llowed by lindsay white josea are you here lindsay white followed by salina parto hi my name is lindsay white and i'm attorney at rogaway law group representing phenotopia i first want to clarify that pursuant to section 5002 of the bcc regulations as part of their discretionary review of state license approval the state requires all applicants to submit a detailed description of all past criminal convictions not solely those within the past five years note though that the appellant's presentation is not intended to malign highway 420 or to state that mr maranda should not be allowed to run any business in the city of san rosa rather the appellant's intention is to point out the discrepancies and inaccuracy in highway 420's application and to advocate for phenotopia's transparent character this application process is based upon transparency and honesty and phenotopia has demonstrated these qualities throughout this process furthermore i'd like to take a minute to clarify the slides that were shown during the appellant's presentation during the cannabis policy subcommittee meeting highway 420 presented a slide which inaccurately claimed that phenotopia's application was lacking in many substantial areas today phenotopia presented a slide to rebut the slide shown at the subcommittee meeting the slide appears to have been misinterpreted by mr castan at no point this slide claimed that highway 420 had or had not done things it was simply a slide rebutting what highway 420 had previously said about phenotopia and demonstrating the many ways in which phenotopia has prepared to be a superior member of the rosalyn community and the city of sienna rosa finally phenotopia's owners recognize that many community members are concerned with security issues at the subject property and this is something that phenotopia is completely prepared to deal with and improve thank you lindsay salina pardo followed by willie vela neweva hello my name is salina and i was born and raised here in san rosa and i'm an alumni a sociology alumni from our community's colleges i was not paid to be here and i'm speaking in support of highway 420's project as members of their community highway has already made themselves known in their community by using their location for community involvement projects such as allowing open houses to the community allowing local artists to host their art galleries and events in their location currently and allowing local designers to showcase their clothing in their location the invitations to the community were a huge success as i witnessed their neighbors in the community come together and even draw the attention of larger known artists in the bay area to come up to sienna rosa to support all of these initiatives taken for the roslyn community by highway statistically communities such as our roslyn community have suffered the most injustice from previous marijuana regulations and the rising opportunities in the cannabis industry is a huge opportunity to help these communities that have been most affected by once illegal marijuana regulations and invest in these communities to help those once convicted on nonviolent drug offenses the appellant has been very vocal about not allowing those same individuals to be hired within their company advertising this to and upsetting members of our community and i support highway for roslyn because they're in discriminatory workforce and invested commitment is here at home the corporate investor supporting the appellant already have an open location just down the street on north benton avenue in santa rosa thank you so much selena thank you willy followed by judy judy yura hi my name is willy vanueva um i just wanted to touch on two points uh i'm for the highway 420 project i did hear a lot of um from the opposing team that there will be uh there is a plan to hire bilingual staff i am currently already are being bilingual already hired with highway 420 along with uh a couple other co-workers of mine that are also bilingual um and we hosted the bench spoken right before the art gallery along with um showcasing the fashion designers uh local brands so yeah thank you so much judy followed by michael walker good evening dear council my name is judy yura i have been living in sonoma county for 21 years five years of those uh i lived in rossland i am an mvs student at sonoma state and i'm also a professional for more than 20 years so when i hear everyone here speaking about either um the purple or the green my initial thought is this boat is not just about who has the larger parking lot the boat is about what business is going to be a better fit for that community of rossland that's my point number one point number two as a nature professional when we hire we look at many several different resumes and at the end of the day what the business in this case what the city is going to do is hire the right person for the right job when i look at the credentials of green team and when i look at the credentials of purple team my boat is for purple team they have the plan together they know they're when they know what they're going to be doing and they also know that they're giving back to the community and they have a plan for it so um i do hope that you guys take into consideration everything not just the fact that that one group is founded by latinos and i'm a latina i speak spanish and i really vote for for for my latino community but but in this instance vote for the best team thank you thank you juda michael walker followed by javier artesana i've been a resident in santa rosa for over 20 years uh during that 20 years i've created a business i've had that over eight years also during that 20 years i've had a young kid she's now 16 actually works for the city and i'm just in support of highway 420 because i know that they give back to the community thank you thank you sir javier followed by one jose navarro hello my name is javier artesana i'm here to uh to bring up three letters from um owners from the dot in plaza one from the restaurant cancun i jorge redriguez i'm in full support of opening of phenotopia at dot in plaza i believe that they will uplift our strip mall bringing in new customers that we need in addition they will bring needed additional security to the plaza and help our patrons feel feel and stay safe i am in full support of phenotopia from the restaurant owner of cancun um there's also a restaurant called oh sushi i key hung park owner of oh sushi will like to give my full support to phenotopia their business plan will not only help bring in new customers but add additional security that we very much need i'm aware that they are the highest ranking applicant and i've offered to donate five percent of the profit to our local community we need this business at our dot in plaza tamales mana i am a duardo ario i'm in full support of the of a cannabis dispensary at our dot in plaza i feel the dispensary will promote business opportunity and growth in our plaza which has which needs added business to flourish please do support this application by phenotopia as i am aware they are the highest rated applicants thank you very much thank you so much one followed by william garcia do we have one jose navarro all right william garcia hello um hello my name is william garcia i am the force the ten four seven is about support role i would like to thank everybody for coming here and showing support for both business i understand that is a big contradiction going on but under everything pass advice for everybody um i am the majority owner of the investment holdings and applicant for the permit i have successfully two businesses and will sustain commercial real estate and i intend to build highway for 20 uh to a dispensary that everybody will like in the community uh shows just and as a partner based on the credible job he had done with highway for 20 collective he came barely recommended by members of the cannabis industry and also the community he was very honest with me about what he did 18 years ago and i like that but i have no doubt in my mind he will not do that again and i you know he's a family man just like me i am a latino third world country kid you know i appreciate everybody coming here there's a big opportunity for me i understand everybody says the other applicant is uh more prepared and everything like that i do understand but from the bottom of heart thanks everybody positive vibes they wrote me something else to write but it's already too much going on and i appreciate everybody coming and how for 20 really opens for the community um and thank you and i also like to add uh we are going behind veterans minorities and also women for this business and we've been a bilingual and also me especially being a hispanic background from the beginning we have been bilingual thank you thank you so much uh are you uh one hosanna i am one hosanna borrow go go for it good evening um i'm been in sonoma counties for 29 years now um i have the business of sazon peruvian cuisine almost nine years um i got an opportunity to meet both parties they're both great i mean this is this is this is tough here but i did see it sit with both of them and the you know that what really impressed me was the phenotopia since they're integrity and i'm going to hold them accountable for everything they're they told me and and i hope the best for them too whoever whoever it's it's going to be the best candidate and now they put pressure on both of these guys to do good in the community and um i'm i'm just thank you for letting me be here and that's good luck but i i support phenotopia for their integrity and everything they want to do in the community and best in education for the spanish community they want to they want to teach the community what is this cannabis you know because a lot of people don't know so that's one thing that really attracted me the education in spanish and and to invest in that thank you so much thank you so much sir uh genie currents good evening my name is gene currents and i'm a vice president with boys and girls clubs at boys and girls clubs we open our doors every day in elementary and middle schools affordable housing complexes an even juvenile hall with a mission to enable all young people especially those who need us most to become caring productive responsible citizens we now serve 10 000 members annually and 35 clubs in 11 communities throughout sonoma emmerin counties we know the youth of sonoma county are facing significant challenges nearly 50 percent of sonoma county children are considered economically disadvantaged 78 percent of sonoma county english language learners are already behind in school by third grade only 82 percent of fifth graders in sonoma county meet state physical fitness standards eight percent of ninth graders say they are in a gang 44 percent of sonoma county english language learners will not graduate from high school rosalind the proposed location for phenotopia is one area where we're serving those who truly need us most currently we serve 1 000 members on five rosalind school district campuses and in rosalind village in addition we serve 300 young people each summer at our summer day camp located in rosalind in the rosalind neighborhood of the children we currently serve in the rosalind area 91 percent come from low income homes 38 percent come from single parent homes 92 percent are english language learners we know that more young people need access to a boys and girls clubs we believe that any partnership which enables us to change these statistics and to serve more youth is valuable we're grateful to patrick fehy and phenotopia and 421 group who have supported boys and girls clubs and who have made a five percent commitment thank you so much five percent of their profits thank you appreciate it thank you michael perez followed by jude freitz hi my name is michael perez i actually wasn't going to speak i was just here to support but um i have two kids they're very young they go to school here in santa rosa and i know both areas well i've been to both areas and just a quick question to everybody if you're walking with your children young children would you feel comfortable with them seeing the dispensary you know right dead center of the whole shopping center it's a family oriented shopping center kids go there to get ice cream tacos the spanish breads and i mean the other dispensary is off to the side it's not right dead center in the middle of a family oriented latino community you know what i mean so i just keep hearing all these this and that and this and that it's just more about i think the other places a little bit more private not dead center of a whole shopping center that's full of kids i mean you can go at any time there's kids there all day thank you thank you so much jude good evening my name is jude fratis i am a rosalinda resident and i did write the sustainability plan for phenotopia and first off we're just very excited that they engage in the sustainability plan before knowing there was a competition they would need to distinguish themselves that way our plan does cover the three a's of sustainability which is environment equity and economy and they do meet or exceed sonoma county's green business program and the cow green building requirements