Speaker 2: I remember 19 report from city manager recommendation to receive report and provide direction to staff on the options, addressing bio technical and various other alternatives for the bluff, erosion and Enhancement. Phase two Project District three.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm going to turn this over to our city staff.
Speaker 5: Mr. Mayor, council members, this has been before the city council several times. This is a project that actually started in the year 2000. I'm going to give it to our assistant city manager, Tom Modica, to walk us through where we are now, what we were asked to do by the City Council and what recommendations are tonight to proceed to complete the Bluff Project.
Speaker 11: Mr. MODICA Thank you, Mr. City Manager and Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. Tonight we have a fairly detailed presentation about this project. As the manager mentioned, it does go back a long way. I want to provide a lot of history. I want to provide some context about what had happened in the last year or so. Some of you were on the council during that time and some were not. And tonight, we're asking you for some direction as well. We've done a tremendous amount of study on this on this issue. And tonight, we're asking for some direction. So to go back, getting the slides up here. Okay. So I'm project background. November 2000 is when this all started and Tetra Tech completed a master plan for development for our overall BLOCK Erosion Enhancement Project. So we went out to the community. We did targeted outreach, met with a number of groups. And the real purpose of that master plan was to identify a number of things. But failure was one of them. Erosion that was undermining some of our sidewalks and public access, public safety hazard from potential collapse of the bluff, dying and sparse vegetation, vegetation. And then also some of the seismic concerns that we have of the bluff and the possibility that a major seismic event would result in the collapse of our historic bluff. And so a number of geotechnical studies were done both in 2000 and then throughout a number of other years. 2000, 2000, three took a little bit of a hiatus as it was a master plan. But when it started to come to the funding options, we did additional study in 2009 and in 2010. And so there were a number of projects that were recommended in that master plan, some of which were engineered solutions, like what we're talking about in terms of stone owls and shard create. But others were not. There was the 12th place erosion improvements in 2007 and 2008. The fifth place and seventh place erosion improvements in 2010 and 2011. We had phase one of stone nails and sculpted shot crit in 2011. We also then had started phase two from 20th place to Redondo with sonar and sculpted short Crete in 2014. And then we also had the Bixby Park Bluff improvements, which is now a completed project and is getting pretty rave reviews from the community and from others. And so that one was part of that master plan as well. And so for phase one and phase two, phase one was approved by the City Council on November 16th, 2010, and that included so nailing and shot create on a specific part of the bluff. And that was completed in 2011. Phase two was was approved for construction by the Council on July 19, 2000, July nine, 2013, with a contract awarded to Drill TEC. And we really only are looking at those engineered options for the areas where our city engineers really set are. And that's a critical area for an engineered solution. It turned out to be only about 45% of the bluffs. So it's not the entire bluff phase. But that project not only dealt with seismic stability and bluff, erosion and and stabilization, but also included the replacement of the sidewalk railing, major landscaping and the full replacement of the irrigation system. So what you have here is a site map. You can see far to your right on that where it says phase one complete. That was the phase one that was done in 2011. And then the other three phases here that are part of phase two. And so on April 29th, 2014, the City Council voted to pause the project and request some additional information and directed staff to conduct an engineering analysis, which we did through a peer review. We brought on three different biotech or geotechnical firms to basically look at the assumptions that are our first geotechnical engineering firm made to determine had we made the right decision in choosing, shot, create and saw nails as the appropriate and engineering solution. And essentially that peer review did find that that was an appropriate solution. However, there was some other feasible bio technical alternatives for selling out areas that had not received shot create. And so on July 1st, 2014, the Council directed staff to review and evaluate those bio technical options and also to complete the park construction project. And so really focusing on those unfinished areas of the bluff and then continuing with the construction. So I'm pleased to provide an update on the construction. It's actually looking very nice out there. This project has taken a while, but we have seen tremendous improvement out in the park. 3700 new feet of sidewalk and historic railing have been fully installed in Bluff Park. That railing is galvanized steel guaranteed to last 25 years and is really an attractive feature out there along the entire walk. Now, for 3700 feet, we're going to have either existing or improved landscaping as we get a number of people who enjoy that that park. And the irrigation system has been completely replaced and receding. We'll fully to fully restore our bluff park is scheduled to begin very shortly. The irrigation system was in terrible condition, requiring constant repairs and due to line failures. We've installed more than 4000 feet of four inch main line and 8000 feet of three quarter inch to three inch lateral lines. And recycled water is will be used for irrigation in the park. So when you see the sprinklers on, please know that that's reclaimed recycled water. So here's a picture of our new sprinkler system functioning. And as you can see on the right, the grass is already starting to come back, will be doing additional seeding and trying to get even more to come back. But we are making good progress turning that back into a nice community asset. On the right you'll see that the concrete as directed by a council it was and we want to be pleased it wasn't stained. Some of it in some areas was either gray or it had a first coat. And so we've completed the standing of that. So that's beginning to look much more natural and what we're expecting for plant coverage, one that was clearly heard by staff when the council considered this back in April, was that there was concern that there wasn't going to be plant coverage when when we talked about that project, there really wasn't much established or what had established that died. So we went out to the community and talked with the community about what that plant coverage should be. We are designing this project for up to 75% plant coverage and hopefully even more than that, if we can get up to 100%, we'd love to certainly do that. The current plan is to use native plants. non-Natives actually give you a little bit more coverage, but they don't add any ecological value. And the public input that we heard was to go with native native plants and then use an adaptive management strategy to try to maximize plant success. I'm happy to report the majority of the planning on the bluff has been completed and the plants are thriving and that we went through a process already to enhance our landscaping plan to be more drought tolerant, colorful plants, and then create that increase that plant coverage area. So looking at some of the plants, you know, this is a sample of the selection we have Island Morning Glory shall we? Island Snapdragon Caribbean Island Mallow on the bottom beach Evening Primrose Sea Pink and Beach Strawberry. As you can see in the next one on the top of the of the entire bluff, we have an opportunity to do landscaping there. And the point of that landscaping is also to have it flow over and to help cover the shock route from the top. And we have two other areas for planting, one in the middle of the bluff and one at the toe of the bluff. But here you see a number of plants big evening, primrose sea, pink beach, strawberry blue eyed grass, coastal poppy and maritime. Santos And in the next slide, you'll see the planter pockets. This is all of phase two has new planter pockets designed to have plants actually in the shot create itself. We've seen this work in other areas very well. If there is appropriate, if it's done appropriately. And so clockwise from upper left corner we have showy island snapdragons and Katherine's lay splatter pod and island. Morning Morning Glory. So I want to give an example of what that would look like. This is Island Morning Glory in a different setting. But the point of of using a landscape architect and going out to the community is to pick a palette that will actually work and establish and also provide a lot of coverage like what you see here. So looking at the total look design, these are the plants that are going to be at the toe. You'll see we've done some planting already. And the idea is that these are going to grow over time to really help cover the foot of the bluff or the toe of the bluff. So these are lemon lemonade, Berry, Catalina Island Marrow and Holly Leaf cherry. So I want to give some examples of what Shark Creek can look like and when it's during constructed and after construction. You'll see in this example, you'll see on the left the during construction and after construction. In this example, it's fully covered. Going to the next slide. This is an example from Dana Point where it originally looked very bare. And as you can see with the native planting on the right, we've got very full coverage. It's very actually difficult to see that Chuck Reed is even there in that example. And on the next page, this is from Agoura Hills, you'll see construction on this on the left. And then after construction, again, very difficult blends in. And that's really the point is to use it as stabilization, but also have it blend in.
