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Okay, good evening everyone. Uh, welcome to the March 23rd, 2026 city council
meeting. I will now call the meeting to order. Um, Councilman Steel, will you
say the pledge, please?
» And over your heart, repeat after me. I aliance to the flag of the United States
of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
» Thank you very much. Uh, city clerk, will you please take role? Council
member Calm, >> here.
» Council member Sen here. >> Council member Steel
» here. >> Mayor Prom Wang
» here. and Mayor Landau >> here. At this time, Mayor, I would also
like to note that there has been a change to the presentation title on
tonight's agenda. The reference to the Orange County Fire Authority has been
removed. The present presentation now reads, "Special presentation by the
Orange County Firefighters Local 3631 by President Chris Ham." Thank you very
much. >> And with that, I would now like to call
up Orange County Firefighters Local 3631 President Chris Ham.
Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Chris Ham. I'm president of Orange
County Professional Firefighters and Labor Leader of over,200 men and women
that serve this community every day. I'm here this evening with Battalion 1 BC
Brian Man, Engine 44 crew. Um Oh,
uh local 3631 Vice President Justin Dylan.
And we're here this evening to honor council member and former OCFA director
Joe Calm. Uh for those of you that aren't aware, Joe Calm served on our
OCFA board of directors, which is made up of 25 elected officials. across the
county of Orange. Joe has the distinct honor of not only serving as uh Seal
Beach's representative, but also being a former volunteer firefighter with the
Seal Beach Fire Department prior to coming to OCFA. And you may be asking
yourself why that matters. Uh most people when they think of Orange County
firefighters, they think of the engines or trucks that you see driving down the
street and you think of firefighters responding to cats and trees or
structure fires or vehicle fires. But the reality is the firefighters of today
do so much more. We are more akin to an all-risk agency. Our firefighters
respond to everything from active shooters to weapons of mass destruction.
And while you think what does that have to do with elected officials? Well, we
have 25 elected officials on our board who make the determination on the type
of equipment, the type of staffing, and the type of financial support our
firefighters are going to get to respond to those types of emergencies. When we
have an elected official like Joe Camck who has prior experience, it makes our
job significantly easier to have those more complex conversations. And so we're
here this evening to thank him for his support of our members. thank him for
his support of his service to his community and recognize that having an
opportunity for a council member like Joe Calm to step aside in his final year
as an elected official to allow Mayor Landau to step up to the board is not
only beneficial to us as firefighters, but it's beneficial to the Seal Beach
residents because you not only have a professional on the fire engines that
ride on the engines and trucks or the battalion chiefs that ride in BC wagons,
but you have somebody who sat in the room. So when Mayor Landau has a
question, she has multiple resources to reach out to. So with that, I want to
say thank you for your service, Joe. I want to present you with this plaque,
and hopefully we can get you down here to take a picture along with Engine 44
and Battalion One.
Do we need to sit or can we stand? >> Who's taking a picture? Corey, are we
okay standing? >> Yeah,
» these guys might need to smush. >> I'll send them to all of y'all.
take it home. >> Okay. Later. Thank you.
» Yes.
» Joe, real quick, if you just hold up the plaque. I just want to make reference to
the 44 on the side of the helmet. There is uh downtown Seal Beach Fire Station
44. So,
» I'm going to ask Mayor uh Prom Wong to help me save my voice a little bit. So,
we'll be switching up. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. Joe, would you like to
make a comment? >> Sure. Um,
I just want to say what a pleasure and an honor um, it's been to spend 40
years. Um, considering I could never decide if
I wanted to be a cowboy or a fireman when I was a kid. I at least was able to
pick one and and uh have a a career almost. Um, I certainly appreciate the
recognition and uh it was it it was a hell of a
ride, believe me. So, I want to thank everybody for all the support. Thanks.
Thank you, Mayor. uh for oral communications. At this time, members of
the public may address the council regarding any items within the subject
matter juris jurisdiction of the city council. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the
council cannot discuss or take action on any items not on the agenda unless
authorized by law. Matters not on the agenda may at council's discretion be
referred to the city manager and placed on a future agenda. All speakers will be
limited to a period of 5 minutes. Speakers must address their comments
only to the mayor and the entire city council and not to any individual member
of the staff or audience. Any documents for review should be presented to the
city clerk for distribution. Speaker cards are available at the clerk's desk
for those wishing to sign up to address the council. Although the submission of
a speaker card is not required in order to address the council.
And I believe we have our first uh public meeting speaker card is for
Charles Krueger. Sure.
» Honorable Mayor Landau and esteemed members of the city council. My name is
Lion John Schroeder of the Seal Beach Lions Club. I am here to announce and
introduce one of the least vocal members of the Seal Beach Lions Club, namely
Lion Jellybean Bunny. Many of you know Jellybean is one of the
quietest members of our club. In fact, she asked our board to appoint
a loudmouth member of our club to speak for her. Naturally, my name came up.
In any event, we're here to announce the 2026 Easter egg hunt taking place at
Eisenhower Park on April 4, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Miss Bunnikans or a
reasonable faximile thereof will be there to present the start of
the event and to take photos with children and or adults or city council
people. This is an annual fun event hosted by
the Sil Beach Lions Club. Please plan to attend to show your support. And I might
add, on a plus side, for elected officials such as yourself, this event
gives you a prime opportunity to meet and mingle with your constituents in
beautiful Seal Beach. And best of all for you, the hunt itself lasts only five
minutes. So we hope that you can be there. And as
a token uh and a reminder of the event, each of you have received a relatively
worthless plastic egg. Now, what happened,
Bunnings? You sat down. We have You forgot about the obligatory photo.
» You know, we have to have the obligatory photo.
» Take it easy, Bunnings.
Okay, >> John, you want to come up?
» Speak up, mayor, so that she knows where you are.
» Why don't we Why don't we go down there? >> Okay.
» Want to go down there? >> All right.
» Here we go. >> For the obligatory photo.
» Do you want to go up there, John?
» Thank you.
Thank you, buddy.
» She has more eggs to fill, so we're going to leave you now. Goodbye.
» Thank you very much. Um, our next speaker, Charles Krueger.
That was interesting. Uh, Charlie Kuger, College Park East.
I'd just like to bring to uh council's attention what's going on in College
Park East with uh the development and now that they're approaching the state.
Um, back when the uh project was approved in Los Alamos,
uh, it was brought to everyone's attention and it's on the record that
the sewer issue was going to be costly and it was going to the exact words in
the EIR was that the sewer was going to be cost prohibitive.
Lamson LLC was part of that process. Currently, Lamson LLC is a partner with
LAR. They should have communicated this with
LAR. Now, LAR is approaching the state to force,
I guess, the city, us to do something for LAR at our cost. What we're trying
to remind the city here is that we have an obligation to the uh golf course
development which is within our city, not the Lamson project which is uh in
Los Al. We're obligated to do affordable housing
and all those units are going to tax our sewer system.
We have a responsibility to those projects pro before the lampson project
and we'd like that brought to the state's attention. It's an issue that
that that needs to be put on the table. It's it's it's
paramount. Um Lamson LLC should have made a lot of things
disclosed to uh LAR. Uh we understand now that there's uh some issues with the
Quimby fee uh which was brought up at the uh the EIR
at uh Lassal approval
and because the state relaxed its EIR issues, why is Seal Beach being taxed or
being responsible for certain requirements? It's going to be costly
for us. those costs should be put on or worked out with the city of Loal.
That's really what we wanted to bring to attention. One other issue we'd like to
try to bring to light um the lamps and well we understand is
going to be finally uh the uh the project is going to start
repairs. We'd like to an accounting of how many months, years that the project
has not been run efficiently. How many years has that lampson well after it was
remodeled?
Why how many why I'm having a hard time explaining this, but it hasn't run at
100% efficiency really since it was remodeled. and it's been quite about
quite a long time and I think for for uh a coste effective project we should look
at that item. Um we at College Park East have been on the short end of that and
we need an efficient uh well and we're asking for some kind of accountability
on that. One other item, uh, I brought it up
earlier in an earlier meeting. We'd like the city to consider any kind of, uh,
electrical items brought up or new revisions to any kind of issues.
An item should be also considered as far as uh an efficient cost effective item
should be a um a u
rather than running something with Edison or lighting it should be a u
» 30 seconds Charles >> 30 seconds um
» solar >> some some type of solar
consideration. Any item should be automatically
considered uh a solar project. At least the the cost efficiencies should be
looked at. Thank you. >> Thank you, Charles.
» Um that is uh the one and only public speaking uh meeting speaking speaker
card that I have. Is there anybody else that would like to make a comment?
Yes, please. If you can state your name and uh neighborhood.
» Uh my name is uh Scott Fet. I've been a uh College Park East resident for over
20 years. Uh I just want to bring up a couple of things. Uh put a little bit
more of a face on it. Um I happen to live on Hazelnut between Rose and
Heather. the Lamson project will impact me quite significantly. Uh, a couple of
things downtown, the parking, we all know that it's been terrible. Or
actually, actually, I don't think it's that bad. I've never had a problem
finding a spot, but you did so much work. You had committees. You passed so
many laws and, you know, about moving the cars and all the work that went into
making sure that the parking downtown was as equitable and as fair as
possible. I'd like you to take that into consideration where I live. in my
neighborhood because if that project goes in, there isn't enough parking. We
all know that. So, where are they going to park? They're going to park where I
am. Okay? So, as much work and effort and all that time and energy and
resources you put into figuring out downtown parking, if this project goes
through, please consider our parking issues.
Uh the other thing I want to bring up is I was uh very involved with my children
with the school district. There is no lefthand turn. There is no
bus turnaround. If you have ever driven on Lamson A in
the morning when we have that mist in there where you can't see 30 feet in
front of you, it is incredibly dangerous.
There have been several people that have died on Lampson A since I've lived here.
What are we going to do of all those residents and all those children who are
crossing that road in the morning with the mist? And I know
the police force has driven that road. You know how dangerous it is. You can be
going along, you're going along, and speed limits 45. I'm sure everyone only
does 45. And it goes from completely clear to all of a sudden you hit a mist
and you can't see 10 ft. So, we're going to have elementary
school, middle school, high school kids that are going to have to cross that
road to get to Heather Park to pick up the
bus. Lamson is a dangerous road,
especially for children who may not be as aware and not paying attention.
