Santa Cruz City Planning 08/20/2026

Good. All right. Thank you everyone for your patience this evening as we had to wait until we had full quorum. Um I'm going to go ahead and call um today's August 20th, 2026 meeting for the Santa Cruz Planning Commission. U Tess, can you go ahead and please call a roll? >> Commissioner Paul Hamus Gordon Kennedy >> here. >> McKelie >> here. Hammer Thompson >> here. >> Chair Kelly >> here. Thank you. Um at this uh next we're going to go ahead and do statements of disqualification. Do any commissioners have any disqualifications disclosed for tonight's agenda items? >> No. >> All right. >> No. >> Fantastic. All right. I'm going to go ahead and move to oral communications. Oral communications is a time for members of the public to go ahead and speak uh to the commission on items not on tonight's agenda. Um so if anyone would like to speak on any items not addressed tonight um and you wish to speak, please come on up. All right, seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close oral communications. All right, first item on our agenda is the approval of minutes. Um, tonight we have two items um to approve of. The minutes for June 4th, 2026 and the special planning commission meeting for July 23rd, 2026. Are there any commissioners who would like to make corrections or comments on any either set of minutes? >> No. >> All right. Anyone want to make a motion? >> I move to approve both sets of minutes. >> I second. >> All right. With a motion on the floor, um, all in favor say I. >> I. >> I. All right. Motion passes. All right. The next item is uh item two of uh and it is a consent item and staff is going to go ahead and present a brief explanation of the consent item for tonight. >> Yeah, I just wanted to uh mention I we obviously have three items that are all along Westcliffe um that are on the agenda tonight. And so um some of the reasoning for Westcliffe uh for that the item that's on the consent calendar um main reason being that different from the other as you probably read the staff reports a little more straightforward project um where it's just basically pulling in the the path um from the the bluff retreat. Um couple differences between the consent item and the other two items is with the consent item um we're issuing the coastal permit. It's completely within the city's jurisdiction. It's not in the coastal commission jurisdiction. Additionally, um it's in terms of SQA, there are no um environmental impacts um and was categorically exempt from from a SQA standpoint. So, kind of the main differences and so it's a little little more of a straightforward project. Therefore, that's why we we kept it on the consent calendar. >> Thank you. Alrighty. Um so, yeah. So item two is involving two locations along West Cliff Drive. Um one on Lighthouse and then the other one is on Lighthouse uh West Cliff Drive and Gel Street. Um do any commissioners wish to pull this item from consent? >> No. >> All right. Seeing none, then um we can go ahead and open to the public for any comment. Does anyone want to make a comment on the consent item for tonight? All right. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and bring it back to mission. Commission, do you have any questions that you'd like to ask staff or? >> All right. Anyone want to entertain a motion? >> I move to approve the um the item as written. >> Seconded. >> All right. Tess, would you like to do a roll call vote on that one? >> Commissioner Kennedy, >> I. >> McKelie, >> I. >> Thompson, >> I. >> Chair Kelly, >> I. All right, that motion passes. All right. Uh the next item on the agenda um are both are we are consolidating items three and four for tonight's hearing. Um so both items three and four are concerned projects along West Cliff Drive and because the projects were reviewed under similar process, the staff has consolidated the presentation for these two items. Uh, just pulling up the PowerPoint. One second. Okay. Uh, good evening, commissioners. I'm John Jezik, associate planner with the community development department, and I'll be presenting two development projects along West Cliff Drive tonight. So, for some background, during 2023 and 2024, Santa Cruz experienced uh heavy winter storms and atmospheric rivers. Uh and these weather events generated large waves uh which continually battered uh the West Cliff Bluffs. Um and as an effect of that, several sections of these bluffs um as well as West Cliff Drive itself and the pedestrian path eroded into the ocean. Um and so we have some pictures that show that. So this is right under um Lighthouse Field. You can see that a part of the multi-use path collapsed into uh the ocean. And then this is a pretty good picture too. This is um where the Bethany curve bridge is. You can see that there's significant portions of the multi-use path and also the road itself that have eroded into the ocean. Uh so in response to that, the public works department has worked with governing bodies like the California Coastal Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the Army Corps of Engineers to perform uh emergency repairs for these storm damaged areas along West Cliff. Um and these emergency repairs have since concluded and uh public works has received formal approval