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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - PA4 - 01/29/09TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEMORANDUM RACHELLE KLASSEN, CITY CLERK MARIA HUNT, SECRETARY TO ACM REDEVELOPMENT i MARCH 17, 2009 SUBMISSION OF MINUTES FOR THE CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO. 4 Attached is a copy of the approved Minutes from the January 29, 2009 meeting of the Project Area No. 4 Committee. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information. mh Attachment (as noted) 4fit �,1�10 8Y RDA ON VERIFIED BY A2 Original on file with City Clerk's Office PALM DESERT REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO.4 MINUTES January 29, 2009 I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Fred Benford called an adjourned meeting to order on Thursday, January 29, 2009, at 3:05 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Members Present: Charles Ash Fred Benford Robert Duncan Roberta Grubb Members Absent: Jane Daugherty Douglas Luhring Susan McMillen Also Present: Martin Alvarez, Redevelopment Manager Lauri Aylaian, Director of Planning Pat Conlon, Director of Office Energy Management Mark Diercks, P.E., Transportation Engineer Phyllis Harkins, Palm Desert Country Club Association Bill Hunley, Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department Maria Hunt, Recording Secretary Justin McCarthy, ACM Redevelopment Hart Ponder, Code Compliance Manager Arla Scott, Senior Financial Analyst Lt. Andrew Shouse, Palm Desert Police Department Dave Simmons, Palm Desert Country Club Robert Spiegel, Councilmember Johnny Terfehr, Code Compliance Officer Dave Yrigoyen, Director of Redevelopment/Housing CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO. 4 MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2009 III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Mayor Spiegel read a press release (copy attached) that was going out about John Wohlmuth, the City's new City Manager. It stated that Mr. Wohlmuth had a medical situation last week that placed him at Eisenhower Medical Center for evaluation and subsequent treatment. Mr. Wohlmuth would not be able to start work on February 2, 2009. Mr. McCarthy will continue to serve as Interim City Manager until Mr. Wohlmuth is able to assume full responsibility as City Manager. Mayor Spiegel also announced that Mr. Carlos Ortega is in remission. IV. CONSENT CALENDAR APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO. 4 MEETING OF DECEMBER 15, 2008. With Committee concurrence, the Minutes of the meeting of December 15, 2008 were unanimously approved. V. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None VI. NEW BUSINESS A. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Chairman Benford opened the floor for nominations for Chairman. Member Ash nominated Fred Benford for Chairman and was seconded by Member Grubb. No other nominations were made. Fred Benford was elected as the Chairman for 2009 by unanimous vote. Chairman Benford opened the floor for nominations for Vice Chair. Member Grubb nominated Charles Ash, but he declined. Chairman Benford nominated Roberta Grubb and was seconded by Member Ash. Roberta Grubb was elected as the Vice Chair for 2009 by unanimous vote. VII. CONTINUED BUSINESS None G:\rda\Beth Longman\CommitteesTA #4\Minutes\2009 Minutes\Minutes 012909.doc 2 CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO.4 MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2009 VIII. OLD BUSINESS None IX. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS A. UPDATE ON PALM DESERT COUNTRY CLUB Mr. Dave Simmons provided the Committee with the update because Mr. Case was unable to attend the meeting. He reported that they are still struggling economically and have cut back a lot of things, other than essential services. The golf course is in much better condition this month. The grass is greener because of the slicing they have done to get the fertilizer and air in the root system. They are now concentrating on the Bermuda grass. The over -seeding was done very early and lost some of the rye grass in September during the hot weather. An outside agronomist was brought in to look at what they had been doing, and he had some suggestions. There are a couple of chemicals that he suggested to put on the greens. We are starting to get "black earth", which stops the water from getting down into the root system. The roughs and fairways will be cut with the slicer, and probably in a month or so, will aerate. Chairman Benford asked if the membership was down. Mr. Simmons replied that it is down, but not much. There is a lot of competition for fewer golfers. The restaurant and bar are not doing the business they were doing last year. B. UPDATE ON MARKINGS LEFT ON STREETS BY SCE AND VERIZON Aria Scott reported that she had contacted SCE about the markings on the street and was advised that they were necessary because they indicate the location of the utility lines. They will be removed when the project is complete. Mr. Benford reported that persons were spraying black paint over the markings. Staff requested that they be told not to do that because it will cost the City money for the utility companies to go out to re -do the markings. Mr. Greenwood stated that the survey crew that comes back out costs the City about $150 per hour. Ms. Scott reported that she spoke with Surveyor Ralph Meraz and was advised that Phases 1 and 2 are done. They will be given to Verizon and Time Warner when the joint utility meeting is held on February 12. Phase 3 is done and being put on AutoCad. Mr. Meraz G:\rda\Beth Longman\Committees\PA #MMinutes\2009 MinutesUAinutes 012909.doc 3 CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO.4 MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2009 is working on Phase 4 now. Verizon and Time Warner will take approximately 30 days each to complete their plans. Mark Diercks reported that the