City Council — April 27, 2026

Hello all, good evening. Today is April 27th and welcome to the Carpinteria City Council meeting. I apologize for starting a little late we had some committee meetings that began at 3 so this is going to be a little bit of a marathon for us. So I appreciate your patience and we will begin with roll call please.

Thank you Mayor Alarcon, Council Members. We're in closed session for one item under anticipated litigation and there's no reportable action this evening.

And we will begin our meeting today with the resolution. It's Resolution Number 6463, Supporting Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Resilience on California's South Central Coast. I will open up public comment. And we have two speaker slips. And we will begin with Annie Marie Parkinson. And we'll have an opportunity for the Botanical Garden to accept the resolution, so they'll have their own dedicated time. We're

here to support. All right, well thank you and good to see you again and meet some new council members. As you said I'm with the San Barbara County Fire or Fire Safety Council. I'm the Executive Director Anne-Marie Parkinson and we're a nonprofit that promotes wildfire safety through education action. And just a little funny being here because I'm the first to admit that sometimes when you think about biodiversity and fire safety it sounds like it's a contradiction but here to support this resolution and work with Tanton Garden and other partners on this because it doesn't have to be Living with fire prone environments, we have a lot of trade-offs.

And so the question isn't whether we should manage vegetation but it's more about how do we do it? That's why we've agreed to sign on and support. This work participates in activities and education outreach regarding biodiversity and wildfire safety. Because when it's done thoughtfully, they can really complement and reinforce each other where we can design field buffers that support and use native species that not only reduce wildfire risk But also provide ecosystem services through slope stabilization, carbon sequestration for any habitats.

We can also prioritize and educate others on selective and strategic thinning over doing just broad clearing. And we can also work to restore degraded landscapes so they function more like a naturally environment would through healthier ecosystems and more balanced fire regimes. And it's with this mindset that we're going to really work towards reducing wildfire risk to building resilience through our landscapes and through our communities.

And I want to highlight that supporting biodiversity doesn't mean ignoring fire safety, they can complement each other and working to include that in the outreach that we do, the programs that we design Our partnerships with the local fire agencies, we're approaching fire safety. We have much greater intention with how we're putting out fuel breaks and doing fuel reduction work.

And so we really believe this resolution reflects that balance and we're proud to support it and proud that the City of Carpinteria is looking to support this too. Thank you guys. Thank you for your comments. Mike Wondolowski?

I'm Mike with the Carpinteria Valley Association. Biodiversity conservation and climate resilience, the city has an excellent track record on these topics overall including walking around the City Hall renovation a few years back. The native plants here and the landscaping and the stormwater retention all excellent moves. We're excited the city is formalizing its support for the principles in this resolution and we strongly encourage you to approve the resolution.

Thank you for your comments. Helen Schneider?

No, you're more than that. Good afternoon and good evening mayors mayor and council my name is Helene Schneider I have the pleasure and honor of serving as chair of the board of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. I'm very pleased to have Steve Winhager here who's our executive director and thank you so much for bringing this resolution to us today we also have as you can see a number of different organizations who are all part of this resolution in fact uh the botanic garden and the community environmental council co-chair A coalition of over 40 different organizations around the region who are working together on a biodiversity working group, of which this is one aspect of the work that we do. And it's so important to partner with local governments like cities and counties and so we're going all around Santa Barbara County And wanted to look at this as a regional way.

Our vision is to support new and strengthen current systems that will reduce the impacts of climate change, support economic well-being, improve habitat and ecosystem functions, and increase biodiversity in areas most impacted by society and development. And as you well know thinking long term, you do a lot of that long term planning looking at the outside I was also noticing the native plants right outside City Hall here. How important is to think long term at the Botanic Garden. We are so happy this is our 100th year we just turned a century old. And if you think about the Redwoods, if you go down to the area of the Redwoods those were planted 90 years ago by the founders of The Garden thinking long-term that they knew they would never see the glorious trees that are there today and where we want to think of the next hundred years and what we can do today to make sure that our children and grandchildren have a safe and healthy place to reside throughout the South Coast.

So thank you so much for this resolution and we look forward to partnering with you into the future. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Stephanie Diaz?

