HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-06-03; Responses to Questions from May 21, 2019-20 Preliminary Budget Presentation; Chadwick, ScottTo the members of the:
1J 11_Y COUNCIL
Date ~ CA ,/ CC V
CM V COO ./ DCM {3) ✓
June 3, 2019
Council Memorandum
To:
From:
Honorable Mayor Hall a
Scott Chadwick, City M na
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2019056
Re: Responses to Questions
Presentation
21, 2019 ~Y 2019-20 Preliminary Budget
The Fiscal Year 2019-20 Preliminary Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program was
presented to the City Council and the community on May 21. The meeting was an opportunity
for the public and the City Council to review the draft budget prepared by city staff. Several
questions from the City Council and the community were posed to city staff. Those questions
and answers have been compiled into this single memo. The public hearing for the preliminary
budget is scheduled for the June 18 council meeting.
The city's budget document is the single most important expression of Carlsbad's core mission,
City Council policy priorities and, ultimately, the community's vision. With this in mind, the city
has developed a budget that reflects where the City of Carlsbad is today and where we are
headed in the years to come. Most of all, the city remains in excellent financial health and is
committed to sound business practices needed to thrive in today's complex environment.
Budget Overview
The total operating budget is comprised of various operating funds, each having a unique
approach to budgeting. For example, the General Fund is one of many, unique funds in the total
operating budget. It is the city's practice for the General Fund that estimated revenues must
meet or exceed proposed expenditures. As such, the General Fund operating budget, which
covers the city's day to day services like police, fire, parks and libraries, is proposed to increase
7 percent, with a budget of $166.8 million, projected revenues of $170.5 million, and a
projected surplus of$3.7 million. By comparison, the 2018-19 general fund operating budget
increased 6.9 percent over the previous year.
With the city's other unique funds, such as special revenue or enterprise funds, estimated
revenues do not always exceed estimated expenses in a given year. This is due to the timing of
revenues and expenses in the funds as well as the nature of the expenses. In some cases,
revenue may be received years ahead of a related planned expenditure creating situations in a
given year where expenses exceed revenues. In these situations, the "past revenue" comes
from fund balance or reserves and gives the appearance of a deficit even though sufficient
funds are available.
City Manager's Office
City Hall 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-434~2820 t
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 2
Therefore, the total Operating Budget for FY 2019-20, made up of many unique funds, totals
$296.9 million, with revenues for the year estimated at $291.8 million. This does not mean that
next year's expenditures will exceed our projected revenues in all funds. The city's goal is
always to manage the total operating budget conservatively, and end each fiscal year with a
surplus in the General Fund.
Community Budget Priorities
The city asked for input on spending priorities earlier in the budget process this year and used a
new online public input tool in addition to the traditional public workshop. In all, about 1,300
residents shared their budget priorities with the city. The main themes from the public input
were:
• Neighborhood quality of life
• Public Safety
• Parks, recreation, trails and open space
• Environmental sustainability
• Transportation and mobility
• Enhancing arts and culture
Other Changes to the Budget Process
In addition to getting input from the public earlier in the process, city staff made other changes
this year to how budget priorities are set. In past years all city departments started the budget
process with the same increase, usually based on the rate of inflation. Likewise, up to 10% of
unspent money in department budgets was automatically rolled over into the next year's
budget. Both of these practices were eliminated this year in favor of a department by
department and program by program evaluation of need, based on data. As a result, city
leaders had more flexibility in allocating resources strategically, rather than needing to ask for
budget increases to cover every increase in spending.
When the final budget is pre'sented June 18, staff will present proposed updates to city financial
policies, including pension funding, surplus management, and reserves, with the goal of further
strengthening the city's long-term financial position.
Questions and Answers (items with a* indicate that the question was answered by staff
publicly at the council meeting on May 21).
POLICE
1. When you talk about our sworn officers being pulled away for calls, it decreases
discretionary police work. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the way that I think about that is
the proactive community-oriented policing that really is relationship building and being a
presence in the community. Is that accurate?
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 3
Absolutely. Officers go· out and do proactive work to address concerns from incoming calls.
We do a lot of data driven policing, and they direct their patrols based on that data.
Officer's time becomes encumbered by calls for service, and once they get over a 60%
saturation level, they're no longer doing proactive police work because there;s a lot of
administrative duties that come with that.*
Community policing focuses on building connections with the public and working with the
residents. Officers are assigned to a beat for six months before they are rotated so that
they can get to know the residents and the area they are serving. The police department
follows a data-driven analysis approach to community policing, so the officers are directed
to hot spot areas in the city where they conduct proactive police work. The increased
presence helps establish trust with the residents and helps them feel more secure in their
neighborhoods.
2. Inmate contracting transportation services -is that only for where we need help with a
mental health hold, or is that service used for anything else as well?
Right now, it is only for mental health holds, however, if we were to arrest somebody for a
charge and they ended up being at the hospital for some reason {i.e. sick, injured) from
whatever they were doing, we could have that same transport company come and take
over the custody so we wouldn't have to have an officer sitting there. There's different
things that they can do, but essentially, right now, they are used for mental health
evaluations.*
The contract that we have with Advantage Sentry and Protection {ASAP) includes
transportation of prisoners to and from locations designated by the police department. At
this time, the police department's administrative instruction to officers is to only utilize the
company to transport mental health holds and provide security for inmates who are
hospitalized, but we do have the option for them to transport inmates to jail, if necessary.
3. We haven't put in a request for more record technicians in 20 years?
That is the best number we could come up with.*
According to Human Resources and Finance, one FTE was approved in FY2015-16 but the
position was for a Property & Evidence Technician. Prior to that, a part-time Records clerk
position was added in FY2003-04. Finance's records date back to 1991 and there was a total
of five FTE in Records at the time, which is the same number of FTE in Records today.
The organization chart below is from 2001 which also shows five FTE for Records.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 4
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4. One of the goals you talked about was the goal to get to 1.2 officers per residents. Is
there a national or state standard?
It's not necessarily a goal to get to any specific ratio. When I talk about that ratio, it's
basically "a" metric, not "the" metric. There's a bunch of data that we look at to determine
whether or not we're being successful in our PD response times, such as are we under the
national average, which we are consistently, what is the saturation level of the officers, how
soon do we get to priority 3 calls. Right now, the county average of San Diego is 1.29, if we
get the nine sworn positions in the budget we'll be at 1.12, we're very comfortable with
that .based on our service level, our response time, our saturation levels -for this fiscal year
I think that's where we need to be.*
5. 20 years ago, we were at a population of 82,000, 10 years ago we were a population of
105,000, and now we;re at 115,000, so it's been making some large percentage increases.
How many officers, both a percentage and number of officers, have we added during last
that last 10-year period and 20-year period?
Before last year we had not added a sworn position in 10 years, and we were at 115,000
population at that point.*
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 5
The chart below shows sworn staffing versus population, dating back to 1988:
VEAR POPULATION TOTAL PATROL OFFICERS PER
(in 1000s) SWORN SWORN 1000 CITIZENS
1988 58.8 69 54 1.17
1989 61.9 71 54 1.15
1990 62.8 79 54 1.26
1991 64.2 79 54 1.23 ·
1992 65.7 80 54 1.22
. 1993 67.3 80 54 1.19
1994 67.9 80 54 1.18
1995 68.1 80 54 1.17
1996 68.2 85 54 1.25
1997 70.1 90 57 1:28
1998 73.7 93 59 1.26
1999 77.6 96 61 1.24
2000 82.0 100 63 1.22
2001 83.1 103 64 1.24
2002 88.0 107 66 1.22
2003 90.3 107 67 1.18
2004 92.7 107 67 1.15
2005 95.1 109 67 1.15
2006 98.6 112 69 1.14
2007 101.0 115 71 1.14
2008 103.8 115 71 1.11
2009 104.7 115 70 1.10
2010 105.3 115 68 1.09
2011 107.8 115 68 1.07
2012, 109.4 115 68 1.05
2013 111.1 115 68 1.04
2014 112.1 113 68 1.01
2015 113.3 113 68 1.00
2016 114.0 113 · 68 0.99
2017 114.0 115 67 1.01
2018 115.3 119 68 1.03
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 6
6. Is one of the industry standards a patrol officer per 1,000 people in population?
It is a metric that is used and SAN DAG publishes an annual report that talks about that, and
that's where we get the numbers. So, yes, that is one of the metrics that is used not just in
California or San Diego county but across the nation. The metric is a good metric because it
gives you an idea of where you're sitting for service levels. Having said that, different
communities have different needs. The City of Carlsbad is unique, and we would have a
much different level of service than other cities or areas, so we really have to look at what's
needed for our community and what the best metric is for us.*
7. In the last 10 years have we increased the number of ambulances we have in our city?
In 2004 we came forward with a study, and in 2005 we added a 3rd ambulance. It's
possible we would need a 4th ambulance very soon, and that is one of the reasons why
we're looking at getting some of the analytics to tell us where we would put that 4th
ambulance if we got one. The other thing that we're looking at is making some changes
regionally, and what I mean by that is we're getting a medical director in the dispatch
center, which would help us to start tiering dispatches. As these things develop over the
next couple months, and having people that can collect that data, it will help us provide a
really good answer if we need a 4th ambulance, and if so, where should it be.*
8. Every one of our firemen, whether they're on an ambulance or fire engine, are
paramedics, is that correct?
All of our firefighters -captains, batallion chiefs, division chiefs, engineers, firefighters -
they're all paramedics.*
9. So, every one of those trucks can provide the same service an ambulance can provide
other than they just can't transport a patient, is that right?
That is correct.*
10. Is that common across the county or the state, or are we special?
It is fairly common in the county, it's becoming more common in the state. Not every fire
department in the county has paramedics the way we do but it's becoming more and more
common.*
11. You had mentioned there would be an individual that would alleviate some of the
overtime that individuals are having to work on, is that the SOS or what particular
position would that be in regards to?
The training captain or captain specialist.*
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 7
12. For the business systems specialist, are they also going to be working to look for other
technologies that the Fire Department would use in conjunction to the digital records
conversion?
The digital records conversion would be a combination of the business systems specialist
and the SOS that would be in fire prevention. It would be the SOS that would manage that
digitization. The business,systems specialist would be engaged in any technologies,
whether it is current or new and emerging, this person would be assigned to finding new
technologies and would alleviate our analyst that is currently assigned to that now so the
analyst could focus on analyzing the information that is collected.*
13. How does the amount of visitors we get every year impact our fire personnel? I'd love to
see how that has shifted over time, over the last five years maybe to gauge? I know the
numbers for the lifeguards show significant increases year over year based on what's
happening at different places and what they're doing with their beach sand.
The data below was used to formulate our response. We pulled data from Fire RMS,
Electronic Patient Care Reports, SAN DAG, Tableau, and with the assistance of Parks & Rec
and CED. Some of the technology used is relatively new, which limited our ability to go back
a full five years in some of the data sets.
Fire Department Call Volume
The fire department's call volume has steadily grown over the past eight years, increasing
33% from 2011 to 2018 (Figure 1). These figures are broken out into six main categories of
service; fire, emergency medical services, rescue, alarm, aid, and other. Most significant are
emergency medical calls, which in 2018, accounted for 77% of the emergency incidents the
fire department responded to, with fires accounting for 13%.
Figure 1
' i
2011 2012
Fire Department Call Volume
12,515
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 8
Although it is difficult to surmise on every incident, those that include a medical component
produce an electronic patient care report (ePCR) which indicates if a patient is a resident or
non-resident of Carlsbad. Looking specifically at emergency medical calls from August 2015
to May 2019, occurring anywhere within the city, the fire department responded to
approximately 15,658 incidents for residents and 10,558 incidents for non-residents. In other
words, 60% of emergency calls are for residents while 40% are for non-residents.
In looking specifically at the hotels, motels, and Legoland, which likely have higher instances
of visitors, the fire department responded to approximately 657 emergency incidents
between 2017 and 2018. This is equivalent to 328 calls per year, or 27 calls per month.
Analyzing each month in 2018 (Figure 2) shows that months which fall within the summer or
include a holiday seem to have a direct effect on call volume. Although not significant, there
is an increase in emergency incidents. This is also consistent with people being on vacation
or out of school.
Figure !,
2018 Call Volume by Month
1,146
The city has seen an 8% growth in population from 2011 to 2018, while the information
gathered from the intercept surveys conducted through Visit Carlsbad, shows a 60% increase
in the number of visitors. Similarly, the fire department has seen a 33% increase in call
volume over the same period. In summary, although there is no direct correlation to visitors
increasing the call volume based on the data, tourism does have an impact to some degree.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 9
Beach Lifeguard Program
A major draw for the City of Carlsbad is its beaches, with beach attendance continuing to
increase year over year. Statistics gathered from the 2017 and 2018 beach lifeguard pilot
programs show an increase of 39% in total beach attendance (Figure 3}, 358,075 in 2017 and
496,905 in 2018. This data captures the summer season (Memorial weekend to Labor Day,
the span of the pilot programs}. Keeping in line with the previous years, it is anticipated that
the 2019 summer season will agairi show an increase.
