City Council — April 14, 2026

Okay. We will now call to order the City Council meeting. Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Yes, thank you Mayor Taylor. We have three closed sessions tonight. The first two are pending litigation pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9a. First one is Robinson versus City of Thousand Oaks and the second one is Keys versus City of Thousand Oaks. And the last closed session is regarding real property negotiations pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.8 regarding property 1868 Teal Boulevard.

Thank you. And we have no speakers on this item, so we will go into closed session now and we will see you in an hour. ♪ You. You. you

you You. You're welcome. You. We'll be right back. ♪ The Hi, everybody. Music The . . You. you ♪ Oh, You. you you

All right, we are back from closed session. Ms. Noonan do we have anything to report?

Nothing to report. I

thank you if you are able can you please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? Right hand over your heart ready begin.

Thank you Mayor. Good evening Council and thank you for the opportunity to share a few brief remarks about the City's Crossing Guard program. The city has been operating and funding the program since 1964. The city's program currently supports pedestrians at 14 school intersections across our community. Pursuant to council direction on July 8th, 2025, the program's crossing guard services are now contracted through All-City Management Services.

This new partnership ensures that we have trained crossing guards present at their assigned locations, supporting safe routes to and from school and assisting students and families in navigating busy school intersections. Staff will continue to promote walking to school through our robust public outreach, which provides tools to help residents increase walking and biking to school.

The City of Thousand Oaks appreciates the crossing guards and the team at All-City Management Services for providing excellent service to our community. Thank you that concludes my remarks

Thank you. And now I'm going to invite the crossing guards up and I am going to give you guys this awesome proclamation, say thank you because number one an organization is only as strong as the team that we have and we have an excellent team here. Can I invite my council up as well? Can we take a photo with thank you.

We're going to go this way.

And as you can see, our skill set is not managing traffic. Next up we have public comments. Will the City Clerk please announce the comments?

This is the time and place for public comments. Speakers are requested to state their name and community of residence for the record. Seven individuals have requested to speak and pursuant to Council standards speakers are allowed three minutes. The yellow light displays when you have one minute remaining.

Thank you. I'm going to call all in-person speakers first and then, I don't see any for Zoom for this one so first up is going to be Randy Elzinga

Good evening Honorable City Council, council staff and audience. I want to respectfully correct the record regarding a claim made during the March 24th meeting concerning the constitutionality of displaying the national motto, In God We Trust within this chamber. At that meeting, a woman named Ina asserted that such displays are not supported by case law. This assertion is inaccurate. Prior to 2022, the courts applied the Lemon Test which was established in Lemon versus Kurtzman case in 1971 which required government actions to satisfy three prongs.

Number one, a secular legislative purpose. Number two, a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion and number three no excessive government entanglement with religion However, in June of 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court effectively retired the lemon test in Kennedy versus Bremerton School District and that was the court now evaluates government actions under the framework of historical practices and understandings.

Under this standard long-standing traditions including the display of In God We Trust are more likely to be upheld as constitutional. To illustrate this point, consider the following historical presidents. In 1800 when Congress moved into the newly completed U.S. Capitol one of its first acts was to designate the House of Representatives as a church chamber.

It later became the largest church in Washington D.C., and one of the largest in the nation. The second one, just three days after establishing the first paid congressional chaplaincy. The first Congress approved the First Amendment including the establishment clause demonstrating that prayer and religious acknowledgement were not seen as incompatible with constitutional governance.

And in February of 1961, President John F. Kennedy stated the guiding principle and prayer of this nation has been is now and shall ever be in God we trust. These examples reflect enduring American traditions not religious coercion And are consistent with the court's current jurisprudence. I respectfully urge the council to consider this historical and legal context as you deliberate on this matter. I thank you for your time, service and commitment to the community.

Next up we have Gina Marcoccio

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Gina Marcaccio Cagle. We moved here about 10 years ago from L.A. County. We escaped after being broken into five times at our beautiful home in Granada Hills. I had Devonshire Division on speed dial so we are so happy to be in a safe neighborhood in Dos Vientos. But tonight I wanted to remind you, if I may, that we're quickly approaching our nation's 250th birthday and we are given a rare and powerful opportunity not just to celebrate our past but to strengthen the spirit of our community.