there has been a dedicated or there will be a dedicated sustainability manager who will be in charge of implementing all of their policies and projects as well as monitoring results making sure that they see the highest results possible they will hire from the local community which keeps the local economy vibrant and active and reduces travel impacts they have they will implement energy consumption through policies and products such as led led lighting regular maintenance schedule proper thermostat setting etc as well as reducing water consumption that will be curbed through regular checks for repairs and leaks low flow fixtures reducing landscaping some consumption their pollution will be curbed through policies and projects and really just i was very excited that they took the time and were on board with every single policy and project because they do care about the local environment and they want to see their business be an example for others to look at thank you thank you so much Jesus Espino followed by Maurice Walker good evening everybody my name is Jesus Espino I live in Pereluma but but I I do have a couple of businesses in Santa Rosa I own a surpro and uh Bama which is a Brazilian academy of mixed martial arts we I'm in business for about 15 years and I'm here to support phenotopia I guess we are looking for security and transparency and I believe that phenotopia can provide that you know we are looking for our children to be safe the community to be safe and I by uh by them providing the security I guess it'll be okay with them so I'm here to support phenotopia thank you so much Maurice Walker hello how y'all doing I'm Maurice Walker I grew up in Santa Rosa I've got three kids all year all go to the Rosalind district schools uh highway 420 is a great place for their business cross streets really not too uh too safe really you know you got a lot of things going on and that's pretty much it thank you thank you so much this Gomez is that it for public comment that's it all right thanks folks for for sticking with us I'm going to bring it back to the council we'll close public comment uh council are there any additional questions for staff mr mcglenn you look like you want to say something I have a question all right one second council member you good Sean all right go ahead Julie it's um okay I have a couple questions uh one of them is uh there have been some wonderful offers made on both sides with regard to their community benefits we have two able applicants here um as this is a land use planning type decision do will any of these promises being made be part of their permits as conditional uses does this go forward with those promises attached if staff can let me know that I think that's a question for both Sue or Claire uh as so far as the land use is described in their project narrative that's what's presented for the land use permit uh and then uh things that are outside of our city code um can be recognized with the commitment of the project narrative also three conditions of approval so if it's in the project narrative or was scored on the checklist it's included or is it still um only a possibility at this point it is a possibility as Claire mentioned matters that are outside the the land use typical criteria can be incorporated into a project based upon the applicant's own voluntary commitment but tonight we are not at that stage we are um looking at an appeal of a decision of which application is going to move forward into the land use um planning commission process the use permit process so the council is not in a position tonight to place any conditions on the application because you are not approving an application you are simply giving a green light to one or the other application to move forward in the process okay I just wanted to clarify that I have another question and I'm hesitant only because I like to ask questions I know the answer to already I don't know the answer to this one already so here goes anyhow there has been much talk about which whether the process would be better another way for example one of the suggestions has been to do it first come first serve uh do we know who applied first this is Claire um so the variety of processes were evaluated and what this process that is before you tonight is based on what was um accepted and published and is the current process so um of course dialogue on uh the when and how the city opens up for new retail can open up different processes but this is what we're implementing at this point I understand but do we know who applied first it was not a point of evaluation as long as they made it within the two-week window of business hours they were all on even playing field and and I would add that at this point at this stage of the proceedings it would not be appropriate to add in new criteria for evaluation and what we have up on the screen now um what Claire has put up on the screen are the review criteria that have been used for this stage of the process I will withdraw the question based on legal advice do do other do can we consider whether the applicants have other applications in process and the status of those applications yeah again I would I would recommend that the council keep to the review criteria that were established at the outset of the process um that is what the um applicants that is what was presented to the applicants that is what um has been the basis of the decision all the way through I want to clarify that we are looking at a scoring process that includes conditions we cannot place on this decision but we cannot look at other matters again my recommendation is to keep within the established criteria as a basis for your decision and yes I do recognize um that we do not at this stage have a mechanism for ensuring that promises that are made will be kept down the line but that will be within the um within the ability of the planning commission to enforce those or to add conditions to enforce thank you for your patience for those questions thank you and back to your mayor or vice mayor thank you councilwoman other questions from the council questions council member all of ours thank you I have questions follow questions for the preferred applicant then for the appellate so they could be maybe come to the mics maybe we could get one at each mic and maybe I'll make you switch that'd be perfect uh and I'll have let me know if you want me to refresh your memory but back almost a year ago in april both of you submitted um disclosure forms my question is there's a question down there for additional uh for civil engineers architects consultants to the project have have there been any changes additions or deletions of any consultants to your project since you signed these in april mr castan I don't have it right in front of me so um I don't believe there have been any changes w trans was our traffic engineer I'm the applicant representative kind law um has been representing as legal counsel William Garcia and Justin Miranda um with William Garcia being the primary owner um and mr Miranda uh being the minority owner um are the owners um again I don't have the document in front of me um so for the record those are that is the applicant team as we move to planning commission for the next six months we may add additional vendors thank you no and I'll remind you you have you have listed julie mercer ingram uh yourself net castan tom wilson jeff warner and jennifer pierce listed as consultants correct yes jeff warner being the mechanical engineer and there's been a number of other technical advisors within that team for no there's been no additions to this list no thank you and to the appellant any changes to yours you had jessica peat drew miller craig litwin john johnnie nolyn and crime alert security consultant and a i c e engineers any additions to your consultants um with drew miller um i'm not aware that if he's still working on the project i would like to add rogaway law group my firm that i work for where we're working with the applicant now i'm in terms of any other uh people that would need to be notified i'm not aware of any okay so you don't have any other consultants that have been used in this process uh 421 group and i think it's everybody that's listed in the application thank you and then uh for you you um you mentioned and there was also presented by people speaking on your behalf that you have made a commitment to improve the bike bike pass security behind that building can you talk a little bit about that plan have you spoken to the city or county about what that plan looks like sure so the trailhead to the joe redotta trail um which i know has recently been in some news for some of the issues that are occurring on that trail um runs right behind the dot and plaza and the things that phenotopia is looking to do is not only will they have um you know their their security cameras that are going to be up for 24 hours a day so if anybody's crossing behind the business and law enforcement needs assistance with identifying anybody that's been involved in crime or trespassing things like that phenotopia will absolutely assist with that process but additionally phenotopia is going to dedicate a security officer above and beyond what's required for its actual premises under state law to not only roam the plaza itself so to help with a lot of the concerns that people were talking about um of you know crime happening there or transient population issues things like that um so that security officer will not only run roam the front of the plaza but will roam the back of the building that runs up against the joe redotta trail trailhead um and be able to work with law enforcement if they notice anything but also be able to take care of some environmental concerns too if there's trash or things left over um from people who maybe are camping out there because they don't have a place other place to go um they'll be able to notify the proper individuals to come take care of that or even remove those things themselves so excuse me so they will be available for the other merchants there to use as security at their discretion as well that's correct and that's been discussed with the other merchants in the plaza thank you and can you provide a little bit not uh my new shed detail but tell us more about your five percent give back to the rosin area what does that look like sure so five percent of the profits that phenotopia makes will be um given in part of the give back program to um operators like the boys and girls club um to help them with any program that they need for the the youth that's clearly underrepresented as we heard um also the caps program through their vs bronza program which really looks at using a multi-generational approach in the roslin community um to help uh members of low income communities around there really thrive and have proper health benefits and and do well in education which so important in the community um on top of that there are other nonprofits that i believe phenotopia is looking into that will deal with trying to help reduce the homelessness problem that so many people did speak about not only during this process but earlier in the council meeting i know a lot of people came out to talk about that during general public comments and other items um so those are all things that their phenotopia is looking to do um is to make sure that that five percent of profits is really going back to the community back to the roslin residents um who deserve to have uh programs like that in their community thank you thank you any additional questions from council all right council member oliveris do you want to put a motion on the table thanks vice mayor i will move resolution the council of senator rose denying the appeal of uh phenotopia applicant b and affirming the cannabis policy subcommittee's decision to select highway retail outlet applicant a to move forward in the conditional use permit process for a proposed commercial cannabis adult use retail facility located at 470 sabbatical road apn 125-162-025 file number c up 18-078 and wait for the reading of the text is there a second council member combs okay that motion fails council is there another motion council member timmets sure i'll put forward a motion upholding the appeal and wait for the reading of so there we go okay can i get a second second all right go ahead council member timmets and i'd like to speak to that too you know i think that on the city council i've come to learn that there's two types of bad decisions you get to make there are decisions that are controversial that you don't want to make and then there's decisions that you just really do not want to make in this case it's the latter for me because you know i joined the city council wanting to create opportunity for people and because of the policy what we're faced with having to do tonight is to create opportunity for one at the expense of the other and to me that's an inherently faulty policy it really is i'm going to be supporting phenotopia tonight because of the scoring the scoring was substantially different i trust our staff's policies as far as evaluating that criteria but again i i just do it with a lot of disdain and i i will add that i hope that we can go back as a city look at this policy and create