The Coronado City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 7 began with awards and proclamations recognizing peace officers, biking, historic preservation and local students.
Mayor Bailey presented a proclamation to Corporal Bill Canet and Officer Kevin Engelke honoring May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day. He also mentioned that the City of Coronado respectfully pays tribute and remembers the sacrifice of Lieutenant Frank Greene, killed in the line of duty on October 12, 1954. In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls, as National Police Week. Established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others. Coronado thanks their Police Department for all that they do for the public safety.
May is National Bike Month and Mayor Bailey gave a proclamation to Russell Boelhauf, Chairman of the Bicycle Advisory Committee and Andy Hanshaw, Executive Director of the San Diego Bike Coalition. There are many bike-related activities throughout the month: May 9 is National Bike to School Day; May 11 is the Mayor’s Ride; May 16 is Regional Bike to Work Day; and May 17 is National Bike to Work Day. The mayor highlighted that with more than 1,340 miles of bike ways in the San Diego region and an average temperature of 71 degrees, the San Diego region is one of the best places in the country to bike.
National Historic Preservation Month was the next proclamation that Mayor Bailey gave to Rita Sarich, Executive Director, Coronado MainStreet. Bronze plaques were awarded to five properties designated as historic resources in 2018: Harry & Jessica Thaete, 1109 F Avenue, 1913 Craftsman; Thomas & Laura McNeal, 1030 Glorietta Boulevard, 1939 Colonial Revival: Scott Helmers Trust, 520 J Avenue, 1938 Spanish Revival Eclectic: Kathleen Stengel Trust, 532 Marina Avenue, 1929 Dutch Colonial Revival; Coronado Beach House LLC, 1405 Tenth Street, 1909 Craftsman.
The award winning “Surviving Killer Waves” tsunami video was presented. It was created by three CHS students in BK Manning’s animation class including Lucy Greenberg and Tulasi Napolitani. The mayor gave the girls a commendation for their video.
Community Grants
The Community Grants process has been an ongoing topic, and the council decided on changes to the existing process as recommended by the subcommittee consisting of Mayor Bailey and Councilmember Donovan. Members of Coronado SAFE, Chamber of Commerce and Coronado MainStreet offered their ideas for enhancing the process with changes to the new proposal. Councilmembers agreed that they were definitely moving in the right direction, but there would be tweaks along the way. One major point of the $1 million cap or one percent of the budget was revised to be a recommended goal. The mayor addressed criticism about what other cities give in community grants and he cited similarly sized cities as examples: Beverly Hills gives $50,000 and Del Mar gives $75,000. Mayor Bailey stated, “Many organizations have grown financially dependent on the city at potentially the detriment of new groups.” Councilmember Benzian added, “Everyone should re-examine how they are doing business and always look for other sources of funding.”
After much discussion, a few policy and application changes were made, and the council unanimously approved it. Donovan said, “Next year this can be revisited, and we may want some fresh eyes looking at it.”
Recommended Major Policy Changes:
- Update the mission statement to state, “The purpose of the City’s Grant Program is to strengthen our sense of community by enhancing Economic Development, Social Services, Arts, Community Pride and Sense of Place through partnerships with local nonprofits to administer events, services, activities, and purchases more efficiently and economically than otherwise possible through the municipal corporation.”
- Require a program-based application instead of an organization-based application.
- Develop types of grants – Special Event, Services, Seed Money, One-Time Purchases, Recurring Event, and set different parameters for each type.
- Require all grant requests contribute to at least one of the four community elements (Economic Development, Social Services, Arts, Community Pride and Sense of Place) as detailed in the grant policy.
- Establish objectives for each community element.
- Request the Cultural Arts Commission make recommendations for arts-related applications.
- Create a rubric for evaluating the strength of organizations and applications.
Recommended Major Application Changes:
- Applications are program specific.
- Applicants are required to estimate the program cost.
- Applicants are required to create program budgets.
- The application allows groups to easily identify if they are requesting a multi-year agreement.
- The new rubric is included in the application and applicants are encouraged to submit a detailed application to addresses the rubric criteria.
Recommended Pilot Program
- Request an independent, three-person panel, with a background in nonprofit work, review and score the grant applications based on the recommended rubric. Although the recommendations from the independent panel would be non-binding, the recommendations could aid in the Council’s deliberations.
Logos Youth Center
The longest portion of the meeting was Oral Communication. Of 29 people that spoke, 28 addressed the Logos Youth Center. Twenty-five of those in favor of the project, including seven teenagers, were asking the city council to reverse last month’s denial of a Major Special Use Permit (MSUP). Three residents spoke in favor of leaving the vote in place and cited a petition that was signed by 150 people in agreement with denying the project. Those in favor of the project were members of the Graham Memorial staff, parents, kids and others involved in youth outreach citing the need for a safe place for teens to hang out in Coronado and asking for this donated project to go forward.
After public comment, Mayor Bailey stated that since it wasn’t an agenda item there was nothing that could be done at this time; and with a 2-2 vote on this issue, one of the city council members would have to bring it forward to be brought before council again.
Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA)
Mayor Bailey mentioned several SANDAG items. The first was the preliminary Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) number of 1800 additional units to be built that would be catastrophic to Coronado. He will be working to get these numbers reevaluated to a more manageable size. He also explained that after the 2004 TransNet expansion passed, $25 million was designated for congestion relief and this year SANDAG is trying to reallocate those funds. He will be working to get these designated funds for Coronado.
Coronado Cays Boulevard and Bayshore Bikeway Signage
Ed Walton, PE, City Engineer, gave a history of the Coronado Cays Blvd. and Bayshore Bikeway Signage project which had changes made in 2016, and pointed out that city staff recommended no further action needed to be taken. But both the Bicycle Advisory Committee and the Transportation Commission recommended the installation of “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” signs and pavement markings on the bike path prior to the intersection. Several Cays residents spoke in favor of the signs stating the dangers that exists between cars and bicycles at that intersection. Councilmember Heinze, who lives in the Cays, agreed and made the motion to put up the two recommended signs. The council unanimously approved this expenditure which should be less than $1,000 in material costs, with installation completed by public services staff and paid for by the street maintenance account.
Consent Calendar
- The Orange Avenue “Patriotic Series” Banner designs were approved as recommended by Cultural Arts Commission. The banners will be placed on the Orange Avenue medians from First Street through Avenida de las Arenas from July 1 through September 15, 2019.
- City staff created a five-year tree planting plan that will address the voids in Spreckels Park created by the removal and loss of several large trees. This will restore shade in areas where larger-sized trees were removed or failed, while maintaining a careful balance of open space to support park activities. This will occur in increments of two to five trees per year, for a total of 18 newly planted trees.
- Sue Godwin was reappointed to a second, three-year term as an at-large representative on the Discover Coronado Board.
- Helen Kupka was appointed to fill the vacancy on the Cultural Arts Commission for the remainder of the current term expiring December 31, 2020.
- The following items were quickly approved before the meeting ended:
- A resolution was adopted approving an amendment to the TransNet Local Street Improvement Program of Projects for fiscal years 2019 through 2023.
- The consideration of an environmental initial study and determination of whether to proceed by mitigated negative declaration for the South Bay Sewer Force Main Alignment Project. This is in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act.
- An ordinance was adopted authorizing an amendment to the contract between the City of Coronado and the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) to provide a mandatory employee contribution of 1.5 percent of salary as provided for all classic employees,
Due to time constraints, several agenda items were continued to the next Council meeting, including: the City Manager’s report, Ocean Blvd sidewalk and street improvements, and the Nixle Public Notification Policy.
