Palm Desert City Council - Regular Meeting, March 12, 2026

Transcript text

AI transcript text.

[00:02:02] Mayor Trouy: Okay, welcome everybody. Good afternoon, and I now call to order the regular meeting of the Palm Desert City Council, the successor agency to the Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency, the Palm Desert Housing Authority, and the Palm Desert Board of Library Trustees for Thursday, March 12th, 2026. Can we please have a roll call?
[00:02:21] City Clerk: Councilmember Harnick?
[00:02:25] Councilmember Harnick: Here.
[00:02:26] City Clerk: Councilmember Nestandi?
[00:02:27] Councilmember Nestandi: Here.
[00:02:27] City Clerk: Councilmember Kintania?
[00:02:29] Councilmember Kintania: Present.
[00:02:30] City Clerk: Mayor Pro Tem Pedetto?
[00:02:32] Mayor Pro Tem Pedetto: Here.
[00:02:32] City Clerk: And Mayor Trouy?
[00:02:33] Mayor Trouy: Here.
[00:02:34] City Clerk: All members are present.
[00:02:35] Mayor Trouy: I will now ask Councilmember Hornick to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[00:03:05] Mayor Trouy: Okay, it is my turn for the inspiration, and actually, I'm just going to keep it very, very simple and brief. May we all do our best work here today to serve the residents of Palm Desert.
[00:03:17] Mayor Trouy: Next, do we have a report from closed session?
[00:03:20] City Attorney: Thank you, Mayor. No reportable action was taken in closed session this afternoon.
[00:03:24] Mayor Trouy: Thank you very much. Move on to item nine, awards, presentations, and appointments. Item 9A, a proclamation for Mini Muster Month. I'll ask councilmembers to join me as we do the proclamation.
[00:04:00] Mayor Trouy: Okay.
[00:04:02] Mayor Trouy: Thank you, Sarah.
[00:04:04] Mayor Trouy: Okay, Mini Muster Month. We are joined by Chief Wright and my fellow councilmembers. Whereas during the month of March, Fire Station Number 33 of the Western Division of the Riverside County Fire Department and Cal Fire, in partnership with the Historical Society of Palm Desert and the Desert Sands Unified School District, provide hands-on fire prevention and personal safety education to Palm Desert third-grade students through the Fire Prevention and Mini Muster Program; and whereas the Fire Prevention and Mini Muster Program proudly celebrates its 33rd year at Gerald Ford Elementary, Abraham Lincoln Elementary, and George Washington Charter Schools, its 28th year at James Carter—Earl Carter Elementary School, and its 20th year at Ronald Reagan Elementary School; and whereas firefighters, educators, volunteers, and community partners dedicate their time and expertise to teaching students critical life-saving skills, including fire safety awareness, emergency preparedness, and personal responsibility; and whereas this long-standing program strengthens the partnership between public safety professionals, schools, and families while fostering a culture of preparedness and resilience within the City of Palm Desert; and whereas by educating and empowering young residents, the Fire Prevention and Mini Muster Program contributes to maintaining a fire-safe community for generations to come; now, therefore, be it proclaimed that I, Evan Trouy, Mayor of the City of Palm Desert, California, on behalf of the entire City Council, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as Mini Muster Month in the City of Palm Desert and encourage all residents to recognize and support the students, firefighters, educators, and volunteers who make this meaningful program possible. And I just couldn't help but smile while I was reading that because all three of my children went through this program at Washington Charter, and man, did they look forward to that day every year, and man, did they have fun. And I've, of course, helped out a few times, and I just think it's so worthwhile, and they combine fun and education. So, of course, we have the Chief here to accept our gratitude. Chief Wright.
[00:06:18] Chief Cody Wright: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Cody Wright, Fire Chief. It's truly an honor to be here, and I accept this on behalf of a lot of people who have put a lot of hard work into this. Our firefighters have a true passion for inspiring our youth and teaching them about fire safety and being safe overall. And our thought is that if we can train our youth in that, they become safer adults, and that's truly what we're trying to do. Thank you very much.
[00:06:50] Mayor Trouy: Oh, yeah. How about...
[00:06:54] Councilmember: Yeah, they help the event. Absolutely. Get your credit. Definitely.
[00:07:01] Mayor Trouy: Excellent.
[00:07:25] Mayor Trouy: Thank you, sir.
[00:07:54] Mayor Trouy: Man, my mic wasn't on. Anyway, 9B, presentation, ERC Zonius.
