[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:32] Good morning. Good morning. And welcome to the September 24th, 2019 Board of Supervisors meeting. I'm going to ask the clerk to, I'm going to call him in the order and ask the clerk to call the roll.
[0:44] Good morning, Supervisor Leopold. Here. Friend. Here. Caput. Here. McPherson. And Chair Coonerty. Thank you. Here. And Supervisor McPherson is, was unavailable to attend today.
[0:57] But he will watch the meeting and track everything that's going on.
[1:02] So we are now going to have a moment of silence and a pledge of allegiance.
[1:07] I'm going to ask you in your thoughts during the moment of silence to think about Bob Peterson,
[1:13] who served six terms as the assessor here in Santa Cruz County,
[1:16] and who recently passed away.
[1:18] And we thank him for his public service, and we extend our condolences to his family.
[1:23] Are
[1:55] there any late additions or additions or deletions to the agenda?
[2:01] Yes, there are three revisions to the agenda.
[2:05] So on the Consent Agenda, item number 17, there's additional materials,
[2:11] a corrected attachment, A packet pages 231 through 247.
[2:16] On item 18 and the Consent Agenda, there's additional materials,
[2:20] materials, corrected attachment A, packet pages 249 through 254, and on consent item
[2:27] number 19, there's additional materials corrected attachment A, packet pages 256 through 258.
[2:35] Great.
[2:37] Now I'm going to ask if there are any members of the board who would like to remove items
[2:40] from the consent agenda and put them on the regular agenda.
[2:44] Okay.
[2:45] Seeing none.
[2:45] No, I won't remove anything, but we'll be able to comment.
[2:49] Correct, yeah.
[2:50] Thank you.
[2:52] We are now going to have public comment.
[2:56] Public comment is an opportunity for Mercer Public to do a couple things.
[2:59] One, to speak to us about items that are not on our agenda today,
[3:04] but are within the purview of the Board of Supervisors.
[3:07] The second piece is to speak to us about items on our consent agenda.
[3:11] and the third piece is that if you are unable to stay because you have to get to work or
[3:15] you have other obligations and want to speak to us about items that are on our regular agenda,
[3:19] you can speak to us about those. Can I see a show of hands? How many people would like
[3:24] to speak to us today?
[3:27] Okay. Great. And so when you come forward, you can adjust
[3:32] the microphone to fit your height. Everyone is going to have two minutes, and I will
[3:39] We'll encourage everyone that on many of these issues, we've gotten your emails and we've
[3:45] read your emails and you can always communicate to us via email or in other ways as well as
[3:52] in public comment today.
[3:54] So please begin.
[3:56] All right.
[3:57] Thank you.
[3:58] Good morning, supervisors.
[3:59] My name is Glenn Schaller.
[4:01] I work at the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, AFL, CIO, about 80 unions, about 35,000
[4:07] working families.
[4:08] I'm here today in support of the National Union of Healthcare Workers in their struggle
[4:13] with Janice of Santa Cruz.
[4:16] As you know, they've been trying to negotiate for the last two years.
[4:20] As you also know, the county provides a great deal of funding for this really excellent
[4:25] Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center.
[4:28] When each of you have run for office or for reelection, you filled out a question
[4:33] error for the Labor Council.
[4:34] And one important question on there is whether you believe California should become what's
[4:39] known as a right-to-work state, or a so-called right-to-work state, where people can only
[4:45] be getting union benefits if their employers feel like they deserve them.
[4:50] We're in a situation where, at the moment, the management at Janus of Santa Cruz would
[4:55] like to have their own little right-to-work state right here in Santa Cruz at Janus.
[5:00] It's time for them to step up, negotiate in good faith, get a first contract, and move
[5:07] on with the good work they do.
[5:09] Thank you.
[5:16] Good morning.
[5:18] My name is Stephen Zunis.
[5:19] I'm a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and a 22-year resident of
[5:23] Santa Cruz County.
[5:25] My son, Tobin Zunis-Wolf, is a medical assistant at Janice of Santa Cruz.
[5:30] He grew up in this community.
[5:32] He will be entering grad school next year to become a family nurse practitioner in
[5:36] hopes to return to the area to focus his work on underserved communities. He cannot be present
[5:41] now because he is currently working in the residential unit at Janus. He asked me to share
[5:47] the following. Tobin is motivated by the impact his work
[5:52] has on patients and the stark contrast between incoming and outgoing clients. Janus has
[5:58] extremely important work in our community and the people who put in all the effort
[6:01] deserve a living wage. In addition to this basic principle, the Union has requested a
[6:08] grievance procedure so employees can have their voices heard without fearing for their
[6:11] jobs. My son has faced significant retaliation for speaking up for his fellow employees and
[6:18] a union activities. Without a proper grievance procedure, there is nothing stopping upper
[6:23] management, including Rudy Escalante, from retaliating against his workers. We must
[6:28] stand with the Janus workers and the vulnerable members of our community to stop this high
[6:32] staff turnover and allow for the proper patient care to occur.
[6:36] Let me add my sense is that the greatest stress from Tobin's job is not from his patients
[6:42] but from the management. He has nevertheless stuck it out despite the low pay and retaliation
[6:47] because as a result of the high turnover rate, he recognizes that the medical staff
[6:52] experience this kind of work and the procedures of Janus are desperately needed. Without
[6:57] Without him and a handful of staff that are willing to stick it out despite their maltreatment,
[7:01] the situation would be even worse.
[7:03] He is reaching his limit, however.
[7:05] The situation for Tobin and his colleagues then is a reminder that this is not simply
[7:09] an issue of justice for workers.
[7:11] This is a public health issue.
[7:13] For unless and until Janice of Santa Cruz provides adequate pay and fairness for its
[7:16] workers, it will mean less treatment, incomplete recovery, and more addicted people on the
[7:20] streets.
[7:21] And this is why this is an urgent issue for the council.
[7:24] Thank you.
[7:28] Chairman, Councilman Gary Richard Arnold, I think it's important or interesting that
[7:34] Joe Biden arrived in Air Force Two in Beijing and ten days later, his son Hunter Biden ended
[7:41] up with a hundred, one and a half billion dollar deal funded by the red Chinese government.
[7:48] The China General Nuclear Power Company was charged by the FBI of Stealing Secrets
[7:52] with military application, which is owned, in part, both by Joseph Biden's son and John
[7:58] Kerry's son, of which Zach Friend used to work for.
[8:01] There's many other people in the Republican Party, including Mitch McDonald, Dennis Hassard,
[8:06] and Gerald Christianer.
[8:08] What we've also seen lately, too, in Los Angeles is a human and sex trafficking.
[8:13] We hear about a man by the name of Ed Buck.
[8:17] Ed Buck you'll have in near hand very soon, where he was active at the Deep State
[8:21] 30 years ago. He received money from the trilateralists such as Bruce Babbitt, Allen
[8:30] Cranston, et cetera. He was also supported by Governor Brown as was Jim Jones. It seems
[8:38] like the sexual network included Kamala Harris, who was recruited as a squeeze for Willie
[8:44] Brown. The Democratic State Chair recently resigned for sexual misconduct. That was Eric
[8:49] Bowman, who was your Democratic leader for a long time.
[8:53] Ed Buck contributed to Clinton, Adam Shift, Ted Lu, Mike Honda.
[8:58] Ed Buck has also contributed to the DA in Los Angeles
[9:02] that refused to take any action while dead young boys
[9:07] are found in his home.
[9:09] The last one ran out with a hypodermic needle in his arm.
[9:12] This reminds me of our DA, and our sheriff
[9:15] will not prosecute John Leopold and Zach Friend
[9:18] for threats against people's violence and property that remains uninvestigated.
[9:24] There are people out there that know all about it and sick and tired of the inaction of this county.
[9:34] Good morning. My name is Steve Horan, President of the Coastal Property Owners Association of Greater Santa Cruz County.
[9:42] I'm here to speak about Consent Item Number 50 to delay the vote of the county-proposed local coastal program and public safety element.
[9:51] We have had the opportunity of meeting again with Cathy Maloy and David Carlson of the Planning Department to share our continued concerns about the proposed LCP and have submitted a letter which you have a copy of with your agenda.
[10:07] Without these changes that we have recommended, we fear that the LCP is continually flawed and incomplete. There are some inconsistencies and some language that need to be cleaned up.
[10:17] We therefore support the delayed vote to allow more time for the staff to address the concerns of the coastal property owners as well as the Coastal Commission.
[10:30] As an association, CPOA of Santa Cruz is prepared to work closely with the property owners along Opal Cliffs to resubmit a proposal for a uniform seawall extending from 41st Avenue to Capitola City border.
[10:44] removing the patchwork seawalls,
[10:48] revetment rocks provide increased public access to the beaches
[10:51] and protect public safety from potential injury
[10:54] from falling rocks from the eroding cliffs.
[10:57] Opal cliffs is eroding at a rate of 4.2 to 11 inches per year
[11:02] depending on which parcel that you're looking at
[11:04] according to a geologic report.
[11:06] Of the 46 homes along Opal cliffs,
[11:08] 16 homes are within 25 feet of the bluff's edge
[11:13] and 6 are now within 20 feet. We do not want to wait for a disaster to occur such as what
[11:20] happened in Encinitas where the bluff failed and 3 people were killed along the beach below.
[11:25] We need to act now and we will also work with the Opal Cliff property owners to form
[11:31] a G-hat to fund and oversee the installation. Thank you.
[11:38] Good morning supervisors. My name is Grace Blake-Slee and I'm staff to the Santa Cruz
[11:42] County Regional Transportation Commission and staff to you in that capacity.
[11:46] I'm here today to make an announcement to you and to members of the public in attendance
[11:49] and those on TV that the RTC is seeking membership for its Elderly and Disabled Transportation
[11:55] Advisory Committee.
[11:56] The Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee is one of the RTC's two citizens
[12:01] advisory committees.
[12:03] It advises the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission as well as the Santa Cruz Metro
[12:07] on transportation funding and policy decisions as well for people living with seniors and
[12:14] people living with disabilities. Some of the activities that the Elderly and Disabled
[12:18] Transportation Commission typically engages in is identification of unmet transit and
[12:23] paratransit needs for Santa Cruz County residents who are living with disabilities
[12:27] and who are senior. Also, the committee reviews funding requests for transit and
[12:32] pedestrian-related projects and planning efforts.
[12:36] The committee has 15 member positions
[12:38] at which six are currently vacant.
[12:40] Membership positions include representatives
[12:42] from each of your Supervisorial Districts,
[12:46] potential transit users,
[12:47] individuals representing social service providers
[12:50] for seniors and people living with disability,
[12:52] and the Coordinated Services Transportation Agency,
[12:55] which is Community Bridges Lift Line
[12:57] and staff of the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District.
[13:01] So the RTC right now is really conducting a lot of outreach and to inform people of these
[13:06] vacancies and invite interested members of the public to seek more information about
[13:10] opportunities to participate.
[13:12] You can email info at sccrtc.org or visit the website www.sccrtc.org for more information.
[13:23] I also have a few fliers in both English and Spanish that I will leave at the back.
[13:27] Thank you very much.
[13:35] Good morning.
[13:35] My name is Anthony Hong. I'm a Substance Abuse Counselor at Janice and I'm speaking on behalf
[13:43] of the Union over there and are going on third year of contract negotiations.
[13:49] Our CEO does
[13:50] not seem to negotiate in good faith. He rarely makes his face present at the negotiations
[13:56] and will communicate through our federal mediator. We've secured half a million dollars of
[14:02] grant money thanks to your support, John, and Rudy has indicated that he does not have
[14:07] any intention on spending it on wages or benefits, while at the same time our ultra-high deductible
[14:13] health insurance plan has gone up by $500, and his last and final best offer included
[14:19] a one-person raise, which is, you know, a few cents. He's been unwilling to communicate
[14:26] with the county to try to negotiate for better budgets overall, while at the same time implementing
[14:34] evidence-based practices for trainings, which I always cite the strongest evidence-based
[14:41] study that there is that rapport with our clients matters most regardless of the interventions
[14:48] or treatment. And with 60% turnover, it's hard to maintain relationships. And when we're
[14:54] working two, three jobs to maintain being able to live in this county while non-profits are
[14:59] accepting.
[15:00] Up from living wage standards, it's hard to be of service. Thank you.
[15:14] Good morning. My name is Jacqueline Dawson, and I am a medical assistant at Janus of Santa Cruz.
[15:22] I'm not good at this, so I'll do my best.
[15:25] So last night, I worked the graveyard shift. This is an example. I've seen a client for about two, three days.
[15:32] he had an abscess in his mouth. He was sent to the doctor, got an antibiotic,
[15:39] didn't clear up, went again, got another antibiotic, didn't clear up. He let our
[15:47] manager know that he needed to see a doctor, the manager said. I don't believe
[15:53] you, you're lying. These are the kind of things that I face daily that
[15:59] clients are not being well taken care of. Aside from staff also not being well taken
[16:05] care of. I have been literally abused by management taken in a room for two and a
[16:12] half hours and browbeat by this man. I am really concerned about our management
[16:18] right now for clients and staff. Thanks.
[16:28] Good morning. My name is Katherine
[16:29] I'm a CMA at Janice of Santa Cruz, I work detox and residential.
[16:35] Recently, I was put on a 30-day non-paid administrative leave
[16:40] for not having my state certification as a medical assistant.
[16:46] I've been a medical assistant for 35 years, I've never had to have it.
[16:49] And if you know the laws in California, we no longer have to be state certified.
[16:53] But since I started dealing with the union, I've noticed the change in management and the attitude toward me.
[16:59] We had a really good rapport with all of them until this.
[17:03] I also just, our conditions are not fair.
[17:06] We work 16-hour shifts.
[17:08] Sometimes we work solo, covering 30 clients
[17:12] on the night shift with no help.
[17:16] We have emergency situations.
[17:18] We call our managers.
[17:19] Nobody ever answers the phone at two, three o'clock
[17:22] in the morning, and that's our protocol.
[17:24] Our manager, Albert, told me that it is no longer protocol.
[17:29] We are not to call him after midnight when there's an emergency.
[17:32] We can't call any other managers because they don't answer the phone either.
[17:37] I think that the clients are really suffering in their rehabilitation.
[17:43] There's not much actually drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
[17:47] There's much more to giving them rehabilitation than what they have right now.
[17:51] They need steps, they need meetings, they need to be able to work a drug and alcohol program
[17:56] and that's not what they do.
[17:58] They're just there, they never have food, they're always complaining that they never
[18:03] have food.
[18:04] I mean they get a few hot meals, that's fine, but during the course of the day there's
[18:08] nothing.
[18:09] Our management, they're very unfair, they pick on us for every little thing and
[18:17] And I think that my 30-day nonpaid administrative leave was uncalled for.
[18:25] We have many people that are dealing as MedTex dealing with medication who are not legally
[18:31] able to do that.
[18:33] Thank you.
[18:41] Good morning, Chair Coonerty and members of the board.
[18:45] My name is Jeffrey Smedberg.
[18:48] I am a member of the community.
[18:50] committee. I spent many years working in this building just in the floor below. I was active
[18:57] as an SEIU member. I'm still active as an SEIU member and currently serve as the vice
[19:07] president of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. I wanted to let you know that
[19:12] yesterday evening at the executive board of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council
[19:18] we voted unanimously to grant strike sanction to the National Union of Health Care Workers,
[19:27] which are planning a one-day strike at Janus of Santa Cruz later this week. And when they
[19:38] announced, when the union announced that they were planning the one-day strike, the management
[19:45] at Janice decided, oh, okay, maybe we will meet with you again
[19:50] and talk about the contract.
[19:52] This group, two years ago, voted to become union affiliated
[19:58] and they've been working for two years for their first contract
[20:01] and as you know, that's the hardest contract,
[20:04] is always the first one.
[20:08] You've heard some of the stories from some of the workers tonight.
[20:12] They certainly know their business.
[20:13] as many of them have gone through recovery themselves.
[20:18] They certainly know the importance of constant turnover.
[20:23] Since the 50 workers voted to join the union two years ago,
[20:28] only five of those original members
[20:30] are still working at Janus.
[20:32] We urge you to put pressure on their director,
[20:37] Rudy Escalante, to negotiate fairly with the union
[20:42] and establish a contract. Thank you very much.
[20:50] Good morning to the chair and to the rest of
[20:52] the board. I'm sorry, I'm a little bit sick, so my voice might go in and out. My name is
[20:57] Keen Chakwanetta. I'm a political and community organizer with the National Union of Health
[21:00] Care Workers. I'm here to say that I work on a number of campaigns in my role, from
[21:07] our Kaiser campaign to this Janus campaign to many others across the state, but the
[21:10] simple truth is that this is without a doubt the most mind-bending and frustrating.
[21:15] Never in my career have I ever seen an organization balk at over half a million dollars in funding annually that they didn't actually have to do the work for.
[21:23] It was the workers sitting here and in the back of the room who are the ones who actually came to the county and secured that funding and what did they get in return.
[21:31] They have management who's saying, oh, well, we might use this money to purchase additional refrigerators instead of stabilizing the workforce which has been going through insane turnover as Jeffrey just said.
[21:42] The County Health Services Administration has already sunk almost a year's worth of
[21:47] effort into helping Janice secure this funding, and the simple truth is that to make sure that
[21:52] the residents of Santa Cruz who have already paid for this work to be done and sank resources
[21:57] into this, you need to do whatever you can within your capacity to make sure that they
[22:02] get a maximum return on that investment in time and make sure that Janice starts actually
[22:06] addressing the issues that are causing the turnover at the work site.
[22:10] I'm here to tell you, I'm sorry, we already know that the services that are provided by Janice of Santa Cruz are extremely important to the county.
[22:18] Some of the most vulnerable people who live in this area depend on them.
[22:21] And what we're asking is that so that patients can access consistent care, not having to worry about being shuttled through two, three, four different counselors,
[22:28] that you do what you can to make sure that the workforce is stabilized so that patients can actually get through their path to recovery
[22:36] without additional obstacles being placed in their path by Janus of Santa Cruz. Thank you.
[22:49] Hi, I'm Alma Torres. I'm a sixth grade student at Tierra Pacifica Charter School,
[22:55] and this is my opinion on climate change. What can we do? Nothing.
[23:01] There's absolutely nothing we can do to stop global warming.
[23:04] This is the thought of billions of people around the globe.
[23:07] This is the thought that is preventing us from saving our Earth.
[23:10] Well, yes, there is an island of trash the size of Texas in our ocean, and yes, the ice
[23:16] caps are melting, and yes, of course, there is something we can do about it.
[23:20] We can reduce the amount of plastic and other wasteful products we buy.
[23:26] We can reuse old items like clothes.
[23:28] We can recycle paper and most plastics, and finally, we can compost.
[23:34] Composting is not only a huge benefit for the planet, but for you too.
[23:37] A variety of plants go from compost piles and best of all it keeps food waste out of the garbage system.
[23:44] Every year 300 million tons of plastic is made around the world and only 10% of it gets recycled.
[23:51] We need to be more aware of the stuff that we are throwing away because every year about 7.5 million tons of garbage gets thrown into the ocean each year.
[24:01] That's 15 billion pounds of garbage, 15 billion pounds.
[24:05] 400 million pounds of plastic straws get thrown in the ocean every year.
[24:10] And just in the U.S., about 500 million straws are used every single day.
[24:15] To help prevent this horrible pollution of plastic straws,
[24:19] we can instead purchase reusable straws that last decades,
[24:22] or we can just not use straws.
[24:23] Together, we can make the world a better, cleaner place.
[24:26] Thank you.
[24:27] Thank you.
[24:32] Hello, everyone.
[24:33] My name is Cecilia November,
[24:34] and I'm a fifth grade student in Tierra Pacifica Charge School.
[24:37] This last Thursday and Friday, our school did a pick up around the neighborhood.
[24:40] The four, five, and six class picked up 1,301 pieces of trash.
[24:45] Half of that number was plastic bags like this one.
[24:48] I know that Santa Cruz has banned plastic bags on July 24, 2012, making us the 51st California
[24:55] community to ban single-use plastic bags.
[24:58] The ban came into effect on April 2013.
[25:01] Those bags are manufactured by using 8% of our oil resources, causing this problem.
[25:07] But it is causing global warming and climate change.
[25:10] Not only are plastic bags causing this problem, but it's the same for plastic straws.
[25:14] They are just as bad, but also smaller and easier for animals to swallow.
[25:18] Multiple states, including California, have banned plastic bags, plastic Tupperware, and plastic straws.
[25:24] I realize that we have banned for all of these items, but they are still being used and are still littering our streets.
[25:28] I am wondering what more we can do to minimize these items used and found in our community.
[25:34] Thank you.
[25:40] Hello, everyone.
[25:41] I'm Reese Weiss.
[25:42] I'm a sixth grade student at Tier Pacifica Charter School, and this is, I wanted to
[25:46] say something about climate change.
[25:48] So at my school, me and my friends have been thinking a lot lately, and we've all come
[25:52] to the conclusion that we, Santa Cruz County, have been using way too much plastic.
[25:55] Americans throw away 35 billion plastic bottles and 100 billion plastic bags each year.
[26:02] Enough plastic is thrown away annually that it could circle the earth four times.
[26:07] Other countries and continents are not using any plastic without even knowing it,
[26:11] and we do know it and we can't stop.
[26:14] Virtually every piece of plastic still exists.
[26:18] Plastics do photo degrade, which has been over time,
[26:20] so it breaks down the plastics into smaller and smaller bits.
[26:23] These plastic particles are then eaten by wildlife, which can kill them.
[26:27] Plastics can also release hazardous chemicals into our oceans.
[26:30] Because of that, thousands of marine mammals and seabirds are killed every year.
[26:34] It is important that we know this because these are our mammals and marine birds.
[26:38] They are our responsibility to protect and it affects us.
[26:43] Just in the next year, 300 million tons of plastic will be produced worldwide.
[26:48] But as much as 13.7 million pounds of plastic will go into the ocean from Santa Cruz alone.
[26:54] And 4 billion pounds will go into the oceans worldwide.
[26:59] What we've been lacking are the skills to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
[27:03] Those are some of the most simple things that the human race is able to do, and we aren't doing it.
[27:08] As I have shown here, plastic is awful.
[27:10] So my main inspiration was Greta Thunberg and her Climate Strikes.
[27:12] After doing some research and searching the web for a while, I've come up with some ways that we can help Santa Cruz County,
[27:16] but I need your help.
[27:17] One thing that you guys can do as a politician is start encouraging the use of reusable plastic items.
[27:22] It's something that you can do because you have just a little bit more authority than an average citizen does.
[27:26] Local businesses, something you can do is start asking your customers to bring their own reasonable Tupperware utensils or enforce the use of paper cups and straws instead of using plastic.
[27:36] Another thing that you can do is compost. Compost is not only a benefit, but an environment for you too. Thank you.
[27:42] Thank you.
[27:48] Hi, my name is Tony Crane, Aptos residents here to object once again to the second story
[27:56] program mental crisis mental health facility that was put in our neighborhood.
[28:02] Recently we memorialized the two year anniversary with an arrest of a guest for disorderly
[28:08] conduct under the influence of alcohol in our neighborhood.
[28:12] And this on top of multiple incidents over the last two years of drug use from Pot to
[28:20] heroin in our neighborhood, which had never existed before.
[28:26] Two years ago, I brought to your attention with internal emails from your own employees
[28:32] of Encompass Community Services and County Mental Health proving that they never intended
[28:39] to meet the terms of the grant that was given to them to purchase this property.
[28:43] I read to you an email from Eric Riera, who is here today, where he specifically directed
[28:49] that they were not going to meet the terms of the grant.
[28:52] I have an email, I read an email from Pam Rogers Wyman, who was implementing that program
[28:59] and asking the question, how long before we can do this before we have to tell the
[29:04] neighbors and reveal what we're doing?
[29:06] This is terrible.
[29:07] You guys have known about this for two years.
[29:10] So recently, I've put forth another criminal report
[29:15] showing that there was obstruction of justice.
[29:18] We had requested a investigation, a code compliance investigation.
[29:23] And during that investigation, both County Council provided
[29:26] misleading information to the code compliance officer.
[29:29] And I have that in an email in Wanda Williams' own words
[29:33] and somebody from Encompass Community Services
[29:37] claimed that there had never been any discussion
[29:39] about this program going to eight beds.
[29:42] The operator, they will not give us the name of that person.
[29:46] The whole purpose of the grant was to go to eight beds.
[29:49] It was legally mandated.
[29:51] So you guys, your conspirators, I'm sorry,
[29:55] you've known about this, do something about it.
[29:58] We've got our whole neighborhood here to speak to.
[30:08] Good morning. My name is Anastasia Babilevich. Good luck spelling that.
[30:12] I used to work at Second Story. When I got hired there four years ago, I was struggling deeply with mental health challenges.
[30:21] I was feeling constantly overwhelmed by the world around me to the point where I could not communicate with my best friends or my family members.
[30:28] I could barely leave my room most of the time.
[30:31] Second Story connected me with people who made me feel that I wasn't alone.
[30:35] They gave me purpose, hope, and made me feel comfortable and safe for the first time in years.
