Good afternoon. Call the city council and the redevelopment. Successor
agency to order showing my agency. Council member Carroll. President.
Council Member Tisdale, Council Member Monos. Here. Mayor Protown Sheridan.
Here. Mayor Mickey. Here. Madam Clerk, do we have any
requests to speak on closed session items? No, sir. Madam
attorney, closed session announcements. Thank you, Mayor. City Council has
four items. Two items of real property negotiation pursuant to
government code section 54956. 8em 4. 1, the parcel numbers
are identified. The negotiating parties are the city of Lake
Elsinor and JMB land, LLC and Steve Galvez under negotiation,
price in terms of payment. Item 4. 2 under the
same authority, APNs are identified on the agenda. The negotiating
parties or the city of Lake Elsinor and the property
owner, Chin J Chen under negotiation price in terms of
payment. We also have two items of existing litigation pursuant
to paragraph 1D of section 54956. 9. The first case
is DNS. And RS investment LLC versus the city of
Lake Elsinor, the case number is on the agenda. The
second item is the city of Lake Elsinor versus Harry
E. Mitchell. And related parties in the case number is
on the agenda. Thank you very much, Madam Attorney. Have
you know their business in front of us? We're going
to recess into closed session and then reconvene back here
at seven o'clock.
Good evening. Call the Lacosnore City Council meeting and successor
agency to order. We all please rise and join me
in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready again.
And to the Republic for which it stands one nation
under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all these
remains standing for a moment of silent prayer.
Thank you. Madam Clerk, will you please call the
role? Council Member Carroll. Present. Council Member Tisdale here. Council
Member Monas. Here. Mayor Propertim Sheridan. Here. Mayor Mickey. Here.
Madam Attorney closed session report, please. Thank you, Mayor. The
city council met at five o'clock this evening to discuss
four items in closed session. Two of them are concerning
real property negotiations pursuant to government code section 54956. 9.
Item 4. 1 identifies the parcels. The agency negotiator is
city manager Simpson. The negotiating parties are the city and
the owners of that property JMB land LLC and Steve
Galvez under negotiation price in terms of payment. The second
real property negotiation, item 4. 2, the parcels are identified
on the agenda. Again, the city's negotiator is city manager
Simpson. The negotiating parties are the city and the owner
Chen Jin under negotiation, price in terms of payment. There's
no reportable action on our real property negotiations this evening.
Items 4. 3 and 4. 4 both involved existing litigation.
Closed session was conducted pursuant to the authority of government
code section 5495 6. 9 D1. The 4. 3, the
name of the case DS and RS investment LLC versus
the city of Lake Elsinor. The case numbers identified on
the agenda. Our last item is the city of Lake
Elsinor versus Harry E. Mitchell and related parties. The case
number again identified on the agenda. There is no reportable
action on those items either and that concludes my report.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Madam Attorney. Next item
on our agenda is a presentation from Cal Fire, but
our chief was unable to join us this evening. So
we're going to continue that item and tell another date
when he can be here. And that will take us
now to public comments on non - agenda items one
minute in length. Madam Clerk, do we have any request
to speak. Yes, I have two requests to speak. First
is Leo Zoller.
Naaman City of Residence for the record, please. Hi. My
name is Leo Zoller. I live in the city of
Wildemar. You guys might remember me from last year. I
promise I'm not going to do anything like I did
last year. But I'm just here to comment specifically on
the contract for the demolition of the hotel at the
front at the southern end of Main Street. I just
have a poem. I wrote a couple of days ago.
That's all I want to present to you guys. Goes
like this. Whether by bond or bulldozer, the uprooting of
trees and a ratio of history, God is displeased. No
matter where, no matter how occupation destruction leads not but
to foul. Yahweh, our God, Allah just the same shall
not forgive the forsaken that which has been made. The
supposed devout, those sworn to protect, have failed completely. The
order defect. For us and our future, a choice looms
ahead. Seed heaven on earth or have peace, land, and
bread. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Madam Clerk.
I did also receive one from Michelle Campbell, but I'm
not sure if she wants to speak on one minute
or three minutes. Do you want to speak for one
minute or for three minutes at the end of the
meeting. Three minutes. To be. Okay. Then I do have
a speaker on Zoom, Nick Fitch. Salcom, him in just
a moment.
Hello. Yes, we can hear you. You can go ahead.
Okay, wonderful. My name is Nicholas Fitch. I'm a homeowner
in like Alsinor. I'm speaking on the prospect of a
data center being installed in our town. We're concerned heavily
about the arise. Energy rates and water consumption over this
proposed building. Uh, this is not only going to raise
power costs for the individual citizen of like else north.
For businesses. And potentially lower house values, which has us
very nervous over the potential of this. Thank you. Thank
you, sir. Does that conclude our speakers under this section?
Yes, it is. Thank you, Madam Clerk. That moves us
to our consent calendar. I am 12. 1 through 12.
16. Madam Clerk, do we have any requests to speak
on any of those items? Yes, I have two requests
to speak. First is item 12. 6 and the other
is 12. 7. Very good. What's the pleasure of the
council. Move the balance. Have a motion. Can I get
a second? A motion from Councilman Monos and a second
from Mayor Protem Sheridan. Hearing no further discussion. Please record
your vote.
In the items past unanimously. Item 12. 6. Is an
agreement for a demolition contract. Madam Clerk, would you please
call the speaker. Yes, Ace Paletos.
My name's Billy Holmes. I wanted to speak on this
item I was going to request that the council postponed
the demolition of that building. Considering they started on it.
I think it was yesterday. Which seemed odd because the
money or the appropriation for it is today. It seems
kind of arbitrary. And it looks almost like a vendetta.