from the regional water quality control board and the army corps of engineers and now public works is requesting uh formal approval from the city as well. Uh so the first project is CP26-000092. Uh this is the emergency repairs and this location is roughly bounded by uh 920 and 10:30 West Cliff Drive. Uh seven separate locations along that strip of Westcliff Drive. Um and project activities included repairs of the roadway, uh repairs of the existing multi-use path, and filling of a sinkhole um underneath the parking lot and also infilling of sea caves. Um in addition to that there were hardskate coastal armoring that was added um that took the form of engineered seaw walls, rock slope protections and also um rip wrap. Um and then also lastly the uh Bethany culvert was damaged as part of these storms and has since been um replaced as part of this emergency work. Um and so public works is requesting that the planning commission formally approve um all of that emergency work which has taken place. Um and the second project for consideration tonight uh beyond the scope of emergency repairs um is a project to realign an approximately 600 square foot section of West Cliff Drive um and its associated multi-use path. Um and this is located um in the southwestern corner of Lighthouse Field. And the public works department is proposing to realign these uh this rideway um to provide a buffer from future coastal erosion events. Uh this work has not yet been completed and if the planning commission approves this project, construction is uh slated to begin um in the early parts of 2027. So, here's a kind of a brief view of what that road relocation looks like. Okay. In terms of permits required, um both of these projects require the same zoning permits and the same level of review um at a public hearing with the planning commission. The first one being a design permit because the project consists of public improvements in the coastal zone uh pertaining to roads and rights of way. Um the second one being a variance to slope regulations. Uh the project is located within 10 ft of a 30% or greater slope which is the adjacent Westcliff bluffs and also a coastal permit. uh because sections of both of these projects are in the California Coastal Commission's original jurisdiction which generally starts seawward of the bluffs. Um and the Coastal Commission indicated that they will be processing one consolidated coastal permit for the entirety of these two applications. And so planning staff has added a condition of approval to the project um requiring that the uh the public works receive coastal commission approval um prior to the start of construction. And uh so the general format of these next few slides are going to be um um for each topic I'll be discussing the emergency work first and then the road relocation. Um so in terms of design review uh the emergency work primarily consisted of repairs to the existing infrastructure. Um but there were new retaining walls constructed and uh as you can see in this picture those retaining walls were textured and colored to resemble the uh immediately adjacent natural cliffs and bluffs. Um and that design choice was intended to help integrate these hardscape features into the natural environment. Um, also with the Bethany C uh Culvert um replacement, uh, public works is proposing mosaic panels to be attached to that bridge. Um, but city design review is not required for public art. Um, but the coastal commission has determined that those improvements uh would be reviewed with the coastal permit process absent this um, no city process for approval. Um staff has received some public comments that um some areas within the emergency repair site um have rebar that is sticking out from some of the rocks and some of the concrete um posing a a public safety uh safety hazard. and uh public works staff intends to have the project contractor come out and locate and cap those pieces of rebar um to minimize the safety hazards associated with it. Um and also staff has received public comments about um some of the consequences that can arise from coastal armoring. Um, so retaining walls and the like have the potential to reduce uh beach widths and also shift uh where sand is in relation to the beach and the coast. Um, and so as part of the coastal permit review uh with the California Coastal Commission, public works staff is going to uh work to mitigate those uh impacts to sand. that could potentially um um include um removal of unnecessary rip prep or payment of a sands mitigation in Luffy. Um but that's still being actively discussed amongst um public works and the coastal commission uh for approval at a a later public hearing. And in terms of design review for the road realignment, um it primarily consists of atgrade structures which don't add uh visual impact to the surrounding area. Um and the project will be built to public works standard details um ensuring vis uh visual and physical compatibility with adjacent road conditions. Um the project proposes to remove the temporary plastic and chain link jersey barriers that are currently on site and replace them with uh redwood um visually permeable fencing more in character with the surrounding area. Um and also the road portion of this project is designed