City Council — May 28, 2026

Good evening, everyone. I'm going

to

We'll

Great and City Manager Wolf do we have any reordering of the agenda this evening?

Madam Vice Mayor we have no reordering this evening. Okay great

Okay, so our first couple of items up are going to be our presentations. So our first one is going to be the proclamation honoring International Celebration for Biodiversity. It's my understanding that we have a few people here to make a public comment about this. So Deputy City Clerk?

We do have multiple public comments slips. I will call speakers in order received each speaker will have three minutes. Um, so the first one is Eric Cardenas Thank you.

All right, good evening members of the council. Mayor Silva and thank you so much for having us and for bringing this proclamation up today. My name is Eric Cardenas with Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. I also am the co-chair of a regional coalition of over 50 organizations working across the central coast working on a number of biodiversity issues regionwide.

And namely we're just here to applaud you and acknowledge this proclamation today around biodiversity. The proclamation itself Recognizes the amazing bio region that we live in here in Buellton and Santa Barbara County, and it's a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot. So the resolution or the proclamation recognizes that it also starts to recognize that we are living in times of a biodiversity crisis. Where we're losing more animal and plant species at a faster rate than we have in millions of years. So, we're just here to really thank the council for elevating this issue of biodiversity encouraging residents individuals even elected agencies and elected officials to act around issues of biodiversity.

We're lucky that so much is already happening. The city of Buellton, you have your 1,000 trees initiative, your green team, rebates on landscaping and all sorts of things that are already happening that are really positive. We can collectively always do more for the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens specifically we're interested in native plants and so if we can be a resource or city staff, City Council in thinking about native landscaping or native plant as part of lists that the city points to and uses for residents or its own agencies, we would love to be a resource in that regard There are other agencies and organizations that work with us on this biodiversity working group that have other expertise under the conservation and sustainability umbrella.

I would also love to be resources for you, so all of that to say thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your long-term vision. Thank you for elevating biodiversity in this area. You're joining a number of other municipalities that are doing the same thing, so we applaud your leadership. Thank you so much.

Next we have Stephanie Diaz followed by Teresa Riley.

Good evening, Mayor Silva and City Council members. I'm Stephanie Diaz representing the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County. And we're very excited about receiving this proclamation as Eric explained, biodiversity is becoming a very important issue. And we, the land trust is an organization that's kind of community wide in the Santa Barbara County area. The last 40 years have conserved 58,000 acres of land which is open space agricultural land natural features and species.

And our work we feel is reflected in much of what your proclamation says you know the saving of the open space and the green areas and the community resilience that comes from biodiversity Locally, the Land Trust has conserved land in the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Prisma Hills nearby Gaviota Coast and down the surrounding ranches and agriculture that you have in this area. And we feel that this saving of conservation of lands really helps for making this valley and Buellton a very special place.

The land trust is a member of the collaboration that Eric just spoke up and we feel that the importance is that we are looking at challenges, and we're also looking at opportunities dealing with biodiversity. The pressures that we Are concerned about right now have to come from climate change and habitat being fragmented and invasive species that are coming into the area. And also, when there's incompatible development.

And we feel the proclamation is really a support saying that biodiversity is something we want to protect and we want to restore where we can and have long term stewardship. We appreciate the city's proclamation and we hope to continue collaboration here in the valley. And, um, thank we thank the council very much.

Thank you. And finally, Teresa Riley.

Hello City Council, Mayor Silva and staff. Tonight I'm here representing We Watch and like Eric Cardenas I want to just thank you for all that you're doing as a city to make this a better place so we watch is a non-profit land use environmental organization focused on the Santa Ynez Valley I'm also joined here tonight by new board member John Barron, so he's here in support and we are focused on the city of Buellton and the area residents.

Good morning, everyone. I'm so excited to be here today because we support the work that you're doing to protect and restore biodiversity in the central coast and very delighted that Buellton is celebrating the UN day honoring the importance of biodiversity throughout the world. Riverview Park, the San Ynez Valley Botanic Garden, the tree city designation, And as well as approving the outdoor lighting ordinance, which makes a lot more difference than we would have thought where we learn about it.

