City Council — September 22, 2026

Hey, hey.

Okay good evening welcome to the regular meeting Tuesday September 22nd 2026 may we have roll call please?

consent calendar Can you read that, Madam Clerk?

The following items are presented for City Council approval without discussion as a single agenda item in order to expedite the meeting. Should a council member wish to discuss or disprove an item it must be dropped from the blanket motion of approval and considered as a separate item. A, waive the reading in full of our ordinance and resolutions. Ordinances on the consent calendar will be adopted by the same vote cast at the first reading unless City Council indicates otherwise. B, ratified payment of warrants for the period ending August 28th, 2026 and September 4th, 2026. C, approve the minutes of the City Council regular meeting of September 8th, Approve the filing of a notice of completion for the 303 site improvements, the EV slash bus charging facility project and authorize release of the 5% contract retention to Quincon Incorporated following the statutory 30 day lien period provided no liens are filed.

Is there a council member that wish to pull any of these items for further discussion? Seen a public any request to speak on any of these items. If not, can I only entertain my motion to approve the consent calendar

or motion to approve the consent calendar.

I'll second. Any discussion? All those in favor of the motion say aye.

Aye.

Thank you. Next item is management reports. Item eight city administrator informationally.

Right. Good evening Mr Mayor council members staff and residents. So just to get started. This week, or this meeting, there is a royalty report as generally just for the public not something that I was fully intending to go on over here, but I will say is that Can't guarantee that any of the information is actually accurate as far as the dollars go, because we are still awaiting a statement of values from the contractor. So that's estimated based on just market rates.

But what we are working on is we just got the July payout this week or it's getting paid this week. They've submitted their final What should have been their final change order today. And they're working with their subs based on the conversations we've had last week, they haven't had a sub that was not going to come back. It's just when are they gonna start this kind of the part that we're working on right now?

I'm working with Phil because their lawyer requested some, like an amendment to the previous contract. Because they weren't accepting of our notice to proceed for the 2nd part. But I'm confident that we'll get that squared away and then we're hoping that it will start back up by the. Well, we were hoping by the end of this month but it probably won't be until the beginning of next month.

Somewhere in the first two weeks hopefully fingers crossed. But that's still they're working on getting us a whole bunch of information so depending on how they kind of pick the information to send us at what point in time we actually make it to that no real guarantees And a lot of it might even just depend on getting the letter back to them asking them to proceed.

Again, with Las Mujeres, the parks open everything except for the grass. Please stay off the grass. The bocce court's complete, I know Gilbert was out there playing already from what I hear so that's good. The parking lot is striped and we are having problems with people cutting the fence that's outlining the grass. We had some guys go out yesterday and put that back up it's probably going to be something that they have to do quite often just because it's new.

So people are gonna want to go out there and lay on it and play on it You know, kids will be kids. Just the nature of the beast with Amtrak. I don't want to see their parking lots halfway complete but the dirt portion is halfway complete what they're doing is they're going to kind of do half and then flip flop and then move the pedestrian access so they can't do both sides at same time.

But they have a lot of the curbs poured everything except for the north end. They're forming up the pergola, they got the pillars in for the pergola. The restrooms installed most of the underground work is completed right now they're kind of looking at November 9th is a projected completion date I'd probably put it closer to Thanksgiving just to give a little bit of leeway for any kind of weather that might come or you know any unforeseen stuff Let's see.

We talked with the people doing Highway 1, with Sousa and some of the other contractors. They're projecting a December 28th completion and that's curb gutters, that's not the street. It's my understanding the street is going to come later But even with that, they were saying still expect probably beginning of January mid-January. You know you can have holidays weather all kinds of stuff factored into it. They should be moving past south of They're probably going to do a lot of flip flopping just like they have been. So, just be aware that.

One thing also coming up is, I don't know you're probably going to talk on it the project hero wanting to come back October 22nd. They're gonna be doing their cycle. The leg I think we're on is San Simeon to no Pismo to Solving is our leg I think that they're gonna pass through till about 11am. It's my understanding last year police did escort across the bridge and Got them into Leroy, where they'll take a break and then they'll head on from Leroy into Solvang.

