Palm Desert City Council - Study Session, June 12, 2025

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AI transcript text.

[00:06:06] Speaker: May, can you hear me?
[00:06:10] Speaker: We can hear you. Okay, great. Just wanted to make sure.
[00:06:15] Speaker: Very, um, Wizard of Oz-like voice. It's so big. Tina, I mean, that's a good thing. Okay.
[00:06:41] Mayor: Okay. It is time to call the Palm Desert City Council study session meeting of Thursday, June 12th at actually 2:16 to order. And we'll start with our first, or however you'd like to take the session, the topics in the... I just want to, need to do some housekeeping. Council Member Nestandi, pursuant to 2449, could you please state the nature of the need to remote participate?
[00:07:15] Council Member Nestandi: Yes, it's for family care. My daughter is due any day now to give birth.
[00:07:20] Mayor: Great. And is there anybody over the age of 18 present in the room with you?
[00:07:25] Council Member Nestandi: No. Thank you.
[00:07:29] Staff: Okay. Thank you. In the order as listed, Mayor.
[00:07:34] Mayor: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay. So, we'll start with the update on the dining deck program.
[00:07:41] Carlos Flores: Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the City Council. Carlos Flores, Development Services. I'm going to be doing this presentation in collaboration with Venice Mayor and our economic development team to provide the city an update on our outdoor dining deck program. So, a bit of a timeline, which was in your report, but going to go over this briefly. The outdoor dining deck program is a program that the city put forward starting in 2020. In 2021, the program was extended until 2022, and at that time there was a direction and establishment of ARC-approved design guidelines. Since 2021, the program has been extended a couple times, initially through 2024, and then ultimately it was extended another time until the year 2026. Additionally, back in November of 2023, the City Council, when they extended the program, there was also an approval for updated dining guidelines. The updates at that point were more about providing visuals and helping the restaurant operators understand, not just in text but also in visuals, what the expectations were for these dining decks. Additionally, there was also administrative information put into the guidelines, including a checklist that city staff would work with operators on, and insurance requirements and things of that nature. After November 2023, in April and May, there were discussions on a fee, so an agreement and a fee for these dining deck operators to use the right-of-way. And a fee was eventually established in October of 2024. As you may recall also, last year, May 2024, there was a study session to discuss the Alpo street rehab project, which was a project going on on Alpaco. And it was agreed at that time to postpone the portion of ALO project until this year in 2025, which the City Council awarded just in May. So, that's a little bit of where we are in the past, and we're going to give an...
[00:10:00] Staff: ...update on what we've done over the past year and where our next steps are at.
[00:10:08] Staff: Good afternoon. So, we've been in contact with the dining deck operators since 2024. They were part of the process when we went into updating the design guidelines. As we've approached the summer of 2025, myself as well as the planning department have met with all the dining deck operators to let them know that the paving project was happening, that dining decks needed to be removed by June 1st. As of June 2nd, all dining decks were removed. During those conversations, we also let the dining deck operators know about the new temporary use permit that needed to be applied for in order for those dining decks to go back after the paving project. And at that time, we also discussed with them the annual leasing rate. We also did give information to those dining deck operators that there is a new legislation, AB 592, that has passed the Assembly and is now with the Senate to extend the ability to have alcohol moved from a restaurant over public right-of-way onto a dining deck. That currently is being read. That would extend that process until January 1st of 2029. Since it has been read through the Assembly, it was amended twice. So, we'll see what the Senate ultimately ends up doing, if it is going to get changed or if it will be approved.
[00:11:27] Staff: Oh, and I went too far. This next slide, I'm going to go back. We'll just show you also this was the documents that we gave to each of the dining deck operators. Kind of a FAQ, you know, the frequently asked questions, so that they were well aware of the process going forward and what had been done prior.
[00:11:45] Council Member 1: Can I ask, and maybe there may be some other questions, I have two questions I'd like to ask kind of quickly on this. What side of El Paseo are we starting on first?
