HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Min 1997-09-22
9-22-97
Seal Beach, California
September 22, 1997
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The City Council of the City of Seal Beach met in regular
adjourned session at 6:30 p.m. with Mayor Hastings calling
the meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Mayor Hastings
Councilmembers Brown, Campbell, Forsythe,
Fulton
Absent: None
Also present: Mr. Barrow, City Attorney
Mrs. Yeo, City Clerk
The City Manager joined the Council in Closed Session.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
There were no Oral Communications.
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CLOSED SESSION
The City Attorney announced that the City Council would meet
in Closed Session to discuss the item identified on the
agenda, a conference with the City's labor negotiator, Mr.
William Avery, and the City Manager, pursuant to Government
Code Section 54957.A, with regard to Confidential/
Supervisory/Technical and Professional Employees, and the
Orange County Employees Association. By unanimous consent,
the Council adjourned to Closed Session at 6:31 p.m. and
reconvened at 6:44 p.m. with Mayor Hastings calling the
meeting to order. The City Attorney reported that the
Council received a status report on negotiations, and no
action was taken.
The Redevelopment Agency of the City of Seal Beach was
convened at 6:45 p.m. with Chairman Campbell calling the
meeting to order with the Salute to the Flag and to then meet
in joint session with the City Council.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Chairman Campbell
Agencymembers Brown, Forsythe, Fulton,
Hastings
Absent:
None
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Also present: Mr. Till, Executive Director
Mr. Barrow, City Attorney
Ms. Stoddard, Director of Administrative
Services
Mrs. Yeo, City Clerk
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Hastings moved, second by Brown, to approve the order of the
agenda as presented.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
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WAIVER OF FULL READING
Brown moved, second by Fulton, to waive the reading in full
of all resolutions and that consent to the waiver of reading
shall be deemed to be given by all Agencymembers unless
specific request is made at that time for the reading of such
resolution.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
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ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
There were no Oral Communications.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Agencymember Campbell requested that the September 8th
minutes be amended to reflect that she had offered her
assistance with regard to the Trailer Park audit along with
Agencymember Brown. Brown moved, second by Fulton, to
approve the minutes of the August 25th meeting as presented
and the minutes of the September 8th meeting as amended.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
PROPOSED REFINANCING - 1986 and 1991 TAX ALLOCATION BONDS -
RIVERFRONT REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT
The Director of Administrative Services reported that based
upon the current favorable bond market there is an
opportunity to refinance the 1986 and 1991 Tax Allocation
Bond Issues, the current interest rate is between 4 to 5.60
percent, by refinancing the interest could be between 3.75 to
5.20 percent, that could be a savings to the Agency of about
$500,000. This opportunity continues to be investigated, it
is believed that insurance can be obtained, the bonds
currently carry a Band AAA rating, insurance would lower the
interest rate, and the availability of insurance should be
known within a couple of weeks. The Director requested
authorization to research the refinancing further, and should
this opportunity materialize, formal documents will be
presented for Agency consideration at a future meeting. She
confirmed that there would be no adverse impacts by
refinancing. Brown moved, second by Hastings, to authorize
staff to proceed to investigate the feasibility of
refinancing the Riverfront Tax Allocation Bond Issues of 1986
and 1991.
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AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
RECESS / ADJOURNMENT
By unanimous consent, the Redevelopment Agency meeting was
recessed at 6:52 p.m. until the 7:00 p.m. joint meeting with
the City Council, and the City Council regular adjourned 6:30
p.m. meeting was adjourned at 6:52 p.m.
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The City Council and Redevelopment Agency regular adjourned
meetings were convened in joint session at 7:04 p.m. with
Mayor Hastings calling the meeting to order with the Salute
"to the Flag.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Mayor Hastings
Councilmembers Brown, Campbell, Forsythe,
Fulton
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Absent:
None
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Also present: Mr. Till, City Manager
Mr. Barrow, City Attorney
Mr. Whittenberg, Director of Development
Services
Mr. Badum, Director of Public Worksl
City Engineer
Chief Sellers, Police Department
Ms. Stoddard, Director of Administrative
Services
Ms. Beard, Director of Parks and Recreation
Ms. Yeo, City Clerk
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Councilmember Campbell requested that Item "N" be removed
from the Consent Calendar, a member of the audience requested
that Item "E" be removed, later determined to be Item "p" and
continued until the October 27th meeting, the City Manager
requested that Item "J" be removed for a revised staff report
and recommendation, and the City Attorney noted a request to
include consideration of Items "A", "AI", and "B" as part of
the Consent Calendar. Campbell moved, second by Fulton, to
approve the order of the agenda as revised.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
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ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor Hastings declared Oral Communications open. Ms. Carla
Watson, Catalina Avenue, extended an invitation to the
Council and all others to participate in the Founders Day
activities on October 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 25th, and noted that
all proceeds will be designated for refurbishment of the
McGaugh pool in honor of that spirited place. Mr. Perry
Watson announced and requested support for the golf
tournament to the held October 3rd at the Bixby Village golf
course, the desire is to have fifty-five players, there will
be prizes, team competition, and an after-event gathering at
the Shore House Cafe. Ms. Watson noted that Recreation
Supervisor Kirk Zuniga is planning the horseshoe tournament
on October 4th, Ms. Shelly Sustarsic announced that the
parade will be held on Saturday the 4th as well, 11:30 a.m.
around the Electric Avenue greenbelt, a water theme in
support of the pool, and Ms. Watson reminded that there will
be activities on the greenbelt after the parade, bands,
rides, food, etc. Ms. Kim Masoner invited all to celebrate
Seal Beach with the Committee, noted also the holding of a
sidewalk sale on Main Street and at the Seal Beach Center,
foods prepared by Johns Food King and Nick's Deli, balloons,
face painting, entertainment, the Red Car Museum will be
open, Pavilions will hold a history contest, there will be a
Founders Day Mystery Tour with a $100 first prize donated by
the Police Officers Association, and second prize of $75
donated by the Radisson Inn. Ms. Watson recognized other
members of the Committee, Mary Johnson, Nancy Beard, Kathleen
McGlynn, and Cecilia Aaron. Ms. Mary Helen Finch displayed
tee shirts and sweatshirts for sale bearing the 'Save the
Pool' logo. In closing, Ms. Watson noted a luau to be held
on Sunday at the McGaugh community pool featuring the Kona
Players, that celebration being organized by Glenda Snyder.
Ms. Delores Hortain, Rossmoor resident, said her particular
interest is in the development proposed for the area east of
Seal Beach Boulevard and north of Lampson Avenue, stated the
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southerly residents of Rossmoor will be the most impacted yet
are the only group of people who have no official
representative to speak on their behalf, and although the
Homeowners Association does a good job they have no legal
status or authority. She offered that the preference would
be that the property remain status quo however it appears
that the Bixby Company and Seal Beach residents south of the
freeway are intent on doing something, that likely due to the
benefits of an envisioned increased sales revenue however
while suffering none of the attendant problems associated
with the development, the problems numerous and legend,
traffic is already beyond what the Boulevard and cross
streets can handle, additionally the new commercial center
will likely bring about the final demise of the Rossmoor
Center, such a proposal shows a lack of understanding of
basic marketing and business principles, and the addition of
more low quality business enterprises in the area is a
concern to local residents. Ms. Hortain said the increased
crime rate in Rossmoor is no mere coincidence, the Center had
been relatively crime free until the opening of the low cost,
late night movie theater, and there have been no public
statements from the Seal Beach Police Department or the
Orange County Sheriff Department with regard to increased
traffic and crime should the Bixby development go forward,
and if they have not been consulted Bixby and Seal Beach are
doing a great disservice to its surrounding communities as
well as the County. As evidence that Bixby is not the caring
neighbor it claims to be, Ms. Hortain cited the office
complex built some years back virtually in the backyards of
the southerly Rossmoor residences, and said the proposed
buffer zone of church use serving more than thirty-five
hundred parishioners would be a significant added burden to
the already overcrowded streets. Ms. Hortain said it can be
clearly seen that the development plan proposed by Bixby is
not in the best interest of the broader community, stated
that if there must be development requested that
reconsideration be given to the proposed mixed use plan, and
reported having more than two hundred signatures of Rossmoor,
Seal Beach and Los Alamitos residents in support of homes
rather than commercial. Mr. Marty Mahrer, College Park East,
said some time back he had mentioned the slurry seal street
project taking place in his area, the job was terrible,
should not be paid, he had been informed that the streets
would be checked with a level, to which he asked the status.
The Director of Public Works responded that he was not aware
of any problems with that project in College Park East, and
that a response was made to the concern of Mr. Mahrer
regarding the quality of the slurry seal. He explained that
slurry is not likened to a new street, it is rough, some
portions had been redone due to a concern with vibrations,
consultants and experts have assured that the project meets
industry specifications for slurry seal, however offered to
inspect any areas in question. He explained again that
slurry is very rough, will turn gray, and eventually smooth
itself out, tire marks will always be seen, areas where oil
and gasoline has leaked from vehicles causes soft spots, this
product is used in an attempt to stretch City tax dollars for
paving, and is felt to be appropriate. Mr. Mahrer complained
that the slurry has created a washboard effect, again asking
if someone had inspected them. The Director confirmed that a
person having expertise in streets did inspect, the areas
subject to the complaint were driven, if driven at the speed
limit there is very little vibration. Mr. Mahrer said he
differed with the opinion of the Director and his experts,
cited the job as being bad, the quality should be looked at,
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the lowest bid is not always best, and offered to drive the
area with staff and the Council. Mr. Mahrer stated he had
been assured by the Comcast general counsel that the property
tax award should be rebated in September, if not a class
action lawsuit should be initiated, and to the draft
franchise ordinance said that the changes proposed had not
been included, and the ordinance should not be adopted.
Noting that many people in the Chambers were standing, the
Mayor requested that additional chairs be brought in. Mr.
James Clow, Cable Foundation, reported that on Saturday and
Sunday the local programming Channel Three had a picture
however there was no sound, something that has happened
before. Ms. Dorothy Whyte, College Park East, made reference
to a news article this past Friday that reported information
relating to the Bixby project would be in the Mary Wilson
library, it was not, the North Seal Beach Library said today
that they have it, that was not publicized, both libraries
reported having received the Council agenda this date,
however given their hours it is difficult to have the
opportunity to review, which she said does not serve the
public well. Ms. Whyte said she understood the Bixby
information is a large volume, also requested that a signed
copy of the Bixby MOU and a map showing the number of parking
spaces, square footage, etc. of the proposed project be
posted in the libraries, and stated that people should be
aware that the mixed use plan was not set aside by Bixby, it
was the Council who indicated non-support for the mixed use
and support for commercial. Ms. Whyte claimed that the MOU
provides more than merely requiring that the City process the
proposed project in a timely manner, it also sets forth what
the project is, what can be developed, and inquired if the
church is considered to be commercial. The Director of
Development Services responded that the fifteen acres
designated for church use is considered a public land use
zone, which allows public facilities, churches, recreation
facilities, etc., that is an existing land use zone, examples
being City facilities, parks, Naval Weapons Station, etc.
Ms. Whyte said she found it interesting that the buffer zone
between the Bixby commercial development and the Highlands
area is a huge church with numerous parking spaces, cars are
cars, fifteen acres of non-revenue producing development,
noted that there are hundreds of thousands of square feet of
commercial on the Bixby property where the Hellman plan has
fifteen hundred and in fact on the State Lands property, to
which she claimed that the process has been wrong, College
Park East has been denied the right to design a project, and
the MOU had no map or time line. Ms. Whyte made note of a
sign on Heather relating to the recall of the Councilperson,
she claimed the City Attorney determined this to be a
political sign and may only be of a certain size. Ms. Whyte
added that this is not an election and the sign is going to
remain, this an interesting issue because during the election
the Councilperson had signs on public property yet the City
did nothing, the signs were put up, the City took them down,
one was even on a stop sign, suggesting there seems to be a
selective enforcement of the law in College Park East. There
being no further comments, Mayor Hastings declared Oral
Communications closed.
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COUNCIL ITEMS
APPOINTMENTS
Civil Service Board
Councilman Brown moved to appoint Mr. Raymond Hines as the
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District Two representative to the Civil Service Board for
the unexpired term ending July, 2000. Mayor Hastings
seconded the motion.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
Cable Communications Foundation
Councilmember Campbell moved to appoint Mr. Marty Mahrer as
the District Four representative to the Cable Communications
Foundation for the unexpired term ending July, 1998. Mayor
Hastings seconded the motion.
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AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
CANCELLATION OF MEETING
Brown moved, second by Fulton, to cancel the October 13th
regular meeting due to a conflict with the League of
California Cities Conference, and directed adjournment to
Monday, October 20th.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
APPOINTMENT - ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY
Mayor Hastings said it had been brought to her attention that
the city has no representative attending the Fire Authority
meetings, Councilman Brown had been the representative
however due to a conflict of meetings found it necessary to
resign. Councilman Brown confirmed that to be true, also,
the meetings are held in Irvine, there is considerable
traffic at the specific time of day of those meetings, and
due to the location would be difficult for a Councilwoman to
attend, however to that concern the Acting Chief had offered
to have someone from the Authority transport a Councilwoman
to and from the meetings. After polling the other members of
the Council as to their obligations on the fourth Thursday of
each month meeting days, Mayor Hastings agreed to act in the
capacity of representative to the Fire Authority. Councilman
Brown noted that as representative there is an obligation to
serve on a committee as well, and should his current meeting
obligation change in the future he offered to rejoin the
Authority Board.
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CONSENT CALENDAR - ITEMS "F" thru "a" / AGENDA ITEMS "A" thru
IIBIt
Brown moved, second by Fulton, to take action on proclamation
Items "A, A1, and B, and to approve the recommended action
for items on the Consent Calendar as presented, except Items
"J, Nand E", later determined to be Item "P", removed for
separate consideration.
A. Proclaimed October, 1997 as "Escrow Month."
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Al. proclaimed October, 1997 as "Domestic Abuse
Awareness Month.
B. Proclaimed recognition of Lt. Colonel James C.
Ghormley, III, upon the occasion of his retirement
from the California Army National Guard.
F. Approved the waiver of reading in full of all
ordinances and resolutions and that consent to
the waiver of reading shall be deemed to be
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given by all Councilmembers unless specific
request is made at that time for the reading of
such ordinance or resolution.
G.
Approved regular demands numbered 17131 through
17238 in the amount of $1,010,746.22, payroll
demands numbered 23714 through 23935 in the
amount of $333,950.20, and authorized warrants
to be drawn on the Treasury for same. .
H. Approved the minutes of the September 8, 1997
regular adjourned and regular meetings.
I. Approved Resolution Number 4559 entitled "A
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SEAL BEACH, CALIFORNIA, RECOGNIZING DOLORES
CHURCHILL" (American Red Cross Board of
Governors) .
K.
Determined that the proposed contract with
Coast Rail Services is exempt from standard
bidding practices pursuant to Municipal Code
Section 2-22(c), (c), and (f) in that the
provision of sand via rail services within
the Navy Weapons Station is a specialized
service which requires negotiated contracts
with the U. S. Navy and Union Pacific Railroad,
that potential winter storms and El Nino
conditions pose a threat to life, private
property, and public infrastructure, therefore
awarded the contract to provide and deliver
beach quality sand, East Beach Replenishment
Project #772, to Coast Rail Services in an
amount not to exceed $1,083,000.00, authorized
the City Manager to execute said contract, and
to negotiate with Coast Rail to obtain the
maximum amount of beach sand within the
established City budget.
L. Approved a consultant agreement with Moffat &
Nichol Engineers to perform monitoring and
project support services for East Beach
Replenishment Project #772 at a cost not to
exceed $10,100.00, and authorized the City
Manager to execute same on behalf of the City.
M.
Approved the plans and specifications for
the Railroad Track Removal Project, Seal
Beach Boulevard and Westminster. Avenue,
funding of $102,900 for said project currently
available in the form of a trust deposit from
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power,
the owner of said tracks, and authorized staff
to initiate the public bidding process.
O.
Adopted Resolution Number 4561 entitled "A
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SEAL BEACH DECLARING WORK TO BE COMPLETED
AS TO PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR CONCRETE
REPAIR PROJECT, FY 96-97 PROJECT #675, CONTRACT
ENTERED INTO BETWEEN DAMON CONSTRUCTION AND THE
CITY OF SEAL BEACH." By unanimous consent, full
reading of Resolution Number 4561 was waived.
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Q.
Received and filed the Monthly Investment Report
for August, 1997.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR
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ITEM "p" - ZONE TEXT AMENDMENT 96-1 - REAR YARD SETBACKS/
DECKS
Mr. Reg Clewley clarified that it was Item "p" not "E" that
he had requested to be removed from the Consent Calendar.
The City Attorney confirmed that Item "p" is a matter
continued to the October 27th meeting therefore no action
will be taken at this meeting, and should the Council
determine to hear comments it would be necessary to
reconsider the approval of the agenda. Councilman Brown
suggested that the comments be delayed until such time as the
item is being considered. Mr. Clewley said he wished to make
comments in that his feeling is that the Council can not
allow adequate time to fully discuss the matter, objected to
continuation of the matter in that he claimed his home, life,
and lives of his family members are endangered by the passage
of ZTA 96-1.
RECONSIDERATION
Hastings moved, second by Forsythe, to reconsider the
approval of the agenda and the consent calendar.
AYES:
NOES:
Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
Brown Motion carried
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It was the consensus of the Council to consider Item "P"
before Items "N and J".
ITEM "p"
Councilman Brown emphasized his desire that this item be
considered on October 27th, and offered that Mr. Clewley
present his comments at that time. Mr. Clewley stated he
would be in attendance, reiterated his prior comment, and
made reference to opinions voiced at a past meeting relating
to this issue, to which he stated the deck at 950 Catalina
was illegally constructed, he lodged a complaint, it was
inspected, however said the City has failed to fulfill its
obligation under the Code. Mr. Clewley made reference to and
read excerpts from staff reports of February 28th, February
21st, January 17th, and September, 1996, January 22nd and
October 3rd, 1990 with regard to Variance 5-90 and then ZTA
96-1, and urged that the Council review and understand all of
them before considering this matter again.
Campbell moved, second by Hastings, to continue Item "P", ZTA
96-1, until the October 27th meeting.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
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Upon the recommendation of the City Attorney, Hastings moved,
second by Campbell, to approve the order of the agenda as
rearranged and the Consent Calendar.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
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ITEM "J" - AWARD OF BID - 12th STREET PAVEMENT REHABILITATION
OCEAN I ELECTRIC - PROJECT NUMBER 680
Bids were received until September 18, 1997 at 10:00 a.m. for
Project Number 680, 12th Street Pavement Rehabilitation, at
which time they were publicly opened by the City Clerk as
follows:
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Alternative A - Asphalt Concrete
Sequel Contractors, Inc.
Nobest Construction
Excel Paving Co.