Also commend you on beginning to work on the general plan update. I want to thank you for your continuing commitment to caring for the beautiful natural world in which we live here in the valley and will support you in this work. I'm also an individual involved with full interest, with nature track, with taking kids out into nature. I am still on a high from being at the beach today and getting that nature deficit disorder dealt with. So I want to just tell you when It makes a huge difference for them for the rest of their lives. So I want to see Buellton have more opportunities for children's recreation, but including the natural world. If you're promoting biodiversity, you're also promoting the pollinators that we need for our whole ecosystem here.

So from me and from We Watch, I just wanna thank you and commend you and keep going. Okay great, thank you so much.

That concludes public comments. Okay, great. Okay, so I'm gonna read the proclamation. So the proclamation honoring international celebration for biodiversity. Whereas the United Nation has declared that biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution are the three major threats to global sustainability. And whereas biodiversity loss is happening at all levels including the worldwide insect population, the loss of almost one third of North America's birds since 1970 and the shrinking of local marine populations both plants and animals And whereas the state of California has identified the protection and restoration of biodiversity as a critical priority through major initiatives such as the California Biodiversity Initiative in 2018, which commits the state to conserving 30% of its lands and coastal waters by 2030.

And recognizes biodiversity as essential to climate resilience, food security and human well-being. And whereas California's natural and working land climate Start smart strategy recognizes biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration as essential components of the state's climate mitigation and adaptation goals, encouraging local governments to integrate nature-based solutions into land use planning and community resilience efforts. And whereas local efforts to preserve native species restore degraded ecosystems protect pollinator habitats and expand green infrastructure within the city of Buellton And are already part of some of the local planning efforts within existing agencies in Santa Barbara County. And whereas, the region's diverse terrestrial ecosystems including oak woodlands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, serpentine outcrops and riparian corridors and wetlands are home to numerous rare threatened and endemic plant species such as the narrow leaf milkweed, Santa Barbara honeysuckle and the La Prisma manzita, as well as hundreds of native wildlife species And whereas the marine and coastal environments of our offshore off our shores including kelp forest, rocky intertidal zones, upwelling zones and offshore areas such as the Channel Islands in the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary support vital biodiversity including endangered species such as the southern sea otter leatherback sea turtle and migratory whale populations.

And whereas these ecosystems are not only Thank you for joining us today. We are excited to welcome you to the city of Buellton. ≫ Thank you, Mayor Buellton. The city of Burlington is committed to addressing climate change and unsustainable development underscoring the need for urgent coordinated action at the local level and whereas it is imperative that local agencies recognize the region's native flora, fauna and marine ecosystems, support local protected areas and urban biodiversity initiatives, commit to integrating biodiversity considerations into city planning decisions including use Thank you so much.

And now it's picture time, so I'm so sorry. Would you care to come up here behind the dais and get a picture? Okay, come on up.

Thanks for coming. This is for you. Come on in here. Yes, yes, yes. Great. Okay, no problem will do. Thank you so much. I love this meeting. Thank you so much for your support. Just be careful. Thank you. I have the same high school account.

So we're having a little technical difficulties, so we're going to call it five minute recess on those of you that were here for the proclamation for biodiversity if you would like to take your leave now would be appropriate. Sorry, Aileen and Vincent, you are gonna have to stick around a little bit longer.

Okay? Thanks everyone for your understanding. Next up, we are going to have the presentation of certificates

Thank you for being here.

I live in Santa Monica. I'm the wife now of Gail Williams, and Gail and his brother Norman who lives here in the Valley established the scholarships more than 25 years ago. I don't know the exact number but both of them had been born Uh, in Nebraska and has spent their early years on the farm. And also had a great deal of place to date, a great deal of value on education.

So they went in many different directions after their initial schooling colleges included and did a variety of different things but wanted to be able to offer Opportunities to our next generations down the way. To be able to have choices and to be able to have education to enable them with whatever they could could achieve so it's their privilege, our privilege to be able to continue that. Those scholarships and we're very happy to to help them. And it's going to be Thank you so much. Thank you for coming.

