City Council — September 21, 2026

12 inches per day and we're like, hold my pen. Yeah, we've actually been ranked

It's a measure, Measure D for a bond. Good evening everyone and welcome to our Port Hueneme City Council meeting, our closed session. We are going to call this meeting I'm gonna call this meeting to order it's 530 and Madam Clerk please take roll.

Councilmember Gama? Here. Councilmember Lopez? Here. Council Member Perez? Here Mayor Pro Tem Hernandez? Here And Mayor and Queen Lajon?

Here Thank you I'm a little stuck because it says, Madam Clerk please take roll. Okay we're going to move to our public comments. These are public comments not related to our agenda items.

There are no public comments.

Great thank you. We are now going to move to closed session before we do that. Are there any closed session public comments?

No public comments for closed session.

Great, thank you. Madam City Attorney please read the closed session item into the record.

Yes, we have two closed session items for tonight. The first is conference with labor negotiators pursuant to government code section 54957.6. Agency-designated representatives include James Vega, City Manager Charles Peretz, Deputy City Manager along with Frank Lee. Human resources and risk manager employee associations include SEIU Service Employees International Union 721 The second item on the closed session agenda is Conference with Labor Negotiators, pursuant to Government Code Section 54957.6.

Agency designated representatives include James Vega, City Manager Charles Peretz, Deputy City Manager along with Frank Lee, Human Resources and Risk Manager. Employee associations include Unrepresented Management and Professional Employees.

Great, thank you. Council members do we have any public conflicts of interest to disclose at this time? All right so we will now recess to closed session the time is now 532

Yeah, when

I was half naked right?

630. You need a pin? Good evening everyone. Good evening everyone and welcome to the City Council regular meeting I am calling this meeting to order the time is now 631 please stand and let's lead councilmember Gamma for the flag salute.

Could you please place your right hand over your heart and repeat after me?

Great, thank you. Madam Clerk please take roll.

Councilmember Gamo?

Here.

Council Member Lopez?

Here.

Council Member Perez? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Hernandez? Here and Mayor McQueen-Lejeune?

Here We'll now have our inspiration from Council Member Perez.

Thank you, so I'm just going to continue on with the suicide prevention month since September is Suicide Prevention Month. Last meeting we had a presentation of proclamation and so this is just in regards to that at our last meeting Maya who was the recipient of the proclamation Who handles all the Ventura County suicide prevention training. Mentioned that calls to 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline have increased. And that reminds us just how many people in our communities may be struggling, often silently without those around them realizing what they're carrying. And as a suicide loss survivor, a mother who lost her child to suicide, this is a deeply personal thing to me. I know firsthand that suicide doesn't just affect one life, it leaves a lasting impact on families, friends and entire communities.

This is why awareness matters, connection matters, support matters and access to mental health treatments matter. We need to create communities where people feel safe enough to say I'm not okay and know that someone will listen without judgment and help connect them to support they need. Sometimes prevention begins simply by noticing someone, checking in, and truly listening. We never fully know the difference that one moment of connection can make. May we continue building a community where no one feels they have to suffer in silence, where help is accessible, and where every person knows that their life has value They matter and that there is hope.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Perez. We'll now move to Madam City Attorney for the closed session report.

Thank you. There are no reportable actions for both items on the closed session agenda from today.

Great thank you. Madam Clerk, are there any public comments not pertaining to the agenda items?

Yes, Madam Mayor. First up is Zach Boliva

Good evening Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of the council. Councilman Perez thank you for that message on suicide awareness and prevention by the way. For the record I'm the public information officer at the Port Hueneme and stopped by tonight to drop off some materials which I left with your city clerk we know there have been some questions about Fueling and bunkering operations in the community So we wanted to put together some information to help you address those concerns that you may have from your constituents Provide some reassurance that of course everything we're doing is well under regulation. It's safe We're using the cleanest fuels out there and trying to do these operations sparingly To mitigate impact on surrounding communities when you when you see those handouts my informations on there if you'd like to reach out if you have any questions Concerns, please feel free to reach out in the coming days and weeks.

But those materials are with your city clerk And with that I'll just leave you with a reminder to come out and join us at the banana festival this weekend Thank you for your support and collaboration on that event, and we're looking forward to seeing many of you there Have a great night. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you Becky Bruni

Good evening Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Council staff and audience. I'm here with Rilkeby Outdoors tonight. We had our open house on the 10th and we had a fantastic turnout. We have three chambers represented Kevin got quite a few awards that night also, so we had a great turnout. This Sunday we will be out at the end of Hueneme Pier from 8 to 11 for Family Fish Day.