Speaker 5: So talking about the.
Speaker 11: Current conditions, you'll see we've begun plantings. We've got plantings in the. Planter pockets at the toe and and at the top.
Speaker 5: And so the really.
Speaker 11: Who were coming to ask you tonight that's the update to where we are with the project. We do want some additional direction on the in the two areas to be completed. So that's phase two, area one and phase two, area two. And you'll see them on that slide. And so what we're asking for is we've brought you four different options as we've gone through our study process. And I'll talk a little bit about that. And we're seeking some direction options before the council include two one complete the original project. We looked at two bio technical options. One is steel mesh and the other is cellular confinement. And then we looked at a major regrading alternative as well. So going through each option. Option one complete the original project we had three independent geotechnical engineers confirm that soil nails and shot create are an appropriate solution for the project they are used elsewhere. What's important to note is that these bluffs in the areas we chose are unique in that they are not a gradual slope. They're not 2.5 or 3 to 1. They are about half a foot to one. So what that means is for every half foot avert of horizontal, you're dropping a foot in vertical. And so that's a very steep slope and that really is recommended for an engineered solution. Shot Create is also a very cost effective option. It has at least a 75 year effective life lifespan and requires pretty minimal annual maintenance. And the whole point is that the vegetation will cover the concrete as it grows and fully establishes itself and expected to achieve that and no greater bluff coverage than in other areas. And so one thing I'd like to show is a rendering and this is what we're expecting Shark Creek to look like afterward. This is this is the designs and this is the goal with the 75% coverage and more, if we can get it. So we also looked at bio technical options. The June 23rd peer review report indicated that some bio technical techniques have been used. They are mostly used in inland areas rather than in coastal areas, but they can be adapted to coastal areas and they can also tie into the soil and also provide that structural solution that you need , but also may have some esthetic qualities as well. And so the bio technical techniques can be applied to the site, especially in areas that are that ratio of 1 to 1 or flatter. And so we went through a bio technical review process. We researched those erosion control methods applied throughout California. We interviewed experts with knowledge of those bio technical methods and experience in implementing them, and also brought on some consulting expertize in that area as well. So we looked at a number of different criteria. We looked at having, you know, the durability and seismic stability. We looked at erosion control, we looked at vegetation and planting quality, including the irrigation construction and maintenance costs, the implementation time and the regulatory permit requirements. And as we went through that selection process, a number of bio technical methods were screened out because they didn't meet some of those criteria. And so with bio technical option one, what that would be was a high tensile steel wire mesh that would be layered down and anchored to the soil an ounce. The slope would be hydro seeded with grasses and flowers and cut outs would be made in the mesh to allow for small shrubs to be planted . We expect that to be about a 15 year effective lifespan, but requires a lot of maintenance to keep it up. It has about an inch of topsoil on it, and so that topsoil tends to move around and the plants can't really root as well as in other models. And so we do expect there to be a plant failure rate that will be somewhat high and you'll have to get out there and do significant annual maintenance to replace those plants. This is what it will look like. You'll see from the side, you'll see the soil nails, you'll see the taco mesh that's on top of it. It's not a regraded option, if you'll see, it has that fairly steep slope and then you'll have large shrubs and medium to low shrubs at the at the toe. On the next slide, you'll see what it looks. Up, up, close. This is the technology. This is the telco mesh. And then what did it look like? This is a rendering of what will look like during construction. And then the next slide will be what it looks like after plant establishment and construction. And you'll notice on the lower left hand side, you can actually see that there's some of the tech mesh. That wire mesh is still visible even when it's constructed because it only has an inch of topsoil. It's expected to slip off in some areas. So you will see some of that a mesh under bio technical option one. And then this is a final example of what it could look like in a different area. This is a bio technical option that's used along a highway. So biotech me option two is one that we're soil would be imported to create a more uniform slope of 1.4 to 1. We don't expect that would impact the park or the beach. We would have steel mesh laid down very similar to option one. And biodegradable or synthetic vegetative cells would be placed on top and anchored to the mesh. And then that gets filled with about 4 to 8 inches of soil. So there would definitely be a lot more soil for plants to take hold too. And with that, you can get a wide variety and larger plants to be planted. We expect that to have a longer life, about a 25 year effective lifespan and not as much maintenance because the soil is going to hold a little bit better to the slope. You'll see in the cross-section that it is more of a uniform slope. It still has the soil. Now there is some soil fill that has to be done, but it is a more uniform uniform slope. On bio technical option two This is what it look like during construction. You can see the mesh is laid down and then it's filled with that 4 to 8 inches of soil. And then that's what it will look like after construction. That's an artist's rendering of what we expect it could look like once it's fully constructed. And the plants that established construction method, this is the wire mesh and then the the netting up on top that that covers it. And then this is just an example of of what it looks like in a different area. We're not we're not recommending this for our area. Obviously, this wouldn't be a suitable vegetative area on our bluffs. But it is an example of what what option two is look like in another area. So we were asked as we went out in this community process to really look at a different option, a regrading alternative. It is something that we had looked at previously. We had looked at that in 2000. We're asked to provide a little bit more information and take a look. And so we did that as a part of this review. The current slope conditions really are too steep to have just a a planting option without some sort of engineering solution. We've seen some other bluffs. Redondo Beach, for example, has a two and a half foot to one slope. That's a very gradual slope are our bluffs in some areas are about half a foot or 0.6 to 1. So a very different environment. And so in order to create this kind of regrading alternative, we'd have to import soil and compacted and create a very uniform 2 to 1 slope that wouldn't coat encroach either toe feet onto the beach or 20 feet into Bluff Park or a combination thereof. And that really is the minimum necessary without having an engineered stabilization solution. So some of the impacts of that is that you would have a staircase at 20th place. You're going to have to reconstruct that stair staircase in order to more conform to the slope of the bluff. You would still have to have concrete. Even with that regrading option, you would have to have a retaining wall, you'd have to have additional concrete or shot create on the sides. Essentially, you're going to have a very steep slope and you're going to have a gradual slope that comes out to the beach and then returns back over. And so there is opportunities for that soil to slough off on the sides. And so that needs to be engineered, otherwise your solution won't work. So you're either going to have to have a drainage trench, a concrete shot, create. There's there's a number of other options, but they'll have to be an engineered solution on the sides. You do get a wide variety of larger plants. It's it's a more it's a natural environment so that you can plant on it and you have additional soil. There is a high risk of trespassing, though, without an additional fence. And what we've seen in Redondo Beach, as you can see on the next page, is they do have that two and a half slope to one. And that's what it looks like in Redondo Beach. But you can see there is a a fence that is erected in the middle so that people stay off the bluff. And that's a current problem that we have as people tend to traverse our bluff and cause more erosion, the impacts of that regrading. You would have to import a bunch of soil and it would require approximately 2100 truck trips in order to bring in that amount of soil to achieve that solution just in those two areas. We talked about that construction of a wall or trench. So you you're going to to mitigate the horizontal erosion. You're definitely still going to have some some concrete on the beach. And depending on the exact solution, you're going to have to go back to local coastal development permit or an amendment to the local coastal plan. So this is an idea that we looked at in 2000 and and after looking at it again today, you know, we we did want to pay some