opportunities for people like mr maranda and mr maranda specifically i i'm also just wanted to point out that i do not like the fact that we brought somebody's past history into question when evaluating their opportunity what i see is is a man who wants to move something forward fulfill a vision and create something great for himself his family his neighborhood and his community and i don't think he should have to suffer kind of public scrutiny to that degree so i just want to put that out there on the record to mr maranda and his family i appreciate you investing in that neighborhood and in this community and i hope that there's an opportunity for you down the road councilmember fleming thank you all for staying so late and for being so engaged in this process i appreciate all that our staff has done to make this a process that works for our community but it's clear from these hearings tonight that we have two good applicants and have inadvertently created a problem that the market could and should address with great respect i asked that the subcommittee reevaluate the over concentration parameters and look for ways that we can allow multiple operators to to enrich our community so we often see coffee shops multiple coffee shops surviving and thriving right next to each other gas stations typically don't compete with those who are across the street they compete with those who are on the same side of the street and i think that had we had a different regulation that we would have seen an outcome in which both businesses would have thrived i visited both i thought that they both presented great opportunities really different business models and would have been fine in the market would have sorted itself out this has been a really difficult decision for me i have gone back and forth lost sleep had intense conversations and at the end of the day where i come back to is i could see how staff could in a subjective process end up finding a couple points more or less for fairly equal projects but in this case the difference between genotopia and highway 420 was just really drastic and so given the fact that i i see two great applicants with both with great community support i have to go back and rely on our staff and ask our subcommittee and our staff to reevaluate the over concentration thank you thank you council member council member combs yes it's hard to know within the industry when overcompensated over when over concentration is hurtful to the industry itself grocery stores are harmed by over over concentration and we have policies of our land use to limit the location of grocery stores so that they can make ends meet we don't end up with a race to the bottom type knocking out grocery stores so we don't know if this industry is like that industry or if this industry is more like gas stations and shoe stores and coffee shops um it will be interesting to find out clearly in this space where we have two well qualified applicants that if they have not been so close together would have moved forward we want them we're finding to be uh in the policy but it would be helpful for us to keep track of whether this particular industry which within itself needs to have uh competition limitations the second reason to have non over concentration is because we didn't want certain neighborhoods to be the total pot neighborhood right we wanted the cannabis industry to have uh people access throughout the city for all of the uh residents and not to be concentrated in certain areas um we typically hear a police report when we have a request for alcohol uh sales to let us know how the area is doing with regard to the sale of alcohol with regard to alcohol related crime uh I would anticipate in the future we might include something like that type of analysis uh a piece of information that we would receive from the police department uh to help make that decision so I agree with my colleagues that I look forward to hearing from the subcommittee uh ways to improve uh this policy so that the industry benefits and so that the community also benefits um I will be voting for Utopia in this case again based upon uh the uh great difference in the um staff scoring uh it's a substantial difference and I uh hope that we can uh sort out uh a more suitable location uh for uh Mr. Miranda thank you thank you councilmember councilmember Sawyer thank you vice mayor first of all I want to say that in my 13 years in serving on this council I have never seen such a large group of respectful courteous and passionate participants in this process it has really been impressive and I want to apologize as well for in need of a process trying to find something that would actually work and allow us to move forward we have split a community and I'm hoping that the healing begins tomorrow or tonight one way or another um we are we will need your passion and your commitment and your presence in so many ways in the in the neighborhood of rosin in the coming months and years as we um deal with the the village and the the changes will be coming after annexation we need you there we need this kind of participation in the future in rosin and I hope that the next time you gather in this chamber that you will be able to come as one um hopefully in uh in advancing an appreciation of the the continued improvement and evolution of of roseland not that it's going that it has to change drastically but it is going to grow and it is it is going to evolve and I so I hope that we can take advantage of your commitment and your passion in the future I will be um voting to move um the natopia forward to the next process and I want to thank Justin for for his willingness to get be a part of this process a difficult process um and I wish him um all the best and I'm I'm hoping uh like I think probably everyone behind this day is uh that he will um have a business in roseland um and hopefully we will be changing our some of our processes um as we get better at trying to satisfy the needs of the community and the um cannabis industry as well thank you councilmember olivares thank you mr vice mayor uh I think for this process in the end uh we have the process that we developed I think this council did develop the process that we used including the over concentration issues that was something that came out of this entire council not just the subcommittee so that's important to note that we uh progress on this based on the rules uh at guidelines that we established and it's also important to clarify that uh and as I mentioned before this is a process it was a process this is a part of that process and some of you have made reference to to the scores which is good which is a part of the process the subcommittee uh the liberation and the presentations made by both parties uh during that subcommittee meeting were a part of that process so it's it's a continuation just as this is for me even going back to the committee uh discussions I I do believe that uh the uh preferred applicant at the time did provide compelling information that for this council member this committee member convinced me that uh there's course should have been uh very much higher in two critical areas and that is neighborhood compatibility and neighborhood enhancement and I spoke to this then we uh and I think somebody mentioned it today too about making a decision not just a land use decision but really a community decision this is a big decision for the rosen community and as I mentioned before uh standing alone uh as as as individual applications were about the over concentration they would have both had the opportunity to move forward that was clear it didn't matter but in this case there was a choice there was a choice and I saw this choice as a rosalind choice having been newly annexed to the city uh and and what will the future roles that look like and for me it came down to location location including both the traffic issues the parking issues uh the proximity to other other locations uh we did to see we did receive a letter of opposition from the very next door neighbor that has the sporting goods and jewelry store uh she was very concerned about the change of the culture and talking about how the appellant doesn't really understand the culture of their community there and she was worried about that she was worried about security uh not and not so much thrilled about cannabis in general but saying that there's going to be one I think that's the more simple place over there but there are concerns in the rosen community about this issue and I appreciate those from rosen that came from the business owners I spoke as well because this is going to start setting this the stage for them there uh I do hope that things work out I do have my concerns about it uh and and I appreciate the apologies too to the division that this caused in a community and within the industry but more so my apologies to Justin who was singled out in this process unnecessarily and he just goes to show the links that we go uh in trying to come out the winner uh not just with uh the issues that were brought up related to Justin but the payment of people to be here uh the rumors that can mean about people being paid to be here I'm I'm not surprised by the numbers that are here uh Justin is a type of person that I have been fighting for for over 15 years people who make mistakes people who turn their lives around and want to do something good and as soon as they try to do that somebody keeps pushing them down and pushing them down and pushing them down and and that's not okay with me Justin didn't speak today and I wonder why you know you have almost an entire community you know his whole life is put out there very literally to scrutinize and look at uh and I don't think that was necessary I think it was a real injustice to him who was trying to do something better with his life uh to raise a family in the rose land and to really start a business just like many other businesses in rose and started uh small entrepreneurs should want to do something different so uh I I I can count I see where this is where this is going I appreciate that I I do wish uh the balance uh success in making this happen and working uh and I and I also uh encourage you to commit to the things that you said you agreed doing in the community because they're going to be watching for that uh and again like I said this is going to be a lasting decision uh the over concentration issue yeah we we've already talked about looking at that but it's it will be an issue we have that issue with liquor stores and others so well hopefully we'll find a better way but starting out this was the best way we could find to make a move so these are the rules that we had in place I understand that it's it's not easy but it's not always easy and I and I appreciate that so I appreciate all your comments and uh with that I I I I I do uphold the uh uh I mean I I I would deny the the the appeal thank you thank you so much council member and uh I I want to echo the comments that you made about um the the character assassination that's taken place as a result of this process and I do think for folks who have been in the industry for a long time that's not what folks have been doing for a long time they've been supporting one another they've understood that we've been under a system of uh uh illegality in the cannabis industry that many of us disagreed with and have seen the impacts that's had on the community particularly for individuals primarily young men of color who have been thrown in jail and now we have an opportunity to try to help rectify some of that situation and I know that one of our big conversations that we're having at the subcommittee level and that I think we need to have more broadly in public is how we make sure that communities who have been impacted are also empowered in this process and it's not just predominantly old white folks coming into communities and being able to move forward projects where other people have been incarcerated and I think for me that's been that the saddest thing about this entire process is watching the community that has held itself up for years and years tear itself apart to try to move forward I I think that that needs to be acknowledged by this council and it will definitely be a conversation topic at the subcommittee level for me uh I really dislike this conflict because to me applicant a has by far the better location and applicant b does score much higher on the metrics that we had asked them to to come to I disagreed with uh one of the comments that was made that this is a purely land use decision it's actually not the land use uh decision will be made by the planning commission and then it'll come to the council this is the merit based decision based on other factors as well I agree with councilmember oliveris that given the additional information that was given to us at the subcommittee I would if I was scoring these bump higher and neighborhood compatibility and neighborhood enhancement what really for me makes the difference in this project and while be ending up uh going and and voting to grant the appeal is the compliance with the local and state laws and for me I understand that while roseland is its own unique community within santa rosa what happens in roseland is