[00:07:59] Zonius: Wonderful. Thank you for the invitation. I do have a slide deck. I'm sure you all have it, but I'll kind of hit some of the highlights from what we've done here for the past year. Specifically, I'll be focusing on 2025. But again, the Entrepreneur Resource Center here that we have here off of Cook Street, what it is, it is a community center for empowering the local entrepreneurial and business community and the ecosystem. We inherited the contract for the City of Palm Desert in 2024, and since then, we've actually done quite well with our year-to-date impact for 2025, actually eclipsing what we did in 2024. The Resource Center is a partnership with the City of Palm Desert and the Randall W. Lewis School of Entrepreneurship, as well as our Center for Entrepreneurship. Oh, there it is. I think, let's see here. Here we are. So, with that partnership, we are able to leverage funds from the U.S. Small Business Administration through programs such as the Coachella Valley Small Business Development Center, the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center, as well as the Riverside County Office of Economic Development. So, with those leveraged resources, we're able to provide support for our business community through business counseling, training programs such as the Mini MBA, the Dusi Pueves, and the Time Frame. And we're also able to provide co-working and offices and meeting rooms for local business communities. So, we do have a lot of entrepreneurs that do come during the season. You know, they probably have a second home here or they're visiting the area, and they're able to use our services and facilities to be able to work from there, as well as connect with our business community and, more importantly, with the student population that we have here at the Palm Desert campus. On top of that, we've been able to grow the programming through programs such as the AI Coachella Valley Center. We have an attorney who has joined us, Bert Sugaryan, who was part of the Palm Desert Civic Academy and was able to connect with us through there and is providing pro bono services to startups and people who are looking to exit their...
[00:10:01] Dr. Bony: companies as well. So those have been some additional add-ons that we've had here in 2025. Some of the successes again for 2025 that we've assisted almost 1,200 companies here locally within the region. We've had almost 2,300 attendees through our programs, including our virtual programs but also our networking mixers, workshops that we have on an ongoing basis. Actually, this summer has been one of the busiest summers that we've had thus far, not only through the ERC, but also through all the programming that we've done here collectively as a school and a center over the last 20 years. We've supported over 1,600 jobs. 745 of the clients coming through have been women-owned, minority-owned companies. And of course, I hit the note earlier about the resources that we have supporting businesses this year, again adding the AI Coachella Valley as well as the free vector advisors. But we've also had the continuum of AMPAC Community Development Corporation, which is recognized as a US Small Business Administration lender that's able to provide capital for entrepreneurs looking to purchase their building or looking for grants to expand their businesses and hire on more employees. This is a bit outdated. When I had done this a couple weeks ago, my comment was going to be we're not far from hitting the $1 billion in economic impact, but as of this morning, we just released the announcement that we've collectively hit $1 billion in economic impact in the region that we serve, that covers Riverside and San Bernardino County. So my next slide is a little outdated because we've already hit the mark, and that's incredible news knowing that our program and the support and the funds that we're able to leverage here from the city and other partners certainly go back into the community. I will note that this year we did have a special recognition from a Palm Desert-based business, Urban Habitat. I was here a couple months ago where the city gave them additional recognition. They were the first Coachella Valley-based business that not only received an award for their category in terms of the entrepreneurial leadership that they have, but they also received a recognition for being best of the best. So that was a really great accomplishment, and they're just down the street here and they continue to employ folks that live, work, and play here in Palm Desert. So that was a really fun occurrence that happened this past year. Every year we do the State of Entrepreneurship Report. You'll have access to that if you'd like through that QR code to show some of the highlights of what's happening here within the entrepreneurial and small business community, not only in the Coachella Valley, but also the greater Coachella Valley region, which includes San Bernardino and Riverside counties. And that's it. Straight to the point, we've had success. We want to thank the Council for all of your support for coming. Also, especially every time we have a mini MBA or we have a graduating cohort from one of our programs through the Women's Business Center, we've had wonderful support from the Council to help us recognize the folks that have put in the effort and the time to invest in themselves, to invest in their communities, and to continue to help the business community here in Palm Desert and beyond. Thank you.
[00:13:14] Councilmember: Any questions or comments from my colleagues?
[00:13:18] Councilmember: Thank you very much, Dr. Bony. It's excellent to see what you do out in the community as well. And I want to give our appreciation because it was a difficult transition time when you came and assisted us, and we handed you a vision and you've given us success. So, thank you for that.
[00:13:34] Dr. Bony: Thank you for the trust.
[00:13:36] Councilmember: Terrific. Anybody else?
