hat's welcoming enough connected enough with people who are struggling That we've only got a representative list of the people who are in that situation Um, so, uh, I think the data dashboard item This is part of what we want to have in our data dashboards is where are we with This he's getting to zero list. So thanks for flagging that. I appreciate it Yeah, thanks. It's great to know. Uh, just 80 veterans in county We're good. That's all my questions. Thank you Supervisor friend Bruce Go ahead and supervisor captain You bet I want to thank all of you for your presentation and Uh, I think some of the key things are what are they doing or what are we doing? And I I just wanted to be right here at the veterans memorial building where I'm working Right right outside the door is a homeless shelter emergency shelter And I'm just going to introduce real quick Two of the frontline workers, uh, there's uh, that are working here every day With people that are really in need And that's uh, Cassandra Tristiano and Jatsuri Munoz. And they're right here with me Uh, they're right on the other side of the door. So let me introduce You know, we want to get that. Okay, uh, go ahead quickly because we want to get some questions and answers and move on We're behind schedule Oh, yeah, right. Um, so we are both surprised with the walk move at all. We are currently um Serving our community members those who are in need by providing them resources with any any help that they need so whether it may be a drug addiction And then also obviously homelessness and then also anything else that they are in need of We our responsibility is to kind of guide them towards professionals that are able to to help them out as much as possible Okay, thank you. All right Thank you. Um Yeah, thanks bruce. Uh, yeah, it's a face on The people that are actually doing all the work Yeah, I didn't want to have a supervisor friend Have any comments? Yes. I do have some questions and comments. Thank you chair. Thank you, mr. Morris. Thank you, dr Ratner Um, let me begin by thanking you both for your community outreach including generously offering your time in my district to to do a town hall with me answer a lot of My constituents questions and also incorporate that feedback into that plan I'd like to be actually begin by saying I fully support what you are bringing forward And uh, actually some of the questions I had were for my colleagues on their item because I wasn't sure if We ever defined actually what a unit was so We talked about 120 units could somebody define what that means Sure, I can Feel that so I mean, I think we're looking at, you know, any housing unit There's not at this point in definition that it's you know for one person or two person You know, we've seen communities use a variety of different structures, you know, I mentioned tiny homes or conestoga huts or You know palette shelters like are currently being used at the the housing matters campus, you know, there as well Of course housing matters has some single person palette shelters and multi-person palette shelters So, you know, I guess right now that you know, minimum viable definition of a housing unit would be something that just houses at least one person and where they could You know live for a That you know indefinite amount of time in a in a way that's you know safe and healthy Okay, so it's pretty broad supervisor conic I mean, but I think that we just want to be sure that we provide what that clarity is because It defines whether or not we succeed based on the metrics that you're outlining Um, I think that based on a lot of the emails that we all receive a lot of people define that unit as a tent and and I wouldn't I consider that to be an inadequate Living situation not something that we should be working toward but working away from Really an element of last resort. I think it institutionalizes an unfortunate living condition that we should be better than So I would like to ensure that the word from the board is that that we're trying to get people into safe stable housing and away from encampments and that sort of living conditions But I think we need to provide that clarity and the item wasn't clear as it was presented It just said 120 units and I think a lot of members of the community clearly think that that means encampments So are you saying that it doesn't mean that within your definition? I would look to some definition around the ability to You know safely store items, you know, like whether that's a housing unit that actually itself locks or You know, potentially it's something where there's lockable storage on site That you know, if we want to introduce more definition into this particular proposal, I'm certainly open to that But yeah, that's those are the lines. I would think along. Thank you And for me, I mean I have some concerns about the item in a sense that it actually conflicts with elements of the three-year plan that we're looking To adopt for example, the strategic plan talks about it being countywide in scope Realistically all the item that's coming forward right now talks about the unincorporated area and they there really are part and parcel and I think that You know, we shouldn't silo the discussion if we're serious about the issue We should start with an aim of housing people Not limiting where that housing can be And the proposal even talks about it within the urban services line, which Interestingly functionally eliminates three of the districts from even consideration on this And I don't under I mean if you if you're a faith-based organization like the Baha'i and Bonnie Dune or the Methodist Church in Boulder Creek And you want to participate. I don't see why the board would Limit their ability to do that. And so I don't Really understand the rationale of why the item that's being brought forward actually limits this because if we're talking about Um, the county having a role as in the unincorporated county, then we shouldn't eliminate You know, 50% of the landmass the unincorporated area So would you be open to eliminating the urban services line requirement only because I feel like it eliminates a lot of possibilities as far as faith-based organizations or other places that that could also work within all of our districts Uh, you know, obviously I can't speak for supervisor Coonerty. Um I'm certainly open to getting rid of it Uh, like I think the intention one of the intentions and including it was just to go after the lowest hanging fruit you know areas that could potentially be hooked up to You know sewer service or just be You know more closely Accessible to services But I think you yeah, you've certainly make an excellent point about a lot of opportunities existing outside of this urban services line And and I mean I would support that change I mean I struggle to support it as currently written for a couple of reasons But I would absolutely support it with that change and an additional change that doesn't Eliminate the cities in this discussion the last time dr. Ratner and mr. Roars morris came forward We specifically supervisor and Coonerty And myself both made very clear that the city's had a pretty major role here Which is why we actually directed them to go to all the cities to have these conversations I think the inventory in the cities is as equally as important as the inventory in the unincorporated area There are areas for example an aptos that that might be better than capitol But there may be actionable opportunities in capitol as was evidenced by the rena numbers that were put forward here The city is actually at least on the lowest income level seem like there's some work that could be done And so I think that what I would also like to see As part of the motion is that we expand it out. We just don't we don't limit it even though even if the 120 units Stays within the greater unincorporated area I'd like to see the human services department in conjunction with the cities put forward inventory of what currently exists there Because we're making pretty broad statements that there's an over burden in certain areas including the city of Watson Watsonville Which I co-represent with my other colleague But also then what other opportunities are there because that actually hasn't been shown I mean, there's no data right now that shows how many units are currently in existence Or these kinds of things within the unincorporated area for example in the last two years I've worked with the faith community in cabrillo to put locations for RVs for safe parking and other situations within my district But I don't know that that's even necessarily known. So Um, again, I'm not sure why we're just limiting in the unincorporated area And so I would ask sort of whether you and and supervisor community are comfortable with at least at a minimum having that inventory for both existing programs and opportunities To not preclude the cities as well So, I mean I so one let me go back to the point about the urban services line I think the idea was that some of the infrastructure costs and then the lack of transportation costs make um Places outside the urban services line more difficult in terms of like what already exists Two-thirds of the safe parking spots exist in the city of santa cruz They're in three different supers royal districts, but they're all functionally in the city of santa cruz City of Watsonville the city of santa cruz have opened up the vets halls The city of santa cruz has opened up the armory. Obviously, that's the homeless services center Pallet shelters now there the encampment outside of the armory um And so I think you know the app certainly open in the motion to expanding it to scott's valley You know requesting action by scott's valley and capitolah who certainly Need to expand it. I think the idea was that you also have permanent supportive housing programs coming forward Uh at the homeless services center uh potentially The staff is working on one on the freedom campus Um, but that if we're gonna if we're gonna really spread that housing Uh and or interim shelter options and I agree with you that Uh encampments are um are not humane and not the direction we want to go Um, but that whether it's tiny homes or huts or other things that that get people Safe is the direction we want to go but I think you know the real purpose of this was really to say There's there's been a far greater concentration in the cities And it's time for the unincorporated areas to to come forward with with available sites So that so that you know, it's a the unincorporate area has the Largest urban population in the county yet doesn't have the same amount of services as the two cities do So then that speaks then to my point supervisor kundry that that it would it would benefit your argument If that data were presented by not limiting it to the unincorporated area So none of that information was provided either in the three-year report or in your board item So I I don't see why we limit Um the the in existence of current programs To just I mean we need an inventory right when we don't even necessarily know where everything is currently located But I think that that inventory should include places like the city of santa cruz to show us once there And should highlight in the city of watsonville and should highlight The burden that you you refer to but I also know that The city of santa cruz and the city of watsonville have been working even with the county on the siting of other locations So I think it's important for us to Be aware of where those opportunities are too as far as the the rural services line or outside of the urban services line Um, you know, there's nothing precluding for example a location in boulder creek from taking two units or three units Or four units that would actually then help alleviate the overall burden I mean, I think that we are artificially reducing opportunities by making this statement because There are areas within the urban services line of my district that get a bus one once every hour for example It's not exactly great for access to transportation It's no different from the line that goes to dabbing part of the line that goes up the 35 that goes up to boulder creek So I I think that that we shouldn't do that precluding But I agree with you that if it's a statement of where there's a greater concentration of services then Human services can come back at that six month point and say well as a result of that Maybe 10 units or 15 units or 20 units should be within x location within the urban services line and only two or four or five in another location but Um, but I mean just just note but also from a pure commentary on the overall community This does functionally preclude three of the districts So it's sort of an odd thing to you know cast a vote that that when you just have urban services line I mean, that's that's two streets functionally and supervisor McPherson's district is two streets and supervisor capis district And you know, it's basically 7th avenue in yours. So Well, I think that we should accept that except that what we're talking about a community impact So it's 95 percent of my constituents live in the city of Santa Cruz Who have more than even though we're a quarter of the population Have over half the homeless population and a vast majority of the services So to I mean, I think and supervisor capi and supervisor fearson who represents the harbour west area Our constituents are far more impacted Uh under the current scenario than Then then other districts. So that our districts. This is the this is the the fast most significant crisis Uh that we're facing among them for the majority of our populations So we're dealing with it on it, you know Minute by minute or hour by hour basis And and there's an agreement to do an expansion out. I'm asking you not to limit it I mean, that's that's how I'll support the item if I can see that we get rid of the urban services line requirement Because the board can still make that determination when options come back in six months whether we consider that acceptable or not But by precluding it you've eliminated Even the option and I also think that as far as the inventory component goes we should get a sense Of where current services are and where there are opportunities that include the cities because it does speak to You know the two cities that you mentioned but all the cities in general just being able to have that information I think that information actually would bolster your argument quite frankly And I just I feel like if we're going to be data driven here Then we should be providing that data in a very transparent way to the entire community Yeah, and I think just just to work towards I am supportive but we can absolutely do an inventory, but I think the idea is um, we should do an inventory of where services currently are and then also the unincorporate area of Santa Cruz County needs to commit to 120 Of the units because because there's going to be a perpetual argument to keep saying well, do we already have some services there? Let's just put more more more services there and what this is really saying is Look, there are homeless people across the county. We need to have services in each part of the county To respond to that I absolutely was not disagreeing with that I was completely comfortable with that and I think that the report that comes back could differentiate cities and unincorporated And still have 120 in the unincorporated I'm trying to get better data And also I feel like that helps inform all of us and the community better and secondly I'm trying to not preclude rural services line option Or actually I should say just outside of the urban services line because there may be opportunities In some of those areas for small Things, especially within the faith community so if I understand your You know Effectively your amendment supervisor