Palm Desert City Council - Regular Meeting, June 12, 2025

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AI transcript text.

[00:05:49] Speaker: Thank you.
[00:06:18] Mayor Hick: Good afternoon. We'll now come back to the regular meeting of the Palm Desert City Council meeting, successor agency to the Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency, Palm Desert Housing Authority, and the Palm Desert Board of Library Trustees for Thursday, June 12th, 2025. And do we have any housekeeping items you'd like to address at this time?
[00:06:48] Staff: Just the roll call, Madame Mayor. Council Member Nestandi? Here. Council member Pedto? Here. Council member Kintania? Present. Mayor Pro Tem Trouy? Here. Mayor Hick? Here. And for the record, Council Member Nestandi previously announced that she is remote participating via or under Assembly Bill 2449 due to family care and that there is nobody over the age of 18 present in the room.
[00:07:15] Mayor Hick: Okay. Thank you. We'll now have the pledge of allegiance with Mayor Pro Tem Trouy leading us.
[00:07:26] Mayor Pro Tem Trouy: Rep.
[00:07:47] Mayor Hick: Okay, thank you. And for a little bit of inspiration, there's a saying that I appreciate and think about occasionally: how you do anything is how you do everything. And it really portrays how the whole picture of our life is composed by the sum of small moments. The way we do every little task, how we handle every minute is how we approach our life, job, friends, and how we use our most precious commodity, time. Heraclitus has a quote that's very simple and it's: day by day, what you do is who you become. Short and sweet and something to think about. Do we have a report from closed session?
[00:08:42] Staff: No reportable action taken in closed session this afternoon. Thank you, Mayor.
[00:08:45] Mayor Hick: Thank you. And we'll now move—we'll skip over nine since we have nothing under nine, do we? Nothing. And we'll move to 10, City Manager comments.
[00:08:58] City Manager: Madame Mayor and Council, briefly in May, staff provided a briefing to Council during the budget planning process on Riverside County's Department of Animal Services' proposed change in rate structure. Our contract with them ends June 30th of this fiscal year. We had an opportunity to review the materials. Assistant City Manager Kenon has been working through contract concerns and questions given the fact that our contract expires on June 30th. Yesterday, we met with County Executive Office staff to continue our agreement with all terms and charges being the same for now and then working through a 90-day period of addressing the contract concerns and questions and bringing forth back a new contract for City Council consideration. So, this is more of a heads up that we'll be continuing to work with them post-June 30th. At the July 10th Council meeting, we'll hold a study session to answer and address any questions and concerns, and then after the break on August 28th, come back with a new agreement. Thank you.
[00:09:57] Mayor Hick: Okay, we'll go to 11, which is mayor—
[00:10:01] Mayor: Council member reports and requests for action. Uh, can we start please with Council Member Kintania? This is news you can use.
[00:10:08] Council Member Kintania: Thank you, Madame Mayor. This week, or this report, a lot of it has to do with public safety at the CVAG Public Safety Committee. Um, there was a lot that was presented, including some positive news about the way that our agencies collaborate, and um, whether it's Palm Springs or Sheriff, Indio, Cathedral City. One of the things that they share is resources, including things like the drones which have LIDAR that allow for them to look at terrain and how, uh, what the best approach is, not only when it comes to fire, but also in life-saving situations.
[00:10:44] Council Member Kintania: The um, contract for Desert Link, or there was a consideration or approval of a contract to have the Desert Recreation District maintain um, the CV Link, which I thought was an exciting opportunity, as they mentioned, to have the um, events like the bike races and 5Ks run along the CV Link, making it easier, reducing the street closures that we would have, and making it uh, safer for um, pedestrians and and drivers. The cost of the contract was $600,000, where Palm Desert's share would be 23,000. However, part of that will be reimbursed by the Coachella Valley Water District. So, 30% of that's actually going to come back.
[00:11:25] Council Member Kintania: They um, one of the topics was also regarding the cars that are parked along the CV Link. The people that either break down there or don't know it's there, park alongside of it and obstruct traffic. And uh, the consideration was for each city to look at how they would address any ordinance or fines.
[00:11:43] Council Member Kintania: Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful lunch. Um, Council Member Pedetto joined Mayor Pro Tem and I at the public safety luncheon for the Cove communities, and he was elected the new chair. So um, I think he'll be, uh, continue to be an excellent representative for the city. The Joslyn Center gave an update on a lot of the grants and the progress that they're making, and I'm very proud of what they've accomplished, which um, not only are they compliant with the grants that they've been receiving, but it allows them to continue to um, get more grants and expand the services. So, it's wonderful to, to hear how they continue to serve our community.
[00:12:23] Council Member Kintania: On the same topic of um, public safety, um, I'd like to congratulate one of our own, um, our um, Daniel Ortado, who's here, is now a certified management specialist from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. And I had a conversation with him about what he experienced when he went to see the LA fires, the best practices that he's going to be able to bring as we create our plan. There's nothing like being there firsthand. So, thank you for taking that time. And I know that um, our, one of the greatest assets the city has is our staff. So I appreciate that. Um, cooling centers are now open, it's my understanding. So find one of the cooling centers. Great opportunity to go check out our library.
[00:13:06] Council Member Kintania: Um, fun stuff. Watch your step. Um, I rescued a little monarch caterpillar this morning and took it out to the um, milkweeds in the um, in front of the flagpole, and we already have a little chrysalis. So, take that moment to appreciate nature and save an endangered species. Um, congratulations to Palm Desert High School and Xavier's class of 2025.
[00:13:29] Council Member Kintania: Congratulations to the students that are advancing, whether to 9th grade or 6th grade or kindergarten. Um, I attended the Gene Benson graduation. I know I saw, um, from the back of the room, I saw the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, and just the giddiness of these kids to participate, and it reminded me of when people say, 'These kids get awards for everything. Why are they graduating and, and getting all these recognitions?' Because we want them to continue that, that love of learning.
[00:13:57] Council Member Kintania: Um, the Cultural Arts Committee, I was able to attend in, uh, and substitute for, uh, Council Member Nande, and I was taken back by the economic impact of the plein air festival. And I must admit that at first I wasn't as enthusiastic about it, but this really made me eat my words with happy lots of money. And not only is it the plein air festival, it's actually named the Palm Desert California Plein Air Festival, so that's direct marketing to us. There were 3,000 attendees, and, uh, that resulted in, from editorial impressions, media, and readers, 2.6 million, and that translates to, uh, $27,000 in impressions. And keep in mind, that does not include any visitors, doesn't include TOT, people that ate here, that purchased anything here. I learned that there is a national circuit where there are up to 2,000 to 3,000 artists that participate, and as this plein air festival, it's not a one-time weekend or event. It...
[00:15:02] Council Member: is part of an ongoing branding that will put Palm Desert on that national spotlight as things build up for all of these upcoming events. So, thank you to staff for collaborating with Palm Springs Life on that. I attended a legislative breakfast with Assembly Member Gonzalez, and he presented an update of Assembly Bill 1145, which was authored by our Assembly Member Wallace and Gonzalez. And this is one where it's important to bring up because we've had residents come and speak on the dangers of Highway 74 and residents that speak about the speed of the trucks going through or just large trucks in their neighborhood in general. It is now been—it's gone on to the Senate. They had their first reading and has gone on to the rules committee. So, if this is something that you're passionate about, get involved, and it'll be a statewide impact because it's going to ask for money to have a 10-year safety study and the goal of preventing trucks from using Highway 74 as a bypass. So, this impacts the broader community. So, that is the amount of detail that I can provide, and just happy to serve and represent the community.
[00:16:20] Mayor: Council Member Nandi, would you like to share anything?
[00:16:22] Council Member Nandi: No comments this evening, Mayor. Thank you.
[00:16:25] Mayor: Great. Thank you. Council Member Petta.
[00:16:27] Council Member Petta: Yes, I have a request for action. When I served on the planning commission, we rotated on a regular basis every July in like fashion to the city council. When we did our interviews for BCCs recently, it became apparent that that wasn't a standard practice amongst all our boards and commissions, which was a surprise to me. So, I spoke with Mayor Hornik as the BCC subcommittee, and we discussed directing staff to bring back an action that would standardize that rotational practice to all our BCCs. So, we're bringing that to our colleagues to see if there's support in directing staff to bring back whatever ordinance or policy changes we need to make to make that happen.
[00:17:12] Mayor: Okay, thank you. And I think that's an excellent idea.
[00:17:19] Council Member: Mayor Pro Tem, I would concur.