That is an incredible credible burden for us and the police force to monitor
that to make sure it's safe for all these children.
The other thing is is my road where I live is going to turn into a freeway
because every single person that leaves that complex, if they're going to work
to Seal Beach Boulevard, they'll make that right. They're going, but when they
come home, they're going to have to make that they're going to have to make that
turn. So, they're going to turn down Heather, rip down my street, come up
roads, and come around. If they have to go out the other way, if they're going
to value View, they're going to go to Heather. They're going to turn and
they're going to come flying down my street. Our
police force is incredible. I know some of them. Of course, Yoshi everyone
loves, but um I won't say he's my favorite, but u but
the police force does a great job. But this isn't going to be another burden on
them. How are they going to keep my street safe and my kids?
Uh I'm going to be a grandparent in a couple weeks. I'm super excited. How are
they going to what are they going to do if my grandkid is coming and I've got
all these extra traffic? And this isn't even just during the construction phase
where all those trucks are going to have to go somewhere. They're going to have
to turn around. So, just
think about it and have a little uh I'm looking for a little consideration,
compassion of how it's going to affect I moved to Seal Beach. I grew up in
upstate New York. Okay. They call Seal Beach the Mayberry by the sea. I grew up
in Mayberry, a little town in Colony. Top 10 safest cities and blah blah blah
in in the country when I was growing up. Fantastic. I love College Park East.
It's so warm. It's so inviting. It's Little Mayberry. It's so nice. This
Lamson project is going to change that. From what I can see, Loal reaps all the
benefits, all of the pluses.
And the city of Seal Beach, which I know we're inland,
we are going to suffer all of the negative. it is going to negatively
affect our quality of life. >> There you go, Scott.
» Thank you. So, I just wanted to say my piece, give you a little bit of human
perspective of someone that's going to be really affected by this. And I
appreciate your time. Thank you very much for everyone for listening. And the
Easter Bunny was awesome. That was incredible. Those lines are incredible.
Thank you very much. Have a wonderful year.
» Thank you, Scott.
Uh, is there anyone else who would like to address the council? Yes, please. If
you can state your name and neighborhood, please.
Hi, good afternoon. My name is Robert Jackson. I'm a resident of College Park
East. My home is located in close proximity to the 405 freeway sound wall.
A few weeks ago, my wife Lucille Jackson addressed this council and presented
data we have been collecting from our second story window documenting
excessive freeway noise levels that are in clear violation of California code
S1162 pertaining to the soundwall. Uh I am
here today not to specifically speak about that to speak about one of the
root causes uh of this excessive noise and propose practical solutions that
could be implemented in the near term while long-term improvements to the
soundwall are considered. The stretch of the 405 freeway begins at Bolsuchica
Road and and ends at Seal Beach Boulevard. It's approximately 2 miles of
straight roadway. Uh on a daily basis, uh we hear vehicles, particularly the
motorcycles and cars with modified exhaust systems using this stretch of
the freeway to accelerate excessively. Under California Vehicle Code 27151, it
is illegal to modify a vehicle's exhaust system to exceed 95 dB at the source.
However, based on our measurements, this threshold is being exceeded regularly.
Over the past several weeks, we have recorded sound levels exceeding 90 dB
from our home, which is approximately 450 plus feet away from the wall uh
which is separated by that 18 ft sound wall. Uh according to the distance to
this uh accounting for this distance and attenuation, this strongly suggests that
vehicles themselves are producing sound levels well above 100 dB at the source.
In addition to these daily occurrences, there are recurring issues on weekends,
illegal street racing. These events typically occur between 11:00 p.m. and 2
a.m. The vehicles involved are often high performance cars with very loud
engines. And from our vantage point, they appear to be accelerating near
Buluch Chica overpass and continuing the full two-mile stretch towards Seal Beach
Boulevard where they de accelerate. The result is sudden extreme noise and
that disrupts the entire neighborhood, waking even deeper sleepers in College
Park East and nearby Washmore where we used to live where we heard it as well.
Um, just to give provide clarity what that 2-m struts is capable of, a a stock
Corvette 0 to 60 in 3 seconds could hit 200 mph by the time it hits Sil Beach
Boulevard when starting at the Bolts Chico Road. Um, that is the problem I'm
here to address and I respectfully ask that Seal Beach Police Department work
in coordination with the California Highway Patrol to implement effective
deterrence. Why? While I understand the jurisdiction jurisdiction jurisdiction
limits, there is an opportunity opportunity here to collaborate to
improve the quality of life for the residents. I would like to prop propose
two solutions. First, the placement of a parked CHP CHP vehicle near the near the
Bulsa Chica overpass equipped with a noise activated system. When sound
levels exceed 95 dB, the system would trigger flashing red and blue lights for
a short duration, 30 seconds maybe, serving as a visible deterrent to
excessive accelerations in racing. Second, the installation of a similar
noise activated device along the top of the freeway sound wall with in strategic
locations. These systems would function in the same way creating a consistent
deterrent uh present along the freeway. These solutions are relatively low cost,
scalable, and could significantly reduce illegal racing and excessive noise uh
vehicle noise. For context, I'm a principal mechanical engineer working
for a local defense contractor where I design and build unmanned systems. I am
suitable, but if a suitable off-the-shelf solution does not exist, I
am confident I in my ability to help design and implement such a device. I
understand that the freeway falls under the jurisdiction of CHP, not the Seal
Beach Police Department. However, I respectfully ask that the city take
initiative in advocating for the in supporting these solutions in part in
partnership with the CHP. Thank you. That's it. Thank you, Robert.
Uh, are there any other speakers? Yes.
Mayor Lando, city council, city staff, thank you for your time tonight. My name
is Darren Dillion with Nashville on the Coast, and I want to start off by
thanking all the city council for being on opening night this past uh past week.
It was very appreciative that you guys were there to support. I just wanted to
give a brief update on this year's Nashville on the Coast Festival. We had
five days of music. Each day was at a different venue. There were 47 different
songwriters from all over the country that came here to perform that week. Uh
from myself and my staff, I'd like to thank you and the city of Seal Beach for
all your support and hopefully we can grow it even better next year. So, I
want to thank you. Also, thank Chief for being there on that opening night also.
So, thank you all. Have a great night. >> Thank you, Darren.
Uh, good evening, Mayor Landau, city council, and and city staff. Um, my name
is Corey Deleó, and I proudly represent the Seal Beach Chamber um as their their
Gaka Gak co-chair along with our well, your own Patty Senagal.
We would like to recognize the new members. We continue to grow here at the
Seal Beach uh chamber. Our new members are Careuilders at Home, Alzheimer's
Association of Orange County, Diane Wellness, the Youth Center, Lee
Austinorf, and um our brand new bronze level
sponsor um Seal Beach Teriyak who is offering free delivery in Oldtown and up
on the hill. Uh so again, we really encourage if if you are thinking about
doing business, it's one of the things I'm most proud about Seal Beach is that
we continue to support our own. Want to continue to um ask you to support that.
We do have some upcoming chamber events and uh thanks to uh Patty's suggestion,
we will be emailing you a copy of these. You don't have to write them down, but
I'm going to list them um all the same. On March 25th, we have our speed
networking 5:30 p.m. at Fire Station 48. on March 28th, a big day. We have run
Seal Beach um from um and we just encourage all of our businesses and our
residents to understand that they're going to be impacted from about 4:00
a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Um later that night, we have the youth center casino um
casino night at Rush Park in Rosmore. March 31st, we have social media
workshop from 11:30 uh at 11:30 in the morning uh fire station 48. So if you
are ready to get your social media game up, this is the place to go and figure
out how to do that. On April 9th, um we will have our annual or manual monthly
uh networking breakfast bright and early at 7:30 at Ali's featuring Natalie
Wilson who will speak to us about Olympic dreams and how to get into those
games. On April 9th, uh the ambassador's meeting um right after the chamber right
after that um networking meeting will happen at the chamber office at 9:30.
April 10th, um we have an exciting new ribbon cutting. April Ray by the Sea is
a um new children's space. Um and it will be the grand opening will be at uh
12 p.m. located at 13924 Sil Beach Boulevard.
I can't believe it, but it's already here. April 15th, um, we were, so I
should say start with April 25th is the car show, but April April 15th, we are
going to have a car show kickoff 5:00 p.m. at um, 3:20 Maine. Um, so as
as we know, we have the annual car show. U, typically that's going to run from
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It is sold out. However, there is a wait list and we do
encourage anybody that's interested to contact the chamber to get on that
weight list. We are looking for vendors. If you would like to if you or you have
a business that would like to sponsor a trophy, it's only a mere $125 and that
will sponsor the trophy that actually features wood from the um old pier. Uh
we are looking for volunteers for that. May 28th, we will have a nonprofit panel
from 11:30 in the morning at the Epson building. that's going to be
co-sponsored with the Loal Chamber and there is sponsorship opportunity there.
June 13th uh right around the corner will be the 19th annual Be More Healthy
Expo. We want to give quick congratulations
to um Lion Terry Young who um who was named Senator Strickland's 2026 woman of
distinction. I believe Maryland was there for that presentation
uh this past weekend. We were so honored uh to be to be around for while we
honored Ray Longoria as our Seal Beach Citizen of the Year at the Americana
Festival. Uh want to give quick congratulations to a very successful
farmers market opening at the Seal Beach Pier. And we want to let everybody know
um that's going to be every Friday from 9 to 2 o'clock. Um our own community was
featured in beach.com. So, we want everybody to go to beach.com and see
what and see all the fantastic things Seal Beach has to offer. As if you
didn't know. Um, >> 30 seconds.
» We're going to do this quickly. I would be remiss if I didn't say
congratulations to Joe Calm. His dedication
um as a as a firefighter is is well known um but so appreciated. So,
quickly, I'm going to try to do this as fast as I can. Gold level sponsors. We
don't do this without our sponsors. Boeing Lions Club of Seal Beach, F&M
Bank for Public Services, Silver Level Sponsors, All Protection Services,
Golden West College, Glowwaukee Chiropractic, Lisa Kovac Residential
Real Estate, Pavilions, The Law Offices of Justin Heim, Pearl Vision, Think
Boutique, Sip Safe Solutions, and Sale Beach Chiropractic. Thank you so much.