[00:11:58] Staff: Starting on the south side closest to Highway 74.
[00:12:01] Council Member 1: Okay. So, south side, then we'll move towards Portola. Is Portola the terminus on it?
[00:12:07] Staff: It will go, the operation goes all the way to 111. So it's from 74 all the way to 111 on El Paseo.
[00:12:14] Council Member 1: Okay. So would it be 111 to 111?
[00:12:19] Staff: No. So starting where, like, Shorebird is and going from Shorebird all the way to One El Paseo Plaza.
[00:12:28] Council Member 1: Okay, so 74 to 111, just like you said. So, the other question I have is there's a dining deck still there. What happens? It's still on the corner of Ocotillo and El Paseo.
[00:12:42] Staff: There are, yes, two barricades that remain as well as some delineators, and so code enforcement has been working with Daily Grill to have those removed.
[00:12:51] Council Member 1: Okay. All right. Those are my two questions.
[00:12:58] Staff: So again, as part of the collaborative effort to outreach with the dining deck operators, we were able to have multiple meetings with them and get an understanding of, you know, we let them know what would be required and expectations when they need to reapply for their temporary use permit to operate into 2026. And we're also able to have good conversations in terms of who would actually be reapplying and who would not. So with that, in 2025 along El Paseo, there were a total of seven dining decks that were still operational. Out of those seven, three confirmed that they would be reapplying. So this is Armando's, Sweet Basil, and Pizzavino. Three of them, which are Kitchen 86, Daily Grill, and The Fix, stated that they would be seeking a more permanent solution. So that would mean that something adjacent to their property, either expanding their existing one, but all entirely within their private property. So it wouldn't necessarily be within this program, but would basically be how we treat any other restaurant operator trying to have a new patio or expand a patio. And that would go entirely outside of this. And one operator, which is Mama's, who was unsure whether or not they would be reapplying. So with that, we were able to have even more meetings with the three that confirmed they would be reapplying. Went out there on-site with them to discuss their existing ones and what tweaks they would need to make for the update. They're aware of the lease rates, but really was able to have pretty good conversations with them on reapplying and timing and expectations for them.
[00:14:34] Council Member 2: Madam Mayor, may I ask...
[00:14:40] Council Member 2: Little Bar, have you been in communication with them, and how does their situation relate to the teardown and everything?
[00:14:49] Staff: Theirs is not on El Paseo, so there wasn't the immediate need for them to tear it down. The conversations with them, it's still been that they need to apply for a new temporary use permit, but their situation is...
[00:15:01] Staff Member: ...different just because of their location.
[00:15:05] Council Member 1: Any other question? I have a question then, too, since we're doing this Q&A this way. So, on the three that stated they would seek a more permanent solution—Kitchen 86, Daily Grill, and The Fix—have they said how they would do this? Are they looking to get permission to go onto the sidewalk area, or is it to be determined?
[00:15:25] Staff Member: We haven't seen any plans from them. It's been more hypothetical in nature. I did communicate that, or they are understanding that anything within the right-of-way is a different conversation altogether than within their private property. Additionally, if they push their patio far along the sidewalk, we need to make sure that there's ADA access and so on and so forth. What they have told us, at least for Kitchen 86 and Daily Grill—we haven't just worked with the restaurant operators but also property managers—is they're looking at maybe getting an architect to draw some plans for something of a more permanent design. Daily Grill has talked about utilizing another portion of their patio that they currently have and more about rehabilitating that rather than something new. So, there are a few options that they have, but the conversation is, you know, they've been made clear what the line is to require a dining deck and go into our sidewalk or right-of-way.
[00:16:38] Council Member 1: Okay. So, there is no misconception that they think they could have approval to expand their restaurant out onto the sidewalk then?
[00:16:46] Staff Member: No, no. And that would be—yeah, we would review that and make that clear.
[00:16:50] Council Member 1: Great. Thanks.