So come out and have some fun!

Thank

you. And Barton Choi

Good evening Madam Mayor and City Council. My name is Barton Schoring and my wife Ildiko here. We have lived in Port Hueneme for 23 years as part-time residents, and we're very pleased to say that we have become full time residents for the last six months and forever more. I'm here to share our only one concern. At first it was just an observation, but it is now becoming a growing concern and that is posed by the increasing number of speeding vehicles on Ocean View Drive.

Vehicles of all types, sedans, SUVs, trucks and motorcycles are using the 500 foot long street as a drag strip and demonstration track. The vehicles are accelerating or stunt driving. And a quick check on AI has confirmed that if you have a high-powered vehicle that can go from zero to 60 in four seconds, 500 feet you could be 101 miles an hour. I can do that in my common Tesla.

They do it all the time. As both the public and residents are less than 30 feet from the street, we fear for the safety of anyone present. And the consequence of an uncontrolled speeding vehicle or a two-ton 400 horsepower car doing donuts could be devastating. Our neighbors and I are submitting this letter which i will read for your consideration. We believe that the hazardous situation can and must be mitigated.

The city has previously installed speed bumps on Scott Street, Park Avenue and Surfside Drive to deter speed and stunt driving. And I thank you very much for your considerations.

Madam Mayor that concludes

Let me see if I can get through this letter very quickly, which has been signed by about 30 people in our building. We are at Swiftside 2 and requesting speed bumps to be installed on Ocean View Drive and its parking lots C and B. We would welcome your testing and assessments to find the best solution possible. Oceanview Drive has been a playground for vehicles driving daily at high speeds both day and night. This includes loud engines and mega sound systems and stunts, donuts that produce toxic odors. It has been dangerous for beach-going public and its kids playing around after school or residents and our pets Port when Amy has installed speed bumps on Scott Park Avenue and bubbling Springs at bubbling Springs And we have submitted requests for further examinations on the port For on the website.

Thank you

truly believe

thank you. Thank you, sir City Manager do you have something?

So I'll just note that we have been working actually with our police department on trying to get more enforcement and patrol out in that area. And then I will also, when you get that information, I'll follow up with our public works department too The City Council did adopt a policy and a process for consideration of potential speed cushions. Yeah, so I can follow up with the Public Works Department for them to evaluate that area.

Great, thank you. Thank you. I'm glad to hear that. Thank you for your comment. And

that concludes public comment.

Great, thank you. Next we're going to move to our agenda approval. May have a motion and a second to approve tonight's agenda?

Move approval.

Second. Great, Madam Clerk please take roll.

All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Hearing none motion passes unanimously.

Do we have any members of council who have a conflict of interest to disclose for any item on the agenda this evening? Great, so we're gonna move on to our presentation. A Water Supply Conservation and Water Quality Bond Measure D presentation by United Water Conservation District. Over to you, Tara.

Thank you so much Madam Mayor and the rest of the council for allowing me this opportunity to provide some important information about what is going to be on the ballot this November. The ballot, I'm with my name is Tara Mullally and I'm with United Water Conservation District and we have measure D which is the water supply conservation and water quality bond measure in front of voters This November, which means we're getting our ballots on October. So just kind of ensuring that people have all of the information they need to make an informed decision.

United Water Conservation District covers Piru, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Oxnard, parts of Ventura, parts of Camarillo and of course all of Port Hueneme. Our 335 square mile service area serves roughly 400,000 people. Next year is our 100-year anniversary so we're very excited about that and we have passed a bond measure before in 1953 specifically for the Santa Felicia Dam which is one of the projects that this bond would help protect.

Just a quick overview of our system. We manage Lake Piru Reservoir, which at the base of that is Santa Felicia Dam and our Santa Felicia Dam Safety Improvement Project. And then we manage the watershed from Piru Creek down Santa Clara River to the Freeman Diversion. We have our Freeman Diversion Expansion and Conveyance System Upgrade project there That water is diverted off the river in order to recharge groundwater basins at our Santiago Groundwater Recharge Facility and then continues to travel down to our El Rio Groundwater Recharge and Water Treatment Facility where we've completed our iron and manganese treatment plant. to be able to provide deeper levels of water during droughts so that we don't struggle with the nitrate issues that we've had in the past, especially during the 2015 drought.

