real quick? Um, so this has really brought me down
memory lane because I'm from Lumis and my second job interview um at 19 was at
Clark Pacific and it was Techon Pacific back then and I will never forget
getting off the freeway to this huge billboard that said over a thousand1
hotel rooms. Yeah. >> You know, and I was like what what is
this? But I witnessed I was able to work for Clark Pacific three times over my
career. My husband actually um retired from there. But watching this incredible
transformation of this city has been amazing um since 1984 for me as I would
come down here. And um I just want to say it's just amazing and I love how I
love what you've done. I love the housing. Um it's just been a a knock out
of the park. So thank you. No, >> I appreciate that. and and uh you know
it it having that uh memory of the 80s is is especially profound when you when
you reflect on what has happened here. I think Supervisor Viegas growing up here
can >> Oh yeah.
» speak uh totally to that. >> So I have to give a shout out to
Whiteies. Yeah. >> And Club Feeasant
Neym
» Yeah. I think we just missed that. Um so uh I wanted to go back to the the motel
comment. So, uh, those of you who were on the tour today, um, saw some of the
work we've been doing. We did start with 35 motel and maybe at one point that
billboard was accurate. They've had to change it a few times. Um, the
association actually owns it, but um, we we very deliberately as part of our
redevelopment efforts on West Capitol Avenue have, and some of you saw that
today on the tour, um, acquired some of those motel properties, re temporarily
purposed them as interim supportive housing, uh, with an eye towards
redevelopment. uh you saw today our first big redevelopment project that's
going to be resulting from that effort. But as we go down the boulevard um that
that process is going to repeat itself uh really serves multiple purposes both
uh helping the population that is frankly kind of stuck there by
circumstance. Um I talked some of the the factors going into that um and
helping people that otherwise you know aren't getting much help. uh but also
looking to redevelop those sites into um new housing and and uh business
opportunities um as we as we kind of go east down the boulevard. So um SEIKOG
has been integral in in terms of um helping with those connections and the
transportation infrastructure investment that has led to a lot of the success
stories that we've had in West Sacramento, particularly around the
bridge district. But I wanted to get into a just to highlight a few and I'm
sorry if this is redundant with some of the tour uh but the I Street Bridge is
one that's very prominent. Uh if you've driven across it, you know the problems
with the Ice Street Bridge. Uh there's long been a plan to replace it. Uh it's
very notable on our side of the river because the new bridge, which is very
close to starting construction, um it actually lands in a different place. It
lands on Railards Boulevard on that side of the river. The old bridge uh is going
to be converted into a bicycle pedestrian bridge. Um this is the
rendering of the new um whether you want to call it rails bridge, sea street
bridge, or replacement bridge. We're still deciding on that, but it's a it's
a multimodal uh very much wider um you know,
pedestrian friendly um built for future types of transit and uh it will be a
dramatic difference compared to the current bridge. Uh like I said, the old
bridge will be converted into something like this. Um if you've been to the
Highline in in New York, it's not going to be the Highline, but it's going to be
as close as we can make it to that. U but it will be an important um
transportation uh asset for us going forward. You saw
this today. This is the overpass. There's a first pedestrian overpass over
the US50 uh freeway that runs through West Sacramento and bisects the city. Uh
the most notable thing here, if you missed it, is the the children that go
to school on uh they go to school on the left side of the bridge. Um on the right
side, there's neighborhoods that were so disconnected that it would cut their
walk time by like 20 minutes. So, it's a dramatic difference for for children
that live on that side. And that's not the only thing. I I actually live in one
of these neighborhoods and just seeing the number of people out doing active,
you know, whether it's transportation or just just health-wise, it's it's been a
great addition for us, too. And I know many of you have these in your
communities. You know what I'm talking about. Um, we have a trail system. A lot
of it is a rails to trails uh conversion. This is the Clarksburg trail
out in Southport. Uh, one of the early investments in the what was then the
SEIKOG bike ped program um is now being built out uh with additional SEIKOG uh
funding. You saw this today. This is Riverfront Street, uh the and Fifth
Street, the extension that we did. This used to be a two-lane road with a
freeway on ramp. And so we separated the bike path into a class one, uh trail,
and that really made it much safer, much more inviting for people that were more
casual bicyclists, uh getting to parts of West Sacramento that were very hard
to get to places like Sutter Health Park before. Uh so this was a dramatic
difference that was part funded in part by SEIKOG. uh the light rail project and
and this one is one that you know I've been in West Sacramento for 21 years.
I've been working on this project for 21 years. Um it's getting there. U it's a
big deal for us in terms of connecting us to the regional system. Uh right now,
you know, especially when you look at where we're standing today, what might
be here in the future, it's it's a key connection to make. Eventually, light
rail will hopefully head to the airport. Uh we want to be part of this system.