It's quite frankly based on the fact that the property,
the gear hard property, it's old to the Dream Center
people. And then they had good intention and faith had
gone with the city trying to get their, uh, their
thing done there with this conditional use permit that the
council finally denied after leading them to believe that they
were going to get that. But anyways, I think that
they need to be more discussion on it. And that's
all I wanted to say. Thank you. Thank you. No
other speakers on this item. No, sir. Madam attorney, you
have a statement. I can give a brief staff reporting
a little bit of background at the pleasure of the
council. Um. The ambassador hotel has been a longstanding subject
of health and safety code violations. There are at least
65 identified substandard illegal and dangerous conditions. Those conditions led
to the building being red tagged many years ago, meaning
it's unsafe to occupy until the hazards are corrected. The
city initiated code enforcement actions years and years ago. And
eventually initiated litigation against the former owner who subsequently died
in the property was tied up in probate for a
long time. When the dream center purchased the property in
2021, they were aware of these dangerous conditions and all
of the building code violations. And they entered into a
compliance agreement acknowledging those conditions agreeing to deadlines to remediate
and repair those conditions and authorizing the city to seek
court relief if the corrections were not timely made. As
the new owner, the dream center stepped into that litigation.
After five years of working with the dream center, there's
been no remediation. The property has continued to decline. I
think we have some photos if anyone wants to play
those while we're, while I'm briefly, uh, reviewing this. So
with, with no, uh, remediation in the building left to
continue to decline, the city did seek court relief. And
on July 21st, the Riverside superior court issued an order,
finding the property a danger to health and safety, a
public nuisance and ordered the city to immediately abate the
nuisance or, in other words, to demolish the property. We
initiated that process. Step one being entering into a contract
to abate the asbestos that is on the property. On
August 4th, the dream center again went to superior court
action for the court to postpone the demolition the court
rejected that application. And the city commenced asbestos abatement on
August 6. So we worked August 6th and August 7th
solely on espbestos abatement. Tonight's action relates to the demolition.
So let me give you a quick update on where
we are now. The dream center, uh, appealed the superior
court's action. And the court of appeal Friday at 450
is when we were notified did stay the demolition. So
the city is not taking any additional action, uh, we
will comply with the court of appeal. It's called a
writ of supersedius. It means that, uh, we will not
do anything until we get a green light from the
courts. One thing that you, if anyone is in the
vicinity, um, may see tomorrow is our asbestos abatement crew
will be on the roof solely to cover it, to
seal and protect the roof tiles so that they can't
blow off or the, um, exposure to the asbestos. The
issues with the dream center are two separate and distinct
matters. No entity, no matter how good their cause, no
matter how valuable the work they do or the people
they serve is exempt from the law. This building is
dangerous. This building has no seismic retrofit. This building is
in, um, at risk of falling down. We will comply
with the court order. This has absolutely nothing to do
with the ownership of the building. It has nothing to
do with an eventual land use or development proposal from
the dream center. So we value the work that the
dream center does, but the land issue is entirely separate
and distinct from the nuisance abatement issue. So the action
tonight, and we would recommend that the council proceed and
approve the contract, the demolition was publicly bid. The recommendation
is to award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder,
the amount is 198, 000 dollars. No work, and I
want to say this again. No work will be commenced
pursuant to this demolition contract. Unless and until we get
the green light or the order from the courts. Um,
that concludes my statements unless the council has any questions.
Because this is a matter of ongoing litigation. I have
advised the council to limit their comments or not to
speak other than to ask questions. Thank you very much,
Madam Attorney. Any questions or comments for my colleagues? Councilman
Monos. You know, I received a lot of comments on
this from the public. Folks who are disappointed, sadden, upset.
Um, and I just wanted to go ahead and share
that. I think we feel the same way. Building's been
red tagged since I was in high school. And it's
a serious danger. Uh, to, and, and the other side
of this is of course, if the building vertical collapse
into crush a kid or some person, a member of
the public. The other argument would be, why didn't the
city do something about it? And that's the challenge. That's
what we have to face. So don't like to be
the bad guy. But there's many hands that this has
passed through. And unfortunately, this is the path we're on
right now. So I just wanted to put that out
there. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Prepare to accept a
motion. We have a motion from Council Member Carroll. Second
from Mayor Protem Sheredon. Hearing no other comments. Please record
your vote. And the item passes unanimously. It moves us
now to item a 12. 7. This is food service
and kitchen appliance purchases for the new city hall. Madam
Clerk, would you please call the speaker? Yes. The speaker
again is Ace Valleyhouse.
Good evening. Mayor. I wanted to go ahead and bring
this up because it seemed like a lot of money
for a kitchen that you're going to put in the
Taj Mahal. Team to me, my opinion, that, that money
could be better spent on other things. There are people
out here that, you know, have serious problems like, you
know, the homelessness. And of course the building with this
best is falling off of it into the street for
all this time. And then now it's not, now it's
a, now it's a problem. But anyways, I take a
look at the, uh, military academy. And I sit there
and think to myself, that's, you know, what's the difference
between that and this building over here is that this
building is between the gear heart property and city hall.
But anyways, I wanted to go ahead and get back
to the 147, I think that that's a lot of
money. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any other
requests to speak. No, sir. Very good. What's the pleasure
of the council. We have a motion from council member
monos and a second. I believe from the mayor pro
- Tem. From council member Carol.
Having no other discussion items. Please record your vote.
That motion passed you unanimously. Thank you very much, Madam
Clerk. It takes snow to the successor agency consent calendar.
Items 13 one through 13 three. Adam clerk. Do we
have any requests to speak on these items? No, sir.
Very good. What's the pleasure of the agency. We have
a motion to approve from mayor pro - tempe Sheridan.
And a second from Councilman Romanos. Hearing no further discussion.
Please record your vote. And the items pass unanimously. Having
no public hearings or business items in front of us
this evening. We move quickly to public comments under non
- agendaized items three minutes in length. Madam Clerk, who's
our first speaker. Our perspeakers, Jeannie Corral.
Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Honorable councilman. I am here all,
so to speak about the prospect of the latest center.
I've received a number of calls only because I've lived
here since God was a boy, as you know. And
so people seem to think I should have answers. I
have told them I have no answers. But I do
have questions. I have concerns about water pollution. And the
amount of water that's such a center would take to
operate the amount of nitrates that would go back to
the water. And how it would be dispensed. And because.
It's proposed in an area that's close to other residential
places that could be subject to fire easily from the
kinds of things that occur with generators in our heat,
I would simply like to request that when you go
through the Ciqua and EIRs and the recommendations that come,
that you take a really fine look at all of
the things that are being proposed. Because we have a
data center in nearby riverside. And they're now 332 of
them. I understand in the state of California alone. So
I guess we ever generate a great deal of information.