Good evening Mayor and City Council members. I'm Stephanie Diaz representing the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, and we are an advocate for the adoption of this resolution supporting biodiversity and conservation and climate resilience. The land trust has served as Over 40 years looking for doing conservation of natural resources, agricultural land, open space and of course as you know the Carpinteria Bluff, the Carpinteria Salt Marsh, the Rincon Bluffs and the Rincon Gateway. And we are so excited to be a part of that conservation And we appreciate the resolution's focus on future, conserving future stewardship of our protected areas and supporting connectivity and urban biodiversity. Those are I think especially the urban diversity are not always thought about but so it's not always up on the hills or over on the bluff but there is a lot Project related and along the outside of developed areas that are important.

It's also important to strengthen our partnerships with different communities, the tribal communities, local agencies, conservation organizations, scientists and educators. This resolution has priorities that are essential to sustain the region's biodiversity, climate resilience and actually quality of life. And I thank you for your leadership.

Thank you for your comments. I do not have any other speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? I

filled out a...

Oh, for this item? Item number two for this resolution?

Well, for the biodiversity Good evening. I'm Mary Beecham, I live at Shepherd Place Apartments I came this morning with $1,324 requesting an appeal form to challenge the project to cut the last 73 trees at Shepherd Place Apartments. This was a deal made by Mindy Fogg and MKCR, Capital Limited Liability Corporation straight out of Calabasas. To me, this is an abuse of discretion and a gift of public funds because you might remember May 2023 they cut illegally without permits 70 trees.

That turns out to be $2,555,000 in fines. Did we get that? No. Mindy Fogg made a long-term deal with them, which includes cutting the remaining 73 trees. What on earth? Okay. Biodiversity conversation. Cutting 73 trees is going to significantly reduce the shade and lead to higher local temperatures Climate resilience. These 73 trees provide a mature canopy, habitat, food shelter and nesting sites for birds, pollinators and beneficial insects.

We need canopy cover in Carpinteria and their They are going to plant 10 ornamental plants and 10 small trees, which reminds me of a conversation I had with Steve Hernandez. You might know him as the person you get a permit from when you want to cut a tree. Well they cut 70 trees without permits but Steve Hernandez told me about three weeks ago he said that I will be dead before any of the ornamental plants and trees would offer me shade.

They're going to take out the grass and put in artificial turf. Artificial turf without the shade trees goes from 160 degrees Fahrenheit to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. They're renting to babies and toddlers, and they are out of control. Thank you for your comments, ma'am. Your time is up. All right. And thank you for listening.

We need trees! Thank you, ma'm. Thank you for your comments. I do not have any other speaker slips? Do we have anyone via Zoom?

We do, Mayor. We have Ted Rhodes. Ted, go ahead. Ted you

want to? There you go. Yeah I'm unmuted now you can hear me right yes yeah good evening mayor council and everyone spending their Monday nights on city business um i support the city adopting the proposed biodiversity and climate resilience resolution it aligns With and enhances the goals expressed in the city's general plan regarding our beaches, coastal waters, salt marsh, natural coastal open spaces such as the Carpinteria Bluffs that the land trust already mentioned and other natural resources.

Just remind any people out there that question the importance of this resolution that introduction in our general plan to Open Space Recreation Conservation begins with this paragraph Carpinteria has several natural resources that have local, regional and statewide significance. These resources include natural and developed open space resources in a variety of natural physical resources. Preservation conservation of these resources is key to maintaining the natural qualities of the area and create the environmental setting and character of the community. Basic to this goal is providing clean air water And soil adequate protection of plant and animal habitats, maintenance of visual resources and preservation of special resources including beaches recreational areas trails marshland creekways.

And agricultural land now I know here i'm speaking to the choir so i'll just finish up by saying the goals set forth in our general plan like this. We'll be reinforced by the adoption of the proposed biodiversity resolution tonight and will further help the city confirm the importance of our community being able to preserve and protect all of our natural resources as laid out in our general plan and local coastal plan, as well as prepare us a bit for ongoing climate change if we can't stop it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

And then, Mayor, we have one additional Zoom speaker. We have Brie Slyker. Brie, go ahead.

