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Alert #3 This is another public communication in a series of Atascadero Alerts intended to inform citizens of upcoming items of importance on the City Councils agenda. These Alerts are sent to interested community organizations and individuals in Atascadero and surrounding communities, to encourage citizen participation in our local government. In the first of the two attachments in this email (in both plain text and word format) I call attention to an agenda item involving a report from the city's economic consultant, ADE, which deals with the vitally important topic of the future economic development of Atascadero. There have been recent discussions about whether these Alerts are consistent with Council Norms. In the second attachment, (also in both plain text and word format) I have set forth my position on this issue, recapping events at the Strategic Planning session. Review of edits to the Council Norms made at Strategic Planning is on the agenda for additional revision and/or acceptance of changes. One of the edits is elimination of the rotation of the Mayor position, reverting back to the majority rule of previous councils. Citizen input on council conduct is always welcome. It is a very common practice among elected officials to send email newsletters to constituents who have requested them. This, and all subsequent Atascadero Alerts, carry the disclaimer that the information contained in them does not represent any official position on behalf of the City of Atascadero and that no public facilities or funds have been used in the preparation or transmission of them. I consider these Alerts to be part of my responsibility to my constituents as an elected official. Please feel free to forward these Alerts to anyone you think might like to receive them.
Sincerely, IMPORTANT NOTICE Although the sender of this message is an official of the City of Atascadero, this message is not being sent in the sender's official capacity. Nothing in this message should be interpreted as indicating how the sender might vote or decide on an item which could come before the sender. Nor does any part of this message represent an official statement, or reflect any policy or position of the City of Atascadero. No facilities or funds of the City of Atascadero have been used in the preparation or issuance of this message. ATTACHMENTS MENTIONED ABOVE FOLLOW: Applied Development Economics (ADE) Report of Draft Goals to update the 5-year Economic Development Strategy I invite all Atascadero residents to participate in guiding our collective future by attending the February 24, 2009, City Council meeting. The City’s consultant, Applied Development Economics (ADE), will present a draft economic development strategy for Council and community input. Economic development remains the top Council priority, but the City needs broad-based community participation to succeed. This is how you can help: come to the meeting or watch the video. Identify those goals most important to you and how you can participate in realizing them. Building a thriving community is not someone else’s job; it’s up to all of us. Comments can be provided in writing or by speaking during the meeting. The strategies being developed by ADE will address issues such as market position, recruitment, business retention and expansion, workforce development, communications, and action plans. Previous presentations by ADE are available on the City’s homepage at www.atascadero.org. City staff has already created an Office of Economic Development to assist existing and new businesses and to streamline the development permitting process. The Office of Economic Development will also implement the action plans generated by ADE and public input. We need your input to be sure these plans embrace the community’s wishes for its future economic vitality. The City will be looking for collaboration with community groups, non-profits, businesses, and other agencies. Please join us in this important public process. We need to examine all aspects of our economic health and work together to develop a plan that represents and will continue to inspire community participation and support.
