WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.110 --> 00:00:20.470 On this week's episode: the City Council votes five to three for new artificial turf on two heavily used park fields, the Planning Commission backs a Ronald McDonald House expansion, and a look at the city's housing pipeline. 2 00:00:23.814 --> 00:00:27.454 From the City of Roses, here's your weekly debrief. 3 00:00:28.054 --> 00:00:43.819 Tuesday's City Council meeting opened by proclaiming October Domestic Violence Awareness Month. There were commendations for Peace Over Violence and for a representative of Shepherd's Door. Both groups work with the city prosecutor and police to help victims. 4 00:00:43.819 --> 00:01:01.584 And the meeting closed in memory of a longtime city employee. The city manager said she joined the city in 2008, in what's now Parks, Recreation and Community Services, and was most recently a program coordinator in the Rent Stabilization Department. The council will send a letter to her family. 5 00:01:01.584 --> 00:01:08.094 This episode was produced with AI from the public recording of the meeting. Links to the source are in the show notes. 6 00:01:11.597 --> 00:01:24.382 Our top story this week: what goes on the ground at Villa Parke and Robinson Park. They're the city's only two artificial turf athletic fields, both in Northwest Pasadena, and both near the end of their life. 7 00:01:24.382 --> 00:01:26.142 What did staff recommend? 8 00:01:26.142 --> 00:01:46.437 New turf, but a different kind. It's recyclable, made without the forever chemicals known as PFAS, and filled with natural material instead of rubber. Staff said the contract would require proof that it's PFAS-free. Staff also stressed that this covers only these two fields. The city keeps twenty grass fields. 9 00:01:46.437 --> 00:01:48.357 So why not grass here too? 10 00:01:48.357 --> 00:02:18.497 Mostly playing time. Staff said building a grass field would close it for four to six months, and then about three months every year for renovation. Staff put the maintenance cost per playable hour at about five dollars for turf and sixteen for grass, not counting what the fields cost to build. Over ten years, staff estimated Villa Parke at about one and a half million dollars for grass and two point four million for turf. On heat, staff said natural infill runs cooler than rubber but is still hotter than grass. 11 00:02:18.497 --> 00:02:19.857 And the health questions? 12 00:02:19.857 --> 00:02:42.077 The city's health director cited a state study from March of thirty-five California fields. It found no toxic levels in players, coaches, referees or spectators, and he called the risk low. He added that the study likely didn't include newer products like the one proposed. Here's a councilmember questioning the health director a little later in the debate. 13 00:02:42.727 --> 00:02:46.887 Did you review the Environmental Advisory Commission report? 14 00:02:47.447 --> 00:02:49.127 I did not review it. Sorry. 15 00:02:49.687 --> 00:02:50.647 Why not? 16 00:02:51.207 --> 00:02:52.807 I didn't know that there was a report. 17 00:02:53.453 --> 00:03:00.893 The director said his department had reviewed contamination and health effects only, not broader environmental impacts. 18 00:03:00.893 --> 00:03:23.423 Twenty-six members of the public spoke, about sixteen against turf and ten for it. Supporters, including coaches, league leaders and union installers, cited playing time and access for lower-income families. Opponents raised heat, chemicals, microplastics and environmental justice for Northwest Pasadena, and several urged sod or hybrid grass instead. 19 00:03:23.423 --> 00:03:25.023 And the council? 20 00:03:25.023 --> 00:03:53.533 One councilmember said Northwest Pasadena families depend on these fields and that a three-month closure is unacceptable. He also said the Villa Parke coaches, parents and players he met with were unanimous for turf. A councilmember opposed to it said turf sends microplastics and forever chemicals into the water table, and that the lost play time could be made up with help from the school district or with sod. The recommendation passed five to three. Councilmembers Rick Cole, Jason Lyon and Steve Madison voted no. 21 00:03:53.533 --> 00:03:55.213 What happens next? 22 00:03:55.213 --> 00:04:13.773 Staff said Villa Parke has one million, one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars in this year's capital budget. Robinson Park has no funding yet, so staff will come back to ask for it. Staff also plans a two-year pilot testing four grass seed varieties on part of the Villa Parke multipurpose field. 23 00:04:17.437 --> 00:04:28.637 Next: on Wednesday, the Planning Commission took up an expansion of the Ronald McDonald House on South Pasadena Avenue. It houses the families of children being treated at nearby hospitals. 24 00:04:28.637 --> 00:04:29.932 What's the plan? 25 00:04:29.932 --> 00:04:51.687 The charity wants to expand onto two parcels on St. John Avenue. The plan adds a parking lot for up to twenty-five cars, an elevator and accessibility work in its two Craftsman houses, and a larger support building. Staff said it would still serve up to seventeen families. A representative said the charity has rented the property for twenty-two years and wants to own it. 26 00:04:51.687 --> 00:04:53.207 Where was the debate? 27 00:04:53.207 --> 00:05:19.557 Over the front yards on its two streets. A variance would let a circular driveway pave fifty-four percent of the Pasadena Avenue front yard, where thirty percent is allowed. And along St. John, across from a landmark district, the fence would be solid and six feet tall, where the rule is four feet and half open. One commissioner was inclined to say no to both the fence and the paving. Another member pushed back on the driveway, saying the fire department had asked for it. 28 00:05:19.557 --> 00:05:41.117 The commissioner answered that there are multiple parking spaces there as well, and that a place to pull in is needed, but not necessarily five spaces. Staff then explained that the lot qualifies for a circular driveway, but the fire department needs a wider one, and that pushes the paving over the limit. The applicant said the department asked for about eighteen feet instead of twelve. 