I'm hoping fireworks and parades bring neighbors together through local events that will inspire community pride, unity and gratitude. Let's pass on tradition folks in Thousand Oaks will remember because we live in a great safe city and I'd love to see in God we trust up above there. Thank you for your time

All right, next up we have Anne and then following Anne will be Scarlett.

I'm so sorry, I don't hear perfectly well but good to see all of you. Thank you for your time. I'm Anne Marie and I'm from Thousand Oaks. I am a long-time resident Our country is celebrating its 250th birthday as a constitutional nation, guided by its founding documents based on godly and biblical principles and moral values. These values have kept our nation pointed towards the freedoms and liberties we hold so dear including freedom of speech and the others listed in the Bill of Rights.

This July 4th, we have a unique opportunity to celebrate as a nation and in our local city of Thousand Oaks the monumental milestone we have reached in becoming 250 years old. A milestone no other constitution has achieved in the world. A simple Google search will show you that special celebrations are already planned across the Southland. These include Huntington Beach having a large parade, the largest Independence Day Parade west of the Mississippi, a plaza festival, a 5k run and so on. Los Angeles is having a major July 4th block party event and many local community celebrations Torrance is having the City Council officially declared 2026 as the 250th anniversary year of the nation.

Oceanside is having a community festival, Paso Robles is having another community festival filled with businesses and services of their community. So how are we going to celebrate as beautiful Thousand Oaks? I understand Conejo Parks and Rec is working with the city to add special enhancements to make our community celebration special, including extra music nights, family-friendly events including a three-legged race etc. That is wonderful!

What if we decorated Thousand Oaks Boulevard with patriotic banners on the light posts? These details can boost our community's pride and morale and spirit as Americans, and also as residents of Thousand Oaks. They would take more pride in their city. I would like to also consider maybe t-shirts, maybe posters. Things that get people excited about this monumental occasion.

I would love to help with this project. I'm happy to offer my time and ideas if the city would like my support. I am fully aware that the majority of our community residents will also attend and support the celebration. Thank you for honoring this milestone that is so important and valued by the community. Thank you for your time.

Hello council, I am Scarlett of Thousand Oaks. Thank you for your time this evening. So is the picture up? Can y'all see it? Okay so I wanted to let you all know that this is my dad and that's his dog Spot and yes and that wagon, is that Americana or what? So my dad grew up in Tennessee, in poverty. No running water, no electricity until the age of 16 and with the opportunities afforded in America he went to high school, he went to trade school, he became an auto mechanic, he migrated to Michigan and found a job working as a mechanic for the City of Warren Police Department And through that, he was able to make a way for our family. So again with the blessings of liberty that flow within America and working hard and working smart, he was able to go from poverty to flourishing in the suburbs.

I wanted to take my children on a pilgrimage to Tennessee to see where my mom and dad grew up When we got to town, so after this one I've got one more picture for you. When we got into the city, much to my surprise, I show up at my dad's hometown of Baxter top left there and what do I see on the City Hall? To my surprise, in God We Trust our national motto, I go to my mom's home city of Cookville Tennessee And on that city hall, on all four sides is our national motto. Interestingly my grandfather served in elected office in that very building so I wanted to share that and let you know Those are my boys in this photo, and that's the city I grew up in. And that is the City of Warren.

And I take my boys there every year, and every year of their lives have taken a picture of them in front of that sign at the City Hall established 1957. Now recently I was going through my mom's China cabinet, and I came across this memento from 1976, the Bicentennial. This was issued out by the City of Warren and it says Bicentennial 76, Warren Michigan. On the other side is the city seal flanked on each side by the date of established year to 1976. I could see something like this doesn't have to be glass But commemorative items by the City of Thousand Oaks have that 250th, you know, supercentennial Thousand Oaks seal.

We were established 1964 and then put 2026 on there. Sound great? Thanks guys!

Thank you. Next up will be Scott Horn.