Thank you. Yes. Hi, Mayor Council and everyone joining. My name is Brie Slyker and I represent Community Environmental Council. I also serve as the co-chair of the Biodiversity Working Group in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden And although I wasn't able to make it in person this evening, I wanted to offer my support and my solution and promote biodiversity on the Southern California coast.

This language helps protect not only our citizens that are currently able to enjoy the biodiversity that native plants and that can support but also thinking of generations to come not only in our built environments but also in our natural recreation Natural and working lands. Thank you

Thank you for your comments

And there that concludes zoom comment,

I will close public comment and bring it back to the council for a motion

I move to adopt the resolution of the City Council of the city of Carpinteria supporting biodiversity conservation and climate resilience on California's south central coast

second

You have a first

and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? None. Motion passes, and we will begin reading the resolution and then presenting it starting with Councilmember Mayer

Whereas the State of California has identified biodiversity protection and restoration as a critical priority through initiatives such as the California Biodiversity Initiative, and the Executive Order N82-20 committing to conserve 30% of lands and coastal waters by 2030 or 30x30. And recognizing biodiversity as essential to climate resilience, food security and human well-being.

Whereas California's Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy identifies biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration as key to climate mitigation and adaptation encouraging local governments to integrate nature based solutions into land use planning and resilience efforts.

Whereas local efforts to preserve native species, restore ecosystems, protect pollinators and expand green infrastructure support the State Wildlife Action Plan, Pathways to 3030 and regional frameworks such as the California Floristic Province Hotspot and

Whereas California's central coast, including the city of Carpinteria, lies at a biogeographic boundary where the northern and southern ecosystems overlap creating exceptional biodiversity and...

Whereas the region's ecosystems including the oak woodlands, coastal sage scrub, chaparrals Serpentine outcrops and riparian and wetland habitats support rare and endemic plant species and diverse native wildlife.

Whereas marine and coastal environments including kelp forests, intertidal zones, upwelling systems and offshore areas such as the Channel Islands and Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary support vital biodiversity including endangered and migratory species. And

whereas these ecosystems are essential to community health cultural heritage climate resilience and the economy providing clean air and water hazard protection and recreation.

Whereas these systems face threats from habitat fragmentation, invasive species, pollution, climate change and unsustainable development requiring coordinated local action. Now therefore be it resolved as follows Section 1 the above recitals are true and correct and incorporated herein by reference Section 2, the Carpinteria City Council hereby A, recognizes the ecological significance of California's South Central Coast as a global biodiversity hotspot and affirms its commitment to protecting native ecosystems. B, supports expanding and stewarding protected areas, green belts, habitat corridors, and marine zones including conservation easements and restoration and urban biodiversity initiatives. C. Commits to integrating biodiversity into planning, zoning and development decisions including native landscaping, wildlife-friendly design and nature based climate solutions.

D. Encourages partnerships with Chumash community members, agencies Conservation organizations, land trusts, marine sanctuaries, educational institutions and scientists to advance restoration community science and education. E encourages staff to identify funding sources and report back with recommendations to advance local biodiversity goals aligned with state and regional plans.

Passed and approved and adopted on this 27th day of April 2026. And with that We'd love to present this resolution to the Executive Director, Mr. Steve... oh I apologize. It's okay, it's Steve. Windhagger! Mr. Steve Windhagger if you'd like to share a few words and then we can take a photo?

I just want to thank you again Mayor to Council for really deciding that biodiversity in the lives of our future children and the lives of all the species that we share the earth with really do matter. Thank you

Thank you. Any comments from Council?

I do want to just have a special shout out to Eric Cardenas at the Botanic Garden who reached out to me to get this ball rolling on this, provided a lot of education so that I understood what this was all about and then also our City Clerk Brian Barrett who helped to craft the language. So it was definitely a team effort and I appreciate all that the garden did to reach out to us.

Is it okay if we bring a whole group up?

Absolutely! It's always farming me out.

Okay. All right, everyone. Happy about all the biodiversity? Perfect. Oh, wait, sorry, sorry. Hold on one more. I forgot, I forgot. OK, still happy.