to be outside of the anticipated 100year um erosion area. Um, and then the multi-use path is designed to be located out of the 50-year erosion area. Um, and that's documented by the project geotechnical report which um created these like dashed lines showing um potentially where the coast could erode in the future. In terms of sensitive habitat, uh during the Brethony Bethany curve bridge work, the CI the city identified that there was sensitive riparian habitat in the construction area. And so the public works department obtained a uh biotic report and followed its recommendations during construction that involved a workers environmental uh awareness program as well as preconstruction uh monitoring for um birds and other sensitive um species. And over the course of construction, uh the monitors didn't identify any um sensitive species or um plants that were in the project area. So construction concluded without impacting them. Then also throughout the emergency repair sites, uh public works planted approximately uh 14,000 square feet of native plants to reveate the areas impacted by construction. And uh with regard to the road realignment, uh the biotic report identified that the project site um is within um sensitive habitat for nesting birds, roosting bats, and overwintering monarch butterflies. And um a initial study was proposed for this project um which uh drafted mitigation measures to reduce impacts to these uh sensitive species to um less than significant levels. Um so this takes the form of pre-construction surveys um avoidance procedures to limit u that habitat impact during construction as well as limiting the times that um the monterey cypress trees are pruned um so that um overwintering monarch butterfly habitat isn't disturbed. Uh with respect to archaeological resources, uh during the Bethany curve uh construction work, um an archaeological monitor was on site over the course of construction and they uh did uncover three historical artifacts. Two glass bottles um or two of those being glass bottles and one of them being a fairly large uh disused trolley rail segment. Um and the uh archaeologists determined that these findings were isolated and um relatively disturbed. Um so they didn't qualify for any listing on state or national historic registers. >> Am I remembering right that that used to be a trolley line? Like there's a sign there. Okay, thank you. >> Yeah, there was a a trolley line that ran cool. >> Pretty interesting. Um and with regards to the road realignment portion of the project, it's on sacred lands for the Costaan Aloney Romson Mutson tribe and uh archival research um and a site evaluation showed that the potential to impact those resources is relatively low with grading activity. Um but the it's still a possibility. Um so the um planning department created mitigation measures to establish clear procedures in case that um the archaeological or tribal resources are found over the course of construction. And so getting to the end here, uh, in terms of SQA review, um, all of the emergency construction work qualifies for a statutory exemption from SQA. Um, because all of this work was performed in response to a declared California state disaster. Um and the road realignment project, an initial study was prepared and through that document, the city identified that there could potentially be significant impacts on the environment with respect to the archaeological and um tribal cultural and biotic resources that I talked about previously. And so the city further evaluated um that mitigation measures could be created to reduce those impacts to a less than significant level um which was discussed earlier in this presentation. So on the slide right now are the uh two recommendations that the planning department is proposing for the planning commission. Thank you. >> Right. Thank you for your presentation. Does any commissioners have any clarifying questions? they would like to ask staff before we open. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> At risk of touching a sore nerve, can you tell me a little bit more about the mosaic thing there? The mosaics are planned, but because they're on the coastal commission part of the bluff, approval goes straight to coastal. Like, is that weird? It sounds weird. >> Yeah, I think the city doesn't have a precedent of processing design permits or slope variances for public art. Um but um in the local coastal program there's language that um essentially development is defined very broadly in the local coastal program. >> Okay. >> Um and it's more broad than what the city defines as development. So the coastal commission decided to take on the review that specific project feature. >> Interesting. Does that mean it's more or less likely to happen or it's just it's just a different reviewing body? I'm just thinking like from a local perspective if I live on West Cliff and I want to have some input there. It's a little bit weird or you maybe that's not an appropriate question. I'm not sure. >> Yeah, I think um so the coastal commission will be holding a public hearing for this improvement um probably in in the coming months at least before the end of the year. Okay. Um, and I do know that there are um um there are like bodies that are like disseminating information regarding the mural. So >> cool. That's excellent explanation. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Great presentation. >> All right, I'll go next and then we'll go down the line. Um, all right. So my question is that you mentioned the 50-year community plan vision plan. Is is that my correction? I'm assuming that >> uh I think I mentioned the 50-year um erosion area. >> Okay, cool. So in aligning with that um do these projects also illustrates um like how we're considering tonight fits into that long-term vision on Westcliffe? Yes, the uh Westcliffe adaptation management plan um incentivizes that future projects um advocate for managed coastal retreat as compared to coastal armoring. So the city's intent is to be proactive um in bringing the road and the rights of way beyond these erosion areas. Um and actually in the West Cliff Drive um adaptation management plan um that section of Lighthouse Field is identified as one of the highest erosion areas. Um in so that's why it was preferenced um to be relocated um earlier than some of the other sections of road. >> Uh do any of the designs that we're approving tonight constrain or make future implementation of a vision more difficult? Um, Kevin, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, Kevin Crossley with public works, city engineer. Um, it's a pretty broad question. I'm hoping you can kind of narrow things down for me so I can give you a more specific response. >> Fair enough. So between the five-year road map and the 50 uh 50y year vision plan, we're trying to basically separate pedestrians and cyclists, which I believe RTC also made that comment in the report. Um so how are we aggressively making sure that we're aligning with those goals that are rapidly approaching? Um, I would maybe nuance the answer with first saying that uh we heard a lot of community input about the desire to improve safety along Westcliff uh for all modes of transportation. Uh separating cyclists and um pedestrians uh is is one way you can do that. Although we didn't have a specific uh project in the five-year plan to to do that. Uh we're currently working on um the shoreline adaptation and management planning process which is uh another uh community opportunity to to voice opinions about priorities and projects along the coastline and uh definitely uh enhanced pedestrian safety uh for all modes is one of the things that we've heard a lot from the community about. Um and uh potentially piloting different roadway configurations is in the mix of things that may be an outcome of that uh adaptation and management plan process that's underway right now. >> All right. Thank you. Um would you say that this plan is a more aggressive version of getting to that uh vision or is this kind of somewhere moderate? Um, I think in particular the roadway uh realignment uh represents the city's commitment to trying to uh do things other than armoring where uh the opportunities are there. And so yeah, what we're trying to do is present a balanced approach here. Um 50% of West Cliff is armored currently and so that's a condition we're going to be living with. Excuse me. Sorry for the feedback. Um but uh in the case with Lighthouse Field, there's a great opportunity to to do something different. Um, and so we're really trying to maximize um the longevity of the improvements we're proposing here tonight so that we're not having to come back and fix the road in another 10 or 20 years. >> All right. Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> Perhaps a question for you. I'm not sure. In figure three uh of the report, there is an alignment shown for what appears to be the pedestrian and bicycle uh path and then the road path. I'm just curious as to the reason for the separation at a point where it appears to push the path further out beyond the hundred-year uh line. Is there a technical reason for that or is it is it a design focus or >> just to get everybody oriented maybe you can back up. John, do you know which figure he's referring to? It's one of the design drawings. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I can talk us through that. Um here let's go to a uh well this one works because it's got the erosion projections. So um we were trying to accomplish a couple different things here. Um first of all we're working with the geometry limitations of a road and so the road has to account for the turning radiuses of vehicles. So roadway design has pretty prescriptive you know minimum bends and things like that you have to work with. Um so that's what governed the layout of the road basically. Uh the path we had more flexibility with. Um so we uh looked at a couple different layouts and ended up with this one because for starters we were trying to uh reconnect the path um by the parking lot in an area that didn't conflict with a couple of mature trees that are there. And so we had to either go um on the oceanside or um uh inland of those trees which would have created quite an awkward connection uh and required removal of parking in a parking lot the city doesn't actually own. that's a state parks managed parking lot. So, in part, we were just trying to land the path back to where it um previously was uh while also pushing it back as far as we could