GMC Engineering, Inc.
Hillcrest Contracting, Inc.
Damon Construction Co.
Alternative B - Asphalt Concrete
Sequel Contractors, Inc.
Excel Paving Co.
Nobest Construction
GMC Engineering, Inc.
Damon Construction Co.
Hillcrest Contracting, Inc.
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Alternative C - Portland Cement
Nobest Construction
Hillcrest Contracting, Inc.
Damon Construction Co.
Sequel Contractors Inc.
Excel Paving Co.
GMC Engineering, Inc.
Reconstruction
$231,226.07
$236,512.50
$245,597.10
$246,300.00
$252,006.60
$259,146.83
Overlay
$203,128.00
$217,406.70
$220,720.50
$223,890.00
$224,094.15
$236,094.15
Reconstruction
$254,115.75
$278,207.58
$282,822.02
$307,719.30
$323,990.10
$358,045.69
The Director of Public Works apologized for incorrect numbers
in the original staff report, however noted that that did
allow for a further analysis of the bid results. The
Director explained that the bid had been split into three
alternatives given potential funding difficulties and current
market, at minimum an asphalt overlay, a new asphalt street,
or possibly a concrete street, the result is that the
concrete bid is only about ten percent higher than the
asphalt bid, to which he pointed out that the life of a
concrete street is double or more an asphalt street, some of
those that exist are more than fifty years old and are in
relatively good condition, and in this case there is an
opportunity to maximize City dollars and get a better
product. The Director explained further that 12th Street is
a major collector into the downtown area as is Main and 5th
Street, 1st and Seal Beach Boulevard, the intent is to have
these streets be in the best condition possible given their
volume of traffic. Fulton moved, second by Campbell, to
award the contract for Project Number 680, 12th Street
Pavement Rehabilitation from Ocean Avenue to Electric Avenue
to the lowest responsible bidder, Nobest Construction in the
amount of $254,115.75, and authorize the City Manager to
execute the contract on behalf of the City.
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AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
ITEM "N" - RESOLUTION NUMBER 4560 - SLURRY SEAL FY 96-97 -
PROJECT NUMBER 674
Councilmember Campbell requested that the declaration of
completion and acceptance of Project Number 674 be held over
pending an inspection of the work in the College Park East
area, and so moved. Councilman Brown seconded the motion.
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AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
CABLE TELEVISION FRANCHISE RENEWAL
Brown moved, second by Campbell, to continue the public
hearing relating to the cable television franchise renewal
until the October 27th meeting.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
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PUBLIC HEARING - HELLMAN RANCH SPECIFIC PLAN AMENDMENT
The Director of Development Services presented the staff
report relating to the Hellman Ranch Specific Plan Amendment.
He explained the major aspects of the Hellman property
development proposal, noted an illustration of the property
setting forth the basic land use designations, the major
components of the proposal being the restoration of
approximately twenty-three acres of salt water wetlands
immediately adjacent to the San Gabriel River and Pacific
Coast Highway, creation of a golf course of approximately one
hundred seven acres, the golf course to include 9.8 acres of
newly created fresh water wetland areas, and along Seal Beach
Boulevard the development of a maximum of seventy single
family homes on approximately fifteen acres of land,
basically the area between the Hill residences and the Police
Station, the Specific plan also includes the Los Alamitos
Retarding Basin, the use of that area would not change, and
about twenty-eight acres of existing oil production land on
the property that will remain as oil production for
approximately fifteen to twenty years, and at some point in
the future when that use is no longer viable an alternate use
would need to be considered for that area.
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A brief recess was called at 8:12 p.m. to provide additional
seating and a.television monitor in the patio area. The
Council reconvened at 8:24 p.m. with Mayor Hastings calling
the meeting to order.
The Director reviewed in brief the proposal to develop the
Hellman property with wetlands, a golf course, single family
residences, and allowing the current oil production use to
remain. He reported that as part of consideration of the
project an Environmental Impact Report was prepared by the
City, that document has gone through the public review and
comment period, is now before the Council for consideration
along with the resolutions and ordinances that would be
required if there is an ultimate determination to approve the
project. As part of the preparation of the EIR a number of
objectives were prepared that the City would like to achieve
in consideration of this project, restoration of wetland
areas, preservation of Gum Grove Nature Park and dedication
of that Park to the City, preservation of cultural resource
sites to the extent feasible, preservation of open space to I
the extent feasible, minimal traffic and air quality impacts,
and development of visitor serving commercial and recreation
facilities. The City's current General Plan and Specific
Plan for this property are not consistent with each other,
that occurred a number of years ago therefore as part of this
proposal the intent is to again make those documents
consistent, the current General Plan for the area indicates
that seventy-five acres of the property could be developed
for residential purposes with a maximum of three hundred
twenty-nine single family homes, the Specific Plan allows for
a total of seven hundred seventy-three homes to be built, six
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hundred sixty of which would be multi-family units in a
condominium project, one hundred thirteen would be single
family residences, the General Plan allows for existing oil
extraction use on 36.4 acres of the remaining land, the
current Specific Plan allows 25 acres, there are differences
of land uses as well, the community Park under the current
General Plan is 26 acres, including Gum Grove park, the
Specific Plan allows 17.7 acres, also including Gum Grove
park, there are small differences of acreage on the flood
control basin, a major difference is that the current General
Plan sets forth 41.4 acres of restored wetlands on the
property with no golf course, the existing Specific Plan does
not require any wetlands to be restored on the property
however sets forth a 105 acre golf course, that the major
inconsistency along with the residential uses. The plan
proposed encompasses a somewhat larger land area than other
plans had in that it includes the State Lands property at
Pacific Coast Highway and the San Gabriel River, also a City-
owned property at the end of Adolfo Lopez Drive, both
properties have been incorporated into the proposed Specific
plan, where previously there was a separate Specific Plan for
the State Lands property. Again, the basic components of the
proposed project include about 107 acres for golf course, 15
acres for the single family residential area, a total of
about 33 acres of restored fresh water and salt water
wetlands, the remaining acreage either flood retention or oil
extraction use. As part of the consideration of the Specific
Plan, there is a requirement under California State law that
the City's General Plan and any Specific Plan adopted to
implement the General Plan must be consistent, upon review of
the General Plan it was found that there are a number of
Elements that require revision to attain consistency between
the two documents, amendments required to the Land Use
Element, Open Space/Recreation/Conservation Element,
Circulation Element, Bicycle Element, Noise Element, and the
Housing Element, those documents all included in the staff
report packet, in addition to the General Plan amendment
there are a number of other City approvals required, the
repeal of the existing State Lands Specific Plan, amendment
of the existing Hellman Ranch Specific Plan by the adoption
of the proposed Plan, two separate subdivision maps, one for
the purpose of conveyance of property to the City for the Gum
Grove Nature Park, wetlands for the wetland restoration area,
creation of the approximate fifteen acres for the single
family homes, a separate map would subdivide the actual home
sites, an amendment of the Riverfront Redevelopment Plan is
required as a portion of the southerly area of the Hellman
property is within the Project Area, and a development
agreement between the City and project applicant will
likewise require approval. Additional review and approvals
will be required from certain Federal and State agencies,
primarily with regard to wetland issues, however the Coastal
Commission will look at the entire project as the property is
within the Coastal Zone, with regard to wetlands, the Army
Corps of Engineers, the Regional Water Quality Control Board,
etc. The project has been the subject of public hearings
before the Planning Commission, the cultural resources
section of the EIR has been reviewed by the Archaeological
Advisory Committee, and the Environmental Quality Control
Board has reviewed the entire EIR, and each have made
recommendations to the City Council. The Planning Commission
felt the EIR was adequate and recommended that it be
certified, also recommended approval of the project subject
to some amendments, primarily in the area of mitigation
measures for coastal resource issues and some of the
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,
development standards for the residential area within the
Specific Plan, one related to the height limit between Gum
Grove Nature Park, the retention basin and the golf course
itself where certain height limits were proposed for
structures, not counting the clubhouse facility, rather those
in the area of the golf course, proposed was a twenty foot
height, another was sixteen feet, the Commission recommended
a consistent height for all of those structures, excluding
the clubhouse, of sixteen feet, a second recommendation dealt
with the height of the residential homes along Seal Beach
Boulevard, the applicant requested a thirty-six foot height
limit, the Commission recommended a twenty-five foot height
limit which is consistent with the height limit for the Hill,
College Park East and College Park West, there is a thirty-
five foot height limit in two areas, Surfside and Old Town,
in Old Town only when a property is wider than 37.5 feet is a
thirty-five foot height allowed on the rear half of the lot.
With regard to front yard setbacks, the Planning Commission
recommended a change as to where the distance is measured
from, the Specific Plan proposes measuring from the sidewalk
however throughout the community the front setback is
measured from the property line, that change recommended for
consistency, sideyard and rear yard setbacks are proposed to
be amended relating to a garage that would be located on a
rear third of the property, the proposal is to allow a garage
to be built on the property line. As to lot coverage the
applicant had requested sixty percent, the City's general
standard is forty-five percent, that is the recommendation of
the Planning Commission however also suggested an additional
five percent for covered patios, which is similar to the
College Park East area. An additional concern forwarded from
the Commission was that the mitigation measures for the
Belding's Savannah Sparrow and the Western Burrowing OWl may
not be adequate, and in response to a letter from Mr. Dave
Hall, Huntington Beach, (attachment sixteen of the staff
report), the Commission asked that the City's consultant and
the applicant's biological consultant look at the mitigation
measure and determine if it is appropriate to make a change,
responses to that also included as attachment sixteen.
Director reported it was his understanding that the applicant
has no objection to the conditions with the exception of the
height limit for the single family residences, they have
agreed to all other changes. He noted the Archaeological
Advisory Committee made a number of recommendations to the
Council with regard to changes to the language of the
mitigation measures, the vote of the Committee was three to
two, and the applicant's representative has agreed to all of
the changes proposed. The Environmental Quality Control
Board forwarded recommendations as well, determining that the
EIR would be adequate if their ten issues are addressed
further in some manner, the concerns were that the Final EIR
does not adequately address water quality impacts with use of
water from the San Gabriel River to restore the salt water
wetland area, does not address the long term maintenance
responsibilities for the salt water wetlands, the alternate
tidal connection to the salt water wetlands from the Haynes
cooling channel should be further investigated and permit
processing should be initiated at this point in time, that
Alternative Three of the Final EIR is not a viable project
alternative in accordance with CEQA, two comments related to
cultural resource measures, in both cases the EQCB felt that
the Council should be the determining agency instead of the
Director of Development Services, another dealt with some
traffic safety issues regarding the golf course entryway off
of Seal Beach Boulevard that was felt were not adequately
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addressed, mitigation measures to aesthetically screen the
oil wells along Seal Beach Boulevard was not adequately
addressed in their opinion, additional information regarding
herbicide use on the golf course was requested in order to
make a determination of the adequacy of the EIR, also
concurrence with the recommendations of the Archaeological
Advisory Committee regarding their proposed changes to the
mitigation measures.
I
Mayor Hastings declared the public hearing open to consider
the Hellman Ranch Specific Plan. The City Clerk certified
that notice of the public hearing had been advertised,
mailed, and posted as required by law, reported receipt of
twenty-five written comments, copies of all having been
provided to the Council. The Mayor again invited members of
the audience to take advantage of the seating available,
explained that the applicant will have the opportunity to
make a presentation, give a response after public comments,
and requested that speakers keep their comments to as close
to five minutes as possible. Mr. Jerry Tone, representative
of the Hellman Family, San Francisco, expressed pleasure at
being present, noted the enormous amount of work that has
gone into the project over a number of years, on his behalf
and that of his associate, Mr. Bartlett, extended
appreciation to the citizens present in support of their
project. Mr. Tone expressed pride in the plan, citing it as
not only a workable solution to a complex property, but a
model plan in terms of respect for the environment, its
thoroughness and thoughtfulness, it is felt that the Specific
Plan and the associated mitigation measures of the EIR have
all been designed in the context of the numerous studies,
debates, reports, articles, discussions, etc. that have taken
place with regard to this property, it is believed that the
plan does, and hoped that the plan will be viewed as
respectfully responding-to the laws, community concerns, and
relevant issues raised in those previous deliberations. It
is also pleasing that the plan comes to the Council with the
unanimous approval of the Planning Commission, that evidences
the validity of the plan. Mr. Tone said the Hellman Specific
Plan is the work product of a collaboration of a team of
respected experts, which he thanked and their associates, as
well as City staff for their diligence in assisting to bring
the project to this point. He said it is needless to say
that all have gone through a lot over the years with regard
to this property, yet it is the Hellman family's sincere hope
that it will be found that the plan that has been developed
is respectful of the many sensitive aspects of the
environment and the property and more than balances the many
competing pressures, demands, and requirements that have been
placed on this land, a plan that also respects all Federal,
State, and local laws. Mr. Tone stated his belief that this
golf course and the wetlands restoration components of the
project will make Seal Beach the envy of all neighboring
coastal towns, the public golf course will be a challenge yet
playable, will be accessible, and perhaps most of all it is
intended that the course will be respected nationally through
the vitality of its wetlands and the integrity of its
management program. As for housing the plan proposes only
seventy units, that a ninety-three percent reduction from a
previous plan, a nearly eighty percent reduction from the
last plan that was approved. He offered that this is a
balanced plan, a doable plan, a plan that the Hellman family
stands firmly behind, in honesty it can not be imagined that
there would be another opportunity to reach agreement on a
plan that provides for the preservation of Gum Grove Park and
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its assets, restores wetlands while limiting the amount of
housing to a small fraction of previous approvals, all while
creating a community amenity and economic engine that all can
be proud of for years to come, again as to the Gum Grove,
this is the one plan that is felt will protect that area
forever. Mr. Tone said his desire is to move forward,
expressed appreciation to the citizens that worked hard on
previous projects, projects with not the same goal, because
many of those are now some of the strongest supporters of
this project.
I
Mr. Tone commenced a more detailed review of the project
description with a point of history in response to questions
as to how the Hellman Ranch began, to which he explain that
Isias W. Hellman settled in Los Angeles in the 1850's at age
eighteen at which time there were five thousand people, he
was a German Jew from a merchant family, not a wealthy man
but hard working. He founded the first bank in Los Angeles
in the back of his dry goods store, helped start USC, in the
1880's bought the Rancho Los Alamitos, helped start the
Pacific Railway, was a founder of Wells Fargo Bank, as to
Rancho Los Alamitos he sold a large portion to Mr. Ord who
then founded a city that ultimately became Seal Beach, in the
1940's the U. S. Navy, by eminent domain, took five thousand
acres for the Naval Weapons Depot, and in the 1960's more
land was sold to Rockwell, Leisure World, and the Flood
Control District, the second final piece of property became
Marina Hill. With the assistance of slide projections, Mr.
Bartlett showed the outline of the current Hellman Ranch
Specific Plan properties, the Plan now includes the State
Lands property at Pacific Coast Highway and First Street, the
Southern California Edison fee-title right-of-way, City
property at the foot of Lopez Drive, the retention basin, Gum
Grove Park, which is owned by the Hellman family and leased
to the City, there is a mesa, the lower lands consist of
degraded wetlands and oil production areas, and pointed out
the location of Seal Beach Boulevard, Pacific Coast Highway,
First Street Beach, the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Tone noted that
the original development proposal for the property in the
late 1970's, early 1980's, was presented by ponderosa and
included one thousand units, single family, townhouses, and
apartments, a four lane roadway through the middle, very
little open space, and no wetlands, that plan never
materialized for a number of reasons, in the mid-1980's there
was a seven hundred seventy-three unit plan, no provision for
wetlands, a small par three golf course, housing throughout
the property, single family and multi-family housing, the
last plan, 329 units, proposed in 1989 had limited wetlands
restoration, houses draining into the wetlands, some parks
and open space, with a substantial negative fiscal impact on
the City. He said in the early 1990's the Hellman family had
grown tired of the negative implications by other developers,
decided to prepare their own plan, the plan now before the
City Council, which he too described as dedication of the
park, seventy units of housing, a state of the art wetlands
restoration, publicly accessible golf course, reduction of
the mineral production areas, and the inclusion of the State
Lands parcel which provides for some comprehensive planning,
an opportunity to site the Krenwinkle House, etc. Mr.
Bartlett drew attention to how the residential area has been
significantly redesigned to accommodate additional open
space, the majority of the property, over seventy-seven
percent, being open space, Gum Grove Park, the wetland
restoration area, fresh water marshes in the golf course, and
the areas reserved for mineral production. Mr. Tone said the
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v~s~on for this plan was to create a state of the art project
that will balance the land use, environmental benefits, and
ownership economics of the property while meeting or
exceeding all applicable Federal, State and local
regulations, and it is felt that has been done. Mr. Bartlett
noted staff mention of the goals and objectives of this
project, a major objective of the project is the restoration
of the wetlands ecosystem, the great blue heron one of the
most frequent visitors to the site, the restoration program
will increase forging and cover for species such as the
heron, the wetlands have been classified as severely
degraded, to which he showed a slide of the present marginal
habitat of the site, with the restoration program it becomes
a consolidated ecosystem that will be significantly better
for wildlife. Other goals of the project are to improve
water quality, opening the property for public access,
reducing the acreage for residential use, comprehensive
planning for all of the surrounding properties, visitor
serving commercial uses and recreational uses that will be a
positive impact to the City's economic base, an effective
system of open space trails and parks to respect the
property's physical constraints, the constraints include the
earthquake fault that runs through the property and through
Marina Hill, certain areas are subject to liquefaction, the
degraded wetlands one such area, there are archaeological
sites in the Park and on the mesa, these constraints became a
basis for the land planning efforts, and the reason there is
no development on the lower elevations, the goals translate
to a plan that is responsive to community priorities,
consistent with all regulations, consistent with all
surrounding land uses, and responsive to market conditions
for the residential, public recreation, and commercial uses.
He noted that City of Seal Beach objectives that staff also
mentioned were wetlands restoration, the preservation of Gum
Grove Park and dedication to the City, preservation of
cultural resource sites to the extent feasible, preservation
of open space to the extent feasible, minimal traffic and air
quality impacts, and development of visitor serving and
recreational uses. As to objectives he stated that wetland
restoration compliance is restored salt marsh, fresh water
marsh creation, consolidation of the ecosystem, the wetland
habitat for endangered species and a significant contribution
to the Pacific Flyway System, another objective is the
preservation of Gum Grove Park and dedication to the City,
which it will be in conjunction with this project and
preserved as an urban forest in perpetuity, preservation of
cultural resource sites to the extent feasible, preservation
of the Gum Grove site will be accomplished, mitigation of the
mesa sites in compliance with all regulations, a research
design for the property and another testing program to
determine significance. He noted that the Planning
Commission, EQCB, the Archaeological Committee, City staff,
and the land owner are all in accord with the cultural
resource section of the EIR and the mitigation measures, over
the past forty-three years there have been sixteen
archaeological studies conducted on the property, baseline
studies, research designs, surveys, surface collection, test
programs, with the existing information plus the new research
design and testing program it is hoped there can be an end to
speculation and it is believed that responsible planning for
cultural resources will be achieved with this project.