I'm not certain how it's going to be used. For
us. Or against us. But our community is a community
of caring people. That many of them moved here. For
a high quality of life. I think most of you
came here for that. And I know I'm not willing
to allow AI to totally take over my life. Thank
you.
Thank you, Ms. Corral. Next speaker, please. Our next speaker
is Adelia Libuzowski. I'm going to. Refer my time. Over
the. Gene cleats. Yes, we don't defer time here. You
can have three minutes and your friend can have three
minutes. If maybe you just want to give us the
subject matter and whether you're four or against it, please
come to the, if you can. Okay. Thank you, ma'am.
Okay. I also am against the center. My daughter and
son - in - law live in Temecula. And she
has a degree. In computers. And she made me aware
of this. And she said, mommy really need to research
this. About the heat from the generators. The millions of
gallons of water. That will be put into this. We're
short on water already. Uh, the grid overload. How would
this affect our utility bills. Backup diesel generators emissions. Large
facilities used backup generators. Air pollution diesel exhaust noise pollution
increased energy. Generation and backup diesel testing emit. Particular matter.
For those of us that are older. We can't breathe.
It's going to make it worse. Infrastructure cost. For roads,
water systems, electric. And other utility needs. It's also going
to raise the temperature. We're already cooking. It can raise
it at the least three percent. And Jamie says maybe
up to 16. Everybody's going to be moving away. You
know, we can't live. We can't pay our electric bill
now. And, um, very few jobs are going to be
generated from this. So I have to say thank you.
Thank you for sharing your concern. Madam Clerk,
how many more speakers do we have. 11 more. Fantastic.
Perhaps if I could cut to the chase and take
a moment of personal privilege. For those of you that
are able, anyone in the audience who is opposed to
the dead center, would you mind standing up and showing
your disapproval. Very good. Now we'll continue with the speakers.
Thank you. Our next speaker is Jamie Madden.
Could. You mind if I set this here? Yes. Yes.
Okay. Good evening. Mayor. Mayor. You scrub the microphone. There
we go. Can you hear me now? Home can hear
you too. All right. Good evening, Mayor. Mayor pro time
and council members. My name is Jamie Madden and I
want to be direct and insist that we follow our
neighbors desert hot springs, Indio, Coachella Valley in passing a
moratorium on data centers within Lake Elsinor and moved towards
a complete ban in the future. The sales pitches from
Data Center Community Relations Directors may seem enticing with their
offers of jobs for locals. Um, infrastructure upgrades, philanthropic promises.
However, the cost to the community and environment are not
worth short - term promises that turn into long -
term consequences. Any reasonable person committed to common sense knows
that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
The past, current and current behavior, excuse me, of hyperskille
GPU data centers have shown that although they promise to
be good neighbors, they just aren't. Before I list the
experiences of Sister Cities throughout the nation and during real
and egregious side effects of sharing their communities with resource
parasites, I want to point out that Lake Elsinor is
75 percent dependent on the import of the most vital
resource, which is water. So according to the Ilsinor Valley,
uh, municipal water district, only 25 percent of our water
is derived locally. and the other 75 percent is derived
from the Colorado River. Which if you haven't heard is
itself at record lows. The situation is so dire that
the federal government had to step in and decrease the
entire state of California is allotment that will receive it
here. I feel it's very impractical and irresponsible to stick
another straw into an already shrinking cup. So circling back
to the lived experiences of our fellow Americans. I just
wanted to point out a couple experiences. So Eastern organ,
which has a high cluster of Amazon data centers. Amazon
was recently ordered to pay 20. 5 million to 45,
000 residents after contaminating drinking water with high levels of
nitrates. Hood County, Texas residents are complaining of 24 hour
high intensity machine noise. Fayetteville, Georgia, BlackRock data center had
two illegal hookups that was unknown to the water utility
in which they siphoned away 44 Olympic size pools worth
of water away from the citizens. And that area is
already experiencing a drought. Um, in Lake Tahoe, 50, 000
residents were told they'd have to find other means of
electricity as the data center, 75 miles away. Had priority
over the energy. So that's a big radius, right? Um,
Cheyenne, Wyoming, the meta AI data center, project Cosmo contaminated.
The city's wastewater, uh, with multi - drug resistant organisms.
That water was sprayed on. Part grass. Um, Wisconsin, additional
power lines needed to, I'm sorry, that's my wrap it
up. Okay. So I just would like to close with,
um, when the last tree is cut, last fish is
caught and their last rivers and the river is polluted.
When to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize
too late that wealth is not in bank accounts and
that you can't eat money. Thank you very much.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Isaiah Kunya.
Good afternoon, City Council. I come here today to hopefully
clear your guys'ear palettes from all this talk and concerns
about the data center. In which I oppose to as
well. But I'm here to talk about the bigger picture.
So if we may think back to the Lake Alicenor
general plan for new Elsinor, I feel as, this is
where a lot of confusions come from as citizens. I
was reviewing the GPU and I found a few map
and graph correction change that needed to be changed. These
will be at no cost and will save our city
from future lawsuits. I had sent out an email onto
live 15 and have not had any answers since. So
I come today to illuminate these topics for you guys.
One of my main concerns was the wash. The wash
was being severed from. Specific area, I believed. And the
wash was not being connected coming down from. Horse Steve
to the end of. Nicholas where the wash comes out.
Um, we all know that that is a great concern
for floods. And it's just simply, um, a map and
graph correction. Oh, you see, see map configuration goes against
LUCC2. Where you say the floatway was marked as NA
hitting, which is required a bridge if it is being
severed. Let's see.
Basically. What I found was needed correction. If you guys
adopt these wrong, there would be up for lawsuits and
they could sue and win, which we know that could
cost a city about 500K per. I had came to
the planning department already. In regards of these topics. Um,
on July 15. So I asked that if you guys
consider my concern as soon as possible respectfully. For the
GPU adoption, which this is a council action. So I'm
asking counsel to direct staff per gov code 6300. I
ask for, for inwriting as soon as possible. So it's
not missed before the adoption. Isaiah, our community development director,
Ms. Demary Abraham is right there. If you will get
her business card in exchange information, that'll be your next
step. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Next speaker,
please. Our next speakers. Then y'all go King.