Hi, so I'm Vincent Guerrero. I am currently going to San Ynez Valley High School and I am graduating tomorrow which is exciting. I plan on going to Cal Poly in slow and as my second option would be Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria. So I've lived in Buellton since I was 10 years old when we moved over from Solving It wasn't too big of a change for me since my grandfather and my aunt and her family had already lived here, and my mom grew up in Buellton as well.

How can we make Buellton even better than it already is? It's an amazing place to grow up in. It's safe. We can take walks in the evening without fear. And we can leave our doors unlocked without worrying about people breaking in. It says about picturesque as it can get as far as small American towns can go. So looking closer, nothing is perfect growing up in Buellton and the valley itself. I've noticed that it's getting harder and harder for people to move and afford to live here.

I've noticed some of my neighbors have sold their homes and are moving out of state into other parts of California. I know that with inflation and rising interest rates, most issues with homeownership are out of our hands. And I'm aware that Buellton has been providing more and more low-income housing opportunities but sometimes the application process is too difficult for families or it's more of a short term placement for families as they find financial security.

Having Buellton be more affordable would bring more equitable opportunities for families to experience the opportunity I've had living here. And talking about the low income opportunities, I've heard my aunt she works with people helping people so I've heard of that Buellton is looking to create more of those low income opportunities for people. So the issue with young families not being able to afford homes in Buellton brings a different dynamic to our community.

If not enough families are coming with their kids, our population tends to be heavily leaned towards older members who might have different interests in our community and how they envision in the future with what we're doing with Buellton. So that would make younger families voices go unheard and there would be less younger population in our community. So having more activity facilities for families and kids would make Buellton a more exciting place to live. The local theater here went out of business, and now it's going to be turned into something else, and the plans for the bowling alley also got scratched.

So there isn't many places for kids to go and hang out. But I feel that if Buellton were to open up more places like this, it would encourage younger families with younger kids who come in Buellton and buy into Buellton, to stay into Buellton. An example from my own experience is having to travel far away Buellton here to play soccer. I played club soccer for seven years and we always had to travel so far away for tournaments, we would have to wake up really early and travel three to four hours. And then even at that, to have the expense of paying for a hotel room when we needed to stay overnight.

When we arrived, we were always tired, exhausted and sore from the long car ride. Our opponents were fresh and ready because they didn't have to travel so far And we were always at that disadvantage when playing. I know this is the same for other sports as well, like basketball and soccer and baseball, I mean. And with all this open land that Buellton has, I feel that we could create a sports complex for for other sports to come and play in our community.

And we can host a bunch of tournaments, and it would save ourselves the time from traveling and allow us to stay on even playing field with our opponents. I think this will also bring more families to want to live into Buellton, because Buellton is already a safe and family-friendly place to live. But I feel that considering these suggestions it would make it even better.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any comments from the Council?

Thank you. I know it's hard to get up and speak in front of people and microphone and public speaking all that, so I appreciate you doing that. And thank you for sharing your thoughts and super excited for you to be graduating tomorrow.

Yeah,

actually,

I appreciate

it. We are always in mind to get sports fields. It's always a top of our list when we're working on it. OK, that sounds good. Publicize as much more talk about. Thank you. Yeah thank you, good job.

Thank you for coming and then our other recipient is also going to speak Aileen Rico.

Hi my name is Aileen Rico and I'm also a senior at Santa Ana High School graduating tomorrow too um I'm going to Cal State Channel Islands in the fall to major in biology and in the long run I want to be a veterinarian one day Hopefully. Buellton is a town I've grown up in and the place that has shaped many of my values. It is in the valley in which I go to school, where I work and where my family lives. What makes Buellton special is the sense of community but living here has also shown me that there's room for growth.

Making Buellton better means taking care of those who live here and creating opportunities for everyone to feel supported. One of the most important ways to improve Buellton is by strengthening support for families facing financial challenges. Many families work hard but still struggle to afford basic needs like food, housing and healthcare. I experienced this personally and have seen how much of a difference community resources can make.