[00:13:38] Councilmember: Excellent. Well, I got to say I've attended a few of your mixers and events and there's always good energy, and I can tell the entrepreneurs feel supported and they're getting great service. So, thank you very much. Great work. Thank you.
[00:13:49] Dr. Bony: You got it.
[00:13:50] Councilmember: Okay. Terrific. Next up, we have item 9C, a presentation from the Riverside University Health System Mature Adult Program.
[00:14:07] Tony Artigo: All right. Well, good afternoon everyone and again, thank you for inviting myself and my team. My name is Tony Artigo. I'm an administrator for our countywide older adult systems of care. The older adult systems of care serves individuals ages 60 and above to assist them with behavioral health issues. The majority of our individuals that we see suffer from severe mental illness. And so we're here in the community. We're located in three locations: Banning, Desert Hot Springs, and Indio to provide services to these individuals, or these consumers or members as we call them in our community. We do provide specialty mental health services. We have psychiatrists, nurses, therapists, excuse me, case managers, and peers on board at all of our clinics. We strive to really empower individuals to recognize that they can recover from their mental illness. Even though it may be a lifelong or short-term situation depending on the individual, there is hope and we're here to instill the hope. We work with consumers in the desert. We have approximately 560 consumers among the three clinics for older adults ages 60 and above. We're also known as the county's premier geriatric psychiatry program. We have other clinics throughout the county, but today I'm going to focus on our desert communities. In our desert community clinics, we have what's called a two-track system at our wellness and recovery for mature adult clinics. And we do have brochures here for you to share. Our two-track system consists of a first track called the wellness and recovery track. That track is for individuals who are suffering from a major mental illness but don't need the extensive case management services or wraparound services. If they do, we will bump them up to a little bit more intensive track called the full service partnership track. Our full service partnership track provides more dedicated services on a weekly basis or as needed. We provide more intense case management, helping individuals to get out of a homeless situation or avoid a homeless situation or incarceration or hospitalization. So that's kind of the three major roles that we play that we try to address with our full service partnership program. Again, individuals who are coming through one of the systems or one of the institutions and who are referred to our program, we do help them kind of get back on track into the community. We do provide integrative care services. So under the behavioral health umbrella, we provide mental health services. We provide substance abuse prevention and treatment services. In addition to that, we do try to connect our members with a primary care physician if they have none. About 60% of the individuals who we see who are referred to us come in with no primary care physician, or it's been a very long time since they've received some form of medical help. So, our case management and our treatment team works very hard at connecting them to a primary care physician. If they have no primary care plan, we will sign them up for benefits. We have individuals who specialize in entitlements or benefit specialists to get them back maybe on disability or social security that they may be entitled to or to assist them with some form of medical coverage. A lot of individuals that we see really thrive in the community. Unfortunately, from time to time, they do experience some setbacks and we're here to help them. We partner with some of the major medical plans such as IEHP, Molina, and Kaiser. The majority of the members or the patients that we serve are IEHP members. We do provide services to Molina and Kaiser members, but those referrals come from Kaiser and or Molina. Those individuals are requiring a higher level of care than what those HMO plans can offer. So, we're kind of the safety net for that and we do assist them. We're trying to get back in that recovery mode. That said, I did bring over some colleagues. If you can stand, that would be great. I'd like to introduce, excuse me, one of our senior peer specialists, Jay, if you can wave your hand. And we do have our three clinic supervisors, Nate Ramirez, excuse me, and Andrea Tamascu. They actually supervise the three clinics out here in the desert region. And again, our specialty care is for individuals ages 60 and above, that geriatric population which may be disenfranchised or may be struggling with some form of a social determinant that's impacting their lives enough to interfere with their mental illness. That said, we put the presentation, I tried to keep it at about five minutes in respect for your time. There's a lot more I can say, but if you do have any questions, we will stick around. Any thoughts, comments at this time?
[00:19:02] Councilmember: Any questions from my colleagues?
[00:19:06] Tony Artigo: Oh, you're quite welcome. And again, it's our pleasure to serve the community. We do have information for all of you if you'd like.
[00:19:13] Councilmember: Can you remind me one more time where those three clinics are located?
[00:19:16] Tony Artigo: Sure. We have one in Banning. It's called the Wellness and Recovery for Mature Adults. We have our flagship clinic in Desert Hot Springs. And then we have our Indio Clinic as well. The Indio Clinic is across the corridor from our psychiatric hospital, our PHF unit.
[00:19:30] Councilmember: Thank you very much.
[00:19:31] Tony Artigo: Quite welcome. Thank you.
