El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council
3769B San Pablo Dam Road, ES 94803 - Meetings 2nd Wednesday of each Month (7:00pm)
El Sobrante Library 4191 Appian Way, El Sobrante

Chair: Barbara Pendergrass, Vice-chair: Erica Peng, Secretary: Tom Owens, Treasurer: Hope Scott,
Members: Marilynne Mellander, Wendi Gosliner, Charles Marino, 1st Alt. Susan Swift

 

DRAFT  Minutes of Regular Meeting held September 13, 2006

Pledge led by Tom Owens
Meeting called to order 7:03 pm.
Note: Charles Marino and Erica Peng absent.

Minutes for August 9, 2006:
Corrections:
SDI.1 “a larger number” should read “the large number”
DI.1 “reuest” should be “request”
DI.4 “Supervisors” should be “supervisor Gioia”
DI.4 “to Municipal Advisory Council committees” should read “to El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council committees”
SUMMARY OF ACTIONS: remove motions that are not seconded
Motion to approve Minutes for August 9, 2006 as corrected  – M(MM),S,P – 6,0,0

Minutes for June 22, 2006:
Corrections:
Fifth paragraph in Introduction “garden are” should read “garden area”
Motion to approve Minutes for Joint meeting with R9 June 22, 2006 as corrected– M(TO),S,P – 6,0,0

Treasurer’s Report: $527.50 in account and $100.00 petty cash

PRESENTATIONS -

P(Unscheduled) Charles Ramsey President of West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Education, Madeline Kronenberg, Oversite committee:
Requested input on DeAnza aquatic center as budget would increase from $100M to $135M. The aquatic center would include a dive tank, 33 meter water polo indoor pool and potential availability for seniors and physical therapy among other community uses. This will utilize money that could be used for other schools. Wanted to know if the community thinks that this is a valuable addition. The operation of the aquatic center would not be funded by the school (although $75K might be available to be used toward the operational costs of $200-$300K) but run similar to the Kennedy Swim Center in Richmond. The school board is committed to continue school improvements in the valley especially in light of the support the valley residents have given to the district. He discussed improvements in DeAnza with a new safety program and mental health clinic to address problems such as truancy, loitering and violence.
Wendi Gosliner requested a letter of support be drafted for inclusion of a DeAnza aquatic center in DeAnza High School be drafted for inclusion in next months agenda.

P.1 Presentation by Lt. Donny Gordon, Bay Station Sheriff’s Department.
Increase of stolen and recovered vehicles as well as vandalism increased localized along the San Pablo Dam Road Corridor. Calls for suspicious circumstance calls are up and auto burglary calls are down. “If I were a thief program” seems to be working, thanks to volunteer, Mr. Arnold Bolton, whom he introduced. He would like to expand a “blight” patrol program to help control graffiti. Reports will change due to Sheriff’s new regulations and the web master responsible for online reports is gone but hopefully will be replaced shortly.
Instances of garbage dumping were discussed. Problems concerning abandoned vehicles were reported.

P.2 Presentation by Terrance Cheung, Chief of Staff for Supervisor John Gioia, was unavailable.

P.3 Presentation by East Bay Municipal Utility District- Michelle Blackwell.
Response to comments to San Pablo Dam Reservoir DEIR are now available online. The EIR is scheduled to go before the water board Sept. 25th. Weekend access to Kennedy Grove will be maintained and the park district will open Hillside for access during the weekday but details are still to be arranged. Storytime Festival will be accommodated and not affected. Specifics on noise and dust mitigation were addressed in EIR but not presented. Problems with traffic analysis were corrected. Flyers regarding the project will be given to the ESMAC for distribution at the El Sobrante Stroll.

PUBLIC COMMENT-
Suggestion that aftermath of El Sobrante Stroll needs clean up, will be referred to Marie.
It was pointed out that Marilynne Mellander violated the ESMAC bylaws as well as presented incorrect information in her letter to the editor on Sept. 2nd to which she responded I’ll do it again because I can and we can’t stop her.

