Good afternoon. Call the city council and successor agency to
order. Madam Clerk. Would you please call the role? Councilmember
Carol. Present. Council member Tisdell's absent, council member monos here,
mayor pro time sheridan, Mayor McGee here. Madam Clerk. Do
we have any request to speak on our closed session
items? No, sir. Madam attorney, close session announcements. Thank you,
Mayor. City Council has two items and the successor agency
has one. So city council items, conference with real property
negotiators pursuant to government code section 54956. 8. The parcel
numbers are identified on the agenda. The negotiating parties are
the city and GMB land LLC and Steve Galvez. The
agency's negotiator or the city's negotiator is city manager Simpson
under negotiation price in terms of payment. The second city
council item is one potential case of anticipated litigation pursuant
to the authority of government code section 549 56. 9D4
initiation of litigation. The successor agency item is real property
negotiations. Again, on the diamond stadium, the parcel numbers are
identified on the agenda. The authority is government code section
54956. 8 agency negotiators are executive director Simpson executive director
Buckley and myself parties are the successor agency, the storm
in Golden State concessions and catering under negotiation price in
terms of payment. Very good. Have you no other business
in front of us? We will recess into closed session
and then reconvene here at seven o'clock.
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, call the city of Lake
Osednor and their successor agency to order. We all please
rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Madam Clerk, would you please call the role. Councilmember Carroll.
President. Council member Tizdell Sapson, Councilmember Monos. Here. Mayor approached
him, Sheridan. Here. Mayor Mickey. Here. That takes us to
closed session report, Madam Attorney. Thank you, Mayor. The city
council met at five o'clock to discuss two items in
closed session. The first conference with real property negotiator pursuant
to government code section 54956. 8. The agency negotiator, city
manager Simpson, the negotiating parties, the city of Lake Elsinor,
and the property owners GMB land LLC and Steve Galvez
under negotiation price in terms of payment. There's no reportable
action on that item this evening. Our second item conference
with legal counsel concerning one potential case of anticipated litigation
under the authority of government code section 54956. 9 paragraph
D4 initiation of litigation. The city council provided the staff
and city attorney to proceed with administrative remedies in connection
with that case. The details will be available once action
is commenced and that can be ascertained at City Hall.
We do have one item of successor agency closed session.
It is identified on the agenda under item 5. 1.
We did not have time to get to that item
yet. We are going to adjourn the city council meeting
at the end this evening and continue the successor agency
to close session. That announcement was made at five o'clock
and the report will come at the conclusion of the
successor agency closed session. That concludes my report. Thank you
very much, Madam Attorney. That takes us to presentations and
ceremonials. And I would like to invite our economic development
director, Ms. Jean Gonzalez, up to the podium, and I
will join her for the announcement of our business in
action monthly spotlight. Thank you, Mayor.
Well, thank you everybody for coming out tonight for our
business and action spotlight. It's great to have you all
here and attendance. We have a lot of exciting presentations
to share tonight. And if I can, please ask Ms.
Steyened to please join us up here with the mayor.
So our business in action spotlight is a free monthly
business awards recognition for our businesses here in Lake Elsinor
that go above in the beyond the cold business each
and every single day. And for the month of July,
we're here to honor precision. Concepts and a little bit
about precision concepts is that they have been a business
here since 1994. They have grown from a very small
locally owned shop into one of the most respected names
and off - road motorcycle racing. Guys, that's who we
are. You can clap for that. They specialize in championship
winning motorcycles with their world - class suspension. The companies
earned a reputation and innovation, precision and exceptional craftsmanship. They're
expertly engineered suspension systems and race prepared motorcycles have helped
writers capture more than 50 championships. From Score Baja competitions.
Have you ever seen that? It's wild, you guys. To
victories at Lake Elsinor's very own Grand Prix. Thank you.
I like you. Decision concept and bodies, Lake Elsinor's identity
as a premier extreme sport destination by supporting professional racers,
recreational writers, and major off - road events. This company
strengthens our communities'reputation as a hub for motocross and off
- road racing while also attracting writers, enthusiasts from across
the nation. Concepts precision concepts exemplifies our entrepreneurial spirit celebrated
through our business and action program, and we congratulate precision
concepts on its well - deserved recognition. And as part
of the recognition, we offer them a free marketing video
promoting our Lake Elsemar business. So with that, before we
jump over to Ms. Diane Bell in the mayor, please
roll the video. In the action sports, capital of the
world like Elsinor, persisting content racing keeps the adrenaline a
lot. Since 1994, this local powerhouse has been tuning and
transforming off - road motorcycles with expert suspension upgrades, murder
builds, and full bike crib. From weekend warriors hitting local
trails to champion racers, Johneding Bajan Beyond. Resisting concept deliver
the confidence, control, and performance writers need to push their
limits. Right here at Lake Elsin. Visit decisioncons of racing.
com today. On behalf of the city council, like to
give this to you. And also like to remind everyone
that no one wins a championship by themselves. And these
are the type of folks that do something behind the
scenes that you never see, and you never know. But
that writer knows why he won. Do you want to
say anything? Sure. She brought up the Lake Elsin or
Grand Prix, just got a brag on my son, because
he won the, oh gosh, Harvey Mushman race four times.
So I'm going to take a photo? We got two
of them.
Our fire chief has been called away, so we are
going to defer our second quarter statistical update until our
next meeting. And we will move now to public comments
on non - agendaized items one minute in length. Madam
Clerk, do we have any requests to speak? Yes, I
have several this evening. First is Nicole Daly. Naaman City
of Residence, please. Push to talk. Okay. Nicole Daly, like
LSMO resident. Good evening, Mayor McGee, members of the city
council, staff and residents. As mentioned, my name is Nicole
Daly of Ben A Lake Elsar resident for 37 years.
And tonight I'm speaking on behalf of the Elsiedner Heights
project team regarding recent concerns about the data center use
referenced in our notice of preparation. So 2022, our team
has worked closely with the city to identify a project
that aligns with its goals and supports much needed infrastructure
improvements in this part of the city. Choosing the right
project for this site remains our top priority. To be
clear, no data center project has been proposed. Rather, the
potential data set our use was included in our notice
as a secondary option to typical industrial uses. We did
this to disclose it openly and early so that potential
impacts could be looked at as part of our EIR
process. We understand the community's concerns and they are exactly
the issues that the environmental review process is designed to
evaluate before specific project is considered. We are still in
the early stages and expect the draft EIR to be
released in the coming months. As our proposal takes shapes,
we do intend to have community outreach and provide opportunities
for feedback on whatever our project entails. And we will
be getting feedback from the community at that time. In
the meantime, I am available to answer any questions and
happy to stick around. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Daly.
Madam Clerk, next speaker. Our next speaker is Kimberly Davidson.
Davidson. Good evening, Mayor McGee, members of City Council and
City staff. My name is Kimberly Davidson. I'm a resident
of Marietta. However, I am the president and CEO of
the Lake Elsinor Valley Chamber of Commerce. And I am
here to speak on behalf of Vectra and the Elsinor
Heights project. Vectra has been a strong partner to the
chamber and our community meeting with us regularly over the
past four years. To better understand like Elsinor's needs and
priorities. Our discussions have focused on community benefits, infrastructure, economic
development, and the long - term welfare of our city.
The project is still in the environmental review and evaluation
phase with specialist carefully assessing its feasibility and appropriateness for
Lake Elsinor. No approvals are being rushed. At the appropriate
time, we look forward to helping share accurate information and
ensuring that residents have opportunities to ask questions and provide
input. Based on our experience with the development team, we
are confident that they will engage openly and in good
faith with the city of Lake Elsinor residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Davidson. Next speaker, please. Our next speaker
is Gianna Maskio. Hello, my name
is Gianna Mastio, and I'm a proud citizen of Lake
Elsanor. Thank you for allowing me to speak today, counsel.
I'm up here today to discuss the proposed plan to
build a data center in our city, also known as
the Lake Elsinor Heights Industrial Project. I want to showcase
my deep disapproval of this happening in our community. According
to UC Riverside, data centers create substantial health issues from
SMOG continually in waste fresh water and overpower electricity grids
causing averages and higher bills for you and me. This
would be a devastation to our lovely city. Say no
to this proposal and do not build the data center
in Lake Ossinor. Thank you. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is RSLI Preciato.
Hello, City Council. My name is Araceli Preciado. I actually
did encounter and submit a submittal from a change. org
petition that I had the community sign. We are totally
against the data center in the city of Lake Osednor.
You guys have come so far with how far we've
gotten with what we've done with the leak. I know
that you recently got an 8 million dollar grant to
fix the water situation. I think that opening up a
data center, even though it's perplexition number two on the
plan. I think it's the wrong way to go. The
Lake City of Lake Ilsinor residents do not deserve to
be treated that way. It's an environmental hazard. Um. Pardon
me. Um, there's water issues. We all know that the
data centers do use up a lot of water. It's
an environmental issue. I didn't, I don't know if you
guys know, but there is actually a bald eagle over
on the coyote, um, cove area. That habitates that area.