[00:19:33] Councilmember: If I may. Yeah. Council, just want to say the statistics are very impressive when you've had that many patients come through. A 96% decrease in arrests.
[00:19:44] Tony Artigo: Yes.
[00:19:44] Councilmember: That is substantial.
[00:19:46] Tony Artigo: Yeah. Yes, it is. We're very proud of that. And again, I give credit to our team and certainly our supervisors and our peer support specialists. They are truly the champions of connecting with individuals and providing them the resources that
[00:20:01] Speaker: ...they truly, truly need in order to get their lives back on track.
[00:20:05] Council Member: The other one I see is an 86% reduction in psychiatric hospitalizations, specifically a 76% decrease in ER visits for mental health reasons. And I like that you're highlighting that our adult population has very different needs because it's not typical things where dementia starts to come into play, where it comes into the families needing support because you can't leave someone home alone while they're fighting for their independence. This is a specialized niche that affects so many of us in the valley, and I don't have enough words to say thank you.
[00:20:42] Speaker: You're quite welcome. We certainly, again, want to let Council know, as well as our Mayor, that the statistics show that if we connect individuals not only to behavioral health services but also to medical services—you know, the head is connected to the body, we treat the whole person—and the social determinants, whatever they may be that they may be challenged with, recognizes that it's, you know, the favorable outcomes that we've seen on the stats clearly.
[00:21:11] Mayor: All right. Thank you again.
[00:21:13] Mayor: We now move on to Item 10, City Manager comments.
[00:21:16] City Manager: Nothing for this afternoon, Mayor.
[00:21:18] Mayor: Terrific. Item 11, Mayor and Council Member reports and requests for action. We'll start with Council Member Kinttonia, if I may.
[00:21:26] Council Member Kinttonia: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Let's see, where did my notes go? One of the fun things that I did was Sunline had their road-eo—not a rodeo, but road-eo. And this was a competition that I didn't know existed. And it's also regional, state, national, and international, where the folks that are driving the buses show their skill and their ability, how close they get to the curb, their ability to make the turns and in reverse, and the things that we take for granted, how specialized the licensing requirements are. And I got to be a judge for that. It was very interesting. I went on the Coachella Valley agricultural tour. They mentioned that Mayor Pro Tem had attended, and it's something that if anyone in the community has the opportunity, I would strongly encourage it because not only do we know that Coachella Valley is so strong in agriculture—we help feed California and feed the nation—but seeing the innovations that have happened here that allowed for some of the crops to be harvested year-round based on location. So we're very distinct in that. I attended a local government leadership summit in Riverside, and it was a lot about increasing sustainability practices, and a lot of those things we are already doing, which is great to see how we can elevate. And there are now LEED-certified cities, not just buildings, and the City of Indio has expressed interest. So I think, you know, just a—not necessarily a request for action, but just a curiosity to see what goes along with it, because what's listed are things that we've already started working on proactively. And a very impactful element back to Sunline: as part of the Sunline Reimagine survey that has come about, I attended a stakeholder meeting, and they gave us a model city so that each of us could figure out how would we make those models and show us the difficult decisions of do we want to get people to where they need to go faster, or do we want to cover more areas, which is what it's going to come down to. And my request for action on that is if we can see how to incorporate it to community events to let people know where they can get engaged and give that feedback, because Palm Desert is the major hub of where the transfer point is and our specific opportunities that we offer. And also, I attended the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center Champion Honors Luncheon, recognizing Nadia Murad for human rights activism. And she shared what it was like when ISIS came in and targeted her village of Yazidi people, and discussing in a very powerful way, without retraumatizing, what she experienced and the impact of human trafficking and sexual violence and genocide. It was a very tough topic, but it was great to see that her work with the United Nations resulted in creating what they call the Murad Code. And this means that anybody that's interacting with refugees or people that have undergone these types of experiences, that there is a way to treat people with kindness and trauma-informed care, so that not every person you're speaking to, you have to share your story again, and they may or may not see it from a compassionate place. And it was a very powerful, very overwhelming emotionally when one in three—one in three women, and the statistics for men are much—I don't think, long story short, men don't report the same frequency of assaults, but the stigma that's still there. It was a lot to consider. Very heavy event, but very necessary. And that's my report.
[00:25:39] Mayor: Terrific. Thank you, Council Member Standy. Over to Council Member Hornick.