So really happy to be able to provide Port Hueneme Water Agency and the residents here with about 80% of their water. We're also looking to build this extraction barrier and brackish water treatment project, and that will be down near Point Magoo. And we're working in collaboration with the Navy base in order to ensure that that goes in and hopefully stops seawater intrusion at its source.

Looking at what we're facing, we have three projects in front of us The Santa Felicia Dam Safety Improvement Project is a regulatory mandate by the Division of Safety of Dams, that's California Department of Water Resources, Division of Safety of Dams or DSOD. and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. They've politely requested slash demanded that we improve the seismic retrofitting of our dam and also to increase the spillway capacity to address atmospheric rivers that we're facing today We also have our Freeman Diversion Improvement Project. That is a regulatory mandate by the National Marine Fishery Service, which identified a biological opinion in order to improve the fish passage there at our Freeman Diversion. We currently have one It works.

They would like us to improve it There are some very specific ways in which we are improving that and I will go over that momentarily We also have our extraction barrier and brackish water treatment project That is the only project out of like all these projects that will allow us to continue with our groundwater sustainability plan without significant cutbacks So a little bit more about the Santa Felicia Dam Safety Improvement Project. That is where we will be taking our intake, which is currently about here and we'll be moving it from the west side of the lake where the pipeline that goes to our intake runs through the center of an earthen dam so not great And we'll be moving it into the bedrock on this eastern side, which will then tunnel through the bedrock.

Which will increase the seismic stability of the dam itself. We'll be leaving that penstock in place and filling it full of concrete so that it does not create any additional seismic concerns. We'll also be increasing the capacity of our spillway as I said before which means dropping This part right over here, I'm like off the screen. There we go this part right here about 15 1⁄2 feet which will increase that slope and because we've maintained this facility so well we're actually able to keep these sidewalls and the spillway crest We'll also be raising the dam crest by about six and a half feet, which will prevent overtopping. Which means the water flows over the top sort of eroding the dam and we'll protect against overtopping or freeboard, which is another name for that.

And that costs us $314 million. I know it's a lot of money. That's why we'll get there, I promise. We'll talk about how we're going to pay for these. So we also have our Freeman Diversion Improvement Project. This is that Danil ladder that I was mentioning earlier. So fish come through here. They then are able to sort of hop up these plates and then they are able to continue upstream or downstream depending on the direction that they're traveling.

We actually have a Camera that tracks the fish that go upstream. So are really proud of that piece of that facility and what has been requested of us is that we're going to be increasing attraction flows so that fish can find it easier and Also reducing the turbulence around those corners making it a little bit of an easy flow for them that increase in Attraction flows will increase our groundwater recharge by about 5,000 to 8,000 acre feet but only if we continue those improvements down our conveyance system so that we're increasing the capacity of our conveyance system and therefore our groundwater recharge here locally. That project is 104 million.

And then we have our extraction barrier and brackish water treatment project that will actually stop seawater intrusion at its point of origin. We're working in collaboration with the U.S. Navy because the point of origin is Naval Base Point Magoo. Magoo Canyon there is a major source of seawater intrusion for this area since the 1930's, it's Progressed inland about three miles off the coast.

And although Freeman Diversion and the Santa Felicia Dam have both slowed that dramatically, it has not stopped and continues to creep forward. This project will stop it. In the 60s we actually done this before, we just didn't have the marine grade steel available that exists today to be able to continue that seawater intrusion well plan. So that project for construction is roughly for phase one is $51 million.

So I've talked about three projects totaling $469 million. We have secured grant funding for $31.5 million and we've also secured a WIFIA loan at $83 million, which leaves us with a gap of $354.5 million, which is why we put on the ballot a $350 million general obligation bond spread across our entire service area, which means and over 30 years. Just because we're going for this bond measure does not mean we will stop looking for grants under everything that we possibly can. We will continue to go to our legislators and ask for those grants, because though we've requested $350 million, we're not obligated to take the $350 million. So we will be continuing to pursue those using our Grant Task Force which we have four different members of inside our own organization that continually look for grants and then submit.