and not having it run behind the back curb of the road. Um it's not a very nice experience to be walking right next to the road. So, we wanted to leave um a sort of planted strip between the path and and the roadway. I'm just asking because I walk there very often and a lot of the space is, you know, the the the edge of the path is concurrent with the curb. >> Yeah. >> And I'm just looking at that one space where the that's created between the path and the road on the west end >> and and uh see just kind of thinking that that could happen a little later. I realize it's a little longer along the road, but it it does appear to cross quite far over the um the boundaries of the different timelines of the erosion. So anyway, I just I I understand what you're saying. Um I just are is this leading to a lot more expense in the the design and the construction of that or is it is it uh pretty much level ground? we're just going to have to do it sooner if there's a repair that has to be done. >> Um, we tried to tie the path in behind areas that are armored, which means that those erosion projections are relatively fixed. That's why all three of the 50, 75, and 100year erosion projections all converge there on the west side of the screen. Okay. All right. Thanks. When I first looked at this, um I was trying to understand the um uh shape of the road and its distance, but I think you've covered that well. I'm um I'm I'm convinced that um uh it it makes sense to push the road back for the reasons that you laid out that u it um is less likely to require armoring to protect the road. And so, um, it makes sense to me now. And, and, um, I think the fact that we might be able to have a pedestrian bicycle, um, path that's closer to the bluff is nice. Um, but, um, I think the roads in the right place, and I'm I'm comfortable with that now. >> All right. Any other questions from commissioners? All right. Thank you so much. All right. I am at this time I'll go ahead and open in um public comment. Uh anyone who wishes to speak on item three or four tonight, please go ahead and line up to um uh your right, my left. Um all right, if you could sign in as well, that helps us with our minutes. Thank you. Go ahead and state your name and then you'll have three minutes to make your comment. >> This the presentation. >> Oh, listen. >> And thanks for waiting for us for 15 minutes. Appreciate that. >> No problem. >> Uh, hi. I'm Benny Benny Dresser. Uh, I'm a published ecological scientist with a BS from UCSB. I'm a lifelong Santa Cruz resident as well. Next slide. And this here is a stunning image of the very location that I will be speaking about today many years ago. I'm a surfer and important for day today I am a boogie boarder as well. I have, like other boogie boarders, closely monitored sand movement all along Westcliffe Drive and the West Cliff um natural coastline throughout my entire adult life because doing so is essential for the enjoyment of our sport. I'm here today to mention that there is some more work to be done with regards to the closest aspect to the shore at um a world surf heritage world surf reserve site. Um there was good work done at the road level, but emergency repairs nearest to the shore were shoddy in my opinion and need to be cleaned up. Um right here is some geoexile that should not have been used this close to the shore. That's marine pollution waiting to happen. Next slide, please. We've already uh had the rebar issue spoken to. I thank you very much for getting ahead of that. So let's just click through these slides. Yeah, that's a personal injury lawsuit waiting to happen. Uh let's stop here. Um we can see that there is next slide. Um soft rock at this area. This is a beach access point. You can see a footprint there in the foreground. The rock is eroding faster than the cement. So the cement's um over time going to get undercut and then break underfoot and fall into the ocean. Um just a point I want to bring up while I'm here today. Next slide. So, my main point today though is about the rip wrap. My main request is that the displaced rip wrap at this location be relocated. Instead of reststacking the rip wrap like beachgoers and boogie boarders have requested the city to do in the past while the road was closed, additional rocks were instead piled on top, further pushing existing rip rub onto the beach. Uh why did this choice happen? It's rather shortsighted. Every new rock that is placed on the cliff will eventually roll downhill into the beach and into the water edge recreation zone. A bigger pile is a bigger mess in the making and gravity and entropy conspiring together will never be fully overcome by human design, no matter how ingenious. Next slide. We're going to introduce some scale bars with reference to the the um structural awning there in pink. Fawn rip wrap is a hazard to beachgoers and boogie boarders because of dangerous submerged rocks in the waiting and wave riding zone. It is substantially impacted. The quality consistency of this um rare type of beach break, a world surf reserve wave that is these kinds of waves um wedging waves along the coastline are extremely uncommon and precious. Um what was once a clean wide open barrel is now a jolting backwash mess ending in a field of sharp tombstones. On the now rare ridable days, waves that were once beautiful rides now require grit teeth, daredevil behavior, and the tempting of fate. I've been rolled over rocks myself, ending my session. It's not pleasant out there. For all beachgoers exit exiting the water, this is anybody on the beach. Um, these are dog walking beaches uh in peak summer sand days. Um, exiting the water, crossing between coes at rising tides is now much more dangerous because of the progression of the rip wrap. Next slide, please. In green, we're going to see a reference amount of sand. Uh, lots of variability there over time and due to just natural variation. Next slide. Uh, red is going to be rip wrap. This is 2020. Next slide. 