REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Let clerk please take roll.

Good evening Councilmember Barrett, present. Councilmember Castro, present. Councilmember Delgado, present. Council Member Means, present Mayor Integran,

present Next item is Item 4a a proclamation declaring March 23rd through 27 2026 as Government Finance Professionals Week. Will Daisy Emesqua please join me? Proclamation of the City Council of the City of Moorpark recognizing March 23rd to March 27th, 2026 as Government Finance Professionals Week. We're as a California society of municipal finance officers is the state's leading professional organization dedicated to promoting excellence in financial management for California's local governments Whereas government finance professionals serve cities, counties, special districts and joint powers authorities by ensuring transparency, accountability and responsible stewardship of public funds. And whereas these professionals play a critical role in managing complex budgets, complying with the state and federal laws, maintaining accurate financial reporting in compliance with the government accounting standards, administering utility rate processes and enterprise funds and supporting long-term financial sustainability.

Whereas finance professionals work diligently, often behind the scenes to provide critical information that enables informed policy decisions and ensures the delivery of essential public services. Whereas recognizing Government Finance Professionals Week during the last week of March helps highlight the dedication, integrity and professionalism of these essential public servants. Now therefore, the City Council of the City of Moorpark does hereby proclaim March 23rd to 27th, 2026 as Government Finance Professionals Week and encourages all residents to recognize and appreciate the hard work and contributions of the finance professionals who serve our community. A witness whereof, the City Council of the City of Moorpark does set its hand and cause the seal of the city of Moorpark to be affixed this 18th day of March in 2026.

And we all appreciate the work you're doing and keeping us from being broke. Congratulations.

Hopefully you can hear me. So good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. On behalf of the entire finance department I would like to sincerely thank you for recognizing Government Finance Professionals Week and for taking the time to issue this proclamation. Our finance team works every day behind the scenes to ensure that city's resources are managed responsibly, transparently, and in a way that supports the services our community relies on. From preparing the budget and safeguarding public funds to supporting departments across the organization, our work is essential to keeping our city running smoothly. Public finance professionals are committed to the principles of accountability, integrity and stewardship of taxpayer dollars. This recognition means a great deal to our staff because it highlights the important role that sound financial management plays in maintaining the public's trust.

I'm incredibly proud of our team and grateful for their dedication, professionalism and service to this community. Thank you again for this recognition and for your continued support of the Finance Department.

Okay, next item is five public comment. Are there any speakers?

Yes Mr. Mayor we do have one public speaker this evening Ed Willis and since this is public comment you will have three minutes to address the council

Hi. I'm a retired law enforcement officer with over 35 years of experience, so I have some experience with the topic I'd like to discuss. Now, I've asked the clerk to pass out a copy of a section of the California Vehicle Code and also with the law enforcement representative here My concern is the number of ghost bikes seem to be popping up more and more. The ghost bikes, the memorials that are all along the roadways And while what I've given you is by no means all the California Vehicle Code sections dealing with bicycles, I feel it is the one we're not adhered to that causes the most danger to the bicycling public.

As I'm sure many of you have seen large groups of bicyclists enjoying the day, enjoying the weather, enjoying the comradery while getting an exercise doing something they're very passionate about and that's great. The problem is they are not going by the California Vehicle Code. Instead of riding single file to the far right curb, as they're supposed to quite often I've seen them three and four abreast while riding their bicycles down the highway so they can socialize, converse with their fellow bicyclists. Now many years ago south of Tierra Rojada on Spring Road A motorist was traveling southbound, hit a bicyclist. The bicyclist was killed and her trying to avoid him went into oncoming traffic and hit an oncoming motorcycle and killed that driver too.

So I feel pretty passionately about bicycle and motorcycle safety. Moorpark used to have community police volunteers. Do they still have those? The police volunteers, because I haven't seen them for a while. I've never talked to one. I've never conversed with one and I know they have duties that they take care of and I'm sure most or a lot of them are probably retired police officers. I'm not sure.

I think it would be totally feasible for our law enforcement officers, maybe in conjunction with the community police officers, volunteers to set up areas along heavily traveled bicycle routes to stop and warn bicycle public of the dangers they are creating for themselves. The mere fact that they're riding too abreast would give the officers probable cause to make the stop.

Now, I'm not talking about taking one or two. We've all seen large groups of bicycles. There's plenty of places where there are big areas in a road they could set up a pop-up tent, just wave them over to them and they could give something like I gave all you. Something that they can read, something they can look at and explain to them the dangers of riding 2, 3, 4 abreast.