Hello, good evening. I am speaking. I'm speaking today in
regards to the Elsinor Heights Industrial Project, planning application number
2023 - 35. That is being planned to occupy 61.
02 acres of Lake Elsinor's lands. I am an inland
empire born resident and currently residing neighboring of the project
being planned in Lake Elsinor. It is now August six
months since the NOP and there have been no public
updates revealing the future steps of this project. I ask
that the environmental review clearly identify and evaluates the potentially
significant impacts associated with each proposed project option, including the
differences and impacts between the alternatives. I also ask that
the city provides residents with an update regarding the anticipated
timeline for the draft EIR. And if the applicant and
city have considered any of the options proposed. We have
seen in real time that devastation's data centers have caused
countrywide to natural life and the depletion of resources that
are taking from residents. And wildlife alike. The consequences far
outweigh the benefits of building allowed invasive and water hoarding
data center. Just to be clear, I do not want
a data center being built in my town. Police consider
my comment as a resident speaking to you out of
many concerned residents in the area that are part of
the demographic, this project will be directly harming and depleting
resources from. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Orcadia Wilcox. Good
evening. I'm a resident of Domisco Valley. So I'm a
neighbor and I will be affected if we have a
data center here. So I'm against that proposal. And I
would like to remind you of your responsibility what decisions
you're going to make only will affect Lake Calcinor, the
city, but all this running areas. Normally now, but for
the future. And in your, um, Dream Extreme or your,
you know, aspirations, you have the aspiration number one to
be a destination here for sports and for healthy activities.
Well, that would not happen if the temperature rises and
the water in farms and the environment. And you hurt
all that. And I'm sure us responsible decision makers. You
have probably already researched. So that will be going against
what your aspirations are. Also your aspiration number two grow
up by variant and active city. Well, you're not going
to have many members left. For that. And number three,
foster, we're natural resources. You, if you accept a proposal,
we're having that data center. You're going to be going
directly against your aspiration number three. And this city is
not going to have any, any dreams or any future
because you will be killing it. And, um, you know,
as I know, maybe I work generation, things this is
not horrible, but our younger generations would like to have
a healthy environment to live in. So, you know, we
pass over the hour, you know, better half, but we
need to think of the future generations. And we need
to make good choices for them. We live in the
disser. We can now bring a project that will be
wasting our drinking water. And you probably know that you
can go about three minutes without oxygen. You can go,
you know, probably about three days without water, but you
can go all your life without deficient intelligence. Thank you.
Thank you. Next speaker, Madam Cleric. Our next speaker is
Brianna Wilcox. Swillcocks. Evening city council. My friend and Wilcox.
I'm a former science teacher, current small business owner and
farming apprentice in the inland empire. I'm here with similar
concerns about proposed AI data center. I'm sure you've heard,
but I like to reiterate and put it on the
record of what could happen if we consider proposal. I
also want to propose an alternate a complete and permanent
ban on all data centers in similar infrastructure projects for
the city of Lake Elsinor. So you know, you've read
how it spends the water. Um, I don't know if
you've heard that it literally dropped the water table and
it's dropped the water pressure in residence in Georgia, Utah,
Oregon. Also, but when I make claims, I'm happy to
share my sources with you, the studies that were done,
the research and the journalism that's been done on this.
So I'm not just making things up, I promise. Uh,
let me know and I'm happy to email these sources
to you as well. Um, it also irreparably pollutes the
water with no efforts made and no incentive to clean
that water used. It drains the grid so much they
can't rely on the grid themselves on average. They rely
on diesel backup generators to keep themselves going 24 seven
because they know they drain our electrical grid. We are
already experiencing rolling blackouts and brownouts in Southern California in
the summer. We, at least in Riverside where I've had
experienced blackouts and brownouts. I'm not sure that like Elsiednor
can handle a drain of hundreds of thousands of homes
worth of electrical use. If this proposal is accepted or
even entertained. Um, they also, these companies, these private corporations
love to fois the cost of operation onto the taxpayer.
As a small business owner, I have the understanding that
if you as a company cannot support yourself through your
own practices and you refuse to make any changes to
make yourself self - sustainable and the economic sense, you
don't deserve to exist. You're not going to force cost
of operation onto taxpayers onto city government. They have made
promises before in other cities of this is going to
be a no cost project. But then that means schools
lose their funding. Roads don't get taken care of. Public
infrastructure projects for the public. Somehow don't have money anymore
because they made tax breaks. They made incentives to the
data center corporation instead. That's not no cost. The money
comes from somewhere. They're not going to provide it and
they're going to try to leech it from the people
here. So it's losing proposition. Um, on average, major deals
cost a taxpayer two million dollars per job generated. That's
not even necessarily permanent or come with benefits. You guys
are better job providers than any data center could be.
Just seeing. It's more cost effective too. I also provide
sources. Just let me know and I'll email it to
you. Um. The 24 seven light pollution. People can't sleep.
With her anywhere near a data center. The 24 seven
noise pollution from all the cool, the chill fans, the
coolers, the backup generators is also a 24 seven. So
I'm just saying a vote for data center is a
vote for people to die. From heat stroke, heat stress,
lack of sleep, air pollution, water pollution soil pollution. I
know you are all responsible people, kind people. I normally
make the right decision. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Susan
Levitt and Methys Hopper.
Good evening Mayor McGee and mayor protum Sheredan and members
of the city council. I'm here this evening with Susan
Lovett and fellow members of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter - day Saints from Lake Elnor to present
a commemorative proclamation recognizing the 250th anniversary of the Declaration
of Independence. As we celebrate this important milestone in our
nation's history, we do so with gratitude for the freedoms
we enjoy, especially the freedom of religion. And the opportunity
to serve our communities. We are grateful to live, work,
worship, and raise our families in this wonderful community. Let
me read a part of the proclamation to you. You
can do it. From there. It's easier. It's kind of.
Small. Whereas the year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of
the founding of the United States of America. A nation
established upon principles of liberty, justice, representative government, and the
God - given rights of all people. And whereas Jesus
Christ taught in John chapter 8, verse 32, ye shall
know the truth. And the truth shall make you free.