29 00:05:41.117 --> 00:06:10.517 On the fence, that commissioner said it would block the view of a historic building, while another gave weight to the families' privacy. All three public speakers supported the project. One of them, a representative of Pasadena Heritage, urged care with the fencing on St. John. The commission voted on the fence height separately, and it passed with two commissioners opposed. Everything else passed with one no. This is a recommendation, and the City Council has the final say. 30 00:06:13.861 --> 00:06:33.076 Our third story is housing, from Wednesday's Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee. Staff counted twenty-three major projects submitted or under construction, totaling four thousand one hundred sixty homes. According to the staff memo, about a quarter are density bonus units, and over a third will be affordable. 31 00:06:33.076 --> 00:06:35.156 What's a density bonus? 32 00:06:35.156 --> 00:07:08.001 Under state law, a developer who sets aside below-market homes can build more than zoning allows. The developer can also ask for up to five concessions, like extra height or floor area, plus as many waivers as needed. Staff said the city's ability to deny those requests is very limited. Staff couldn't find a single case where state regulators or a judge agreed a concession could be denied. In one city, a denial on safety grounds led the developer to redesign with a scaled-back request, but that case never reached the state or a court. 33 00:07:08.001 --> 00:07:10.641 Will all those homes actually get built? 34 00:07:10.641 --> 00:07:33.241 Staff said many market-rate projects are moving slowly or are on pause, while funded, fully affordable projects are moving ahead. A councilmember concluded that the pipeline may not all get built, or not soon. The same councilmember urged working with state legislators, rather than fighting Sacramento, to give some local control back to cities that produce affordable housing. 35 00:07:33.241 --> 00:07:36.201 And the new projects? 36 00:07:36.201 --> 00:08:05.301 Five came in over the past six months, all residential and all using the density bonus. They include two hundred eighty-nine units at the former ninety-nine cent store site on North Los Robles, two hundred twenty-five at 444 North Fair Oaks, and a hundred ten affordable homes on a school district site on Pasadena Avenue. Two more are fully affordable projects on East Colorado. Staff expects to bring density bonus changes to the zoning code to the council early next year. 37 00:08:08.644 --> 00:08:12.324 Now a few shorter items from around City Hall. 38 00:08:12.324 --> 00:08:22.919 Last week we told you the council introduced an ordinance exempting qualifying Eaton Fire repairs from the city's construction tax. On Tuesday the council adopted it unanimously. 39 00:08:22.919 --> 00:08:56.079 The council also approved first-quarter budget changes. They include just over fifty-five thousand dollars to finish showers, restrooms and a laundry room at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church for the Bad Weather Shelter. At the Finance Committee, a councilmember said the health department wants a three-hundred-thousand-dollar kitchen upgrade before the shelter can use the church's kitchen, and called that absurd for a kitchen used for thirty years. City staff said state food rules apply once a kitchen serves the public, but that the health department isn't requiring specific upgrades. 40 00:08:56.079 --> 00:09:11.034 The council also set aside General Fund reserves: about fifty-four point seven million dollars for emergencies, and up to eighteen point two million as an operating reserve. Staff said the policy hasn't changed. The amounts grew because they're percentages, and revenue rose. 41 00:09:11.034 --> 00:09:39.964 Early in Tuesday's meeting, the mayor said Pasadena is now a Friendship City with Guanajuato, Mexico. A councilmember objected that only the full council can invite a sister city. At the end of the meeting, the mayor corrected the record. He said he had sent a letter to Guanajuato's mayor proposing a friendship-city relationship, and that it was accepted. The councilmember questioned that, and said the council first saw the letters after a member of the public asked for them in a public records request. 42 00:09:43.308 --> 00:09:46.668 Before we go, here's what's scheduled for next week. 43 00:09:46.668 --> 00:10:09.983 Next Tuesday, October twentieth, the City Council is scheduled to consider rescinding its September notice ending the Rose Bowl Riders' lease and issuing a new one, with a deadline to vacate of January thirty-first. Also on the agenda: the design of the Brookside Park stormwater capture project, an update to the city's water waste rules, and an information report on the police acquiring an armored personnel carrier. 44 00:10:09.983 --> 00:10:26.428 Next Wednesday, the Municipal Services Committee hears a citywide traffic safety update. It also gets a Water and Power report on supply chains for electrical equipment, where some large transformers take anywhere from a year and a half to five years or more to arrive. 45 00:10:29.772 --> 00:10:36.492 Did we get something wrong? There's a link on this episode's page to report it, and corrections are read on air. 46 00:10:36.492 --> 00:10:39.452 That's the news from City Hall. See you next Friday.