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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/02/16 Minutes - Regular MeetingMINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR AUGUST 2, 2016 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Lyons called the Regular City Council Meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. in the South Coast Air Quality Management District/Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Lyons INVOCATION: Cantor Paul Buch, Temple Beth Israel provided the invocation. ROLL CALL: Council Members Herrera, Low, Tye, Mayor Pro Tem Lin and Mayor Lyons. Staff Present: James DeStefano, City Manager; David DeBerry, City Attorney; Ryan McLean, Assistant City Manager; Ken Desforges, IS Director; David Liu, Public Works Director; Dianna Honeywell, Finance Director; Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; Alfa Lopez, Sr. Management Analyst; Anthony Jordan, Parks Maintenance Superintendent; Anthony Santos, Asst. to the City Manager; Marsha Roa, Public Information Manager; Cecelia Arellano, Public Information Coordinator; and Tommye Cribbins, City Clerk. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: As Presented. 1. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATES, PROCLAMATIONS: None. 2. CITY MANAGER REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: 2.1 Presentation on the State of the Utility by Bob Cruz, Southern California Gas Company. Bob Cruz stated that Southern California Gas has been serving southern California for more than 145 years and he has personally been with the company for 40 years. SCG is the largest utility in the United States and serves about 22 million customers through six million meters. There are currently 700 miles of gas transmission lines and about 100,000 miles of distribution mains and service lines. SCG provides 135 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas storage capacity from EI Centro to the Mexico Border and up to Santa Barbara with service to Visalia excluding the cities of Vernon and Long Beach, both of which have their own natural gas systems. A critical element of providing reliable energy to customers is that SCG has the ability to store its natural gas. SCG currently operates four natural gas storage fields within its service territory including Aliso Canyon which is the largest storage field in California and 5th largest in the nation with a storage capacity of 86 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Honor Ranch located close to Magic Mountain services part of the LA Basin northern coastal area and Playa del Rey serves western LA and supports peak demand in the LA Basin when needed. AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 2 CITY COUNCIL As you are aware, SCG suffered a gas leak which was discovered on October 23, 2015. The Gas Company made several attempts to "kill" the well which failed. Upon advice from experts, drilling commenced on December 4 from a side angle to provide a relief well and a target well was intercepted on February 1. DOGGR, the oversight group that managed the operation for the State, confirmed that the well was permanently sealed on February 18, 2016. In the meantime, many residents were displaced and had to be relocated. Since January 2016 the field has been shut down and there has been no injecting or withdrawing based on SB 380. Currently, SCG is in the process of inspecting all 114 wells which have been through the first phase and are currently in the second round of testing to make sure the storage field can be put back online by the end of this summer. With temperatures and humidity being high there is increased demand on electricity. Sixty percent (60%) of electricity generated in California is dependent on natural gas. SCG continues to do its part toward mitigating outage risks and are working toward Aliso Canyon being operational by late summer. He asked residents to conserve energy because it will be critical to get through the summer and winter seasons. Toward this end, SCG has joined a coalition called "Conserve Energy SoCal Gas" which includes all utilities in California (Edison, PG&E, SC&E, SoCal Gas) to work with all residential customers and non-core commercial customers to make sure everyone conserves energy. SCG is asking all residents and businesses to stay engaged, acknowledge the growing complexity and the growing interdependence of natural gas and electricity. SCG is asking people to try not to run their appliances until after 6 pm; share efforts being taken to bring Aliso Canyon back online safely, expeditiously and in compliance with new regulations; help SCG educate the community -at -large; use the SCG Team as the City's resource (include information on the City's website; presentation to service clubs and community groups), and remember to conserve energy. MPT/Lin said he understands the consequences of the gas leak resulted in a couple of billion dollars in damages and asked how SCG planned to pay for that by raising rates. Mr. Cruz responded that it is mandatory that SCG looks to the CPUC for any rate increase. SCG cannot decide to raise prices. SCG is self- insured for some of the damage and some people have been returned to their homes. SCG