Expanding food distribution programs, increasing access to health care and providing more support for families in need would help create stability. These are small changes that can mean a lot and have a big impact on people's lives. Another way to make Buellton better is by investing in youth education. Students need more opportunities for academic support, leadership development and career exploration. Programs that offer tutoring, college preparation and mentoring would help students feel encouraged and prepared for their future.

As someone who balances school work and family responsibilities, I know how important guidance can be. Creating safe spaces for students to study, volunteer and connect with others would help young people stay motivated and involved. Supporting local businesses and community involvement is also essential. Local businesses bring people together and create pride in our town. I have learned through working locally how important it is to support the people who keep our community running. Community events and volunteer opportunities help strengthen connections and create a sense of belonging. Making Buellton better starts with empathy, action and involvement. By supporting families, investing in youth and encouraging community connection, Buellton can continue to grow into a place where everyone feels valued.

I am proud to call Buellton home and hope to continue giving back to the community that has shaped who i am.

Thank you! Thank you very much

Well, hopefully if you decide to become a vet in a few years, you can always come back and work at the Humane Society. You have a job right here. Yes, you can talk to Dr. Shank. That'd be great. Thank you for coming. Some really wonderful ideas and both of you obviously care deeply about this community. And I think what stroke me about all of the applicants to the scholarship but particularly you two are You're really thinking beyond yourselves, thinking about your community. And you're doing it with a lot of perspective and a lot of heart and a lot of empathy as you mentioned.

I'm so very proud that the two of you are products of Buellton like what amazing people we have representing our town as you go out and start the next chapter of your lives. So we're very grateful for you.

Thank

you.

Any other comments from council? Congratulations. We're very lucky to have you. Congratulations on both the scholarship and graduation, and I hope you come back and give us updates on how it's going. Thank you very much.

Are there any other public comments about this? There are

no

public comments. Okay, great. So we'll have Aileen and Vincent come up.

Good job. Yeah, good job. Thank you for you. There you go. Congratulations. Oh, congratulations. Yeah. We're all friends here. One, two, three. Thank you. Have a good graduation. Thank you. Are you guys going to Sober Grad? Yeah. Good. I heard it's gonna be awesome. Thank you.

Thank you for coming, Dorothy. Really

appreciate it. It's nice to have someone from the trust

Hi, thank you so much for having me here. I came just to plant a little seed since y'all are working on the 2050 plan for our beautiful town and there are already so many great things happening here including the biodiversity and the students and fields So many great things. I just wanted to plant a little seed of a vision for 2050 as an area where we call ourselves a blue zone.

If you guys have not heard of that, just as a broad concept there are areas in the world where health and longevity are Embedded in the environment, in those municipalities, in those areas. And the state of health of our nation is dismal as we were talking earlier about biodiversity The biodiversity in our bodies as well and the number of chronic illnesses, more than 50% of the population is pre-diabetic. Almost 20% of the population in United States is diabetic. Another 10% have liver issues. 40% of people have two chronic illnesses.

So focusing on our health is imperative not just financially, emotionally but for the sustainability of our nation. We spend over 20% now of our GDP in health. So I want to urge you to think in those terms. So blue zones are places in the world that have nine specific pillars, and they are places where people move naturally, where people live with purpose, where there is an opportunity for downshift or stress management, where people don't overeat, where they eat a plant slanted diet, where people do drink wine. So another characteristic you know many of these things we already do where there's a focus on family and community, and there is a sense of belonging. So many of these things we already do. Now having a label of a blue zone in our restaurants, in our wine, in our community, it's something that I think can be very positive not only for health but for our economy.

So as you move forward with your plan, if you could think in those terms I think it would be extremely beneficial. So that's my two cents. Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Okay thank you very much.

Thank you for

coming.

Back and clearing up a comment okay great thank you so moving on to the consent calendar would any council members like to pull

We have a public comment.

I think that probably the appropriate way to do it is just to decide which items would be pulled from consent calendar. Approve the rest of them, then go back and do the other

ones. Okay. It's okay. So I'm asking Council if they'd like to have any items approved or pulled from their consent calendar? So what I said in the first place, I'm pretty sure. Is there any items that any council member would like pulled from the consent calendar?