And then I don't know if I brought it up last time or the last meeting but we did get awarded $1 million for Pioneer Lift Station. Did I bring that up? No. That's part of Assembly Bill 113 That was kind of a Christina Council member Hernandez, late evening text. Hey is there a project we can use some money on and it just so happened to make it through. They came out in the bill that was signed on Sunday.

I think a lot of other cities in the region also got some fun so We're looking good there and now we could put the money that we had budgeted for that, which was enterprise funds. We didn't have a grant for $1 million portion of it so we can put that back into our enterprise funds and then utilize this to well realistically we can use that million dollars we had budgeted to front this million dollars here or so doing good on that. And that is all I have if there's no questions.

Just, you know, we've seen some issues with people jumping the fence. Have you got any thought about that chief? There's a property that cuts into near the playground equipment and there are some issues with kids going on the fence, jumping on a roof but we're working on it. Are the lights on now or do we know?

The

light should be dusted on.

There's no lights after 10. In the evening, yeah. I was there last week and it was dark but it was packed.

Yeah, it's been well used. Very much. I'll

make that my report.

Okay. On that Project Hero, what that is there's a bikers that are law enforcement and ex-military and military that ride the route that David talked about and they'll stop at Leroy Park to refresh themselves use the restroom and then greet the chief greeted him last time he took them further than... A long way to protect them along Highway 1 It's going to be interesting to see if that Highway 1 is finished by the time they get here.

As if, you know, they're blocking it off. Everywhere you go they're blocking roads off just really amazing but the project here is a good program where they're supporting the military and law enforcement so thanks for bringing that up any questions of David? Oh

one more thing um you know in planning for uh the Super El Nino I reached out to my old unit and trying to pull some strings to have potentially some reserves or even guard people on standby, just in case some equipment operators and stuff from engineering units. Working it, trying, I don't know that it'll come through. But they have annual tour money they need to spend and what better place to spend it than here, you know? So we'll see.

All right.

I took a training with an official from the County of Emergency Offices, and they did say they want to have a conversation with you before El Nino. So make that connection kind of shared our challenges here in Guadalupe. I do have additional questions for the Royal Theater. Does the facade front does that include the marquee?

So that would be the installation of the marquee, not the cost of the marquee. Marquees are already paid for. But to caveat on that though, the way it's looking with the force account costs I don't know that the front facade will get complete. Again, it's still pending whatever numbers they send us. But I don't foresee us having the budget for that.

Okay

thank you all right we'll go to item nine director public safety information only Chief cash.

Thank you, Mr Mayor Council staff and our community members here and abroad had a meeting this morning at the Senior Center I'd like to thank the mayor for pushing this grant program for senior employment. Their director flew out from Washington, and we met this morning at the Senior Center. He was really happy, they. I think there's 10 programs throughout the United States you're trying to push this were the first that interacts with law enforcement and doing this with seniors, seniors so he was really happy with the program.

We have everything in place training and so forth then. Now, it's just a matter of getting a couple more seniors to be part of the program. We had one that's they're working now he's cleaning up and he came by and kind of did a testimony about How he feels valued now, because he was a senior couldn't work still had skills and wanted to get to do something. And he's clean up and working around the Senior Center so that was really exciting and the director was really happy with everything that we turned in.

So this program is really moving ahead and we're ready to kick it off start training as soon as they identify a couple more people. To put into the program, so that was really exciting. We did a follow up. I don't know if anybody remember I think we had a power outage last week in the city and it highlight again how we do not have a generator anywhere within the city. So I did our follow up call.

Putting together our generator. And I got a date, the transfer switch will be here November 26th and the actual generator will be completed and they're looking to have it delivered on December 10th. So we already had the pad out in front, and that will be a major upgrade for the entire city to be able to have a generator that will power all of City Hall. So that way public safety and all the other aspects and we can now really use this as a shelter if we have to.

We'll have the lights, electricity and everything else to make the building a shelter. Along with that, we had the emergency preparedness training at the senior center and I'd like to present our council person Ms. Villegas with her certificate of completion for emergency preparedness training.

All right. Where's your heart at? Hard hat. I know what your heart is.