removal of the markings when the project is complete is included in the City's Municipal Code. C. INFORMATIONAL REPORT ON CODE ENFORCEMENT PROTOCOL Johnny Terfehr reported on what he does when he is out in the neighborhood, and the types of violations he is looking for. Some of the common violations are trash cans that are left out, junk and trash in people's yards, weeds, unmaintained properties, abandoned or inoperative vehicles, and graffiti. Generally, we are looking at the aesthetics. The goal is to keep the community looking good in order to maintain the property values and quality of life. The Committee members can help him by calling or sending an email to report the violations they see in the area. He provided the members with his business card. Chairman Benford urged the members to be proactive in reporting violations. He expressed his appreciation to Mr. Terfehr for promptly taking care of violations. Member Ash asked about the house on California next to the model homes. It is an old house that backs up to the No. 9 green that looks really bad. Is there anything that can be done to pressure the owner to fix the home? Mr. Terfehr stated he would go out and look to see if there are any code violations. Mayor Spiegel asked if there were any foreclosures in the area, to which Mr. Terfehr replied yes. Member Grubb asked if the City had a graffiti program, to which Mr. Terfehr responded that the City does have a graffiti abatement program. Chairman Benford reported that the streetlights flicker, go out, and then come back on. He stated that it is very difficult to get a hold of SCE. Mayor Spiegel referred the matter to Mark Greenwood. Mr. Greenwood responded that Ryan Stendell is the staff member that handles the SCE interaction, but that a resident calling the SCE 800 number is exactly the same as the City calling the 800 number. They do not treat the City any different than a resident. Chairman Benford added that SCE is very good about coming out and fixing the problems, once you get a hold of them. G:\rda\Beth Longman\CommitteesTA #4\Minutes\2009 Minutes\Minutes 012909.doc 4 CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO.4 MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2009 D. INFORMATIONAL REPORT ON THE SET TO SAVE PROGRAM Pat Conlon, Director of the Office of Energy Management, provided the Committee with an update on the City's Set to Save Program. The program is available to all Palm Desert property owners, residential and commercial. The City started the program in 2007. The City received $14 million from the Public Utilities Commission for the years 2007 and 2008. The City's application is currently in for the $21 million for the final three years of the program (2009 - 2011); and also, $4 million from Southern California Edison. The Program has two parts to it. The first part is cash incentives that the City pays to homeowners and business owners to invest in energy efficient improvements to their homes or businesses. A new feature that is being added to the program this year is the new variable flow pool pumps. We have always had a rebate for a variable flow pool pump, but now there is a new program that will be offered. These variable flow pool pumps can be installed in a home for $735. These are the Pentair Intelliflo pumps and they are very quiet. He explained that if they were to go online to buy one of these pumps, it would cost $1,250 or more. The return on the investment of these pool pumps in the SCE service territory is less than a year. We offer free energy surveys for homes or businesses, and free tune- ups. The whole point behind the energy survey is to educate property owners on precisely what they need to do to their home or business to make it energy efficient. We offer a free tune-up, can install light bulbs, do a tune up on your air conditioning system, can replace up to three pounds of Freon in your system. One of the things that we have learned from the energy surveys is that people have not invested in energy efficiency because of the cost. Many said it was not a good time to get a bank loan. The City participated in putting together special legislation for an energy loan program. The program offers a loan to both residential and commercial property owners to invest in energy efficiency. We will lend the property owner the money for energy efficiency improvements, including solar, and place the payment on their property taxes. The program has been very successful. Phase 1 started in September 2008, and $2.5 million in loans were processed in three weeks and two days. We are now in Phase 2 ($5 million), and as of this afternoon we have $4.2 million signed up in loans (solar, air conditioning, windows). Our first solar system, which will be installed at a business, is going to the City Council for approval. Any loans over $200,000 in valuation have to go to the City Council for approval. The challenge now is to G:\rda\Beth Longman\Committees\PA #4\Minutes\2009 Minutes\Minutes 012909.doe 5 CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO.4 MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2009 find continued funding for the loan program. We have another three years left on our energy program. We are at approximately 90% of our targeted goal in energy savings in the City of Palm Desert. Member Ash stated that he didn't want to sound negative, but that SCE will increase the rates as soon as the consumption of electricity is reduced. SCE will say they cannot support their system with the current rate and will hike them way up. You end up spending money for all this equipment, which is good, but you will also pay higher rates for the lower usage. Mr. Conlon stated that SCE rates will be increased on March 1. He explained that energy efficiency is the wave of the future. We should have solar on every single rooftop and every single building in the Coachella Valley. Our climate zone is excellent for solar. The more energy efficient you