City Council — 2023-08-22

Order, we have a quorum. Could we have the roll call please Weston?

He was a swim team dad and I swam with his daughters Kathy and Jen. He was kinda the ringleader at the swim team parents. Once a year we held a swim meet At the Nordoff pool that brought swimmers from all over the county and Terry did everything he could To pull those swim meets off He seeded the heats He typed the heat sheets You work the snack bar He organized the timers and he timed himself.

If there was anything else that needed, Terry was the first one to volunteer. When we traveled to other communities for swim meets, Terry wasn't just there. He was engaged with everybody. He was the first one to run over and look at the sheets when they posted the times And he always had a great word for a kid who had a good time drop. He was also just as likely to take a shift as a timer or snack bar at the other swim meet sites.

My dad was a history nut like Terry and they were great friends, and my dad had a job that gave him access to Dodger tickets a few times a year My dad made a special point of getting Pittsburgh Pirate tickets so that he could get Terry to go with him. And I never asked Terry back then what his connection was with the pirates, but I became curious when I read his history recently and he'd spent his whole life in California and there was no connection to Pennsylvania or Pittsburgh.

So I asked Claire and Claire told me that growing up in California, there were no major league baseball teams when he was a kid and so he was a Hollywood stars fan And the Hollywood stars were the farm club for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and so when the players would graduate up to the major leagues, Terry would follow them. Looking into that a little further, That arrangement ended in the 50s, and my dad was taking Terry to baseball games in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

And it made me think about the fact that Terry maintained his devotion to the Pirates as a testament to his loyalty and his commitment to tradition. So 20 years ago, I was serving on planning and I remember we held a joint session with Historic Preservation. No idea what the reason was for that joint session but it was really kind of mind-boggling for me to be there serving on this dais with this person who I had looked up to for so long And it was also kind of mind-boggling that he was treating me as a peer instead of the little kid that swam with his daughters.

So, in preparing to honor Terry tonight I was thinking back to when I moved here in 1969 and in addition to Terry there were a few other Adults that made a big impression on me, I'll name a few of them. Larry Hartman, Ed Titus, John Wilson. Along with Terry these were people who gave tirelessly to OI. I definitely know that there were others equally worthy of mention But as a nine-year-old, that's kind of who I remembered. And I know that there were a lot of men and women making a difference in our community that I'm not mentioning here. My father is even one of those.

So it strikes me when I look back at the parents of my contemporaries growing up in OI that it was just in their DNA that they would give to their community. It wasn't something they wanted recognition for, it was just what they did. Sorry. I think it's good that we pause every once in a while and look back and talk about these people who got our community to where we are So I'll close with this.

I was at a speaking engagement recently and the speaker was asked what he recommended for members of the community that felt lost about how to contribute to a better future, and his recommendation was that each of us find the thing that we love or are good at and make contributions through whatever that is. If you're good at organizing, then help organize. If you're good at writing, then write.

And if you're good at raising money, raise money but do something you connect with. So Terry loved history And he gave back to the community through that thing that he loved. So, I can't speak enough words to say how grateful I am to people like Terry Hill who gave more than their fair share to our community and I extend that gratitude to all our past and current commissioners.

And I also suggest to anybody, any members of our community listening that if you can see yourself serving the community whether it's on a commission or in a community service organization or any other way the community needs you And our future generations need you. Thanks.

Thank you, Andy. That was beautiful and what an honor it is to be here to celebrate a coach and teacher. And thank you Brian for your kind words. Come on up Jack. It's fun up here. You can hold the proclamation with me. I never met Terry, it's just so beautiful to learn about Terry's life and I Claire Kathy and Jack. Thank you so much for being here to help celebrate this day And I loved Andy what you said, it's just in your DNA So figure out what you love and help out and what a beautiful model of service and dedication To our community in 23 years on a commission that's impressive Proclamation honoring Terrence Gordon Hill Whereas, the City of Ojai and the broader community lost a valued member and leader on May 20th, 2023 with the death of Terrence Terry Hill.

Whereas, Terry Hill served for more than twenty years on the Ojai Historic Preservation Commission. Whereas, Terry Hill was a tireless and outspoken advocate for the importance of our community's historical heritage. Whereas Terry Hill dedicated his career to the education of our youth. Whereas Terry inspired and informed countless community members concerning the history of Ojai.

