NOTE:
El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council abbreviated as “ESMAC”
El Sobrante Valley Planning& Zoning is “P & Z”
Board of Supervisors abbreviated as “Board”
El Sobrante as “ES”Note: El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council abbreviated as ESMAC,
El Sobrante Valley Panning & Zoning Advisory Committee abbreviated as ESVPZAC
Moved, Seconded, Passed abbreviated M,S,P – x,y,z
Moved, Seconded, Failed abbreviated M,S,F – x,y,z
where x= votes for, y votes against and z abstentions

Pledge led by Deborah Butler
Meeting Called to Order: 7:02pm
Note: Charles Marinonot present, Susan Swift arrived at 7:04

Minutes for December 13, 2006
Corrections:
P3: first line “2.1” should read “21”
SDI.5 “officers in for” should read “officers for”
Motion to approve minutes for December 13, 2006 as corrected. M(BP),S,P – 4,0,1

Minutes for January 10, 2007
Motion to approve minutes for December 13, 2006 as submitted. M(BP),S,P – 5,0,0

Treasurer’s Report
$60.20 in petty cash, still no report on amount in account from Board of Supervisors.

Public Comment
Susan Swift regarding St. Patricks Day fundraiser Dance for El Sobrante Boy’s and Girls Club. Friday March 16th.
Wendi Gosliner requested short meeting in respect for Valentine’s Day.
Barbara Pendergrass presented plaque of appreciation given to ESMAC by El Sobrante Chamber of Commererce.

CONSIDER CONSENT ITEMS- No Items this month.

PRESENTATIONS
P.1 Presentation by Lt. Donny Gordon, Bay Station Sheriff’s Department on his monthly report on local crime issues
Not present at this meeting.

P.2 Presentation by Terrance Cheung Chief of Staff for Supervisor John Gioia, monthly report:
Update on getting names and address’s for petitions on the lighting problem on San Pablo Dam Road.
Final letters sent out to property owners and public works waiting on responses. He warned that it would be about a year after receipt of responses before lights would probably appear.
Update on the problems on Santa Rita Road.
Code enforcement is working on this situation but because of the problems and people involved the sheriff’s has been brought in to assist.
Information for new Council Members
Presented copy of board order concerning Municipal Advisory Councils to new members. Announced an all day workshop for appointed and elected officials in West Contra County in early April (April 6th 8:30am-3pm) presented by Health Services and Community Development on the topic of Building Healthy Environments. Presentations and exercises will be lead by experts.
Other items.
No news on General Plan Amendment. Look for an update, hopefully in March.

Susan Swift requested an update on the proposed funding of the MACs based on savings to the county by switching from elected MACs to appointed MACs.
Estimated that a saving of ≈$5k, it is being investigated by the Internal Operation Committee (a subcommittee of the BOS) as to the real savings and how that it could be returned to the MACs. There is no agenda date as of yet but the west county MACs have all expressed interest in getting a resolution to the question.

P.3 Presentation by East Bay Municipal Utility District- Michelle Blackwell
Down graded water rationing alert to yellow and encouraged continued conservation. The current estimate is that the Claremont construction project will be complete by the end of March.
CDSM test section at San Pablo Dam will occur in April, requested any problems and observations be passed along to EBMUD (510-287-2053) so that they may be addressed in the final project bids.
San Pablo Dam Reservoir is currently at reduced levels to accommodate potential rainwater as a flood control mechanism.
Rationing is not due to a water shortage but a distribution problem caused by the Claremont tunnel being out of use.

