Coronado CAN!: City of Coronado Council Meeting Report: February 18th, 2014

Highlights of the Meeting:

• Michele Stiny was appointed as a new member of the Street Tree Committee;
  
• Four new members were appointed to the Transportation Commission: Cauleen Glass, Jeanie Smith Peterson, Catherine Squitieri and Mary Wright;
• Kari McPherson was appointed as a new member to the Parks and Recreation Commission;
  
• Pomona roundabout design changes were finalized, construction scheduled for summer and construction contract authorized to be put out for bids;
  
• A resident threatened litigation to contest City’s use of Bridge Toll Funds to pay for the Pomona roundabout;

• Outgoing Chairman of the Cultural Arts Commission Heidi Wilson introduced new CAC Chairman Steve Baker and presented a report on the arts in Coronado;
  
• Council approved an ordinance amending the Municipal Code zoning provisions to make them consistent with State requirements and the previously approved Housing Element of the City’s General Plan;
  
• Council approved an ordinance limiting the sizes and types of materials to be burned for beach fires;
  
• Council approved an ordinance to clarify that rulings of the City’s Civil Service Commission may not be appealed to the City Council;
  
• Council approved hiring an outside contractor for $18,500 to do a citizen satisfaction survey;
  
• The Mid-year budget review showed higher estimated revenues than originally projected and higher expenses than originally estimated, primarily due to the City’s establishment of a trust to fund employee post-retirement healthcare;
  
• The Golf Course irrigation system replacement project will be more expensive than anticipated because a new electrical system is also needed; and
  
• Council decided to defer until the next budget cycle consideration of adding two new Police Department positions.
  

Pomona Roundabout

The meeting stated with a discussion of the Pomona Roundabout which had generated concerns of two types: concerns about the construction process from nearby residents and concerns from 3rd/4th Street residents about the use of $1M Bridge Toll Funds to pay for the construction.

City Engineer Ed Walton explained than there were four design changes from the conceptual plan the Council had approved: 1) the tree planned for the center of the island would be replaced by 3 trees around the perimeter (because the central tree would interfere with utilities); 2) the raised crosswalks were eliminated due to drainage issues and replaced by speed bumps on an access road; 3) the sidewalk West of Pomona will be left as is and 4) the 7th Street bike ramp was reconfigured to avoid conflicts with utilities and trees. City Staff proposes to bid the construction contract now but defer construction until summer with the goal of doing the construction, which will involve pipe installation, during dry weather. Construction is expected to take approximately 3 months.

The City had sent out a letter to residents bordering the construction area which alarmed them by suggesting the they would have no vehicle access to their homes for the entire construction period. The Staff reassured residents that there would be some vehicle access during this period for residents living in the construction zone, mainly at night. However, the area will be closed to through traffic during the construction period.

Other residents living near 3rd/4th Streets objected to the use of $1M Bridge Toll Funds to pay for the roundabout construction, claiming that these funds were intended to be used only to pay for improvements in the 3rd/4th street bridge corridor. One resident, Mona Kelly, said she would be meeting with her lawyer to sue the City over this issue.

At the Mayor’s request, City attorney Joanna Canlas responded to this allegation by reading an excerpt from a letter from SANDAG’s legal counsel stating his opinion that the use of the Bridge Toll Funds to pay for the roundabout was permissible under the City’s Agreement with SANDAG because the purpose was to improve alternate access routes to the bridge.

There was considerable discussion by the Council about ways to be sure that the construction was completed on time and the motion approved by the Council required the Staff to beef up penalties and include incentives in the contract to assure timely completion.

New Commission Members

The Council filled vacancies on the Street Tree Committee , the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Transportation Commission. Michele Stiny was appointed by the Council as the new member of the Street Tree Committee and Kari McPherson was appointed as the new member of the Parks and Recreation Commission.

There were numerous applicants for the four vacancies on the Transportation Commission. There is a requirement that the Commission have a representative from The Shores and one from the Cays. The Council appointed Cauleen Glass as the representative from the Cays; they waived the requirement for a representative from The Shores because no one from The Shores had applied. From the remaining applicants the Council appointed Catherine Squitieri, Mary Wright and Jeanie Smith Peterson for the three remaining slots.