And so this project is is getting there. Like I said, uh we hope that it will um
you know, be under construction soon and just connect us to the 7th uh street
line in Sacramento. Uh this project is a is a little out there, but it's a a new
bridge that's out by the port of West Sacramento uh at the Enterprise
Crossing. This is the corridor. U and the theme here is West Sacramento only
has a few north south connections. It's been one of the things we suffered from
uh from a long time, not just from a traffic standpoint, but let's face it,
we're in a region that uh has flood risk and part of it is resiliency. We want to
make sure we have ways in and out in the worst case scenario. Uh but mainly this
is this is for traffic circulation. It will very much uh in a in a abstract way
help the riverfront because it pushes a lot of traffic away from what otherwise
would be coming through this corridor and in in doing that it allows us to
build higher density on on this side where it's mostly needed. Uh you you
learned today about Sacramento Avenue. This was our green means go uh project.
Um, this is being completely reimagined, redesigned, uh, from kind of an old
highway or underbuilt roadway configuration to something that is much
more pedestrian, bicycle friendly and much more conducive to attracting uh,
future development and some of the infill sites that are available there.
And I know you're all familiar with Greens Means Go, but uh just to give you
a sense of where our green zones are in West Sacramento, it's very much
concentrated around uh the waterfront areas uh but also in our some of our
lower-income neighborhoods like uh Bright and Broadick along the Sacramento
Avenue corridor. U I'm going to close with this slide
just to kind of restate the point uh made earlier and and I know I didn't say
much about kind of the work we're doing, but I can say a little bit here. The
city has been and is very much engaged on early planning work that includes a
bridge district specific plan update um that looks at kind of modernizing some
of our land use assumptions around it. Uh we were heavy on office development
in the early days of that plan and as you know no one's building office
buildings at least not much. Uh so we're really shifting the focus more towards
housing, uh retail, entertainment, hotels, and that really tracks well with
the the longerterm plans to say, hey, if if and if the stadium happened to triple
in size, uh for Major League Baseball, that would be much more of a conducive
to uh the type of development you typically see around stadiums. Uh you
can go to Atlanta, you can go to uh I think it's in Arlington, the new Ranger
Stadium. Uh they all have that common thread. There's there's a stadium, but
it's really about the development around it. Highdensity infill uh transit orient
development. Uh that's really what the bridge district is all about already,
but we're we're modernizing the plan uh to make sure that it tracks with the
opportunity that uh Council Member Early and Supervisor Vas talked a little bit
about earlier. Um and so we're just in the beginning stages of it, but there is
a really exciting regional opportunity here that that all the all the things
that were said earlier are true around uh the importance of regional
partnerships on it. Uh but the city is doing its part in terms of the
readiness, making sure that we not only have the plans and the infrastructure in
place, but also that we have the financing. The public financing side is
probably the most difficult part. You as a local electives can appreciate that
more than anybody. Uh but we are putting together a plan that would not come at
the expense of anything like our general fund that would rely completely on
revenues that would be generated by uh the development of the stadium and the
surrounding area. Um and so that'll be part of whatever um comes out of uh this
effort. So, um, I will I believe that's my last slide. I'll stop there and see
if there's any questions and I think we might have a couple minutes for that.
So, >> thank you. And I think too you'll be
around after if we have some. >> Yes, I will hang out.
» He's going to be around now because we've asked you guys to stay right
around. >> I I I was sitting here thinking I'm like
part of it is branding and identity and I'm thinking West Sacramento, how do you
get your own branding? So, I was thinking of all these great river names
and then I decided what was I thinking? It's Bridgertown, right? They'll be a
little more spicy if you were Bridget. >> That might be trademarked, but
[laughter] >> just saying.
» Um, any questions that you as a group would or comments?
» I'm sorry. I I blocked you, sir. [laughter]
» Anyway, >> not only Whitey where P6 will be in
season pretty soon. >> But, um, I think the original nugget
might be Woodland. Thanks.
» Dr. Howell, could you turn your mic on? Thank you.
» I was using coach voice. Um, so the one of the iconic legacies of West
Sacramento closed a year and a half ago. >> Yeah.