can make your house, the more manageable your monthly utility bills will be. The Palm Desert Partnership Program is a pilot program. The reason for this exercise is to put together a road map for other cities to follow. This pool pump program is so successful that SCE is looking at implementing this same program throughout their entire service territory. The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) has a small area in Palm Desert — Avondale. IID will be offering rebates for these variable flow pool pumps for the first time. Mayor Spiegel stated that the water bills will be going up very dramatically, based on usage. If you call the Water District, they will install a device on your water meter for $100 that will conserve water. E. REPORT BY FIRE DEPARTMENT ON TRAINING AT COUNTRY VILLAGE APARTMENTS Mr. Bill Hunley, Fire Captain with the Riverside Co. Cal Fire, stated he was assigned to the Training Bureau, and was representing Kevin McNally, who works at Station 71. He expressed his thanks to the City, the Redevelopment Agency, and the Committee for allowing the Fire Department to do its training at the Country Village Apartments, located at Avenue of the States and Washington Street. On February 9 through February 15, the Fire Department will be doing some standard operating guideline training at the vacated apartment complex. The standard operating guidelines for structural fire fighting within their Department were revamped recently. The dispatch level has gone up on a working structure fire. More units have been added to the initial response, which benefits everyone in the community. G:\rda\Beth Longman\Committees\PA #4\Minutes\2009 Minutes\Minutes 012909.doc 6 CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO.4 MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2009 The training will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be six fire engines or paramedic units per day in that area. Do not anticipate closing any streets. He met with Kevin McNally this morning to look at Avenue of the States where the equipment will be staged. There should be no traffic impact whatsoever. The goal is to get 250 firefighters through the training in that seven-day period. We will be working inside those buildings, and giving each engine company crew a live scenario as if they were being dispatched to a structure fire. They will be using their standard operating guidelines to implement simulated fire attacks, etc. Burn barrels (40-55 gallon drums) will be used to make it as realistic as possible without burning the buildings down. A little bit of hay will be placed in the barrels to generate the smoke to give it a realistic effect for the firefighters. The week prior to training, personneG from the fire station at that end of town will be going around to all residents and businesses handing out flyers and informational papers letting everybody know what we are going to be doing. An onsite training officer will be there throughout the whole training, which is required especially when we have live fire and smoke scenarios. AQMD guidelines, OSHA, State Fire Marshal, etc. requirements must be followed. A safety officer and an incident commander, which will either be a captain or battalion chief, will be present throughout the training period. Mark Greenwood asked if there would be any issues with kicking in doors, breaking windows, etc., to which Mr. Hunley replied yes because the building is coming down. Mr. Alvarez stated that the building is completely secured. Most of the doors and windows are almost down because the construction activity has begun. Mr. Hunley stated that anytime they do a live fire that doors are off and the windows are already out. If we need to secure it to hold the smoke in, we take and nail a couple pieces of OSB over the windows and doors. Mr. McCarthy stated that there was some discussion of possibly staging on Avenue of the States. Mr. Hunley replied that they were discussing that issue this morning. The only thing that would occur is that when the units pull out of the parking area they may sit right along the curb along Avenue of the States for a couple of minutes, while they are staging there and receive their assignments. There will be no blockage. Chairman Benford asked about the proposed date for the new fire station. Mr. McCarthy replied that it is a significant expenditure and that there are two stations that we are contemplating, one in the North Sphere and one in the Palm Desert Country Club area. The timing of those stations will be predicated on funding. G:\rda\Beth Longman\CommitteesTA #4\Minutes12009 Minutes\Minutes 012909.doc 7 CITIZENS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT AREA NO.4 MINUTES JANUARY 29, 2009 Mr. Simmons asked what was going on with Casey's. He heard that Casey had the restaurant up for sale. Mr. Alvarez stated that he has made recent contact with the owner and was advised that he is contemplating selling the business. The Agency owns the structure and is still going forward with a preliminary design for the facade enhancement site improvements for the property. Mayor Spiegel asked about the term of the lease. Mr. Alvarez replied that it is a long- term lease, at least five to seven years. Mr. McCarthy stated that the Agency owns the building, and that it was all part of the acquisition of the Country Village Apartments. One of the things we would have to look into is that a buyer of the business would still have the ability to lease the property. Whether that makes a difference in how we proceed, that is something we have to evaluate. X. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON/MEMBERS B. AGENCY BOARD LIAISONS C. PLANNING COMMISSION LIAISON D. STAFF XI. ADJOURNMENT The next meeting is scheduled for February 16, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m. W"'eu /4�� Maria Hunt, Recording Secretary G:\rda\Beth Longman\Committees\PA #4\Minutes\2009 Minutes\Minutes 012909.doc 8