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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/20/15 Minutes - Regular MeetingTRES HERMANOS CONSERVATION AUTHORITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES OF APRIL 20, 2015 1. CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Art Bennett called the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority Board of Directors meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in the Chino Hills City Hall Community Meeting Room, 14000 Civic Center Drive, First Floor, Chino Hills, California. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Chair/Bennett led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Art Bennett, Chairman (CH); Carol Herrera, Vice Chair (DB); Cynthia Moran, Delegate (CH); Nancy A. Lyons, Alternate (DB); Konradt Bartlam, Executive Director (CH); James DeStefano, Deputy Executive Director (DB). Chair/Bennett asked that the minutes reflect the presence of Mary Ann, Chino Hills Champion and Claire Schlotterbeck. 2, PUBLIC COMMENTS: None Offered. Upon motions duly seconded, all Consent Calendar items were approved as presented by unanimous vote. 3.1 APPROVED MINUTES OF April 14, 2014 —As presented. 3.2 APPROVED CHECK REGISTER for the Time Period from March 1, 2014 through February 28, 2015 3.3 RECEIVED AND FILED TREASURER'S STATEMENTS for the months of March 2014 through February 2015. 3.4 RECEIVED AND FILED INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2014. 3.5 CONFIRMED THE FOLLOWING APPOINTMENTS: A) Chino Hills Mayor Cynthia Moran and Vice Mayor Art Bennett as Delegates to the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority. B) Diamond Bar Council Member Carol Herrera as Delegate; and, Mayor Pro Tem Nancy A. Lyons as Alternate Delegate to the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority. APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 2 THCA 4. OLD BUSINESS: 4.1 DISCUSSION OF DISSOLUTION OF CITY OF INDUSTRY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY. DED/DeStefano said that he does not have knowledge of Industry's undertakings. His understanding is that the City of Industry's Redevelopment Agency was dissolved a couple of years ago and a successor agency was formed. One of the duties of a successor agency is to dispose of a variety of parcels (50-60) within their jurisdiction that Industry acquired over many years as well as Tres Hermanos which is outside their jurisdiction. In 2014 the successor agency processed for disposal of about 15 of the parcels on the other side of their city and that process continues. To date, the successor agency has not closed escrow on those 15 parcels. He has been told that the successor agency is gearing up for another round of parcels for disposal and Tres Hermanos is part of that second group of parcels. This is the only information he has because everything else begins with not knowing the details of what they will do. As an example, Tres Hermanos is between two jurisdictions, it is made up of several parcels within the two county limit lines, are they going to sell it as one chunk of 2400 acres or are they going to sell it as San Bernardino/Chino Hills acreage and Diamond Bar/LA County acreage? He has no idea and cannot find any minutes or record or discussion about their game plan. What they are in the middle of doing now is that they have sought proposals from land planners, real estate brokers, and folks in that category to help guide them through the process. He does not know if it is for the other parcels that will be included in this bundle or whether it is just for Tres Hermanos but he knows that it is being done for Tres Hermanos. The purpose as he understands it, is to have these professionals guide them through the process and help them to sell the acreage. They were soliciting proposals over the last month and all proposals are supposedly in. DED/DeStefano said he heard the agency received 15 proposals that they are looking at in an attempt to select or recommend the selection of one of these land management real estate firms. It gets even murkier after that because he does not know what their game plan will be or how they will plan to dispose of the asset and how they will market it — these are decisions they have yet to make. Diamond Bar did not have a Redevelopment Agency to dissolve and no property to dispose of and he is not familiar with the process they may be undertaking. Chair/Bennett said that is the same position Chino Hills is in. DED/DeStefano further stated that since consideration of these 15 other parcels have apparently taken more than a year from the time the agency engaged in the disposal process he has to believe that Tres Hermanos is APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 3 more than a year away from any final decision-making on who will acquire it and what happens next. Chair/Bennett asked if the Successor Agency was comprised of City of Industry officials or, are their other individuals involved? DED/DeStefano responded that although he sees familiar names he does not know. He does not know if all of them are part of the City of Industry other than there are some familiar names on the agency. ED/Bartlam said that the Successor Agency address is the same as the Redevelopment Agency address. DED/DeStefano said that typically the Successor Agency is comprised of the very same people who were part of the Redevelopment Agency. There is the Oversight Board and the