So what are we going to do to our environment
if we open up a data center. We know that
there are lots of environmental issues. I think the city
of Lake Olsenor and their motto is dream extreme. And
this is just not with that program. Thank you, Arasali.
Thank you. Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Kendall
and Slace.
Hi, good evening. My name is Candid Slace. You think
everybody here at the council, especially Bob McGee, our mayor.
I love this town. I'm a business. I own a
business town. I try to help my fellow citizens and
their animals. Some of you may not know the creek
that flows from tough channel under grand avenue and through
my property, this creek ultimately connects with McVicker channel that
feeds water into Lake Yellsner. That's of course, if we
get rain. I mean, seriously. I consider myself somewhat of
a caretaker of that lake by keeping that creak of
mom my property free of debris. This I do so
that every drop of water can flow into that lake
because we all know that water is precious resource and
our lake needs every drop of water we can get.
That lake saved our town during the holy fire and
the airport fire. And each and every one of us
to conserve water that precious lake as best as we
can, which brings me here today. I don't normally come
to these meetings mostly because of my help. But when
I do it, it's because I need to speak up
about something that I stand firm with conviction. This data
center. Will consume ginormous amounts of water to power them.
Go ahead and finish. Can I finish? Yes. Thank you.
For those of you in the audience, we have one
minute speaking at the very beginning. If you have something
brief to share. And then three minutes at the end.
Please continue. I would just like to just finish this
and they'll be done. Our city managers and planners and
council members have a responsibility to ensure that our precious
lake is protected. I mean, after all, we spent millions
of dollars on nanobubblers launch point and wealth stocking our
fish. Why it's our dream extreme motto. Our city is
a jigsaw puzzle with proper planning. I just questioned some
of this. If an else and official is that is
responsible for issuing a conditional use or permit or license,
it doesn't matter if it's in the future now or
whatever. Your guys'name will go into infamy. Okay. This thing
will consume. Your responsible. You're responsible. So am I. Water.
I have to protect. That goes down through my property.
It's hard for me to do that. Okay. It is.
And we all know that we need this. This is
the largest natural lake here in California. I mean, waterfowl
uses this as migration. If we allow this business to
come and put a data center in here, for what.
For what? Is it going to benefit us? Is it
going to benefit your children? I heard somebody on the
phone. You were on the phone with your children. Your
children's children. We need to protect it. We need to
protect it. And you guys are responsible. And so am
I. I'm responsible because I let water flow through. I've
spent literally tens of thousands of dollars to allow water
to flow through to connect to a channel. For you
guys to get the water free. I paid for that.
You guys need to make sure that this multimillion dollar
company or whoever does not sip the water not only
for our town, wildemar. Canyon lake. South Corona, parts of
minifi and Marietta. Thank you.
Nick speaker, Madam Clerk. Our next speaker is Ace Vallejos.
What do you mean, explodes? I'm here to talk about
the mega warehouses. We were there. I think it's my
third, fourth meeting I've been to. Still don't have a
lot of questions answered. First of all, two large mega
warehouses off of Baker Street. They're talking about, you know,
they're not going to go down to Nichols Lake Street
to go up north. And then they're going to go
the other way. And then the other one is the
zoning. They want to change the zoning of the property
at the state. They said at the city's request. So
the point is, is that, you know, the rezoning, the
property is M2 and should be, if it's light manufacturing,
I don't think anybody would have a problem with that.
The mega warehouses of 700, 000 square feet and a
million square feet is ridiculous. You know, we don't even
know what's going in there. It could be, uh, ice
center, could be a, I don't know, a prison. Could
it be, uh, what else could it be. We don't
know because they're not going to, they don't know. And
then you take a look at the nickel's offering or
on ramp, whatever you want to call it. RCTC hasn't
even started to look at that. So the questions that
need to be answered. And if the city is interested
in changing the zoning, they should let somebody know about
it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vallejo. Next speaker, please.
Our next speaker is Emery. I'm sorry. MRE Doherty.
Hi, my name is Emry. Uh, I'm here to make
a quick comment about the proposed data center construction. Um,
I think approving this would be a grave mistake. I
am asking the city councillor to please consider a data
center moratorium as other local cities like Paris have enacted
in response to what comes with the construction of these
data centers. As we've seen across the country, people's water
supply is getting poisoned at rare forms of cancer emerging
in various states like Ohio, Oregon, uh, South Carolina. I
think this would be a grave mistake to approve. And
so please consider that. Thank you. Thank you, Emily.
Next speaker, please. Last speaker for one minute comment says
Kim Cousins.
Good evening. My name's Kim Cousins and I'm a resident
of Lake Elsner for 36 years in our retiree. So
good evening. Mayor McGee Council member City Council staff and
our neighbors. Uh, based on the experience over the last
four years working with Vectra has been an excellent developer
who has engaged the city of Lake Gelsnor and the
city council economic development subcommittee along with the city of
Lake Alistair Management team and departments, including fire services, dialogue
on appropriate use of their property. And has been very
transparent and collaborative. Over those years with the plans that
made multiple modifications to address not only the city of
Lake Elsa requests, but also EVMWD and Riverside flood control.
I am confident that vector's team will move forward in
good faith. With the city of Lake Elsinor as they
move through the development cycle over the next several months
of not years. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr.
President. Madam Clerk, no more speakers under that section? Correct.
Very good then. We'll move now to our consent calendar.
On our consent calendar. We have. Items 13. 1 through
1312. I would like to pull item 13. 5 for
a staff presentation. And I believe the mayor Pro Tem
wanted to pull item 13. 6. Now 13. 11. I'm
sorry. 13. 11. Mr. Marlows? I'll make the motion on
the remainder when it pops up. Very good. Any further
discussion. Madam Clerk, did we have any speakers on any
of those items? No, sir. Very good. Who have a
motion from Councilman Romanos, a second from council member Carroll.
Hearing no further discussion. Please record your vote.
The items pass unanimously. That'll take us to item 13.
5. Requesting a staff presentation from Adam Gafari.
Mr. Mayor, council members, Adam Goffyrati, assistant director of Lake
and Community Operations tonight before you is an approval for
water quality equipment for the lake. Um, and I'm going
to run through a short presentation. If you have any
questions at the end, I'll be able to answer them
for you. Thank you very much, sir. So if you
remember back in 2023, uh, city council approved our first
lake management plan. And since then, we've been working through
that plan. And from the beginning, this plan is a
roadmap. We, every step of the way doing a little
thing for the lake and seeing how the lake responds,
um, so far we've done nano bubble pilot projects. We've
done algeside treatments. Foss lock and then also working on
our shoreline maintenance. Um, the next slide I'm going to
review kind of what we've done with nano bubbles. So
the first phase, which was installed in February of 2024,
um, injects 500 pounds of oxygen in the lake each
day. And the importance of this oxygen into the lake
is it prevents the reloading of nutrients into the lake.
And so if we have oxygen at the bottom of
the lake, it kind of caps those nutrients. And when
I talk about nutrients, it's phosphorus and nitrogen. And it's
this phosphorus and nitrogen is what feeds the algae. So
if we can cap that bottom will prevent that cycle
of algae blooms every year. Our second phase, which was
installed in October of 2024, included two barges. Now these
second and third barges were much larger than our pilot.
They injected each 2, 500 pounds of oxygen. So as
of today, we're injecting about 5, 500 pounds of oxygen
each day. Tonight, with your approval, we'll be installing two
more barges. And the plan is to upgrade the pilot
barge. So the pilot barge, as you remember, is 500
pounds per day. We're going to upgrade that one to
5, 000 pounds per day. In addition to that, we'll
also have the capabilities to inject ozone. Ozone is an
amazing sanitizer and it'll help us fight those algae blooms.
In addition, we'll do another barge. So tonight with this
approval, it's 10, 000 more pounds per day in the
lake. With total one, when we're done this year, we'll
be injecting 15, 000 pounds of oxygen in the lake
every day. Why 15, 000? Well, that's what the scientists
have told us. We've done studies with a sediment core.
We take core samples of the sediment in the lake,
um, and five different locations and run studies. And the
studies have shown that each day our sediment in the
lake needs 15, 000 pounds of oxygen. So we're hitting
that goal to night. We have moled here tonight, our
vendor, um, great partner with the city, um, bail to
answer some more questions for you tonight. But the, the
schedule right now with your approval tonight will be able
to meet a schedule with delivery in November and installation
in this December. So by the end of this year,
we'll be up to 15, 000 pounds of oxygen. Why
Mollier, why an anable technology? Well, we started with that
pilot. And initially when we installed that pilot, we see,
we saw immediate increases and dissolved oxygen and also ORP.