[30:41] One of my fondest memories working there was teaching a guest, a girl my age, how to play piano.
[30:46] Though we were both in the midst of depression, we found joy in music and togetherness.
[30:52] I credit much of my happiness and health today to this beautiful place.
[30:56] But most importantly, what I learned from Second Story was about community.
[30:59] community. A kind and sustainable community is an inclusive one. It's one that says it's
[31:05] us versus the issue, not it's me versus you. A kind community is imbued with wisdom that
[31:11] conflict and difficulties are an inherent part of it. It's where people sit down at
[31:16] the dinner table to figure them out without blame or assumptions but with curiosity
[31:20] and empathy. I would like to see the neighbors of Estates Drive, Second Story and Santa
[31:26] leader get together to address the issues that have been coming up in the neighborhood.
[31:30] It's been heartbreaking to watch the controversy.
[31:34] I don't believe that the answer lies in either displacing second story or ignoring the neighbors.
[31:39] These problems are not unsolvable, and we can work through them if we act like adults
[31:42] who recognize each other's humanity.
[31:45] Thank you for your time.
[31:51] Thank you, County Board of Supervisors.
[31:53] My name is Mueller Giesis.
[31:54] My wife Stephanie Giesin.
[31:56] And I'm here in support of the actions by Tony Crane and the rest of the
[31:59] a state's braggest community.
[32:01] I'd actually like to somewhat agree totally with what the young lady just said about how
[32:07] community acts and how they act with empathy and compassion.
[32:10] I also want to say that that starts with honesty.
[32:13] It also starts with behavior that reacts the same as a normal neighborhood would.
[32:17] It doesn't start with lies, deceit, absolutely misrepresenting the public, misrepresenting
[32:23] the laws that are in put in place to protect the public, to protect our children, to
[32:28] protect our families, and they've literally ignored everything they just said on their
[32:32] own behalf to represent their own needs. They have not come to the table except for one
[32:37] time that we called them to a meeting to discuss the thing that was tried to slide in under
[32:42] our radar. They tried to bring this to our neighborhood without our knowing. That's
[32:47] clear in emails that they said that they were trying to bring it to our neighborhood
[32:50] without us knowing and to circumvent the process. The entire program was put
[32:55] in place under state emergency, the funds were supposed to be spent under state emergency
[33:02] necessity to add beds to the program. That was never the intention. It was never the
[33:06] program's design. They simply wanted to, I'm not exactly sure what the whole thing
[33:11] was about, except for they've lied to see the public and circumvented the public process
[33:17] from day one. Therefore, everything Tony has said is absolutely true, is absolutely
[33:24] true and what she said should be true. They should have come to us. They should have acted
[33:30] like good neighbors. They should have followed the laws and procedures that a good neighbor
[33:34] would do. They should have brought us to the table and they should continue to bring us
[33:37] to the table. They're not doing that. They're shutting the door and so are you guys. Every
[33:42] chance they can in order to shut us down from our voice. The majority of this room
[33:47] is here to speak out against it. So that's what I'd like to say. I appreciate your
[33:51] time. Thank you very much.
[33:52] Good
[33:58] morning. I'm Dana Snyder. I also represent Estates Barragas Drive neighbors. I live at
[34:07] the top of the street and I'm privy to all kinds of behavior that has been going on in
[34:15] our neighborhood over the last two years. I've had many conversations with Zach. I had
[34:22] a lovely conversation with Mr. Leopold and I wanted to thank you personally again
[34:26] for calling and reaching out to us. We do not live in your district but our business is in your
[34:31] district and I can't tell you how appreciative I am of you recognizing that there's a connection
[34:37] there. That we are community people. We give back to our community over and over and over.
[34:44] I am in full support of supporting the people who have mental illness in our community.
[34:49] It's needed that this program, the way that it has unfolded, is not working.
[34:55] It's not working for us.
[34:57] It's not working for our children, for our elderly neighbors.
[35:02] And actually, it's not working for the guests of Encompass.
[35:06] They don't feel safe in our neighborhood.
[35:09] I've heard that from Monica directly.
[35:12] They feel highlighted.
[35:15] Everybody's on alert.
[35:16] Our children cannot move freely throughout the neighborhood the way that they once did.
[35:22] Just yesterday, I saw almost two people, two people almost got hit by cars because they
[35:28] continue to mindlessly walk down the middle of the street into an oncoming blind curve
[35:36] two times from my window doing dishes in 15 minutes, smoking, talking on the phone,
[35:42] not thinking that they're walking into oncoming traffic our drivers had to go
[35:49] around them into then also oncoming traffic someone is going to be hurt and
[35:56] that is either going to be one of us or one of the guests and it's not going to
[36:01] be good we need you guys to figure this out we've asked for help and we will
[36:07] continue to ask for help thank you good
[36:14] morning my name is Rocky Snyder
[36:16] I am the husband of the previous speaker and we have a business and pleasure point where
[36:20] our motto is we change lives. I've been a member of the recovery community for 20 years.
[36:26] So I know a sense of community and I pour my heart out to the people that utilize services
[36:33] like Janice and Life's Second Story because for many they work. There are places for
[36:40] that. There are safe places for that and unfortunately a place has been chosen in a residential community
[36:48] where there is a blind corner and there are people that aren't familiar with these speed
[36:53] limits or the fact that there's a corner there. Is it not a question of whether or not the
[36:58] program works or not or us against them or anything like that? It's really a question
[37:04] of are we going to be in a safe environment for all people that are in that area, whether
[37:10] it's the elderly walking their dogs, the children riding their bikes, or the guests that come
[37:15] in every six days.
[37:18] And we get a lot of guests that are familiar with the area, and they may bring visitors
[37:23] who aren't familiar with the area.
[37:24] Coming right off of Soquel Drive immediately around the corner from a place that's going
[37:29] about 35 to 40 miles an hour into a very small area.
[37:33] It is a question of when. It's not a question of if.
[37:37] And the way in which they got into where they are right now has been reiterated over and over in a not-so-nice way.
[37:46] So we're hoping that this brings awareness. There are a whole bunch of us here,
[37:50] but there's a whole bunch more that couldn't make it this morning.
[37:54] And it's been two years and we're not going away.
[37:58] We just need to see what's best for everybody involved and what's safe for everybody involved.
[38:03] So thank you for your time.
[38:10] I'm Marie Thompson and I live on Boregas Drive, the estate circle.
[38:15] And I just have one comment to make.
[38:17] Aren't you tired of all of this?
[38:20] We've been doing this for two years, explaining the problems of this and Compass,
[38:25] and for the sake of the guests and for the sake of our neighborhood that's been so poorly impacted,
[38:31] please act and do the right thing.
[38:34] Thank you.
[38:39] My name is Milka Dachieva,
[38:41] and I'm also representing Boracay State's neighborhood.
[38:46] It's been two years, we've been patient,
[38:49] and we've been listening to empty promises
[38:53] from our local government.
[38:56] A year ago, we were promised that the budget,
[39:01] the funding will be discontinued,
[39:04] and this facility will be moved out of our neighborhood.
[39:10] It's not because we are NIMBs.
[39:12] It's not because we are Aptosian lions,
[39:16] like we were named in the initial emails
[39:22] between the Encompass and Eric Riera
[39:27] when they were planning of moving this facility
[39:30] into our neighborhood.
[39:32] No, we are supportive to these people who are in need.
[39:37] We are very supportive.
[39:39] The problem is that this is not appropriate location, number one.
[39:46] Number two, it's a business.
[39:49] It's a real business inserted in a residential neighborhood.
[39:54] It's a motel-like type of business.
[39:57] And we are also questioning the effectiveness of this program because we are seeing same
[40:08] phases of same people coming all over and all over again to this facility.
[40:15] And we are questioning the training and expertise of these people who are taking care of these
[40:23] people in need.
[40:25] Because when we asked at our initial meeting in August 2017, when we asked the question,
[40:34] what is the training and what is the certification of people who will be taking care of them?
[40:43] The answer was, we are looking for caring people.
[40:46] No, this is not the answer.
[40:47] And one more thing I want to add.
[40:50] since we did we your time's up okay just one one more thing we our properties
[40:57] are trespassing okay ma'am your time's up we have to have a fair time for
[41:06] everybody here ma
[41:13] 'am please it has to you have to respect each other okay a lot
[41:21] more people are speaking than originally raised their hand and we have
[41:24] 58 other items we have to get to so can we can I is this is the gentleman in the red shirt at the end the final speaker today
[41:33] Okay, can I can I see how many more people there are to speak during oral communications? Please raise your hands
[41:43] Okay
[41:45] Those will be our final speakers if you can we have we have
[41:50] many items to get to visitors from the state to hear about a
[41:54] A early childhood program, we need to get to action and so please come forward.
[42:03] My name is Eric Chitwood, I live on the state's drive in support of all the people that are
[42:07] up here speaking out against incumbents in our neighborhood.
[42:11] It's been a two-year trial, this just hasn't been working out.
[42:14] We thought we could get along, but it's not working out.
[42:16] We have 40 kids in our neighborhood that have constantly been witnessed to bad behavior
[42:22] and because Marvista is about 400 feet away.
[42:26] So I just wanted to ask you to take the safety of our children and encompass us into consideration, please.
[42:33] Good morning.
[42:39] My name is William Bruce. I'm a member of the state's neighborhood as well.
[42:42] I've been in business 28 years and I tell my customers regularly, it's not whether or not I make a mistake
[42:47] because I will screw up. What matters is what you do after the mistake has been made.
[42:54] It's time to fix the mistake. Thank you.
[42:56] Thank you.
[42:57] Good
[43:02] morning.
[43:03] I am Justin de Villa, also a member of the Buregas Estates Loop.
[43:07] I won't take a lot of your time.
[43:09] You've heard from us repeatedly, both in person and in writing.
[43:15] I think what this really speaks to is there's a sense of solidarity in our neighborhood.
[43:20] And it's solidarity that we would have loved to join with this program.
[43:25] But from the very beginning, there's been a lack of communication and then a lack
[43:30] of behavior that allows us to feel that we are a unified group.
[43:38] The behaviors, many of which are intimidating, some of them are flat-out illegal,
[43:46] and for the most part it's changed not just our own emotional capacity for compassion and understanding
[43:56] And just the way we feel about our neighborhood, but it's also changed our routines
[44:00] I drive out a different way every morning and every evening, you know, I like was mentioned in an email
[44:06] I come home early from work to make sure that my kids can be escorted home and more often than not
[44:12] You know, we're escorting them by a group smoking either next to a bus stop
[44:16] Which is illegal or standing on the doctors on duty private lot, which is not okay
[44:20] There's not really a good way to mitigate for some of these things, you know, and these and these issues
[44:25] They're not insignificant. They're not nimby issues. They're real and they've been going on for two years if they weren't real
[44:31] We wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be here in mass
[44:33] So that's really all I have to say. Thank you.
[44:42] Hi. My name is Teresa Huntley and I'm also a resident of the Varigas estates loop
[44:46] I have three small children
[44:49] This has impacted us all I think Justin said it best
[44:52] It's actually sometimes intimidating this facility needs to exist somewhere definitely where there's street lights
[44:58] And maybe it's a nice
[45:00] House, or a house, shredded by businesses. But to come off of SoCal flying, these people
[45:05] have never been there. People are dropping people off constantly. It's in and out. Blind
[45:09] curves, no streetlights, no sidewalks. My kids can't ride their bikes. It's wrong. I'm
[45:15] sick of it. We need your help. Please. I want something like this. We need mental health
[45:21] facilities. Trust me, we all agree with that. This is the wrong place and you know
[45:25] it. And it's time. And we're sick of it. Please help us. Please.
[45:35] My name is Jessica Smith. I'm here to respond to the issue of safety in the
[45:40] estate's neighborhood. I want to say that my gentle eight-year-old daughter Emma
[45:44] went to school around the corner from second story and I pulled my dot my
[45:49] eight my gentle eight-year-old daughter went to school around the corner
[45:52] from the estate's neighborhood and second story at Mar Vista elementary
[45:57] school. I pulled her out because she was regularly being physically assaulted
[46:01] by other children. It was happening to so many other children that a large
[46:04] parent group formed in a desperate attempt to find answers to protect our kids there.
[46:10] And no one at Second Story attacked my daughter. Kids in the neighborhood did. We don't like
[46:16] to admit it, but Aptos has its fair share of problems. I feel that Second Story is
[46:21] a scapegoat. There's no evidence about the alleged drug use by the guests at the
[46:26] house, or that this beating is from them.
[46:29] Listen, we're not going to yell out.
[46:31] I was a partner of a second. We're going to respect each other in this community.
[46:36] We're not going to yell out. And if you can't do that, then you need to leave the room.
[46:40] Thank you. My partner of 10 years was a private investigator.
[46:44] And if I learned anything, it's that everyone has skeletons in their closet.
[46:51] Anybody, every, a lot of people make mistakes and anybody can have a record.
[46:56] The people at second story are required to put the results of their background
[47:00] investigation online and the rest of the neighborhood is not required to do that.
[47:07] None of the second story people have hurt anyone in the surrounding neighborhood.
[47:11] We all want to keep our families safe and attacking the respite house and other respite
[47:16] houses like it has been unceasing. Blaming the guests is the wrong fight. The second story is
[47:22] bringing people together. They're fostering well-being. Let's find a better cause than
[47:28] and hurting the people who've already been hurt the most.
[47:30] Yes, we're tired of this issue on both sides.
[47:33] Let's stop trying to solve our problems by blaming
[47:36] and pushing out people in need.
[47:38] Thank you.
[47:44] Marilyn Garrett, part of Wireless Radiation Alert Network.
[47:50] And thanks to the previous speakers here.
[47:53] And I must say, in coming to the board meetings almost
[47:57] 20 years since I retired from teaching,
[47:59] I share your frustration and observe the lack of response for the well-being of the community
[48:07] from this Board of Supervisors.
[48:11] The issue I come about is wireless microwave radiation that is emitted from wireless devices
[48:18] and cell towers and small cells on utility poles all over that are definitely an assault.
[48:26] instead of doing anything to protect the public or prevent this onslaught, the Board of Supervisors continues it.
[48:36] I've given the Board a DVD called 5G Apocalypse, the Extinction Event, and it starts out.
[48:45] It's important to understand what 5G is doing and what they say it's doing.
[48:50] We're told on the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers being forming document
[48:58] that this technology cooks your eyes like eggs in World War II.
[49:04] We all need to understand these are military weapons.
[49:09] These are assault frequencies.
[49:12] If you know nothing more than that, that's what you need to know.
[49:16] It's microwave radiation warfare, that's what it is.
[49:23] And I have given you a document I urge you to endorse called the International Appeal
[49:29] to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space.
[49:34] And I urge you to put that on the agenda,
[49:37] and also to support this Keep Space for Peace Week coming up.
[49:46] spaceforpeace.org. Thank you.
[49:57] Thank you, Board. Michael Beaton, Director of General Services.
[50:01] This year marks an exciting year for General Services as a department with the appointment
[50:04] of two key management positions. First, it is my utmost pleasure to announce the permanent
[50:09] appointment of Carol Johnson as our new Deputy Director of General Services overseeing
[50:14] admin, fleet, purchasing, energy management, and warehouse activities. Carol started her
[50:21] accounting career in 2002 and joined the GSD family in 2003.
[50:25] During Carol's 16 years of GSD, she has served in a multitude of roles, starting from senior
[50:30] accounting tech, working her all the way up to acting interim department director.
[50:36] And the past year as acting assistant director.
[50:40] With a degree in business and a strong analytical and customer service orientated attitude,
[50:44] Carol was selected to help lead our organization.
[50:46] Over this past year, Carol has been specifically recognized for her outstanding project deliverables
[50:52] related to the installation of the county's solar system, earning her the 2018 Clean Air
[50:58] Leader Award from the Monterey Bay Air Resource District.
[51:02] Carol has also been recognized by earning her credentials as a California County Senior
[51:09] Executive from the California State Association of Counties.
[51:12] Thank you.
[51:13] In addition, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Thomas J. Fackner as our new Deputy Director
[51:19] of General Services over capital projects and facilities.
[51:23] Thomas' credentials include being a certified construction manager, having a bachelor's
[51:27] degree in civil engineering, a master's degree in public administration and urban studies.
[51:32] I'm not exactly sure what that is.
[51:34] I'll tell you.
[51:35] Okay.
[51:36] And over 30 years of experience in horizontal and vertical building construction industry.
[51:40] His private sector experience with industry leaders such as Parsons Corporation, Harrison
[51:45] Associates, Swinerton Builders and Vanner Construction Management will add value to the county services
[51:51] and the public we serve.
[51:53] In his time with Vanner, Thomas has served as a project director for county projects
[51:58] including the successful remodel of the 1080M line.
[52:02] Thank you.
[52:03] Am I good?
[52:04] Yeah.
[52:04] Wrap it up.
[52:06] With that, I'm proud to announce the appointment of two deputy directors of the Department of
[52:11] Journal Services.
[52:12] Welcome.
[52:12] Thank you.
[52:20] Good morning.
[52:21] My name is Becky Steinbruner.
[52:22] I'm a resident of Verrill, Aptos.
[52:24] I really urge you to take action immediately on what Mr. Crane and his neighbors have
[52:30] told you today and what Mr. Crane has been coming and telling you for two years.
[52:34] This is a clear miscarriage of justice, and you need to address it right now.
[52:39] I also think you need to support appointing a youth commission. You've got them right here.
[52:46] And your action needs to establish a youth commission that will participate in local government and make a change here.
[52:56] I also want to say that correspondence, as Chairman Coonerty said, we've already received your emails.
[53:03] It's in the record that correspondence is not available in the back of the room for people to read
[53:09] So correspondence is not as public as it needs to be
[53:12] I have submitted a number of pieces because your board agenda consent agenda today is like a fire hose
[53:20] You have a lot of stuff and that it's almost palpable. What's on the horizon here in terms of development
[53:27] Which leaves me to number 19, which I did read write to you about I think this is watering down
[53:33] the authority of the California Environmental Quality Act and what you can do.
[53:38] It removes from language of the purpose that you can take additional action to instill additional environmentally beneficial actions on things when CEQA does not require it.
[53:52] We saw that with the approval of the mid-pen housing development that will be coming to you.
[53:57] It's less than five acres, so under California Environmental Quality Act law they don't have to do an EIR.
[54:04] There will be over 100 trees cut down. The traffic will be terrible.
[54:08] The answer is the county will someday widen Capitola Road.
[54:12] You can take action on that now, but under the changes of number 19 you will not be explicitly given that authority.
[54:20] And I wanted to say it's red flag fire conditions. We need to fund county fire. Thank you.
[54:25] Hi,
[54:33] my name is Gabrielle White and I am an EMT that works at Genesis Santa Cruz.
[54:38] During my derentation of the last one and a half years I have seen countless employees
[54:43] come through Genesis Santa Cruz.
[54:45] I have gone through two supervisors and over 15 employees.
[54:50] I believe that if the allocated funds that are coming to Genesis Santa Cruz this December
[54:54] are properly distributed to the employees and not just rationed out into more expansion
[54:59] programs that we could create the change that this community needs. This month alone, Janice has closed
[55:06] the intensive outpatient program just in time for the most recent audit. I don't honestly know what
[55:14] speaking at this meeting will do against a hostile management that refuses to treat its employees
[55:18] well. I want to see the most trauma-induced people in this community get
[55:29] the help that they
[55:30] deserve. Many come from low social economic backgrounds that could not get the drug and
[55:35] alcohol treatment they need without chance of Santa Cruz. However, without employees
[55:40] that are paid a living wage, these individuals are left with nowhere to go. We must address
[55:44] drug and alcohol problems in Santa Cruz County, and this starts with helping the employees
[55:48] and the program that it has. Thank you.
[55:58] Good morning, Chair Coonerty and the rest of the board. My name is Justin Palmer.
[56:03] I'm an organizer with the National Union of Healthcare Workers. This is Felipe
[56:06] He works at Janice of Santa Cruz right across the street at the sobering center.
[56:12] Felipe is only one of five workers at Janice of Santa Cruz still working there
[56:18] since workers voted overwhelmingly to form a union two years ago.
[56:24] Despite this obscene level of turnover, which is, as you should know by now,
[56:31] a result of the poverty wages that Janice pays its staff,
[56:34] staff, and despite egregious acts of retaliation by CEO Rudy Escalante and other members of
[56:40] Janice upper management, support for the union remains strong, and the current staff at Janice
[56:45] continues this two-year struggle for a fair contract.
[56:48] Last week they voted by a 60-to-one margin to authorize a one-day strike, which will
[56:54] be held this Thursday.
[56:56] You might recall that workers at Janice met with each of you last year and testified
[57:01] twice at budget hearings to make the appeal to improve the poverty wages at
[57:05] Janus, stabilize the turnover, and improve patient care. Ultimately, that's what
[57:10] this is all about. With the help of Supervisor Leopold, these workers identified
[57:15] up to $500,000 in new funding for Janus. And although Janus initially
[57:20] resisted the process to secure these funds, they successfully pressured the
[57:25] employer into doing so. However, last week, Santa Cruz County Health
[57:28] Health Services Director Mimi Hall confirmed in an email that Janice CEO delayed this process
[57:36] earlier this year and thereby is denying these workers who provide an invaluable service to
[57:45] this county a fair contract with a livable wage.
[57:48] Janice was recently found in violation of federal law for retaliating against workers
[57:54] for their union activity and there are numerous charges still pending with NLRB. It is an
[58:00] absolute disgrace and embarrassment to Santa Cruz County that these workers are still without
[58:05] a contract after two years. We demand each member of the Board of Supervisors call CEO
[58:10] Rudy Escalante and settle a fair contract now. Thank you.
[58:19] This will be our final speaker.
[58:21] Yes. Good morning, Board. Sam Laforte with Santa Cruz County Cannabis Licensing Office.
[58:26] with regard to consent item number 26 agenda item 7778 the autonomous fire
[58:34] protection district modifications. I wanted to bring to your attention that
[58:39] there's a conflict with the newly defined term greenhouse with Santa Cruz
[58:46] County Code chapter 7.12030 and Santa Cruz County Code 1310.650. Also
[58:55] So Santa Cruz County Code Chapter 7.92,
[58:59] which is the current fire code, does not define greenhouse,
[59:02] but provides provisions where greenhouses
[59:04] of non-combustible materials
[59:06] shall not require fire sprinklers.
[59:08] I bring this to your attention to avoid a conflict
[59:11] and the CLO's office would like to suggest
[59:14] that the proposed definition of greenhouses
[59:16] in the autonomous fire protection district language
[59:19] be changed to a greenhouse structure is,
[59:23] A greenhouse is a structure with walls and a roof made chiefly of transparent materials
[59:28] and a framing material, example given wood, steel, or aluminum that may be open to the
[59:33] elements periodically.
[59:35] The current definition as proposed in the fire code changes are, a greenhouse is a
[59:41] structure with walls and a roof made chiefly of noncombustible transparent materials
[59:46] such as glass in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.
[59:51] Construction within greenhouses is also of a non-combustible nature.
[59:56] The proposed changes allow a greenhouse to be made of...
[1:00:00] Standard materials, including wood, and we suggest this change to avoid a conflict that would also affect our building code for these types of greenhouses. Thank you.
[1:00:12] Thank you.
[1:00:14] Okay, I'm going to bring it back to the board for action. This will be on items 13 through 63 on our consent agenda with
[1:00:26] with including the additions and deletions that were mentioned previously by Mr. Palacios.
[1:00:32] Is there any discussion? Supervisor Leopold.
[1:00:35] Thank you, Chair. Thank you for the testimony we heard from so many different folks today.
[1:00:41] We're listening, that's what I'll say. On item number 24, I want to thank our county
[1:00:47] administrative officer for identifying a source of funds to provide $4.7 million towards
[1:00:54] road repairs that the federal government has shirked their responsibility on.
[1:01:00] We're going to be hearing a report on other winter storm damage roads
[1:01:04] and what's going on with the federal government, but our board remains committed
[1:01:08] and I appreciate the CAO's efforts to find the resources to make sure that we can repair these roads.
[1:01:17] Given the testimony we just heard from our cannabis licensing manager,
[1:01:23] I'd like to propose either we table or talk about this issue on item 28 because it's late
[1:01:33] and I'm not – there isn't – I don't have time to review what it is he's saying
[1:01:38] in terms of definitions and everything else.
[1:01:43] So, I mean, it looks like the council wants to add something.
[1:01:47] So I caught the greenhouse definition discrepancy last week.
[1:01:51] I thought we were going to get some corrections.
[1:01:54] I also thought it was related to item 27,
[1:01:57] which is just a setting.
[1:01:58] But I think Mr. Laforte referenced item 28.
[1:02:02] And if we didn't get correction pages for item 28
[1:02:07] and it is indeed in there,
[1:02:09] I think that it should be moved to the next meeting.
[1:02:12] Yeah, so I'd like to propose that we table that
[1:02:14] until our next agenda.
[1:02:19] So just for clarification, are we continuing Item 27 or?
[1:02:25] I think Item 27 to the extent the greenhouse definition is going to come back, 27 is just
[1:02:30] a setting and we have time to fix it.
