May 5, 2026 6:00 PM - Redding City Council - Regular Meeting

Is there any reportable action to report? >> The council met on several items and took no reportable action. That concludes my report. >> All right. Thank you very much. If anyone wishes to address the city council on any item considered at this meeting before or during council's consideration of that item, please enter your name in the electronic kiosk located in the lobby. The city council will allocate up to a maximum of 3 minutes per person each agenda item. Staff reports are available online at the city's website. And also in the public view binder located on the podium at the north side of the chambers. All right, we're going to call this meeting to order. We will start with the Pledge of Allegiance, and then after that, if you'll stay standing for invocation by Lori Moretti with Redding Police and Fire Department, our chaplain. >> All right, ready? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Good evening. This Thursday, May 7th, marks the 75th annual observance of the National Day of Prayer, so I thought it fitting to share part of the prayer from the First Continental Congress in 1774. Let's pray. Be thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of the honorable assembly. Enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation, that the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that order, harmony, and peace may be effectively restored, and truth and justice, religion and piety prevail and flourish amongst the people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds. Shower on them and the millions that they represent such temporal blessings as thou seest expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy Son and Savior. Amen. >> Thank you very much. Uh, but we're going to start this meeting with a couple presentations today. Um, I'm going to go to the podium. I'm going to invite Megan with Ready for Life, Executive Director, to meet me up there, and we'll do a presentation. And Megan, you can bring up anybody else that you've got. Oh, we need to do our roll call first, I guess. I'm sorry, we're jumping ahead. I'm so excited for this. So we'll start with the roll call. >> [ ROLL CALL ] >> Okay, now we'll do the presentation. Okay, today I got Megan here also, uh, with some of her board up here, uh, uh, representing Ready for Life Foster Care Agency. Uh, it's a mayor proclamation that we're giving them today. Uh, in May 2026, it's Foster Care Awareness Month in our city. Today I want to honor the children and youth in foster care and the brave foster families, relatives, caregivers, social workers, the court-appointed special advocates, community partners who give them safety, stability, and hope. It's our responsibility as a community to support reunification when possible and ensure every child has a loving permanent connection when it's not. Please consider how you can help by becoming a foster or adoptive family, volunteering, mentoring, We're supporting local agencies, and together we can protect our most vulnerable and build brighter futures for all of our children together. So May 2026, it is Foster Care Awareness Month, and I'm going to let Megan and anybody else that would like to speak. And I've got this certificate for you as well. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. All right, well, thank you. We really wanted to take a moment to thank everybody for giving us this opportunity and to highlight something that's really important here in Shasta County. Unfortunately, we have pretty significant numbers of kids in foster care, and so that really brings awareness to the need for more families who can step in the gap and fill, fill in that space for safety and stability for the kids that maybe don't otherwise have that. So this was a great opportunity to highlight not only the month, but today's actually National Foster Care Awareness Day, so it landed perfectly on this day, and we wanted to think of the people who are already standing in that gap, the people who are doing this work that's really, really challenging and unfortunately not going away. So the need is great. So consider the ways that you can help and how that might look for you. I have Tyler, who I'd love to join me. He's our board president, and see if he wanted to say any words as well. >> So yeah, when Megan asked me, maybe I volunteered, some would say voluntold, to be board president, I absolutely wanted to be a part of that because this is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. Unfortunately, this is a service that is required, with these kids going through so many experiences. And having an outside perspective looking in on the work that they do on a daily basis, it's heartbreaking. It's, it's so sad to see kids going through experiences like that. But when you have people who care as deeply as these social workers have, and other staff members who just treat these kids with kindness It's really heartwarming. So I'm so glad for them. I'm so glad there is awareness of this in the city of Redding. So thank you for having us here tonight and appreciate this time. >> Thank you for being here. Okay, that was a lot of fun. Let's do it again. How about another presentation from Tim Bauer, Sports and Events Director for Choose Redding Lodging, regarding the Ironman 70.3 event? It's all you, Tim. >> So good evening, City Council. My name is Tim Bauer. I am the Sports Commissioner for Redding Sports Commission. It is a new project started by the Redding Tourism Marketing Group, which also does Choose Redding Lodging. And so I'm excited to give you guys an update on the Ironman 70.3 Northern California. And as my substitute teacher always liked to say, let's start with a video. >>[ VIDEO PLAYING ] >> So we're going to use that kind of as a teaser video. One of my jobs is to go around the nation and do sports trade shows. And one of those things is we're gonna sponsor an event in McKinley, Texas, and we're gonna play that video. So it just kind of garners some interest and rediscovering what Ready California is all about. So we are 103 days away from our August 16th Ironman race. We currently have over 1,300 athletes signed up, 48 states represented, 11 countries. And an estimated total attendance of spectators plus athletes, about 6,000 to 7,000 people will be here, which is really great for a first year. They said our race, based on how it's going so far, it's projected to have about 1,800 to 2,000 triathletes by the August 12th cutoff date. And so really good for a first year. They're very impressed that we we actually had that much interest. And so they said next year they're gonna work on some stuff and they think they can hit that 2,500 capacity, maybe more. One of the things we just learned recently is we are officially design um, just back up a second. This is actually OceanSides 70.3. We were just there a couple months ago, and you can see all those little green caps. That's the people. It lines all the way out. Past the water, that's the entry. So that's just a swim portion. That one had 3,200 athletes and over 7,000 to 8,000 spectators. So, I mean, that one is a gem in their system, but there's been talk that we would have a similar, you know, attraction where we are to be kind of like what the Oceanside is to the beach, Redding is to the mountain Ironman. So we're excited about that. So we've officially been designated a pro race. So that's really