ORP is a measure of how much a body of
water can clean itself. And so we have independent testing
done that shows five different data sets that the nanobubble
project is working the way it was supposed to. And
that's why we're taking that next step and increasing our
nanobubble project. In addition to that, um, LEAMS, which is
our legacy system, our aeration system. Every year we calculate
how that system is doing. This last year in 2025,
we had the most nitrogen offsets in phosphorus offsets since
that system was installed. So with our independent study and
the LEAM study, it's proving that the nanobubble technology is
working in our lake. I'm going to call up Chris
Steffen, the global director of Molier to go over this
next slide and talk about what Molier is doing and
how they're a partner with this city. Thank you, Adam.
Mayor, good to see you, counsel. Always good to see
you. City manager Simpson. Thank you. Uh, honored to be
here again and to have been a part of this,
uh, long phased approach in your lake management plan. I
just want to commend the council city manager and mayor
how well you've executed on this plan and how well
Adam and the team of executed on this plan, uh,
to be able to put together a really well -
rounded treatment, uh, for the lake. And then the monitoring
that's been included on it to be able to bring
the data back to make informed decisions, uh, Adam is
presented some really good information there. Really simple graph that,
that, uh, highlight here is just looking at prior to
the nanomontable oxygenation systems being added to the lake for
the years prior. You can see there was very little
oxygen being measured in the center of the lake and
the deepest part of the lake. And this is in
a sand or a probe that's down near the bottom
of the water body. Actually quite a way. It's from
the near treatment of the nano bubble systems. Uh, but
you can see prior to the nano bottles being introduced
in October of 24. Very little dissolved oxygen down at
the bottom of the lake causing those nutrients to come
out of the sediments and causing these harmful algae blooms
that had closed the lakes, uh, closed the lake previously.
Since the nano bottle installation there in the phased approach
that you guys have taken the folks have taken here
on your team, uh, you can see just the consistent
improvement in the dissolved oxygen levels away from the treatment
systems in the center of the lake in the deepest
part of the lake where it's most important where those
nutrients actually typically settled because it's a bowl and they
settle into that area. Great data has been captured here
to, uh, really derive, uh, your plan and, uh, again,
just how well your team is executed on it. You're
not alone in this. Over half of the lakes in
the United States are impaired. Half. Of the natural water
bodies in this country are impaired. Yet you guys aren't
alone in taking this challenge on and improving your lake
and bringing the benefits to your community. There's a lake
about 50 miles from here. Uh, there are cults of
their board voted to approve three systems similar to the
ones floating on the lake right now to be installed
in April. Florida, we have a number of systems being
installed in Florida right now. Georgia, there's a project that's
being proposed and set for a decision in September to
do a very large river in Georgia. Minnesota, Wisconsin, uh,
a number of states in the Northeast have all committed
to putting projects in. And actually, they've looked at what
the success you've had as being innovators in this. Moliers,
you know, is a Los Angeles - based company. We're
about 100 people, 15 PhDs on staff. We're environmental engineering
company at heart. We just happen to have invented a
technology to be able to utilize oxygen and put it
into water bodies. Right now we have over 10, 000
installations in 55 countries around the world. And, uh, one
of those is here at Lake Elsinor. We couldn't be
more proud to be your partner and to see the
success you've had with your lake restoration plan and to
play a foundational piece to that. So I'm here to
say thank you for your support, for your partnership. And
it's been really truly an honor to work along with
your staff and with you to execute on these plans
that have brought such a great improvement to the lake.
I look forward to your consideration on this agenda item
tonight. But thank you again for the opportunity to work
with you. Thank you, sir. And I think one of
the most important things I want to talk about tonight
is, uh, this has all been funded by federal appropriations
that city staff working with our city manager, um, and
our mayor and our council worked really hard with congressman
Calvert's office, um, and so this is the first step
in that eight million dollars that we got. And we're,
we're not stopping there. We're continuing work with the original
partners to look at more grants so that we can
take the burden off the city. Um, my last slide
tonight, uh, they always say a picture is worth a
thousand words. So, uh, here's from 2015 all the way
until December of 2025. You can see the drastic change
in color in Lake Olsinor. Still a lot of work
to be done, but we're very proud of the work
we've done to today. And we're excited to see the
lake next year when we got 15, 000 pounds of
oxygen. Thank you. Any questions from
my colleagues. Go first. Oh, just wanted to just step
out and say, uh, thanks to staff for Adam, uh,
you really took up the lead on this one. Genuinely
appreciate that. I also want to go ahead and, um,
you know, appreciate our city manager, Jason Simpson, uh, who
backed this for a number of years, uh, we worked
on this for far longer than most people recognize, uh,
we got help from Senator Diane Feinstein before she died.
We had help from Alex Padilla, Kim Calvert. There's been
a number of other elected fish. This council approved a
1. 5 million dollar matching funds grant in order to
get the first one just as a test pilot project
that was totally out. Like we didn't know how it
was going to work out quite frankly. We had some
good ideas. We had some feelings, but we didn't know
exactly how it was going to work out. And, um,
I also want to go ahead and thank the residents,
uh, for having faith in us to actually try something
out and take a chance and take a risk. Because
it could have very well not worked out. And we're
seeing the results now. It's been fantastic. We went from
an impaired body of lake that the California state of
California said we could not allow bodies to touch to
almost three consecutive years now where there's where there's almost
undetectable levels of toxins in the lake, which is absolutely
astonishing. It's a total turnaround. It's something that nobody said
could happen. And, uh, so, uh, very proud of all
of that. So thank you. And congratulations to everybody involved.
Okay. Item 13. 5. I'll entertain a motion. You have
a motion from the mayor protem. Second from Council Member
Manos. Harry, no further discussion. Please record your vote. The
item passes unanimously. Thank you gentlemen.
That takes us now to item 13. 11. Mr. Mayor
Pro Tem, what is your pleasure? Uh, staff report, please.
Thank you, Bo. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh,
Mayor Portem and council and city manager leadership. Thank you
so much. My name is Bo Davis. I'm with the
recreation department. And I'm excited here to present here about
the successes of TC Sports Inc. and Rosetta Canyon Sports
Park. And with those successes, we are before you asking
for an additional 37, 600 dollars on the contract to
cover the field maintenance budget increases. This increases primarily driven
through the increased demand of the usage of that park.
Uh, what the motion does not change as any of
the management agreement or the usage or the allocation of
the purpose of the mission of it. It just simply
is increasing this line item. And just a little bit
of history, right? We started this partnership with TC Sports
Inc. in 2018 within our original contract renewed in 2024.
And here in 2026, we're just, um, because the successes,
we're looking at increased that line item and on the
agreement, um, to cover the increased costs, uh, TC sports
is a franchisee of trip crown sports. So they host
triple crown tournaments here as well as numerous others. Uh,
there's a rather large tournament this last week across multiple,
uh, complexes. And I'd be happy to announce if you
haven't heard our 16 new team from Lake Elsinor actually
took, uh, the championship. So congratulations to those Dukes. The
West Coast Dukes, the 16U. They have extensive national relationships
and contacts. That's how, uh, they're so valuable as a
partner. Um, in this, in this operation of Rosita Canyon
sports bar. So they operate all the scheduling. The tournament
development, the concessions, field maintenance. It's all under just one
agreement. Um, and they do still actively coordinate with the
local youth leagues and residents in HOAs to provide access
at that facility. We all know Rosetta Canyon sports park
is an amazing park. It's one of the greatest parks
in the nation. Um, because of everything you can do
there. From dog parks to championship level, uh, tournaments softball,
baseball is played at that facility. Um, flag football, uh,
tackle football competitive soccer. Uh, and like I said on
August 22nd, uh, there will be a movie there with
the HOA. So the current agreement again, it's 250, 000
dollars to manage it and to take care of other,
uh, miscellaneous items around there, the daily operations. They have
an individual there from 6 a. m. to 10 p.
m. every single day. And the field maintenance budget is
when the tournaments there, because it requires four additional people,
at least to be there to turn those fields over
between games. They'll play eight, nine games on a field.
From, you know, they'll be there at six in the
morning. Prepping fields getting ready for the day. And then
till 12, one o'clock in the morning, turning those fields
over for the next morning's games, um, so they'll manage
day to day. They manage the concession. They manage the
tournament schedulings. Um, and then of course market and coordinate
with our economic development to encourage business, encourage tourism here
in Lake Elsinorm. So the one line item in that
agreement. That's one chance that goes from 62, 400 to
37, or excuse me, to 100, 000, which is an
increase of 37, 600 dollars So that's the item specifically.
And it's again, driven by that rising demand, uh, by
the field. So the growing term at volume, uh, it's
all the fields. It's, it's nearly every single weekend. That's
not rained out. Um, there's more field techs, more work
that's needed when you have that kind of workload. If
you had visited Rosetta this past weekend, this past week,
it was just hammered. And in between every game, you
see a number of individuals out there turning those fields
over. It still is the most cost effective way to
manage that park, to have those hours and the demand
on those individuals. Um, it's still the most cost effective
way versus, um, training and hiring and scheduling city staff.