» Thank you, Corey.
Are there any additional speakers? I'd like to reclaim my time, please.
» Good evening, Mayor Landau, city council staff, and first responders. My name is
Chad Bellinger. I am the president of Seal Beach City Rotary, and I have been
a resident of Oldtown for the last 18 years. Since we last gathered, uh, Seal
Beach City Rotary hosted Mayor Landau as our guest speaker, and she gave us an
update of her past accomplishments and current goals. Uh and again it was a
pleasure working with city staff Lauren Barrett and Jennifer Robels on that
project and thank you city manager Patrick Gyos for also attending. It was
a pleasure to have you. We also had the pleasure of witnessing that afternoon
Sister Flood receive a badge from Chief Henderson as the newest member of the
Seal Beach Police Department chaplain program. Uh it's a blessing for our city
and an honor for her as well. I have since attended the settlement project uh
which was at Spagatini. Their mission is to reinstall faith and family in the
election process with the 2026 elections coming up. I also attended the OC GOP
March assembly where I had the pleasure of witnessing Council Member Nathan
Steel receive the party's endorsement. Congratulations, sir. I attended the
Leisure World America First Republican Club to hear council member Mayor Prom
Ben Wong speak on his recent trip to Washington and report on his work with
FEMA and HUD. Excellent, excellent work with HUD. That was a huge
accomplishment. Rotary's new initiative, Walk with the
Sun. Of course, we are delivering newspapers into Oldtown and this is the
second week that we have done it. And last week we did fourth, fifth, 6th,
7th, and 8th Street in Oldtown with getting our Sun newspaper back into
circulation. I had coffee with Chief Henderson at Bogarts and and we had a
chance to visit with council members Steel and Calm that morning as well. And
then I took a walk through farmers market, which I believe is a great
addition to the city, uh, one of the resources that we now have to offer, and
picked up some cabbage. So, congratulations to the chamber. Uh Corey
and I think Peter had some work to do with that. Excellent. And the city, it's
a wonderful addition. Uh Saturday, I participated in the Save Our Beach
Cleanup. I am getting my steps in. Yesterday, we celebrated my 50th
birthday and I want to just remind everyone not to complain about growing
older as it is a privilege denied to many.
Tomorrow at noon at Old Ranch, we welcome Golden Age Foundation President,
Miss Anna Derby. And Anna will tell us about her service projects that she has
led over the last 20 years in Leisure World. She is a powerhouse. Uh for more
information, please visit our website at seal beachcityrootary.com
or call the office line at 562-509-8640.
I have a couple more spots if there's any council members who represent
Leisure World and would like to attend. Thank you so much for your time this
evening and I wish you a providential meeting. Thank you.
» Thanks, Chad.
» Uh any other interested speakers? Yes.
Ken Scythe from College Park West. Hi again, uh, mayor, council, our staff,
and first responders. I want to thank you tonight for continuing to listen
and, uh, have your interest in, uh, the outlying areas of the city, in
particular, College Park West and College Park East. Um, I think our city
always hopes to cooperate with projects, including for our neighbors, but I think
it's been pretty well demonstrated that there are very few, if any, tangible or
significant benefits to these projects at College Park East and uh, College
Park West. Um, I'd like to say tonight that I I can't speak for everybody
anywhere, especially College Park West, but I think many residents of College
Park West support College Park East strongly. And I think I mentioned here
before that I've lived in Sil Beach for over 50 years. I lived 26 years in
College Park West in the last I'm sorry, East in the last 23 in College Park
West. And when we lived in College Park East, we did experience storm water
flooding. It didn't happen too often, but there were some scary times. I'm not
going to take time today to talk about that. The time my kids were trapped uh
when the water came up to the porch and then also sewer backups. So, I've lived
through those and those are real, although hopefully not too often. Uh
the the uh benefits to the College Park East project uh according to what I
heard last week when the attorney testified were $1 million storm water
studies, traffic improvement, and other benefits, whatever that means, 1.22
million in permit revenues. my understanding but I don't have the exact
figures but the the the amounts that would be required to com to really
improve our sewer system are in the multi-millions of dollars so I think
that's the whole sewer system very old uh and the storm water improvements also
are in the millions of dollars so to me that's not really a fair trade-off I
don't know that they would have to pay for everything but this isn't about
trying to get something I don't think that's any any again I don't feel that
that's what we're trying to do here. But if there are risks and dangers, then I
think we can expect to have some type of uh negotiation in kind to to try to
mitigate those things. Um at College Park West, we have the bridge
and there are other alternatives. There are already two pipelines on the bridge.
One is an oil pipeline. So they're planning two more. How many pipelines
can a small neighborhood is there? Would there be two more in another few years?
is the magic number four six I I don't know in uh
in uh in College Park East of course uh you know the the threats to the storm
water and the sewer. So at College Park West again it's the you know shortterm
with the construction and longer term risks to the bridge uh when it already
needs much improvement. So um and again as was testified last
week by uh Mr. Janisk from our from our neighborhood. These disasters where
something fails are not common, thank God, like the dam he talked about. But
if it happens, there are no detours in Seal Beach and I mean in College Park
West. And if uh there are other bridges and other alternatives that they can DWT
can use, I don't see why they can't use those. I wanted to bring up an article
from the Long Beach um paper. Uh which one was it? The post on the second
street bridge, the Davies Bridge over to Naples. There was an article that that's
supposed to be improved and now it's on hold. The Olympics uh the traffic
problems and that's determined to be structurally deficient, which are the
exact same words utilized for our bridge in College Park West. The the the
article was from 22726. But even in the worst case scenario,
there are detours, although they're really out of the way. They mentioned in
the article that one of them would be Studebaker Road, uh, which of course is
now under big-time construction if you've been up there with the Studebaker
Road improvement, which it does need, but uh, so there's a lot to think about
there. Again, College Park West has no detours. There is no other way in and
out. So the la last thing I'd like to just mention is the um
again I kind of talked about this in the past and they never really have enough
time but so to think about what would happen if uh if actually the college the
Hannes projects are delayed. The DWP always starts off all their
presentations that they're under the gun from the state water board. They have to
get these projects approved by 228 or 229. But what if they don't? Are they
going to get fined? uh you know they have tremendous political and financial
clout. They could fight it in court. Uh they could get political clout to delay
it. We as a city of Seal Beach and Orange County could support them and say
they need a delay. Uh I and then to try to find another route or uh another uh
approach. But the bottom line is >> Time is up, Ken.
» Okay. The bottom line is uh I don't know that there's going to be a major problem
for them if they we can delay this and they can um find some other route or
alternative uh to the using the College Park West Bridge. Thank you for your
time. Thank you, Ken.
I'm Katherine Sho Walter, resident of College Park East. Um, good evening,
Mayor Landau, Prom Mayor Wong, um, and other elected
representatives, Steel, Senal, and Comic, our city council. Um so this
evening I just basically because my conscious is telling me that I've been a
nag about the Olympics since the uh strategic planning committee met back in
2023 and I was saying okay the Olympics are five years out do we have any
planning started and then again at 2024 okay 2025 yay now we have something
going and I'm just wanting to say thank you um something probably would have
been happening anyway without me nagging, but I just feel like um I've
I'm invested in this and I so look forward to seeing how this all plays out
with ideas that come forward from the people that are being selected. So,
thank you. >> Thank you, Katherine.
» Any other comments? Yes.
Hello, city council. Um, my name is Rod McTar and I'm a resident of uh, College
Park East. Um, wanted to talk a little bit about the lead lampson project and
and some of my concerns regarding specifically safety. Um, so we're
already seeing signs of the infrastructure stress as was um,
mentioned earlier. The during the heavy rain, the sewer manholes tend to bubble
up already. This is a system under pressure. My concern is we're adding
more pressure. Um the study that was done was done by the developer. Uh I
would like to see an independent study done um before we stress a system that's
already that's already having issues. Um and go also I know was mentioned earlier
on the no left turn. Um that's really a concern to me. I live at uh Guava uh
which is just just a little further down from from Heather and Heather Park.
Heather Park is right there. Um so many of our children play there. We have a
beautiful new park that we're excited about. I'm going to, you know, I can see
a lot of people making that U-turn there. There's so many kids on bikes.
There's kids playing in the park. There's balls that run into the streets.
Um, you know, we can always watch our kids. I know that's our personal
responsibility, but you know, um, some of the stuff that could happen and and
and I'm thinking about people rushing to work eventually when this project's done
and making those U-turns. You know, these accidents only have to happen
once. They're tragic. Um I I work as a physician in my medical career. I've
seen lots of these accidents and I just I can't in good conscious not come here
and address you all about it. Um we don't have a plan. Um and and that's
concerning to me. You know, I think whatever needs to happen needs to
happen, but I think we do need to have a plan for our infrastructure and for our
our safety and most importantly our children's safety. And um that just
doesn't sit well with me that we haven't really I mean we've talked about it, but
we don't have a plan for that. and and I'd really love to see us um going
forward have that looked at also with the liability and the risk of the uh
sewer system which I don't want to be labor I know was talked about earlier
but we need to have a million dollars I mean that you know for this and and
what's going to go on in the future um if the system breaks down who's going to
be responsible what are we going to do about it so um that's just my ask is
that I would really hope that we could have a little bit better of a plan
before moving forward and I really appreciate you guys hearing me out today
thank Thank you, Ron.
» Uh Dan Brandt, uh College Prius resident. Uh thank you, city council and
mayor. Um first of all, just kind of want to I'm going to talk about some
real stuff. I know you've heard a lot of the infrastructure, you've heard about
the sewer line, you about safety, a lot of different things. I want to give you
a couple analogies just to to kind of hopefully hit home with you because I
understand that there's big money behind this project, right? And I understand
the stress. I read the letter from the lawyer. I read all that and I understand
I understand that there's been there's been lawsuits up and down the state
regarding um housing density and the and the different projects like Huntington
Beach, different cities. This is different, right? This is different in
the fact that we are a different city being impacted by another city in
development. Okay, Steel Beach didn't say, you know, when the developer picked
up that property, right? It's just like if you buy a home, you get a dirt lot,
you know what issues you're going to have. They picked it up, they made their
their their pick. They got a will serve letter from the the Rossmore Lostell
sewer district, not from Still Beach. You do your due diligence. Let me think
about this, right? You own a property, your neighbor has a lot. They want to
build a home, build a brand new, beautiful home, right? But they go, "Oh
man, that that sewer line's about 100 feet to the to the street. You know
what? I'm going to take my neighbors and I'm just going to go ahead and dock it
up to theirs 10 feet away, right? Let me just dock that thing up. If anything
happens to it, you know what? You're liable for it." Right? And the argument
is, okay, like, well, you know what? Like we were sharing sprinkler lines
before, kind of like the the West project where we were just sharing a
little bit because it was open 8 to 5 or whatever it was at Westad, right?