Sincerely, This is the viewpoint of Ellen Beraud and it’s content has not been expressly endorsed by other members of the Atascadero City Council. This invitation was printed in the Atascadero News, New Times and Tribune this week. Dear Atascadero Residents, In response to many inquiries and concerns, I am informing you of events of the January 29th City Council Strategic Planning Session. The meeting was not recorded in any format and reactions to the event have been circulating which cannot be verified. As an elected official, I need to state the facts, as I experienced them. I have also requested that all future council meetings be recorded so that community members who were unable to participate can review the tapes directly. Around 11:00 during the Thursday session, the topic of discussion turned to Council Norms and Procedures, which are a set of informal rules for the council to ensure civil conduct and expected behaviors on the part of the City Council, staff, and public. The issue had been initially raised during the Community Forum at the January 27th city council meeting, alleging that I had improperly used my title as Mayor (1) in communications with Wal-Mart (e-mail to Aaron Rios, the project manager), and (2) in e-mails to community members (Atascadero Alert) regarding upcoming issues on the city council agenda. Council member O’Malley stated his concerns over my December 15, 2008, Wal-Mart e-mail regarding Wal-Mart. Other council members were concerned about the implication that I was speaking for the council majority when I used my title of Mayor. I acknowledged their concerns and confirmed that I would ask for council consensus for any “official” communication with project applicants. In the case of my email to Mr. Rios, a Wal-Mart representative, I was responding to citizen requests for information. My e-mail to Mr. Rios was cc’d to the city manager, who did forward the e-mail to council members (following standard practice). There was no concern expressed at that time from any council member. The content of the e-mail relayed requests from citizens about their interest in making the Atascadero WalMart a model in green building techniques and sustainable design. The e-mail also encouraged WalMart to use their more recent building design of articulated architectural features to break up the mass of the building. The e-mail also offered to meet with him to discuss these ideas further. On January 9th Mr. Rios replied to my inquiry providing information about Wal-Mart’s environmental goals as well as links to more information of what the corporation has done. He acknowledged that community input and outreach would begin after the EIR consultant has been hired. I had not responded to this e-mail prior to the City Council meeting of January 24th. The second item of concern was a series of e-mails sent out on my behalf, the Atascadero Alert. Starting in January, I began sending out notices to constituents about important items which were on upcoming City Council meeting agendas along with a description of the items and possible concerns. These e-mails are, and will, be a regular communication and are not intended to rally citizens to any particular meeting. They are simply intended to encourage greater public participation in our local government. I believe that an impartial examination of the contents of my e-mails will clearly demonstrate that I was representing the interests of the City of Atascadero and its citizens, and that these actions did not violate Council Norms in any way. In an attempt to address concerns expressed, I stated at the January 13th City Council meeting that future Atascadero Alerts will not include my title of Mayor, nor will informal requests for information of the sort sent in the email to Mr. Rios. This and all future Atascadero Alerts will contain a Disclaimer making it clear that these Alerts do not represent any official position of the City of Atascadero or the Council majority, and I have recommended to my colleagues on the City Council that such a disclaimer be adopted as general practice.
Sincerely, IMPORTANT NOTICE: Although the sender of this message is an official of the City of Atascadero, this message is not being sent in the sender's official capacity. Nothing in this message should be interpreted as indicating how the sender might vote or decide on an item which could come before the sender. Nor does any part of this message represent an official statement, or reflect any policy or position of the City of Atascadero. No facilities or funds of the City of Atascadero have been used in the preparation or issuance of this message.
Alert #2 This is the 2nd Atascadero Alert from your Mayor, Ellen Beraud, with some items of importance for the TUESDAY, JANUARY 27TH CITY COUNCIL MEETING AT 6 PM. I will briefly describe them here. (Please go to City website for more details.) 1) DEL RIO/WAL-MART/ANNEX REQUEST FOR RFP FOR THE EIR: Agenda ITEM B-1 this is a public hearing dealing with requests to companies to propose for preparing the Environmental Impact Statement. This hearing will impact the ultimate form this development takes and the level of public input, so please attend if you possibly can. This is a very large commercial project which will impact not only Atascadero, but all of North County. There are some specific items to be aware of. Please see the attached word document "WalMartRFP.doc" for details. 