Another objective of the City was the preservation of open
space to the extent feasible, seventy-seven percent of the
Specific Plan is open space, Gum Grove Park will be
preserved, the Plan restores salt marsh and creates the
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trails, also includes the public golf course and creates a
significant amount of public accessibility, minimal traffic
and air quality impacts, a severe reduction in residential
and commercial densities, also potential adverse impacts
reduced over sixty percent compared to existing zoning. The
development of visitor serving commercial and recreational
uses will occur in conjunction with the State Lands property
and the golf clubhouse as well as the passive recreation
areas of the marsh, nature trails, interpretative center, Gum
Grove Park, and the eighteen hole public golf course. The
Hellman Ranch Specific Plan is in complete compliance with
City of Seal Beach objectives, conservation and open space
use of about seventy-seven percent of the project, and
development land uses, the mineral production areas are
primarily open space however they are counted as development
uses. Mr. Bartlett described the Specific Plan diagram as
primarily open space with the exception of the housing area
and the commercial on State Lands and the City property at
the end of Lopez, that planned to be used for access. With
regard to golf courses and the environment, he said there has
been considerable study, a lot of implementation by
university research and private organizations to develop golf
courses as ecosystems and protect environmental resources and
wildlife habitat, noted that the Hellman Ranch Reserve has
engaged with Audubon International to do an environmental
management program which will plan resource enhancement and
protection, their mission is to improve the quality of life
through research, education, and conservation, the Audubon
program itself promotes responsible stewardship actions and
sustainable land management, Hellman has been a member of the
Audubon Signature Sanctuary Program since 1994/1995. He
explained that the basic issues with regard to managing a
golf course as an ecosystem includes the application of
materials, how the Audubon Program is complied with, the
creation of special management zones, ecological risk based
assessment on pesticide selection, slow release of materials,
rotation and correct application of materials, biological
control of pests, the other issue is water runoff, compliance
includes the appropriate design and buffers, native
vegetation, turf grass selection, land absorption and
filtration, and irrigation water management. He mentioned
that there are several successful examples of golf courses
and the environment working together, Stevenson Ranch,
Stevenson, California, where there is golf, wetlands, golf as
part of the wetlands, constructed wetlands, storm water
management, Colliers Reserve in Naples, Florida, one of the
first Audubon courses that is highly successful, considerable
golf, wetlands, habitat, another is Eagles Landing in
Maryland with wetlands, golf, this course is surrounded by
the wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay, the Hyannis Port Club
with tidal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, golf as part of the
wetlands, and habitat for native species, which he compared
to the Hellman Reserve where the salt water marsh is located
close to the source of water, the fresh water march located
in the central part of the property, eighteen holes of golf,
approximately thirty-three acres of wetlands, the tidal marsh
connected to the San Gabriel River and Pacific Ocean, the
tidal marsh not part of the golf play areas, the restored
wetlands and open space become part of the Pacific Flyway
with an abundance of habitat and native vegetation. As to
the planning specifics, explained that the restored coastal
salt marsh is located in the southwest portion of the
property as that is the source of water from the San Gabriel
River, is twenty-three acres in size, equivalent to twenty-
three football fields, the restoration plan was designed by
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Moffat & Nichol, having also designed Anaheim Bay, their
hydraulic modeling results in a 1.7 day residence time which
means the water coming into the marsh will fill and then flow
out in about 1.7 days which makes the marsh work very
effectively and efficiently, there are a variety of
meaningful natural habitats planned for endangered species as
well as species such as the great blue heron and the egret,
there are appropriate buffers, there is a maintenance and
monitoring program to assure that there is a healthy and
vibrant ecosystem, the fresh water marshes are more in the
central location of the property, those too will provide high
quality habitat, added value to the salt marsh, and there
will be appropriate buffers around the edge of the marshes.
As to the Newport/lnglewood fault, identified as to its
location by field investigation and laboratory analysis,
there is no evidence of faulting on the mesa, no evidence of
any other faults on the property, a setback of sixty feet had
been recommended, the actual setbacks are over one hundred
seventy feet, the primary concern was that no structures be
located in the liquefaction area on the lower elevations of
the property. The grading concept is to have a balanced cut
and fill, the mesa and wetlands soil will be removed and
redistributed on the golf course, and the golf course will
require extensive grading for agronomic purposes, for shaping
and contouring. The residential neighborhood will be
accessed by Seal Beach Boulevard, the Boulevard also the main
entrance to the Naval Weapons Station, the lots will range
from about 5,500 to 11,000 square feet, there are significant
setbacks from surrounding properties, the homes have been
sited to have views of interior open space and the golf
course, there is a nice sense of entry into the project with
enriched paving going into the golf course and fresh water
marshes, the golf course clubhouse is accessed from Seal
Beach Boulevard, parking on both sides of the entry court, a
maintenance location, another acces~ from Lopez Drive, that a
secondary access to the golf course and primary access to the
mineral production area, the clubhouse is proposed to be
thirty-nine feet, three stories to take advantage of the
views, from Golf Course Drive off Seal Beach Boulevard he
described what the project would look like with design
elements, enriched paving, and a nice sense of entry to the
golf course. The mineral production areas have been reduced
from fifty to twenty-eight acres, primary access will be from
Lopez Drive to service and maintain the wells, that operation
will continue for another ten to twenty years, and there are
no Specific Plan entitlements being requested for those areas
other than mineral production. The State Lands property and
trails are at Pacific Coast Highway and 1st Street, there
will be approximately twenty thousand square feet of visitor
serving and commercial uses, space reserved for the
Krenwinkle House, an interpretative facility, pedestrian
trails around the perimeter of the wetlands, similar to those
at Bolsa Chica, providing an opportunity to walk and bird
watch, also a connection to the regional bike trail, a
connection across the Haynes cooling channel is being
explored and looks quite positive, that then provides bicycle
access to the project. To the Planning Commission issues,
lot coverage, maximum height limitation for residential
homes, all other changes recommended by the Planning
Commission are acceptable. As to lot coverage the Commission
approved forty-five percent plus. five percent for patios and
decks, what is being requested is fifty percent plus five
percent for the reason that it will allow for more creative
articulation of the elevation above the first level, massing
out the second level would be much more visually evident than
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the ground level, the original request was for sixty percent,
however upon further analysis it is believed that the builder
can be provided the flexibility needed with the fifty percent
plus five. with regard to the height limitation for homes,
the Commission approved twenty-five feet, consistent with
College Park East and the Hill, their logic is understood,
the original request was for thirty-six feet and three
stories for all homes, at this point the request is for
thirty to thirty-five feet for residential, three stories
will be limited to a certain number of units, two stories for
the majority of the project, representing eighty percent, the
two residences adjacent to the Gum Grove Park extension would
be limited to two stories and thirty feet, which will be
below the roofs of the adjacent homes, nine lots would be
three stories and thirty-five feet to take advantage of the
views, the remainder of the project would be thirty-five feet
and two stories, consistent with a number of other
communities. Mr. Bartlett offered that justification for the
request is forty to sixty-five feet of greenbelt, eight to
thirty feet of elevation difference between Hellman Ranch and
the Hill, the Hill homes will be significantly higher than
the Ranch homes, there will be no impacts to the Hill or
surrounding properties, no impacts to the Public Works
facility, the Police Department or the Naval Weapons Station,
the architecture of homes of today feature higher ceiling
heights, varying roof pitches, resulting in building heights.
of thirty to thirty-five feet, other custom communities with
which Hellman Ranch will compete have a thirty-five foot
maximum, and noted that the Code allows for a thirty-nine
foot height limitation therefore there would be Code
compliance. Mr. Bartlett showed examples of architectural
styles of today with varying roof pitches, elevations, etc.
With regard to the existing property conditions, the wetlands
on site are severely degraded, marginal habitat value, alkali
flats, seasonal ponds, considered technical wetlands although
they provide very minimal value, and showed visual
projections of various views as they currently exist as
compared to what is proposed. Mr. Bartlett expressed his
belief that there are many dozens of reasons for the Hellman
Ranch to improve this site, staff touched on them, the
applicant touched on them, they are in the EIR, the Specific
Plan, the documentation, numerous reasons and ample
justification for the City to approve this project. Dave's
top ten reasons in reverse order would likely be
beautification of the site, preservation of Gum Grove Park
and responsible planning for archaeological resources,
preservation of the majority of the site as open space,
seventy-seven percent, restoration of wetland and wildlife
values, public accessibility to the property increased from
six to nearly eighty percent, residential use on only fifteen
acres of a two hundred thirty-one acre project, eighty
percent reduction of density, the residential portion of the
project redesigned significantly to allow more open space and
less units and still have the economic incentive for the
landowner to do the project, the golf course a major
recreational asset for the City and the region, minimum
impact on schools, traffic, and public services, a positive
impact on the City budget, and Dave's number one reason to
support the Hellman Ranch Specific Plan project, because it
represents responsible planning, stewardship of land, and is
consistent with the City's character. Mr. Bartlett noted the
significant public involvement with this project, the Hellman
team met with neighbors of the Hill and Old Town, there were
two publicly notified information meetings at the Mary Wilson
Library Senior Center which many people attended, thirty to
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forty meetings at the Hellman Ranch field office on Saturday
mornings with residents, business people, members of the
community, and families, presentations have been made to the
Seal Beach Host Lions Club, Kiwanis Club of Leisure World,
the Business Association, the Chamber of Commerce, met from
time to time with individual members of the Council and
Planning Commission to discuss concerns of importance to the
constituents of the community, the project model has been on
display at various locations, there have been at least a
dozen meetings with the Archaeological Advisory Committee,
half dozen meetings with the Environmental Quality Control
Board, and two Planning Commission meetings, all of which
have recommended approval of the project. He said because of
the efforts of the applicant, the Council, and the public
process there has been a meaningful amount of public
involvement with this project, which gives adequate
justification for the Council to approve the project this
evening, citing the integrity of the public process as alive
and well in our City. This project is good for the City,
preservation, conservation, open space, reduction of density,
wetland restoration, public accessibility, those the words
that embody the essence of this project, and it is felt the
project deserves Council support and approval.
Mayor Hastings invited members of the audience wishing to
speak to this item to come to the microphone and state their
name and address for the record.
*
Dr. David Rosenman, 8th Street, stated his views were
both pro or con, said he had forwarded a letter to the
Council merely reiterating some of the concerns of the
EQCB since he was not present at that meeting. One
issue of concern was if it is necessary to rotoroot the
single culvert from the San Gabriel River two to three
times a year, how is it known that the channel will stay
open, who will inspect it, who pays for that
maintenance, there was a concern as well with the
viability of water flows, exploring the Haynes cooling
channel was an option. He stated his belief that the
EQCB does in fact support the project yet the Board does
not want the City to be responsible for non-working
wetlands in the end. Dr. Rosenman noted review of this
project by the Coastal Commission, Corps of Engineers,
Fish and Wildlife, etc., however at the time of EQCB
consideration comments from them were not available,
those important to assure a viable outcome. He noted
questions as to whether this is proposed to be a guard
gate/gatehouse community, when that question was asked
at the EQCB meeting, Dr. Rosenman claimed the response
was that it was not an environmental issue, to which Dr.
Rosenman said he disagreed. He questioned the
indication of staff that the applicant had agreed to the
recommended height limit of the Planning Commission, and
then Mr. Bartlett seemed to retract that. The issues
were guard gate or no guard gate, that in terms of the
atmosphere it projects to the rest of the City and
access to the area during election times, as well as the
on-going viability of the wetlands.
Mayor Hastings requested that questions and responses be held
until the conclusion of the comments of the speakers.
*
Mr. Dave Hall, Huntington Beach, said his main objection
to the project as proposed is the biological resources
that he feels will be impacted, the Hellman area a
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virtual treasure house for biological resources with
many endangered and threatened species, at this point he
did not feel the mitigation measures are strong enough,
however the Council has the power to revise them which
would help to save species such as the Belding Savannah
Sparrow and the Western Burrowing OWl. He said he
initially became interested in this project because of
an endangered plant, the cultured goldfield, that was
thought to be extinct a hundred years ago but was found
on this site, the mitigation measures to relocate this
plant on site are very extensive, his feeling is that
the same kind of attention needs to be given to the
Western Burrowing OWl and Belding Savannah Sparrow. He
called attention to attachment sixteen of the staff
report, a letter directed to the Planning Commission at
their last hearing as well as the response of the
biologist of the developer, they have introduced a new
mitigation measure that covers some of his concerns with
regard to the Western Burrowing OWl, of concern was that
it was not stated how many artificial burrows would be
constructed, his suggestion had been fifteen as that is
the number that were found on the site, to that the
developer agreed to five, their feeling also is that the
artificial burrows should be placed in the oil
production area, the reasoning for that area is unknown,
it is also felt that the artificial burrows should not
be built after destruction of present habitat, should be
done pre-construction, otherwise the OWl will be
adversely impacted. He mentioned as well that new
habitat for the Belding Savannah Sparrow should also be
done pre-construction, however the biologists said the
new habitat will be in the same area as they are now,
therefore his suggestion is likely not fully practical.
Mr. Hall mentioned reading that two members of the
Council had been commended for their efforts towards the
Bolsa Chica, said people in Huntington Beach appreciate
that, and expressed his hope that the same thing can be
done for this area.
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*
Mr. Sam Bain, school teacher for the City of Fontana,
said he was present principally as a friend of the
Gabrieleno/Tongva people. Said he would first like to
take issue with Mr. Bartlett regarding the history of
the Hellman Ranch, Hellman Ranch is part of Los Alamitos
and Los Alamitos is identifiable with puvungna, a
Gabrieleno village, that information recorded by John
Peabody Harrington, presently stored in the Smithsonian
Institute and available on microfilm. Mr. Bain said he
is not a person that is totally against all development,
yet when he listens to the concerns of his friends, the
Gabrielenos, he hears concern as to how much of the
development is consistent with the Gabrieleno, the
indigenous people, of this area, and how much of their
concerns are taken into account. He said he spoke to
Mr. Bartlett of an archaeologist, Gary Stickle,
apparently dismissed by Seal Beach, mentioned that he
had talked about finding elliptical areas within the
Hellman Ranch property that he speculated were part of a
temple complex belonging to worshipers of the indigenous
Chinigchinich, to that he said that was not the reason
he was dismissed. Mr. Bain said he had many concerns,
as a teacher he teaches social studies to his students,
if this is indeed part of the birthplace of the
Chinigchinich and part of the temple, his concern is
with how this will be managed. In addition, he said as
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a Jewish person he has a concern because he understands
the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people, and
he could imagine how the Jewish people would react to
destruction of their temple and the Wailing Wall, and if
this is the birthplace of Chinigchinich, the religion of
the Gabrieleno people, and if this is their most holy
site, he would request that this be looked at carefully
as to its significance, affecting the religion of a
minority.
*
Mr. Mark Hotchkiss, Seal Beach, acknowledged that the
Hellmans made a good presentation but as far as
archaeology is concerned it is purely lip service, his
belief is that early on the developer and the City had
come to the conclusion that they don't have the money to
adequately address the archaeological issue so the
result has been to attempt to sweep it under the rug, he
is certain the City would deny this, but he can not help
thinking that if this were not the case why would the
City hire archaeologist Nancy Desautels and the
developer hired attorney Susan Hori who have built their
career around destroying Native American burial grounds.
Mr. Hotchkiss expressed his opinion that the
archaeological portions of the EIR are grossly
inadequate, which he said he would address in his
prepared statement. He read the statement of Mark
Hotchkiss and Moira Hahn as follows: "The EIR is not
valid under the California Environmental Quality Act.
The archaeological portion of this EIR does not meet
some of the more basic requirements imposed by CEQA.
The EIR states that all archaeological resources on the
project site will be destroyed. The only proposed
mitigation measure is a document, referred to as a
Research Design, to determine what it is that is being
destroyed. No attempt is being made to determine the
importance of these archaeological sites. Also, the EIR
fails to address the possibility that the property may
be the burial ground for the ancient village of
puvungna, the birthplace of the Chinigchinich spiritual
practice. The EIR ignores or misrepresents past records
of burials found on the property. It also refuses to
consider the evidence of ancient structures on the
property. In it's inventory of artifacts found on the
property, it leaves out all artifacts that have
religious significance, are unique or have scientific
value. CEQA requires that conclusions be supported by
factual data. Instead, the EIR draws conclusions based
on data the EIR itself admits is purposely edited and
incomplete. It also make dozens of statements and
conclusions that are false. It also ignores
archaeological data from the project site, including the
most recent data, without justification. The
justification for ignoring LSA's study for MOla, which
is that the data was not available, is false. The EIR
fails to answer concerns raised by the scientific and
Native American community in written comments to the
Draft EIR. A common response to many of the comments is
that the issue will be addressed in the Research Design.
However, deferred studies are illegal under CEQA.
Another common response is that the EIR authors
disagree. Although disagreement among professions is
allowed, CEQA states that the comments must be addressed
in detail. Conclusory statements unsupported by factual
information will not suffice. CEQA states that
information in an EIR need not be exhaustive, but that
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the EIR must demonstrate a good faith effort at full
disclosure. The City and the developer has not made a
good faith effort to reveal all of the information it
holds regarding archaeological resources on the Hellman
property. It is not adequate to simply admit that the
sites are important; the EIR must determine how
important before a decision to destroy them can be
rendered by this council. If the city certifies this
EIR, and then issues a statement of overriding
consideration stating that the benefits of the project
outweigh the loss of these sites, you are in effect
saying that there are no archaeological sites more
important than the 70 homes they will be destroyed for.
Considering that puvungna is the Jerusalem of the
Chinigchinich spiritual practice, and that the Hellman
property may be the Temple Mound of puvungna, you may
well be destroying the most important archaeological
site in Southern California. Native Americans have been
shut out of the process. Despite the previous mayor's
plea to 'work with us', no Native American input has
been solicited. The Native Americans who have stepped
forward to offer their services have been rebuffed by
the city, and one of the two Native Americans on the
archaeological advisory committee has been dropped. The
City would not allow Native American input on the
Research Design, even though many Native Americans asked
to be involved. CEQA works by insuring that elected
officials are held accountable for their actions. It
does this by requiring all potential environmental
impacts to be investigated, understood and sufficiently
mitigated prior to certifying the EIR. The
archaeological portion of this EIR fails to disclose all
of the information available, draws false conclusions
based on the skewed information that is included, and
defers final resolution to a future study that may never
occur. For these reasons, you cannot certify this EIR.
