A long, long time is Riverside Community college decision to
put a satellite campus at mainland Park Ridge. This is
all RCCD. Riverside Community College District took on. A difficult
challenge and said, we want it. We want to be
part of Corona and the voters. The voters said yes.
So the Corona Education center, which is its official name,
will be coming online. It'll take a few years, and
I believe the final completion is 2030. But what? We're
ultimately going to have is. An institution of higher education
within our city boundaries. They've got a vision for that
campus. To be a tech campus and how exciting for
our community to have in Corona. Its very own college
campus. An awesome project that's also up to come is
the city park revitalization city. Park was built.
Hello. Hello. Welcome, everyone, to our city council meeting of
Wednesday, January 21. Very happy to see you. Please join
me first in the pledge of allegiance. If you can
stand and put your right hand over your heart. Ready?
Begin. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice. Harlow. Thank you. Please be
seated. We're going to convene open session at this time,
I would like to call. The meeting to order. Ms.
Edwards, can you please read the special instructions? Yes, mayor.
Individuals wishing to address. The city council are requested to
complete a speaker card and deliver it to city clerk
staff. Prior to the item being heard by the city
council, please observe a three minute limit for communications. And.
One's called upon to speak. Please state your name and
city of residence for the record. Thank you, mayor. Thank
you very much. We're going to start with. A well
deserved recognition. I would like to invite Corporal Joe Kelly
and Canine Bruce to the podium. For this recognition. In
the case, of course. Welcome. So we've got this great
recognition, a lot of whereas, so bear with me. In
recognition of five years of loyal service to the Corona
Police Department, whereas Bruce is an eight. Year old Belgian
Malinois. Born in the Netherlands, he arrived in the United
States in 2020. Through Alderhorst International and was soon selected
to become the next corona police department canine. Bruce. Completed
the six week basic handler Academy at Alderhorst International, where
he consistently demonstrated an exceptional sense of smell and energetic
personality. In March of 2023, Bruce further showcased his ability
by attending a specialized tracking course in Modesto, California. He's
quite a worldly dog. Later that year, he successfully tracked
and located an attempted murder suspect who was hiding approximately
700 yards. From the crime scene. And whereas Bruce served
the Corona police department for five years and was also
a valued member of the special response team. Throughout his
career, he played a vital role in. Enhancing community safety
by locating numerous suspects and helping gain compliance from individuals
who were uncooperative. Bruce assisted in 4325 calls, and he
conducted 871 different searches. And whereas Bruce transitions into retirement,
he will spend his days enjoying family walks, chasing his
ball. Dismantling every chew toy he's given and spinning endless
amounts and spinning in endless amounts. Of circles, although he
will undoubtedly. Miss police work. Bruce has fully earned his
retirement and the abundant family time that comes with it.
Now. Therefore, I, Mayor Jackie Cassillas, on behalf of the
city council, thereby gratefully acknowledge. Bruce for the dedication he
has shown and the manner in which he has carried
out his duties. As a member of the Corona Police
Department, we wish you best wishes and a long. And
happy retirement.
Would you say a few words? Thank you, mayor. I
just wanted to add to what the mayor said. Canine
Bruce led a very distinguished career. Arcanine team are invaluable
to what we do each and every day. We love
our canine partners. And they truly are partners to their
handler, I'm sure Joe's. The reason why Bruce has been
retired. While he had a few medical issues throughout his
career, is because he worked so hard in the Belgian
Malinois. They just drive their drive. Is off the chart.
Is, Corporal Kelly was promoted, and because of that, He
went back to patrol, which took him out of his
canine position. And after serving five years, which is a
distinguished career, And the city allowed Corporal Kelly to purchase.
Canine Bruce for one dollars, so he. 's officially corporal
Kelly's dog, so I'm sure Joe is kind of being.
Very cautious about what happens now. So thank you, Joe.
Thank you, Canine Bruce. You guys had awesome career doing
the canine world. I wish you more success. Can we
get a picture with you? Can we get a picture
right in front of the podium? Oh, yes, please. Can
I ask his wife and children? To Corporal Kelly's wife
is one of our dispatchers. So, like, for them to
come down to please. Let's move this. I think.
All right, we can head back up, and I will
hand it over. Oh, actually, Ms. Edwards, are there any
speaker cards from the public for the recognitions? Mayor, we
did not receive any speaker cards for the recognition. Okay,
in that case, we'll move on. To item 5.2 presentation
about the Corona blood on board program, and I'll hand
it over to fire Chief Brian Young, who will provide
the presentation. All right. Do you want to do it
from here? Okay. All right. Thank you Madamoran council and
thank you everybody for being here. I just wanted to
take a moment to provide a little bit of background
before I share a rather incredible story. So the corona
Far department embarked on a pretty significant. Initiative several years
ago. That really focused on. Innovation, tenacity and excellence in
service delivery. And a little bit more definition of what
drove all that is. Back in August of 2022, several
members of our ems. Committee brought forward. A very innovative
idea that had never been seen before in the state
of California, and that is to carry field blood. On
our EMS units. This had been trialed and worked very
successfully in small organizations in Texas. And Louisiana. But our
small team. Of nurse educator Kelly Long. Captain Steve Douglas
and captain. Captain Steve Wells and captain Chris Douglas started
working on this thing in August of 22, and it
was not an easy undertaking. First, I needed local approval
from our own medical director. Then they needed regional approval
from our regional medical director. And ultimately came the big
bureaucracy of the state. So it took them until November
of 24 to get this program. Off the ground. After
their hard work and tenacity for all those years they
received the EMS crossmead. Which is a highly prestigious recognition
from the state of California, ems, and it brought us
where we are today. Having. The first fire agency in
the state of California, being the Corona Fire Department, to
carry blood in the field. Incredibly innovative and driven by
the men and women of the Corona Fire Department. We
also knew, though, that there was more to this story.
It wasn't just providing excellence. And service delivery. We knew
that we needed a strategic partner. Blood is a very
precious commodity, as many of you are aware. We didn't
feel right just simply. Going to a blood bank and
blind the blood. How many times have people heard the
scenario of there's a blood shortage. We didn't want to
be part of that problem, so we looked at it
from a medical ethics perspective when we said, let's help
solve this shortage of blood and start monthly. Blood drives.
So, on the heels of being approved, we started these
monthly bub drives. Since its inception. We have a total
of 60 gallons of blood that's been donated by members
of the corona fire department, by members of the city
of Corona and by members of the community that is
a perfect example of how we can all work together
to have an ultimate positive outcome. 60 gallons of blood.
That is mind blowing if you think about that. That's
basically the functioning blood volume of almost 50 human beings
that we have had people donate in order to make.
A positive impact. Well, the whole reason we're here tonight
is we had one of our very first survivors. From
this corona blood program. That requested to be reunited with
the crew's network, instrumental in a positive outcome. So with
that I'm going to call up Vladmire. As the amazing
survivor from his accident, he's going to share a few
comments with you. And I'd also like to bring up
the crews so they can reunite with Vlad as he
requested to do so. The crews that responded please caught
up flat. So with Vlad before I give him the
mic. We have Captain Jake Portillo, we have engineer. Paramedic
JD Tawni. We have engineer Kevin Campbell. We have firefighter,
paramedic. Robert Aguilera and firefighter Justin Brower. So, Vlad, if
you'd like. To say a few words. Hi. My name
is Vlad. I reside in the city of Huntington Beach,
California. The way this day started out was. Just like
any normal day. I got the package with my new
motorcycle mufflers. I started putting a Mongol and put on.
Instructions said take 100 miles ride. I was like, all
right, go up to Victorville, where my friend Sandy lives.
Tighten the bolts. And I'll go back home. I get
on the 55 in Newport Beach. I transferred to the
91. I'm going up to 91. The express line is
to my left. I'm doing about 60, 65 three car
lengths back. EverYthing goes black. I don't remember anything. November.
That was October 17. November 3. I woke up. All
I knew is I was laying in a bed in
a room. I didn't know who, what, wherewin or why,
and it was the scariest moment of my life. Because
all I knew is I was hooked up to machines.
And. I couldn't even ask the questions that were in
my head because the head trauma was so bad I
couldn't get them out of my mouth. But I knew
what I wanted. To ask. And that's when the long
recovery process started. But get back on the topic of
the blood drive. When the paramedics arrived on scene. Campbell,
along with a few others, realized. The severity of my
injuries. And the amount of blood I lost. Was just
tremendous. And it was ultimately because of the blood transfusions
at the scene of the accident that I am standing
in front of you today because if it wasn't for
those blood transfusions. In their blood bag at the scene
of the accident on the 91 in Green river. Road,
I would have been another statistic, and I would have
been Doa at the hospital. Guarantee you that right now.
So I'm very thankful for that. And. I took a
law for granted before the accident. And tell you what
I told people before. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. And life's
precious. So when you guys hear about these blood drives
in your cities, your counties, Go out and donate. Because
it could save another life. I'm hoping with sharing my
story that we can get this out to more cities
and more counties. Because over the weekend we had another
fatality in the city of Huntington beach involving. A motorcyclist.
So really hoping we can get this moving forward. Sooner
rather than later. That's all I got. Thank you. Glad.
Grab a quick picture. Thank you, Vlad, for sharing your
story and encouraging everybody to donate blood to this life
saving program.
Way to go. Thank you. We're glad to have you
with us tonight. We're glad. That that program was successful
and way to go. Corona fire department for being the
first in the state to do that. We're proud of
you guys. Okay. We're going to move on to item
5.3. Presentation. The final design for the city park project.
Ms. Donna Finch, community service director, will provide the presentation.
Thank you, mayor. Good evening, council. I am really excited
to be here tonight to present this important milestone in
the city park. Revitalization. Project. I know. We've been working
on this for a long time. We've? Been to council
and the Parks Commission and the community multiple times to
get feedback and input. On the design for this project,
and we are really happy to be in the final
stretch of this tonight. I'm going to be giving an
update on the final design, and our ask is that
the city council received this update. So before I get
into the design, I just want to start with providing
for those of you who aren't familiar with the history
and background of City park. Just some of the important
historical facts about the park that got us to this
point. So City park was originally established in 1913. It
is Corona's oldest historic park, and it has really long
served as a gathering place for the community. Since its
inception, it had been a place where people come to
do family picnics, community events, parades. All sorts of things
that really just brought the city of Corona residents together.
It is the home of the historic municipal plunge. This
was constructed back in 1925, and it was the city's
first municipal pool. It operated for many, many decades as
a pool. In different forms. The municipal plunge closed several
decades ago, and then another pool was opened. We also
had the founders monument that was constructed at City park
back in 1936, so. It is a very historical, significant
location, and it's something that. We really have a lot
of pride in and want to make sure that we
preserve it for many decades to come. Around the 1980s,
we started to see a decline in City park. People
stopped attending and participating in activities there as much as
they did in the past. A lot of this was
due to safety. Concerns deteriorating conditions in the park. And
ultimately in 2020, the city park pool was closed due
to some structural challenges with the park. And we began
the process to start the revitalization of that site. In
2021 objective was put into our city of Corona. Strategic
plan to redevelop city. Park to include a new, full
service, purpose built community center. And this is something that
Corona did. Not have before. We had other sites that
we had acquired and operated as community centers, but none
that were ever designed intentionally. As a community center to
serve the needs of our residents, so. With that goal
and objective in our strategic plan, we began the master
planning process for city park. That started in June of
2022. It was an 18 month process that include a
significant amount of community engagement. We went out, did door
knocking, held pop up events in the park, did multiple
community meetings, workshops. Brainstorming sessions with the parks commission, with
the city council, and we collected over 2100. Survey responses
from the community to really identify the amenities that the
community wanted to see in the revitalized city park. In
July of 2023, the master plan was adopted and we
went directly. Into a request for proposal process to bring
on an architectural firm to help bring this plan to
life. In December of 2023, we brought on Rios Architects,
who has been our primary architect on the project and
we began the design process. And over the last two
years, we've hit several milestones we completed. The 30% design
in January of 2025. 60% design in April of 25.