[00:17:22] Council Member: Okay, thank you. Yeah, I guess you got my support as well. There we go. Okay, so I'm going to tag along with Chris's comments. Well, he gave us factual information, but I'm going to give you a little report. I'm our liaison to the animal campus, the much-maligned Coachella Valley Animal Campus. And I've been our liaison since January, and I can tell you—and it made the news for months and months about their kill rates, etc., etc., and how they were being managed, the overall facility—and I can tell you that in the three, what, four or five months since I've been the liaison, the overall mood and tenor of the meetings has improved considerably. The activists are definitely very passionate, the people who come and speak at the meetings. They have a new director, and there's a lot more transparency. There's definitely, I think, everybody's sort of rowing in the same direction now. They're all on board to get the spay and neuter rates up and the euthanasia rates down, and it seems like we're sort of moving in the right direction now. What we're going to be asked to contribute this year, we'll see, but I think it's going to be a better investment than it has been in past years. So, look forward to getting a little more information on what they're going to request for our contribution. And then also, Jen and I attended—well, she was representative of District 3 at the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission meeting today. We purchased three acres, and I can tell you the conservation commission, they're sort of mandated with preserving open space, purchasing open space, preserving it, and they have a goal of about 10,000 acres to purchase. And in the Desert Hot Springs area, we purchased about three and a half acres today under that purview. We're up to about 7,500 acres now. We're ahead of schedule. And while none of the land they purchase really, I don't believe, is in Palm Desert, I can say the benefit to Palm Desert residents is preserving beautiful open space views and beautiful open spaces to go hike and enjoy nature that is pristine, beautiful, and untrammeled. And in fact, what they do a lot of times is buy the land and then clean it up and kind of restore it. So, above and beyond just preserving, they restore land, and I think what they're doing is great, and it's a worthwhile cause. So, happy to report on those two things, and that is all I have. Thank you.
[00:19:41] Council Member: Okay, thank you. And I have a couple of things. I do want to mention that I sit on SunLine's board as well as the Riverside County Transportation Commission. And you may or may not have heard that there was significant cuts in the transit funds at our state...
[00:20:01] Speaker 1: budget. Those funds have been reinstated. Now, we'll see what the governor does with them. But the legislation restored those funds. But we will wait and see and hope for the best with that because we need those funds for transit. The Riverside County Transportation Commission—the reason I was unable to join at the Cove Commission, the annual Cove Committee meeting, which is a great luncheon, and I'm sorry I had to miss it, but I was in Riverside representing us at the Transportation Commission. We passed the $1.88 billion budget and there were funds allocated for the CV rail engineering. So let's just keep pushing up that we want that train and it's kind of important. There's so many different pots of money where the money comes from to take care of our infrastructure and the rail management and the specialized transit management services, all the things it takes for us to get around and to move people. There is a Measure A, and when Measure A was first put into place, we thought it was a great thing and it still is a great thing. It makes us a self-help county, which means we can take that money and use it as our county needs it. We used to look at these funds though as a great pot of funds. Look at it today: it's 262 million, which is—I hesitate to always say it's just not very much. When I use the example of the Monroe interchange which two years ago when it was to be built was 117 million, today it is projected to be $177 million. So 262 million isn't that much, especially when you consider 48 million of it is for the Coachella Valley. Meantime they do great work and they make the most of every dollar, that's for sure. So that is the transportation committee. Also, thank you very much for the rotation of the chairs on our committees and commission. It's important to make sure that everybody is aware of the needs and the opportunity to grow in the position. Also Palm Desert High School, the graduation was wonderful. Mayor Pro Tem was there because he has a student graduating, his own personal student—
[00:22:38] Speaker 2: My daughter.
[00:22:41] Speaker 1: There you go. His daughter graduated. But it was wonderful to see just a whole stadium of promise and excitement and our hope. So, it was a very nice moment to see. And there's lots that we all do every month, but again, it's news you can use and I hopefully hit on that and I don't want to watch your eyes glaze over with things that aren't that important to you at this moment. So, I do have a couple requests. However, we talked about the dining deck guidelines and in talking about it, it occurred to me that there are some changes we may need to make and we've seen we put guidelines in place, but now we've lived them. And I'd like to suggest, if I may, that we have a subcommittee and I think hearing the comments from both Mayor Pro Tem Trouy and Council Member Pedetto, I would like to see if we can get support to have them serve on it. And I don't think it's a long process. I think we can quickly look over them. We have some good ideas. It was a good study session today. So I'd like to suggest that.
[00:23:54] Speaker 3: And I'd also—I would support that. Thank you.
[00:23:58] Speaker 1: Perfect. Thank you very much. And hopefully you two do as well. The other item, and we started on this before and we all kind of gave a lot of information back at a study session, but mostly we wanted to look around the city and see how this issue was impacting the city. I think we've all had a chance. We'd like to go back to studying the use of lighting and neon in particular in our city. And when you look at some of the storefronts and you look at the neon, it just doesn't reflect Palm Desert aesthetic standards very well. And it certainly is not something that's going to attract other businesses. And we always want to make sure we create an environment where other businesses want to be part of our community. So, I'd like to take a look at the neon ordinances and the use of lighting also on our businesses.
[00:25:00] Mayor Harnik: And can I get some support on that?
[00:25:02] Council Member: Support.
[00:25:03] Mayor Harnik: Great. Thank you. Okay, so that is it. And we will go to non-agenda public comments. Are there any public comments? And can you provide us with our housekeeping remarks?
[00:25:16] City Clerk: For those on Zoom, if you want to participate in public comment, please click the raise hand button on your computer or smartphone. And if you're joining in by calling on your phone, please dial *9 to raise your hand. And when called upon, press *6 to unmute yourself.
[00:25:32] City Clerk: And Madam Mayor, on Zoom, there are no raised hands.
[00:25:34] Mayor Harnik: Okay. Thank you very much. We'll move to the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine and may be approved by one motion.
[00:25:46] City Clerk: I'm sorry, Madam. I believe you did have one public comment card. I just placed it.
[00:25:49] Mayor Harnik: Yes, I did. Thank you. Oh, thank you very much. Non-agenda comment. Thank you, John Sisley.
[00:26:05] John Sisley: Good evening. I've spoke here before. I represent all the union plumbers, pipefitters, and refrigeration for San Bernardino and Riverside counties. I'm coming here this afternoon as an elected delegate to the Building Trades Commission, State of California, and the Inland Empire branch represents 19,000 San Bernardino and Riverside families. I'm here this afternoon to request about 20 minutes of your time in a future meeting to explain community workforce agreements—what they are, how they work, and how they can benefit the City of Palm Desert. CWAs hire local community members and bring them into the trades unions and put them in apprenticeship programs to build city projects right here in your city. And we include all the union building trades. The president of the Inland Empire Building Trades and myself would like to request a space at a future meeting to give you a presentation.
[00:27:03] Mayor Harnik: Thank you. And in that this is a non-agendaized item, we can't comment on it, but we will take this under consideration. And thank you very much for your time.
[00:27:10] John Sisley: Thank you, guys.
[00:27:14] Mayor Harnik: And now we'll move to the consent calendar. So all matters listed on the consent calendars are considered routine and may be approved by one motion. The public may comment on any items on the consent agenda within the three-minute time limit. Individual items may be removed by the City Council for a separate discussion. Are there any items that anyone would like to pull from the calendar?
[00:27:42] Council Member: 13R.
[00:27:44] Mayor Harnik: 13R. Thank you. And I would like to pull F, records retention; L, portable generators; and V, the SLA blue companies.
[00:27:53] City Clerk: I'm sorry, I heard F and L.
[00:27:56] Mayor Harnik: F as in Frank, L as in Larry, and V as in Victor.
[00:27:59] City Clerk: V.
[00:28:03] Mayor Harnik: Okay.
[00:28:04] Council Member Pedto: Madam Mayor, I will have to note a recusal on 13R and 13T.
[00:28:14] Mayor Harnik: Okay. So, we are pulling R, so we'll come back to that. In the meantime, can I have a motion to move the balance? And that would mean excluding R—
[00:28:27] City Clerk: R, F, L, and V.
[00:28:32] Council Member: I'll make a motion to pass the remainder.
[00:28:35] Council Member: I will second.
[00:28:36] Mayor Harnik: Thank you. Can we have a vote, please?
[00:28:38] City Clerk: Council Member Nestande?
[00:28:40] Council Member Nestande: Yes.
[00:28:41] City Clerk: Council Member Pedto?