~igure 3
14,960 22,650
MAY (26-31)
Beach Attendance
90,120
50,885
JUNE
■ 2017 ■ 2018
209,885
156,850
JU LY
156,500
108,930
AUGUST
lG,4S0 17,750
SEPTEMBER (1-4)
*In 2018 the summer season, May data was gathered from the 19th -3l5t, adding 7 days
The addition of fire department lifeguards on the North Beach has decreased the number of
emergency responses to the area because fire department paramedics are able to assess a
patient through preventative safety actions prior to initiating an emergency response or
calling 9-1-1. As shown in Figure 4, a 23% increase in total preventative safety actions on the
North Beach was seen from 2017 to 2018. Each of these actions represents an opportunity
to prevent individuals from being placed in a position of imminent harm.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 10
Figure 4
Preventative Safety Actions
286 1,007
MAY (26-31)
7,182
5,661
JUNE
• 2017 ■ 2018
11,265
10,106
JULY
7,028
5,036
AUGUST
863 438
SEPTEMBER (1-4)
*In 2018 the summer season, May data was gathered from the 19th -3l5t, adding 7 days
Differing dates of service coverage between 2017 and 2018 present challenges to direct
statistical comparisons. However, the levels of activity were similar in 2017 and 2018. Prior
to 2017, there were more calls for emergency service, more documented injuries, and even
fatalities along this stretch of beach. Aside from the significant public safety benefit, the
ability to prevent and triage injuries on site resulted in an approximate 3.5% percent decrease
in calls for emergency service to the area, while citywide calls for service have increased
approximately 13% over the same period. This frees up police and fire resources to serve
other community needs.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 11
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
14. Please show the history of the year over year numbers for staff. I know we showed it as a
conglomerate for our 10-year numbers, but it would be helpful to see that comparison
year over year, for the last 10-20 years.
750
725
lOO
" C: 675 g
,J>
0 "--650
625
History of Full-Time and 3/4 Time Positions
(Excl udes Part-Time)
716.25
fY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 fY 2013 f;' 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 fY 201 ? fy 2018 FY 2019
Fiscal Year
•FTE -=-Population
L30,000
125,000
120 ,000
115,000 C 0 ·;:;
"' 110 ,000 3 a.
0 "--
!05,000
100,000
95,000
15. It would be great to see what we've had in reserve in comparison to what we have now,
just to see that as a year over year. Are we planning for any potential bills coming down
the pipeline for those particular reserves?
The unassigned General Fund balance for the last ten fiscal years {dollars in thousands) is:
2020 projected $89,901
2019 estimated $84,061
2018 $82,570
2017 $78,191
2016 $94,404
2015 $80,274
2014 $75,615
2013 $69,578
2012 $61,384
2011 $57,533
The chart below provides a fund balance analysis. The orange and blue bars equal the
unassigned General Fund balance in a given year. For example, in Fiscal Year 2010-11 the
total unassigned General Fund balance was $57.SM. This information was then broken
down to mirror the General Fund reserve policy {Council Policy No. 74). The orange bars
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 12
reflect what a 30 percent fund balance in a given year would have been. For example, in
Fiscal Year 2010-11 a 30 percent fund balance would have been $32 .4M. The blue bars
represent the amount of fund balance in a given year which is more than the 30 percent
fund balance amount. For Fiscal Vear 2010-11 the amount greater than 30 percent (the
blue bar) is $25.lM. Lastly, the percentages shown at the top represent the actual fund
balance as a percentage of General Fund expenditures. For example, in Fiscal Year 2010-11,
a fund balance of $57.SM was 53.32 percent of General Fund expenditures. There are no
potential future bills to be paid with the fund balance. General Fund balance is reserved
unless otherwise directed from City Council.
100,000,000
90,000,000
80,000,000
70,000,000
60,000,000
50,000,000
40,000,000
30,000,000
20,000,000
10,000,000
Fund Balance Analysis
70.63%
53.90%
64.15% 44.89% 54.57% 53.21%
61.62%
62.54%
54.50%
53.32%
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
{est.) (proj.)
■30% ■>30%
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 13
16. In regards to the property tax revenue that's coming in, how many homes and what types
of homes are being bought and sold in Carlsbad, I would be interested to see who is
buying them? Are we seeing a difference in the trends of purchasing homes and types of
homes?
While home sales data or home sales demographics is not readily accessible, the city's unit
mix is provided by the county. As of the 2018 assessed value roll that generates the city's
property tax revenues (2019 data will not be available until the end of June 2019), the city
had 54,582 residential units. The chart below provides more detailed information by unit
type:
.,..,,_, ___ ·-•·--····-----·---··-·····-··---····----·--------
Residential Units by Type
Single Family 25,926
Time-share
Condominium
Mobilehomes ■ 928
Vacant · I s8o
Duplex or 2 Houses I 320
Multifamily (2-4) I 280
Transitional 1 257
Multifamily (5-15) I 99
Multifamily ( 16-60) I 66
Multifamily (61+) so
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000
17. The 115,000 number for the population, I'm pretty sure that's based on the 2010 census,
is that accurate?
We receive a letter from the State Department of Finance in May of each year that reports
out our population. The letter states the population as of 1/1/2019 was 115,241. *
18. And the number we're using this year?
115,241 is the population number used for 2019. *
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 14
19. Show the last 5 years of pension contributions for both the city as the employer and the
employees as well as any additional prepayments made by the city.
-
History of PERS Payments _____ _
FY 2014 FY 2015 ' FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018
, Employee Contributions 4,2]2,802 4,306,918 4,423,131 4,524,207 4,734,620
: Employer Contributions 14,028,910 14,926,344 16,399,789 , 18,038,435 18,193,767
' 18,261,712 ' 19,233,262 20,822,920 22,562,642 22,928,387
-·· ! ------j -
FY 2019(est)
5,111,2__73
20,844,998
25,956,271
Additional Prepayment I $9M $11M $20M (proposed)
20. In the GDP chart, what percentage is healthcare spending nationally and here?
The City of Carlsbad has contracted with Cal PERS as the medical insurance provider for
employees. CalPERS offers 12 different medical plans which vary in cost. The average
increase in the cost (i.e., the premium charged by the insurance providers) of these medical
plans over the last 5 years is listed below.
Jan. 2015 5.0%
Jan. 2016 8.2%
Jan. 2017 3.2%
Jan. 2018 2.0%
Jan. 2019 1.1%
Per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with each bargaining unit, and per the
Management Compensation and Benefits Plan, the dollar amount that the City of Carlsbad
spends on health insurance for employees equates to 80% of the average actual "health
premium" (i.e., the average cost, of the medical/dental/vision insurance plans). The
employees pay the remaining portion of the health premium.
Cal PERS also requires the city to pay a fixed dollar amount for each City of Carlsbad retiree
who chooses to remain on the Cal PERS medical plan during retirement. This fixed dollar ·
amount is currently $1,632/year/retiree. The retirees pay the remaining portion of the
medical premium. There are currently 252 City of Carlsbad retirees enrolled in the CalPERS
medical plan.
The actual amount the City of Carlsbad spent on healthcare in the last 5 years (for both
employees and retirees) is listed below.
FY14/15 $7.7M
FY15/16 $8.2M
FY16/17 $8.4M
FYl 7 /18 $8.8M
FY18/19 (projected) $8.9M
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 15
U.S. health care spending grew 3.9 percent in 2017, reaching $3.5 trillion or $10,739 per
person. As a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for
17.9 percent. The following links provide additional data you may find interesting. Please
also see the chart below for the most recent historical data on US healthcare expenditures
as a percent of GDP from 1960-2019.
https://www.cms.gov/Re search-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-
Re ports/Nation a I Hea Ith Expend Data/NH E-Fa ct-Sheet. htm I
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/indicator/spending/health-expenditure-gdp/
U.S. national health expenditure as percent of GDP from 1960 to 2019
2019'
2013•
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2000
1990
1980
1970
1960
0% 2%
Source
CMS
.: Stati£.ta 2019
4% 6% 8% 10%
Percentage of GDP
Additional Information:
United StcJt.f!S; 0..-1S (Orftc.e-of tht:! Actuarv1
12% 14% 16% 18% 20%
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 16
21. Number of houses bought/sold over time, and demographics of buyers?
This is not data the city currently collects or has readily available access to obtain.
22. Graph housing cost and personal income over last 10 years.
Home sales prices is not data the city currently collects but staff was able to pull average
prices from May of each year from Zillow.com. The chart below shows the median home
sales price in Carlsbad since 2009. The green bar represents the Single Family Median Price
and the purple bar shows the Multi Family Median Price (townhomes and condominiums).
The blue line shows the median household income for Carlsbad since 2009. The Median
income is only available through 2017 and is pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau (2013-2017
American Community Survey 5-year estimates.
Carl sbad M edian Home Sales Prices
$1,000,000 $160,000
$900,000 $140,000
QJ $800,000 u ·.:::
Q.. $700,000 "'
QJ
$120,000 E
0 u C
..9:! $600,000 Ctl V'l
$100,000 "D 0
QJ $500,000 E 0 I $400,000
C
Ctl $300,000 "D QJ ~ $200,000
..c $80,000 QJ "' ::l 0
$60,000 I
C -~ $40,000 "D QJ ~
$100,000 $20,000
$-$-
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
-Single Family Median Price -Multi Family Median Price -Median Income
23. What was spent in past from Council Contingency? Why is it $1.SM?
Staff presented a report to Council on the use of Council contingency funds on 1/29/19.
Exhibit 4 of that staff report provides a detailed list of how the Council contingency has
been used since Fiscal Year 2012-13. See the staff report for additional information:
http://edocweb/HPRMWebClient/HPRMServiceApi/Record/528800/File/Document.
The $1.5 million is consistent with amounts budgeted in past years. The amount is
discretionary and may be changed based on Council direction.
24. Are IT equipment requests centralized?
Yes, IT equipment requests are centralized through the IT Department using a software ·
program called ServiceNow. By centralizing all IT equipment purchases we can assure that
equipment is consistent and compatible to the city's standards. All employees have access
to ServiceNow and can create requests as needed. There are two types of equipment
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 17
requests -a replacement of existing equipment and a new equipment request. Most PC
replacements don't require a formal request as the Service Desk coordinates with the
departments when their PC's are scheduled for replacement and will replace an old PC for a
new PC at the end of the current PC's useful life.
25. W hat is sales tax from SE Quadrant 92009?
For the twelve months ended December 31, 2018, sales tax revenue generated from taxable
sales in the SE Quadrant of Carlsbad (zip code 92009) were $4,144,254. The 92009 zip code
includes the Forum Shopping Center, which is in the city's SW Quadrant. The majorit y of
92009 is the city's SE Quad rant, but a small segment of the zip code is in the SW Quadrant,
including the Forum Shopping Center. The State of California does not track the city's sales
tax by the city's quadrant boundaries.
26. W hat are our fees compared to the City of San Diego?
The link to the city's cu rrent master fee schedule and the fee schedules for the City of San
Diego are listed below. The City of San Diego does not have a single master schedule of
fees, but several schedules depending on the type of fee.
Carlsbad : https://cityadmin.carlsbadca.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BloblD=36324
San Diego: https://www.sandiego.gov/development-services/fees
It is important t o note that the methodology used for calculating a particular fee may or
may not be the same in every city and/or public agency .. Fo r example, Grading Plan Check
Fees in Carlsbad are calculated using the amount of cubic yards per project while the same
fee in t he city of San Diego is calculated based on the number of plan map sheets per
project.
City of Carlsbad Grading Plan Check Fee Schedule for Fiscal Year 2018-19:
Grading Plan Check Fees•
Fee
100 cubic yards or less $464 Flat Fee
101 to 1,000 cubic yards $928 for the first 100 cubic yards, plus $120 for each additional 100 cubic
yards, or fraction thereof
1,001 to 10,000 cubic yards $2,777 for the first 1,000 cubic yards,. plus $120 for each additional 1,000 cubic
yards, or fraction thereof
10,001 to 100,000 cubic yards $4,371 for the first 10,000 cubic yards, plus $180 for each additional 10,000
cubic yards, or fraction thereof
100,001 to 200,000 cubic yards $6,666 for the first 100,000 cubic yards, plus $285 for each additional 10,000
cubic yards, or fraction thereof
200,001 to cubic yards or more $10,694 for the first 200,000 cubic yards, plus $130 for each for additional
100,000 cubic yards, or fraction thereof
*Minor grading plan check fees are 50¾ of standard plan che_ck fees. Qualifying for minor grading plan check is
subject to City Engineer approval per CMC 15.16.062.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 18
City of San Diego Grading Plan Check Fee Schedule (as of January 2019}:
Table 502A -Construction Permit Plan Check
Drawing Type Increment
Grading & Right-of-Way Permit, 0-Sheet Up to S sheets
per sheet between 6-10
per sheet between 11-20
persheetover 20
Grading Permit, D-Sheet Up to S sheets
per sheet between 6-l 0
.. ---·---per-sheet between 11-20
per sheet over 20
Gr;iding Permit, Construction Plan, Large format Up to S sheets
Only for: per sheet between ~ 10
1) Site Recon naissance per sheet between 11-20
2) Revegetation I Site Restoration per sheet over 20
Right:or:way Permit, ConstructiorlPlan. Large Format Up to S sheets
per sheet between 6--10
I.Per sheet between l1•20
1Per sheet over 20
RJght-of-Way Permit, Construction Plan, Smalt Format Up to 2 sheets
~ach add'! sheet
Right-of-Way Permit, D•Sheet Up to S sheets
per sheet between ~ 10
per sheet between ll-20
persheetover20
BaseRate Increment
Rate
$6,310.3369
$385.7467
$309.4691
$273.5097
$4,481.8538
S3421S9S
$234,2812
$221.2050
$3,380.1874
$180.8869
S25.0626
$4S.7666
$4,065.5961
$21.9.0257
$200.5011
$149.2862
$415.1681
$144.9274
$4,384.8723
$632.0144
$299.6620
S295.3033
27. Provide a more in-depth summary of the web GIS platform that we're looking to deploy -
more clarity on that, the context and the use and how we might imagine that looking
forward.