Reminding us all that liberty flourishes when founded upon truth,
virtue, and respect for the God - given rights of
all people. On behalf of our church, it is an
honor to present this proclamation to the city of Lake
Ilsinor. Thank you for your service to our community and
for allowing us to be here this evening. Thank you.
Colleagues, would you mind coming down and taking a photo
with these folks?
One, two. Three. We're going to do one more. One,
two. Three. Thank you very much.
Oh, he's. Like, I'll take it.
Madam Clerk, next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Francis
Mirabella. Hello, I'm Francis Mirabella. I work in Lake Elstner,
a resident of Lake Elsinor grew up in Lake Alsinor,
class of 94, Steve Monos. You know. I'm here just
to discuss inner Heights Industrial Project. Option two data center
currently in the SEQA process. Um, I'm sure you know
of the change. org petition circulating that has over 7,
000 votes. Which is a substantial indication of resident opposition.
I'm here tonight with a very simple request, and that's
just to keep the existing zoning as is. Deny zone
change number 2024 Dajo 1. And general amendment plan number
2024 01. According to the notice of preparation, this property
is currently zoned for commercial office and rural mountainous residential.
The applicant is asking the city to change the portions
of it to M1 limited manufacturing for this industrial development,
which is under option two, which includes a data center.
So my question is simple. Why change the zoning. Our
existing zoning already provides a protection we need. We do
not need to make legal snore experiment when communities across
the country already showing us what can happen when large
data centers are located near residents. There's stories, just Google
it. Chandler, Arizona, Vinland, New Jersey. Michigan, Laoul, Massachusetts. Gilroy,
California, surrounding a large Amazon data center has raised serious
questions about public awareness, land use approvals and community involvement.
These communities are giving Lakelsonor warning. We should learn from
them. These concerns go far beyond noise. They American lung
association now specifically identifies data centers and increasing air pollution
concern and warns that the air pollution can trigger asthma
attacks and other health effects. Um, there's also concerns about
enormous electricity demand, increased infrastructure needs, water consumption during drought
conditions. Wastewater heat nighttime lighting, light pollution, wildlife impacts and
the quality of life of nearby residents. Artificial nighttime lighting
can disrupt sleep and interfere with wildlife and migratory birds.
And data centers generate substantial heat. That must be continuously
removed through cooling systems. We should be asking why would
we voluntary add such large demands on our water and
electrical systems when residents already care deeply about drought preparedness,
reliability, electricity, reliable electricity and affordable utilities. But here is
more important point. The applicant is requesting a conditional use
permit M1 uses would within 100 feet of residential district.
Why would we change a commercial office and rural mountainous
residential zoning to manufacturing and then need a special permit
because that manufacturing use is so close to residential property.
We don't need to. I understand the EIR process, but
an EIR does not require this council to prove a
zone change. So my point is just keep it simple.
If this project does not fit the zoning that exists
today, then the city should not change the community and
make the profit fit. There's no reason to remove that
protection. Create the possibility of these, uh, create the possibilities
these impacts and then spend years debating how to mitigate
them. Thank you. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Michelle Campbell. Good
evening Mayor City Council members. Thank you so much for
having me. My name is Michelle Campbell. I'm a resident
of Lake Elseded. I lived here almost 15 years. I
love this city. I moved away from LA and Long
Beach. So I could be in a rural community. I
have horse property. I love our land. The specific area
where this data center proposal is going to be is
one of the most beautiful little areas. And I love
driving by that area. And I always envisioned it being
a park. And when I found out that it's going
to be an industrial center, I'm like, why would we
need that right here? We don't need any more Amazon
buildings. We don't need any more AI data centers. And
I don't know if I can address the people of
Lake Elsiednor, but my message to the people of Lake
Elsinor is use less AI. Stop streaming. Stop buying stuff
on Amazon. You are making the situation worse. We don't
need artificial intelligence to take over our city. If you
don't want a data center here, don't use data. Use
less data. Don't stream. Don't watch YouTube. Don't TikTok. How
many videos do we need of people's dogs on Facebook?
Okay. No more TikTok, no more. We have to get
serious. This is the way the future. It's like saying
I don't like Teslas. Let's get rid of roads. I
saw that. And I'm like, that is so brilliant. We
want to use the computer, but we don't want to
pay to have it running. And I do not want
a data center. And like Ilsinor. When I found this
out, my head almost blew right off. I'm like, that
can't be. There's millions of miles elsewhere. Why pick like
Kelsonor? This is the dream place. This is where you
come to buy a home. Will you raise a family?
We don't need a data center behind Walmart making all
kinds of noise, disrupting our wildlife. Everyone in this room
had, excuse me, had such great things to say, I
don't even need to echo anything else of why we
don't need it. All the data sounds reasonable. And I
know you are reasonable adults that make excellent decisions. You
were voted in by the people. And I just urge
you to say no, to not change the ordinance, to
do not change the zoning, to leave it the way
it is and think about the people of like, else.
Let's make it a park. Let's make it anything else.
I know it's owned by someone else and you guys
aren't the decision makers, but enough money you could buy
anything. So let's just buy it from this owner and
make it a like, else or dream extreme. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Daniel Miller. Can
you, sorry, good evening. My name is Daniel Miller. I've
moved her in 2008 of October. I want to talk
to you about the data centers in China. They have
437. They're advanced further along than we are. It's a
digital currency over there. You have to use your phone
if you go anywhere. They have flock cameras everywhere to
watch everybody. They only have 437 data centers to control
their whole population. U. S. is planning on having 8,
000 data centers. It sounds like a little overkill. So
what are the real reasons? Take a logical step back.
What do they really use in the data centers for?
It's not to track us. It's something else. Some people
are suggesting like in other nations. They're saying it's underground
bunkers and cities for the elite. I don't know. But
over 8, 000 in the United States is an overkill.