Hello City Council, staff and people of the Conejo Valley. I'm here representing Mother Earth, not figuratively but the idea of Arbor Earth Day and the Thousand Oaks celebration that will be happening on Saturday. I'm a member of the Organic Garden Club of Ventura County we'll have a booth there and i know that uh... the city is big on this and we thank you for producing um... this event and i wanted also mention that uh... the organic garden club will have a booth at this event it will be uh... giving away plants in and celebrating all things natural and it's going to be Pretty darn nice, we've got great weather right now. They're predicting that Saturday will probably be the best day of the week. I also wanted to point out that Thousand Oaks' own John Brooks from the Sustainability Department...

will be at that event and he's also going to be our featured speaker at the Organic Garden Club meeting next Tuesday, the 18th. It'll be in the Thousand Oaks, excuse me, the Newbury Park Library from six to eight o'clock so if you want to see John's sustainability current spiel, he'll be out there for us and I'd like to invite everybody there You can probably get some free plants, something great that'll make your house better and all of us celebrating nature like we should be doing.

Thanks Scott. Next up is Michael Steele and then following and finishing will be Heather Hamilton

Good evening City Council, Mayor Taylor, everyone else in the audience. So I'm here tonight and there should be a document in front of you, 89 Traders to California. The reason I thought it was important to share this with you, I believe Andrew Powers saw this a little while back as I shared it with Jackie Irwin at one of her street side sessions and the reason I'm bringing this up today is because Jackie Irwin is a politician I'm not a fan of. I typically call her snake in the grass, in public and I don't want that for any of our current or future politicians in this state. And so understanding perspective of our actions and what they appear on this side I think is very important as citizens we need to show up as a mirror and help You in the seats understand how we are seeing things.

And so a couple weeks back, we talked about the solar panel programs and the EV programs that were getting a bunch of money to get installed for the city. And the reason why I'm sharing this is because somebody earlier in that meeting had asked if all of you are aware of your oath and had sworn to defend that constitution. Some of you raised your hand, some of you didn't, you were reticent. And so if you notice on the very beginning here, violating the First Amendment and their election of duty and their oath of office. So that may or may not have come as a something that Jackie Irwin was aware of when she signed the bill that's within this packet which is AB 2098 which silenced doctors during COVID to express their opinion. That's obviously the first amendment protected but it didn't get rescinded until the following year due to a lot of pressure.

And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because it went not publicized, but Newsom took credit for saying that should have never passed as legislation. But he signed his name to it, right? So that was spoke to him being comfortable with signing something and then hoping that nobody was going to pay attention. And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because the solar and the EV investments were a bad bet. There was an article back in March that literally, the headline says bad bets, massive EV subsidies not paying off. I'm going to try to get this done in less than 60 seconds. We know that there were federal commitments in the tunes of billions of dollars to these programs, to try to push them across America. States jumped in to the tunes of hundreds of millions of dollars to push these programs through.

Lots of reasons to continue moving forward. I encourage everyone if you're going to continue to get involved in these programs to do a lot of due diligence because there's a lot on both sides. The wrong incentives were part of what moved these things. Specifically, there are a lot of backers who have not only argued for the environmental benefits of EVs but have also cast them as an economic boon that will create jobs and save consumers tons of money. Less than 20 seconds left.

Stellantis announced losing $26 billion on their EV business. Ford has never been able to entice buyers to its electric EV F-150. Who is it? And they will absorb $10 billion. Honda, $5 billion. GM, $7.6 billion. Volkswagen, $180 billion spent on a failed program. And I've used up my time.

Thank you. Last up is Heather Hamilton

Hi, I'm Heather. As of April 13th in the 805 Area Code, 1,839 people have been taken and placed in detention centers. 839 from Ventura County, 49 from Thousand Oaks and 19 from Newberry Park. And I already know how this goes. Someone's gonna clip me, they'll put this online and I get really lovely comments that my teenagers get to see about me. It's interesting because the people who say the harshest things about other human beings Often have a Bible verse in their bio and a flag on their page, etc.

And there's the other side, the people who leave really nice comments, who care, and I would call them the love your naval type people. So I came here and I'm like okay how do I say something that matters? So I'm going to be a time traveler. And I'm going to imagine 20 years from now when I'm sitting with little children who have no clue what time frame they've been born into. Kids that have no idea about social media or anything else and these kids are gonna ask us, what were you doing when people were placed in detention centers?