SHORT DISCUSSION ITEMS -The Council will consider and take action on the following:
SDI.1 Memo from Susan Swift requesting the identification of parcels that could be used for parks.
Susan Swift requested the identification of parcel for potential parks be held-over as she was not ready to present R-9’s recommendations.
SDI.2 Resolutions amending the method of selection, powers, and authority of the Municipal Advisory Councils.
Barbara Pendergrass presented the resolution pointing out that the main change was that all MAC council members were now appointed rather than the mixture of appointed and elected bodies of the past. Tom Owens asked about progress in appointing the alternate ESMAC members and was told that supervisor Gioia’s office had made no progress on this.Wendi Gosliner pointed out the difficulty in finding volunteers to fill the positions. Barbara Pendergrass pointed out that with the need for more committees that the ESMAC was spread thin and was having trouble forming them. Susan Swift pointed out that the powers of the ESMAC were severely limited and that we only represent the community to the BOS and may not represent the community before any other body. Wendi Gosliner pointed out that the present supervisor has an open policy of allowing us latitude in authority to representing the community but that this was at his discretion and could change without any notice. Terrance Cheung pointed out that this was not a change but a clarification of previous board resolutions.
SDI.3 Discuss topics, goals, and committees for 2007.
Land Use Sub Committee is short one member with resignation of Erica Peng from ESMAC.
Mike Daley volunteered to fill empty slot in Land Use Sub Committee.
General Plan Amendment recommendations are waiting on results from Patrick Roche before going any further.
Develop guidelines for P1 District in El Sobrante.
P1 District is a zoning designation that sets specific guidelines for developing an area.
Funding to activate a website for ESMAC.
Terrance Cheung stated that we could request BOS to spend any money we have on this.
Tom Owens will look into costs of URL and web host of the ESMAC website.
Zoning changes for El Sobrante not covered by the General Plan Amendment.
Terrance Cheung stated that it’d mean another General Plan Amendment, he requested a more specific list of changes needed so that he could bring it before Supervisor Gioia. Susan Swift requested that Supervisor Gioia give some input to the City of Richmond in their General Plan changes, specifically in regards to protecting the hillsides of El Sobrante. Terrance asked for a letter to Supervisor Gioia stating our desires, which we could cc: the City Of Richmond, Community Development. Reason for this is that developers are asking for re-zoning of parcels (mainly concerning apartment buildings) and getting the changes because there is nothing in the general plan specifically limiting that change.
Consensus is that Susan Swift write a draft letter to the City of Richmond regarding protecting the El Sobrante hills for consideration by ESMAC.
Consensus is that ESMAC invite the City of Richmond planners (or representative) to one of our meetings to give a presentation and to hear our concerns.
Committee for El Sobrante Stroll.
Susan Swift and Tom Owens volunteered to co-chair our El Sobrante Stroll Committee.
Committee for El Sobrante Cleanup Day.
Mike Daley volunteered to chair El Sobrante Cleanup Day Committee. Susan Swift has file from last couple of years.
Committee for grant writing.
Susan Swift and Wendi Gosliner expressed interest in this.
Committee to work on increasing Sheriffs patrol.
Committee to revise bylaws.
Wendi Gosliner volunteered to begin re-writing the bylaws to conform to new Board of Supervisors resolution.
Continue working on Santa Rita Road problems.
Continue working on lighting district along San Pablo Dam Road.
Continue working on discussion on parks with R9 and City of Richmond.
Susan Swift expressed interest in this.
Outreach committee.
Mike Daley expressed a potential interest in possible chairing this in the future. Posting of ESMAC meeting on library sign was discussed.
Revitalization.
Increase visibility.
Staffing for Sheriffs annex.
Discussion of priority of this topic ensued. Lack of adequate police service was discussed. Reported increase in Sheriffs presence due to their use of this building was reported.
Consensus is for a community meeting with Sheriff Rupf and have him report on his staffing and crime patrols.
Include Chief Magnus to report on changes in the City of Richmond area of El Sobrante Valley.
Deborah Butler volunteered to be a liaison with the Sheriffs department. Terrance will call Sheriff Rupf and Chief Magnus to ask them to attend May 9th meeting.
Long term governance of unincorporated El Sobrante.
Other bodies and methods are available should be looked at in light of the fact that ESMAC is only empowered until 2011. Wendi Gosliner request we set aside either April or May to discuss this topic.
Consensus is to have Terrance Chueng schedule LAFCO and Supervisor Gioia for this  on long term governance in April or May.
Repaving of San Pablo Dam Road.
Consensus to send Terrance Cheung a letter about road conditions to have him obtain schedule of paving, resurfacing and cleaning of shoulders.
Lighting and Maintenance Assessment District.
Susan Swift will continue to track progress of this topic.

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.
Barbara Pendergrass was thanked for including a summary list of the projects. Discussion ensued on how to distribute the information and what reports we desire to receive.
Consensus is to limit copies of paperwork for development plan applications, variance reports, building modification requests, appeals to larger projects and those of “focused” interest.
Reported that Tom Mason (El Sobrante Boys and Girls Club) has been granted a conditional permit to move and set up the portable buildings.
DI.2 Report from El Sobrante Valley Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee.

Public Comment-
Susan Swift requested information regarding the possible elimination of the pool at De Anza High School.
Consensus to ask Charles Ramsey to attend our next meeting and clarify the WCCSD stand on the topic of De Anza pool.

Announcements    

Agenda/Speakers for Next Meeting

Adjournment
Motion to adjourn. M(TO),S,P – 5,0,0Meeting adjourned 9:04 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Tom Owens, Secretary, ESMAC

Summary of Actions:
Meeting Called to Order: 7:02pm
Motion to approve minutes for December 13, 2006 as corrected. M(BP),S,P – 4,0,1
Motion to approve minutes for December 13, 2006 as submitted. M(BP),S,P – 5,0,0
Susan Swift requested the identification of parcel for potential parks be held-over as she was not ready to present R-9’s recommendations.
Mike Daley volunteered to fill empty slot in Land Use Sub Committee.
Tom Owens will look into costs of URL and web hosting of the ESMAC website.
Consensus is that Susan Swift write a draft letter to the City of Richmond regarding protecting the El Sobrante hills for consideration by ESMAC.
Consensus is that ESMAC invite the City of Richmond planners (or representative) to one of our meetings to give a presentation and to hear our concerns.
Susan Swift and Tom Owens volunteered to co-chair our El Sobrante Stroll Committee.
Mike Daley volunteered to chair El Sobrante Cleanup Day Committee.
Wendi Gosliner volunteered to begin re-writing the bylaws to conform to new Board of Supervisors resolution.
Consensus is for community meeting with Sheriff Rupf and have him report on his staffing and crime patrols. Include Chief Magnus to report on changes in the City of Richmond area of El Sobrante Valley.
Deborah Butler volunteered to be a liaison with the Sheriffs department.
Terrance will call Sheriff Rupf and Chief Magnus to ask them to attend May 9th meeting.
Consensus is to have Terrance Chueng schedule LAFCO and Supervisor Gioia for this on long term governance in April or May.
Consensus to send Terrance Cheung a letter about road conditions to have him obtain schedule of paving, resurfacing and cleaning of shoulders.
Consensus is to limit copies of paperwork for development plan applications, variance reports, building modification requests, appeals to larger projects and those of “focused” interest.
Consensus to ask Charles Ramsey to attend our next meeting and clarify the WCCSD stand on the topic of De Anza pool.
Motion to adjourn. M(TO),S,P – 5,0,0
Meeting adjourned 9:04 pm.

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