Web GIS represents a pattern for delivering geospatial capabilities which enables members
of an organization to easily access and use geographic information within a collaborative
environment. GIS professionals working on the desktop create and share content and
information to the Web GIS platforms extending geospatial business intelligence to broad
range of users across the organization.
For the City of Carlsbad, our Web GIS platform consists of two main implementations: Esri's
ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online with Portal. While they provide similar functionality,
our use cases for leveraging them are different:
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 19
• ArcGIS Enterprise is the city's comprehensive GIS and location intelligence platform that
runs on-premise. Its Portal represents cloud-based GIS hosted on our infrastructure to
be used for internal customers. We will leverage this platform for integrating with other
city enterprise-level platforms (Energov, Hansen, etc.) and data.
• ArcGIS Online is a location intelligence cloud GIS that runs on Esri's cloud as a Software
as a Service (SaaS) model. The city uses ArcGIS Online to create, use, and share
geospatial content, maps and applications with field crews and the public.
28. Comparison of our full-time staff positions in Human Resources vs. other cities?
The ratio of full-time staff working in the Human Resources department compared to the
total number of employee headcount (both full-time and part-time) in agencies within our
defined market of 17 other local public agencies (excluding the City of San Diego) is shown
below. The total number of employees shown were provided by each agency's Human
Resources Department and represents the total employee headcount (not converted to full-
time or part-time equivalents). Note: The City of Carlsbad is the only agency that has an
Employee Engagement program and dedicates HR staff time to measuring and improving
employee engagement.
Number of Total# of Employees to
Agency Full-Time HR Staff Employees in Agency HR Staff (Ratio)
Del Mar 2 55 28:1
Santee 4 ' 145 36:1
Coronado 5 245 49:1
Imperial Beach 3 154 51:1
Poway 6 315 53:1
Encinitas 6 350 58:1
Solana Beach 1 65 65:1
San Marcos 6 400 67:1
Escondido 15 1000 67:1
National City 5 375 75:1
Chula Vista 17 1350 79:1
La Mesa 4 325 81:1
Oceanside 13 1100 85:1
Carlsbad(proposed) 14 1200 86:1
Vista 9 800 89:1
El Cajon 5 530 106:1
Carlsbad (current) 11 1200 109:1
San Diego County 120 17581 147:1
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 20
29. Please provide some detail on the compensation study.
The city periodically conducts an in-depth salary survey to ensure the city's pay ranges are
competitive in our market so that we can attract and retain the most qualified
employees. The last survey of pay ranges for Management and Part-Time job classifications
was conducted in FY2016/2017. There are approximately 130 Management and Part-Time
job classifications. For these job classifications, the city has defined its market to be 17
other local agencies (see list below). For three Utilities job classifications, the market also
includes 7 water districts (see list below). This type of in-depth survey analysis is conducted
by a compensation consultant as it requires an analysis of the job duties for each position
and in each agency in order to find equivalent "benchmark" (i.e., similar) classifications for
comparison.
• City of Chula Vista
• City of Coronado
• City of Del Mar
• City of El Cajon
• City of Encinitas
• City of Escondido
• City of Imperial Beach
• City of La Mesa
• City of National City
• City of Oceanside
• City of Poway
• City of San Marcos
• City of Solana Beach
• City of San Diego
• City of Santee
• City of Vista
• County of San Diego
In addition to the agencies listed above, the following agencies will be considered in the survey
market only for Utilities Director, Utilities Manager and Utilities Supervisor classifications.
• Encina Wastewater Authority
• Helix Water District
• Olivenhain Municipal Water District
• Otay Water District
• Padre Dam Municipal Water District
• Vallecitos Water District
• Vista Irrigation District
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 21
30. For clarification, with the increase of .25 with the assistant to our city treasurer, this
would bring that position up to 1 FTE, correct?
Yes, that is correct.*
31. Golf Course costs versus revenues: Revenues $7.9M versus spending $8.2M. This is a loss.
Total costs analysis has been requested so that residents can prioritize the value of
operating a municipal golf course that serves a small portion of the community, including
any improvements and the prepayment of bonds from General Fund in FY17.
• It is hard to see that we are spending money on "beautification landscaping" along the
perimeter of the golf course when residents in the Barrio and Village have been asking
for lighting and traffic/parking solutions for years.
• When is the 3rd party audit expected to come back to Council as requested?
The $8.2 million is comprised of $7.4 million in operating expenses and $800 thousand in
capital expenditures. From an operating standpoint, that results in $500 thousand in
projected net profit. This anticipated net profit, along with $300 thousand in golf course
reserves, (i.e. $800 thousand in total) are being used on various capital projects to ensure
the course continues to be the high-quality course it is today. Staff's goal in developing a
long-range financial plan for the golf course is to help ensure operational sustainability -
i.e., golf operations are not subsidized by the General Fund going forward. Proactively
managing assets is a less expensive, more sustainable solution over the long term. This
long-range financial planning approach has also helped eliminate General Fund subsidies in
recent history, with the last operating transfer occurring in Fiscal Year 2015-16.
The Crossings at Carlsbad serves the community in multiple ways, from open space to golf
to ocean-view dining and weddings. A citizen led initiative, Proposition H, was approved in
1982, limiting General Fund spending on projects to $1 million dollars unless the item was
"first placed upon the ballot and approved by a majority of voters voting thereon at an
election." The construction of a public golf course required this approval from Carlsbad
voters. As such, a citywide special election was held on June 6, 1989 asking the voters
whether they would approve the expenditure of city funds for the construction of a public
golf course, amongst other projects. Over 62 percent of voters approved spending city
funds on the construction of a public golf course. Concurrent with this vote, a 2 percent
increase in transient occupancy tax to generate additional revenues for the city, of which a
portion was to fund golf course expenses, was approved by over 65 percent of voters.
For FY 2018-19, the following statistics are projected for the golf course operations:
• 55,000+ paid rounds of golf
• 107 golf tournaments, ranging from 20-145 golfers
• 18 weeks of summer golf league, averaging 65 golfers
• 8 weeks of the summer junior camp golf instruction, averaging 15 youth golfers
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 22
For FY 2018-19, the following statistics are projected for the food and beverage operations:
• 400 booked events
• 53 booked weddings
• 40 weeks of Sunday brunch, averaging 150 guests
• 5 weeks of holiday brunch, averaging 400 guests
• 1 Valentines Day dinner, with 100 guests
• 25weeks of Friday night live music on the patio, averaging 120 guests
• 18 weeks of trivia night on the patio, averaging 40 guests
Information to help Council make an informed decision regarding the requested 3rd party
audit is anticipated to be brought forward for Council's consideration by late sum'mer.
32. Does the City Treasurer have his own Assistant?
No. While there is an "Assistant to the Treasurer" position that helps the City Treasurer, the
"assistant" nomenclature may be misleading. This position is a higher-level accountant
position (its classification resides between an accountant and senior accountant level) with
specialized experience in finance and investments. This position reports directly to Finance
Department staff who ultimately report to the City Manager, not the City Treasurer. This
structure is like the Council/staff structure in that Council sets policy and various staff
members reporting to the City Manager operationalize the policy.
The City Treasurer is responsible for setting the overall investment policy and making
investment decisions. The Assistant to the Treasurer position is responsible for managing
the city's cash accounts which includes cash flow projections and executing trades, among
other things. This position is also responsible for auditing investments, banking
transactions, and other applicable treasury functions. This position is also responsible for
preparing various reports to the Treasurer, Investment Review Committee, and City Council.
33. Spatial Business lntelligence ... what does that mean?
Spatial Business Intelligence (SBI) is the capability to leverage location as part of the Bl
process and represents the intersection of GIS and Bl. The new Web GIS platform (Portal)
hosts Esri's Insights application which is a spatially-centric Bl and exploratory data analysis
tool. Staff from various city divisions (Water, Stormwater, Fire, Police) have had training
using this tool and are excited to incorporate the tool.
34. The Cal PERS benefit tiers slide (slide is shown below for reference) -when I add up the
numbers I don't know what those numbers mean. Are those employees that we have
today, or when you add those three columns what are they trying to represent? Please
double check that slide, I tried to get to the meaning of the numbers and I don't know
that they add up correctly.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 23
The employee counts shown represent active (working, non-retired) employees at a
particular point in time and does not include any vacant positions at that time. The
difference between the budgeted full time employee count and the employee count shown
in the slide is the number of vacant positions. For 2019 (the red bars below) there were 663
active employees and 42 vacancies for a total of 705 budgeted positions.
Carlsbad's CalPERS Benefit Tiers •------==~-===-~•----.====--==-~~ __ ===. ! I. -
I QJ
QJ 400 ---IE
tf : ~~~~~ jif_. ___________________ \.}!:f, __ _
I
I~ 100 ___ _jf~1i ___________________ _ _\+··r
('·~~,;~t· 't_.-,:,.-:f< 34 ·-~~70 ·.-· 36 -·· :
I 0------~-••-~~~---~-·---------'~.~~-~·-•,_· ________ --'-·:~_-~-~•~::• __ _
Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3
May 2014 May 2019
35. How many new IT positions are we creating in this budget? Not just by department, but
total throughout.
We are requesting five new technology related positions:
IT Operations Security Manager in IT
Client Systems Administrator in IT
GIS Associate Administrator in IT
Business Systems Specialist in Fire
Business Intelligence and Analytics Manager in Policy & Leadership
36. Over $1M proposed for staff out of state travel?
This question appears to be referencing the out of state travel exhibit on pages J2-J7 of the
FY 2019-20 preliminary budget document. The grand total amount for out of state travel is
$623,853 noted on page J-7. This amount includes $460,853 (noted as General Fund out of
state travel on page J-5) and $163,000 (noted as non-General Fund out of state travel on
page J-7). Of the General Fund total of $460,853, $120,180 is specifically for public safety
out of state travel.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 24
COMMUNITY SERVICES
37. Policy for housing trust fund? Is there a report?
The Housing Trust Fund and the Housing In-Lieu Fee was established when the lnclusionary
Housing Ordinance was adopted in Sept. 1993. Council Resolution No. 93-268 approved the
In-Lieu Fee amount and its deposit to the Housing Trust Fund.
The Housing Trust Fund is administered consistent with Carlsbad Municipal Code as follows:
21.85.120 Collection of fees.
All fees collected under this chapter shall be deposited into a housing trust fund and shall
be expended only for the affordable housing needs of lower-income households, and
reasonable costs of administration consistent with the purpose of this chapter. (Ord. NS-535
§ 1, 2000)
The ordinance adopting the lnclusionary Housing Ordinance was originally approved in .
1993. The ordinance and subsequently the Municipal Code was amended in 2000 to clarify
and enhance the inclusionary housing policies. The Housing Trust fund is different than the
Housing Set-Aside Fund established under State Redevelopment Law. The inclusionary
housing ordinance and the Housing Trust Fund are local policies adopted by the City
Council.
The city deposits all housing in-lieu and impact fees into the Housing Trust Fund, as well
funds from housing credit sales, any affordable housing specific grants, repayment of
affordable housing development loans, bond issuance fees (for affordable housing) and
other related income generated as part of the use of the housing trust funds or
administration of the inclusionary housing ordinance.
The Housing Trust Fund currently has an unencumbered cash balance of approximately $17
million; it operates as a revolving fund because funds are used in a manner that generates
repayment through surplus cash loan repayments. As noted in the CMC section above, the
funds may be used for any purpose that meets the affordable housing needs of lower
income households, and reasonable costs of administration.
The Housing In-Lieu Fee ($4,515 per market rate unit) is paid by those developments of 6 or
fewer market rate housing units which are not required to build low income affordable
housing. Staff will be returning to City Council for future discussion regarding the fee.