And it's, um, it's also paid for by the growth
of those tournaments. The more tournaments, more revenue for those
bookings. And it helps offset those costs to operate that
part. Um, you know, listening to previous council meetings and
knowing the history of Rosetta, a main theme has been,
the residents need to have access to this, right? Like
we, we want to make sure we know the intention
of this facility is for driving that economic benefit through
sports tourism, which is one of the biggest industries and
tourism across the nation. But we still make a way
for Lake Elsinor residents to utilize that field. So, um,
I reviewed some of the scheduling over the last couple
of years and I see regular practices and usage by
legs, which is our girl softball organization. Um, I know
I've spoken personally to presidents of other organizations baseball, Lake
Elsan are literally specifically. There's just not that request there.
Um, they, they're currently satisfied with a number of fields
they have. And so they've not reached out to our
knowledge and speaking with past presidents. Um, for those that
field space, they've not needed it quite yet. Um, the
agreement does give priority to local athletes whenever fields are
not being used for tournament and competitive play. A TC
sports in there, the caveat that legs receives one free
tournament every year. And I proud to present that legs
hosted one at three day tournament in May of this
year. Um, and again, on the August 22, the Canyon
Hills HOA will be hosting a football soccer movie in
the park of the football soccer field. And just really
want to make sure people understand that a field, there's
6 a. m. to 10 p. m. every single day.
And so if you feel like the fields are locked,
it is, it's a little bit of a safety, right?
We've had an e - bike issue. People, you know,
vandalizing things, letting dogs run on these artificial turf fields.
So they do oftentimes lock them, but they have a
representative around every day and they've repeatedly told us, you
just go find that person working on the field, say,
I want to get on this field and open up,
they'll open up that field for you to get in.
Now, when a team reserves it in the evening, similar
to Canyon Hills, McVicker, sucomatic, any one of our numerous
sparks, that team does have the right to that field
in that evening. So, uh, when the teens and it's
not booked, there will be a field always open for
the public. Um, again, we see the booking records that
it's being used by resident and local leagues. And it's
still, the field allocation follows the intendant economic benefit while
still giving priority to local athletes. Right. So that's, that's
where we're at. Again, it's a regional economic engine. It
sees more than 265, 000 people. You're some years eclipsed
300 and close to 500, 000 visits a year. Um,
it has enormously helped the corridor there on central. Um,
and we looked at some numbers and it's a net
five million dollar increase revenue from 2016 to today. We've
seen the retail growth. I've, I've contributed my tax dollars
there. Uh, through raising canes and Chick - fil -
A and Jersey Mikes. And of course, the in and
out. Hopefully you've all enjoyed that. Uh, and I truly,
we believe that that's all been driven. I see many
times, uh, young women and boys and sports apparel coming
out of, um, establishments. And it is still a part
of the city's 2040 vision. The dream extreme 2040 plan
to have a destination driven by tourism. And economic development.
So again, so the fiscal impact and recommendation is simply,
you know, the total contract will be 350, 000, the
250 management, 100 for the field maintenance, which is that
increase of the 37, 000. So we're asking that council
approves this motion, this recommendation to this amendment on the
increase in the city manageable execute it, um, we'll go
from there. If you have any questions. I do. My
initial concern was that the contract was signed in February
of 2024 and the field maintenance costs were 62, 400.
And now it's been increased by more than 50 percent
Can you speak to why it costs the increase has
gone up so much. And what I would consider a
relatively short amount of time. Yeah, I honestly, it's because
of the park that the city built and it's the
good partnership of TC sports ink. Sports tourism continues to
grow. We get routine requests by new travel leagues. New
travel teams. So there's more and more people and young
women playing. It's gotten recognition from other national organizations. So
the higher demand. I believe when that first contract was
written and when it was approved in 2024, the idea
is to, you know, play it a little bit slow.
Start the number low. Figure out how things the chips
are going to fall. We don't want to over, overextend
ourselves to an extent. And we want to see how
things play out. Now that things have played out really
well, we need to officially increase that line item to
be able to cover those costs. And in the contract,
it does state. Like if, if the reduction, um, field
reservations, then the reduction in staff. So we don't pay
for these staff. We don't reimburse TC sports ink for
these staff unless there is a tournament unless there is,
um, field maintenance crews out there. So is it fair
to say that the increases a result of more tournaments
coming in? Yes, sir. That is, that is, we don't,
uh, we don't pay for field maintenance for just regular
practices. That's all covered under the management agreement. So as
tournaments go in, and we've seen an increase in longer
tournaments during the weeks, weekday tournaments. So it's, it's not
necessarily, weekends a year, right? So you think, okay, that's
a set number. But as the summers and these holiday
tournaments, they'll begin on Thursday and on Monday. People were
taking days off of school and work to accommodate some
of these tournaments as well. So we're seeing an increase
that too. Okay. That was my concern, Mayor. Thank you.
Very good. Any other comments from my colleagues. You're in
on it. It's time to entertain a motion. I'm unable
to call it electronically. If you can voice your motion
in second. I'll make a motion that we adopt staff
recommendation to accept the contract changes. I'll second that. We
have a motion and a second. Any further discussion. Hearing
none. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye.
Opposed. Hearing none, the item passes unanimously. That moves us
now to our successor agency calendar items 14. 1 through
14. 5. Madam clerk, we have any request to speak
on any of those items. No, sir. Very good. What's
the pleasure of the agency. Move approval of the items.
I will second that. We have a motion and a
second. Any further discussion. Hearing none. Please record your vote.
I guess we have the electronics back now.
And the items pass unanimously. That takes us now to
item number 16 business item 16. 1. Resolution directing the
city clerk to transmit measure T to the city attorney
for preparation of an impartial analysis of the November 3rd,
2026 general municipal election authorizing the filing of a written
argument in favor of measure T and authorizing rebuttal arguments.
Madam attorney, do we need to have a staff report.
City clerk is prepared to provide one if you want
it. I apologize, Madam Clerk. And before I, before I
turn you loose, did we have any request to speak
on the item. I do not. Very good. The floor
is yours. Thank you. Good evening honorable mayor members of
the city council. My name is Candace Alvarez. I'm the
city clerk. Um, this item relates to measure T, which
the city council previously placed on the November 3rd, 2026
ballot to change the Office of City Treasurer from elective
to a point of. Tonight's action is limited to the
next election administration steps for the ballot measure. The measure
is already on the ballot. So this item does not
place the measure before voters again. Instead, uh, the requested
action is to direct the city clerk to send measure
T to the city attorney for preparation of the impartial
analysis. Authorize the filing of an argument in favor of
the measure and allow rebuttal arguments if an argument against
the measure is submitted. Elections code section 9280 provides that
the city attorney prepares the impartial analysis, which is limited
to 500 words and printed before the arguments in the
voter information materials. Under elections code section 9282, the city
council or one or more members authorized by the city
council may file a written argument for a city measure.
And finally elections code section 9285 authorizes rebuttal arguments of
up to 250 words. After city council direction has provided,
staff will finalize the filings for the statutory deadlines. The
impartial analysis and direct argument in favor are due to
the county by August 17, 2026. And a rebuttal argument
if one is needed would be due on August 27,
2026. Each filing is also subject to a public examination
period under the elections code. The main policy choice tonight
is whether the city council wants to file an argument
in favor of the measure. And if so, whether you
want the full council to sign it or just one
or more designated council members. Authorized members may prepare and
sign the argument and I may submit the argument without
returning to city council for a second approval unless the
council specifically wants that extra review step. Council action is
permissive rather than mandatory with respect to filing a written
argument. So if the council doesn't want to authorize an
argument, no council sponsored argument will be filed. Although any
individual voter, um, eligible to vote on the measure may
still file an argument in his or her individual capacity
subject to the elections code. Staff recommends adoption of the
resolution directing the city clerk to transmit measure T to
the city attorney for impartial analysis and authorizing the written
argument and rebuttal arguments in favor of measure T if
the council so desires. And if the council or one
or more members wants to submit an argument, you will
need to identify those members tonight. This concludes my report.
I will go back to my seat so I can
continue running the background. But I am available if you
have any questions. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. We
will speak slowly and allow you plenty of time. We
had no request to speak on this item. So we'll
bring it up to the dais. What is the pleasure
of my colleagues? Council Romanos. I'll be happy to submit.
A written argument in favor of, uh, the measure. I'll
make the motion to that effect. Any other comments from
my colleagues. Hearing none, we have a motion. Do we
have a second. Second. We have a second from the
mayor pro - temp. Any further discussion. Hearing none. Please
record your vote electronically. In the item passes unanimously. Thank
you, council member monos. That takes us now to public
comments on non - agendaized items three minutes in length.
Madam Clerk, do we have any requests to speak? I
do. First is, Deborah Gold. Ms. Gold, name in city
of residence, please. Hello, uh, city council. My name is
Debra Gold and I'm a resident here in Lake Elsinor.
I am concerned with the Elsinor Heights Industrial Project. And
I oppose any data centers in or around our town.