That's a good question. Because we just got through going through all our emergency preparedness supplies, we have the list I'm gonna have to turn it into our city administrator since he is the for Council, our Emergency Preparedness Manager. So we checked all our supplies plus two the state. They did an roundabout check on the The baggage containers that would be placed next to the river, so that way we don't have the overflow that we had in 2023.

We have those bags and a container off of Pioneer Street. So those things can be moved into place if we get in that same kind of situation. And so we have all emergency preparedness supplies, we're trying to do the training and everything else. So we're staying up-to-date on that. Back on the park it's been very successful. Did training this afternoon on the camera system To make sure everything is working fine.

I've been watching that the park has been busy from six in the morning, like your crew comes out there and they walk through and clean up everything until about 10 at night. A lot of seniors will use the tables, and the ladies We'll sit there and they'll have their conversations into the wee hours of the night, sitting there at the table. That's why I think we need those lights on.

And people are out there using equipment for working out. Families and kids are still out there playing. So there's at least 20 something people in the evening hours that are using the park so it's being used a lot. And everyone's really kind of taking care of things So that part is good. I'd like to think also... Councilperson Hernandez, and she wants to talk more about it. As far as on the e-bikes we've been doing meetings all over even got some with the California Police Chiefs Association is a training session there. And if you want to talk more about what we did on the zoom with Santa Maria. And so everybody's having a hard time trying to figure this out. There was nothing really set in stone so If you want to talk more about that and with that, that's my report.

Unless there's any questions.

Cristina, do you have a follow up for

me? P.C. Centro is hosting countywide forums in regards to e-bikes. It's a county wide issue across the state it's an issue but it comes down to it that education component to our parents what is legal what's not legal I think some of our You are using e bikes and scooters that they're not legally able to ride. And so it might be simple as a child be like, Mom, I want this is super cool and the parent not knowing that it's not legal on then also the safety on wearing help it and so it was great that chief was there and we just spoke more about how can we educate the community?

Primarily

We'll go to item 10 HR human resource manager information and Sylvia.

Good evening Mayor, council members staff and community. Unfortunately we had a resignation in our wastewater team. So we have opened up the recruitment for that. That just started this week, so that's going to be a tough one to fill. So far no qualified candidates have applied. Public safety we are back on for the fire captain position. We do have a few candidates that have been identified and have been contacted working with the external Fire departments that will help with the panel for the interview process.

So hopefully we are looking for the, I think it's going to be like the first week of October to get those interviews taken care of paid call firefighters. We did interview a few candidates and had selected two who have accepted the offer and have just started the background in process Workers comp, we did have two injuries. Both of them were released to modify duty.

The city was able to accommodate one of the employees in a modified capacity but not the other and no change in the long-term workers comp claim. And last, the open enrollment continues through October 9th. The employees were identified of the rates If they need to make any changes in their coverage or cancellations or anything, they know when to do that. That's it for me unless you have any questions.

Any questions? Please.

Yeah Sylvia quick question the two workers comp injuries what departments were those in?

Public safety and

public works Okay. And as far as the health enrollment, roughly what was the percentage of increase in the health plans? Nine percent. Okay thanks. Kind

of on a side note you mentioned fire chief did we get that fire engine yet or...

I have not heard back from Santa Maria Fire Chief. We have a fire chief's meeting tomorrow nine o'clock in the morning so

Once that's here, I think you talked about where is it going to go?

It'll be frontline. It'll be stationed here and we will decommission the other one that's over at station two.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you Sylvia. We'll go to item 11 public. Can you read that Madam Clerk?

Public hearing to consider the Hasbro seven-unit density bonus department project at 855 Pioneer Street, application number 2026-039-DR APN 115-091-006. The written report is by Maria Pill, contract planning director Recommendations that the City Council, a receive a presentation from staff and be conduct a public hearing, including one an opportunity for the applicant to present the proposed project. And to receive comments from the public. And C, adopt a resolution number 2026-47 approving the CEQA categorical exemption and approve 2026-039-DR including findings and conditions of approval.

Thank you. Mr. Appel?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor Council members just want for those who don't know has Barco is stands for the housing authority of Santa Barbara County. And they're the ones who brought this project to us this evening. You may recall that last summer, August 26th of 25, you had a presentation by Bill Scott and the Hasbarco team of a pre-op for the same project. And there were a couple concerns that your council had. And so when they came in just last month or so, It was obvious that they had addressed those issues and so you'll hopefully you'll, you'll see this project as approvable this evening.