State of California so there is a myriad of decision-making that is involved in the oversight of this whole process. Chair/Bennett asked if it was true that what Chino Hills was told is that the Redevelopment Agency cannot legally transfer this property it could revert to the State of California. DED/DeStefano said he knew nothing about that particular matter. He can only assume that the property is indeed still owned by the now Successor Agency because they are the entity that is disposing of the property. This conversation would not be happening if the City of Industry was declared to be the owner of it. ED/Bartlam said he had the same idea about the process and had the sense that the Successor Agency was trying to find a firm to help them market the properties. He believes that they are going through an appropriate process and that it will take quite some time when all is said and done. Chair/Bennett asked DED/DeStefano if he recalled the breakdown and whether it was a total of 2400 acres the City of Industry owned and what the breakdown was between the two cities of Chino Hills and Diamond Bar. DED/DeStefano responded that it is about 1700 in Chino Hills and about 700 in Diamond Bar. Chair/Bennett asked if there was any portion of ownership that extended into Brea. APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 4 THCA DED/DeStefano said No, as he remembers the City of Industry has holdings in Diamond Bar's sphere of influence that leads into Orange County and Brea's influence but the City of Industry owns that and not the Successor Agency. As he recalls, they bought the Firestone Boy Scout Camp. The City of Industry owns that property which is separate from the Successor Agency. Chair/Bennett asked if the City of Industry, because they have holdings in Brea can acquire Tres Hermanos. DED/DeStefano stated that speaking from a practical standpoint and not a legal standpoint is sure, they could but they have to find resources for it and they have completely different rules and obligations under which the City must operate in terms of its future capabilities, use and disposal, terms which are completely different and far more restrictive on the city side than on the former redevelopment side. If they have the interest and they have the money, sure. Chair/Bennett said that Chino Hill's wish list includes the extension of Tonner Canyon behind The Country past the reservoir and across Grand Avenue and up to Chino Hills Parkway. Then come up with a great idea to develop that property, whether it be mixed-use, a college campus, a golf course, a "San Antonio" type river walk, etc. For Chino Hills it is something that is very important when it comes to ways out of the City getting to Orange County and Los Angeles County because there have been constant closures of the canyon, mostly because of accidents where power poles have been taken out. The alternative is to go to Grand Avenue, Diamond Bar Boulevard and out which directly impacts Diamond Bar. If Tanner Canyon went through Chino Hills we could extend Eucalyptus which would provide a third way out of the City. It is a very important long term goal for Chino Hills. VC/Herrera said she would believe that once the properties are sold that Chino Hills would have a lot of leverage with the developer that bought the property to accomplish that long term goal. Chair/Bennett said that is why he asked whether Industry still owns the Boy Scout property because that is the key piece that will connect the south end of Tres Hermanos around to the SR57. DED/DeStefano said there are a variety of jurisdictional issues, policy issues, biological issues, land use issues, transportation issues and a lot of those things will have to dovetail pretty solidly together for any of it to work. Many years ago Diamond Bar talked about a bypass road through that area but there are consequences to that not the least of which are environmental and land uses that come with a road. And there has to be development in order to pay for the road because nobody will pay for a APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 5 THCA road otherwise. More importantly, Diamond Bar will have to look at it extraordinarily carefully because while Diamond Bar may complain about traffic, traffic is the lifeblood of the City's economic development land use palate of the commercial core. So the diversion of traffic behind Diamond Bar will kill the Diamond Bar business community so the positives and negatives have to be looked at very, very carefully. Whether or not there is a local road network from the Chino Hills side is a decision Chino Hills should make but in terms of an actual connection to the 57 freeway other jurisdictions have to weigh in and as he said, Diamond Bar would look at that very, very carefully because of the impacts from a variety of different standpoints economically and environmentally. Chair/Bennett said when he mentioned the golf course what Chino Hills was led to believe, in conjunction with the widening of Grand Avenue at the SR60 that at a truck lane confluence there would be a bypass and from what he was told, possibly a relocation of the Diamond Bar Golf Course to be able to develop that commercially along the freeway. He said he did not know if any of that was even being considered but obviously Chino Hills wants to participate and help Diamond Bar with support of those kinds of things as much as possible. DED/DeStefano said that freeway improvement project