Thank you, sir. Time's up but we can have our staff or the Ventura Sheriff's Department reach out to you and talk about that. All right thanks thank you

And Mr. Mayor, that was the only public speaker card that I have on public comment this evening. Okay.

Thank you. Next item is 6, reordering of additions to the agenda.

the roots due to existing large mature trees. So two items have been identified as bid alternates. A bid alternate has been included to continue the decorative brick paving that ends at the High Street Depot project, to the Caltrans right of way at Moorpark Avenue and a bid alternate has been included to construct an eight foot wide sidewalk on the west side of the parking lot that will allow for vehicle overhangs and provide a walkway on the west side of the parking lot to the chamber front door.

Phoenix has provided an engineer's estimate to construct improvements at a cost of $289,701 which includes a 10% contingency. This estimate does not include the bid alternates but staff will request a budget amendment to fully fund the project upon award of the construction contract and discuss about any bid alternates at that time. So with that I'll hand this item over to our city manager to finish the presentation.

Thank you, Mr. Laurentowski. Turning over to Chamber Community Benefits. Last January 15th 2025 at that council meeting Mayor Ennergren and Council Member Means were appointed to the Chamber of Commerce Ad Hoc Committee to identify additional community benefits the chamber could provide to the city. This effort was tied to discussions about the city's repairs to the sewer line and the repavement of the parking lot At that time, the Council sought to ensure that these investments were justified through added value to the community such as support to the City's Economic Development Strategic Plan.

At that time no additional financial contribution from the City to the Chamber was anticipated beyond the planned improvements and reduced lease rate of the building which is currently at $1 per year leased to the Chamber The Chamber Ad Hoc Committee and the staff have met with the Chamber of Commerce leadership on multiple occasions since last February to discuss what type of benefits the City is seeking, and what services and programs the Chamber could provide the City.

Those discussions are still ongoing so I will not get into those specifics this evening. However, one of the benefits the Chamber could offer the City is organizing this year's State-of-the-City event now called State of Moorpark. The City has been hosting this event for the past three years but historically it has been hosted by the Chamber until it was no longer financially feasible for them to do so.

On March 3rd, the Chamber Ad Hoc Committee recommended co-sponsorship of this event in an amount equivalent to the material costs already budgeted by the city in this year's budget, which is $10,000. These material costs include $6,000 for rentals, $2,000 for catering, about $1,500 for music, photography, marketing materials, decorations, et cetera. City staff time costs are another $13,500. So the overall cost of the city to hold this event is approximately $23,000 per year Therefore, co-sponsoring this event with the chamber for $10,000 represents a net cost savings to the city.

From a management perspective, redirecting staff time and effort for other economic development priorities is a more effective use of city resources and that's sort of how the chamber ad hoc committee get to this conclusion. This concludes our report and we're available for any questions. Thank you. Are there any questions?

You mentioned that it would cost us $10,000 to put together that event but that doesn't include the

staff time does it? Correct. Yeah those ten thousand dollars of the material costs I described which is the rentals Catering all those things staff times a separate amount which is about thirteen thousand five hundred But yeah, so the 10,000 is just the material costs Okay So to duplicate

that event as it was last year in the year before that would cost us around twenty two twenty three thousand dollars to handle that thing Okay. Thank you Do we have any speakers

Yes, excuse me yes, mr. Mayor we do have two speakers on this item First speaker is John Marquez who will be followed by Jackie flame. I

Good evening Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, distinguished council members and city staff. I'm John Marcus. I am the CEO for the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce and I'm honored to address you tonight on behalf of our incredible local business community. The Moorpark Chamber is hitting the ground running in 2026 and I want to take a moment to share what we're doing, what we're building, and most importantly, what we are celebrating together.

This year the Chamber is focused on three core pillars, connection, visibility and growth for our Moorpark business community. We're expanding our networking events, strengthening our partnerships and creating more opportunities for businesses of all sizes to thrive here in Moorpark. Here's what the Chamber has accomplished so far this year. We've had 212 members strong including 20 new members.

We're continuing our networking breakfasts that are consistently selling out. That's a testament to our business community, they want to connect and collaborate. We've had four grand openings celebrated this year. Our monthly evening mixers are highly attended events that showcase the local business each month. Our topic on taps is a quarterly event focusing on topics that directly affect our community Our Young Professionals Network. We're building our next generation of young professionals in our community, or young leaders.