going to reverberate throughout our community and in the industry that is trying to come out of the shadows and be compliant needs to be able to meet and exceed our expectations when it comes to local and state compliance every mistake by any of you operators out there is going to put a greater stress and impact on everybody else who's trying to come out of the the shadows as well and so for me that's really what ultimately tips the scale and puts me in the in the position of supporting the uh the appeal uh so with that council your votes oh sorry roll call vote okay vice mayor rogers hi council member combs hi council member fleming i was going to clarify that we'll need to bring back a resolution on which we can put on consent uh that's your next meeting but the vote i'd recommend you go ahead and take the vote tonight and direct us to come back with a resolution that reflects your decision so you're saying everybody gets to get back together again and do this again so sue my my motion is to uh uphold the appeal move phenotopia forward and bring back a resolution on consent yes okay uh council member oliveras no council member soyer hi council member tibbetz hi so the appeal is granted four to one thank you folks for for sticking in there we will take a two minute excuse me five to one yes and we will take a two minute recess while folks file out mr mcglenn do we need to do item 14.3 tonight or can we absolutely have to do 14.3 okay we'll be back with items 14.2 and 14.3 in two minutes 14.2 reports mr city manager we need to corral at least one more council report tibbetz sit down all right reports appeal of cannabis policy just need quiet please report appeal of cannabis policy subcommittee decision to select friends and farmers formerly green trove wellness to move forward in the conditional use permit entitlement process for a proposed commercial cannabis adult use retail facility located at 330 358 yelanda avenue assessor's parcel numbers zero four four dash zero seven two dash zero zero six comma dash zero zero seven and dash zero zero eight file number c up one eight dash zero seven zero and the same team is coming back thank you mr city manager and before we get started i do want to let the council know the appellant has requested a continuance i have denied that request and will be pushing on but it will be an option for council as we hear the item if council members feel like there's a compelling reason can make a motion for us to continue the item until later go ahead thank you vice mayor rogers christening tummions this is a similar type of appeal that you just heard appeal of cannabis policy subcommittee to select friends and farmers believe now their name is sunstone advisors to move forward in the conditional use permit entitlement process this is a similar slide that you saw earlier just summarizes the overconcentration area and the evaluation process the original overconcentration area included five applicants along four along yolanda one on santa rosa avenue ultimately so well the two projects that are subject to the appeal tonight is cn santa rosa which is a commercial zone partial on santa rosa avenue and applicant c which was friends and farmers at the subcommittee located as applicant c at three three thirty and three five eight yolanda so this talks about how the points were awarded the review process the merit merit based review process and how staff arrived at our scoring here so the reviewer's average points for cn santa rosa so this is the project on santa rosa avenue um for local and state compliance the average score was 18.7 for site management the score was 17.3 out of 20 for neighborhood compatibility the score was 24.3 out of 30 neighborhood enhancement it was 24.7 out of 30 for a total average score of 85 for friends and farmers um for applicant b uh this is the project on yolanda for local and state compliance the average score was 18.7 out of 20 for site management it was 18 out of 20 for neighborhood compatibility it was 23.7 out of 30 neighborhood enhancement it was 21.3 out of 30 for a total average score of 81.7 so based on the highest scoring applicants staff recommended that cn santa rosa the the uh project on santa rosa avenue to move forward at the november 26th uh cannabis policy subcommittee however after hanging presentations from um staff both applicants the public the cannabis policy subcommittee ultimately by motion selected friends and farmers or applicants c to move forward in the conditional use permit process this would void everybody but applicant e in that over concentration area since that time um applicants b and d have withdrawn their applications so e is no longer um anywhere near being over concentrated in this grouping uh with applicant d uh withdrawing so here you have the two project locations applicant a is on santa rosa avenue applicant c is on yolanda avenue i believe it's the former magic motors site here's applicant a um their existing aerial uh there's a mixture of automotive uses on the site uh and uh commercial uses here is a um a photo of the exterior of that building on santa rosa avenue for applicant a here's their proposed site plan they would be occupying that larger building and utilizing the surface parking for their use this is their proposed elevations what they're proposing to do the exterior of the building to spruce it up here is the project location on yolanda avenue applicant c um it's 330 and 358 yolanda i believe it's a former used car sales lot this is a street view of that project site on here's their proposed site plan um it it's part of a larger complex but the area um um indicated in red is where the dispenser would be located and the associated parking lot that would serve that use here are their proposed elevations that were provided at the time of their application uh their proposal would be to demolish what's there and to build a new building these are the grounds for appeal submitted by the appellant they're outlined in the staff report um there are i believe six or and if you'd like to read those further those are um outlined in the staff report and in their appeal is also included as an attachment and we do have staff response also outlined in the staff report if you'd like to read those as well if you have any questions about staff response i'd be happy to answer those why don't you go ahead walk through them for the public okay did you want me to go through each grounds for appeal or there's just an overall response based on um the appellant's ground for appeal so um planning staff reviewed and scored the applications against the city's cannabis use application retail use requirements late correspondence and information was not included as part of the merit-based review that staff conducted planning staff recommended that cn san eras applicant a move forward because the aptly achieved the highest score and the reason they achieved the highest the highest score is because um they had the uh the most detail and um they score the highest based on their narrative that they provided with their initial application however after hearing presentations from staff applicants on the public um the cannabis policy subcommittee considered all of the that new information along with um staff recommendation and by motion opted to select applicant c to move forward in the conditional use permit process with that the um city the city council's cannabis policy subcommittee recommends that council by resolution deny the appeal of cn san eras applicant a and affirm the cannabis policy subcommittee's decision to select friends and farmers applicant c to move forward in the conditional use permit process for a proposed commercial cannabis adult use retail facility located at 330 and 358 yield on the avenue thank you so much mr olivares do you want to run through sort of what happened at the subcommittee with we were lovingly calling this over concentration the thunder dome yes similar to the last one i gave an overview of process and again this is only one step in the process being me the the scorched staff both applicants had the opportunity to make a presentation to the subcommittee and after that presentation public comment and questions by the subcommittee there was compelling information to to move with applicant and remind me of the letter here c applicant c unanimously by the committee and as a point of clarification regardless of the decision that's made tonight applicant e is able to move forward in the process yes that's correct because of the withdrawal of the um uh most adjacent neighbor yeah thank you so much uh any questions for staff with the council no all right we'll move on to the uh appellant presentation for cn santa rosa my name is crystal madder and i am counsel for cn santa rosa crystal if i could get you to yeah you can raise it up with uh on the right sure you've got a little switch there i've never had this issue before where i have to raise it good evening my name is crystal madder i am the attorney for cn santa rosa and before i get started i would like to reiterate uh actually i'd like to make two points that are not points um specific to this uh the appeal first is the request for a continuance um first i'd like to request the continuance because the mayor is not present i have i believe it is prejudicial to have three members of the cannabis subcommittee um making a decision where there is six present on such a major issue um that does provide a substantial exposure to the city i think this because of the exposure to the city it is incredibly important that the mayor be part of this decision secondarily um council member combs has been in and out of reception the entire meeting and i am very concerned that um she does not have the ability to hear everything that's going on here so for those reasons as well as the fact that it is now almost 10 minutes to 11 o'clock that it would be not only prudent but necessary to continue the hearing until such time as the mayor can be present and until such time that that business would usually be conducted or at least at the dinner hour um secondarily i'd also like to ask the city attorney to affirmably ask these sitting city council members if there are any present conflicts and i would like the the amount of time to be restored to 10 minutes until we have affirmed that there are no conflicts with any of the city city council members before we proceed and i actually i'll i'll grant that if the city attorney would like to respond on the continuance issue uh we have already asked council members about conflicts but i'll i'll reiterate if any council member has a conflict that would preclude them from being able to hear this item please speak up i'm not seeing any madame gallinger yes it is um appropriate for the council uh as are present uh tonight to hear this matter there's no nothing that would preclude um the six members that are here from moving forward uh in the absence of the mayor thank you sue i apologize you get a poor man's tom's wet helm tonight but we'll press on and we'll give you the 10 minutes understood i appreciate it if i may um i did hear hearing the the phone beep i'm afraid i didn't respond to the second point of council member combs presence and i would ask if council member combs um indicate whether she has been able to although the phone connection may have come in at times i'd ask if she could confirm or or or or not um whether she has been able to hear the entirety of the meeting me a question yes uh council member combs um can you let us know whether you've been able to watch um or hear the meeting this evening i've been both watching on live stream as well as listening on the phone we have had some difficult phone connections i would say that it is also true that when i am sitting there in a meeting that has lasted this long there would be moments i might for example excuse myself to use the restroom i would say this is not an inappropriate amount of time that i've not if i have not heard something it is not an inappropriate amount of time well we certainly appreciate you hanging up when you have to use the restroom thank you are you ready to rock and excuse me if there's delays in my responses it's because i forget sometimes that i'm on mute we're ready go ahead okay thank you again my name is crystal madder and i am an attorney for uh c and santa rosa now at the outset i i would like to state that i have served and had served a variety of public records requests those requests were insufficient in so far as they did not provide all of responsive information from each of the city council members many of you did and i appreciate that however there was correspondence missing from a number of you as well as the attachments so at the outset i there will be some sort of follow-up with respect to that what this appeal really is about is about moving the goalpost after the ball has been kicked we've heard from a number of people tonight that have raised issues with respect to the process and i can tell you i've been before several city councils and i understand that it is a very difficult process and i will tell you that what you all have come up with as far as a merit-based process is good on paper it's a great idea the city of pacifica did a lottery system and when