They're they're flushing some toilets, whatever. They're not not a big impact
on our sewer line. But now you want to connect, coming back to my analogy, you
want to connect to my house and you want to give me 3% and if it goes bad, you're
on you're on the hook for it, right? And this isn't just a College Park East
problem. This is a this is a seal beast problem. Okay. So, if that goes down
right now, we're now as Seal Beach, we're now we're on the hook, not just
College Park East. So, you really got to think about this is two different
arguments from what's what's happened along the state. And this is a this is
think about the precedence that we're setting that one city can tell another
city basically, we're going to go ahead and let let this process
we're going to make you take the liability. Hey, if you can get a letter
from the developer saying if this goes bad, we're going to pay for that. I'm
all about it. Let's do it. I'm not an MB. I'm not against the development. But
I am against someone saying you're going to be liable for something that I want
to do. Okay. Think about this, too, right? Like the sewer line's not
perfect. You know, I've heard people say, "Why don't you go out the city for
not fixing the sewer line?" Well, we want you to fix the sewer line, right?
It's bubbling up in there when it when it the heavy rains. Um, we I mean it's
well documented what's going on in that. I don't need to keep talking about it,
but kind of my thing is like you have something that's working. Every once in
a while you got to repair it and make it happen, but if you put such a heavy load
and it becomes where it's not repairable anymore, who's going to fix that? Right?
So, my thing is we got to we got to hold our ground on this. You know, I know
there's lobbyists going on in Sacramento with big money trying to push this, but
at the end of the day, this is a whole other argument than we're talking about.
So, you got to hold you got to hold steady. I know it's going to be hard,
right? I know it's hard for us, but at the end of the day, for $1 million, and
I read the different things. What about the long term? We're not talking about
just for the next couple years. We're talking long term. There's no school bus
that I mean, that's ridiculous that there's no school bus that can go into
this prop property. you have 100,000 for a crossing guard who in five years now
you have no money and these kids are going to be crossing the street. No
one's going to be picking up that liability. Um we just got to think about
um how how we're going to make sure that we hold our line. Um and I and I feel
for for residents in Oldtown. We all feel for each other. I know there's a
lot going on in Long Beach with all those developments, okay? But we got to
control what we can control. And the one thing we can control is the fact that
they got a will serve letter from Rossmore Los Al sewer district, not Seal
Beach. Give them all the permits to tear it all down. You can tear down whatever
you want. You want to fix the electrical, go for it. Sewer line, you
said you were going to build it from your project to Rossmore Lostell sewer
district. Good luck. Do it. I'm all for it. Tear up the streets. Build it. Okay,
that's fine. Do what you got to do. >> 30 seconds. But let's make sure that
last thing I want to say, please don't fold to the lawyers, to the letters.
Please make sure that you take care of Sil Beach residents. This is going to
greatly impact um not just Callsburg East, but Sil Beach. Thank you very
much. >> Thank you, Dan.
» Is there anyone else who wishes to address the council?
Going once, going twice. Okay. By motion of the city council, this is the time to
notify the public of any changes to the agenda and or rearrange the order of the
agenda. Does anyone want to pull a consent calendar item?
» Um, I'm going to be pulling item F and item G. Uh, does anybody else want to
pull an item? No. Okay. Um at this time I'd like to
ask um community development director Sean Temple to uh give us a overview of
item F and G.
Okay. And then after Okay. Um we're going to change that a
little bit. Um I'd like to call for a motion and a second to approve tonight's
agenda.
You want to >> refresh?
Refresh. I have a motion by council member
Calmeck. Do we have a second? >> I second.
» We have a second by Mayor Pro Tim Wong. Council member Calman. How do you vote?
Yes. >> Mayor Pro Tim Wong, how do you vote?
» Yes. >> Council member Still, how do you vote?
» Yes. >> Council member Senagle, how do you vote?
» Yes. >> And Mayor Landau, how do you vote?
» Yes. >> Motion carries, five votes. Yes.
» Thank you. >> Okay. Now, on to reports. Um, city
attorney uh Gerelli, do you have anything to report?
» Yes. Thank you, Madame Mayor. The city council met in close session this
afternoon to discuss the three items on the posted agenda. All five council
members were present uh but no reportable action was taken. And I will
just provide a brief response to the questions of comments about the LAR
project at 4665 Lamson. Uh the developer has submitted a letter to the city uh
disclosing that they have pivoted to uh building their their sewer line down
Lamson to connect to the Rossmore Los Alamos area sewer district. They still
have requested to connect to the city sewer system and the city has responded
with a letter saying that in order to do that again uh a sewer study of the
impacts of that project on the city's sewer infrastructure would need to be
conducted and to be proactive about it the city has initiated that study and it
is currently ongoing and once that study is prepared it will be evaluated to
determine what the impacts on the city's infrastructure are and to respond to the
community benefits that the uh developer has proposed. But until then uh for the
time being that the developer is moving forward with the uh sewer connection to
the Ross Mor Los Alamos Area Sewer District. That's all.
» Thank you, City Manager Gyos. >> Uh yes, thank you, Mayor. Good evening,
uh Mayor, members of the city council, and members of the public. On March
14th, I attended the Orange County Fire Authorities annual open house, which
which was a huge success. Uh so thank you OCFA for inviting us. Uh this was an
opportunity for the community uh members across Orange County to meet their
firefighters toward the headquarters and learn learn more about OCFA's core
services. Uh we appreciate OCFA's continued partnership and their
commitment to community outreach and public safety. Thank you very much. Last
Friday, March 20 20th, uh spring kicked off with ver the our very first uh Seal
Beach Farmers Market uh which was mentioned earlier at the base of the
pier and Eisenhower Park. Our hope with this event is that it will provide
residents and visitors a safe and community uh communal opportunity to do
some local shopping. Uh the city will continue to monitor the market over the
next few months to ensure that it evolves and offers opportunities that
are reflective of the Seal Beach community. Lastly, our staff attended
the Cal City's division uh meeting where Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes served
as a guest speaker. Thank you, management analyst Lauren Parish, for uh
for being uh present uh on our behalf. This meeting also included updates on
several legislative items are currently being monitored. Uh as always, we'll
continue to actively partner with Calities to stay informed uh and engage
on legislative issues that may impact Seal Beach. With that, uh that ends my
report. Mayor,
» sorry about that. Um Councilman Steel, do you have anything to report?
Thank you, mayor. Um, I attended the Orange County Older Adult Advisory
Commission meeting a week and a half ago, something like that. Um, I
explained, we talked about the older adult uh advisory uh commission last
meeting, and so I won't repeat any of that stuff. Also attended the Orange
County Mosquito Vector uh control district where we formally accepted the
design build $10 million project by the whole board of trustees.
I also attended Cal City's Orange County Division um uh meeting that we had with
um Sheriff Don Barnes who gave a uh kind of an assessment, an overall assessment
of uh the risk profiles that we face in Orange County here. It's a lot more
complex than we sitting in Seal Beach can even possibly imagine. One of the
highlights that he had for me is the risk that we have from swarms of armed
drones. And I'm going like, how can that affect us? But apparently it's in the
risk profile somewhere. And he he said we really don't have a good response for
that yet. But they're working on it. But nonetheless, he's a a great sheriff and
I enjoyed listening to him. I enjoyed being at the opening of Nashville on the
Coast. If you guys do not go out to any of these Nashville on the coast, you are
missing it. These these musicians are really top drawer. They are absolutely
unequivocally top drawer. One of them is actually appeared on The Voice. Am I Am
I not mistaken on that? That was terrific to see these people and listen
to the songs they write and they sing these things and they're really talented
musicians. So find a time to get to Nashville on. Do we have another one
this year or is that it? >> We'll have popups throughout the year.
» Okay. So, we'll seriously they get top door musicians on these things and it's
a it's a good time by all and I had a good time too. Uh let's see. I did
coffee with the chief. It was good to be at uh Bogarts and see the chief and meet
folks and talk to folks. And the farmers market was outstanding people. This is
really really a great farmers market. I bought a I bought a couple of bagels. I
have a theory about bagels and their quality. The closer you get to New York
City, the better the bagels. We're a long way from New York City here and
those bagels were pretty good. So, and a loaf of bread and the guys got balsamic
vinegar and things like that. So, I spend about 20 bucks. It was good to be
there and uh take advantage. It's uh it's very pleasant place to be anyway.
Uh but the farmers market was great. So, thank you to
our folks in city hall who brought that and made that be. And so, that's my
report. >> Thank you very much, Councilman Kelmick.
Thank you, mayor. Uh I also attended the uh the grand opening of the Nashville on
the coast. Um and I have the same would echo the same comments that others have
made. But I also want to point out that by having these events, the benefits
that it brings to our city. Um it's something else that our residents can
get interested in and excited about and and it it brings more revenue to us. Uh
so again, thank you to Darren and and everybody that put that on. It's really
something. I I attended my um monthly rivers and mountains conservancy meeting
where we are, you know, continuing to fund projects up and down the uh the San
Gabriel and the lower Los Angeles rivers. I attended the watershed
conservation authority board meeting that I sit on and um we gave out more
money for more projects that extend all the way up into the watershed uh into
the San Gabriel Mountains. Uh I also attended the uh the farmers market. I
want to thank Peter from the chamber and Tim Kelsey and all the rest of our staff
that um put it on. It it looked to be a very smooth operation. Um, I was there
off and on from 9 until 2 and there were people shopping all day long and with in
a sense very little publicity. Uh, there's going to be, for those that
aren't aware, there'll be more vendors that will be coming to the market who
are still in the process of getting Orange County approval, uh, you know,
for being able to sell food. I think there's going to be a fish monger um
which again should uh really bring us some opportunities to get some some
great fresh produce and some other products. I attended the coffee with the
chief to offer some moral support. We had a nice turnout of folks coming and I
I think it's really a tribute um to the chief and our department that they're
willing to step out and engage with the public. There's no rules. There's no you
can't ask us about this or that. You know, he's there to talk to you and
engage with whatever comments or questions that you might have and follow
up. And that's basically my report. I do want to make an acknowledgement that I I
just found out actually in the paper uh the passing of a Seal Beach resident,
Phil Bush. Uh my knew Phil for you know 50ome years. Uh he was a volunteer
firefighter in town and was well known in Oldtown um as a physical fitness guy.