[1:02:32] You haven't seen that ordinance proposal yet.
[1:02:35] To the extent he was talking to 28 and those corrected pages didn't come in, I think we
[1:02:41] should move 28.
[1:02:42] 28, continue 28, continue 28.
[1:02:45] Thank you.
[1:02:48] Item number 38, I want to appreciate all the departments, human services, health
[1:02:54] services, probation and county council for their work on the Silicon Valley data trust
[1:02:59] initiative. This is a very important effort to be able to share information that will
[1:03:04] help our children in our community and this is some path-breaking work. There's a lot
[1:03:10] of hurdles to help make it happen, and I appreciate all the efforts of everyone involved to help
[1:03:15] break those down so this will work as well as possible.
[1:03:19] On item number 41, which is a report on the drug MediCal organized delivery system residential
[1:03:25] bed utilization, I appreciate this information from Health Services and the fact that we
[1:03:31] are seeing such great utilization of our residential treatment beds.
[1:03:36] beds, it probably highlights that we need to continue to find additional treatment beds
[1:03:41] because if we're operating at 100 percent capacity, there's probably more need out there
[1:03:45] than we can actually meet.
[1:03:51] On item number 43, I appreciate this update from Health Services about the former Harbor
[1:03:57] Veterinary Hospital building.
[1:04:00] I'm excited to see that one of these options is the Children's Crisis Center, which
[1:04:05] I think would be very much in need and one of the things that has been highlighted with
[1:04:10] the establishment of the behavioral health center that we have now is the need to support
[1:04:14] children. I think as we have these discussions about how we use our debt capacity, this
[1:04:21] should be in the mix as well because this is really a critical need in our community.
[1:04:26] We've heard from school districts about the importance and I'd like to see this
[1:04:30] happen.
[1:04:30] And I think that's it.
[1:04:33] Mr. President Friend.
[1:04:36] Thank you, Chair.
[1:04:37] I'd like to thank the Sheriff's Office on items 33, 34 and 35,
[1:04:41] which the grant funding is very important.
[1:04:44] The additional protections that Montevista-Christian are also important.
[1:04:48] And the consolidation of the record system,
[1:04:50] well, seems kind of like a behind-the-scenes-inside baseball thing,
[1:04:53] really actually matters a lot for public safety
[1:04:55] within the community, the ability for all the agencies
[1:04:59] seems to be able to communicate in that way.
[1:05:01] I'd also like to acknowledge the work of the residents
[1:05:03] on Zills Road who are requesting,
[1:05:06] and I imagine my colleagues that are in their support
[1:05:08] of these road bumps.
[1:05:10] There was a significant amount of process
[1:05:11] associated with it that was led by that neighborhood,
[1:05:15] and actually, we've received feedback
[1:05:16] on how to improve that program,
[1:05:18] and I'll be working with public works
[1:05:20] on some of that feedback that I thought
[1:05:21] were very good suggestions,
[1:05:23] but regardless, it's a high bar
[1:05:25] in order to get these installed,
[1:05:26] and the neighborhood stuck with it,
[1:05:27] and was able to get that done.
[1:05:30] On item 61 on the Sheridan Mobility Services,
[1:05:33] I definitely appreciate the work of Public Works
[1:05:35] on this very difficult issue as well as Council.
[1:05:39] One of the vendors that is currently,
[1:05:41] or the vendor that's currently operating
[1:05:42] within the city of Santa Cruz
[1:05:44] was not really willing to negotiate with the county
[1:05:47] on a lot of regards.
[1:05:47] And I think it's reasonable for us to go out
[1:05:49] and see what options are available
[1:05:51] for not just the county, but Capitola,
[1:05:53] which most people pass through
[1:05:55] when they're going to this southern portion
[1:05:57] of the county anyway. So I appreciate your work on that. It's been deferred significantly,
[1:06:00] but it's been deferred not because of lack of work, but because of the fact that we've had a
[1:06:04] difficult time with the one provider. And I think that Public Works deserves a lot of credit for
[1:06:08] your work and the negotiation on that. Thank you.
[1:06:11] Mr. Caput.
[1:06:15] Just a comment on 62 and 63. They're basically the same thing, but it is $4,492,000.
[1:06:28] And
[1:06:35] that will basically, what they're doing, it overlaps on District 2 and District 4 and
[1:06:46] it deals with the grant not to exceed the amount of what I mentioned, $4,492,000.
[1:06:56] And I think we're talking about replacing wastewater in that area.
[1:07:09] We're replacing 9,700 linear feet of deteriorated clay sanitary sewer pipes in that area.
[1:07:20] So that – do we have a start date on that or does – I don't want to put you on the
[1:07:27] spot here, but does it look like we do have any type of date that would start?
[1:07:41] Good morning, Matt Machado, Director of Public Works.
[1:07:44] We're targeting next summer to kick off construction.
[1:07:46] It's an underground job, and so not a great job to do during the winter months.
[1:07:50] So next summer.
[1:07:51] That – thanks a lot.
[1:07:53] I think that it'll be a disruption in that area for a while with traffic and dealing
[1:08:00] with it.
[1:08:01] But we're talking about replacing some of the sewer lines, basically, and it's a major
[1:08:14] undertaking.
[1:08:15] I think some of those lines are over 50 to 60 years, 70 years old, is that correct?
[1:08:26] Yeah.
[1:08:27] Okay.
[1:08:28] So thank you.
[1:08:30] All right.
[1:08:31] Great.
[1:08:32] Just a couple brief comments.
[1:08:34] The first is item number 24, which has to do with the storm damage repairs to our roads.
[1:08:41] I'd also like to add additional direction that our county council explored possible legal
[1:08:46] action we can take against the federal government.
[1:08:48] It's unprecedented to have the federal government basically break their promises to communities
[1:08:55] after storms to help fund repairs, and I think we need to explore legal action if this
[1:09:02] administration is going to fail the people of California repeatedly.
[1:09:07] The second one is on item number 42, which is a deferral on the SSP program.
[1:09:14] I think it's great that we're doing outreach.
[1:09:16] I think supervisors should be noticed or should be told about meetings about SSP
[1:09:23] that are occurring in their districts as part of this outreach.
[1:09:27] So I'd add that as an additional direction.
[1:09:30] So do we have a motion?
[1:09:31] I move the consent agenda as amended.
[1:09:33] We have a motion, and a motion by Leopold, a second by Friend.
[1:09:38] All those in favor, please say aye.
[1:09:40] Aye.
[1:09:41] Opposed?
[1:09:41] That passes unanimously.
[1:09:45] We're now going to move on to a fun item, which is to consider the selection of Denise
[1:09:52] Davidson as the public artist for the Selva Beach Library Project, adopt a resolution accepting
[1:09:58] and unanticipated revenue in the amount of $5,000
[1:10:03] for related actions, as outlined in a memorandum
[1:10:06] of the Director of Parks, Open Space,
[1:10:07] and Cultural Services.
[1:10:09] Good morning.
[1:10:10] I want to thank you guys for all the hard work that you do.
[1:10:13] I really appreciate you.
[1:10:15] I feel like I've been going through a war zone.
[1:10:19] My name is Cynthia Killian,
[1:10:20] and I'm the Chairperson
[1:10:22] for the Santa Cruz County Arc Commission,
[1:10:24] and I represent District 2.
[1:10:28] And I'm really happy to present this to you this morning.
[1:10:33] It's been 28 years in the making.
[1:10:35] It was originally proposed in 1991,
[1:10:38] reviewed in 2008,
[1:10:41] and here we are 2019.
[1:10:43] And the Art Commission is pleased to recommend
[1:10:46] for your approval today
[1:10:48] a proposal for the Lacello Beach Library public art component.
[1:10:53] The art selection panel comprised of community members, professional artists, county art commissioners,
[1:11:00] and representatives of the involved department met in April to review the proposals that were submitted by the artists.
[1:11:09] Two artists were invited to interview with the selected panel on May 23rd.
[1:11:17] The artists were asked to bring detailed drawings or a mancat to further define their project proposals.
[1:11:24] After each deliberation, the panel chose Denise Davidson to continue in the selection process.
[1:11:32] At the June meeting of the Art Commission, the commissioners reviewed the panel's decision and voted to recommend
[1:11:38] that your board approved this election Ms. Davidson as a public artist for the
[1:11:46] Licella Beach Library. I'd like to introduce Denise Davidson to you now and
[1:11:53] if you have any questions you'd be happy to answer them. Denise?
[1:12:00] Thank you Silvia.
[1:12:02] I mean Cynthia.
[1:12:05] Hello. Hello.
[1:12:15] Sorry but emotional. Thank you for considering me
[1:12:20] and my mosaic art for the La Selva Beach Library Project.
[1:12:27] Mosaic art is ideal for public space because it's low maintenance,
[1:12:33] evokes a sense of permanence, and is universally appealing.
[1:12:38] I'll be using stained glass.
[1:12:40] It's hard wearing, weatherproof, and virtually indestructible.
[1:12:45] It's color fast and available in a vast array of colors.
[1:12:48] The vision is to welcome the visitor, delight, inspire.
[1:12:57] It will be a representational piece suggesting ocean.
[1:13:04] I have brought my rough sketch.
[1:13:07] This is going to be five feet tall, three feet across.
[1:13:13] I think I can just put that right there.
[1:13:19] and it will be installed near the back entrance.
[1:13:22] I've also brought the maquette,
[1:13:26] showing the beautiful colors.
[1:13:30] And Kathy's gonna pass that around for you.
[1:13:36] Most, excuse me, most of my mosaic art
[1:13:39] is inspired by nature, especially the beauty
[1:13:42] of our unique central coast.
[1:13:44] coast. In creating this piece, I was inspired by our ocean but didn't want it to be a particular
[1:13:50] place on our coast, just a suggestion of the ocean's many colors and its movement.
[1:13:58] It will be built using roughly these colors of stained glass and will be installed on a
[1:14:06] lightweight concrete board which will be installed and it's going to be on the outside
[1:14:11] of the building so if you have any questions I'm happy to answer and that
[1:14:18] is an example of the concrete board no it's beautiful thank you I don't have
[1:14:26] any questions anyone else I don't have questions I'm I'm excited about this I'm
[1:14:31] excited that you were selected this is a long time coming for the Waselva
[1:14:37] Beach community who fought to ensure that that library wouldn't be closed
[1:14:42] when there was an effort to close it and now is not only seeing that it's it's living but it's
[1:14:46] living with an entirely new spot and I know that that is technically the new back entrance but we
[1:14:52] still all view that as the front entrance so don't be concerned about that but it's also a spot
[1:14:57] that will be seen by people beyond just those using a lot of
[1:15:00] February, which is important, it's a community center right across the walkway from there. Right
[1:15:04] outside the children's room, it's going to bring this warmth and joy. We had multiple community
[1:15:09] meetings and this sense of community place and this sense of making sure that it has
[1:15:14] some connection to the ocean and the environment, where what we heard repeatedly in your piece
[1:15:19] captures it perfectly. So thank you for that. And congratulations on this. I know we need
[1:15:26] to accept public comment before we bring it back for a motion but I'm excited to see this
[1:15:30] piece come up. Thank you. I think you said it better than I did.
[1:15:38] Is there any public comment on this item? Does anyone like to speak to us? Seeing none, I'll
[1:15:44] bring it back to the board for deliberation action. With a lot of thanks for parks, a
[1:15:50] lot of thanks to our Arts Commission and to the artists. I'd like to move the
[1:15:53] recommended actions.
[1:15:54] And I'll second it and say it's a beautiful piece, and I look forward to seeing it when
[1:15:59] it's all hung on the library wall.
[1:16:02] Yes.
[1:16:03] Thank you.
[1:16:03] Congratulations.
[1:16:04] So we have a motion by Friend and a second by Leopold.
[1:16:07] All those in favor, please say aye.
[1:16:09] Aye.
[1:16:10] Opposed?
[1:16:11] That passes unanimously.
[1:16:12] Look forward to the construction.
[1:16:18] Our next item is item number eight, which is a considerable report on the focused
[1:16:22] Intervention Team, the FIT team pilot program to increase services to eligible FIT participants
[1:16:29] and reduce community impacts from aggressive criminal behavior and to direct staff to return
[1:16:33] with an annual report in March 2020 as outlined in a memorandum of the CAO.
[1:16:39] And we have the sheriff here to present and Mr. Herrera from Mental Health.
[1:16:44] Well, good morning, Chairman Coonerty, Board of Supervisors, Jim Hart, Sheriff Corner.
[1:16:49] And today's presentation, we're going to provide you with a brief update of the first five months of the FIT program.
[1:16:58] And we're going to give you a quick reminder of how and why the FIT pilot came to be.
[1:17:04] We're going to look at who our clients are.
[1:17:06] We're just going to share a couple of brief client experiences and provide a summary of what we believe the program strengths are.
[1:17:13] and then we are going to be looking at the risks and outlining our full pilot
[1:17:18] evaluation plan. Eric Riera is here from Health Services and he'll walk you
[1:17:23] through the program history and client profile. Eric? Good morning, Board. Eric
[1:17:28] Riera, County Behavioral Health Director. I wanted to begin with a history of
[1:17:35] collaboration and innovation in developing this program. Between County
[1:17:41] law enforcement and behavioral health, we both have a long history of adapting innovative
[1:17:46] programs to our local community. Two examples are our crisis intervention team at the jail,
[1:17:53] as well as our law enforcement liaison program, and now our focused intervention team.
[1:17:59] The focused intervention team pilot was not developed as an off-the-shelf program.
[1:18:10] It's
[1:18:11] building on the mental health liaison program
[1:18:13] that's been so successful in our community.
[1:18:21] The FIT pilot is a county program that was developed
[1:18:25] by the sheriff, behavioral health,
[1:18:28] and our county administrative office.
[1:18:31] The team is comprised of three peace officers,
[1:18:34] three clinicians, and one administrative aide.
[1:18:39] It provides intense field-based supervision
[1:18:42] and in custody services for those participants.
[1:18:45] fast-track custody assessment, service and treatment plan development,
[1:18:51] and the custody status determined at arraignment or conditional release.
[1:18:57] It's heavily focused on community engagement and participation from the members served in the program,
[1:19:03] and we also have an independent program evaluation that's being done by ASR.
[1:19:09] On
[1:19:13] the next slide, I wanted to talk a little bit about some client profile information.
[1:19:19] As you can see from the slide, the average age of our fit clients is approximately 41 years of age.
[1:19:28] The next highest category are individuals between 30 and 39.
[1:19:36] Over 90% of the clients served by the fit team are men,
[1:19:41] And you can see some other pertinent demographic information on the slide.
[1:19:50] Over 70 percent of the clients served through the FIT program have lived in Santa Cruz County
[1:19:56] for over 10 years prior to enrolling in FIT.
[1:20:00] Not shown here, but critical to understanding the client population is that all 45 clients
[1:20:07] were determined to need substance use treatment services, and 96 percent of the clients
[1:20:13] were experiencing homelessness at the time of enrollment.
[1:20:21] We'd like to give the board two examples of actual fit clients that illustrate the challenges
[1:20:28] of the clients that were targeting with this program.
[1:20:31] Client A in the illustration on the slide in the year prior to enrolling in fit was
[1:20:38] booked into jail 11 times, arrested 43 times, and had over 50 stay-away orders.
[1:20:47] People reported this client described him as yelling, belligerent, refusing to leave
[1:20:54] local premises and engaging in other inappropriate behaviors in the community.
[1:21:00] After enrolling in FIT, the client had no additional jail bookings and was arrested only three times.
[1:21:10] The client entered five recovery programs and obtained a part-time job.
[1:21:16] The client went 60 days without arrest and received a FIT completion letter on July 30th of this year.
[1:21:25] However, since then, the client has regressed and was arrested twice and has subsequently
[1:21:31] been added back to the FIT caseload on August 23rd.
[1:21:36] I'm going to turn it over to Sheriff Hart to talk about our next client.
[1:21:42] So client B is a very interesting example of some of the different people that we're
[1:21:51] seeing come through the program.
[1:21:52] As you can see in the year prior to Rowling and Fit, he was booked into jail seven times.
[1:21:58] And in that year, he spent 238 days in county jail.
[1:22:03] He'd been disrupting businesses, challenging people to fight, harassing public works employees.
[1:22:09] Since in Rowling and Fit, the client has eight arrests and spent about half as much
[1:22:14] time in jail with 118 days.
[1:22:16] This person's refused mental health and substance use treatment and has been hostile towards
[1:22:21] fit deputies and clinicians. The client informed the fit court that he does not want to participate
[1:22:26] in the program. However, perhaps due to the client's intense dislike for the program,
[1:22:32] he has not been arrested since August 5th of this year, so he's gone nearly 60 days
[1:22:36] now without an arrest. And we share these examples today because as it's too early
[1:22:41] to draw conclusions about these clients, it is also too early to draw conclusions
[1:22:45] about the FIT pilot. These clients are very difficult to engage and we expect that they
[1:22:52] will cycle in and out of the program over time.
[1:23:00] Next slide we want to talk about is some preliminary data for the first five months of operations
[1:23:06] and overall we're seeing a decline in arrests among FIT clients as well as jail bed days.
[1:23:11] I know there was some concern from board members about this program possibly causing
[1:23:16] more incarceration days and again it's a small data set but preliminarily in the first five
[1:23:23] months we're seeing that in column one and the six months before FIT 13 of the 45 people
[1:23:31] who have been enrolled in the program spent about 15 days a month in county jail and then
[1:23:36] you can see now these people since they've been enrolled in FIT are spending about
[1:23:40] six and a half days a month in county jail.
[1:23:43] So their time in custody has been reduced by about 50 percent.
[1:23:47] And then the whole set of 45 people who have been in the program, their jail days have been
[1:23:53] reduced by 25 percent during the last five months.
[1:24:02] The FIT pile requires intense supervision, and that's what we're providing.
[1:24:06] Deputies and clinicians work closely in the field.
[1:24:09] And together, they've made about 1,100 client contacts outside of the jail in
[1:24:14] the courthouse.
[1:24:14] So out in the field, they've contacted about 1,100 different times over the five month period.
[1:24:26] We've had 16 cases closed so far.
[1:24:30] And as we can see that of the 16 cases, there's been two people who have completed the 60 days on the FIT program
[1:24:39] and no arrests have been taken off the FIT client list.
[1:24:43] And then you can see that there's a very small sample size here.
[1:24:46] and so we need to be careful about drawing conclusions on this preliminary data.
[1:24:50] But so far of the 16 people, you can see six actually left the county
[1:24:54] because they didn't want to be involved in the FIT program.
[1:24:57] If five people picked up new felony cases,
[1:25:00] then you can see the rest of the data on your screen there.
[1:25:05] In terms of risk review, many of the risks are out of control of the FIT team
[1:25:11] and they continue to impact the program, but they're not new to our community.
[1:25:16] As Eric had mentioned, 96 percent of FIT clients are experiencing homelessness, and lack of
[1:25:22] housing options often constrains opportunities for clients to successfully complete programming.
[1:25:27] Treatment capacity, especially for withdrawal management and residential treatment, continues
[1:25:32] to be an issue.
[1:25:33] And as mentioned, you know that all 45 people who have been in the program have substance
[1:25:37] use disorder issues.
[1:25:40] In terms of evaluation, the FIT pilot will complete its first year of operation
[1:25:44] at the end of January 2020 and with our partners at ASR we will complete a full evaluation of
[1:25:51] the FIP pilot across the outcome areas that are listed on the screen. We plan to complete
[1:25:56] this evaluation by March 2020 and report back to the board with the results.
[1:26:02] So in summary, the FIP pilot is an initiative to enhance community safety and move into
[1:26:09] people into treatment who are high-frequency criminal justice offenders. It's a strong collaboration
[1:26:15] between the Sheriff's Office, Behavioral Health and CAO. In terms of demographics, clients
[1:26:21] are generally male, homeless, local, and they have substance use disorder. And the first
[1:26:26] six months of operation has yielded fewer arrests and more treatment. And then we're
[1:26:30] looking forward to the independent evaluation by S.R. in 2020.
[1:26:34] So I want to thank you for your time on this brief presentation.
[1:26:38] Eric and I are happy to answer any questions you might have.
[1:26:41] We have most of our FIT team is here.
[1:26:43] I believe six of the seven team members are here.
[1:26:45] And if there's a question for them, they're happy to answer that as well.
[1:26:49] So thank you very much.
[1:26:51] Thank you.
[1:26:52] I'll just start with – first, I want to say thank you.
[1:26:56] This is by far the most challenging population to deal with.
[1:27:00] and I appreciate the sheriff and HSA's leadership in being willing to step up and try to address
[1:27:06] the issue when essentially all the other systems have failed, both these people and the community
[1:27:11] over the years.
[1:27:12] I also want to take a moment to appreciate that this is a program that puts community
[1:27:17] impacts as a high priority, if not the highest priority, because every one of those arrests
[1:27:24] is traumatic for either an individual or even groups of people, children, seniors who are
[1:27:31] just trying to be in our public spaces and are having to deal with people who are causing
[1:27:36] tremendous impacts. And so to reduce those incidences is a major benefit to the whole
[1:27:44] community. I think the structural challenges we face as a society as well as just the
[1:27:53] limitations of what you can do are clear, but I appreciate having these teams patrolling
[1:27:59] across the county, not limited by jurisdictional lines and trying to address what is the critical
[1:28:06] issue facing our community.
[1:28:07] So I just want to thank both of you for your work.
[1:28:10] Thank you.
[1:28:11] Supervisor Leopold.
[1:28:12] Thank you, Chair.
[1:28:13] Thank you for the presentation.
[1:28:15] I really appreciate the information because my concern at the start of this is it wasn't
[1:28:20] always clear what it is we were trying to accomplish. And we had a general idea of what
[1:28:26] it is we wanted to do, but it was hard to figure out what those metrics would be. And
[1:28:30] so it's helpful, at least to me, to see where people are coming from, what kind of pre-fit
[1:28:41] behavior and post-fit behavior. We see I'm grateful that we aren't just putting
[1:28:49] more people in jail. I don't think that was the intent of the program, and so this information
[1:28:54] that looks like the people who spend, that we're spending more time in jail or spending
[1:28:59] less time in jail, and that we have a number of people in this program which are receiving
[1:29:05] treatment services, which is, I think, which we would all agree, is critically
[1:29:10] important to address the issues that they face and the issues, the impacts of affected
[1:29:16] community. I'm wondering of the small dataset that we have, those that have completed the
[1:29:22] FIT program, what kind of transition do they have to something else? Because these are
[1:29:27] obviously high-need individuals and the FIT programs are or interventions seem to be
[1:29:38] useful in getting people to start addressing some of the issues that they face, whether
[1:29:45] they'd be substance use disorder or maybe mental health services. When someone graduates
[1:29:51] from the FIT program, are they involved with the HOPS program or some other program that
[1:29:58] that we have.
[1:30:00] To make sure that there's some ability to maintain their status.
[1:30:05] The focus of the HOPE's team is to work with homeless individuals who have not yet been
[1:30:10] connected to services, so fit participants would generally be connected with ongoing treatment
[1:30:16] either through our substance use disorder system or through specialty mental health
[1:30:21] services or even through our integrated behavioral health program in clinics.
[1:30:26] I do want to mention that one of our biggest challenges in supporting people's recovery
[1:30:32] is the lack of housing.
[1:30:35] As was mentioned during the presentation, 96 percent of the FIT participants were homeless.
[1:30:41] We have been successful in housing very small numbers of FIT participants, but for those
[1:30:46] who are leaving a treatment program like from Janice, for example, having to go back
[1:30:51] out onto the streets and maintain their sobriety at a time when they continue to be homeless
[1:30:57] is one of the most significant challenges that we deal with.
[1:31:01] I can imagine that when you see the numbers of people in this program, their percentage
[1:31:07] of 96% homeless, we know how hard that would be and it's a big challenge.
[1:31:14] The other question I had is, have we earlier today in our consent agenda heard about the
[1:31:26] drug Medi-Cal residential treatment bed utilization?
[1:31:31] And as I mentioned, they were at 100 percent or nearly 100 percent everywhere.
[1:31:38] Do we have people in the FIT program who could, who need residential treatment but
[1:31:42] there isn't a bed when they need it?
[1:31:45] We have been running at full capacity
[1:31:49] within residential services.
[1:31:51] And for the first time, actually,
[1:31:53] we had two instances where we were not
[1:31:57] able to immediately get someone into a residential bed.
[1:32:01] They had to wait.
[1:32:02] So it's something that we're paying particular attention
[1:32:05] to how we can build residential capacity
[1:32:08] within the community.
[1:32:10] They're not easy programs to cite,
[1:32:12] as you can imagine. So we've been working both on potential in-county solutions as well
[1:32:21] as out-of-county. Our current efforts are to work with another non-profit in Santa Cruz
[1:32:28] County who has submitted an application to the state to become a drug medical provider.
[1:32:35] And that application has been in for approximately four months. So we should be hearing from
[1:32:41] the state on whether that's approved within the next couple of months, and that will be
[1:32:45] bringing additional residential bed capacity online for our community.
[1:32:51] Great.
[1:32:52] And of the 30 fit clients we have on the caseloader right now, seven are in a treatment
[1:32:57] program today.