These data centers use a ton of water up to
15 million gallons per day. 1. 8 billion annually per
the environmental and energy study institute. Their energy use is
extremely high and it increases electricity. Prices for households in
areas that have data centers. Uh, they also use a
lot of fossil fuels with their backup generators which pollutes
the air. The noise is a huge concern. The noise
can be up to 96 decibels. Hearing protection is required
for workers who spend eight hours in 85 decibels. This
is 11 decibels higher and we would be experiencing this
noise 24 hours per day. The light pollution is another
concern. It messes with people circadian rhythm. It throws wildlife
habitat development and migration patterns off per the environmental health
project. Heat from these servers running creates heat islands increasing
the surrounding temperature by approximately 3. 6 degrees in towns
near data centers. Lakeyesner is already hot enough as it
is. Contamination of soil and waterways is another concern. You
guys are doing this wonderful lake cleanup and we're all
so happy about it. We'd like to keep our waterways
clean. It's not going to add any jobs beyond the
initial construction or very few jobs. Pardon me. So it's
not really going to be bringing that into town. Lake
Elsinor is primarily a residential city putting a data center
here will not only devalue the homes that the people
here have worked so hard to be able to buy.
But it will pollute the environment in which we are
raising our families. We and our children deserve a quiet
and peaceful environment destroying all that with a data center
is wrong and unacceptable. Please amend the city's zoning ordinance
is to prohibit any data centers in or around Lake
Ilsinor. Thank you for your time. Thank you Mr. Gold.
Next speaker, Madam Clerk. Our next speaker is Eulene Greenwood.
Hello. Um, I would like to thank the city council
for this opportunity to address you tonight. I'm in Greenwood.
I grew up and worked in Orange County. And when
I retired, my husband and I decided to come and
retire here. And Lake Elsinor. We really loved the small
town rural feel here in Lake Elsinor. Um, like many
before me, I'm here to talk to you about the
Ilsinor Heights Industrial Center. Um, I first found out about
the industrial center, the plans for the industrial center from
an email. And so I immediately went to the internet
and did an internet search and that search took me
directly to the city's website during which I found the
notice of preparation. Um, that was prepared by the city
planning department. I, like many others tonight, um, would like
to express my concerns about a data center about this
project. I know that there are two options for residential
buildings, warehouses and or a data center. Large warehouses and
data centers. Throughout our hillsides should not, in my opinion,
be the vision that the city has for the city
of Lake Elsinor. Large truck traffic such as semi trucks
are not what we want to see driving through our
city streets. Data centers use millions of gallons of water
per year, increasing demand on local water supplies. And ultimately
increasing the cost of our water. We have already been
subjected to water restrictions in the past. This would only
make it worse. Data centers also consume huge amounts of
electricity, which will strain our electrical grid and ultimately increase
our electric rates. This could potentially increase the likelihood of
rolling blackouts. The proposed electrical substation for the data center
will have huge power poles and overhead electrical lines. Again,
this should not be, in my opinion, the vision that
the city council has for our city. I'm opposed to
the data centers for sure. And I would like to
know how the residents will be notified so we can
be part of the process, um, voicing our concerns in
the future when, uh, this project continues down the road.
I appreciate your time. Have a good evening.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Kaitlyn de los
Reyes. If you. See me walking over the red wig.
You did not. Okay. Decided to change it. Okay. Good
evening Mayor City Council and members of the community. My
name is Kaitlyn De Ausrelis and I grew up right
here in Lake Astanor for my first day at Wayward
Canon Elementary School until graduating from Temesco Canyon High at
the storm stadium. The future of this community isn't an
abstract policy debate to me. The city and its inhabitants
raised me. And that's why I'm here today. Because I've
deemed it my duty to protect that and those who
mean something to me. I'm here to voice my opposition
to option two of the Elsinor Heights Industrial Project. The
proposed data center would be nearly 248, 000 square feet,
more than twice at the size of the average data
center in the United States. With a project of this
skill comes series concerns. Modern AIDA centers consume enormous amounts
of electricity. Some use as much power as 100, 000
homes. And data centers could account for up to 12
percent of all US electricity used by 2028. At a
time when Americans are already paying higher utility bills, will
us, the local citizens, ultimately bear those costs. Water is
another concern. A medium - sized data center can consume
up to 110 million gallons of water each year. Our
own water district adopted a water shortage contingency plan just
last year, expanding of water - intensive project during a
time of increasing water uncertainty makes me question the priorities
of those who created this proposal. Finally, we must think
about the future. The international monetary fund estimates that around
40 percent of jobs worldwide could be affected by AI
- driven automation, while technology can be beneficial. We should
not ignore the long - term impact on working people.
I want to be clear. I do not oppose artificial
intelligence. I oppose putting corporate profit ahead of my community,
our community. I want to leave you with one final
thought. Each of you serves on this council because the
people of Lake Al - Sonor entrusted you with our
vote, their vote. Right now I live in Meninih. Um,
public office is a position of office not entitlement. And
with that comes accountability. Decisions that you make will be
remembered by the people you represent. They will remember who
stood up for this community and they will have the
opportunity to decide whether you should continue to represent them.
I ask you to remember that responsibility as you decide
on the next steps of this very impactful project. I
ask you to think beyond the short term economic promises
and consider the long - term consequences for our residents,
our children, our resources and our quality of life. I
project, please reject option two. Thank you. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Alexis Morelos.
Good evening Mayor, Council Members, uh, my name is Alexis
Morelos. I am a member of the Inland Empire DSA.
Coming down from Reno Valley, um, like many other people
here. I am here basically to tell you that when
the time comes, consider, uh, the options for the Elsinor
Heights Industrial Project. You're not even going to think about
option too. You're not going to vote for the warehouse
or for the, uh, data center, excuse me. And if
I had it my way, I would ask that you
even scrap the entire thing. I think everybody's pretty tired
of warehouses, the traffic, the smog. I don't think that's
going to happen. Um, and also there was actually a
bit of a comical section in there talking about setting
aside five acres, four residential, you know, like people are
dreaming about living next to warehouse. But I'm also here
to ask that the city council heavily consider and begin
discussion of a data center moratorium. And afterwards, a ban
on data centers. And this has to be a band
both on large data centers and on small data centers.
And we only need to look across the nation to
understand why. We can look at one of the biggest
data centers being developed in our neighboring state of Utah,
the strato status center under Kevin O'Leary. This is something
like 40, 000 acres of land. That is going to
take up. It is going to consume more energy than
the entire state combined. It is going to deplete the
already drying up salt lake. And it's going to raise
average temperatures by about eight degrees. Unless you like the
heat wave, you know. Uh, in that case, you know,
don't even think about it. Um, we can also look
at the effects of smaller data centers. We can look
at Virginia or they have clusters of smaller debt centers.
Even then, residents there are seeing increases in their electricity
rates of up to 200 percent. People are being priced
out of their electricity. People are being asked to ration
their water resources while the status center, this non -
living thing is consuming more water. And basically taking up
all the resources that we need to live. And so.
I ask that you begin this moratorium. You look at
the people around you and ask yourself if you want
them angry at you. Uh, continuing on with these data
centers. And I ask that you really consider the future.
Of our water resources. Of our environment, our electricity. Thank
you. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Holly Jackson.
Hello. I'm not entirely prepared, but I have done a
little bit of research. And I feel like everybody has
seen the data centers just popping up. Around the country.
And it's very scary what it takes for powering them.
Um, they consume lots and lots and lots of electricity,
which generate a lot of heat and require a lot
of water to cool them off. Um, and I think
these numbers are in the millions of gallons. Um, I
think it's at least one million gallons a day, um,
which is roughly equivalent to 10, 000 people every day.
Um, and these facilities do not just use the water.
They also destroy it and poison it and make it
unusable. Um, and I, I live in Temecula, but I
just, um, I can't really stand the idea of people,
um, around me having to suffer with that. Um, and,
uh, I think it's really important to think about what
happens to the people actually living near the data center.
Not only is there water poisoned, um, but also surely
the value of their homes is going to plummet, um,
because of the draining noise, endlessly seeping out of them.
Um, so I think it's important to understand that if
this were to come to fruition, you are damning these
people. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Daniel Miller.
Good evening. If I was here to ask you guys,
if I was a contractor and I want to build
250, 000 homes, you'd want to have an impact study.
You would tell me that it was going to impact
your water supply, the electrical. The data center they want
to put in is going to take out about the
same amount of electricity is 250, 000 homes. We've had
rolling blackouts here before without the homes. You've already, we've
building new homes during Lake Elsinor. Just think 250, 000
new homes pulling off the grid. The way this system
works, they get priority. Look around the nation to see
what happens. You make a contract with them. There are
shell company within two years. There's a third company there
that doesn't have to hold up to any contract that
was signed at the beginning. They always tell you there's
going to be 200 jobs. Then shortly after it, because
in their natural company takes over it, they don't hold
up to that. They get the unions to apply for
it. And the union support it because they're told they're
going to get these jobs. And then they don't get
them. They get them for about three months and then
they're like, go. And you guys will have no control
over it. The data center is going to be equivalent
to 250, 000 new homes on our electric grid. Is
why don't you ask then that the grid be changed
before you would even consider something like this. It's not
only going to be 250, 000 homes on electricity, but
for water, it'd be about 25, 000 homes. A few
years ago, California had a water shortage. We were told
we could only water our yard at a certain time.