they did the lottery system they didn't regulate how many bingo balls the applicants could have so you have 12 spots and one guy submit seven bingo balls we kind of has an unfair advantage there in various concentration areas but what you all came up with here as far as the tiebreaker is fair it provides order security and fairness which were the three values that the city council said that they held paramount the problem is that the cannabis subcommittee didn't uphold those values and and that's my intent in in bringing this today and in showing you the slide deck that we have here first the cannabis subcommittee has come up with a retail use application process and as we all know that the sticking point of this evening is step five and step five is part of the ranking and selection process says that three appointed city council members will review score and rank all applicants in this category and will select a public meeting which applications move forward in the process based on ranking and prior to finalizing these scores the subcommittee will request or may request additional information from an applicant that didn't happen here the scores were finalized without getting any additional information so presumably they were the correct scores they were the the rightful winners of this process now in order to determine who should win this process on a fair and an equal merit based scale you have to take a look at the quality and extent of the responses to the categories as submitted there's a level playing field everybody had to submit applications on the 20th and everybody had until June 21st to rectify those insufficiencies in applications that provided narrative details and or exhibits that fleshed out all these details will be ranked higher than those who don't applications that are the highest in score will be allowed to move forward to step six that is unequivocal it doesn't say that the cannabis subcommittee will take all of the information into account and then decide who they prefer it also doesn't say that that an applicant will have the benefit of taking a look at all of the scorecards determining where they fell short and then providing a new application that shows a wholly different program than what they led all of you to believe they were actually going to put together so here we have how all the scores shook out and I apologize that it's a little bit darker than I intended it to be but I think we can all we all know exactly where this is going see in Santa Rosa came in at 85 then the the appellee here came in at 81.7 and louise gooey's came in at 81 now what I intend to show you here is that on the left is what the appellee said that they were going to do this is what they've sold all of you on initially this is what staff reviewed and rated them on and then when you look on the right it's a wholly different plan can I get you to use your microphone a little bit it's sometimes hard to hear you my apologies thank you what they submitted on November 14th after having the benefit of six months after the program and after having the benefit of the ranking and selection process having come out and all of the scores being processed it's a wholly different program and your rules provide for what happens when somebody provides a materially different product or application what than what they initially promised you it says that they provided misleading information and they get rejected you have to stick by whatever you presented to the city council and and the cannabis subcommittee initially rules are rules you follow the guidelines and you get you you win the application you win the merit based scoring now the rules also said that the cannabis subcommittee would do the review selection and ranking they delegated that authority so crystal I apologize please use that microphone so councilmember combs can hear you my apologies my apologies they they delegated that authority to staff which they were wholly within their responsive their their authority to do what they were not within their authority to do and what what constitutes an abuse of discretion is to then take those the ranking and selection and then decide who they wanted to give the the project to ultimately it completely takes away from the merit based scoring system now secondarily we for now we've established why we are the rightful winner of the the cannabis use permit under step number five the next step is why we are the better and the safer choice for the city and the reason is because cn cn santa rosa which is cannabis nation has operated six dispensaries they've created millions of dollars in taxable revenue which I would assume for for this city council is one of the reasons why the city council chose to have cannabis in its backyard and that's because it creates a great taxable revenue source cn santa rosa has a proven model of millions upon millions at least five million dollars last year in taxable revenue in their dispensary operations they can be up and running by fall of this year and they have a proven model that they can replicate here conversely you have the appellee who has who has defied your rules here and on top of that they have they want to generate a six acre parcel which will take several years to build out let's assume that they can have the funding to to actually effectuate this what you won't get is the taxable revenue even in the short term and what I can also tell you is that what they're proposing has never succeeded in any state or any jurisdiction in the united states what they are proposing as far as the the tourist destination has not been successful and if you want to check my facts look up el-monte look at the multiple municipalities across the united states that have proposed something like this and how it's failed and ask yourself would you rather go with the safer bet of a tried and true mod tried and true model of six dispensaries that have proven taxable revenue and that can it immediately give you that taxable revenue I believe this year versus the possibility of a project that may give you taxable revenue in two years if it can be funded and if it's what the public wants and I would also go as so far as to say that current research shows people don't spend more than 30 minutes at a dispensary so to build such a monstrosity which is not compatible with that neighborhood wouldn't even fit the current market it doesn't even fit the current cannabis market so for these reasons I would say that we are not only legally the better fit for for this particular application but we are also the safer bet for city council and with my remaining time of a minute and 30 I would like to at least address the response from the appellee in the late papers first it is complete red herring to say that you cannot consider information that was submitted on February 12th I have I've gone before many city councils and you file a notice of appeal within 10 days but there is absolutely no rule that precludes me from adding additional information for consideration by the city council indeed I would hope that you would have full information in making whatever decision that you need to to make also I would like to point out what is missing from the response and what is missing from the response is any sort of rebuttal to the language that we've pointed out to the city council that these are your rules these are the rules that you adopted to be fair and to have a merit-based system and they simply cannot respond to the fact that we followed the rules they didn't we won fair and square and this should be the the permit should go to see in Santa Rosa thank you so much council are there any questions for the appellant nope we will go on to the selected applicant's presentation Ms. Carlstrom you have 10 minutes good evening mr vice mayor and council thank you especially to councilmember combs for a late evening on the phone with us cognizant of your time we will keep this as brief as possible thank you very much for your service to our community we're very pleased to present a project in my neighborhood the friends and farmers project at 358 Yolanda which was selected unanimously by your subcommittee several months ago today as you'll see on slide one we have an underutilized and dilapidated commercial corridor one of the very prominent commercial corridors connecting Santa Rosa Avenue and Petaluma Hill Road tomorrow a focal point for community redevelopment education and health and I would submit to the council's consideration that this drawing is reflective of the very reason that your subcommittee again unanimously selected our project over the other applicants because of the extent to which it represents the opportunity to redevelop this sorely neglected portion of our community quickly to just review the appellant's claims uh there they break down and I will go through them uh and and previously have submitted to you an 11 page response detailing the extent to which they fail to substantiate their claims however in brief again we were approved by your subcommittee unanimously for approval and and to move forward to the planning commission for further conditioning and review we submit that of course in contrast to the appellant's claims our application was indeed submitted completely and on time and in compliance of course with all of your established ordinances and Santa Rosa policies and duly developed practice we have followed all the rules and requirements that your city and state your city ordinances and state law have developed with respect to the iterative process pertaining to land use decisions such as is before you this evening um and that furthermore in contrast to the appellant's claims your subcommittee acted in adherence with your established council protocols quickly uh though the appeal purports to present eight different grounds for appeal grounds one and three to seven essentially boil down to the same claim they claim that our project improperly made changes during the application process and presented them to your subcommittee in a manner not consistent with city and state regulations of course your subcommittee members know that is not the case the city of Santa Rosa demands and should demand that the best projects be approved especially in this competitive process as we dole out highly contentious highly competitive retail cannabis permits over the course of the last year the friends and farmers Sunstone advisors project has been subject to a variety of changes and we would submit that that is to your benefit and that it would be foolish for you as a council or for your subcommittee to have simply accepted the first draft of anyone's application ground number two asserts that the process does not allow for a dialogue between the applicant and the city and that you should or your subcommittee should instead have relied exclusively on your staff's review of written project narratives you can sense why as a member of the voting population of the city of Santa Rosa why i would reject that notion you as a council as a subcommittee have every right to demand that projects improve over time and ours is no exception ground number eight of course asserts that this project's affiliation with city officials meant that somehow the subcommittee review process was unfair leading to an unfair outcome however as is more thoroughly detailed in our reply to the appeal each project was subjected to the same level of scrutiny and public review each team was granted the exact same opportunity to be heard and to advocate for its election and in fact in this case our project was initially due to be reviewed in september and was not in fact reviewed until november so each project had an additional two months to advocate to grow to change and to become better as ours did and with that i will highlight one of the small areas where we've detailed in our reply appeal with respect to the points this project in particular warrants your further scrutiny in this case our project was a mere this is a typo on our part three and a half points behind the other project these are an additional 10 points where upon further review we feel that our project would have been awarded further points had the review process been slanted in our direction as the appellants assert and with that i'll turn it over to alicia rose our project proponent good evening and thank you all for staying so late i'm a little taller than erin sorry um so very quickly um all of you know i'm alicia rose i am the founder of urba buena and friends and farmers um as well as the company's unstone advisors um which is the entity name so just to avoid any confusion um a redevelopment project we believe is going to make the city proud built from the ground up and designed to be an industry defining project we are building an immersive and experiential location to inform and inspire a deeper understanding of holistic health and environmental sustainability while showcasing the history legacy and future of cannabis within the broader context of our northern california community offering a highly curated selection of wellness inspired products and the finest locally produced sungrown biodynamic and full spectrum cannabis were committed to serving and supporting our local economy full stop a beautiful focal point