friend It would be in the second of the recommended actions for item nine to Read identify and prioritize available public and private property as well as county property Strike out outside of the cities of Santa Cruz, waltzville capitol scott's valley Um, and then continued that could be used for temporary shelter operations Uh, also inventory current Current homeless services throughout the county Period and then or I should say provide a provide a list of current inventory as well as potential sites and report back during the six month work plan And progress report on available option Yeah, and then on item three strike the urban services line to include we'll just strike the urban services line I'm so I think just to be clear So i'm not supportive of just sort of opening up item number two to all the areas if we want to I think The commitment in the unincorporated area needs to be clear if we want to do an inventory we need to do an inventory Um, and we can get that report back But let's let's move forward with the recommendation today of 120 in the unincorporated area in the urban services line and we can get a report back on You know outside the urban services line and and also a request to scott's we don't we obviously don't control scott's valley and capitol as land use So we can make a request to those jurisdictions To report on what they what they can do within their within their jurisdictional lines And I wasn't proposing to strike the 120 units I was just proposing to strike in the unincorporated area period I was just proposing to strike that it be limited to the urban services line specifically in the unincorporated area Again, the board would have the ability to make a determination when these sites come forward Whether that's something we feel comfortable with at that time, but precluding that opportunity I just don't understand so i'm completely with you 120 units unincorporated area I'm just trying to say it can be We shouldn't preclude again a church in boulder creek for example if they if it's a a match for five units To at least be considered under the operation in six months I see that director morris has his hands up too, and I apologize that he hasn't had an opportunity to weigh in Thank you. I'm not so much weighing in. I just want to share a perspective To help give us direction so we can comply Um, what's missing from this and and I don't think it was intentional But I just want to put this on the table is there's very likely going to be cost Involved in moving anything forward. So we showed you the financial gap analysis if we do a full inventory to stand up and Make sites available there's going to likely be cost involved Which is going to require us to come back to your board anyways So I think I keep hearing you supervised friends say the full board has discretion We don't plan on moving anything forward without coming back to the board with an inventory With an estimate of what cost would be involved what steps would need to be involved and on this item nine It does say we're supposed to report back on our efforts and bring forward any barriers And I think we're going to have to bring forward where we have money and get your support to execute that money Or where the gaps are so i'm just throwing out there I don't think anything's going to happen between now and when we're back in august To execute this and we would benefit from a full discussion with your board in august To get your direction on where to pick and choose if our resources aren't enough So I hope that's helpful, but the clarity on direction would be helpful I think the both and is um If the inventory is correct, there's a burden on cities and there's Opportunity not incorporated we will bring that inventory back and then we need direction from you where to put those resources So supervisor cunity, I I just don't know. I don't feel like we're very far off except for on the urban services line component because i'm with you on the 120 I'm with you on the inventory Um, I just again if i'm limiting mr. Morris's research to not include that I feel like i've made a mistake of of where we can make that determination pre august And so i'm just asking for that ability to Have him come back with that You know, I think look I I understand your argument I think right now let's try to identify the spots within the urban services line given that there are Services and everything from the infrastructure we need to potential transportation to other things that that I'm comfortable with the direction as is, but i'm willing to You know if we have a motion we can have a we can have a In fact It's getting late. So I mean maybe maybe we're at the stage where we should have a motion But i'm you know, you're more than welcome to uh to offer That that amendment to the motion when when we get to that moment get to that time Yeah chair, do you want I can should should be yeah, uh public comment Yeah, there's one other point I would want to make That I think should be included in this at this great discussion and I think very well taken But I I think we should have it For the unincorporated that no county park be included in the area to be used as a temporary shelter In the unincorporated area. I mean our park lands we we buy tooth and nail to get them established And they are for the general purposes of the All of the public homeless or not homeless And we need to protect those uh and make sure they're protected so they don't become Encampments we have plenty of parcels and we're going to be investigating those but I think we should we should have I would really like to give the additional direction as well That no car county park site be included as an area to be used as temporary shelters In the unincorporated area I just want to protect our parks for the entire general public Uh, so that's that's the direction I would like to have included uh now I will go to the public For comments. I'm sure that we have do we have plenty of people that uh Yes I mean go ahead We have five speakers currently listed six to speak to this item Okay, and uh two minutes. Thank you Thank you speakers You will have two minutes from the point that you're unmuted to make your comments Your microphone will mute automatically. Please remember you can only speak once per item color user for you're unmuted I've been listening all morning For the constricted two minutes you have put the public comment at chair McPherson I did take notes on that very informative and insightful presentation and I'd like to incorporate some of that in my comments you spoke of rude problems and financial gap even before this lockdown Over half our tax dollars go to the military budget And we are left with crumbs to fight over to provide for problems like homelessness and And there's something wrong with those priorities I want to excerpt a document And one of the sections is called social determination of health And the other section walked down Inconvenient or deadly because where it's over 70 million Americans have filed for unemployment claims in 2020 And part of that of course is Santa Cruz county This is the context we're in are now so just briefly Lockdowns are super spreaders of massive fear and anxiety And I've already caused profound disruption of our life Unlike anything that has ever been seen destroyed economies massive unemployment mental and physical health problems restricted Colored 1999 your microphone isn't muted Yes, hello, my name is James Ewing Whitman And I really want to thank dr. Ratner and mr. Morris I'm not sure which one of you is randy in which one of you is robert You guys said so many things that were incredibly positive and useful I'm still not sure if you guys are approaching this from a microvue micro view or a macro view So since I only have two minutes, this might just be a corporate poop cracker But here's three points that I don't think were mentioned I believe it was president Roosevelt who brought community members together hundreds of thousands of them in the united states that ended the great depression of 1929 To the beginning of world war two I think that's a suggestion You know, there's a lot of homeless everywhere in the united states and I couldn't find in my notes But I believe in early september 2020 Wells Fargo bank bought 14 billion dollars in us home loans that were in arrears What's going to happen when all those people get foreclosed on? And now I believe the state of california now has the first right To buy foreclosed on homes in california So once again, I really think that we're moving in several steps. I really think we're moving several steps forward. Thank you very much Thank you speaker abby young you have two minutes Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Oh greetings to the board of supervisors chair mcpherson and all the supervisors I so much appreciated what you said today. I feel so much Encouraged by your comprehensive approach with the county's taking leadership And dedicating to creating systems and strategies that work Thank you. Dr. Ratner and mr. Morse for your great presentation I did submit a letter which will go to the minutes just saying I strongly support your efforts to provide workable humanitarian solutions for the unsheltered population And definitely strongly support items eight and nine as well as 10 and 11 we'll get to that And and hope we can approve those items and move forward I think All together you're making a very forward thinking and humane comprehensive approach at last to one of our county's most intractable issues We can pilot projects and make things work here and I want to be part of that And I thank each of the supervisors and their staff and housing and human services and the new office for health and strategy Thank you for developing creative solutions And I urge your approval so we can move forward with implementation Hopefully you're part of the solution too. Thank you Thank you. Eleanor your microphone has been unmuted Can you hear me? Yes Okay, um, I don't need the full two minutes, but um You mentioned sort of in your your presentation in various different ways that You know, there's this continuum of care and there's um Uh, you know Not necessarily super clear differences and designations. Um, or you know, a lot of confusion about what Is city and county responsibility? Um, I'm just, you know, kind of wondering if if you have any, you know concerns about The ordinance that potentially is going to go through, you know banning You know camping and basically most parks in Santa Cruz where there currently are You know houses and campments, you know, are you concerned that that's going to Push a lot of people who um are used to accessing resources in those areas away Um, and if that's something that's on your mind or you know, blooming perhaps Thank you. I believe the speaker has concluded color two nine one five your microphone is unmuted Hello, this is Becky Steinbruner from Aptos Hills. Can you hear me? Yes Thank you You know, thank you so much. Mr. Morris and dr. Ratner for this presentation I feel in hearing you for the first time there is hope for real change and um, I really appreciate your good work your fresh energy and Moving forward with some real concrete actions to make a difference and not just continuing adding Outreach after outreach with with nothing really that changes anything for anybody. Thank you so much I also want to thank supervisor Caput for bringing onto Line here the people out in the trenches And that speaks to what we heard earlier from the community action board It won't always be the government agencies that people respond to and trust So thank you supervisor caput for bringing those in I um ask I am coming in by telephones I've not been able to see your slides if you could please put those up in some way In the future on the the website that would be helpful Um, I want the county to consider the property you already own The Burt Scott Park Now which is outside of the urban services line, but there's a house there a large house that needs repair And it could be used for something like this, especially if you incorporate it with a pilot program for ibogaine That could help really address the drug addiction problem That is part of the homeless and and i'm glad that that was all Interwoven because it is You can't address one without the other So the Burt Scott Park the property that county owns on Crestview in Watsonville that is on That the transportation line even the esplanade property that the county has declared excess Why are we selling those? are we Is that the last of the uh public comments? Chair, I apologize. It looks like our um clerk of the board was Um disconnected from the internet. She's having issues I am let me We do have more Comments, I will not be able to share my timer. So if community tv could please time for two minutes. Thank you The first person is john show show Walter You are being asked you are being unmuted. You will have two minutes to talk. Thank you John show Walter. Do you wish to speak? Okay, our next yeah. Oh great. Yeah, I that was buried behind something else Uh, thank you. My name is john show Walter with the association of faith communities It's been interesting watching the sausage being made here And the way that you all trying to work with each other to come together on what seems to be in Contention here is not the three-year Plan that seems to be to go to adopted as it should be But the policy that's being suggested a couple comments is do not preclude tents Uh, it's really a question of cost. You can buy a stand-up tent as people can stand up in them for a thousand dollars Do you want to put any structure more than that? It'll cost you anywhere from three to ten That's a question of how you spend your resources. And this is how camps usually develop. They started tents then you move to structures So do not preclude this In terms of parks, um, let's look at them the impact of a well-run transitional kind can be amenable there are Corners in some of our parks that could be used for this And many of our parks also have existing infrastructure that Is already impacting their use if it's about you just don't want to see it That's a different issue, but whether it's usable land, uh, you should be looking at that the others a political determination um faith communities ability to operate a shelter or camp is uh Largely my law left to them now calorie has proven this and we will be able to move forward as we are able to find someplace to Locate something like this that our efforts are the last three years with six spaces and shelter Suggest that there's very few churches and other faith communities have the land available or willing to serve it up This is going to be A search for a public place and you should search as wide and as far as you can So you now have the data to make the determination how to introduce this new form of transitional camps Okay Thank you and s your microphone is unmuted Thank you very much. Yes. Um, this is ann simonton And I am encouraging the board to please pass this and I would also second of mr. show walters comments about tents Um They we live in a moderate climate They're not ideal We're in an emergency We have no money Let's face the reality because you know, there's a lot of people in this community that are willing to be volunteers to help Create managed camps. I was one of the ones That went into the ross camp and tried to hand out vouchers and I saw what an unmanaged camp is like firsthand I encourage all of you to go to the camps yourself Find out more spend a night on the streets, you know Do something that you could really feel what it means to be homeless I would encourage ratner and morris also to try living on the street for one night and just see what that's like We need action now The future of our health of our county lies in your hands I'm really hoping