important because now there's prize money included. So there's $40,000 up for grabs and there's 4 slots available to men's to women's to enter the 2027 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. So we will be a catalyst, a kind of a gateway race to get into World Championship, which is news to us. They expect, they already have roughly 40 to 50 pro racers. I mean, these are the top triathletes in the world, and they're gonna come run Redding, probably gonna make everyone look ridiculous. Yeah, so they said usually about 4-hour completion time from start to finish. So that'll be exciting. Uh, so that's increased publicity for our event. For a first-year event, that's unheard of. And increased media attention because a lot of people will be following their favorite athletes at And they'll be like, probably have to Google where is Redding, California. So it's a good thing to happen to us. So next slide. We do have a final course. Most of it is up online. But the last run portion, they said they're just working on the artwork to make it all finalized. But this is kind of a preview what it's going to look like. This is the 1.2-mile swim starting at Oak Bottom, Whiskeytown Lake. Next is the 56-mile. This one had the most changes. it was kind of west, now it's east. You can see it's northeast, goes south through Bella Vista, Palisadro, and then back into Redding city limits. So they said due to a variety of circumstances, this worked out better for them, just with road condition and things like that. So, and this is the run portion, a little tweak here, just they really wanted to utilize the Dieselhorst Bridge. And some of the Sacramento more of the Sacramento River Trail that was shaded. So that's pretty much what that looks like. But we do have a course. A few weeks ago, Jason Jablisko, he helped us organize an all-city department meeting. Caltrans was there, City of Redding officials, law enforcement, CAL FIRE, to go over safety and traffic control. And so They had their meeting, they went, they finalized the course, and traffic control plans are being drafted right now. They'll be submitted probably by next week, and then permits will be submitted after that. So it's just kind of where everything is on the behind the scenes, um, and where we're going. So, all right, volunteer positions and times are now available. So you can actually, uh, we still need, you know, several hundred volunteers But now you can actually pick what position you like. Examples would be like bike check-in, lifeguards, aid station, cooling stations. That right corner, that's an interesting one. It's called wetsuit peelers. All you do is just take wetsuits off people and it gets a little frisky, but, you know, whatever is your cup of tea. And then even we have, you know, it doesn't take much to be a volunteer. You can be like that kid just passing out water bottles. And there's even positions open to putting medals on finishers. So, I mean, how easy could that get? So that is something we are always looking for more volunteers and we're thankful for anyone who does. One of the cool perks you will get, you will get fed and you get this cool memento from our race. It'll say Ironman 70.3 Northern California and then has the volunteer on back. So we appreciate everyone who has volunteered and will. So thank you. All right. So what we're doing, Redding Sports Commission, spRedding the word to the community. One of the things we became aware of, Ironman does, will have an Ironman relationship manager that will personally reach out to every impacted business along the course and make sure they're aware of what's happening in the area. So they're very vocal about them being there, so they don't want anyone surprised on race day. So about May to June, A lot of the stuff we're doing, we're going to be putting volunteer posters around town to all the local businesses, restaurants, um, all the hotel lobbies wanted they said they wanted the welcome banners early, so that's one of the things. In July, we'll have the final race course with all the key dates and the viewing areas around town, so that'll be at all the local businesses as well. With what we do with Cool April Nights, I don't know if you guys saw them, we put those Cool April Nights banners up on all the street lights around town. We'll change them to Ironman, welcome triathletes Street's banners. So that'll go up probably around after the Fourth of July. And then working with the city to get some mailers to go out to residents. And then August, time to do the fun stuff where you get to go and talk to the local news, and they will also be in there just spRedding awareness for the event. All right, this is race week. That's not necessarily race day, it's race week they call it because they're here a week early and they leave the Monday after. Those are some key dates to kind of be aware of. The ones highlighted in green will have the most impact is when thousands of people really start showing up. So I'll just go over that real quick. Friday, the Ironman Village opens at the Civic. So that's, you know, you'll have thousands of people down there. We're doing a welcome reception downtown on that Friday sponsored by Redding Rancheria. So that is kind of the kickoff. We'll play videos, thank all our local sponsors and just It's kind of a nice social event where the locals get to interact with the visitors. So, and then Saturday is going to be a light day. They try to keep everything, you know, in the morning. We're planning to do a morning yoga session on the Sundial Bridge, and then right after that, the Iron Kids race through McConnell. So that should be exciting. And then Sunday, you can see a little bit more serious. People will start parking around the Civic or designated parking areas, and shuttles will be going up to Whiskeytown. Race starts at 6, bike starts at 7, run starts at 9, and the cutoff time for the whole event, 2:30, award ceremony is at 3 PM. So just kind of so you guys can see what we're seeing every day and kind of make it known. >> Cool. >> So that's pretty much it, um, for now. I'll have an update probably in another month or two, but I plan to try to keep everyone in the loop. But so far, thank you local sponsors. We couldn't do this without UCity of Redding, Shasta Regional Medical Center, Highway Specialty Co., Redding Ranch Area, Big Valley Sanitation. We do have our own hashtag. A lot of people have been asking me, how can we share this even if we're not a sponsor of the event or just a small business? It's #IM703NORCAL. And so that's a great way to start putting it out there, like if you have a special, you want to do something for the visitors. And so yeah, last but not least, um, because we just started our Redding Sports Commission, we have an advisory board that is open to any rights holders, uh, in the community. That's anyone who does anything with sports venues, like, you know, I'm going to email Travis after this in a bit, but just people that have any vested interest in Redding sports and to see it grow, and we can kind of come together and talk about what we're doing as a team. And then we want- if the community wants to know for the latest updates on Ironman just go to runningsportsco.com. I appreciate your time. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. >> Thanks, Tim. And Tim, the, the purse is $40,000, I hear. Is that only for the pro athletes, or is my team eligible for that? >> Are you already counting out your winnings? >> Yes. I mean, I figure for the people in my age and weight class, we should win. >> Individual runners, so I don't know how the relay thing works, but maybe, you know, All right, maybe that helps. >> Thank you. All right. We're going to open up for public comment now. And pursuant to the Brown Act, City Council cannot take action on public comment items. The City Council will allocate up to a maximum of 3 minutes per person 30 minutes total at the beginning of the meeting for public comment for non-agendized matters within the city's jurisdiction. The mayor will determine the order of the speakers. If 30 minutes is not adequate to accommodate all of the individuals who have submitted their name through the electronic kiosk, The council will trail this item to the end of the open session agenda. The remaining speakers will address the city council at that time. I see we have 2 speakers today. We've got Quentin Gaddy from the SBDC. Welcome back. Now we've seen you here before, and Nick Gardner, you're after that. So, good evening. >> All the residents of Redding. Yeah, I was going to say there goes the mic. First, I'd like to start off by saying happy National Small Business Week. This is, you know, when we celebrate it in the country and just want to talk about how important small businesses are to the Redding community. We have some events that are coming up that I'd like to talk about that are, you know, trying to dovetail off of this. So on Thursday, we have with Startup Redding and Shasta EDC, there's the Venture Conference at the Sheraton Turtle Bay. Sorry, I live in Siskiyou County, so I'm still learning all the different places down here. But, um, this is an event that brings together a whole bunch of small businesses, entrepreneurs, people who are looking to pitch, and different investors, angel investors. We got Shasta Angels there. We'll have different bankers as well. I'll be sitting on a panel talking about business financing and how to grow and scale business as well. So this is a great event. Tickets are still on sale for that one. The other event that I'd like to promote is next Friday at the Wind River Casino is the 3rd Annual NorCal Procurement Fair. Uh, the City of Redding will be represented at the NorCal Procurement Fair. I believe Michelle Kemply and Tyler Nash from city staff will be there, but this is an event that provides an opportunity to small businesses to meet purchasing officers from local agencies like City of Redding and RABA, state agencies like Caltrans, CAL FIRE, CHP, DGS, and some federal agencies as well. We'll also have some private prime contractors who subcontract a lot of their work out there. And so this is a great opportunity for any small business who is looking to do business with the government to actually meet someone face-to-face, figure out what is the process to get involved with government contracting, why they might want to do it. I'll give you a little anecdote. Last year, I had a business client, and her and her husband own heavy equipment, like masticators, skid steers, things like that. And they pretty much just been doing defensible space for people's homes and getting them prepared for wildfires and whatnot. And they never thought about doing government contracting. They, they were worried about the paperwork. And so I helped them get their small business certification, their disabled veteran business certification, helped them put together a capability statement, get bonding. And they went last year for the first time, they met with Caltrans and CAL FIRE, and they were able to clear $750,000 in contracts last year. So that was able to take them over $1 million in their business for the first time in their life and, you know, quadrupled it essentially in size. So this is a no-cost event. Anybody who's interested in participating, they can sign up at norcalprocurementfair.com. This event is sponsored by Tri-Counties Bank, California Department of General Services, and the Wind River Casino. So we're really, really thankful for the Redding Rancheria for hosting us there. So again, that's next Friday. The 15th, 10 to 3 PM, it's no cost, we'll give you lunch, and register at norcalprocurementfair.com. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Quinn. >> All right, Nick, you're up. >> I wanted to take this opportunity to invite Aaron Reisner on to poke the hornet's nest. May 17th at 9:00 AM so she can explain to my audience why she is the best choice for Supervisor District 1. Would you be interested, Erin? >> We can't, we can't really interact with you during public comment. >> Sure you can, you just choose not to. Okay, it's not a rule. >> Unlikely, Nick. >> Well, please consider it. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> All right, moving on. That's all our speakers. We'll go to our consent calendar. The consent calendar contains items considered routine and/or which have individually scrutinized by city council members and are anticipated to require no further deliberation. If a member of the public wishes to address an item on the consent calendar, please enter your name in the electronic kiosk located in the lobby before the consent calendar is considered. It shall be the prerogative of any council member before the consent calendar is acted upon to: 1, comment on an item; 2, respond to any public comment on any item; 3, request the record reflect an abstention, nay vote on an item; or 4, remove an item and place it on the regular portion of the agenda for delivery of a staff report and/or extended discussions of deliberation. All right, so I didn't see any, uh, any council members here, so I'll entertain a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve. >> I'll second. >> All right, without any discussion, we'll vote. All in favor? >> Aye. >> All right, all right, moving on. We're gonna, start with public hearings with Development Services. Item number 6.1, public hearing to consider Resolution for submission of 2026-27 Annual Action Plan and Citizen Participation Plan to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. All right. Hi. >> Hi. Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of City Council. Item 6.1 tonight is concerned with conducting a public hearing for the fiscal year 2026 Annual Action Plan. The City of Redding is an entitlement jurisdiction that receives an annual allocation of Home Investment Partnership Program funds and Community Development Block Grant funds from the federal government. Home funding is used for income-eligible housing unit production within the city limits of Redding, meaning working in partnership with for-profit and nonprofit developers to build, buy, or rehab affordable housing for renters and homeowners within our community. CDBG funding can be utilized in a wide variety of community development needs that benefit either income-eligible persons, areas, areas of the city urgent need, or blight within our community. As part of the requirements to receive HOME and CDBG, the Housing Division must submit a 5-year Consolidated Plan. This document summarizes our affordable housing and community development needs and respective goals over a 5-year period. Each year, the housing division must submit an annual action plan for each year of that 5-year plan, which details how the jurisdiction will spend its funding to meet the goals outlined in the Con Plan. Fiscal year 2026 annual action plan is the