First off I would like to congratulate everybody for this one. I would like to say part of my projects that I've done is actually doing the Japanese garden, the tea garden at the Botanical Garden so thank you for that. That was a lot of fun. I would also like to say that last week I was in Dallas Texas for EarthX it's the largest environmental conference, I guess in North America and one of the third largest in the world. And at that point in time we went through and there were about 200 different countries there, 30,000 people that were talking about what we could do for the ecosystem. I would like to report this back to this group specifically because as being one of the speakers we took a look and evaluated everything it looks like Carpinteria is in the top 3% of the world of what we do so thank you very much for what you're doing.

It's a huge compliment for this community thanks

We will now

Mayor, we have no raised hands.

I will close the public comment period and bring it back to the council for any comments and, of course, a motion.

I move to adopt the proclamation with the City Council designating the month of May 2026 as Mental Health Month in the city of Carpinteria.

Second.

We have a first and a second, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes and we will begin reading the proclamation with Council Member Mayer

Whereas May 2026 is recognized as Mental Health Month in the City of Carpinteria and across the nation, enhancing public awareness and working to dispel the stigma surrounding mental health. And

whereas a 2026 Mental Health Month theme More Good Days Together reflects the goal of supporting people and having more good days by meeting them where they are, honoring that good is defined by individual experiences and goals, and affirming that while paths differ everyone deserves more good days together.

Whereas having more good days isn't a solo mission, checking in with others and offering support helps lighten the load. We're not meant to do this alone and

Whereas when communities prioritize mental health, we expand access to care, strengthen connection and make more good days possible for everyone. And

whereas mental health is personal what works for one person may not work for another but everyone deserves the support they need to have at least one more good day

Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Carpinteria hereby designates May 2026 as Mental Health Month in the City of Carpinteria and urges all residents to share it in their observance of this month by making a personal commitment to raise awareness, combat stigma and create a community that prioritizes mental well-being and seeking help when needed.

And we'd like to ask for HopeNet of Carpinteria and Santa Barbara County of Behavioral Wellness to share a few words and accept this proclamation, this resolution.

Good evening, mayor and council members. Thank you so much for moving this forward We've come a long way in our communities of combating stigma and allowing more people to reach out for help But I still think that we have a ways to go So in efforts of creating more good days together and recognizing This may thank you very much And we extend our appreciation and I want to add on a cordial invitation We are always working to get our services out there more broadly So this Friday May 1st, we are doing a ribbon-cutting ceremony open house of our new Children and Family Clinic in Santa Barbara and certainly warmly invite all to attend. Thank you. Thank you

Becky

Good evening. My name is Amrita Sam. I'm president of HopeNet. These are some of our board members, Fred, Becky Norton, Roberta Lathiam, Ricardo Avila who was just accepted to Stanford. So we're very excited for him. Anyway we've been involved in this campaign for a number of years distributing the signs that are both in Spanish and English one side is Spanish one side is English I have some here if any individual who is not living in a condo or an apartment where they don't usually allow you to put things on the front lawn. If you'd like to get a sign to take home or for your business, we'd be happy to share and we have lots more in Jenny's car.

And HOPNEP has really tried to advocate for mental health awareness all the time, every day. Not just once a month but we're very happy to be involved in this event so I'm going to ask Roberta and Ricardo are gonna add a few more words. Thank you.

Hello Mayor and council people and our gentle staff over here, welcome. I'm Roberta Lehtinen of Hope Net of Carpinteria. I've been up here in the last 23 years that I've lived back in Carp on several issues. Very important things like plastic straws but you know there aren't many plastic straws left in town anymore. And also no Starbucks at the corner of Linden and Carpinteria Avenue. That was something that was gonna be there And advocated for that, it's not there. So one person can kind of make a little difference in what goes on.

So I wish to thank the city for recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month and the continuous commitment that they have shown to mental wellness in our community. The theme of this month More Good Days Together is fitting as mental wellness is a chronic struggle for most people. There's no simple cure, there's treatment that works sometimes doesn't work you have to keep at it find the right medications get therapy all those type of things it's not like taking an aspirin for your headache or antibiotics for your infection so We have to reach out in everyday moments to show people they matter and they're not alone. Sometimes just smiling at somebody will change their whole attitude and say, how's it going? And ask them a few questions about things you don't have to harangue them but just sound interested.