Since they made those changes that you had issues with. So the project would be a permit to construct seven. The project is set for construction of seven new apartments on a 7,500 square foot lot. The lot is vacant and it's been rezoned to R3 from general commercial when we did the update to the general plan back in 2022. The municipal code section 1873.010 requires the city council to approve a design review for these projects when there are more than three apartment units in the R3 zone. Next, please.

Next slide, please. Oh that was it? I'm sorry. She's quick. She is! You've done this awhile. So this just shows that we have a, it's located as a rectangular parcel on the west side of Pioneer between 8th and 9th Street. We've got, why don't you go to the next slide to the aerial? You can see on the north and south of it, we have single family homes which are now considered grandfathered in Um, they were allowed but they if they made any changes they would have to comply with the current zoning designation of our three.

The property to the West is all in farmland and we did have a email from them this afternoon talking about drainage and concerns that there might be some runoff from PB, David Ensign — He's the site plan showing that at the far western side of the bill of the properties where we would be locating the structure. If you note the parking area, all of that would be considered pervious pavers or would be constructed with pervious pavers so that there should not be any runoff from the site.

There may also be when they get into the designing of the buildings and all of the technical drawings, they may have some underground storage for the rain runoff too. So they can make sure that everything stays on the property. Next please. There are three stories here. The first floor has three one-bedroom units, the unit at the top on the picture there, you know 103 is going to be for the apartment manager of the second floor has two two story or two two bedroom units next place and the third floor also has two two story or two two bedroom units I'm sorry Next.

Elevations, we're going to have a Spanish-style roof with stucco siding, stone veneer and a painted trim. So the two issues we're going to be talking about mainly this evening is that this is a bonus density project. That means that the project, if it was built under the current zoning, would allow up to five units and they have asked for seven. Now they asked for more last summer but they have cut that back to seven and by doing so When you have bonus density, and you offer them as affordable.

You get certain incentives and so in this case we have six of the seven units are going to be offered for low income so that goes beyond what we normally would get. And for that reason they were allowed to have five concessions or incentives. Next please. And that's based on a state government code, which the applicant is now asking for these five areas. Reduced rear yard setback, elimination of private open space, reduced parking, increased building height and parking within the front yard setback.

So I'm going to go over each of these and just give you an idea what's being asked for. So as I mentioned, In this case, an R three zone. You're required to have a 15 ft rear yard setback and in this case to fit the project they needed to move it back to a five yard five foot setback. That's true for the rear yard and for the two side yards so Had some landscaping that was going to go around the building, but because of the problems with the fire department requesting that they have access for hoses and for ladders and stuff. We eliminated the landscaping for that back part, but we are still going forward with a recommendation to reduce the setbacks to five feet for those three sites next please.

The next concession was an elimination of the open space. In a typical apartment project, we require patio on ground floor units of 100 square feet and then for any unit that's above the first floor they need to have a balcony of at least 50 feet. This just wasn't possible with the way this project was designed. And because of its affordable nature, they were going to throw their open space to a common patio area which I'll show later on in the presentation.

So they are going to have, as I said here, they're going to have an area for picnic tables, benches, barbecues and that will serve the residents so staff is supporting this request Next, reduce parking. Some of you may recall I came to council probably four years ago with an ordinance amendment that beefed up the parking for apartments that used to be one space and we changed it to two which was similar to what we have for single family homes. And we also said he needed to have a carport or a garage for half of those spaces so at least each unit would have one carport For this project, they would normally require 14 parking spaces and with that seven covered. Next But because of the nature of the project, this is one of the concessions the applicant is asking for.

In fact they actually have a state regulation that drops the requirements. The cities as I said were 14 units for the project. The state when you have a bonus density project allows you to drop this project based on the size of the units and I mean the number of bedrooms in the units drop it down to nine And so they're asking for the incentive to drop it from nine to eight. So a reduction of one from what the state would have asked for, and we're supporting that. We realize that's going to be a problem with the neighborhood but again, we're getting six affordable units which we don't get them that often and so we're hopefully going to be able to make this work.