[00:28:43] Council Member Pedto: Yes.
[00:28:44] City Clerk: Council Member Quintanilla?
[00:28:46] Council Member Quintanilla: Aye.
[00:28:47] City Clerk: Mayor Pro Tem Trubee?
[00:28:48] Mayor Pro Tem Trubee: Yes.
[00:28:49] City Clerk: Mayor Harnik?
[00:28:50] Mayor Harnik: Yes.
[00:28:51] City Clerk: And that is noting the recusal of Council Member Pedto on 13T.
[00:28:56] Council Member Pedto: R and—
[00:28:58] Mayor Harnik: Oh, no, wait. T. Yes, you're right. You're right, T.
[00:29:04] City Attorney: Oh, I'm sorry. Mayor, if I may just clarify as well on Council Member Pedto's two recusals, the FPPC regulations require the reason, and I believe it's due to proximity to property that he owns.
[00:29:13] Council Member Pedto: Correct.
[00:29:14] City Attorney: Correct. Okay, thank you.
[00:29:16] Mayor Harnik: Okay, thank you. Okay, so now we will move to R.
[00:29:35] Shawn Muer: Good afternoon, honorable Mayor, members of the City Council. My name is Shawn Muer. I'm the community services manager in Public Works. You have before you a staff report to award five contracts for seven park renovation projects within the city, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
[00:29:51] Council Member: Okay, just actually one—just one really kind of minor note or thing that stuck out to me was in the Ironwood Park, page 442.
[00:30:01] Council Member: It mentions considering a splash pad at Ironwood. And you know, I'm on Parks and Rec as our liaison, and I remember one person might have brought it up as a request or something we should pursue or look into. But to my way of thinking, I think we're going to install a splash pad at Civic Center. Is that right? Or replace one.
[00:30:19] Staff Member: No, that's not correct. There's no plan to install a splash pad at any other park in the city at this time. When splash pads have been requested or discussed, we direct folks to the Palm Desert Aquatic Center, which does have a splash playground.
[00:30:34] Council Member: Bingo. Okay, so there we go. We do already have a PDAC to consider for water activities. We've got Living Desert just installed, I think, a splash pad in that area. And to my way of thinking, Ironwood—really the charm or appeal of Ironwood is its natural setting. It's kind of simplicity: playground, little bit of open desert, some green grass, and fairly simple and straightforward. And a splash pad to me, I don't think it's worth considering. I just don't. I'd rather just pull it now, not waste staff's time, and move forward with that. To me, that's just—they break down, they're expensive, they would be a liability, and I don't know if it would get much usage up there. But looking for consideration from my colleagues. Is that slated, positively slated to be built in the park, or is that just a suggestion?
[00:31:29] Staff Member: No, the staff report includes award of a design contract, and part of that would include community engagement to determine what would be included in the design based on the community's input. Then any contract for construction would be brought back to City Council.
[00:31:44] Council Member: Back to us. Are you comfortable in that?
[00:31:47] Council Member: Yeah, that's fine. We'll put out for public opinion, but I guess I'm just putting in my two cents now, and we'll move forward and get some feedback and see where it goes.
[00:31:54] Mayor: And I appreciate that. We inevitably, and in fact within this mighty agenda packet of ours, we're taking out fountains in places because of water use and things like that. So it is something that deserves consideration. Okay, so I think we'll take R now so that Council Member Pedto can come back. So, can we have a vote on R?
[00:32:22] City Clerk: Council Member Nestandi—I'm sorry, we need a motion.
[00:32:25] Council Member: I'll make a motion to approve R.
[00:32:27] Council Member: I will second.
[00:32:29] City Clerk: Thank you. Council Member Nestandi, if I may, is that to include as amended to reconsider, or just as it stands?
[00:32:35] City Clerk: Okay, perfect. Thank you. I'm sorry. Council Member Nestandi?
[00:32:40] Council Member Nestandi: Yes.
[00:32:41] City Clerk: Thank you. Council Member Pedto is recused. Council Member Kintania?
[00:32:45] Council Member Kintania: Aye.
[00:32:46] City Clerk: Mayor Pro Tem Trouy?
[00:32:47] Mayor Pro Tem Trouy: Yes.
[00:32:48] City Clerk: Mayor Harik?
[00:32:48] Mayor Harik: Yes.
[00:32:49] City Clerk: Motion passes 4 to 0. Thank you.
[00:32:50] Mayor: And now we'll move to F. And Council Member Padetto can come back, please.
[00:33:01] Mayor: You may have wandered too far. Was he recusing himself from both items? R and T? Oh, T. And he's back. Okay. Um, 13F is a resolution to adopt the updated records retention schedules and rescinding Resolution Number 2022-98.
[00:33:33] City Clerk: And Madam Mayor, again, this is a resolution to update the records retention schedules, and I'm available for any questions.
[00:33:40] Council Member: I just have two questions that are on there. One eliminates the COVID-19 notifications, and I understand where COVID is not at front of mind for a lot of people. I'm wondering if there isn't any consideration to document should there be any further exposure to other dangerous or communicative diseases—for example, should measles decide to pop in—just to be sure that we let people know if they were exposed and keep it on record. The second is to ask why the Library Board of Trustees meeting says it's subject only to two years when all of the other committees, commissions, etc., are listed as permanent at the beginning of the schedule.
[00:34:26] City Clerk: Certainly. And with Council permission, during your motion, if you would authorize us to make an amendment, I would propose to change the COVID-19 notifications to public health notifications to employees and bring that back into the retention schedule. And then for the Library Board of Trustees, I think that's an oversight. We do retain all of our board and commission meetings permanently, as well as the point of the Library Board of Trustees is actually the City Council, in which your meetings are preserved. So if you are okay with amending the retention schedule, we'll make those changes.
[00:34:58] Council Member: Okay. Um, are you...
[00:35:00] Transcript gap: Gemini did not return transcript text for this 00:35:00-00:40:00 clip. Use the official video for this interval.
[00:40:03] Mayor: Do we have any public comments on any of the action calendar items? We'll move to 14A, adoption of the Palm Desert Vision Zero Strategy. Impressive piece of work here.
[00:40:26] Chris Gary: Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the Council. Chris Gary with the Public Works Department. I'm also joined here by Les Brown, senior planning associate with Alta Planning and Design, who has led the consulting team during this design. The item presented before you today is a request for adoption of the Palm Desert Vision Zero Strategy. These plans and activities were developed through a federal Safe Streets and Roads for All planning grant, which the city has been advancing since early 2024. And tonight's item represents that final step in approving the deliverables associated with this federal grant award.
[00:41:05] Chris Gary: As an overview, the broader Vision Zero initiative is to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries on roadways through a combination of infrastructure improvements, policy changes, as well as education. And as the city adopted in 2021 a local roadway safety plan, this strategy builds on that momentum with five different components. First, a Safe Routes to School plan, which focuses on eight public schools that serve Palm Desert students. Second, a Safe Routes for Older Adults plan, which covers three areas that serve older adult populations. Third, investment strategies which are included in the two planning documents and prioritize infrastructure improvements. And then fourth, the implementation of the VIP, or Very Important Pedestrian, campaign. And fifth, the development of a data dashboard which compiles all the information from our strategy, and it is going and will be integrated in our city's website as well. And together, these components form our strategy that are being presented for formal adoption through a resolution this evening.
[00:42:11] Chris Gary: This slide shows the focus areas for both the Safe Routes to School and Safe Routes for Older Adults plan, and each circle represents a half-mile radius, which serves as the basis for evaluating existing conditions, identifying barriers, as well as developing targeted recommendations. And the number of areas selected for both plans were shaped by funding available while addressing the greatest safety needs.
[00:42:39] Chris Gary: In April, Council held a study session where staff and our project consultant provided a detailed presentation of the strategy and its components. And since that meeting, the final draft has been updated to incorporate feedback from Council as well as additional staff revisions. And that includes, first, revisions to the bicycle and golf cart map to ensure it reflects our current roadway conditions as well as our planned improvements. Second, we expanded our high-injury network, which allows greater flexibility when pursuing federal or state grant funds. And third, to review incentivizing a school-based walking safety program. Fourth, the addition of piloting a pedestrian crossing program, which includes handheld visibility items for pedestrians at crosswalks. And then fifth, further evaluate narrowing travel lanes on arterial roadways, beginning with a demonstration project before considering full implementation of those types of improvements. And finally, the investment strategies were added to the appendices of the plans.