second annual action plan for the current, uh, Con Plan period. As an attachment to the staff report, breakdown of the current year's allocated funding and prior year funds to be expended on and proposed projects and activities is available for your review. This year's entitlement grant allocation for CDBG is $654,036 and HOME is $331,364. In addition, there are CDBG reallocated funds from the prior year of $173,925. Um, CDBG can pay for public improvement, economic development, and infrastructure projects and these projects are discussed and ranked by the City Manager's Office. CDBG-funded public service projects are rated and ranked by the city's Community Development Advisory Committee after reviewing applications and listening to, uh, excuse me, applicant presentations. Per regulations, funding is capped at no more than 15% of the CDBG total allocation. The rating and ranking results of the public service process is depicted at the bottom of the funding, uh, recommendations attachment. To date, the Housing Division has not received any comments, uh, regarding the FY 2026 Annual Action Plan during the public comment period. In closing, staff recommends staff's recommendation is to conduct the public hearing and upon conclusion adopt the resolution approving the submission of the fiscal year 2026 Annual Action Plan and authorize the city manager or his designee to sign all necessary necessary documents to submit the action plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This concludes my presentation. Are there any questions or comments? >> Okay, so I think we're going to start the public hearing for public comment. I don't think anybody wants to speak today, so we're going to close the hearing now on public comment. And now we're back to council discussion. So any questions from council today, or I don't >> I do not have any questions. I would move that council approves items 1 through 4. So adopting a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute necessary documents and find that adopting resolution and submission to annual citizens participation plan is not considered a project under California CEQA. And number 4. >> I'll second. >> Okay, we have a first, second. I don't see any other discussion or questions here, so we'll take a vote here. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Thank you. That passes. Thank you. Thanks, Nicole. >> Well, that public hearing was fun. Let's do another one. 6.2, public hearing to consider tentative subdivision map application S-2024-00740, planned development. Rezoning application by J&L Custom Homes to subdivide a 1.65-acre parcel located at 4363 Churn Creek Road into 16 parcels and to rezone the property from RM-9 Residential Multiple Family District to RM-9 PD Residential Multiple Family District with Planned Development Overlay. All right, that was a lot. So I'll set the stage for you. Here we go. >> Good evening, Council. Good evening, everybody who showed up tonight. Um, before us, we have a tentative map application. It's a Subdivision with a planned development, and a rezone as well. Here's the location. It is at 4363 Churn Creek Road. General plan designation, residential 6 to 10 units per acre, and it's, currently zoned RM-9. And if you just saw that little graphic there, they are proposing to do an overlay district for planned development, which will here before us is to propose the rezone. This is the tentative map. To your left, you have Churn Creek Road. It's a 16-lot subdivision proposal, um, approximately, um, 9.7 units per acre. in this subdivision. So the rezoning is a legislative action required by City Council approval. The request is to rezone to overlay the property with the planned development. Um, this allows for 1 additional unit as long as it's within general plan density. Um, also, they're requesting, um, zoning flexibility for reduced lot sizes, reduced setbacks, Reduce covered parking, um, and it's going to cover parking is going to go to 1-car garages versus 2-car garages, and they're proposing a private street. This is the planned development plan here to attach single-family homes. The proposed lines will separate units and yards. There's a private street that will take access from Churn Creek Road and landscaping. Landscaping within the subdivision, and there's landscape proposals along Churn Creek Road as well. These are the elevations for the, um, the homes will be constructing or proposing to construct. Um, so there's 2 different home variations, uh, 3 bedrooms with 2.5 baths. The facades will have a combination of board and batten and stucco. Uh, the roofing materials offer a combination of metal and composite shingles. And each unit will have a single-car garage. Here are some of the amenities proposed in this application, um, kind of outdoor tables and benches, um, streetlights, a decorative sound wall, uh, decomposed granite walking path, a community area, and a little area you can do a beanbag toss at. So, general plan conformance. Um, overall density, they're proposed the applicant's proposing is 9.7 units per acre. There are single-family houses to the north and south of the property, and to the east is single-family zoning. The current property is zoned for residential multifamily. This tentative map proposes attached single-family homes, which is more in character with the surrounding area than you typically would get with apartment buildings. Um, and the applicant has submitted a plan development plan for density increase. Um, Bringing it to 16 units, uh, 15 is what would be allowed within the zoning designation of RM-9, uh, reduced lot size, reduced setbacks, reduced covered parking, and to allow for a private street. Um, the proposal provides an efficient utilization of land at 9.7 units per acre while also respecting the existing community by proposing homes which are in character of what you might see in a neighborhood. So the project does receive quite a bit of vehicular noise from Interstate 5 and Churn Creek. So we did receive a noise analysis with this, and the analysis conclusion was an 8-foot decorative sound wall would be required along Churn Creek Road to reduce outdoor noise and interior noise. And then homes on lots 1 through 4 The I-5 fronting homes are conditioned to be reinforced to meet the interior noise standards of 45 decibels. Environmental, so a biological resources assessment was submitted with the project. Uh, there's a small wetland feature identified to the northeast of the property. Um, the project is avoiding this area and the wetland, and there'll be a 20-foot buffer required to be shown as private open space easement on the final map. Um, this will basically be a non-buildable area. Um, are no special status plant species identified on the property, and tree removals that occur in season for bats and migratory birds and raptors are required to conduct in-season surveys and gain environmental clearance through CDFW. Uh, the project shall follow standard subdivision condition number 35. That finds the project is categorically exempt from CEQA under guidelines 15-332 for infill development projects. Uh, this type of exemption generally applies to projects that are less than 5 acres and surrounded by urban uses, served by utilities, consistent with general plan and zoning, not affected by significant environmental issues. Um, we went to Planning Commission for this project on March 24th. Um, the recommendations, um, for the