38. What are the space needs costs associated with adding 39 FTE?
Several of the 39 FTE represent position reclassifications from a part-time FTE to a full-time
FTE. These types of FTE changes do not require "new space" and do not have any "new
space needs costs" associated with them. In addition, the remaining new FTE will be
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 25
housed in 5 or 6 different city locations. No new physical building square footage will be
required, but approximately 30 new workstations or offices will need to be accommodated
within existing work locations. The fully loaded one-time cost (furniture and technology
needs) for new workstations ranges from an average of $7,500 to $10,500 (cubicle to
office), for a total estimated one-time cost of $225,000 to $315,000. Some of these costs
were included as supplemental budget requests from various departments and the
remaining will be paid from departmental budget savings.
39. Two positions for the program manager and housing navigator that would be paid from
the housing trust fund -I'm curious about the philosophy of one-time funds being used
for one-time projects, so I'd be curious to see how the housing trust fund would impact an
ongoing request for two additional staff members, which also includes pensions? I'd like
an analysis on that.
The Housing Trust Fund has funded administrative costs for Housing & Neighborhood
Service Programs for many years, including staffing costs as well as outside legal counsel
costs for general administration and development of loan agreements and other regulatory
documents. There are ongoing administrative costs associated with implementation of the
inclusionary housing ordinance and the fund allows for these administrative costs to be
charged to that account.
Over the past 10 years, the administrative costs charged to the fund have averaged
$493,870 per year. The proposed staffing positions for the homeless response plan
implementation would amount to an added cost of approximately $177,593 per year.
Because the Housing Trust Fund will continue to receive revenue from loan repayments,
purchase of housing credits, in-lieu fees and interest income for the foreseeable future, it is
allowable by state code to charge these administrative costs to the fund. Staff foresees
adequate funding in the trust fund to continue to develop new projects for affordable
housing as well as continue to cover the administrative costs of program implementation
for many more years. The average annual revenue received over the past 10 years is
$1,599,230.
40. The LCP and the zoning code amendment update, would you say that the need to focus on
that in the planning department, and being overburdened, is a part of why we haven't
seen that come before council?
The biggest challenge for the Local Coastal Program (LCP) update is that the current LCP
consists of six segments that are all different and unique, and staff is combining those all
together into one LCP with more consistent and current policies. Staff is also updating the
LCP comprehensively for the first time in decades, and over those couple of decades a lot of
things have changed with legislation, sea level rise, etc. Staff must work closely with the
local San Diego office of the California Coastal Commission. Staff is investing the amount of
time necessary to ensure that when the plan is brought to the City Council it has had a
complete and comprehensive review and is a plan that can be embraced and approved by
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 26
the city and the Coastal Commission because it meets al l current policies. It is a labor-and
time-intensive project.
The Zoning Code Update also has similar challenges because the code has not been updated
in many areas since the city was incorporated in 1952. Staff is working to ensure that the
zoning code update incorporates recent re·quests by City Council as well as State legislative
mandates which have changed over time. The Zoning Code Update also involves changes
required to be consistent with the new policies set forth as part of the General Plan update.
It is a comprehensive and complete update which is labor-intensive for the city's advance
planning team.
41. I'm thinking about development applications' deadlines, and tasking our Planning staff
with one project then pulling them away to work on other projects that also have strong
deadlines. I'm wondering if that is one of the reasons an additional position might be
added. Am I thinking about that right?
Yes . Staff resources are impacted when they must change focus from one project to
another. In this case, private development applications are not the cause for delay of the
LCP and Zoning Code Update. For clarification, we have two teams of planners -current
planning and advance planning. The current planning team processes development
applications submitted by private property owners. Advance planning works on policy
documents such as the General Plan, Housing Element, Village Barrio Master Plan, Growth
Management Program and public project development applications. When priorities are
changed and staff must switch its focus to another more pressing matter, there can be staff
resource challenges depending on the workload at any given time.
42. The code enforcement officer II position, that person would be responsible for business
licensing and STVR enforcement, correct?
They'll be responsible for ensuring that business licenses are in compliance. On the
vacation rentals side, the business licenses are important because it ensures that they're
allowed to operate and ensuring that we're receiving our transient occupancy tax.*
Yes. This code enforcement officer II position will be responsible for ensuring that
businesses are in compliance with city licensing requirements and ensuring that the
businesses remain in compliance. The position is a transfer from Finance to Code
Enforcement as an employee development opportunity due to the expertise of this
individual. The employee is experienced not only in business license compliance, but also in
cashiering in order to collect the appropriate license fees and related taxes. This position
will assist the short-term vacation rental compliance team to ensure that the appropriate
permits/licenses are obtained and that the correct transient occupancy tax is collected from
each of the vacation rental operators.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 27
43. Part time support for the city clerk and records, what percent FTE is being added on?
The request from the city clerk's office was to fund a one year special project to help update
sections of the municipal code, council policies and administrative order updates. It is
funded in the budget as temporary help and it is not an ongoing increase in part-time
employee head count.
44. Give a general overview to our residents of what the state mandates are for the General
Plan and compliance.
State legislation requires that several topics be addressed in the General Plan the next time
it is updated. The Housing Element is required to be updated by April 2021. The update will
be based on a new Regional Housing Needs Assessment Plan expected to be adopted by the
SAN DAG Board of Directors in October 2019. Amendments to the General Plan Land Use
Map may be required to identify sites to accommodate the city's RHNA allocation.
Concurrent with the update to the Housing Element the following is required: 1) update the
Safety Element to address climate change (SB 379 Jackson, 2015: SB 1035 Jackson 2018 -
Climate Adaptation); 2) evaluate the Safety Element to determine if it adequately addresses
fire hazard impacts (SB 1241 Kehoe, 2012 -Safety Element: fire hazard impacts); and 3)
update the Conservation Element to address areas that accommodate floodwater or
groundwater recharge (AB 162 Wolk, 2007 -Land use; water supply).
45. What is the real goal for the Homeless Response Team? How many times are we going to
touch the people? Is this going to be 7 days a week now vs. 4 days a week? If we could
get some more detail as to the full need. Where are we trying to get to with this?
The Homeless Response Team (HRT) is made up of several departments that respond to
various needs within the city's homeless response. For example, the Police Department is
requesting to add staffing resources to expand its abilities to serve through the Homeless
Outreach Team (HOT) of police officers. Community & Economic Development is
requesting to add staff resources, Homeless Response Program Manager and Housing
Assistant (Navigator) positions, and budget for 2.5 social workers (private contractors) and
other program costs to coordinate the city's response. Public Works is requesting to add
budget to continue its homeless encampment removal and clean up efforts on public
property. Fire, Parks & Recreation, Library & Cultural Arts also participate in the homeless
response as well. This team effort is intended to continue to implement the Homeless
Response Plan approved by the City Council in October 2017 and updated in May 2019.
To date, we estimate that we have been able to actively engage approximately 85 homeless
individuals to move towards a rehousing plan, and estimated about 100 or so individuals in
a pre-engagement status (which means there has been initial contact but more outreach is
needed by both police and the social workers). Working with the homeless residents takes
time and often requires numerous contacts before there can be success in moving them
forward to rehousing opportunities. The Homeless Response Plan indicates that each
homeless resident will be treated as an individual with needs unique to that individual. The
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 28
city's program is not a "one size fits all" program. With·an increase in resources, staff will
continue to 1) build on the success we have had to date through individualized efforts to
meet the homeless where they are in the community, 2) coordinate with service partners
and the faith-based community of care providers, and 3) continue to move the homeless
residents towards rehousing or encourage behavior change to accept assistance and offers
to help through stricter enforcement of city regulations.
46. Opportunity grants, there was a certain amount of money set aside? I believe it was
about $1M, but I could be corrected on that number? We were going to spend the
interest off that each year on community grants. Explain difference between opportunity
grants and community grants?
Yes, $ 1 million was set aside for Community Activities Grants, which is different than the
Opportunity Grants. Community Activities Grants are administered by community &
economic development staff, and Opportunity Grants are administered by parks &
recreation staff. The $1 million set-aside was for the Community Activities Grants. The city
grants the interest earned amount on an annual basis. These funds are used for various
projects and programs that benefit the community citywide. The Opportunity Grants are
budgeted within the parks & recreation budget and used to assist lower income residents in
accessing recreation programs/classes.
The Community & Economic Development Department manages the Community Activity
Grants Program. The grants are designed to provide enrichment programs to the
community. An enrichment program is any program that enhances the quality of life for
residents and/or visitors. The City Council set aside $1 million from which the interest
earned is to be allocated for community service activities. These grants are intended to
provide alternatives to other city programs, such as the Community Development Block
Grants, by providing grants for services that may not be eligible under these other
programs.
The Parks & Recreation Department manages the Opportunity Grants Program. In April
1998, the City Council established this program offering recreation scholarships to Carlsbad
youth based on low income standards. In June 2018, the City Council expanded the
program to include Carlsbad residents of all ages and increased the annual scholarship
amount from $150 to $300 per person. To date, fundraisers and outside donations have
primarily supported the program. With the expansion, these funding strategies will no
longer support the program demands. Therefore, the Parks & Recreation Department has
requested $40,000 annually to run the program through the general fund operating
budget.
47. Thank you for including rec programs funding for those unable to afford programs.
Yes. This is the intent of the Opportunity Grants administered through the parks &
recreation department and was expanded recently to include all ages, and not just youth.*
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 29
48. Please explain new tot lot and restroom at Hosp Grove Park at $759,000. I am concerned
about the health of the forest itself. I request to see a plan for forest health and potential
replanting over time.
There is an existing CIP Projectfor Hosp Grove Park Improvements which is currently in the
study and preliminary design phase. The project is planned to include the removal and
replacement of the following: tot lot -with a broader range of play for ages 3-12; picnic
tables and benches, a pathway to the tot lot which is ADA accessible; perimeter fencing,
and monument entry signage . The project also includes the construction of a permanent
restroom building to replace the current portable restroom and enclosure. The total
funding allocation for the project to date is $923,000. That allocation initially accounted for
a septic system to service the restroom. However, after studying this potential, connecting
to the nearest sewer main -at the intersection of Marron Rd. and Jefferson Dr. -was
determined to be the preferable means of service. The $759,000 requested for FY 2019-20
is an increase to the project funding allocation, to address higher costs associated with
permitting and connecting to the sewer main, as well as to address costs for construction
management services, public outreach, and public art.
Funding for the ongoing maintenance of Hosp Grove is addressed via the Parks
Maintenance & Trails Maintenance Operating Budgets. The health and management of the
Hosp Grove forest is being reviewed as part of the update to the Community Forest
Management Plan, which is expected to be presented to the City Council for adoption in
mid-September.
49. "Intelligent Parking" program in the Village at $240,000.
The Village Intelligent Parking Implementation project was added to the CIP in fiscal year
2018-19 in response to resident feedback and results of the 2016 Coastal Mobility
Readiness Plan and 2017 Carlsbad Village, Barrio and Beach Area Parking Management Plan.
The project will implement a smart parking system to track available parking spaces and
monitor turn-over and may include a mobile app to advise drivers on available parking
spaces. Parking data collection efforts have shown that the city's highest parking occupancy
rate is in the Village and beach areas. Section 4.5.2 of the Village and Barrio Master Plan
addresses parking management and cites smartphone applications and real-time parking
information as potential strategies to support "parking wayfinding."
SO. TOT taxes are a great source of revenue, but there are impacts to quality of life with more
and more tourists using our streets, beaches, and amenities. How are we ensuring that
residents themselves are able to enjoy these amenities as a core quality of life?
Since May 2014, the Parks & Recreation Department budgeted over $5.SM for capital
projects performed to enhance the coastal experience for the benefit of residents and
visitors. These projects have included Village/coastal streetscapes, bluffs, picnic facilities,
restrooms, accesses and parking. The department has also received over $140,000 in
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 30
increases to its operating budget for ongoing maintenance and refurbishment of these
areas to the city's high standards.
The Parks & Recreation Department's FY 2019-20 Budget also includes a supplemental
request for $108,000 in one-time improvement expenditures, and $137,000 in ongoing
maintenance, to assume additional recycling/trash collection and restroom cleaning
services along the coastline (Tamarack Avenue to Cannon Road), from the State of
California. All of these improvements and ongoing maintenance responsibilities benefit
both residents and visitors.
51. Parks and Rec identified as resident priority. Why as staff increases in other areas are
proposed, Parks and Rec will actually have fewer staff than in FY18 budget?
The Parks & Recreation Department accomplishes many of the services it provides to the
community through contractual means. In particular, over the last several years, the
maintenance/refurbishment and monitoring/reporting of sites within the department's
inventory has transitioned such that approximately 80% of these services are accomplished
contractually. In addition, a significant amount of park planning/development services, as
well as recreation programming/enrichment services, are accomplished contractually.
The department's full-time staff count has decreased by 2 persons since FY 2017-18 (i.e.,
from 57 FT to 55 FT), and the part-time staff count has remained relatively flat during the
same period (i.e., from 89.83 FTE to 89.61 FTE). However, the department's overall budget
request over that period has increased by four million dollars (i.e., $25.5 M to $29.5 M).