[00:43:44] Chris Gary: Adopting the strategy will conclude the city's planning grant and, as a result, makes us eligible for an implementation grant under the same program. And the implementation grant is a competitive opportunity that supports construction activities in delivering programs that are identified through these different planning efforts. The upcoming grant cycle closes June 26th. And for this round, there's 550 million available in funding, and that's about 40 to 70 grants expected nationwide, so it's pretty competitive.
[00:44:15] Chris Gary: Staff, in partnership with Alta Planning, is preparing an application previously estimated at 3.7 million. However, this figure will increase as we're refining from planning-level estimates to more detailed cost estimates in the implementation grants. It considers several criteria, but there are three that are very important to remain competitive. And the first is proposed activity should improve the high-injury network, which you can see in light blue, and those light blue lines represent 8% of our streets but constitute areas that are 83% of our serious injuries and fatalities on the roadways. Second, it must benefit a federally...
[00:45:01] Staff: ...qualifying area which is based on census level data from 2014 to 2018. And then third, the improvements must be recommended from a strategy which again is presented for adoption tonight.
[00:45:17] Staff: And this slide, which is attached to the staff report, outlines the set of priority or set of projects the city intends to include on its application. And if awarded, the grant would fund improvements at 24 locations, including sidewalk improvements and curb ramps, high-visibility striping, pedestrian-level lighting (not neon), and driver feedback signs.
[00:45:52] Staff: In addition, the grant will also include a programmatic element which is not reflected on this list but will remain part of our key strategy.
[00:46:01] Staff: And the next two slides just briefly display examples of improvements that are being pursued in this grant application. And here you see additional new curb ramps, striping, and signage in the area of Abraham Lincoln and Palm Desert Charter Middle School.
[00:46:16] Staff: And here you'll see proposed new wide sidewalks, curb ramps, and striping enhancements along Cook Street to improve access for students attending Palm Desert High School. And in that case, you can see they're very wide or very narrow sidewalks relative to how many students use them.
[00:46:33] Staff: And looking ahead, there are a few key dates and next steps forward. And as mentioned, tonight the City Council is being asked to consider adopting the strategy. And then next, June 26 is the deadline to submit our application.
[00:46:46] Staff: And as staff and the consulting team, we will be finalizing that application within the next two weeks. And finally, we anticipate hearing back regarding our grant application from the US Department of Transportation in anywhere from November to January.
[00:47:04] Staff: And in the meantime, the city can begin implementing other recommendations in the immediate future as well. And that concludes the presentation, and staff and our consultant is available for any questions you may have.
[00:47:18] Mayor: Great. Thank you. Are there any public comments at all on this?
[00:47:27] City Clerk: No raised hands, Madam Mayor.
[00:47:29] Mayor: Thank you very much. Are there any questions at the dais?
[00:47:37] Council Member: I've heard a lot of feedback about how great this is. Have you heard any feedback from parents or any community stakeholders that you think is especially important for us to hear?
[00:47:53] Staff: Anecdotally, what I've heard is the importance of sidewalks in communities, and especially around schools. It's difficult when there's not a consistent network and people are having to use the street in order to traverse to schools. And I've heard that not only as a concern, but also a limiting factor to why people don't let children walk to schools. So that would probably be the largest that stands out.
[00:48:21] Council Member: Thank you so much.
[00:48:23] Mayor: Any other questions, comments? Oh, I'm sorry, Council Member Nandandy, please.
[00:48:29] Council Member Nandandy: I was just going to comment that part of the plan is to see that there will be demonstrations on the arterial roadways where it's suggested to narrow the lanes before we actually as a council would adopt that plan. I think it would really be of service to the community as well as our council to help us determine whether to approve something like that or not.
[00:48:58] Mayor: You know what? May I ask you? I kind of got lost. Can you explain that again?
[00:49:03] Council Member Nandandy: Yes. One of the slides was saying that they were going to have demonstrations on arterial roadways where it suggested to narrow the lanes. I think it was three slides ago. Let's see.
[00:49:18] Mayor: I now understand what you're saying. Okay.
[00:49:24] Council Member Nandandy: Let's see. Can we go? Yeah, but let's wait one. Yes. Wait. No, I think it was the one you just showed.
[00:49:38] Staff: There we go. Included...
[00:49:41] Council Member Nandandy: Yeah, the fifth. Yes. 'Included exploring lane narrowing on arterial roadways through a demonstration project.' I think that would be... I like that part. I'm just underscoring it.
[00:49:53] Mayor: So you're supporting narrowing the arterial roadways?
[00:49:55] Council Member Nandandy: No, I'd like the demonstration. If we're going to, I want a...
[00:50:01] Mayor: Demonstration project. Okay. I, I, I would like to comment on that because what if you read this in its entirety and what you'll see—and what are they called? And I'm so sorry I didn't tag this space because I thought I probably should and didn't—but the kill and serious injury. That's—isn't that what it is? Uh, serious injuries and fatalities. Serious injuries and fatalities. They are primarily attributed to high rates of speeds, without a doubt. Not even close. They are far and away high rates of speeds that are killing and hurting people seriously.
[00:50:44] Mayor: Narrowing roadways have been shown over and over and over again that it causes people to slow down. I don't see anything wrong with people slowing down. It has worked on San Pablo very well because we narrowed the roadways. It works on El Paseo when they're narrower.
[00:51:07] Mayor: We worked on this extensively at the Southern California Association of Governments. Time and time again, what we saw, it's a high rate of speeds that kills people. And we also saw that by narrowing the lanes, people slowed down. They were more cognizant of their surroundings and of pedestrians, bicyclists, and for others who are on different modalities of transportation.
[00:51:38] Mayor: If people have to slow down five or 10 miles to an hour to save a life, I say it's well worth it. And if you look at the some of these matrices, it calls out clearly that not only slowing people down saves lives, but narrowing lanes does as well. So I absolutely support that and I saw the great, um, result we got on San Pablo by doing exactly that. And that the San Pablo was funded by Southern California Association of Governments, in part by the GoHuman project, which also is associated with zero, the zero vision.
[00:52:20] Mayor: So, um, I, I'm amazed at this work and I looked at every page. And thank you for this, and thank you for being so thoughtful with the way. And, and I appreciate, too, in the back where you have the, um, ability for our community members to read these and then to give feedback. You have these surveys in them that I will—will help us tremendously as we go forward. So,
[00:52:54] Mayor: in reading this, uh, boy, it tells a very clear story. So thank you, and boy, do I hope we get some of those grants. And I know that, however this initial grant turns out, there are so many more grants that this will speak to and help us qualify for. So, thank you for that.
[00:53:16] Council Member: I concur, Madame Mayor, in as you said, that having this document established will allow further opportunities. Um, as mentioned, the narrow roads changes driver behavior. As we build out north of Palm Desert, we know eventually there will be a school there. It helps to have these programs in place well in advance to ensure that we are giving the quality of life that we have been building throughout the city. While we know we're going to incorporate more of the Palm Desert Link and the growth of CV Link, doing this right the first time really gives us that benefit. So again, thanks to staff and to the consultants and to all of the community members that participated and shared all of their concerns. I know some of them got a little, um, emotional, understandably, when you're dealing with public safety and getting your kids to school, um, on time and safely, especially when other commuters that don't have kids don't care about you driving slowly to get your kids there. So, thank you.
[00:54:17] Mayor: Well said. Okay. Yes, Council Member Pedetto.
[00:54:21] Council Member Pedetto: I will move approval.
[00:54:24] Council Member: I second.
[00:54:26] Mayor: We have a motion and a second. Did you have any comments?
[00:54:30] Council Member: The bicyclist has no comments. Well, it's the third time we've been—I think I've seen this report. Okay. So, but I'm—I love it all. I've—I've loved it all three times. So, thank you. And, and one of the unfortunate things that you can see in here is now a very common phrase that you will hear when anybody talks about transportation, and it is 'high injury network.' And we use it all the time. And it's unfortunate that it has—rolls off our tongues like it does, but it does for very real reasons.
[00:55:01] Mayor Harnick: Um, and by the way, going back, I did find the matrix primary collision factor: 36% unsafe speed, top—it's the top one percentage of collisions involving school-age children in school areas. So, doesn't hurt to slow down a little and save a life. And before we vote, I just want to—I think Councilwoman Estandi, I want to make sure she was... the message I got was gratitude to staff for hearing her concerns at the last study session and bringing that back and incorporating it into the strategy is what I understood. Great. Okay. Thank you. Can we have a vote, please?