Which is how we got those grants to begin with. The voting process is, again, November 3rd. It requires two-thirds of voters to pass for a $350 million bond measure total. The bonds would be issued over time in separate issuances. We're currently looking at three separate issuances of $100 million each which would allow us to fund those projects which are ready to go. Santa Felicia Dam Outlaw Works is 100% ready designed. We could go out to RFP tomorrow Other projects are in their late phases of design and we're into the permitting phases of those. The proceeds from the bond must go towards our capital program, it cannot pay for things like salaries, operations, maintenance costs, any of those things. It must go towards capital projects which is why we're using it to fund these particular ones And the tax would then repay the bonds at a value of approximately $24 per $100,000 of assessed value.

And that is currently on the tax rolls so it's not market valued and your home is not assessed which I've actually been asked this on what's on the tax rolls? Yes, it is what's on the tax rolls and nothing beyond that. And it would begin in fiscal year 2028 and would sunset in approximately 30 years. We looked at the average home and that's approximately $121 per year in Ventura County.

So again, the projected tax rate and this is one of my favorite slides because it kind of sums everything up. The projected tax rate would be $24 per hundred thousand dollars of assessed value the cost the average homeowners one hundred and twenty-one dollars a year or about ten dollars a month Renters would incur no new directs tax because this is a property tax And the tax to begin in fiscal year 2028 would end in 2057 We have accountability provisions because we are public agency. We do not earn our profit and all of our Operations are transparent to the public Our bond funds are legally restricted to voter approved capital projects.

Again, they cannot be used for salaries operations or administrative costs. Annual independent audits are required by California law and our Board of Directors would retain, which are elected by people just like the ones in here. Would retain full oversight of the issuance and spending and then regular public reporting on project progress and budget would incur so we have our Water Sustainability Summit every single year. We would also continue to do presentations like this about our projects and where they stand report back to council water agencies and our neighborhood councils as appropriate.

We have our United Water Bond Report, which was published under California water code and that's currently on our website. Other ways you can learn more information are to attend a community meeting the one for Port Hueneme will be October 6th on a Tuesday. Postcards are going out this week so hopefully people see them. And then there's handouts available and you're able to visit unitedwater.org slash bond That includes all of our information plus a form if you have any additional questions.

And in addition to that, you're able to reach out to info at unitedwater.org which goes directly to me and I will answer that as quickly as humanly possible because it's so important that people understand what this is about and why it might matter to them. Are there any questions?

Yes, can you explain to our residents what would happen with the magnitude 7.4 earthquake in the city of Port Hueneme?

So, great question. Thank you so much for asking that. The seismic deficiencies that currently exist at the Santa Felicia Dam are that if a 7.2 to 7.4 which is a maximum credible earthquake and by maximum credible earthquake I mean the maximum size of the earthquake that is actually expected to happen here so we're not preparing for a 9.0 earthquake which I mean that would be no nobody is ready for that but a 7 point 2 is a really Sort of people need to be ready for that and that's that would if that were to occur right now the coupling that exists within the dam which is as I said before an earthen dam, which means that it's made of soil and rocks That could slip creating water Which could mean potentially a sinkhole in the side of the dam?

Which means that that dam would fail there would not be a way to stop it from failing So that would then create Flood that would go from Piru and I don't know if anybody remembers the st. Francis dam which happened actually further east But all of Fort Hueneme would be under about a foot of water in a fairly short amount of time

Okay, um additionally what If the measure D was to fail How would So would this be dead in the water?

So if Measure D fails, our board faces really two kind of options right off the gate which is to put all of these projects that $469 million, I guess $354 million once we have the grants and the loan directly onto rates, and it would be a pay-as-you-go form of payment for the projects which would mean that we would have to charge rates for that money up front. And we couldn't spread it out over 30 years which would increase rates as you could imagine pretty dramatically very very quickly The other option is to not do those projects, which would mean potentially losing Lake Piru, which is a firefighter resource. We've had about 30 fires since 2017 in that area. It serves both LA County and Ventura County in terms of water resources for wildfire protection.

It would also mean we'd lose that storage for things like El Nino so right now we're actually lowering the lake levels So that we can take in all the El Nino water, we would not be able to do that. We would have to allow all that water to kind of just run right out to the ocean and we wouldn't really be able to take any of the water off the Santa Clara River which mean again all of that water right to the ocean so we wouldn't be able to recharge any of our local groundwater basins which would likely mean local agencies and farmers cities would all have to rely on imported water.