He was uh a plumbing contractor and um you know he will be missed. So I just
wanted to acknowledge that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Synle.
» Thank you, Mayor. Uh first of all, I wanted to um give a shout out to our
Lions. We have a property in College Park East on Rose Street where our
resident did pass sadly and the um lawn is quite high and um just the and the uh
frontage to it as well. So, thank you Sean for working with the Lions. We're
going to have the Lions out tomorrow at 4 for a mow the lawn. And uh our Lions
are just uh fantastic. They're fast and they can help us out in a pinch. And so,
um, our residents in that area will appreciate we want to get those weeds
down, uh, for the mosquitoes and little critters that live in there. So, thank
you for arranging that and thank you to the Lions. Uh, number two, wanted to
mention we've had a lot of, uh, College Park East residents in tonight to talk
about the Lamson project. Um, the school bus, the left turn lane, the parking
discussion. Um, I have been working on all these with our public works or with
PD. We've been into a lot of discussions about what we can do for a parking
district. Um and so again, these things are all being discussed and we'll um
keep moving till we can get some solutions there. Also want to mention
the League of Cities um that has been discussed this week, Thursday, Friday.
All of their policy committees are meeting in Anaheim. These are statewide
city council people who serve on committees and everything. Uh I mean
pretty much every topic. Um I happen to be on the energy committee and they vet
legislation or regulatory issues coming from the state house and so um I'll
report back on uh some of the um positions that are taking uh Nashville
on the coast. Um thank you for the opening and I met beach cowboy.
I thought that was fantastic. So again um thank you for inviting us.
» Thank you very much Mayor Prom. >> Uh thank you mayor. um since our March
9th last council meeting. I uh also attended on Tuesday, March 10th, um the
road club meeting. Briefly stopped by to hear Mayor Landau's u uh recap for the
year. Um fortunately, I had to leave midway, but it still was a great
meeting. Um on March 11th, on Wednesday, I also attended the beginning of
Nashville on the coast. Again, very excited. So to see the it kick off and
um it was a great venue especially I I very very much like the stage setup. On
uh March 13th uh on Friday I attended the Yakoot uh probiotic factory in
Fountain Valley tour. This was uh hosted by Assemblyman uh Tree Top and there we
tooured the Yakoot probiotic factory. I didn't even know it was there to be
honest with you and my son drinks that every day, right? And so it's good for
your gut. And then it was a great tour. Um on March 17th, um on a Zoom call, I
did a um I guess log in and uh watch the Cal Chow Chambers roundt network meeting
on best practices. And then uh later that same day, that afternoon, I and
myself with Patty Sakow um attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting with the
city where we met with President Richie Barnes and city staff as well. And then
uh this past Saturday on March 21st, I attended the Americana, the 51st annual
awards uh ceremony. Um Chief Henderson was there as well with his wife and
there we were there um hosted by Cypress College to celebrate our very own Seal
Beach Ray Longoria and the Lions turned out in force. So that was great as well.
And so that was a fantastic evening. So I very much enjoyed it. Um, lastly
before I wrap up tonight, um, I do want to address the the issue that has been
before us for some time now regarding College Park West and the Hannes Bridge,
Hannes Pipeline and College Park West bridge. Um, for some that you may know
or some that may not know, uh, this has been, uh, ongoing issue. And so to give
you a very broad summary and recap, College Park West, if many aren't
familiar with the neighborhood, uh it's in my district. Um I'm also a resident
there. There's just over 300 residences in this uh neighborhood. And there is
only one way in, one way out across this bridge. It is by far um some love it
because of the safety, because the one way in, some hate it because there's
only one exit. But that bridge is obviously without saying too much, it's
essential to the neighborhood. This bridge, however, is owned and operated
by Long Beach. And so the idea that's before us is that LWP is wanting to
install some pipelines to the bridge. Now, this has become an ongoing topic.
Um, starting really in January 2025, we had a public College Park West
neighborhood and there we invited representatives for both Long Beach City
Utilities and as well as um, LWP and there we had a a public discussion very
a very uh, animated discussion I will say at the park but the turnout was
great. Since then, in July of that same of same time last year, we had a
subsequent meeting at the Hannes pipeline uh with both uh Mayor Landal
and myself and public works director uh Iris Lee to see on find out on any
updates. Since then, since July, we had a third
meeting and this was uh basically topped off in November of last year, November
2025. And this was at the tennis pickleball center and there LWP agreed
to come back out again and there we met with they met with essentially Color
Park West residents to discuss the issue. Since then um we have not had
much communication with Long Beach or LEWP. Yet at the same time we've begin
to see u some engineers and consultants come and start to take measurements of
where they intend to basically look for a right of way. And so at this point
right now, I would like to ask um city manager Patrick Ayos if he can now add a
future item to the agenda and to basically help organize and then
officially uh give clear direction to city staff on both terms to a potential
franchise agreement on what would be in the best interest of the city of Seal
Beach and College Park West residents as well as task excuse me
basically conduct or hire an independent study of the welfare and the safety of
the bridge and how it might affect our residents.
» Thank you, council member. Uh I know this is a very important uh issue for
not only the city but uh your neighborhood. Uh and you've been really
great in in taking the time and uh being very deliberate and thoughtful to work
with the residents out there. So we appreciate that. Uh and certainly we uh
will take your direction so long as the council agrees uh and move in that
direction. >> Thank you.
» Thank you. Okay. Um, I will make mine quick because I know there's a lot of
people waiting, uh, to be recognized. So, um, uh, I don't think I can describe
all of the events that have occurred, um, any better than my colleagues have.
Nashville on the coast. Darren, you knocked it out of the park again. Um, I
want to thank Chad, uh, Seal Beach City Rotary for inviting me to do give an
update uh, on the city and I want to thank staff. You guys did a great job
supporting me, so thank you for that. Um, I also want to recognize Terry Young
as uh her um woman of the year of distinction uh from Senator Strickland.
And then last but not least, um I attended uh the funeral for our planning
commissioner Rich Kohl's. It wasn't his funeral, I'm sorry, his uh bench um
memorial. Um and staff did such an amazing job. Um the family was so happy.
um they the family got the bench where they wanted it to be and it was just a
beautiful beautiful event. So um I want to thank staff for supporting that
family and and making sure it was a beautiful day for them. And that is all
I have right now. Um we are moving on to the consent calendar. Items on the
consent calendar are considered to be routine and are enacted by a single
motion with the exception of items removed by council members. I'd like to
call for a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar with the
exception of any item pulled. >> It has been moved by Mayor Pro Tim Wong
and second by council member Synle. Please cast your vote.
Mayor Landal. Are you a yes?
» Yes. >> Motion carries five votes. Yes.
» Thank you very much.
Okay. Okay, now on to items removed from the consent calendar. Um, I would like
to call on Director Temple for a staff report.
» Thank you very much, Mayor. Good evening, council members. Uh, good
evening, city manager. Uh, item F tonight is regarding the appointment of
of uh citizen to of committee members to a proposed citizen council business
first advisory ad hoc committee. Um, as some background, on November 8th, the
city held a public strategic planning meeting in which the the council
identified goals that they wanted to look at in the upcoming year. One of
those being economic development. And as a key priority, uh, staff was directed
to create a committee that would serve as a collaborative forum, uh, between
the city and and and members of the community in furthering those goals with
some of the priorities being developing a business concierge program uh,
reviewing potential updates to the main street specific plan and evaluating
beautifification and revitalization efforts. And so the item before you
tonight members are being proposed for ratification by council.
» Thank you very much. Uh do any council members have questions?
» Go. Okay. >> Okay. Uh I would like to take a moment
to uh address this um and to address the committee appointments to ensure we are
being consistent and fair in our process. As we reviewed the
applications, there were a couple of candidates who submitted after the
stated deadline. While the deadline itself is not binding, I think it is
important that we apply our process consistently and be mindful of those who
submitted their applications within the original time frame. In that spirit, I'm
proposing to move forward with the candidates from the original applicant
pool selecting in the order in which applications were received. This
approach assures fairness, transparency, and consistency for all applicants. With
that um being said, I would like to make a motion to adjust the appointments
accordingly. I'll make a motion to approve the committee appointments with
the following revisions. Replace Woody Woodruff with Natalie Wilson on the
business first committee and replace Sher Drum um with Lynette Van Voris on
the Olympic Committee. Can I get a motion in a second?
It has been second by council member Cyn. Please cast your vote.
» That'll be a yes for me. Motion carries. Five votes. Yes.
Thank you very much. >> And may I ask mayor is um are any of the
members u for the business first ad hoc committee here? Oh, sorry. Excuse me. I
spoke out of turn. Apologies. >> Um okay. At this time, I'd like to ask
the appointees to the Citizen Council Olympic Advisory Adoc Committee to
please stand and be recognized. >> What committee? Just one?
» The Olympic. >> Oh, no. Was it the business first?
» No. Well, that's >> Oh,
so if you're if you're if you were selected on the the Olympic committee,
please rise.
» Yes. >> And
Will everyone state their name? >> Christine B
» Catherine Walter >> Rich
Evan Moore >> Margo Wheeler.
» Thank you.
» Congratulations on your appointment to the Citizens Council Olympic Advisory
Adoc Committee. We thank you for your commitment and your willingness to serve
the Seal Beach community. We look forward to working with you. It's going
to be fun. Okay. Now, I would like to ask the appointees to the Citizen
Council Business First Advisory Ad Hoc Committee to please stand.