[00:16:50] Council Member 2: My question is a softball question. I would just like to confirm that on the document, you are the contact person in Nick's absence here, Nick 2.0, for the purpose of this document, or is that someone else's contact?
[00:17:06] Staff Member: Yeah, email is going to Nick, go to me. So, yes.
[00:17:08] Council Member 2: Okay, perfect. Thank you.
[00:17:11] Staff Member: And so, here as part of the, you know, as part of this previous times came to council, one of the things was getting an annual TUP for these. So, I just wanted to go over again, reiterate, we created a new temporary use permit for outdoor dining decks, really outlining submittal requirements. We established, per council's approval, the annual lease rate of $78 per square foot per year, required the completion of a revocable license agreement, and added a clear summary of insurance requirements. So, these are all things that all the operators are aware of, including the three that will need to reapply. And we worked with them on timing in terms of, 'This is when you'd be able to bring it, actually construct it, and use it after the rehab project is done,' and also, 'This is when your payments will be required and what it will mean.' We also received correspondence from Southern California Gas Company, SoCalGas, and they had some general concerns about dining decks because a lot of them they found to be constructed over their infrastructure, and obviously that is a concern. And so, we had a really good, productive meeting with them last Friday to discuss where we're at and then to hear their concerns. We agreed with them that we would send them any new temporary use permit applications for these. We'd send it to them so they could inform us of whether or not they're being proposed over their lines and, if they are, what types of conditions of approval that they would look for. And mostly, first and foremost, they just wanted to make sure that these operators are aware that if they are proposing it over one of their lines, SoCalGas has the ability to go in there, whether it's emergency or maintenance or whatever it may be, that they have the ability to go in there and do those repairs. So, we had a good, productive meeting on that.
[00:19:05] Staff Member: And here again, these are the guidelines, just again as reference, that were approved in 2023. On the left-hand side is the outdoor dining deck checklist. So, this checklist was actually used by our code compliance staff over a year now, or a year and a half, where they use the checklist to go out with the dining deck operators and, you know, provide expectations: 'This is what we're going to expect from you.' Some of the dining decks did make upgrades based off of this. First and foremost, safety was one of the biggest concerns, especially vehicular safety. So, multiple dining decks updated with everything from reflectors to, you know, planters or K-rail and things like that to update. So, this checklist is something that, upon October, any new ones that would go out there, this is a checklist that would be used to make sure that they're in compliance. On the right-hand side, you'll see some—these are some of the graphics that we added in November 2023 to not just provide...
[00:20:02] Carlos: This is what we expect, but also some visuals on what we expect for barriers and drainage on these decks. There's graphics throughout the updated guidelines to really demonstrate the do's and don'ts, if you will. So, all that said, that concludes my presentation. That's where we're at right now. Staff expects, again, we've had good communication with these operators and expects to continue to do that. And we'll wait and see when we receive the updated temporary use permits to then work with them on constructing it in October.
[00:20:38] Councilmember: Comments? Excellent presentation. Thank you, Carlos. The lease rates or lease payments were initiated last fall, October, November. Any issues or problems collecting those payments coming in? You're adding on a new expense to a business. Any confusion, problems, anybody behind in their payments? Is everybody up to date, everything fine?
[00:21:01] Carlos: That would start with the new TUP, so that would start in October. They are aware. I think one of the original concerns was making sure they weren't going to be charged during summer times when they weren't going to have it, and so we established, no, it'll start when you're able to reconstruct it.
[00:21:18] Councilmember: I should have remembered that. Thank you, because I approved it. All right. Thanks.
[00:21:23] Councilmember: Questions or comments? If the present AB 572 does not pass, the deck expiry is next June of 2026.
[00:21:38] Carlos: So, right now, the program that Council's approved expires June of 2026. We anticipate we're going to be following that legislation. I anticipate whatever comes from that will come back to the City Council to determine what actions we want to take. We did hear pretty loud and clear from all the restaurant operators that if they're not able to sell alcohol out there, it's not feasible for them to continue. So, we're kind of in a wait-and-see mode.