Whereas, Terry served the Ojai Historic Preservation Commission with distinction. Whereas Terry was a tireless supporter of the, oops I already said that sorry. Whereas Terry's sense of humor, kindness and willingness to give his time enriched those fortunate enough to have known and worked with him. Whereas his true legacy lies in his love of knowledge and history, and his example in the giving of himself for a better community.

Now therefore be it proclaimed the city of Ojai on behalf of its residents recognizes the significant contributions of Terrence Gordon Hill over the course of his distinguished service to the community and mourns his death. Now, therefore be it further proclaimed that I, Betsy Sticks, Mayor of the City of Ojai and on behalf of the Ojai City Council do extend its sincerest condolences to his wife Claire Hill and his daughters Catherine Hill and Jennifer Hill Ottermatt and his son-in-laws Luke Schaefer and Kyle Ottermatt and his five grandchildren Kendall J. Ottermatt, Ian J. Ottermatt, Jack are Schaefer, Molly C. Schaefer and Peter G. Schaeffer. Thank you very much.

And for those in the audience and watching our live broadcast

I'm going to just say a quick, very heartfelt thank you. Otherwise, I'll have to pull the Kleenex out of my pocket. But I do want to add something to make you smile. Sunday was our 63rd wedding anniversary and we had an earthquake. And I called the girls and I said, your dad was afraid that I was going to forget that day. And I'm sure he talked to the good Lord and said do something to remind her that's a special day. So I know how thrilled he is with this.

I'm just praying his sense of humor doesn't carry through to tonight showing his happiness from it. Thank you so much. We are both... Both Terry and I were from out of town, but we moved here in 1960 and we have been feeling like we were born and raised here. We love it. Thank you. Thank

you Claire.

We will take a brief pause for a photo opportunity. If you can't see the camera, I can't see you. Mayor Pro Tem, scoot over so you can see the camera. Got the shot?

That was really nice. Really nice. I think Claire taught kindergarten, right? Yeah.

Thank you very much. All right, we'll move on to commission reports. No commission reports I believe so we will move on to public communication and just a reminder that these are items not on the agenda and because they're not on the agenda we cannot discuss them We appreciate your viewpoint and participation, and we can agendize them in the future. Public comments are three minutes. At the end of the three minutes you'll hear a chime, and please respect each other's time, and in the spirit of equity stop talking when the chime sounds.

No giving away time to a speaker. And if you're in agreement with the previous person, please just say ditto. A couple of suggestions I've received from the community. People have asked if you could say your name. Of course, you don't have to. Say your name and say your address if you would like to. Or the City of Residence. The City of Residence, and there was also a request if you could address the Council rather than the audience that would be helpful.

Okay so we will... Can I make

one? Yeah

sure!

Just in case anybody's here to talk about the item H on the consent calendar we're gonna end up asking the council to pull that and discuss it because we've discovered a challenge on the funding end of that that we need to have the council I just thought I would mention that in case somebody was here tonight to discuss that.

Thank you all right we have one public comment Barbie Kafka who will be using an interpreter

Hello, my name is Pauline Kafka. You may have not seen me before. Tell me because I understand you. Can you all understand her? Yes, yes. Okay. To speak at the City Hall meeting, I am rather excited to be doing this because I'm here for a purpose. I just want to encourage the Ojai people to unite so that we can make Ojai a much better city and you never know if we have the success A lot of things are changing, especially for the housing and the home. But I know that we can do it.

But it takes a lot of courage, compassion, and love to do it, and just to move the politics forward. You know, this is what our country is going through right now. So I'm just having This is what happens for Ojai, especially for the community college. It's a beautiful place but I think there are things that can be improved to make it much better because it's so nice to work here.

I see the beauty of the flowers. The one thing that has been bad over here is the tents. I'm Our climate change is changing. That's another reason why we have to point out those things that need to be improved, but I don't think so. to be successful and show the world that they can do it too. This is why I'm here, to encourage all of you if we could put our hands together and work on this. This is my vision.