CONSIDER CONSENT ITEMS-
CCI.1 Letter to Mike Giles, Public Works Department, Contra Costa County, regarding resurfacing of San Pablo Dam Road between El Portal Drive and Appian Way.
Pulled (MM) for inclusion in SHORT DISCUSSION ITEMS:

CCI.2 Authorize the purchase of a stamp and pad for return addresses on letters sent by the ESMAC.
Motion to authorize purchase of stamp and inkpad for return addresses for letters sent by ESMAC. – M(WG),S,P – 6,0,0

SHORT DISCUSSION ITEMS-
CCI.1 Marilynne Mellander reported that in a conversation with Mike Giles that in spite of the poor condition of San Pablo Dam Road that there are only plans for minor patch and repair projects. Request made that a section be added regarding regular maintenance be performed.
Motion that the letter to Mike Giles be amended to state after first sentence: “We would like to request a full resurfacing of this corridor as soon as possible. This should be a top public works priority. Currently the road is not safe for passage of cars and is particularly hazardous for bicyclists. M(WG),S,P – 6,0,0
Motion that we send the letter to Mike Giles as amended. M(TO),S,P -6,0,0

SDI.1 Business types:
Desirable: Family type restaurants, restaurants in general (with adequate parking), book stores, coffee shops, copy store, movie (entertainment) theater, green (eco-friendly) businesses, ice cream parlor, strategically located parking areas(lots), family style recreation, outdoor eating restaurants, specialty food store, Medical marijuana dispensaries
Undesirable: drive thru restaurants, sandwich board advertisements (signs), big box businesses, pawn shop, gun shops, Medical marijuana dispensaries
Regulate quantity of: drive thru businesses, large chain stores, liquor/bars outlets, auto related businesses, tattoo parlors
Motion to adopt this list of business in SDI.1. M(WG),S,P – 5,1,0

SDI.2 General Plan Policies for the El Sobrante Area.
Wendi Gosliner presented feedback sheet from Land use subcommittee. Desirable that the entire corridor not be identical and that there be pockets of individuality and neighborhood characteristics. Growth will happen and planning is necessary to make it of a desirable type. Audience comment made that there are limited number of current plans that are working and not having financial pitfalls that we can pattern ourselves after.
The general plan must be updated and the question is what do we update it with. Concerns and issues raised tonight (traffic, no parking and viable business) are what we’re engaged in trying to remedy these issues to create a friendlier environment for the businesses and the people who will use them. Emphasis should be placed that along the Appian corridor that parking should be behind the businesses and adequate. Also the reference to the number of units per development should be labeled as number per acre. Also the reference to “institutional development” should be a little less vague. Barbara Pendergrass presented document item by item and discussed any divergent opinions.
Motion to accept ESMAC feedback for Patrick Roche and send it. M(SS),S,P -5.1.0

SDI.3 El Sobrante Stroll.
Volunteers to man the booth were requested. Tom Owens will bring the shade canopy. Susan Swift has arranged for a wheel for trivia questions and arranged donations for a drawing. Don from R9 has made up the trivia question. Susan Swift, Tom Owens and Wendi Gosliner have volunteered to represent ESMAC in the parade, and John Gioia will march with them.

SDI.4 ESMAC Cleanup Day.
Date has been set for Nov. 4th at the Boys and Girls Club.

DISCUSSION ITEMS-
DI.1 Development Plan Applications, Variance reports, Building Modification Requests, Appeals etc. received in the previous month from the Contra Costa County Community Development Department.
Frustration was expressed over the fact that by the time we get the documents that it is to late for us to make comments on them.