[00:55:42] City Clerk: Council Member Nandi, yes. Council Member Pedto, yes. Council Member Kintania, yes. Mayor Pro Tem, yes. Mayor Harnick, yes. Motion passes 5-0. An amazing piece of work. Thank you. Amazing body of work right here.
[00:56:02] Mayor Harnick: Okay, we will now go to 14B. Terminate Contract Number C48070A with Kyle Abselum and release a Request for Qualifications for the San Pablo Phase 2 roundabout sculpture.
[00:56:18] Erica Powell: Thank you, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Erica Powell from the Economic Development Department, to request your approval to release a new RFQ for the CIP public art sculpture to be installed on the San Pablo roundabout at the east entry of COD and San Pablo Avenue, following the recommendation from the Cultural Arts Committee on April 9th and the Fiscal Year 25/26 budget for the Capital Improvement Project area in this high-visibility roundabout. The site was originally scheduled for Dueling Palms. However, due to a variety of project challenges, staff is recommending to terminate the contract. To ensure continuity and momentum, staff is recommending to move forward with the RFQ to release after this meeting and to find qualified artists to redesign an installation at that site. So, with that, I'll take any questions.
[00:57:16] Mayor Harnick: Great. Thank you. Are there any public comments on this?
[00:57:18] City Clerk: No raised hands, Madam Mayor.
[00:57:20] Mayor Harnick: Great. Thank you. Any questions? Questions?
[00:57:23] Council Member: Question. Yeah, it was beautiful to watch the community engage in making their selection between Sunburst and Dueling Palms and seeing them negotiate. Well, if we... 'I like them both. If we get one here and we get one there.' Typically, the sculptures are all... everything goes through the Cultural Arts Committee. I was wondering if we could still honor the fact that the community chose what was going to go there, and I know it steps outside of the typical process, but we got to Dueling Palms by doing something innovative. So, I know it'll take more staff time, as you'll be the ones fielding out of all the applications which ones meet the requirements for materials, for placements, and everything that goes with it. So, in advance, thank you for all of that that will entail. But I'm wondering if there's any planned community engagement as the selection process continues.
[00:58:23] Erica Powell: Yes, definitely. We will be building in that community engagement piece with this selection process as well.
[00:58:29] Council Member: Wonderful. And also, in addition to the RFP, I know that there have been, in the past, Desert X has offered some pieces to be on loan, and there's also been considerations from the committee. Seeing some of those discussions, I think it would be, in my opinion, more fruitful to have an independent, brand-new RFP and not necessarily go back to something that's already been displayed in a previous collection.
[00:59:04] Erica Powell: Yes, these will be brand-new submissions from individual artists. This will be all new, nothing that's existing.
[00:59:15] Council Member: Thank you.
[00:59:16] Erica Powell: Mm-hmm.
[00:59:18] Council Member: Well, I motion approval if no one has any other questions.
[00:59:21] Council Member: Second.
[00:59:24] Mayor Harnick: There's a motion and a second. May we have a vote?
[00:59:25] City Clerk: Council Member Nandi, yes. Council Member Pedto, yes. Council Member Kintania, aye. Mayor Pro Tem, yes. Mayor Harnick, yes. Motion passes 5 to 0.
[00:59:36] Mayor Harnick: Thank you.
[00:59:38] Mayor Harnick: We'll now go to 14C, the 2025 Strategic Planning and National Community Survey.
[00:59:50] Anthony Mejia: All right, Madam Mayor and City Council. I'm Anthony Mejia, City Clerk, and I'll be presenting on the proposed 2025 Strategic Plan.
[01:00:01] Councilmember: Second.
[01:00:07] Staff: So on February 27th, 2024, the city council adopted Envision Palm Desert Forward Together, the city's fourth strategic plan since its incorporation in 1973. It was envisioned to be a 20-year planning horizon. However, many of the priorities within the plan were scheduled over a 1 to 5 years timeline.
[01:00:27] Staff: So, why update now? The governance change in 2024—there was no indication that the city would be transitioning to five single-member districts, and now Palm Desert is transitioning to five single-member districts with potentially different constituent expectations. There's been revenue changes with the wind-down of the redevelopment agency, the passage of Measure G, the 1% sales tax. So, a need to strategically align the revenues and expenditures with evolving service demands such as police and fire costs, library operations. In the past, the city did not operate a municipal library and it does now. So there's a need to formally incorporate the library into the city's strategic plan and service delivery framework.
[01:01:10] Staff: Other infrastructure priorities—you know, Tropical Storm Hilary did expose some vulnerabilities in the city's infrastructure systems. So a new strategic plan will help guide long-term infrastructure investments. Technological advancements—there's been a rapid pace of technology: AI, smart infrastructure, data systems, quantum computing. And so Council has previously expressed a desire to position itself as a regional hub for innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship. And then the rapid growth of development—rapid growth in North Palm Desert is transforming the community and creating new service demands. Once a long-term vision is now a reality, so requiring updated priorities for infrastructure, public services, and community amenities.
[01:01:57] Staff: Staff is recommending the consultant to be Barry Dunn. The evaluation committee unanimously recommended awarding the contract to Barry Dunn. They are—Barry Dunn has project managers that are credentialed facilitators with deep experience in municipal government strategic planning. In fact, they are wrapping up the strategic plan for the City of Indio. And then a team of seasoned professionals with expertise across all municipal departments and disciplines are available through that firm.
[01:02:27] Staff: The scope of work does include the project initiation and planning, the document review and discovery, stakeholder engagement, strategic plan development, the review and finalization, and then implementation support. And the proposed timeline is 10 months.
[01:02:44] Staff: If Council does proceed with this, we would propose to do a future study session following the kickoff to have the Council provide feedback on the proposed outreach strategies and stakeholder engagement plan, and to determine if there is a need for a Council subcommittee at that time.
[01:03:02] Staff: There is another optional survey, a National Community Survey. This would create a statistically valid survey through a randomized, demographically representative sample of residents. It would also include an open participation version for people to opt in to take the survey if they weren't selected through the randomization. This would provide for national and regional benchmarking across 10 key facets of community livability. And Barry Dunn's proposal does include conducting a traditional opt-in survey. However, those results would not be statistically valid for benchmarking.
[01:03:38] Staff: The financial impact: the strategic plan is proposed at $128,900 plus a $12,890 contingency. If Council does want to proceed with the survey, that would be an additional $25,000.
[01:03:54] Staff: So the considerations are ultimately: does the City Council want to engage in a strategic plan update now? And if yes, does the Council prefer the traditional opt-in survey already provided in the consultant's proposal, or to proceed with a statistically valid survey with national and regional benchmarking?
[01:04:12] Staff: And that concludes my presentation, and the project manager is available if you have any questions for them. Thank you.
[01:04:19] Mayor: Are there any public comments on this?
[01:04:26] Mayor: Thank you. Any questions?
[01:04:30] Councilmember: I do. Please, in the first slide you mentioned, or one of the first slides, that one of the reasons for pursuing this is that the city has transitioned into five single-member districts. However, I would, you know, sort of put forth the idea that we're not truly into five districts because I still represent District 2, as does Ms. Harnik, right? So we're not—there is no representative from District 4 and 5 currently. So would it be prudent...
[01:05:00] Council Member Trudy: To put this off until after November 2026 when we do have all five districts represented?
[01:05:05] Staff: Certainly. So, so that is a key consideration. Yeah, districts four and five do not yet have directly elected representatives.
[01:05:15] Council Member Trudy: I mean, because the same argument can be made in 2027 that this doesn't truly represent. Okay, so I would—that's just a thought I have.
[01:05:26] Council Member: Yeah, Council Member Trudy, that does make sense to me as well. I think that was a good suggestion. Yeah, that you bring up the very valid point that not only have we not honored the request of the voters to proceed with that representation, we also have thousands of residents that will come that aren't here yet. Part of the determining factors in how we drew the district boundaries was based on the anticipated population growth. Since we aren't there yet and those people aren't here, they haven't voted. And as mentioned, one of the discussion points or one of the items that was presented is that we don't know how the constituent expectations will align with our goals and expenditures. So, I really think it's a very prudent request to delay until we can get more of our residents and more of the equity that they've requested.
[01:06:31] Council Member 2: On those comments, when, if we were to sign this contract, would you anticipate beginning the process?
[01:06:39] Staff: Certainly. So, because it is the summer season, we would be developing our plan during this season with the expectation that we would begin the community engagement in the fall.