Right now we don't have that, but who says it's
not going to happen again. Add again another 25, 000
homes pulling water. And again, the way the contracts work,
they get priority. So if there's rolling blackouts, we, the
people with our electricity and maybe without water, and they're
still working. Because right now their sister company up in
Washington, DC are putting together that our federal government will
vote on face recognition on your computer. They're saying they're
calling it that save the children. So they want to
recognize, they want to take our picture before you can
even sign onto your phone or your computer to recognize
that. That's what the data centers are. It's going to
be to track us like hunger games in real time.
And you're okaying it. You have people here who votes
their voice their opinion. They're peaceful. Do you think they're
going to be peaceful in a July summer if the
water, no electricity? They're going to remember your face as
may even know where you're at. And they'll become the
peaceful protesters that happen in Seattle and Portland. Because if
children don't have electricity or old people are not having
electricity and their seniors are dying because of no water.
That would be on your conscience. I don't know what
kind of kickback they're going to give you, but can
your conscience handle it when the people or without water
and without power. And the contracts, they get to keep
everything. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Miller.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Jimmy Flores.
Good afternoon. Michael Smile. Bob, Timothy. Mr. Marlowe's Barbara. Good
to see you again. You know, I want to thank
you for having this meeting for the residents. We have
locked that came out to express their thoughts. I had
a pleasure calling your project manager today. His true answers
don't come from Facebook. Two answers come from those that
are in charge of the project. In interesting to find
where the project was going. I was told next to
the dump. Well, that's a nice location. But the real
reason I'm here is that. In my lifetime as a
residence in district five, I've learned that a lot of
us will always come forward and explain the pros and
cons. But the answers come from, in my opinion, subcommittees.
For example, do we put wastewater in our lake. What
do we do? We form a subcommittee, a reclamation task
force, which I was subchair approved. Through the process and
it ended up at the water control board. So the
answer lies in many. Of these projects that come forth.
In subcommittees and their input. So that they can put
together the pros and cons of the data center. I
believe that if you were to appoint from your district,
a minimum to three of those opposed. Or four. And
form this subcommittee, you're going to get the input from
those who are mostly with the outcry. And you have
a true answer of what your residence and those who
elected you to office. What they're truly trying to tell
you. So I'm here tonight to ask that if as
we move forward, because the environmental impact report still incomplete.
They haven't even done anything yet. But we're screaming. And
I, and we have a right to. Because you are
our electric officials. You decide our future. So I'm here
to ask each of you to form a subcommittee. Give
us an opportunity to view so that we can move
forward with the true direction for our new city. We're
growing gentlemen. We're going so fast that we don't know
where to put the next stoplight. But. We know what
we're doing. You've done an outstanding job. Michael, I'm proud
of you. You're running again. And if I was in
your district, I'd vote for you. Mr. McGee, you've done
an outstanding job with your new homes on a mission
trail. Traffic needs a little work, but Timothy, outstanding performance.
Mr. Monols. I love you, man. You're good. But in
reality, we have to listen to your residence. We live
here. I selected a developers. When they build their houses,
they're gone. And we have to live. They left behind.
Subcommittee gentlemen. Form it. From all your districts. Bring forth
the best and the worst. Thank you, Mr. Flores.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Jennifer Hem.
Oh, no. My notes just close. Okay. We're going off
the cup. Okay. Uh, I am a mother, a teacher
and a resident in the city. I've been here for
almost 25 years. And I've never been to a city
council meeting, but the data center brought me here. Um,
I understand that it's not necessarily coming, but we all
fear that it's coming. And we all see it coming
into many communities that went, it's not coming. And then
it was there. Um, everybody else has spoken already about
the water we know. You guys have worked. We just
will listen to it approving a bunch of money to
make our water situation better. So I feel like that
would just be an asinine decision to undo all the
work that you've done. So hopefully that alone is enough
to drive you not to make that decision. However, um,
I also emailed you guys a plethora of articles about
how it affects the electrical grid and the health of
the residents nearby, the toxins that come out, the air
pollution, the noise pollution. People literally can't sleep with the
noise, you know, and then they're suffering health consequences because
of that. We live in a wonderful natural, beautiful area.
And to see that thrown away for like one of
the earlier gentlemen said, for what? For a thing over
these people and the people that the children that I
teach every day to tell them your life wasn't more
important than the Almighty dollar in our city council, made
that decision. I just can't see that. I have no,
I've met some of you talked to some of you
personally. And I hope that you would never make that
decision. Um, I hope that you can stick to the
promise that you made to dream extreme and your responsibility
to care for this community, its land and its native
inhabitants and its people and to vote no on that
possibility. But more importantly to enact a moratorium and hopefully
soon thereafter a permanent ban on any data center construction
in our community.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Letitia Barron.
I get eating mayor council members and residents of Lake
Elsinor. If you can hear me. So I've done a
little bit of research the last few weeks regarding the
AI data centers. And you know, it was off the
top of my head while I was getting coffee and
I was realizing all the solar panels that are being
put on the new homes. Uh, through the real estate,
you know, every single house that's being is going to
have a solar panels. So the AI data centers will
be using the backup storage. I don't know if everybody
knew this. From the power from all the new built
homes and existing homes that have solar panels, that yes,
the major tech companies such as Tesla said Red Renew,
home and others are working to link residents solar panels
with the home batteries into the virtual power plants to
help supply and power and reduce the grids from the
AI data centers. But does that mean to the residents
and the consumers that have the solar panels is that
your stored backup batteries that you guys get, you know,
for your solar is going to be using at night
to run their AI denusators. Okay. Just to let you
know. Short - term effect on that, unfortunately is you
get your base credits back for your solar panels. It
reduces a straight on the grid long term effect. Fends
grid upgrades, utilities must build heavier transmission lines for AI.
These massive infrastructures are passed out to us consumers. Okay.
Water prices will go up. Due to the builder with
AI data center for our city infrastructure cost will add
communities need to build new water treatment plants, pipeline storage
systems to handle the facilities that use five million gallons
of water a day. These multibiliant costs are passed down
to the consumers. So just to let you know, the
AI data center that's proposed is going to, to me,
I don't know about everybody else will be a damaging
effect. To like us more, to other cities around good
old America. I'm also proposing as a resident, I'm helping
Lake Elsin has the only. Not man - like it's
a natural lake. I don't know why anybody has not
put this as a historic landmark. They've done the buildings
around, I guess, now the chimes, uh, some parks, you
know, all around, but not one person. Has proposed for
Lake Elstart to be a historic landmark. And I'm kind
of surprised at that because of the history here. So
I'm going to be nominating like gylsner as a historic
landmark. Thank you. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Dana Hamm.
Hi. My name is Dana Hamm. I'm a resident Lake
Elnor. I've been my entire life. I'm a current student
in this town. I go to like Elsa in high
school. And sorry phasing a little nervous. I've never spoken
when I've argued before. But I'm also terrified at the
prospect of growing up in a world where it not
only is essentially impossible to move out and live on
your land in a foregret in life at 18, 19,
but also now possibly not being able to have clean
drinking water and growing up with clean water and for
our kids and our future generations and the rest of
my life if we do this. Um, you know, that
was my mom back then. I grew up with her
telling me stop posting so much water, we're going to
drought to which I would reply. We're always in a
drought. So it seems sort of ridiculous. To be wanting
or even considering. Something that would pollue our water in
for our kids and for your kids and your grandkids.
And like I said, generations to come. Um, that's pretty
much it. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Harry.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Christian Sandoval.
You turned it off. There you go. Good to go.
Okay. How's it going everybody? Um, thank you for having
me here. Or, well, thank you for letting me be
here actually. Uh, I'm going to keep it short and
simple. Uh, we've heard a lot of the research. We
heard a lot of the impact. I grew up in
Wildmar my whole life. I now live in like Elsinor.
And I'm going to be honest. I've seen a lot
of great things come out of Lakeyesnor. I feel like
as a kid, I wasn't really aware of some of
those things. I kind of didn't really pay attention to
those. But now as an adult, it's awesome seeing all
these events on Main Street, the investment we're putting in
there. The car show, that was awesome. Just the different
businesses we have there going to bloom cough, getting that
ice cream coffee drink. You know, probably has way too
much sugar, but you know, that's a holder topic. Um,
going to the different restaurants there, just seeing the great
thing, the beautification by the freeway here. I mean, aside
from the streetlight thing happening there, it's, it's really cool.