conditions, um, there were 2 new conditions Planning Commission recommended, um, they were architectural enhancements to the western facades of homes facing Churn Creek Road, and then durable fencing material along the north property line. The, the project is well supported by the General Plan and zoning regulations. Staff recommendation is to offer ordinance approving the rezone. Authorization of city attorney to prepare and the city clerk to publish a summary ordinance. Find the project is exempt from CEQA. Approve the tentative map subdivision and associated plan development subject to draft conditions of approval as recommended by the Planning Commission. Thank you. I'm available if you have any questions. >> Thank you. Okay, we're going to start our public hearing for public comment. And there's no public comments, so we're going to close this hearing. Couple questions just with the recommendations that came out of the Planning Commission. Was the developer agreeable to that? Does it make sure that the project pencils out still with the recommendations that came out? >> Yes, Mayor, the applicant was agreeable to that. >> Okay, great. >> Councilmember Munce. >> I assume since it's a private road that we don't have to maintain it or do anything. >> That is correct. There will be no maintenance of the private road. >> What about all the frontage bushes and stuff along the road? Does that have anything to do with us? >> That will be maintained under a homeowners association in the draft conditions of approval. >> Thank you. Councilmember Resner. >> What do we mean by enhanced facade? Like, did we discuss specifically with the developer exactly what it is that that would look like. I just, when I look at these pictures, I think they look a little bit sad. Um, and I feel like we could do a little bit better. Um, and historically, the City of Redding has done a really poor job of enforcing any compromises that we make. So I just want to make sure that it's outlined and very clear in terms of what plants are going to be used along Churn Creek, what sort of materials we're willing to accept for facade. Because if we're making a compromise, I want to make sure that it's done with excellence. >> Good point. >> Yeah, so, um, that so, their architectural enhancements, um, it's, it's going to be siding, you know, maybe extra enhancements around the windows, um, in the condition. >> I think we >> let me double-check here. >> Just to clarify, are you talking about the houses themselves? Are you talking about the fence? The fence along Churn Creek? >> Yes, specifically there were, there were enhancements that would be made, um, to the design and the facade that was along Churn Creek Road. That's what he's talking about. >> The Planning Commission was saying that those things a long-term noise reduction fence. >> That's what you're talking about. >> No, I'm talking about the actual I see there are a couple homes that actually face that direction. Thanks, Lily. >> Maybe I can add a little bit to that and help. So when this went to Planning Commission, that was the very concern they had, as you had, Councilor Reznor. So what when we look at enhancement, we look at our design criteria says articulation. Articulation means when there's plays and planes, when there's shadows created. So what we're looking for is probably some add-ons. It's not going to change the structure of the building because we know that costs, but if we're looking at some type of window shade, things like that, larger, you know, elements that will create shadows, that's what we're looking for. And change of material, because these are two-story buildings. >> Okay, so, Lily, do you get to pick out what those changes and enhancements are you in charge of approving that? Who's in charge of approving what those I, I understand the broad and the generalization, and then allowing a developer to do something that suits their design criteria or wishes. But who then has final approval over what that looks like? >> So, when it comes through plan check, we look at the final plan reviews and we run it through through our director, and those are reviewed through layers of staff. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Actually, my question would be more about this sound wall. Will you make sure it looks pretty enough? >> Yes, absolutely. >> Okay. >> You know, maybe have some murals or some designs, right? >> So when we look at a decorative wall, we look at, you know, if you have CMU block, that's very plain. When we say decorative, it is that treated face of a block wall that is not the CMU. You know, they spray it, they treat it, and typically it's color integrated with a cap. >> Okay, great, because this is how, you know, this is probably one of the major arteries there with the businesses and tourism. Thank you. >> That wall is going to go It's obviously not going all the way up and down Churn Creek, so is that wall going to look a little awkward? Just being a >> I didn't see the length of that wall itself, but actually, based on the sound study, it does have to cover the entire Churn Creek side, and it actually has to wrap around. Okay, so to a distance, because it's based on the sound study. >> All right, great, thank you. We'll entertain a motion unless you had any modifications to your question. Is there something specifically you wanted to see done, or Ravi? >> I just want to really make sure that it actually gets enforced. That's all. That's just my that's not directed at you. It's just historically we've done a good job of saying we want it to look really beautiful and then meh is how sometimes it turns out. It's my technical term. >> Thank you. Okay, let's entertain a motion if this is going to push forward. >> I'll make a motion to approve items 1 through 4. >> I'll second. >> All right, without any further conversation, all in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. Okay, that passes. Oh, actually, you want to do another one, Mike? >> These hearings, we're getting good at them, so we'll do one more. I know, Fire 6.3, public hearing to consider the ordinance amending the Redding Municipal Code Title 9 under Health and Safety to align with updates to the 2025 California Fire Code. Got a whole army of people, so here we go. >> Good evening, Mayor, City Council. What's before you tonight is the adoption of the 2025 California Fire Code. It's been about a year and a half, 2 years in the making, working really closely with Development Services Director Jeremy Pagan and Assistant City Manager Michael Webb. And so, uh, we've put a lot of work into this, and I think it's ready to go. Uh, here to make the presentation tonight is your Fire Marshal, Deputy Chief Jay Summerlin. Also have with us, uh, Assistant Fire Marshal Andrew Atkins, uh, who's the book guy. So if we need to dive into anything specific, uh, he's the guy for that. So I'll turn it over to Chief Summerlin. Thank you. >> Good evening. If I look depressed, it's because the police were teasing me in the back of the room because they're leading the Battle of the Badge blood drive right now, and looks like the fire department's going to lose once again. However, just to let you know, we are cooler than you. Yes, we are. >> Well, do you guys have way more tattoos? Is that what keeps the firemen out of being able to qualify? >> No, we're just cooler than them. >> Okay. >> We'll just leave it at that. Well, I vote down on that one. There's a bias I