that you'll at least work on this implementing a permit process as soon as possible So that uh volunteers like myself can have a chance to make these differences and I really believe that You know, we're in a situation where We need to act now. We don't need to wait until august. This is march You know, I know we need patients, but you know, all of us are making six figure incomes And so we need to understand that this is a severe situation We need transitional emergency camps and they could be for fire You know victims they could be for severe climate change coming up It could be for new financial institution that unforeseen possibilities down the road could create There's so much that we need to just maintain In terms of creating these kinds of spaces that will be transitional emergency stop gaps. Thank you so much We call her eight seven eight three your microphone is unmuted. Hi, can you hear me? Yes Okay, my name's good morning. My name is Serge Cagno stepping up Santa Cruz Um, I have two minutes for both of the items. So I guess I'm going to talk really fast I have a lot of appreciations and two asks I have great respect and appreciation CAO's office hsd housing for health Focus strategies both the Cates all of the collaborating organizations and the advocates That gave their input as well as those experiencing homelessness were who added their input as well in the six month plan uh under increased connections, uh for this month, uh, there is a Slated complete draft set of recommendations for county city partnerships related to unsafe encampments For next month. There is Uh, develop proposed action plan for creating and funding fiscal year 21 22 regional proactive multi-dose squaring street outreach teams as hsd director randy morris said regarding federal funding more grants and more investments are give are um Given for cities and counties working in collaborations But tonight the city of santa cruz is actually voting on a camping ban. So Supervisor coonity. I live in your district And you and chair mcfearson I would ask that you support this work plan by talking to the city council And asking them to support the plan by holding off on their ordinance Until the draft of the encampment is written and the proposed action plan next month as well on number nine, um, I also I support that and I would also ask that there is a review of two ordinances 9.70 0.620 which Limits rv parking and 10.16 no camping zones so that those two things are put in alignment with our framework I thank you very much. You guys are great and you're all doing great work. Thank you Thank you as a reminder speakers will have two minutes to make their comment and are limited to speak once per item Color eric your microphone is unmuted Eric your microphone is unmuted. Can you hear me now? Yes. Yes great document From the city of santa cruz. Well, the city of santa cruz is currently experiencing record numbers of encampments and public spaces For the sheltered population of only 65 000 and the unsheltered population likely significantly exceeding 1200 Santa cruz is one of the highest per capita populations of homeless individuals in the state of california and therefore in the united states unsheltered Individuals living in encampments are present within the city's limits at much higher rates than are present within neighboring jurisdictions Unlike some larger cities within the state the city of santa cruz generally does not receive significant funding from the state or federal government to provide housing or other services to persons experiencing homelessness Instead the county of santa cruz received significant funding to ride these services and has been legally tasked with riding these services Getting back to the um back and forth between supervisors friend and cunardy I think supervisor friend knows very well that the city of santa cruz in particular has borne a vastly disproportionate share of the unsheltered populations burden in its time for the county particularly unincorporated areas of the county in the cities of Capitola and scott's valley to step up and do a more proportionate share So I don't know what you were getting at supervisor friend, but if it was to protect Your district from bearing some of the burden. I am squarely with supervisor cooney on this cunardy Thank you very much. I support the um The measures before you today And adam's your microphone is unneeded Hello Brent here Thank you. We can hear you. Hi I'm really happy that this issue has kind of circled around after many years. We've been talking about transitional communities I like to call them transitional communities instead of come encampments um, and then also let's uh talk about Tents I don't I think uh, we really have to honor this community's wishes for what they'd like to see in in a neighborhood While I agree that tents are the can be the the most basic Sheltering unit a lot of people really don't want to see those in their neighborhoods There's fear that it's going to bring your property values down. Let's honor that but also We could do better than a tent that is a soft shelled structure. There's many creative construction designs, but at least uh putting a sort of a water sheltering Surface over the tent on top of a deck that looks really good from the outside that any neighborhood would be happy to To to host these for the time being um, again Fulbridge services has been Offering storage laundry showers in a neighborhood without any pushback in an extremely successful way The way we've done it is just reaching out to the community and working with that community So we uh, I really understand there might be some fear interpretation about the concept of encampments in our communities We want to change that story and and build something that is world-class that the the entire country could look to Santa Cruz for for as a new model tiny houses conestoga huts um, and a an empowering community that That serves and and heals our community of people who sleep outside and the surrounding community rather than Something that's constantly, you know on the attack really honored and grateful to see this proposal moving forward And i'm looking forward to working with the county hopefully in the future. Thank you Thank you the last caller sidi your microphone is unmuted Cindy your microphone is unmuted I believe the speaker's having difficulties unmuting their microphone Last call for cindy. Okay got it. Thank you very much for your service and Supervisors the work you do is so appreciated on every level. So thank you first I'd like you to consider some amendments and some thoughts number one I appreciate the amendment for Zero functional zero for families and I would like you to please add pregnant women in that amendment it is just heartbreaking to see a pregnant woman on the streets and and to Think that maybe or to think that something could be done. So please add That number two, I just do not think your 25 reduction is sufficient. I know you're looking at your Budget, but I think a goal can be higher Number three supervisor McPherson. I really love your support for parks I support parks and I see very Many areas in parks that are not environmentally sensitive that are away from visit Visitation areas that Temporary housing no would feel safer with a quality like the previous color call I mean, I I'm seeing a dream of tiny homes that could be Victorian replicas of houses in the city that could really be quality and could not detract from county homes I mean come from county parks and could be out of the areas where people are using the county parks And so I suggest that we look at all the land that we all own in all the parks and say that it's better than being afraid to walk in a park because there are so many people and Who are necessitated to be camping in the parks and we're not knowing if we're safe or not And our environment isn't necessarily safe With campfire. So thank you so much for your work and thank you for the plan and Look forward to progress That concludes the speakers for this item chair Okay, thank you a great discussion and thank you for the presentations too Um, I think we we want to face address an issue here. Um, you've heard my my recommendation for Additional direction on parks That are existing or planned those park sites the one I don't think We can just offhand eliminate, you know, like exact supervisor friends said three districts from being included in this solution so I'm trying to figure out a way that we can at least explore what the opportunities are from non outside of the urban services line of Of nonprofits churches because I do believe that a lot of them would participate in this effort Um May I make a recommendation? I'd like to how about we bifurcate the motion And we just move the recommended that recommended actions on item that were originally an item eight As is and then we can have a discussion on item nine So I'm proposing to bifurcate the motion and I would like to move the recommended actions associated with the original item eight Okay That's that's second It's like uh moved by friends seconded by Um by coonerty, uh clerk, please call the roll now wait. Let's see uh with that well my my uh My proposal would not be included until like item number nine. I don't think so. Okay clerk, please call the roll Thank you for clarification. This is motion on item eight as is supervisor Koenig I friends Coonerty Hi Caput Hi McPherson Hi Thank you, and I believe supervisor friends said I bet was muted I'm sorry. Thank you motion passes unanimously for item eight Okay Now we'll go to item number nine And supervisor McPherson, I'd like to defer to supervisor Koenig. I mean this wasn't my item They've heard my my ideas for amendments and and obviously we can vote on those and yours and we can vote on those as State stated that supervisor Koenig Yeah, it thank you supervisor friend. It might be useful to separate uh the The actions here as well, you know, we've got four different actions Start with the uh the first recommend Sorry, can I just just just for time and simplicity's sake what if we uh move the uh recommendation forward with direction That uh that the broader inventory come back with the board and that uh sites outside Of the urban services line Be considered but I would it with but they I would include As a condition that they have water and sewer Access Supervisor Coonerty by definition those in the urban outside of the urban services line don't have sewer. That's the definition So so so let's just say water Have existing infrastructure Okay, okay, can you can you uh, I would like to have my uh Additional direction on parks included in that would that be acceptable? Well, I guess my my question is uh That that there may be I don't know that all the supervisors feel the same way about what's the best spot in their In their community, so I I I sort of don't want to preclude it if if The supervisor if there's a supervisor here thinks that it may be a It may be a workable solution at some level I support the amendment supervisor McPherson. I mean I support the parks amendment that you're making Okay, I just we have a lot of parcels and the parks are established and that they've been Been very very hardly thought for for that purpose for recreational purposes for the overall community So I would would appreciate if um, I don't know if a motion has a motion been made on this yet so if If somebody I don't know if somebody does make a motion I would appreciate it if the The direction to prohibit Or say the no county park land should be included for temporary shelters in the unincorporated area Let me ask Supervisor Koenig, do you have an opinion and then I if Then I'll adjust the motion accordingly Um, you know, I I guess on the one hand, uh, well, I think you know Writing off, you know at this point it seems like casting the the widest net and getting the most information possible would be the best way to go Um, you know that said I uh, and so to that effect, you know, ultimately, you know People are are living in parks today Without services without water without sewer And so, you know To the extent that we could identify and create a better situation My my inclination is not to preclude those sites I do agree with supervisor McPherson, though that there's certainly plenty of Alternatives as well. And that you know, I think that ultimately the list would come back with You know with the number of opportunities So I I guess I'm willing to support The park's amendment To speak Okay, then then what I'm going to do is an attempt to uh, to To bring us to a consensus vote here is uh, I'll move the recommended action with additional direction that uh, existing Uses come back as part across the whole county come part come back as part of the As part of the august report that uh Sites outside the urban services line, but with existing infrastructure Are included and that parks are excluded I'll second the less supervisor conig did you second that? I'll second. Okay. Okay. That's moved by coonerty We clear on that and they're right. I'm pretty sure. Okay. Thank you. Um call the roll, please Thank you. This vote is for item nine supervisor conig Hi friend Hi Coonerty Hi Caput Hi McPherson Hi Thank you. Motion passes unanimously Congratulations on a unanimous vote and there's more to come. So thank you Now it is 12 20, but I do think we should address the zone seven issue I don't think it's a long agenda And I would like to do that was a scheduled item for 10 45 I'd like to address that before we go into closed session Or if people what I don't know what the board wants to do with the closed session at the end of the meeting We have still plenty to go. So I would like to go to the scheduled item at 10 45 That is the zone board director's regular meeting. Um, the board of supervisors shall we recess in order to permit the board of directors of the sandsbury's county flood control And water conservation district zone seven to convene and carry out regularly scheduled meetings Supervisor friend, you are a chair of that board. Um, so I'll just hand that over to you Thank you chairperson, uh, madame clerk Do we need additional time to promote some of these new panelists or are we okay? We are fine. I've provided everyone that is in attendance. Thank you All right, but we're gonna call to order the sandsbury's county board of directors for the flood control and water conservation district Also known as zone seven for a march 9th Meeting if we could have a roll call, please director conic here Coonerty here Caput here McPherson here Billisich here Lucas yeah and director chair Here. Thank you. Excuse our directors coltworth and alternate Gonzales. You have a quorum. Thank you. Are there any changes, uh, mr. Strudley to the agenda today? No chair from there or not Wonderful move on to world communications It's an opportunity for members of the community to address us on items that are not on today's agenda But are within the purview of zone seven. Are there any members from the community here to address us? On members of the public Registered to sign or to speak to this item. Thank you. All right move on to item four Which is the approval of the zone seven board meeting minutes? Are there any questions or comments on the minutes from any director? All right, is there anybody in the community that'd like to address us on the minutes? There are no public speakers. Thank you. Madam clerk motion would be in order I'll make a motion to approve the minutes second We have a motion from director billisich and second from director conig if we could have the roll call, please Thank you director conig. Hi Coonerty. Hi happens Hi McPherson Hi billisich Hi friend Hi Thank you motion passes unanimously with attendance Thank you. We will move on to the consent agenda, which is all of one item So is there any are there any comments from