State your names. Steve Briggs,
» Rosie Richie, >> Cory Deleó.
» Thank you. Congratulations on your appointment to the Citizen Council
Business First Advisory Adoc Committee. We thank you for your commitment and
your work and your willingness to serve the Seal Beach community. We look
forward to working with you. Thank you,
» Madame Mayor. Before we move off of the consent calendar, I needed to make one
quick announcement on item H. Um the employment agreement for the director of
community development, a recent change in the Brown Act requires that for all
department heads, now an oral summary of the compensation to uh and employment
agreement needs to be made at that meeting. And so I just wanted to
announce that the annual salary will be $188,899.60,
which is step two in the pay scale for the classification. and the benefits are
the same same as other executive managers. And thank you.
» Thank you very much. Okay, we are now going to move on, but again, I want to
thank everybody for um submitting their applications. And we're really excited
to um see what we can come up with for the Olympics and how to make Seal Beach
successful with that and then also uh help strengthen our business community
and our main street. So, thank you all again.
Okay, now we are moving on. Oh, wait. We need to vote. Oh, we did. We did. I'm
sorry. I'm still sick, so forgive me. Okay, now we're moving on to new
business. Um, and I would like to call on management analyst Barrett.
Thank you, honorable mayor and city council. It's a pleasure to be present
this evening and to present about the waste infrastructure enterprise, also
known as WISE agreement. >> Debbie Kelly from Republic Services is
also joining. Thank you. I was hoping Chief Bailey would click click through
me, but okay. Um, Debbie Killy from Republic Services is also joining us
this evening, and we're happy to answer any questions you may have after the
presentation.
» First, I'd like to share an executive summary. The action requested is for
council to adopt the wise agreement with Orange County Waste and Recycling. I'll
be referring to them as the county or OCWNR.
Um, adoption of the WISE agreement ensures stable long-term disposal rates,
modernizes terms, and maintains participation benefits.
The impact of adoption includes phase disposal rate increases beginning in
fiscal year 2026 to 2027, July 1st of this year. Residential and commercial
bills will increase in July 2026 per the franchise terms with Republic Services.
The term of the agreement is 10 years with one optional 10-year extension.
Now, I'll offer additional background. The current waste disposal agreement or
the WDA governs disposal at Orange County waste and recycling landfills.
Cities and sanitary districts deposit waste at OCWNR landfills for stable
rates. The Senate The city entered into the WDA in 2009 and it was amended in
2016. OCWNR introduced the new WISE agreement
as WDA neared the June 30th, 2025 expiration date. Upon review, the Orange
County City Managers Association, of which Patrick, our city manager, Gyos,
is a member, um requested a 12-month extension to
negotiate with OCWNR for better terms. Cities, including Seal Beach, adopted
amendments to extend the WDA term to expire on June 30th, 2026. To allow time
for this negotiate negotiation, OCCMA convened a working group of
subject matter experts to negotiate on behalf of the cities. So why is there a
need for a new agreement as opposed to extending the term of the current WDA?
The current WDA limits increases to consumer price index only and does not
reflect rising operational, regulatory, and environmental compliance costs. And
the county needs capital for landfill closure and capacity expansion to
continue meeting the needs of the county.
The key provisions negotiated are the result of the negotiations that occurred
between OCWR and OCCMA. It was adopted by the board of
supervisors in January and now it is time for the cities to consider it. Key
provisions negotiated by OCCMA and included in the wise agreement include
the rate structure phase rates for this fiscal year through 2028-29
CPI adjustments beginning in 2029 to30 a slower increase than originally proposed
by OCWR an annual true-up process starting in
2030 um where they may free CPI adjustments
depending on OCWR cost recovery and tonnage revenue and cities may initiate
meet and confer with review by an independent consultant. Continuing on,
transparency and oversight, annual review and notification provisions
ensuring OCCMA participation and visibility, risk mitigation removed
language that would make cities financially responsible for hauler
non-payment. A blended CPI index was adopted with a blend of including solid
waste and the all urban consumers index and organics flexibility which remove
the requirement to send all of the organics to OCWNR.
The county will offer the optional organic processing services agreement,
but staff does not recommend executing the optional agreement at this time, and
the city will continue utilizing Republic's option as it is most
cost-effective. Of note, cities must adopt WISE by April
30th, 2026 to secure these rates. Otherwise, cities are subject to a 10%
increase. I also wanted to briefly share an update on where we're at with
adoption by the cities as this is not just for Seal Beach. All cities in
Orange County are currently going through the same process. So cities that
have adopted wise as of tonight include Laguna Woods, Villa Park, Fullerton, the
Midway City Sanitary District, Rancho Santa Margarita, Dana Point, and Tustin.
And in addition to Seal Beach, the cities of Los Alamidos and Costa Mesa
are considering WISE this evening as well. And according to the OCCMA subject
matter expert lead, we have not heard of any cities that are not moving forward
with WISE. All replied with moving forward.
Let's talk about the financial impact. Keep in mind that WISE is an agreement
between OCW and R and the city and our franchise agreement is between the city
and republic services. They are interrelated and I hope I can clarify
any confusion that might exist. But talking now about how wise impacts the
franchise agreement in terms of financials.
Republic rates use a blended formula for annual increases where 70% is adjusted
based on CPI and the remaining 30% is adjusted based on landfill tipping fees.
These are the fees where when a truck is going to drop off trash at the county
landfill. These are the fees we're talking about
under WISE. The disposal rate will increase from 43.76
to $67 per ton on July 1st of 2026. Um, keep in mind that while this is an
increase, the original request prior to OCCMA negotiation was $82 per ton. So,
the middle ground was $67 per ton. And again, this is the cost of depositing
trash at the landfill. Under the city's current solid waste hauler agreement,
this increase in tipping fees is passed directly through to solid waste
collection accounts. And these higher tipping fees will help will result in
higher rates. Here we can see the wise rate structure as well as the republic
services customer rates change from the current fiscal year to the next fiscal
year. And these rates would become effective on July 1st of this year.
Before opening it up to questions, I'll close with alternatives and
recommendation. First, alternatives. OCWNR owns all of the landfills in
Orange County. In theory, waste could be taken outside of the county and
deposited elsewhere. In practice, this would be more expensive due to increases
in labor and transportation fees. In addition to being subject to a public
disposal rates outside of the county, this is something that Debbie and I
talked about and it is the more cost-effective option to execute WISE at
this time. As far as we know, as mentioned again, no cities are not
signing WISE and staff's recommendation is to execute the WISE agreement to
ensure stable disposal and low rates which is in the public interest.
Thank you for your time this evening and Debbie and I will be happy to answer any
questions you may have. >> Is there any comments or questions?
» Did I hear you say correctly that all of the OCWR owns all of the waste sites in
Orange County? >> The landfills. Yes.
» The landfills. So, we're really talking about landfill usage here. And is this
where we currently are with Republic? So my our friends at Republic, we're not
changing out companies, bins, infrastructure at all. We're still uh
» Yeah, it's it's only the trash that's going to those landfills.
» Okay. And are you currently dumping into these the trash into these sites?
» Yes. >> And of course, we're paying what? $43
now, and it's going up to 67 in one fell swoop. That's pretty big step
» right there%. But that's not for you. That's what
» that's the landfill. >> The landfill gets that moneyated here
because only 30% of your service rates or of your rate is made from that.
» But this is smooth in terms of Republic and your operations. Correct.
» This is smooth. Yes. Same same place we're going.
» Thank you. I appreciate that. >> If I may, mayor.
And then uh based on the upon the readings um this does not include the SB
1383 which is the how to deal with organics or as far as being the unfunded
state mandate. So just as just for clarification for the audience um this
uh trash increase will not include uh dealing with organics. Is that correct?
» Correct. This is for the city's current franchise agreement. As you know, we're
in negotiations with Republic to get into compliance with SP 1383 and yes,
rates would be adjusted at that time. >> Thank you.
» Um, similar question on the organics. When will we see that rate increase? 6
months, 10 years, make it 20.
» We're certainly um always very sensitive to any rate increases. Um, so we're
looking at all options as we continue negotiations because they are ongoing ne
negotiations. Honestly, not sure how much I can say up here publicly. I can
happily turn it over to public works director Lee or our city attorney.
» Okay, thank you for your question, Council
Member Senle. Um, just like U management analyst Burch just said, uh, we are
currently in active negotiations. While we do have a target of trying to get
this accomplished as soon as possible, we do not have a definitive date that we
could present at this time.
» Okay. So, our just again where Council Member Wong, excuse me, Mayor Prom Wong
was stating um we just want to make sure people know that there isn't a different
rate increase coming down the road. Okay.
» Another can. >> What?
» Any other? >> And another can. Not everybody's getting
a can though, right? on the organics. >> Um, most residents already have three
containers like College Park residents. So, it would just be the residents that
only have trash and recycle right now. They would be getting a third cart. So,
it' be a three cart program is what we've been negotiating.
» Um, and what if those carts don't fit and some of our alleys are super narrow
and people don't even have space? >> So, the the um the law allows for
waivers. So, property owners that have a space constraint, we can definitely work
with them. do a waiver >> on a waiver.
» Any other comments or questions, >> Patty?
» Oh, I'm uh No, I'm I'm good. Sorry. >> Okay. There's a lot going on in the
trash world. So, >> thank you, Lauren and Debbie. Thank you
for coming tonight. I appreciate it. Um I'd like to call for a motion in a
second, please. >> It has been moved by Council Member
Calmic and second by Council Member Steel.
Please cast your vote.
That would be a yes. Motion carries. Five votes. Yes.
» Thank you, ladies. >> Thank you.
» Okay. Now, moving on to public hearing. Uh consideration of amendments to the
zoning code to implement the housing element relating to farmworker housing
density bonus, minimum unit sizes, and parking standards for studios and
one-bedroom units. And I would like to call upon interim uh director
Temple. >> Thank you, mayor. Good evening again,
council, city manager. The item tonight is a public hearing regarding zoning
zoning code amendments, text amendments related to the imple implementing the
adopted housing element. To provide some background, city council
adopted the current cycle of the housing element on October 27th of last year.
