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Pasadena City Council Holds Final Meeting Before Summer Hiatus
News Jul 27, 2017
City Manager Steve Mermell was unanimously selected by the council to represent Pasadena at the League of California Cities Annual Conference in September. - Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
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City Manager Steve Mermell was unanimously selected by the council to represent Pasadena at the League of California Cities Annual Conference in September. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
City Manager Mermell Elected Voting Representative for State-wide September Conference
By Gus Herrera
At their final regular meeting before a month-long summer hiatus, the Pasadena City Council elected City Manager Steve Mermell as the designated voting delegate for the League of California Cities Annual Conference, to be held from Sept. 13 to 15 in Sacramento.
Assistant City Manager Julie Gutierrez will serve as the council’s alternate selection.
As representatives for Pasadena at the annual conference, Mermell and Gutierrez will learn about legal and legislative updates and discuss relevant (sometimes controversial) state-wide issues.
Council’s consent calendar for the evening approved a roof restoration project for the Pasadena Senior Center, resurfacing of Hill Avenue (from the northern city limit to Maple Street), and a funding agreement with the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) for the Pasadena non-potable water project, phase 1.
Both the Senior Center and Hill Avenue projects are expected to begin construction in September and conclude by November 2017.
Dates for the non-potable water project, though, remain a mystery, as funding for the long-awaited proposal to deliver reclaimed/recycled water to quench the city’s non-potable water demands have yet to be secured.
Council’s funding agreement with the USBR secures up to $2 million to help chip away towards phase 1’s estimated total cost of $20 million.
According to city staff’s report, the department of water and power will be able to recover approximately $350,000 for design, planning, and environmental-related costs already incurred. The remaining $1.65 million will potentially reimburse future costs, if the project proceeds with construction.
After missing out on state funds this year, the city will continue to apply for grants and explore loans, in hopes of finally being able to begin construction on a project that has been in the works for over 25 years, according to staff’s report.
“The level of uncertainty … is very real,” said Mayor Terry Tornek.
Despite the planning phase having been completed, the environmental impact report certified, and detailed design/permitting already in progress, “the project is, I’m afraid, some distance from construction,” he said.
Following the consent calendar, council held a public hearing regarding an amendment to the municipal code that will update the city’s traffic reduction and transportation improvement fee (TR/TIF).
The fee, which was created in order to mitigate the traffic impacts of new development on the city’s transportation infrastructure, traces its roots back to 1981, according to staff’s report.
The updated fee rates are as follows:
– $1.13 per square foot of net new industrial use.
– $10.79 per square foot of net new retail use.
– $8.13 per square foot for net new office use.
– $3,448 per net new unit multi-family residential.
– $8,905 per net new of single-family residential.
Vice-Mayor John Kennedy adamantly opposed the new single-family residential fee that stands at more than triple the current rate ($2,889.70), “unless we change the single-family fee … I will not be able to support [the amendment] … how can you justify such a draconian increase?”
According to the consulting firm David Taussig & Associates, the new fees were calculated based on vehicle miles traveled, as opposed to the previous methodology that was trip-based.
According to the city’s travel demand forecasting model, each trip generated by a single-family residence “is longer on average than a vehicular trip generated by other land uses,” thus making greater use of city streets and transit infrastructure.
TR/TIF is estimated to generate about $131.3 million for transportation capital improvement projects (CIP) through 2035. Funds will be allocated via the CIP budget process.
The item was passed by a council vote of 5-1 with only Kennedy in opposition (Council Member Steve Madison was absent).
Finally, in a rather dramatic move, council chose to hold back on a contract with LAZ Parking for management, operation, and maintenance of eight out of the city’s nine parking lots.
After Council Member Victor Gordo referenced an article published in Commonwealth Magazine accusing LAZ Parking of stealing revenue and altering documents during their management of lots in Massachusetts, council chose to take more time to review the item and allow the proposers to submit more information.
The article, dated May 4, revealed that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority sued the parking group, seeking the recovery of millions of dollars allegedly stolen over three years.
“This isn’t an employee with sticky figures, this seems to be more of a systemic issue,” said Gordo, “it’s unfortunate that the committee didn’t have the opportunity to dig into this.”
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