for the renewal of yolanda avenue district our retail destination will serve the needs of both local residents and the estimated multi trillion dollar agritourism economy that we have here in wine country serving both our local community and significant tourism industry will drive revenue and positive notoriety conscious business practices have been utmost uh import as part of this process and i laud all of the people that came before me as part of um this competitive process but the ethos of this process uh print sorry project runs deep with a commitment to supporting the health of our patients our customers and our community we have a commitment to environmental and community sustainability in fact i have a master's degree in ecosystem science we have a local hiring policy with fifteen dollar guaranteed minimum wage we have an employee profit sharing program a compassionate care program for seniors and veterans and we do already employ a community liaison director and outreach coordinator for community benefits we've already taken steps to try and um become more integrated in ways long before we're going to be revenue positive to try and give back to organizations like first five of sonoma county we've already become a donor to fund family programs and risk prevention for youth uh we have been working closely with the teamsters uh and are really committed to providing exceptional working to conditions and wages and we've uh started to develop a relationship with the palms in veterans permanent housing unfortunately because we're so late tonight akash can't be here uh but not only have we been in a donor but we have already discussed initial work placement programs this is an unparalleled redevelopment project i think we all understand that it meets and exceeds provisions in the city's general plan improving the visual appeal and function of an entire block the six acre campus is not a part of this initial 8400 square foot project just to point out if we provide visual cues for the redevelopment of the entire yolanda corridor we are a hundred percent local and woman ownership with funding commitment to a local business we offer a diverse range of services to diversify significant commercial center we'll create local jobs with living wages and offer significant tax revenue potential obviously we have an environmental focus on sustainable development with native what native waterwise landscaping and the rest of the things we already know i won't belabor that point because it's something that we establish our entire business model on that will have a new anchor storefront it's the beginning of the larger redevelopment project and provides visual cues for the redevelopment of the entire corridor we're going to have significant improvement to 500 linear feet of street frontage and remove 3000 square feet of impermeable surface we have an extraordinary team uh the landowner and uh land developers alan henderson and mike gasperini are well known in the community and responsible for santa rosa's largest 100 affordable by design housing development because i'm running out of time i will also let you know that we have an extraordinary uh executive um from restoration hardware and creighton barrel that is on our retail advisory team tim baca is a financial advisor uh he co-founded mountain hardware and willies reserve cannabis we have four years of operational experience appreciate thank you so much council are there any questions for the selected applicant no clare do we have presentations by the other two non-selected applicants louise guis and black elm we do not okay and i will go ahead i'm sorry both have been withdrawn at this point okay it's clear great um i will go ahead and see if there are any additional questions from the council so there was uh an insinuation there regarding the legality of the subcommittee to take in additional input outside of the the score could you respond to that for us sure the um regulations do provide for um the the applications to come to the subcommittee for it to be a hearing for there to be testimony and additional submissions and that is all within the realm um that the subcommittee could then take into account um the process does not close with the evaluation of um that is submitted by the staff there it is an ongoing process until the subcommittee makes its decision and just as tonight um on appeal you'll hear additional you have heard additional evidence and that you may take that into consideration as well as you evaluate the two projects under the established criteria so the idea that the staff scores were the final number and that we are compelled to follow based on the staff scores is incorrect that is incorrect your your correct it is incorrect that that the process ends with the staff recommendation great thank you so much we will go to public comment we have Eric Harvey followed by Clayton Taylor and again folks because it is so late i'm going to ask you to keep your comments to a minute and a half and we'll move from there okay great thank you um good evening vice mayor and city council members appreciate everyone being here so late i will keep it brief my name is Eric Harvey i'm part of the Sunstone Advisors team um and we'll tell you that this project has a unique vision establishing a cannabis tourism destination for northern california it'll provide visitors with education about the benefits of cannabis and the value of carefully grown produced and curated products Sunstone Advisors has our experienced operators with four years of successful operation and medical use cannabis prior to the legalization of adult use in california the team also brings many years of experience in the luxury wine industry including working with wineries producing hundred point wines such as harland estate positioning Sunstone Advisors to provide a high caliber consumer experience this vision will bring and will bring to the cannabis and will be brought to the cannabis industry providing a much needed counter to an industry dominated by consolidation pursuit of profit and the quest for high thc levels Sunstone Advisors project will be sustainably built and run and will bring revitalization to an area where it is sorely needed thank you thank you so much Clayton Taylor followed by Allison Costa good evening council again um Clayton Taylor Teamsters 665 i'm actually the cannabis organizer also keeping it brief so we have a unique opportunity here in Santa Rosa to incubate cannabis business um that's going to be pro-labor and actually work well within the established industry and Alicia the very first time that we met went out of her way and actually introduced me to other cannabis industries uh companies that are going through this process and really uh went above and beyond in our relationship and trying to bring more people into the labor movement and to me and to the Teamsters that said a lot about what their project is going to be thank you thank you Clayton Allison followed by Brian Noble hello and thank you council members my name is Allison Costa I have been a resident and local business owner uh for the past 18 years in this community I'm in here in support of friends and farmers we're neighbors uh in a cannabis business on Yolanda Avenue uh we are applicant E we have I've known Alan Henderson personally I've been his neighbor for over 10 years he's always been a pillar in Santa Rosa community donating his time and his resources to better his community in a multiple uh multitude of ways and as friends and neighbors and business owners in Santa Rosa I support friends and farmers in this project and the vision that they have in the contribution they have that they're bringing to the community to not just Santa Rosa but in the cannabis community thank you for your your time and your thoughtfulness through this process thank you so much Allison Brian Noble followed by Devika Maske uh good evening council persons um I wanted to just uh thank you for taking the time to uh to listen to us here and um I wanted to uh share some thoughts that Angie Dillon Shore uh provided to me she couldn't be here uh with the length of the presentation as they've gone on earlier tonight she's executive dresser of first five uh snowman county and she wanted to say she was uh excited about the potential to maximize the economic in uh opportunity for the canister in just cannabis commerce that brings to Santa Rosa and the do some good things for families and children um she is uh she was approached and she is supportive of friends and family friends and farmers uh and specifically one of the principles of that project Alan Henderson Alan and his team have approached her about the developing the community partnership uh with first five um she uh she knows that um she's very happy to get his call and she was happy to learn that he's manned with deep commitments to economic vitality of Santa Rosa uh substantially increasing affordable housing for families in the Paseo Vista development and he helped raise over $90,000 uh for um for uh fire survivors and journeyed in even though he was self was a surf fire survivor as well um he is uh he is uh she's happy to support him as not only a principal of the friends and farmers project uh with the business interests his own but as a way to increase overall activity and vitality in the Yolanda Kiwana Springs area uh so I just wanted to share that with you guys uh so you had that uh her input on that so thank you thank you so much Brian Devika followed by Denny Rosali thank you council members my name is Devika Maskey and I'm a resident of Santa Rosa for the past 20 years I'm here in support for friends and farmers to achieve a Santa Rosa city cannabis retail permit our cannabis project NKM enterprises which is applicant E in this over concentrated area located on Yolanda Avenue in Santa Rosa is also moving forward with the CUP hearing we're in full support of our neighbors we have personally worked directly with Alicia and her brand Urban Buena in a number of events over the past two years Alicia is a knowledgeable cannabis professional that is a leader in our community as well as a wonderful example of successful female-led business we completely support friends and farmers in their pursuit to update Yolanda Avenue as a community building location and learning campus this project will immensely contribute to making the Santa Rosa cannabis community something the city and the state of California can be proud of thank you for your time thank you so much Denny followed by Alan Henderson thanks for the assist good evening good evening Mr. Mayor and members of the council thank you for your stamina this evening my name is Denny Rosetti Rosetti consulting I've had the pleasure to work with friends and farmers as community relations specialist outreach for the past nine months we've been working to create a community benefits program for the project to date we have agreements with first five Stomac County which you just heard a letter from Angie Dillenture who was unable to be here this evening as well as the Palms which is one of our neighbors veterans housing and homeless development we've also been working with the Teamsters Union and those discussions have been very productive we welcome the conversation around formal representation for our future workforce we also sent the comments that were delivered by the first five and the Palms from the subcommittee hearings into the council since those folks were not able to be here this evening this late in January we had an open house where we invited in neighbors and our community members and interested stakeholders which was very well attended at the site we also hosted a community dinner at the Palms and served around 100 dinners to residents as a way to sort of introduce ourselves to that community and get to know their interests and our neighbors a little bit better and we're also looking to them as a potential future workforce for the for the project which is very exciting thank you for your consideration of our project and to allow us to continue these awesome relationships we're building tonight thank you so much Alan Henderson followed by Tom Woods yeah thank you Vice President Vice Mayor Rogers and the council thank you very much I'm Alan Henderson born and raised in Santa Rosa I've had the property there in Yolanda for about 20 years it's a dilapidated buildings there I'm trying to fix it up I would have spent money there except I invested all my money into the sale vista where we're trying to put in 132 affordable homes so if anybody knows about an application process and how much it's changed from its inception going before the council going before the all the boards trying to change everything to make it better I've been doing that and that's what I'm going to try to do with this project here so working with Alicia I believe in her process her product I believe in her vision and what she wants to do I think it's going to be a beautiful project it's going to be the line light of that of that industrial park trying to fix it up it's kind of a blighted park so it's the beginning of what I think is going to be a revitalation of Yolanda Avenue so thank you very much thank you so much Tom Woods thank you council I'll be as brief as I possibly can