hear from you. Oh, yes, yes, sir. Well, thank you. Do I have a clicker up here or somebody moving slides for me? Oh, there we go. Okay, uh, the California Fire Code is basically code of standards for fire prevention, protecting life and property from fire and explosions. Um, and it's part of the California Fire Code, is part of fire law. Um, we are kind of a a real relation to the building code. We're part of the same family in the same order of laws, and we're in the same area in the Code of Standard Regulations, Title 24, Part 9. Um, just like the presentation that you had with the building code that you adopted a few months ago, uh, it's very similar. We have the same adoption issues, uh, that it's, uh, the process is every 3 years it's brought before as new changes. Every 18 months within that process, it's updated, and the updates are sent It became effective January 1st, 2026, uh, where it became law in the state of California. Historically, um, the City of Redding has, uh, amendments to it which are in our RMC, uh, that make it more strict or define what we're trying to get across to the developers within our community. The biggest changes that have happened in the 2025, uh, fire code is, uh, wildland urban interface. You guys adopt when you adopted the building code, you adopted Chapter 7, Book 7 for the wildfire already. So that's already a part of our code. And there's some changes to fire alarm and signaling systems that you'll see in some of the RMC changes we're making. Most of that is around cybersecurity stuff. You already have seen the fire hazard severity zones, and you have adopted that already as the standard for the City of Redding previous times. And then there's some stuff about lithium-ion batteries and how buildings get to use them and stuff. So what we're asking to do tonight is to adopt local amendments of the 2025 California Fire Code with appendixes. So Chapter 4 and all of those little letters. Some of those are different and I'll go over those here in a little bit. So when we started looking at this process about a year ago, our fire code and RMCs were kind of a mess. There was language that was just left in place from adoption to adoption to adoption. So one of the big things that we're moving away from is any language that talks about the International Fire Code. So that's being stripped out of every RMC language. So everything's being touched basically, but those terms aren't correctly used in the fire code and only reference the 2025 Fire Code from here on out. Until you adopt another one. When I say that we're removing them from the RMC, it doesn't mean that we're not we don't have a code. We look to directly to the fire code for the interpretation of what those say. So when you look at the first two about fire prevention divisions and supplemental rules and regulations, what it says in the fire code does cover our Fire Prevention Bureau and the regulations around the fire code. We don't need to have redundant language or confusing language that would confuse somebody in development. Uh, number 060 there, the appeals. So Appendix A that you're adopting, what that's going to do is create an appeals board. Right now, when you disagree with a statement that we make about your development, your only right to the department is to go to the fire chief and appeal to them about our ruling on how we're looking at a fire code. What an appeals board does is allows us to be basically lockstep with how the city handles code enforcement, because they have a code enforcement appeals board. It would be run exactly the same way in this room, and if there's anybody that wants to appeal a decision we've made on a property, it would be brought to that appeals board where they would be able to have facts from both sides and make a determination on how the code was administered. The next two, fire safety during construction and verify higher threat zones. What it says in the fire code about construction sites is fine for the City of Redding. It really was redundant language, so we're removing it. Very high fire severity threat zones, you already adopted language in the city code, so we don't need to be redundant or confusing to people, so we're removing it. The biggest one I think that you're going to see for tonight is this 210, the very bottom one then. This is a fire flow requirement for new construction, large complex buildings. You're talking multi-story structures, large complexes, warehouses, things like that, where your fire flow requirement we restricted it. There's a chart that we required that you could, if the building was sprinklered, you could have a 50% reduction in of your fire flow. However, we've reversed our thought process on that because you guys have been able to supplement our fire department with adequate staffing. So I don't have to send 8 fire engines to a fire anymore. I can send 4 and have adequate staffing to be able to put the fire out. That allows us to be able to make a change like this and rely just on what the fire code is which is a 75% reduction. What that's going to do for a developer is if they have to put in fire pumps, it may not be as large as fire as large as fire pumps, or they may not have to do any infrastructure changes to the water purveyor that supplies water to that establishment. Uh, right now I think we only have one development in construction that this will have a major ramification to them, uh, for it'll be an improvement. It'll cost them less money to build that structure. Um, more amendment. Now we're going to make some amendment changes. Anytime we make a change to an amendment, we have to follow through with our findings, and everything, uh, we have to link to climate, geology, topographical, um, with reasonableness, necessary changes. And most of these things are because of our topography and how long it takes us to get to a fire because of our road systems, where our fire stations are located, and how far we have to drive. So the first one is 070, that's violation penalties. We're required in the fire code to identify it's the only reason it's in here. Uh, what the fire code says is fine, but we have to define what those penalties are, and that's what this code does. The next one down is enforcement. This is where it defines who has authority within the City of Redding and in the fire department to enforce these laws and the codes. Um, and then the bottom one, 100, this is probably the biggest change that we're making in this little group, is about open burning. What we're asking is that unlawful burning becomes a misdemeanor, and it would be defined it defines what unlawful burning is, and then it requires you as an individual have written permission to burn on somebody else's property. So let's say you own a huge swath of undeveloped land and somebody decided to go camp out on your property and set up camp. If they start a fire, a cooking fire, any type of fire in your property, that would be a misdemeanor and it would be illegal for them to do that because they do not own that property. However, if you as the owner went out and had a campfire or barbecue on your own property, that is not a big deal because you own the property. And then it also defines what authorized open burning is. So that's one of the biggest changes. It gives us a little bit more teeth in enforcing fire code and fire laws in our open spaces. >> Just to I'm sorry to interrupt just to clarify, that applies to the public