Thank you for your consideration." Mr. Hotchkiss added
that in the EIR process as far as archaeology goes, that
is where public input stops, once the final EIR is
adopted the developer and the City does not have to
answer to anyone except the most likely descendant as to
what is found on the property, like ORA64 in Newport
Back Bay, it is carte blanche to dig up remains,
transport them elsewhere for reburial, and build the
project, in this situation, considering the importance
of this that would be a mistake.
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*
Dr. Chester King, Topanga, stated he is an
archaeologist, present due to concern with the
archaeological sites on the Hellman Ranch. As to the
presentation he noted that they began the history with a
white man, Mr. Hellman, a land owner, and seemed to say
that that is where the history began, as if not wanting
to think about the fact that white people did not used
to be here, also that they got this land by stealing it,
however in reality there were people on that land and
the archaeological sites are good evidence of that, and
for a long time before Mr. Hellman obtained it. It
appears that the houses have been limited to the area
where the archaeological site is, and seems to not leave
any of the archaeological site untouched, it is somewhat
unclear in the EIR because there are places that says
they might do avoidance, but it appears all of the sites
will be dozed and not leave anything. Of concern is
that there appears to be no elected people that have any
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information concerning the sites other than preliminary
information, and that the significance of the sites will
be determined after the EIR is approved, CEQA says that
the significance of the sites must be known before
approval of a project, he has no knowledge as to if
there is a temple there, village sites, or whatever, yet
he knows that there are village sites and there are
areas within those village sites where religious
activities would be conducted, where burials would be
made, and where people ate and slept. He said the
archaeological research design that has been presented
does not really deal with those issues, it deals with
optimal foraging activity, the absurdity of all of this
is beyond him in that it makes him feel ashamed to be
white. He asked if one can't realize that others are
people too, that they have histories, are equally valid
to our histories, and should not be destroyed because
they lost power when the white people took over, racism
must be fought, it must be realized that history did not
begin when Mr. Hellman bought the land or took the land,
he would assume he bought it from some Mexican people
who had bad times or whatever. Dr. King said if the
project is approved the Council does not know what it is
doing, that is not good, the logic is that the
significance is not known, it is not known if it can be
mitigated, therefore it must be assumed that it will be
a significant loss of resources to which the Council may
be asked to adopt a statement of overriding
considerations so that the sites can be destroyed
because they are doing something good like providing the
ability for people to play golf, and if the land is a
mess the Hellmans should clean it anyway, they should be
responsible landowners. He said they should not pay an
archaeologist to dig up sites and then throw the
artifacts away, they should hire a real archaeologist
that saves the artifacts and provides information for
situations like this, it would be nice to know what the
Mola project discovered concerning those sites, there
must be field notes or memories of an archaeologist that
could at least be tapped, but things are just going away
because they are not considered important to white
people. Dr. King again expressed concern that a project
should not be approved when one ,does not know what they
are doing.
*
Mr. Craig Torres, Santa Ana, said he wished to clarify
their communities, there is not one Tongva tribe but
several communities that make up their nation, he
represents one that is the traditional Council of Pimu,
which is based on and known as Santa Catalina Island.
Mr. Torres read a letter authored by Anthony Morales,
the chairperson of a sister community based in San
Gabriel, from the Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council
entitled and reading as follows: "Statement to the Seal
Beach City Council: The Current Environmental Impact
Report on Hellman Ranch Area is Inadequate and
Unacceptable to Our Tribe - Dear Honorable Seal Beach
City Council Members: At its regularly scheduled
monthly membership gathering on September 14, 1997, the
Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribe ("Tribe") voted approval of this
statement to you tonight. Our intent is to document,
again, before your final vote on the matter, our
opposition to the final Environmental Impact Report
(EIR) on the Hellman Ranch area and the proposed
development for the site. The Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal
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Council is the governing body for the indigenous peoples
of the area centered around San Gabriel, California. In
1994, the State of California in a Legislative
Resolution designated us a "State Recognized" California
Indian Tribe. The resolution read, in part: the
Gabrieleno/Tongva is an "Indian community (which)
existed and has continued to exist without interruption
to the present day...." Today thousands of our kin live
in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura, as
well as other locations in California and the United
States. We are the first people of the Los Angeles
area. The massive urban complex of this entire area is
built on our homelands. When the Spanish arrived, our
ancestors occupied the entire Los Angeles basin and the
offshore islands of Santa Catalina, San Nicholas, San
Clemente and Santa Barbara--4000 square miles. We lived
in more than one hundred villages, called "rancherias"
by Spanish explorers and colonists. Puvungna, the
largest of our ancestral villages and the spiritual,
political and economic center of a powerful maritime
center on the mainland, which we know was located on the
lands which encompassed what is now called the Hellman
Ranch--precisely where the City of Seal Beach seems
determined to tonight to approve bulldozing, excavation
and construction. Perhaps you are not aware that almost
all of our ancestral villages sites have been eradicated
by development on our homelands with little
documentation or preservation. Silently they have
disappeared. These last few undeveloped lands of
puvungna offered to us, to the many American Indian
residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties--and to
Seal Beach and to all of Orange County, a rare
opportunity for preservation and commemoration of our
Indian ancestors and their ways. Such action would
honor all American Indians and acknowledge our role in
the contemporary society. Members of the
Gabrieleno/Tongva nation, which is comprised of several
distinct communities, our various technical advisors and
allies, including members of the Juaneno/Ajachamen
Nation have again and again appeared at your many public
hearings and committee meetings concerned with this
matter. Our Tribal Council, has even tried,
unsuccessfully, to be given representation on your
City's Archaeological Committee. Our Tribe is working
in cooperation with the puvungna Coalition and American
Indian plaintiffs in the puvungna court case to see that
the California laws of CEQA are complied with by the
City of Seal Beach. We all have repeatedly urged that
the EIR acknowledge the cultural significance of this
site. We have repeatedly urged that you consider
preserving part of the sacred sites. We have repeatedly
urged that the archaeology and ethnography of the EIR
and of the Research Design be done by responsible
scholars working in partnership with us, the Indian
peoples who are the longtime caretaker of these lands,
to ensure that the Final EIR would document the
religious and cultural importance of the site to our
people. These requests of ours have not been honored.
We will not detail here the many inadequacies of the
EIR. These have been given in testimony many other
times. We will repeat here that our Tribe finds the EIR
has completely disregarded the cultural significance of
this site. The EIR also states that there are no known
religious uses of the property; we dispute this as a
matter of fact. We believe that the final EIR does not
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comply with CEQA requirements, especially in view of its
disregard of our concerns about the cultural
significance of the property. The cultural and ethnic
significance of the Hellman Ranch land has not been
described in the EIR, but will supposedly be
investigated as part of the Research Design. That the
City Council intends to vote on the Final EIR before
completion of the Research Design is another violation
of CEQA. Final mitigation measures cannot logically be
proposed until the City, developer, and the public are
aware of the full extent of the cultural, ethnic, and
archaeological significance of the site. Once again we
implore you: please do not desecrate this sacred site of
ours; please help us document its history and preserve
our heritage. At is regularly scheduled monthly
membership gathering on September 14, 1997, the
Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribe voted to seek legal action to
force the City of Seal Beach to properly assess the
significance of this site. We want you to take into
consideration its relationship to the sacred site of
puvungna and acknowledge the known burial grounds there.
We want you to follow up the evidence of the infra-red
photographs. We claim on behalf of the
Gabrieleno/Tongva nation ownership of any American
Indian remains and/or cultural artifacts found at this
site. We would want to determine any disposition of
such items. We are willing to talk with the City and
with the developers about alternative mitigation
measures. Finally, as the largest, organized community
of Gabrieleno/Tongva descendants, the Tribal Council
demands that you include us in all further negotiations
and plans for this site. We will designate our Tribal
representatives to work with all of you. Thank you for
your attention. We hope to be able to work
cooperatively with you."
*
Mr. Tom Dutton, Surf Place, said he was not present to
speak negatively of the project, however had a request
in that a number of his neighbors that were present had
to leave because of family matters, to which he inquired
if there is any indication as to how long the negative
testimony would go on, so that the residents would know
if they should come back at a later time or can have
their moment to speak.
*
Mayor Hastings offered to seek audience indication as to
how many more persons wished to speak in objection to
this project.
*
A lady in the audience shouted that they would never
stop speaking, that they are not negative, and are
speaking for their rights.
*
Mayor Hastings suggested that the comments be
alternated, hoped that would be considered a fair
compromise, and explained to an individual in the
audience that it was not that the comments were
negative, rather a negative expression to the Hellman
project.
*
Mr. Thomas Dutton, Surf Place, thanked the Council, City
staff, members of the Hellman family, and community
members. From the visual aids provided, Mr. Dutton
identified his house, the current and potential views,
and expressed his opinion that the wetlands restoration
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is a positive thing for the area. with due respect for
the Native American influences and their concerns, noted
he has sat in Gum Grove Park himself many times and
gotten spiritual, has wondered where the sites were, in
his opinion preservation of the artifacts has been
addressed by the Hellman family, and an interpretative
center where all could enjoy would be important, again,
felt the Hellman family has addressed those issues.
With regard to Mola and the Hellman property, that was
an outside person who came in to tell the citizens what
kind of project was going to be in their backyards, in
this case the Hellman family is not leaving, they have
decided to stay and remain our neighbor, they have been
good neighbors and will continue to be. He spoke
positively of the plan and urged that a conclusion be
reached at this meeting. Mr. Dutton noted that his
neighbor, Ms. Karen MiChelson, Surf Place, needed to
leave the meeting, however would be sending a letter
reflecting her positive viewpoints with regard to this
plan.
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*
Mr. Dave Bates, Secretary, Island Village Homeowners
Association, noted that the City is in receipt of a
letter citing their environmental concerns, their
concerns somewhat in between in that they generally
support the project yet they have two environmental
concerns. He said first of all, as can be seen on the
map, the project totally closes Island Village off,
historically there has been access down 1st Street, that
for twenty-five years, it is not only a pleasure to come
to Seal Beach, sometimes it has been a necessity when
there has been flooding, when the bridges close, a
problem with Haynes Generating Plant, etc. and it was
necessary for some to access their property by that
route, that could not be done with this project, nor
will Flood Control be able to access with its heavy
equipment, it can not be taken down Westminster and
through Island Village property, it needs to come from
the south, fire and police are blocked off by the
project, they can not get to the Village nor can the
Village get out of the area. Mr. Bates said it was
hoped there would be some way to hook the Village up to
the 1st Street Road to get through the area, through the
project, apparently it does not appear to be within the
parameters of the developer to do that, hole twelve is
where a vehicle would come through, emergency access is
a real concern, a bridge is presently being retrofitted
along Westminster for earthquakes, the other bridge is
considerably down line for retrofitting, the Village
would in fact be cut off, an actual island if those
bridges were to go down. Mr. Bates said a second
concern set forth in the letter was that the homeowners
have historically, through a Southern California
easement, gone up and down that road, have maintained an
open bike path which was only closed off by the Hellman
family a couple of years ago, apparently at present the
Island Village end is still open to enjoy the property
and access the beach, there used to be many joggers on
the path, however Island Village residents have
maintained, through the courtesy of the Edison easement,
the right to go through that area, still do to this day
by the use of keys, to access the beach, the City,
appropriate services, parks, shopping areas, etc. Mr.
Bates requested that the Island Village concerns be
looked at to determine if the access roadway could be
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maintained, both for bike path access and emergency
access southward.
*
Ms. Carla Watson, Catalina Avenue, said it is time, the
bell has tolled, it is time for the City of Seal Beach
to move with a quality project into the twentieth
century. Having walked door to door in every
neighborhood during three different election campaigns,
having talked to thousands of people, eye to eye at
their houses, said she feels she speaks from a source of
knowledge, as a co-chairperson of the anti-Mola campaign
she has spoken to over three thousand people in shopping
centers, not just in her own district, grocery stores,
people on the corner. The people knew there could be
another plan and here it is. The consensus of the many
people talked to, in that this is a democracy, a
townhall democracy, people who are elected by citizens
of Seal Beach, the residents of Seal Beach wanted lower
density housing, the preservation of Gum Grove Park,
which unfortunately, one member of the Gabrielenos
called a dog place, rather than what many of the
citizens see as a place of spirit and salvation, the
recultivation of the wetlands and a golf course that is
environmentally compatible with the wetlands, and no
homes in the wetlands. Let no one say that people have
not been listening and voices of objection have not been
heard. Having defeated a development where the
developer chose not to understand our needs and walk in
our shoes, she said the people are pleased that this
group has really listened to the messages of the many,
it is no one's wish in this small town, where the
residents have fought so hard for open space and a low
skyline, to trod on anyone's rights, we are in a sense a
village of villages, and it is reassuring at last to
know that the Hellman family has reacted sensitively to
the people in this town and will respect the spirit of
the gentle people who inhabited this region. For you
visitors to Seal Beach it is important that you
understand the this City does not take development
lightly, the people too have a spiritual place which
includes the pier, a small sized downtown, our
greenbelt, a future DWP park, the Gum Grove, and all
neighborhood parks, for the children and old people to
enjoy. The citizens desperately want this plan to work,
not for just ourselves, but so we can model for other
cities how caring, concerned people can wait patiently
for the right plan. With this potential treasure place
awaiting us, the people want everything to work right,
therefore she has some concerns that have been
previously mentioned, that the wetlands be restored and
maintained, they concern the time line and the source of
water, that the remainder parcels possibly be monitored
by the City, that foot access to homes be provided so
people have access to the new community. Ms. Watson
said it is time folks, it is time to bring the Hellman
Ranch back into the fold, the people have missed it
since the gates were closed, it is time for the Hellmans
to touch Gum Grove, for the birds to find homes in the
marshes, for environmentally concerned old and young
golfers, a four hundred year old game, to enjoy the
greens, it is time for quality, nice people to move into
lovely homes, and enjoy our special city. It is time.
*
Mr. Bill Hurley, Seal Beach Leisure World, read his
written comments as follows: "If I had let my
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brain and reasoning faculties control my actions, I
would not be here now. After all, what I have to
say required considerable time and effort to
compose and then bring to you tonight. And it
probably will displease some of you and probably
won't change anyone's mind. But my heart refused
to let me remain silent and my conscience said I
have to speak up. So, here goes. The project is
such a vast improvement over the previous proposals
that it appears to have dazzled a number of people
in Seal Beach, who consequently may have failed to
realize that the project, as planned, violates two
basic principles. This project should not be
approved without the following changes: First:
It's wrong to put housing right next to a known
earthquake fault. I know it's legal, but that
doesn't make it right. I would remind you that
seismology is, even today, a most inexact science.
Mostly, it's educated guesses. If the experts have
guessed wrong, and this fault becomes violent after
the houses are occupied, it will be a tragedy that
could have been avoided. And that is inexcusable.
Second: It appears that up to 10 important
archaeological sites related to local Native
American cultural traditions are located where the
houses would be. Under State law, these sites
don't have to be preserved if it's not, quote,
"Feasible", meaning (I'm sure) if preserving the
sites would eliminate any of the planned houses. I
believe that it is wrong to destroy these sites,
except for overriding public safety reasons or at
the Request of the Native Americans. That is
because I think that under a hiqher law, these
sites are still the property of the Native
Americans, whose ancestry, as far as I know, never
willingly and freely relinquished them to the
Spaniards, nor to the Mexicans, nor to the
Californians, nor to the Hellmans. I wish I had
some suggestions as to how, legally and
politically, you can do what I feel is right, but I
don't. That is not the purpose of my statement
tonight. I simply wanted to be sure you had a
chance to hear these words. I do believe that you
can find a way or ways to do the right thing if you
want to, badly enough."
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Mr. John Wayne, Carmel Avenue, ten year resident, said
he is one hundred percent behind the Hellman project, he
has written letters to the Council, he remembers Mola,
that was not a good plan, his feeling is that Dave and
the Hellman family has presented the best plan that is
ever going to be seen in Seal Beach. Mr. Wayne said he,
his family, and mother who resides in Leisure World, ask
for one hundred percent unanimous support, and ask for
it tonight.
I
.. Ms. Sharon Cotrell, Tribal Researcher for the
Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council, Long Beach, noted that
Mr. Torres had previously read the official statement of
the Tribal Council, however stated she wished to amplify
a few points. The EIR does not include a word about the
cultural and ethnic significance of the Hellman Ranch
property to the Tongva descendants, who are alive, who
live today, still, watching, as Mr. Torres said, the
last and very few remains of their people being
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destroyed, the EIR does say that there were no religious
uses of the Hellman Ranch, but this statement shows that
Tongva words have fallen on deaf ears and that authors
of this document are completely ignorant of Indian
peoples and their cultural traditions. If one
understood anything about American Indian spirituality
it would be understood that a burial area to us is a
religious use, and I do not think we are totally unique
in that. You have showed us your plans for development
and how much thought has been put into taking care of
the indigenous plants and indigenous animals, about
which we care also, but you seem to not have time to
think of taking care of the remains of our ancestors, or
observing important parts of our cultural history, not
just for us, this is part of the history of this whole
area, when people talk about being grounded in the
history of the human occupants, our people are the
foundation on which you build, people know that the
first settlers who came, although they were not welcome,
survived because of the help of the Indians, most of the
work was done by the Indians, very, very little, almost
nothing in this area commemorates Native Americans, this
is something in which Seal Beach could be a model city,
as somebody so eloquently put it, you could be a model
city, you have this particularly important decision
before you because of significance of Puvungna, as
people have said this is the birthplace of the prophet,
of the religion of the Gabrieleno/Tongva, but it had
influenced way beyond the Gabrieleno/Tongva, all of the
peoples of the area, into the inland, came to this town
and worshiped, the Lucieno, all the Takic speaking
people. As someone said previously, you really do hold
a mammoth decision in your hands, and for people to
stand here and say they are unequivocally in favor of
this project because it is a better plan disappoints me,
hurts us, better, best isn't good enough, and if those
people are just willing to ignore the concerns of the
indigenous people of this land I think that it is a
shame. No one reading the EIR would even have an
inkling that we are here as a people today, or that we
and other Southern California tribes hold this area to
be a very important spiritual center for traditions that
are still practiced, neither would anyone have the idea
about the uniqueness of our history over the past ten
thousand years on this land and the sophisticated
maritime lifeway that was developed, we have our history
even if it isn't a history written in books, it is a
history written in the ground and it means as much to us
as your history means to you. To emphasize a point of
Mr. Torres, she stated that the Gabrieleno Tribal
Council is the largest organized body of Gabrieleno
people in this area, three to five hundred members, it
has repeatedly tried for over a year to be part of this
process, first they had MaryAnn Moore, a member of the
Tribal Council, write and ask to be on the
Archaeological Committee, Sonja Johnson, a Juaneno
tribal chair had contacted us, said there was going to
be a vacancy and surely we should have representation,
we followed that up, we heard nothing, MaryAnn then
called, was told her application was not to be found, if
she had in deed submitted it, which she did, it had been
lost, but then no more action was taken by you, the
Tribal Council discussed this, not quite sure of the
sequence of the next two events, but they happened,
Anthony Morales, the tribal chair of the Tribal Council,
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had an extensive, long, and he thought a very friendly
and productive discussion with Mr. Whittenberg, and it
seemed that Mr. Whittenberg understood who the Tribal
Council was, had its address, understood the Tribal
Council's desire to be included in this process, and he
told Mr. Morales that in fact in the selection of the
archaeologists, which we had asked to be a part of,
there would be a panel of Garbrieleno/Tongva
constructed, possibly six or eight members, and he took
from Mr. Morales the names, the addresses, the phone
numbers, of four to six people, none of whom had ever
been contacted by this City. Then, Mr. Torres, who read
this statement, lives closer to here, works for the
Bauers Museum, has done a lot of research on
Gabrieleno/Tongva, so we thought it might be better to
have him represent the Tribal Council, we asked if he
would, he said he would, it is believed that Lillian
Robles mentioned it once or twice at a hearing she had
gone to, she is a Juaneno elder and would probably know,
and Mr. Torres himself called City Hall and put his name
and address in to be included, but he never heard again.