What were you doing when people were talked about like they didn't matter? What were you doing when you saw that people were sleeping on the floors, under bright lights 24 hours a day in conditions none of us in this room would accept. None of us. So I came here tonight to make sure I had that answer and to put it on the record, that I saw it. And I said something because history shows us that there is a right side of history and if there's a right side, there was a wrong side. And anytime we choose policy over humanity, any time we start talking about people like they are less than human, there is always a reckoning.

And when the institutions that are supposed to guide us, our government and our faith communities, when we lose trust things start to unravel. And it makes me think about Diedrich Bonhoeffer. He is someone who lived through a time when people had to decide where they stood and history became very clear about who got it right and who got it wrong. So I just want this on the record so when my kids can see it and all the mean haters come into my comments That I stood on the side that did not ignore human suffering.

That's a side that doesn't dehumanize people. And the side that remembers that dignity isn't something you earn, it's something you are given by simply being a human. And I know people disagree and I know this is emotional. It is for me but history has a way of telling the truth so I'm putting on the record that I chose and I saw humanity and I am not alone there's a lot of good people who see it too And at the end of the day, these are all human beings and that they matter. And we should not be treating people the way we are treating people. There is a better way.

We can... Anyway, that's it. Thank you.

Thank you Heather. Does City Manager have any comments? On the public comments.

Just very quickly for those wanting to track along teoaks.gov slash 250 is where we are putting in an ever-evolving list of activities that are taking shape there one of the big areas we're drawing emphasis to is our block party permit opportunities there which is really a nationwide effort to encourage more neighborhood block parties we have our process up they're very nominal fee for that along with all of our activities including our Big Fireworks celebration and will be more to come in the months ahead

All right, next up is the consent calendar. Does anyone have any questions or anyone like to pull any items? Mr. Newman

Thank You mayor I'd like to pull item 9f

9

9 F as in Foxtrot

all right ask a couple of questions sounds good does anybody want a motion to move the remainder?

Mr.. Mayor we do have three speakers on this item

Take it before.

Yes,

let's do that. All right next up we have three speakers So first up will be Jackson Piper And is Jackson Piper in person today?

He's on zoom.

He's on zoom. Okay,

not no tape that I

Jackson, I didn't see the Z and got excited that I might be seeing you in person today.

Sorry not today because of work. Someday. Someday definitely. I'm here to speak on item H in the consent calendar so I don't know if you wanted to have me speak now or later on? Go ahead you can go now. Okay thank you very much Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council you know me I'm always here speaking on housing issues and well, I understand that this is a done deal some kind of commenting after the fact.

And I understand that the City wants to maintain quality control over its projects happening within the city. I absolutely agree with the City having some control over the design elements of the projects. I did want to bring up the idea of how this may impact affordability and the production of affordable housing in Thousand Oaks in the future, If this becomes a trend, so as you all I'm sure know it takes multiple years to run a project through from its approval stage to its actual completion stage where it's ready to.

Basically to be inhabited by the new residents that are going to call it home. This is true for market rate housing, luxury housing and affordable housing as well unfortunately because we absolutely need affordable housing more than anything else. So I got a little concerned seeing the City Council Appeared a wave off the concerns from the developer, which I think should be substantiated before any.

Decision would be made in the future, but the claims that. The financing for the project could potentially be in jeopardy if council chose to deny these requests to change materials and features on the buildings. I do, like I said before, think design is very important. But I think there's a different level of importance to design elements that create a sort of nice aesthetic environment for the city Versus affordable housing production and the delivery of affordable housing within the city.

So I'm asking you for the future to really weigh those considerations is. The denial of requests to reduce the cost of a project by lowering some of the quality of the design elements going to inadvertently cause affordable housing that would have been built, to not be built in the city. Are we going to end up with a crater instead of actual homes that people need? Is it gonna sit empty like the Kmart site did for so long? So please consider those items and with that I'll leave it for now. Thank you.

Thank you, Jackson. And next up will be Karen Wilburn.

Good evening Mayor, Council, staff. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak I'm Karen Wilburn from Newberry Park and I'm here to speak on item F I have some concerns and questions about the floodplain study that I'm hoping can be clarified The original $262,000 study was expected to be completed by the spring of 2024. I kept following up with the city and Then I was told it was going to be ready by the spring of 2025, then the fall of 2025. Then into 2026 and now we're moving it to June 2027 three years later than it was expected.