will continue to work with LA County, the CPUC, DOGGR (oversight agency). SCG would have to put together a rate -case to present to the CPUC in order to raise prices. At this point, SCG is focused on getting the storage field online because it is critical to the energy reliability in the LA Basin. C/Low asked if as a result of the leak the gas company was experiencing a shortage of the natural resource. AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 3 CITY COUNCIL Mr. Cruz responded that the company is not experiencing a shortage but because gas cannot be injected into the storage field the resource will be reduced which is why SCG is using other storage fields, none of which have the storage capacity of Aliso. C/Tye said it was frustrating to him to see the parade of people who were taking photo opportunities and getting free press at the Gas Company's expense. He appreciates that when he goes to the stove and turns it on there is gas available like he appreciates having water come out of his tap. He believes everyone takes these conveniences for granted and appreciates that the gas company has responded to this situation quickly and hopefully efficiently solved. He believes the biggest concern was when did it begin leaking, when was. the leak discovered and what has been done about it. He does not believe anyone could have worked harder on this issue than the professionals at the Gas Company and Diamond Bar appreciates what they do. Mr. Cruz thanked ClTye and stated that he had an opportunity to work at the community resource center in Porter Ranch three or four times a week and it was very encouraging for him to see fellow employees step up and deal with the challenge. This is probably one of the most challenging events SCG has ever experienced and to see that service attitude rise to the occasion was very encouraging to him as a 40 -year employee seeing that occur with younger employees. M/Lyons thanked Mr. Cruz for coming to speak tonight. It was very eye- opening to her when she attended the presentation in Baldwin Park because she had not realized the connection between electricity and natural gas. In the past when Edison would say "give your appliances the afternoon off' she did not understand the full implications of the interconnection between electricity and natural gas. Thank you for making that point. In addition, she appreciates knowing how rate increases work because the news media reports that different water boards authorize rate increases based on conservation. What she has heard Mr. Cruz say that just because people conserve natural gas it does not mean that there is a price increase. What it means is that if there is going to be a rate increase SCG has to report their findings of support to the PUC and it will have to go through the process before a rate increase is authorized. She felt this was an important message to get out to the public. Mr. Cruz thanked the City Council and staff for allowing him to come before the Council and public tonight to present the information. He encouraged the City to post articles on the City's website to help educate the community at large which would be very helpful to SCG. 2.2 "Restaurant Week" October 8-14, 2016 - presentation by Alfa Lopez, Sr. Management Analyst. AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 4 CITY COUNCIL CM/DeStefano stated that during the Mayor's State of the City comments in March she discussed the importance of economic development. Consequently, during that presentation and in other forums, the opportunity to work with property owners and business operators to grow the local economy was discussed. As a result, the concept of a "restaurant week" grew out of those discussions and tonight, SMA/Lopez will provide the City Council with an overview of the upcoming October "Restaurant Week" in Diamond Bar. SMA/Lopez stated that Diamond Bar "Restaurant Week" is a joint venture between the City of Diamond Bar and the Regional Chamber of Commerce whose mission is to engage the community by highlighting the wide range of dining options the City has to offer and to increase patronage of Diamond Bar's local restaurants. Diamond Bar "Restaurant Week" is planned for the week of October 8 through 14 and during this week participating restaurants will offer special menu items for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No advance tickets or coupons are needed. Diners simply visit the participating restaurants' and order the Diamond Bar Restaurant Week's special. The focus at this time is the restaurant recruitment and restaurants benefit by gaining new customers, boosting sales and increasing visibility through the City's marketing campaign. The event promotion will include a dedicated website, print advertising, email blast and social media posts. As of today, six restaurants have been recruited to participate and staff is working with each of the businesses to develop their special menus and collecting information that will be used to launch the dedicated website www.dbrestaurantweek.com The restaurant domain is not yet live but will be ready soon. When the website goes live it will feature menus, a webpage for each participating restaurant with a description, photos, contact