That shows that we are not really johnny-come-latelys,
and through the years as we have explained, the Nation
has many communities, Vera Rocha is part of the
Gabrieleno/Tongva Nation, Cindy Alvitre, and castillo
families, there have many people before you, however the
Tribal Council has never been recognized as a body, we
are not going to stand for that, it makes no sense, in
this light the Tribal Council is very serious, in many
ways the Tribal Council felt it has been kind of poor
caretakers of the land, been very ineffective in trying
to preserve sacred sites, within the last two or three
years it is trying to learn more determined, more
sophisticated ways of intervening, because they are sick
of losing and there is not much more left to lose,
certainly they do not want to lose this most important
village and religious site. So, we want to work with
you, we have wanted to work with you, if we have to go
to court to convince you of that, we will.
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Ms. Reva Olsen, Seal Beach, said she was present to
stand in solidarity with the American Indians, five
hundred and five years of cultural genocide is too much,
it is time to start respecting people, the land, and to
save ourselves. The Indian people are coming forward
now allover the hemisphere to try to tell us that we
are polluting our water, our air, we are killing
ourselves, but we still think we have this divine right
to destroy everything, all the resources, for money, we
are not even aware of some of the things that are
happening environmentally because there is so much
environmental racism, the dumps are on the reservations,
the nuclear rods are going by trains through
reservations, we don't hear about them going by our
schools in trucks because the mainstream press and the
government will not tell us. These people are trying to
tell us that if we don't clean up our act and change the
way we are doing business, we too will be walking in
their moccasins.
I
* Mr. J. Van De Velde, Crestview, said as a new resident
he is in support of this project, however had a couple
of mundane issues he wished to bring up. First, the
height of the proposed housing, he felt what is
appropriate for Hill houses is appropriate for Hellman
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houses; second, the access road along Gum Grove Park
that would access the new development, he has not seen
it represented on any of the plans, felt it should be
displayed as such, and that it should remain as an
emergency road and not just used as a general
thoroughfare by the new development into Gum Grove,
last, and with regard to those homes that are
immediately adjacent to the property, he has had a
difficult time trying to determine the grading slope
from the grading plans, it appears that the grading will
go from about thirty-three current to about twenty-five
feet specifically on his property, he would like to see
a more specific grading plan for the homes from the
eastern border of Gum Grove Park out to Seal Beach
Boulevard so that those homeowners can have a specific
idea of the slope, as he believes there is concern about
erosion both short term and long term on those sites,
the desire is to not see any damage to the block walls
or trees that exist; and lastly, there is a storm drain
directly behind what is believed to be 1717 Crestview,
it currently has deep, standing stagnant water, a drain
that is felt is supposed to be serviced by the City, at
present it is unsafe and a hazard, that should be
addressed soon, also who will do the long term
maintenance on that storm drain. He said he would hate
to see that storm drain reclassified as freshwater
wetlands.
*
Mr. Eon Skreen, Surf Place, Seal Beach resident for a
little over five years, said he has always supported the
preservation of the Gum Grove Park, he was involved in
that committee, and stated that he and his family are
fully in support of this Hellman plan, would like to
urge the Council to vote tonight and to vote in favor of
a plan that they think will be very positive for Seal
Beach.
* Skotsie said he lives in Yorba Linda and that it is a
sad day when the corporations and the government blunder
and desecrate a peoples burial ground and their sacred
sites for a golf course and housing project. He urged
that the Council reject the EIR because it would include
the desecration of these sites, his thought is that it
would be a basic expectation out of respect for the
traditional people of the land whose ways predate the
concept of this city hall, the city, or government, just
leave those sites as they are and allow the people to
have access to them.
*
Ms. Jane McCloud, Balboa Drive, co-chair of the Gum
Grove Nature Park Group and co-chair for the campaign
that defeated the Mola project. She stated she is in
favor of this development. She extended thanks to
everyone who was involved in its planning, for their
sensitivity and consideration of the many diverse
citizen views and opinions about the Hellman Ranch
property and its development. She said she feels that
the plan reflects the considerable effort that has gone
into accommodating that diversity when you talk about
the open space, the wetlands restoration, the passive
and active recreational usage, the commercial and
residential development and the preservation of the Gum
Grove Park. Ms. McCloud offered certain issues for
consideration, the Gum Grove Park emergency access road,
currently there is a road through the low meadow portion
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of the Park that is now fenced, and it is her
understanding that some land will be obtained as a
tradeoff east of the fenceline for the area that is
going to become golf course, plus the buffer zone all
the way to Seal Beach Boulevard, question is, what will
be the emergency access road in that area since the
Boulevard end is to be closed, which she hopes is true,
it is then assumed that the emergency road access to the
newer area is going to be from one or more of the cul-
de-sacs, will that access be adequate for fire
apparatus, City maintenance equipment, and will it be
adequate in the sloped areas that are going to be
designed behind some of the Crestview homes. She asked
also how will the plantings be done in the newer area of
the Gum Grove, will it be eucalyptus trees, the group
has walked the area with some of the Crestview residents
and for those that are close to the end of the buffer by
the Boulevard it is hoped that their views and needs are
taken into consideration. Ms. McCloud noted that there
are two catch basins that drain Crestview water into the
Hellman property, from Avalon down the access road the
first is at the first area of the Park that is open, the
drainage is adequate and not a problem, the next drain
at the far end just past the east end of the fence,
drains into a some three foot diameter hole, when filled
it can be a danger to children, also a mosquito
attraction, the City periodically drains the area, the
plans for that specific area may reduce the land to
where it will not be a problem but it needs to be
resolved and not become a problem once the development
is finished. She said she hoped that the wetlands
restoration plan is not only one that is viable for
restoration but maintenance to the greatest extent
possible. Ms. McCloud noted previous adamant opposition
to all other development plans, however as a twenty-six
year resident of Seal Beach she expressed her
appreciation for the exemplary efforts that have been
made by the planners for the Hellman Ranch project in
providing development that is respective of the diverse
members of the community, and a plan that will help
maintain the village atmosphere.
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Mr. Jim LaPoin, Fullerton, made specific note of the
signs being carried, all say the same thing, there is a
lack of punctuation, that because they are not a
question, not a request, or a statement, they are not
trying to tell the City what to do, just a reminder of
its duties, the Council holds important offices, its
voices are heard in decisions, they have lasting
effects, yet said he knows in his heart and mind that
his descendants will be there to defend his resting
place, asked if the descendants of others would do the
same thing, said you must lead by example, that is how
we lead appropriately, and as a simple reminder I leave
this before you (the sign).
I
* Mr. Ron Bennett, Seal Beach, said he was unequivocally
for the plan, he is a life member of the Sierra Club,
thirty year member of the Audubon Society, contributor
to a number of other conservation organizations, stated
he is particularly enthused about the conservation of
open space, restoration of the salt water marsh, and the
addition of some fresh water marsh. Mr. Bennett said in
the thirty years he has lived here this is the only plan
he has seen that he could be enthused about, and thanked
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the Hellman family and planners for their efforts.
*
Ms. Connie Lister, LaHabra, said she is a Native
American and is proud of her heritage, it is sickening
that people, in the name of progress or whatever they
want to call it, want to dig up ancestors of the Native
American people so that they can build golf courses, we
have heard people say that you do not know what the
significance of this land is to the Native American
people, you have Native American people here and we are
telling you that this land is important to us, that it
has religious value, but it doesn't appear that anyone
wants to listen, they let us talk but they do not want
to hear what we have to say. She urged that the Council
open their hearts, open their minds, and preserve their
heritage.
Mr. Jeff Edson, Seal Beach, said he is pretty much for
the plan, he likes it a lot, a couple of things he
wanted to mention and hoped there is still opportunity
to offer other thoughts about the plan. He is not
enthusiastic about having a separate gated community, to
him that does not build community rather separates it,
as a resident it would be nice to see some of the fruits
of the game because even if it is called a 'public' golf
course he believes it will be a membership golf course,
which means he will likely not bring his family to the
golf course for a picnic or something, it would also be
nice if the Gum Grove Park will continue to have a view
of the restoration that is done, that the hedges, bushes
or trees or whatever will continue to be trimmed and can
be seen, and then do something about being able to have
access over to the bike lane. He said he is
enthusiastic about the larger, lower density and far
fewer homes, the last proposal of three hundred homes
was a concern to him. He merely asked if the plan could
be tweaked in certain places to make it more available
to the people who live here, noted that it would be nice
to have an area where you could bring the family and
have picnics or something along those lines without
having to pay the dues of the golf course, etc.
*
* Mr. Jerry Bolicero, Santa Clarita, said he found it
interesting that people would put the sport of four
hundred years above the traditions and respect of people
that have been here thousand and millions of years. He
said he was certain that none of the speakers or the
City Council would appreciate any of their graves being
desecrated and have a golf course built on top of their
grandparents or great grandparents, said he would expect
respect for their ancestors the same as we would respect
yours.
*
Ms. Audrey Kime, College Park East, said she too is a
long time veteran of the Seal Beach development wars, a
participant along with others all night to defeat Mola,
and stated that she too is dazzled by this plan, a huge
improvement over anything that has been seen, and what
it proves is that a developer can actually listen to
everybody's concerns and try to come up with something
better, it is only wished that there were other
developers in this City that were like-minded. Ms. Kime
said however that there are some details that attention
needs to be paid for the tomorrows and into the next
century, it must be certain that whatever ends up as the
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development in this case is going to be able to be
supported, that Gum Grove is going to be supported and
properly maintained over time, also that the wetlands as
they are created and restored in this area are going to
be properly taken care of and tended and that they are
going to be able to be supported, not only in spirit but
also financially, and asked who is actually going to
support the maintenance of all of these things. She
said she has a concern when it comes to the
environmental issues, the water that is going to be
coming in off the San Gabriel River, it is known that
the River water is often polluted, therefore it is not
understood how that water can drain into the plantlands
and not impact them, and it is hoped that people who are
more cognizant of how this works are going to be dealing
with that, and all the right questions will be asked, as
it does not appear that they have been answered in the
EIR. Ms. Kime said she has listened very carefully to
what the Native Americans have said tonight, and there
is so much good will that has taken place in what this
developer has done, she was sure a little bit more good
will could be extended, the offers heard from the Native
Americans to work with the project to make it better and
one all should be able to get behind and work with. Ms.
Kime said she did not think there was a hurry to vote on
this matter this evening, not saying it shouldn't just
that it is not necessary, and that the EIR needs to be
looked at for the best product that can be produced.
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*
Mr. Erin Carapella, Yorba Linda, said he was neither a
Tongva or Gabrieleno person, but he was present to help
these people because they died for us to be here, some
of those people are probably buried on the site, now we
are going to unbury the people and sacrilegiously put
them somewhere that their descendants, that live today,
don't want them to be, they want them to be where they
are, and he is severely offended by this corporate
destructiveness and the idea that we can just keep right
on doing this, when is it going to end, when all the
land is gone, what are you going to do at that point
when there are so many people that you don't know where
to put anything, you're not going to have any areas, and
you are going to start taking the land that is set aside
now, make laws, and start building houses on that too,
what is going to happen then, you have to think about
the people whose land that we are on, because this is
not our land, this is not Seal Beach this is Tongva
land, people need to realize that, start getting out of
their suits and trying to look like hot shots, they are
not scaring us because we know what we are here for. I
am thankful for the people who are starting to realize,
the people for the plan who are starting to realize what
this is all about and what we are here for, I thank you
for the people who are non-Native, people who are mixed
bloods, and people who are Native in support of these
people. The people who have been up here and talking
for this plan are ignoring the fact that Native people
are still existing today, like government that denies
the Gabrieleno nation survives and is still here and
claim they are extinct, but you have seen these people
here talking today and they are not going to stop, and
if I have to, maybe one day, I am a young person, I have
been growing up in this school system and have heard all
kinds of lies and had to learn the truth by myself,
maybe someday I will have to die for their cause just as
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.
they died for me so that I could be here today for some
of the stuff that my ancestors have done to them. Then
again, I just thank the people that are supporting the
Tongva people, supporting the fact that they need to
have this sacred site, this is one of their last sites,
and the people that aren't, they should feel ashamed,
whatever race they are from, and I thank you and I thank
the Tongva people who are here today, and I thank them
for letting me help them.
Mr. Gordon Shanks, Surf Place, stated he believed that
most everything has been said, however noted one thing
is that the developer did take into consideration almost
everything that was said against the last two projects,
this being something like an on-going eighteen year
process. With regard to the earthquake situation on the
Newport/Inglewood fault, if one looks at a map of the
worst earthquake areas around, there are two areas in
the general area that are said to be the safest, the
bluff area where the housing is proposed to be built and
the other is Signal Hill, everything else around here is
tidal or has developed over the years from the different
rivers, the San Gabriel, the Santa Ana, and Los Angeles
Rivers, so although this is fairly close to the Newport/
Inglewood fault, building the houses on the bluff is
probably much better than Old Town, Leisure World,
Rossmoor, or most of Los Alamitos, because that land is
much less likely to liquify if there is a major
liquefaction type earthquake, even though it is close it
is probably much safer, and one could probably obtain
less expensive earthquake insurance. Mr. Shanks said he
didn't think that some of the people who foresee this as
an interest area, which is what archaeology is, realize
that this is an eighteen year old fight, and as he sees
it does not seem to be any answer to the requests of the
Indians, they apparently want it left vacant, nothing
done to it, and it is uncertain where this is going from
here, this seems to be growing, it started out as a few
grave sites, some feeding sites, now it has grown to a
sacred city scenario, all of a sudden there seems to be
an escalation, which is unfortunate as it locks in their
attitude, it makes it almost impossible for the
developer to improve the site, and they have this locked
in idea that there was a total city there, which would
have been a village of certain size. He said he hated
to see getting locked into something where there can not
be a reasonable conclusion. He stated also that he is
very much in favor of the project, thinks the Hellman's
have done a good job at taking a look at all of the
complaints from the previous projects and trying to
correct them, the wetlands, the open space, etc. and
they have done a very good job.
Mayor Hastings, with consent of the Council, called a brief
recess at 10:53 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 10:59 p.m.
The Mayor noted that there are others who wish to speak, it
is the intent to accommodate them, however it appears that a
number of the same concerns are being voiced over and over
again such as wetlands maintenance, Gum Grove Park
maintenance, conservation of Native American sites, the
speakers now in the process of repeating themselves, and
although it is important for the people to have the
opportunity to speak, possibly new information or information
from a different perspective could be brought forward.
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*
Eugene Ruyle, resident of Long Beach, and Professor of
Anthropology at Cal State Long Beach, noted that he had
submitted a letter and thirteen page document which the
Council should have in their packet. Professor Ruyle
said he wished to respond to some of the comments this
evening as he realizes the residents of Seal Beach have
been concerned about this for some time, having heard
about the eighteen year struggle to block some of the
previous developments, and realizing that this
development may seem to be more ecological friendly than
before, noted reference to johnny-come-Iately's, and
people who seem to be raising these issues, and reminded
that this is not an eighteen year struggle, it is a five
hundred year old struggle in which the Indians have been
trying to protect some of their heritage. He said one
of the things the Pilgrims did when they arrived in New
England was to rob an Indian grave, steal the corn,
steal the pretty things that were there, this has been
going on for a long time, one of the things included in
his document is a little bit of history of archaeology
and how archaeologists have been involved, there may not
be an awareness that as the U. S. Army was conquering
the west they sent out an order that Indian skulls were
to be sent back to the Army medical school to support
the racist theories that were being developed by
physical anthropologists and archaeologists at that
time. He stated he felt it important to understand that
history in order to understand some of the concerns that
Native people have when they see some of the last of
their burial sites being disturbed, he has heard it said
that the Hellman Ranch is going to be very sensitive to
this issue, but just a few years ago down in Newport
Beach there was an Indian cemetery found with several
hundred burials, they were dug up, moved, reburied, and
a housing development was built there, this is some of
the recent history that has gone on and this is why
Native people are very concerned about treatment of
their ancestral remains. He said this is not some kind
of weird kind of Indian thing that is going on, just
think about the white concerns for the MIA's in Vietnam
and the concerns we have about American servicemen
there, and how would we feel if we heard that those
remains were being exhibited in museums and that they
were being studied by Vietnamese anthropologists to find
out why we are such an imperialist race, I think we'd be
very upset, and that is why some of the Native people
here are very upset about this. Professor Ruyle said he
hoped thought would be given to these things as a
decision is made as he felt this is a historical
decision because the Native peoples are here asking you
to protect their sites, and there is a choice to make as
to whether to listen to the Native people or listen to
the Hellman Company or the developers who have already
made untold millions of dollars out of this land, land
speculation, you have heard how the Hellman Company is
one of the richest and powerful families in Southern
California history, how much more money do they have to
make out of this land, they are saying this is a very
environmentally sensitive project because they are
building on a flood plain, not building over an
earthquake fault, just think of what is going on here,
listen to the voices of the Native people.
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Mr. Ricardo de Leon, said he was not Tongva, however
asked, as a student, a person growing up in society, to
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come to a decision and respect them as human beings and
to not disrespect the gravesites, people say that you
are civilized, then how civilized is it to dig up the
bodies of the people and put a golf course there, that
is not civilized at all, completely disrespectful, can
you tell the women and children that it is okay to
disrespect someone else just because the Hellman family
wants to make more money, that is the whole reason he
wants to put the golf course and the housing project
there, because he wants money, I don't know what kind of
world we live in when we prefer to put money and profit
over the children's future and what we teach them.
Hopefully you will come to a good decision and decide to
deny all this, and like my brother, we will leave this
here to remind you what it is all about (the sign).