will take about 10- 15 years. The first phase near the old Honda property will begin about a year from now but the golf course is planned to remain although there are substantial improvements that are a part of the overall freeway property and there are about 30 or 40 acres that will be chewed up by the new freeway alignment and new on/off ramps at Grand Avenue so many of the holes on the golf course will have to be reconstructed and realigned. This is a County of LA course and Diamond Bar has talked in years past about turning that site into something other than a golf course but it is not currently a discussion item. Chair/Bennett said it is sad that Diamond Bar is at a disadvantage because of the way in which it was developed. Shopping centers are on extreme ends of the city with not much in between. Chino Hills has been very fortunate. It complains about getting beat to the punch by Chino with the 'Spectrum Shopping Center on the other side of the freeway. However, Chino Hills is still in really good shape as far as having developable lands for pretty big shopping centers. DED/DeStefano said that Chino Hills has the advantage of planning its future whereas Diamond Bar's was planned for it when it incorporated and other than some infill properties nothing has really changed in Diamond Bar in 26 years where Chino Hills was truly able to plan and implement its guiding principles and goals and capture the opportunities along the freeway corridors. APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 6 THCA Chair/Bennett said that Diamond Bar is split by two freeways and is chewed up by major arterial freeways and to improve those areas does little for Diamond Bar. ED/Bartlam said that Chino Hills became aware that the Successor Agency was seeking proposals because they were told by someone who received the request and came to visit with him about the Chino Hills side. D/Moran said that it would seem to her that as a common courtesy that even if the Successor Agency cannot divulge a lot of information the City of Industry could collaborate with Chino Hills and Diamond Bar. Mary Ann asked who DED/DeStefano speaks with at the City of Industry. DED/DeStefano said that it is often difficult for a variety of reasons so he talks to several different people and pieces together what he believes to be reliable information. So it could be a department head, a secretary, someone involved in the real estate industry, etc. because he cannot always get a response to inquiries. Mary Ann asked DED/DeStefano when he last spoke with the City of Industry's City Manager. DED/DeStefano said mid-October when they both attended a Contract Cities Sheriff's Department related seminar and happened to sit together. Chair/Bennett said it sounded to him that the reason for very little information forthcoming was because they do -not quite have their own act together as to how they are going to proceed. DED/DeStefano said he could not say one way or the other because he does not know. Mary Ann asked how many affordable units Diamond Bar could have in Tres Hermanos. DED/DeStefano said he does not remember the number and this is where he wishes she would not print a number because it will not be a good number but he thinks it is about 400. Mary Ann said that Chino Hills is doing its best to remove some of the units and Diamond Bar does not have any place to put them — is that correct? VC/Herrera reiterated that Diamond Bar has very little land left. APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 7 THCA DED/DeStefano said that what will likely occur is that there will be a complete reassessment once a purchaser is in place and developers really start to talk about land uses for the Tres Hermanos portion in Diamond Bar. There will not be 400 dwelling units built immediately adjacent to the high school. The City will figure something else at that point in history. Chair/Bennett said that the beauty of it is that with DED/DeStefano having worked as the Community Development Director for years before going to Diamond Bar he has one of the best overall understandings about how sensitive that property (Tres Hermanos) is. And of course, ED/Bartlam is not only up to speed in Chino Hills but of course was really involved with Brea so who knows — at some point in history we will be able to extend the palm branch or whatever and get something going there. Claire Schlotterbeck said she received a call about a year ago from someone in Texas who may be interested in developing Tres Hermanos. DED/DeStefano talked about the emergency training in Tres Hermanos. At this point there was general discussion on other topics including resurfacing of Grand Avenue and questions about whether the stadium would be built. Mary Ann asked VC/Herrera if the Diamond Bar City Council had discussed what it would like to see on a wish list for Tres Hermanos. VC/Herrera said No, there has been no discussion about a specific plan. She felt the City Council was interested in economic development and the City would like additional revenue to help pay for programs the City provides its residents. Mary Ann asked if the City had heard from residents how they feel about what should happen with Tres Hermanos. VC/Herrera said there is probably a variety. Some would like a river walk and would think that would be pretty cool. Others no matter where they live claim that as their view and want it left alone. Mary Ann asked if other expressly say they would like to see economic development. AD/Lyons said that Council Members are always being asked to add economic development to Diamond Bar. She is often asked when Diamond Bar will get restaurants of its own. APRIL 20. 