[00:22:06] Councilmember: And by 'all', you mean the three that are interested in?
[00:22:08] Carlos: Yeah. And even the other ones, when we had those discussions, that was part of their concern even on bringing it back in the dining manner. And the reason that ours expires in '26, Council took that action. It matches the legislation right now. So, we're waiting to see if they're going to extend that expiration to a certain date or even permanent. We're not sure. As Vanessa said, there's a couple things out there.
[00:22:46] Councilmember: Understood. Okay. Thank you.
[00:22:48] Councilmember: Any other comments or questions? I have a couple things. I'm relieved to hear the Daily Grill is not thinking they want to put one where they've been hit twice by a vehicle. So, that's a relief. I mean, that's a very difficult intersection anyway because we created that drop-off place for people and it was just a mess. So, that's a relief, and we have to make sure that at some point, should Daily Grill go out, that somebody else doesn't come in and think that they should do it there. We know that's a bad corner. So, we need to have something in place that protects us going forward. I want to make sure that we have really stringent and consistent design standards because though we had that checklist, boy, when you looked at some of those, there were a couple that were just not what we would want to have reflecting Palm Desert's aesthetic standards. So, I really want to make sure that we have something in place that will protect the integrity of the design and reflect the city well. Additionally, the safety issue is huge. I thought The Fix did a good job by swinging out with the sidewalk. Was there any feedback? Did you have any experience? Was that better or worse having the sidewalk come out?
[00:24:28] Carlos: Didn't hear anything anecdotally. I know for them, they were happy with that. Although now they wanted to go away from that and basically just use their existing patio, and we worked with them in terms of how far out they could go with that.
[00:24:43] Councilmember: Okay. But they do have a good patio.
[00:24:44] Carlos: Yeah. But we did hear from a couple other operators floating, 'Hey, could we do that?' So it did seem to be something of interest for others, but nothing beyond that.
[00:24:55] Councilmember: Okay. And I saw other cities where they did the same thing. They swung the sidewalk out. And not...
[00:25:01] Mayor: Only does that then avoid the issue of you can't walk across public right-of-way with alcohol, but it just becomes a safer situation, I think. Okay, those are my thoughts, and I just again want to make sure that we have really strong safety guidelines in place and really strong and consistent design standards. We can't have it looking like we just threw it out there, and there were a couple that just did not reflect that well. So those are my thoughts.
[00:25:35] Council Member: Mayor, I want to echo your statements. Right on. I think, especially with the way that The Fix did their sidewalk, it was really good. A lot of the complaints that I heard are people who say, 'If I'm walking my dog and there's waiters coming through...' and I found that that swing-out was actually a really convenient way to handle that. So that was really neat. And in terms of the aesthetic, I, you know, I was down the street this week and you kind of take for granted—I know that these provide a good use, but some of them, you didn't realize how unattractive they were until they were gone.
[00:26:11] Mayor: Yeah, I agree with that.
[00:26:14] Council Member: So, you know, I don't know if we need to review that checklist or how we go about doing it, but I just want to make sure that we're not put in a position. You know, some of the cities had, they would have competitions to see who could make theirs nicest for the season, and something to encourage them really to take pride in their dining deck.
[00:26:37] Mayor: And there were, to that point, there was one dining deck one night when I was walking on El Paseo. You couldn't get through because they were congregating in between their patio that was attached to their property and the patio that was the deck. So I feel that that is something we have to do away with. Let's not pretend that works, because it really doesn't work, and we've seen it on multiple occasions—what you're citing, what I experienced. So, I really want us to take a look at this, and I don't know if that means we have to go back and tweak some of those standards and some of those guidelines, but whatever it takes to make sure that we have something in Palm Desert that reflects our design accurately, I think is important.