*
Mr. Bill DeVitt, Surf Place, resident and owner of a
business said he relocated here a couple of years ago
because it was felt Seal Beach was a great place, and in
his opinion this project reflects the aspirations that
the town has in terms of improving a piece of property
that is thoroughly degraded, the developers have done a
great job. Mr. DeVitt said he has a number of mixed
emotions when he hears the concerns about the Native
past, and unfortunately in one sense, the reason he does
is that he has heard some of this before in his native
Minnesota, which he noted there are twenty-seven casinos
there, he has not heard that word, but if one looks at
the property and you know that over the course of time
something is going to happen, there is definitely going
to be development, it is not going to stay in the state
that it is, in his opinion this project is consistent
with Seal Beach, and would like to see it built.
*
Lillian Valenzuela Robles, an Elder of the
Juaneno/Ajachamen Nation, said she came to speak for her
cousins the Gabrieleno/Tongva. We have heard all of
these speeches and I know that you are exhausted, one
thing I wanted to tell Mr. Bartlett, when he was
enumerating all of these people he had talked to and
invited, when did he ever invite the Native Americans to
come and talk to Mr. Tone or to him, he invited all
those community organizations, why didn't he think of
the original people that would have had some concerns.
A lot of this could have been avoided if he would have
just remembered that before the Hellman's came, before
the Mexicans came, before the Spaniards came, the
original people of the land were here, and I am sure you
people who are elected studied history and when you were
in the fourth grade you learned about California
history, we have not gone away, we are still here, our
ancestors remains are in this ground, we still have
respect for our people, just like the Jewish people
honor their ancestors, the Japanese people honor their
ancestors, we honor our ancestors too. So, I am sitting
back there listening to everybody, and listening, and I
think when are we going to hear what people are saying
and when are we going see the results of the decisions
that we make. I can not tell you how heartbroken I was
when I learned in the Back Bay in Newport Beach that
they had dug up between six hundred and eight hundred
remains of ORA-64, that's how many were there, and there
are five thousand pictures to prove it, five thousand,
and the Heritage Commission denied it and said there
were only three articulated remains, everything was
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hush, hush, the Indian people didn't know about it, the
community didn't know about it, if we are paranoid,
that's the reason, we really haven't been treated right,
and you know what, the ancestors are not going to let us
get away with this, things are going to happen because
you can't do things that are wrong and right come out of
it, we are all accountable, every single one of us, and
like Vera Rocha said 'we breathe the same air, we drink
the same water', so when we corrupt the earth and we do
things that are dishonorable it comes back, whatever
goes around comes around. So, we got to do a lot of
tall thinking, and not only are our children and
grandchildren looking at the decisions you make, but
your children and your grandchildren are going to look
because they are going to go to college, our history is
being rewritten because we are having laypeople write
our history, I don't envy you, you have a tremendous
job. Mrs. Forsythe you said you wanted to get in touch
with me, I am sure if you wanted to get my phone number
you could have gotten it, because I have been here
enough, you could have, I came to the conclusion that
you really, truly didn't want to speak to me, because I
was available, and I am available whenever my cousins,
the Gabrieleno/Tongva people need me, then I will be
there, just like I drop everything for Puvungna. We
have a wonderful history, and what I would like to say
is when we start fooling with Mother Earth, and our
history is in the earth because we don't have books on
it, our ancestors didn't write books, but when you take
some of the earth away there is a page of our history,
what breaks my heart is that we slam, bang and we have
torn out half of the pages, and I know that when you
find remains or artifacts then you have to slow down and
that costs the developer money. While I am at it, what
happened to the five hundred bags that were discovered,
and I think it was LSA that had them, and I feel you
people have to make an accounting of what happened, they
went somewhere, Mr. Tone says they do not have them,
okay, if the Hellman family doesn't have those, that is
part of our history, it is criminal to destroy our
history, because it is your history, it is California
history, it belongs to the united States, it belongs to
the world, that is why you have a tremendous
responsibility, we are looking at you and grading you as
to what kind of job you are doing, and there are going
to be some heart broken people if you don't take your
time, don't try to do it tonight you are exhausted, it
is too important, and I commend the Hellman family, it
is certainly a lot better than the other projects, but
you people have ignored the Native people, and I read
that they had contacted Lillian Robles, what did I say,
I don't remember ever meeting with you people and
sitting down and talking, so to me that was a
prevarication, they might have written me a letter but I
didn't come and talk to them and didn't want to answer
them back. I wish you luck, and God bless you, and may
the Creator bless you, because you do have a hard job,
but take the blinkers off your eyes, listen to your
heart, thank you.
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* Ms. Moira Hahn, Seal Beach, just wanted to put in a few
words, Mark covered most of what I wanted to talk about,
but as far as Lillian just said, it wasn't five hundred
bags of artifacts that was lost it was nine hundred
fifty bags, and as far as the work LSA did the EIR says
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that those collections were lost, that we are not going
to consider it, however the records were not lost, they
are available, and LSA found shell beads, artifacts,
stone tools, and quite a bit of charred bone, and
because Mola pulled out and they weren't paid, LSA
didn't have an opportunity to analyze all of that, but
some of it was analyzed and it was human, the other
bone, we don't know if that was animal or human, but
they found a lot of bone in the six sites they
investigated, and that information is not in the final
EIR, so I feel that the table of artifacts that were
discovered and the other materials that were discovered
are incomplete in the EIR, and I agree with Mark that it
is illegal to have an EIR when you haven't begun to
really investigate what's in each of those sites,
because you do not know, and you can not plan
appropriate mitigation strategy if you don't know what's
before you, CEQA requires you to do that. Those are the
things I wanted to mention, thank you.
*
Ms. Fern Mathias, South Dakota, said she was relocated
here in 1953 by the government so she is a resident of
the Los Angeles area, she listened all evening to the
speakers, to the Hellman Ranch employees, she sees the
expressions on the Council faces, and does not think the
Council is going to vote for us, thinks Council will go
along with the money people here, there is no respect,
they did not contact the Indian people, the Council did
not contact the Indian people, it is very disturbing to
the Indian people in the community, there are a lot of
laws that are not being respected, the Native American
Freedom of Religious Act, the Antiquities Act, the
Native American Heritage Act, the State Historical
Preservation Act, the National Historical Preservation
Act, the Native American Graves Protection and
Restoration Act, the California Endangered Species Act,
the California Environmental Quality Act, the California
Native Plant Protection Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty
Act, the Federal Endangered Species Act. Ms. Mathias
said she did not think that the Council has been very
lawful, have disrespected everything, also speaking for
Vera Rocha from the Gabrielenos, and stated 'if the City
does not do things right we will go ahead and get our
lawyers and sue you.'
Mayor Hastings noted that there were no others indicating a
desire to speak, therefore the developer will have an
opportunity to rebut or respond, as will Moffat & Nichol, the
biologists, etc.
Mr. Bartlett said be believed that the issues relating to
CEQA and archaeological matters are legally within the realm
of the City Attorney's office, those the staff and Council
can discuss after the close of the public hearing, the other
issues could be addressed individually at this time or could
be held pending questions of the Council, then addressed all
at one time, in that many be one and the same. The City
Attorney advised that if desired, the Council may pose
questions at this time, the public hearing can continue or be
closed, either way, the answers will be part of the public
record. By unanimous consent, the Council determined to
close the pUblic hearing at this time. The Mayor noted that
questions from the public have been recorded and a response
will be forthcoming. The City Attorney clarified that the
law does not require a series of rebuttals, the law requires
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due process, allowing all to state their position, ask
questions, therefore that opportunity has been provided,
there is no legal requirement for opponents to rebut a
rebuttal, also, there will be other hearings held. In
response to Council, with respect to the EIR the City
Attorney confirmed that the Council could take action on that
document at this meeting, a hearing is scheduled for October
20th with respect to an amendment of the Redevelopment Plan,
there are other resolutions and ordinances that will require
action at some point to which the public can comment as well.
At the request of the Council, the City Attorney explained
that although it is at the option of the Council, this is not
the first public opportunity for people to comment on the
EIR, in this case there were two periods for comment, and
there is a considerable paper record on the issue. It was
noted that the Council has the opportunity to pose questions
to the developer and speakers if so desired. A consensus was
indicated that the Council would pose their questions for
response, and there would not be a series of rebuttals.
I
Councilmember Campbell asked if the existing mineral
production area will be a future site for such housing. The
City Attorney referred to that as Planning Area 9, known as
the remainder, not part of this project, it is not analyzed
by the EIR, the only thing being approved, if the Council
approves the Development Agreement, is existing mineral uses,
however the Housing Element indicates that that particular
area will be studied at some later date and public hearings
would be held to determine whether such housing is
appropriate, however an element that is part of the project
is the provision for seven units, a provision of the
Government Code requires that new development within the
Coastal Zone must provide affordable housing, that is part of
the project and is discussed in the staff report, a Housing
Feasibility Study attached as an exhibit as well.
Councilmember Campbell said she was under the impression that
low to moderate income housing sites needed to be identified,
thought to be one hundred units. The City Attorney responded
that the Housing Element, in its current form, provides for
public hearings at some future date to determine the
feasibility of affordable housing on the remainder, that is
unchanged, what is recommended for change is that that
program be modified as the extent of the project has gone
from three hundred twenty-nine homes to seventy homes. With
regard to the Planning Commission recommendations,
Councilmember Campbell agreed with the sixteen foot building
height for the non-residential areas, with the height limit
of twenty-five feet and maximum lot coverage of forty-five
feet. On the environmental issues, Councilmember Campbell
said had questions on the salt water and fresh water
wetlands, to the statement that 'after three years the
wetland monitoring will be reviewed and remedial action taken
to bring it into compliance', her concern being that the
monitoring will not be frequent enough, more frequently
especially in the first two years. Mr. Chris Webb of Moffat
& Nichol directed the questions to the biologist, Mr. Rick
Ware for response. Mr. Ware, marine biologist with Coastal
Resources Management, stated that the actual monitoring plan
for the wetlands is much more intensive than just the three
year project, the program is that it will be monitored for
three to five years, the intensity of which is different for
each type of plant or animal community, there is a series of
salt march plants that are intended to be planted based on
their presence and absence in salt marshes up and down the
California coast, in otherwords those species are going to be
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planted that typically grow in salt water wetlands in this
area, it is intended to make sure that the tidal flushing and
the hydraulics of the area are adequate to support those
plant species. The idea is that it needs to be monitored as
to just how well these plant and animal communities develop
over time. The monitoring for the planting of several
species of salt marsh plants will cover their growth, plant
cover, plant density, and aereal cover, weekly for the first
month, monthly for the first year, every three months for the
following two years and every six months for the last two
years of the project, which is fairly intensive monitoring
for the plant community, it is their intent that on a
quarterly and yearly basis things are improving, that things
are growing as they should over the first two years, if at a
point in time it is found that something is.not doing well,
they will want to know why, they will also be looking at how
the system functions, if the plants are supporting the birds
in terms of foraging and nesting habitat, they want to look
at the invertebrates, the snails and clams that provide food
for fish in the open water area, and for the shore birds on
the mud flats, so the idea was to take a functional look at
those communities to see if the birds are coming there to
feed or coming to nest in the plant areas. They will want to
look at the population of the invertebrates on the mud flats
as an indicator that the system is functioning to support the
birds, the invertebrates will be monitored at intervals of
six months through the areas constructed, one year, three
years and at five years, this will give the functional
characteristics of the animals that will be the food for the
shore birds. To the question, if a shortfall, Mr. Ware said
then they look at the reasons why, incorporate the
information provided by Moffat & Nichols, the hydraulics and
water quality, then evaluate the reasons why and then have an
adaptive management program that will go back and modify the
conditions. Question was raised as to who will pay for that,
with a suggestion to refer same to the applicant. Mr. Ware
said the last group that they will want to monitor are the
shore bird communities because this is an area that is going
to be especially important for birds that migrate down the
Pacific Flyway, indicators will be the plant community, if
they are providing habitat for the shore birds, that the
invertebrate food sources are there, if those are there then
we should have the shore birds, so shore birds will be looked
at on a quarterly basis for the first year and then annually
for the last four years. This is a very intensive program to
look to see what happens, that will be done on-going, if
things are not functioning well it will be evaluated as to
the reason, and if those things are of an engineering nature,
or they may be natural like an El Nino event or something
else that can not be controlled, but if it is an engineering
design then they will work to resolve the problem. There
will also be monitoring of a control site, yet to be
selected, to monitor the types and numbers of bird
population, and explained that there will be a series of
biologists in their specialties that will do the various
monitoring, that for a period of five years. Mr. Ware noted
that there are a series of permits that need to be met, the
monitoring reports will be provided to the Army Corps of
Engineers and the California Coastal Commission, who have the
final say in permitting, their reports will be submitted to
the Hellman Ranch Consortium and they in turn will submit
them as part of their permit monitoring requirements, and it
is believed the City will have input into or receive copies
of those reports as well. Staff noted that the contact point
would likely be Development Services. Councilmember Campbell
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said according to the EIR it appears that at the end of five
years an agency will be sought that will take over the
responsibility of the salt water marsh, her question is who
assumes the financial responsibility. Mr. Bartlett noted
that the EIR indicates that the salt marsh may be dedicated
to an organization that is acceptable to the landowner to
assume the wetlands, ultimately it becomes the responsibility 1-
of the landowner to assure that the ecosystem is restored, is
maintained, and is a healthy, vibrant, and functioning
system, the California Coastal Act provides for that
protection, as does the California Department of Fish and
Game, and the Army Corps of Engineers. Councilmember
Campbell asked what if, at the end of five years, it is found
that the wetlands can not make it. Mr. Bartlett said most
likely, through the approval process with the Corps and
Coastal Commission the land owner would be responsible for
any remediation activity that would be required to make the
wetlands system a success. Councilmember Campbell again
asked, if the wetlands fail, turn into a large mosquito pond,
then what happens, and who pays for it. Mr. Bartlett stated
again that the landowner will be responsible for the wetland
restoration through the California permit process to assure
that the wetlands are restored, maintained, are healthy, in
perpetuity, that is part of the California Coastal Act
process that the project will be going through. With regard
to the water flow from the San Gabriel River Channel into the
salt march and the periodic undesirable quality of that
water, Councilmember Campbell noted a suggestion with regard
to the Haynes Cooling Channel, which she questioned what
would be involved in that regard, since water from that
source could be more beneficial to the wetlands survival. I
Mr. Bartlett responded that that has been looked into, as
part of the Wetlands Restoration Plan it has been outlined
very clearly that that could be considered an alternative,
however it needs to be understood that the Cooling Channel is
infrastructure for the Haynes Generating Station, it is not a
navigable waterway, it is not an existing source of water to
the Ranch, there is no control over the Channel, the water
quality in the San Gabriel River has been thoroughly
addressed in the Environmental Impact Report and it is very
suitable for this wetland restoration plan, therefore they
stand behind the information and Moffat & Nichol can provide
more information if desired. Mayor Hastings noted her
concern that during the rainy season there is runoff that
comes down from Coyote Creek into the San Gabriel River, the
City storm drains empty as well, and inquired if there would
be some means to shut the flood gate for such times so that
that water does not encroach into the fresh water wetlands
with contaminants, also, who would be responsible for making
sure that will be done. Councilman Brown noted
responsibility for making certain the pipe is maintained in
working order as well. Mr. Webb, Moffat & Nichol, said he
could not answer who specifically would be responsible, the
assumption is that it would be the manager of the site, that I
is yet to be determined, in terms of whether it can be done
the answer is yes. He noted a Wetlands Restoration Plan has
been prepared, it calls for a 'stop log gate' which is a
manual guillotine type gate that can be dropped, a wooden
device that can close the culvert at will, their sense is
that it likely will not be needed, however if the monitoring
of the site indicates that sedimentation is occurring from
the River or other adverse affects such as debris coming into
the wetlands, and if it is an undesirable thing, then the
gate can be shut, operation of the gate can be predicted
based on rainfall events and the hydrology of the San Gabriel
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River which is a known dataset, that is not a mystery. In
terms of operation of the culvert over time and the growing
of marine organisms, that has been looked at and there has
been discussions with a group that inspects culverts and
cleans them as their business, and what is identified in the
Restoration Plan is that every three months for the first
year the culvert is inspected to identify whether there is
sedimentation or excessive growth or obstacles lodged in the
culvert to block it, after the first year it is done every
six months. He noted that what the culvert would have on the
River side would be a debris catch, a steel barred, course
mesh screen, that would prevent the access of large objects,
two things would cause the culvert to become constricted, one
would be sedimentation, which in fact is presently occurring,
the cause of that is the source of sediment, the Hellman site
a source because the drainage is primarily off the site
towards the River, the other cause is low flow velocity in
the culvert itself which allows sediment to drop out. with
regard to this project, he said some numerical modeling was
done of the tidal flows through the culvert and into the
wetlands and the flow velocities through the culvert were
shown to be high enough that the sediment would continue to
move from the River through the culvert into the Basin,
possibly picked up by the Basin with the current and pulled
back out again during the ebbing tide, therefore it is not
thought that there will be substantial sedimentation in the
culvert itself, thus routing of the culvert for sedimentation
may not be needed. With regard to the height of the culvert
over sea level, Mr. Webb recalled that the base of the
culvert, which is called the invert, is one foot below mean
sea level, it is a four foot diameter culvert so the top is
about three feet above. Mr. Webb noted another thing that
chokes off a culvert is marine growth, called bio-fouling,
that will most likely happen, however it has been found that
the rate of inspection of culverts is very infrequent,
checking with the Fish and Wildlife Service they do not
recall that the culverts at the Bolsa Chica have ever been
cleaned since 1979, that is the inner-Bolsa Bay at the far
end that is fed by culverts from outer-BoIs a Bay, and the
maintenance schedule for the culverts for Anaheim Bay is
unknown, however it is assumed the culverts would need to be
cleaned about every five years, that process is low cost,
$500 to inspect and $1500 to clean. With regard to the fresh
water marsh, that under the direction of the Hellman golf
course, Councilmember Campbell asked if there would be
monitoring of that marsh as well. Mr. Bartlett responded in
the affirmative, that will be part of the on-going
maintenance and management of the golf course, embodied in
the Audubon International Report for the care of wetlands, a
program similar to that described for the salt water marsh.
Councilmember Campbell said her comments were basically to
the statement that after three years the wetland monitoring
would be reviewed and remedial acti9ns taken to bring it into
compliance, her concern with both the salt water and fresh
water marsh was that that is not frequent enough, and
inquired if the fresh water marsh monitoring would be similar
to that of the salt water, as previously reported, or more
frequently. Mr. Tony Boukamp, Coastal Associates, advised
that monitoring would be monthly for the first year, the last
four years it will be quarterly, and each year there will be
a quantitative sampling, in addition to the site walkover, of
the vegetation transects and floral sampling. The monitoring
reports will go to the Hellman family, then distributed to
the City and the appropriate agencies, the Army Corps, Fish
and Wildlife, etc. It was confirmed that since that is the
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Hellman Golf Course the financial liability for the
monitoring lies with them. Councilmember Campbell noted that
a recommendation of the EQCB had to do with the oil wells on
the bluff, they felt the screening was not sufficient,
something should be done with the wells to make them less
intrusive, and asked if that could be considered. Mr.