And then just this past December we reached the 90%.
Mark, which is wrapping up our final design process. So
with that, I'm going to go ahead and turn it
over to our architectural firm. Rios. We have Bob Hale
and his team here. They are going to be going
through all of the primary elements of the design, walking
you through the project, showing some really beautiful renderings that
are helping to bring this project to life. And I'll
wrap it up with next steps on the timing process.
So I'll go ahead and turn it over to bob.
Thank you so much, Donna. We are really excited to
be here at this point in this project. We've worked
very diligently, I think, with your team. They've been extremely
great to work with. And we feel really terrific about.
The product we've got to show you tonight. So I'm
here with my team, and we're all very excited. To
present it to you. We are, by the way, both
the architects and the landscape architects for the project. It's
one of the things. That we think we brought to
the project that was unique. Is the ability to sort
of see this as a whole project. Both inside and
outside. So I'm here with Jason Shinoda as design director
and landscape architecture. Robin Kim, who is the lead landscape
architect on the project. And Simone Lapenta is our design
director of architecture. So I think Jason's going to kick
us off here. Thanks, Bob. So we want to start
with our overall master plan. And really, when we look
at this plan, we're just really proud of it, and
that's because through the last few years of co creation
with your team here with the city, All of the
community input that we've received. The design really has held
and stood the test of time through all of the
development of the design from the very beginning. And so
when we look at this plan, We can really strongly
see the original ideas still intact. And just a great
variety of experiences and wonderful spaces that. We're really excited
to present to you today. So at the heart of
the park, of course, is what we've always called the
corona. Crown. And this is a celebration of the identity
of Corona, the history of Corona, that's represented. By this
big community canvas in the center that's embraced by trees
and parkland. And then embracing that. On the east side,
of course, is the community center, and it's really this
interlocking of those two pieces that really forms the heart
of this park for us. That's looped by a connected
past, which you'll see in the lighter brown. There, which.
Is our quarter mile Corona crown loop. And then the
darker brown path is this framework of a meandering trail
that connects the rest of the park and all of
these different programmatic spaces and garden rooms and really ties
the whole park together. In another three quarter mile loop.
So that three quarter mile loop plus the crown lube
form. A 1 mile loop for the whole park. That
ties it all together. My colleague robin is going to
now take you through the detailed design of all these
different spaces. Thanks. So starting from the west, traveling east,
we're going to focus on. What will be the new
sort of multi wheeled skate park and pump track. One
of the additions of this project that we were really
proud to be able to bring more usability. To the
idea of a mixed modal. Use of. Skate park. Bmx
mixing together within the space itself. We also have updated
outdoor basketball courts, which. We will have ample lighting to
make sure that we'll be able to have recreation day.
And night within the space. Moving. East. We're going to
focus on the different sort of activity zones oriented toward
a lot. Of play, namely. The new playground, custom playground
and splash pad. That's surrounded by various picnic areas and
recreation zones. You can see also that just to the
east. We have the crown, the community canvas in which.
We have a large lawn area and sort of. Burned
backing to allow for everything from. Multi large music gatherings
to other events that might happen within the city itself,
with the community center as a beautiful backdrop to this.
And as we go through the presentation, you will see
more direct. Views of what we are talking about here.
Just a bit more detail on the splash pad itself,
you can see. Harkening to. The mining past of Corona.
We wanted to make sure that we were highlighting. Various
fun zones, but also having ways for sort of history
to be revealed within the spaces you can see that.
We have water towers, cascading water tables, sprayers. And again,
we'll have some. Views that sort of really put you
into the space. We have the aquatic center shown here,
which is the combination of an activity pool and an
actual competition lab pool within the area. Zooming in a
little bit more, you can see within the activity pool.
Starting with a very gracious entry. And depth of 18
inches. The pool itself then gets to a depth of
5ft to allow for a variety of different activities, whether
it's sort of the exercise classes that might happen. There.
Swim lessons, general. Play with families who might come and
spend time here to the north. You will see a
lazy river component with various interactive. Play elements. And then
a vortex within the space. And then to the south,
you'll see. Custom large tube waterslide and a specific landing
area for that program. There's also a spa you can
see. At the sort of upper right corner that would
be integrated and allowing. Visitors and competitors and everyone alike
to use the spa itself. And we have a canopy
that will be dividing between. The activity pool and the
competition space here. As you can see, the competition pool
is a 25 yard pool. One change that recently has
been added is we are able to provide. Two three
meter and two 1 meter springboards, and thus the depth
of the actual competition pool. Has increased to allow for
that new activity. Surrounding the pool itself are also shade
canopies. To make sure that. There is maximum comfort throughout
the hot summer days. I'm going to let Simone speak
a little bit more to the building now. Thank you.
Thank you. So the building is conceived to be one
with the park. It's arranging to three blocks and two
wings, one on the north that we call the active
wing and one on the south we call the quiet
wing, and at the center it split. To accommodate for
the central block, which we call the central hub, which
accommodates the reception and also some of the amenity and
function that serves the two other wings. On the north
wing, we have what we call the fitness Wing, which
accommodates for the main Gymnasium, which is a 20,000 sqft
gymnasium. With an outdoor fitness that can also accommodate for
exterior gatherings. And then we have two different fitness rooms.
One is an enclosed space for different activities with machinery
and equipment, and the other one can be used for
group fitness that can be split into two for two
different venues that can be used at the same time.
On the southern side, we have the active wing, which
we have assessed to be recipient for the banket, which
is our crown jewel. It's a large gathering space that
can be divided. Into two and accommodate up to 400
people at the same time and. It provided with a
dedicated kitchen for gardening and for dining. On the northern
side of the wing, we have two conference rooms. And
a game room and also some administration offices. These renderings
really picks the arrival point to the community center. We
can see how we arrive. At the community center through
a beautiful, welcoming. Gesture where we can see how the
building connects. The arrival point of the parking to the
ground park. And this place, really, this beautiful open lobby.
That connects visually the visitor to the park on the
other side. Getting closer. We can see over here the
lobby and the beautiful facade. There is a transparent facade.
To allow for visibility and for light to come through
and to really welcome the visitors to the experience of
the community center and the overall park itself. Coming inside.
This is the lobby, the main lobby. It's a very
tall space of 40ft. At its peak. And splits the
two wings arriving to the reception desk. As I said
before, And we decided to split the height of the
building with two different type of tonality of plaster to
try to create a sense of human scale. At the
bottom, still celebrating the beauty of the high, tall ceiling.
There are. Carrying a warm wood to create this sense
of welcoming space. On the opposite side we can see
the reception desk. There is an embracing gesture. To welcome
the people and kind of direct them to the different
wings to serve also as a wife handing device. To
distribute people along the two wings of the building. This
is a view of the gynaium again. It's a 20,000
sqft. Room. You might see on the ground multiple level
of graphic. Lines. Those are basically to try to accommodate
for different configurations. For different activities. That can be done.
At the same time, it can accommodate from one to
eight different field distributions. For a number of different venues
and a number of different events at the same time
can be split into two by a device's curtain that
we have designed and the sitting areas that you see
over here are retractable in order to accommodate for that
flex. Flexibility. We decided to go for a very simple
design. Humble, but at the same time full of character,
painting in yellow all the trusses on the top. To
kind of create a node to the graphic identity of
the city of Corona. This is the Bankhead room, as
I said before, can be split into two. It's completely
cluttering into the same wood of the reception and the
welcoming space. And it's. Open to a beautiful garden and
outdoor cover area on the outside by two foldable window.
System. When closed, it can accommodate for two different events
at the same time. And we have created a series
of chandelier at the center to create a center point
of focal point for the space for the main event
happening in the room. By the welcoming center at the
entrance. We have provided a game room, which is a
flexible space. With an open area in the center and
a side section with a series of different type of
casework and meal work that can accommodate for different types
of activity and function as well as having a series
of desks that can be used for people to. Access
and work from here. The aquatic center. It's. A great.
Point of attraction for the entire community center and the
park. You can see over here, the big pool with
the plants building in the back that serves as a
background. And on the right hand side. The two slides
that can serve as a beacon and a visible element
of connotation. Of the park from the outside. We propose.
To put a mural and paint the two sides of
the plunge building facing the pool to try to create
a backdrop to the experience of the pool itself. This
is an area where I think that we can see
how the building wants to provide. This continuity between the
park and the community center, really displaying this beautiful hugging
gesture between the architecture and the landscape and at the
same time really trying to create this center of gathering
for the community campus. From the community scam bus. The
building wants to grow from the ground and be. These
POTUS gesture. They really celebrate the city of Corona as
an identity, but also as a new center for people
to gather, creating this common ground that can be lived
outdoor, but also inside and the building, in its transparency
and porosity, wants to celebrate that indoor outdoor condition that
we can celebrate here in. California. Looking more close. This
is one detail of the overhang of the canopy. The
facade basically pushes in and out to try to accommodate
for different type of activities that can be held outside
in continuity with the spaces indoor. And with this, I
give to Robin the opportunity to speak more about. Park.
Thanks. Here you can see. The custom age group playground.
That will be one of the other sort of anchors
within the park itself. We wanted to honor the history,
the deep history within Krona that recognizes sort of the
citrus industry and sort of how that comes into play
and really. Worked hard to coordinate with the playground manufacturer
to ensure that we brought a unique and authentic play.
Structure that you would not find anywhere else. Along with
this, you can see. Not only the actual historic imagery
of. Different. Citrus providers and such. The actual space itself
has been designed around the mature trees that exist within
the project. In addition we're trying to add also larger
mature trees to provide shade in the areas. That aren't
necessarily covered. Again, we want this play space to be
integrated within nature and to embrace the fact that it's
within. A really beautiful location as is, and to make
sure that we keep that space. Feeling the historic trees
and the beautiful spaces that are within the space. You
can see here. Detail of the toddler play area. This
is a design nod to the idea of pollinating those
actual citrus fruits that become where the older kids play
eventually. The idea is that kids will meander between the
two play zones, but that there are specific areas that
are oriented toward the younger crowd, but that gradually. They
would buzz on over and play within the large, the
older kid areas, I will tell you. My kids who
have seen the renderings of the big kid area, or
you're talking. About wanting to go there and so understanding
that there's sort of this aspirational connection between the space
was important. In the design and interactivity within the space.
Here is an image updated image of the splash pad
zone. Again harkening to the mining pass within Corona. The
idea is that the precast water features would allow for
different elements to have water towers that would have water
that could splash down. Waterfall elements, sort of interactive sprayers
that are in the ground within rocks themselves. Surrounding this
area would be spaces for onlooker onlookers to watch in.
Dry zones. But then again, this zone was designed to
be. Within surrounding existing trees. Again, trying to make sure
that we preserve those trees and have those trees be
an element within the backdrop of the space itself. Another
view where you can really see kids getting in and
interacting with the space. Here is a view of the
skate park. This portion is looking west. You can see
that this is the more traditional skate park, where you
sort of see the urban rails and bowls that are
coming within the space that's also integrated with the landscape
and allowing for there to be a connection, but also.