And it's like the one person talked about the aid
states, the Western states, the federal government stepped in the
Colorado River is lower than normal. They're not allowed to
make or they're not making as much electricity because of
less water. And they're figuring out how they're going to
ration the water to us aid state states. And that's
without the data centers. And China, they've built their dating
centers not where the people are at, but where the
cold climates are out. Because in a colder climate, they
don't need as much as much water. And it also
cuts back on the electricity. Because if they're running cooler,
it takes less electricity. Ask your question. Ask logically, why
do they want to build a data center and a
hot, dry climate? I'm a business person. I wouldn't build
it there knowing it's going to cost me more money
to run it. I would build it somewhere else. All
of us have called customer service at some company were
connected to. And someone answers a phone as an india
or in the Philippines. And they have our account. They
have everything there right in front of them. So needing
a data center right where the people at. That's a
lie that they're what they're telling you. And you look
across all the other cities that have signed these contracts.
They make you sign a non - disclosure contract. That
means you sign it, read the people don't know what
you signed away. Why are they keeping it secret. If
it's just a data center for computers and all that,
why is it hidden knowledge. And the fact is hearing
California in the last six years, our governor has closed
down over a million acres of farms in Northern California
to pull the water to use it for the data
centers up there. Because the data center is for Google
and all the other big tech companies. They pay a
lot more taxes because they're millionaires. So they've closed down
food production in California for data centers. Three of those
farms that were closed down were in the families that
were in California before California was estate. They had the
clothes down their farms. It started with Governor Brown. They
went in there on their wheels. They put meters on
their wells with charge them for their water. I see
my time is up. I'll close. The, oh, again, I'm
a water that she had talked about in Colorado. The
data center they have planned here is equivalent for about
25, 000 homes. They will tell you that they recycle
the water. And the other person pointed out the chemicals
they put in there. They can't dump in the sewer.
There's no filtering system. The polos chemicals out. When they
dump it into the ground, it kills the water wells
and it kills the farmers'ability to use it. And like
Ilsinor, you have under 100, 000 homes with Lake Elan
village. Now you're going to add another 25, 000 for
water and about 248, 000 for the electricity drawn. How
do you step back and look at the infrastructure? Mr.
Miller. Thank you. Thank you.
Next speaker, please. Our next speaker is Ace Vallejo.
Hello, Mayor. Wanted to go ahead and continue with this
asbestos issue at the, uh, ambassador tale. If it was
there yesterday, it was probably their last month in the
month before that and a year before that and so
forth. Things would hold true for the, uh, military academy
that's been sitting there all these years. So it looks
like an arbitrary attack on the dream center to me.
In my opinion. And I believe that. I see it.
Don't like it. It's wrong. And the gear hard property
that got sold under the city that also wanted it.
Is, I believe one of the main reasons that we're
here. So thank you. Next speaker, please. And the last
weeker I have is Reuben via mill.
Boards. Uh, I'm a seven year veteran of the U.
S. Navy. All my buddies are currently on the USS
Abraham Lincoln. And I don't want a data center. And
I don't enjoy hearing the machinery. So if we're going
to be wearing about a constant buzz, it just is
not good for veterans. Um, I like the peace and
quiet in Lakeland village. But apart from that, my second
point, while I was at EOS Lake Elsinor, I noticed
a flock camera was installed right in the front. Of
my street on Grand Avenue. And I'm just wondering if
we're going to become a surveillance state. And like, we're
going to see more of that. I'm just wondering. Uh,
what we're going to do with that forward. Thank you.
Thank you. The item's not on the agenda, sir, so
we can't have a back and forth. Okay. Um, our,
do I need to go forward to Riverside County? Our
police chief is right there. If you tell him where
on Grand Avenue you are, he can tell you whether
it's city or county. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And
then also I appreciate the sheriffs. You're doing God's work.
But I drive a 2022 BMW 745e. And you guys
keep pulling U - turns when I want to get
a late night snack to 7 - Eleven. So if
you guys are looking for bad guys, like I'll give
you a note, just, y'all keep doing U - turns
and like follow me blocks. Like. Alright, that's it. Thank
you. Thank you, Ruben. Madam Clerk, that concludes our speakers.
Yes, sir. Very good. Then we'll move quickly to city
manager comments. Nothing seems other than shout out to my
wife Renee. Yesterday was our 30th wedding anniversary. All right.
If you asked her, she'll tell you it feels like
50 years. Madam attorney comments? Uh, just two quick comments.
Um, I failed when we were talking about the, uh,
dream center, the ambassador hotel property. The city did issue
a press release today. That is available to anyone who
wants it. Uh, the building, there has been some misinformation.
The building is not a historic structure. Um, that is
absolutely clear. And the city's actions have not been arbitrary.
There's been no rush to judgement. The city acted after
many, many years in accordance with a court order. And
we will comply with the current writ that pauses the,
uh, any activity there. Thank you. Thank you. It takes
us up to the dais and council member comments. Council
member Carroll. Uh, yes, thank you so much, Mayor. Uh,
first I'd like to announce, uh, it was Mayor Pro
Tem's birthday. And we didn't get an opportunity to saying
happy birthday earlier. So if y'all don't mind, in entertain
me an opportunity to sing happy birthday to mayor pro
time, Tim Sheridan, I will kick it off. Happy birthday
to you. Happy birthday to you happy birthday, dear mayor
protect him, Sheridan happy birthday to you. Thank you. I
was under the impression when you turned 35, you don't
get your birthday. Happy birthday saying to you. But thank
you. Yes. He's an amazing person, truly. With that, before
I get to my first slide, I want to give
a large thank you to somebody that's near and dear
to my heart and in the Lake Yelsednor Lord, quite
famous Jeannie Corral is in our audience, um, and she's
one of the most kind, amazing individuals, um, and so,
um, yes, please, please give her. 24 years on the
Lake Austrian Unified School Board four years on the Riverside
County Office of Education, uh, is that correct? Right. So
28 years total, public service helping educate our youth here
in Riverside County and Lake Yelsoynor and surrounding communities that
are touched by LUSD. So, so to hear Jeannie's words
are quite impactful tonight. Amongst all of yours, it's inappropriate
for me to comment on my personal feelings as I
would love to retain my vote and show my true
feelings on, uh, the data center. Um, with that, I
will take my first slide. Uh, National Night Out, I
want to say thank you to all those in public
service, uh, code enforcement police, our sheriffs here at Riverside
County Sheriff's and Cal Fire here that service our committee
here in Lake Elsinor. On the far bottom left, I
was able to attend National Night Out with my best
friend, my wife, Nicole. And so it was truly amazing.