information and a mapping feature. Staff plans to include some of the most recent "Dining out in Diamond Bar" videos. The City looks forward to continuing to work with the Chamber to ensure a successful Diamond Bar Restaurant Week. 2.3 General Plan Update Kickoff Joint Meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission — August 10, 2016 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., Windmill Community Room. CM/DeStefano stated that the upcoming joint public meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission is scheduled for August 10 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Windmill Room at City Hall. This meeting will serve as a kickoff in this joint session of the two land -use bodies. The City Council, Planning Commission, Consultants and staff will be on hand to begin the meeting with an overview of the General Plan project. The General Plan is a high-priority for the Council with a substantial amount of money having been set aside for this three-year project. While this venture is called the General Plan Update, it will be a completely new document looking at a cover -to -cover review of the existing document, AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 5 CITY COUNCIL looking back at all of the 325 Goals, Objectives, Policies and Vision Statements contained and looking at the success of those efforts, what is yet to be accomplished and more important, looking forward to the next 20 years by starting a conversation initially between the Council and Commission regarding individual members and comments on visions, goals and priorities, etc. There are some issues that were relevant and topical and focused in 1995 not the least of which is traffic. Some of those issues remain today. Diamond Bar is still at the crossroads of two major freeways and is still bombarded on a daily basis with 360,000 trips of traffic at that intersection that is not being generated by Diamond Bar nor by minimal development in Diamond Bar over the past 20 years but instead, being generated by the millions of square feet of warehouse space, tens of thousands of homes that have been built in the Inland Empire, many of whom cut through the intersection of the two freeways that cut through this City. Traffic will continue to be an issue of high priority for Diamond Bar. A topic of discussion will be the significant role of the General Plan Advisory Committee. The City Council has not yet made appointments to the General Plan Advisory Committee and will be asked by staff to do so within the next few months at an open public meeting. The Council appointed citizen committee will be reviewing the material and advising the Planning Commission who will then advise the Council on a variety of issues related to the update of the General Plan. This is a three year effort which is just now beginning and will initially move forward with familiarity, review of existing conditions, outreach — invitations to the community to invite dialogue, and to listen, all of which will take the bulk of the balance of this calendar year and will stretch throughout every aspect of the community. For most of 2017 there will be the development of strategies and different options including alternatives, testing, key options and goals. Most of 2018 will involve the preparation of the details of the draft General Plan and an Environmental Impact Report that must go through significant public scrutiny including presentations, EIR scoping meetings, etc. Thereafter, there will be adoption hearings before the Planning Commission and eventually the City Council which are scheduled for the first quarter of 2019. 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Dennis Liu said he appreciated the opportunity to speak with the City Council again this evening to continue his comments about previous dog barking incidents. He presented an audio recording taken by him on November 6, 2015 of a conversation between him and Officer Dean with a dog barking in the background and Officer Dean telling him what could be done about the problem. Also included on the disc were two audio recordings proving that the day prior to Officer Dean's visit when the dogs continued barking for about 20 minutes. He stated that he had also filed declarations and a letter signed by four neighbors complaining about the barking dogs along with evidence that two police officers who visited the scene witnessed the dogs barking. With all of this evidence if the AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 6 CITY COUNCIL Humane Society still cannot determine that this is a nuisance as residents, he and his neighbors believe that the City needs to look for a new contractor to provide animal control. Pui-Ching Ho, Diamond Bar Library Librarian, announced that the Summer Reading program continues until August 13. Children, teens and adults can earn prizes for reading. There will also be a variety of special programs throughout the summer. On Wednesday, August 10 at 1:00 p.m. staff will show how to download library e -books, magazines, audios and music to electronic devices. There will be a creative dance workshop on Monday, August 22 at 4:00 p.m. for children ages 8 and 9 space is limited. The Library will