2021. No sand on the beach this year when the photo was taken. Next slide. Uh, the wave event. Uh, you can see the waves pulled the rip wrap out to the east. Um this is where uh wave riders will exit barreling waves. Next slide. Adding rocks on top pushed more rocks even further to meet that protrusion of rock onto the wave riding and beach crossing area. Next slide. Um this is now even further into the future almost uh this is 2025. Next slide. Lots of beach area. Still plenty of rocks in the beach crossing and wave exiting zone. Uh we I'm here to request that rock relocation should be done next May uh after the coming El Nino winter ends. Um it would be great to please begin budgeting for this work. Um now uh and please solicit the boogie boarding and beach waiting beachgoing community's advice on how relocation can happen. We've we've come to the city planning commission many times in the past about this subject. um we have yet to see our um voice become action. Um coastal management that works with the forces of nature and seeks to support the longevity of precious waves such as this one um is uh how I see uh the planning commission going in the future and I applaud that. Um let's take that and turn it into real action on the ground. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for your comment. All right, next president. Go ahead and state your name and then you'll have three minutes for your comment. >> My name is David Curley. >> Parks are precious. Please don't pave them. Realignment provides no safety nets. Clipsy road then snatch more park from wildlife descendants leashed pets. Lighthouse Field rescued in the 70s from high-rise dwelling shopping mall enjoyed by wildlife and their watchers. Historic cypresses need not fall. Redtailed hawk feeds her fledglings yearly nest. Vast open space. Great horned owlet now lives here majestically monitoring the whole place. Mama coyote wanders hunts raises pups in park den nearby raccoon family gathers compost bin d dining dining after 10 rainy season frogs in the meadow massive chirp chorus into night hidden but present ever rejoicing let's not worsen their plight luxury homes lining westcliffe coastal wall keeps them dry. In park realignment really necessary. No alternate options apply. Bulging 700page project plan. Westcliffe wanderers unaware. More public outreach signs and pictures might help understand if they care. Lighthouse Field State Beach Park restoration improvements made it glisten. Project zone marked planning in planting in progress. Let's not plant asphalt. Please listen. Dividing monarch dwindling monarch migrants soon join us. Overwintering sight vital out west. Roost feed mate throughout park. Cypress protection they like best. Vibrant park treasure to be savored. Nestled right here near Midtown. Please enjoy and preserve it without tearing it down. Every surfer, bird watcher, biker, every jogger, walker, critter deserves to bask in parks glow. Disco ball dancing with glitter. Once paved, recover recovery unlikely. Offseason construction does not help. Let's preserve it for generations. Please heed my collective loud yelp. Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your comment. >> Would anyone else like to come up to the podium and speak on these items tonight? All right. Seeing none, would staff like to address any of the issues or concerns? >> Yes. Um, in regards to the first presentation, um, I think public works can speak to this a little bit more. Um but as part of the coastal permit process um the relocation of rip wrap and payment of potential uh sand mitigation fees I believe is on the table. Um I think Kevin could probably speak more about it. Uh yeah. So I think it's worth noting that um I think an upshot of the seaw walls was that we took up quite a bit of rock out of that area. Um without before and after photos, it's hard to visualize that, but there was quite a bit of armoring that um after the emergency storms uh was still left. And so we did take as much as we could uh easily access with the equipment and um means that we had at our disposal at that time. Uh it's quite uh challenging to um pull rock once it's been displaced and in the sort of surf zone or submerged underwater. So uh that's an ongoing process we're continuing to work on. Uh another compounding factor for us was that uh we applied for um FEMA money uh when the emergencies originally happened and we were actually denied uh all the funding requests that we submitted to FEMA. So that really put us at a disadvantage from a a resource standpoint