I just wanted to reinforce the value of our relationship with friends and farmers there people that are represented by labor unions make on average 20 more than people that don't that are not and every represented person in a community raises the wage of three unrepresented people by about 10 percent friends and farmers by partnering with us is not just giving us an opportunity to organize their workforce and represent them they're assisting us in networking and assisting us in our goal to help set a wage standard in an industry that is new and create a environment where companies cannot find efficiencies by misusing their workforce we're very very proud to be partnered with them and we look forward to many years of collaborative negotiations thank you so much I'm going to go ahead and bring it back that was our last card go for it no you're all good the more the merrier well we like to all make it brief my name is phil natole and I am the property owner at 2612 Santa Rosa Avenue and we have the pleasure of working with Tyler here with CNN Santa Rosa and he would he's would make a great operator and the Santa Rosa community um what I like to say is that uh you know we do we're passing out a few few information flyers I want you to take a look at we have quite a few vacant buildings along the Santa Rosa corridor that I think that would probably stand to use a tenant in the near future so they've been multiplying for quite some time and we're we're now up to about a hundred thousand square feet of vacancies including the very last building or that last page is our building in there which is currently vacant as well I just think instead of building new structures and and taking resources out of the economy where we could use those resources for building homes or whatnot you know we should probably put it into put these businesses into vacant structures and especially the one that I own currently we have a great visit we have a great location it's on Santa Rosa Avenue it is the gateway to Santa Rosa all these all these uh buildings that you're looking at are also on the part of the gateway of Santa Rosa this area is actually what people see first when they come into town and my building is right off the freeway it is actually visible and it's easy great parking and easy access I'd like you to consider the appeal for CNN Santa Rosa great thank you so much sir Sue I see whispering is there anything that the council should know sure I'd like to just clarify a couple of things the appellant suggested that the sub this goes back to kind of the process before the subcommittee and there was a suggestion that the subcommittee had delegated the responsibility for ranking to staff that's not correct this is a typical process in land use matters where the staff undertakes analysis of the projects and comes forward to a subcommittee or to the planning commission or to another board commission with a recommendation and that's what happens in this process as well um the application process uh chart uh states that staff scores applications against merit criteria council's cannabis subcommittee reviews and establishes the ranking list so it is the responsibility of course of the subcommittee to do that um and further elaboration in the application materials um is that the city's cannabis subcommittee uh reviews scores and ranks all applicants in the category and selects at a public meeting which applications will move forward in the process this also notes that is as typical in any land use proceeding that the subcommittee may request additional information from an applicant before making its decision so just to clarify and that at that meeting where these applications were considered you did ask for additional information you asked a number of questions the subcommittee asked a number of questions asked for more information that information was taken in you evaluated the projects based on both the information and recommendation that you had from staff and your own uh receipt of information and evaluation um and to make your decision and now we are up on appeal and we're going through the same process where there's additional information coming in you are free to consider and indeed you should consider that additional information and then make your decision based on that great thank you so much and i'll i'll ask if claire wanted to add your good thanks councilor there are any additional questions all right councilmember soyer i'm going to ask you to put a motion on the table sure i'll introduce a resolution of the council the city senator osa denying the appeal of c and senator osa applicant a and affirming the cannabis policy subcommittee's decision to select friends and farmers applicant c to move forward in the conditional use permit process for a proposed commercial cannabis adult use retail facility located at 330 and 358 you along the avenue apn 044-072-006-007 and dash 008 file number c up 18-070 and wait for the meeting a second councilmember colm's do you have any comments no any other council members councilmember soyer i do i appreciate the the um comments by the appellant and i i have to admit that this is risky i think it's always risky when people do something different and a bit grander and perhaps a little less predictable than than some other models especially in retail retail is a challenging business and i and i know that personally but it indeed is part of what attracted me to this to this particular model it is um it's pushing the envelope it is not the status quo it's raising the bar and again it is risky and there will be failures in in these businesses in senator osa at at certain times we will have businesses that fail um it's just the nature of the beast and when you're when you are looking at something it's a bit more grand perhaps that raises the odds somewhat that there could be some changes in the business model and there could be failure but i'm um excited by that personally i think that there is a there's a predictability to some of the the standard um cannabis dispensary models and cannabis dispensary shops i think there will always be room for those they will always they will come and go just like any other retail establishment so uh is it is it looking at things a little more grandly is it is it is it more risky yes it is but if it's but when successful it adds to the in a in a very highway it adds to the to the good mix of cannabis businesses in santa rosa so i'm i'm pleased to um to to deny this appeal because i'm i am i'd like to see this succeed and i think there will always be room for the more traditional models and um as time goes on i think those opportunities will be will actually present themselves because not everyone knows what they're doing when it comes to retail and there will always be opportunities in the future i think for just about everybody but it's just not going to be today thank you council member nothing new well said about my colleague i appreciate those comments thank you all right sue all good all right so the motion is to deny the appeal to allow applicant c to move forward uh council members your votes um then it's a voice i just like pushing the buttons nice mayor rogers i know that about you chris council member cones i'm voting in favor of denying council member fleming like you're such a yes yes council member all of eras yes council member soyer hi and council member tidbits thank you so so and i uh this was not a public hearing the the applicant has an opportunity to reply and do a rebuttal in a public hearing this is a report item and there is obviously additional public hearings to come for the applicant at the planning commission of the city council but this was not a public hearing so i i appreciate yep i appreciate that thank you uh and i i do want to acknowledge that council member combs is sitting at 130 her time as well pushed through item 14.3 i have a promise this will be presented in in efficient manner uh report first amendment to professional services agreement number f001622 with bureau veritas north america for post fire recovery and rebuilding services fiscal year 2018-19 budget amendment david guin assistant city manager and gabe osborne deputy director of development services presenting thank you and we will be quickly quick through this we have a budget item for you tonight there we're going to do two things with you um due to the increase in activity in the rebuild efforts and the increase in activity in the uh planning department normal operation services and so what we'll be doing is uh going through a presentation identifying a budget adjustment for those two elements the rebuild recovery center and our pet operational budget based on revenues that exceeded our expectations at the beginning of the year and so this is fairly typical to come back mid-year and do an adjustment like this based on revenues that we we see come in um so the the two items uh the first will be to um amend amend the contract for the bureau veritas and the second will be our operations budget and i'll pass it off to gabe osborne deputy director of engineering services to go through the presentation very quickly good evening vice mayor rogers and members of the council has mr guin mentioned i will move through this as quick as possible due to the lateness of the hour um the item before us is an amendment to the budget in this outline um sets forth the specifics that we're going to discuss one is an amendment to the bureau veritas contract and it will do two things it will increase the budget it will modify some staffing classifications associated with that um we will also be proposing to reimburse economic development for some funds that were dedicated to developing a lot of the educational and outreach materials that were produced early on in the fire uh rebuild efforts and then the last item is really focusing on our core services outside of the fire rebuild which is we'll assign additional revenue to the plan check um an inspection uh professional services to help out with our normal services that we provide on that area um so i'll touch really quickly on the rebuild the bureau veritas contract just as a reminder was executed back in november 21 of 2017 to support the rebuild efforts in the in the permit center um and at that point this slide actually comes from that presentation we weren't really quite sure the full breadth of service that would be provided at that point um we do we did know that we needed a dedicated one-stop shop that would have dedicated staffing we obviously would have to have an expedited plan review and there would be various support resources and outreach and education that would go along with that uh fast forward a year so december 31 of last year um we were really branded as a resilient city permit center it does have dedicated staffing we peak out at about 6 000 staff hours a month approximately 30 positions provided through bureau veritas there is expedited plan review of five days um we've been able to institute 24-hour inspection turnaround and there's a variety of services that really support the overall rebuild from landscaping we did fire review at a point in time um and we've looked at stormwater compliance and did a significant number of inspections to ensure water quality um what we've seen over the course of the last year is a significant volume of permit activity this chart shows two numbers the first one is 2682 parcels that experienced a complete loss of a structure in most situations those are single family homes and then the total count of completely lost structures is 3123 so we really focus on the 2682 number to gauge where we are percentage wise with the recovery efforts and out of that we have about 1456 of those properties moving forward and so that's about 55 of the parcels at year one have moved forward so the significant amount of permit volume that went along with that activity and if we look at where those parcels are um and this once again was at december of last year we had almost a thousand under construction we had occupied 110 and then we had about 400 in various stages of the permit process uh this once again was a slide that was pulled out of the november 21 presentation we did some estimates based on the cost of services we were looking at really a two-year program as far as the rebuild efforts went at that point in time um and we had an approval to spend on that contract of 8.8 million excuse me 8.8 million um and we broke that down into really two years so the assumption was we'd have about 4.6 dedicated to year one um a 4.2 dedicated to year two and the assumption at that point was that it would be completely offset by revenue so we were assuming in year one we would get approximately six million in revenue in year two about 4.4 million with year one resulting in about 1500 plan checks and 750 inspections and year two about 800 plan checks with a thousand inspections um moving forward our year one estimates were a bit off as far as expenditures and that was due to the permit volume um we actually had an expenditure of 5.8 million which was up to about 1.2 million from our estimates um as far as the revenue that was also up due to the permit volume so where we thought we were going to hit about 6 million we hit about 7.2 million