[01:06:55] Council Member 2: And what I'm looking at is—and when I said the comments, I meant all of the comments that have been made thus far. A city is always—it's a living, breathing organism. It's always in a state of flux. We saw that in 2014 when we did it. We're going to see it change, and that's why you need a strategic plan. You have to see what your priorities are. So if we're starting, then we can do some very basic sort of citywide planning. It's not that the needs of the city should be broken up and there should be division. The needs of the city should be complementary, and I think we can start and create the base and build on that as we go along. How long do you anticipate this process being?
[01:08:02] Staff: The proposed timeline is 10 months.
[01:08:11] Council Member: I'm wondering if it would be a valuable consideration that—I agree that there are things that we could look at now. Would it be—I think that we would benefit, as well as our residents, to look at what our current strategic plan is right now and how close we've gotten to those objectives. Why reinvent the wheel if we know we need to know where we can address that and what we can do? But I think the final approval of a strategic plan really should hold off until we get fully seated members elected from each respective district.
[01:08:52] Staff: Okay. And it does state in here that that is part of it, is to assess the Envision Palm Desert Forward Together, I believe was the name. So that's in here to address that and to see where it has progressed and what they have done, and to see if it's even relevant anymore, which there are many arguments to say it's not a very relevant document with the fast rate of change.
[01:09:19] Council Member 2: Certainly, the adoption can begin, can happen after there are the direct electeds, but let's look at the city as a whole and what its needs are as a whole. It's going to continue changing. The division boundaries will continue to change, the geography not so much, but there'll be some changes. I think it's a great idea to get started on this. To postpone something to stagnate is not in the city's best interest, and we can get moving on it. Adopt it certainly when there's five directly elected council members. That's fine. And do the...
[01:10:01] Mayor: Finetuning then. But the city is in need of a strategic plan. And strategic plans are in place so that when hard times, when the unexpected happens, you have a document to fall back on. You have a plan of action. So my feeling would be to get moving on it, understanding that this is a constantly changing city and will be forever. We're certainly not what we were in 2014, and we weren't when they talk about the other strategic plans in place. We change, and that's okay, and that's good, and that's healthy. Certainly we weren't looking at AI before. We weren't looking at so many things we're looking at. So let's get started. Do that nice solid base and then build from that. And when you have five directly elected council members, then it's time for the final discussion and adoption. That would be my feeling.
[01:11:03] Councilmember: Madame Mayor, you know, I'm a Dilbert fan, and one of my favorite Dilbert comic strips is Wall-E telling Dilbert, 'I think I'm going to get into the strategic planning game.' And he says, 'If I understand the job description correctly, it's about hallucinating into the future and something different happens.' And Dilbert says, 'Yeah, but you have to pretend it's useful.' And Wall-E says, 'Well, that's tough.' But also I subscribe that although plans may be useless, planning is essential. And as I'm listening to the conversation, I look through, I think part of this solution is built into the recommendation because it's a 10-year horizon with a formal update in five years. So, Anthony, the formal update, how comprehensive is it? A minor update, or is it an overhaul? What does that look like?
[01:11:55] Anthony (Staff): I would expect that it would be a very poignant scorecard on how we're progressing, as well as getting feedback on whether or not those priorities are still in alignment. I don't think it would be a full-on community engagement process. It's more of a check-in, temperature check with the City Council on the progress that has proceeded after five years, as well as, if the Council does pursue the NCS survey, conducting that survey again to see how the residents' sentiment over those 10 key facets has adjusted over the five years.
[01:12:31] Councilmember: I concur with you, Mayor. The rate of change—I do like the idea of having each representative in their district. As I think about it, by the time somebody's newly elected and up to speed, it takes a year or two. And so as I'm thinking it through, I actually think that starting the process now is—actually, before I finish my statement, I'd like to hear from the City Manager in terms of operational necessity. How much would the strategic plan process now help you and your team?
[01:13:08] City Manager: So to the conversation I'm hearing, I think definitely we can extend the overall schedule so that we can begin preliminary work and then work through these different facets leading up into the new council seated, that ultimate adoption. We do find operationally that staff does refer to the old document, other staff does not, and so the main item is that now we have an annual goal-setting session. So that's been our main barometer. And so there's, in addition to what Anthony put up there, there's a lot of inconsistent documents there that we're trying to see. Hey, City Council, is this what you want us to focus on and spend our resource on? Are there refinements? And then most importantly that we're interested in is the benchmarking. How are the KPIs that we're assessing consistent with the community's expectations? And I report out to you on how we're performing.
[01:14:00] Mayor: And when we adopted the last strategic plan, and you know, I too, although I know we're not supposed to admit we like Dilbert anymore, but we do like Dilbert, we were really cognizant of the fact that so often people love to do a plan and then they put it on the shelf. And because of that, it is—when we look at every agenda item, there is how it's aligned with the strategic plan, and that was instituted after that plan was in place. So there is some awareness of it, but like you say, there's some people who are here now who really are not aware of it. It's time. 2014—things change at such a rate of speed. 10 years is a long time ago. So, it's time to take a look at it, make sure that we are cognizant of. I love the idea that they're looking at it in something that
[01:15:00] Speaker: We need to go back and check in on and tweak if needed. Are we—so did we see something five years ago that seemed so great and today has nothing to do with reality, which again at the rate of change that happens. So, I appreciate the fact that they're talking about looking in on it, tweaking it when necessary and putting milestones when it is they need to do that.
[01:15:30] Speaker: Please. Yeah. Um, Chris or Jan, in 2014 when this plan was first adopted, was City Council doing annual goal setting as we do now?
[01:15:44] Speaker: And he was part of that process, by the way. But I know now every year Council gets together, we submit our goals. Okay. So that, in other words, this is not like, okay, this one hasn't replaced the other.
[01:15:56] Speaker: It does not. But what we need to do better, and by what you're saying, we need to be aware of goal setting and make sure that we are either saying, 'Well, that's in conflict with what we said we were doing,' or we can integrate this well into the strategic plan. But it's something we need to be aware of and be careful of every time we do goal setting to make sure that it is aligned with, or that may call out the need for, an adjustment on the strategic plan.
[01:16:30] Speaker: I do have two other comments, please. It seems like we're being given a choice of either the strategic plan or the survey. Is that right?
[01:16:39] Speaker: The survey would be optional. So, the proposal does include doing surveys, but it would be similar to the surveys we do on Engage Palm Desert, where it's those people that become aware of it and then participate in it, versus doing the NCS survey, which would be a statistically valid survey where they are randomizing the selection based on the demographics of the city.
[01:17:03] Speaker: Got it. And the only reason I bring up that governance change component of why update now is not because I'm concerned about putting this thing off for two—I think the strategic plan we come up with would be just as effective whether we do it now or in 2027 with the five districts. I just don't want that logic to be used against a strategic plan that we would develop next year, for example, to be used against that plan and say, 'Oh, we got to do it again and then we double up and spend another couple hundred thousand.' The timing—I mean, I'm perfectly happy to pursue this right now, but I don't want that same logic to be used against any plan we come up with before we're fully into five districts. I don't think the quality of the plan will be any that much different one way or the other. So, that's why I bring it up. In terms of the survey, although it's extra expense, I would support the statistically valid survey. I find lots of value in that.
[01:17:59] Speaker: You concur?
[01:18:00] Speaker: As do I. I'd want to do the NCS survey.
[01:18:06] Mayor: Thank you. Okay. Are there any other questions or comments?
[01:18:08] Speaker: Madame Mayor, if the Council does make a motion to proceed, I would request that you allow us to amend the term date for the agreement to extend it through June 30th, 2027.
[01:18:26] Mayor: Thank you. Okay. I'll entertain a motion with a suggested amendment or edit.
[01:18:33] Speaker: One question: would that affect cost? You know, by extending it, are we running the risk of coming back with a fatter bill?
[01:18:39] Speaker: This does authorize the City Manager to—I'm sorry, that's to negotiate with PCO. If there is an additional cost, we will inform the City Council of that.
[01:18:50] Speaker: Moved.
[01:18:52] Speaker: I'll second it.
[01:18:53] Mayor: Okay. May we have a vote, please?
[01:18:55] City Clerk: Council Member Nandi, yes. Council Member Pedetto, yes. Council Member Kintania, aye. Mayor Pro—sorry, Mayor Prom Trouy, yes. Mayor Hick, yes.
[01:19:06] Mayor: Motion passes 5 to 0. Great. Thank you very much.