to deal with some of the um rock um that had been displaced that we would have liked to have dealt with um right after the storm events. So, we're continuing to try to chase down funding to do that. It's a it's a very expensive proposition to um go fish rock out of the ocean. Um but it's a important thing that we hear a lot about from the community, the regulators. Um it's going to be a feature in one way, shape, or form of the um coastal permits that we hopefully um go to the board with coastal commission in the next couple of months. >> While you're there, can I ask a quick question? I'm on the sustainability and resiliency committee. So, we just reviewed that plan that I'm blanking on the name of for Westcliffe. And I learned that like rip wrap lasts like 30 years generally speaking. Is that a good rule of thumb or you know, I'm sure it's different here or there depending on where the waves hit. But, uh it was I was like, "Oh man, it only lasts 30 years and then you got to redo it every time." So >> yeah, we uh we inventoried all the rip wrap along the coastline in 2019 and gave it a lifespan of 0 to 30 years was the the time frames assigned and it's really heavily dependent on the orientation of the coastline to the wave attack and >> uh what size rock was used originally. Some of the oldest rip wrap is actually at Cow's Beach and it's some of the, you know, best condition because of the fact that it's in a cove and it's not >> getting hammered like some of the other spots along Westcliff. >> Okay. And just underscored for me how it's like mowing your lawn or pulling weeds. It's just like a constant management process down there. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Um, anyone else need to make a comment before I close? All right. I'm going to close oral communications and bring it back to the commission for item three. Um item three is basically um as we see we can see here the emergency repairs CP26-0092. So I want to just chime in and uh like really salute the city for this process. There's so many o overlapping layers of input and you know going back to the emergency plans and all this climate action stuff is feathering in here. So um I don't know if anyone here is feeling it but there's often this feeling of like oh where did this come from? We didn't get a chance to get our um comments in. And I want to say that was incredible public comment. Thank you for the work on that. I appreciated it. Um, so I just wanted to encourage the public to keep emailing Tiffany and going to the website and, you know, putting your voice out there. Your voice is really heard. It's really true. I mean, we all feel, I think, unique passions for Westcliffe. I know I do. Um, I think of all the memories in those parking lots, you know, when I was in high school and just these wonderful things. So, um I wanted to reassure and emphasize the care that the city's taken with this process and the kind of um how great it is to have this community process ahead of time. So, when we look at these emergency reactions, we really have a guide book for not what everybody wants, but kind of how everyone's feeling about this stuff. So, um I just wanted to say that and I think this is excellent project and have no qualms about making a motion to support it. Um, there's a lot of parts, but it sounds like our discretion is pretty limited here. So, I'd love to talk about public art plans and all these other wonderful things, but let's let's get this through and let those other processes happen because they totally are. >> Any other commissions would like to speak? No, I I would uh applaud the work that the city staff has done on this and I have the opportunity to work in other communities and I can't picture any of those communities having put the kind of thought and care and enlightened engineering bringing to bear on this. So support >> yeah I definitely support the overall direction that uh the manage retreat is here. It's been great seeing that um the real time care into these projects. Anyone want to support a motion? >> I'll go ahead and move to approve item three. >> A second. >> All right. Can I make a friendly amendment? Absolutely. >> The friendly amendment is I'd like to offer um to direct staff where feasible within the approved project scope to incorporate improvements identified in the current Westcliffe road map that advances the 50-year community vision, particularly improvements that facilitate the future separation of pedestrian and um bicycle travel. >> Sounds great to me. Uh staff, any objection to that language? There's a second approve of amendment. All right, we can go ahead and do a roll call vote. >> Commissioner Kennedy >> here. >> Melby. >> I me. >> Thompson >> I. >> Chair Kelly >> I. All right, that motion uh passes. And now we can go ahead and move to item four. Um item four is the road realignment CP26-000077. Unless there's further discussion, I'd be happy to move approval of item four. And would you like with with the friendly amendment language just baked in the first time? >> Yeah, I'll second that. I'm I'm was um uh concerned about it um originally, but I I see the point and I support it. One more quick item of discussion. I was down there today and saw um Mike Rockkins memorial is up in the midst