directors on the consent agenda item? director billisich Um, I was looking at the time is 1045 the right time or is it an evening meeting? Usually isn't it usually an evening meeting? I'm just asking So He's director or dr. Strudley. Yeah, director billisich The the times that are in this board item were coordinated with clerk of the board So as far as that coordination is concerned, these are the correct times to the best of my knowledge Okay, I just usually in june. We have an evening meeting there, but if we're not having any meeting, that's fine. Just wonder. Thank you So I can make a motion to approve In one second any other directors like to comment on consent And if not, are there any members of the community that are that wanted to address this on consent? Did you see anything, madam clerk? There are no speakers to this item. All right director billisich, please I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda Second a motion from director billisich and a second from director coonerty if we could have a roll call, please director conic Hi Coonerty Hi Caput Hi McPherson Hi Billisich Hi Friend Hi Thank you mentioned houses with the attendance Thank you. We'll move on to the one regularly scheduled agenda item Which is item number seven the program managers report as the board of directors of zone seven to consider a status report on the pahora river flood risk management project as outlined in the memo of the district engineer dr. Strudley Thank you chair friend members of the board and members of the public I'm here to provide you again with another update on our long-standing levy reconstruction project As you know, we've reached several significant milestones over the past few months. Among them is Preparation for signing a feasibility cost share agreement with the army core which provided authorization For your chair to sign that for the chair to sign that agreement as soon as the core has as ready to that agreement We expect that agreement to to be coming soon Um as soon potentially as march or april later this month or next month. We expect to be Uh able to fully execute a feasibility excuse me a a design agreement with the army core Uh to move us fully into the ped phase with the army core and begin work Um, they have accepted our closeout agreements for prior cost share agreements which will credit uh a large sum of money towards the construction of the project Once we enter that phase Um, and we have reached other significant milestones on The governance side which i'll go into shortly Um, so in addition to um an expectation of beginning the actual work of design very soon We are uh in conversations with the department of water resources as well as our state Delegation of legislators to look at the possibility of authoring legislation that would elevate our cost share With the state of california under our subventions agreement You may recall that our existing subventions agreement and authorization in statute limits the state participation Of non federal costs at 70 of those costs Despite the fact that the project is a very shiny example of a true multi benefit project That notably provides a tremendous amount of flood protection for um a significant population of disadvantage and severely disadvantaged residents in Uh, both monterey county and sanikers county So we are embarking on a number of discussions and have actually developed some some initial pieces of legislation That we are in coordination with dwr as well as senator lairds office as well as assembly member stone and assembly member revas and uh as far as staff is concerned, we would like to extend our Uh, large appreciation to those legislators as well as chair friend who has Guided this process and the coordination with those legislators um, so I think we we do have Fairly good chance of moving the needle here with the state. The question is how much will we be able to achieve and Uh, we won't know until several months down the road as the legislation moves through the process Um as I've uh reported to the board previously we have been Um trying to secure other grant moneys to support the project as well as to support Um other flood risk reduction Uh programs and projects outside the envelope of the of the federal project So notably we are still waiting to hear from the department of water resources on the results of our application To the coastal watershed flood risk reduction grant program Under prop one We do stand I think a fairly good chance of securing some additional funding from that program Um, but it remains to be seen what will come of that. We hope to hear from dwr Within the next month if not few months on the outcome Of that grant application We anticipate um throwing our hand in the ring on a future solicitation Which we expect to be available later this year probably summertime For prop 68 Again, we will be requesting money to support the federal project And the other item i'd like to mention on this uh funding pursuit is um, we are in active discussions with fema and callowas right now for a hazard mitigation grant program and application uh, that would address the absence of Uh flood risk reduction solutions in what's called reach one by the army core of engineers reach one extends from Highly one down to the ocean to monorail bay and the federal Levy reconstruction project does not include improvements to this area because of economic considerations made by the army core. So we are Simultaneously trying to address this gap by positioning a planning application with fema To look at feasibility analysis and other requirements to begin Looking at the potential solutions in that area of the pahora river The challenge here is that is several miles of river and this would if we're successful This would be the largest planning grant sub application sent to fema Under the hazard mitigation program in the country to date. So It's both an interesting um Descriptor of both the potential accomplishment we could get from this as well as the large challenge ahead of us And kind of securing that level of support from fema Um on the environmental review process with cico. We are working Continuously with our consultant team in developing draft Documents and parts of the environmental review and those parts are in internal staff review right now But we expect to have a draft document for in continued internal review Um sometime this spring And there will be more to report on that item as we move through the environmental review process On the governance and finance side, um, nothing has really changed in our description of our potential finance challenges related to the project Um, as it stands now, we're still looking at roughly 10 cost coverage That would be envisioned as part of the benefit assessment district But like I said earlier, we are looking to close that gap So to speak and shrink that requirement down to as little as possible through the legislation that we are championing with the state of california for our subventions authorization um, the last major piece of note, uh, is our progress and milestones that we've reached related to governance as reported to you before and as Recommended by this board and supported by this board was the pursuit of forming a new governing body to implement the capital project As well as other front flood risk reduction projects within the pahora river envelope We have now secured all five authorizations from the five member agencies of that jpa to adopt the agreement So we are working through right now some administrative matters that will position all those member agencies To to be brought together under that jpa's umbrella And to start up meetings and to start guiding the project through that jpa And so there will be more to come on that in the next few months and there may just to give a heads up to the board there may be the requirement for special meetings to be held to To align some of those administrative matters for the creation of the jpa These items would include things like designating The members of the board of directors from those member agencies To the jpa and that would be need to be done. For example, according to The brown act by the member agencies themselves With that i'm happy to respond to any questions you may have and again Thank you for your continued support with this project. Thank you dr. Strudley director cap it Okay, uh, thank you Supervisor friend Yeah mark a quick question You talked about the grants. I don't know how much money we're talking about And so the question has got just two parts to it and that's it Uh, how much uh millions of dollars are the grants were We've applied for and the other part would be if we received some of the money Would that lower the assessment for property owner? The that are in the flood zone that would vote on it Yeah, thank you for that question director cap it So far we have under the coastal waterside flood risk reduction grant program With state dwr. We have applied for approximately 7.2 million dollars of support That would support the project through Um the design phase Um that money as it stands now as as would any other grant funds secured from the state of california or state agencies without the addition of legislation that changes the statute for paharo Subventions Those grant awards would sit within that 70 percent Cost share allocation coming from the state and so would not Work towards reducing The benefit assessment district costs We have not yet submitted an application for prop 68 So I can't give you a magnitude of of the the dollar amount of that grant I expect it would be it will be smaller than the coastal watershed grant because we are going to be applying for support there for elements that sit outside And this gets a little confusing. There will be planning elements that sit outside of the federal project and so They would reduce costs To local ratepayers or ultimately to the jpa once it's fully stood up and administering the project But those would be costs that we would incur as local sponsors to a project Anyways, and they're planning elements. So they actually sit outside of the 70 percent the way the statute works We're probably going to apply for a few hundred thousand dollars to perhaps maybe in the low millions depending on What elements we end up seeking? To include based on final guidelines for that program which have not yet come out from dwr Although we've commented on the draft guidelines So that's grant number two The third grant that we are working on right now is this hazard mitigation grant program with fema Again, this sits outside Of the federal project of the subventions issue This is this would represent costs above and beyond the 400 million dollar levy reconstruction project Because this is targeting solutions that sit outside that army court project We are looking at potential A potential application for just a little bit north of five million dollars to two Feasibility analysis environmental review other items that position us for permitting other environmental topics and Initial design of the project Thank you Thank you director cap it director billisich Yes, dr. Sturney just quickly Do are the are the agencies now starting to approve their members or how is what's the process for that? So i'm i'm coordinating with staff from our other member agencies It was only very recently that the last member agency had adopted the jpa agreement So there will be some coordination that will ensue over the next few weeks or maybe maybe next few months depending on those decisions, but As I understand it there is discussions happening internally with the different member agencies on Who who they would like to select? As to sit on the board, but ultimately That process has to comply with the brown act. So it has to go through the member agency boards or councils for approval So they may be doing it in the next month or the next agenda or whatever they could be doing it anytime now, right? In theory yes, and so as an example for zone seven our next scheduled calendar meeting is the june meeting But that's why I mentioned that there will be a possibility for the need for a special meeting sooner than that So that we can address a number of these administrative matters that zone seven needs to take up on its own To fulfill the the initial startup requirements of the jpa Well, hopefully the cities and others will do that before I mean, we'll just have to see. Yeah, the other question I had is You know listening to the homeless report. It looks like we're going to have some real progress here. Has there been With the people on the Corleadus Creek and the and the South Spades Creek Is there an impact on our levy project and on the plans going forward? Is there any problems there or are we okay the water quality? Etc. I I just wanted to know if you could if you know anything about that Yeah, and it's it's more concerned with ongoing operations and maintenance than it is with the capital project itself. So And it's it's a big concern actually for safety during the winter and spring months when we're Anticipating rainfall to be in the forecast a lot of these homeless encampments are fairly deep within the river channel close to low water And one of our initial concerns is for the safety of those individuals who may or may not be privy to kind of The the rainfall forecast. I don't I don't have a good feel for what kind of information those people have at their disposal And should they have an absence of information? They could get caught in a very dangerous situation very quickly, especially on Corleadus and salsa plateas creek More so than the Pajaro because it is so flashy because it responds so quickly to rainfall and the water levels rise relatively quickly and so our first challenge is is trying to get people out of harm's way during the winter months our second and longer term challenge is Addressing on em requirements in the channels allowing our contractors Safe access to the channel so that they conduct can conduct their work Allowing safe access for our drainage maintenance crews so that they can conduct their work and then third concern is is any potential damage Or additional flood risk that is posed by the presence of of those encampments We have had instances in which homeless have dug into the levy prism Which is an extremely alarming thing to do given the age and fragility of the existing levy system The other thing that's problematic is is for example when those encampments set up beneath bridge decks and present a hydraulic challenge to the conveyance of flood flows underneath that bridge deck it could clog up The bridge beneath the bridge it could Wash downstream and clog up the channel elsewhere and cause backwater flooding So these are the items that we are Trying to address and again, it's more related to operations and maintenance than it does anything else I did see County staff out moving couches and things from under the bridge the other day. So that's a positive thing I just wondered if it you know, how how it affects the overall maintenance of this project It does increase costs You know, we we have line items in our budget that address the need to protect water quality To protect flood risk reduction By clearing the debris out of the channel when it is problematic for flood flow conveyance You know, the the recent activity that occurred there was because of the forecast for rain that Was for last weekend and this week and so Without a lot of confidence about how big those storms were going to be the last thing we wanted were for people to get caught under the bridge And be in an unsafe situation, but we also didn't want the debris blocking the conveyance Under the bridge either should we have A convective thunderstorm roll over the county and the core lead a drainage basin It does add significant costs To us and it presents challenges to us because