attention to it. We wanted to look at it. But it is not one that staff would recommend. Wrapping up, I want to talk a little bit about the cost estimates and the fiscal impact. There are a wide variety of cost estimates for these different options. The completion of the original project is the most cost effective at $1.3 million for both areas. The bio technical options range for 4.3 million. For a bio technical option 1 to 7.75 million for bio technical option two. And then the regrading option is expected to cost 5.4 million. And these are in addition to what we currently have budgeted, we currently have a $5.8 million project budgeted for the bluff. That budget is essentially exhausted and this would be on top. So all four of these options are going to require additional tidelands funds or general funds in order to to cost to provide those solutions. Each one of those has a maintenance estimate associated with it. Then the completion of the original project was shot. Create is the lowest maintenance option in about 11,000. The bio technical option one is the most expensive at 26,000, and then bio technical option two for cellular confinement and regrading or both estimated about 19,000. So I want to talk a little bit about the fiscal impact. As of today, oil is today was selling for about $50 a barrel. That's very different than where we were two or three months ago when oil was at $100 a barrel. As you know, staff will be coming back to you by the end of the year as we promise to provide additional information on oil, to look at a longer range plan. Our capital plan, our five year capital plan was based on oil hitting a benchmark of $100. And so if we're not at that benchmark, we're going to have to reprioritize and look at what funds are available. So due to the anticipated funding shortfall for any of these solutions, we are going to need additional funds appropriated from either existing tidelands projects or if. We're looking at a very expensive project. There's going to, you know, the possibility of general fund because the Tidelands funds are already currently obligated. There's no additional funds that could be programed without impacting another project. We we would say that this project would take priority over other projects in the Tidelands because it's an unfinished construction project. We're in the middle of construction and and we need to complete those two areas in order to complete the project. And so we think this is something the Council will need to consider when evaluating the potential options. And so the last two slides here, timing considerations. Area one has already experienced some noticeable erosion after recent storms. So as I mentioned, it is important for us to get directions that we can move forward with a solution. They do have different time estimates. The completion of the original project is the quickest it can complete within within 2015. So next year we can we have a contractor on board. We are we just need to find the additional funds process, a contract amendment, and they can get started with the work by our technical options. One and two we expect would be done by 2016. They would require an extension of a current permit and then the ability to engineer and design and go out to bid for those. And the regrading alternative will take the longest. We expect that not to be able to be complete until 2018, potentially, as you go through the a pretty elaborate coastal development permit process. So on our last slide here, the four options for you to consider completion of the original project bio technical option, steel mesh power, technical option, cellular confinement and the regrading as you mentioned in our staff report, after spending a lot of time on this and listening to the community and and looking at all the engineering reports, we are recommending completion of the original project. We feel that's the most cost effective option as it has the lowest capital cost. We believe it offers the most protection up to 75 years of protection. It is one of the fastest to implement and we know the neighborhood is very interested in getting this project completed and it can be completed in 2015. It has the lowest maintenance cost at 11,000, provides the seismic stability. It importantly will match the other areas. We do have short create in other areas and that will match that other area. And we hear very loudly and clearly that there needs to be attention paid to making it look better than what it is today. And we're committed to doing that. If the Council chooses to move forward with that, we're going to pay a lot of attention to making sure the plants establish and cover and eventually well blend in. And so with that that end staff's report, and we are available to answer questions.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Councilwoman Price.
Speaker 3: You. I want to thank the Bluff Park residents who are here. And I have a presentation that I've prepared as well. But I would like to hear from public public comment before I do my presentation. But in advance of that, I want to thank Tom and Eric and Andrew for your work on this. The city manager's office has been extremely diligent in following up and providing me with the information that I needed and specifically staff. Really. Reached out to the community at my request with specific community members who wanted to have an opportunity to meet one on one. And I want to thank you for that. That was a special request that you honored for me. And I think hopefully it meant something to the folks you met with and and that even though you're not recommending what they wanted, that they appreciate the time. So with that, I'd like to hear from the public before expressing my my thoughts on this issue.
Speaker 1: Okay, great. Should we do public comment? If you want to comment, please come forward and line up on the podium. 3 minutes. Please say your name for the record. And please first. First speaker.
Speaker 5: Good evening. My name is Jim Corbett.
Speaker 11: I live in Belmont.
Speaker 5: Shore and we have a wonderful resource. And having a free newspaper delivered every Thursday that we get to see what is going on in our city. So last Thursday afternoon went up and I don't live near the bluff. I drove up and down ocean and one of the things that I noticed driving up Ocean is that you actually can't see the bluff, so you have to drive down Junipero, get out of your card, walk along and actually take a look. So it was really good seeing the presentation from the vantage point of the bike path in our future pedestrian path. One of the things that I notice is what has been completed looks nice and I can actually envision, as Tom presented, how the growth of the plants are going to drape over and we're going to see something really nice. And then you look as you stand in the Middle East Sea, right, is what's going to be completed on the left that you can see the Shot Creek not completed. And that is what was presented in the paper, in the ad. And it's pretty ugly. And then on the extreme left at the museum, you can see dirt. So somewhere in the middle is I see what is going to be projected. So I would like to move the council to complete the original project because I think that is the most affordable and it's going to be the most time effective as far as getting it completed. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. Next speaker.
Speaker 5: My name is Joe Garver. I live in Belmont Heights and I work on coastal zone management issues. I've worked with the legislative staff and committees on policy, and I more often work with community groups and non nongovernmental organizations on permitting and enforcement issues. I wanted to add a little bit to Tom's history presentation and make some comment about the cost estimates. But first, let me make a couple of observations. Kind of the inconvenient truth. Chocolate is prohibited on coastal bluffs like this, and it's prohibited for a good reason. That concrete cover prohibits native habitation and it prohibits coastal processes. And those those are important policy considers and considerations and why the prohibition on coastal and coastal armoring was included in the Coastal Act. And I'll make this observation that your local coastal plan recommends regrading and revegetation not only for all your coastal bluffs, but specifically for that area of the bluffs. I'll also mention that the progressive engineers, the new trend in engineering is using ecosystem services. An example may be in the Long Beach or near along Los Angeles River. They are tearing out concrete out of the river so that they can use flood plains for natural flood control, create habitat to, you know, quality of life improvement in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and get the same flood control that they get with concrete. This is the way things are going now. Don't get me out of there. So get to the history book. Listening to the community outreach, which I appreciate, and the level of community support for revegetation. It was only when the staff came back at the 11th hour and told the community that somebody at the Coastal Commission had told somebody of city staff that encroaching on the beach or regrade the slope was prohibited. This is ironic, I agree. It is prohibited regrading and encroaching on the beaches clearly allowed. And now we see that. Yeah, you'll have to go get a permanent like in the staff report, but it's not prohibited. So this was a huge mistake. It led to a comedy of errors. This error was repeated in the peer review report. The experts were told not to consider regrading because it was prohibited. But this is the best and fastest solution and.
Speaker 2: In the.