And we are updating our Ambassador Program. We'll be launching that soon. The program will connect members, welcome newcomers and strengthen the fabric of everything we do. We also hold several meetings at our office each month from government relations meetings to some local nonprofits that use the facility as well. So these are just some of the programs that we're servicing throughout the chamber.

One event we're looking forward to is the upcoming State of Moorpark on Tuesday, April 7th at the High Street Art Center. It's one of the most anticipated events on our calendar this year. The event is shaping up to be truly special. The Chamber's proud to announce that we have brought in more than 20 local businesses to participate in this event. It's a true reflection of our community coming together.

From restaurants and retailers to professional services and contractors, Moorpark businesses are investing in Moorpark. They believe in the city. They believe in the chamber. And they believe in each other. The state of Moorpark is more than an event. It's a conversation between our business community, our community partners, and the city about our shared future.

It is where we highlight what's working, where there's opportunity, excuse me, and how the public and private sector can work together. We're grateful for the City of Moorpark, for its partnership and to every business owner who has committed their time and resources to make this year's event special. For more information on any of the events with the Chamber and in this upcoming event they can go to moorparkchamber.com So we're looking forward to see all of you at the State of Moorpark and we're excited about everything that we have in store for this community so thank you.

Perfect timing.

I only read it like 10 times to make sure I got it down.

And our other speaker is Jackie Flame.

Good evening Mayor Enneagrin, City Council, City Manager P.J. Gagahena and city staff. My name is Jackie Flame and I'm a proud business owner and advocate for the Moorpark community. I'm here tonight to speak about the value of the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce and why completing the repairs to its building and parking lot truly matters. The Chamber is more than an organization, it's a starting point.

It's where new business owners walk in often unsure and walk out connected. It's where partnerships are formed, events are launched, and local momentum begins. Last year alone, the chamber supported nearly 200 members, welcomed dozens of new businesses and hosted over 150 events and programs. That's real impact economic, social and personal. And one of my favorite recent comments came from a new member who said we are the friendliest and most approachable chamber she has visited that speaks volumes about Moorpark as a city in general but let me make this more real for the moment Imagine a brand new business owner. They've taken a risk invested their savings they walk into the chamber for the first time hoping for guidance and connection and The very place that represents our business community feels neglected Parking lot is worn the building shows its age and instead of feeling energized, they feel a little bit uncertain That moment matters Because the chamber is often their first impression of how seriously we take our business community.

Completing these repairs isn't just about fixing a building, it's about reinforcing a message that Moorpark believes in its businesses. That we invest in the people who invest in our city and that when someone takes a chance here, we stand behind them. When the chamber looks strong, it strengthens everything inside of it – connections, confidence and community. And when that happens, Moorpark doesn't just grow – it thrives!

I respectfully ask for your support in prioritizing these improvements so the Chamber can continue to serve as the welcoming front door our businesses deserve. As a side note, however this all goes I love the city and plan to continue serving however I'm able and appreciate all of you more than I can express here tonight. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your continued commitment to Moorpark.

Thank you.

And that was the last speaker card I've received on this item.

All right. So we'll go into discussion. One question I have for staff. On the bids, are they breaking out the sewer costs and then the parking lot costs or is it all one lump?

Correct. We have a separate line item for the sewer line.

Okay. Cool. Thank you. Must've missed that. And the parking spots, we're not losing any parking spaces with this?

You're losing one spot and that's on the east side of the parking lot because we have those two very large existing trees. Oh,

the trees. Yes. Yep. Okay but only one though.

Are we doing anything with that one portion behind the building that looks like it should go through to Moorpark Road, but doesn't?

Yeah. That'll be removed as part of this project. So that used to be the access road from Moorpark Avenue. There used to be a driveway apron there when the railroad did their improvements to that crossing. Caltrans actually removed that driveway approach so there's just a random piece of asphalt there. That will all be removed Right now, we don't really have any plans for it other than we'll be putting bark mulch in there once it's removed.

But I know there's been some prior discussions with the chamber about doing some landscape improvements around the building and I don't think those have been finalized yet.

Can any more parking spots be added?

We can't because City Code doesn't allow tandem parking. So all you could do there would be a tandem parking spot which is not allowed in a commercial zone.

Are we extending the parking to... The end instead of having that?

Yeah, exactly. The city code also requires that wheel stops are not allowed in our parking lots except there's a provision for ADA spots where we can actually put wheel stops so the new parking lot will look like a real parking lot. It'll have a curb, six-inch curb going all the way around it. So essentially that drive through area, it just won't exist anymore And there'll be a curb there in front so you couldn't even get to there if you wanted to.