[00:27:27] Staff: Understood. I think for us, for staff, as we review the new ones, it's not just the checklist, it's also the guidelines, but also exactly what you're saying in terms of: are there additional conditions we want to make sure that they adhere to, whether it's the congregation of... you have to make sure at all times, you know, you're leaving that, just kind of hammering that home with these operators and maintaining that level of aesthetics and safety.
[00:27:52] Mayor: That's definitely... and I think we make it easier for everybody when we have strong guidelines in place. So, let's make sure we do that. And that's it. Unless... are there any other comments? Nope. Okay.
[00:28:03] Mayor: Gina, do you have anything? Okay, great. Thank you.
[00:28:06] Mayor: And please, I mean, Council Member Nandy, please speak up because I may kind of...
[00:28:17] Council Member Nandy: I most certainly will.
[00:28:19] Mayor: I'm sure you will. Thank you. Okay.
[00:28:23] Mayor: Okay, we'll move to our next item.
[00:28:28] Vanessa Mayor: Good afternoon again. So, my name is Vanessa Mayor with the Economic Development Department. Before you is the 2025 Commercial Brokers Report Strategy Discussion. This is a biennial broker report that we put together. Some of the key takeaways that we heard this year... I'll just keep going. So, some of the key takeaways is that Palm Desert is centrally located, and that continues to be one of the driving factors that businesses choose to come to the Valley and come to the City of Palm Desert. The City's continued communication with brokers throughout the year has been very much appreciated, and leasing in Palm Desert remains strong. Some of the challenges that we heard were obviously the rising leasing rates across all industries—so that's industrial, office, and retail—making it harder for small businesses to open. We've also heard that low property owner turnover along 111 or El Paseo can sometimes hinder deals, as those property owners are not looking to invest in any type of upgrades. The facade enhancement improvement program is underutilized. Some of it is because our brokers and our property owners are unaware of the program, and others because they're hesitant due to costly ADA upgrades.
[00:30:01] Staff: or prevailing wage requirements that come along with accepting public funds. And then lastly, brokers are seeing a mismatch when it comes to commercial retail space. Currently, businesses are looking for 2,000 to 5,000 square feet, not the large big boxes that are anywhere from 15 to 30,000 square feet. And so we have a number of big box spaces and not enough little boxes to fill. The broker's report included a few forward-looking ideas to help address some of the challenges shared by the brokers. These strategies were not formal recommendations when we put them into the report, but rather concepts that staff would like to explore further, some of which are already being worked on, such as our communication with the brokers that is ongoing. We meet with them not just for the bi-annual report, but also as we are seeing vacancies that are coming up or movement that is happening, we reach out directly to them. As well as we continue to streamline the process through the permit program or through the permit department, as well as planning, building and safety, and economic development. And then at this time, staff is seeking Council's input on both the report findings and strategies outlined in the report. And we're happy to answer any questions that you might have.
[00:31:20] Mayor: Thank you. Do you have questions?
[00:31:22] Council Member Kintania: Yes, I have two questions. One is how involved or what the frequency of involvement with Retail Coach is, as I know that's part of trying to find suitable matches. And additionally, has there been any consideration to shared workspace, whether it's for offices or food labs, the way they have in Riverside? That would be an opportunity for food courts—I mean, for food trucks that already have a built-in following—to find a way to come in. Has that been explored?