Having hope helps us to reach our goals be resilient and allows us to believe that a better future is possible as Martin Luther King said in another connection We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope. Only when it is dark enough can we see the stars. When we have a hope, we can ask ourselves in our darkest hour what if it gets better?

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. When you see someone in pain listen without judgment and offer to help them find resources. Just sit and let them talk for a while. Thank you again for being a community that cares.

Hello Mayor and Council. I'd like to just extend my thanks for their recognition as May is Mental Health Month. As you may know mental health is still an ongoing issue, I would say in our communities not just Carpinteria but the entire world. Stigma continues to plague our society so your willingness to accept May's Mental Health Month and campaigns like Light Up Green And all of these wonderful things that are happening only help combat the stigma and actually help our communities. Especially as a youth board member at HopeNet, I've really gone to see how it affects my community especially and high school students.

So just trying to make a difference and seeing what all Carpinteria has done is amazing and I hope to extend that further but once again thank you so much for all you do.

And a reminder, Fred and I are usually the ones who remind the people at large that there is a toll-free number for crisis and suicide prevention. You can call or you can text the numbers 988 So, please make a note of it. And we have suicide prevention cards are always available at City Hall and around Carpinteria. I have some with me if anyone needs them in Spanish and English. Thank you. Thank you.

And before we take a photo, I'd like to just say thank you to HopeNet. You all are a very small but mighty organization and year after year, you keep reminding not only us but the community about why mental health matters. And congratulations on your acceptance to Stanford. And thank you for lending your youth voice to this organization. Any other comments from council members? OK, we'd love to invite you for a photo.

And Santa Barbara County Behavioral Health as well. Please join.

All right, one two three. Thank you. Thank you.

We will now

Mayor, we have no raised hands.

I will close public comment and I would like to invite Mr. David Esquivel Belmonte to the podium to share a few words.

Mayor, do you mind if I speak just before David? Good evening mayor, council members, city leadership and community members. My name is Natalie Yanez. I'm a government relations manager for Southern California Edison. I have the privilege of covering the City of Carpinteria and it is through the Edison International team and our corporate philanthropy team.

Every year they acknowledge 30 high school seniors throughout our service territory with a $50,000 STEM scholarship and obviously David was one of our recipients this year and we are just so honored to have him one apply for this and I think he's going to talk a little bit maybe about how the application process came through it seems to be an organization that works with seniors on scholarships So I'll let David maybe speak to that.

But I just wanted to, I'm going to steal a quote from David's application because I think it ties into the work he's looking to pursue and maybe one day be a city employee here? I don't know. I think it fits just well. Let me simply go up my screen here. So David wrote in his application. He's going to pursue civil engineering and I think I'll let him share where he's gonna to college but he said in his application, I want to be the kind of civil engineer who makes human welfare my highest priority in urban planning.

So you can see just in that statement alone why he was so worthy of this scholarship and the support and within Edison International and SCE we are just so excited to have him as our 2026 Edison scholar. So I'll turn it over to David now.

Good evening. Yeah, so I'm a part of Mission Scholars. It's a local non-profit in Santa Barbara that helps students who are first generation and low income to get started on college applications and how to prepare. And so I jumped at that opportunity to join, and I got in. And after we did all the college applications like the essays and all the hard work, we moved onto scholarships I saw Edison and said, you know, let me give it a shot. Maybe I'll get lucky and turns out I got it. I got the big $50,000.

And you know, it's a tremendous help especially for my family because we're low income and I'm the first generation student like out of my family in the first one to go to college. This money is going to be a tremendous help, and hopefully all goes good. And two days ago I committed to USC as well, so that's exciting. Hopefully I study civil engineering and also get an MBA from my masters.

I'll just add, I believe my understanding is David is our second Edison Scholar in the history of our program here from Carpinteria. So you guys have been well represented and so has the Santa Barbara region in general.

Well I'd like to just say thank you for being here this evening. Congratulations on your acceptance and this award and you know I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and maybe you will make it back to the city one day! And I'd love to take a photo with you in the front

Okay, here we go. We are done with that one but hold on.