The department's overall FY 2019-20 budget request this year includes nearly a half million
dollars in supplemental requests to add services, or enhance existing services provided to
the community.
52. Wasn'tAgricultural Mitigation funding supposed to have been spent years ago? Wasn't
the committee supposed to be temporary, i.e. 5 or 6 years? How long will those funds
remain unallocated?
With the approval of City Council Resolution 2005-242 on August 2, 2005, the Ad Hoc
Committee was created to call for, review, and make recommendations to the City Council
for proposed expenditures from the Ag Mitigation Fund and to exist for a period of four
years, or until all funds were allocated, whichever occurred first. Several resolutions have
extended the existence of the Ad Hoc Committee with the most recent extension signed
April 11, 2017. Originally the grant cap was $50,000 and during the last round of grant
solicitation there was no grant cap and the city received only 3 proposals for a total funding
request of $149,893. There is currently $57,206 remaining in Ag Mitigation Funds. It is
anticipated that approximately $1.9M in Ag Mitigation Fees will be paid into the fund in
future years. As soon as all of the funds are received, and grants are awarded, the Ad Hoc
Committee will sunset.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 31
53. Why are there no expenditures for Parking in-lieu Fees, even though parking in the Village
and Barrio are a constant complaint and a risk to commercial business and event success
in the Village?
There have been expenditures from the Parking in-lieu fees in the past to provide for
parking in the Village. Funds were used to purchase a parking lot on State Street that was
being leased from a private property owner who terminated the lease and fenced the
property when the lease expired. The redevelopment agency purchased the property with
funds from the parking in-lieu fee fund and reopened the parking lot which now ensures
that parking is available to the public in perpetuity. The latest expenditure of parking in-lieu
fees for the development of new parking was for the Carlsbad Boulevard and Beech Avenue
restriping project, which added 39 additional parking spaces near the intersection of
Carlsbad Boulevard and Beech Avenue at a cost of $42,056. The city does expend
approximately $50,000 in parking in-lieu fees each year in the operating budget to pay the
annual lease agreement with North County Transit District for the use of their property in
the village for public parking.
The available cash balance as of the most recent closed month, April 2019, is $1,054,000;
these funds may be used to expand and/or maintain public parking in the Village. The
approved parking program for the Village does not yet propose to expand public parking; it
currently proposes to better manage the public parking provided within the Village. When
the parking counts indicate that the average utili~ation ratio of 85% of all public parking lots
has been met, additional resources will then be needed and the funds may be used for that
purpose. There are actually few private projects that have paid parking in-lieu fees.
54. Is the policy for parking in-lieu fees sufficient? Specifically, in the Village and Barrio
where we are consistently adding density and commercial spaces, inviting tourists.
With the change in the new Village Barrio Master Plan in how parking requirements are
calculated, there may be more challenges for property owners to develop their properties
in their desired manner. Meeting on-site parking requirements is the greatest challenge for
most property developers in the Village and Barrio due to the small size of the lots and
other site constraints. The parking calculation changes may or may not result in more
requests to participate in the parking in-lieu fee program; it may ultimately constrain
development in the future. The parking requirements in the past were set forth in a
manner to encourage redevelopment of properties. The current requirements may result in
less development over time. Until the Village Barrio Master Plan is fully implemented both
inside and outside the coastal zone, it will be difficult to determine the ultimate impact of
the new parking requirements.
If the City Council would like to review the parking in-lieu fee amount per space, the matter
can be returned to City Council for consideration. The fee ($11,240) was originally set to
represent one third of the cost of building and maintaining (for 30 years) a public parking
space within a 2 level parking structure (no underground spaces); it was one-third the cost
/
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 32
because the public parking is considered a shared resource, not a specific assigned space to
the developer/property owner. The philosophy was that the private sector would fund two
thirds of the cost and the city would fund one-third of the cost of building additional public
parking based on the demand from new developments that could not meet their parking
requirement on site.
55. Neighborhood Quality of Life may need more than code enforcement to achieve. Quality
of life complaints in most neighborhoods are not about homelessness. Homelessness is a
big issue in the Village and Barrio, near the coast and along the open space and lagoons
mostly, as per the hot spot map.
Yes. The locations of the homeless are primarily concentrated in the locations noted above
and are not the only issue that negatively impacts quality of life. Neighborhood quality of
life is impacted both positively and negatively by the actions of other residents within the
community, as well as city programs intended to improve or enhance quality of life factors.
Code enforcement efforts do address violations of the municipal code on a variety of issues
from zoning, project condition compliance, junk & debris, building code compliance,
property maintenance, and more. The city offers mediation services at no cost to residents
to assist with ensuring better neighbor to neighbor relations. Code enforcement officers
not only seek compliance with the municipal Code, but also seek to problem solve and help
residents comply with the municipal code which is intended to maintain a high quality of life
within the community. There are also other programs such as community grants and
education programs that assist in the effort to ensure a high quality of life for Carlsbad
residents.
56. Rec and Open Space not adequately addressed in this budget, even with resident
prioritization.
The Parks & Recreation Department's overall FY 2019-20 budget request increased from
FY 2018-19 (i.e., $28.1 M to $29.5 M) and includes over a half million dollars in ongoing
funding for supplemental requests to add services, or enhance existing services provided to
the community. Specifically, those requests pertain to the following:
• $279,104 for new agreement for community parks and school athletic field
maintenance services, which will include new amenities at Aviara Community Park
(i.e., outdoor gathering area and catering support room/restroom facility) and
Poinsettia Community Park (i.e., arena multi-purpose field, expanded playground,
and six pickleball courts).
• $137,000 for maintenance, to assume additional recycling/trash collection and
restroom cleaning services along the coastline (Tamarack Avenue to Cannon Road),
from the State of California.
• $85,000 for maintenance of Village H property (i.e., approximately 9.9 acres of
preserves, 12.6 miles of open space, and .5 mile of trail).
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 33
• $40,000 for sustaining the Opportunity Grants Program, which was expanded to
include residents of all ages and to increase the annual scholarship from $150 to
$300 per person.
57. Parks and Rec Master Plan community outreach should be robust, as it is a community
priority and helps to protect and preserve these natural amenities for generations to
come.
The draft Request for Proposals for the development of the next Parks & Recreation
Department Master Plan includes provisions for significant public outreach, including:
SCOPE OF WORK PUBLIC PROCESS
• In collaboration with the city's communications department, identify, describe and
implement a comprehensive strategy and methodology for broad community
involvement in the master plan development process.
• Assure residents, user groups, associations, and other stakeholders are provided
multiple opportunities to participate in plan input and development.
• A minimum of three meetings each with the Parks & Recreation and Senior
Commissions and City Council to provide updates and progress reports (introductory,
midterm and final).
• Act as professional facilitators to gather specific information about services, use,
preferences and any agency strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• Provide well-organized and directed activities, techniques and formats that will ensure
that a positive, open and proactive public participation process is achieved.
• Provide written records and summaries of the results of all public process and
communications strategies.
• Build plan consensus and agreement, and if consensus is not possible, provide
information for informed decision making.
• Provide methods to gain input from as many people as possible, including users and
non-users of the services and facilities.
PUBLIC OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT
The City of Carlsbad is committed to involving the public in decisions about the
comprehensive master and strategic plan update. Describe how you would approach the
following tasks to accomplish this goal and include the level of effort required in your
proposed budget:
Review of Past Input
• Review all documentation from recent Parks & Recreation Department public input,
including the 2013 Master Plan, individual park master plan updates and input from
the Veterans Memorial Park master planning process currently underway.
Internal Focus Group Meetings
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 34
• Hold focus group meetings with city leaders and staff to identify needs and
priorities. Please include how many meetings you would hold and how many
participants each. Assume meetings would take place at city facilities and be
facilitated and documented by the contractor.
Super User Focus Group Meetings
• Hold focus group meetings with stakeholders, including sports leagues, user groups,
volunteers, seniors, Friends groups, nonprofit organizations and other individuals
and groups to identify needs and priorities. Please include how many meetings you
would hold, which groups you would target, and how many participants each.
Assume meetings would take place at city facilities, and be facilitated and
documented by the contractor.
Intercept Surveys
• Conduct on site intercept surveys to get input from parks and recreation users.
Please describe your methodology, including how many sites you would
recommend, how you would choose the sites, and how many interviews would be
completed at each site. Input would be documented by the contractor.
Public Workshops
• Attend up to two public workshops hosted by the city. Present background
information about the master planning process and assist with facilitating small
group discussions and answering questions from the public. Document the input
received.
Presentations
• Prepare and deliver with Parks & Recreation Department staff up to six
presentations, including schools, community groups, city boards and commissions
and City Council meeting presentations. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation and
speaking points.
Statistically Reliable Survey
• Conduct a statistically reliable survey that can be generalized to the entire adult
population in Carlsbad with a plus or minus five percent margin of error. The survey
goal is to quantify the range of ideas, needs and priorities identified during public
meetings, focus groups and other public input. Please include a brief description of
your methodology, including sample size, questionnaire length and data collection
strategy.
Online Survey
• Prepare with Parks & Recreation Department staff, a general on line survey using the
city's online platform, publicinput.com. The consultant will be responsible for
working with staff to devise questions and synthesize community input received.
Informational Materials and Plan
• Provide input on the public involvement design plan and project information
materials, website content, social media posts, video scripts and other information
prepared by the city's Communication Department and review for accuracy and
message consistency.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 35
Project Management
• Participate in three planning meetings with the project team and the city's
Communication Department staff to discuss the public outreach and involvement
strategy and coordination.
Documentation
• Prepare a report summarizing the public outreach and involvement process and the
input received. Include original reports in their entirety from surveys, public
comments and other input. Identify how the input was used in developing the
master plan update. For input that was not incorporated, explain why.
The city's Communication Department will support the master planning effort with the
following:
• Public involvement design (messages, audiences, summary of key decisions where
public input is needed)
• Project informational materials and handouts
• Project video
• Social media
• Media relations
• Project website
• Public meeting planning, noticing, promotion, hosting and facilitation
• Online public input platform management
58. Park and Trails are a priority for residents, and also good for tourism. With a pent up
demand for a trail around i.e. Agua Hedionda Lagoon since Measure A, and with current
resident prioritization, why are we not investing here?
On March 7, 2019, the following information was provided in response to a City Council
Inquiry regarding the city's plans for the HUB lease for open space near Agua Hedionda
Lagoon:
City staff presented a report to the City Council on June 21, 2016, addressing the HUB lease
area-the lease history, the lease provisions (current through 2035), opportunities the lease
presents, the constraints associated with the lease, and a staff recommendation for the City
Council to consider the merits of pursuing some action in the HUB lease area at their 2017
Goal Setting Workshop. The City Council did not include the HUB park lease area as a goal
at their Goal Setting Workshop in 2017, as such, no further work has been undertaken on
the issue.
59. Would like to learn more about the Playground resurfacing materials in order to ensure
non-toxic to children.
Below are the materials specifications for the playground safety surfacing replacement
'project at Hidden Canyon and Aviara Community Parks:
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 36
2.3 UNITARY, DUAL-DENSITY, SEAMLESS SURFACING
A. Description: Manufacturer's standard, site-mixed and applied, two-layer material with
wearing layer over cushioning layer, with combined, overall thickness as required, tested for
impact attenuation according to ASTM F 1292 and for accessibility according to ASTM F
1951.
1. Manufacturers: Subject to compliance with requirements, provide products by one of
the following:
a. TotTurf, a Playcore Company.
b. Surface America Incorporated.
c. Or equal.
2. Wearing Layer: Formulation of TPV rubber particles and aliphatic polyurethane binder,
minimum½ inch thick.
3. Cushioning Layer: Formulation of recycled SBR particles and polyurethane binder.
4. Critical Height: As determined per fall height of play equipment specified.
5. Overall Thickness: As required for critical height indicated but not less than existing
surfacing depth.
6. Primer/Adhesive: Manufacturer's standard primer and weather-resistant, moisture-
cured polyurethane adhesive suitable for unit, substrate, and location.
7. Wearing Layer Color(s): As selected by Architect from manufacturer's full range.
a. Design: Where colored pattern graphic design is required, provide as indicated on
Drawings.
B. Leveling and Patching Material: Portland cement-based grout or epoxy-or polyurethane-
based formulation suitable for exterior use and approved by protective surfacing
manufacturer.
60. Explain funding strategy to make up 80% of Traffic Impact Program. Traffic and Ped/bike
mobility is a major concern of residents, business owners, employees, and tourists.