I have a motion to

approve the consent calendar.

I have a motion and a second.

Thank you for your patience, sir.

You have our letter of objection, which we sent to all of the council members and all of the board members of Rancho de Marie. And we attached the agreement that is currently recorded. We attached the CCNRs and the conflicting memorandum of agreement You are denying Rancho de Maria owners their recorded rights to corporate governments in this agreement. The staff report has an error in it, the staff report indicates that the underlying agreement is 85046 727, which is really the CC&Rs. So there's an error fundamental error right there and what we're looking at is a change in maintenance violates the consent provisions of the CC&RS requiring owner member consent under section 12.11 roman numeral six Underlying agreement and CC&Rs 85-046727.

The MOA does not show any new legals for the easement that is not presented in a recordable format, so the existing agreement is recorded and what you're proposing is not recordable. You have to have legal descriptions which are drawn by the licensed land surveyor to show the new altered maintenance area of responsibility and liability, which the city would be assuming.

The city is altering the recorded agreements without the consent of the 152 owner members and altering title to the HOA common area. And this is outlined in the CC&R's. If you file this document with the city clerk, you will be violating California Penal Code Section 115 and filing a false document. The memorandum of agreement without authority of the owner members required by the CCNRs violates the California Doctrine contained in the Equal Dignities Rule.

The equal dignities rule is a variation on California law that requires the authority of a party to be in writing before they can execute a contract. The board of the Rancho de Maria One Association lacks such authority.

You have less than 30 seconds, sir.

You cannot re-regulate an existing subdivision after 40 years without the consent of the owners. The residences in this subdivision are going from between 700,000 and 900,000 per unit. Do the math. 152 units. Thank you. Staff report or comment?

Yes, there's a couple I know that the City Attorney has some comment on this. I will note that we did receive an email from the Homeowners Association Board requesting an amendment to or an addition rather Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, all right. So the proposed addition to the agreement would read this MOA does not supersede the original 1985 agreement nor does it modify transfer or otherwise alter the Association's common area maintenance responsibilities under the Declaration of Covenants conditions and restrictions of Rancho de Maria 1 That would be the extent of that. So, that was a recommendation from the Homeowners Association. Staff would concur with that recommendation. I believe the city attorney has reviewed that as well and if you'd like

any... Sure, yeah just kind of two things. First, this city doesn't have the ability to change the CCNRs. The city is entering into a contract with the homeowners association which is governed by its elected board And the city has negotiated this, city staff has negotiated this basically what amounts to an implementation agreement for months now. This came up because certain maintenance needed to be done and it needed to be done over the area where the city has agreed that it will pay for work but where Rancho de Maria also agrees that it will pay for work. And it came to our office to look into it, and one of the primary issues that came up was that if they pool funds then the entire work is governed by California prevailing wage law. Whereas if the Homeowners Association does the work, or we split it out so each party does a share of the work then the city's share is still governed by California prevailing wage law because all projects of over $1,000 paid for with public funds are governed by prevailing wage law.

But the HOA would not have to be governed by prevailing wage law, would not have to go through an extensive public bidding process which they would if we pooled our money and did one combined project. So we were trying to work out an implementation agreement was put, what the mines came up with was what's in front of you tonight. This allows the two entities instead of pooling funds to each take a portion of the maintenance area and be responsible for that. It saves the HOA quite a bit of money while at the same time we feel Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I guess if I'm going to say anything in conclusion, it's that the city will be paying more than half of the total cost here because the city's 50% or thereabouts will be paid at prevailing wage rates. So figure the city is paying about 30-35% more to get the work on its portion done than the HOA is. So that's some background on why we did what we did in terms of violating the CC&Rs or changing the map, none of this very minor implementation agreement does any of that so I'm really not sure kind of what the objection is but we've reviewed the objection and legally you can go forward thank you.