I honestly mean no disrespect to staff, but I would like some clarity on how the cost and delivery time were so underestimated. Did this arise because of preliminary findings? Uncovered more work to be done? Have there been any preliminary findings? Can anything be released to the public as far as where we're at with this? The staff report also mentioned several property owners have contacted staff regarding expected outcomes and a peer review of the study model was ordered in 2025. Now, the wording in the staff report seems to imply that peer review was a result of these inquiries. I'd just like some clarity on this. Maybe it was just poor wording in the staff report and I wonder if any property owners actually questioned the manner in which the study was being conducted?

Last, I'd still like a little bit of clarity on what areas of deficiencies we're studying. Is the study also expected to cover deficiencies in the city storm drain system that the Army Corps of Engineers seem to think might have included the flood or made the flood problem more. If it's just the flood channel that we're looking at, the deficiencies, why is the city taking a lead on this? Isn't this something that the county and the Watershed Protection District should be taking the lead on? So those are just some of my thoughts and I thank you for your time.

All right. Next up we have Scott Horn.

It's two for Tuesday. I'm back my name is Scott Horn, I'm a resident of Newbury Park and I'm also speaking about the South Branch Arroyo Canterford floodplain improvement project which your consent agenda asked for another $215,000 more bringing it up nearly to half a million dollars now trying to Talk tech on this, I'm not. But I will talk about what this is. This is the creek that runs right through Newbury Park, right through my neighborhood. It's subdivided in half and it involves the people whose houses are in the floodplain and involves the flood control.

The city doesn't even have anyone employed as flood control, I don't think. And I kind of get the same sort of a feel like what's going on here? But the point I'm trying to make is that this does seem like it's a county issue more than anything. Why are we leading on this and I'd kind of like this to be brought out a bit more to understand what's going on here.

Karen brought up good points about the timing. I know things sometimes take longer, but the idea that The Watershed Protection District should be taking the lead on this especially now that it's Like twice as much money as it was before and twice as long Be nice to understand what's going on here? So I'm thanking you for your time and I'm gonna say Hope to hear back on this

Thank you. So why don't we do this? Do you want to respond to any of the comments and then we can move the remainder and then we could talk about that Yeah,

just only thing I was gonna speak on was they just the response regarding the

okay, so then let's start Why don't we move it some will somebody give me a motion or move the remainder Mr. Adams, can we get a vote on that?

Just for clarity on the matter associated with the Hollycrest project, staff's been working since the day after the original council hearing with the applicant. We anticipate that that applicant may actually pull permits this week so positive news that project is moving actively forward

And that motion passes and your ordinance title is an Ordinance Amending Thousand Oaks Municipal Code Relating to Regulation of Commercial Filming in the City Repealing and Replacing Title IV, Chapter 8, Ordinance Number 1748-NS. Okay

thank you and now I'll give the floor to Mr. Newman.

Thank You Mr. Mayor. I do have a couple questions one is echoing questions that were already asked in public comment We have a different government altogether, different agency. The Ventura County Watershed Protection District that is responsible for flood control. That's what they do. They look after the flood plain that goes through Newberry Park and the city does not because this other government does that.

So given that, my question is why is the city paying one penny for something that is the responsibility of a different government? Why are we expending anything on this project?

Good evening, Councilmember Newman. In regards to your initial question there about the city's involvement in the project, most of the homes along the area that is being studied are city residents. And the purpose of this study at this phase of this project is to study the local drainage systems, as well as the watershed as a whole. To see what improvements can be done potentially to lower the amount of homes that are currently having to pay flood insurance, If the FEMA maps which are currently in existence are accurate or if they were inaccurately drawn by FEMA, which has the potential of ensnaring more properties into the floodplain and requiring homeowners to pay flood insurance beyond what really should be done based on the actual modeling.

If the study finds that there are some sort of physical improvements needed on city side, not beyond the WPD territory as it were. Would that put the city in the flood protection business? Say if the study says a box culvert should go over here would the city then also be doing what WPD is currently doing?