A separation within the space so there's full visibility. Within.
And here you can see this is basically looking east.
Now the pump track with the basketball. Court in the
background that you can see again, there's this ability to
connect between the skate park and the pump track to
allow for various modes of use within the space. Going
a little bit into trees within the park and historic
preservation. This diagram here highlights the combination. Of trees to
remain in place, trees to be relocated. And basically slotted
in with the design, particularly around the aquatic center and
then trees to be removed. I want to emphasize the
fact that the trees that you see in green to
remain. We wanted to make sure that we preserved and
designed around the most beautiful, majestic trees that exIst. On
site Itself. And so we have very big design moves
in order to preserve those trees and have actually changed
a lot of where the original design came in order
to accommodate and make sure that we're highlighting those trees.
In orange, you can see the trees that we are
hoping to relocate at various different plates. And then the
project. And then, in addition, we'll be planting 205 trees.
To the project. Here you can see the existing historical
artifacts that exist within the site. We wanted to make
sure that we relocated them in areas that would be
integrated within the different rooms and entry sequences of the
project itself. You can see also, for example, we want
to highlight. The historic fig tree, that giant fig tree
that's at basically along 6th street, so there's. Also. Some
really great other specimens within the project itself that we
wanted to make sure we highlight that's. Almost a botanical
flavor that happens within the park, and we want to
make sure that we honor that. I think I'm going
to hand it over to Donna now. All right, so
I just want to give a big thank you to
the rios team again. They've been a great partner throughout
this whole process. We've been working with them for over
two years. They really have taken the time to listen
to us, to listen to what the community wants and
to create this really special design. That encaptures everything that
we were really hoping for for city park. So I'm
going to wrap up the presentation by talking about next
steps. As I mentioned, we just finished the 90% design
mark in December. We're currently at about 95% design, and
all of the major design elements have been completed on
the project. We're just finishing the fine tune pieces to
get this wrapped up. To 100%. Currently, we are going
through a pre qualification process for the contractors to make
sure that when we do take this project out to
bid, we will have a pre selected pre vetted. Group.
Of contractors that we know are highly qualified and able
to give us. A quality project. And construct it within
the parameters of what we've designed. That started in November,
and we anticipate wrapping up that pre qual process in
February. We're also going through the permitting process right now
with the construction documents to get the project ready for
construction. We anticipate that wrapping up in April, and at
that time we'll be going to the historic preservation board
to get final approval on the project, and then go
out to bid. Because we will have a pre qualified
group of contractors we anticipate. A fairly quick turnaround on
the bidding process. We've got two months allocated for that.
For April and May, and then we will be back
to you to council in July to award the project
bid and begin construction in summer of 2026. So, again,
very happy with where we are in the design process.
And all of the iterations that we've been through, I
know we've been here to council several times to do
value engineering, also to make some enhancements to the project.
With all those changes, we are really happy to say
that we have stayed close to our original estimate, which
is about $100 million plus or -10% so as we
begin to go into the bidding process and get the
contracts ready. For council award. We'll have those final numbers
for you, and we'll be bringing that back in July.
So again, our ask is that the council receive an
update on the final design for City park. And we're
happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Ms. Finch. And
thank you, Rio's. Team. I'll bring it to my colleagues
for questions, and then we'll go. To the public and
we can come back for any comments, any questions, clarifying
questions. Council member Zario just have three questions. What is
the difference between. A warming kitchen and a full kitchen.
A warming kitchen is really meant. For. Supporting a team
that comes from outside. To. Cater. As opposed to a
full kitchen where you've got people actually cooking from scratch.
Got you. And then the pool size. I heard that
it was 25 meters long. Do we know? What the
width is. It's 25 yards long. 25 yards. Sorry. Yes,
the width itself, I. Believe is, I want to say
it's 22 yards. It's not quite the equivalent. Alternative. Okay?
The reason I ask is like an Olympic size pool.
The width is 50 yards or meters or whatever it
is, it is 50 meters. So take the pool that
you saw, where the lane markers. Were double it and
then add some extra change. But I think the only
thing that's important is the length of the lane so
that there could be actual swimming events. The width. Of
the overall pool doesn't matter, but it's the length of
the lanes. Those are the proper length. They are. What
would be regulation? Short course swing lane. So that's 25
yards for an. Olympic size pool. It's 50 meters. So
those are the two types of competition pools. And then
the trees. That are going to be removed. Are we
going to put any of those removed trees back in
separate spots? The majority of the trees that we are
removing. So we have actually worked closely with an arborist
from this outstart of the project. To understand which trees
were in good health. With trees we could easily save
and want to preserve. The trees that could be easily
relocated and then trees that are at the end of
their lives. And are either having issues with visibility or
just. At a point where removal would have to happen
within the next decade or so. And so we have
noted the trees. That are being relocated that we noted
in there, those are the ones that we find are
the ones that we can easily put somewhere else. Okay,
that didn't 100% answer my question. I know that there
are some trees that. Are diseased and they would have
to go. I know that there are some trees that
have lived a great life, and it's time. They need
to go. But the trees that are otherwise healthy. Are
any of those trees going to go back in the
park in a different location? Yes. Okay. That's what I
wanted to know. Thank you. Lots of them. We have,
I believe. 60 of them. 59 of them. That's great.
Council member Richmond, do you have questions? Just a couple.
For the landscaping, the community grass. Is that going to
be. What species of grass is that, do you know?
We're trying to find a resilient, drought tolerant lawn turf
that would be used within that space itself. Like Bermuda.
Is that kind of your thoughts or something like that?
It would. Be a variant that's actually better suited for
the climate, specifically in Corona. And so. There are special
blends that we would be working with local. Basically local
growers to understand what that is. But yes, it'd basically
be a type. Of Bermuda grass. And the thought process
is it's a place where citizens can go and hang
out. And not be in six inch deep grass, but
more, okay? A traditional lawn that you would picnic on
and play games and things like that. Okay, that's. Why
I want to check out. Thank you very much. Thank
you. Mayor. Mayor. Speak. Thank you. Can you go to
slide number 28 or 29, one of the two. My
question, there was. There seems to be a lot of
places for people to hide. And. I didn't know if.
This is just a representation, or is it going to
look exactly like this? So you're talking specifically about the
playground? Yes. So this is the concept of what it's
going to look like. The structures are going to be
very similar to this in one of the earlier renderings
or renditions of this we had the slats closer together
where it was very easy to hide. We purposely separated
those so you have that visibility, that sightline right through
the structure. So that is something that we wanted to
make sure we addressed in the development of the playground.
That you have the ability to see through. And we
did separate those slats. In the actual playground structure to
have that ability. Great. And then my last question was
on the specimen trees. Thank you for mentioning the Morton
Bay figuratives. I think it actually is probably the top
five largest Morton Bay figs in the state, but I
think Santa Barbara has the record. And we're not much
smaller. I just wanted to verify, and I think I
saw. A green spear in the right place. That bunya
bunya tree. Okay. All right. Perfect. That. Was the other
thing I was worried about. I don't have any other
questions. About the design. That's it. Thank you. Bring it
back for comments. Okay, thank you. We're going. To open
it up to public comments and questions. Ms. Edwards, are
there speaker cards from the public for this presentation? Mayor
yes, we have one speaker. Card for this item. Okay,
please come on down. And if you are choosing to
speak and haven't turned in your card, please do so.
On this item. Thank you. Good evening. Joe Morgan. 206
three rand. It's fascinating to hear Ms. Finch talk about
what? The community wants because it was a pretty exhaustive
planning process and community survey. And a lot of work
done over the years. To decide what to do with
the city park. And then promptly, that plan was tossed
out. And it's not really what the community wants, it's
what the council wants. So this is the reason why
we can't have a real downtown. Because you're. Spending all
the money to build another civic center down at the
park. This is the reason why. You're having to flip
all of that stuff to make another metro at Main
Street. If you thought this was such a great idea
and such a beautiful community center and really valuable. You
could put it in an area that would attract investment.
You could put it in a place that would attract
people to come to town. But you're not doing that.
You're. Just building apartment and another strip mall. And you're
also burdening the neighbors. You're taking away a beautiful canopy.
You're basically paving most of the park. So this is
why we lost, like, the two most qualified parks commissioners
we had, because they saw just exactly how ignorant and
how willing you were to just throw out community needs.
To do this plan. So this is going to saddle
the city? With millions and millions of dollars of annual
bond debt upkeep. And it's really not going to be
much different, except just larger than Circle city center. To
your point about the warming kitchen. That's what Circle city
center has. It wasn't deemed. Sufficient there. Probably not going
to be deemed sufficient here. So. You're just trading up
for a larger model that really has. A pretty scant
chance of success. We do need an aquatic center. We've
needed one. We needed the city to keep up. The
one that we had, but you guys abandoned that, much
like you abandoned the Corona mall, so. As an excuse
to basically build something shiny and new. This is going
to cost field space. This is going to cost. A
park that's used by the neighbors. And it really had
no real benefit to the neighbors. There's going to be
more congestion if it works. It's going to be just
another financial burden on the city if it doesn't. Work
and there's really not going to be much return in
terms of like they talk. About the turn on the
money. There's not going to be return on this investment
in terms of economic development, you can put it downtown.
If you thought it was really cool, if you thought
it was really worthwhile. But you just want to build
something new and easy because you have the land. There's
not really. Burdened with some of the surplus Land act
stuff that you've burdened that's. Chronomal with. And you think
you got the best parks guy in the world? So
that's why it's going to fail. Thank you. Thank you.
Are there any other speakers on this agenda item. Come
on up. Please state your name. Thank you. Hello. Good
evening, council. My name is Adrian Arrows, owner of FC
Riverside county. I've been a longtime resident here in this
community. Longtime server. Of soccer services. All the way from
students of age two all the way to adults. What
brings me here today? Let me tell you, for the
longest have been attempting to utilize public field spaces. I'm
telling you since age 17. My story started at El
Cerrito Sports park because I am the resident of El
Serrito and even during those early. Age. Mr. R's, are
you going to speak on this item? It cannot pertain
to this one. Absolutely. And so, even at that early
age, I was denied field access. I had about a
group of 80 students. And I was not allowed to
use the field. We even had the police called on
us and escorted from Al Serrito Sports park. So for
the next few months. We spent going from park to
park and experiencing the same thing. This has continued on
to today, where we have cronyism, where the field space
is allocated. To a lot of your friends, right, Mr.
Harris? This is about the city park. We do have.
A public comment. I promise you that this does pertain
to. Yes, I am telling you that. Your field allocation
process and really, your allocation process as a whole has
been corruptedly managed. We've brought these issues to director Donna
Finch or community services director Donna Finch. And by the
way she's ignored. And many of the council members that
are here today, I've also brought this forward to. You
and no response. So, may I see us? How does
this pertain to this item? Doesn't matter what you build,
you're going to continue on. The same. Culture that you've
had here for many years, for decades. You will continue
to allocate this field space or any public space, anything
else that you build to your friends. So why should
any other resident be so excited about this? I believe
that you need to open. A more transparent process. So
just going back to this item here. I am asking
in particular for you to be more open to particular
parks, specifically El cereto. Sports park. Now I will. Save
my words. Let me tell you, I got a lot
of words here. But mayor casillas. I just want to
provide insight into how public space here is allocated. I've
even spoken with city manager Jacob Ellis, and I've sent
emails and have had response from some of you up
here. So I'm hoping that as you do build more
public resources that you can allocate these to the residents
equitably and not stick to cronyism or allocate it to
the brands of politicians. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Mr. Arrows are there. Any other speakers speaking on the
item of the city park project? Design. I just want
to remind folks that there is always a section in
our agenda reserve from communications. From the public, and that
can be on anything you want to talk about. But
when you come and speak on an agenda item, please.