[1:33:00] Well, I really appreciate the collaborative nature of this program.
[1:33:05] I want to thank the staff who's out there every day doing the hard work necessary
[1:33:10] to ensure that people get good services, that they aren't impacting the community anymore
[1:33:17] and are collecting the data so we can all see, you know, so what progress we're making.
[1:33:22] I look forward to the full evaluation next spring, but I think you're off to a good
[1:33:28] start, so thank you for that.
[1:33:35] Thanks a lot.
[1:33:37] I mean, it's good, it's a good program and I'm really happy to see that we are
[1:33:44] addressing a problem that many, many areas everywhere are facing right now and it's good
[1:33:53] to see you working together and so basically I'd just say thank you.
[1:33:58] Thank you.
[1:33:58] Thank you.
[1:34:00] And to the, I think a point, I was just, to the point about housing, I was just hearing
[1:34:06] about a shelter provider over in Santa Clara County who is developing a program or has
[1:34:13] developed a program that helps connect people who, once they get stabilized and go through
[1:34:19] treatment, then connects them with jobs in, you know, places where there's high demand
[1:34:25] for relatively low-skilled labor and lower-cost housing prices and then facilitates people
[1:34:31] being going to those communities where there's an endless supply of jobs and relatively
[1:34:37] low housing and giving people an opportunity to start building a life where it's going
[1:34:41] to be sort of financially possible to make a living and pay rent and everything else.
[1:34:48] So I think looking at partnering, I think the folks in the FIT team have their hands full
[1:34:54] on databases, but if there's a way that we can work with the HSD staff or other providers
[1:35:00] to help facilitate a path for folks once they've completed a program and put in the work
[1:35:05] and been stabilized, I think it's – and helping us really – we should be facilitating
[1:35:10] and supporting people, I think it's worth looking at.
[1:35:14] Thank you.
[1:35:15] And I just want to briefly add that a team like this, when they're dealing with a really
[1:35:21] challenging group, you have to have the right people in this assignment.
[1:35:25] And particularly for the deputy sheriffs, there's been no use of force issues.
[1:35:31] These guys go out and they're compassionate and they work with this group and they bring
[1:35:36] them into custody when they have to and they look at the different options that
[1:35:39] they have, but on both sides on the behavioral health and the law enforcement side, I just
[1:35:44] – I can't say enough about how well this team works together and what a good group
[1:35:48] of people are doing this work every day.
[1:35:49] Absolutely.
[1:35:51] Thank you.
[1:35:52] Is there any public comment from folks who would like to speak to us about this item?
[1:36:02] Am I restricted to two minutes or will be LL3?
[1:36:05] Two minutes.
[1:36:06] We have a presentation coming up.
[1:36:08] I understand.
[1:36:08] Thank you.
[1:36:09] My name is Becky Steinbrenner.
[1:36:10] I'm a resident of rural Aptos.
[1:36:12] Thank you for this information.
[1:36:13] It was a big chunk of the Measure G, half-cent sales tax money that was approved last fall
[1:36:20] for funding unmet needs.
[1:36:23] So I've been curious to see how this would unfold as well.
[1:36:27] I really think there needs to be a cost-benefit analysis of this done.
[1:36:32] 45 clients is a good number, but how does that pan out in terms of the economic?
[1:36:39] So I would like to see that cost-benefit analysis done when you come back in March.
[1:36:45] Sheriff Hart, thank you.
[1:36:47] I'm wondering where in the county these clients come from?
[1:36:51] Do they tend to be from a certain area?
[1:36:54] Where are they from?
[1:36:56] And I would like some information about that.
[1:36:59] How many of them are veterans?
[1:37:01] I think that's a big question we need to find out too.
[1:37:04] And how is the community engaged in this process?
[1:37:09] We heard this morning from many people in the haptos area that are unhappy with these sorts of clients in their residential neighborhood.
[1:37:19] How is the public being and community being engaged in this process as it goes along?
[1:37:25] What is the long-term goal?
[1:37:27] What are the things that we aspire to with this program?
[1:37:30] I note that 13% of the program closures are because they left the county.
[1:37:37] That's about half of them. They left the county. Where did they go?
[1:37:41] What are they getting there? And what have we invested in and have them leave?
[1:37:48] I want to suggest that to instill some dignity.
[1:37:51] It's about the transition when they leave to instill some dignity and self-respect.
[1:37:56] In fact, I do know that the Cal Fire Corrections work crews and Ben Lohman are down significantly
[1:38:03] because of the change in regulations.
[1:38:06] What would happen if we gave these people a job up there as two separate specialized
[1:38:12] crews and they go out under supervision of law enforcement, they have a place to
[1:38:17] live up there, they have pay, and they do community service jobs?
[1:38:21] Thank you.
[1:38:22] You're welcome.
[1:38:22] Thank you.
[1:38:22] I
[1:38:30] would also like to see the questions Becky Steinbruner brought up addressed in your next
[1:38:37] report.
[1:38:39] I noticed the important factor of homelessness, lack of housing, and this and your comments,
[1:38:50] Chair Coonerty, about helping to facilitate people into housing and jobs are definitely
[1:38:57] what's needed. However, we have an economic system that is one of the most inequitable
[1:39:07] anywhere. And more and more people are unemployed and driven into homelessness as the corporations
[1:39:17] and the wealth, they have more money. So what's happening here is in context of that.
[1:39:26] Also, I keep thinking of this doctor speaking about the major illnesses of our time having
[1:39:37] to be with heart problems, diabetes, and mental health issues, including suicides that are
[1:39:46] linked to the exposure to the wireless microwave radiation. And 5G will make it worse. I notice
[1:39:54] on the agenda it says about aggressive criminal behavior. I have a friend in Felton. I want
[1:40:02] to give a case in point without names. But there is a very aggressive neighbor that
[1:40:08] is pretty much terrifying the neighborhood. He actually choked my friend's boyfriend,
[1:40:14] friend was pounding at the car window, threatened another neighbor who has an injunction against
[1:40:21] this person, and she has repeatedly pled with the sheriff and to get some remedy and to get
[1:40:29] this person out of the neighborhood. Nothing's been done to help this problem.
[1:40:37] Thank you. So there's no action required today other than to, again, thank you, thank
[1:40:44] the team who's out there and we look forward to the annual report.
[1:40:48] There is action.
[1:40:49] There is action.
[1:40:50] Yeah.
[1:40:50] Absolutely.
[1:40:51] First, I want to thank the presentation.
[1:40:55] Some of the questions that were asked are actually part of the report about who the
[1:41:00] agencies are that are making referrals, and that gives you an idea of what part
[1:41:05] of the county I encourage.
[1:41:06] I wanted to read the report.
[1:41:08] I would move the recommended actions of accepting and filing this FIT report and direct
[1:41:12] staff to return with the annual report in March 2020.
[1:41:15] All right. We've got a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed.
[1:41:21] That passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:41:27] We now – well, let me ask the Director of Public Works the timing of this. How long
[1:41:35] will this report going to take? Ten minutes.
[1:41:40] Why don't we – why don't you make it eight minutes and we're ready to go.
[1:42:02] Good morning, Chair, Board of Supervisors.
[1:42:04] Thank you for giving me the time and space here.
[1:42:07] So this is our 2017 Storm Report, an update.
[1:42:13] Today I'm going to cover a handful of items,
[1:42:17] including primarily about the funding status.
[1:42:21] That's the most critical part for time extensions on storm damage projects, but we will go
[1:42:25] through all those that are involved and the process involved.
[1:42:29] And so there are a lot of people involved.
[1:42:31] There are a lot of regulatory agencies.
[1:42:33] And we all work together.
[1:42:35] We have good relationships with all of them, but it does take time.
[1:42:38] And I will share that timing here shortly.
[1:42:41] So in 2017, we had 207 storm damage sites on county roads, 94 of them were FEMA.
[1:42:50] These are local roads, 95 for federal highways.
[1:42:52] these are federal aid routes. There were 18 locally-programmed projects that did not qualify
[1:42:59] for federal aid but are still resulted in damage. Additionally, not on the slide, there were 24
[1:43:05] CSA roadways damaged and six sites in our parks damaged. Just the roadway portions for the
[1:43:13] county road responsibility added up to about $140 million.
[1:43:22] So here's the status of where we
[1:43:24] We have completed 34 of those county roadway projects.
[1:43:28] We have 10 in construction, 44 are ready for construction,
[1:43:32] and 119 are in design and permitting.
[1:43:37] Here is some before and after of the projects that we've completed.
[1:43:44] So we're making good headway, but we've got a ways to go.
[1:43:49] So here is a bit about the process.
[1:43:53] Through federal highways, we have to have projects ready to construct within two years
[1:43:59] of the declaration.
[1:44:00] And what that means is that we have to have a request for authorization into Caltrans
[1:44:07] that includes the scope filed in, the design complete, environmental review complete,
[1:44:13] right-of-way secured, utilities relocated, and agreements in place.
[1:44:17] Then we can submit for our request for authorization and the result from that is called an E76.
[1:44:26] That's the authorization we're working toward so that we can meet the two-year construction timeframe.
[1:44:33] As of today, out of the 49 packages we've submitted recently, as of today we have six of those with E76.
[1:44:41] So that's good news.
[1:44:42] Those are clear.
[1:44:43] Do not need time extensions any longer, but that's just as of today.
[1:44:46] The rest of the 49 are under review through Caltrans and Federal Highways.
[1:44:57] So I will share with you that this two-year...
[1:45:00] Requirement is very unrealistic through federal highways. Today, our average is about two and
[1:45:07] a half years just through the federal process so that we can submit that RFA, that request
[1:45:12] for authorization. Here's a timeline of what we have experienced that it takes to go through
[1:45:18] the federal process. 12 months for a federal procurement process, that's to hire consultants
[1:45:23] to design the project. Six months to do the damage assessments, that's federal highways
[1:45:28] and Caltrans coming to our county and reviewing the sites. These are average months, of course.
[1:45:34] The environmental review permitting on average takes seven and a half months. Typically,
[1:45:39] all of these federal projects require betterment justification because of our terrain,
[1:45:44] and then we average about three months or more for right-of-way certification
[1:45:48] and utility coordination, adding up to two and a half years when the federal rule is two
[1:45:53] years. So we certainly have a problem in this area, and that's why we're here today
[1:45:57] sharing our status and our risks.
[1:46:07] So in order to get a time extension beyond
[1:46:10] the two years, we do have to submit requests and justification for those delays. Here is
[1:46:17] a table that shows what is acceptable and what is not. We've primarily focused our
[1:46:24] strategy on getting our R phase in so that we can secure the E76, but considering the
[1:46:32] federal process of two-and-a-half years. We typically, our justification is
[1:46:38] demonstrating that the delays are not due to our local agency, but due to the federal process.
[1:46:48] So just a matter of a few weeks ago, we submitted 85 time extension requests,
[1:46:54] and you'll notice that most of this presentation is focused on the federal highway portion. The FEMA projects are actually
[1:47:01] fairly well moving forward, and we don't have the same
[1:47:05] risks and and troubles.
[1:47:07] So I'll just continue to focus on the Federal Highway.
[1:47:16] So the 85-time extensions equate
[1:47:18] to about $48 million of risk.
[1:47:21] I will direct you to the very last page
[1:47:23] of the exhibit of the board letter.
[1:47:25] It does have a breakdown on what these 85 projects are.
[1:47:28] We have a number of them, let me turn to myself,
[1:47:32] where we have submitted RFAs.
[1:47:35] There are 45 projects
[1:47:39] where we've submitted the RFAs on,
[1:47:41] And that totals $24 million worth.
[1:47:45] Additionally, we have 37 projects that we have not been able to submit RFAs on due to their status and environmental review and processing.
[1:47:55] Those are worth $18 million.
[1:47:57] And then if you're tracking my math, there is an additional $6 million on projects that we built during the storm event that we're still working to get reimbursement.
[1:48:06] So we've requested time extensions for those.
[1:48:08] So, that totals 85 projects worth 48 million.
[1:48:12] The high risk are the projects that have not – we have not been able to submit RFAs on,
[1:48:17] which is approximately $18 million worth.
[1:48:27] To date, we've conducted a large amount of legislative efforts – Santa Cruz County,
[1:48:33] CISAC, NACO, Representative Panetta, Representative Eshoo, Senator Harris, Senator Feinstein,
[1:48:38] and many other federal legislators are urging Congress to amend their codes so
[1:48:44] that we can change the two years to six years so we don't have to continue to risk the funding
[1:48:50] that's at stake today. I would certainly like to thank our Board of Supervisors. Many of
[1:48:57] you have been very, very active. You've taken a big role and responsibility to help us get
[1:49:04] the word out, to mount an effort to change the law so that we can be more secure in
[1:49:11] funding and I would like to provide extra thanks to Representative Panetta and Representative
[1:49:18] Eshu for multiple joint letters to Federal Highways encouraging their support for needed
[1:49:22] time extensions.
[1:49:24] I will share with you today that Federal Highways has informed us that within a couple
[1:49:28] weeks we should have their summary of review of our time extension requests, our
[1:49:34] fingers are crossed we're working hard and closely with their staff to ensure
[1:49:39] that they have the justification they need to grant us extensions.
[1:49:46] With that, I will thank
[1:49:48] you and ask for any questions. And the item before you today is to consider this report
[1:49:54] and to direct public works to return in March of 2020 with an update to the board. And
[1:49:58] I can answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Are there any questions from
[1:50:01] board members? Brief questions. Supervisor Friend. I don't have a question.
[1:50:10] I'll
[1:50:10] You have taken a remarkable leadership role on this yourself, be it on your recent trip
[1:50:15] to D.C. that we did together, but also you've been to San Francisco to meet with state legislators
[1:50:19] that were there in Sacramento with our state delegation and with FHWA in Sacramento.
[1:50:26] We wouldn't be even in the opportunity, I think, to be considered for an extension
[1:50:31] if it weren't for your advocacy and along with Mr. Wiesner catching this pretty early
[1:50:34] on some of these issues.
[1:50:35] With that said, I think it's important for the community to understand, because we here,
[1:50:40] for those of us that had so much of the damage, just actually most of it was in my district,
[1:50:45] constantly what is the status we've provided timelines to the community with that status
[1:50:50] that unfortunately haven't been able to come true as a result of what's happening at
[1:50:54] the federal level, that the county is ready to build on at least half of these projects.
[1:51:01] We just simply need, in essence, a paperwork approval for an extension, just to put
[1:51:05] that in perspective it's not but without that 40 plus million dollars it'll be a
[1:51:09] significant delay in the ability for us to do this and so any advocacy that the
[1:51:14] community also wants to do to reach out to your federal delegation and the
[1:51:19] administration would be appreciated but the county and the leadership of this
[1:51:23] public works director deputy CAO has been very strong in this issue and I
[1:51:27] I wanted to acknowledge you for that work, Mr. Rashadon.
[1:51:30] Thank you.
[1:51:31] Mr. Rashadon?
[1:51:32] I want to express my appreciation also to my colleague, Supervisor Friend, who took time
[1:51:37] off during his July recess to attend the NACO Convention and get them on board to help
[1:51:42] make this happen.
[1:51:43] And our Chair also, if we're going to D.C., to advocate to these agencies.
[1:51:51] It is hard to believe that in the time of national disaster, a nationally declared natural disaster,
[1:51:59] that our federal government would shirk its responsibilities about helping local communities like ours,
[1:52:04] especially when we're so close to actually getting the work done.
[1:52:10] I remain concerned of what's going to happen.
[1:52:13] and this item says it's not to come back until March,
[1:52:19] but you said you're gonna know in a couple weeks
[1:52:22] about what the extension requests would be.
[1:52:26] I think it would be useful to get something back
[1:52:29] from the department to know, A, what happened in those,
[1:52:34] but also to know what our plan is.
[1:52:37] Because as I look at these roads in my district,
[1:52:40] you know, and look at the priorities and the concerns, the delay that people have had
[1:52:48] because of the damage.
[1:52:51] The need's still going to be there, whether the federal government comes through or not.
[1:52:57] And I think we need to start talking way before March 2020 about how we're going
[1:53:02] to make that happen.
[1:53:03] And so I'd like to see us add on, you know, getting a report maybe by our first meeting
[1:53:10] in November to get an update about what's going on and just sort of what our strategy
[1:53:14] is from there.
[1:53:16] But I appreciate the work of our public work staff.
[1:53:19] As I looked at the pictures that you shared, there was a blue van that had fallen into
[1:53:24] the earth.
[1:53:25] That was a repair that you guys got fixed within a couple months of that.
[1:53:32] that. So I know that the Department is hardworking, and it doesn't feel good to be at the hands
[1:53:39] of the federal government at this point, because they seem to be taking it out on states that
[1:53:43] don't support them.
[1:53:46] So brief.
[1:53:50] Thank you.
[1:53:52] It's hard to believe that if I'm not mistaken that in the whole state
[1:54:01] the state of California, we had more damage than any other county in the state of California.
[1:54:09] Is that more damage as far as money, or is it more damage as far as area?
[1:54:17] For the 2017 storms, we had more site damage and more dollar damage than anybody else in
[1:54:24] the state.
[1:54:25] That's amazing.
[1:54:26] Yeah.
[1:54:27] I think we're one of the smallest counties and well we were basically there's only one
[1:54:36] county smaller than Santa Cruz County and the whole county and the whole state of California
[1:54:40] and so it does say if we get money it says we have to show that within two years that
[1:54:52] were at least have a plan to get something done. And then it also says that some things
[1:55:02] are beyond our control. Okay. Now, if the state of California doesn't, I'm sorry, if
[1:55:10] the Federal Highway Administration doesn't give us any money, that's beyond our control,
[1:55:16] right?
[1:55:17] Well, what they're talking about is that the process to get through the environmental,
[1:55:23] the permitting, the right-of-way needs, the design, that process per the federal regulation
[1:55:30] is restricted to two years.
[1:55:33] And so we need to justify why it takes longer than two years.
[1:55:37] And our justification is that the federal process alone, the permitting process, the
[1:55:41] betterment, justification, and so on, takes more than two years.
[1:55:44] and so that's out of our control. The funding doesn't actually get authorized
[1:55:50] until we have a project ready to construct and we receive the E76 that
[1:55:55] that's the authorization that we're targeting that's when the money is
[1:55:58] secured at that point. No, that part is very understandable but if the
[1:56:06] Federal Highway Administration is not giving any money we really can't do
[1:56:12] So what I'm getting at is it's kind of a catch-22 in a sense.
[1:56:21] They're not going to give money for the damage that we already repaired.
[1:56:29] It's a challenging process for sure.
[1:56:32] And so, you know, we've thrown everything at it to secure the funding and to get the projects delivered.
[1:56:37] But you're right, it's difficult.
[1:56:39] Yeah.
[1:56:39] Very difficult.
[1:56:39] So we're basically starting out in the hole, right?
[1:56:44] What, about $10 million?
[1:56:49] So during the storm event, we did go in the hole quite a bit.
[1:56:52] Your action today filled a big chunk of that hole,
[1:56:55] so thank you for that.
[1:56:56] That was very, very helpful.
[1:56:58] Going forward, this additional time extension
[1:57:01] requests and needs from the federal government
[1:57:04] could create a bigger hole, a new hole for us.
[1:57:06] We're hoping it doesn't.
[1:57:07] We're hoping the time extension comes in,
[1:57:10] and we can deliver these projects and we don't create a new hole.
[1:57:13] So that's the plan.
[1:57:15] Thank you.
[1:57:16] Thank you.
[1:57:17] Are there any members of public who would like to speak to us about this item?
[1:57:28] Thank you, Becky Steinbrenner, rural resident on one of the damaged roads in the CSA that
[1:57:34] also had damage.
[1:57:34] Thank you for this good report and for answering many of my questions in advance
[1:57:38] of today's meeting.
[1:57:39] I appreciate that very much.
[1:57:41] So my question is it takes two and a half years.
[1:57:46] you showed a good timeline there of what each step takes, how much of that can be done
[1:57:52] concurrently. I'm sure that you're very efficient and the consultants that the county has hired
[1:57:58] to help with this are very efficient. So what would be the shortest amount of time
[1:58:03] if a lot of work were being done concurrently and there were no snags?
[1:58:08] I also want to know, I also think we need to point out that it's not just a one-time damage
[1:58:14] assessment. In my neighborhood I'm seeing the county crews coming out before the winter
[1:58:20] storms and stabilizing these damaged areas so there are ongoing costs that are associated
[1:58:27] with these things and I hope that those will be able to be covered. I hope that we can
[1:58:33] come cooperate with possibly the state and get some money to focus on repairing the
[1:58:42] areas that are damaged, that may not be funded, that are prime fire evacuation routes. Fire
[1:58:50] safety, fire preparedness is a huge issue in the state. Governor Newsom has shown that
[1:58:56] he's willing to put money to address these issues. And I would like to ask that the
[1:59:02] county supervisors and the Public Works Director talk with the state level to see what they
[1:59:09] could do to help us, if we can't fix it using federal highway money, that we at least focus
[1:59:16] some state money to address the issue of dangerous fire evacuation routes that are damaged and
[1:59:22] could be problematic in the event of a fire. Thank you.
[1:59:30] A very informative report and also quite disturbing. I keep thinking of this documentary
[1:59:40] called Taken for a Ride about how good public transportation systems, I guess,
[1:59:47] around the 1930s or 40s were removed and because of I think it was General Motors,
[1:59:55] Goodyear, Tyre, Phillips, Petroleum, conspired to destroy the
[2:00:00] Systems, and now we have this highway system that's very destructive and environmentally
[2:00:07] damaging, and we're in this big mess. And I also think how, you know, I listened to the news,
[2:00:15] how the president can order something to be done right away, executive order, build that wall,
[2:00:22] things I, you know, cage children, things I didn't think are despicable. And yet,
[2:00:29] when we have needs in the community and the county, somehow, you know, there isn't funds,
[2:00:36] it takes a long time, and boy, we're in a mess here, I think we have a big structural problem
[2:00:43] of the money not going where it should go to benefit the public. But thank you for your report.
[2:00:51] Thank you. So that concludes public comment, I'll bring it back to the board for action.
[2:00:56] Move to approve.
[2:00:58] Well, I want to suggest that we move the recommended actions,
[2:01:02] but move up a report back to our first meeting in November,
[2:01:06] if that's amenable to the board.
[2:01:09] Is that okay with you?
[2:01:11] Let's go with the makers.
[2:01:12] So that's a motion and a second by Leopold.
[2:01:14] All those in favor, please say aye.
[2:01:16] Aye.
[2:01:17] Opposed?
[2:01:17] That passes unanimously.
[2:01:19] Thank you, Mr. Trotto, for your work.
[2:01:21] We're now moving on to our 1045 scheduled item,
[2:01:23] and I want to thank everyone for their patience.
[2:01:25] This is a presentation on the Thrive by 3 and Nurse Family Partnership Program as outlined
[2:01:30] in the memorandum of the Director of Human Services and the Health Services Agency Director.
[2:01:36] And we have a whole team, looks like, coming forward.
[2:01:40] Okay.
[2:01:42] This is...
[2:01:43] There we go.
[2:01:43] I think I'll go ahead and get started as folks are getting seated.
[2:01:47] Good morning, Chair Coonerty, members of the board.
[2:01:50] I'm Ellen Timberlake, the Director of the Human Services Department.
[2:01:53] We're very excited to be here today to present you with an update on our Thrive by 3 initiative.
[2:01:58] And before I turn it over to Emily Bali who will introduce the item and our speakers,
[2:02:04] I'd like to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to your board
[2:02:09] and to Supervisor Coonerty for your leadership and commitment to increase Santa Cruz County's investment
[2:02:14] in young children and their families and to push us to design and deliver more holistic,
[2:02:20] comprehensive and coordinated service approaches that improve outcomes for children. When we
[2:02:25] started down this path two and a half years ago, I don't think any of us imagine what we'd
[2:02:29] be able to create. Everything you hear in today's presentation is the result of the
[2:02:34] passion, creativity, and commitment of our partners. I'd like to say a special thank
[2:02:39] you to the health services. Mimi Hall and her team have been fantastic partners.
[2:02:45] To first five, Supervisor McPherson, who is not here with us today, is a strong
[2:02:49] advocate for children, our first five commissioners as well as David Brody and of course Nicole
[2:02:53] Young, and of course to all of our community partners, child care advocates and service
[2:02:58] providers who have been with us each step of the way.
[2:03:01] Two years ago we could also not have imagined that our local efforts would receive an unimaginable
[2:03:08] boost in the form of Governor Newsom and his unprecedented investment in California's
[2:03:14] youngest children and their families.
[2:03:15] The synergy between the Governor's vision and our local Thrive by 3 initiative is clear.
[2:03:21] And today we are honored to have Chris Perry, Governor Newsom's Deputy Secretary and Senior
[2:03:27] Advisor for Early Childhood Development join us and share her perspective on these efforts.
[2:03:32] So without further ado, I'd like to turn it over to Emily Bolly, our Deputy Director
[2:03:36] who will introduce the item and our guest.
[2:03:39] Good morning.