land, right? >> Yes, it doesn't. Yeah, if you don't own it, you can't do it. Okay, if you're in a designated area like one of our parks that has a cooking spot and you're cooking in it, that's a designated area. But if you have a campfire underneath the tree, you can't do that. That's where that goes. >> Okay. >> We're changing some language in the fire apparatus access roads to remove the term all-weather. Um, in the city of Redding, it's always said that it has to be asphalt concrete. And then it said all-weather. What it was doing was confusing developers thinking that they could put a dirt road in, um, and that's not what we ever intended. So we're removing the language to make it very clear that this has to be an asphalt or concrete road, kind of like the River Trail. Uh, it just has to be asphalt capable of 75,000-pound vehicle. Uh, fire hydrants, um, we are putting in that it's going to be a requirement in the WUI to put a fire hydrant at the end of every cul-de-sac that has access to the wui. What this does for the fire department is instead of running a hose line down the middle of the road when I'm having you try to leave your houses and you have to drive over my fire hose, I can set up operation in the very end and protect more homes in the wildland because I have a very confined operational area that doesn't affect people escaping when we're doing an operation. This is really going to help us defend future developments. As we move forward. The other big one is that we used to have a requirement for hydrants to be within 40 feet of the fire department connection. So buildings that have sprinkler systems, they have fire department connections, usually they're all commercial. We've removed that because, again, back into staffing, the ability to get enough people there. 100 feet away from the what the fire code says, you can have one up to 100 feet away. That's adequate for our needs now. The next one that's a pretty big one is this existing buildings. We used to require that if you remodeled your home, a business, and it you did 50% or more remodel, you would be required to sprinkler your structure. What we've done is removed that requirement and just have the language that if you hit 2,000 gallons per minute of water flow requirement to put out a fire, you'd be required to do that because now you're into a large structure that needs that type of protection. So it's so if Grandma has a tree that hits her house and the roof was ended up being 50%, she can still have her 1958 home without having to put a sprinkler system in it. And it's going to eliminate that reasoning from the fire code. This makes more sense for the city of Redding. >> Could you just explain this a little bit more? What do you mean by 2000 gallon flow, because that can affect a lot of commercial structures in our area. >> It does, but depending on what type of construction you make it, that chart changes. There's a specific chart within it based off of if you're a non-combustible structure like Amazon, you can be a lot larger structure without requiring, um, uh, sprinklers, uh, and it changes based off of the size of your structure and on your construction type. >> Right, but what I'm saying is most of the buildings are not recent. They're not going to be like Amazon. So just in simple words that I mean, I'm just trying to get some idea that is this going to apply to every small building in town which wants to change something in the future, or it only applies to 100,000 square feet buildings? >> It's if you get 2,000 gallons per minute water flow. So you have the chart. >> Just, just give me some idea, like how many square feet of building you're talking about. >> We'll pull up the chart and we'll read some numbers off to you. So for Type 5B construction, it's 6,200. So 5B, that's going to be what, stick frame? Yeah, just kind of ordinary construction. Yeah, so ordinary construction, based off the chart, you would have to make your house 6,200 square feet Addition or remodel? If you, if you build a 6,000-square-foot home remodel, you would be required to put a sprinkler in. Remember, in the state of California, all R-3 houses are required by law in the state of California to be sprinklered, right? So no matter what your size is, this is before that became law. If you're remodeling your home, let's say you have an 1,100-square-foot home and you chose to turn it into a 6,500-square-foot home, you would be required to sprinkle a structure. But if you did a 5,000-square-foot home, you would not. >> So it applies to existing building. So you're adding 6,000 square feet or so, give or take, that's when this will apply. That's what you're saying? >> Yeah, if, if you, if you make your building that large, we're going to require you. Currently it's 50%. We had it as written as 50%. So if you're 1,100 square feet and you just double the size of that, you at your 1,600-square-foot home, you'd be required to under the current RMC. >> I see. >> So we're going to let you go to 5,000 square feet before you're required addition, addition okay, to do that. >> Gotcha. >> Thank you. >> Let's see, um, uh, we're going to ask to have some amendments to fireworks. So in Shasta County, fireworks are illegal. They always have been for a long, long, long time. We want it to be very clear to the public that in the city of Redding, if you are letting off fireworks, it will be a misdemeanor. It's not clear it is in the county, but you have to go dig through some stuff. We just want to make sure that the public's very clear that that's what's going to happen if you light off fireworks in our community. The next one is about sprinkler systems. You have the NFPA 13, 13D, and 13R. They all are different size and types of structures, and 13D and R already require bathrooms to be covered. They're I think it's 55 square feet, over 55 square feet. And so what we wanted to do is just make it so that when we're doing plan review and we're looking at any sprinkler system, we're looking at built rooms that are 55 square feet or larger All of them will have a sprinkler head in them, and it makes it consistent when we're doing plan reviews, speeds that process up for us, um, and it's safer for the occupants of the structure. Um, 220 Table C-20 201, sorry, um, it, it removes contradiction language because we've already removed the statement earlier about 40 feet to the FDC versus 100 feet. It removes that language from that RMC. Um, Appendix D is another large one. Uh, what this Appendix D number 230, the very bottom line there, is in the city, if you have a new sub-development that is at 49 homes, uh, it you're required to have secondary fire access roads. The fire code used to be different, and so there was a conflict between what we had as a sub- development ordinance, and then what the fire code said. We're changing this to match what the subdivision standard is in the city at 49 homes, so it makes it a streamlined process. It's, it's the same standard, just like the building code. Um, the, uh, the state of California is freezing the building code and the fire code at the exact same time. So the next time you're going to see us come before an adoption is in 2031, and we have some local prohibitive things that we can and can't do within the RMC with the fire code between now and then. So what you're adopting right now is what it's going to be for quite a while. Um, we may come back at you after we get some legal advice about a vegetation