Keep it pertaining to that agenda item, please. I'm going
to talk about the park. Thank you. Don Fuller. I'm
resident in town. This is a little thing. I reminded
one of the James Bond movies. He's getting ready to
go out for dinner. And gambling with the lady lead.
And she has bought him a dinner jacket. And he's
a little puzzled by this. And her comment is there
are dinner jackets and there are dinner jackets. And so
I'm reminded of that when the persons are talking about
the trees, and I'm glad to hear that. They're going
to keep the old trees. But they also said they're
going to plant a bunch of new trees. There are
trees and there are trees it gets hot here in
the summertime we all know that people like to go
to the park, put a blanket out on the grass,
have a picnic. With the kids, maybe toss a frisbee
around. And it's important to have some. Shade. So if
those trees that they're going to plant are about three
or 4ft. Tall, we're going to be 20 years before
you get any shade, so I would just. Like to
put in a reminder that I would like to see
these trees be big enough that we don't have to
wait until I'm 107. And I plan to make it.
Before we get any of those trees cranking out any
shade. So they said trees, but trees. Is a big,
broad area, so I would just like to say they
ought to be decent sized. Trees. And if you want
to put me in charge of that committee for the
size of trees. I'll take that on. Thank you very
much. Thank you, Mr. Fuller. Any other speakers. And don't
forget to turn in your card to the city clerk.
Any other speakers on item 5.3. Okay, saying none. Moving
on. Bringing it back to the council, opening it up
to my colleagues for before I do, Ms. Finch, can
you or the Rios team please speak to the question
about tree? Types I know Rios had shared. The Rios
team had shared about planting mature trees, but. Can you
dive into that? Yes. So I do have the size
of the trees we are going. To be planning a
total of 205 new trees, in addition to the trees
that are going to remain in the trees that are
going to be relocated within the park of those 205
192 of them are going to be 48 inch box
trees and then 13 are going to be 72 inch.
Box tre. Trees. I don't know if anybody from Rios
can provide insight. I'm not sure. The actual height of
those when they're planted, but I'll turn it over to
robin to give some more details. Thank you. So we,
in our plans currently are trying to allow for trees
that will provide shade immediately upon installation because we understand
that for trees to provide shade, they have to be
tall enough to do that, and we ourselves want to
advocate for more trees in general and to have that
interaction. We have a variety of different specimens that we'll
be planting within the project. Everything from. Mexican, Sycamore coast,
live oaks. Australian willow. These are all trees that are
well adapted to the heat and the climate within the
area, if not native themselves. The 48 inch box trees,
typically when you install are approximately like 15ft to 20ft
tall. When you install them again, you kind of base
it on the trunk size themselves. And then particularly around
the crown itself. We're actually asking for 72 inch box
trees. These trees are actually. Pretty large at installation. They
are something close to 25ft tall. And you will feel
the presence immediately upon. Installing, planting them. Okay, thank you
so much. Okay, so coming back. The ask is. Remind
us, Ms. Finch, the ask is just to receive the
update on the final. Design. Thank you. Are there any
final comments? Any final questions for my colleagues? No. Go
ahead, Jim. I just want to thank Rios for the
presentation, and I think this is going to be a
success. And, Ms. French, you do a great job, so
thank you, Councilor Richards. I want to mimic council member
Steiner. I think this is an excellent project form certainly
followed function. I believe there are going to be a
lot, a lot of happy kids in this. New park,
and I believe there's going to be a lot of
happy citizens when it's built. Congratulations, all of you. Ditto.
I am thrilled that we are finally reinvesting in this
community, in this part. Of our town. And getting back
an aquatic center, getting back a pool. And. Really paying
attention. To what the community has told us that they
want to see and. Giving that opportunity and not neglecting
it right for fear. And so I'm excited. I'm really
excited about this project. I'm glad. That we're close to
final design, and I'm looking forward. To starting construction, ideally
in the summer of this year. So thank you, Ms.
Finch. We appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. So this is
the part we're moving on to. Item six. Consent calendar.
Oh, no, just. Joking. Not after this. After the consent
calendars, when we have communication from the public. So consent.
Calendar. All items listed on the consent calendar are considered
to be routine matters. Status reports or documents covering previous
city council action. The item listed on the consent calendar
may be enacted in one motion. With a concurrence of
the city council, a council member, or any person in
attendance. May request that an item be removed for further
consideration. Would my colleagues like to pull any items for
discussion. Okay. Ms. Edwards, are there any speaker cards from
the public? Mayor, we did not receive any speaker. Cards
with a consent calendar. Okay, make the motion. Motion from
councilman merchants. I'm sorry. What's the item? I actually do
want to pull 6.565. Okay, so the motion. Council member
richens everything but 6.5. Thank you. Second by council member.
Speak, but. It's council member Steiner. Okay, everybody, vote, please.
And the consent calendar passes unanimously. We're going to come
back to item 6.5. Council member derio, floor is yours.
Thank you, mayor. I don't have any questions. But. I
wanted to give Chief Young an opportunity to kind of
highlight this. For those that aren't in the weeds with
purchasing fire equipment. It's one of the longest lead times
in all of lead times. And. I think we ordered
a fire truck in 1979. I think we just got
delivery of it last. Week. Is that about right, chief?
Fire trucks take a very long time to make, and
it's for a litany of reasons. But one of the
things that. I'm constantly excited about is the way that
all of our city leads and all of our city
departments are constantly looking for ways. To shorten lead times.
To stretch the dollar to do a lot of different
things. And this is one of those. Opportunities in chief.
I'd like for you just to. You don't need to
wax. Poetic. You don't need to give a dissertation, but
just kind of highlight why this is. Kind of a
cool thing. Thank you for the opportunity. One of the
biggest. Positives of this is I perceive this as a
long overdue disruption to the industry. There's significant work happening
at the federal level to question the monopolies that are
taking place in the fire service industry. Excuse me, fire
apparatus industry. And we've been waiting. For something to create
this opportunity for us to go in another direction. Obviously,
with the recently approved purchase of a new apparatus at
approximately $1.5 million, This is something that is new to
the industry. It's not new to automotive. Right. I mean,
people that collect classic cars are used to this sort
of premise, but there was really no large organizations that
were participating in this. So once we started seeking other
options and this came across, As one of those options.
We quickly jumped on it, and we really hope that
this will be a significant positive impact as we move
into the future. Especially to address your comment four year
lead times for some of our large apparatus. That's unsustainable
and ridiculous as well. As the price points. So we're
looking at getting between. Ten and 15 years additional service
life out of an apparatus for half the price. So
really excited for this. There is proof of concept. Some
other agencies have led the way before. Us and we
let them be. The first tow in the water, if
you will, and we're really excited for this. Thanks, chief.
Mayor. With that, I'd like to motion to approve this.
You got it, Ms. Edwards. There weren't any speaker cards
on this item. We do not have any speaker cards.
For this item, then we've got a motion on the
floor. Is there a second? 2nd by council member Steiner.
Let's take a vote. Okay, that item
passes unanimously. Thanks for saving us some good dollars. We
appreciate it. Moving on to item seven. Communications from the
public. Persons wishing to address the city council are requested
to state their name. And city of residence. For the
record, you don't have to give your address. This portion
of the agenda is intended for general public comment only,
which means it is limited to items within the subject
matter jurisdiction of the city council that are not listed
on the agenda, please. Note that state law prohibits the
city council from discussing or taking action on items not
listed on the agenda. The city council will appreciate your
cooperation in keeping your comments. Brief. Please observe a three
minute limit for communications. Ms. Edwards, are there any speaker
cards from the public. Mayor. Yes, we have five speaker
cards for communication from the public. Thank you very much.
Okay. Let's come on up. Whoever wants to be first.
Good evening. Chris McCoy, district three. Unfortunately, I am
here about the last meeting because. I was ill and
not able to attend. I want to talk about the
North Mall. And I just want to give some thoughts
on that. And I tried very hard to not be
upset and to not be negative and think of a
good way of phrasing this and putting this out there.
I feel very much like we've gone through this kabuki
dance to get to 300. We are building 300 units
there. There's no way around it. I would have expected
a three two vote based on what I've heard from
all of you up there. As far as I don't
want to go over 200 or I don't. Want to
go over 150 or. I think that's too much for
that corner. I think the sight lines are horrible as
far as the height of it goes, and this goes.
All the way back to five years ago when I
was standing up here talking about the fact that that
street which was built in the 1900, at the turn
of the century was built for carts and horses, and
it's not wide enough to handle four stories running the
edge and. I hear? Oh, we're going to do a
setback, but a setback doesn't. Widen the street. And we're
still going to have the same problem. Of a very
crowded street, and I don't know how to fix that
with 300 units. And I'm terrified. Not of that, but
what I heard staff talking to you about at the
end of that meeting because I did watch the whole
thing from home, and it was, well. We're eventually going
to get a developer in, and then that developer is
going to say, well, I need to do this or
I need to do that, and we'll have a final
negotiation. So I'm going to challenge you all now because
I know your sentiments on this and I know. I've
communicated with most of you about this. About this being
200 units, we're not going to get that. We're going
to have to take 300 because of the surplus. Land
act, but I'm going to challenge you to hold that
line. I'm going to challenge you to hold the line
as far as keeping. The facades historic because. The developer
is going to come in and staff has no compunctions
about pushing this. To 400 or 500 and telling you
guys, oh, well, we can't find a developer that'll do
this, and that's bullshit. We can find a developer that'll
do this at 300, so I'm going to ask you
to hold the line at 300 because that street cannot
take any more height. And if you go from 300
to 400 or 500. Now we're at five stories. Now
we're. At six stories, and that ruins this whole project
that you want to do, and I understand. You guys
want to get something done? And I am all for
it. I live in district three, but you have to
get it done. Right. And the two things left that
cannot be compromised on because we've compromised for five. Years
to get this to this point. Is the height of
this thing, the number of units and the facade. If
you're not going to do that. To Tom's point, it's
just going to be colorful boxes. And it's going to
look like any other four over one or five over
one or six over one. So I'm challenging you to
hold the line where it is right now. Thank you.
Thank you. Next up. Good evening. My name is Kathy
Armstrong. I'm a local manufacturer here in Corona. Also the
board chair of Corona Chamber of commerce. This year, I
look forward to working together, supporting our businesses as well
as our community. Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. Thanks for
introducing yourself. All right, next up. Richard Rogers. I live
in Corona. I'm not restless. I just can't speak very
clearly. That's okay. Maybe. If you could just push the
mic a little closer to your okay, that would probably
help. I'm going to give you some examples. About? Trees.
On Greenbrier. And meadow view court. I've done everything I
can. And somebody has got to step up and say,
okay, take the trees down. There were 25 of these.
Humongous, humongous. Pine trees. And. There's only four left.
Five left. And they have caused so much. Destruction. And
the people who live on 1007 Medaview Court. Has had
a serious problem. They did all the paperwork. And.
The city council or the city attorney says. Get your
homeowners. Insurance. In homeowners, says no. That's strictly
a city problem. And the city attorney. Said. Well, you're
going to have to get a lawyer. Fine. And the
same thing happened. At 1050 men of you court.