Councilmember Sanchez, any questions? No. Councilmember Lewis, no questions. Okay and so I just want to clarify just for my own understanding the city... No, I was gonna say oh David I'm sorry it's come to council. I guess Mayor Silvinex that's weird I was gonna do him last sorry my bad

I just wanted to follow up and just confirm, the request that was brought forth by the HOA representative that you read Scott with that. Just to confirm staff and legal opinion was that you were okay with that being added or amended? Is that correct?

for purposes of clarity yes that was always our intent so for purposes of clarity not a problem at all

okay just want to confirm thank you

and that basically answers my question okay great um so all right honey would anyone like to make a motion

I move to approve the consideration of approval of the MOA between the city of Buellton and Rancho de Maria homeowners association

Thank you. Councilmember Lewis? Aye.

Okay all right thanks great okay thank you both for coming. All right and

much more concise.

By state and FEMA rules, it should be in effect. So what's before you tonight is an urgency ordinance that will go into effect immediately and by its own terms will cease to be effective once the permanent ordinance which you just did your second reading of in consent once that becomes effective this one will disappear This is intended to protect homeowners in the floodplain from having insurance issues because we wouldn't have adopted in time. It's the sole reason for it, everything else you already discussed two weeks ago, it's exactly the same wording so we recommend moving forward.

questions. Would someone like to make a motion then?

I move to

approve. Whichever one you'd like, Linda. I'll second. Great, thank Thank you.

Just one comment, it's nice to see life and vibrancy on the avenue. It was nice to see the farmers' market. It was nice to see the vintage Miss Daisy. Yeah, flying Miss Daisy. It's just nice to be able to walk to something, see people gathering and just that sense of community. So I think we're doing a good job building it up and definitely happy to see that.

Council Member Sanchez, any comments from you?

I had some that just came up today. I guess there was another robbery at the jewelry store, there was a robbery in Los Olivos and in Solvang they had some big robbery. And I know I talked about it before is getting the cameras in town or the road for you know incoming and outgoing cameras and I would like to follow through with that at some point. I don't know if it's illegal or

nobody

is interested.

Council members, Mr. Mayor, Madam Vice-Mayor, I do have a little bit of comment on this. I am very aware of what happened last night. We are lucky that the City of Solvang in the last year has undergone what they're calling the Downtown Safety Corridor Project. They added their own security cameras downtown. In that circumstance, they elected to not go with LPRs, the license plate reader cameras. But we are in talks with a variety of companies that offer those services and the city manager has reached out to me in the past and I'm happy to continue working with him if that's something you'd like to pursue. There are a number of companies that can provide that service and I'm aware, have had conversations with them, with the mayor, have had conversations with other council members about all of the concerns that come along with licensed place readers And especially in the public sphere right now, there's some questions regarding whether or not they're being used for surveillance and who has access to those.

But when they are in fact owned by the city, the city is the one who dictates those terms and we as your police will utterly abide by them. And they are a wonderful tool for law enforcement to use. Not only do they lead to apprehension identification but they can be used in missing persons cases. They can be used in just a variety of circumstances that you wouldn't traditionally think I'm happy to get some more information for the city manager and hopefully come back to you in the future about it. Would that be a consensus to put on here,

gentlemen? It seems that way. So we're going to direct staff to please work with Lieutenant Henderson to get some reporting and get some information about these cameras. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank

I just want to follow up with Scott. I asked him a little bit about the Fire Advice Building, if he had an update on that?

I don't at this point, I had put in a request to Lieutenant Henderson. He immediately transferred this request over to one of the colleagues in the Sheriff's Department and I have not yet heard back from this person as to the status of it. In a nutshell when last we were looking at the fire and vice building there was some question as to whether or not The investigation surrounding the fire had been concluded. We obviously couldn't force the property owner to clean up that site if the investigation was ongoing, so at this point once we determine that the investigation has concluded, we will reach out to the property owner and get a plan together to have that property cleaned up We have a process for doing that, we will move through once we make the determination.

At this point I just need confirmation that there is still not an ongoing investigation.