I don't know what that would look like in terms of a mix, but we would lose the ability to recharge our basins here.

So last question is so the water runoff basically goes from Piru all the way to the Santa Clara River bottom?

It does. So the, so water for example it's going to rain a ton all of that water is going to collect in our local lakes some of that's going to go to Lake Casitas as we've seen it's at 99% full I think right now and then Lake Piru that water and also you know kind of into the river and we see all of that but when we release that water It recharges Piru Basin, then Fillmore Basin and Santa Paula Basin. And then sorry I get very much with my hands. And so about half of that water is recharged into the upper aquifers before it reaches our Fillmore Basin and then about half of that water depending on how dry things are obviously those numbers fluctuate go into our groundwater recharge basins at Sata Koi and El Rio for you guys.

Thank you Tara.

Yeah any other questions?

I'm interested in the Magoo Canyon. It comes up a lot in some other conversations about beach erosion and movement of sand, but I heard you say that it would stop. You were talking about the saltwater intrusion? Correct.

Sand is a different story. That sand is not my conservation moment.

But I just paused for a second because I do know that Magoo Canyon is peeling back And at some point it could even cause infrastructure issues for the runway over there at Point Mugu. In the event of a catastrophic failure, how much can the dry Santa Clara River bed handle? Let's just say if the dam failed, the water is coming. Because you did say it would result in Hueneme being under a foot of water. So where would it breach the Santa Clara River or at what point does the Santa Clara River can't handle that volume?

immediately. Really? So

much so fast.

Yeah, it's about 80. So Lake Piru stores 80,500 acre feet, which is roughly 26 trillion gallons when it's at capacity. Yeah. It's a lot of water and it would be It would be a lot. So what would happen and we actually have video of this on our website so if you ever want to look at the inundation map and how that would flow, it would come out of Piru pretty much immediately overflowing the creek bed that Piru Creek. It would leave Piru school because that's a little bit on a higher ground but it would come down that valley so taking out Things like Harvest at Lima Nera, and all those things that are along the riverbed would all go away. And then it would spread out as it hit the Oxnard Plain. That's why all of Port Hueneme is in that inundation zone.

So parts of Ventura are in the... Like just that edge kind of along the 126th in Ventura would be of concern and then kind of all Oxnard it sort of splits around a little part of the oxnard is there's a little hill there but then kind of comes back and circles back and takes out both both naval bases and Unfortunately the city as well.

Wow, and um this Saltwater intrusion I think it started we started working on this what in the 80s late 80s, I believe

So the first well that had seawater intrusion was actually in the 1930s. Really? Yeah, it's been a long time. So the 1930s was the first well was discovered and abandoned due to seawater intrusion. Then in the 50s we built Santa Felicia Dam. That was the first dam that was ever built for groundwater recharge and seawater intrusion abatement. That didn't quite do it either.

The state did what the state did which is kind of flip out and then they What we did in order to combat that was put in the pumping trough pipeline or the PTP pipeline because it had created this sort of trough from all the pumping and And that was in 1984. And then following that, we put in the Freeman Diversion in 1991 and that was to again alleviate first of all it stabilized the Santa Clara Riverbed because of the gravel Mining that had occurred and the the riverbed drop So it stopped that from continuing forward as the river bed would have continued to erode away Due to the gravel mining and then also address seawater intrusion by putting in those Sata Koi groundwater recharge facilities

last question How much how much acre feet has been? stored in the

ground so since we've been in existence, we've Recharged more than four million acre feet Any questions?

No more questions. I think that was our last question, so thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate all your information and I hope the folks in the room today really learned a lot about this measure D that's gonna be on the ballot. So thank you so much. We are going to

Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the City Council and staff. Thank you so much for this opportunity to speak with you this evening going from one major infrastructure project set of projects dedicated to water now on to what is arguably the most significant transportation project in Ventura County in a decade or maybe even in a generation So we are approaching an important milestone on that project, on the US 101 Improvement Project.

And that's release of the draft environmental document for public circulation. Taking one tiny step back for the record my name is Amanda Fagan I serve as the Director of Planning and Sustainability for the Ventura County Transportation Commission So I'll spend a few minutes this evening sharing background, alternatives analysis, vehicle miles traveled evaluation, funding project schedule and next steps.