host "How to be a Social Media Marketing Rock Star" workshop for adults on Wednesday, August 24 at 12:30 p.m. sponsored by the Diamond Bar Friends of the Library. Anthony Duarte, CEO, Regional Chamber of Commerce, San Gabriel Valley thanked the City of Diamond Bar for being a great partner to the Regional Chamber and for all of its support of the business community. This September will complete his first year with the Regional Chamber and his goal for the first year was to take a look at the services of the Regional Chamber, the events and membership. Many events have been streamlined and now there are six signature events including the Hero's Prayer Breakfast, Asian Business Seminar, Installation Gala, Legislative Luncheon, and a new event, Small Business Awards in October. Monthly events continue including the upcoming "Diamond Bar Restaurant Week". M/Lyons stated that the City appreciates the energy and enthusiasm Mr. Duarte has brought to the Chamber. 4. RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENTS: None Offered. 5. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: 5.1 Concerts in the Park — August 3, 2016 — 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Cold Duck (70's and Top 40) DIAMOND BAR NIGHT OUT! Sycamore Canyon Park, 22930 Golden Springs Drive. Last Concert in the 2016 series) 5.2 Movies Under the Stars — The Good Dinosaur— August 3, 2016 — Immediately following the Concert, Sycamore Canyon Park, 22930 Golden Springs Drive. 5.3 Planning Commission Meeting — August 9, 2016 — 7:00 p.m., Windmill Community Room, 21810 Copley Drive. (Cancelled) 5.4 General Plan Update Kickoff Joint Meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission — August 10, 2016 — 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., Windmill Room. AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 7 CITY COUNCIL 5.5 Traffic and Transportation Commission Meeting —August 11, 2016 — 7:00 p.m., Windmill Community Room, 21810 Copley Drive. 5.6 City Council Meeting — August 16, 2016 — 6:30 p.m., AQMD/Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive. 6. CONSENT CALENDAR: MPT/Lin moved, C/Low seconded, to approve Consent Calendar as presented. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Herrera, Low, Tye, MPT/Lin, M/Lyons NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None 6.1 WAIVE READING IN FULL OF ALL ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS AND ADOPT THE CONSENT CALENDAR. 6.2 APPROVED CITY COUNCIL MINUTES: 6.2.1 Study Session of July 19, 2016—As submitted. 6.2.2 Regular Meeting of July 19, 2016 — A -submitted. 6.3 RECEIVED AND FILED TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MINUTES - Regular Meeting of June 9, 2016. 6.4 RATIFIED CHECK REGISTER — Dated July 14, 2016 through July 27, 2016 totaling $1,497,926.11. 6.5 APPROVED TREASURER'S STATEMENT — Month of June 2016. 6.6 APPROVED CONTRACT WITH THE REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016-17 IN AN AMOUNT NOT -TO -EXCEED $12,000. 6.7 APPROVED AMENDMENT NO. 7 TO THE CONTRACT WITH BRIGHTVIEW LANDSCAPE SERVICES, INC. TO EXTEND THE TERM OF THE CONTRACT THROUGH JUNE 30, 2017 TO PROVIDE LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE SERVICES AT NINE (9) CITY PARKS, THE GROUNDS OF THE DIAMOND BAR CENTER, THE FOOTBALL FIELD/SLOPE AT LORBEER MIDDLE SCHOOL, AND THE MESA TRAIL/TRAILHEAD AT SYCAMORE CANYON PARK, FOR A TOTAL CONTRACT AMOUNT OF $408,116 INCLUDING $25,000 FOR AS - NEEDED WORK IN FISCAL YEAR 2016-17. 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None. 8. COUNCIL CONSIDERATION: None. AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 8 CITY COUNCIL 9. COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS AND MEETING ATTENDANCE REPORTS/COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS: C/Herrera stated that it is very important for residents to have safe neighborhoods and streets and commended the LA County Sheriff's Department for their excellent work of late, particularly, the City's Community Service Officer, Joe Marquez, Deputy VillaSenor and Deputy Moreno who had observed a suspicious vehicle and upon questioning the occupants found stolen items from recent burglaries in Diamond Bar and as a result the perpetrators had been placed under arrest. Thank you to the Sheriff's personnel for their keen observations and attention to details. If residents see someone or something suspicious in their neighborhoods it is important to call the Sheriff's Department because it takes everyone working together to make the neighborhoods safe. C/Low hoped that everyone was enjoying their summer. If residents do not have working air conditioning the City has cooling centers, particularly at the library. There are many events at the library and she plans to take advantage of "How to be a Rock Star on Social Media" and hoped to see residents involved. In addition to C/Herrera's comments, she urged everyone to do everything possible not to become a victim of Identity theft. It is very easy to have one's personal information stolen without their knowledge. She recently received an email from a friend who was pleading for money, that she was out of town and lost her money and would C/Low wire money. C/Low has seen that email in