[00:31:54] Staff: So I can tell you that we have heard from leasing agents who have tried to explore this. Unfortunately, some of the vacancies that are currently had do not have the grease interceptors or things of that nature, and so putting in those types of conditions or equipment is very costly, and so property owners aren't willing to upfront the money to these small businesses. What I've been doing, or what we've been doing, is working with a number of small businesses that we've actually been following on Instagram and connecting them with some of the property owners that we feel are open to doing pop-ups. And so we have seen success in that, and we'll continue to do those efforts. And my apologies, Council Member Kintania, the first one: the role or involvement of Retail Coach in finding matches. Great. And so as we're getting these informations for the vacancies, like the Rite Aid that is going to be closing on Country Club, as well as JC's Deli, we've been reaching out to again those property owners and the leasing agents to gather all the information: the square footage, what equipment comes with it, what does their triple net charge or CAM charges look like, and sending all of that information to the Retail Coach and asking them to push hard on helping us fill those vacancies. So we do have a number of restaurants from the Retail Coach that stated that they're interested. Now that we have like Lopa, or we also have JC's Deli that are a little bit more turnkey and ready to move in—or Jay's Deli, sorry—we will have the opportunity to hopefully bring in some of those restaurants. Right now, folks are really looking to go into move-in ready spaces because, again, grease interceptors and things of that nature, kitchen equipment is very expensive, and also the timing from getting those from like CBWD are taking a little longer. And so most folks are wanting to just move right in and start opening their doors the next day.
[00:33:48] Mayor: I see Gina has her hand up.
[00:33:52] Council Member Gina: Yes. So, in terms of the facade enhancement program we have, you said it was underutilized, and one business that I know used it was Lasis restaurant. And anecdotally, it seems whatever expense that, you know, prevailing wage caused and ADA requirements, their restaurant has remarkably turned around. It used to be mostly takeout before they did the enhancement, and now you can go there any evening of the week and it's packed. Is there any data to show that's been shared that how a facade enhancement could potentially help some of these other owners that perhaps are concerned about the cost that will be incurred?
[00:34:45] Staff: There has not been, but it's something that we can definitely do. I've been reading up in regards to ADA exceptions and what might be able to be allowed without triggering some of those costly changes. So, I've been working with building and safety on that. So, we'll continue to explore that.
[00:35:00] Speaker 1: And however we can get that information out about the facade enhancement program. If we can work with Rey from Casuelas to kind of use him as our poster child of the way to utilize it so it really makes sense for a business, we're looking to do that.
[00:35:12] Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. And it is Casuela's Cafe, and I do believe that we would find that it wasn't that it was mostly takeout before, but it expanded the area size, and every square foot of that gets used because of the music, etc. So there was definitely a great return on that. Are there any other questions or...
[00:35:39] Speaker 3: Yeah, I will say thank you for turning this around so quickly for us. One of the things that I think we have a special opportunity on is as we update our development code, I want to see if there's a way that we can incorporate some of these brokers to advise on some of the ways we can create flexibility in the uses. When I was on the planning commission, a lot of times what we would find is somebody who would be demolishing and rebuilding a building of similar form would have to come to the planning commission because our code required that for a precise plan, which is not necessarily the most common thing, or a conditional use permit for an operator who's taking an existing building and doing minor interior modifications, and that adds weeks and thousands of dollars to the cost. So, definitely if we could figure out a way to get some professional input from those folks about what they're seeing from their clients, I know you put streamlining in, I think that goes really well. And another thing that I have addressed with our city manager is that I've been aware of for several years now is not just here, but the shortage of small industrial condos all over the county and probably more abroad, really. A lot of developers like the single-tenant warehouse because it's easy to build, easy to fill, but the demand for a small industrial condo of 1,200 square feet that can expand as businesses grow to, you know, five, six thousand square feet is in such demand. But developers just—they're a little more complicated. So, if we could figure out a way through our zoning code to find—first of all, we need to find space in our city, which we don't have much of, and then figure out a way to create that zone for small industrial that would allow for entrepreneurs to start and grow.
[00:37:30] Speaker 1: We'll work with the planning department or development services to target that.
[00:37:39] Speaker 4: So you highlighted in the report the mismatch between large box store spaces versus the demand for smaller spaces. Is there any possibility or any interest from landlords from subdividing those larger spaces into smaller spaces? Is that even something that would work in the market?
[00:37:58] Speaker 1: So it depends on the location is what we have learned. During this two-week turnaround time, we've been talking to property owners. And so it depends on the space. There are some spaces that in order to divide the space, you're looking at them being very narrow and very long, and that's not something that would be accommodating to some of our retailers. Sometimes there is a space that may have one loading dock, and so if we slice it in two, then what does that kind of incur? But they're not against it. It is definitely something that would have to be looked at on a case-by-case basis to see if it pencils out financially in order to make smaller spaces. Thank you.