And I think it would be wonderful if this happened but this is just the beginning to what I wanted You may not know, but there's been a lot of things happening because I thought they needed to be improved. Like the hose that I had to use was cut off and I couldn't use it. So there are just a lot of things we need to talk about maybe next time we could talk about this. But I want to thank you for allowing me to speak here Thank you, Barbie. Thank you.

Thank you. Do

we have any questions or anything?

We're actually not supposed to ask questions at this point, but we can agendize things for the future.

Can I ask who are you? Can you tell me who you are?

I'm the interpreter.

An interpreter. The

interpreter.

You're the

interpreter. ASL interpreter.

Yeah, yeah. But what is your name? Oh, Rell McDonough. Ralph.

I can speak to that. Ralph McDonough? This is an accommodation for a ADA request.

Yes,

OK

thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for being here. Appreciate it. Any, thank you. Thanks Barbie nice to see you. Any public comments on Zoom Weston?

No raised, yes we have one raised hand now and I'll say to our many Zoom attendees tonight this is the time to raise your hand for general public comment. First we'll have Larry Steingold. Larry you have the floor?

Yes sorry um because we are talking about affordable housing and the city and roads i would like you all to propose SB 649 to give Ohioans preference Just like the state has authorized us to. Also, when you are put in 25 mile an hour speed limits, you should also plan ahead for speed bumps because as the roads get nicer, the speeds are going to get faster. So please try to think ahead of the curve.

Thank you. Thank you Larry.

No more raised hands Mayor.

All right. Thank you, Weston. We will move on to the consent calendar and we are going to pull H. Yeah. OK. All right let's discuss that. We don't need to. We don't need to discuss it.

OK you

want

to adopt the rest of it or

sure is there a motion to approve the rest of it?

I'll make a motion. I'll move to approve the rest of the consent calendar.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Let's look at item number H, which is the consideration of an agreement with Ojai Valley Land Conservancy to reimburse the conservancy to Yeah,

and we're really sorry to be pulling this tonight. We thank the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy for working with the city. This relates to the ATP project And the potential for creating a public parking lot and pedestrian bridge that was an accommodation for the fact that parking was being removed. The Conservancy was also going to be making changes to two hiking trails that are associated with the preserve there, and so it is a good project. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the concept of the project. The problem we've got is that in looking at the funding source, we hadn't realized that the ATP project which has been listed in previous staff reports As funding was apparently more of a generic reference to the project funding and then the actual grant.

And where we found today, and this is a last minute discovery so I don't foreclose the possibility we're going to find other ways around this but We found today that the grant application doesn't include this project, and it's far past the date at which we can change the scope of the grant. These grants are pretty much locked in the way they're approved and we cannot use this funding for that purpose.

So we are back to, you know, took a step backwards and said well this is $300,000. What else could the city come up with for $300,000 to cover this cost? That's a lot for our budget. And we do not have an answer for the council tonight. My initial thought was you could approve the project agreement with the proviso that we have to find the funding, but the trouble is the grant or the agreement actually calls out the amount.

And it's conceivable that the solution to this may require a change in the scope of the project where that number is wrong. So rather than do that, we're suggesting you pull it off tonight and send us back to work with thank-yous to the Conservancy for hanging in there with us and seeing if we can't find some other way around being able to deal with this project.

Thank you

mark Sousa so we can expect that this will come back as a future agenda item I

We'll bring it back because we'll need to report to you what has happened. I can't tell you right now where we find $300,000 but we will come back and tell you what options were able to identify. I mean, we could use Measure C. You could use Measure C money for this. The trouble is there's lots of uses for Measure C money that the city has identified And right now from a cash flow basis that really isn't available to us.

Not that we would need it immediately, this is a reimbursement agreement so we wouldn't need the money immediately, we would need it over time. But we need a little bit of time to work through this and be able to come back and give you the real options.

Can I ask another question? If we need to, can we separate the parking lot from the pedestrian bridge and the two hiking trails. And there's a number of reasons why I asked that because I was looking again at the—I hope they don't hear me say this—the church parking lot and of course the future is shared parking That is a huge parking lot and there's at least 20, at least maybe 50 parking spots right at the border of the Meadows Preserve.