Is just tearing up. The driveway. It has cracked the
foundation of the house. And again. The city attorney says,
well, you have to get a lawyer. And getting back
to ten. Seven. This tree. Has really destroyed their driveway.
The garage, and now there's a tree coming up into
their kitchen floor. And then the tree on 1038.
Outstanding. The front yard with his neighbor. Oh, boy. I've
done shit. You can always don't. Email or call. And
we called the tree people. Okay. And they said, okay,
we'll send someone out. Well, this has been over a
year. And this tree is huge. The same one that
should be taken out anyway. The bottom line is, I
think that the tree people have more authority in this
city than. A department and if the chief of police.
Thank you, sir. There is a process I think we
are connected with you, and I think that folks are
going to be out there trimming the trees next week.
But who can I get him in contact with? Jacob?
If he leaves his information, we'll make staff. Make sure
that staff contact you and they can explain. What's happening?
Going process on the tree valuation. I think we're getting
in touch. With you, but we'll make sure that they
chat with you again. See if you have any other
questions? Can you connect here with Brett? Actually, get your
contact information right here. This gentleman right behind you. To
your left. Okay, thanks. All right, next up.
Hello. Good evening. I am here as a representative for
many residents. Some that are here today, some that are
back at home, many. Who are a little bit shy,
a little bit scared to talk, right? But that's why
we do have leaders right to represent and voices, and
I'm here today. To demand ice out of Corona. Today
is the day that we stand up against racism, bigotry.
And hatred. Today is a day that we as a
community stand against the government overreach. That we stop looking
at the color of our skin, religion or ethnicity, that
any man or. Women can walk in Corona and any
city with confidence and dignity. That a person of color
can walk without needing documentation. The day a piece is
over for many residents. The Trump administration has militarized the
streets. Of America. Children are being traumatized by ISIS ruthless
tactics. Citizens are being taken from their homes. Police officers
themselves. Are being targeted outside of their working hours. And
now. They are shooting their own people. Us. A soccer
mom. ReNee Good was a victim of government. Of the
government's violent tactics that have no limits. They shot her
in the face. In the face. That's why I'm here
today. Demanding a resolution. I am demanding for a resolution
that's similar to Riversides transparency resolution in Harupa's. Valleys. Number
2026. Seven. We must. Act. On Christmas Day, several members
of our community were detained by Ice. What makes this
very concerning is that they use the same tactics that
they use on reg. Nay. Good. We could have had
our own Renee. Good incident here in this city. Now
I know some. Of you might get a little upset
because three of you five endorse can calvert you. Are
pushing. For these policies. Now, of course, you are all
city government officials and your power rests within city policies.
But let this be no mistake. We see what you're
doing. We see who you are. Your facade, council member
Wespeak, making others feel like you care about the indigenous
people. If you cared about the indigenous community, you would
act on this resolution. Mayor Jackie Cassillas. I have nothing
but the highest respect for you. Join us. Jackie Cassillas,
mayor Jackie Cassillas. Join us. Your people take one of
our shirts. We have a shirt ready for you, and
we ask for all of you to adopt. This resolution.
Put your citizens. And not just the caucasian people, but
the people of color in mind here. We are not
going to walk in the streets like second class citizens
where we have to wear some sort of identifier. That
we are a citizen, while many of you get to
walk freely. I kindly. Thank you. Mr. Arrives. Thank you.
Next speaker. Welcome, sir. Can I get your name, too?
Yes. My name is Hanif Carter. Good evening. Good. Evening.
I don't miss out here in Corona. Awesome. I'll go
off on my speech. My name is Hanif Carter. I
do mission the city of Corona, a trustee of a
private family trust, and I am here today to raise
a serious issue affecting many residents, the lawful use of
negotiable instruments and the refusable refusal by financial institution institutions
to honor them under California. Commercial Code section 3104. A
negotiable instrument is a written, signed, unconditional promise to pay
a fixed amount of money. Promissory notes, draft and similar
instruments are not fringe ideas. They are the foundation of
commerce in this country. Banks operate every day using accounts
receivables and accounts payables, which are settled through credit, not
physical cash. Mortgages, car loans, municipal bonds and interbank settlements
all rely on negotiable instruments. This is not theory. It
is how financial systems function. Under California Commercial code, sections
35 one to 35 five. When a lawful instrument is
presented, a bank has a duty to either process it
or provide a lawful basis. For dishonor. Silence is not
compliance. Holding a percentment without credited or formally rejecting it.
Is not good faith. Federal law reinforces this twelve United
States Code section 411 and House Joint Resolution 192. Make
clear that obligations are discharged through lawful money and credit.
Every Federal Reserve note itself states its legal tender for
all debts, public and private. Credit is not separate from
money. It is how money functions in modern law. Additionally,
under California Commercial Code article four, banks act as a
collecting agents and fiduciaries. When instruments are deposited, they are
required to exercise ordinary care and good faith. Arbitrary refusal,
delay, or non response violates that duty. I have personally
experienced a situation where a lawful presentment was received by
a financial institution. Acknowledged by return receipt and then ignored
even after sworn affidavits were delivered. No response. Was given
by executive leadership. That is not transparency, and it is
not acceptable. In a city that values fairness and economic
opportunity. This is not about avoiding responsible responsibility or free
money. It is about lawful discharge of debt. Financial literacy
and equal access to the same tools institutions use today.
I am asking this council to encourage dialogue, education and
accountability between. Financial institutions and the public. When banks operate
above the law or refuse to explain their actions, the
people suffer. Economic freedom begins with understanding the law, and
the law already provides these tools. Thank you for your
time. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Okay. Any other speakers?
Okay. I was going to say, you get one. Is
there anyone else who'd like to. Speak. Okay. Seeing none,
then. Thank you very much. We appreciate you always taking
the time to come. And speak to us. Thank you.
Moving on to item eight, public hearings. We're going to
go to 8.1 general plan amendment 2024. To change the
land use designation of parcels at three two three South
Bell Avenue and 32222. South Washburn Avenue from low density
residential. To sorry, low density residential to general commercial to
mixed use downtown, including zero point 87 acres of right
of way. Does any council member want a staff report
on this item saying none? Jim is going to say
no. Wes, do you want to report on this? No,
thank you. Okay, then. Ms. Vanyan. You're off the hook
on that, but the public hearing is now open. Ms.
Edwards has the city clerk's office receive correspondence or speaker
cards from the public regarding this item. Mayor, we have
not received any correspondence or speaker cards for this item.
Thank you. In that case, the public hearing is now
closed. Do I have any questions or comments from my
colleagues? Saying none. Saying none. Okay, then I'll entertain a
motion. Move by Stanley. Seconded by Richard. Seconded by speak.
All right, let's take a vote on that item. Item
8.1 passes unanimously, moving on to 8.2 specific plan amendment.
20240 zero three to the downtown revitalization specific plan to
change the zoning of parcels at three two three South
Bell and three two two south Washburn. From single family
to Gateway. Business to downtown, including zero point. 87 acres
of public right of way. Does any council member want
to report on this item. Off the hook again. Public
hearing is now open. Ms. Edwards has the city clerk's
office. Receive correspondence or speaker cards from the public regarding
this item. Mayor we did not receive correspondence, but we
did receive one speaker card for this item. Okay, then
let's go ahead and have the speaker. Come on up.
Speaking on. This specific plan change amendment. Good evening. Joe
Morgan. 263 Ren. So I want to speak a little
bit. Partially on this item, but partially just overall on
the process. So I've been to a lot of meetings,
been a lot of planning commission meetings. I generally think
that our planning commission does a great job. What I
see them do is go door to door. I see
them. Make sure that the residents are up to speed
on the project, that their concerns are brought forward. And
they diligently work and press to level up every project
that comes in front of them. What I saw the
night that this project was approved. Was shockingly familiar. Kind
of a process. It's in fact a process that has
brought me down here. For this last decade plus. Which
is when the kaiser was built. Behind our house, we
got a three by five card that there was a
planning commission meeting about a thing being built on Kellogg.
Nobody said what it was. Nobody said what it was
about, how it would affect us, what it would look
like. Nobody gave us any idea what it was about?
I didn't know really how the planning commission process worked
at the time, but we got a three by five
card that says, well, if you want to take off,
work in the middle. Of the day on a Tuesday.
You can come down here, talk about a thing about
which you know nothing about. Seems like that's what we
went back to. Was this one particular item? There's one
thing. There's one supermarket. This is a planning commission that.
Sent Starbucks on Green river back to the drawing board
three times to get a double drive through. They went
and talked. All the businesses found out. What their busiest
hours were. How the shape of the drive through might
affect. Their business. But this project much bigger.
Much more invasive. I think. A plus for downtown. But
the fact that. For at least the two years that
I know of, this hasn't changed substantially. There was no
improvement. There was no nothing. I have the plans from
two years ago. There was one planner got changed in
the parking lot. Everything else is the same. And the
fact that it wasn't changed, modified, been pushed by the
planning commission to level up. Really says something about how
this city works. When you see a process. That works
a certain way all the time, and then one time,
it just works completely different. Says a lot. Thanks. Thank
you. Okay, Ms. Edters, are there any other speaker cards
for item 8.2? Where we do not have any more
speaker cards. All right. Well, then the public hearing is
now closed. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Okay,
move to approve. By. Who said that? Council member Desireio
seconded by vice mayor. Speak. Mayor. The motion needs to
be read because it's the first reading of an ordinance.
No. You moved council member to Darian. All right, I'll
read it. It's fine. Introduced by title only and waiveful
reading of the consideration of ordinance number 3425. 1st reading
of the ordinance approving SBA 2024. Three, an amendment to
the downtown specific plan to change the zoning designation from
two parcels located at 323 South Bell and 322 South
Washburn Avenue. From single family. And from single family and
gateway business, respectively, to downtown. And to establish a downtown
zoning on approximately zero 87 acres of public right away
within fourth and fifth streets thank you, vice mayor. Everyone,
please vote. And that item passes unanimously. Moving on to
8.3. Parcel Map 38981 to merge 13 lots with zero
point 87 acres of public right of way to create
one lot totaling 4.7 acres for commercial purposes, generally located
at the northwest corner. Area of West 6th street and
South Main Street. Ms. Edwards, are there any speaker cards
or written comments from the public mayor we did not
receive correspondence and we do not have any speaker cards.
For this item. Thank you. I'll entertain a motion. Limited.
Approved by council member Steiner, seconded by Richards. And. It
came up, and then. There it goes. Thank you. That
item passes unanimously. 50. Coming up to item 8.4, the
precise plan 2024. One to review the site plan, architecture
and other features associated with a proposed Northcay Gonzalez market
and remodel of an existing commercial building on 4.7 acres
located on 6th Street, Bell Avenue and Main Street. Ms.
Edwards, are there any speaker cards or written comments from
the public mayor we did not receive any written comments
for the item, but we. Do have one speaker card.
Okay, let's go ahead and bring up the speaker card.
The speaker. To the point that I made
last time, that nothing was leveled up, nothing was improved.
The part about. This particular section that just chaps my
ass and really says, what's going on down. Here. Is
the fact that you are deliberately running a truck route
through a neighborhood. You're going to have eight to 15
trips a day. Once the store is in a regular
operation. Probably way more than that. While it's being built
while it's being stocked. And. I challenge you. Would any
of you approve a truck route through your own neighborhood?
To illustrate the point, I thought I would bring kind
of a visual aid, maybe an oral aid. I guess
to know what you're going to subject this neighborhood to.