Next please. They required an additional height of three and a half feet from what is allowed by the ordinance. The last round of ordinance amendments that Bill Scott took through included a provision for the planning director to make minor changes for height, and so as part of this design review process I have agreed to allow that additional three and a half feet.

Next. Parking within the front yard setback. Again, we would normally try to just have landscaping in the front yard setback but the parking needed to encroach eight feet into that 20 foot setback and then in addition, the trash enclosure needed to be in the front setback because the trash collection company will not drive into any development where it has to back out and so this way they just cost And then they're basically at the area where they would load the dumpster and stuff. So staff is supporting this request.

Next, please. Landscaping normally requires 10% of the gross property area. Um, covered in landscaping which would have been 750 feet. In this case we only have 547 because we couldn't put it around the building itself. So staff is requiring that those areas be enhanced primarily along the north side of the property and in the parking area they've got one parking island And so we can make up for that loss by having an enhanced landscape plan. Next, there you can see on the north side where the trees primarily are growing with bushes and some next to where the patio area is and then a couple of trees in the parking lot.

So reviewing the project with the acceptance of the concessions and incentives, the project would be in conformance with all the applicable sections of Title 18. Next. There were two applicable sections to the general plan. One, the land use policy 1.4 and then also land use goal nine. And that basically says city will support the development of underutilized land with a mix of land uses that increase livability and benefits, and then also to promote quality attractive and self-sustaining residential development at all levels of affordability.

Next please. Under CEQA, we have exempted the project as we do almost always in the city. We use the class 32 exemption which is for infill development projects basically says if your property is less than five acres and you have all of the public services available and there's no sensitive wildlife or habitat in the area Then you can use this and it saves months of processing time and a lot of money for the applicants. And we've had no complaints, and we've had no one that has challenged our CEQA determination so we're sticking with it next please.

In your packet, your resolution contains the necessary findings, the CEQA exemption and conditions of approval. And I did make one change to the conditions this afternoon which I've put on your diocet up there. We had inadvertently left out a condition that requires when you have development of residential projects, in this case payment into the Residential developer impact fee account. And so that was, well it was added as condition 56 and then condition 56 the public works department's condition was changed to 57.

So I'll be when the motion is made if it's for approval, if you could please include that change and next please. And so that's my presentation now. Rebecca Newman, the architect for the project is here and she'll make a brief presentation too but I'll answer any questions now or later if you relate.

Larry would you repeat very quickly on that where you said you made a change on the There's my note on the building height say that again for me.

The zoning ordinance, the most recent amendment that was made has a provision in there for the director of planning to approve slight modifications in design review projects. And height is one of those things, and so instead of having to use one of their concessions and stuff I'm doing that as the director through the development design review project itself.

Any further questions? We're going to open it up to the public after, Mr. Rekha.

Good. Okay, you can hear me. Good evening, Mayor Julian and council members my name is Rebecca Newman I'm with air studio architects and this evening I am joined by Milton Johns from the Housing Authority. And of course we are happy to answer any questions. And thank you very much to Larry appeal for his help during this project in putting together the presentation and.

We also hope that you find this acceptable or approvable. So we are here tonight to reintroduce a project that was brought before Council in a pre-application meeting last year, and we are at this time naming it the Dunes Vista Apartments located at 855 Pioneer Street. And as Larry mentioned, this is a 100% affordable project All right, next slide. The project is three stories it contains seven dwelling units including an on-site manager and there are three one bedroom units in four two-bedroom units when it came before council last year we had nine dwelling units all of which were one bedroom And these changes were made in an effort to I think reduce the on-site parking load as well as providing different housing options, different affordable housing options.

Next slide please. There are eight onsite parking spaces and 465 square feet of public outdoor space and this was something that was added since the Since you saw it last year, and of course this is a to take the place of the private outdoor space as required. Next slide please. Right. As I mentioned, there are three one-bedroom units each at 450 square feet and four two-bedroom units at 650 square feet. There is an onsite manager's unit as well as onsite laundry, and this is on two of the three floors.

The construction is anticipated to be modular construction, which will greatly increase. I guess actually shorten the schedule, bringing the project to residents more quickly than your standard conventional construction. Next slide please. The project is a Spanish Mediterranean inspired design with tile roofs, white stucco arched openings and stone accents.