I wanted also just to piggyback off of Council Member Lewis's statement about the Flying Miss Daisy event. The piece I also want to acknowledge is how many Avenue flag businesses brought up that it was a boon for them from an economic driving standpoint, the barber shop brought up that they had most walk-ins they've ever had, brand board brought up it was their busiest Saturday they've ever had We just saw a lot of ancillary benefit from it.

work to make this happen, to make Flying Miss Daisy happen on the avenue and I just want to thank the fact that our local businesses are benefiting from this additional foot traffic. Also wanted to bring up uh to everyone and all the staff that worked in all the businesses and to the council members who could join thank you all for being part of the Buellton State of the City and i think that uh the um staff member Mrs Fiery from our recreation department's here right now. I just wanted to thank as well that she was able to I know that we have our lieutenant with us today but a lot of conversation came up.

≫ Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. We're going to start with a little bit of background on the workshop that we had last night. I know not a ton of community members came up but there's a lot There's an intent of having a visibility cone.

You're up again. Thank you. Thank you,

Mr Mayor tonight through the vice mayor. We do know quite a bit about daylighting law went into effect in 2023 or excuse me it was voted into law in 2023 and for those of you that don't know what day lighting is. Daylighting is the idea of providing distance between crosswalks and intersections where parked cars do not park immediately adjacent to the right hand turn in two way streets, and there are some little bit of differences in one way streets prior to this law going into effect. It was a standing law in the state of California that you couldn't park within 10 feet of stop signs regardless of whether or not it was marked as a red curve. What the daylighting law did is effective January 1st, 2025, it extended that distance to the national standard of 20 feet and this is regardless of whether or not the sidewalk is painted red.

There are a lot of municipalities that saw this law and looked at the very cumbersome task of repainting hundreds upon hundreds, if not thousands of curbs along the cities. And the conversation I had with the mayor when he brought this up and asked I pointed them in the directions of some of the bigger cities who obviously had tens of thousands of intersections and how they chose to address this issue. And one great example is the city of San Francisco, and they did this in a... They are actively doing this project. I believe they're in step three of it. The first phase of their plan was The first phase was addressing the intersections that are close to school zones. That was their phase one, where they actually marked out where the high traffic areas were in school zones and they painted those curves red.

Once they moved through the city and addressed all those areas, they moved to their high traffic areas and commercial districts and addressed those red curves. And if you are, if the city is considering striping these curbs to make it easier for drivers to identify areas where they can and can't park and make it so that visitors to the town are also aware of it. I think that three stage approach is reasonable. It is not overly burdensome on public works.

Apropos response to who needs to be addressed first. As far as the sheriff's office is concerned, when it comes to enforcing this as your police, we... When people bring up these issues, when they do see cars parked in these zones, we obviously respond. It's not necessarily something the average cop is out looking for unless there's direction from the city or perhaps there's an event where we need to be more proactive about it but we are very much taking in the first few years of this We are still in the warning phase of this.

It would lead to higher visibility and education for the public in the fact that they can't park there. But it would also make it much more palatable for the average cop to write a citation to people knowing that everybody knows what a red curb is, even if they don't know they can't park there. And I'm happy to take your questions if you have any Mr. Mayor, Council Members.

Does anyone have any questions?

Thank you, Mr. Pinnerton.

I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. I just want to make a comment about the fire hydrant restriction of parking. Everybody knows I'm against red curbs anyway but we don't even mark the fire hydrants because it's a lie you can't park in front of a The people that are around this town, if they need a place to park then more red curbs. If somebody parks within five feet of a crosswalk and it's not a problem I've never had a problem with that and I just really would like not to make it an issue and make it a problem I don't like red curbs and I don't like parking restrictions.

And I think everybody knows how to park, and if it's a big law we could put a sticker on a window but to put red curbs all over town? Like I said, I adamantly oppose enforcement of this law especially with the 20 not even the 10 anyway that's my comment

I'm at this point also being mindful that this is a comment, Council comment. I want to be mindful of being mindful that it's not an agendized item. I just would considering the fact that there is a state law that is in effect that has a safety element to it. I would like to look into consent for at least an agenda agendizing this discussion because it is an existing state law And I think there's a lot of discussions about liability and safety. We just had a huge safety conversation about this as we're trying to make Buellton a safer location for it, so I'm just wanted to bring it up that I think would be worthwhile for us to agendize this discussion further so that the council could have this open discussion about it since it's not agendized tonight.