[00:25:45] Council Member Hornick: And on the heels of the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center, I too attended the luncheon, and it was empowering to see what happens when our community members come together to support the children in our community. And their work has become international, just in the videos and the communications that they do—it's viewed internationally—but the impact they're making right here in the Coachella Valley is stunning. And it shows you what can happen when communities come together with a purpose and understanding the importance of protecting and caring for our children. And they've done great work, and they continue to do great work and to grow. I did want to mention I do sit on the finance committee for the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, and while implementing a brand new financial operating system, they went through the audit process and they were awarded a clean audit. And that's our regional entity that provides so many services for us, and it's great to know they have a clean audit. The other thing I wanted to mention again, it's a Coachella Valley Association of Governments little feather in their cap: at the California Council of Governments Regional Leadership Forum, which was this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, CVAG received an award for CV Link. And of course, their approach at CALCOG (California Council of Governments) is always about the regional projects and how much better we do when we cross those city lines, those county lines, and we work together on projects. And CV Link is a great example of success with that. And so they received the Eureka Award for that. And I do have a request that we look at Assembly Bill 2002, which Assembly Member Salace is the author, and it is to codify the—let's see if it's REAP, which is the Regional Early Action Plan. And those are funds—we receive an awful lot of mandates, unfunded mandates from Sacramento, whether it's the Regional Housing Needs Assessments or some of the regional transfer—I'm avoiding spewing out acronyms right now is what I'm trying to do—the Regional Transportation Plan or Sustainable Communities. But the REAP, which is Regional Early Action Planning, provides funding for us to implement those mandated actions. So, I'd like us to take a look at that Assembly Bill and support it if the Council agrees and the Palm Desert team itself feels that it's to our advantage. Thank you.
[00:29:04] Mayor: I'm sure if we get more information, we can see if it's something that we would support or not.
[00:29:09] Council Member: I'll ditto that. Yes.
[00:29:15] Mayor: Pro Tem? Nothing. Okay. Um, not a whole lot to report, just the usual meetings and so forth. But one thing that really stuck out in the last two weeks since we last met was I was able to attend the Para-Karate Tournament this past Saturday. And it was put on by Sensei Tamara, who has come here and spoken before. It was the second annual, and it's for people with autism, Down syndrome. We had a blind competitor, and she was actually named Person of the Year for District 4 this year, and for good reason. And it was just so moving and wonderful to see. And when you couple—so it's a tournament obviously dedicated to just those individuals, and they get awards and medals, and they participate not just at this tournament but all over—but when you couple that with the other services...
[00:30:00] Councilmember: that we provide especially here in Palm Desert but valleywide, ARC, Desert Arc of course, UCPIE, Variety, and everything else we have here. It's just so uplifting to know that there are people out there dedicating their time to serving individuals who would otherwise maybe be forgotten, and they're being brought into society and just participating as anybody else would. And it was just really heartwarming. So, good wishes for many more years of success for the para-karate tournament and Sensei Tamra.
[00:30:30] Councilmember: And this is national, right? It wasn't just local. I think this was national.
[00:30:33] Mayor: Most of the competitors were local, I believe, but I know they go on and do other tournaments. There were some champions, world champions there and so forth. It was just a beautiful, beautiful event. Okay, and so we move on to item number 12, non-agenda public comments. The next item, this time has been set aside for the public to address the City Council on issues that are not on the agenda for up to three minutes. Because the Brown Act does not allow the City Council to act on items not listed on the agenda, council members may briefly respond or refer the matter to staff for report and recommendation at a future meeting. And we have some housekeeping remarks from our City Clerk.
[00:31:12] 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. If you are joining in by calling in on your phone, please dial *9 to raise your hand and when called upon, press *6 to unmute yourself. Please keep your comments to no more than three minutes and begin with stating your name for the record.
[00:31:30] Mayor: Okay, I now open the floor and I've got a few blue cards here and we'll start off with Charles Croninwe, please.