[01:19:10] Mayor: Okay, we'll move to public hearings. The public may comment on individual public hearing items within the three-minute time limit. The applicant or appellant will be provided up to five minutes to make their presentations. Speakers may utilize one of the three options listed on the first page of this agenda. We will move to the resolution 15A, a resolution designating 73411 Willow Street as a historic landmark.
[01:19:40] Carlos, Development Services: Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the City Council. Carlos, Development Services, here to present the proposal in front of you today. So, what is in front of you is a proposal to designate a single-family house property, 73411 Willow Street, as a historic landmark.
[01:19:58] Carlos, Development Services: And on April 23rd, 2025, the city's
[01:20:02] Staff: The Cultural Resources Preservation Committee was presented this project and did recommend that the City Council approve of today's designation. So in front of you here is a vicinity map on the left-hand side zoomed out, right-hand side zoomed in of the property. It is surrounded, it is on Willow Street and surrounded by other residential properties. Again, it's a 35-acre property on Willow Street. It's a one-story, four-bed, four-bath, just about 2,800-square-foot single-family house. It's estimated to have been constructed back in 1958. The city's historic resources survey, which you all just recently approved, did identify Willow Street to be potentially historically significant as a district. It identified all of Willow Street and some of the properties around this site today to be eligible for a district. But what is being proposed today is for this single property to be a landmark itself.
[01:21:04] Staff: There are multiple reasons why both the applicant and the historic survey recognized this as significant, and one big part of it was its construction by Patton and Wild and a local architect. So again, in front of you today is a proposal to accept this as a landmark designation based off of two different criteria within our municipal code. I did want to note that the City Council only has to find that one of these criteria are met, but city staff and the applicant identified two different criteria that this property meets. The first one being if it embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period, or method of construction, or if it offers distinctive examples of community planning or significant development patterns.
[01:21:57] Staff: I'm going to run through these images which are in your packet. But here is a site plan of the house. You can see it's this L-shape, really focused with the rear yard pool. Here are front yard images here. One point of discussion in the application packet was the lush landscaping as well as the architectural style. This style was something that Patton and Wild and other homes along Willow Street constructed a lot of. Here is the entry courtyard as well as some of the decor. The original sales brochures really mentioned the furnishings and decor, some of which remain, as a selling point.
[01:22:43] Staff: Here you'll see these are original entry steps which are highlighted on the application as historically significant, and you see a real sense of entry along this property that you would see from Willow Street. Now, there were alterations that have been made to the property since its original construction, most notably an RV parking area and enclosure of a carport. The applicant did note this in their report. They also noted to staff, as well as to the CRPC, that one of the biggest reasons why they are applying for this historical designation is because they want to restore a lot of its original architecture and perhaps renovate those alterations.
[01:23:30] Staff: So, I'm not going to read this verbatim, but there are two criteria that were identified that come from our code that this project meets. Staff did concur that it is a distinctive example of a custom home of the time, again, the original Patton and Wild architecture. That architectural firm had an office here in Palm Desert and constructed a lot of homes in the area. It also incorporates some of the architectural style of that time period. This is a public hearing. Public notification was provided not just for today, but also for the Cultural Resources Preservation Committee, and it was published in the Desert Sun. No comments were received. For purposes of CEQA, this project is found to not be considered a project. All that said, staff recommends making findings to adopt a resolution which would designate this house, this property, as a historic landmark.
[01:24:32] Mayor: Presentation. Okay, thank you. Are there any questions from the council members?
[01:24:38] Mayor: None. Then we will open the public hearing, and I don't suppose we need the applicant to speak. I think no questions is usually a good sign. And no public comments online.
[01:24:56] Staff: Madame Mayor, thank you very much.
[01:24:59] Mayor: Okay. Would anyone...
[01:25:03] Mayor: So there's no one who wishes to speak. So I will close the public hearing now. Ask for comments.
[01:25:13] Council Member: I'll move approval.
[01:25:18] Council Member: I will second.
[01:25:20] Council Member: Okay. Now that there's a motion and a second, I'll just have a quick comment, please. That is, I know how hard you work on these projects, so thank you very much. I know your team puts a lot into it, but I have watched you go through so much to get these through. So, thank you for all your effort and for, you know, really setting forth a process to get this done. So, thank you.
[01:25:45] Mayor: So, we have a motion and a second. Can we have a vote, please?
[01:25:48] City Clerk: Council Member Nandi, yes. Council Member Pertto, yes. Council Member Quintanilla. Mayor Pro Tem, yes. Mayor Harnick, yes.
[01:25:57] Mayor: Motion passes 5 to 0. Thank you.
[01:26:02] Mayor: Okay, we will go to 15B. Introduction of an ordinance adopting the fire hazard severity zones as recommended by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Government Code Section 51178.
[01:26:19] Mayor: Can we have staff report, please?
[01:26:33] Staff: Daniel, this file won't open.
[01:26:37] Staff: Open. It won't open.
[01:26:42] Mayor: Well, we have, I believe we have this. Do we have this all in our packets?
[01:26:51] Staff: We have the draft ordinance. We have the staff report. We have Palm Desert fire hazards severity zone map, and we do have the PowerPoint presentation, and we have it up there as well. Thank you.
[01:27:10] Daniel Hurtado: Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, and community members present. My name is Daniel Hurtado, public safety analyst, and today I'll be presenting the adoption of the updated fire hazard severity zone map for the City of Palm Desert. This presentation outlines our legal obligations under California law, the recent changes to the fire hazard severity zone maps, and what it means for both the city and our residents. Right.
[01:27:39] Daniel Hurtado: So, the origin of the fire hazard severity zone mapping dates back to catastrophic wildfires that happened here in California. These events led to state legislation that directed the State Fire Marshal to assess wildfire risk and designate severity zones to support mitigation strategies. As a result, California Public Resources Codes require the classification of fire hazard severity zones across all state responsibility areas using standardized methodology. These zones help identify areas of higher risk, informing not only emergency response planning, but also long-term land use, building codes, and public awareness. This data-driven approach ensures that zones are based on fire history, topography, fuels, and local weather patterns.
[01:28:30] Daniel Hurtado: So what are fire hazard severity zones? The fire hazard severity zones are categorized into three levels: moderate, high, and very high. These zones represent the likelihood of an area experiencing wildfire and the anticipated behavior and intensity of a fire if it occurs. These zones are not arbitrary. They are determined using advanced fire behavior modeling, fuel loading data, historic patterns, and environmental factors. Under California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 1280, cities are required to recognize these zones and take regulatory action, particularly in local responsibility areas where local governments have fire prevention authority, just as we do here in the City of Palm Desert.
[01:29:14] Daniel Hurtado: On March 24th, 2025, the Office of the State Fire Marshal released the 2025 fire hazard severity zone updates for local responsibility areas, which includes our jurisdiction in Riverside County. These maps reflect the modern data, scientific advancements, and wildfire prediction. They are more precise than previous versions and are intended to inform local land use decisions and fire mitigation efforts. It is important to note that this is the first update to the local responsibility area maps since 2008. The City of Palm Desert is now required to adopt the recommended fire hazard severity zone map by ordinance within 120 days of its issuance, which puts us at a deadline of July 22nd, 2025. Additionally, the city has already made these maps publicly available within 30 days of receipt.
[01:30:03] Daniel: So, what does it mean for Palm Desert? The adoption of the 2025 fire hazard severity zone maps is a legal requirement under government section code 51179. This states that local agencies may not decrease the hazard level recommended by the state fire marshall. While jurisdictions are permitted to increase severity levels or include additional areas, the Riverside County Fire Department is not proposing any such increases during this adoption process, adopting the state's recommended as-is. However, the real significance lies in the impact on residents and how it shapes our long-term planning.
[01:30:44] Daniel: And I'll go ahead and skip to the next as I just stated some of that. So, this is going to show the examples of the state's minimum requirements for the cities. We can see the high levels of moderate, high, and very high color coordinating.
[01:31:01] Daniel: So residents living in the new designated very high fire hazard severity zones will need to follow several state-mandated fire safety measures, which will be: maintain a minimum of 100 feet of defensible space around all structures, comply with home hardening requirements which include the use of ignition-resistant materials and closed eaves and fire-rated vents. They will also need to ensure all new construction and major remodels meet wildland-urban interface building codes. And when selling property, the seller must disclose if the property is located in a fire hazard severity zone. Residents in high zones must follow the same construction and disclose requirements through defensible space mandate, which applies primarily to very high classification. One thing that is to note is that in the city of Palm Desert, there was no location within the new maps designated as a very high zone.