Although we are beginning coordination with dr. Racken and and the others that spoke from human services We're not experts in how to address the problem We're experts in dealing with flood control And maintenance of the facility and so it's going to take additional effort and requirements to Partner with those groups and to arrive at solutions Well, thank you so much for your hard work and the work of the county Seems like you're on top of it as much as you can be I know that there's been a lot of injunctions and different things happening with homeless camps. Where do they go? A lot of concerns about the people but also Quality of life for other people. So I don't know. It's a big challenge and thank you for everybody to what you're doing You too, zack and greg Thank you director bill sitch any other board members on this item for we opened up to the community Seeing none. Is there anybody madam clerk from the community that'd like to address this on this item There are no speaker says item chair Okay, we'll move it back to the board. I think it's an acceptance file. We'll move it back to the board on for action I'll make a motion to approve the report I'll second that Supervisor cap it a motion from director bill sitch and a second from director cap it if we could have a roll call, please He'd director konig All right unity Hi cap it Hi McPherson Hi Bill is itch hi friend Hi, thank you motion passes with attendance Thank you. I'd like to apologize to those members of zone seven that waited for the last couple hours in order to attend this item. We do appreciate your patience and That'll end the zone seven meeting Chair McPherson. I'll turn it back to you Thank you Thank you. Thank you zone seven board members. Um, thank you. We're at quarter to one and um we've got Four items to go and we've got a scheduled item at 130. Uh, what I would like to do is for To go into a closed session Um, and then come back. We have a scheduled item on the general fund. Um, did your budget report at 130? Uh, so we'll come back by 130 and then we have four other five other items 10 through 14 Uh, they're they're on tiny homes free Accessories well in units, so they're going a couple of them. We're going to take some time We're going to be here from the long haul. So what I'd like to do now is uh, go into closed session Is there is there anybody a board member that has something they have to go to that? That they would like to take a full 45 minute break and then come back and then address The items after um, the scheduled item at 130 Everybody okay. Okay. We'll we'll recess. We're going to close session at this point And uh return at 130 And then take up items 10 through 14 after we discuss the uh mid-year budget review Uh, which is item number 16 on our regular agenda Okay, so we will go into closed session There's nothing reportable for closed session Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Okay We're going to close session Thank you chair All right, um, we're going to reconvene the uh the march 9th 2021 uh meeting of the board of supervisors the time is about 135 137 p.m Um, hark, please call the roll again Supervisor conic here friend here cap it here McPherson here Thank you. You have a corpsman respecting supervisor community. Okay, I think we'll go ahead um with the Item number 16. It's a scheduled item for 130 p.m And when supervisor community comes out, we just acknowledge that please We'll do Okay We'll consider the general fund mid-year budget report with updated estimates for fiscal year 2021 preliminary requests for fiscal year 2021 22 And an updated five-year forecast is outlined in the memorandum of the county administrative officer We have a mid-year budget report Our county administrative officer, uh, carlos palacios Excuse me if I may jump in quickly supervisor community has joined the meeting great. Okay. We have a We have all five of us here Mr. Palacios Thank you very much chair mcpherson and members of the board Carlos palacios county administrative officer. I just wanted to provide a brief introduction to our mid-year budget update Very quick overview of what you're going to hear Christina Mallory our county budget manager Give a presentation and more detail on Is that overall the news is good? And that we are doing Better than we had anticipated a year ago and we developed this budget Uh, so that's good news um The cautionary note is that we we still have not fully recovered in other words our revenues Still are have not reached Pre-pandemic levels yet So that's important to note that we're still in a recovery mode from the recession But we're getting better and we hope and Perhaps in the next year or or two will be fully recovered But certainly not now we're not we're not fully recovered The other issue is that there has been significant news about the new stimulus bill that the administration has Proposed and it's on and the verge of being approved by the house. This is the american rescue plan It contains very good news for local government for counties and cities and states and the Thing to keep in mind with that is that and christine will go into more detail on this is that It's very good news for us and that we're slated to receive 53 million dollars from the federal government In recovery funds What's still not absolutely clear yet is what those funds can be used for Prior stimulus funds were limited to only new covid related expenses And that put a lot of Restrictions on how we could spend the money and it frankly couldn't backfill any of our lost revenues with this new american rescue plan Originally, it was proposed That we would be able to backfill lost revenues As every other industry that has received aid from the federal government has been able to do such as transit districts such as airplane airlines And so forth hospitals But local government up to now has not been able to backfill Our lost revenues. So originally it was proposed. It's not clear In the language yet until the house approves that what the final language will be and that is very big for us because We are as as christine will talk about We believe we will be able to reduce The furloughs next year to about by half And still be able to avoid major disruptions to county services If we receive the american rescue plan dollars and there's allowed to be backfill of lost revenues Then it may be possible that we will be able to completely eliminate Furloughs next fiscal year. That's a possibility But again right now We don't know and the bill is not clear or we're not clear yet whether we'll be able to backfill lost revenues and that Really has a big implications for how we develop next year's budget The next thing I wanted to talk about is that we are in the midst of a major reorganization of county government When I first became ceo, we developed a six-year strategic plan We developed then after that after more than a year's work a two-year operations plan Um performance measurement. We're in the midst of a continuous process improvement as well But we are also doing four major reorganizations of county government One of them you heard from today, which is housing for health This was our homeless efforts and we moved those efforts from the county administrator's office to the human services department Established a new division called housing for health. We hired a great new Director of that division Robert. Dr. Robert Ratner You heard from this morning and we're in the process of coordinating and consolidating Many of the county programs that we use To help the home those experiencing homelessness individuals experiencing homelessness With that new division that's been a major lift and we're very proud of the efforts and of that We've done over the last couple years to bring about that new division Second we are in the process of forming the or three office the response recovery and resiliency office Right now, uh, elisa benson is heading that effort up And we are in the midst of hiring staff and getting that That new division stood up that will be within the county administrator's office and it will take over our major efforts to Respond to emergencies so the office of emergency services will be in that new division And we will also contribute to the recovery efforts that are going on And help coordinate those efforts From the cz u fires that we experienced last summer And then we also will consolidate our climate action efforts In that office. So as we work at resiliency and Against future disasters. We also will center our climate action efforts and goals within that or three office And we are in the process of standing that office as well up as well as I mentioned third we're in the process of working on On transitioning the public defender's office From a independent private contract To a county department And you've received reports on that in the past and you'll be receiving a report on the 23rd of march on our progress to date That is another very significant Effort and a major another major reorganization that we are undertaking And then fourth, uh, we will be working over in this budget year On a new community services division I'm not sure what we're going to call it if it will be a community services division or development permit center One stop center basically trying to consolidate those efforts um within the county that In that the cut the community has to go through when they want to Get a building permit Or some kind of development permit And so that would consolidate staff from both the planning department public works department and environmental health as well as fire districts and county fire And so that is another significant effort and reorganization effort that we are undertaking And that will be hopefully in place a next fiscal year and that we're working very hard on So I want to make sure that you know that those major reorganization efforts Are underway and we will be discussing them in more detail during budget hearings in june At this point, I would like to turn over the presentation to county budget manager Christina Maori who'll go over in more detail our mid-year budget report Thank you, carlos and good afternoon Uh chair mcpherson and members of the board christina Maori your county budget manager I'm going to go ahead and share my screen in the presentation Okay As carlos mentioned, I'm going to go over and give you an overview of our this is our mid-year report We gave you a preliminary forecast in january Um, and now we've received uh the department's request and so we have a little better understanding of where we're at We're first going to cover sort of give you an update on our federal aid for the covet 19 response, particularly the american rescue plan and how that affects us We'll give you a brief State budget outlook economic outlook We'll focus on the general fund because that's where your board has the most discretion And we'll look ahead giving you an update of the five-year general fund Forecast and then some options to prepare for our future Those carlos mentioned we've gotten good news recently the uh senate approved the american rescue plan that was previously approved by the house It allocates 350 billion dollars for local governments Our estimated allocation is about 53.4 million dollars And it includes funding for our revenue losses, which we had estimated at 25.5 million dollars Now we're still taking a close look at this the the senate did make a few changes to the original proposal So um our revenue losses and and the amount we can claim may be limited to something less than the 25.5 million dollars And we're still will be receiving uh once the house takes final action. Hopefully tomorrow And the president signs the bill will get the u.s treasury will issue guidance on how funds can be uh claimed Um, but we're we're very excited. Um, uh, we're very hopeful. It's going to help us cover our revenue losses, which Will help us with some of our budget So here you'll see sort of an estimate. Um, we've been providing you updates Previously on the coronavirus relief funds that were allocated through the cares act Which was back in june But we haven't really specifically talked a lot about all of the costs related to our COVID-19 response So this is an attempt to give you sort of an overview of where we think we're at and this is based on the preliminary information and our experience through december But we believe our FEMA Eligible costs are about 78 million dollars um and our costs through december Related to the cares act that your board approved is about 27 Million dollars plus some interest And then we have costs the departments are putting together plans. You saw a preliminary estimate in january But we have costs for our continued response Through september estimated about almost 30 million dollars And then as your board knows you you received a report earlier. We received some rental assistance a which was a separate Funding provided for rental assistance for community members And including the money that the state is going to administer that 16.8 million dollars And then public health has received some very specific funding For their related costs related to vaccine efforts, and that's totaling about 11 million dollars So overall our cost estimates to providing the response Is about 163 million dollars And the funding we've received That we're estimating to receive because we really don't know exactly how much money FEMA is going to reimburse us But we're in this scenario here. We're estimating that we will receive everything that we've spent We know that's not likely and so we are looking at and hoping That we'll get some approvals of some FEMA projects before you're in so we can give your board an update If FEMA is disallowed any of those costs Um, but as we said before we have revenue estimates of our losses of about 25 and a half million dollars Um, so our overall costs are the the 163 million So we have a gap right now based on what we've received so far or anticipating to receive of about 55 million And so the new american rescue plan provides us about 53.4 million. So not quite enough to cover Um, all of our revenue losses, but almost all of our revenue losses based on the original proposal And the state budget outlook the governor issued his budget in january. It's very positive Just like we're experiencing A little bit of additional unanticipated revenue compared to our original estimates. So is the state They have a healthy surplus of about 23 point 23 billion dollars. Um, and they have some increased one time allocations Included in the governor's budget of about 15.5 billion Um, and they're anticipating increasing their reserves by seven and a half billion dollars So we're anticipating the may revise to include some additional funding Um, and as the revenues improve Um, may include an additional 10 and a half billion dollars, which will be really helpful The economic outlook is is looking very positive also. Um, you know with the vaccine in place and and people getting vaccinated It's helping the economy reopen Um consumer confidence is very high. We've seen continued growth in sales tax and transient occupancy tax And we expect that to continue to return Um sales tax has has you as you'll see in the the revenue uh details I'll provide shortly has has nearly recovered. However, um the transient occupancy tax or hotel tax is going to take a bit longer to recover Um, and overall, uh, the equity markets are recovering along the federal reserve actions That are maintaining low interest rates and support for low inflation will help fuel the continued recovery as well So we're going to focus on the general fund budget. Um, since the forecast we provided you in january The revenues the general revenues have increased, um ever so slightly about 1.6 million dollars for total growth over budget of about 7.9 million dollars and that's primarily