[00:31:47] Charles Croninwe: Thank you for the opportunity to address some concerns that we have. My name is Charles Croninwe and I live at 74040 Chinook Circle, and we've been here before. We are adjacent to the project that is under construction by Pulte. It's the Del Webb Explorer project. And the problem that we're having is tremendous amounts of sand and debris coming off the site and coming into the backyard, filling up the pool, making the patios almost unusable. We have a backyard that has a pie-shaped lot, and we have about 250 lineal feet of frontage on the Pulte project. And I think as the Council knows, they've raised the lots up as high as 11 feet above the existing homes on the south and the east. And when the winds come from the west, it takes the sand and deposits it on our property. Recently, they have removed the green coating that was on this artificial wall of sand and have done some grading. So now the problem has even gotten worse because they've not come back and they've not put the green erosion control coating on the slope, and they haven't done the landscaping. The landscaping was supposed to have been completed in the fourth quarter of last year. So, we are asking that the City enforce or help us, or the planning department, to get Pulte construction to finish the landscaping and to keep the sand on their side of the project. They're doing a lot of landscaping on the inside of the project. If you drive in there, they've done a lot of planting and landscaping to sell homes, but they've done nothing to protect the homeowners that are on the south, and we're on the southeast corner. So, we just feel that they're not good neighbors. They've been here previously, and when they talked about the project, they said they're going to be good neighbors. If there's any problems, they're going to come in and they'll help clean the pool. I made one request for Pulte to clean the pool, and they said that you can't use your own pool guy, you've got to use our pool guy, Robert. It took Robert six weeks to get to my place and clean it. Recently, I've asked for extra cleaning, and Pulte says that they'll provide one-time only cleaning. We just feel that a one-time cleaning is not the solution to the problem. They've created this artificial wall of sand, and we're asking that they finish the landscaping. They're supposed to put some type of an erosion control mat...
[00:34:57] Charles Croninwe: ...and the landscaping to keep the dust down.
[00:35:00] Mayor: Understood. Thank you very much. Okay, appreciate you. Next up, we have Miss Jana Kchinsky.
[00:35:21] Jana Kchinsky: My name is Jana Kchinsky and I live at 73570 Woodward Drive, which backs up behind the Pulte Del Webb Explore development. The owners of property on Woodward and along Shepard Lane that are behind the wall of this development are getting hit especially hard, especially since they removed the soil stabilizer. We're just getting inundated with sand again. We feel that the Pulte Del Webb Explorer people are gaslighting both the City staff and the residents. Not only do we have added expense due to extra pool cleanups, premature replacement of pool filters, sand impacting air conditioning units, we have labor for cleaning pool decks and inside of our homes due to blown sand. We have had this all through the project, and I think the residents have been kind of calm about it, but they're getting very upset again because they've removed the stabilizer and we're getting inundated like never before. We would like the landscaping to be planted in that meandering trail that they built, which is really a drainage ditch because they elevated the elevation. But we would like that landscape planted now, and we're getting nothing but, quite frankly, BS about, you know, the plans were changed. And you know, the plans weren't changed. We asked that some trees don't rain debris from them right up against the wall, and that they put shrubbery that deters people from coming up to the wall and looking over the wall. Those were the only changes that we asked for, and that was way, way, way back in the project. They agreed to it to get their project approved, and they're not living up to their promises. Like I said, we would like the landscaping done now so that we no longer have the blowing sand problem. Thank you.
[00:38:17] Mayor: Thank you very much. Next, we have, excuse me, Linda Candler.
[00:38:33] Linda Candler: Good afternoon. My name is Linda Candler. My home is at 74040 Chinook Circle in Palm Desert. It is in the southeast corner of this project. I just want to go back to some history. We've been here several times, and I think Council is aware of our reasons, which relate to an elevated infill lot that was raised up to 11 feet. So behind all of our homes, we have a huge mountain where we used to have views of the mountains. The specific plan was approved in November, November 17th of 2022. That's three and a half years ago. The project is supposed to be done within five years, so we should be on the backside of it. However, all we have still is just a huge mountain of sand. No work's been done at all in what was represented to be an asset for the neighboring homes, which is supposed to be a buffer zone with a walking trail. We've been here before to complain that the buffer zone got reduced in size, the slope got moved closer to our homes, and the elevation was raised a couple feet from what was originally represented. All of that just leads to increased dust, and it's ongoing. I don't know what we can do about it. You can dust every day. You
[00:40:00] Miss Candler: Can call in the window washers again. You can have your pool guy come pay him more money. Replace your filter all the time. There should be an end to it. PY should be responsible. The landscape plan was approved several months ago, but it was submitted I think about a year ago and we had a chance to comment on it. We did say yes, don't put a palivvery tree next to our wall if it's going to drop things into our pool all the time. A revised landscape plan was approved last November. So, it's four months away. They haven't started a thing. PY has told us, 'Well, we're, you know, we had to revise the plan or we're waiting for this or we're waiting for that.' I just say enough already. As everyone else previously just mentioned, the green retardant is now off the slope. So, it is just a sand dune. Anytime the wind blows, here comes more sand. The landscaping, meanwhile, as you enter the project, is all done. There's gravel. There's big rock on the slope as well as just the decomposed granite. There's tall trees. There's plants. So, yes, to entice people to come in. Great. Looks nice. The neighbors who just see the backside just see the wall. Nobody coming into the project sees what we see. We're just asking them to finish their project the way that they have promised the neighbors. And initially we don't understand the reason for the delay. They've said, 'Well, look, we're waiting for plans.' Plans are approved. Let's get going. We ask for your help in this regard. Thank you very much.