Uh, and the HCD issued finally issued us the letter
of being in compliance on fe February 26th. And yes, if you do the math,
that's took them four months to do that. Um, we are in compliance. Uh, which is
good news. However, in that letter, they also reminded us that we are m are
required to timely implement uh some some of the statemandated programs that
are related to the housing element. Then the purpose of the those programs are to
remove regulatory barriers to housing, promote housing for all income levels
and special needs groups, maintain housing affordability, and to further
fair fair housing.
the programs being presented to council tonight. Uh uh the first being program
1Q, farmworker housing. This doesn't necessarily apply to the city of Seal
Beach, but it's it's the state has a one-sizefitit all in a lot of their
programs, and there are several communities throughout California that
have farm workers that that are in need of housing. Uh our the request is for us
to update our code to uh allow employee farmworker housing of six persons or
fewer by right in residential zones um and to add farmworker housing as a
defined residential use. Program 2A and 2G are related. They're regarding the uh
state's density bonus laws. So the state has for quite some time has had a
program which we actually have in our code right now related to what's called
a density bonus. That's when a housing project proposes to
have a certain amount of units within the project set aside for lower income
housing. And if you do so you're allowed to get a bonus in the d beyond what's
normally allowed in the density of the zone. So, if you could normally build 20
units, you could go up to 25 units depending on how many uh affordable
units that you have. Uh to to allow that um because in certain situations, the
development standards wouldn't allow that. Uh it there's incentives related
to relief from development standards such as height, floor area ratio,
reduced parking, setback reduction. Um and there and in inclusive of uh program
2G uh part of that the proposal is to
facilitate the partnerships between commercial and affordable housing
developers uh to to so that they can so that commercial developers can look at
those those programs.
The final two programs uh program 3H is the state has told us that we needed to
reduce minimum unit size across residential zones. Uh currently in our
single family neighborhoods the minimum unit size is 1250 square ft and within
Oldtown area it's 950. the so it's being proposed that the minimum unit size to
build a primary unit within one of those zones is is 500 feet square feet across
the board. Um and there was also as part of it we cleaned up some of the language
in Surfside some of the older language as it as it spoke about ADUs and Jadus
um that currently matches the language for the rest of the city. Program 3J is
parking standards. Uh right now any type of housing that you build requires two
spaces per unit. Uh this the this proposal would reduce that requirement
for studios in one bedrooms from two spaces to one space per unit with the
idea that those smaller units have a lower demand in parking. uh just given
their size and with the also with the intention to to promote smaller, more
affordable units.
This item was heard by our planning commission on February 2nd. Uh the
commission considered the ordinance but no recommendation due to a two tie vote.
Uh one commissioner was absent and uh there was a split vote.
What that means procedurally is that the state statute requires that the planning
commission uh review and make comment for the
council to consider the item. But the commission's role is advisory only on
not binding to the city. And per the code, if the for these types of
situations, if the planning commission fails to adopt the resolution, it's
deemed approved to move forward to the council for for review. And so that's
why it's it's with with the council tonight. Uh when when it was presented
to the planning commission, there was an additional program regarding emergency
shelter provisions. I believe that's what was the the controversial part uh
amongst the most of the the commission's discussion. Staff has uh removed that so
that we could do further background research into the issue and address it
separately. And u we're moving forward with the rest of the items tonight.
So that concludes my presentation. Uh staff's recommendation is to introduce
and approve the ordinance 1725 to implement these programs to in order to
comply with state housing law. >> Thank you.
» Thank you very much. Um do you we want to hold our comments
until after we hear the public? >> Okay. Uh at this time I will now open
the public hearing. Are there any public comments?
Hi again, council mayor and and everyone. Uh, just on this, so to my
knowledge, the only real farming activity in Seal Beach is on the weapons
station. I'm not really sure of any major other than just backyard
gardening. And I understand probably this is required by the state or related
to our housing regulations and uh zoning but um is is such housing uh you know to
and again I don't know a lot about this I didn't have time to read much about it
but uh there there had been in the past information that such housing is to be
provided or on the property of the um of the property owner for the farm or the
ranch or whatever. Now, you know, there's been a lot of changes and I
haven't kept with a lot of that, but would this housing be on the base? I
would think it would not be and if it was on if it's not, where in Seal Beach
would it be or does it have to be designated? So, it's just I guess
procedural questions like that I was just wondering about and is there any
housing like this in Seal Beach now or on the base or anywhere else related to
farming or other agricultural activity? Thank you.
Thank you, Ken. Are we able to answer his question?
» Yeah, I want to emphasize that this is not a development plan nor a development
proposal. The these are updates to the code. They're more policy updates by the
council in order to facilitate facilitate any proposed development in
the future by private property owners. So, there's no proposal for any
farmworker housing within the city. Um, Mr. Scythe is correct. There's not a lot
of farm activity in the city. Uh, this um, as I stated earlier, this is a a
state of California one-sizefits-all request. They would they essentially
everything being proposed to to the council tonight is already state law and
that and the and the state is just asking us to bring our codes to be in
alignment with their codes to avoid uh so that to avoid procedural
timelines that so so that projects can move quicker because there's not that
conflict because because this the the state law is actually the law that we
needed defer to on these issues. >> Thank you.
» The only thing I would add is that by adopting this, you're not encouraging
any more farmworker housing or less farmworker housing because it's simply
what the state law already is. >> Thank you. Are there any more public
comments?
» Hi, Teresa Miller. Um, Oldtown. Um, I just had a couple cont comments. Um, I
went through all of the This is section D of the um, I guess it's the housing
element programs and um, part of the programs I just want to refer to there's
like I don't know 52 out of 54 that are funded from general fund. So the
question is um, where is that money going to come from and is there an
estimate? Um everything was very vague in this but I I have to talk about some
of these because there are um I have notes on all of them. Um you know we
have there's one program for um ADU's marketing u materials. Okay. Um to to
let people know that this is really an important thing. There is um something
from the let's see where's this one? Uh okay that was the employee farm worker
which we just talked about for a second. the um about the Navy or no I'm sorry
about uh Main Street specific there's something on that um there's
uh some outreach for developer outreach that was in here and one of them um the
programs there was let's see promote OC mortgage assistant programs there's you
know there's just a ton of programs that are um varied and and honestly everybody
should really read it to see what it entails because everything has you know
a general fund at the end of the day. No price tag but just where the money is
going to come from. So um I think that's just my question mainly. Um at the very
end the very very last uh program it's 6C is to promote the uh smart growth and
this this pretty much sums up everything about um reducing the objective is to
reduce the reliance on vehicle travel where possible and foster healthier
neighborhoods. Th this document goes through a lot of
things about um what's good what's good for citizens but the majority focuses on
highdensity housing in almost every neighborhood. Um which you know when the
question comes up about you know um the remedy the the whatever that's called
the builder's remedy. This is the builder's remedy. This is it. Everything
that they talk about is in this document. There's no difference. So, I
mean, by signing by approving all the zoning that you did in December has
locked us up. And if somebody does decide, there's no going back. This is
all to make it easier without any regulation, without any oversight of any
other uh group like the planning commission. And um it's basically
selling out to any developer who wants to do just about anything as long as
they meet the criteria. it can just, you know, bypass anyone else's eyes. This is
our community. I mean, I don't This is our community. We bought houses here, as
they did in a lot of others. I mean, I'm sick and tired of hearing, "Oh, but the
state says, um, okay, well, we're going to get another administration soon, and
maybe they're going to say something different, but there's really no going
back." So, um, I don't know. I I want to know where all the money that these
programs cost is going to come from. So, thank you. Thank you, Teresa.
» Thank you, Teresa. Are there any other public comments?
Hi, Ellery Deon, Oldtown. Two comments. Number one, people need to think before
they vote. This is absolutely what we get for what we've got in Sacramento.
It's time for a change. That's number one. Number two, you keep getting
threatened with builder's remedy. Look at what you're signing off on. It's
builder's remedy. It's an empty threat. You're giving it away instead of having
a builder come in and take it. So, I You're in a tough place. I know it.
I didn't vote in the way that got us here, but the state of California did.
So, we need to change how we vote if we expect any changes at all. So, thank
you. >> Thank you, Ellery.
Are there any other public comments?
Okay. If not, I will now close the public hearing and um now is the time
for council discussion and deliberation.
Thank you, mayor. Uh, yes, we're in a tough spot, but we've seen that uh other
cities that have uh decided to fight that have lost at every um judicial
milestone and uh it's costing a lot of money. It
will cost them a lot of money to come into compliance before there's an
opportunity for a regime change. Um, and unfortunately, uh, on top of all
of this, I understand from our community development director and reading the
document that there's like everything from monthly to quarterly to annual
reports on all of these items that our department is going to have to comply
with, which is going to take staff time and is another unfunded mandate. So, um,
yes, it's a tough situation for us, but I think that, um,
you know, if we if we kind of take a step back and we
look at at how development, um, has actually evolved in Seal Beach,
you know, our College Park neighborhoods, Leisure World of course,
which is self-governing, um, and for the most part, on the hill,
you know, things have not really changed substantially. You know, there's some
ADU activity that's going on and and uh you know, that's that's happening. You
know, Oldtown the uh the real threat for Oldtown is we we can't get very much
more dense within 25 ft of height. And so the
alternative, not so much an alternative, but the the only course of action I if
these rules become tighter is that we would be forced to go up or we'd be
forced to go back to R2 instead of R1 on a oldtown 25- ft lot. Um, but so far
that doesn't seem to be imminent. But I think what we have to be very watchful
of is what the next RENA assessment's going to be. You know, I've heard from
different sources that watch out. You know, um, from from my viewpoint, um,
anything anything over one in the next round is
you know, is almost impossible since getting to the 1243
was, you know, doing a a real dance of the seven veils, you know, to get to
that point. So, um, you know, I can't offer solutions. Um, but I think if um
I I think because we we are watchful, meaning those of us that live in the
different districts are are watchful of what's going on in the district. You
know, we hear, you know, what's what's happening? Are people um wanting to
start to push the envelope of what they're going to be allowed to do? And
of course, you know, they then have to deal with their neighbors. And so
there's sort of a a community pressure to not go too crazy. Um, you know, in
Oldtown it's a little bit a little bit more difficult because, you know, all of
a sudden people things suddenly appear in Oldtown. Uh whether they be the
vacation rentals or ADUs and so forth. Um
but I think that if as a community we kind of keep our eyes open for uh what
we think may be coming and you know we can sort of act accordingly without you
know blatantly trying to push back on the state. I think it's been
demonstrated that that doesn't get you anywhere at this point. Thank you.