Ten plus times a day, so you might want to
cover your ears. I'm giving you a fair warning. Cover
your ears.
Morgan. You're going to beep for a minute and 30
seconds. I've got a minute and 30 seconds ago. Yeah,
that truck driver probably would get in trouble. Long backup.
Thank you, Mr. Morgan. We appreciate you making the point.
Thank you. If you wouldn't approve that in your neighborhood.
If you don't think that's acceptable in your neighborhood to
have semi trucks backing up down your street. You shouldn't
do it on Fourth street and Bell. You shouldn't. Do
it to them. I remember when Fullerton and Ontario was
developed, the city made them go to the neighborhood. They
moved the store. They twisted the store. They put the
loading docks on the other side. They moved them away
from the houses. They didn't run them down a residential
street. So when they were messing around with the Green
river thing, that's the neighborhood that the planning commissioners live
in. So, do you see the difference? When everybody just
comes in and says, well, It's tight. It's a challenging
situation. It's not challenging for you, you just get to
vote for it and the neighbors down there get to
deal with it. They will. Literally have semi trucks backing
up down their street multiple times a day. If you
don't. Have a problem with it. That says a lot
about you. You could talk about being from downtown. You
don't give a shit. About downtown. Thank you, Mr. Morgan.
Okay. And I believe we have the applicant here. Would
you like to come up and make some? Remarks. We
also have staff that are ready to introduce them with
the presentation. Oh, there's a presentation? I didn't think there
was. Okay, then. Actually, let's have the presentation. So. Sorry.
Good evening, mayor, members of the council. I'm just going
to go through my presentation. And take us to the
site plan, which is associated with item 8.4, which is
the precise plan that's being reviewed right now. So this
is an exhibit showing the site layout of the Northgate
project that is the subject. Of this item. Just to
orient yourself. So on the left side, that's 6th street,
and on the south. That's main street. And then at
the top of that image, that's bell Avenue. The development
side is. 4.70 acres overall. The north skate market is
proposed on the right hand side of this image. That
would be the northern portion of the site. The building
is 40,000 sqft. In size. Right behind that building is
their loading area. The site does. Abut existing residential properties
immediately to the north. And so I do want to
go over what some of the things that the applicant
will be doing to help mitigate some of that noise.
And just screen this development from those existing or residential
uses. So the applicant will be constructing a six foot
high block wall along that shared property line. Between this
site and the existing residences to the north. In addition
to that, they will be installing a line of trees
along that same perimeter. And so the block wall, in
combination with the landscaping, will help not only screen this
development from the residential land uses, but also to provide
that buffer to help mitigate any potential noise. The development
has a total of five vehicle entrances. One is located
on Main street, one on six. And three on Bell
Avenue. The entrance on Main Street. That is designed to
align with the existing entrance for the Corona mall that's
located directly across the street on the east side of
Main Street. That entrance will also be shared with the
parcel. That's not a part of this development. That parcel
is under separate ownership. At the top left corner, right
there, that is the former Citizens bank that's currently vacant.
Right now. With this development. The applicant will be remodeling
that building to accommodate two future tenants. One will be
a bank and the other will be a future restaurant.
And in the middle of this development is the proposed
parking lot. Those parking spaces will be shared among the
tenants within this development. With respect to public improvements, the
applicant is required to install a traffic signal at the
Main street. Entrance right there at that intersection. In addition,
They will be. Widening Main street, the portion of Main
street that abuts the project site. As well as doing
some restribing to include a designated. Bright term that would
allow for vehicles to turn to the project site.
This image here shows the truck route for Northgate's delivery
trucks. The truck routes are anticipated to come off of
the 91 freeway. They would travel southbound on main. Street.
They would swing right onto 6th street, make another ride
onto bell, and then they would access the back of
the property from Bell Avenue. If the council has any
questions regarding the track access. Or the track route. We're
more than happy to answer those questions at the end
of this presentation. The next four slides contain renderings of
the development after it's built, and they are showing the
development from different angles, from the different views of the
surrounding streets. So on this one, here. This is from
the main street entrance. As you can see, the architecture
includes spanish elements, and this design does comply with the
design guidelines. And are adopted downtown corona robotization specific plan.
This is a view from Bell street, and this shows
the rear and side of the Northgate. Market. In this
image here, you can also see the block wall that's
proposed along that shared property line adjacent to the existing
residences, as well as the line of trees that the
applicant will be constructing with this development. And this view
is from the southbound lanes on Main street. And this
shows the east side of the Northgate market. And this
here shows the development from the corner of Six and
Bell. And this would be the newly remodeled Citizen bank
building. Stef is recommending that the council approves the items
that are over the precise plan. That's being presented before
you tonight. Is there any questions? I'm available for any
questions. And the applicants team is here as well, thank
you. Thank you, Ms. Vanyan. This is the presentation that
was on item 8.2 I apologize. Since we didn't ask
for the report. We should have done that earlier. But
I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Okay, so thank
you for that presentation. We have the applicant. Would the
applicant like to make any? Remarks. Good
evening. My name is Michelle Gonzalez, and I am. Proud
to represent third generation of the Northgate market family. I
want to sincerely thank you for the opportunity to present
our project and for allowing us the chance to become
the part of the Corona community. I have been blessed
to be involved with this project since 2019, when we
first acquired the first property. Over the years, I have
closely followed the city of Corona and haven't been inspired.
The strong presence of family owned businesses. That truly care
about their community. Like many of them, Northgate Market is
a family owned business. Built on a long term commitment,
shared values, and a deep sense of responsibility to the
neighborhoods we serve. We believe in putting our family, our
associates and our community first. That that commitment is reflected
through the outreach efforts, including Christmas toy giveaways. Food distribution
held focus community events, scholarships to our associates and our
community. We anticipate approximately 250 total hires for the corona
residents as part of this project. We personally delivered information
to the residents on Bell Avenue, Third Street, Fourth street
and Washburn and I was honored to meet several community
members who share their thoughts and hope with us. On
opening day, our amazing associates prepare to welcome the neighbors.
But it is when the first customer walks through the
doors that the stores truly comes to life. That is
when the heart begins to be because our customers and
our community are the sole of our store we look
forward to serving. Corona for generations to. Come and become
a trusted, contributing member of this community. Thank you. Did
you have anything to add? Well, we are thrilled to
have you. Thank you so much for coming. And making
those comments. And I know for a fact that Northgate
market is always an asset. To the communities, wherever you
all are. You invest? You hire local? And you stick
to your authentic roots, and we just read deeply. I
deeply appreciate that. I'm. Very excited to have you here.
I know I can speak for others. I know that.
Northgate. Did you guys have a video that you'd wanted
to show? You have a bit. You do? Okay. Yeah,
sure. Let's go ahead and have that. Great story begins
with family. For the Gonzalez family, that story starts in
Halo Sotitlan Aliso. A place rooted in Faye hard work
and the belief that together, anything is possible in the
1950s and 60s, Don Miguel Gonzalez was a proud shoe
merchant in Mexico. But after a devastating factory fire and
mounting financial. Hardship, the family made a brave choice, a
leap of faith that would change their future forever. Don
Miguel brought two of his youngest sons to the United
States to rebuild their lives. Donna Teresa stayed behind raising
the rest of their nine children. Resilience, resolve, faith. These
values became the foundation of everything that came next. In
1980, with the family reunited, they took a courageous leap
of faith and converted a small liquor store in Anaheim
into a grocery market. They couldn't even afford any sign.
So the name Northgate stayed. One store, 13 siblings, no
employees, only family. From that humble beginning, a dream began.
To grow one. Store at a time. Today, Northgate Gonzalez
Market operates 45 stores across Southern California, employing more than
8000 associates and serving hundreds of thousands of customers every
week. But the true success of Northgate it's not just
in the business growth, it's in the impact on people.
Every new Northgate market brings something powerful to a neighborhood
more. Than 250 new jobs, access to fresh, authentic mexican
foods, ingredients sourced from Mexico, prepared with tradition and the
shopping experience that feels like home, warm welcome and treat
it with respect. For more than 45 years, the Gonzalez
family has believed that success means giving back. When Northgate
market open. Opens a new store. It partners with clinics,
hospitals, schools and nonprofits to provide mammograms flu clinics, chronic
illness screenings, nutrition classes and healthy cooking demos through the
Gonzalez Reynoso Family foundation. Students across Southern California receive scholarships
and support to pursue their dreams. And every year Northgate
market. Helps thousands of families through food distributions. Five k
races and its beloved Santa toy drive now nearly 30
years strong. Because at Northgate Gonzalez market, faith, education and
wellness aren't just corporate. Pillars. They are a promise as
a proudly family owned business now led by second and
third generation brothers and. Sisters. Northgate Gonzalez Market continues to
grow, expanding into new neighborhoods, creating new opportunities and uplifting
the communities we call home. From one small storm to
a legacy of service, from a family dream. To a
force for good. Northgate Gonzalez market is more than a
grocery store. It's a community partner, a place. Of culture
and a gateway to opportunity. Northgate Gonzalez Market. Proudly serving
our communities. Yesterday, today and for generations to come. That's
beautiful. A lot to be proud of. A lot to
show for it. Thank you. So much. Thanks for bringing
the family to Corona. I know it's been a long
process. But we appreciate it. And we can't wait to
have you as part of the downtown. Thank you so
much. Okay, so do we have a motion? I'd love
to move on this item is there. A second. Sorry.
I'm so excited about it. I was like, let's move
through. But, yes, my colleagues questions, comments go ahead, Tom.
Go ahead, Tony. Having grown up in Anaheim and being
very familiar with the Northgate market, I'm super. Excited to
see them not only come to Corona, obviously they're expanding
into the inland Empire. But what? A great family story
that they have. Candidly, I don't know how they get
anything done with 13 or 14 family members. All running
the business. That just seems to me. Like a recipe
for disaster, but they're able to get it done. So
what a testament. To that family. I've seen them open
locations all throughout the Southland, and they are genuine. In
their commitment to partner with the community. So something that
I'm very excited for. It's a beautiful facility. I'm excited
that. They're going to come here to Corona. So thank
you for investing in our community and that's going to
be a welcome addition to not only our community, but
to that corner. As well, so thank you. Ditto. Thank
you, Tony. Tom. Yeah. I had the chance to go
Walk Bell street and talk with the neighbors. I went
house to house and gave him my business card. And
overwhelmingly, every one of them said thank you to Northgate
for sending them a letter in. English and Spanish and
that. It's going to be meeting with them. And then
second, they're all excited for the project. They can't wait
for it. To show up. They said it's going to
clean up the area. They're not going to have to
go far for shopping. A little jealous on that. And
I'm just really happy about this project coming. I feel
like they followed our downtown. Design guidelines. And I'd also
like to give a shout out to Mr. Hemley, who.
Owns the building on the corner because he's gone out
of his way to cooperate with Northgate and to work
with them and help. Proceed that press forward. And so
I'd like to, as an ex, Will representative of District
three in the downtown. I really want to thank him
for doing that and with that. I'm excited for Northgate.
Thank you, mayor. Thanks, Tom. Jim. Yeah, I just. Wanted
to welcome you to Corona. We're really happy to have
you, so thank you. I just wanted to thank you.
I know. I'm familiar as well. And normally, I would
say in normal situations, and this is not normal right
now. And that normally you would do a big outreach.