Speaker 5: Expense report and I'm running out of time, but there's a lot of overestimation to the expense report and this can be resolved in this project. Woodchipper, if you follow the pattern of what they did in Redondo Beach and solicit the help of of NGOs and experts on these projects and get plants and materials that you can get a discount from people that are experienced in this stuff. The budget in Redondo is a fraction of what we're talking about here.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thanks, Michael, please.
Speaker 2: Hi. My name is Anne Dulcie and I was invited to speak about my experiences at the Beach Bluffs Restoration Project in Redondo Beach. I did go on a Cal State Long Beach graduate and I lived in Long Beach, in fact, on Coronado Street, north of Anaheim Street, way back when. And I got a degree in marine biology and I'm a marine biologist, actually married to a geologist who.
Speaker 4: Got his degree at Long Beach State and works for Signal Hill. But I'm a resident of.
Speaker 2: Redondo Beach now, and I am passionate about natural systems beyond the ocean. And that led me to get involved in the Beach Plus Restoration Project, where I served as co-chair.
Speaker 4: And there we assembled a group of agencies.
Speaker 2: Cities, county officials, non-profits and also the local citizens. And we assembled a plan. Actually, what we did is we managed to get grants. We had no tidelands money. I mean, your budget is just astounding to me. Kind of makes me drool. Yeah, but we we used about under $100,000 for our project, and we restored the land. We didn't do any amount of vacation. And there are many sections in that area that are very steep. It's flat on top, relatively flat on the bottom, and connected by a very, very steep area. And yes, indeed, that fence goes through. There's big sections in between where you can access the beach and there are some issues.
Speaker 4: So we've tried to work the plant, but what we did is we utilize.
Speaker 2: Local native plants to the coastal beach area, not not from inland coastal sage scrub, but the dune plant. And a lot of these plants have deep roots. The annuals tend not to be, but their perennials are deep rooted.
Speaker 4: They root feed.
Speaker 2: Yards into the soil. So you don't need to bring in any additional.
Speaker 4: Fertilizer or.
Speaker 2: Soil on top. An inch or two is not going to do diddly squat. These plants are designed to live in the harsh conditions of the sandy areas and they handle the salt. Salt bush is an excellent plant with a deep rooting roots, and it grows very well in this bluff, steep bluff situation. And in this area in the summer time, they go dormant. Education is required. We have set up signage to that effect. These plants, as any plants need to be watered for a good year on a regular basis until they become established. And once they're established, they do quite well during a really bad drought like we've had of late. You may want to augment water with them. Our biggest issue with non-natives and that needs to be addressed on an ongoing basis. And we used a nonprofit, LA Conservation Corps to help with that project. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Good evening. City Council Riba Birmingham. I live on the Bluff First Street, so as a member of the CERT team, I'm very concerned about safety. I know that we're overdue for the big earthquake and I do not want my house to end up on the beach. I think that the current plan is fine. I think we're well underway way and to stop at this point and do something that's completely different when this one is completely acceptable and seems to be the least impactful to the the Long Beach family budget is the way to go. So I would really urge the City Council to look at the work that was done by the staff. I'm glad that the staff has heard people's comments about the native plants and the woman that just spoke had really good points. It can be pretty, it can be safe and it can be affordable. So I would urge the court to please the court, the council, stay the course. Thank you.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Riva. That's great. The next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Good evening, Mr. Mayor. And City.
Speaker 3: Council. My name is Sonya Coffey and I'm a.
Speaker 4: Resident of the fourth District.
Speaker 3: And I'm here tonight representing the Surfrider Foundation.
Speaker 4: I'm a newly appointed vice chair of the Long Beach chapter. And the chapter as a group here in the city does not support the use of additional short creek for the remaining phases of this project. We do appreciate the stats presentation and it was helpful to see the imaging of what the project could look like. But we do have some concerns, especially considering the first phase of the project and how the plantings and the irrigation failed in that in that process. And we would be worried with having an additional, additional expanse of concrete here in the city right on our oceanfront, that we would see a similar similar happening, not by any intention of staff or the city maintenance, but it is a concern because the short creek is not anything that promotes or supports a natural habitat. This organization here, we're dedicated to protecting our beaches and the enjoyment of the beaches and ocean for all. And so we would support something that really is more native and more natural. Definitely understanding that there are seismic concerns with the project there, definitely understanding that there are significant costs associated with the bio technical alternatives that were presented. We would ask the City Council considering those to rebuild the project if possible, since the current contractor does not want to work with the Biotechnol alternatives to rebid that project and see if we can get something more cost competitive. Some of the other speakers here presented other options of gaining funding for this projects grant funding the help of different nonprofit groups. Surfrider is here standing, willing and able to help in any way that we can promote a project that is more sustainable to the community as a whole. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 6: Hi. My name is Roger Trickey. I come here as an industry.
Speaker 5: Professional in construction and also a resident of Bluff Park. I live at 44 Paloma. Right. And have a view of the park and the construction project from the front of my home. We've been living with this for over a year. It's really very disturbing to me that we stopped the project. When I heard it was happening and saw the plans for doing it. I was very pleased. I thought it was something that was long overdue. Having walked the park every evening prior to this last year, you know, it was just it was disturbing to me to see the disrepair and, you know, one of the most wonderful parks in the whole city really just, you know, deteriorating. And it needed that slope stabilization to really fix it. And I was extremely happy to see that happening. I was very disappointed that the council voted to halt the project and even more disturbed here recently to find out that we have really withered away a tremendous amount of money, you know, waiting to get a solution out there. It disturbs me even further to think that would we wait even longer and spend more money? It. I also want to speak to the nature of a bluff. That bluff stands vertical. Because of the nature of it, it is weakly cemented sands. It's basically weak concrete. We're making it stronger so that it doesn't erode it. Sustainability. I practice that in my own profession. I am a lead LEED accredited professional. We have a practice in our construction group that that is very sustainable and I have a good mind to that. And natural solutions come with what nature provides. Nature provided us with a cemented slope there, and I want to reinforce that. The other thing that's kind of disturbing to me is all of these other solutions. Actually, one of them, I believe, does maintain the the vertical nature of the bluff that's there. But the other to the second by our technical and the regrading really destroy the nature of the bluff. I mean that that is truly the. Historic thing that we have out there. It really wouldn't be a bluff if we start changing the grade of it. So I really strongly urge you to put this project back on track, get it finished as soon as possible. And we're going to be a lot happier. And by the way, great job, staff. The presentation tonight was beautiful. Wonderful job. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thanks, Speaker.
Speaker 4: Good evening, Mayor. City Council. My name is Kelly Hyman.
Speaker 3: My husband and I are fairly new residents to Long Beach. We live in Bluff Park on Ocean directly across from this project.
Speaker 4: Before we moved.
Speaker 3: In or even made.
Speaker 4: An offer in our house, I saw.
Speaker 3: The signs for the Bluff Erosion.
Speaker 4: Project. I did my due diligence, read it all thoroughly, and my husband and I were in full support. I think somebody mentioned seismically. It's great that we're not going to fall off. And so we were thoroughly supportive of it, but very disappointed to see the project halted.
Speaker 3: This is not something I like to do.
Speaker 4: Come and speak in front of people in public, but.