from um a little bit more uh sales tax uh growth uh transient occupancy tax on a little bit of property tax overall um offset by some some uh reduced revenue we're seeing in our interest earnings um our departments and other net costs are less by about six and a half million dollars And this is primarily from increased revenues that some of our departments Saw some of that revenue is a reimbursement of some prior year costs So that's one time revenue. Um, and in some cases There's some additional revenue being provided one time to help cover some of the costs in the budget So overall we're expecting an increase In the fund balance available by the end of the year of 8.1 million For a total of 12 and a half million dollars to carry forward to 21 22 And here you'll see a summary of the revenues Which is where your board of course has the most uh discretion. These are the general county revenues made up of property tax sales tax Uh transient occupancy tax the cannabis business tax detransfer interest in some other revenues and reimbursements So since the mid-year estimate like I said, it's gone up by about 1.6 million And you'll see there the hotel tax has gone up a little bit The sales tax and the property tax with some minor changes overall And there you'll see the interest uh has dropped A little over a half a million more than what we anticipated in january at mid-year report Um And but overall growth is good better than we anticipated 5.2 percent better than than we originally projected last august So that's good news that's going to help us And then we look at the department costs in the current year As the departments had more experience they fine tune their estimates based on their costs And like I said before this gives you a breakdown by the various government categories. So we have our general government category Overall is seeing a little bit of improvement. Uh since the preliminary forecast Health and human services where we saw the most improvement and that's primarily from that those increased revenues that they're seeing And some of that most of that is one time revenue And then our land use and and community services is seeing a little bit better revenue than what they anticipated They anticipated quite a decline in their their permitting revenue It did get a little bit better in their their recent forecast But still down compared to budget And then public safety isn't doing too bad. Um, they're up a little bit just a half a million dollars So overall the departments are saving compared to budget about 5.4 million dollars And here you'll see the general fund uh contribution summary. This is a summary of of how the general fund How we finance the department budget. So remember the the the departments have their own direct revenues And the difference in the general fund departments between their revenues and their expenses Is the general fund contribution that comes from those general revenues And it also comes from our fund balance that we carry forward. So your board will recall That this year we took over 13 million dollars out of reserves. That's how we had that fund balance available to us And we use that as a measure to help soften some of the impacts and the changes that we would have had to make to the budget So you can see overall like I said, our general revenues are better by 7.9 million or 5.2 percent The total financing is up Just under 5 percent when you include the fund balance And the department net costs are Better than originally budgeted and forecasted And we have some other costs that are slightly better as well So overall you can see there we're able to have an ending fund balance of about 12 and a half million dollars that we can carry forward So to give you an overview of the 21 22 general fund budget Since the forecast we now believe remember you'll recall that in the the preliminary forecast in january We recommended to your board that we Ask the departments for three scenarios because we didn't exactly know which scenario was going to prove to be best So based on the request from the departments and based on our current revenue projections We believe we're in a position to eliminate 50 percent of the furlough The financing estimate has increased overall Now a big chunk of that is one time savings from the 21 22 2021 year carrying forward to 21 22 But we're also including the better revenues as well And the department costs are higher by 6.4 million and this is predominantly I should say primarily from the eliminating 50 percent of the furlough, which is about almost 6 million dollars And then we have some minor changes in staffing As a result And then there there are other costs that are being recommended to be increased for our critical deferred maintenance and our increased restricted contingencies And then we are recommending Based on the financing that we have available to us and carrying over some of that savings Um to increase our reserves by 2.6 million dollars You'll recall that when we take money out of reserves, it's important that we have a five to seven year plan to restore those reserves So we need to start working on that plan to restore the 13 million dollars that we removed from reserves So that we can have it ready for that next event But we're going to do this as we have funding and so right now based on our proposal We believe we have 2.6 million dollars that we can start to restore the reserves with And overall in this particular plan, we're only out of balance by less than a million dollars We we believe we'll be able to reconcile all that before we finalize the Prohose budget and present it to your board in may And here you'll see a breakdown of the revenues and the growth A lot of this is the same continued growth that we we're seeing in the current year And then some additional growth that we're anticipating in Our property taxes Sales tax is going to continue to Be restored prior to the pre-covid levels as you can see there Our tot we're we're not expecting it to be restored completely It'll take another year. We believe for the economy and the hotels to recover from the pandemic And um canvas business tax is still um strong even though it's a little less than what we initially thought And our D transfer tax Is is seeing some growth some continued growth and of course we spoke about interest interest is down We expect it to continue to be down for a while um, so overall our growth compared to the budget Is about 10 million dollars or seven percent growth and remember that This is above average growth and this is because we're seeing a little bit of a bump from the increased recovery And here you'll see a breakdown by the various government categories general government health and human services Land use and community services and public safety and justice So overall the department net costs are going up by 6.4 million dollars or a change of of just a little over four percent You'll notice there you might Be surprised to see general government going up so high This is because every other year when we have an election Where we're not in a general election our election costs are much higher because we're not recovering Revenue from a combined Consolidated election with other measures So there's not as much revenue to offset those regular costs So a good portion of this 2.6 million dollar increase is our elections Which is continuing without that that offsetting revenue Um, and then the rest of that and these other departments here are just the primarily Some of the departments were able to cover some of their increased costs if they had revenues But many of them weren't able to cover the cost of of eliminating the furlough Half of the furlough So um, we're covering that here overall with an increased general fund contribution And here you'll see a summary of the general fund contribution You'll see the increase of the uh, 12 and a half million dollars anticipated from the fund balance with the general revenues For a total financing of 176 million dollars to offset the department costs of almost 156 million Some of our other costs which includes debt service contingencies general fund contribution for um capital improvements and deferred maintenance And then our contribution to reserves And overall we're just slightly out of balance and we'll rectify that before we present it to your board Now if we were to consider as carlo said, you know, we um, we're very We're going to be receiving the american rescue plan and some one time Reimbursement of our revenue losses. Uh, and so until we get that additional information We won't know for sure how much additional revenue we might have available to us um, but if we did decide to Eliminate the furlough completely Uh, we would need another at least another six million dollars To be able to provide financing for the departments without engaging in any position eliminations or layoffs So we want to give you an update. Um on the uh, sort of forecast the five-year forecast for the general fund We still do show growing deficits. Um We've updated the uh, projection based on the proposals and that we've received By looking at eliminating the furlough in 21 22 or by half of the furlough Um, excuse me in 21 22 and the remaining furlough by 22 23 That's what the forecast includes and includes sort of average revenue growth and average expenditure growth And even after all that we still estimate a shortfall Of anywhere between 13 and 15 million dollars And that's even after we carry forward savings each year of at least five million dollars, which has been our average for the last few years Um rising health and retirement costs continue to drive the overall costs Um, and it's important to understand that, you know, our budget is balanced based on Using some of that one-time carryover of the money that we took out of reserves It doesn't look like we're going to need a lot of it this year But we'll need we're planning on using uh using it for next year and hopefully we'll be able to save some of that and carry it forward Um, but we will need to look at some additional revenue options to replace the use of those one-time funds So here you'll see a picture of the five-year forecast of just looking specifically at the general fund contribution The blue line is the actual financing That's available from the fund balance and a combination of the general revenues And it's growing Here you can see in 2021 we have a balanced budget the lines come together And we're proposing that by 21 22 will have a balanced budget And they come together and then you'll see that the gap starts Um by 22 23 with the full elimination of the furlough, which is a total of almost 12 million dollars We start to see our gap And and it continues to go up So just as a reminder There are lots of things that will help guide us as we look to the future We have our strategic plan and our operational plan helps guide our priorities We've got our continuous process improvement to help us create efficiencies in what we do Performance measures are going to help us assess the effectiveness of what we do And we're hoping program budgeting. We are going to be demonstrating that in our proposed budget That will be released in May And then hopefully by the following Fiscal year will provide program budgeting for all budgets But we're hoping that will provide greater clarity and helping the public Understand what's included in the budget by breaking it down by program and service Um the reserves as we know will need to be restored over the next five to seven years And as before we've looked for revenue options to help us preserve core programs and services and replace some of the one time funding That we're using during this during this sort of economic recession to help us close that funding gap And carlos, I believe you want to cover our revenue options Yes, the challenge that's before us is that Assuming that we're able to use the American Rescue Plan Revenue loss category We would be potentially help using those funds to help us reach the gap to restore The remainder of our furlough amounts for the next fiscal year The difficulty is that these are one time funds Depending on the again, we don't know all the restrictions There has been some talk that the American Rescue Plan Could be used over a couple of years And so if we were to use Approximately six million Dollars to cover next fiscal year Then what happens the following right? That's the difficulty Our revenues and our costs have been Rising Basically at the same rate. In fact, our costs have been rising a little Bit more rapidly than our revenues slightly more rapidly. So we've been in a somewhat very tight budget situation Given our normal cost increases And then if you consider that we're using one time funds to cover six million dollars And again, the six million dollars is the net county cost amount We're not talking about our so in our general fund, which is over 500 million dollars our net county cost is somewhere in the neighborhood of 170 Million at this point. I think 160 170 million So that is the area that so six million dollars becomes more significant of that So that'll be the dilemma one one choice would be to set aside 12 million dollars out of the 54 And then use six millions next fiscal year and then six million the following fiscal year So that would allow us two years to try and make up that net county cost Difference to backfill the revenue the furlough amounts. So that's possible But then that that uses up more of the american rescue plan 53 million dollars Other options would be to consider revenue measures in the future One possible measure is our emergency response fee. This is our 9-1-1 Center that helps us to offset those costs right now the Charge is a dollar 47 per landline And it continues to go down because people have switched to cell phones So if we were to and to voice over internet so if we were to reduce the charge but expanded to cell phones and and voice over internet That would allow us to capture approximately another one and a half million dollars In those costs that we go towards our 9-1-1 center So that's an option the hotel tax or transient occupancy tax is another option Currently we're at 11 percent City of Monterey last year in the midst of the recession actually increased their toot To 12 percent they went from 10. They were actually lower than us. They went from 10 to 12 every 1 percent increases by a million dollars There's also the possibility of increasing Of splitting that we think that you could actually split the amount you charge to traditional motel hotels versus hosted rentals such as Airbnb and VRBO and charge different rates So there may be a possibility there as well And again every increase is 1 percent is about a million dollars and then sales tax We're currently at 9 percent sales tax. We're the lowest in the unincorporated area Most of the other cities are either at 9.25 9.5 or 9. I think scott's valley is the highest which is at 9.75 So there's a possibility that we could increase that every quarter cent Indian incorporated area raises about four and a half million dollars annually And as you can see the gap we're going to try and cover is that six million dollars that covers the remainder of the furlough amount So Anyway, those are things that we need to think about as we go forward Into the next budget year I think with that we're we're concluding our Our our major presentation to you And I think christina touched i'll touch on one more point that christina did That we did use over 13 million dollars of reserves that we need to build that up And so we are proposing to include that amount. It's it's something that your board has considered In the years past and that's how we got to our Our 10% reserve because you showed a lot of fiscal discipline over the last Decade and so we're just wanting to continue that into the future and