[01:31:59] Daniel: How will this affect my insurance? Does the fire hazard red zone affect homeowners insurance? Cal Fire's official position is that the maps are meant to inform local planning, not insurance underwriting decisions. However, many insurance companies already use more sophisticated private risk models to assess wildfire exposure. Recent changes implemented by California's insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara now require insurers to provide premium discounts for homes that implement wildfire risk reduction measures such as defensible space or home hardening. These changes promote safer communities while helping maintain access to affordable insurance. Cal Fire's updated maps help support those efforts through public education and transparency.
[01:32:44] Daniel: In closing, staff recommends that the city council approve and adopt the updated fire hazard severity zone map released by the office of the state fire marshall on March 24th, 2025, and adopt the ordinance in accordance with the government code section 51178. This action will bring the city of Palm Desert into compliance with state law while reinforcing our commitment to wildfire preparedness and community resilience. Thank you for your time and attention this evening, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
[01:33:14] Mayor: Are there any questions? Ask it. Ask away.
[01:33:18] Councilmember: All right. Thank you, Daniel. Um, you said the last time we adopted a map was in 2008, correct? And any idea what that looked like? I mean, just to add some perspective. Did this increase, decrease?
[01:33:34] Daniel: That is correct. And I'll actually see if Anthony can go ahead and click the link right here where it says Palm Desert Fire at the bottom, so it allows us to open it.
[01:33:47] Daniel: So when the city updated the website regarding the fire hazard severity zone map, the map does show the previous map to current map on this slide—I'm sorry, on this web page.
[01:34:31] Daniel: So, this is what we currently have listed on our city's website. And we had our GIS team layer previous map to current map. And if you use a drag slider along there, you can see previous map to the current updated maps. Cool. And if you scroll up a little bit more, residents are able to go ahead and put in your address on there to see where you fall in the location of that map.
[01:34:54] Councilmember: Right. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Yeah, we saw that in public safety. I think that is correct. We have that. Okay. Perfect.
[01:35:00] Council Member: Great. So basically it's an increase in the risk zones within our city. We have 100 days to adopt it, or what if we don't?
[01:35:11] Staff: Essentially, the state's Fire Marshal will attempt to compel the city to comply, and it could affect our grant funding. But at the end of the day, I would recommend this to our City Attorney for advice on the—
[01:35:25] Council Member: Okay, perfect. And basically we have no back and forth. There's no say-so. We just adopt it and that's that.
[01:35:28] Staff: Correct.
[01:35:30] Council Member: Okay. That's just one walk. We can make it more stringent. We can add spaces with justification, right? Or we can remove.
[01:35:38] Council Member: I got that. I understand that. But you want to play chicken with the state on this?
[01:35:41] Council Member: No, I don't. I just want to walk through the process, Mr. Joe. Thank you. Good thinking.
[01:35:47] Mayor Harik: Okay. Any other questions?
[01:35:54] Council Member: No.
[01:35:55] Mayor Harik: We'll open the public hearing. Is there anyone who wants to speak to this?
[01:36:01] City Clerk: No online comments, Madam Mayor.
[01:36:04] Mayor Harik: Okay, thank you. So, nobody wants to favor or oppose. I guess we can go ahead and close the public hearing and we can ask for council member comments. Any comments?
[01:36:22] Council Member: I have a comment, Madam Mayor. One of the things that was discussed at the CBEC public safety, and I think it may have even been touched upon at the Cove Communities public safety, is all of the hard work that our Cal Fire representatives here have done in order to not only make sure we're compliant, but that we are leaders in the country in terms of how we're approaching this. And I feel that adopting this supports and reinforces that we are committed to giving them the tools to be successful to save lives. Because one of the things that was mentioned, I think Chief Brelin, if you can speak more to it, was the danger of how it was just the embers—that it just took one single little ember to spread the fire. And anything we can do to increase that buffer, and as mentioned, this is just the minimum we can evaluate in the future if we want to expand that, but the bare minimum not only ensures that we're compliant, but helps support what is needed. And also this may, I think right now we're at a Tier 2, I think it's the ISO rating, and I don't know if this would help us get closer to a Tier 1, which would then again just show how exemplary our Cal Fire is here in Palm Desert.
[01:37:43] Mayor Harik: Any other comments?
[01:37:46] Council Member Nandi: I have one quick comment to make, and that is that our governor declared that the utilities had to underground any overground wires in a high fire zone. I would suggest that any place that has overground wires is a high fire zone. So, I just had to mention, as long as we found out that this has nothing to do with insurance, I did want to mention it's probably time that the governor declared that our utility companies need to underground all of our utility wires. That's my comments.
[01:38:30] Mayor Harik: That would be very nice.
[01:38:35] Mayor Harik: And that is Council Member Nandi's comment.
[01:38:39] Council Member: Move.
[01:38:40] Mayor Harik: Okay. Thank you. We have an approval. Do we have a motion? Do we have a second?
[01:38:43] Council Member: I second.
[01:38:45] Mayor Harik: Can we have a vote, please?
[01:38:45] City Clerk: Council Member Nandi, yes. Council Member Petto, yes. Council Member Quintanilla. Mayor Pro Tem, yes. Mayor Harik, yes. Motion passes 5 to 0.
[01:38:57] Mayor Harik: Thank you.
[01:38:59] Mayor Harik: Okay. 15C. Some of us have been waiting a long time for this. Resolution adopting the report proposing to have solid waste service charges collected on the property tax roll for fiscal year 2025-26. Luis McTuma, please.
[01:39:20] Luis McTuma: Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Luis McTuma, management analyst with the Economic Development Department. In April of 2015, the City Council approved billing residential solid waste services for all individually billed residences through the County of Riverside tax assessor's property tax roll. The item before you is to approve the resolution adopting the report proposing to collect the solid waste service charges for single-family residences on the property tax roll for fiscal year 2025-2026. As noted in the report, to pass, this resolution must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the City Council. With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions. We also have Frank Corlet—
[01:40:00] Bertech Representative: Um, Vice President with Bertech Waste and Recycling, available for questions as well. Thank you. Are there any questions?
[01:40:12] Council Member: Yeah, I do have a quick question. This would be fun. Let's have a little levity. How do we get to two-thirds when there's five of us?
[01:40:17] Bertech Representative: How do we do what?
[01:40:18] Council Member: A two-thirds vote to pass it. There's five of us. How are you going to hit two-thirds?
[01:40:23] Bertech Representative: Math is hard. I know. That's why it's fun. Thank you.
[01:40:30] Mayor Harik: Okay.
[01:40:35] City Clerk: No questions. We will open the public hearing. No online comments and no speaker cards, Madame Mayor.
[01:40:43] Mayor Harik: Okay. And I don't think we have any questions of the applicant. So we will just move on, and no one wants to speak to this issue, and we will close it. And any comments? Any comments?
[01:40:57] Council Member: I think I'll make one comment, Mayor. I think it speaks to the good service we are getting from our waste management company that there are no comments.
[01:41:09] Mayor Harik: I think we'd all agree with that and support you in that comment.
[01:41:13] Council Member: I concur. Um, I've had the need to reach out and say, 'Hey, what happened? My neighbors, you know, my whole neighborhood didn't get picked up.' Called Miss Clara, excellent representative, and they said, 'Just simple oversight.' Within a few hours, it was taken care of. And as mentioned, if we don't have people here angry to have anything negative to say, you were the excellent partner that we need to have this. So, if there are no other comments, I have a motion to approve.
[01:41:41] Council Member: Second.
[01:41:43] Mayor Harik: We have a motion and a second. And I'd also like to say, remember during the summer holidays when it's 110 and 115 degrees, someone else is out there picking up your waste and your refuse. And so please thank them, or at least just give them a smile. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Can we have a vote, please?
[01:42:04] City Clerk: Council Member Nandi?
[01:42:05] Council Member Nandi: Yes.
[01:42:06] City Clerk: Council Member Pertto?
[01:42:07] Council Member Pertto: Yes.
[01:42:08] City Clerk: Council Member Kintania?
[01:42:09] Council Member Kintania: Aye.
[01:42:10] City Clerk: Mayor Pro Tem Trippy?
[01:42:11] Mayor Pro Tem Trippy: Yes.
[01:42:12] City Clerk: Mayor Harik?
[01:42:12] Mayor Harik: Yes.
[01:42:13] City Clerk: Motion passes 5 to 0. Thank you.
[01:42:17] Mayor Harik: Well, unless there is any other additional information, which I see none, just go out there, take care of each other. And seeing no unfinished business, this meeting stands adjourned. Thank you, everybody. Bye-bye.