[2:03:40] I'd like to begin by thanking the board for dedicating this time to hear a presentation
[2:03:44] about Thrive by Three and some of our early success stories.
[2:03:48] I'm joined today by my co-presenters,
[2:03:50] David Brody, Executive Director of First Five Santa Cruz County,
[2:03:54] and Jennifer Herrera, Chief of Public Health
[2:03:56] for the Health Services Agency.
[2:04:02] It's not working.
[2:04:07] We'll start the presentation with an update
[2:04:09] on the Governor's vision and commitment
[2:04:11] to investing in California's babies and families.
[2:04:14] From Chris Perry,
[2:04:15] the Deputy Secretary of the California Health
[2:04:17] and Human Services Agency
[2:04:19] for Early Childhood Development and Senior Advisor to the Governor on Implementation of
[2:04:24] Early Childhood Development Initiatives. We are honored and grateful that Ms. Perry has
[2:04:29] come to Santa Cruz County specifically to speak to the Board on this item today.
[2:04:36] Then
[2:04:36] we'll provide a brief reminder about what Thrive by 3 is and our systems of care approach.
[2:04:42] And finally, we'll highlight some of our key success stories. Today's presentation
[2:04:47] The presentation will focus on just a few of the notable successes.
[2:04:50] The progress report you received in June, and again with today's board packet,
[2:04:55] contains more detail about our Thrive by Three process, partnerships,
[2:04:59] number of people served, and indicators of progress.
[2:05:06] At this time, I'd like to invite Chris Perry to the podium to share important updates
[2:05:10] in context about California's investments in young children and families.
[2:05:15] Thank you. And thank you so much for joining us today and for all your work and the governor's
[2:05:21] work to support early childhood programs in the state.
[2:05:24] Thank you Chair Coonerty and members of the board and members of the social services team
[2:05:28] and First Five Santa Cruz. It's a great honor to be here. I send greetings from the governor,
[2:05:33] the first partner, the surgeon general and the secretary of Health and Human Services,
[2:05:36] all of whom know that I'm here today are very excited by the work that you're
[2:05:40] leading on children birth to three.
[2:05:43] As Director Timberlake said, the work that's happening
[2:05:48] in California is highly consistent with what you've been
[2:05:50] doing here in Santa Cruz.
[2:05:52] And what I'd like to do is just quickly run through
[2:05:54] the investments that the governor was fortunate enough
[2:05:57] to pass through the recent budget that went into effect
[2:05:59] on July 1st of this year.
[2:06:01] And I think that you'll hear a number of items
[2:06:04] that are remarkably familiar and similar.
[2:06:07] And hopefully you may even feel a little bit
[2:06:08] of pride and ownership that some of these ideas were spurred by the great work here
[2:06:13] in Santa Cruz County.
[2:06:14] Before I get started, I think I'll just remind you that California is home to the highest
[2:06:19] number of children in the country living in concentrated poverty.
[2:06:23] The Annie E. Casey Foundation just released this report today updating us on that number,
[2:06:28] which is very unfortunate, but the good news is we're down 13 percent since 10 years
[2:06:33] ago.
[2:06:34] So the recession, it fortunately is over and we're seeing some improvement in the concentration
[2:06:38] of poverty in California, however, it continues to be a very big problem for the state.
[2:06:45] And the governor was trying to address deep poverty in his recent budget by looking at
[2:06:50] two generation approaches, particularly thinking about children living in deep poverty and
[2:06:55] their parents.
[2:06:56] The most exciting investments came through a number of supports to families with
[2:07:03] a pregnant mother. In California we are experiencing very disproportionate bad outcomes for African
[2:07:11] American mothers, sometimes four times higher health conditions for them and infant mortality
[2:07:17] for their children. So there has been a doubling of Black infant health investments in California
[2:07:24] as well as perinatal equity initiative, which is intended to support those parents
[2:07:28] even further. Postpartum, I'm really happy to talk to you a little bit today about paid family leave
[2:07:34] improvements. I know that may not seem like exactly the same thing as what's happening here,
[2:07:39] but it's intended to support what you're doing here by giving parents the option of being home
[2:07:43] to bond and attach with their newborn. Many people refer to this period of time as the
[2:07:47] fourth trimester for good reason. Children are very vulnerable and it's also very difficult
[2:07:53] and expensive to care for them outside of the home, so the governor is very committed
[2:07:57] to increases in paid family leave, as well as increases to wage replacement.
[2:08:03] We know from looking at the data that even though we are now offering up to eight weeks
[2:08:07] of paid family leave for caregivers, they're only using about five of those weeks, and
[2:08:12] we think that's because the wage replacement is too low.
[2:08:14] So we're considering how we get both wage replacement and weeks of leave up to encourage
[2:08:20] parents to bond and attach with their children.
[2:08:22] The other really exciting new investment, here's where I think we're really in alignment, is around home visiting, particularly evidence-based home visiting, particularly nurse-family partnership.
[2:08:33] As you know, both the Public Health Department and the Social Services Department in the State of California send money to counties to support their work on home visiting.
[2:08:43] This is hopefully going to really do a lot to support the work that you started here, as well as across the state.
[2:08:49] We want to be the state that invests the most in home visiting especially evidence-based home visiting in the case of the social services program
[2:08:56] It's almost a quadrupling of what we were spending on parents who are eligible for Cal works
[2:09:02] They may not even be enrolled yet, but they are eligible. We're doing everything we can to help them reach their self-sufficiency
[2:09:09] Looking further down the age spectrum, but also sometimes connected to birth to three are early learning investments
[2:09:15] investments, everything from increases to child care for low-income children to increased
[2:09:20] access to preschool and increased access to full-day kindergarten.
[2:09:24] There are a number of underlying policy decisions that support those investments, but really
[2:09:29] wanted to point out, if you step back and look at the full spectrum, prenatal through
[2:09:33] age five or kindergarten entry, the governor proposed more than 19 separate policy and
[2:09:39] budget items across multiple departments and agencies to lift up all children,
[2:09:44] children, but particularly children living in poverty or in very under-supported communities.
[2:09:50] My last, in some ways, most exciting updates have to do with the appointment of the first-ever
[2:09:56] California Surgeon General, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, who is leading the work in California
[2:10:01] around trauma-informed care, and particularly screening children for adverse child experiences.
[2:10:07] This hopefully will also add to the efforts you have here by creating another funding
[2:10:11] stream within your county to help identify children that may have been exposed to adverse
[2:10:16] child experiences, as well as new dollars to support them being screened for their development.
[2:10:23] It's a different screen, but also important for catching issues that may need to be addressed
[2:10:30] through early intervention.
[2:10:31] Thinking ahead to the future, I wanted to talk just a moment about the importance
[2:10:35] of greater structural integration at the state level to reduce the burden on Santa
[2:10:40] County and other counties who are trying to administer integrated programs to families
[2:10:44] that need them and who need it to be easier. At the Health and Human Services Agency,
[2:10:50] we're going to be launching a master plan for early learning and care. We will be looking
[2:10:55] at everything we can do within our authority and our power to reintegrate programs that
[2:11:00] have been, in some cases, disintegrated over many decades and have created more and
[2:11:06] burden at the local level. And we also see ourselves as having to be the bridge or the
[2:11:11] conduit to the federal government who sends, in many cases, more than 80 percent of the
[2:11:16] dollars we spend in California on children under five. And we have to figure out what
[2:11:20] can we do to help them integrate, too.
[2:11:22] So we have a role between the local and federal government to create an integrated
[2:11:26] hub of services and supports for children who are in the public safety net programs
[2:11:33] so that we can be partners in this, co-investors in their future, because we do view the Governor's
[2:11:39] budget as an investment in California's future.
[2:11:41] Thank you very much for having me here.
[2:11:43] Thank you.
[2:11:44] Thank you.
[2:11:44] Good news.
[2:11:45] We needed some good news, so thank you.
[2:11:48] Thank you again, Ms. Perry, for starting off today's presentation with the Big Picture.
[2:11:52] It's a great reminder of the alignment and synergy between statewide and local innovation
[2:11:57] and strategic investments.
[2:11:59] Next, I'll do a quick review of what Thrive by 3 is.
[2:12:05] As you know, Thrive by 3 is the early childhood fund that was established by the board in January 2017,
[2:12:11] with direction to invest those funds in the earliest years of childhood from the prenatal stage through three years old
[2:12:18] during the most rapid and critical period of brain development.
[2:12:22] In evidence-based two-generation approaches that achieve breakthrough outcomes for young
[2:12:28] children facing adversity and an integrated, comprehensive, prenatal to three system of
[2:12:34] care in order to improve the types of outcomes and about to review, particularly among children
[2:12:39] and families facing the greatest cumulative risk.
[2:12:45] The next two slides will show the highest level outcomes or community impacts that
[2:12:50] we're aiming to influence with the Thrive by Three investments.
[2:12:52] We want to ensure that all babies in Santa Cruz County are born healthy.
[2:12:58] We're monitoring countywide indicators related to this community-level impact, such as early prenatal care
[2:13:04] and babies born full-term and at healthy birth weights to gauge how we're doing overall as a county.
[2:13:10] Over time, we hope to demonstrate that Thrive by Three investments are contributing to positive trends in community-level impacts.
[2:13:19] We also want to ensure that families have the resources they need to support children's
[2:13:24] optimal development.
[2:13:25] Countywide indicators we're monitoring include access to high quality care and early learning
[2:13:30] opportunities and access to economic and self-sufficiency supports.
[2:13:38] We want to ensure all young children in our county live in safe, nurturing families.
[2:13:43] We're exploring options for establishing countywide measures of parenting confidence
[2:13:47] and practices, parent-child relationships, and parent and caregiver emotional well-being.
[2:13:54] And ultimately, we want to ensure that all children are happy, healthy, and thriving by age three.
[2:14:01] Although there are several ways to measure health and well-being, we're paying particular attention to rates of child maltreatment
[2:14:07] and entries into foster care to gauge whether our prevention efforts are effective.
[2:14:14] And now I'll turn it over to David for the overview of how we've taken a systems approach
[2:14:18] to maximize the impact of the Thrive by Three Funds.
[2:14:22] Thank you, Emily.
[2:14:23] Thank you, members of the Board.
[2:14:24] First, let me define what we mean by system of care.
[2:14:27] In its simplest form, a system of care means a service delivery approach that builds
[2:14:31] partnerships to create a broad, integrated process for meeting families' multiple needs.
[2:14:37] This has been our North Star.
[2:14:39] From the beginning it continues to drive every discussion and decision about how we invest
[2:14:44] and how we implement activities that will achieve the broad goals and outcomes that this board
[2:14:49] has outlined.
[2:14:53] The Thrive by Three system of care is built on these basic building blocks.
[2:14:58] a whole child.
[2:15:00] Generation approach to identifying risk and protective factors at the earliest point possible.
[2:15:05] Linkages to a coordinated continuum of care, a reintegration, as Secretary Perry has said.
[2:15:11] A strong, sustainable foundation of partnerships with mutual accountability, high-quality programs,
[2:15:17] and results-based framework. Programs, practices, and policies that leverage resources and create
[2:15:24] equitable opportunities for young children and families to experience interconnected,
[2:15:29] core conditions for health and well-being.
[2:15:34] We hope this graphic of the core conditions for health and well-being looks familiar to you.
[2:15:40] The key message of this visual is that these are the eight essential conditions that must be present and connected
[2:15:46] in order to achieve equitable health and well-being across the community and across the lifespan.
[2:15:53] In other words, if we're aiming to improve health and wellness, for instance,
[2:15:56] We must acknowledge and address the opportunities and gaps related to life-long learning and
[2:16:01] education, which is tied to economic security and mobility, and stable, affordable housing
[2:16:07] and shelter and so on.
[2:16:13] And now we overlay the Thrive by 3 initiative.
[2:16:16] We can see how our efforts to strengthen the system of care are contributing or helping
[2:16:21] to create the core conditions for health and well-being for young children and families.
[2:16:26] Here's one example, Healthy Steps, an evidence-based interdisciplinary primary care program by definition
[2:16:33] a model for enhancing health and wellness.
[2:16:36] It does this through team-based well-child visits where child development, social, emotional
[2:16:41] and behavioral screening are conducted routinely.
[2:16:44] In the Healthy Steps model, families with young children are also connected to early
[2:16:48] learning resources, which is a vital support and strategy for increasing families' economic
[2:16:52] as well as children's learning and development.
[2:16:57] The Healthy Steps model also integrates parenting support
[2:16:59] into its primary care services, which supports thriving families
[2:17:03] and identifies other family needs such as economic supports
[2:17:07] and housing and links them to resources,
[2:17:10] which is another way of supporting thriving families.
[2:17:15] Essentially, the yellow lines that connect the large health
[2:17:18] and wellness circle with the other core conditions
[2:17:21] represent care coordination and system navigation which are integral to the
[2:17:26] Healthy Steps model. In the ideal system of care all of the dotted lines
[2:17:30] connecting the core conditions would turn yellow. Emily?
[2:17:36] At this point you may be
[2:17:37] wondering how Thrive by 3 is impacting people's lives and service
[2:17:41] providers' experiences. So we'll highlight what we see as the most
[2:17:45] notable success stories.
[2:17:48] Starting with our key implementation partners
[2:17:51] centers, which include HSD, HSA, First 5, Encompass Community Services, the Public Health
[2:17:57] Department, Nurse Family Partnership, the Health Improvement Partnership, Santa Cruz
[2:18:03] Community Health Centers, Salud para la Gente, Nicole Young of Optimal Solutions and ASR.
[2:18:09] Partnerships between these agencies existed before Thrive by 3 and have only grown stronger
[2:18:14] through our collective efforts to coordinate, implement, and evaluate the Thrive by
[2:18:19] system of care.
[2:18:23] Our ability to leverage investments is another major success. As you can see from
[2:18:27] this chart, we've leveraged other funds that support our goals of enhancing the capacity
[2:18:32] and coordination of the Thrive by 3 system of care and establishing a strong foundation
[2:18:37] for the system. Some of these funds were existing resources within partners budgets
[2:18:42] that were designed to support implementation of Thrive by 3 activities. For example,
[2:18:48] HSD allocates a portion of its CalWorks funding to increase participants' access to home visiting programs.
[2:18:55] In other cases, our early successes in building the Thrive by 3 system of care have positioned our county to receive additional funds from the state,
[2:19:03] such as the CalWorks home visiting program funding. This funding is helping to expand the capacity of the Nurse Family Partnership.
[2:19:12] In the first year of Thrive by 3, fiscal year 17-18, these leveraged investments doubled
[2:19:18] the board's annual allocation of $350,000.
[2:19:23] The amount of funds leveraged from other sources has increased each year, and now in the current
[2:19:28] fiscal year, those additional funds have tripled the board's allocation, bringing
[2:19:33] total investment in Thrive by 3 to over $1 million.
[2:19:36] We think this is a model for collective investments and impact that can and should grow and be replicated.
[2:19:47] The innovation and strategic investments of 3x3 partners has also resulted in policy changes that will have a lasting impact.
[2:19:54] For instance, last year, the Board approved updates to the Child Care Developer Fee Ordinance and a three-year graduated fee increase.
[2:20:02] The Child Care Developer Fee funds the Child Care Developer Fee Loan Program that provides
[2:20:07] forgivable loans to child care centers and family child care homes for projects that
[2:20:12] will result in the expansion or improvement of child care opportunities in the county.
[2:20:19] This is important because the availability of safe, high quality child care facilities
[2:20:24] is a key driver of increased child care capacity.
[2:20:28] In fiscal year 1920, $170,000 is available for loans.
[2:20:34] In June of this year, the application process for this funding was launched with a series of three workshops that were held in Watsonville, Santa Cruz, and Scotts Valley.
[2:20:44] 24 applications were received, requesting a total of over $450,000.
[2:20:50] Two applicants were child care centers, 21 were family child care homes, and one was in the licensing process to become a family child care home.
[2:21:00] The Human Services Commission reviewed funding recommendations on September 18th, and those recommendations will be submitted to the board next month.
[2:21:08] And we are pleased that at the state level, the current budget includes over $200 million
[2:21:13] to construct, renovate, repair, modernize or retrofit childcare and preschool facilities,
[2:21:20] as we know that our local dollars alone cannot address all the childcare and preschool facilities
[2:21:25] needs.
[2:21:29] Another recent Thrive by Three success story is the development of a childcare career
[2:21:33] pathways model.
[2:21:35] In partnership with the Santa Cruz County Workforce Development Board and local early childhood
[2:21:40] stakeholders, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning developed early childhood education
[2:21:46] career pathways.
[2:21:48] Eleven occupations were determined to be reflective of the early childhood education opportunities
[2:21:53] available and an inventory of local early care and education, or ECE, career-related
[2:21:59] education and training programs was developed.
[2:22:02] The career pathways will serve as a tool to create awareness of opportunities and encourage job seekers to consider a career in early childhood education, which in turn will help to continuously build a qualified, ready workforce.
[2:22:17] This is important because having a qualified, ready workforce is also a key driver of childcare capacity and the quality of the care and education provided.
[2:22:27] We often hear administrator of ECE programs talk about the increased difficulty of hiring
[2:22:33] and retaining qualified staff, usually due to the high cost of living and the low wages
[2:22:39] in the childcare field, which affects the number of children they can enroll and the
[2:22:43] quality of the care.
[2:22:45] We are also encouraged by the state's commitment to investing in the early childcare
[2:22:50] and education workforce.
[2:22:51] The current state budget includes nearly $200 million to provide tuition stipends, professional
[2:22:58] development, coaching, and counseling to current and aspiring ECE professionals.
[2:23:04] And we recently learned that the Santa Cruz County Office of Education has developed
[2:23:09] a career and technical education pathway that links high school students to early
[2:23:13] childhood development courses offered through Cabrillo College.
[2:23:17] This synergy of local policies and practices and state-level funding has the potential to
[2:23:23] create transformational changes in our early care and education system.
[2:23:29] Another strategic investment this board has made is in the Early Learning Scholarship
[2:23:33] Program, or ELS.
[2:23:35] The ELS is designed to reduce the gap between the cost of providing high quality,
[2:23:39] infinite toddler care and available state subsidy.
[2:23:43] This is important because closing the gap between available subsidies and the true
[2:23:46] the cost of providing quality care is also a key driver of child care capacity and quality.
[2:23:52] In 1819, we allocated $120,000 in ELF scholarships to some 32 providers, three center-based 29
[2:24:00] family child care homes. Benefiting services provided to some 214 infants and toddlers.
[2:24:07] Over two fiscal years, this county has provided $180,000 to our infant and toddler early learning
[2:24:12] and care community for services to some 274 infants and toddlers.
[2:24:18] These funds are available to providers to use as they see fit, whether it is for program
[2:24:23] supplies, facility improvements, professional development, or other strategies to help attract
[2:24:28] and retain staff.
[2:24:30] Our intent is that funding will incentivize programs to continue or even expand their
[2:24:35] provision of high-quality infant and toddler care to low-income families in our community.
[2:24:42] We've also supported the adoption of Healthy Steps, the program we featured a moment ago
[2:24:46] in safety net clinics.
[2:24:48] Healthy Steps, as I said, is an evidence-based interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program
[2:24:53] that promotes positive parenting and healthy development for babies and toddlers, with
[2:24:58] an emphasis on families living in low-income communities.
[2:25:01] In randomized control trials across the country, children in Healthy Steps programs
[2:25:06] have been found to be twice as likely to receive age-appropriate well-child visits on time,
[2:25:14] eight times more likely to receive developmental assessments.
[2:25:18] They've been found to be more securely attached to their mothers and have fewer behavior problems,
[2:25:24] 27% less likely to experience severe physical discipline,
[2:25:29] and they are found to be 23% less likely to visit the emergency room for injury related causes.
[2:25:35] These are just some of the positive findings from multiple evaluations of the program.
[2:25:40] In 1819, staff at both Santa Cruz Community Health Centers and Salud Parlehente participated
[2:25:45] in a multi-day training on a Healthy Steps program and are now implementing the program
[2:25:50] countywide with overall assistance from the Health Improvement Partnership.
[2:25:55] This is important because linkages to a coordinated system of care within and outside of
[2:26:00] primary care settings is a key driver to preventative care and early intervention, which are essential
[2:26:08] during one of the most critical periods of human development.
[2:26:15] 3x3 has also served as a catalyst for increasing the capacity and coordination of evidence
[2:26:20] based and high quality home visiting programs.
[2:26:23] As you might recall, one of the primary goals of 3x3 is to increase the capacity
[2:26:28] to provide intensive care coordination through a network of home visiting programs.
[2:26:33] This is important because home visiting programs provide parents with information, support and
[2:26:38] referrals to community resources and services and promote greater health and well-being
[2:26:42] of families.
[2:26:44] These programs are part of a coordinated system of care for families with young children.
[2:26:49] They connect families with a designated support person such as a nurse, clinician
[2:26:52] or early childhood specialists who assesses the family's needs and links them with appropriate resources,
[2:26:59] such as economic supports, child care, health care, parenting support, and more.
[2:27:06] In 2018, the Thrive by 3 Home Visiting Program served over 500 families and provided over 3,000 community referrals.
[2:27:15] This is another area of alignment and synergy with efforts at the state level.
[2:27:18] Governor Newsom has championed home visiting programs as part of his parents' agenda,
[2:27:23] and the state legislature recently approved over $135 million to expand state-funded
[2:27:29] home visiting programs that promote optimal health, optimal child development
[2:27:33] for eligible CalWORKS and other low-income families.
[2:27:38] Nurse Family Partnership, or NFP, is one of the evidence-based
[2:27:42] 3x3 home visiting programs.
[2:27:44] NFP links a trained public health nurse with first-time parents
[2:27:47] from pregnancy until their child turns two years old.
[2:27:51] The Health Services Agency successfully implemented
[2:27:53] the Santa Cruz County NFP program in 2017
[2:27:56] and has since served over 180 families.
[2:28:00] As of last Friday, September 20th,
[2:28:02] the program was at max capacity.
[2:28:05] NFP was featured in a recent Education Dive article
[2:28:08] as an effective program in Santa Cruz County
[2:28:10] and also as an example of the power of collaboration
[2:28:13] between the county, first five,
[2:28:15] and nonprofit partners.
[2:28:20] And this fall, NFP will have its first cohort of graduates.
[2:28:24] We are pleased to share with you a video about our NFP program,
[2:28:27] featuring nurse Nicole and two of her moms, Andy and Mary Lou.
[2:28:32] The video is a little quiet, so if everyone can please
[2:28:36] maintain being quiet so we can hear you.
[2:29:38] We'd like to thank all the moms who came here to achieve their dreams.
[2:29:42] How
[2:29:46] are we, like babies, first to be accused of big signs and how to respond to that in a way that they do use to you?
[2:29:55] There are gross motor skills and fire motor skills.
[2:33:44] Special thanks to Andrew Stewart for helping put that video together. He did a great job.
[2:33:51] And at this time I want to thank you again, Chair Coonerty, for setting the vision for Thrive
[2:33:56] by 3. We hope the Board can see that we've come a long way in a short period of time
[2:34:02] and hear how proud we are of the progress that's been made. We hope that with your
[2:34:07] continued support and investments in Thrive by 3, all families with young children will
[2:34:12] echo the words of Andy, the mom in the NFP video, and be able to say, we've got this.
[2:34:18] That concludes our presentation, and we're happy to take any questions.
[2:34:22] Thank you.
[2:34:23] Thank you so much.
[2:34:25] One, just to get to look at all these cute babies all morning, totally, totally brightens
[2:34:29] the meeting up.
[2:34:30] But I just want to say, you know, a couple years ago, as of a conference that the White
[2:34:36] House put on performance and innovation in government, and I was back when the
[2:34:39] White House wanted performance and innovation in government, but they were talking about
[2:34:45] the importance of early childhood programs and how we in the government spent so much
[2:34:51] money downstream trying to fix problems that could have been prevented upstream with a
[2:34:58] little bit of thought and intervention and really the hard work of the people who are
[2:35:03] on the front lines in our community doing this work every day.
[2:35:06] And when we came back here, our budget looked a lot like a lot of government's budgets
[2:35:12] who are spending money on incarceration and job training programs and other programs on
[2:35:18] the back end instead of at the front.
[2:35:21] And so we headed in this direction, but it was all of you who really took this baton
[2:35:27] and ran with it in a way that said, we're going to really invest in the kids and
[2:35:33] their moms early and we're going to go and you've gone so much faster and farther than
[2:35:40] I ever thought possible. It's been hard work every step of the way, but I really appreciate
[2:35:47] where we're going and I'm excited about where we go next and especially when we have an
[2:35:51] opportunity to partner with the state to drive an agenda and hopefully be a model
[2:35:57] for other counties and then to pilot different new programs and see what we can do to
[2:36:03] really make generational change not only for these kids and their moms but also for the
[2:36:09] whole community because we all benefit when we make these investments. So thank you so
[2:36:14] much for that work. Supervisor Friend.
[2:36:18] Thank you Chair for your leadership on this and thank you for those that have dedicated
[2:36:23] your career to these kinds of issues. Everybody that's sitting up here as a parent,
[2:36:32] in
[2:36:33] that are sitting on the board right now, and two of them are still three and under.