Traffic Impact Fees (TIF) fund projects that build additional capacity for the city's
transportation network, and may include improvements to the roadway that accommodate
bikes and pedestrians as well as vehicles. When the current TIF program was adopted the
analysis indicated that the remaining development in the city would account for 20% of the
ultimate vehicular trips generated. To maintain the required nexus between the fee and
the obligation of future development the TIF was calculated so as to collect 20% of the
projected costs of projects that were added to the TIF program. The balance of funding for
these projects cannot come from the TIF program and as such it will be provided through
typical transportation funding sources such as Gas Taxes, TransNet Local revenues and/or
State and Federal Grants.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 37
61. We have over $12.SM in Park funds. What is the equitable short or mid-term plan shared
with the public, especially SW quadrant?
On May 8, 2018 several members of the public expressed concerns to the City Council
regarding the amount of park acreage in the southwest quadrant of the city, particularly in
the coastal region. These concerns were linked to a Capital Improvement Program Budget
request for $200,000 to initiate master planning of the Veterans Memorial Park site. The
City Council subsequently directed staff to hold a (City Council Meeting) workshop to
provide an update on the current and future parks inventory.
At the City Council Meeting on July 24, 2018, staff provided the City Council with the
requested update via the review of the applicable sections of two significant documents -
the Carlsbad Citywide Facilities and Improvements Plan, and the Carlsbad Parks &
Recreation Department Needs Assessment and Master Plan. A review of the Carlsbad
Citywide Facilities and Improvements Plan noted that all of Carlsbad's quadrants are
currently compliant with the plan's parks performance standard. It also illustrated that
scheduling Veterans Memorial Park for construction will result in the park inventory for all
city quadrants exceeding the projected required acreage at buildout.
A review of the Carlsbad Parks & Recreation Needs Assessment and Master Plan noted that,
as a result of significant input received during public outreach efforts, the document reflects
what was determined to be Carlsbad's parks and recreation values and priorities. It also
illustrated the department has addressed, or is in the process of addressing, each of the key
action items for Capital Improvement Program planning, and park, facility and amenity
development.
The City Council Staff Report on the Parks Update indicates that, "Unless directed otherwise
by the City Council, staff will continue with its CIP planning, and park, facility and amenity
development, as identified in the Carlsbad Citywide Facilities and Improvements Plan and
the Carlsbad Parks & Recreation Department Needs Assessment/Master Plan." Staff was
not directed otherwise at that time.
PUBLIC WORKS
62. Do we have $3SM for trench, $60M for Linear Park, and $40M for an Arts Center, with this
proposed budget?
No. There was $2.2M added in recent years to the city's CIP program for railroad double
tracking/trenching with a current available balance of $2.lM. Funds have been spent on a
preliminary study. There are several CIP projects related to Carlsbad Blvd. realignment and
improvements which would create a linear park but some of these are only partially funded
at this time (unfunded estimate is $40M). There is currently no funding set aside for a
community arts center.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 38
63. Is our sewer capacity per GM plan?
The Growth Management Plan is considered as part of infrastructure capacity
improvements. According to the most recent Growth Management Plan Monitoring Report
(FY 2016-17), truck-line capacity to meet demand, as determined by the appropriate sewer
districts, must be provided concurrent with development and the City of Carlsbad's sewer
service area pipelines are currently in compliance with the standard.
Specifically, a discussion on the city's Growth Management Plan is included in Section 1.4 of
both the Sewer and the Potable Water Master Plans completed in 2012. The master plans,
which are in the process of being updated, account for the Growth Management Plan and
utilize its data in hydraulic models. The results of these updated models provide planning
information that identifies where system vulnerabilities exist. As Carlsbad Municipal Water
District moves forward with the CIP design phase, engineering and operations staff will be
verifying the model findings by increasing monitoring in these areas during wet weather
events. The additional data will be used to refine the models before moving ahead with the
most critical CIP projects.
64. What CIP projects were proposed that didn't get in?
None. All new projects proposed for the CIP this year were included in the preliminary
budget presentation. As background, the Capital Improvement Program is a planning tool
that lets the city schedule and allocate funding to projects over time. In any given year,
projects could be "added" to the CIP, but not scheduled to be funded for several years.
Likewise, a project could be added and funded in the same year. Larger projects are often
funded over several budget cycles. Once a project has been funded, it means money has
been set aside for it, not necessarily that it will be implemented immediately.
Projects get added to the CIP based on criteria that include condition assessments, public
health and safety needs, supporting the community vision and City Council goals. The city
often goes through a master planning process to determine what projects are needed. For
example, utilities master plans are currently being updated. When those are ready, they'll
be presented to the City Council and, if approved, projects would be added to the CIP at
that time.
65. Cannon Road at Sage Creek Rehab project -how many complaints did we receive and
who were they from mostly (any particular neighborhood)? Why are we moving forward
with it this year?
This project was initiated by staff after receiving a call from the principal at Sage Creek High
School, who requested the city investigate the road issues. The city's standard practice, in
response to any customer service request like this, is to research promptly and investigate
further as needed. Based on subsequent field inspections, this project was added and
proposed for funding in next year's budget so that staff can determine the cause and get
the road repaired as needed. If a condition like this is not addressed quickly, it has the
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 39
potential to grow into a larger problem, which could end up costing more; causing a greater
disruption and potentially affecting public safety.
66. For the sewer and water modeling, are we anticipating modeling requirements past 8
years from now? Our request is $300K/year with total project cost of $2.4M each.
Private developers are required to submit plans for the city to review to determine if
adequate, legal and safe water and sewer systems are included in the design. This project
sets aside funding for as-needed contracted professional services to review modeling
requests from private developments. The funding request is for $300k in year 1, 3 and 5 for
a total of $900k. The request for years 6-10 is for $600k-representing $300k in year 7, and
$300k in year 9. The request for years 11-15 is $900k-representing $300k in year 11,
$300k in year 13 and $300k in year 15. This estimate assumes that the value of the master
agreement will be fully expended for each 3-year term. Even with information on
development growth projections, the amount needed for each year is difficult to estimate
because the scope/scale of each modelling project will vary depending on the complexities
of each individual project. These estimates may be refined in the future.
67. Just to make it more understandable, would you add the math into the questions re:
water/wastewater customer volume vs. city population -it's because some of our
residents are being serviced by other services providers, just in case someone is doing the
math and wonders about that.
The City of Carlsbad is served by three water districts: Carlsbad Municipal Water District,
Olivenhain Municipal Water District and Vallecitos Water District. Carlsbad Municipal
Water District provides water services to approximately 88,000 customers within a 32.3-
square mile service area covering about 80% of the city. A map of water district service
areas is available on the city website.
Wastewater collection services are provided by the City of Carlsbad, Leucadia Wastewater
District and Vallecitos Water District. The City of Carlsbad provides wastewater services to
approximately 85,000 customers within a 30-square mile service area covering about 75%
of the city. A wastewater district map is available on the city website.
68. Just to darify, when we're talking about the CalRecycle compliance, does that also include
curbside composting which we're headed toward?
Yes, as part of the new organics regulations from Cal Recycle, the city will implement various
programs, including composting, food waste processing and food recovery to achieve
compliance with these new regulations.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 40
69. I'm curious about some of the requests and possibly how long they may have been in the
pipeline. Fleet superintendent, for instance -I know there's a lot of work that goes down
in Fleet, so I'm curious how long this may have been a position that there may have been
a need for that didn't rise all the way to the level of the City Council?
The Fleet Superintendent position is specified in the city's Administrative Order No. 3 "Fleet
Management Program," dated Feb. 7, 1994. The duties of the position were re-allocated as
the result of a citywide department reorganization in 2010. Since then, the scope of
oversight required to effectively manage fleet operations has evolved and increased as the
size of the fleet has grown, new regulations and policies such as the Climate Action Plan are
adopted, and enhanced technology has emerged. This position has been previously
requested twice in the last three years by staff but was not brought forward for City Council
approval until now.
70. "Neighborhood Quality of Life" does include homeless response, but there is so much
more in what residents mean by that, beyond code enforcement---as we don't have codes
for some issues, i.e. noise. Please explain "citywide lighting" at $150,000.
From time to time, requests for new street lights are received. The newly proposed
Citywide Street Lighting Program proposes $150,000 in Gas Tax funding during fiscal year
2019-20 so the city can provide a timely response when new needs are identified. This
project will allow approximately 10 new street lights to be added to the city inventory as
needed in various areas of the city.
71. Please explain why only $300,000 is included in annual CIP recommendations for
residential traffic improvements, especially in Olde Carlsbad with more and more infill
development and insufficient mitigation on the directly adjoining streets and
neighborhoods affected.
The Residential Traffic Improvement Program project as included in the proposed CIP,
includes $300,000 each year in funding for fiscal years 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-
23 to implement the Carlsbad Residential Traffic Management Program (CRTMP) as well as
a set of speed feedback signs and crosswalks with rectangular rapid flashing beacons all of
which are intended to improve safety. The CRTMP was initially approved by the City Council
via Resolution No. 2001-139 on May 8, 2001, with a revision approved by the City Council
via Resolution No. 2011-115 on May 24, 2011. The CRTMP takes a neighborhood-focused
approach that depends on active feedback and collaboration with residents to identify and
resolve traffic issues on residential streets. In conjunction with the Residential Traffic
Improvement Program project the CIP for fiscal year 2019-20 proposes $16.2 million in road
improvement and mobility projects, or about one-third of the total $53.4 million in
requested appropriations.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 41
72. Why are no expenditures noted for Habitat Management Fees, although this is a high
priority for residents, falling into two of top categories: environmental sustainability and
parks/trails?
This question appears to be referencing the Habitat Mitigation Fee shown on page B-19 and
B-20 of the preliminary budget. This projected reve _nue number on B-19 of $20,000 is an
estimate for potential developer impact fees to be collected in the next fiscal year. This
fund had a zero fund balance as of July 1, 2018 and $18,928 has been collected in the
current fiscal year. The purpose of the fee is to acquire land to meet California Gnatcatcher
Core Area requirements in the Habitat Management Plan. There is currently 123 acres left
to acquire of the initial 307.6-acre requirement.
73. Environmental ·sustainability definition here is not how most residents mean it. Residents
expect clean water (and yes we need to fund that infrastructure and maintain it), but
when people call that out they are talking about alternative energy, clean oceans and
lagoons, etc. Not pipes for water and wastewater conveyance.
On July 7, 2017, the City Council adopted a set of Sustainability and Environmental Guiding
Principles via Resolution No. 2007-187 that includes protection, preservation and
restoration of the natural and human-made environment as well as clean air and water,
diverse and drought-resistant water supply, efficient transportation and low-emission fuel
sources, among other areas. The Community Vision statements finalized in 2010 included
"sustainable water" as part of the core value of Sustainability. Planning, providing,
· operating and maintaining safe, reliable water infrastructure and meeting stringent health
and environmental regulations ensures healthy, sustainable supplies for Carlsbad. For the
past 30 years, the city's successful recycled water program has reduced the amount of non-
renewable potable water used in the city, as well as wastewater that would otherwise be
released into the ocean, which makes a positive impact on maintaining clean oceans and
lagoons,-and helps fulfill the community vision.
74. Does the City of Carlsbad have a C&D (Construction and Demolition) Ordinance?
The city currently follows the California Green Building Standards Codes, which dictate the
recycling of construction and demolition material. Municipal Code Section 18.21.010 adopts
the state code by reference as the Green Building Standards Code of the City of Carlsbad.
75. NOTE: Infrastructure improvements for water and sewer totals $6.2M this year.
The fiscal year 2019-20 CIP requests total appropriations of $11.3 million for sewer projects
and $10.6 million for water and recycled water projects. The total requested appropriation
for all sewer, water and recycled water projects is $21.9 million for fiscal year 2019-20.
76. Over $4M proposed spend on new fleet vehicles?
Each year, Public Works staff reviews the list of vehicles slated for replacement based on
age and use, and completes condition assessment reports for each vehicle. Departments
across the city evaluate the list to make recommendations for replacements and request
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 42
new vehicles as needed to meet service and staffing levels. Requests for fleet vehicles and
equipment in the fiscal year 2019-20 budget fulfill critical community needs, including a fire
engine truck, 14 police sedans and utility vehicles to service parks, utilities and streets. The
Fleet Vehicle Replacement program is funded through a replacement charge for each piece
of equipment in service, based on the actual costs of vehicle procurement divided by the
expected life of the vehicle. Additional revenue is collected from the sale of retired city
fleet assets at auction. Through this method, the cost for vehicle replacements are
recouped over the life of the vehicle.
POLICY & LEADERSHIP
77. Will new intergovernmental affairs position support all city departments?
Yes. The intergovernmental affairs position will serve as the staff lead for the coordination
and implementation of the city's adopted legislative platform. Serving as a central clearing
house for the city's legislative activities, the position will work with departments to analyze,
monitor and engage on legislative activities that are relevant to city policies and operations.
All departments will be supported by this position and they in turn will support the city's
legislative and intergovernmental activities through this central point of contact.
78. Business Intelligence and Analytics Manager -how that would support data driven
decision making, understanding more about the role in the context of Policy and
Leadership and how that might look to Council and other leadership positions? I imagine
there will be some crossover there with Communications because of the new types of
public input that we're getting are qualitative as well as quantitative.