Larger in person. Big gathering, outreach to the folks that
live in the neighborhood. I know that. The reasons why
you didn't do that, and I appreciate the fact that
you went back. And did it. After the planning commission,
you said you would do it. You've done it. I'm
really happy to hear that councilor Richens went and did
that as well. And I have heard the same that
folks are really excited about coming down. I took my
wife over to the Northgate market in Riverside. And had
her try some of the tamales. And my cuban wife
was very impressed, in fact. She went back twice to
get. To get more, and she keeps asking me when
you're. Going to start and when you're going to open.
So I'm excited for you being down there. Excited so
much. I want to thank you. For the investment downtown.
This is a major step in what we want to
see downtown and the investment there. And I know that
wasn't easy. You guys have spent a long time and
a lot. Of money getting to this point, and we
are so excited, and I can tell you that everybody
I talk to. If I mention, like, I think I
posted something about. Just a business that was struggling that
didn't get a lot of folks to come in. And
the third comment was, when is Northgate opening? So thank
you and welcome and looking forward to your grand opening.
And I know you're going to be a wonderful member
of the community, so thank you. So much. Yes, everyone
has said it so. So well, a lot of halos
pride too. Thank you so. Much. We're excited to have
you here. And with that, can I get a second
on? The motion. Okay. Second by the vice mayor. And
let's go ahead and vote. Improved unanimously. Thank you so
much. We appreciate you. Looking forward to Northgate. Moving on
to item. Nine administrative reports. We have item 9.1 request
from Vice Mayor west speak to explore cordon pricing for
the Green river road Foothill Parkway corridor. I think we
have Msudenyo city traffic engineer who's going to present this
item. Hi. Good evening. All right, so good evening, mayor
and council members. Today I'll be presenting the request from
vice mayor speak to explore cordon pricing program for the
Green River Road Foothill Parkway corridor I'm Rosie Reno, and
with me today is. Leah Colemar, associate engineer so together,
we're going to try to provide it and make it
nice and brief presentation. So the purpose for this discussion
is to seek your direction on whether the city should
explore implementing a cordon pricing program to deter cut through
traffic along Green River Road in Foothill Parkway. On October
14, 2025, Vice Mayor speak requested staff to explore this
concept. The idea is to charge a fee to vehicles
entering and exiting the city from the SR 91 and
I 15 within a set time frame. The goal is
to reduce congestion caused by motorists cutting to the corona.
To avoid freeway traffic. Corona residents would be exempt from
these fees. The feasibility study for the coron pricing program
will check its legality along Green river and Foot Hill
Parkway. And freeway connections. Monitor other city programs and find
funding options from regional projects and determine potential revenue and
expenses. So I'll turn it over to Leah. Hi. So
I'd like to just take a couple minutes to talk
about what the difference between cordon pricing and toll roads
are. So cord on pricing is a dynamic based.
Pricing system used during periods of heavy traffic, motorists entering
and exiting a designated zone, pay a fee. It's primarily
installed to manage traffic demand, reduce congestion, and improve air
quality, while encouraging alternative modes of transportation to zone users.
For example, New York City implemented court on pricing in
2025 for a portion of Manhattan. The zone is clearly
defined. And entrance and exits into the zone have a
fee collection equipment. A toll road, on the other hand,
applies to specific roads, highways, bridges, tunnels. It is primarily
installed to generate revenue for roadway construction, maintenance and operations.
Some examples you might be familiar with are the 91
Express lanes, SR 73. 17 miles pebble pebble beach and
sr 241. So just to compare them side by side
so we all are on the same page. The primary
goal of cordon pricing is to manage traffic demand and
reduce congestion, emissions and noise. In specific dense urban areas
where toll road aims to generate revenue for the construction,
maintenance and operations of the segment. The area of effect
for cordon pricing is more of a zone boundary where
a toll applies to. A specific road, and drivers pay
for the privilege of using that road. The fee structure
for court on pricing typically has different fees for entering
that zone at specific times of day and the toll
road is a fee for a distance travel. For a
specific time of day. Examples of fully implemented cord on
pricing programs are currently only international, such as London, Stockholm
and Singapore. Toll roads can be found internationally as well
as all over the United States. Potential impacts of cordon
pricing include the encouragement of public transit, cycling, and walking
within the city center, while a toll road provides a
potentially faster travel option to get from point a to
point b. Now I'd like to explore some of the
preliminary. Review that I've done of a couple of case
studies. In san francisco, la metro and new york city.
San Francisco. The study is currently on pause. They has
a various fee structure to look at. And the study.
The reason why it's been paused is they've stated in
light. Of the changing in fluid conditions surrounding traffic conditions
and transit use. And if this program ends up going
through, they have a five year phased approach. But again,
It's still being reviewed. Another case study is Los Angeles.
They are refining concepts with three different. Potential options. They're
getting feedback from. The community. To see how everybody is
feeling about that. And they're forecasted to open in 2028.
For new york. That was actually implemented in early 2025.
They have a various fee structure and they are currently
in phase one of. A long process to fully implement
by 2031. This program actually has various lawsuits against. Congestion
pricing, and it's currently in review by the courts. One
involving the current federal administration. There's a few case studies
around the world. And this image just shows you existing.
Pricing systems and other places that are considering or that
have implemented it. So what does court on pricing look
like in Corona? The concept involves installing toll collection equipment.
In strategic locations where drivers commonly enter the city to
avoid freeway congestion. These include primarily the Green River. And
surface club on ramps, as well as ramps near the
southern end of the city, including Magnolia Avenue, Ontario Avenue
and Foothill Parkway. As noted earlier, vice mayors speak envision.
An exception to Corona residents. So some factors to consider
before looking into this type of program, some legal considerations,
federal restrictions on tolling highways may require. Possible legislation. Further
investigation from a procure consultant and the city's legal team
will be needed. A strong public transportation system and infrastructure.
Our public transit system is limited compared to the cities
with successful programs. So that is something we would have
to consider. Robust fee to collection technology. And fee collection
systems are essential. The city would need to partner with
a vendor capable of identifying vehicles and verifying resident exemptions.
Number four corridor versus zone. Unlike a downtown zone, Green
River Road and Foothorkway is a corridor, making enforcement complex.
Determining which access points trigger fees will require careful planning
to avoid unintended impacts to our residents and our adjacent
roadways. Economic impact. Reduced pass through traffic can negatively affect
our local businesses. Financial sustainability and pricing schedule that advances
equity. Full exemptions for residents may struggle to self support
this program. Other cities typically offer partial discounts rather than
full exemptions and coordination. Collaboration with Caltrans and neighboring agencies
is critical. For equipment placement and regional traffic management. So
today we're seeking your direction on three options. Option a,
status quo. Keep no additional resources and fundings required. Option
b. Option B would be wait to and observe, learn
from the other cities as they're implementing. And fine tuning
the programs, and we can revisit this topic later. Or
option C, prepare a focus case study. This would include
procuring a consultant to analyze the legality, constrictibility and strategy.
Estimated cost for a study like this would be anywhere
in the 300 to 600,000 range, which we do not
have budget today. So, in summary, court on pricing could
help reduce cut through traffic, but it has the potential
to become with significant legal, financial, and operational challenges. In
addition. To unintended consequences that may have an impact on
our businesses and residents. We request your direction on the
options presented. Thank you very much for the presentation. I'll
bring it back. To my colleagues for clarifying questions. Go
ahead. Yeah. Thank you. Can you go back to the
decision slide. I want to describe kind of where this
came from a few years ago. There was a bill
that. Provided. The case that ease the options to locations
in northern California, two locations in southern California and I
had seen these go forward. I talked to a couple
of folks in Los Angeles that were producing this, and
at the time. I thought, oh, my gosh, this is
crazy that you're going to have to pay. To drive
downtown that I was working downtown. But as I started
walking neighborhoods. In the south side of town. And when
people tell me that they can't leave. Their house between
two and 05:00 in the afternoon, I started thinking, well,
maybe there's. A different. Could have a different idea, different
plan, and I know that. Recently as part of the
91 EcOP project and the 241 91 project that we're
capturing license plate data. And it got me thinking. About.
Look. We can't avoid it. The state's not going to
improve the freeway we've tweaked as much as we can.
There may be a possibility for adding a third toll
lane. But coron. Corona's surface streets. Live and die based
on how well the freeway works. And we're not in
control of that. We're not in control of the freeway.
Investments. We're not in control of the 40,000 units that
have been approved south and east of us. So I'm
looking for ideas so I'm looking for ideas for finding
ways to keep people on the freeway. So this idea
is that 100%, knowing that right now, They're still in
a case study. That project would have to go back
to the legislature. To be approved. I know that. Previous
counsel asked a question. Whether or not. And the answer
came back that although the city didn't own the roads,
and frankly, the city doesn't. No city owns any roads
because. They own them, but they are all funded by
gas tax and all other fun stuff, so there's always
commingling. But with this case study and the possibility of
this becoming a law. I want to be in a
position that if something changes. That we put a flag
in the ground to try and find a way to
make this work. So I'm not in favor of. Preparing
a case study because I think right now there's still
a lot of things up. In the air. But I
do want to keep this open as an idea because
we need to. Find other tools. And grasping at straws
because we only have so many tools. Between. AI, traffic
signals and all the other tweaks that we're doing, we
have to have some other tools in our toolbox. Whether
or not the legislature will let us do this. Who
knows? And yes, 100%, there are a lot of. Operational
questions that can come from that. But I think that
as time goes on, The freeways get worse. I think
we need other options. So I'm advocating for a wait
and observe that we continue to watch how these other
projects go that we work with Caltrans and with RCTC
to keep measuring what we've said they were going to
measure. I know. TCA has promised that they will compensate
us if there are issues based on their project and
I think we all think there will be. And whether
or not that money can be used to help move
this forward again, if legislatively this moved on so. This
is basically a move. I see on the west side
of town in the morning where. There's cars that back
up on every single street. And then in the afternoon,
where cars are driving down 40 miles an hour down
residential streets, That's just wrong. And if we can find
a way to deter that, and I think. That charging
a toll to you have to do both enter and
exit. Not just exit or enter. That may be a
possibility in the future, but. I am fully in favor
of. The weight and observe and keep our options open
to see if we can plan a flag in the
ground for something that could come forward. Thank you, Vice
mayor. I wanted to first start with clarifying questions because
I do want to go to the public. On comments
on this, but do you all have any clarifying questions?
Comments? Yeah, I think we all do. So we'll come
back for comments. Go ahead and take a seat. We're
going to take some public comments. Thank you so much.
Miss Edwards, are there any speaker cards from the public
on this item? Yes, we have three speaker cards for
this item. Okay, come on down. Speakers. Hi again. I'm
not smart enough to know anything about this. If I'm
speaking. I wish whoever does the PowerPoint would make the
letters big enough. And the contrast sufficient so that those
of us sitting in the room can read the damn
thing. Thank you. Noted. Thank you, Mr. Fuller.
To back up Mr. Fuller. I'm going to be turned
60 next month. And, yeah, I cannot see them at
all. And I got brand new glasses on, so please
let's make sure that we can see anything that's up
there. I'm just going to give you some public notes
on this. I think it should be b or a.
I was reading in the staff report, and it still
has in here. Regarding the fee exception currently recommended by
vice mayor speak other cities use a 50% or less
discount. I think we need to pull everything out of
that. Except for that residents aren't going to be charged.
