Continued Brown Act Violations and other Violations
by Mayor Ferre and Council Result
in Law Suit Against City Council Action
Complaint Type: PETITION
Filing Date: 05/22/2006
Complaint Status: ACTIVE
Party Number Party Type Party Name Attorney Party Status
1 PETITIONER CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE AND OPEN GOVERNMENT , JOHNSON & SE DLACK
2 RESPONDENT CITY OF GRAND TERRACE
3 RESPONDENT GRAND TERRACE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
4 RESPONDENT ESSCO ELECTRIC SUPPLY, INC.
5 RESPONDENT ESSCO WHOLESALE ELECTRIC
ESSCO v Specific Plan
Attorney, Raymond Johnson, who spoke at the City Council Meeting on May 11, 2006, stated that he had a fax confirmation stating that we did. He stated that one of the issues with the City is that sometimes the City Council will do one thing in public and then do something else when they think no one is looking. He feels that this project is a prime example. The project that is proposed is not consistent with the specific plan or the requirements of the EIR that was done for the OAC. He stated that the General Plan is inconsistent internally and that it is impossible to be consistent with it. With regards to the issue of noise, the EIR stated that the construction noise would extend over 1,000 feet from the edges of the property and feels that it will be higher than acceptable standards. The requirements in the General Plan EIR was that all projects in the portion of the specific plan must conduct an acoustical. It was also required to do a traffic study. When the EIR was done for the OAC Specific Plan it noted that in order to achieve acceptable levels of service on the area streets there were $170 million dollars of traffic improvements that needed to be made in order to accomplish mitigation to the acceptable levels.
The OAC's portion of those traffic expenditures was established at $10.2 million dollars. That is a lot of money for the OAC. This project represents approximately 3% of the OAC project and its relative fair share of that portion would be $330,000.00 to mitigate traffic impacts based upon the EIR that was done for the OAC plus the $24,000.00 that has to go to the County. There is approximately $350,000.00 worth of traffic mitigation that is required by the OAC EIR that is not being required of this project. If this project doesn=t provide their fair share and subsequent portions the developers of the OAC or the City is going to have pick-up those costs. If Council is concerned about the traffic they can=t afford to throw away $330,000.00 worth of mitigation. With regard to the street, he was incorrect. According to the Specific Plan, the minimum acceptable right-of-way according to the specific plan for that street is 122 feet which does not meet the minimum required right-of-way. He questioned if this is the type of use that they want to have at the entrance/gateway to the OAC. The OAC requires a very specific design on the walls and that is not what is being proposed. He feels that they have not complied with the design requirements.
He feels that there is a likelihood that there may be burrowing owls on the site. The EIR mitigation measure specifically required that protocol burrowing owl surveys be done prior to any project being approved. There are simply too many mitigation measures that are required that the City is ignoring. He stated that the project is not consistent with the specific plan and it is not consistent with the mitigation measures required in the OAC's Specific Plan or EIR. They have not done the necessary studies and therefore is not consistent with the requirements.
Mayor Ferre returned discussion to Council.
City Attorney Harper, stated that the issues that were brought up by Mr. Johnson can be addressed by staff.
Councilmember Hilkey, questioned if this piece of property is part of the OAC.
Mr. Johnson, responded in the affirmative.
Community & Economic Development Director Koontz, also responded in the affirmative.
Community & Economic Development Director Koontz, gave a background of the hearings that were held on the specific plan and the uses. He addressed the noise issues and feels that it has been mitigated to an acceptable level.
Councilmember Hilkey, stated that he feels that the OAC was a dead issue after hearing that the freeway access won=t be done until Phase III of Measure I.
City Attorney Harper, stated that the existing zoning of the property is OAC regardless of what might happen in the future. Any project that is considered today is bound by the existing OAC zoning.
Community & EconomicDevelopment Director Koontz, stated that the OAC project is not dead until the freeway is widened it is on hold until they figure out what to do with the bridge. Staff is working on interim solutions to address the traffic issues. The freeway itself doesn=t have anything to do with project being delayed.
Councilmember Hilkey, questioned if we take the existing properties out of the OAC then there will no longer be an issue.
Community & Economic Development Director Koontz, stated that the reason this area is included in the OAC is so that they can look at the landscaping and architecture so that it is consistent. Staff feels that they did a pretty good job.
From the Email Box:
Hey Paw,
From the minutes: Councilmember Hilkey, questioned if there is an entry in the budget that show utilities paid for by the library. City Manager Schwab, responded that is not shown in the budget but staff could provide a spreadsheet how much is incurred in expenses and how much money is distributed back to the City.
Shouldn't we all be able to know the answer?
Councilmember Hilkey, questioned if there was a way to shape the Law Enforcement Service package to suit the needs now versus the needs of 20 years ago. He stated that he spoke to City Manager Schwab earlier about cycling the traffic officers. He is getting the feeling that we don't have the faith in the Department like we use to.
City Manager Schwab, stated that his suggestion would be to set up a workshop to show the Council what the deployment looks like today and what the theory is for coverage. He stated that he was planning on adding a Deputy next year, however, if the Council would like to add a 40 hr car this year it is an option that can be added to the budget.
Where would the money come from?
Councilmember Garcia, stated that at the Council Priority Session they discussed performance and criteria. She stated that she doesn't know if the Department would be open to it but if there was a performance criteria established where they would make a commitment that with this amount of dollars this is what you get and if you don't perform there is a decrease in the amount that they get paid. She will be looking closely at the Sheriff's Service Specialist position. She stated that there is a new Fire Chief in the County of San Bernardino and suggested that we do the same with the Fire Department. She stated that the Library is a strong priority for the City. She stated that she wants to fight for a library in the Towne Center Project. She stated that she feels that there should be some money in the budget for a library.
We have measured her performance and she should be fired! There have been no complaints on the Fire Department response time. Just like asking the City Attorney to get involved in the Stater Brothers Shopping Center dispute, this statement is inept.
City Manager Schwab, stated that in any circumstance in order to fund a library there is going to have to be money. Staff was depending on the income from the center to help pay for debt service or rent depending on what is worked out. This was predicated on having a large enough revenue cash flow off of the project to pay either the rent or the debt service. Without that the money is not immediately there to do that. If the Council says this is what our priority is and they want to spend enough money to build a brand new building somewhere in the community they could do that, however, he feels that we have to balance the desires for a new library against the desires that he just heard for more police.
Councilmember Garcia, she stated that she would like another budget workshop if the decision would be between a new library and law enforcement. She stated that she would be willing to trim the budget to fund a library. She questioned when the Council can discuss the priority of a new library.