If you missed out, I would encourage you to bring
your kids, grandkids, or even yourselves to go see all
the amazing tools and equipment that our community utilizes on
a daily basis to help keep everybody safe. And with
that, I would love to say thank you to those
that serve on the far right, not only city staff,
but also the sheriff's department. There's a lot of sacrifices
made every day by these individuals. And most, most of
them are made to keep us safe. So thank you.
And with that, I say goodnight. Thank you, Councilmember Tisdale.
Thank you, Mayor. So I want to start out by
thanking everyone for coming out tonight. As the mayor said,
you know, when things aren't any agenda, we can't really
talk about it. And plus the item specifically about data
centers. But let me just say a couple of things,
not specifically about innit centers, but this council was not
moved by people that come to town with promises. So
I want to be clear on that. So, you know,
people say, let's build a warehouse. It's going to create
X number of jobs, construction jobs. Well, you know, we're
quick to go BS because we know that most companies
come in, they bring their own crews, right? And then
we also look at the data and we know how
many jobs it will actually create. And in Lake Ilsinore,
about 10 to 15 percent of the people actually work
in Lake housenor that living like outnor. So we know
the numbers. And so the promises of money and all
those other things that's going to sway this council. And
I don't want to speak for them. But I've been
with them a long time. And so, well, this one's
new. But where everybody else, you know, we've been, we've
been here a long time. So I just want you
guys to understand that we hear you. And we're not
swayed by all the swag and all the other stuff.
So just sort of keep that in mind. And then
I'll ask that you just be patient with this and
let this thing sort of work through the process. And
then, you know, we're going to get the best outcome
that we can get. I love Lake Elsinor. I've been
here since 1998. And you know, this is my home.
I've raised my kids here. My daughter, I'm going to
talk about her later, but we're going to put her
banner up on the street because she was born and
raised here. And now she's serving. So, you know, this
city is important to me. And the wildlife and everything
is important to me. I grew up on a little
farm in Oregon, beaberton, when it was a farm in
Beaverton, which is not no more. But so I get
it. So those of you that are concerned about all
this stuff, I hear you. So I just wanted to
say that. I'll go on to my first slide. All
right. So, um, I sit on our, um, task force,
me and Councilman Carroll for our homeless. We have a
homeless outreach task force. And I just want to just,
the numbers are up there. I'm not going through all
the numbers. But I just want to point out a
couple of things. Like look at the contacts and stuff.
These are what our folks do every day. So sitting
at our sheriff's department, our code enforcement. We're out there
every day making contacts, trying to help people get them
off the street. So it takes a lot of context
to get one person to actually come in for services.
And the people that are in our city are the
hardcore homeless. You know, and most of them don't want
help because they don't understand that they need help for
various reasons. Behavior health issues, drugs, you name it. But
I just want you to know, and these are just
numbers, but I just want you to know that our
city takes it serious and we are working extremely hard.
And you can help us in a couple of ways.
One, please don't give it to the homeless. So I
was talking to a young lady up in, um, Tusney
Hills. And you know, she's, she thinks she's doing the
right thing her and her daughter go out and he
feed the homeless. Well, some of these people are dangerous
because of the very reasons that I talked about. But
all we're doing is keeping them on the street when
we help them. So we have a place for them.
Anybody that wants help in Lake Osednor right now, we
can get them help. We have the ability to do
that. So that's how you can help. And then also
go use our app, my brain did here. Ellie alert.
And alert LE, thank you. And then, you know, at
a geotract them so that when we go out, weekly,
every week, our first go out, they do clean ups
and they make contacts with people so that we can
identify them. And that will help us a whole lot.
So again, tell your neighbors, please don't give food. Don't
give water. Don't give tents. Don't give stuff that's going
to keep them on the streets. But report them so
that we can get them. Our compassion is to get
people back in the society and help them invest we
can. Okay. And so we're not trying to wound them
up, stick them in jail, chasing down the street or
anything else. We want to help people. But you guys
can help us by helping them. So I just want
to throw that out there. Next slide, please. So we
ended our free concert series on launch point with boots
in the sand. So there's me with my best friend.
That photo's AI. That is. So don't get jealous over
the arms young man. You see what I have to
put up with the new people. So, so we take
the boots in the sand part very seriously. So it
was, it was a very fun night. I want to
thank city staff and all that they do for putting
these things together, make these events for our community. It
was a whole lot of fun. So again, I want
to thank all of them. All right. And then my
last slide. So last council meeting, I wasn't here because
I was in San Antonio, Texas. And, um, for my
daughter's graduation. So there is another Tisdell that server in
uniform. So I was in a Marine Corps. And so
I am a proud Air Force dad. And so aired
Tisdo is now in Fort Meed for training. And so,
um, I don't know where she's going to end up,
but I'm so proud of her that she was willing
to serve. So with that, thank you so much. So,
so those of you that are veterans, please welcome my
daughter to our community. So thank you. Thank you honorable
mayor. Thank you, sir. Councilmember monos. Thank you honorable mayor.
I didn't know there was going to be a gun
show at boots at the sand. You know, a lot
of folks came out tonight to talk about the data
center. You probably saw my face kind of like, you
know, and I just have to say, um, first off,
thank you everybody that's come out. I can't talk about
the project as Councilman Carroll mentioned. There's specific and very
strict penalties against, you know, voting on items where there's
a conflict. Finds removal of office jail time. And so
talking about that is a little bit dangerous. Um, and
especially for folks that are elected in the office. And
I certainly wouldn't want to conflict myself so that I
couldn't vote on the project. Um, but I will say
this. I'm very upset. To see, this is the most
number of people I've seen showing up to the last
two meetings over a subject. And I'm very, very upset
about that because you listen to the people and you
hear all the research that's being done and the folk,
things that people are saying. You can tell they kind
of looked into it and spent some time on it.