restore the amount That we had Used in in this to get past this recession So with that we'll conclude our presentation and then be open to any questions from the board Okay, thank you mr. Blasius and thank you christina Um well It's it's better than what you thought it might be so that's great It's under those circumstances that we wouldn't have gotten here without Your employee sacrificing through the furloughs to reduce our deficit that just wouldn't have happened I can't tell you how much we all appreciate it the people of santa christ county appreciate it because you've been able to carry out More than your fair share of services additional services Very well, and we appreciate your understanding of that Also, I am glad to see that Washington has given us said it looks like a 53 little amount of 53 million dollars that'll be just so essential and we we are going to have to need that as we move along On part two of the recommended actions Is there any finite financial impact to Extending the period for the health services agency staff through the furlough time We I mean won't we have still captured the full budget impact By june 30th of this year Yes, we will achieve the the budget savings. We need to this fiscal year We're just giving the staff more flexibility to use those furlough hours into the next fiscal year Perfect. Okay. Good. All right, and you answer some of the other questions about Well, we have a little uncertainty what's coming, but it looks very positive In this line this this week. Are there any other questions from members of the board supervisor friend Thank you chair. Thank you. Ms. Mowry as always for that outstanding presentation I learn a lot each time and mr. Plosios as well Um, I appreciate the information obviously we have a lot to learn when we get treasury guidance about what is Flexible or not flexible in this and we do have one time funding I do I would like to say though that um, one of the successes of the 2009 recovery was investment in capital projects not just On a revenue loss basis, and I think that we really do need to take some of this money I noticed that you did mention the contingencies which we've blown through due to the fires and other reasons and you Introduced your diligence last budget year and cautioned us on the reduction of the on the contingencies. I want to acknowledge that We need to build that up. We need to build the reserves back up no matter what and it appears as though We have a plan for that, but I do think that some of this needs to be set aside for capital Uh project investments a because we have massive deferred maintenance and b because it that money goes and stays locally I mean it creates local jobs and it helps Stimulate the local economy in a way that that purely revenue loss Investments don't I don't know what that percentage is and I would trust you too to come up with that But I would like to see something even in the public works or parks world that can can make some investments That are that are desperately needed and in my district. For example, it's no different from my colleagues We we still have a lot of storm damage related Projects that need local funding and we've been taking sp1 funding. It's taking a long time anything We can do to stimulate those projects again creates jobs and also saves money in the long run because The escalating costs of construction So I just like to think about how we creatively use this one-time funds to also create and stimulate local the local economy and jobs associated with that and meet some of our capital needs Thank you. Thank you Supervisor Coonerty Thank you, mr. Chair sort of piggybacking off what supervisor friend was just talking about I do think that an opportunity to invest in both capital projects and also some workforce development Right now. I think Supervisor McPherson and I are hearing from a lot of our constituents are finding hard time finding contractors To rebuild their homes or to build the affordable housing that we've all agreed is so needed And then we've also burned through medical professionals in response to the crisis various crises and so training up People in the trades trading up training up people to do nursing and public health nursing I think partnering with our workforce investment board or cabrillo or the county office of education And really sort of investing in this generation so that we can Create some, you know and essentially an economic foothold for people And much needed services. I think with targeting some of this money the other question That I I think it's that's that if we can Develop some programs with this stimulus dollars or these covet relief dollars I think it could pay out both a short term and a long term benefit to our community In creating some good jobs and needed needed providers in our community The second question is I want to appreciate the staff's management in these very difficult times to keep our fiscal situation Solid and to make sure that we weathered this storm One of my questions was I it said that we may not be able to build in The covet relief dollars into our budget, but uh, but I'm sort of hesitant to to do several different budgets In june and then come back in august and then come back in the fall And so what can we do to sort of even if we don't have a hundred percent of the dollars be able to have A thoughtful conversation of where we want to make these investments and what the next couple years look like because Sort of we've had to do this budgeting piecemeal because of these emergencies and it's totally understandable but at some point we we want to get some Stability back in our projections and so that we can all plan going forward where we want to make investments Yes, we can we do plan to Come to the board with the budget on may 11th. I believe the date is When we will release the budget Unfortunately, we the budget is their train has left the station so to speak And so we didn't know what the american rescue plan at that point was So it is true that it is going to be outdated the minute it's released But for the most part it is a good plan. What we plan to do is introduce a supplement supplemental budget in budget hearings in june Which will take into account all the different proposals for the american rescue plan dollars By then we will have treasury guidance and we will understand how we can spend it And then the board will be able to give us direction on how to spend that and incorporate it into our budget And so our anticipation is to have the board pass a budget at the end of june That will be a complete budget and we won't need to revisit in in august And if I can just add to that carlos You know as soon as we get guidance We will bring a report to your board regarding the american rescue plan Because a good deal of that funding is for this fiscal year And we'll need your board to approve a plan We will be setting some of it aside for next fiscal year And as carlos said we'll put that in a supplemental But this fiscal year portion will need to be adopted the departments um that have been uh You know in the middle of the pandemic have have gone on in good faith And continue to provide certain services that we do need to um You know set up appropriations in the budget appropriately and to make sure that we have that money coming in Um, so we will be asking your board to take an action probably I don't know if we'll have everything all figured out by the end of march, but definitely by april we'll have something to you Supervisor cap it. Do you have any questions? I think uh, I think you covered it very well Okay All right. Supervisor uh conic Thank you chair. Thank you. Ms. Mallory and uh, and mr. Palacios for those great presentations um I think I pretty much understood everything you said. I I think i'm finally starting to get the hang of this so um And it's also i'm sure thanks to the clarity uh and directness of your presentation as well Um, you know, obviously contemplating, uh, how we're going to manage these long-term gaps You know, I agree with my colleagues that we have to think about what kind of investments we can make Um in looking over the revenues for this year. I also want to highlight You know the increase that we've seen in the cannabis tax You know that was due to policy changes that this board made making that permitting process a little bit easier And so I think it's um, you know, obviously Uh, as we consider revenue measures and you know, it's more than likely that some of those are going to be necessary um, but you know, I think we should also not forget that Ultimately, we are stewards of our community and the more our community prospers The more ultimately general money general government will have available to it You know, obviously property tax is the biggest source of of income for our community and so To our cio's point, you know, with the creation of a new community Community development or community You know, basically a new approach to streamlining permitting. I think that's going to be critical To ultimately allowing more people to invest in our community And that that will ultimately see our property taxes increase if we do that effectively So yeah, just uh, I think that there is a lot more that we can do and um, just Let's let's not forget to think creatively and and think about how we can help our entire community Thank you. Thank you. Um, are there any questions from the public? There are no speakers to this item chair. Thank ferson. Thank you. Okay. This is a just a mid-year report And it's better than we could have anticipated No, six months ago or so, but uh, thank you for that report and we will now move on to item number 10 To consider chair chair mcgerson. We had a acceptance file Oh, did we had a couple of I we had a couple of recommended actions on this? Oh, I'm sorry Thank you Okay, uh This mid-year budget report, I'll move the recommended actions Yeah, there were there were two actions and direct the personal director To take action regarding the extension of the furlough period for health services in place So, yeah, thank you Okay, the maker of the motion is uh, kurti seconded by I'll second second by your friend. Call the roll, please You conic Hi friend Hi Coonerty. Hi Caput Hi McPherson. Hi. Thank you motion passes unanimously Thank you, mr. Palacios for that. All right. Now we will move to item number 10 um To consider proposed process and timeline for development of policy and ordinance related to tiny homes And direct the planning department staff to proceed with policy development as outlined in a memorandum of the planning director I think that this Um, great. Thank you so much. Um chair mcpherson supervisors. This is daisy allen with the planning department I'm sharing my screen and so Uh, let me just Just a moment Um, so at the january 26th board of supervisors meeting the board considered the idea of developing a policy That would allow for tiny homes in santa cruz county Including tiny homes on foundations as well as tiny homes on wheels The board directed planning staff to return with a proposed process and timeline for development of this policy So what is a tiny home? Tiny homes are not defined in our code But tiny homes are generally considered in the industry to be Small housing units less than 400 square feet That are either on foundations or on wheels and may be towed to different locations The state of california recently adopted appendix q of the 2018 international residential building code Which includes special standards for ceiling height lofts ladders and stairs And egress windows for tiny homes Uh appendix q is an optional provision in the international building code But it was adopted by california as mandatory actually for all jurisdictions. So it is already in effect here in santa cruz county For tiny homes that are on foundations that are considered buildings The santa cruz county code currently allows tiny homes on foundations that are as small as 150 square feet Tiny homes on wheels are currently treated the same way in our code as recreational vehicles And we do not allow permanent habitation of recreational vehicles except in designated rv parks So in response to the board's direction staff proposes to update the county's regulations for tiny homes In two separate projects or phases Phase one would involve updating the code to allow for tiny homes on foundations or on wheels as primary dwellings or as ad us These code changes could be made without requiring general plan amendments or c core review The county building code already incorporates the provisions of appendix q as i mentioned But there may be interest in adding additional local amendments to the state building code In order to address foundation design or other areas where special building standards for tiny homes might be appropriate Changes to the zoning code will definitely be needed Staff suggests creating a new code section Dedicated to tiny homes in order to clearly define What we mean by tiny homes and delineate how tiny homes are different from other definitions in our codes such as manufactured homes mobile homes recreational vehicles And travel trailers or park trailers which have their own standards There would also be a need to provide guidance regarding the appropriate placement of tiny homes on parcels Ownership of tiny homes and to define when and how tiny homes on wheels Would be considered as housing units contributing to the county's housing production numbers Information will be needed about utility hookups as well as Potential exceptions to our usual dwelling unit standards such as allowing for efficiency kitchens rather than standard kitchens Also, the zoning code section concerning accessory dwelling units will need to be updated To explicitly allow tiny homes as ad use and reference the new tiny homes code section Staff proposes to conduct these code updates concurrently with an update to the county's adu regulations this spring and summer Staff is currently working on updates to the adu ordinance in order to better align With guidance provided in an adu handbook that was prepared by the california department of housing and community development this past fall Uh, so since the topics of ad use and tiny homes are related And it appears that neither of these efforts will require a general plan amendment or environmental review Uh, staff proposes to take the two topics together either as one ordinance or parallel ordinances on the same schedule Um, so there uh would also be a potential for a phase two of tiny home policy Uh phase two would include policy options that would take more time Due to requiring general plan amendments or potentially requiring environmental review Or, uh, you know more extensive community meetings For instance, these policy options might include tiny home villages In other words multiple tiny homes on a single site Our existing regulations do allow for multiple single family dwellings on a parcel. These are called dwelling groups That dwelling groups are subject to density limits and for that reason It's unlikely that tiny home villages would be allowed under our existing rules except on very large sites or in very high density zone districts In the future the general plan and accompanying county code could potentially be amended to allow for tiny home villages generally Or for specific applications of tiny homes such as emergency housing Or transitional housing from the uh for the homeless as was discussed in a previous agenda item today Uh another potential policy area that could be explored in phase two would be tiny homes that are completely off the grid Our general plan and county code does require a public water and sewer hookup for all development located within the urban services line And there are water and septic requirements in the rural area If there is interest in allowing for tiny homes with composting