Bartlett responded that the Landscape and Screening Plan for
the oil production uses along Seal Beach Boulevard will be
quite extensive, it is not feasible to underground those
units, they are already electrified, and once they are
landscaped and screened they will be very quiet.
Councilman Brown posed a question to the City Attorney that
if Hellman presents a plan to the City that appears to be
reasonable and the City turns it down, is there not some type
of responsibility then placed on the City. The City Attorney
responded that a developer is entitled to a reasonable
economically viable use of their property, portions of this
property has some use, therefore the issue would become
whether their existing mineral production is considered to be
economically viable at this time, however a developer must be
allowed to use their land and get some return from the
property. Councilman Brown inquired if that is so even if
the land were a potential burial ground or site. The
Attorney responded in the affirmative, that is the law, they
must be allowed some use of their property. Councilman Brown
expressed his disagreement with the building heights, with
specific reference to the types of housing units that has
conceptually been proposed with gables, etc. he stated he
felt thirty to thirty-five feet for that type of housing on
that land is most desirable and will impact no one. Mr.
Bartlett noted that houses are not being built at twenty-five
feet today unless there is some restriction, as an example of
another controlled growth community he cited San Juan
Capistrano whose residential areas are restricted to thirty-
five feet, the development at the peninsula in Huntington
Beach are thirty-five feet, the marketplace today is at
thirty-five feet for the types of product that is being
built, again assuring that there will be no impact on the
surrounding uses, explaining that the two homes adjacent to
the Gum Grove Park extension are proposed at thirty feet to
make certain they are not higher than the existing Hill
homes, the remainder would be up to thirty-five feet.
Councilmember Campbell mentioned the service road through Gum
Grove, and asked if, for emergency purposes, that could be
extended to the cul-de-sac and gated for that purpose only.
Mr. Bartlett acknowledged that that is the plan. Councilman
Brown asked if there were any responses to the comments of
the gentleman from Island village, to which Mr. Bartlett
responded that the primary concern of Island village is that
they have a current agreement with Southern California Edison
to use that roadway for access, however it is primarily used
as a recreation road, the City of Long Beach has an emergency
response plan similar to that of Seal Beach and these might
be liability issues if they could not move trucks in and. out
of the Island Village area, therefore it is suggested that
Long Beach has that issue covered.
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Mayor Hastings directed her initial comments to Ms. Lillian
Robles, advised that her grandfather too was a half-breed,
his family was from Vermont, he was shunned by his mother's
people, Native Americans, and shunned by his father's people,
the Scotch, Bruce the name, he mounted his pony at age
fifteen because he was tired of fighting the problem, moved
west to Oklahoma, the family was of European coloring, he was
accepted as an Anglo, he married an Anglo, and that is how
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the history of her family evolved. She said her questions
concern Native Americans and some archaeology. Mayor
Hastings said she was the first to insist that there be
Native Americans on the Archaeological board, first was David
Belardes, then Gloria, Sonja, and Jean, and at that point the
City did not understand that there should be Gabrieleno
representatives on the Committee. Mayor Hasting~ reported
that Vera Rocha was called to see if she would represent the
Gabrieleno Nation because according to the State the
Gabrielenos were the ones that should be consulted on this
project, for which the Mayor apologized for not having had
knowledge of the appropriate protocol, however at that time
Ms. Rocha felt she could not participate because of the
recent passing of her husband, Councilmember Forsythe called
also to see if Ms. Rocha would reconsider, yet her decline
was understood. Mayor Hastings said she wanted everyone to
know that as far as the City is concerned it is believed that
all actions were in good faith. The Mayor noted that, much
to her dismay, she detected a little racism enter into some
of the Native American comments, and divisity about whites
and Indians and people not caring, and stated she wanted all
to know that that is not uncommon, and when those comments
took place her thoughts went to Egypt as an example of
Egyptians desecrating Egyptian graves, robbing them of their
artifacts, then seeking a market for them in different
countries, therefore it must be realized that this is
something that has been going on for hundreds of thousands of
years, that does not make it right, it is wrong, the point is
that it is not new to this particular time in 1997 at this
venue, the Hellman Ranch. Mayor Hastings said from what she
can discern, the people that have this development, they have
pride, and stated her intent to request a response from staff
inasmuch as there was concern evidenced at this meeting about
the inclusion of Native people in this process, she had
spoken to staff many months ago about letters being prepared
to be sent out inviting the Native people to participate,
there was assurance that letters had been sent, and stated
she had no knowledge of the Mary Ann Ward who was said to
have indicated an interest in serving on the Archaeological
Committee. The Director of Development Services offered to
give his best recollection of past conversations, first of
all he said he had no recollection of talking to a Mary Ann
Ward, although may have, the City's standard position is that
if someone has requested consideration as an appointee for
the Archaeological Advisory Committee they have been asked to
put their interest in writing and submit same to the City
Clerk. The Director recalled speaking to Mr. Torres by
telephone, made note of some information he provided at that
point, however did suggest to him that he submit a letter to
the Clerk requesting formal consideration of either himself
or other persons to be appointed as members of the
Archaeological Advisory Committee, and to his knowledge that
type of letter was never received by the City Clerk. He
noted that the other issue regarding involvement of Native
Americans was with the EIR and the Research Design, a number
of comments have been received regarding the EIR from the
Native American groups therefore they have been in that
process, in the Research Design process, again copies of the
draft Research Design have been sent out, copies of staff
reports have been provided to twenty-two or twenty-three
identified Native Americans, they are in fact identified in
the Research Design itself, and staff continues to do that as
the Research Design goes through the review process prior to
it coming to the Council at the end of October. As to the
Research Design, Mayor Hastings said to herself and her
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people it seems like the cart before the horse, that is what
she had discerned from the people, and questioned the timing
of the Research Design, being done after the EIR. The
Director of Development Services explained that the EIR sets
forth a number of mitigation measures to address what has
been identified in the EIR as potentially significant impacts
to all of the cultural resource sites that are impacted by I
the project, and noted however there are several cultural
resource sites in Gum Grove Park that are not being impacted
by the project, there is no impact to those sites, so those
are not being evaluated as part of the Research Design
effort. He noted that the Research Design is basically a
blueprint of how an archaeological field investigation would
occur on the property to determine if artifacts may still
exist on the property, and to determine if burials exist on
the property at this point in time. The Research Design is
required by two different agencies, required by the City's
Archaeological Element to the General Plan, that document and
the field investigations, which are called a phase two test
level investigation, are required to be completed prior to
the issuance of development entitlements, development
entitlements are the issuance of a grading permit or the
issuance of building permits, so all of that field
investigation work needs to be done and a determination at
that point will be made by the investigating archaeologist as
to whether or not any of the sites are significant under
CEQA. If there are sites determined to be significant under
CEQA then there is an additional level of more detailed
investigation that is necessary to occur on those sites that
have been identified as significant, if the site is
determined not to be significant under CEQA then there is no I
further evaluation of those sites required, also in addition
to the approval of the Research Design document, the Coastal
Commission also requires that the document be approved by
that body prior to any testing excavations occurring on the
site which would disturb more than two square meters of land
area, in this case it would disturb more than that to do the
test level investigation, therefore the Research Design needs
to be approved by the Coastal Commission, and until it has
been approved by both the City and Coastal Commission in some
form, the testing as to whether or not the sites mayor may
not be significant could not occur. Mayor Hastings asked if
the EIR has to be certified before the Research Design can be
addressed, more specifically the time frames. The City
Attorney offered that CEQA requires that the City identify,
analyze, and impose mitigation measures if there are
significant impacts. The EIR before the Council has
identified, and analyzed the potential impacts, and the EIR
has concluded that the impacts are significant, that is as
high as you can go in terms of CEQA, impacts are either
insignificant, significant but can be mitigated, which
applies to a number of the sites, or there are some impacts
that are significant but can not be mitigated. With this
EIR, the City has already done all of that, it has already I
identified the impacts, so under CEQA the EIR has done
everything it is supposed to do. The Attorney noted that a
number of different comments have been made at this meeting,
an attempt will be made to summarize them. He pointed out
that there are a number of people who feel the sites should
be left undisturbed, that is one issue, and there are some
people that feel more study should be done. He offered that
under the law, under CEQA, the City determines the
significance, there are two choices, the site can be left in
place, which is the preferred method and which is apparently
being done with some of the sites, or, if it is infeasible to
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leave them right where they are, then they can be moved.
Also, further investigation will be performed on the
property. The EIR has said that they are significant and
require mitigation if feasible. Before any grading, before
the Coastal Commission allows them to do anything, or before
the City allows any type of grading or issuance of any
building permits, all ten of those sites will be studied and
a determination will be made as to what is there, what can be
done, and that is proper procedure under CEQA. A member of
the audience asked if the Native people would be involved.
The City Manager responded in the affirmative, through the
most likely descendant at minimum. The City Attorney
answered that the mitigation measures, thought to be
approximately twelve, almost every measure states that there
will be a Native American representative involved in the
process, on the site, monitoring what is occurring. The
Director of Development Services also clarified that the
Native American monitor is selected by the most likely
descendant. A member of the audience challenged that comment
as untrue. The City Attorney pointed out that the Native
American Heritage Commission will be consulted to identify
the appropriate Native American groups, as set forth in a
mitigation measure. Mayor Hastings reiterated a question
posed by the public as to whether this will be a gated
community. Mr. Bartlett responded that the Specific Plan
does allow gates within the community, their position at this
time is that that is a business or marketing decision, a
decision that should be left up to the builder or homeowners
association. In concluding her comments, Mayor Hastings
indicated her confidence that whatever remains may be found
on the land will be dealt with in respect. A member of the
audience again asked if Native people would be involved in
the decision making. The City Manager stated the desire and
intent of the City from day one has been to respect Native
American interests and concerns, the City is also governed by
law, and through the Native American Heritage Commission the
City has been notified of the procedures to be followed, his
understanding is that to consult with the most likely
descendant is a minimum requirement, that does not deter
going beyond that, and recollection is that at a meeting some
months earlier members of the Council encouraged Native
American peoples to be involved, to communicate with the
City, to foster involvement of those who are interested and
concerned and it is felt that a monitoring plan can be
developed that will be acceptable to the Native American
interests. The Mayor conveyed the question relating to the
Western Burrowing OWl and the proposed nesting locations.
Mr. Tony Boukamp, biological consultant, offered to address
the question posed as well as the Savannah Sparrow at the
same time as the queries have been similar. Mr. Boukamp said
he felt there has been some confusion given the fact that
both species were found there. He noted that both the
Burrowing OWl and the Savannah Sparrow were found on the
property outside the nesting season and it is clear from
spring surveys, which was done this year, that neither
species nests on the site, the Western Burrowing OWl is known
in small numbers to be migrant, there are some in Southern
California as residents, but there is also a small number
that will move from Northern California to Southern
California from about the beginning of November to the end of
January, remaining here for only about three months, which is
what was realized just about this time last year when a
Burrowing OWl moved onto the site, not nesting, just a
migrant, there for a short time, and it is not known if it
will ever come back, that is the only known occurrence of the
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Burrowing OWl. The mitigation measure to create burrows
would in fact create potential habitat where Burrowing OWls,
if they were in the area, could move in, it is for certain
that no bird species is going to be affect by the project,
the same holds true with the Sparrows, they were on-site only
for a short time, probably moving from Anaheim Bay to Los
Cerritos or visa versa, and certainly there is not suitable I
habitat for them to be nesting, therefore by doing the
restoration there will be no direct affect on any birds,
surveys have determined that. The concept of putting the
burrows in the oil production area, that is an area where
there will not be any human contact other than possibly a
truck driving through, no different from the way the site is
right now, thus little affect on them, their habitat will be
dry, grassy, which is what they like, in a burrow.
Councilmember Forsythe said she wished to first answer or
respond to questions posed by the audience, stated she
believed there have been sufficient answers to the wetlands
issues, with regard to a gated community, asked if it will be
the typical self-supportive community, taking care of its own
streets, lighting, tree maintenance, etc. The response of
Mr. Bartlett was affirmative. If gated, Councilmember
Forsythe asked if the area would be accessible during
election processes, the level of security is going to have to
be established, and although it is a marketing issue, to
include another gated community in Seal Beach is limiting.
with regard to housing on the fault line, Councilmember
Forsythe noted that the consultants have done an analysis of
the land on the bluff and determined it is similarly
compatible to the Hill properties. If it were said that I
because of fault line existence within certain parameters in
the City of Seal Beach, probably when a home was to be
remodeled in the Old Town area it would not be allowed to be
reconstructed because of the high level of liquefaction.
Height limitations, she noted that a variety of height levels
are now being proposed, nine at three story, her concern
would be the observance of the existing residences along the
Crestview area, making sure those views are not impacted by a
three story dwelling unit, also said she felt that a market
is being missed with the larger lots, that there is in fact a
market for a single story home, especially with the eleven
thousand square foot lots, such a customized area suggests
one, two and three story residences and with as much
creativity as desired. The access road along Gum Grove Park
for emergency purposes has been resolved, the grading plans
with respect to views was touched on as well. With regard to
the storm drain in Gum Grove, Mr. Bartlett said as part of
the Gum Grove restoration, there will be some type of program
set up for the Gum Park Grove Committee, some resources
donated to plant trees, develop a program, whatever, if the
drain is a public safety issue in the Park that should
probably be at the top of their list, the Hellman's have no
control over the water that comes into the Park through that I
culvert, a public works issue that should be worked out
without a problem. With respect to the new section of Gum
Grove, Councilmember Forsythe asked who will be responsible
for the plantings and what type of trees will go in. Mr.
Bartlett responded that they felt it important to have the
Gum Grove Park Nature Group and the City have the flexibility
to determine what exactly will be planted since it will be a
City park, the trees to be obtained through the resources
that will be forthcoming with the donation of the park, a
$25,000 donation to the Nature Group or the City to be used
as appropriate for restoration of the Park. Councilmember
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Forsythe noted a question as to a view of the golf course
from Gum Grove Park in perpetuity, with regard to the road
that comes into the Gum Grove there had been some discussion
that all of that asphalt was not needed, that there would be
some grading at the top to allow for picnic tables, etc.,
that appears to still be in the works. With regard to the
biological issues, specifically the Burrowing Owls and
Savannah Sparrows, Councilmember Forsythe asked if there was
willingness to go with more than the five artificial burrows
for the Owls. Mr. Bartlett noted that that is an issue
related to science and biology, the recommendation of the
biologists was five, if that were revised he felt certain it
could be done. Councilmember Forsythe suggested that there
be ten to which Mr. Bartlett agreed. Councilmember Forsythe
said she felt the difference with this development plan as
compared to what has been seen in previous proposals is that
it has always been done backwards, the City always on the
receiving end of the picture, and then as one got into the
studies of the plan it was found that certain elements of the
plan were not feasible, with the previous plan problems were
realized with archaeology, geology, environmental, financial,
all concerns that would adversely affect the City of Seal
Beach, this time the property owner came to the City,
recognized that there were constraints of the property that
the City of Seal Beach would get up in arms about because it
would not accept, if anything, that type of liability, so
they developed the plan proposed. She stated if she had her
way there would be no homes, of which the applicant is aware,
however she learned that there are certain things necessary
to accomplish an entire project, therefore she compromised
and accepted the fact that there would be residences on the
property, and felt it was a small price to pay for the
amenities that the City was acquiring, specifically the
environmental amenities, as they are felt to be very
important to the City. Councilmember Forsythe stated however
that in going through the documents there appears to be a
need to make some changes. with regard to the lot coverage
and setbacks, she noted the original request was for sixty
percent, the Planning Commission recommended forty-five
percent plus the five percent, and stated her willingness to
authorize fifty percent lot coverage, plus the five percent
patio allowance, provided the front yard setback is increased
from eighteen to twenty feet, the reason she felt that to be
important is that her driveway is eighteen feet, her car does
not fit on it and she does not want to recreate what has
happened on the Hill where there are often vehicles
overhanging the sidewalk. Low to moderate housing has been
addressed, height limitation has been discussed, it is
thought that if there is a variety of residential units
developed, single family homes on the larger lots, it is
believed they can create a custom feel. Councilmember
Forsythe made reference to and read an excerpt from page
forty-four, Section Bl.13 relating to the Coastal Salt Marsh
Restoration 'as-built conditions', and although understood to
be standard language, asked what parameters are being
established and who is going to okay the 'as-built' because
it had to be 'as-built' conditions. The Director of
Development Services offered that the basic design of the
wetland restoration areas will be through the permit
conditions from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coastal
Commission, and their conditions will be the most detailed
conditions that will exist for the wetland restoration area.
Councilmember Forsythe requested that clarifying language be
added to Section Bl.13 to basically state .....based on those
recommendations and/or conditions of the Army Corps of
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Engineers and the Coastal Commission." With reference to
page forty-seven, Councilmember Forsythe said evidently there
is going to be a protective fence installed around the
endangered plant species, her question is what type of a
fence, how aesthetically pleasing is the fence going to be,
where is it going to be, and will that limit public access to
the walks around the wetlands. The Director responded that
that would be detailed in the final Wetland Restoration Plan
as to the type of fence that would be required by the
resource agencies. Mr. Bartlett said to clear up issues
relating to the resource agencies, they would be willing to
have the City make, as a condition of approval of this
project, compliance with all Coastal Commission conditions
and conditions required through the permit procedures of the
Army Corps of Engineers, Fish and Game, etc. so that the
conditions actually become part of this project at the City
level. Councilmember Forsythe clarified that her concern is
that she for one is not qualified to make such decisions on a
wetland mitigation or wetland restoration program, therefore
she wants assurance that people who are well versed in such
are monitoring it as it goes through the process. Mr.