And you know some ways there's maybe another way around this that I hope staff could look into

I think all of those creative approaches require us to take a look at them. I'm a big believer in shared parking, so we'll take a look at what those other alternatives might be but we need to take the time to do that right.

Yeah. So do you need anything from us besides

pulling it? I think there may be people here who want to speak to it, and certainly if there's an... And I'm sorry, I don't know the people but I'm new. If there's people from the Conservancy here that I should already know, I apologize, but we wanna thank them for what they've done working with us so far, and perhaps they have comments they wanna make.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. I don't want to put anyone on the spot but does the land concern see Tom Maloney would you like to say anything? Thank you for your patience and understanding. And thank you to staff for looking into this.

Yeah, I mean this was a shock we do have just give a more fuller picture of the project It's long been contemplated to make the Meadows 365 day a year access. You know Phil Moncharge is on our board he's on the school board there's talk of repurposing Miners Oaks Elementary that puts further emphasis on this bridge project when Greg came to us about the parking because I parked along Maricopa Highway for the parade on the 4th of July and you really feel like you're taking your life in your hands when you step into the road or the highway. So we really want to do this project, and of course my phone starts ringing.

I think at this time of year, you know, Mark, you've more experience than I do. There's often federal transportation enhancement money kicking around so I'm in communication with Supervisor LeVere's office and I think perhaps Steve Bennett or Monique Lamone might come in and be able to help us with some of this if there's some leftover federal money coming up to September end of the federal fiscal year. So we're going to keep beating the bushes but we've raised about $250,000 for the bridge project and the trail enhancements. The Lions Club is going to do the improvement of the trail from Lomita across to the existing bridge getting it set. We are already under contract for the bridge project and we think this parking area makes a lot of sense.

So, we'll just keep plugging away and we'll find a way to either maybe there's another ATP kind of grant here that they need to get out the door too. You know? Because a lot of times the state and federal agencies need to spend the money as well. So

thanks. Thank you Tom. And thanks for your patience. I appreciate it in all that you do. Stay safe. Parking is important. Any comments online, Winston? Yes.

We have one raised hand and for those on Zoom this is on pulled consent calendar item H1H. Larry Steingold you have the floor.

I thought about point of order. I thought public speaking was for public speaking and then there would be another opportunity to speak on a consent item. Well I was going to speak on the agreement with the county. Is that too late to speak on?

But after we vote on this item.

Mr. Stangl, we can take that comment from the consent calendar. Please proceed.

Oh, OK. Thank you. I spent 40 years in commercial real estate and it's a lease or a pop-up lease or an agreement. And while the discussion items talk about food and custodial care and what have you, it leaves silent who will pay for the food? Who will pay for sanitary services Okay, it talks about custodial services in the term sheet but not... It doesn't talk about sanitation services in the term sheet.

What

item

is this?

G.

G.

I'm just saying is the lease needs to be tightened up. It puts a lot of emphasis on us and we have very little money, very few employees And on the term sheet, costs associated with custodial services, food service personnel and supplies. It's silent on new food, sanitary services which means plumbers, porta-potties or what have you. It also is very silent on police services. If you have 150, 200 people standing at Sarzadi and camping out our one officer who we're paying for is not going to be sufficient to take care of the crowd and Um, the city and I know we're supposed to coordinate with the county but it doesn't say who will pay for police services.

So I would think that if we could go over that term sheet which i'm more than happy to help with um It's very important that we tighten it up because the city manager is going to come and go in this agreement's going to be around a long time And it's a good thing. We really do need the county to step up because we're a hobby town for a lot of tourists, and we don't have the money to be on the hook for this stuff. So I think we should be more responsible and have them pick up the tab or at least have it in writing for police services, new food, new sanitary services, new custodial what-have-you. So please review it more carefully, I would hope.

Thank you.

Thank you, Larry.

No more raised hands on Zoom, Mayor.

OK. Thank you very much. All right. We will move on to the public. I have a comment. Oh, OK. Mr. Miley? This is on H, correct? Yes.

Hello. This is about H. If the ATP budget could afford $300K for a parking lot and a bridge, and now it's been pulled back And if there's any city money in ATP that matches the $300,000, it would seem that we would have $300,000 that we don't spend from our budget because we now have $300 thousand back. So maybe that could go. Anyway, thanks.