Can I? I'd just love to say something. Carpinteria, we consistently bat out of our... What is that? How do you say that? We bat out of our category. I'm trying to do a softball when it's not doing. And I really think I speak for every single person in Carpinteria and that we are so proud of you and you're going to go on to represent us so well. So congratulations!

We will now

I moved to adopt the resolution of the City Council of the city of Carpinteria congratulating Reynaldo Cardenas upon being named volunteer of the year for 2025

Second.

We have a first and a second, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes and we will begin to read the resolution with Council Member Mayer

Whereas Rinaldo Cardenas has organized and overseen the City of Carpinteria's annual co-ed summer softball league at Viola Fields, sustaining a cherished community tradition. And

whereas Rinaldo dedicates more than six months each year to the successful planning and execution of the league including team coordination scheduling communication securing umpires organizing playoffs and coordinating awards.

Reinaldo's leadership and commitment ensure the league remains accessible, affordable and welcoming to participants of all backgrounds and skill levels within the Carpinteria community.

Whereas Reynaldo Cardenas carries forward a proud multi-generational legacy of service continuing his family's partnership with the city to support the softball, Summer Softball League since the early 1980s and...

Through his dedication summer league softball continues to promote physical activities social connections and community engagement enriching the quality of life for Carpinteria residents and

Whereas Ronaldo's behind-the-scenes effort and volunteer spirit exemplify the values of community service, generosity and civic pride. And

whereas Ronaldo Cardenas went above and beyond in his service to the community demonstrating exceptional leadership reliability and commitment to the success of the Summer Softball League.

Whereas Reynaldo's contributions have created a welcoming and inclusive recreational environment that brings together generations of Carpinteria residents and strengthens community bonds, and...

Whereas Reynaldo Cardenas' long-standing dedication reflects the vital role of volunteers in sustaining meaningful community programs and traditions within the City of Carpinteria.

Now therefore be it resolved as follows. Section 1, the above recitals are true and correct and incorporated herein by reference. Section 2, the City Council of the city of Carpinteria hereby recognizes and commends Reynaldo Cardenas as the 2025 Volunteer of the Year in appreciation of his outstanding dedication, leadership, and service to the city's summer softball league and the Carpinteria community.

passed and approved and adopted on this 27th day of April 2026. Congratulations. And we invite you to step to the podium and share a few words.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve. I will continue to serve as long as, as long as I can thank you to my father, my brother and the community. I appreciate you, thank you.

And i'd like to just say thank you so much for your dedicated service and your parents as well for continuing this summer softball league and frankly i didn't know a whole lot about it until recently and you guys are just a dream come true for the city so thank you for your continued efforts

And I'll just say on a personal note because I have to, I appreciate not just you but your whole family. You have your wife here and some friends and that's what makes your volunteer work so impactful is you have a community around you as well that supports you. So thank you for making the biggest use possible of that for the rest of us too.

And I'd like to say congratulations to you. Yeah, I'm sure your parents are proud. I got a chance to play with both of your parents so it was good times. I think back then we were called the bonsai bunch. But anyways please say hello for me haven't seen him for a while thank you

and we'd like to invite you uh to the front before photo please feel free to invite whoever else you'd like

Okay.

All of a sudden.

Okay, this is going to be hard. All right, here's the first one. Look over here everybody's happy okay stay where you are Okay Excellent

Congratulations.

We do not have any public information reports and announcements at this time, so we will move on to the City Manager's report.

Thank you, Mayor, Council and community members. As always I'd like to remind folks that we don't always go over everything in the City Manager's Report. I encourage people to review the whole memo. There are also helpful links to things like where you can apply for job openings with the city and then of course if there is any item of council interest happy to agendize it for a future item.

Just to talk about city employee updates, so our Beach Lifeguard series is open with the deadline to apply of April 30th. So you have three days for that one. We have a library technician position that is pending selection and a lifeguard program coordinator series that we're in the process of scheduling interviews for. For the pool lifeguard series, the deadline to apply also is April 30th so again just a few days and then we have started our interviews for maintenance worker one position and are hoping to make a selection for that position very soon That is actually a underfill for what was formerly a supervisor position that we are going to be bringing. Not again, not a new position but actually a lower position than what was there before and then also I think I don't know if it'll be at our next council meeting or the one after but we just started a brand new employee today Kelly Cortez and she's going to be stepping into Brenda Robinson's position who is our county technician Her last day until retirement is this Thursday.