The Business Intelligence & Analytics Manager is the restoration of a position that was
reclassified in 2016 to address pressing needs to manage the over 100 software applications
at the city. The position is a technical expert role that will provide citywide data analytics
leadership and support. Reporting to the Chief Innovation Officer, this position is included
in the Policy and Leadership Group to work cross-departmentally in alignment with the
organization's goals. Initial projects will include the development of data governance,
management and quality control policies, protocols and procedures. Establishing policies
and systems, informed by the various departments, to collect, analyze and manage data to
build the city's capacity for data-driven decision making. Having a common data language,
methods of collection, standards for storage, and protocols for data sharing is fundamental
to being able to efficiently utilize data that is currently being generated. After building the
citywide approach to data, the ongoing work will include maintaining consistency with
citywide policies, supporting departments with special data analytics projects, identifying
multi-agency data sharing opportunities and ensuring compliance with state and federal
regulations. Ultimately, through visualization, dashboards and analytics tools, data can
become useful to staff and the public. Throughout the entire process this position will look
for opportunities to create more opportunities to make relevant data easily available to the
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 43
public. With this new position we will be able to enhance transparency, improve decision-
making and identify opportunity areas to deliver services to the public.
79. On the city attorney you said for the municipal code, so is this a full-time person that's
going to be on the payroll indefinite or is this just someone to get that job done?
This would be for a full-time position with responsibilities that exceed assisting with a single
project update of the municipal code. In addition to leading an update of the municipal
code, council policies, and administrative policies on an ongoing basis, this position would
have departmental counseling responsibilities, support anticipated legislative affairs issues,
and take a primary role in drafting ordinances and implementation strategies in response to
new laws and requirements adopted by state and federal governments. The City Attorneys
department is a service department and its workload increases with Council and
department requests. The City Attorney seeks to continue to provide timely and accurate
legal advice.
80. Staffing comparison of our city attorney's office vs. other cities?
Cities vary between having in-house city attorney offices or contracting with a law firm to
provide general legal support. Additionally, the amount of legal work will vary by city. It is
important to note that some cities provide more services than others. For example, a
number of cities in the region contract with the San Diego County Sheriff for law
enforcement rather than provide their own police services. Other cities don't run a water
utility like the City of Carlsbad. With this proposed budget the City of Carlsbad would have
a similar number of attorneys to the cities of Escondido and Oceanside. The chart below is a .
survey of 15 San Diego county cities to show the number of in-house attorneys vs. the use
of contracted services along with the current number of employees by city (includes both
full-time and part-time employee headcount).
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 44
Number of Full-Total# of
Agency Time Attorneys Employees in
Agency
'
Del Mar Contract 55
Solana Beach Contract 65
Santee Contract 145
Imperial Beach Contract 154
Coronado Contract 245
Poway Contract 315
La Mesa Contract 325
Encinitas Contract 350
National City 2 attorneys 375
San Marcos Contract 400
El Cajon Contract 530
Vista 3 attorneys 800
Escondido 7 attorneys 1000
Oceanside 6 attorneys 1100
Carlsbad (current) 5 attorneys 1200
Carlsbad (proposed) 6 attorneys 1200
Chula Vista 10 attorneys 1350
81. What is the "City Council Inquiry platform"?
Employees
to Attorney
Staff (Ratio)
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
188:1
n/a
n/a
267:1
143:1
183:1
240:1
200:1
135:1
This on line tool will enable City Council members and members of the public to submit
questions on the city's website and see information from questions asked by others. It will
be similar to the platform launched last year for Public Records Act requests where
members of the public can not only make their own requests but search requests made
previously. Each of these platforms will have the ability to search the contents of the other,
enabling members of the public to find the information they're looking for more quickly and
conveniently.
82. We have heard residents say many times that they do not want consultants to do public
outreach, as it is impersonal and not as effective as someone who is more connected to
the history of Carlsbad and the community desires---not as bullet points in the
Community Vision, but as the full breadth of input behind the community vision.
· City staff utilize consultants from time to time, including to assist with public outreach.
Recognizing the importance of tailoring public outreach to the Carlsbad community, the city
has put in place a protocol that ensures the overall outreach approach is directed and
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 45
overseen by a staff member who is familiar with the community's values, needs and
preferences.
83. Digital engagement is a great idea, but it does not take the place of in-person and more
interactive engagement opportunities. After the in-person budget workshop this year, I
have never heard such positive response about community engagement since EC3.
City staff strive to provide multiple ways for the public to engage in city decision making,
and all have their strengths. In person, interactive workshops, such as the budget
workshop, provide a valuable opportunity for staff to hear from community members in a
more in depth and personal format. It also enables community members to hear from one
another in a positive, constructive environment. Digital engagement lacks this
interpersonal component but opens up the opportunity to engage with a much larger
segment of the population. City staff will continue to provide many different ways for the
public to engage, with the goal of gathering substantive input from a broad cross section of
community interests.
84. When did Council direct staff to "update the Carlsbad Community Vision"? A vision is not
typically updated so soon; it is a vision. The strategy and process could be updated, but
the vision stays true.
On Jan. 30, 2019, the City Council approved a motion directing staff to transition to a model
of ongoing community engagement that would help inform City Council goal setting,
spending plans and other city decisions. As part of this agenda item discussion, staff
recommended gathering input from the community during the summer to "check in" on the
Community Vision, prior to the City Council's fall 2019 goal setting meeting. Staff has
sought input on the nine core values in the Community Vision a few times since it was
adopted by the City Council in 2010. This input largely sought to gauge how well the city
was fulfilling the nine core values. The goal of the engagement process planned for the
summer is to hear what these values mean to community members today. It is not intended
to create a new community vision.
FEE UPDATES:
85. The removal of $1 DVD fee from the library, does that extend to the Senior Center as
well?
DVD and video game borrowing is only available at the city's three library locations. This is
not an activity that is currently offered at the Senior Center.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 46
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
86. Sewer line capacity improvements, sewer modeling and water modeling -When you say
to me contracting for professional services to review hydraulic sewer modeling requests
from private developments, can you tell what that pragmatically practically looks like?
What is the private developer asking the city to do? And same with the water modeling,
I'm wondering how this interacts with the private developer, we usually task them with
paying for certain things, so I'm wondering about that.
Private developers are required to submit plans to the city for review to determine if
adequate, legal and safe water, sewer and fire systems are included in the design. During
this process, hydraulic modeling is reviewed to confirm that the city's systems contain
adequate capacity to serve the proposed development. If the system has adequate capacity
for the proposed development, connection fees are assessed. If additional capacity is
required, hydraulic modeling must be performed and the developer pays for the cost of
modeling.
87. The sewer line capacity improvements -if we do have existing capacity issues with our
sewer lines, we need to know.
We will be coming forward in the next few months with our sewer master plan, so you'll get
a presentation on that shortly. A Sewer Master Plan Update was completed in 2012, based
on 2010 data. The Sewer Master Plan is in the process of being updated, and will
incorporate the recent General Plan update, as well as current demand, capacity, growth
projections and condition assessments. The updated Sewer Master Plan will be presented
to Council in the next few months.
88. Parks & Recreation is something that's important to our community, sustainability, and
then we've taken some of the projects from previous Council cycles and we've placed
. them below that -how are those being prioritized and how we're going to be adding in
projects that we've heard specifically from our residents? There are very specific projects
that our residents have asked for us to pursue. When is the best time for that
conversation to occur, at the next hearing?
The next hearing is when we ultimately will be seeking Council approval or authorization.
This is the proposed budget, so this is again an opportunity for the community to engage in
this process, to engage your elected officials, to say what is important, and so when we
ultimately get to that 18th meeting, that's an opportunity for the community to engage and
tell the City Council where they'd like to see us appropriately place the funds. Staff
presented the proposed fiscal year 2019-20 budget at the May 21 Council meeting. At the
public hearing on June 18, the community will have an opportunity to engage, say what is
important to them, and tell the City Council where they'd like to see the funds
programmed. This is when staff ultimately will be seeking City Council approval or
authorization.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 47
89. Citywide street lighting program -it would be helpful to know what the breakdown of
where the street lights will be added, if we know that? We've received some inquiries
about the lighting and safety in the Barrio.
The newly proposed Citywide Street Lighting Program proposes $150,000 in Gas Tax funding
during fiscal year 2019-20 so the city can analyze requests and if warranted install new
street lights. This project will allow approximately 10 new street lights to be added to the
city inventory as needed in various areas of the city. Two projects in the CIP address
lighting specifically in the Village and Barrio. The Barrio Street Lighting project scope
includes preparation of a study to analyze the need for additional lighting throughout the
Barrio, and additional pedestrian lighting around the perimeter of Pine Avenue Park. The
project efforts to date have been focused on developing street light fixture standards for
both safety lights, which are on 26-foot tall poles, and pedestrian lights, which are on 13-
foot tall poles. A report on the Village Decorative Lighting Study is scheduled to go before
Council on June 25. While the study area for this project is focused on the Village,
recommendations will include decorative lighting elements to enhance connections
between the Village and the Barrio. Additionally, general urban design guidelines from the
study may be used to inform any potential future decorative lighting initiatives in the Barrio.
90. We've received a memo on how items are being scored, can we also incorporate that into
our report? I think it would be helpful for residents to see how we're scoring and how
those are picked and brought to the forefront.
The project scoring methodology is utilized to determine if a project proposal is worthy of
funding. The project scoring methodology is not utilized to prioritize the importance or
timing of projects. Factors applied to project scores include risk to health, safety and
environment and regulatory or mandated requirements; community values; asset
condition, annual recurring costs and asset longevity; multiple category benefit and
bundling opportunities; project readiness; and funding availability (see table below}. This
information is included in the city's budget document under the Capital Improvement
Program "Project Evaluation" section.
Factors Points
Risk to Health, Safety and Environment and Regulatory or Mandated Requirements 35
Community Values 25
Asset Condition, Annual Recurring Costs and Asset Longevity 20
Multiple Category Benefit and Bundling Opportunities 10
Project Readiness 5
Funding Availability 5
Total 100
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 48
91. I only heard the word Growth Management twice, but that used to be our primary trigger
for who we are and everything we do. We might want to start looking at what the
standards were in 1994 vs. today, to meet all the needs and legal things we have to do
around our growth. That might be something we want to talk about sooner than later,
because so much has changed, but that is a driving document in who we are and what we
do. If you look in the budget, we still have $73M worth of P&R projects related to Growth
Management that we haven't accomplished yet.
The Growth Management Plan (GMP) has been a cornerstone for proactively managing
growth over the past 30 years by guiding development and ensuring that adequate facilities
are properly financed and provided concurrent with all new development. At its March 20,
2018 goal-setting session, the City Council expressed a desire to begin a process to review
and update the city's GMP. On Oct. 23, 2018, Council received an update on the GMP and
directed staff to pursue a comprehensive review and update of the GMP using a citizens
advisory committee approach.
City staff annually present the Growth Management Plan Monitoring Report to council
which indicates how the standards are being met for facilities and other improvements
based on development and increases in population. These reports drive the new projects
set forth in the CIP on an annual basis, if not already included within the CIP. The City
Council has indicated its intent to review the Growth Management Program and consider
the changes that might be needed for the future. Staff is preparing a work plan for this
effort and will present within the next month or two for City Council discussion.
92. Where are we at with the El Camino widening from La Costa Av~nue to Arena I .: That was
in last year's budget, was it not? Where are we at in this year's budget, I know that's a
multi-year project, but just to make sure it's continuing on.
The El Camino. Real Widening -Arena I Road to La Costa Avenue project will construct an
additional southbound lane, raised medians, sidewalk and bike lanes. Staff have identified
various environmentally sensitive areas, utility conflicts (including high pressure petroleum
pipeHne and high voltage transmission lines), and topographic challenges. These findings
require preliminary coordination with California Coastal Commission, followed by
environmental studies and engineering that are anticipated to take place over the course of
several years. The funding request is $650,000 for fiscal year 2019-20, and $1.8 million for
fiscal year 2020-21.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 49
PUBLIC SPEAKERS/COMMENTS-MAY 21st MEETING
Request: Several speakers commented on park acreage in the Southwest Quadrant.
City Response:
Growth Management Program Standards
In the most recent annual Growth Management Monitoring Report for FY 2016-17, there are no
compliance issues related to the Growth Management Plan for the Southwest Quadrant and
LFMZ 9, specifically related to the open space and parks standards. There is no deficiency of
open space based on approved policies for Zone 9. There is a deficiency in park space for the
southwest quadrant, but based on past City Council GMP decisions, that deficit will be met with
the Veterans Park development, which the city has initiated design efforts this year.
With that said, staff has indicated in past correspondence to San Pacifico, Ponto and other
interested residents that the current development application will ultimately be reviewed to
determine its compliance with all applicable regulations, zoning code requirements as well as
Local Coastal Program policies. Staff has not been able to complete its review yet, including the
environmental impact review. The application is now in pending status and is not being actively
reviewed for compliance at this time. The development application is current and has not been
withdrawn by the proposed developer (Shopoff) or the land owner.