[00:38:42] Speaker 5: But a couple things I'd like to start with. I'd like to know what our, I suppose, our return is on the Retail Coach. We've had it now a couple years. I'd like to know, is it worth what we're spending? And if we could get that information, I think it would be valuable as we go forward.
[00:39:04] Speaker 6: Okay. Madam Mayor, can I add a point on Retail Coach since the study session isn't on Retail Coach? I feel that I can address it without changing the conversation...
[00:39:15] Speaker 5: ...that and it isn't. That's why I'd like her to come back. I want to see stats. I want to see an analysis that we can all look at and we can all see the numbers that are exact and something from which we can work.
[00:39:27] Speaker 6: Okay, perfect. Thank you. All I was going to say is ICSC was the best one because of Retail Coach.
[00:39:35] Speaker 5: The other thing I'd like to mention is that we've had facade improvement elsewhere where it's been successful on the northwest corner of San Pablo and El Paseo. We did front and back on that, and it's where El Corso is and all those little Alpacas Jewelers, that's all facade improvement, and it turned into a great asset in that...
[00:40:00] Councilmember: ...area. So I think there's great ways that we can communicate that, and I'm not so sure that prevailing wage is what scares people, but because of the cost of labor now is so high, I'm not sure that that is scaring people away. What I do think is we just need to make sure that people know about it, so we should work on that. I appreciate you said develop a business-friendly development toolkit. I think anybody who was looking to go into business, if they can just go in and they see their roadmap, what a great asset that is, what a great tool that is for them. So I love that thought. I think this whole report is so great for us. It allows us to take a step back, take a beat, and look at the whole environment, and look at it through a different lens than our day-to-day working lens where we're just trying to keep up with everything that we're supposed to be doing. And this gives us an opportunity to really analyze where we're going and how we're getting there. So, there's some great ideas in here. We have to be careful about what we're giving to people. You know, this isn't a socialist business environment, but whenever we can streamline a process, whenever we can show people how they have to get where they're going, it certainly makes it a more welcome environment. I think this is a great report, and I appreciate all the work, and I know this is a springboard for some really great stuff to happen. So, thank you so much for that.
[00:41:44] Staff: Thank you.
[00:41:45] Mayor: Are there any other questions or comments on this? Any comments? And Gina, are you settled in? Do you have any comments on this?
[00:41:57] Councilmember Gina: I've made my comments already, and I'm all good.
[00:42:00] Mayor: Great. About the facade enhancement?
[00:42:02] Councilmember Gina: Yes. Great.
[00:42:04] Mayor: And you made the comment about—and that was, it was on your PowerPoint. I don't recall seeing it here, but there is a complacency on 111. It's like, 'We've got our building, it's making money, why invest in it?' So, that's going to take some creative solutions. How can we encourage people to take a building and invest and make it into something? You know, we looked at mixed-use, and I think mixed-use is a great asset in that area.
[00:42:35] Staff: Yes.
[00:42:36] Mayor: So, how do we encourage that? And, you know, and I remember hearing some of those are inherited.
[00:42:41] Staff: Yes.
[00:42:43] Mayor: So, what's their motivation? So, we have to get creative and find some motivation for—
[00:42:49] Staff: Well, we're all about creativity.
[00:42:51] Mayor: I see that when I read this. So, great. Thank you for all these ideas and for all this research. I think it'll be a great asset as we go forward.
[00:43:01] Staff: Thank you.
[00:43:02] Mayor: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:43:06] City Manager: Okay. Any other comments or thoughts, Madam Mayor? The next item would be the closed session, which is scheduled for 3:30.
[00:43:16] Mayor: Okay. So, we have a little over a half an hour. We'll meet back at the dais. Thank you very much. Bye.