City Council Update 3.21.23

City Council Update 3.21.23: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

City Council Update 3.21.23: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Katie:
I'm Katie.

Steve:
And I'm Steve, and this is the City of Redding podcast. Welcome to a Redding City Council update for full details on each of the items covered or to watch the meeting online, visit the City of Redding org or find the links in the episode. Show notes for any questions, suggestions or comments. Please email podcast at City of redding.org.

Steve:
Welcome to the City Council Recap for March 21st, 2023. If you want the full details of each one of these items, be sure to watch the video linked in the show notes below.

Katie:
First, a special meeting was called to take emergency action on a failed storm drain pipe on East Side Road just south of Haven Humane Society. Public Works director Chuck Aukland gave an update on the emergency road closure and asked the council to approve an emergency construction contract to get the pipe and the road repaired. The council unanimously approved. Now moving into the regular city council meeting, there was a mayor's proclamation to Wendy Dickens of first five. Shasta for the Week of the Young Child, which is celebrated April 1st through the eighth, 2023. This proclamation recognizes and celebrates teachers, advocates and parents for their work with kids in our community.

Steve:
Next, marketing extraordinaire Danny Orloff from Visit Redding gave a great presentation to update the City Council on the tourism marketing efforts in Redding. Based on cell phone data, there has been a 74% increase in overnight stays, but a decrease in the transient occupancy tax or TOT overall. The stats also show that short term rental use is up in demand. Some of the reasons for a decrease in TOT could be attributed to the economy and talk of recession. Danny noted that other cities are seeing the same decrease. In any case, there was a lot of good information given and new marketing efforts are on the horizon. For full details, be sure to watch the video.

Katie:
Sabrina Jurassic, the film commissioner for the City of Redding, gave an update on how the film industry is continuing to use Redding for films and commercials. She noted the movie Dresden's Son, which was filmed in Redding with some big name recognizable actors. Film sets, bring activity and dollars into our community through set designers, extras, caterers, hotel stays and much more. Sabrina noted that 2022 was one of their best years yet and more than doubled their previous best year ever with almost $4 million in local economic impact. Wow. She's looking forward to much more in 2023.

Steve:
Moving on to the consent calendar, there were a few notable callouts. First off, a grant application for an art installation off the diesel horse to Downtown Trail overlooking the Sacramento River was discussed. The grant, if awarded, would be in partnership with Shasta living streets and would provide $1.5 million to construct an overlook plaza that represents the history of our native tribes in the area. Also, Mark Marzano called out item 4.14 A on the consent calendar for more information from City Attorney Barry DeWalt. 4.14 A would adopt a resolution that authorizes the city to participate in a settlement to receive funds from a nationwide opioid lawsuit. This item would authorize the city to move forward to receive money as part of the settlement and allocate it to use specifically for mitigating the effect of opioid addiction in our community.

Katie:
Next, Mayor Dacquisto made a few appointments to the Redding Planning Commission. Marcus Partin will fill the unscheduled vacancy of Planning Commissioner Bert Meyer and will serve until next April, at which point he will need to be reappointed. Mayor D'acquisto also reappointed both Luke Miner and Greg Balkovec to serve additional four year terms. And now for the regular agenda. The first item on the agenda was a public hearing to consider updates to some of the zoning codes. These updates included items like fixing spelling errors, fixing discrepancies between zoning codes and building codes, and modernizing outdated codes that should no longer be enforced. One example was a zoning code that required swimming pool filtration systems to be 30ft away from neighboring fences to reduce noise complaints. However, new technology has made swimming pool systems much quieter, and so the setback requirements need to be adjusted for a full list of all the items updated, watch the video or read the agenda.

Steve:
The last item of the night was a public hearing to consider appealing an application by Bethel Church for the campus expansion on Collier Drive Planning Commission had previously approved the application, but several community members requested an appeal of this approval before the public hearing began. Both city manager Barry Tippin and council member Julie Winter recused themselves from the proceedings. City Manager Tippin recused himself because of property ownership in the area, and council member Winter recused herself because she sits on the leadership team of Bethel City. Attorney Barry DeWalt explained clearly that church attendance alone does not require recusal. The legal reasons for recusal are tied to either financial interests or common law bias, which means you are so close to a project that you shouldn't participate because you may be biased. City Manager Tippin is close enough to the development site that financial interests might be at stake, and Council member Winter has been involved in planning the project and therefore is too close to the project to be objective.

Katie:
Senior planner Lillie Toy presented the details of the project and the application that was approved by the Planning Commission. There were a number of public comments that brought up concerns regarding traffic in the area and lack of housing for students. The city council members brought questions and concerns back to city staff regarding the appeal and had a robust discussion before voting. Ultimately, the Council split 2 to 2, which means that the previous planning Commission approval stands and the appeal to reject the approval did not pass. That's it. Thanks for listening and again for full details you can read the agenda and staff reports as well as watch the full meeting yourself at City of redding.org.

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