Bartlett assured that as it goes through the process it will
be under a microscope. He added that the fence will
basically preclude domestic animals from getting into the
wetland area, one will not be lOOking through a chainlink
fence into the wetlands, it will be a small fence in and to
itself, possibly chainlink, however will be covered with
vegetation and will not be seen, it will not be a six, eight,
or ten foot fence that one has to look through to walk around
the wetlands. Councilmember Forsythe made reference to page
fifty, Section B-7, relating to Gum Grove Park, pesticide use
and the Monarch Butterfly, requesting that the last sentence
be amended to read "Any pesticides or herbicides will be
approved and recommended by a Certified Pest Control Advisor
and CDF&G, California Department of Fish and Game", they were
referred to earlier when talking about the type of
pesticides, and since it will be under the City's
jurisdiction at that point and the Gum Grove Park Group, the
request is to assure that nothing will be done with chemicals
that should not be. At the point of consideration of the
Specific plan with regard to the landscaped buffer along Seal
Beach Boulevard, Councilmember Forsythe inquired if that is
where specific delineations will be spelled out, the size and
type of landscaped buffer along the Boulevard. The Director
explained that the distance of the buffer is contained in the
Specific Plan, the landscaping of the buffer will the
specified in the final Landscape Plan. Councilmember
Forsythe made reference to page ninety-eight for a
clarification relating to quasi-public uses, stating that the
language gives the illusion that the Hellman Ranch Golf
Course is private, and requested that the language be changed
to read "...are private Old Ranch Country Club and the
(insert) privately owned public accessible Hellman Ranch
Reserve Golf Course.' Councilmember Forsythe made reference
to discussion with the City Attorney of notations on page
117, to which the City Attorney said he had suggested a
reference to Program B, the language would be, where the
footnote begins, ....portions of this acreage...., the new
language would be ....may be appropriate for other uses when
oil production uses terminate, see program B', which is
presently shown on page one hundred twenty-one, and it was
noted that a similar notation should be made on page one
hundred-nineteen to read 'Portions of this acreage may be
appropriate for other uses when oil production uses
terminate, assuming that the existing oil production site is
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environmentally acceptable for such other uses, see Program
B, page one hundred twenty-one." With regard to Item 13 of
the staff report, a Development Agreement for the Hellman
Ranch Specific Plan, Councilmember Forsythe made reference to
page five of the Vested Components for the Development
Agreement, a portion of subsection (6), Improvements to Seal
Beach Boulevard. She pointed out that there is going to be
an access road at the current signal, that will allow access
to the homes, the other access is Lopez Drive that will allow
traffic to.get to the existing oil facility and to the
country club, the applicant then requested another road that
would go behind the Police Department that meanders around to
allow access to the country club and oil extraction for
larger trucks. She said her concern with that is because
there is a signal at the entrance to the new homes and Lopez
where one would be making a northbound turn, of extreme
concern was having another road in the middle again making a
northbound turn or left hand turn. Being a resident for a
number of years, and no matter whatever engineering studies,
that area is where every Hill resident merges over to make
their turn onto Bolsa, and the incline impedes ones vision.
Although she would not fight the road, she would like it
limited to a right hand turn which would allow those people
desiring a northbound route to go to the existing signal,
that will be modified, to make the U-turn to then go
northbound, it is easy, just no left turn out of that road.
As to the wording on page five "No such contribution shall be
required...", going to take that wording out because the
option would be to allow that type of a movement on that road
or eliminate that road altogether. It was noted that the
property owner has worked with the City in the sense of
trying to negotiate yet another environmental and landscape
amenity in the sense of a median that would go from Bolsa to
Lopez Drive, a combined effort to allow something that is
aesthetically pleasing from what exists, plus the sidewalk
down to Bolsa, in other words there was going to be a
monetary contribution by the property owner to help the City
in that endeavor. Councilmember Forsythe read and disagreed
with the language on page five, expressed her strong feeling
that to allow another left hand turn between the two roadways
is extremely hazardous with the incline and the amount of
Hill traffic moving into the far right lane, her opinion
steadfast on that issue. with regard to the Development
Agreement, page eighteen, subsection (iii), Councilmember
Campbell asked why is the City selling bonds. The City
Attorney noted that Section commences on page sixteen with
Assessment Proceedings, this Section allows a number of
different plans and mechanisms that are common to
development, and the applicant wanted the opportunity under
the 1911, 1913 Acts, etc. to pursue that type of financing at
a later time, it simply allows the developer to approach the
City and request that it issue bonds. Mr. Bartlett
interjected that it is not intended that this be a Mello-Roos
District however there was desire to leave that flexibility
open in case there was some future reconsideration. In
response to comments of Councilmember Forsythe, Mr. Bartlett
explained the importance of access to the golf course
clubhouse from Seal Beach Boulevard, the EIR has indicated
that full turning movements would be safe, would be
efficient, would work effectively without any problems
because there is adequate spacing between the existing
intersections and the proposed intersections, however
acknowledged that Councilmember Forsythe's points were well
spoken as well as her knowledge of the merging of traffic in
that particular area, and offered that they have no problem
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with eliminating full turning movements, it can be made right
turn only out because there is an ability to go out Lopez to
go north or the proposed Golf Course Drive and make a U-turn,
and explained that the reason it is not suggested that the
rest be stricken is simply because it is very important that
those two access points are separated, it should be important
to the City too because of the Public Works and Police
traffic, there is oil production traffic, there will
conceivably be additional traffic from Boeing at some point
in time, it is important that those two types of uses be
separated both from a safety standpoint and a land use
standpoint, which is the golf course, where a nice sense of
arrival and entry is desired. Councilmember Forsythe read
the statement on page five of the vested Components again
with revised language to read "No such contribution shall be
required of Developer, however, unless an entrance to the
golf course parcel is provided directly from Seal Beach
Boulevard, with turning movements to be determined by the
City." The City Attorney noted that the remainder of the
paragraph would be deleted. Councilmember Forsythe requested
a brief time line for this project as far as what will take
place first. Mr. Bartlett responded that typically the golf
course would be started first, the amenity is created,
shaped, contoured, maybe grass is growing before the first
houses are sold, that has not been specifically decided,
however the golf course needs to be constructed along with
the wetlands, the housing most likely subsequent to at least
the golf course grading. Councilmember Forsythe and the City
Attorney made reference to a proposed amendment to the
Development Agreement to be identified as Section 2.4.4 on
page 12.a and referred to the Specific Plan, Section 4.2,
with Councilmember Forsythe explaining that the amendment
basically states that by the approval of any of the documents
that does not give the developer any rights to develop the
remainder parcel through this Specific Plan, that is
something that will come later at the time the mineral
production ceases, and the City Attorney confirmed that the
applicant has agreed to that amendment. The City Manager
made reference to Section 7 on page sixteen of the vested
Components, suggesting that the language commencing on line
four be amended to read "...(as the Plot Plan and the
Specific Plan provide) and for other uses compatible with the
golf course entrance as determined by the City Engineer in
consultation with the developer or his successors......
Developer shall have the right to review any landscaping or
improvements prior to their installation on ParcelS." It
was pointed out that the public hearing has been held and
closed relative to the Final EIR and the other documents
relating to this project. Councilmember Campbell expressed
hesitation with taking action on the numerous documents at
this meeting, to which the Mayor suggested consideration be
given to certifying the Final EIR and then hold over the
other documents until an adjourned meeting on October 20th.
The City Attorney confirmed that the Council has conducted
all of the necessary hearings under CEQA, it is an option of
the Council to take action on the EIR at this meeting, in the
meantime the requested amendments can be made to the various
documents and then considered on October 20th. Councilmember
Forsythe read an except as to CEQA theory on an EIR and its
contents, "...the courts do not hold an agency to a standard
of absolute perfection but rather require only that an EIR of
the agency has made an objective good faith attempt at full
disclosure...", stated she felt the Council has done what it
needs to do within its realm of expertise, beyond that the
project needs to be forwarded to the next levels of
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government that will ensure that the remainder of the
conditions/approvals are done correctly. Mayor Hastings
added that she was satisfied that the questions she had posed
had been adequately answered out of concern for her
grandfather, father, and her people. Councilman Brown said
he did not believe all such questions can be answered, his
tendency would be to vote on the EIR because this land is
going to be developed, it is believed there is an obligation
for reasonableness, yet he did not believe the Native people
could be satisfied in any way by passing this, even though it
needs to be done, and it is hoped that during the research
phase every effort will be made to locate whatever may be on
the site, that the Native Americans be present, and anything
that is found will be preserved by the best means possible.
Councilman Fulton agreed, stating he too felt this project
must move forward, however the research must be monitored and
watched closely, and Councilman Brown added that unless there
is something that would prohibit, he would want to see Native
Americans present for every dig, no matter their tribal
affiliation.
Brown moved, second by Fulton, to certify the Final
Environmental Impact Report.
I
For the information of all, Councilmember Forsythe pointed
out that the only way this City is going to get eighty
percent open space is to have the property owner develop the
land, and if the property owner is not allowed to develop
this land, he will sell the land, and with that comes a
purchase price that the new developer is going to have to
compensate for by placing a lot more rooftops on the property
to make that much more money, the landowner in this case has
no debt on the property therefore they can come to the City
and offer this degree of open space, the landowner is the
only person who can do this for the City, and in her opinion
it would be uncomprehensible to pass up seventy-seven percent
open space on that property, and that is what it should be
given the fault line, liquefaction, and everything else, the
only use for that land is to plant grass on it, and if there
are a couple of flags and white balls lying around, that's
great.
I
The City Attorney said it is assumed that the motion included
the changes to the EIR Resolution, also some technical
corrections as set forth in the memorandum of September 22nd,
Councilmember Forsythe modified mitigation measure Bl.13 on
page forty-four, added language relating to compliance with
Army Corps of Engineers and Coastal Commission conditions,
addressed mitigation measure B3.9 regarding fenced wetland
plant areas, the Attorney suggested that it could be left as
it is however the height of the fence could be specified in
the Tentative Tract Map, with regard to mitigation measure B-
7 the California Department of Fish and Game is added,
measure B-6, the artificial burrows shall be ten instead of
five. Councilmember Forsythe reminded the public that years
ago, before Rockwell concreted their parking lot and it was
landscaped, it was covered with the Western Burrowing OWls.
The City Attorney continued with a brief review of the
corrections reflected in the September 22nd memorandum to
pages 42, 43, 44, 48, 50, 54, 58, 59, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, and
74 of the EIR certification Resolution.
Once again, Councilman Brown moved to adopt Resolution Number
4562 entitled "A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SEAL BEACH CERTIFYING THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
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REPORT FOR THE HELLMAN RANCH SPECIFIC PLAN; ADOPTING THE
MITIGATION MONITORING PROGRAM; ADOPTING THE FINDINGS AND
FACTS IN SUPPORT OF FINDINGS AS REQUIRED BY THE CALIFORNIA
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT; AND ADOPTING A STATEMENT OF
OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS" as amended. Councilman Fulton
seconded the motion. By unanimous consent, full reading of
Resolution Number 4562 was waived.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
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AGENDA ITEM "T" - RESOLUTION NUMBER 97-1 - APPROVING DRAFT
AMENDMENT - REDEVELOPMENT PLAN - CONSENTING TO JOINT PUBLIC
HEARING
After a brief explanation of this action by the City
Attorney, Agencymember Fulton moved, second by Brown, to
adopt Resolution Number 97-1 entitled "A RESOLUTION OF THE
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH APPROVING A
DRAFT AMENDMENT TO THE REDEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE RIVERFRONT
REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA AND CONSENTING TO A JOINT PUBLIC
HEARING WITH THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH." By
unanimous consent, full reading of Resolution Number 97-1 was
waived.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
RESOLUTION NUMBER 4569 - APPROVING DRAFT AMENDMENT -
REDEVELOPMENT PLAN - CONSENTING TO JOINT PUBLIC HEARING
The text of this Resolution basically identical to that just
adopted by the Agency, Brown moved, second by Forsythe, to
adopt Resolution Number 4569 entitled "A RESOLUTION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH APPROVING A DRAFT
AMENDMENT TO THE REDEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE RIVERFRONT
REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA AND CONSENTING TO A JOINT PUBLIC
HEARING WITH THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE CITY OF SEAL
BEACH." By unanimous consent, full reading of Resolution
Number 4569 was waived.
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AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried
For information of the public, the City Attorney announced
that on October 20th the City Council will consider the
remaining proposed resolutions and hold first reading on the
proposed ordinances relating to the Hellman Ranch development
plan, also, the Agency and Council will hold a joint hearing
relating to an amendment of the Redevelopment Plan.
CITY MANAGER REPORTS
There were no City Manager reports.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Mayor Hastings declared Oral Communications open. Mr. Bates, I
Island Village, said he may not be present on October 20th,
and with regard to the Development Agreement asked that two
things be made clear, first, give thought as to how there is
going to be access into that northern area, through their
property, which means going through their football field or
basketball courts, or the only other way to access is by
means of the bridge that flooded out, go all the way around
the outside of the retention basin, a road that is not
passable when it is raining, that is why Flood Control brings
all their equipment in from the south, fire equipment try to
make a turn on Westminster to come into the area, to which he
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suggested it be tried with just a car, and asked how is
anyone going to get into the area, the area is now isolated.
Councilman Brown asked if the reference was to the main
entrance or the back entrance down along the canal. The
gentleman said the back entrance is Island Village property,
is the basketball court, play area, etc., it is not an
entrance, it is closed, one can not turn into that area,
however fire has a key that they can open it up if they have
to. Councilman Brown said he has been in the area a number
of times this past month, the road is actually adequate, just
about anything could be driven there, it is just the entrance
that needs widening, and in his opinion that could be
mitigated at a very small cost. Mr. Bates then pointed out
that they would then be coming through the basketball courts,
the concern is not just an emergency, but when they decide to
clean out the channel, which they do regularly, or when Flood
Control decides to do maintenance, they will be coming
through Island Village property, the plan is to fence off the
whole front area, not widen it, now that there will no longer
be bike path access through the area, at this point there
needs to be some mitigation for access from the south. Mr.
Mark Hotchkiss, the Hill, recalled that Mr. Bartlett had
stated that there is going to be an access road for emergency
purposes, however he referred to page 6-4 of the EIR that he
said states that 'current projects planned do not call for an
existing road that leads to the Gum Grove nature area to be
substantially improved as part of this project or connect
with the residential area', that is not part of this plan.
That is important, it was pointed out by the Archaeological
Committee that that road would disturb archaeological sites
in Gum Grove, also, the City has stated that no sites in Gum
Grove would be investigated or mitigated. He agreed with the
comment of Councilmember Forsythe that CEQA does not require
information in the EIR to be perfect, however he said it does
require a good faith effort to present all available
information, in his opinion it is evident is has been a bad
faith effort. Mr. Hotchkiss stated that the Archaeological
Committee had recommended that if the City could not get the
infrared photos taken previously that they be reshot, which
he said he saw nothing to that effect in the documents. Mr.
Hotchkiss said that although it has been said that a good
faith effort has been made to include the Native Americans in
the process, he claimed that within days after a previous
meeting making that offer the spouse of a councilperson
called the Historical Society threatening to withhold a sign
for the Red Car Museum if Ms. Lillian Robles spoke before the
Society. Mr. Hotchkiss declined to reveal his source of
information, and then posed his comment directly to the
councilperson in the form of a question as to its validity.
Councilmember Forsythe advised that her husband had been
asked to contribute a sign for the Red Car, to letter both
sides of the Red Car, to paint the railroad crossing sign,
paint banners for McGaugh School, etc., however after
learning of remarks directed to her made by the speaker, his
wife, and some of their cohorts, her husband politely called
and advised that if the Society was going to allow that type
of support for something that was going to slander his wife
he did not want to participate or contribute his time. There
being no further comments, Mayor Hastings declared Oral
Communications closed.
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COUNCIL CONCERNS
Councilmember Campbell reported telephone calls being
received alleging that the recall supporters are trying to
get people to sign under the guise of selecting a plan of
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development for the Bixby property, described as sign here if
one wants residential, sign another place if they want
commercial, there is no mention of her name. Councilmember
Campbell said she has called the Secretary of State's office
in Sacramento and was told that under Elections Code Section
18600 it is a misdemeanor for the recall supporters to
intentionally misrepresent the contents of a recall petition,
she repeated that statement a second time, and said at this
time she was publicly asking Gordon Trigg, the leader of the
recall movement, to produce original paperwork with original
signatures that requests support for commercial or
residential development, this would be a petition separate
from the recall, demanded to see written proof by wednesday,
September 24th at City Hall or said this matter will be
pursued legally with the district attorney's office as the
Secretary of State has recommended. Councilmember Campbell
concluded that this is a very serious situation.
Councilmember Brown noted that the pumps that are going to
take the water out of the catch basin and into the San
Gabriel River are electric, they will be replaced with diesel
pumps some day, meanwhile there is no backup for those pumps,
and to that the County has moved to contract with a vendor in
Long Beach to provide backup electrical power for those pumps
during any emergency situation. Mayor Hastings once again
welcomed and thanked Chief Sellers for his attendance at the
meetings. The Mayor mentioned that a resident of 14th Street
called her again with regard to the fly situation in the
alleys, another call received from a resident of 5th Street,
and it has been determined that the problem is the result of
people placing garbage in their refuse cans without being
properly wrapped, that attracts the flies, people in the
downtown area are also using their recycling barrels for
garbage and refuse, and while walking the alleys between 14th
and Seal Beach Boulevard and Seal Way she experienced no
evidence of flies, however the people seem to think the
problem is the result of the once a week collection. The
City Manager offered that it will help when all of the
automated cans, with lids, are distributed, in the interim it
would be helpful if people wrapped their waste appropriately,
a reminder can also be distributed with the water/trashing
billing. The Mayor reported that in the meantime the Manager
will contact the disposal contractor and Vector Control to
take care of these spot problems. Mayor Hastings announced
her attendance at a gathering of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust
this date, at this gathering Seal Beach was presented with a
plaque in recognition of their support for the Land Trust and
preservation of the Bolsa Chica, she and Councilmember
Forsythe having been early members of the Trust and now
working towards preservation of the Mesa. She noted that
Senator Boxer was also present at the gathering in support of
the Bolsa Chica endeavors. In response to comments made
earlier, Councilmember Forsythe advised that her husband had
lettered both sides of the Red Car, as well as the railroad
crossing sign, taking his Saturday and Sunday, this done out
of the goodness of his heart, and asked the speaker what he
has done lately.
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ADJOURNMENT
It was the order of the Chair, with consent of the Council,
to direct that the October 13th meeting be canceled and
adjourned until Monday, October 20th at 6:30 p.m. to meet in
Closed Session if deemed necessary, and the Agency in turn
adjourned until October 20th to meet with the Council in an
adjourned session for a joint public hearing at 6:30 p.m.
The Council and Agency meetings were adjourned by unanimous
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9-22-97 / 10/13/97 / 10-20-97
consent at 1:30 a.m.
Approved:
Attest:
Seal Beach, California
October 13, 1997
Pursuant to the direction of the City Council at their
regular meeting of September 22, 1997, the October 13th, 1997
regular meeting was canceled and adjourned until October 20th
at 6:30 p.m.
Ci Clerk ana
o he City of
Seal Beach, California
October 20, 1997
The Redevelopment Agency adjourned meeting was called to
order by Chairman Campbell at 6:30 p.m. with the Salute to
the Flag for the purpose of meeting in a joint session with
the adjourned City Council.
ROLL CALL
Present:
Chairman Campbell
Mayor Hastings
Agency/Council Members Brown, Forsythe, Fulton
Absent:
None
Also present: Mr. Till, Executive Director/City Manager
Mr. Barrow, City Attorney
Mr. Whittenberg, Director of Development
Services
Mrs. Yeo, City Clerk
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Brown moved, second by Fulton, to approve the order of the
agenda as presented.
AYES:
NOES:
Brown, Campbell, Forsythe, Fulton, Hastings
None Motion carried