Speaker 3: I feel very strongly about option one. Let's continue. Let's get it.
Speaker 4: Back on track.
Speaker 3: We've been patient because we knew that the project was the right thing for the bluff. And so we've endured, you know, the.
Speaker 4: Dust, the just the construction noise. I mean, the dust is beyond.
Speaker 3: I mean, if anybody lives on ocean, you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4: So we are in full support of moving forward with option one.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Next speaker. You're welcome to Long Beach. Glad you moved here.
Speaker 5: Good evening.
Speaker 8: My name is Isaac Waxhaw. And in front of you, you have a seven page packet. And if, uh. If you don't mind, I'd like to go to page five, please. That's at the base of the Junipero ramp down to the beach. And this is a footpath that would be devastating. Absolutely devastating to any graded bluff. This is human nature. They love to take shortcuts. And this is this is an example of it. The proposed bio technical area one is only steps away from this. If we don't learn from this, we're going to do it again. The city has been struggling with footpaths like this forever, for decades. There are big signs like this throughout the bluff and people just ignore it.
Speaker 5: As you could see, they're walking.
Speaker 8: Right next to the sign. And again, it's human nature. We can't stop it. I believe that the foot tracks are more devastating than rain or wind. It's going to destroy and probably have destroyed the bluff a lot faster than nature did.
Speaker 5: And so when you vote.
Speaker 8: Tonight, I urge you to have this page open in front of you because it may come back. Some of the signs were taken off when when the Shark Week came up. And I hate to see these signs coming back up. If we have a graded slope, which actually doesn't look anything like the historical slope that we had there. In fact, you have a picture of that in there, too. So I'd also like to make a quick comment about the Tidelands Fund. I hear from a lot of people that it doesn't matter how much it cost. It doesn't matter how much waste there is because it's not our taxes. It's the Tidelands Fund. I think we need to have a lot more respect for it. Already we could see the fund eroding. I think that oil is just not going to be there forever or not profitable enough forever. And we have a whole load of very beneficial projects waiting on the sideline, and some of them are just not going to come to fruition because of waste. So I urge you, please finish the job we started. It's a great job. It's going to be covered with flora and vines. It's going.
Speaker 5: To.
Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. The time's up, unfortunately. Okay.
Speaker 8: That's fine. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, sir. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Hello. My name is Sasha Witty.
Speaker 3: And with a3214 East Second Street.
Speaker 4: Where to start? Regarding the bluff. I began going to community meetings with Parks and Rec and city staff years ago as plans were being made for the bluff improvements. I sat through more meetings at Bixby Parks Rec Room, going over, planting options and providing feedback. Then I can mentally count. There was talk of one or two small areas that would need chocolate. I'm sorry. It was a big pet project of mine when I was.
Speaker 2: Working in the neighborhood the last.
Speaker 4: Ten years. No one was particularly excited by this, but we were excited. It was limited in smoke and scope and focused with the Parks and Rec staff and all the natural plans that were to be incorporated to stem erosion and create beauty. Funding was an issue, so we awaited our turn for Tidelands funding. I was one of many that was very excited as the city finally broke ground. Then after a few weeks, I started getting phone calls, concern, phone calls and emails asking if I had gone down to see what was happening at the bluff. I could not have been more surprised and shocked when I did make it past the work fences. I am saddened to have spent so much personal time trying to be a part of something positive and then in the end result feeling it didn't much matter. All those discussions that were had between the community and city staff over all those years. My personal desire is that the city honor the original intentions and plans to provide primarily natural landscaping and to avoid these vast expanses of concrete, painted.
Speaker 2: And sculpted.
Speaker 4: To try and mimic natural rock. My second desire is that the city consider the importance of communication to a community. If in the end there were changes that were essential and unavoidable, much sadness and drama could have been avoided if the city staff would have come back to the community to go over the changes prior to breaking ground. I would ask for that level of clear communication to all neighborhoods being impacted in the future prior to breaking ground. It is important that all those who do their best to participate in making a positive difference by attending community workshops and planning sessions do not feel that they have wasted their time, but instead feel empowered to participate once again. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 4: Wendy Hahn. I live at three, two, one four East Second Street in Long Beach. I support a natural bluff. I am opposed to a cement bluff. You might ask, how did we get here? And Why am I standing before you tonight? Over the past 25 years, residents of Bluff Park, myself included, bordering neighborhoods and concerned citizens, worked diligently with our elected council representatives and city staff to design and fund a comprehensive plan for the rehabilitation of the bluff. After dozens of meetings and numerous proposals over those 25 years with city staff and numerous expert consultants hired by the city, we move forward with several pilot planning projects, and after a great deal of compromise, it was with great pride that our community believed the hard work was done and a sound proposal approved. We all took a collective sigh of relief. We now know we should have maintained a watchful and vigilant eye on this most significant city project involving one of our most precious assets, the bluff.
Speaker 5: The consequences of this lapse in oversight are.
Speaker 4: Well known to all here. It was the recent large scale cementing of the bluff. How could this have happened, you say? I cannot say with certainty. The contributing factors are certainly the retirement or departure of city staff that worked on this project for many, many years, coupled with an apparent loss of many of the historical bluff documents , plans and agreements. I am truly amazed at the lack of project management that allowed this to happen. Add to that the concurrent rehabilitation of Bluff Park, a seemingly never ending dusty eyesore. And you have a community that is outraged that such a debacle could occur in our front yard. So what do we do now? We know that there are those that believe cementing the bluff is the only viable engineering solution. Cementing the bluff is the cheapest, most expedient solution. And even at cementing the bluff is the most esthetically pleasing solution. In other.
Speaker 5: Words, since the cementing.
Speaker 4: Is so far along and funds have been spent, let the city finish their job. Sorry, folks. I believe nature trumps cement every time. I believe there are affordable environmental alternatives to cementing. In fact, I know there are. I've worked on the Bluff Rehabilitation Project for many years now and have met with numerous experts hired by the city and none ever advocated massive shot creating. This is never come up in the past. I ask you if cementing was the best solution, why was it never presented as an option during all those years of meeting and planning? I opposed cementing the bluff. I support honoring agreements. I believe that a vibrant, healthy, stable and beautiful natural bluff is the one and only solution. I believe that we can and must do this. We all deserve so much better than a cement bluff. The bluff. Our bluff is a precious gem that all of us are charged with protecting and preserving. Thank you so.
Speaker 1: Much.
Speaker 4: We can do this. Let's do it right. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 5: Thank you. My name is Alex Monte. I live in Bluff Park on First Street. And as most of you will agree, we live near one of the uglier bluffs in Southern California or beyond. And it's not for lack of trying. Over the last few years, over the last many years, many techniques have been used shoring walls, Gambians plastic, netting and vegetation, and more recently, soil, nails and shot create. We put in steep slopes and not so steep slopes whose vegetation has been trampled by walkers, a smorgasbord or more precisely, a showroom of bluff remediation techniques for other communities to learn from. In all this. Where is the master plan? What is our entire bluff going to look like 20 years from now? We've seen what it looked like about 100 years ago and the package that Mr. Watson left for you. There is an aerial shot from 1927 that shows what the bluff actually looked like at that point. It's a uniformly vertical wall across its entire length, not unlike the short creek sections that have been recently put up. Not a gently sloping grassy field, not an array of rare flowers, so that some would request in a recent grunion ad but a vertical wall what it had apparently been for the past 100 million years, including when it was an underwater shelf. And since we are in a historic district. Should we not look for historical accuracy? Honorable Council Members, Please do not allow yourself to be influenced by politically well-connected individuals into spending funds that we do not have and will not have with $50 a barrel oil. Please complete the existing funded project. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Next speaker, please. And before I'm going to cut out the speaker's list, no one else is in line. Mr. Good here. You see, you're the last in line. I will cut off the speaker's list.