Zoning Change for Housing Element

This matter is a technical amendment to the City’s zoning code to make it consistent with the changes to the “Housing Element”of the City’s General Plan. The Council had previously approved the Housing Element and the State has certified it as compliant with State requirements. While strictly speaking the City is not required to comply with the State standards, if it does not do so it can lose access to State transportation and other funds. Although the zoning amendment sounds concerning because it removes zoning impediments to emergency shelters, “transitional and supportive” housing , large residential care facilities and single room occupancy units in certain areas, the Staff believes the practical effects are virtually nil. This is because there is no requirement that City provide such facilities and, with the high cost of land and the built-out status of Coronado, it is unlikely that a developer would find developing such housing commercially viable. The Council approved these amendments 4-1 with Council member Denny voting no because of her concerns that Coronado is built-out and this change would facilitate more development.

Report of the Cultural Art Commission

Outgoing CAC Chairman Heidi Wilson introduced Steve Baker as the new CAC Chairman. Mr. Baker is the Director of Marketing for the San Diego Symphony and has an extensive background in arts administration.

The CAC also presented a written report of the CAC which was not discussed at the Council meeting but which was part of the agenda package for the meeting which is on the City’s web-site. Ms. Wilson did report that a recent survey on the arts in Coronado showed that in 2013 there were 1,800 paid and free performances, generating $7.6 M in revenues.

Beach Fire Ordinance

In January the Council had approved several changes in the City’s policies on beach fires and had directed the Staff to prepare the ordinance changes to put the new policies into effect. The proposed ordinance would limit the materials to be burned to clean wood and charcoal. It would also limit the height of the material to be burned to 12″ above the fire ring and require that the materials must be contained within the fire ring or other fire container. It did not limit fires to the fire rings on North Beach but continues to permit portable BBQs and similar fire containers elsewhere on the beach, including in front of The Shores. Resident Ben Siegfried asked if the new policy prohibited burning of pallets and was told that the ordinance did prohibit them indirectly because of the limits on size and the prohibition on using materials containing nails. Shores resident Trisha Trowbridge remained concerned about fires in front of The Shores and brought a container of charcoal debris which she had collected from the beach in front of The Shores.

The proposed ordinance changes were approved by a vote of 4-1, with Council member Denny voting no because she was concerned that the ordinance did not go far enough because it still permits fires on the complete length of the beach and because she thought that by not prohibiting the burning of pallets directly, the City was setting itself up for enforcement problems.

The Mayor said the enforcement issues would be taken up at later Council meeting in March.

Ordinance Concerning Appeals to the City Council

The Staff proposed that the Council amend a previously adopted ordinance which permits appeals to the Council of decisions of the City’s commissions, committees and boards to exclude appeals from the City’s Civil Service Commission. The Council had not considered the Civil Service Commission when the language was originally proposed in 2011 and it was not intended to cover appeals of the Civil Service Commission which is governed by a different section of the City’s Municipal Code. The Council unanimously voted to approve the proposed amendment to exclude the Civil Service Commission from the ordinance permitting appeals to the Council.

Citizen Satisfaction Survey

The Staff proposed that the Council approve $17,000 to hire a outside contractor to survey 1,200 randomly selected residents about their views on how well the City is run. Council members Bailey and Ovrom both questioned the purposes and usefulness of the proposed survey as presently designed; they thought the proposed questions did not dig deep enough to provide useful information. They proposed adding more specific follow-up questions and also an open ended question asking about residents’ top three concerns. Adding an open-ended question would cost an additional $1,500. Council member Denny expressed the view that the survey was wasteful and that is better to “beat the pavement” and listen to residents’ concerns in person. Ultimately, however, the Council approved the survey with the addition of an open-ended question and asked the Staff to work with Mr. Bailey to develop the open ended question and to refine the wording on some of the proposed questions.

Mid-Year Financial Review