[2:36:39] And when you become a parent, as I'm sure so many of you know, you become acutely aware
[2:36:43] of how much of their life is dictated by things that are completely outside of their control,
[2:36:51] and how much of their opportunity is dictated by things that are totally outside of their
[2:36:56] control. But when you're put into positions, as all of you are, to be able to make decisions
[2:37:03] in the board as well, to have an impact on that for kids that don't even recognize what
[2:37:09] difference their futures will be as a result of this, I think we're really called upon
[2:37:15] to do exactly this, to shift that trajectory for these kids and their parents. But these
[2:37:23] kids are the ones that we're really ultimately focusing on because the only way to break
[2:37:28] a lot of cycles is it has to start with the first break. And the break can be viewed in
[2:37:37] a positive or negative way, the terms in various ways. But I consider this, these parents
[2:37:42] and these kids haven't been given any breaks in their lives. And this really is the first
[2:37:47] intervention to say, even before you're born, we're going to start making sure
[2:37:52] that you get that first break to set you up on a different trajectory than you've been
[2:37:58] on before. And I remember the debate over this item, both in advance and during it, there
[2:38:04] were members of the community that questioned the cost. There were even questions at the
[2:38:08] board of the cost. But to see now, I think it's pretty unassailable, but you have not
[2:38:14] only with the leveraging but just with the commitment of shown that there are
[2:38:18] fundamentally different outcomes that will be realities now for the kids that you've
[2:38:23] invested in.
[2:38:24] And I think it says a lot.
[2:38:25] I'd like to thank the state, strong statement of commitment to take the time down to come
[2:38:30] down to our county.
[2:38:31] There are worse counties you could have traveled to, I mean, let's be honest.
[2:38:33] But still, the fact that you came down here says a lot.
[2:38:37] And even though you're leaving us, Ms. Timberlake, at the end of the year, these
[2:38:43] things aren't possible without your leadership from the top either.
[2:38:46] you are such a dedicated public servant, but such a dedicated force for good for those
[2:38:53] that don't have a strong voice in our community. And you are elevating these kids' voices,
[2:38:58] and I appreciate it in your partnership with the Chair on this issue is a legacy project.
[2:39:05] So thank you for that as well.
[2:39:09] Thank you, Chair. Thank you for the presentation.
[2:39:13] The ongoing work of this initiative is very impressive and, you know, it made me reflect
[2:39:18] when we heard from Ms. Perry about all the work that's happening in Sacramento and the
[2:39:25] leadership from the governor is that it makes a difference who sits in chairs.
[2:39:31] And I noticed as someone has been on this board that when we started having parents
[2:39:37] of small children, we started talking about issues of young children. It made a difference.
[2:39:43] And now that we have a governor who is the parent of young children, maybe it's no surprise
[2:39:49] that we have a commitment at a state level to fund these kind of programs. Because it's
[2:39:57] there every day. You see it. And some of us might be more fortunate than others.
[2:40:02] But when you're out in the community trying to find childcare, trying to see who else is in the schools,
[2:40:10] recognizing that not everybody has had the same opportunity or privilege,
[2:40:15] it's programs like this that are a leveling force that allow us all to succeed and be successful.
[2:40:22] And so I really appreciate the work that's going on, not just with our county staff, which has been incredible,
[2:40:28] But with our partner in first five, our safety net clinics, HIP, and all the organizations
[2:40:36] that have helped make this successful because that's kind of what we do here in Santa Cruz
[2:40:42] is we try to work together in order to provide for the needs of the community.
[2:40:47] I also would point out that this Thrive by Three is really part of a larger portfolio
[2:40:54] of the way in which we do programs here in Santa Cruz,
[2:40:59] changing the way in which we funded community programs
[2:41:03] to our core funding model is reflection of some
[2:41:06] of these same values and engagements.
[2:41:12] I see it with the creative to career initiative in Live Oak
[2:41:15] where when I look at some of these pieces
[2:41:18] and some of these partners,
[2:41:19] it's all part of that same model.
[2:41:23] And so I believe that the continued success of these efforts will improve the health of our community.
[2:41:33] We'll ensure that every child has the equal opportunity for success.
[2:41:39] And we shouldn't take our foot off the pedal.
[2:41:42] We should push down a little bit harder in order to reach as many people as possible.
[2:41:46] So thank you for your work. Thank you for the presentation.
[2:41:53] I think this is wonderful what you're, you know, trying to do and keep it up and whatever
[2:42:03] the others said, I'm behind them.
[2:42:08] Thanks.
[2:42:09] Thank you.
[2:42:10] Thank you.
[2:42:11] We'll now open it up to public comment.
[2:42:13] It's an opportunity for members of the public to speak to us if they want about this
[2:42:16] item.
[2:42:16] Thank
[2:42:25] you. Thank you for that good report. It is heart-hitting. And as a mom whose kids
[2:42:31] are grown, it happens in a blink of an eye. So thank you for supporting the young members
[2:42:37] of our society.
[2:42:40] I do have questions. What is the county's profile like for these clients
[2:42:46] that you work with, what is the status of healthy births in the county or not healthy
[2:42:55] births?
[2:42:56] What do we need to do to really address?
[2:42:58] And the question that keeps coming up in my mind are the homeless, the houseless families,
[2:43:05] those who may be pregnant and are in substance abuse, how are we working with them and
[2:43:13] how are we going to help support those children, those beings coming in under those circumstances.
[2:43:20] So I would, thank you for the report, it's very good. I would appreciate more information
[2:43:25] about the demographics of who it is that we're working with in this program.
[2:43:33] And also,
[2:43:34] the money coming up is impressive. I would like information about where that money
[2:43:40] is coming from. You mentioned several state funding sources. Are there also private donors
[2:43:44] coming in? For example, the Community Foundation or something like that. Who is it that's really
[2:43:50] our partner here out there? And I would like that information as well. And I'm happy
[2:43:56] to see that Cabrillo College Early Childhood Education Program is being partnered with.
[2:44:02] Also that's a great program. And we really do need to value those students and what
[2:44:07] that they will and are giving to our society and support them in any way they need, whether
[2:44:13] it be housing or what it is.
[2:44:16] And I also have some questions about the foster care piece.
[2:44:20] How much of your work goes to foster care people and families there?
[2:44:25] Thank you.
[2:44:31] Good morning, honorable supervisors.
[2:44:32] My name is Alisa Arona and I'm the Executive Director of the Health Improvement Partnership.
[2:44:36] I want to thank you all for your vision and for your investment in the Thrive by 3 program.
[2:44:43] The Health and Brewing Partnership has been very closely part of this work and it has
[2:44:49] been an honor to do so.
[2:44:52] What I'll say about the work of the Safety Net Clinics is that, you know, this really
[2:44:55] does require workflow changes.
[2:44:57] It requires investment changes.
[2:45:00] At the ground level of our health providers. And when we come at it as a team and when we
[2:45:08] bring resources to the table for them to really devote the time and energy, then we can see
[2:45:14] the result of over 90 members of the health care teams at Santa Cruz Community Health
[2:45:19] Centers and Salud trained in the first, the initial kickoff of the Healthy Steps program.
[2:45:25] In this year, that's now underway, we're looking at extending and keeping that training
[2:45:32] ongoing and we're going to see the change in the delivery of care, you know, within
[2:45:38] the clinics themselves.
[2:45:40] So this is really exciting.
[2:45:41] What I can also commit to is that we are really working on strengthening the health
[2:45:47] information exchange capacity here in our community so that the navigation that we
[2:45:52] about that can happen for a patient in an exam room or with a healthcare provider can
[2:45:58] also extend outside to the community of service providers.
[2:46:03] So we're really committed to making that work so that our nurse family partnership and our
[2:46:09] home visiting programs can communicate with pediatricians and with other members of the
[2:46:13] care team.
[2:46:13] This is how this can all really knit together and when we think about innovation and
[2:46:18] think about the power of technology, we and this community can make something like this
[2:46:22] work.
[2:46:22] So I just want to tell you all that we're at the table and we are very much committed
[2:46:27] to this process and to, you know, relate the ability of this community to pull something
[2:46:33] off.
[2:46:34] Thank you.
[2:46:35] Thank you.
[2:46:35] And thank you for your work on this.
[2:46:43] Thank you for your work and as a 30-year teacher, taught over 30 years for second
[2:46:52] in third grade. A mother, my daughter is now 51. I've always prioritized health and assuring
[2:47:04] a healthy environment. I was one of the nursing mothers in the lawsuit to ban DDT in 1969. Carcinogenic
[2:47:14] pesticide found in the milk of all of us nursing mothers, pretty horrifying that chemical corporations
[2:47:24] can poison everyone. Now the toxic exposure to children, all that you're trying to do
[2:47:35] is even more intense. And two focuses I have, and I'll leave some literature here, is that
[2:47:47] vaccines are not safe. They all have toxic chemicals. This is a list of what's in these
[2:47:55] vaccines and proof in part that they're not safe is that in 1986, the pharmaceutical industry
[2:48:07] got passed the Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund and they were removed from all liability
[2:48:18] and since then, vaccine profits have skyrocketed.
[2:48:23] So, all these children are forced now to have these toxins injected into them.
[2:48:32] That's not healthy.
[2:48:34] The other focus is on the exposure to the microwave radiation from wireless devices,
[2:48:41] cell phones wiped by, et cetera, that should be removed from the harm, removed from the
[2:48:49] environment.
[2:48:50] And so I'll leave you three items here for the board and for you.
[2:48:55] Thank you.
[2:48:56] I should say that I'm proud that this program works with moms to get appropriate vaccinations so that we avoid the lies that have been
[2:49:06] spread and are creating public health crises around the country.
[2:49:10] Anyway, next speaker.
[2:49:12] My
[2:49:15] name is Lisa Sandoval and I'm with Paro Valley Unified School District, the Child Development
[2:49:19] Department.
[2:49:20] And I just want to thank you guys, the Board of Supervisors and First Five and Public Health
[2:49:24] and everybody else who's been a thriving partner with this program.
[2:49:29] I just wanted to share briefly with our school district what it's done is help support
[2:49:34] the team parent program and in particular our infant development center at Watsonville
[2:49:40] high school where we were able to purchase effort at the first time ever a play structure
[2:49:46] to help gross and fine motor development with the children for outside activities as well
[2:49:52] as increase our amount of parenting materials that we were able to support the teen parents
[2:49:58] with and through that also educate them on the support and child development of their
[2:50:04] children, also just a brief statistic from the last two years of the students who participate
[2:50:12] in the Thrive by 3 are still on track to either graduate high school or have graduated high
[2:50:18] school and are now at Cabrillo or a secondary program to continue their education. The
[2:50:24] program also helps support funding for our point of vista migrant seasonal program
[2:50:29] program, and we were able to support some of the infants in that program as well, receiving
[2:50:34] parent-ed and additional supplies to help their education process starting at their
[2:50:41] program starts at two months. The infant center at Watsonville High takes children
[2:50:45] as young as four weeks so that the teen parents get back into school. That's it. So thank
[2:50:50] you.
[2:50:51] Thank you for your work.
[2:50:57] Good morning, members of the board. My name is Bree Bodie. I'm a licensed marriage
[2:51:01] a family therapist and the program manager for the Families Together Threat by 3 program
[2:51:05] of Encompass Community Services. And I've had the privilege of being involved in the
[2:51:10] implementation of Threat by 3 at the program level since around January of 2018. I love
[2:51:17] my job and this initiative is very close to my heart. It's close to my heart not only
[2:51:22] as a service provider who was born and raised in this county and has provided services
[2:51:27] is in this field for over 15 years, but also because I am a mom of a two-year-old boy and
[2:51:33] a pregnant mother with my second on the way.
[2:51:36] So I click one of the criteria boxes as the candidate for this program.
[2:51:41] However, I have not experienced a fraction of the hardships, economic instability, and
[2:51:49] life stressors that many, if actually all of our families, have experienced and continue
[2:51:55] you to experience on a daily basis.
[2:51:58] Through my son, I get to witness the massive development
[2:52:00] that happens in the first three years of life.
[2:52:03] And I could re-quote many statistics
[2:52:04] that you heard today regarding the importance of investing
[2:52:07] in early childhood development programs.
[2:52:10] However, this morning, I'm going to simply give voice
[2:52:12] to a couple of families that we have served.
[2:52:15] Information has been changed for confidentiality.
[2:52:18] So I want to say thank you from the mother who
[2:52:20] has spent sleepless nights worrying about her child's
[2:52:22] delayed development and is now connected
[2:52:23] with the San Andreas Regional Center
[2:52:25] and the Pediatric Therapy Center.
[2:52:27] All of the Thrive by Three system of care partners
[2:52:29] utilize a screening tool that flags for fine,
[2:52:32] gross motor deficits as well as emotional deficits.
[2:52:37] Thank you from the mother who no longer has to keep
[2:52:39] her child in a dirty diaper for longer than she wants
[2:52:42] because she had to make the choice
[2:52:44] as to whether to buy diapers
[2:52:45] or pay her electricity bill to keep her child warm.
[2:52:48] And Thrive by Three has provided her with diapers.
[2:52:51] Thank you from the mother who had a gun held to her head and life threatened by a violent
[2:52:55] partner while her children were sleeping in the room.
[2:52:59] She has been able to process that traumatic event with the 3x3 clinician and then be
[2:53:03] linked to resources that will help her and her children stay safe.
[2:53:08] So those are just a couple of snapshots.
[2:53:09] I had more, but I'll stop.
[2:53:12] I mean, I think you're part of this program, so you should...
[2:53:16] Keep going?
[2:53:16] Go ahead.
[2:53:17] Thank you.
[2:53:18] Thank you from the mother who is struggling with a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder,
[2:53:22] who just needed someone to help pull her out of the darkness so that she could take care
[2:53:27] of herself and then be better able to take care of her child.
[2:53:30] She is now attending a new mother's support group and is receiving proper care from her
[2:53:35] doctor and psychiatrist through referrals and warm handoffs that were provided by three
[2:53:40] partners.
[2:53:41] Thank you from the father, father figure or partner who was struggling with supporting
[2:53:45] his partner during the fourth trimester and did not know how to bond with his newborn
[2:53:50] daughter. He and his partner received some short-term couples counseling and he learned
[2:53:55] ways to bond with and support his newborns' development during tummy time and several
[2:54:00] related activities taught through the Promoting First Relationships curriculum. And thank
[2:54:05] you from the young mother who is experiencing her first pregnancy and is learning the
[2:54:09] importance of prenatal care and how it relates to both her and her baby's long-term health
[2:54:13] outcomes. So again, this is just a snapshot of some of the families served in the work
[2:54:18] that's being done through this initiative, but there's still much work to be done in
[2:54:23] our county. Children are precious and they deserve our investment. And so on behalf of
[2:54:27] myself, my team, and families together, and the families that we serve, we thank you
[2:54:32] for your continued support of this dedicated funding stream and your commitment to invest
[2:54:37] in our county's youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
[2:54:39] Thank you.
[2:54:41] Thank you.
[2:54:41] Those are powerful stories.
[2:54:44] That concludes public comment.
[2:54:47] There's no one else who'd like to speak today, and I'll bring it back to the board, or actually
[2:54:52] there's no action, so we'll just express our gratitude to you, the team.
[2:54:58] Ms. Perry, thank you for coming, and everyone, and we look forward to continuing to do
[2:55:04] this work and hearing more about the work you're doing on a daily basis.
[2:55:07] Thank you so much.
[2:55:08] Thank you.
[2:55:11] We are going to move item 10, which is the 2020 growth goal, to be right at 1.30.
[2:55:19] And then we will then consider the study session to discuss the sustainability policy and
[2:55:27] regulatory update, since there are two planning items and they sort of group together nicely.
[2:55:31] So we will reconvene at 1.30 for item 10 and item 12 for
[2:58:33] the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on September 24, 2019.
[2:58:37] We have two items. The first item that we'll be discussing is item number 10, which is a public hearing to consider the report on the year 2020 growth goal.
[2:58:47] refer the matter to the planning commission for consideration and recommendation to the board
[2:58:51] and to continue the public hearing to establish the year 2020 growth goal to December 10th, 2019
[2:58:58] as outlined in the memorandum of the planning director. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
[2:59:04] And members of the board. So as you know, the county's growth management system was instituted
[2:59:09] in 1979 following the adoption of Measure J. And this was to address the resource and
[2:59:14] public services impacts of the population growth in Santa Cruz County. As part of the
[2:59:19] growth management system, each year the county is required to set an annual growth goal for
[2:59:24] the upcoming year. The 2020 growth goal report is before you today and for consideration
[2:59:29] prior to referral to the Planning Commission.
[2:59:34] This report examines various factors used
[2:59:36] in establishing the year 2020 growth goal for the unincorporated area, including analysis
[2:59:41] analysis of population growth trends, resource constraints and the status of the current allocations
[2:59:47] available for 2019. This year's report also includes analysis of demolition permits and
[2:59:54] the density bonus projects approved in the past year, the regional housing needs allocation
[2:59:59] and the.
[3:00:01] As
[3:00:04] noted in the growth goal report, the unincorporated areas population decreased in both 2017 and
[3:00:11] 2018 with an estimated negative 0.62% growth rate last year. All jurisdictions across the
[3:00:19] county saw similar negative growth rates or essentially stagnant growth rates during the
[3:00:23] same time, and the county as a whole also saw declining population totals in recent years.
[3:00:28] While the state's population continues to increase, California's growth rate has also decreased in recent years.
[3:00:38] This represents a continuing downward trend of population growth rates in the decades since the 1960s and 70s when the county grew much faster than the state.
[3:00:52] The growth goal report also summarizes the current status of the 2019 residential permit allocations.
[3:00:57] This year, 42 allocations have been granted as of August 1st.
[3:01:02] If demand continues at the current rate, 72 allocations will be granted by the end of this year,
[3:01:08] and it will mark the highest number of allocations granted since 2007.
[3:01:12] However, demand for allocations continues to remain low compared to previous decades,
[3:01:16] and we anticipate that there will be more than enough permits available for the remainder of 2019.
[3:01:21] The
[3:01:25] growth goal report recommends that the population growth rate be set at 0.5% for calendar year 2020, rounded from the state's growth rate of 0.47% for 2018 and the same rate that has been adopted every year since 2001.
[3:01:41] This would result in an allocation of 255 market rate units available for the year 2020.
[3:01:46] County. Unlike previous years, allocations will be distributed between the urban and
[3:01:50] rural areas of the County at a 75% to 25% ratio. This is in order to recognize the greater
[3:01:57] potential for infill development in the urban areas of the County.
[3:02:01] And the 2020 growth goal report also recommends as in previous years that the unused market
[3:02:07] allocations from 2019 be carried over to 2020 in accordance with policy 3.2 of the General
[3:02:14] plan housing element. This would result in a projected total of 439 market rate allocations
[3:02:21] available for 2020.
[3:02:25] Staff has found that establishment of the 2020 growth goal is exempt under the
[3:02:29] California Environmental Quality Act and a categorical exemption will be prepared.
[3:02:34] Therefore, staff recommends that the board 1. Open the public hearing to consider the report
[3:02:39] on the year 2020 growth goal. Refer this matter to the Planning Commission for consideration
[3:02:43] recommendation and recommendation to the board and three continue the public hearing to establish the year 2020 growth goal to December 10, 2019 with direction to planning staff to return with the recommendation of the Planning Commission and a resolution for final action by the board.
[3:03:00] This concludes the staff presentation and we'd be glad to answer any questions you might have.
[3:03:04] All right. Do we have any questions?
[3:03:09] I'll say, Dave, thank you.
[3:03:16] Thank you for the presentation. This is it's always interesting because the community doesn't
[3:03:21] feel less populated but we always see these numbers ticking down. Are you aware of any
[3:03:30] projects that of a scale that would cause us to see a significant increase in the use
[3:03:38] of permits? I mean, this 2019 saw a modest uptick in activity, but does even reach the
[3:03:49] level of just for this year would be a dramatic impact. And I'm wondering how that would happen
[3:03:57] or if there's any plans for it.
[3:04:01] You're right. It would be a very dramatic uptick in permit activity for us to meet the goal.
[3:04:10] In fact, we haven't come close to meeting the allocation in a very, very long time.
[3:04:15] So we've set it in the standard rate for now. We don't foresee any big projects coming forward.
[3:04:22] Last year we discussed assisted living units, and those are considered commercial developments,
[3:04:31] so they wouldn't even count.
[3:04:33] A lot of our activity has been actually in the ADUs, and they're considered affordable,
[3:04:38] so they don't count, so we think it will continue to be pretty low.
[3:04:42] Yeah, I mean the ADUs and the affordable housing, what would be the number of permits there curiously?
[3:04:52] Well, we did do a pipeline analysis of lots and whatnot. We were showing a demand for 133 all together.
[3:05:02] So you might see a good percentage of that.
[3:05:06] Affordable and ADUs as well.
[3:05:07] Yeah, that's for total, but you could see a good percentage of that being affordable.
[3:05:13] Or 80s.
[3:05:14] All right, thank you.
[3:05:19] All right, thank you for your work.
[3:05:21] Is there any public comment?
[3:05:30] Thank you, Becky Steinbrenner, resident of rural Aptos.
[3:05:34] First of all, I want to make a comment unrelated about this new system that's available to the public to use for plugging in our own devices.
[3:05:42] That's really great.
[3:05:43] Thank you.
[3:05:43] I would like to speak to the issue of water in the Mid County area and in general on page 12 of this report
[3:05:52] it says that there are grant applications in progress with the internet, with the Regional Water Management Foundation
[3:05:59] and that those are due to be coming to fruition late this year. I'd like to know more about that.
[3:06:06] I'm watching carefully the issue of water in the Mid County area
[3:06:10] And I do think it should be included in there that the Soquel Creek Water District's
[3:06:17] Pure Water Soquel Plan is under litigation and may not happen or could be delayed.
[3:06:24] That's not mentioned at all.
[3:06:26] I think it's interesting that Central Water District is the only sustainable...
[3:06:32] Am I limited to two minutes?
[3:06:34] Yes, yeah.
[3:06:35] All right.
[3:06:37] Central Water District is the only one with a sustainable groundwater level.
[3:06:41] However, the hydrologists for the mid-county area have said that, by and large, the groundwater levels within the mid-county base are at sustainable levels now.
[3:06:51] So that really needs to be corrected.
[3:06:54] There are very serious problems with water contamination in the mid-county area.
[3:06:59] Socal Creek's had to shut down one well in the seascape area due to 1, 2, 3 trichloropropane,
[3:07:05] and it is toxic.
[3:07:07] And they are looking at hexchromium that is also causing problems.
[3:07:12] And in fact, two schools have contaminated water and should be receiving bottled water
[3:07:17] but are not refusing it.
[3:07:19] I want to know where the Measure J units in the Aptos Village Project, Phase 1, are.
[3:07:26] I've seen no talk about that at all.
[3:07:29] I should be seeing talk about that at all.
[3:07:32] So where are those measure J units in Aptos village project?
[3:07:36] Thanks for giving me two minutes.
[3:07:37] Thank you.
[3:07:38] That concludes public comment.
[3:07:40] I'll bring it back to the board for action.
[3:07:42] Professor Brown.
[3:07:43] I'll move the recommended actions.
[3:07:45] I also just want to make a brief statement of not just
[3:07:48] appreciation, but a recognition that although this is not
[3:07:50] an ADU update per se, it's clear just
[3:07:53] from these numbers that our ADU policies and the modifications
[3:07:55] we made toward affordable housing are actually making a difference since over now half of
[3:07:59] units were affordable and I think a lot of that has to do with our changes in ADU policy
[3:08:03] so committed to all of those changes.
[3:08:05] So we got a motion by Friend, second by Caput.
[3:08:09] All those in favor please say aye.
[3:08:11] Aye.
[3:08:12] Opposed?
[3:08:13] That passes unanimously.
[3:08:14] Thank you very much.
[3:08:16] Moving on to our next item which is item number 12 which is to conduct a study session
[3:08:21] to discuss the sustainability policy and regulatory update, review the scope and content to the
[3:08:27] general plan, local coastal plan policies, and county code amendments and review how
[3:08:32] recent changes in state laws and county codes related to the housing influence, to housing
[3:08:37] influence the effort as, as outlined in the memorandum of the planet record.
[3:08:44] Good afternoon Chair Coonerty and supervisors. My name is Stephanie Hansen. I'm the principal
[3:08:49] planter for sustainability and special projects in the planning department and with me today
[3:08:54] is Kathy Malloy, Planning Director. Today we'll be discussing the proposed sustainability policy
[3:09:00] and regulatory update to the county's general plan, local coastal program, and county code.
[3:09:10] Maybe.
[3:09:17] Oh, down. Thank you. Okay. We'll get there. This session was requested by Supervisor
[3:09:24] Mr. Leopold, back in March when the board approved the request for proposals to solicit
[3:09:30] proposals for the preparation of the environmental impact report for the update, specifically
[3:09:35] we were requested to look at the scope and elements of the sustainability update that
[3:09:40] have changed since the original adoption of this sustainable Santa Cruz County plan,
[3:09:46] including information on how state laws and local land use changes with respect
[3:09:51] to accessory dwelling units and the density bonus, bonus density ordinance would interface
[3:09:56] with the changes. To get us started, we'll review the history and past actions that have
[3:10:02] gotten us here to date, the proposed amendments, status report on where we are with the development
[3:10:07] of the amendments and new laws that need to be addressed, including next steps moving
[3:10:12] forward, including environmental review and public outreach.