And there's a caveat in there that while this might
not make financial sense if we don't do that. Well,
then hang it. We shouldn't do it because. I shouldn't
be charged to drive on my own streets. And if
I want to use that shortcut. It's my street. It's
their street. It's our street. We should be able to
use it however we want because we live here. And
if I want to take green, river to Ontario, then
I should. So that's my opinion on that. I don't
think that I should be charged. To drive in my
own city because I pay a lot of taxes here
and I pay a lot of fees here, and I
think that that's only fair. Now, the other thing that
I would bring up on this is that. I don't
see this as something we should be spending three or
$600,000. On down the road either. We've already done studies
on this. We've already had two surveys done. We know.
About where we need to be on this. So I
think when we get to the point that we're ready
to do this if we get to that point. I
don't see us having to spend this ton of money
on that. I think it should be spent on whatever
group is going to come in and implement this for
us and put in the polling pieces at the end.
The toll booths or whatever we're going to use. And
finally. I don't see this as being workable, because I
think if we say, okay, well. You can't take foothill.
They're just going to use other areas. And where? I
live in district three, 9th in Howard. To your point,
Wes in the morning. They're still blasting through there at
40 miles an hour because they want to bypass six.
They want to bypass everything. They want to get to
the end of the street, and they want to jump
back on 6th and take the freeway and grab that
entrance. Nothing is going to stop. That unless we do
it for every road in town, which is impossible. So
I don't see this as being something that's viable. Could
perhaps the corridor reduce that or encourage people to use
the corridor and pay for it instead. Of everything else.
Maybe. But I think the majority of people are going
to just go, I'm just going to find another route.
And this is going to be a waste of half
a million dollars or whatever it's going to be. And
we're still going to have the same idiots racing down
our streets. The only answer there is enforcement. CPD does
a great job, but we need to give them the
resources. Instead of this. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next
speaker. You're getting old, Chris. It's interesting because I remember
when Foothill opened, it was supposed to take traffic off.
Of Ontario. And now it's the traffic source, it's the
problem. I see in the morning sometimes going westbound. It's
kind of crowded. It's crowded by the high schools, mostly
because of the high school. It seems like all these
bad decisions between 6th Street. And this is all driven
by this weird sort of, almost like a junior xenophobic
kind. Of. Oh, it's the outsiders. It's the cut through
people. Every city in Southern California is next to another
city in Southern California. That's how it works. All the
way from the beach, all the way back out to.
San Bernardino. Every city is next to another city. Everybody
cuts through some city to get to some. Other city,
but every presentation I've ever heard seems like it's pretty
insignificant number. Of people. That traverse the city just to
get to another city entirely. Who you're talking about. Are
my friends that live in El Serrito who work on
6th street and drive del Serrito. I guess technically they're
not corona people. There's still local members of the community.
They work here. The kids go to school here. They
pay taxes here even if they don't live in the
city limits. They use our utilities. They're part of the
community. Who the hell are you talking about? Who's the
cut through people? It's like this unicorn person that somebody
lives down in Myrietta who's calculated it out, they could
save 30 seconds taking foothill. So they're going to exit.
And then cut. Through. Good luck in the afternoon. You're
almost better off on the 91 and the 15. And
every one of these little stunts just throws the traffic
somewhere else. It just throws it onto another street. So
you charge people to drive on Foothill? They're. Going to
end up back on Ontario. I thought the whole point
of Plevin Fodill was to take people off Ontario. At
least that's what the stated purpose was. At the time.
It's almost like this is a stunt for an election
year. It's almost like. You want to be seen talking
about traffic. It's almost that way. I think generally we
agree on more than we disagree more than we disagree
on a lot of things. But this is just. You
can see it. It's just all the red lights flashing
about. This as just being a stupid idea. Thank you
very much. Thank you. Are there any other speaker? Cards
for this item. Mayor, we do not have any more
speaker cards. Okay, let's bring it back up to the
dice. My colleagues on comments. Go ahead. Thank you, mayor.
I actually think this is a fantastic idea. I love
the fact of making anybody that's driving. From. Driving northbound
on the 15 from anywhere south of Corona that wants
to cut through on Foothill. And to the 91 freeway
that we charge them for it. I love the fact
that we were thinking about that. We are thinking about
this as let's wait and see. When Ms. Rosie has
to go international to find other people that are doing
this. While I appreciate it. That's probably not very helpful,
but I like the fact that there are people in
northern California that are thinking about this. And let's let
them be the guinea pig, and let's let them go
through. All the lawsuits and figure out how this is
going to work. But I do have concerns that people
are just going to. Obviously go three exits or four
exits and weave their way through regular streets of Corona.
So how do we make it painful for them? I
want them off of foothill. And if they really. Want
to do it? Let's charge them for it. Keep that
money here in the city. And keep it free of
congestion for our residents. But it's almost like we have
to do. This pass through pricing, cordon pricing for all
of corona to make it so painful that they just
stay on the freeway, right? Because I don't want to
burden any other street with people that are like, well,
I'm going to not pay to go on foothill, so
I'll just drive. Through neighborhoods, which is naturally what they're
going to do. They're just going to try and figure
out another way, so I don't want to burden any
other streets. So we would have to figure out a
way to just make all of corona cord on pricing.
If you get off the freeway, don't start any rumors.
I think that's the idea. It's not about a street.
It's about if you exit and you enter and exit.
So it wouldn't matter what street you went on, so
it wouldn't push people. To any other street. I talked
to a resident that lives on Ontario and was worried
that he was going to get saddled again with what
was going on before foothill. I said the idea would
be to keep people on the street. If you got
off the freeway, you would not. Be charged. If you
got off the freeway and on the freeway, you would
be charged. So you have to hit both gates in
order to be charged. So again, the idea is to
wait and see how this works out. And monitor the
situation. We have good street light data now that we're
going to be keeping track of, especially as these two
huge projects are going to impact the city of Corona.
There's no if, ands or buts about it. All the
designs, all the modeling says this will impact corona period.
There's not a guess. So it's going to happen. So
I want to have, like I said, another tool in
the toolbox. Yeah, let's. Let somebody else deal with the
lawsuits, and then once they figure all that out, let's
wait and see and see how we can make it
work for corona, if it works at all. Thanks. Council
member Richard thank you, mayor. I'm still convinced that the
toll road project. Back in 2014 through 16 through whenever.
It's probably the worst project that ever happened to our
city, so I'm very anti till roads, but. I also
do like to learn about options, and I'm wait and
see. I just don't like toll roads. But if there's
a point in time. And it's in the future where
it's a tool that we need, then let that council.
Deal with it then. But I still enjoyed learning about
it. And I do like to have tools. Thank you.
Thank you, mayor. Do you preferably the yellow kind? Go
ahead. Council member Sainer. Well, I made a few notes.
So I am concerned about the business impact. What if
I'm coming back to Corona or wherever I'm going to,
and I. Want to get off the freeway and grab
a burger at McDonald's and get back on. The freeway.
While I'm not going to probably do that, So that's
affecting our businesses. What about deliveries? All the deliveries that
come into corona to deliver to Northgate or wherever else.
I just think there's too much to. If you have
to explain it too much? It's not. Probably a good
project to do. I'm not willing to spend that. Much
money to do it, to study it further right now.
I am worried about traffic being diverted back on Ontario.
I talked to a former public works for Cronin, who
lives on West Ontario, and he was like, oh, man,
we can't. Divert traffic back to Ontario, because I think
most of us have lived through that. And remember what
that was like people literally not being able to get
out of the driveways that lived on. West ontario. Yeah.
I mean, the studies, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles,
weren't none of that. So I'm option a, do not
proceed. Which is not really much different than option b.
Because I think what's going to happen is when the
different AI technologies come out there's. Going to be maybe
some. Opportunities to say, oh, that is so much better
than what we were talking about, maybe doing years. Ago,
so I'm option a. Do not proceed. Thank you. I
should have said this earlier. I'm so sorry. Thank you
for noting the text. We will work on that. Also,
there's QR codes. If ever. You're sitting there and you
want to check out the agenda. You can also get
access to the PowerPoints on your phones and zoom in,
zoom out. So that's an option, but no. We'll work
on the tech size. So I want to say that
I appreciate. The exercise. In exploration, I think often. These
spaces can feel. A little scary. And so you have
councils that aren't willing to even have conversations like. This.
And so I appreciate that. We have a process where
any council member can propose a future. Agenda item, they
get a majority of the council to say, yeah, I
want to explore it further. And then we're at today,
and then we can get a presentation, and then we
can. Actually decide whether or not we're going to move
forward. So I appreciate that process. I think it's healthy.
I think it's good for democracy. And so I want
to say thank you. For this exercise. I will say,
though, that. I also understand. That population growth or really
population concentration and where the state is heading with its
regulation. And its lack of support for further infrastructure. It's
a real problem. And I know that there's development happening
in outside cities. I'm not so sure about this as
the solution. And it's interesting because we had a presentation.
From Chris Gray from WRCOG, and he was talking about
transportation and saying, actually, The problem is you're not using
your streets. Using the freeway, so I find that contradictory.
Anyway. I don't see how we could actually implement this.
I think. This isn't worth further exploring, but I do
appreciate. Having the exercise. So I'm option a as well,
with the understanding that wes, if something. Does come up.
You're going to put it on the future agenda item
we're going to have a discussion about it, so I
kind of feel like the wait and see is less
is going to keep us on our toes. So I'm
option a because I don't want to invest any more
resources, in particular your time. To any of this. So
I appreciate it, but. It's a no for me. So
we got an aa. You're a b and a b,
but the majority says a, so that's where we have
it. Majority has it. I will say thank you for
considering it. It's something. That I have been working on
for more than a year. I know it sounds like
it's. An election thing, but I actually wrote this in
March of 2020. And I've been researching this since 2023,
or 20, actually, before then, that's. Why? I know if
something comes up, you're going to bring. I appreciate it.
I know. That with the streetlight data that we currently
have and. With the money that tca. Is going to
be providing us. We're going to be keeping a close
eye on the folks getting off there, and we'll be
able to get an idea, a little better idea. Of
what that impacts really are. Pretty black and white with
the numbers there, but I guess we'll find out. Yeah.
Of course. If something changes, I will certainly have no
hesitation to bring it back in. Make sure that it's
okay, that I can bring it back, that it's. Different.
Go back to the process. What's. What? I mean, I'm
saying if it. Gets voted down right now. Then can
that future Jen. Can I submit another future gentleman for
the same thing? He just takes a vote of the
council to put it back on an agenda. Okay, great.
And. I was just going to say, wes, we know
that traffic's been your baby for seven. Years. So we
really appreciate you. Your wheel spinning in that peabrain of
yours, trying to figure something out. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, moving on. Item ten, legislative matters. There are none.
Item eleven, reports from boards and. Commissions 11.1 Library Board
of trustees we have a receiving file, the library board
of trustees report update for November eigth 2025 is someone
presenting that? Mr. Ellis. The receiving file 11.1. Why does
it say report update? No, it's just getting submitted. For
the record. Okay. 11.2 Planning and Housing commission none. 11.3
parks and recreation commission receive and file the Parks and
Recreation Commission report. Update for December 9, 2025. Also on
the record 11.4 regional meetings, none. Item twelve. City attorneys
report and comments. Mr. Derlis, do you have any comments
tonight? Thank you, city managers. Item 13. City managers report
and comment. Mr. Ellis, do you have any comments? Tonight?
No, mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Item 14. City council
members reports and comments. Do my colleagues have any comments
tonight? Seeing no. Wow. No comments from the city council.
Okay. Item 15. Thank you all so much for joining
us tonight. We will adjourn the next meeting. Of the
current city council is on February 4, 2026, at 06:00
p.m. in this room. Meeting is adjourned.