management ordinance, uh, because our city needs one, and we're working on that process right now. But that's probably all you're going to see from the fire department going forward until that timeline ends. What we're asking tonight is staff is asking for to conduct this public hearing and introduce the ordinance amendment amending Redding Municipal Code Title 9 relating to adoption of the 2025 California Fire Code for first Redding by title only and waive the full Redding. Authorize the city attorney to prepare and the city clerk to publish a summary ordinance according to law. Find that the adoption of the 2025 California Fire Code does not qualify as a project under CEQA. Do you have any questions for me? >> We're going to open up, uh, going to open up for a public hearing first, and nobody wants to speak, so we're going to close the public hearing, and then we're going to open up for questions or comments from council. So Councilmember Muns. >> Can you go back to the very first slide, Mr. Summerlin? Yeah, the bottom one about the fire flow, is that from within a building or you're talking about a uh, yeah, when, when you build a structure, you're required to show, have an engineer show the required fire flow for the sprinkler systems, um, and putting out the fire for that structure based off of the dimensions of it. Meaning, did you say it needed to be reduced by 50%, therefore you can have less >> No, we're at 50% now. Oh, okay. If you adopt this, it'll be at 75%, which will be equal to what the California Fire Code already says. So their reduction they get a larger deduction if they put sprinklers in the building, and so their fire flow water requirement coming into the complex is less than what they would have under the old code. >> Yeah, thank you, I misunderstood that part. >> Question on the fire sprinklers. I know most insurance policies automatically pay for building and code ordinance upgrade coverage. It is obviously a burden to require somebody to put in fire sprinklers. Is there any data or feedback you have on that to where it's just been very, very difficult for people that have done remodels and this has been a burden, or maybe some people just don't have insurance and means to pay for that? >> Well, we were really more concerned about Grandma, um, and an oak tree falling into her house and putting an undue burden on somebody that has lived here for 50, 60 years. It was more that than new construction. It was, it was really about, is this really fair to our community? And we didn't think it was. But we also know there's, there's a balance point of if you have an 1,100-square-foot home and you turn it into a 7,000-square-foot home You should probably keep up with the standards because really you just built a brand new home. And if you did build a brand new home, you'd have to have a sprinkler system in it anyway. So we're looking for a compromise, and that's what we came up with. >> Okay. Other question, just for data or feedback, uh, the fireworks, turning that into a misdemeanor, is what is the current enforcement that we have right now? And is the enforcement we had problems with that type of enforcement that It's either not been effective or we've not really been able to >> No, what it does- >> Can you elaborate on that, why we need to make that a mistake? >> Typically what it is, is when we go out and do enforcement of fireworks, it's usually we confiscate we give them a we give them a choice. We're either going to take your fireworks away from you, or we're going to write you a ticket for a misdemeanor, and then we're going to take your fireworks anyway. Now it's evidence. Which way do you want to go? And then they hand over all this stuff, and then we lock it in our evidence collection until we can dispose of it properly. >> Okay, got it. >> All right, good. >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Okay, uh, without any further comments, all in favor? >> Aye. >> All right, that passes. Uh, we don't have any more public hearings. >> You did a good job on those. >> I did. We all did good. I expected a lot of comment today, but, all right, we'll move on to our regular calendar items. We're going to start with Assistant City Manager 9.2A, an oral update regarding the agreement with Circle 6 Consulting Incorporated. >> Good evening, honorable mayor, members of council, community. Michael Webb, Assistant City Manager, Director of Public Works. This evening, I'll be be providing an informational presentation regarding an update to the efficiency study that's been underway for roughly about 4 weeks now. So first I was going to touch on what's been done so far. So quick little synopsis here. Our consultant has conducted 74 interviews across multiple departments, including essentially a number of yourselves, a number of customers, residents, really focusing on inefficiencies, workflows, and decision layers. In addition, our consultants has conducted 10 site visits. Obviously, we have multiple facilities throughout the city, more than 10 obviously, but we focused on 10 that we felt were critical, that could really provide them the information they needed to help us evaluate our workflows. As you can also imagine, there are a number of documents available that the city is currently working on producing, or historical documents There were over 300 documents that we either prepared and provided to the consultant or already had it had and shared with a consultant for their review. And along that process, we really were targeting cost leakage and risk reduction across all departments in the city. And I really do want to stress that, that there really is a focus predominantly right now on looking at general fund areas, but we are looking citywide across both enterprise departments as well as the general fund, with a priority of course on the general fund right now. We also had the consultant look at lean waste identification, exhausting all options and looking into workflows to reduce administrative burden of routine tasks. So our Phase 1 findings. In general, Phase 1 identified citywide opportunities to capture near-term value while laying a solid groundwork for long-term operational financial improvements. And that is really a mouthful, so you're likely wondering what does that mean. At the end of the day, what it means is we've identified a number of quick wins, again, specifically within the general fund first because that was our targeted area of focus that I will touch on in the coming few slides that right now we are validating and hope to move through the, follow-up processes in the, in the coming weeks. Then near the end of my presentation, you'll hear me talk about what the long-term solutions and strategies are for what I would describe as the more meat and potato and the real things that we need to talk about that do provide the long-term sustainable groundwork and foundation for the city moving into the future. So with that, I'll jump into the first quick win. Which was we worked with Director Robinette's staff as well as a number of other departments within the city to identify all of the encumbrances that were active as of a couple weeks ago. As you can imagine, there were a, a large number of encumbrances that were open, probably hundreds if not thousands, and we scrolled through those looking for encumbrances that really had no activity for the last 12 months also with a focus on having general fund dollars. Based on that, rig