[3:10:19] The sustainable Santa Cruz
[3:10:20] Land Use County Plan, also called the SSCC, began back in 2011 after the county received
[3:10:25] a Sustainable Communities Planning Grant.
[3:10:28] The purpose of the grant was to fund land use planning projects that implement strategies
[3:10:32] to promote equity, strengthen the economy, reduce greenhouse gases and protect the
[3:10:38] environment, and promote healthy, safe communities.
[3:10:41] The SSCC was accepted by the Board on October 28, 2014 as a planning study.
[3:10:50] The SSCC's high-level guiding principles link land use and transportation planning
[3:10:55] and strive to improve the quality of life in the county by reducing vehicle travel
[3:11:01] and increasing transportation options, expanding housing types, protecting natural resources,
[3:11:06] services, promoting healthy neighborhoods, and increasing economic vitality.
[3:11:11] The bullets in this slide represent a summary of the guiding principles in the SSCC.
[3:11:18] Development of the plan involved intensive public participation with a series of workshops
[3:11:23] that were held throughout the county between 2012 and 2014, there were 16 total.
[3:11:29] These included both visioning and plans for focus areas.
[3:11:33] Visit visioning began with a discussion at the first workshops and included three main questions.
[3:11:39] What does sustainability mean to you relating to the concepts of environment, equity and economy?
[3:11:46] What are the ways in which we can become more sustainable in Santa Cruz County?
[3:11:51] Of the ways to achieve sustainable communities, which ideas are most important for our county?
[3:11:58] There was also an advisory group and many stakeholder meetings.
[3:12:01] The Board accepted the vision statement and guiding principles based on community input.
[3:12:08] Several of the key points included concentrating sustainable infill development within the Urban
[3:12:13] Services Line, developing a multimodal transportation network, and encouraging community development
[3:12:19] near transportation corridors and high activity areas.
[3:12:24] This slide shows the potential future land use and transportation pattern for the
[3:12:28] urban area, which was the geographic focus of the SSCC. The red star and the red shading
[3:12:35] around it indicate regional employment centers. The red circle with yellow shading indicates
[3:12:41] neighborhood activity centers. The blue lines are primary transit corridors, the white
[3:12:47] lines secondary transit corridors, and the green dash line is the Monterey Bay Sanctuary
[3:12:52] Scenic Trail.
[3:12:57] Based on the identification of the activity nodes, the presence of vacant
[3:13:01] and underutilized properties, the desire to learn from closer examination of different
[3:13:06] geographic settings for focus areas were studied. Focus area one was the medical district
[3:13:12] featuring mixed uses around Soquel Drive. Focus area two, the service commercial uses with new
[3:13:18] multifamily residential. Focus area three, upper 41st employment district. Focus area four was
[3:13:26] mixed use and residential neighborhood around 17th and Brommer.
[3:13:32] The focus area concepts in the SSCC reflect the consensus-based preferred alternatives
[3:13:37] determined through the planning process.
[3:13:40] Within the focus areas, the community identified key opportunity sites where potential redevelopment
[3:13:45] could occur.
[3:13:47] A fifth focus area was also studied to develop recommendations for improving circulation
[3:13:51] in the Aptos town center area.
[3:13:54] The
[3:13:57] SSCC resulted in recommendations on both land use and transportation.
[3:14:02] The land use recommendations included a focus on exduced infill development, better utilization
[3:14:08] of multifamily sites, more options for housing types, support for the development of medical
[3:14:14] facilities within the Soquel Drive focus area, development along transportation corridors
[3:14:19] and key opportunity sites.
[3:14:22] Transportation recommendations included created a multimodal transportation system, multimodal
[3:14:28] being the utilization of all available modes of travel including highway, transit, non-motorized
[3:14:34] and demand management strategies.
[3:14:37] Complete streets means accommodating all the users in a right-of-way, but this is
[3:14:42] difficult to do when the right-of-way is constrained as in many areas of the county.
[3:14:47] Therefore, a layered network approach was recommended for all users by prioritizing different users
[3:14:55] on individual streets so that when the network is taken
[3:15:00] As a whole, a complete street is accomplished.
[3:15:03] Updating the design criteria is roadway typology system in order to accommodate the layered network
[3:15:10] approach.
[3:15:11] Parking supply management tools may include reduced requirements for studio one-bedroom
[3:15:16] and two-bedroom units, including maximum distance for shared parking, reduced maximum onsite
[3:15:23] parking and transit priority areas.
[3:15:26] Recommendations also included utilizing vehicle miles traveled and I just like to go over this a little bit because it has other ramifications as well.
[3:15:36] Senate Bill 743 was passed in 2013 with the intent to balance the needs of congestion management with statewide goals related to infill development, the promotion of health through active transportation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
[3:15:53] Specifically, the bill defined transportation impacts under CEQA and moved them from level
[3:16:00] of service which identifies automobile delay at intersections and roadway segments to vehicle
[3:16:07] miles traveled or VMT which identifies the total number of miles traveled in automobiles
[3:16:13] that are associated with a project.
[3:16:16] The State Office of Planning and Research updated the CEQA guidelines in December
[3:16:21] of 2018 to allow the immediate use of VMT for jurisdictions and require all
[3:16:28] jurisdictions to use VMT by June 2020 as a CEQA threshold of significance. As
[3:16:34] provided in the county's climate action strategy, planning and public work staff
[3:16:38] now require that new developments subject to CEQA analyze VMT
[3:16:42] associated with projects and if necessary mitigate impacts to less than
[3:16:47] significance as defined in the state's technical advisory on VMT.
[3:16:54] Level of service information regarding impacts on county intersections and roadways will continue
[3:17:00] to be provided and assessed with projects required to make improvements or pay traffic impact
[3:17:06] fees as necessary.
[3:17:10] Since the finalization of the SSCC in 2014, the board has taken several actions to direct
[3:17:16] the implementation of the plan.
[3:17:18] In 2015, the Board reviewed drafts of development standards for the new zoning districts which
[3:17:24] will review in an upcoming slide.
[3:17:27] The Board also improved the updated general plan housing element and directed the preparation
[3:17:32] of accessory dwelling unit and other near-term housing and code amendments.
[3:17:37] In 2016, the Board directed staff to prepare the Pleasure Point Commercial Corridor Vision
[3:17:42] and Guiding Design Principles, the Portola Drive Streetscape Plan, and the County
[3:17:47] Y commercial design guidelines. The board accepted the vision and guiding principles and the Portola
[3:17:53] Drive plan in December 2018. Environmental review of those documents has been folded into the
[3:17:59] sustainability update. The board also approved affordable housing ordinances and separated
[3:18:05] out some immediate tools as near-term housing amendments. These included accessory dwelling
[3:18:11] Installing units ordinances developed between 2016 and 2018, enhanced and city bonus, inclusionary
[3:18:19] housing requirements and the R-combining process which were adopted in March 2019, the Permanent
[3:18:25] Room Housing Amendments which were adopted in August 2019, and Agriculture Employee Housing
[3:18:32] Elements which will be presented to the Board before the end of the year along with
[3:18:36] proposed amendments that would allow 100% affordable housing on PF zone sites and school employee
[3:18:42] housing on school properties.
[3:18:47] So now onto the scope of the sustainability update and the current work program.
[3:18:52] Work items in the sustainability update will amend the general plan and local coastal program
[3:18:57] as well as the development regulations in Title 13 and Title 18 of the code.
[3:19:02] The goals of the project are to update the general plan and local coastal program
[3:19:07] and County Code to reflect recent policy documents, regulations, and sustainability goals, and
[3:19:13] to enhance the general plan and local coastal program to be more clear and user-friendly
[3:19:17] and clarify and augment the County Code, also known as the Code Modernization.
[3:19:24] The State Office of Planning and Research General Plan Guidelines were amended in
[3:19:28] 2017, and they provide requirements and guidance for general plan amendments.
[3:19:32] Since portions of the general plan have not been updated since 1994, some amendments will
[3:19:39] aim to bring the document up to current standards.
[3:19:42] New requirements in the general plan guidelines include addressing environmental justice in
[3:19:47] healthy communities and climate change.
[3:19:50] General plan must also be consistent with regional plans including AMBAG's 2040 Metropolitan
[3:19:56] and Transportation Plan and Sustainable Community Strategy,
[3:20:00] AMBAX 2040 Population Housing and Employment Regional
[3:20:03] Forecasts, the Regional Housing Needs Assessment,
[3:20:07] also Regional Transportation Commissions,
[3:20:11] Regional Transportation Plan, Highway 9, San Lorenzo Valley
[3:20:14] Complete Streets Corridor Plan, and the Monterey Bay
[3:20:17] Sanctuary Scenic Trail Final Master Plan.
[3:20:21] The local coastal program guidelines were also revised in 2013, so there will be revisions
[3:20:27] particularly related to addressing coastal access.
[3:20:31] Finally, state regulations have been changing quite a bit since 2014, including a very
[3:20:36] strong focus on regulations to solve the housing crisis.
[3:20:39] We'll talk about those in a minute.
[3:20:43] The sustainability update will comprehensively amend the land use introduction and circulation
[3:20:49] elements of the general plan to reflect the SSCC.
[3:20:53] These will include new population housing and employment targets to 2040,
[3:20:57] consistent with AMBAG's forecasts, integrated climate action strategies and policies,
[3:21:05] focus on sustainability emphasis in the SSCC vision and guiding principles,
[3:21:09] new land use designations and zoning districts, which we'll discuss in the next slide,
[3:21:14] and as well as multi-modal transportation parking supply and circulation,
[3:21:18] including a comprehensive look at transportation projects
[3:21:22] that can help address congestion in the urban areas.
[3:21:26] The update will partially amend the conservation and open space elements,
[3:21:31] particularly the agricultural timber and water and groundwater policies.
[3:21:37] The parks recreation and public facilities elements will be updated
[3:21:40] minimally to be consistent with the park strategic plan and to ensure that facilities are adequate
[3:21:47] to accommodate growth. And the community design element will be updated to include policies
[3:21:53] related to building design, relate to the new design guidelines, include green infrastructure,
[3:21:59] and be combined with the land use element and rename all of it to the built environment
[3:22:04] element. Other chapters such as Chapter 4, the housing element which was amended in 2016,
[3:22:12] Chapter 6, the public safety element which will be amended in 2020, and the new Chapter
[3:22:18] 9 noise element which was adopted in 2019 will not be changed substantially if at all.
[3:22:24] Overall, the updates will amend the general plan per the SSCC organizational recommendations.
[3:22:30] These improvements include eliminating redundancies between elements, keeping the general plan,
[3:22:36] more policy level, and leaving greater detail to the codes, modernizing graphics and dynamic
[3:22:41] format for a more reader-friendly document, and reviewing policies and programs for specific
[3:22:47] parcels.
[3:22:50] As part of the Actions taken in 2015, the Board reviewed certain regulatory tools
[3:22:55] recommended in the SSCC and the Planning Department was directed to draft three
[3:23:00] new implementing districts. The residential flex district would fall under the urban high
[3:23:06] land use designation. It would allow for a mix of multi-family types at greater density.
[3:23:11] Appropriate locations would be along existing transportation corridors. Density would be
[3:23:17] governed by development standards to restrict size, bulk, massing, including maximum heights,
[3:23:23] rates, floor area ratios, setbacks, stepbacks for other upper stories and parking requirements.
[3:23:31] To address concern for non-pedestrian scale development, these projects would be subject
[3:23:35] to design guidelines and appropriate siting.
[3:23:39] The workplace flex zone is designed to create dynamic employment districts to serve existing,
[3:23:44] growing and new businesses.
[3:23:45] It would include a flexible range of commercial, office, light industrial and research and
[3:23:50] design uses.
[3:23:51] would also allow for employees serving uses such as coffee shops and other small commercial services.
[3:23:57] The medical mixed use zone would allow a range of uses in specified locations.
[3:24:02] These uses include hospitals, medical clinics, laboratories, medical offices, and the like, as well as support services.
[3:24:10] These would allow a four-story buildings of up to 60 feet, and the maximum height would be contemplated for sites with 10 acres minimum.
[3:24:16] him.
[3:24:17] These would be subject to design review to ensure appropriate massing as well.
[3:24:23] Back in 2015, the Board reviewed some of the proposed standards for the new districts and
[3:24:27] this slide is a summary of what the Board reviewed at that time.
[3:24:31] In conjunction with the initial phase of the SSCC implementation, the Board also directed
[3:24:36] the production of commercial and as mixed use design guidelines to ensure compatibility
[3:24:41] and concerns about massing of larger buildings.
[3:24:44] Our work program also includes establishing density ranges, which weren't addressed at
[3:24:50] the time, establishing standards for small-lot single-family developments, a tool recommended
[3:24:57] by the SSCC, and adding new and revised standards for R1 and particularly RM code sections.
[3:25:05] We will be creating new mixed-use standards to better define the use of commercial versus
[3:25:09] residential standards in mixed juice developments
[3:25:13] and reviewing standards for multifamily development
[3:25:16] to look at variable floor area ratios,
[3:25:19] open space and parking requirements
[3:25:20] to better utilize multifamily's own property.
[3:25:24] Additional transportation changes include
[3:25:26] reducing parking standards for smaller units
[3:25:29] to support compact development,
[3:25:31] working with the Department of Public Works
[3:25:33] on the design criteria to update roadway standards,
[3:25:37] accommodating multimodal transportation
[3:25:39] via the layered network, addressing issues around reduced right-of-way, roadway exceptions.
[3:25:46] At this time, the update does not include the development of standards for zoning overlays
[3:25:50] that were recommended by the SSCC.
[3:25:53] However, these tools will be accommodated as potential future strategies in the general
[3:25:58] plan.
[3:26:01] The update also incorporates the code modernization effort to clarify the code and make it
[3:26:06] consistent with the updated general plan.
[3:26:08] This includes code corrections and clean-ups, but also changes to Chapter 13.10, including
[3:26:15] updating agricultural uses to support new uses in markets and agritourism, updating
[3:26:21] temporary uses and accessory structures, addressing wineries, breweries and weddings,
[3:26:26] outdoor storage and drive-up windows.
[3:26:29] Chapter 1311 will be revised to address a new site development permit and design review
[3:26:36] and incorporating the design guidelines.
[3:26:40] Chapter 1650 would address agricultural land preservation
[3:26:44] and protection, and Chapter 1810 would be revised
[3:26:49] to modernize a permit approval and procedures.
[3:26:56] So his previously mentioned consistency
[3:26:58] with the adopted county plan requires us to be consistent
[3:27:04] with adopted county plans and new state legislation,
[3:27:07] which will inform the amendments as well.
[3:27:10] County plans include the climate action strategy,
[3:27:13] the county strategic plan,
[3:27:14] the park strategic plan and the upcoming update
[3:27:16] of the long range facilities plan.
[3:27:19] Since the adoption of the general plan in 1994,
[3:27:22] several state initiatives largely focused
[3:27:24] on climate change in the earlier part of the century,
[3:27:27] such as SB 375 sustainable communities
[3:27:30] and AB 1358 complete streets have been adopted.
[3:27:34] The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
[3:27:36] Act was adopted in 2014 and requires groundwater management agencies to adopt groundwater sustainability
[3:27:42] plans to ensure the sustainability of groundwater resources.
[3:27:47] Jurisdictions engaged in major general plan amendments are required to coordinate with
[3:27:51] agencies to ensure the availability of water supplies.
[3:27:56] And as mentioned before, we'll also be addressing disadvantaged communities and incorporating
[3:28:00] environmental justice as required by SB 1000 and other legislation.
[3:28:04] More
[3:28:08] recently, state legislation has begun to focus on the housing crisis.
[3:28:12] Several laws were passed regarding accessory dwelling units.
[3:28:16] Additional ADU legislation is also the topic of several upcoming bills headed for the governor's desk this year.
[3:28:23] In 2017, the legislature passed SB 35, which provided a streamlined review process for eligible multifamily projects.
[3:28:31] Projects meeting certain infill requirements are exempt from environmental review, and permitting for them must be regulatory slash ministerial rather than discretionary, meaning that if the project complies with applicable objective standards, it must be approved.
[3:28:47] The law also provides more flexible density and parking requirements and reduce project timelines and extended project approval expirations.
[3:28:57] Concurrently, with the update, the planning department is also working on the process
[3:29:03] of collecting the objective standards that would be applicable to such projects and identifying
[3:29:08] the holes in our codes where additional objective standards are needed to ensure neighborhood
[3:29:13] compatibility and appropriate massing.
[3:29:15] We'll then propose standards that can be included in the sustainability update to
[3:29:19] address those holes.
[3:29:20] Staff will be presenting more on the SB Streamlining and Objective Planning Standards to the Board and Planning Commission later this winter.
[3:29:29] By creating new zoning districts, modernizing the code and refining the development standards and sustainability update will help the county in meeting its goals under the regional housing needs allocation or VINA.
[3:29:50] for housing affordable to very low, low, moderate, and above moderate income levels.
[3:29:55] As of the end of 2018, the county had achieved approximately 32 percent
[3:30:00] of its overall arena at about 50% of the way through the planning period. At this
[3:30:05] time, the county has only achieved the sub-allocation for moderate income
[3:30:09] housing. Right now, AMBAG is currently awaiting the next set of rena numbers
[3:30:14] from the state for the next 10-year planning period. Based on the allocations
[3:30:18] that are being provided to other communities, our rena numbers may be one
[3:30:24] half to two times greater than what they were one and a half, thank you, to
[3:30:29] two times greater than what they were during the current planning period.
[3:30:33] The zoning districts and other revisions in the update will help us meet those RENA goals.
[3:30:41] In the past several years, the Planning Department has been working to implement a variety of
[3:30:45] housing strategies to help address the housing crisis.
[3:30:49] These include ADU ordinances and outreach, enhanced density bonus allowances, and process
[3:30:54] for the R Combining District, as well as the most recent permanent room housing ordinance.
[3:30:59] All these new policies and codes would continue to apply to residential mixed use developments.
[3:31:04] There are some restrictions to note.
[3:31:06] For instance, only one ADU is allowed per single family dwelling.
[3:31:12] The Enhanced Density Bonus Program is currently capped at 30 dwelling units per acre if affordable and 26 otherwise.
[3:31:18] And the R Combining District only exists on very few sites.
[3:31:22] An application to new properties would require rezoning, which would have to be approved by the Board.
[3:31:28] The upcoming Agriculture Employee Housing, public facilities and school employee amendments
[3:31:33] would further allow specialized and or affordable housing on certain sites, but that will have
[3:31:38] little overlap with the amendments in the sustainability update.
[3:31:42] These amendments are expected to be reviewed by the Board by the end of the year as well.
[3:31:49] The SB 35 objective standards that we previously talked about is a process improvement that
[3:31:54] will streamline housing on urban infill sites
[3:31:57] as required by the state,
[3:31:58] but will not interact in a cumulative manner
[3:32:01] with the update amendments.
[3:32:04] In addition, legislature recently passed
[3:32:07] several housing-related amendments that affect tools
[3:32:10] such as ADUs, density bonus provisions,
[3:32:13] and approval streamlining.
[3:32:15] These bills are now on the governor's desk
[3:32:17] for signature by October 13th.
[3:32:19] Planning department will return with an overview
[3:32:21] of the ones that are signed
[3:32:22] when we bring back the SB objective standards later this year.
[3:32:28] Little bit on the environmental process, the EIR will analyze the potential impacts of the
[3:32:34] proposed amendments.
[3:32:36] As a first step, progress continues to be made to update the traffic demand model that
[3:32:40] will be used in the EIR.
[3:32:42] This work on the model establishes both the transportation and land use assumptions
[3:32:47] that will create the baseline of existing conditions
[3:32:50] and establish future growth patterns.
[3:32:53] As the EIR alternatives are developed,
[3:32:56] the upper limit of height and density standards
[3:32:58] can be analyzed, which will in turn inform
[3:33:00] an iterative process to develop the draft standards
[3:33:03] that will eventually be brought before the board.
[3:33:07] Finally, a quick snapshot of the timeline
[3:33:10] for the amendments in the EIR and where we are now.
[3:33:13] We're currently in the process of creating
[3:33:15] administrative drafts of the General Plan and Code
[3:33:17] amendments which is outlined in orange on the timeline. A notice of preparation of scoping
[3:33:23] meeting are being prepared for the release of the EIR in January 2020. There will be an extended 90
[3:33:29] day or longer public review period for the draft amendments and the draft EIR during which time
[3:33:36] there will be community meetings in every district with exist additional meetings in the
[3:33:40] urban areas as needed. Comments on both the amendments and the EIR will be sought at that
[3:33:47] draft amendments are expected to be released in mid 2020 on the draft EIR to follow in the fall of 2020.
[3:33:53] Public outreach will include new user-friendly and interactive website for the effort that will encourage the public
[3:33:59] to explore the amendments by topic and allow public input.
[3:34:03] And the draft code amendment, general plan and code amendments will be available as necessary
[3:34:09] and released with, excuse me, will be amended as necessary,
[3:34:13] released with the final EIR,
[3:34:15] along with responses to comments,
[3:34:17] which is expected in the spring of 2021.
[3:34:20] Planning commission and the board would have public hearings
[3:34:22] in the spring through fall of 2021,
[3:34:25] and final board adoption would be expected
[3:34:28] at the end of 2021.
[3:34:30] And finally, the Coastal Commission certification
[3:34:32] is expected in 2022.
[3:34:37] That ends our presentation.
[3:34:39] If you have questions, Kathy and I are here to answer and we'd be happy to do that.
[3:34:43] Thank you.
[3:34:44] Okay.
[3:34:44] I'll ask if anyone has any questions.
[3:34:48] Thank you.
[3:34:49] Thank you for the presentation.
[3:34:54] One of the reasons I was interested in us talking about this is because I was hoping
[3:34:58] it would provide some light on what we're actually going to be studying in the EIR.
[3:35:04] are. It's interesting to me that the board item that we had was pretty limited. And then
[3:35:14] the information that we had in this presentation included some new information that wasn't in
[3:35:18] the board item. So I think we're going to have to work on when we share information
[3:35:23] with the public as to what we're actually talking about because there doesn't seem
[3:35:29] to be a complete match with the information being provided and what we're actually
[3:35:33] going to be putting in the document.
[3:35:35] So I'll give you a couple of examples.
[3:35:38] In your presentation, we didn't talk
[3:35:41] about the economic vitality strategy, which
[3:35:43] is referenced in the board item.
[3:35:46] We didn't talk about cannabis, which is also in there.
[3:35:49] We didn't talk about commercial weddings
[3:35:51] and special events and seascape beach
[3:35:58] estates combining district.
[3:36:01] I don't think my sense is that some of these
[3:36:04] these are going to be part of the EIR, but not all these things. I'm not sure what would
[3:36:10] be the cannabis part of it, for instance, because we've talked about this quite a bit,
[3:36:16] but it's just hard to wade through all the different things because of the amount of time
[3:36:21] we've had. Likewise, in one of the items where we got a little bit more information
[3:36:27] in the board item about medical mixed use. In the board item it had information about
[3:36:35] height, the floor-air ratio, step-backs, et cetera. But there was an item in here that
[3:36:43] there are some other items that you might consider for different sized lots. That wasn't
[3:36:52] included in any way in the written documentation, so it's just hard for me to get a sense of
[3:36:59] what it is we're actually talking about because it's difficult to wade through all the different
[3:37:06] portions of this.
[3:37:09] On the transportation element with the vehicle miles traveled, I welcome a new way to take
[3:37:20] a look at this.
[3:37:23] But at least what I understood in your presentation, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, is we
[3:37:28] don't know exactly how we're going to look at this.
[3:37:30] Kim Lee Horm is going to help us figure this out along the way, and then there's
[3:37:34] going to be something in this document.
[3:37:36] Will we have looked at that here at the board first, or will we see it when the draft EIR comes out?
[3:37:43] I'm just trying to figure that out.
[3:37:44] Yeah, so that's why we wanted to just spend a little bit of time explaining it.
[3:37:49] Part of what would be in the sustainability update would be to establish what the existing VMT is by very small zones,
[3:38:02] so that we can understand the impact of the general plan
[3:38:07] and code changes on VMT, but also so we can establish
[3:38:12] an existing threshold so that we can understand
[3:38:16] what that threshold is when it comes to new developments.
[3:38:19] So that's kind of a two-pronged thing,
[3:38:21] and that would be establishing the general plan
[3:38:23] as a function of this.
[3:38:25] So I get that that's our goal.
[3:38:28] I'm just trying to figure out when we have
[3:38:31] any kind of when will be the discussions here at the board level. Will it be after the draft
[3:38:36] EIR comes out or will it be before it's sent to study or that's what I'm trying to figure.