Speaker 2: Please. Good evening, Mayor. City Council. My name is Gordon and Cage. I live at 235 Loma Avenue. I have the dubious honor of presenting former City Councilman Gary DeLong photographs of what was happening along the Bluff Park Bluffs in April. And it was with his amazement at those photos that led to the work stoppage and pause.
Speaker 4: That led to a peer review, that led to.
Speaker 2: An identification of alternatives that you're considering this evening. And I'd like to start by saying, please consider any alternative except Short Creek. It's real simple. And I believe it's very important for you to consider this because it's a community park. And honestly, I believe that the folks in Bluff Park have been most significantly impacted. But it is a community resource of urban open space and access to nature that many people in our city rely on, and we have an opportunity to restore it. How often in this presentation did you talk or hear about restoration? Did anybody hear restoration from our city staff this evening? This is an erosion control project. This is stabilization. But it's not. With all due respect, and I would like to thank the new third district city councilwoman for her time, for her efforts, for her interest in this project. I genuinely thank you. You've made access to you and your staff. Incredible. And. We've had incredibly helpful city staff in this process of information, communication and exchange. Thank you to all of you. It doesn't change the fact that we have a wall of concrete that no one expected and we can fix it. So I'd like to say that Tidelands Funds got us into this mess, and Tidelands funds should be used to get us out. We have the money. It is available. It's set aside for other projects. And last time I checked, we don't have a new leeway sailing center yet. We don't have a new pool yet. We don't have a new pier. No construction has started. This is in the midst of an erosion control project. That should be a restoration and we can do it. I have committed to Susie Price that there are alternative funding sources in the nonprofit world that could be used to augment a possible shortfall of funding for this project. I have friends there sitting in this audience this evening who would be willing to plan and foster a restoration, a community effort that doesn't need shot crit, that doesn't need geotechnical angles and millions of dollars you've heard from and donkey from Redondo Beach. She knows how to do this. Other communities don't have millions of tidelands.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: And thank you. Please vote for something other than chocolate. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Next speaker, please.
Speaker 5: Hi. My name is Alan Ross. I live on First Street in the bluff. In my line of work, we have a common aphorism better is the enemy of good. You do a good job and you think you can tweak it a little bit and suddenly you wish you hadn't. You folks and your predecessors for 15 years have done a very good job, just the sort of thing that we would hope for from our elected officials. You saw the problem. You gathered the resources. You called in experts. You listen to the experts, and you did what they told you to do. Earlier in the year, there was a question. You put a moratorium in, you called in your experts again, did we do the right thing? And I was here and they said, yes, you did. You did the right thing, perfect for restoring the bluff. Now you just need to have the political will to finish it. You've done everything right. You've done a very good job. And now we're told we can make it a little better. It's a very good job.
Speaker 11: That you've done for 15.
Speaker 5: Years. You just need to finish what you started. Don't spend any more money. Don't spend any more time. It's fine. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 5: Speaker Mr. Mayor. Council Persons I'd like to speak in favor of the first option of the plans, the ones that the staff has prepared. I'm sorry I didn't stay where I live. I live 25, 34, East First Street, a block from this bluff. I walk on the top of the bluff. I bike under the bluff. The bluff is part of my neighborhood. So anyway, I would like to speak in favor. Then I was like to speak in favor of my neighbors. You notice how many of us are here? We play together, we socialize together, we work together, we problem solve together. And obviously some of the people who have worked extremely hard at this feel that they have been led down the primrose path because the communications have not been good. So I would suggest that I'm in favor of this and I'm also in favor of the council looking at what really happened here, that the communication got so bad with the neighborhood that it didn't get resolved in the neighborhood, in a neighborhood that hangs together and has meetings together and really works together to try and solve problems so that we don't have this kind of division in the neighborhood. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. And our last speaker.
Speaker 5: Very good. You click as the addressed shot. There's a but but ugly is the only way to put it. Period is about as inappropriate as the design for the City Hall. No imagination of I'd like to have it all flowers, but obviously that's that can't happen. But I've got a couple of suggestions that I've toyed around with. One. Well, I've always felt is wherever possible I would plant poison ivy all over the place. I'm absolutely serious to keep the element out. The trash is what? Well, for in there, period. And I think we put up signs and to the extent we can grow poison ivy, which is nice and green or even poison sumac, put it there. All right. I'm very serious on that. Also, take a section of it and consider using it as a rock wall. Work with those people that go into the rock climbing business. That's not me. I'm not that. But set off a section. It's a natural for it. And rocks are? I believe not. They're not expensive bringing in and they're easily, easily transported in and create a natural. You know, you go out into out into Yellowstone or any other place are tons and tons and tons of rocks people climb all over. Let's take a look at that. And then I would I would surround the poison ivy with window boxes with nice plantings over. But the attempt to plant them on the actual bluff itself, I, I think is a losing proposition. That's pretty simple. Again, nice and green with poison ivy line with window boxes and a section that would have boulders and work with the the those that are in the business of rock climbing to make it a nice athletic experience. Thanks.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you for public comment. Thank you. All those that came out and spoke. I'm going to turn this over to Councilwoman Price.