[00:41:43] Mayor: Thank you, Miss Candler. Okay. Um, any comments online?
[00:41:49] Staff: No requests online, Mayor.
[00:41:51] Mayor: Okay. Um, would it be possible to get an update from staff on addressing some of their concerns? Whether or not they're adhering to any of the agreements or in violation or nuisance or whatever. Just like to get an update.
[00:42:04] Staff: Yes. And we are in communication with the residents and PY as well on this issue.
[00:42:08] Mayor: Okay. And so a report will be submitted to Council at some point?
[00:42:13] Staff: Correct. We're currently working on this item in response to the residents' outreach earlier this week and we'll have a report to the City Council as well as to the residents.
[00:42:21] Mayor: Thank you.
[00:42:22] Mayor: Okay. Next up, we are going to move on to item 13, the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine and may be approved by one motion. The public may comment on any item on the consent calendar for up to three minutes. I do have one speaker card regarding item number 13F. And are there any speakers online? Okay. So, at this time, well, I guess we're going to pull 13F or have that in a moment. Do any of my colleagues want to pull an item as well?
[00:43:05] Council Member: No. Okay. So, we will now...
[00:43:08] Council Member: I'll move the balance.
[00:43:09] Council Member: And I'll second the motion.
[00:43:10] Mayor: Very good.
[00:43:18] Mayor: Motion passes 5 to zero. And at this time we're going to have Mr. Aaron—sorry, Mr. Aaron Buckman.
[00:43:31] Aaron Buckman: Yes.
[00:43:33] Aaron Buckman: Thank you. Again, my name is Aaron Buckman. I'm working for 7-Eleven. I'm here to represent my franchisee here. He runs the 7-Eleven store in Palm Desert, store 22362. What we got going on is a lot of stuff with California in the past three to four years with the flavor ban had a big impact on the stores in California. It's already a very restrictive policy. So, with that being said, restricting it now even more would be a big hit to the business here in Palm Desert for not just 7-Eleven, but all the business owners that sell those types of products. And the reason why I chose to come today is not just to represent my franchisee, but to tell you a personal story of my own. So, these different products—I smoked for about 21 years. I've tried the gum. I've tried the patch. None of those actually worked for me at all. But when I tried a nicotine pouch and I could choose my nicotine level, that really helped me out. And in the past, what was it, January of this year, I lost my dad to stage 4 lung cancer. So if this product would have been out in time for him, I am sure that maybe the outcome that happened in January for my family would not have happened. So we do our best at 7-Eleven and we do a great job at making sure we card everybody for age-restricted products that come through our stores. So, we just ask you guys for help on this matter to vote no on agenda 13F. Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.
[00:45:34] Mayor: Very good. Thank you. But we've already moved... Should we pull 13F? Okay. Very good. So now we... Any discussion, questions of staff?
[00:45:51] Council Member: Absolutely. What in the new ordinance as it's written is the issue?
[00:46:10] Aaron Buckman: So, to my understanding with 13F, with that agenda, it's going to be banning more vapes and then also adding more items to the—already, what is it called? The list of authorized flavors that are allowed now in California. To my understanding with that, it's going to be cutting out more vapes and it's also going to be cutting out new modern oral, which is the nicotine pouches. May I ask if is that accurate?
[00:46:57] Pedro Rodriguez: Good afternoon. Pedro Rodriguez, Code Compliance Manager. We're aligning our ordinance with state law. So, a lot of the products have to be banned. We have no choice. However, in our definitions of electronic smoking devices, it does state that it does not include any product that has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the sale of tobacco cessation. It also goes to define flavored tobacco products and it has some definitions of what's prohibited, but it also says that it's not restricting anything that is listed on the unflavored tobacco list established by the California Attorney General. So there's a list of products that are approved for sale. We're not restricting those and we won't know what's there until we actually do an inspection. And again, it's an education process. We'll go out, visit the retailers, and explain based on what state law is approved, what can and can't be sold. And that's something we don't have a choice.
[00:47:49] Council Member: So we are aligning with state law?
[00:47:51] Pedro Rodriguez: Yes, ma'am.
[00:47:52] Council Member: Okay.
[00:47:53] Pedro Rodriguez: And I just got to give credit to ISRA's team. Joe was instrumental in helping us craft this and make sure that we were aligned with state law.