2) DISCUSSION OF STADIUM PARK ISSUES: This takes place during the closed session, beginning at 5 pm, but with opportunity for public comment prior to going into closed session. The issue concerns acquisition of a parcel to provide better access to Stadium Park. THE DEL RIO WAL-MART/ANNEX REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR EIR Item B-1 is a public hearing concerning the Request for Proposal to prepare the Environmental Impact Report for the Del Rio Wal-Mart/Annex commercial complex. The company selected will determine the nature of this report. This large commercial complex will have a significant impact not only on Atascadero but on the entire North County. Council will receive the staff report concerning this RFP and related matters. It is lengthy but is available for download in PDF format. (Go to the city council agenda page as described in the cover letter and click on item B-1 under the staff reports/ attachments: "B-1-Wal-Mart EIR Process.pdf". Or, reply to this email and request a copy be emailed to you.) The first 4 pages contain a summary, but there are numerous important maps and plans throughout the entire document. Note the following: a) The 26 acres purchased by Wal-Mart originally were zoned 10 commercial, 16 residential. A request for a General Plan amendment would transfer about 10 further acres from residential to commercial, this results in about 21.6 acres for commercial development. It has been suggested that the remaining 4 ½ acres be made a buffer zone on the southern edge of this property. However it is important to clarify whether this buffer zone is to be incorporated in the Specific Plan. (The Specific Plan, quoting from the report "would become the regulatory framework that implements the General Plan and its policies/ programs as well as establish the standards by which development shall occur within the Wal-Mart and Annex project sites." b) On page 9 of the PDF document you will find a summary description of the Public Participation Process. c) On page 10 you will see a list of staff attachments. Staff attachment 4 entitled "Draft Request for Proposal for EIR", begins on Page 28. Page 33, item D, concerns Scoping and Public Participation In particular, D-3 reads: Optional Joint City Council/Planning Commission: Only needed if additional preferred alternative(s) are requested by the City Council. Specific Plan consultant will take the lead with City Staff. The EIR consultant will be present. For effective public input, I believe that the word "Optional" should be deleted and that such a joint hearing should be held to consider additional preferred alternatives.
I urge you to read as much of this material as time allows, and speak to these issues at the January 27th meeting.
D. Scoping and Public Participation 1) JANUARY 27TH CC MEETING ADDITIONAL ALERT – 1/26/09 A reminder: Tomorrow (Jan 27th) at the City Council meeting there will be an agenda item dealing with the RFP for the Del Rio Wal-Mart/Annex EIR. Additionally I have some concerns about the DRAFT STORM WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN (that has already been sent to the Regional Board) but is coming to us for Council Comments and authority to officially file by the January 29th deadline. Specifically, I am concerned about staff recommending only a 20 foot setback for creek reservations on Atascadero & Graves creek. Previous staff research resulted in a 35 foot minimum recommendation. It is important to have whatever recommendation is made be based on sound science, and I would like to have staff explain the science behind the 20' recommendation. I do not think it is wise to Submit something to the Regional Board which will likely be found to be non-compliant, especially if it is not based upon sound science. The ideal plan would be an on-going, dynamic document with regular feedback allowing us to apply only the most cost-effective measures. 2) STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSIONS: Wednesday January 28th 6:30 PM start; Thursday January 29th 8:30 AM start I would like to see as many people as possible attend simply to be aware of the discussion and decisions made. THE MEETING WIL BE TAPED BUT NOT TELEVISED. This event will decide the budget priorities and top 5 goals for the next year (or two). Time for public input will likely be towards the end of the meetings. An agenda should be available at the meeting, but we will be talking about many topics that won't be posted on the agenda and not in a set order. Campaign finance will be on the agenda, and the ordinance passed in October may be repealed. Thank you for your support and interest and participation in our local government. -Ellen
Alert #1 Atascadero Alerts will be sent out to all of you to keep you up to date on what is coming before the CC and/or on the CC agenda and would require your attention if you have an interest in the particular issue. If you are on the data base of other organizations in Atascadero you may receive duplication. We believe better duplication than not knowing about these important issues facing our city. Here is the first: Atascadero Alert #1 What: Management Report on AB885: Draft Regulations on Statewide Standards for Onsite Wastewater Systems: City Council Meeting Agenda Item When & Where: Tuesday, January 13th (meetings start at 6 pm); Atascadero City Hall For further background information, consult, for example: www.cowa.org/AB885.shtml What you can do: 1) Educate yourself on the basics from the background above and the links provided 2) Attend the Council Meeting. 3) If you feel qualified to speak to the issues during the meeting and/or write a letter to the Atascadero News, do so. In particular, there is a great deal of mis-information about what the proposed regulations do and do NOT do. Constructive, factual and thoughtful comments are needed. If you would like to respond, please respond to: ellenberaudalert@charter.net |
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