of concrete bunkers and sand flying. And I just uh so appreciate his leadership when he was here with us. And isn't that Santa Cruz sand strong amidst all the rocks and things? So it just made me happy to see that there. And I'm h I'm sure it'll be located relocated to a great spot. Do we have a second motion? >> I think I second. >> You seconded. Okay, perfect. So, if uh there are no further comments, we can go ahead and do a roll call vote. >> Mr. Kennedy, >> I. >> McKelby, >> I. >> Thompson, >> I. >> Chair Kelly, >> I. All right, that one passes. All right, that concludes all the items um on tonight's agenda and we'll now move into information items. Uh staff, do we have anyformational items for tonight? >> Yes. Sorry. Um I do have a couple of updates for you. So, excuse me. Um on August 11th, the project at 900 High Street was approved by the city council. So, that is a housing project that's um up behind the Peace United Church on High Street. Um, and then we do have some stuff coming before you in the coming months. Actually, I only have one thing to report that's coming before you in the coming months. So, September, we have a zoning update package. Um, so that will be some uh less I guess kind of a cleanup package, but um to get the code in line with state law and with um some elements of the climate action plan, >> the yearly >> Yeah. >> Which is a good thing. Yeah. >> Um and then we did have a community meeting last night for the project at 1501 through 1511 Mission Street. So that went very well. We had about 30 attendees and um the architect was there and received a lot of comments about different design options and also heard some concerns um I would say primarily about traffic and the need for pedestrian improvements um along at the bay mission intersection. >> So Tresany is the cross street right there. >> Yes, Tresany is the the exterior side. >> Yeah, an early intersection. Um, and then finally, we have a design guidelines guidelines survey that's open through the end of August. And so, we're encouraging the community to go to that web page and fill out a survey and um, get some input on that. >> I don't want to brag, but I've talked six people into doing it. And they actually did it. >> Step up. You guys, >> I've heard quite a lot of people say that the direct both encouraging other people to go and also done it themselves. So, hopefully it's going to pan out. I heard that you had 60 responses. >> Oh, nice. >> Great. Excellent. The more the better. >> Yep. That's That's >> I had a a quick question on the project um up on um uh by the church up behind the church. Um uh just curious why it didn't come back to the planning commission. It just was heard by the council. >> Yes. So, that was a project that was heard by the planning commission and then and then I think it was appealed to the No, no, I'm sorry. It went to the city council for final approval and then I think it was No, it was appealed to the city council after the planning commission approval. Um, so now that it came back in, it wasn't technically a new project. It was a major modification to the original project. So, um, because it's a modification, it just needs to be heard by the hear by the hearing body who approved the original project. >> It was a substantial change. So, I was surprised that it didn't come back to us. But that makes sense, >> you know. >> Yeah, it is. It is major modifications are sort of substantial changes. We have to make the all the findings again whereas like a minor modification, we just have to make limited findings. Um, so yeah, there were a lot of changes. >> It it only occurred to me because it was a really substantial change. So for the better, but um still it was um it wasn't a small tweak. It was a big deal. >> All right. Thank you. All right. I guess we'll move to some committee and advisor body oral reports. >> We had another meeting of the sustainability and resiliency subcommittee. It's going great. We reviewed all these Westcliffe adaptation plans. Oh, the level of like technical detail and engineers and then all this, like I said earlier, like the emotion of everyone about West Cliff. It's just quite a process. But, um, it's like thrilling. We're ahead of everyone else. And essentially, it's going to cost so much money that we just have to be like first in to get all this money from above. And boy, are we well positioned for that at >> or a different state perhaps? >> Who knows? Who knows? But um we'll be ready to catch that money whenever it comes. >> It it was heartening. It was really nice. On the downside, we scheduled a meeting when one of our members who's in high school was in class because we couldn't find a room. And I'm just like, >> "All right, so the climate voice that we're not going to hear is the high school student." And that's okay. I understand staff. I know scheduling and noticing and the Brown Act these. But I was just like, "What the hell? We're never going to solve this place in the room." So, I just wanted to express that and let it go. Um, good committee. Maybe it will continue. We're not sure. >> All right. Anyone else? Awesome. Um, and you covered items on future agenda items, so I think we can go ahead and join. >> Thank you, everyone. >> You just parking lot on that.