Uh, and so what I've noticed is just a lot
of community building, right? And I think going to the
point of the data centers, right? The data centers are
the undoing all of those beautiful things that we've been
seeing. Just being here and seeing the presentation on the
lake and seeing the impact seeing the pictures, like that's
beautiful progress. And again, with all the research and the
impacts that we've been listening to here, like, I feel
like that undoes it. And so I think it just
comes down to a matter of what do we value
most? Is it going to be that community that you
all have spent so much time cultivating here. Pridefully, as
you guys should, right? That's the greatest things ever. Or
if you're going to be chasing the revenue, the profit
that might benefit us in a year for a year
for a couple years, but in the long term, right?
It's going to impact not us, but the generations after
us. So I think taking that into consideration is key
here. You know, I know it's just an optional or
an alternative in this else in the plan that we've
been addressing. But the research is there. The impact is
there. We can either respect it or we can overlook
it. And I think that's on you guys to reflect
and really consider. I'm really proud of seeing the turnout
we have here, especially the young folks still in school.
Can we clap it up for them real quick. Having
that civic pride is huge. And so I know you
all seeing them here is a cool thing too. And
so just we want to value that community that you
all have spent so much time building and keep that
in the forefront. We're making a decision. Thank you all.
Next speaker, please. Our last speaker is Tarek Gadd.
Good evening. I'm going to keep it brief. There's six
points I want to share with you. Uh, some of
it has already been recapped by the other members. Basically
the homes of the proposed AI data center is obviously
it's the water resource chain, which we in Southern California
suffer a lot from special with the drought. The impact
on the, uh, electricity price. Yes, I understand that the
local utility is upgrading the circus here near Lake Elsied
or with a new substation that's upcoming. However, the costs,
unfortunately, will not be fully taken by the customers, such
as the AI data center, but mainly by the customers,
like the local citizens. Unfortunately, I have to chip in
and contribute to that cost. Uh, the traffic, the increased
traffic. Data centers require a lot of, uh, processing chips
and the solicita hard drives that failed pretty often. Uh,
fuel for their backup generators, et cetera, to kind of
require a lot of increased traffics, batteries, best systems, all,
etc. The noise pollution, the consistent humming that we hear
about and at the other states. Uh, the microclimate heat
surge. There's something called the heat dome. As far as
we know that impact of AI data centers. They cold
their equipment down, but the cranial effect heat dome that
begins six miles out from the radius of the data
centers. Locally, it may not be felt for the rest
of Lake Elsinor. It may be felt. And the last
point is that once one data center comes in, it
doesn't stop. It's going to expand. And then the second
one is going to pop up. Third one like popcorn.
That's, that's the leak future that I'm worried about. Thank
you for your time.
Madam clerk, that was our last speaker? Yes, sir. Very
good. Before we move on, I just want to let
you all know that we appreciate your participation here tonight.
And I'd ask you to wait until council comments because
I believe each one of my colleagues is going to
want to address what you had to say here this
evening. So we do have a protocol to follow first.
And that takes us now to city manager comments. Uh,
the only comment I have is in addition to the
presentations we saw tonight. The city received an award letter
from California Department of Booty and Waterways that they are
replacing our restroom floating restrooms on the lake. It's very
good. We won that. With that, that's all I have.
Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Madam attorney. No comments. Very
good. Our treasurers here with us this evening. Mr. Castro.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening everybody. I want to
thank you guys for being here this evening. We encourage
members of the public to come out and speak out
at these meetings. So thank you for being the best
part of Lake Elsinor. And this is all what it's
about. So thank you for being here this evening. Thank
you Mayor. Thank you Mr. Treasure brings it up to
the dais for council comments. Council member Carol. Yes. Thank
you. So as the newest or yes newest council member
here, I could tell you why I sit here. Uh,
I sit here for, uh, to represent my family, uh,
my friends. And certainly my neighbors. And if I wasn't
to listen to my neighbors to not be doing an
injustice to this position. And so your comments are not
lost on me. I don't believe that they're lost on
my colleagues up here. And so I thank you for
being here. And I appreciate. Everybody speaking. Cause that, that
is what we are, right? We're America. And so thank
you. I really appreciate that. First slide. Congratulations to the
Hanson family for bloom turning five years old. Downtown's an
amazing, truly an amazing place. I think Bloom, you know,
with their sugary drinks and great ice cream, it's a
unique opportunity for families to gather. This is my family
along with some members of the Hanson family. Just celebrating
their five year anniversary. And so I just want to
say thank you to them and to the community members
standing up and opening up businesses here. And I would
ask that everybody please support our local businesses, uh, especially,
especially Bloom here on Main Street. Next slide, please. Um,
my family is able to attend fast and loud. The
exotic night. An amazing car show. I believe it's the
last one of the summer. Truly it was an amazing
unique opportunity for my kids to enjoy cars that you
just don't really see around, uh, like you all so
often. So, uh, really want to say thank you to
city staff and all the sponsors. Hooking cleaver ranch, uh,
especially for, you know, sitting there and talked about, uh,
healthy meat and healthy beef that he grows up in
Idaho and ships down here for all of our families
to have a unique opportunity to eat a little bit
healthier. Next slide, please. Uh, congratulations on the cave or
the ice cave soft opening. I think they're actually now
open, opened on Sunday, I believe. This is a unique,
truly unique business here. It's ice skating rink with NHL
size rank and then a mini rink adjacent to that.
Again, this is amazing family that has decided to invest
here. And like else, Noran, and I ask everybody to
go out and support. Again, if it wasn't for local
businesses and our neighbors out there, what would we have.
Um, so please, uh, enjoy a nice evening ice skating
cool off. It's wonderful inside. Latest and greatest technology and
a unique opportunity to just spend some time with family
and friends. Next slide. National night out is coming. Uh,
it's going to be next week, August 4th, 6th to
8 p. m. and my family park McVicker Canyon Park.
Meet all your first responders. Explore police fire and emergency
vehicles. Enjoy free activities, games, and fun for all the
ages. And connect with your neighbors and celebrate what makes
our community strong. Uh, next slide. And then amazing. Actually,
I'm super excited for this. Boosting the sand. This is
literally going to be a concert on the sand at
launch point. Uh, the concert starts at 5 p. m.
I'm sorry, the gates open at 5 p. m. You're
going to please, you're going to be able to enjoy
Shani Wilson and Combs USA, a Luke Combs cover. Uh,
so unique opportunity to sit there in the sand, look
at our beautiful lake. Enjoy all the latest and greatest
technology we've put out there. Um, and just a good
opportunity to hang out. Um, so please come and join
us August 8th. Next slide, please. And something truly amazing.
This is, uh, the city actually put in for this
grant. It was sponsored by Ken Calvert, Congressman Ken Calvert.
So happy to announce that we were awarded a 25
million dollar build grant for the interchange of central avenue
in the 15 freeway. Highway 74, ascends you may know
it. Uh, this is obligated by September 2030. It's already
being studied. And as you can see here's the design.
Um, so really thank you to Ken Calvert. Thank you
to our community for, you know, speaking up and saying
that this needs to be adjusted. And thank you to
staff for going after this money and really giving us
the opportunity to, uh, alleviate some of the traffic issues
that we all face every day on our commutes to
work and home. So with that, I say thank you
guys. Thank you neighbors for being amazing. And thank you
for making Lake also know what it is. Just, I
think the best town. Certainly in California. So thank you.
Thank you, council member. Councilman Romanos. Thank you honorable mayor.
Uh, I'm going to start off tonight by thanking the
members of the community who came out and showed up
and had decorum. And you guys were polite. And you
guys recognized that we're in a meeting setting. And you
came and brought a motion. And you certainly said your
peace. And, uh, I think that's a pretty special thing.
It's easier to go ahead and hear your community when
they're speaking to you, not shouting at you. So thank
you for your decorum tonight. I'm going to go through
a couple of points as kind of good news, bad
news. All right. So the good news is, is we
didn't improve a data center tonight. The bad news is,
is we weren't considering a data center tonight. The good
news is, is that, uh, we heard you guys. And
I think I'll list all these points here in a
moment. Uh, the bad news is, is that I think
sometimes there's a disconnect between how local municipal governments work.
And so I'm going to give you guys some points
so that you understand a few items. Number one, this
is not a city project. Okay. This is not an
initiative that the city asked for or brought to the
city. This is a property owner who wants to do
something with the property. They want to change the zoning
and then make a profit. Okay. And so what they're
doing is they're studying, they're spending money and time and
money and studies to go ahead and change the zoning
and create as many uses as possible in order to
create a profit on the property. We as a city
are obligated to accept an application not accepted and approve
it, but accept an application that's complete and consider it.
And the city is also required to hire the professionals
reimbursed by the applicant in order to go ahead and
study the project in a third party way that's absolutely
just independent. So we can get information about what the
project is going to do to our community, how it's
going to impact our community and whether or not it's
something that this body as well as the planning commission
will consider. And whether we think it's a good idea
or not. We also act as in what's called a
quasi judicial role. Okay. And that means that we almost
have to be like judges. And unlike your congressman or
unlike your state assembly people, we're not allowed to come
out and say whether we're four or against something, especially
as an appending application here within the city. To do
so would mean, what's that? Yeah. Well, she'd be mad.