2015 PAGE 8 THCA VC/Herrera said that Diamond Bar was very sorry it lost Coco's and did not know what would replace it. Chair/Bennett said Chino Hills is suffering loss as well with the loss of Best Buy, Off-Broadway Shoe Store and Stein Mart is thinking about leaving. Hobby Lobby is being built next to Babies r us and Toys r us. Mary Ann stated that it was her understanding that the Authority had paid a lot of money for a marketing plan and Lewis came in and said they would love to come into Tres Hermanos. DED/DeStefano said there was no money spent on a plan and there was no plan. There was discussion about entering into a process to select land planners and environmental consultants to master plan the area but the Request for Proposal never went out. ED/Bartlam said he believed that the Authority was trying to get Industry to pay for the master plan. VC/Herrera said only if they are a voting member of Tres Hermanos will they do that. Chair/Bennett said he was not sure the Authority wanted to extend that privilege to them. VC/Herrera said she was curious about this meeting because City of Industry is technically an Ex -Officio member of this authority. She asked if the City of Industry was sent an announcement of tonight's meeting. . Mary Ann asked if there would be follow up or if the Authority would wait until next year to have further discussions regarding Tres Hermanos. Chair/Bennett said that the Authority meets on an annual basis and he would suspect that it it comes to a point where there is someone hired to broker the property and look for a potential buyer/developer and potential land uses the Authority will get very involved and probably schedule meetings as necessary. VC/Herrera said she imagined that once the property is sold to a developer something will happen if it is parceled off or if it is sold as one 2400 acre parcel because whoever buys the property will be very eager to come to the cities to talk about land use. Chair/Bennett said he suspected that what will happen and will there be a contingency on any proposed sale contingent upon getting the appropriate entitlements which would give the cities a look at what the developer has in mind and once they get the feedback from the cities they may decide to APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 9 THCA walk away from the deal. It is a big chunk of land, it is a very scenic piece of property and there are a lot of issues if it is going to be developed. Chino Hills has a lot of people who want to leave it alone — no development. But since Chino Hills doesn't own the property it cannot keep a property owner from development if they have proper zoning, etc. As to Ms. Schlotterbeck comment regarding who might buy the property Chair/Bennett responded that he thinks anyone who buys the property will propose some sort of development which is a process where they will come to the Community Development Division and Planning Commission to express their wishes. Ms. Schlotterbeck asked if the Assessor Agency could influence that and Chair/Bennett said the cities will have a say as to what will happen. It will not be an easy process but at least it seems to be moving forward and will be out of the hands of the City of Industry which may make it a little more reasonable for cities to discuss what should be done with the property. VC/Herrera said that the cities always have final control as to what is done with the property. Chair/Bennett agreed. 5.1 a) SELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR FOR TERMS COMMENCING JULY 1, 2015 AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2017. AD/Lyons nominated Carol Herrera to serve as Chair of the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority. With no further nominations offered and by unanimous vote, Carol Herrera was selected to serve as Chair of the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority for the term commencing July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2017. b) ROTATION OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (DIAMOND BAR) FOR THE TERM COMMENCING JULY 1, 2015 AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2017. D/Bennett nominated Cynthia Moran to serve as Vice Chair of the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority. With no further nominations offered and by unanimous vote, Cynthia Moran was unanimously elected to serve as Vice Chair of the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority for the term commencing July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2017. APRIL 20, 2015 PAGE 10 THCA c) RATIFY DIAMOND BAR, CITY MANAGER AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE TRES HERMANOS CONSERVATION AUTHORITY FOR THE TERM COMMENCING JULY 1, 2015 AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2017. By unanimous vote, Jim DeStefano, Diamond Bar City Manager, was ratified as Executive Director of the Tres Hermanos Conservation Authority for the term commencing July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2017. 6. AUTHORITY MEMBER COMMENTS: None. 8. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to conduct, Chairman Bennett adjourned the meeting at 6:19-p.m l JAMES DeST FANO, Authority Secretary ATTEST: A`,eA-�- ART BENNETT, Chairman