Speaker 3: Thank you. And I think we have a presentation, so hopefully it'll get cued up at some point. And while we're waiting for that, I, too, want to thank everybody who came out. I am going to address it in one of the slides that I prepared, that your community is really a unique community in terms of the relationships that you all have with one another except for this issue. This issue has been an extremely contentious issue, and it has literally torn apart this community. And I'm going to tell you right now, we're all human and sometimes we do things we don't realize we're doing it. I've had judges tell me that in court, but sometimes when you're listening to someone and you disagree with them, you know, there's an eye roll or a snicker to your friend. And a lot of that has been going on and it's been going on not just tonight, but for a while now. When this topic comes up and it really curtails meaningful communication. I'm going to talk a little bit about this this process. I came to your bluff part community meeting, I believe it was in April, I think I don't remember it was Gary's last meeting with you guys. And it was a very heated meeting. Very heated. And people were yelling at him. I remember it was shortly after I'd been elected and I remember thinking, I think I may have changed my mind. Who do I talk to about this? But I do remember at one point, you know, someone yelled at him, you know, we pay your salary. You, you, we we deserve to have you be on top of these issues. I just want you guys to know that I calculated the number of hours that I've put into the Bluff Park issue, preparing for tonight just over the last two weeks. And you've paid me a salary of $6.75 an hour because there's a lot of work. And so I just I say that to you because I want regardless of how the vote turns out tonight, I'd like a little grace from you. And because it is an emotional issue and even tonight, you know, I received an email that was just very upsetting to me because when we spend time with you, I've met with every single person who's asked to meet with me except Isaac. Sorry, I couldn't squeeze it in, but every single person I've met with you as many times as you've wanted to meet with me. Just because we disagree on an item doesn't mean that I'm a bad person or that you. You know, it just honestly, we just we have to get over that because that's what's been dividing your community. So I'm going to address that in a moment. But all right. So the staff really covered a lot of this, but I just wanted to talk just a little bit about where we've been. So tonight's we've heard their staff recommendation. We got the Kleinfeld analysis in November, the memo from the city manager and in November. As well. Peer review report was in June. We all read that the memo from the city manager in May prior to me taking office and what we have reviewed, what I've reviewed in preparation for tonight . So I'm listing for you every single thing that I've read word for word. I've received over 300 emails from residents just since last week on this issue three that I will tell you right now, of all the issues that we have addressed in the last six months, this has been the issue that I have received the most feedback on. And I don't know why that is. I don't know if there was like an email campaigns going on or an ad and I don't know what was going on, but we received a lot of emails and we did our own survey through the third district. And let me just you know, it's it's astonishing to me that you would attempt to do outreach and then get criticism, because we've had people say, well, is that a true survey technique? It looked like it was weighted. And what kind of a who put that survey together? It is an opportunity and an effort by our office to reach out to people. And what I would like to do is really encourage you guys, I'm going to put some information on here for anyone who's watching at home. We put it we sent a survey out to about a thousand people. We started creating our own email lists in July when I took office. So we have about a thousand emails. We didn't reach out to everyone because we don't have everyone's email address, but we also put it on Facebook. We have about a thousand followers there. We tried to educate the people the best that we could. We sent an email to every association president and the third and asked them to forward the staff report. And we were able to get a lot of great feedback. I got, you know, some criticism from people saying, you know, well, did you have an expert put together the survey? No, I didn't. I'm a councilwoman who's your neighbor. And I'm trying to say, what do you think about this? It's really that simple. It's not a statistical analysis. It's public outreach. I've gone on multiple walks prior to being elected and after being in office with interested folks who wanted to show me and point out areas of the bluff. We've held a community meeting at the field office to talk about the different alternatives in the staff report. I met with and city staff has also met with bio technical or regrading proponents on multiple occasions beginning in August. Until last weekend who met with proponents of continuing the work since last week. Those folks have really come out. The ones who want the project to continue. I've had in-person and phone conferences with experts in this field who live in our community, not necessarily in Bluff Park, but throughout the community. It's a very contentious issue. The process began in the late nineties and the master plan was issued in 2000. Community meetings were held at that time. In 2009 and ten, full geotechnical investigation was prepared and soil nails and shot crit were recommended. In 2010, Council approved the use of soil nails and Shot Creek. Plans and specifications were approved by council in July of 2013 prior to me taking office. The process went through multiple entities. Coastal was involved. Zoning Administrator, City Council. Phase one was completed in 2011. City Staff and Councilman DeLong walked along the Bluff Bluff at that time and discussed landscaping. Presentation of Phase two was made to the Parks and Rec Commission in 2012, prior to Phase two being completed. That was completed in 2014. Where we are today, we entered into a contract with Drill TEC, which is the company that administered and implemented the shot create in 2013. We stopped the project midway in April of 2014. The company had to demobilize at a cost of roughly $80,000 and to mobilize. We will have to pay the company in excess of $150,000. Is that correct, Mr. Modica. Mr. Lopez. We can fact check that. But I think it's roughly in the 150 range.
Speaker 11: Of the 80,000, you're correct, is the original estimate that we had from our from the DeLay memo. I think we've calculated that, as you put it. And together, I think the the regional mobilization and demobilization together is about $420,000.
Speaker 3: So that is the cost of setting the project. So for anyone who doesn't like the outcome of tonight, the one thing you can walk away with is the city spent $400,000 to study the option I wanted them to study or we wanted them to study. Failure to honor our contract with drill tech will result in financial consequences. The costs will be near the original contract amount, which is over $4 million. The cost of canceling this contract. We have limited, realistic options. You know, when you take office, one of my colleagues here, I won't say the person's name has said to me multiple times, you don't just you can't hit reset every time there's a new council person in office. And that's true, because when we start a project, when we start a program, when we make changes to our staffing model based on whatever decision was made prior to us, and we come in and we want to unwind that, certainly we can do that. But there are financial and legal consequences to doing that. It's not as simple as just saying, what's the best thing? What do we want to do? Forget all the consequences. Let's just do what we believe. The best thing is there are legal consequences and financial consequences, and this is an example of that situation. We're in a position where we need to be extremely mindful of the costs that we approve. As a council, we are going into deficit years. Our oil revenues are down. Every single dollar we spend has to be justified. Every single dollar. That is our reality as a city. It absolutely is a reality as a city. We've heard arguments. You know, sometimes people think, you know, when you're an elected official, you have no emotions or response to things. That's not true. One of the things I've heard repeatedly is, you know well where her priorities are messed up because she's approving a pool and building the Naples seawalls and not spending the money on this project. Well, you know, personally, I don't believe that that's a very responsible argument, because you can make an argument at any time for whatever it is you feel passionate about. Let's say, for example, in a household, you could make the argument up. There's nothing more important in a household than the home that you live in. We should we should live in the best home that we can. That is absolutely something we should not sacrifice on or education. The education and the amount of money we spend on our children should be the utmost important, highest priority. We should spend our money on education. Well, you can make that passionate plea for just about anything. But the reality of life is you have to look at the totality of the situation and consider it all as a package. Naples Sea walls and the pool are completely unrelated to the bluff. With Naples seawalls, we have some safety concerns. Are we going to delay the Naples seawalls to pursue an alternative that has already that? And I'm going to address it in a moment. Would it make sense for us to do that? It would not. The pool is not being built, and it won't be built until we have money. And I don't know when that's going to be. But it's not like we are going to take money away from the bluff to build the pool. Money for the bluff has been allocated. A lot of money has been allocated for the bluff. When you look at Tidelands projects, a lot of money has been allocated for bluff restoration and now some are arguing it's not enough money. Our options are continue the shot create project that would result in us not breaching our contract with Drill Tech. We'll be able to come up with the money to do it now. Some of you may be taking that for granted. You know, let's just go with option one. It's not going to cost us any money. That's not true. We still have to come up with the 1.3 million or whatever it is because we hadn't anticipated. The amount of money that we were going to lose as a result of the study. And that's just a reality. And so we're going to have to come up with 1.3 million or somewhere around that number to fund this this project. And I think I think we might be able to do it, but that money is not just sitting there right now. We're going to be able to scrape it together. I think maybe we will have a consistent look along that portion of the block. That's been something that's been raised by a lot of folks. Is that the shot create, if it's completed, will be more consistent than a patchwork of different applications. We can speed up. Oh, and we can spend any future money that we have on enhancing the vegetation, which I think is a really, really important, valid point. I'll just be the first to say that our city and most municipalities that I've been involved in, having worked for multiple municipalities as a city attorney, maintenance is not always the strong suit of city governments. And that's just the reality, because projects and creating new projects is always the priority. So maintenance is an I'm I'm concern. My biggest concern is what are we going to do about the vegetation and how are we going to make sure that we have thriving plants in that area? What's the city's plan for that? That's that's my biggest concern with this project. The project would finish in 2015. We can implement one of the two bio technical alternatives. That would require us to breach our contract. So we have the financial penalties. We'd have to come up with an additional 3 million to 6 million to complete the project, depending on which of the two alternatives we pick. Construction would begin in 2015, and there are some risks associated with these two options. And I'm going to I'm going to cite from the report and a couple of slides, but the stability is not guaranteed of either of those two projects. The third option is to consider the feasibility study, the cost and feasibility of the regrading option. We'll need to breach our contract. We'll need to figure out how to come up with the additional 4 million. The project wouldn't start until 2016 or 17 and we'd have to be okay extending the toe of the bluff or taking away from the.