And not only that took time off of your day
to go ahead and come down here and voice your
opinion and make sure that we heard it. Right? This
is a situation that's not even going to be decided
upon for at least a year. And, um, I, I
wish I could come out and have a conversation with
you about this and respond, um, to have people scared
for a year's, you know, that's a problem for me,
especially my people, people I grew up with and, you
know, um, so can't talk about the project, unfortunately. That's
just the way that it is. Um, I can't say
this. Um, I'm going to ask our attorney to go
ahead and draft, uh, moratorium on data centers. For the
city of Lake Elsar for the next meeting. Uh, that
will not stop. The application process for the current application.
It's not a referendum. The current data center application. That's
in. Or if it continues as a data center, perhaps
the reason why your EIR hasn't started to be processed
as maybe they're making amendments. We don't know. Okay. I'm
not, I'm not just kind of speaking out loud here.
Right. Please don't sue me. Uh, but, but, uh, we
can certainly go ahead and take that up for consideration.
And I will, uh, tip maybe. No, no, I'm not
going to say that. All right. So if you could
bring that to the next meeting, that'd be great. Next
up, we had some additional comments about the ambassador hotel
that I just want to go ahead and make mention.
Um, I'm going to say something very nice. The folks
with the dream center are phenomenal human beings. They have
adopted our street. They clean up trash on Saturdays. They
run a heck of a coffee shop. Uh, they've been
nothing but a positive. We were very concerned about, um,
a group coming onto the city coming to the city
when they first applied to come to the city. And,
uh, they have been amazing ambassadors to the community. Um,
the, the issues with the ambassador of hotel has nothing
to do with the people that are involved. Uh, and
any innuendo by anyone that would say anything. About the
city having any type of personal vendetta against a group
of individuals should be thrown out of here. Honestly. Thank
you for removing yourself. So, uh, that's all I have
to say about that. Uh, attended A luck. Um, today
the airport land use commission just updated the March air
reserve base inland port. Airport land use compatibility plan. That's
a mouthful. This was a six year project, five year
project. A little over five years. And, uh, it was
approved and it will go for a second reading at
the next meeting. So, uh, we got that done very,
very proud of that. And it's going to make the
community safer for the communities and all the development that
happens right around the March Air Reserve base. I want
to thank, uh, Councilman Bertisdale for bringing the homeless task
force update. Our preview, our colleague who has moved on
to the, uh, assembly, uh, used to do those quarterly.
And I wondered if at it disappeared, I was going
to make a request for that here recently and you
brought it up. Thank you so much. Um, I think
everybody's truly interested in that information. Um, as far as
the flock cameras go, flock cameras are, uh, they are
subject to state laws that restrict the type of use
and the storage for information acquired by flock cameras. I've
seen the social media posts. And I will just say
that if some of the things that are in the
social media posts are being conducted, uh, by the company
here in the state of California, then they are breaking
the law. And I think that comes with jail time.
So I don't know how to reconcile that. I know
that I've asked staff to go ahead and, uh, possibly
allow me to go ahead and personally review the information
that's being collected and how it's managed. And we're working
on, uh, maybe doing a little tourist trip and whatnot.
Cause I share those concerns too. That was the first
concern I had one. We started talking about the flock
cameras. But the state law certainly eased those concerns. It's
a big deal. Uh, let's see here. Asked also asked
staff to go ahead and review our ADU ordinance, the
ADU ordinance is not aligned with state law, uh, and
there were some questions about that. And then finally, the
mayor pro tim, Tim Sherred. And thank you for your
service here on the council. Happy birthday. Many happy returns.
I hope your actual birthday is a very special day.
Thank you honorable mayor. No, it's not today. Thank you,
sir. Mayor Pro Tim Sheridan. Thank you Mayor McGee. Good
evening everyone. Thank you for singing happy birthday to me.
I do appreciate that very much. I am the representative
on RTA and I wanted to put up a slide
to let you know that all summer long you can
ride the RTA bus for 25 cents. It's a pretty
good deal. And as you may or may not know,
you can take the bus from Lake Elsinor to Disneyland.
Takes a minute or two to get there, but it's
not a bad deal for 25 cents. And you can
write it back to. Also youth ride - free and
they will ride free through the end of 2027. So
if you're 18 or younger, you can ride the RTA
bus, uh, for free until next year. Go to the
next slide, please. Council member Carolyn. I had an opportunity
to attend the Elsiednor Valley Regional Pony Baseball Leadership and
Certification weekend. This past weekend in Canyon Hills. Former Los
Angeles, Dodger Reggie Smith was there. Uh, he, of course,
seven - time major league baseball all - star and
a 1981 world champion, a terrific person. In the picture
with council member Carolyn I, is Izzy. Michelle Israel is
his full name. Everybody knows him. Is Izzy? And he
held this two day leadership and certification weekend. It was
a great success. One of the things that Izzy is
doing with pony baseball and, uh, BRG, his other group,
baseball resource group is to bring baseball to our area
on a very regular basis. Of course, uh, baseball is
the American pastime. And so we appreciate what he does.
And it was great to see Reggie Smith in our
city as well. And with that, I would say thank
you for your time and attention, mayor. Thank you very
much, Mayor Protown. And happy birthday, sir. Thank you. First,
I want to recognize the fact that mayor protem Sheridan,
Council Member Tisdale and Councilmember Carroll were all unopposed in
their bid for re - election. And so they will
be continuing to serve with us up here. I just
wanted to take a moment to recognize that. Well done,
gentlemen. And for those of you that came out tonight,
regarding the data center, I want to thank you for
your passion and your decorum. And the message has been
received. And as I said last time, if the developer
can't hear you, they're tone deaf. Moving on. Let's go
to the first slide. Sports car club of America will
be having their autocross event. This is the Los Angeles
chapter of SCCA. They will be here at Diamond Stadium.
Saturday and Sunday. They usually get started between nine and
nine 30 a. m. Come down, check out the cars.
It costs you nothing. And if you fill out a
waiver, you can ride with them. Moving now to Sunday,
August 23rd, the official grand opening of the ice cave.
This is on cord and road next to Casade Mobile.
They've got their big sign up on the road. You
can't miss it anymore. What a great place to spend
August. And with that again, I thank you for your
attendance and your decorum. And we are adjourned.