The Ventura County Transportation Commission or VCTC is the lead sponsor for this project in partnership with Caltrans, the four corridor cities so Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura and the county of Ventura The US-101 Improvement Project study area extends from Moorpark Road in the City of Thousand Oaks through the cities of Camarillo and Oxnard to State Route 33 in the city of Ventura.

Of course, US-101 is the major coastal route that connects northern, central and southern parts of our state Regionally, the 101 connects Ventura County with our surrounding counties of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. But also it connects our communities with one another and serves as a critical link in our resilient transportation system. Over half of Ventura County's jobs and residences are located within the three-mile corridor along US 101.

The 101 has been identified as the highway network's greatest area of need with aging infrastructure, no continuous alternate routes, peak period speeds forecast to drop and travel times to increase and constraining person and goods movement. And while several options for travel within the corridor exist, including single occupancy travel on the freeway, transit and rail, providing an additional option of a high-occupancy vehicle lane would enable travelers to opt out of congestion which is listed as a key action in the Caltrans Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure.

In collaboration with Caltrans and our local partners, VCTC has taken a regional multimodal approach to finding solutions to congestion on the 101 and to planning for the future of our transportation system. At each step along the way, VCTC has actively engaged local stakeholders and the public Beginning with the 2013 Comprehensive Transportation Plan, VCTC identified US-101 as the roadway network's highest priority within the region.

Within the project area, US-101 chiefly consists of three general purpose or regular lanes in each direction. Auxiliary lanes are located in certain spot locations primarily in Thousand Oaks. No existing HOV lanes are located within Ventura County. The defined purpose of the project is to improve traffic conditions by improving trip reliability, achieving regional HOV lane connectivity, supporting regional prosperity and improving efficiency of the public transit system.

The overarching project need is to improve trip reliability and traffic operations. Initially a list of alternatives was developed through the Caltrans project study report completed in 2013. A project development team recommendations and from public input received during the public scoping process These alternatives were compared to the project purpose and need, and to traffic engineering and environmental criteria Some alternatives were found to result in higher levels of environmental and property impact for little or no improvement in the freeway or local roadway operations compared to other alternatives.

Those alternatives that performed better were selected to be included in the final set of alternatives, to be studied in greater detail in the environmental document. Alternatives evaluated ranged from a no-build scenario to several HOV lane configurations, a reversible lane, an elevated transitway, general purpose lane and a combination of lane configurations.

Three alternatives were ultimately approved by the project development team for further study. A no-build alternative, one HOV and express bus lane with auxiliary lanes, and one HOV express bus lane with auxiliary lanes and design variations. I'll describe each of these briefly in more detail. First, the no-build alternative is used as a baseline against which the other alternatives can be measured and reflects no further improvements to the 101.

Alternative two adds an HOV lane for carpools, van pools and express bus service in each direction on US 101 from approximately Moorpark Road to near California Street. Alternative two would also include adding auxiliary lanes between certain on-and off ramps where they improve the flow of traffic on the freeway. Alternative 3 is very similar to alternative 2, providing an HOV lane on US 101 from Moorpark Road to near California Street.

It also includes design variations that would improve the freeway alignment on the Conejo grade, improve a southbound bottleneck near Dawson Drive and end the northbound HOV lane south of California Street to improve operations. The selected alternatives provide a number of substantial benefits to the community. Project alternatives avoid the need for full acquisition of either homes or businesses, provide thousands of construction jobs and maintain existing lanes during construction.

The project will be constructed in phases to minimize disruption to the transportation system. Both build alternatives improve traffic operations compared to the no-build alternative, include improvements to 14 intersections and provide reliable trip times in the HOV lane. Alternative 3 performs slightly better than Alternative 2 reducing average travel times density delays and improving average travel speeds For example, looking at just one metric, alternatives two and three reduce the average vehicle hours of delay by more than half for both the 2040 and the 2060 projected operations.

Since its implementation in 2020, Senate Bill 743 has changed the way that lead agencies evaluate transportation impacts under CEQA with a goal of better measuring the actual transportation-related environmental impacts of any given project. SB743 changed how transportation impacts are measured under CEQA shifting to vehicle miles traveled or VMT rather than level of service.