Next slide and that's it so short and sweet and a lot of what you saw before but I'm happy to answer any questions that we have.

I just have a quick question. In this drawing and on the legend that's in front of me, it just says shade trees. Do you know what kind of trees should be putting there? Would they be native trees or not native trees? Or is that TBD?

A lot of it's TBD. So what we try to do is, you know, living in California we definitely want something that's going to be drought resistant however we will have a licensed landscape architect on board that will be specifying these trees and that information will be provided when we move into like the construction documents

Thank you. I just want to encourage trees for shade, I know as climate changes moves forward we're going to see those warming trends and I go to the park and it's really warm so as we see individuals out there in their open space would be great to see that.

Sorry, so if not we'll open up to the public hearing at 656 48. And I wonder several requests to speak. Steve Samolis.

Mayor Council staff, everyone. I was a. I got the notice and read the reviewed the agenda item for this Pioneer Street apartments project that I just commented on the name because there's an apartment complex across the street already named the Pioneer Street Apartments. So brought that to our attention and since then the applicant has already changed the name of their project to Something different so that's fine with me.

Okay,

that's it. All right. Thanks.

Are you donating a fire ladder there for us?

Well yeah I did before I saw there was a condition added so I've already chipped in my share.

Okay. Okay thank you.

Is there any other request to speak please.

Thank you, Edward Zarate. Yeah my concern on Pioneer is that I drove through there prior to the meeting with 555 and there's a ton of cars in the street and parking is not plentiful as it is already. We already had that one project that went into Cross Street from where this one's going to go that takes a lot of parking then the newest one here that was built about a year or two ago that was directly across the street on the west side by the fields And there's a lot of parking there already. I mean, as far as being occupied, I was going down the street and I already saw people flipping each other off because one wanted to spot over somebody else. There's a lot of tension already you can see that people want to place the park when they get off work or have company or whatever it may be.

So I kind of wonder how you guys feel about that as city council and the chief police and firefighters. That I think that's something that should be addressed. I'm not opposed to having a place for people to live, but I think we've already done a lot on Pioneer Street already putting additional housing and I'm kind of wondering in the future are there future plans to have more units going on that same street? That's pretty congested already.

I know David Trejo you mentioned about an El Nino preparation plan. That street 9th and Pioneer gets a lot of flooding And I think these are things that need to be addressed prior to going in and giving your consent, you know, and doing this. But that's my biggest concern is the parking, is the congestion, is the amount of people on there, safety for the residents there.

And also like I said if we do get this super El Nino, I mean that's also another concern so that is where I feel and I don't want to call it an objection but my concern. So thank you.

Thank you, sir.

I was just gonna say I agree the parking is terrible all around I live in that same neighborhood. So yeah it's definitely an issue. I think unfortunately and correct me if I'm wrong Larry but we're putting in a lot of at us and those don't require parking anymore is that correct. Yeah, so I think I mean they are actually it sounds like trying to put some parking in for these units and some of the other projects we don't have that requirement. So I think it's a mixed thing but this you know gives homes to quite a few more people with some parking. It's better than no parking is in my opinion but yeah I know where you're at. I'm thankful that I have a driveway that I can park in

I agree, that's an issue for the whole community when a state says you cannot ask for on-site parking. They can park on the street so... Also just to address the flooding side of things and I know that the plan is to build above the 100 year flood plan, flood plain so That's one thing. The other one is, is there a number of individuals that can reside in these apartments?

Rebecca?

Can you come to the microphone?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Milt Johns from Surf Development. We're agents for the Housing Authority of Santa Barbara County. The housing authority can't impose a limitation on the number of leased tenants. It's really more of a state public policy limitation than what the housing authority can limit. And if I may comment on the question of parking too that's an important one of course Always comes up with our projects and historically what we found is that due to the AMI restrictions on the project that run with a deed into perpetuity, the projects have got to remain at 60% AMI at the lowest.

The number of cars on our projects are usually under parked I can't testify in good faith that eight will be sufficient without rolling out onto the street, but what we found historically is that they are. So if that's any concession to the council, I thought I would add that. Okay. Thank you. Any