Thank you Bill. All right that now we will move on to the public hearing item number oh okay thank you thank you Mr. City Attorney. Okay do we have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar with the exception of H. We approved the consent calendar.

Yeah, that was done so it would be perhaps some motion to direct staff to negotiate further on the OVLC agreement? Yes. So

I'll make a motion that we direct staff investigate the different avenues of getting to an agreement with OVLSC, Hawaii Valley Land Conservancy over the agreement related to the parking lot and improvements on the Meadows Preserve.

Second. Can we have a friendly amendment that if all else fails, that there also be a discussion with whoever owns the church parking lot?

We can include that. OK.

All

in favor? Thank you. Now we will move on to the public hearing, item number two, introduction of an ordinance regulating...

Wait, did we approve the rest of the consent? We did.

Yes. And Madam Mayor, if staff could add one word. On the question raised by Mr. Steingold, section 10 of the agreement does provide for reimbursement requests by the city to the county From the county to reimburse certain costs including cost associated with custodial services, food service personnel and supplies if those costs would not have been occurred but for this shelter usage of the facility. So the details will be determined in the event of a disaster but there is some provision for reimbursement requests from the county to the city and that's on page 1-7 thank you.

Okay, now we will finally move on to the public hearing number two. Introduction of an ordinance regulating cannabis lounges and cannabis dispensaries. Mr. City Attorney do we have a staff report? I mean I'm sorry, Mr. City Manager.

I will do my best. And Brian Popovich has come up and he's the real expert on this, so we'll punt to him at a certain point. As the City Council knows, this item has been before the council and was directed to come back with an ordinance change to address two particular issues One is the opening or the allowance for up to three cannabis consumption lounges.

There's very specific conditions associated with that, if you need to go over those Brian can do that. And also there's a slight change to the area of the city that is allowable for use For these uses to exist and again They can be defined specifically if if the council needs By Brian, is there you have a map for that brand?

Yes, it was attachment B

There we go. So that shows, well maybe you can describe the areas of the city that are expanded to allow these uses?

So the consumption lounges would be allowed in the purple one, which is the M1 MPD zone and then the C1 zone east of Park Road. The green encompasses where the dispensaries would be allowed, which would be the existing M1MPD zones, then the C-1 general commercial, which does exclude the 1.5 FR overlay, which is the downtown district. So that would be excluded from dispensaries.

So in general, these are not dramatic changes but there is change and it does open the door so to speak for cannabis lounges. And that's what I can tell you about it off the top and if you've got questions we can answer.

Okay, any questions and just a reminder to council these are questions so if you could just keep your question short and Do let's do our best not to veer off into discussion because that comes after the public comment And if you can remember to bring it through the chair, that'd be great becomes mayor pretend Rancina

So but what you just stated Brian is That's a proposal that hasn't been voted on, correct?

It's what's in front of

you. Yeah. So if we wanted to add, for example, South Fulton or if someone wanted to expand into the former Suzanne's building, that's been suggested that if the council considers it and agrees, we can still expand the commercial zone. Is that correct?

Yeah, the council can adjust where cannabis dispensaries and or lounges would be allowed. That's that's tonight's item?

Yeah yeah.

What was presented is what is presented to you now is what the council recommended last time we brought forward in a formal ordinance but it's still up to the council to adjust if desired

OK, thank you. That's what I thought. I just want to make

sure. OK. Council Member Lange?

Yes. So I had a question regarding the sale of food non-cannabis or non-hemp related food items. So the ordinance doesn't specify it doesn't prohibit them but does that preclude a cannabis lounge from being able to sell Food items or non-alcoholic beverage items.

As drafted, that is not prohibited. But that could be expressly stated. The only expressed prohibition is that customers are not permitted to bring their own cannabis or food or alcohol or tobacco. Lounges must provide free water and on sale of food and food items infused with cannabis as permitted. So the food there is clarified but you could add food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Right, thanks. It's my recollection that when we spoke about this at a previous meeting that we expressly said that we wanted to include that allowance.

Any other questions from Council? It's

my understanding that we're going to go through the draft ordinance. I have a lot of questions about the actual ordinance, similar to Rachel, but we can do that after the public comment, right?