various forms over the years and recognized it to be a scam so if anyone receives such an email or hears about someone receiving this type of email please be a good neighbor and alert them to the fact that it is likely a scam. Not only do they come by email, they come by phone as well. C/Tye thanked Bob Cruz and the Gas Company for tonight's presentation. He believes it is important that the City get firsthand information whenever possible because he is not always sure that the media does a complete and fair job of reporting. He appreciates knowing what Aliso Canyon means to the Gas Company and to residents' comfort and convenience. He would like to have the information about the state of Aliso Canyon on the City's website to help residents understand what is going on. He hoped to see everyone at the Concert in the Park tomorrow night. It is difficult to believe it is the last in this year's series. Cold Duck is always a favorite and he looks forward to seeing everyone at the event. It was his privilege a couple of weeks ago to represent the City to meet and greet the deputy mayor from Chen Yang province who was in Diamond Bar to look into opportunities to do more business in the southland and San Gabriel Valley. The Los Angeles Chen Yang De Chamber of Commerce held the meeting and it was a privilege to talk with him and share ideas about how he could help us and how we could help him. Hopefully, that discussion will lead to more jobs in this area and more products sold and exported out of this area. AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 9 CITY COUNCIL MPT/Lin said that last Saturday he was privileged to represent the City and the Mayor at the Annual Performing Arts Challenge of Diamond Bar. It was amazing to see 26 young musicians ranging in ages from 8 to 25 performing on various types of instruments. He was able to give out certificates to every performer. He was very, very impressed. The City has recently had dog nuisance issues and yesterday he received a letter from Rick Wang who has also experienced a dog nuisance problem with his neighbor's dogs running around the neighborhood. He forwarded the letter and photos to ACM/McLean and has had some dialogue with him about this issue. The nuisance code is not very clear about what constitutes a '!nuisance." Other cities in which he has lived have laws identifying what a nuisance is, whether it is 10 or 15 minutes of barking and there are ways you can file a nuisance report and the offenders are reprimanded. He felt it was time for the City to review its code to determine whether there is a more precise way to monitor and reprimand nuisance issues if the City Council feels this is an issue that needs to be addressed. C/Herrera agreed that the matter should be revisited and that it should come before the Council. She too has had residents complain to her about barking dogs in their neighborhoods and those residents are very frustrated that it seems that a great deal of time goes by without much being done to reprimand the owners or curtail the nuisance barking and she believes it is an issue the Council should visit. CM/DeStefano said that since this is not an agendized item staff can, at the direction of Council, work with the current case that brought this matter to the forefront. Staff is working with its partner agency, ]VHS regarding this particular incident that is now before the City., There will occasionally be loose dogs out in the neighborhood and those are typically captured rather quickly by the dog's owners or by IVHS or whomever is in charge. Again, this is a rather rare occurrence in Diamond Bar. Staff, in the interest of furthering the discussion, can take a look at what other clients have experienced with IVHS with respect to their dog nuisance barking ordinances, etc., talk with IVHS with respect to what tools they might recommend that might be more effective in getting control of the property owners of the dogs to try to gain some change. Staff can bring that information to the Council in memorandum form and from that point the Council can decide whether to agendize the matter and decide whether to direct staff to move forward with some sort of ordinance change. M/Lyons said that sounded like the best direction and thanked CM/DeStefano. M/Lyons said that the City is very excited about Diamond Bar's first Restaurant Week. Many residents have asked for more restaurants and most may not know f that Diamond Bar has close to 100 restaurants which is one of the reasons that Restaurant Week is planned. Residents will be able to become familiar with the restaurants and their locations. She offered congratulations to Diamond Bar's newest Eagle Scout, Patrick Roemer. Tomorrow night is the last Concert in the Park and Movie under the Stars for 2016 and she hoped to see everyone there. AUGUST 2, 2016 PAGE 10 CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to conduct, M/Lyons adjourned the Regular City Council Meeting at 7:22 pm to the Special General Plan Update Kickoff Joint Meeting with the Planning Commission on August 10, 2016 at 6:00 pm in the Windmill Room at City Hall. d 0 (y-- , TOMMY CRIBBINS, CITY CLERK The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 16thday of Auaust 2016.