DI.2 Discuss how El Sobrante property was annexed to the City of Richmond and the way it split El Sobrante causing El Sobrante to never becoming incorporated.
The annexation of large sections of the El Sobrante Valley occurred because developers got better incentives from the City of Richmond than the county for development and so the developers requested annexation by the City. The City applied to LAFCO and since the properties were “contiguous”, LAFCO allowed the annexation. Because of the strange boundaries between areas create by this process were not manageable the rules where changes so that it couldn’t happen in the future but the damage to El Sobrante was done. For the incorporated parts of the El Sobrante Valley to leave Richmond would require a vote by the entire City of Richmond and that makes it an unlikely proposition. Incorporation of the remaining unincorporated area could be possible (but unlikely) as demonstrated by the City of Point Arena which is smaller with less tax base.

DI.3 The Sikhparade held on July 23, 2006
Marilynne Mellander complained that the Sikh parade organizers didn’t notify the sheriffs department. This turned out to be wrong, it was just that the officers scheduled to supervise the parade just come to work that day. Barbara Pendergrass stated that it was well organized and that they did a good job cleaning up after the parade. It was her opinion that everything was well run. Marilynne Mellander stated that she had a totally different experience. She complained about noise, how the president of the Chamber of Commerce talked about her pastor in the press and how the Sikhs were going to take over this area. She was also concerned about the swords that they carried and wondered how they could get away with that. Several audience members related their positive experiences.

9:45pm Marilynne Mellander left.

INFORMATION ITEMS-
No questions asked

Community Group Updates-
ESVP&ZAC- Ruby Molinari passed out PZ agenda and discussed a couple of projects that they were going to hear about at their next meeting. Discussion about Forest Green at Sheldon school on the 20th.
Discussion about the number of smaller developments ensued and it was pointed out that the county was not supplying sufficient infrastructure (police, fire protection, sewer, schools and street construction/repair) for the number of houses that they were allowing to be built.

CSA R-9 Committee
Hope Scott reported that the outdoor reading room is going out for bid and may be done by the end of the year.

Sub Committee Reports-
None give

Old Business-
El Sobrante Clean Up Day, Susan Swift and Erica Peng, joint chairs.
This item was discussed under Short Discussion items.

Report on Town Hall Meetings Forums on the General Plan.
These will be for explaining the traffic studies and describe what the proposed General Plan Amendments are, followed by questions. A question regarding limiting “obstructionists” was responded to by stating that we are encouraging a good diversity of people and a good attendance by all.

New Business-
Need for additional Sheriff presence in El Sobrante. Beyond the obvious need for greater presence it’s a safety concern for a sheriff deputy to respond potentially dangerous situations without backup. We need to request an accounting of what money is coming from the unincorporated area and where/how that money is being spent from Terrance Cheung and Supervisor Gioia.

Public Comment-
None offered

Adjournment
Motion to adjourn M(??),S,P -5,0,0
Meeting adjourned 10:15pm

Respectfully submitted, Tom Owens, Secretary, ESMAC

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS:

Meeting called to order 7:03 pm

Motion to approve Minutes for August 9, 2006 as corrected  – M(MM),S,P – 6,0,0

Motion to approve Minutes for Joint meeting with R9 June 22, 2006 as corrected– M(TO),S,P – 6,0,0

Motion to authorize purchase of stamp and inkpad for return addresses for letters sent by ESMAC. – M(WG),S,P – 6,0,0

Wendi Gosliner requested a letter of support be drafted for inclusion of a DeAnza aquatic center in DeAnza High School be drafted for inclusion in next months agenda.

Motion that the letter to Mike Giles be amended to state after first sentence: “We would like to request a full resurfacing of this corridor as soon as possible. This should be a top public works priority. Currently the road is not safe for passage of cars and is particularly hazardous for bicyclists. M(WG),S,P – 6,0,0

Motion that we send the letter to Mike Giles as amended. M(TO),S,P -6,0,0

Motion to adopt this list of business in SDI.1. M(WG),S,P – 5,1,0

Motion to accept ESMAC feedback for Patrick Roche and send it. M(SS),S,P -5.1.0

Motion to adjourn M(??),S,P -5,0,0

Meeting adjourned 10:15pm