That's our attorney. But also we could any decision that
came out of this body could be challenged in court
and judges could then overturn that decision. And then basically
impose their own rules and regulations. And maybe approve the
project that we didn't want or maybe deny a project
that we said yes to. Okay. So we have to
be kind of careful about the way we speak here.
And we have in the way that we go ahead
and convey information. I can speak to the project and
provide information. I can't tell you what I think about
it yet. Okay. And that's not me trying to be
cagey or anything like that. That's the law. All right.
A lot of people brought up some phenomenal points. Okay.
Uh, power. There's not enough power to go ahead. And
there's potential issues with that. Water. The city would never
ever connect any type of project to our lake water.
I don't know why that's out there. That's not what
the project proposes. And it certainly isn't something that I
think we'd even consider. Okay. So I think that needs
to be kind of dealt with. The moratorium is only
effective for a year. Okay. But we are going through
a city update, a general plant update process. And we
certainly can take this into consideration during that process as
a matter of fact. So we can go ahead and
regulate uses and effects. I'm not saying that we would.
But any changes that we made right now, whether it
was in passing a moratorium or changing anything in the
general plant would not impact the project that's currently under
application because they would, they would have applied before we
made the changes. Okay. Uh, kickbacks. As far as I
know, this developer is not involved with any type of
donations to any of the council members. So I know
I haven't received any. And I probably wouldn't take them.
And if I did take them, if they exceed a
certain dollar amount, I can't vote on the project. That's
the law too. Okay. So there are no kickbacks. The
subcommittee that would consider this project exists. It's called the
planning commission. They consider it first. And then they make
a recommendation to this council. That's their job. That's why
they're appointed. And they do a phenomenal job of it.
They will dig in and they will ask the tough
questions. Uh, somebody mentioned making the lake of historic landmark.
You can't do that. It would essentially go ahead and
revert to a tribal cultural resource. But it's a great
suggestion. I mean, kind of in okay suggestion, but, but
it wouldn't work. You can't do that with lakes. Um,
even if they're old lakes. Right. Even if they're natural
lakes, you can't really do that. And again, people have
noted, we're spending a lot of time and money trying
to make the lake a nice place. Why, why would
we connect it to the lake? That doesn't make sense.
So, um, and quite frankly, as far as I know,
the end user, no data center is in the region.
Nobody has approached the city in terms of putting a
data center here. This is a property owner who does
not intend to build anything entitling the project, trying to
go ahead and prepare it to sell it to somebody
to go ahead and build something. It could be a
lot of different things. And I can't even tell you
whether or not I'm in favor of the zoning change.
I mean, that's a question in its own right. So.
So there you go. Uh, I think that there's, um,
the reason why I go through all of that is
just, uh, I think sometimes people read something, uh, they
get passionate about it and scared. And I don't want
you to be walking around scared. And I certainly don't
want you to think that we're not sitting up here
thinking about all these different things. And I appreciate all
the information. We all, we all, we're all very familiar
with a lot of the information. We're connected to. So,
um, again, thank you for coming out tonight. Thank you
for making your voices heard. Thank you for your decorum.
Come on out when the project's being. And we will
remember you. We'll remember the comments from this night, certainly.
We've already taken public comments. I don't want to turn
this into a debate and do a discussion. I can't
really answer. I think I answered a lot of questions.
Like, but we can talk offline. I'd be happy to
do so. Okay. Uh, and with that, again, thank you
again. We're going to go to slides now for myself.
On Thursday. At 6. 30 p. m., we're going to
have live at the lakefront perform. The second to last
performance, and that is the 90 station pop rock hip
hop. This group actually performs in Las Vegas. They're a
big act, essentially. I expect this to receive a lot
of attention. I'll be there as a matter of fact.
So come on down to launch point. Uh, it's on
Riverside drive. If you don't know the admission is very,
very good free. It's absolutely free. It's affordable. It's affordable.
This is our love letter to the people of Lake
Elsinor. We certainly want you guys to have a good
time. It kind of is starting to wrap up the
concert series that we've been holding here at the city
of Lake House. You've never been. You should definitely go
bring a chair to sit in because it's out on
the open lawn. Bring a chair to sit in, maybe
a blanket. I think it'll be too warm for a
blanket. Also you're dancing shoes. Be comfortable. Is it out
on the grass and you will definitely have a good
time. And if these guys are as good as I'm
told, uh, it will be a wonderful evening. Thank you
for the time, mayor. And with that, we'll see you
next time. Thank you, council member of Pro Tem Sheridan.
Thank you, Mayor McGee. Good evening, everyone. First, I want
to echo what my colleagues have already said. I appreciate
that everybody came out tonight and let us know your
feelings about this. It is important that we hear from
you. And so thank you for that. I won't reiterate
what council member mono said, but I think he outlined
it well. So I'll leave it at that. Uh, I'll
go to my first slide. Uh, I am the representative
from the council for the Riverside Transit Agency. The bus
folks here in Western Riverside County. And I'm so glad
there are people here tonight so I can let you
know that you can ride the bus through the end
of August for just 25 cents. And you may not
know this, but the bus does go from Riverside County
to Disneyland. So you can take a bus ride out
the Disneyland. Full disclosure. It takes a minute or two.
And it takes a minute or two to come back.
But for a quarter, that's a pretty good deal. Also
if you are 18 years old or younger, you can
ride the bus for free through the end of 2027.
It's a pretty good deal. We are very proud of
what RTA has been doing over the last couple of
years. I am an honored to be on their board
of directors. I'm actually second vice chair this year. And
it is just been a wonderful experience being on the
board for the last couple of years. And I would
urge you to ride the bus if you have the
opportunity. You can bring it back to me. I do
not have a slide on the Lakehouse North storm, but
some of you may know that I am associated with
the Lake Elsinore storm. It is the only minor league
baseball team in Riverside County. And only one of 120
cities across the country that have a minor league baseball
team. We play a diamond stadium, games start at 605
on Tuesday's Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. On Fridays all season
long continuing through August and into September and Friday nights
we'll have fireworks after the game. That game starts at
645. And then on Saturday, the game also starts at
645. I would urge you to come out and support
the Lake Elsinor storm. We won the first half of
the California League's South Division. So we are in the
playoffs. So there will be an opportunity for us to
win our fifth California League Championship this year, which was
something that we'll be very proud of if we can
get there. So again, I urge you to come out
to Diamond Stadium, check out Lake Osedor Storm, baseball. It
is a great time. It's an affordable time. And I
guarantee your family will have a fun time. Finally, I
just want to say thank you to my God's son
and his new bride. And congratulations to them. They got
married this past Saturday in upstate New York. And to
Corey and to Emily, thank you for allowing me to
participate in the wedding. And I hope you're having a
great time. I love you both. And with that, I
say thank you for the time, sir. So the Godfather
was in New York. Yes, I was. Very well. First
of all, thank you all for coming tonight and for
bringing your passion. I know we've lost several people over
the course of the night. Um, sometimes the meetings are
boring. Um, sometimes you're not fully engaged. Or you have
loved young ones that need to get home to bed.
But, um, your message came through loud and clear tonight.
One of the questions that I heard was, how do
we get notified? How are we going to know? So
here's how you know. What has happened right now is
you have a notice of preparation of an environmental document.
And so that's what's brought you here today. You're on
alert that that is occurring. The applicant is now going
to prepare with the help of a consultant. An environmental
impact report that is going to address all of the
things that our staff has asked them to address. If
you send an email to our planning department indicating that
you want to be kept on the mailing list. When
the draft environmental document comes out, you will be notified
that it is now ready for public review. And you'll
be able to go on to our website and get
your own copy. It's very important once that comes out,
you have 45 days to respond in writing all of
your concerns about the project. The applicant is then required
to address every single comment. So the comment too big.
There's no comment too small. And that is how you
get your voice out. That draft document is then compiled
into a final document and it will be presented to
the council as part of a complete application and request.
Now we heard from Chamber of Commerce past in Chamber
of Commerce present that stated that these are great people.
They're consultant is here today that says these are great
people. Well, I don't know that. I've never met them.
And quite frankly, if the environmental document comes back and
they didn't listen to you, well, they're tone deaf when
it comes to this community. So I want you to
know that you have had an impact here this evening.
And with that, I need to let you know that
our work is not done here this evening. The council
needs to recess back into closed session, excuse me, it
is the successor agency. We have one more matter of
business. So we're going to hit the gavel. We're going
to go back upstairs. Some of you may have questions
for us. If it's brief, we can answer it before
we go upstairs. But again, we have more business to
take care of. And so with that, Madame Eternity, do
I need to make another announcement? No, you can adjourn
the city council meeting and recess the successor agency. We
are going to adjourn our city council meeting and recess
the successor agency meeting back into closed session. Good night
and thank you for your decorum. Hi, how are you?