Okay,

thank you Yeah Do one interrupt there's clarifying questions Thank you for the report and thank you for the members of community that came out and spoke to us about The chamber I think for tonight It's one item, but there's really two different topics that I might suggest we take separately. One being the sponsorship and the other one being do we take this to bid?

And my understanding when we went away as an ad hoc was to discuss with the chamber what sort of City benefits and chamber benefits in this landlord tenant contract that we have with them exist. In order to help us justify whether a multiple $100,000 investment in that parking lot and that sewer line would be in the best interest of the city and after meeting with the chamber and reviewing this with the ad hoc I have come to the conclusion Protecting that space while we're trying to figure out what we're going to do with that area is a good use of our time. A new parking lot will allow for not just the chamber, but the High Street Arts Center, the new Depot Center, around to have a better place to be, less hazards, better appearance as it was mentioned earlier.

So I think that it's a good idea and I think it's worth continuing to explore. To me there is no reason not to go out and look at what the costs are going to be including these alternatives. It'd be great to be able to extend that sidewalk continue High Street. That's our focus and make sure that we're ADA compliant and all the rest so on the first item I like the idea of moving forward Finding out what it is. Hopefully, it's within reasonable. I never get too optimistic on that until we actually see the numbers.

On the second item... So that's where I stand on the first time. The second item, the sponsorship is something that developed from the discussions that our city manager was leading at the ad hoc and what I like about it is it was going to cost the city $23,500 of staff time and material costs in order to put this on. It was in our budget. It was something we were expecting to do and by partnering with the chamber we are reducing that if we contribute Roughly $10,000 we're reducing that cost in our expenses. So by partnering we're in a better place than we would have been I have heard from the community people saying wait a minute these are separate items I don't want city dollars spent on this type of an event But given that it has been our cost over the past couple of years and we had budgeted the cost, I think it's a reasonable place to be that by partnering, we are saving money for the city.

And hopefully with a little luck and a whole lot of hard work, we're going to find ourselves with an event that's even better than what we might have otherwise expected while deploying our valuable city resources to other economic development Items that I know is so diligently being worked on. So that's where I stand on those two items after having sat through a lot of those ad hoc meetings

Yeah, great. So let's talk about the parking lot. Let's break it up into two separate things. We can have a yes vote on both of them pretty much but we'll start with the parking lot first. Let's go over that. It's been quite the odyssey for that building and that toilet out front which is just making High Street look like a gem right now. Now we have the rest of the street all beautiful and now there's like a cage in a toilet out front so I would love to get rid of that as fast as possible and get that thing paved out So I see no reason to hesitate on putting the bid out there to find out what it's going to cost to handle all that stuff. The discussion of what to do when we actually find out what that is, that's gonna be the next time we talk about this.

But for now, I'm all in favor of releasing that bid out there and hopefully it comes in within budget or less And about that, does there a reason why we put the estimated amounts published on these things? Because it's pretty easy to just watch what we're talking about and then offer that because I'm going to say it right now. It's way too much money.

Are you saying that we generally would always put an estimate in our staff reports to give us some idea of.

Okay I just wonder if it's skewing the, if it ever skews the bids or anything?

Oh you know when we go out to bid we're going to get that question from any prospective bidders they're always gonna want to ask for a engineer's estimate So we will provide that to respective bidders.

All right, fair enough. And for

the record that number in case you're watching is $75 so there you go.

It's a typo it's a lot less than that yeah exactly yes but I'd like to move that forward and get that thing done as fast as possible because it's when you start cleaning up parts of a street now the parts that you didn't clean up are looking really evident. I'm in favor of moving forward with the bid.

Yeah, no thank you both for the ad hoc community or committee. I know you met with the chamber multiple times so it's good to hear now finally what you had to say and what you spoke about. So I'm in favor of moving forward as well.

Dr. Castro? What do you think?

Yeah, I'll just restate what I said the last time. It's not the Chamber's fault or nor the City's fault that we are where we are. We need to honor our commitments and then after that and I think that we'll see what happens with the bid. And then in terms of the $10,000 it's written as not to exceed. I think the ongoing discussions with the city and the subcommittee, the ad hoc committee will continue to derive what the Chamber's overall contribution beyond this would be so I'm in favor both.