Estimated VMT is based on model runs from the Ventura County Transportation Model that were conducted for this project. The project is estimated to generate annual VMT, I'm sorry, I was saying this wrong, the project is estimated to generate an increase of 0.7% annual VMT compared to the no-build scenario. Although the U.S. 101 Improvement Project began in 2018, before agencies were required to analyze transportation impacts according to the VMT metric, VCTC developed a program of mitigation strategies to address the increase in VMT.

This program has been developed in a holistic way to improve the corridor and meet community needs. It includes a suite of multimodal projects and will commit a total of $243 million to multimodals in the corridor, or around 20% of the total project cost. VCTC's policy for many years has been that the US-101 project is to be the top priority for Surface Transportation Block Grant, or STBG, and Surface Transportation Improvement Plan, or Program, or STIP funds.

We have assembled approximately $218 million that has been programmed to begin construction in 2031. We're also continuing to actively seek state and federal grants to fund the remainder of project costs. Potential early action projects will also be determined based on cost effectiveness, to provide the highest benefit with the least cost. So we are approaching the public circulation phase of the project, which will be followed by the selection of the preferred alternative and development of the early action phasing strategy.

Then a final environmental impact report and environmental assessment and final project report by the end of 2027. Public circulation of the draft environmental document is anticipated to begin next week on September 30th We will be conducting public hearings in each of the corridor cities throughout early November. Starting with Thousand Oaks on November 4th and Oxnard on November 12, as well as public hearings in Camarillo and Ventura.

We'll also be hosting a public hearing on Saturday, November 14 at 1030 AM, and that one will be held virtually. Circulation dates are anticipated to be September 30th through December 7th of 2026. The draft environmental document will be available for review electronically through our project website which is OurFuture101.org Public comments are due by 1159 p.m on Monday, December 7th Comments may be submitted directly to Caltrans and all of this information will be included in the final notifications as the document is released.

We will be using our existing social media and webpage resources to provide updates and share information on the project. Postcards will also be mailed to all residences and businesses within one mile of the corridor, so approximately 75,000 of our friends and neighbors will be receiving notices of the availability of the document for public review. Our team is putting the finishing touches on the document and making preparations to begin circulation next week. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the City of Port Hueneme, of course to Mayor McQueen-Lejeune who currently serves as the chair of the Ventura County Transportation Commission and to city staff who participate in our transportation technical advisory committee serving BCTC.

So with that I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have and I appreciate the patience of everyone who's seen this presentation multiple times, I think it's the ninth time I've given it in public so thank you for your time and your interest.

Great do we have any questions? Any questions? Council Member Gama

So I traveled through Ventura County, through Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and one thing I noticed is that once we get out of Ventura County then the carpool lane's there. But the traffic's the same. Whether there's a carpool lane or not when there's traffic There's traffic across all lanes. And so I'm wondering with Ventura County not having a carpool lane, has there been any studies to pin down like okay does it really help or does it not mitigate at all? And then the other thing is why is there so much focus on express bus lanes and all the photos that you've shown, I didn't see one bus but I did see a couple trucks but a lot of cars Just trying to understand why there's this emphasis on the express bus lane

Thank You councilmember gamma two excellent questions two big questions The study does look at the long-term projected Travel demand in Ventura County and so that does the performance measures that are incorporated into the environmental document do you consider what our travel will look like in 2040 at the build out year and 2060 at the I think they call that the peak year.

So it does look at and incorporate travel performance throughout that period. Looking at Santa Barbara County, they were going from two lanes of travel to three. We currently have three and we're going to four plus the auxiliary lanes so all of the improvements that are incorporated into this program are intended to meet the needs of the future travel demand and provide the benefits that I mentioned.

The project emphasis on express bus service is one of the key drivers of this project is to provide a reliable trip time or more reliable trip times for bus travel. One of the challenges in Encouraging the public to use inner city bus service in particular is the time competitiveness between driving alone on the freeway and so by Increasing the reliability of travel time in that HOV lane That becomes an important piece of the overall picture for encouraging the use of inner-city bus transit As I also mentioned, the mitigation program does include investments in transit. And so the overall project includes those corresponding investments in inner city bus transit. So that's why the focus on express bus service.

Any questions? I guess the only thing that I would like to add was an aha moment for me, Ms. Fagan is when I think about HOV lanes, I think about trying to get as many cars through but I'm starting to learn a little more that it's not about how many cars are traveling the HOV lane but it's about getting the people through to the other side right and so do you have anything about that you can share with us?