[00:48:02] Council Member: Okay.
[00:48:04] Council Member: And may I ask one other question? You talked about the smoking cessation products. Can you just tell us a little bit more about that?
[00:48:14] Pedro Rodriguez: Well, it just says that it does not restrict any smoking device that is approved by the US Drug Administration. So, I wouldn't know what those are. Okay.
[00:48:24] Council Member: And if they are like those patches or whatever it is that's out there for that, if it's approved by the Drug Administration, then it won't be restricted under our ordinance.
[00:48:33] Council Member: I see. Thank you.
[00:48:36] Council Member: Does that mean we're looking at a bit of a misunderstanding here? Okay. All right. So, I make a motion to approve.
[00:48:44] Mayor: Okay. I mean, I can't—we can't go back and forth with the speakers. I'm sorry, but okay. Um...
[00:48:49] Mayor: Yeah. You had a comment, Council Member?
[00:48:52] Council Member: See, the changing regulations and banning of flavors, I think, is important to address. And a few years ago, they passed the ban. And I remember being at a store and saying, 'Hey, I thought the state said you couldn't have these for sale.' And the store owner said, 'I'd rather pay the fee than stop selling them because I make good money.' And I think that every retailer is going to be different, every consumer is going to be different, but if we're just aligning with existing laws, I don't see a problem with it. Right now, there is legislation that has been proposed that nothing that is a single-use—no single-use vape or cartridge of anything. It has to be a replaceable cartridge because of issues with e-waste and the landfills. That will continue to evolve, but I think that our policy as proposed is valid. And if my colleague was going to motion, then I will second.
[00:49:54] Mayor: Thank you. All right, we'll take a vote.
[00:50:02] Speaker: Motion passes five to zero.
[00:50:05] Speaker: All right. Thank you very much. Next is Item 14, Action Calendar. There are no Action Calendar items this evening. And we move on to Item 15, Public Hearings. The public may comment on individual public hearing items within the three-minute time limit. Move on to Item 15A: Approve outside agency committee funding recommendations for the program year 2022 and 2027 Community Development Block Grant. And we have the staff report.
[00:50:35] Staff: Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. Item scenario, Development Services. I'm here to present the Community Development Block Grant program year '26-'27 funding recommendations, and also revisit this item that was deferred back in January 22nd of this year.
[00:50:53] Staff: And just a quick overview, the Community Development Block Grant is a federal entitlement program that provides funding for eligible activities that benefit low- and moderate-income residents. And for this cycle, the city received applications. Eligible proposals were reviewed. The outside agency funding committee developed the funding recommendations before you. And these were the funding recommendations that the outside agency approved and recommended for approval. And then there were three proposals that were not recommended for funding because they did not meet the county and HUD requirements.
[00:51:29] Staff: And with that, staff here is just simply to seek City Council approval for the committee's funding recommendations to approve program '26-'27 and authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents. And with that, I conclude.
[00:51:45] Speaker: All right. Terrific. I will now open the public hearing. And I see no blue speaker cards. Are there any comments online?
[00:51:53] Speaker: No comments online, Mayor.
[00:51:55] Speaker: All right. Seeing no speakers, I will close the public hearing and open it up to Council discussion. Anybody care to make a comment?
[00:52:04] Speaker: I make a motion. I think staff's done a great job.
[00:52:07] Speaker: I will second that. I agree. They have done a great job. Thank you.
[00:52:10] Council Member Hornick: I would like to make a comment if I may. You have a motion and a second. So for discussion, I just want to be clear. There are a couple items on here that received no funding, and I wondered why, but the staff report sets it forth. And so for those who may be looking at this and wondering why FIND Food Bank or Jewish Family Services of San Diego or of the Desert would not receive funding, you know, we too as government are dealing with the government, and they have very specific guidelines, and we must go by those guidelines. And so the applications that all three of those entities provided just did not show that they were going to be able to uphold the requirements that the government set forth for these Community Development Block Grants. So, I just want to make that clear. It's hard to look at FIND Food Bank and say, 'Why wouldn't we help them?' But when you look at the guidelines that are set forth and they were not clear enough in their application, we can understand why it resulted in the way it did. So, thank you very much.
[00:53:34] Speaker: Thank you, Council Member Hornick, and thank you for the explanation. That's valuable. Okay, here we go.
[00:53:44] Speaker: Motion passes 5 to 0.
[00:53:47] Speaker: Okay, I will now move to adjourn the meeting. Thank you all for coming, and we will see you in two weeks.