Speaker 4: Beach.
Speaker 3: To regrade because we absolutely do not want to take away from the park. I mean, that is one thing that I've heard repeatedly, and it's something that's been echoed for years now, for over a decade. What are people saying? And by the way, we had a lot of responses to our survey. I'll tell you that number right now, unless it was already in there, overwhelmingly, people want it to continue with the Shock Creek project. I'll give you that number in just a moment. Over 120, I think, responses we received. Some have said the look of the shot, Crete is ugly. Some have said it is a completely subjective call. It is a completely subjective call. There are people in this room who thinks that it looks better. I see some head shaking, but I will tell you that there are people who have said it looks better and there are people who have said they don't like it. It's a completely subjective call. This is photos of it for those who haven't been out there. This is just from yesterday. One of the biggest arguments that we've heard and that I've talked to experts about is the stability. The shot create is the only application. The only application designed to provide long term stability and erosion control that we have received expert analysis on. And this is so that in the event of an earthquake or changes due to sea level rise, we would have some stability there. We do assume some risks with all three of the other options. In fact, on page ten of the Kleinfeld report, it says, Without successful vegetation on the slope, erosion and superficial instability will continue. Hence, bio technical options hold greater risk for future instability than does the designed shot create slope. I think the decision in regards to what the best option is requires a review of the totality of the facts and circumstances that we have and based on the totality of the information that we have. I think the only reasonable and prudent alternative is option one, which is to complete the original project. So I will be supporting staff's recommendation. As I said, you know, this is. You know, how this process unfolded was not the best example of the city's efforts to conduct public outreach. They really I mean, I don't I don't want to criticize anyone that came before me because certainly I'm going to make many mistakes as well. And I don't really think it had to do with the with the the electeds or the staff. It was just the outreach process. I think that some people that I respect a lot who spoke tonight spoke clearly when they talked about how hurtful and painful it is. When you feel like you've been part of a process and really you feel like you were ignored. That's that's huge. And I want to talk about that because my commitment to each and every one of you is that we will talk about projects before they become a reality. We just last week, my staff and I and the city staff went on a walk through with Naples residents, and we went by every single tree that's being removed and talked about why that tree is being removed. And some trees had been removed prior to our getting there and the residents really wanted to know what was going on. And when we went there and we realized what the seawall plan was, those trees could not remain. And it was clear to everyone because we were all in it together. We were all learning together, side by side, what our limitations were. And that should have happened here. People feel that their concerns were ignored. And this has been a very contentious issue in the Bluff Park community. And I think that some people it's such an emotionally charged issue may have not been very respectful and emails and things. And I would hope that you guys would work together to to make that right going forward. One of your residents told me yesterday, I asked her to tell me what it is that she loved about Bluff Park. Should I love Bluff Park for the diversity of residents, the incredible variety of historic architectural styles, the wide open expanse of the big sky. When you stand and look from the bluff, the small town feeling in the midst of a big metropolis, the proximity to wonderful and unique shopping and dining, the feeling of sand between my toes just steps away from my home and the ability to watch the sunset over the ocean while watching the Pelicans feed in the early evening. That is Bluff Park. And I hope that whether you agree with this decision that we're going to make tonight or that you don't you at least respect the time that we put into it and know that you're you're our office is always open and available to listen to you, and we will always meaningfully consider your options. So with that, I would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation.
Speaker 1: There's been a motion and second to accept steps. Recommendation. Councilman Mongo.
Speaker 4: I want to thank you all for being here tonight, but I also want to thank Councilwoman Price for first grossly overestimating her salary over the last two weeks. I have seen Councilwoman Price at community events, charity events, at least a few hours of singing in the boat parade together. Agenda Prep for today calls with colleagues on a myriad of issues, including standing water, lack of drainage, sober living homes, business licenses. And as you may have noticed, there's another 15 items left on the agenda which we haven't gotten to today. Thank you. For those of you who are out from my district who are still waiting patiently and being a part of this important process. The due diligence done on this has been exceptional. Thank you to the city staff for going through every single option. And you have my support tonight.
Speaker 1: Councilman Andrews.
Speaker 7: Yes. Thank you very much. I've been certainly listening this also. And I would just like to say for my Councilwoman Price. I know the efforts and energies put into this because she was left with quite a task, you know, and Jerry left. But I think she's done everything that was possible to try to please individuals. And I do not have to be any as long as I know you can't please everyone. But I think that her heart and soul is in everything she does for district. And I would like to commend you on the things that you're doing and keep up the good work. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mayor. We're going to we're going to go and go to a vote. I want to make a comment and then we're going to go to the vote. I want to just first start by thanking Councilwoman Pryce. I think that was a well-organized and thoughtful presentation. I've seen firsthand the amount of work that the councilwoman is putting into this job. It is she is everywhere, continuously working, meeting with residents, listening. I think her her experience as an attorney is serving the council and the community well. Also, I also want to thank city staff. I think you guys have done a fantastic job from Eric Lopez, Tom Modica. The whole team have done a great a great job on this project. And I want to say also, as someone that was here when the initial project came forward, stopping a project midway is very, very rare . In fact, I don't know that since I've been on the council we had ever done that. And I think that we did it because certainly there was a councilmember DeLong came forward with some suggestions, there was community concern, but I think it showed the due diligence of staff and the council to go through this process. We made an investment to ensure that we would come up with a solution that would be the right solution for the community. And so I want to thank staff for for doing and going back and doing the research and the additional work that it took because that is a very unique moment that we had, I think, as a city council. But like Councilwoman said, we came back. We're at this moment now and it just reinforces, I think, the work and staff's work up to this point. And so I want to thank you again, councilwoman and councilman, pressure on make an additional comment.
Speaker 3: I did. I just wanted to say that the survey that we did, we had 71, I think we had 123 or something to that effect, and 71% favored completing their original project.
Speaker 1: So okay with that, thank you. And let's go and go to the vote.
Speaker 2: Motion carries six zero.
Speaker 1: Thank you. And I want to thank all everyone that came out today. Thank you all for coming down. I know it's it's always difficult to come out to council meetings, but we appreciate your your voice and your input. Madam Clerk, next item.
Speaker 2: Hearing number one North required report from Public Works Recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record. Conclude the public hearing. Find that the area to be vacated is not needed for present or prospective public use and adopt a resolution ordering the vacation of the remaining portion of this third street, located west of Jackson Avenue.
Recommendation to receive report and provide direction to staff on the options addressing biotechnical and various other alternatives for the Ocean Boulevard (Bluff) Erosion and Enhancement Phase 2 Project.  (District 3)