It is important to note that the Poinsettia Shores Master Plan (PSMP, dated October 20, 1993)
discusses open space and resource preservation for the area that includes the Ponto
development area and says the following: "Approximately 46.0 acres or 28% of the PSMP
consists of Open Space. The open space provided within PSMP complies with all applicable city
ordinances and standards. As identified in the Zone 9 LFMP and consistent with the Citywide
Facilities Improvement Plan, the Growth Management Open Space standard is already met for
Zone 9 through the earlier preservation of the sensitive bluffs and slopes."
Purchase of the Ponto Property by the city for a Coastal Park
In 1982 the citizens of Carlsbad elected to put an expenditure limitation of $1 million on the
purchase and/or improvements to real property absent a citizen vote pursuant to Proposition
H. In 2002 the citizens authorized an expenditure of over $1 million to construct, among other
things, "trail linkages and open space" via Prop C. An Open Space Advisory Committee was
appointed on October 18, 2005 to establish priorities for open space property acquisition and
trail linkages and make recommendations to the City Council. On March 13, 2007, the
candidate list for open space property acquisitions was submitted to the City Council for
authorizations to pursue. There were 13 candidate properties identified and authorized by City
Council and ranked for open space acquisition. The City Council has budgeted $4 mil Ii.on to date
for acquisition of open space. The Ponto property was not nominated for consideration and is
not on the list for open space acquisition.
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 50
The committee selected ranking criteria focused purely on open space and trails related issues
(e.g. sensitive species, wildlife corridors, and trail linkages}. The properties identified were
generally considered for inclusion in the Habitat Management Plan (HMP} and count towards
the city's conservation goals. These open spaces were to be maintained and monitored in
accordance with the Open Space Management Plan and the MHCP; they were not intended to
be public parks or active recreational areas. No access was generally to be allowed into these
open space areas.
In light of the Prop C fund authorization, plus the City Council adopted criteria for acquisition, it
appears the Prop C funds were approved specifically for open space acquisition
(habitat/preservation and not recreational}, not parks. This is why staff indicated to residents
that acquisition of property for a park would require a vote by the residents of Carlsbad in
accordance with Proposition H.
There is not a park or open space deficiency within the Southwest Quadrant and/or Zone 9 per
previously approved City Council GMP policies and requirements adopted in 1986. However, if
the City Council would like to consider an additional park in the city inventory on the Ponto
property through an arms-length land acquisition, it could undertake preliminary investigative
activities so long as it does not unreasonably delay or defer action on a pending development
application and the property is for sale. [See answer below re: application]. There is no
schedule at this time as to when the application might be withdrawn or continue to move
forward in the process. There has also been no indication that the property is available, or is
being actively or openly advertised/marketed for sale. The property owner has given no
indication to the city that the property is available for purchase.
Request: Formally terminate the Shopoff application.
City Response: The applicant has asked that processing be suspended but that the application
not be withdrawn. City staff is currently honoring that request. However, the city could deem
the application complete and trigger additional processing requirements such as completion of
an environmental impact report CEQA review. If the applicant chooses not to proceed or
chooses to withdraw, the application could be deemed withdrawn.
Request: Schedule a community workshop to discuss acquisition of Planning Area Fin Zone 9.
City Response: Should the City desire to hold a community workshop regarding property
acquisition while a development application is pending, it should bifurcate the issues and not
act in any unreasonable manner to delay or frustrate the development application.
Request: Update General Plan and LCP to address coastal park deficiency.
City Response: There have been city council determinations that there is not a park deficiency
in the Ponto area. The City Council 1986 adopted Growth Management Program policies
indicate that Veteran's Park is the approved development to address park deficiencies (if any} in
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 51 ·
all four quadrants of the city. The developers in the Southwest Quadrant participated in the
acquisition of the Veteran's Park property and in-lieu fees have been paid by property owners
at time of development for construction of Veteran's Park.
Request: Engage with the landowner re: terms of sale for the Ponto property.
City Response: Cities can acquire property for a public purpose through negotiated purchase or
by initiating condemn.ation proceedings, both governed by specific statutory processes.
Generally, cities must assure conformity with the general plan and provide for environmental
review. In addition, the city may have funding constraints imposed by Proposition H as
discussed above.
RESIDENT QUESTIONS-MAY 23rd Email
1. I was especially glad to see the online budget packet that the top tax generating
businesses were listed. Would you consider highlighting these at a council meeting?
find many of our residents seem to not understand just how important our strong
business climate has been in allowing our city to have the level of services we enjoy.
Thank you for the suggestion. Our economic development manager provides updates to
the City Council from time to time, and would be happy to include an overview of the top
sales tax generators and how sales tax helps fund city services the next time an update is
provided to the City Council.
2. Would you consider including business engagement in the future budget collaborative
effort?
Yes. The city checks in with the business community through surveys and other
opportunities for input on a variety of topics and would be happy to add budget priorities to
its business-oriented engagement efforts.
3. I appreciated that you stated that WANTS are secondary to NEEDS. In that regard, at the
March public engagement workshop, I thought wants were expressed by community
folks, which became priorities, because most of us there had no clue about the needs of
various departments. For example, we take for granted that we will have clean water,
sewer services, pothole-free streets ....... so we did not list those as priorities. Instead we
listed wants like parks and art and such. If our basic services like water, sewer and such
were not provided then they would become top priorities! Last night's presentations by
departments were very much focused on NEEDS. This was realistic, top priority items for
spending our funds. Necessary things like road improvement and sewer pipe
replacement .... So, as a person who attended the public engagement session, I would ·
have gained more from the facts of the needs like last night, rather than a wants input
session. I am probably failing to communicate this clearly, but is this the new approach to
budget development? It felt backwards to me. I feel like saying simplistically, "First tell
me what has to be accomplished in order to keep the lights on and fulfill projects already
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 52
on the plan, and then show me how much money we have left over for going to
Disneyland!"
Thank you for that feedback. You're right, the city must first take care of its core mission of
protecting public safety and welfare. This is something that will happen with or without the
public telling us it is a priority. That's why we engaged the public around a discussion of
ideas that go beyond our core services. This way, we can recommend available resources
be allocated in a way that best supports community's priorities. Although not all of these
ideas can be implemented immediately, the input is still very valuable in helping staff
understand whatthe public values.
4. I think someone else asked about projects that have been waiting in the CIP pipeline.
would like that to be answered too. Especially in regards to Vet's Park. I remember over
35 years ago, when serving on P&R commission planting trees on the future site of
Macario Canyon Park. When the folks pushing for a park in the Ponto area say they have
waited a long time for a park there {2years), I think they just don't have the perspective.
About Ponto, isn't the land private, and isn't the 14 million dollar estimate to purchase
unrealistic, and doesn't that price not included millions of $s to develop the land?
The master planning process for Veterans Memorial Park is currently underway. A recent
public workshop and online survey for the community was offered to receive input on the
community's values, needs and priorities for the park. Now the project team is reviewing
the public's input and will develop conceptual site plans guided by thls input. When ready,
these draft plans will be shared with the public for feedback.
Refer to the "Purchase of the Ponto Property by the city for a Coastal Park" section of this
memo for more information regarding Ponto.
5. Hasn't our policy been to work with developers to negotiate trails and parks when
projects are approved?
City staff work with developers as part of the project permitting process to obtain new
trails. Project developers are required to construct trails on their property that are
identified in the Open Space, Conservation, and Recreation Element of the General Plan
update on Figure 4-4: Existing and Planned Future Recreational Trails. Trails (consistent
with Figure 4-4) are included on the project plans for the discretionary permit for any
development project and a condition of approval requires construction of the trail.
The Parks & Recreation Department has prepared a draft Trails Master Plan that is
anticipated to be considered for adoption this summer by the Parks & Recreation
Commission, the Planning Commission and the City Council. An adopted Trails Master Plan
will continue to guide the development of the trail system.
Proposed future parks are also identified in the Open Space, Conservation, and Recreation
Element of the General Plan on Figure 4-3: Parks. For large developments, the city has
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 53
negotiated with developers to provide park land. In most cases, new development is
required to pay a park in lieu fee that is used to acquire land for parks or construct park
improvements.
6. What is our end goal with the homeless?
Refer to the answer to question number 48.
7. Why does the city and not the state improve and maintain the state beach area?
In 2014, the city became increasingly concerned about the effects of the California State
Department of Parks & Recreation's declining service levels within the Upper Picnic
Facilities at the Tamarack State Beach and the Coastal Bluff at Tamarack/Frazee State
Beach. In particular, there were concerns regarding the state's reduced budget for
maintenance of these properties, and the corresponding impacts on the general public -
including residents, business owners, and tourists. The state's inability to provide basic
improvement and routine maintenance services on such high profile properties negatively
affected the city. For these reasons, several members of the public indicated a desire for
the city to assume servicing these state-owned properties. City staff initiated discussions
with state staff on the potential for the city to assume such services -in the short term, and
in the long term. In May 2014, the City Council and the State of California Department of
Parks & Recreation management entered into a Right of Entry (ROE) Permit, allowing the
city to refurbish/restore the Upper Picnic Facilities and Coastal Bluff, and to perform routine
maintenance of these properties over the subsequent year -at the city's cost. Based on the
successful results achieved at these properties under the initial ROE Permit, the city and
state entered into an annual ROE Permit in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The city's
desire is to execute a long term agreement with the state which will provide for
continuation of the services identified in the ROE Permit, as well as the potential for
expanding maintenance and operations services to other state-owned properties within the
city. Although several m~etings with state staff from the local and district offices have been
held on the potential for a long-term operating agreement, no such agreement has been
realized to date. The city's FY 2019-20 Operating Budget includes a supplemental request
for $108,000 in one-time improvement expenditures, and $137,000 in ongoing
maintenance, to assume additional recycling/trash collection and restroom cleaning
services along the coastline (Tamarack Avenue to Cannon Road), from the State of
California.
8. What does the state do with the parking fee $?
According to the State of California Department of Parks & Recreation staff, "The fee
collected from the day use lot at Tamarack and South Ponto is paid into the State Treasury
to the credit of the State Parks and Recreation Fund, as outlined in Public Resources Code
5010."
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 54
9. How much are we maintaining in reserves? Is it 40% or closer to 50%? This is very
important priority in my mind. Our reserves kept us going in the crash of 2008.
Refer to the answer to question number 15. ·
10. What does all the $ for compliance go for?
In recent years, new regulations have been imposed on cities, often without additional
resources to meet them. These are sometimes referred to as unfunded mandates. To
comply with these state and federal laws, the city must allocate resources. For example, if
the state mandates a certain level of recycling, the city must develop a program to achieve
this goal. Nearly every city department has similar examples of regulations that require the
city to spend resources to comply.
11. Please explain the goals of the Climate Action plan.
In 2005, the California governor issued an executive order requiring cities to:
• By 2020, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels
• By 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent of 1990 levels
In 2006 the California Legislature passed the Global Warming Solutions Act, also known
as AB 32, which established the 2020 emissions target and gave the California Air Resources
Board the task of developing a plan to hit the target. A Climate Action Plan is a long-range
strategy to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to meet these goals. GHGs include
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapor.
12. Why does it seem like the budget is not balanced?
Refer to the Budget Overview section at the beginning of this memo.
13. Why are fee updates listed but not explained?
The proposed fee updates are included in the Preliminary Budget Staff Report to council
dated May 21 as an attachment titled "Proposed Master Fee Schedule Changes, Fiscal Year
2019-20." Annual fee changes to existing fees are listed and all new fees to the schedule
are explained. The city's Master Fee Schedule is not published with detailed explanations
on each fee.
14. Will the proposed energy choice effect this year's budget?
The City Council has adopted a resolution stating its intention to pursue community choice
energy {CCE) to provide electric commodity service to the citizens and businesses of
Carlsbad. While 2021 is the earliest a Carlsbad CCE program could launch, future City
Council decisions could result in the city incurring pre-launch expenses during FY 2019-20.
The city is currently participating in an evaluation of potential CCE program governance
options, which will be presented to the City Council following its completion in late June.
Projected CCE start-up costs and staffing requirements vary widely among the governance
options being considered. For example, whether the city establishes a standalone Carlsbad-
only CCE or participates in a North County Cities CCE Joint Powers Authority {JPA), pre-
Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council
June 3, 2019
Page 55
launch costs of approximately $1 million are anticipated. The city would bear the full
amount of those costs in a standalone CCE scenario; however, it would only be responsible
for a pro-rata share of those costs under the JPA scenario. Furthermore, while a
countywide CCE JPA would be expected to have proportionately larger pre-launch expenses,
there may be financing options that allow the city to participate without any up-front costs.
The current uncertainty regarding CCE-related costs that might be incurred during FY 2019-
20 requires that staff would return to the City Council with a mid-year budget request to
authorize any funding needed to implement the City Council's preferred CCE program
governance option.
cc: Celia Brewer, City Attorney
Elaine Lu key, Chief Operations Officer