[3:38:42] You'll have some options, but it's been a while now. It's acknowledged, but the last
[3:38:49] direction we had when we started to bring draft code amendments that were fairly detailed
[3:38:54] before the board, some of the members of the public were starting to get concerned
[3:38:59] that we didn't have the benefit of environmental review information as you were discussing fairly
[3:39:05] detailed draft proposals. And so it's iterative and we feel that at this point it's appropriate.
[3:39:12] We've got the economic vitality strategy and all the cannabis information.
[3:39:17] We have the commercial weddings, draft proposals, all of the things that we've been working on
[3:39:23] over time, including most importantly, this is Stample-Santa Cruz County Plan.
[3:39:26] and there's a lot of information in there.
[3:39:27] So what we wanna do is distill it down
[3:39:30] into clear, readable content
[3:39:34] and have the environmental and traffic consultants
[3:39:38] do some work with us and have that analysis
[3:39:41] be able to inform the refinement
[3:39:43] of what we would consider draft policies.
[3:39:46] Once we feel that we're at a place
[3:39:48] where we've got draft materials
[3:39:51] that are informed by environmental analysis
[3:39:54] and, you know, they pull together and they reflect existing plans and state laws and
[3:39:58] the SACC and all that.
[3:40:00] We would have the option to begin at some level to discuss it with the Planning Commission
[3:40:06] and or with yourself, but I think I just still always have that caution about wanting
[3:40:11] also for it to be reviewed in conjunction with the draft EIR and that environmental
[3:40:17] review information that the public has been requesting.
[3:40:21] So that is a long answer to what that's why we are proposing a minimum of a three month
[3:40:29] review period for the EIR and draft amendments.
[3:40:32] And I think that I understand that it's a lot.
[3:40:37] It's a lot to absorb.
[3:40:38] And I understand where your question is coming from.
[3:40:41] Yeah, I'm just – it's what I'm – as the person who's trying to sign off on the EIR costs,
[3:40:48] I'm just trying to figure out what it is that's going out for the EIR.
[3:40:53] And that's the part that's hard to grasp at this point because it hasn't been developed.
[3:41:00] I mean, we have both things that have been sitting on a shelf for five years and things
[3:41:06] that haven't been developed, and we're going to try to put it all in one document,
[3:41:10] and we're going to expect that the public understands.
[3:41:14] I mean, as outlined in the general plan, it's basically a rewrite of the general plan,
[3:41:20] or it mostly rewrite of the general plan, save a couple elements which we're also taking
[3:41:26] up or have taken up, right?
[3:41:29] So these are big changes that we're considering, and it's hard, at this point, it's still
[3:41:36] hard for me to completely get how all these disparate elements are going to be shared
[3:41:43] in some way that people will be able to understand what the impacts are and for us to be confident
[3:41:51] that we're making a good decision because...
[3:41:54] I think one way to look at it is to realize that we will be using the AMBAG's 2040 population
[3:42:01] and employment forecasts and they're not that much different than the 2035 population
[3:42:06] employment forecasts that we had when we were working with the SSCC.
[3:42:11] So I don't think you'll see really a lot of land use changes.
[3:42:16] We are creating some new tools and some new policies around sustainability as you know
[3:42:20] and around our approach to how we look at transportation and the VMT and multimodal and all of that.
[3:42:25] But in terms of actual land use changes, I think that will be fairly modest.
[3:42:29] There will be some new tools and policies available for use.
[3:42:32] But we, you know, we expect that, you know, what we do as the land use and transportation,
[3:42:40] you know, workers is we take AMBAGS forecast and we use professional judgment along with
[3:42:46] the transportation and EIR consultants about where that development might occur.
[3:42:51] AMBAGS existing transportation model and RTC's model already have that for the 2035
[3:42:55] forecast.
[3:42:56] We'll be updating that to 2040 and we'll be asking ourselves, you know, what has changed,
[3:43:02] you know, and how much in terms of what our projected land use distribution will be from
[3:43:09] last time we modeled it.
[3:43:10] So it's going to be fairly modest.
[3:43:12] There's not a lot of population employment growth as you saw by the last growth goal
[3:43:15] report and so that's one answer.
[3:43:19] But we expect that, you know, what we forecast will be consistent with the preferred alternatives
[3:43:26] in the focus areas that were accepted by the board?
[3:43:33] Yeah, I mean, that's to another point,
[3:43:37] is we went out and had these discussions,
[3:43:40] engaged the public in meaningful discussions.
[3:43:43] I know I was there.
[3:43:44] I thought they were pretty...
[3:43:45] We got good information.
[3:43:47] There was good exchanges.
[3:43:50] But, you know, we're headed into Year 7
[3:43:53] since the meeting started.
[3:43:54] we're going to be at year 10 when this thing is done, we're making a lot of assumptions
[3:44:03] as to what people even remember as part of the discussions.
[3:44:07] And so it's been complicated, I would add, that we then have made changes that weren't
[3:44:14] discussed there that don't reflect the same goals as the sustainable Santa Cruz
[3:44:19] County plan.
[3:44:20] And so it's, the public is, which is generally suspicious of government, will be doubly suspicious
[3:44:29] of government because they, we had a conversation, we adopted something, we took on other policies
[3:44:38] which were not in concert with that plan.
[3:44:41] And now we have this document that has a lot of different things, wineries, structures
[3:44:49] and driveways, you know, housing regulations, transportation element, it's going to be a
[3:44:58] very con-
[3:45:00] Confusing document and it's going to be really important to have clear information or at least
[3:45:05] information and chunks that are digestible. And the PowerPoint was a little bit better
[3:45:15] than what was included here, although I don't think there were elements that were included
[3:45:19] in the written report. And so I think it's a work in progress. I'm also looking at what
[3:45:28] we're asking the EIR consultant that you mentioned only briefly was the noise section. Now we
[3:45:39] recently changed our noise element and so I'm just wondering what is, what's going to
[3:45:47] happen in this part of the EIR and what should we expect there?
[3:45:52] I mean, the noise element has already been adopted by your board at the last meeting.
[3:45:58] And so that is, I guess, considered baseline.
[3:46:01] But in terms of its policies, it's not substantively a whole lot different than what existed before.
[3:46:07] The new noise element, I think, is a lot more clear and explanatory about what noise
[3:46:11] is and has policies.
[3:46:14] and now we've got a noise planning ordinance that will be part of the code that reflects
[3:46:21] that noise element. So we feel that those new materials, which are now adopted, won't
[3:46:28] really need to be this part of this EIR.
[3:46:31] No, I don't disagree with you. I'm just saying it's in the DUDEC proposal about a section
[3:46:38] on noise.
[3:46:39] Yeah, they have to address noise in the context of the general plan update and
[3:46:44] any of the county code.
[3:46:45] But we're not expecting any, it sounds like major changes to it.
[3:46:51] The recent changes will provide a baseline, if you will, of what the EIR looks like.
[3:46:57] It's not new amendments to noise.
[3:47:01] The question about state legislation and the rapid changes in which the state is looking
[3:47:06] at housing I think are generally pretty good.
[3:47:09] But there's some that I think does not accomplish our goals, but that's neither here nor there
[3:47:14] for the topic of this conversation.
[3:47:16] But since we adopted five years ago a set of new zoning designations, are they still
[3:47:22] the right zoning designation given the changes in state law?
[3:47:27] You know.
[3:47:28] We're going to, you may recall that when in 2015 we presented an outline of what the
[3:47:35] proposed new development standards would be for what we call the new tools, you
[3:47:39] sex, medical mixed use, we specifically said that these numbers are at the upper limit
[3:47:45] of what we might consider.
[3:47:47] Because of CEQA and how it's structured, you want to study the most intensive that you
[3:47:52] might possibly adopt, and you could also go down, you could always go down from that.
[3:47:56] So that's why I think that we probably will back off at some level from those
[3:48:03] maximums in certain areas because of the changes in state laws and the local changes we made
[3:48:13] to some of our provisions.
[3:48:15] And I think that we understand that you'll want a lot of detailed analysis about just
[3:48:23] what that is and what options we considered in developing the final recommendations for
[3:48:28] what those numbers are.
[3:48:30] Yeah, I look forward to that. Again, it's hard for me to see what that's going to look
[3:48:36] like and understand that. And so, again, I hope the information we get from the EIR is
[3:48:43] telling enough to give us, because there are a few things that I can be sure of.
[3:48:48] But if anybody remembers coming to these meetings, they'll remember that we asked
[3:48:54] them about the height of buildings, and they'll remember what they told us. They
[3:48:58] You may not remember anything about res flex or work flex, but they remember that, right?
[3:49:06] That makes sense to them.
[3:49:10] It's just a word to the wise that we entered into that social contract.
[3:49:15] We should do everything we can to honor that social contract.
[3:49:20] And if we don't want to honor it, we should go out and tell people that we've changed
[3:49:24] our mind and do is the same sort of intensive process as we did to get their opinion the
[3:49:31] first time to see if it reflects where the community wants to be.
[3:49:34] I mean we're not seeing any changes from what the public was told and what's in the SACC.
[3:49:40] As I just mentioned, if anything, some of those draft development standards were on
[3:49:45] the higher end and will probably be brought down a bit because of all the different
[3:49:49] of layers of other local and state opportunities, if you will, that have now come into existence.
[3:49:58] I guess the last thing, I'm going to get your perspective of how to share this with the public.
[3:50:04] You talked in this presentation that we might see Ryan in numbers that it might be as
[3:50:10] much as two times what we have to take now. But our growth analysis that we just heard
[3:50:16] shows the population decline. How do we go out and talk to the public about why we're
[3:50:22] going to have to provide twice as many housing units now, but at the same time we expect
[3:50:28] a population to be decreasing?
[3:50:29] Yeah, I mean, it's going to be really interesting to see what the rena numbers really end
[3:50:36] up being for our region. I mean, we know that in Southern California, some of those
[3:50:41] areas are getting rena numbers triple from what they used to get. So the state
[3:50:46] is taking a much more aggressive approach in trying to ensure that local governments
[3:50:51] have policies and zoned land that's available to accommodate housing need.
[3:50:57] And so there's this whole conversation and policies and laws at the state level all
[3:51:03] around that and with the threats of taking local land use control away, of fines and
[3:51:09] penalties of ministerial automatic approvals and all of that if you don't have adequate
[3:51:16] zone land at the appropriate densities to meet the variety of housing needs in your
[3:51:22] adopted housing element.
[3:51:23] And so this SSCC, the general plan update, we will hope that the Coastal Commission
[3:51:31] certifies it in 2022 that our next housing element is due at the end of 2023.
[3:51:38] This is the opportunity. This is the vehicle to ensure that from a policy and land use zoning standpoint, our regulatory framework can accommodate the arena and not be subject to these state pressures and all of that.
[3:51:58] Whether it actually happens or not is a function of the market and job creation and available
[3:52:05] land sites for development and a whole lot of other things.
[3:52:11] But our burden and where the state is really pressuring right now is to have local governments
[3:52:18] at least plan for and accommodate it, and that's what this would do.
[3:52:22] And you bring up the housing element, and I know we're behind in our timeline on
[3:52:27] the housing element. Do we have any sense of when that's going to be?
[3:52:30] Oh no, we're fine with the housing element. No, I know. We have an approved housing element.
[3:52:34] Oh, you mean in terms of housing production? We set targets for looking at policies, creation
[3:52:40] of units, a whole bunch of things. Some of those were behind on, and I'm wondering
[3:52:45] if it's in the work plan to sort of catch that up.
[3:52:52] In terms of the housing element, implementation of our existing adopted housing element,
[3:52:55] But I think we've been actually doing pretty well in terms of implementing some of the policies
[3:53:01] and programs such as the ADU changes, the Ag and Employee Housing, School Employee Housing,
[3:53:08] Permanent Room Housing, Overlay District, a lot of those things per your board's direction.
[3:53:14] We got started early on and we're finishing up on those now.
[3:53:20] So, you know, the ability to focus now on this general plan update, you know, will I
[3:53:27] think allow us to, you know, take a hard look at what else is still left in that housing
[3:53:32] element and address that?
[3:53:34] Yeah, I'll get you some of the things that I don't want to get into a discussion about
[3:53:38] the housing element here.
[3:53:41] I just, I'll just reiterate it's important that we have information that's understandable
[3:53:45] material that is the same from a platform to platform, what I looked at this presentation
[3:53:53] versus the written material, that was not there yet, and so I want to encourage you
[3:53:58] to try harder to make it, to increase the clarity.
[3:54:02] We are putting together a special website, which Stephanie could probably elaborate
[3:54:07] on better than I, but we can post this PowerPoint with the notes, you know, so
[3:54:13] that people can read the information that was presented to you today and we'll keep
[3:54:20] populating that website. Again, the first big next public opportunity probably will be when
[3:54:29] we release the notice of preparation in the EIR and we're expecting that at the beginning
[3:54:33] of 2020. There will be a public scoping meeting where we reach out to people and ask for their
[3:54:39] input on what the IR should cover, et cetera.
[3:54:43] And we understand that this is a lot of material, and a lot of existing documents, both regionally
[3:54:51] and other agencies as well as our own, are going to be reflected in this.
[3:54:56] So we're working really hard to create a clear and distilled down version of that.
[3:55:04] So hopefully by the time we're ready to go public with that draft material and draft EIR,
[3:55:10] we can walk people through it at community workshops and have it be understandable.
[3:55:15] It is a lot. We know that.
[3:55:17] It's tough now and hopefully gets better, so thank you.
[3:55:21] I just want to follow up on John's question because I think combining the previous growth goals
[3:55:28] where we're seeing essentially a stagnant or declining population,
[3:55:31] and we have seen a significant number of house,
[3:55:36] significant amount of housing built,
[3:55:37] especially in the city of Santa Cruz and Watsonville
[3:55:40] and to some extent in the county.
[3:55:43] Yet we are all feeling housing crisis
[3:55:46] and seeing doubling rena numbers.
[3:55:50] Is that because we are losing a significant number
[3:55:54] of our housing stock to second and third homes
[3:55:56] that people are no longer,
[3:55:59] Is that because we are aging at a rapid rate, so we're seeing a shrinking household size?
[3:56:06] Is that, like, what's going on?
[3:56:09] Because if we took this to the community, it wouldn't make any sense.
[3:56:16] So what's your explanation?
[3:56:19] I think all of the above, you know, new family formation is, you know, at a much lesser rate,
[3:56:25] you know, in terms of young people forming families and having children themselves and
[3:56:30] living here, the cost of living, you know, job creation, the Silicon Valley and second
[3:56:38] and third homes, vacation rentals, you know, all of those things I think influence it.
[3:56:43] Cost of housing.
[3:56:45] The cost is a huge one.
[3:56:49] Right, but in theory, if sort of traditional economics worked, you have declining demand
[3:56:55] and or stagnant demand and increased supply but it's not we're obviously not
[3:57:02] seeing that yeah I think that some of what the state might be up to is is having
[3:57:07] these numbers at some level accommodate addressing past unmet needs rather than
[3:57:13] only growth because you there you know the the inappropriately housed the
[3:57:21] under housed, the homeless, all of these people that would make different housing choices
[3:57:27] if housing, different types of housing units were available.
[3:57:30] I think that's some of why the numbers in terms of what we should be zoning for are
[3:57:34] higher than actual population growth is that making up for past deficiencies is I think
[3:57:40] part of the-
[3:57:40] I wish they do it where the jobs have been and continue to be created and they
[3:57:45] have not created the housing, which is why we get the spillover effect here.
[3:57:51] I mean, I think to then linking it back to this presentation, I think the point I'd make
[3:57:57] is to the extent that we're losing part of our housing to use or we have the wrong type
[3:58:10] of housing, I think we need to understand that trend so that when we are building housing
[3:58:15] after this update and co-demarization, we're building the right kind of housing.
[3:58:19] We're not building homes that are conducive to being a second or third home.
[3:58:24] We're building homes that are smaller units for families that are smaller than they have
[3:58:30] been in the past.
[3:58:31] I think we have to sort of see where the market's going and then adjust our home supply.
[3:58:35] So if we do build, we're building the kinds of units that our community needs, not just
[3:58:41] sort of units for unit's sake.
[3:58:43] Right.
[3:58:44] I think you're right.
[3:58:45] And that's the emphasis of the sustainability plan and the greenhouse gas reduction and all of that is
[3:58:51] at least get our land use pattern in better alignment with actual needs and the type of housing that's needed
[3:59:00] so that when development does happen, you're using your available land efficiently for the right type of development
[3:59:07] rather than gobbling up with large lot single family homes, et cetera.
[3:59:12] Right.
[3:59:13] Real emphasis on small units for seniors and for young people who aren't having families
[3:59:18] like they used to, and I think that's kind of part of the missing element, you know,
[3:59:23] that we're not, that we don't necessarily have.
[3:59:25] And I would think, I mean, I think a thing to think about, right, is to the extent
[3:59:29] that we are doing density bonuses or trying to determine public benefit, can we require
[3:59:36] that all the units be on are occupied, right? Like can we try to position the market so
[3:59:43] that it's, or position the conditions on the housing so that it isn't, we aren't building
[3:59:48] housing that then becomes somebody's surf shack one week in a month, right? So I think
[3:59:55] Think about how we make sure that it's housing for...
[4:00:00] The people, you know, working families and seniors and other people in our community.
[4:00:05] The second piece, and this relates to the state action, is we have SB 330 that's sitting on the governor's desk.
[4:00:14] That seems to be a game changer in terms of essentially eliminating local land use control.
[4:00:25] So, in the context of those rules, assuming the governor signs it, which I – the indications
[4:00:32] are he will, what does that look like for this?
[4:00:36] Because it may be doing a lot of this work good and bad for us, and we may not – some
[4:00:44] of this may be Trump, you know, overcome by state action.
[4:00:48] So I think I would ask maybe in this forward that if the governor signs it, you get us a memo, you know, a month later that says, here's what this legislative action did for the sustainability plan, and here's what we won't have to look at going forward.
[4:01:06] Well, I'm not sure that they cancel each other out, you know, they may be compatible to some
[4:01:14] degree, but Senate Bill 330 is certainly going to kind of push the envelope as if you will,
[4:01:21] you know, to where the state is really trying to get us to places that we didn't get
[4:01:27] to before when they thought they were doing that in terms of streamlining and environmental
[4:01:32] review and a lot of the things that SB 35 tried to do. So when we start looking at those
[4:01:37] objective standards, our intent is to return to the board with what you can expect those
[4:01:44] objective standards to look like and give you a summary of these other housing forces
[4:01:49] that are approved.
[4:01:49] The two components, I'm not an expert in this bill, but the two components that seem
[4:01:54] to come from this is if we're upzoning and then essentially the state is adding a density
[4:02:04] bonus on top of that, given the conversations we have, we should decide sort of what density
[4:02:11] we want and then build it based on the fact that you're going to have this additional
[4:02:16] density right or bonus at the state so we don't sort of get to one place and then
[4:02:23] have that be the floor and something added in, and the second part is it seems to me that
[4:02:28] basically we won't have design review over housing projects, and so to the extent that
[4:02:34] we want to have design guidelines in this area, we need to develop those because we
[4:02:40] won't be able to sort of, through our traditional mechanisms, look at design.
[4:02:45] Right.
[4:02:46] That's where those objective standards are really important, and we want to make
[4:02:49] sure we can fill the holes we need to fill because you won't have that discretionary ability
[4:02:54] in the future.
[4:02:56] We agree.
[4:02:58] Okay.
[4:02:59] You know, as Mike, there are things that we can do with the construction of any new housing
[4:03:06] through with this workplace flex or res flex or anything.
[4:03:10] I mean, we have some tools in place, right?
[4:03:13] We can have, we have a vacation rental ordinance that say if you get the res flex,
[4:03:16] you don't get the vacation rental, right?
[4:03:18] I mean, we could put that out there.
[4:03:22] We could expand our inclusionary zoning to ensure that some of these new smaller other
[4:03:27] units are actually affordable for people because that is, we're going to be challenged with
[4:03:35] affordability with the construction of these new denser units if what we've seen already
[4:03:43] is an example of what's going to happen in the future, which is you're going to
[4:03:47] have small units that are more expensive than my monthly mortgage payment, right?
[4:03:51] So there's a disincentive to even move, to have someone as age move if they can't afford
[4:03:59] these places that are expensive.
[4:04:01] So there are tools that we have, but I think your points are right on.
[4:04:06] Yeah, and I totally agree.
[4:04:08] I think to me the single biggest threat to this community is second and third homes
[4:04:14] that aren't vacation rentals that are just empty, and we become Carmel, which is essentially
[4:04:19] a failed community, right?
[4:04:21] So I think that's managing that part of the market is the part that I want to, we should
[4:04:28] think about.
[4:04:31] I'm in favor.
[4:04:33] Anyone else have any questions or comments before I open up to the public?
[4:04:38] Okay, now open it up for public comment.
[4:04:41] Good
[4:04:48] afternoon, supervisors.
[4:04:51] My name is Rick Longinati with the Campaign for Sustainable
[4:04:54] Transportation. I'm a bit confused about this and I'm making some assumptions that I hope
[4:05:00] are wrong. I was a strong supporter of the Sustainable Santa Cruz County plan. I thought
[4:05:06] the point of that was to channel development onto transit corridors where there'd be
[4:05:11] lots of other amenities. Workplaces that have a lot of people working, people would
[4:05:16] go out to lunch, be able to walk to their lunch, and so on.
[4:05:20] I thought that the zoning was going to follow that,
[4:05:23] and what's going on now with these overlays
[4:05:27] and the flex whatever's, and I just don't get it.
[4:05:30] I hope that that fulfills the purpose,
[4:05:33] but what my fear is, is that it is a vision of the purpose
[4:05:37] that will allow is essentially spot zoning.
[4:05:40] So what we have now is, we have developers
[4:05:43] who want to build something, you know, a workplace, and they look for vacant land,
[4:05:50] and it's not necessarily on transit corridors.
[4:05:52] So I hope we're going in the right direction.
[4:05:55] Thank you.
[4:06:06] Thank you.
[4:06:07] Becky Steinbruner is in a rural Aptos.
[4:06:10] First of all, I want to thank you,
[4:06:11] because he provides really a hope for bringing this to the public
[4:06:14] and forefront here for this discussion this afternoon.
[4:06:17] Thank you.
[4:06:20] I'm in agreement with Mr. Longinati.
[4:06:21] This is really confusing, and I think that, you know, having sat through many of the code
[4:06:27] modernization public meetings, those were very alarming, and I feel like a lot of what
[4:06:33] was presented to the public at that time with the promise of an EIR coming at any time,
[4:06:39] that a lot of it has already been instilled with cherry picking, and that bothers me.
[4:06:44] So I'm curious to see how all of this is going to be pulled together in an EIR
[4:06:49] with Dudak doing the work.
[4:06:52] I will also be curious to see what the project alternatives are.
[4:06:56] What would happen if we put instead of our dense infill along Soquel Drive and some of
[4:07:02] those places, if we put it along the railroad corridor?
[4:07:05] And that would support multimodal transportation with population densities nearby.
[4:07:12] I was confused too with the change suggested change in mixed use, possibly considering
[4:07:20] 75%, 25% mix instead of the 50%, 50 now.
[4:07:25] And that's the first time I've ever seen that.
[4:07:27] So that's interesting to me.
[4:07:31] The change in population is declining.
[4:07:36] And so how are you going to sell these dense infill and also how are we going to do that
[4:07:44] with the level of service of intersections because we're seeing a decline in population, but
[4:07:52] the traffic is getting worse. So I'm curious to see how that goes. And no one has talked
[4:07:57] about UCSC here today. That's a huge driver in a lot of our housing and traffic things.
[4:08:04] So that needs to be addressed. Thank you.
[4:08:09] Thank you. That concludes public comment. And I'll bring it back to the board.
[4:08:13] I don't think there's any action on this.
[4:08:15] There's no action.
[4:08:17] I would, because it won't be included in action, I would ask that if 330 is signed that we
[4:08:21] get a memo back from you a month later, sort of walking us through what the implications
[4:08:28] of that are.
[4:08:29] Just a clarification, we have to have four votes here.
[4:08:35] Is that correct?
[4:08:35] No, this is non-voting.
[4:08:37] Non-voting.
[4:08:38] It's just information.
[4:08:39] Informational.
[4:08:40] Okay.
[4:08:40] Yeah.
[4:08:42] I think it would also be helpful that when the notice of preparation is out that you
[4:08:47] think will be easier for people to understand if we could get copies of that as soon as
[4:08:52] it's done, that would be really helpful.
[4:08:55] And also information about where the public sessions will be, you know, those scoping
[4:09:05] sessions.
[4:09:06] I think that would be very useful.
[4:09:10] I would argue that we need it more than just three o'clock on a Friday here in the board's
[4:09:15] chambers that we want to try harder than that and maybe do it out in the community, maybe
[4:09:21] do it in the evening, try to get people involved.
[4:09:24] There's a lot of public education as part of this as we heard from the testimony.
[4:09:28] Typically we do it out in the evening in the community.
[4:09:32] Great.
[4:09:33] So, with that, we will adjourn our meeting to the next regular schedule meeting, which
[4:09:38] is October 8th, 2019 at 9 a.m. here in the Board Chambers.
[4:09:43] Thank you very much.