toilets, it will be necessary to amend these policies to allow for that And any updates to our policies that would increase development potential in the county could be subject to review under the california environmental quality act So in terms of schedule The concept of tiny home regulation is new in santa cruz county, especially the idea of allowing tiny homes on wheels Engagement with the community is therefore very important Also, it's important to take the proposed changes through review by the housing advisory commission as well as the planning commission For recommendations before returning to the board With the proposed ordinance Last week we did review the tiny home concept at the housing advisory commission meeting and received positive feedback about the policy idea generally As well as helpful input on issues to consider in phase one Phase one of the ordinance development After today's meeting we have scheduled a community meeting on march 16th where we will plan to present Both the proposed changes to the adu regulations as well as tiny home regulation options And we'll be gathering feedback from the public And then we will plan to go to the planning commission for a study session And then for a public hearing followed by a return to the housing advisory commission So that they can provide feedback on the actual draft ordinance And finally back to the board of supervisors and then on to the coastal commission So staff recommends that the board direct the planning department to proceed With the first phase of the tiny home policy development According to the schedule as proposed And that the board direct staff to proceed separately With a second phase of tiny home policy development later either as a standalone project or wrapped Together with other housing policy initiatives such as supportive housing policy work And that concludes my presentation Thank you very much Supervisor Koenig do you have any comments on this? I know that you we brought it together Yeah, thank you chair and thank you miss allen for the comprehensive presentation It looks really great and I received a lot of positive Comments from folks who saw this I believe the same presentation at the housing advisory committee the other day I just want to commend you for your work on this Um And you know, I think it's sort of as expected that we would need to do this in a couple phases So that makes perfect sense And I think that you know the delivery of phase one in you know late Late spring early summer makes sense as well I guess my only concern at this moment is that the potential that phase two could kind of get lost in In the shuffle down the road So do you have some sense now of the timing on that phase? Yeah you know If we do proceed with this two phase option The only concern we would have from a staff perspective is that We be finished with the phase one project first before we moved on to phase two so Given the proposed schedule that would put us at around august or september To be starting work on potential options for phase two Great. Yeah, that that makes sense. So I I suppose You know if we need uh some kind of action coming up today That I think maybe all that I would add is that when we do ultimately review an ordinance For phase one that at that time you're going to update on potential timeline for phase two And Yeah, I'll follow up with you to make sure I've got the link for the march 16th community meeting and definitely look forward to helping to promote that as well great Thank you supervisor friend Thank you. Mr. Chair. Thank you miss allen as always for the presentation. I do have some questions These are relatively similar to the ones that I had raised at the last Meeting when we asked for you guys to for the planning department to come back I'm definitely supportive of this general concept, but I think some of the details will actually Really matter during the the process of making these And so maybe some of these questions are things that will need to be explored from the pc and you or maybe some of them You could actually address I mean one of the questions I had is could you have an ad you and a tiny home on the same parcel? Yeah, that's that's a great question. Um, so what we're proposing for Phase one would be no change to our current Density allowances and housing allowances that are in our current zoning code Um, as well as the ad you state law Out in terms of Number of units if you have a single family parcel, you may have a single family home and an ad you As well as a junior ad you If as part of this phase one policy project We would be allowing for a tiny home to function as either that primary dwelling or as that ad you And as you say the devil is a little bit in the details because the ad you Size currently is related to the primary dwelling size in terms of some types of ad use So so that's one thing to kind of to think about a little bit Um, there's also of course concerns regarding tiny homes on wheels You know allowing for a tiny home on wheels on wheels to function as a primary dwelling When it can be towed off site and you know where where we draw the line there in terms of When when that that becomes Part of the real property there So so there's a lot of questions to be worked out as part of this project Even the part of even the phase one aspect of it, but we wouldn't be proposing to allow for Um additional density beyond what we already allow in our zoning code Okay, I think that where we would run into some pushback and most likely some environmental challenges would be if that were the case Um, so it sounds to me like it's functionally a replacement of an either or not your words with just how I'm Kind of looking at it that way but in addition to that We we site Uh where ad use can go on a parcel pretty specifically Especially because uh from fire codes and other reasons how we define them as a new construction versus an addition and various things My thought here is that by definition something that is more mobile would be cited potentially in a different location So at least within the urban services line and in particular the coastal zone Um, I want to flag a concern and I think this is something that the planning commission needs to review is to Where they get cited because I can see a situation by which you could ostensibly have You know dozens on a on a given block. I mean or that are being rented out potentially in relatively No setback areas on driveways that are very narrow, right? I mean so you can imagine if like I think about a pleasure point Or a Rio del Mar for example That that would have a very different effect because we wouldn't permit an ad you there It would be a garage conversion or something in the backyard Um, and so we're going to really have to look at Especially on smaller parcel sizes or urban services line area in particular coastal zone where these are cited I think that that's going to be a Are hurdle for us to overcome Um in addition I don't know for like Soquel Creek water districts perspective. Is this a new water hookup? Is this not a net new water hookup from our sanitation district? How do we calculate flow rates associated with it if it's connected within the urban services line? Because these are all things that under prop 218 and other challenges We actually need to know when we're making rates on on those issues So I mean it's much easier in an area like a correlates of my district for example, you have space Versus the urban area even though there's advantages to being within the urban area obviously But these are things that I want to be sure the planning commission addresses Do you Have a sense of how we would assess These properties. I mean so when when we have a an ad you come on that's You know that you get a new assessment under property from a size, but if these are technically mobile How would they be but they're a living unit that you could be your primary living unit? How do we now assess it from a property tax perspective? Yeah, I don't have a good answer for that one yet My understanding you know from doing a little bit of research and other jurisdictions So far and just being at the very beginning of this policy project is that A tiny home on a foundation is considered real property and a tiny home on wheels is considered personal property similarly to a travel trailer or park trailer um But beyond beyond that I'm not I'm not certain if you know if we're allowing a tiny home on wheels to be Used as a primary residence. We might require some level of interim type of foundation alternative foundation construction in order to Allow for that to be considered part of the real property But that's that's a blurry line and I'm not I'm not certain yet Okay, well and I Completely appreciate that honesty because to me these are the questions that just popped up in my mind as to how this would work because I view something on wheels as temporary And if and our code seems to agree But if we're allowing somebody to live there for multiple years or four if not permanently then that's a fundamentally different situation And I think needs to be treated very differently As a new construction and how we look at new construction Again, this is just different within the coastal zone in other areas in the urban services line And so it's something to consider overall I'm definitely supportive of the program But these details are really going to matter because I can see their being Um some pushback including on the sequela side if we don't really if we're not thoughtful about how this is presented So I would just hope that that I mean, I'm not looking for this to be additional direction But just that you're getting board feedback now that these are things that I would hope That the planning commission and hack would consider and planning staff would consider before something comes back to the board Thank you. Ms. Allen. Appreciate it. I got it. Thank you Thank you. Supervisor Coonerty I see he's still there, you know Um I'll come back to Supervisor Coonerty for ask again. Supervisor Caput. Do you have any questions? Yeah, not too many but just a few you answered A couple of questions I had already on your presentation. So I won't repeat them but I was looking at the picture. It showed like a neighborhood of Um tiny homes that it almost looked like the Wizard of Oz and Whatever so Are we talking about certain areas maybe becoming like a neighborhood of Tiny homes or are we looking at it where a tiny home has to be somehow connected to a A large, uh, you know residential home Yeah, that's that's a great question. So You might be referring to the picture in the lower right portion of the screen where there's a few different tiny homes on the same property So this is something that we would consider to be a tiny home village It's been done in some other communities. Um, as I mentioned Our zoning code doesn't Really allow for tiny home village Except on very high density zone districts and in those zone districts We really would want to see more like a for uh apartment style multifamily housing rather than detached housing However, there may be an opportunity to update our zoning code Later as part of maybe a phase two of the policy Project for tiny homes that would allow for tiny home villages But the what we're proposing for a phase one part of the policy project would be Just allowing for a tiny home to be uh used as either a primary residence or as an adu Okay, all right, so if if there's a neighborhood of regular residential homes And there's a vacant lot in that neighborhood somebody can't just go in there and say i'm going to put a tiny home there and That'll be a Right and actually in our existing Code you can already do that with a tiny home that's on a foundation So what we'd be exploring as part of this phase one of this policy project would be Expanding that to in some way incorporate tiny homes on wheels as well Okay, and they they'd all be Subject to private ownership, I guess and I get what I'm getting at is Someone that owns a residential home instead of building an adu They could put one of these tiny homes and then pretty much rented out And we're assuming that the rent would be cheaper or you know with people being With a COVID-19 Of course, there's no control over how much rent that would be charged. Is that correct? That's correct Yeah, so that's one thing we do have to watch out for Okay, thank you Do you Uh, it's supervised recruiting. Did you have any questions on this? Are you I don't I'm sorry I was having a hard time unmuting but I appreciate the The report and I don't have any questions at this time. Thank you. I I too I I support this true too pronged approach Moving forward in the immediate future with an ordinance Or code update that makes tiny homes possible soon And more significant policy would to work on tiny home villages and off-grid options that Are to be studied later I think this is A great avenue that we're we're addressing and I appreciate supervisor conic's involvement in this with me to bring it to the board. Is there any public comments? Yes, I have one speaker to this item. Thank you Thank you. Dr. Holliday your microphone is unmuted Oh, hello. Can you hear me? Yes Okay, um, I am um a small business owner in bin lomond and I am a cdu lightning complex fire survivor and I just wanted to Say how supportive I am of making this available. I am also a tiny home dweller for over nine years And while often tiny homes are associated with people who are currently unsheltered They are an amazing option for people across income levels. So I was able To because I was living in my tiny home While I was working on a building permit that expired. We ran out of money and then everything burned down I was able to open a business and put my resources into the community creating jobs as opposed to being kind of forced to invest in real estate And so it was an incredible option for me. And then the other thing I want to just say um, the technology around composting toilets and greywater systems has advanced a lot And um, like I'm in a position. Um, I'm going to rebuild a tiny house But my septic system is going to cost as much as the house And so I just really want to encourage that phase two to happen for people like me. Um, I live up all the road To be able to address this sooner rather than later and I just want to um, thank you for Pushing forward with this movement because it is um good for people and it's good for the environment. Thank you Thank you. Was that the only other or the only public comment then? Yes, checkman first and that is the only speaker to this item. Okay. Uh, we have two, uh, recommended actions to, uh A directed plan department to draft an ordinance allowing the tiny homes as a primary or accessory dwelling Um and direct the department to proceed with more extensive tiny home policy provisions Some of which have been suggested as we speak today, um Those are the recommended actions. Does anyone want to want to make a motion to that effect? Chair, I first I just had one follow-up question. Sure. Yes The supervisor friend raised about the question of, you know, whether a tiny home will be permitted in addition to an ad you Um, and I understand the clarification that right now they would not Um, I do understand that the city of watsonville recently has allowed multiple ad us on parcels Over, I believe it's 12,000 square feet. I'm just curious in the general scope of the ad you amendments if if multiple ad use You know detach ad use obviously since we are already permit a junior ad you as well as an ad you I'm just curious if that is in You know your your scope of inquiry um, yeah, so so multiple ad us are currently allowed On uh multifamily properties But not single family properties single family properties can have one ad you and one junior ad you We have not gotten feedback or direction to Mak