Well the city currently has an extensive storm drain system. The Watershed Protection District handles the larger and more, you know, the largest infrastructure that passes through including the South Branch Channel itself but the majority of the storm drain system in Thousand Oaks is managed by the City of Thousand Oaks. Operated and maintained by the City of Thousand Oaks, and we do have a floodplain administrator on our staff. So while the Watershed Protection District is responsible for certain drainage structures they are not responsible for all drainage across the entire city.

Okay then my second question around this is Following up on something you mentioned just before, that one aim of the study is possibly removing some homes from the floodplain area if I understand correctly. That's one possible goal of the study?

A desirable end result would be that several residents who are paying thousands of dollars a year in flood insurance premiums right now may not need to do that going forward in the future

Right, so given that do you think that either through elevating those homes or just plain old removing them without changes would that have impacts on the floodplain downstream from the areas that are changed in some way or taken out?

No, nothing that we are pursuing to do and what we're doing as I should mention is in partnership with the county. The county's involved in reviewing every step of the study would result in a impacts to any other property owners.

Right, right. So just to walk through a simple example if for example the study recommended some elevation at some point to take some number of homes out of the floodplain but it would raise downstream there'd be another 100, 200, 500 acre feet of water to deal with. WPD would come back and say hey there would be this other impact so let's work that out but let's not have this downstream impact. Is that sort of the

nature? That's true with this study or with any other development yes.

But what I'm getting at is there is this cooperative discussion between the agencies.

Yes.

Okay very good Thank you for answering my questions. Mister mayor I am going to move to support this. We don't know yet, because the study's not finished and it keeps going on and on. Who benefits? We won't know that until the study is done. And we won't know what it'll cost or who will pay. How much of this will be county? How much of this will be city residents?

That's a concern, so this is not news. I've asked who benefits who pays several times before around this project and I'll continue to ask that. But given that we are in the discovery phase now and we need this new information to be able to answer those questions, I'm going to go ahead and move 9F and hope that we can get more clarity as soon as possible on this who benefits who pays question. Thank you.

Sounds good. We have a motion on the floor. Can we call the vote please?

And that motion passes five to zero.

All right, next up is our public hearing will City Clerk please open this hearing?

Hearing advertised as required by law is open to consider agenda item number 10A. Purchase and sale agreement for the transfer of property to Conejo Rec and Park District, 524 West Janss Road. There are no speakers for this item.

All right, and presenting the item tonight is Public Works Director Neda Hardari and Deputy Public Works Director Ted Gerber.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Ted Gerber. I'm the Deputy Public Works Director and the City Engineer in the Public Works Department. Joining me tonight on the dais is Nader Hedari and Noel Doran. Nader is the Public Works Director and Noel's one of our Assistant City Attorneys. I am presenting on an item that was last before you in October 2025, a transfer of ownership of the city property at 524 Janss Road to the Conejo Recreation and Park District for the development of a neighborhood park.

The parcel to be transferred is about an acre in size and was dedicated to the city as open space in 1983. The property is situated among residential homes along Janss Road, west of Lynn Road, and is pedestrian accessible on both the north and south sides. At present, the property landscaping and irrigation is maintained by the City Public Works Department.

In October, the City Council authorized staff to proceed with property sale negotiations with CRPD. At the same time, the City Council declared the site as exempt surplus land contingent upon transfer to CRPD. In November, the city's planning commission reviewed the potential disposition of property and transfer to CRPD and found the action consistent with the general plans goals and policies.

Our team worked closely with CRPD discussing preparation of the property and negotiating the terms of the transfer. This was a cooperative effort, and CRPD is fully on board with the two agreements that staff are now requesting that the City Council approve. The first contract is a purchase-and-sale agreement that transfers ownership of the 524 West Janss Road property by grant deed to CRPD for a sale price of $1.

The agreement provides for a 120-day investigation period following tonight's approval, during which the city will complete minor improvements to the property including separating the existing irrigation system from the city's adjacent right of ways. The second agreement is to license CRPD's use of a sliver of land shown here in an orange outline just east of the property which is outlined in blue.