» The Pheasant Club, >> rumors are it might reopen. Club
Feeasant. Yep. Is that true? >> Yeah. So, when uh the pheasant club
announced closure, the first call I got was actually from Dr. Early. Um and and
uh it's funny sometimes, you know, things are happening in unison and and
you know, she said, "Hey, they it's actually in her council district and um
and she's very concerned obviously for all the reasons you just said. It's kind
of the West doesn't have a ton of preserved history and that in that
restaurant space is definitely one of them. Uh so the city acted very quickly
because it would have been a gas station and a couple of fast food restaurants
had we not. Um and we ended up actually purchasing the property uh from the from
the owners. Um the council from there then approved plans to uh bring it back
as a redeveloped but still preserving some of the the building uh facades and
and definitely the legacy of of the pheasant club. Uh there'll be I believe
there's seven restaurant spaces that are that are going to be
» Erin, can I can I tag in? Sure. Um because I think this really represents
the theme that we talked about this morning of West Sacramento and and you
touched on it, right, which is uh your local government investing in the
infrastructure or investing in systems that then allow for your whole community
to thrive. And I think one of the challenges that we saw with the pheasant
club was it would have turned into to your point, we were hearing, you know,
either a storage or gas station or um or fast food restaurant. And we knew that
short of us stepping in, the market will do what the market does. And that's
really been whether it is the motel, whether it is infill and allowing in
partnership with SEIKOG and others to invest in the in the streets and
infrastructure. That is what has allowed us in a very short amount of time to be
the community we are stepping in where we need to and then stepping back.
» Yeah. And so long story short, um they're in for plan check right now and
hopefully get building permits soon and a couple years from now hopefully you'll
be able to eat it. Um might not be called exactly the same, but uh it'll
it'll definitely be restaurants. >> Thank you. Director Sunn had a comment.
» Thank you chair. I just wanted to Aaron commend you. I mean, Dante, I mean,
Director Early and uh Director Viegas, just for all all the work you've done, I
think you've given us all the appreciation of not just what you
overcame, but the continuity of leadership and, you know, your
leadership as well as the councils to get to where you are. I mean, when you
say you've been here for 21 years, I mean, that what you had to overcome is
is incredible how long it takes to rebuild the infrastructure, the
entitlements, getting the, you know, people here. So, it really there's just
a huge appreciation I have for that cuz a lot of us are dealing with at least in
Elkrove, we had stuff we dealt with from the county, but a lot of it is blank
slates. So, that's that's a challenge in of itself, but I think what you guys
have done uh is just really amazing. >> Thank you.
» Yeah. Thank you so much. I know um several
folks had a hard stop, so we'll wrap it up, but I know that you will be here and
appreciate it that you'll stay for some questions. Thank you so much. Um moving
on quickly to just some uh reports. >> Yeah, thank you.
» I was hoping that Savannah Bananas were going to be out there practicing while
we were here, too. Um, a couple of things I wanted to to share some some
fun and exciting news. Um, I was able to attend KCOG with some of the SEIKOG
staff last week and they we have received a major award.
» It's the Eureka Award for regional excellence. It was very I was very proud
to accept on behalf of our team here and uh for our engage empower and implement
program and it really was an award directed at um creative and innovative
ideas that could serve as an example for other COGS and throughout the region. So
thank you to staff so much and everyone for for doing that and making me look
good when I got to accept it. Um, and I just do a reminder that uh, April 1st
form 700 and Lynette is over there happily ready to receive your your forms
as they come through. Um, and also I have to remind you on these placemats. I
do love the place mats. Um, the information for our pure region tour is
on there. And that is all that I have. James, do you have anything?
» I I would just say we've gone from the confluence of two rivers in this region
to at the late June the confluence of two rivers in Minneapolis St. Paul
because that is the Minnesota >> dates are confusing on the placemat.
» Uhoh. >> It looks as though the uh 25th and 6th
have been stricken from the calendar. >> Okay. The peer region tour is June 24th
leaving Bright and early uh staying through Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
coming back Friday evening June 26th. So whatever it says
» Thursday the 2. >> Listen to me. Uh
all right. June 24 26 registration is open. I know we have a lot of interest
from board members. Some of you >> I'm going to do it.
» Some of you I know you want to get out of here, but you're going to have to
listen to this. Uh want to bring your staff. We have a wait list. So, we have
actually so much board interest and we can't go above too many right on these
tours. So, it's great if you're interested in bringing your staff, but
there will be a wait list and I'm not sure we'll be able to manage that. We'll
do the best we can. But um got a great we have a a peer uh agency there, the
Met Council, Metropolitan Council. They are very excited to host you uh and show
off all the great things they've been doing and working on really hard. And
that first night will just happen to be a Minnesota Twins game downtown. So, uh
very transit accessible. That's my that is my report.
» Tour just got a lot more popular, didn't it? I love that. Thank you very very
much. Um, with that I think that's we've got everything covered. Just reminder of
our next meeting which I'm sure it'll be about a beautiful 100 degrees by the
time we meet again on April 16th back at our home base at SEIKOG. And with that
we're adjourned.