» Thank you. Um so I I in reading the document um I
noticed in several places that it talks about um who's the responsible party for
different pieces of these programs and a lot of it says general fund. So my
concern is we are now in budget time and going to be moving through the budget
and then we have if we adopt this right now we've got all these unknowns in here
with general fund general fund general fund. We have no idea what we're walking
into. And so I'm deeply concerned that we need to look at the financial
obligations of an unfunded mandate that is going to be put upon this city. So
that is very concerning. Um the other thing is tonight in item D because we
voted that out. Um our staff is able to move forward with the progress report
that is due April 1st. So, if we were to hold this back, this does not impact the
ability to submit our first report that's due on April 1st. So, that would
be cleared. So, um I um there's a lot of information in here. Every time I read
this stuff, it's more confusing than the first time I read it. And I think um
your quote, Ken, was just, you know, probably where a lot of our people are
don't know. It takes a lot of time. You know, it's spot on. So anyway, I'm of
the opinion because we don't know the cost that we're walking into, we need to
hold off on this piece. We've already voted out the most important piece so we
can be in compliance. And I think this needs to go back. Um I would encourage
us to consider a study session. Our residents are very unaware of this and
we need to let people know about this, walk through it with us. I think we need
a study session, get our residents informed, our businesses informed, and
we need to understand the implications on our budget because we're in budget
right now. And if there's stuff in here that's going to hit us, that means we
got to cut elsewhere to be able to afford this stuff that the state wants
us to do. So, I'm deeply concerned about the budget implications. So, um, that's
where I'm at. I think this is not this piece is not ready to go tonight. We
need to send it back. We can have planning commission look at it again
study session let our residents and businesses opine be aware and then bring
this back. I I do not feel that I have enough information to vote on this.
» Thank you. >> Can I can I just ask a clarifying
question? Uh I understand the comment about the general fund and the impacts
of the programs, but the ordinance tonight is the I guess the cost or the
resources to implement the four or five programs that are addressed in this uh
ordinance have been absorbed for however you want to put that um and are
memorialized in this ordinance. Obviously, there are other costs
associated with compliance with all the other uh programs that need to be
discussed and considered as part of a budget, but the four or five programs
that are addressed in this ordinance, I guess, are sort of that cost has been
incurred. >> I'm reading tons of programs in here.
» I totally get it. Uh and the ordinance is only covering how many programs,
Sean, >> there it's five programs tonight?
» Five programs. So there's yeah there's um I don't know
when I when I do the uh the annual progress report there's some there's 70
different uh reporting items but some of them were broken of different programs
but there's there's uh I believe there's probably about 25 30 programs and the
but for example one of the programs was adopt the mixeduse zone which was done
in last October And so these are it's not being proposed that we adopt all
these programs tonight. Um it we're just as our city attorney stated, we're just
looking at the the five of the programs which which I listed out in my
presentation. Those were absorbed through staff time. Staff time is paid
out of the general fund and that's why that was listed. Uh similarly um Teresa
Miller brought up a few items program 6A the the smart goal implementation and in
and uh urban planning what what smart growth is is is trying to
design development that moves more to pedestrian scale kind of how oldtown is
versus the suburban scale which is the the driving you drive everywhere you go
instead instead of walking. And so through the implementation of the
mixeduse zone where you now have potential to have residential uses
within the commercial areas that we reported that as achieving the
the smart goal policy of 6A the ADU marketing materials uh is essentially us
updating our website. We have a ADU page on our website that has a lot
information on on ADUs that accomplishes that goal that was done through staff
time updating the website. Several of these um are just staff time and I I
agree with Council Member Synagol. I think I think a study session and and
looking at these uh programs would be very beneficial. It's very confusing
this housing element. It's not it's it's just it's so much information
that it's it's hard. It's like taking an entire uh three or four year program in
college and trying to read it over the weekend. It's it's just it's it's too
much information and I I think some some additional community outreach. uh and
I'm always available if anyone wanted to reach out to me directly uh would would
be helpful but a lot of this is just incurred by by staff time and anything
that would need any sort of significant amount of money uh you know within the
tens of thousands or or above. We would bring to council individually that
program and say this program is going to need need this amount of money and then
we could have that discussion on how much money it merits at that time.
» Thank you very much. >> I have a question
» if I may >> please.
» Um thank you. Um, this is the kind of thing that we do. We
we just don't have enough information really to to even fathom what this is
all about. And I have little to none no trust in Sacramento and their policies
and the way they're pointed in this world and the way itffects affect Seal
Beaches. To be honest with you, we don't know
what Seal Beach is going to look like in 25 years. I know what we want it to look
like in 25 years. And that's not substantially different than what it
looks like now. But if we start opening up the um the the floodgates to a 500
square foot minimum, for example, or if we have um density bonuses that allow
some builder somewhere someday get a density bonus that allows them to build
a six-story building or 30story building or whatever it happens to be somewhere
in here and we don't have the control as a city to to do something about it. I
know we have ordinances that have passed that prohibit that have height limits in
it, but what does the builder's remedy do to that with a density bonus? And so
I'm not I don't like this. I've been I've said it before, I'll say it again.
I think Sacramento is
I won't I won't repeat what I said last time. So I've been quoted on that. Uh I
don't want to give them an inch. I always bristle when uh things like
housing elements come around and I played along with that and now we have a
this is the back end of the housing element I suppose right now and I I just
I don't like playing the game. I don't mind telling Sacramento
no until I have a better understanding of really what we're talking about here.
if they're they're opening the floodgates to 500 foot ADUs and those
ADUs could be sold in the secondary market and that could genuinely impact
Oldtown. It could impact uh uh the hill. It could impact every part of this town.
Uh so I I I don't want to play along to be honest with you tonight anyway till I
get more information. >> Thank you very much. Mayor Prom,
» do you have any comments? >> Not at the moment. Sorry.
» Um, okay. Um, so 2 a um transferring review of authority from the planning
commission to the community development direct. So why do we even need a
planning commission? Is that really what's where we're headed with this?
» Well, when it in reference to the density bonus, essentially all this is
already statutory law within the state. what what would be requested if they
provide a certain amount of affordable units, they're allowed to have certain
incentives. And so the commission while having the
ability to hear it wouldn't have the discretion, which is their purpose is to
have discretion to make changes per the state law. They could say something
contrary, but then that would be contrary to state law. So the idea is
since these are pretty much objective standards within the state code that the
state wants it to be done through administrative process. So that would be
done through through the director's review.
» Thank you. Um I feel like at this rate, you know, uh the next question will be
why do we even need a city council? So,
um, yeah, I'm I'm I'm not for pushing through this quickly. Um,
something else, um, you said earlier in regards to the farm workers, uh, that
the state has made it like a one-sizefits-all, and I feel like that's
what they're doing to us with the arena numbers. So, it's not fair, um, where
that we've got the the same numbers or that same template uh, as other cities.
And um you know I I when I go out to the Inland Empire um they have so much land
there and they're building like crazy. Um but it it's it's not what we'd be
looking at here in Seal Beach. I mean somebody said to me once uh the analogy
once the toothpaste comes out of the tube there's no putting it back in. And
once we go, you know, high density here in in Oldtown, the the character of
Oldtown is going to be destroyed forever and there's no going back on that. So,
um I I also think we maybe need to bring this back. So, okay.
» Can I um Mayor Oh, I'm sorry. Were you going to speak?
» No, go ahead. >> Oh, okay. I'll make a motion. Um um I
would like to motion that we bring this um this item back and in the interim we
have another stop at the planning commission for discussion. Maybe you
combine the planning commission with a um study session or separate them
whatever staff thinks is best. I think we need more information. Um I certainly
need to be again um it's it's confusing and so I think we need to um bring it
back. So, the motion is return this um at a later date and in the interim have
the planning commission and a study session um together and then bring it
back or you can if if it's better to separate them or bring them together,
but bring this back after we have more time to really understand what we're
voting on and our residents need to know what we're voting on and our businesses
need to know what we're voting on. >> I'll second.
» Go ahead. I I just had a question, Sean. Um
the delay that we're asking for, how what's the impact on your department and
our ability to, you know, be in compliance with the state and our
housing element being valid, a re report to the state once a year. So
that was the item D tonight was the annual progress report that will be sent
to Sacramento this week and they can our next reporting period would be next
April 1st. So it they would want to see what updates have happened in between
now and then in the programs. >> We say next April 1st. Is that 2027?
» Correct. >> Next year.
» Correct. However, I don't they may do a review of the annual progress report and
ask for some sort of updates. I don't know if that would happen, but the next
report would be uh April 1st, 2027. >> The only thing I would add is that
there's not like a the deadlines for a lot of this have already passed in the
housing element. Uh HCD is charged with reviewing this compliance with every
city's housing element. um when they're going to do that I can't
say for certain. So a a next April 1st is not like a deadline. Doing it as
quickly as possible is I guess the only thing I can offer.
» Thank you very much. We take a role. >> Yes. Council member Synical. How do you
vote? >> Can we repeat the motion, please?
» Do you want to read it back or you >> Oh, you can read it back. I did make
notes. You did say that you wanted to >> this item would be returned to staff to
um have return it to the planning commission a study session and also um
we need to fill in the blanks on some of the costs whatever this general fund
impact is. We need to see the cost impacts as well when this comes back
or the best you can estimate our cost impacts.
» So does that mean we're not voting on item J or we are substituting? We are
substituting what the recommendation was.
» Mayor Landau, how do you vote? >> Yes.
» Council member Calm, how do you vote? >> Yes.
» Council member Steel, how do you vote? >> Yes.
» Council member Mayor Pro Tim Wong, how do you vote?
» Yes. >> Motion carries. Five votes. Yes.
» Okay. >> Thank you very much. Okay. Um, I will
now adjourn tonight's city council meeting to Monday, April 13th, 2026
at 5:30 p.m. to meet in close session if deemed necessary. Thank you and good
night.