The orange area is currently a city right-of-way easement and not a titled property. The license agreement grants CRPD the non-exclusive ability to encroach on this area without restricting the public's access and obligates CRPD to clean and maintain the travel pathway through the right-of-way, as well as all landscaping, sidewalks, irrigation, and other utilities at CRPD's sole expense.

This project was analyzed with respect to CEQA and found to be categorically exempt under Section 15325, The Transfer of Land Ownership And further, none of the six exemptions identified in CEQA guidelines section 15300.2 apply. Lastly this item relates to several city council goals as listed on this slide and recommendations related to this item are included in the staff report enlisted herein.

Nader, Noel and I are available for any questions. Thank you. Thank you.

And does anybody have any questions for staff? No questions, all right next up I don't see any public speakers that correct. All right so i'm going to close the hearing now and would council like any comments or emotion Mr Newman

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I will go ahead and move item 10A based on staff recommendations one through four.

May please call the vote?

Council Member Newman?

Aye.

Thank you very much that motion passes five to zero

Next up is our first department report, and presenting the item tonight is Lost Burges Municipal Water District General Manager David Peterson.

Good evening mayor and members of council. Thank you, my name is Dave Peterson I'm the general manager of Las Vergenas Municipal Water District and also what we call the administering agent of our joint powers authority. I wanted to introduce a number of our team members who are here with me Jessica Forte who's our principal engineer with Las Vergenas, Ricky Clark who is our public affairs associate she's going to be giving you a brief overview of the project that we're working on And then also Colin McCoy, who is with our constructor Walsh Construction.

So I'm going to be short. I just wanted to outline three things. Number one, I wanted to thank and recognize the city staff. You have an exemplary city staff, very professional. We've worked together on this over the course of more than a year. Akbar, Nader, Ted and their team really did a great job to work with us. Represented the city's interests very well and we came to an agreement that is before you that I think really recognizes the key issues around the project that you'll hear about from Ricky.

Just two other points about it. It is a water project that is regional in nature, it's a critical project for our region both LA County and Ventura County in terms of providing a more drought resilient supply of water and I think we all recall 2022 when we were facing some of the toughest water restrictions in our history this project will indeed help us so that we don't face that again And then third and probably most important, I wanted to directly give you my commitment on behalf of our organization the JPA that we will take the care and put the thought into building this project in your city to the standards that you expect in your staff. And that if at any time there are concerns or problems that we will be accountable and we will respond to them in a timely way I know it's important to you and I know the city's residents and businesses are critically important.

And so, I want you to know that you have that commitment from us at the highest level. And so with that, I think Ricky is up next unless Nader you wanted to give introductory remarks? Okay, Ricky Clark

Thanks, Dave. Good evening Mayor Taylor, council and city staff. Thank you for taking the time to let us share a bit about the project and MOA. So quick overview of LV and the JPA. I won't go through every single bullet here but Las Vergenas and Triunfo are two separate agencies that joined together to form a JPA to provide potable water services, wastewater composting and now the Pure Water Project through our joint partnership aka the JPA So through that we will be serving 105,000 residents throughout our service area and implementing this project. So here to talk about the Pure Water Project that Dave kicked off on.

This is gonna be our largest CIP in the history of the JPA and it's gonna be critical to our community so it's gonna create a new local supply of water to the tune of about 30% or we do not currently have one. We are 100% reliant on imported water which leaves us very vulnerable issues that we all experienced together during the last drought. This project will also allow us to satisfy a regulatory compliance need in Malibu Creek, it's a very highly protected and regulated watershed and this project will make sure that we're no longer discharging recycled water into the creek by 2030 which is our deadline to get out of there so again this project really allows us to satisfy both of those key needs in an environmentally responsible way Obviously, in creating a new local supply of water it'll also improve our reliability and our resiliency.

And finally as you can see on the slide we included a shot of the Advanced Water Purification Facility which will be live in 2030. I know some Thousand Oaks folks were with us at the site this past Friday celebrating the groundbreaking. We are now just a few years away from what is gonna be one of the most important projects in our region's history. And this is just what that process looks like. So the crux of the Pure Water Project is the advanced purification process, and that'll take recycled water that we treat at Tapo, send it through that advanced purification process and create that new supply of water. And this is really what we call bringing our water full circle. We've been in the business of beneficial reuse for decades now.