So we'll also be saying farewell to her and wishing her well, as well as welcoming Kelly. And thank you all to the council who allowed for that overlap and they've been working together over the last few days and it's really sped up her process of getting acclimated to our processes here at the city. In addition to that, we also did some fire extinguisher safety training on the 15th. So staff from all city departments participated in a fire extinguisher safety training and that was put on by our own Carp Summerland Fire Protection District which was led by Fire Marshal Lamonaco and Fire Inspector Joy.

For our capital improvement project, so we have scheduled a CIP workshop for Thursday May 7th here in Council Chamber. That'll be special not with the council meetings it's a Thursday just to point that out and we'll be focusing on the fiscal year 26-27 Capital Improvements Program including discussions on project prioritization and pavement, and the proposed schedule of development for the city's next year five-year CIP will also be presented.

With that I'd like to see if there's any questions, and if not turn it over for update on development applications to our Community Development Director Nick Bobroff. Thank you

Thank you, Michael. Good evening Council. I've got a couple updates for you this evening. I wanted to start out and share that we're at an exciting milestone on the General Plan Coastal Land Use Plan update process After several years here of nailing down a proposed update plan, we're ready to embark on environmental review and to kick off the preparation of the environmental impact report that goes along with the general plan update.

This will commence with the release of what's called a notice of preparation which is the official notice to the public and to other government agencies that were undertaking this environmental impact report And it initiates the opportunity for the general public and those other agencies to provide input to us on what types of environmental impacts we should be looking at, potential mitigation measures or project alternatives to reduce any of the effects that the plan may have on the environment.

This NOP or Notice of Preparation comment period will be for 30 days. It'll kick off on Thursday, May 7th and it'll run through Friday June 5th so during that time we'll be soliciting written feedback from folks that have interested Have an interest in this process We will also hold a public scoping meeting during this 30-day period on Monday May 18th at 530 p.m Here in the council chambers It'll also be broadcast on zoom and that'll be an opportunity for folks to learn a little bit about The general plan update process what the plan proposes And then as well for an opportunity For folks to give us input again on what they think we should be looking at as part of that environmental impact report And we'll have all the information for that up on our city website here in the next week or so You know providing folks with what they need to know to participate in that process April's also been a busy month for the Community Development Department both in terms of building permits and business licensing So in the last couple weeks, we've had a couple new downtown businesses open their doors to the public including coyotes market at 4945 a Carpentry Avenue which opened on the 11th and Arnie's Rooftop Bar which is the upstairs space at Linden Square, which opened officially last week on April 20th.

And on the business licensing side we're working with a handful of businesses in the downtown that we expect will be opening in the coming months Those include the Larder, which is a second location of Field and Fort. They're a local Summerlin business They'll be taking over the former food liaison space there in the Shepherd's Place Shopping Center Skyhop Coastal Goods Which is a retail establishment that will be on Linden Avenue where the Christian Science Reading Room used to be Rincon Rooms which is the no-host hotel portion of the Klentner mixed-use project on Carpinteria Avenue And finally, Rincon Design Surf Shop will be coming back to Linden Avenue in their former location with a goal of being ready to open later this spring or early summer.

Also, just wanted to quickly mention that the project application for the Villarreal Townhomes Project proposed down at the east end of Villarreal at 6380 Villarreal was resubmitted to the city earlier this month and it's currently under review with a target of making a determination on application completeness on or before May 8th. You'll recall this is a proposal for 96 for sale townhome style units down next to the Lagunitas homes there at the east end of town on the inland side of the highway.

And then finally, I just wanted to announce that we're making some great headway with GovWell which is our new online permitting platform so you'll recall that your council approved a contract for The city to enter into an agreement with gov. Well back in December of last year and since that time we've been working closely with their staff to build out the workflows and get that permit platform up and running And in fact, we had two stuff from gov oil out here for a couple days Maybe just last week feels like it was weeks ago now, but I may have just been as early as last week and They were able to get enough done that we were actually currently doing a soft launch of sort of the first permit platform, first permit types on the new platform.