OK. Great. Yeah, so we're good on the parking lot and as for the contributions for the event, as Tom mentioned before, we had this as a line item in our budget for the last couple of years. We budgeted for it and now with this idea it's going to be less money for the city There could be questions about why does it cost so much money to put on any event? And you can always, you know, go through any line items that are costs and try to save money here and there. But that's not really the case we're getting into. We're looking at more on high level is We want the chamber to start taking on some opportunities in the city that they're really good at doing. We want to offload some of the responsibilities that our staff are doing, that are more chamber-oriented things because our staff has an obligation to the business community as well but John can do a lot of different things if he's not planning out parties.

So I think it's a great move trying to kind of blend this together with this group. So, I'm in favor for that. I think it's good And then, you know, next year we'll see how it goes and we'll keep going from there. But without getting into anything else with chamber funding that's another thing we're talking about in the ad hoc committee group so that will be another separate discussion to talk about but for right now for the $10,000 to make this event go on I'm in favor of that too.

I think we're too far along now with the fact that this event is a couple weeks away to not say, not agree to the $10,000. But I would like to see for future if there is a way to maybe cut down that budget just a little bit. You know, we are creating an event that is open to all online but not open to all in person so If maybe we can try to streamline the extras, the food, the photos that just stuff like that. But maybe we don't need to spend as much money on since not all the public can enjoy it in person.

But I love the fact that the chamber is being worked on together and saving city staff time as well.

Right. Yeah, and for next year we have a lot more time to figure that out. And this year it was pretty much the plan to take it on ourselves until relatively recently. I say relatively because these things take a long time to talk about so it's really hard to change the form fit and function of an event like that on the fly with such a short notice. So we're kind of really trading staff time for staff time in this one. But I agree with you. It's something we should definitely look into in the future making it Bigger, better and not as expensive. Which is always a good combo if we can.

I motion we move forward with approving the plans and specifications for both the sewer and parking lot and the $10,000 co-sponsorship.

Second. We have a motion and a second?

You know, if I could just as a point of clarification clarify the two items being proposed for the motion now so first would be to approve the plans and specifications for the parking lot improvements in sewer line Repair at 18 High Street Subject to minor revisions by staff and authorizing staff to advertise for those bids Yes, and then this the do you want to do a second and vote on that one? And then we can

take them both together. I feel that we're all in agreement

It

says taken in two separate so do is that a

we could do either I just wanted to clarify each action for the record And then the other component of that motion then would be to authorize the city manager to execute a cooperative service agreement with the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce for the 2026 state of Moorpark event and amount not to exceed $10,000 subject to approval as to form by the City Attorney

We

need a roll call this one is this money I The record will reflect

that Councilmember Barrett is

recused from this item. Okay, so now we've got to take on.

All right, next is public hearing item 8A. Consider resolution approving CD-MOD-2026-0004 request for permit modification to extend the expiration date of conditional use permit 2022-1 and industrial plan development 2022-1. Associated with the proposed development of a 90,566 square foot industrial warehouse building and associated improvements on 5.65 acres of property located at 10941 Los Angeles Avenue on the application of Amir Development on behalf of Moorpark Lot ALP Mr. Burks

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Gene Burst, Deputy Community Development Director and tonight's item is practically a permit modification to extend existing entitlements. The applicant for this application is seeking to extend the expiration date for a previously approved industrial development located at 10941 Los Angeles Avenue. As you'll see, the project site consists of approximately five acres on currently undeveloped land on the western end of the city right next to the existing Pine facility on L.A. Avenue which is north of L. Avenue and then also you see vacant land to the east in the agricultural uses to the south This current slide is from the previously improved entitlement package.

It shows the existing Penn Terrace facility as well on the center of the graphic, and then on the east side or the right side of the graphic you see the previously entitled warehouse and office use facility that is associated with this particular industrial development. This current graphic is the site plan of the previously entitled project, which is as you stated Mr. Mayor 90,000 square feet primarily of warehouse space with some office space inside of this particular development.

And so as I roll through some of the renderings on this screen and the next screen, what the applicant pretty much wants is everything that the entitlement package already has but just changing the expiration. So the entitlement package expired, had original expiration of last year in November 2025. They've exhausted all of the extensions. So when the council approved this project back in 2022 The applicant, there was a time extension expiration on that. And then there also is administrative extension usually the community development director is allowed to give as a condition of approval and additional time for expiration of an entitlement package all that has been exhausted. And so the applicant due to market conditions they would like to try to extend the existing entitlements with the maximum extension or expiration of 2030 So basically given to allow administrative extensions, not only three administrative extensions in addition to what council would provide as part of the conditions of approval.