um and that was the difference of almost 1.2 million um and this is all based on our revenue we had some estimates of an average plan check and inspection fee of 5 000 per unit um what we've seen thus far is that's really close we're sitting in about 4 733 per unit so this chart's really the last year as far as accumulative revenue so the first line uh that is our consultant expenditure and that is purely bureau veritas and that topped out at 5 million 800 in december um as we can see it really had an uptick in april when we had a significant amount of permit and volume and we had to increase staffing the second line is some of the total costs with the permit center so in additional in addition to bureau veritas we also had some costs associated with setting up the center cubicles um computers things of that nature uh this also includes the cost to develop some of the outreach material that was generated really early on and then the last line actually shows our revenue associated with that so that's the 7 point almost 2 million and if we look at the first phase where the revenue was lower than the expenditure that was really in the initial development of the permit center um so at that point it was really setting up the center uh there was a heavy amount of outreach material being produced at that point the permit volume was fairly low um there was a significant amount of policy modification and we were also we had a lot of city staff participation in that process it wasn't just bureau veritas as we move forward this gets us into a heavier permit submittal volume that was really the peak of the construction season on as far as submittals go so we had heavy plan review we weren't fully into inspections at that point um right-of-way coordination started to become an issue because we had more activity in the field we were still producing outreach material we still had a lot of public outreach that we were doing from a city staff standpoint it got into a bit of more predictable schedule than every weekend in just about every weekday and we're also doing minor policy modification if we move forward to december it's really full go as far as permits submittals and inspection so it's really heavy construction activity um we see because of the permit volume that there's a bigger difference between the revenue and the expenditures at that point still doing public outreach still doing minor policy modification so the difference between the two numbers the revenue and the expenditures is a little over a million what that will go to is future inspections and then permit center operation there's always some level of overhead and permit center operation with customer service and then that million dollars will have to go to future inspections that will be delivered over the life of the development of those building permits so the specifics we are proposing to amend the professional service agreement with beer veritas so what our proposal will do is it will move it from the 8.8 million not to exceed amount to nine million two hundred and sixty three thousand two hundred and twelve and that is anticipated to get us through the remainder of this fiscal year and then we will bring anything back through the normal budgetary process so that results in a three hundred and seventy seven thousand fifty two dollar increase in the not to exceed amount we're also increasing the budgeted amount so although we received an approval to spend of the eight point eight each year we budgeted a certain amount that we thought we would need so what we're proposing to do is actually match the budgeted amount with a not to exceed amount in the contract itself once again this will all be offset by the revenue is our assumption we're still sticking with the five thousand number as time goes on that number may increase we're seeing that a lot of homes are coming back bigger than they were before and the square footage drives the plan check in an inspection number so the other pieces we're proposing to modify the staffing classifications because we did not know the full breadth of services the original contract did not have a wide range of staffing classifications and we're modifying that so we're adding ranges for the core positions of inspection plans examiner and permit technician and the intention there is it will allow us for to do a little better job of retention and attraction those are very popular positions right now when we need to make sure that the pay is competitive the other pieces we're adding staffing classifications for more entry level positions so we found that data entry was pretty heavy in the rebuild and we also found that there are certain inspection types that do not require a seasoned inspector and those positions will be billed out at a lower rate that's what what is in currently in the contract so if this is their approval happens today there are positions right now that will be billed out at a lower rate and that will likely result into a reduction of $30 an hour over 120 hours a week so we do think that that will result in a significant reduction in the overall expenditures the other item is to reimburse economic development for 188,750 there was a contract executed with the engine as read in October 24th of 2017 to support really outreach material development and what it was going to be for the fire rebuild and outside of it what we found is due to the high demand that the majority of those expenditures went to the fire rebuild so what we want to do is give economic development that money back the intention is to focus the additional financial resources on investment and development activities in the proprietary development areas so that touches on the rebuild so I'll get into the area outside of that which is our core services which are planning building and engineering review and inspection so this will briefly touch on our staffing model so what we rely on is a base staff level of permanent employees and that actually results in the development of housing units and commercial operations and that ultimately influences a general fund with an increase in taxes and in the sales tax and property tax excuse me what we've seen since the recovery in the downturn of the economy in 2008 2009 is of course staffing levels have not always met the demand so year to year we budget in professional services which is in the next layer which really shows the consultant support that we anticipate with each budget cycle and that really has the same result of the development of commercial operations and housing units what we have seen over the last two or three years is we have additional fees that come in and our revenue is higher than we anticipated and the permit activity is higher than we anticipated so we have the need to layer on another piece for consultant support which then has the same benefit of housing and commercial units so if we look at our revenues over the last fiscal year they all come from service fees and those are application review and processing fees they really are intended to recover the staff time associated with those processes so our budgeted revenue for 1819 was almost nine million it was eight million seven hundred four when we looked at our actual revenues at the end of january they were over that so we pulled an additional 785,000 so we were approximately nine million in budget revenues or excuse me actual revenues so what that has us do is then look at what our budget is going to be moving forward for the remainder of the fiscal year and that looks to be approximately 17 million and that additional 7,500,000 is based on real projects with real fees associated with them that are coming through the door we don't always know where they're going to hit fiscal year to fiscal year but there are real numbers behind all those projects and that what that's what we use to generate that budgeted amount so what our proposal is is since the revenue is higher and we are anticipating those projects to come through and we want to make sure we have the resources in place to address those we are requesting that we take some of that anticipated excess revenue and apply that to professional services to address that need and the way that will break down is we want to assign 300,000 to building consultant services for plan review and inspection 200,000 to planning consultation services for entitlement reviews and then 300,000 will be signed to engineering consultant services for plan review and inspection which will deal with that full breadth of application types that we're assuming will come in the remainder of the fiscal year so this breaks down the total proposal so our total budget amendment is four million three hundred and fifty seven three hundred and twenty two dollars and it breaks down as I have previously discussed with approximately three point four going to bureau veritas the hundred and eighty eight thousand going to economic development and then the breakdown to engineering planning and building so I'll conclude by simply stating the formal recommendations so the recommendation that the council we have to excuse me the recommendation that the council authorized the chief building official to amend fiscal year 2018-19 adopted budget to increase budgeted revenues by four million three hundred and fifty seven thousand three hundred and twenty two and increase the appropriations in the jail geo keys which is basically the the spreadsheet we saw in the previous slide and then the second recommendation is that council approve and authorize the mayor to execute the amendment to professional services agreement with bureau veritas north america incorporated in the amount not to exceed nine million two hundred and sixty three thousand two hundred and twelve dollars so with that I'll open it up to any questions council are there any questions go ahead councilmember I know we want to go home so I apologize but you guys did such a good job I just want to actually take a moment to acknowledge it you created a plan I think back in November of 2017 you had great execution and now I mean you've come in past expectations and the rest of the department's going to benefit from it really really appreciated great job well all right I have one card on this item George uberty who I think has left so I'll go ahead and bring it back I do want to say thank you I had a conversation with the councilmember from another city just yesterday who works in the construction industry and he said that our plan check has been phenomenal they're trying to figure out how to do that themselves but that our soft spot that we needed to work on was putting more resources into our inspections so I appreciate seeing this play out council members councilmember Sawyer I have this and I echo the the comments about good work it's a it's a tough presentation to go through late late at night a lot of work went into that and really appreciate it excellent job maybe next time we'll be more awake to be able to appreciate it even more so I'll introduce a resolution of the council the city Santa Rosa approving the first amendment to professional services agreement numbers f 001 1622 f 001 622 with bureau Veritas North America incorporated to increase compensation and update contractor staff classifications for post-fire recovery and rebuilding services amending the fiscal year 2018 2019 budget for planned check and inspection professional services for planning and economic development offset by associated fee revenue and wait for the reading second second and I'd also like if I made to say thank you for the improvement being planned in inspections all right miss Gomez you want to call the vote yes vice mayor rogers hi councilmember combs councilmember Fleming councilmember Oliveras hi councilmember Sawyer hi councilmember Tibbets and that passes unanimously council we have one card left for public comment uh thomas it's almost midnight i'm giving you a minute thank you under the consider under the circumstances um i wanted to commend you for a really uh incredible debate and understanding i don't know how it all worked out but it but it did i i came in here to talk about the the um keep funding and i just point out what the new york times that wells fargo banks 27 000 employees were surveyed online and said concerns included their ability to raise grievances with managers and whether wells fargo conducts its business activities with honesty and integrity we've had conversations about that and the worry is about where the direction of the country is going in but it's right here it works right here so please do forgive me if i take a minute more um chinese coal entrepreneur zhu faqi has disappeared he said chinese entrepreneurs yearned for the rule of law to replace arbitrary power he disappeared he's probably dead um he was a coal entrepreneur and he added and the judge ruled in his favor and then the records uh were stolen from the judge and from his from his courtroom that that supported his claim senator amy clobucker was a white crimes prosecutor and said paul manifold sentence you can't have two systems of justice one for the rich and one and powerful and one for everyone else and if i could just take one second thomas i appreciate it thank you so much for your time and we are adjourned you