Compared to our neighboring cities, Tuesday’s Tustin City Council meeting was downright festive. Even the council members were dressed casual Friday. Irvine, as you know, is attempting to hoodwink their residents into thinking that plans for the veterans cemetery died with the NO vote on Measure B. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth and now the factions that covet the ARDA location for 5 Points are scrambling to find a different, albeit suitable, location at the Great Park.

Meanwhile, the City Council of Santa Ana voted to place a sales tax measure on the November ballot. The measure would add an additional 1.5 percent to the current 7.75 percent tax making Santa Ana the most expensive city to shop in Orange County. They will still be lower than Long Beach, Santa Monica and most of the South Bay cities who come in at a whopping 10.25 percent.

I knew that our city council meeting would probably have higher than normal participation this evening. Even I was surprised to see a nearly full house, however. I knew some of us were here to support the proposed reinstatement of the Historic Resources Committee. A look around the room showed a number of signs opposing the Sanctuary State and there were a good number of folks wearing red shirts which I’m sure meant they stood in solidarity for something, I’m just not sure what.

The meeting started late due, I’m sure, to a lengthy Closed Session. There were 7 items, including labor negotiations discussions with all of the unions and associations representing municipal and sworn employees. Other than the denial of one claim, our intrepid city lawyer, David Kendig, reported no other action taken. We’ll never know for sure since closed sessions are….closed.

After the opening ceremonies, Mayor Al Murray opened the Public Comment section of the meeting. There were several speakers who voiced their opposition to SB54, the sanctuary state law saying it had nothing to do with keeping children of illegal immigrants with parents and everything to do with keeping our children safe. The council sidestepped the argument, at least temporarily, by pushing the  subject to the September 4th meeting. I think we can expect a full house on that evening. I’m sure the city council would like everyone to forget but it’s our duty to remind them.

Most of the Consent Calendar was passed unanimously. A couple of items were pulled for discussion. One of those items was the HVAC cooling tower replacement for the shuttered library. Apparently there was a last minute change in vendors. The good news announced by Mayor pro tem Beckie Gomez is the long awaited reopening of the library building itself. Saying they would begin moving the books from the temporary library back to the shelves of the main building, Gomez expects the doors to reopen by August 22nd.

Somewhere in the course of the evening, the subject of the Voluntary Workforce Housing Incentive Ordinance came up for discussion. And this, I discovered, was the real reason for the crowd. Residents complained the ordinance was being slipped through without proper notice. Some were concerned the ordinance was an opening for homeless housing, a highly contentious issue we haven’t visited since last year. Others, it was obvious, were just plain confused on what the ordinance was about. They were just certain it had to be a bad thing.

Well, OK….

So, the city council did the only logical thing possible. They pushed the issue off to the next meeting in September. Again, I’m sure Al, the Doctor and the ladies hope the delay will  work in their favor. We’ll have more on the proposed ordinance in a separate (hopefully informative) article.

Backpedaling to the public hearings, Mayor Murray opened the floor to public comment on a proposed code amendment to the local alcohol beverage laws. No comments after a first reading means the proposal should pass in September. For those who couldn’t attend, it merely changes the square footage requirements and some of the separation requirements for alcohol sales. The new law will require a Conditional Use Permit for all alcohol beverage sales. That means the city will have a lot more say in where and when alcohol can be sold, including possibly extending hours.

The second public hearing wasn’t quite so simple. The Planning Commission had previously denied a variance to a resident who wished to store their RV in the driveway of their property. Several speakers came forward and complained of code violations they had recently received regarding their RVs. Many complained they had stored their RVs in the same place on their property for years without a problem.

In hearing comments from the dais, it was apparent that no one, including the city staff, was sure of exactly what the code intention was. Doc Bernstein sounded as confused as ever, making comments that….well, didn’t make much sense. After hearing the public comments (plus a few shout outs from the audience) Councilwoman Clark said she was concerned about how the city is communicating with residents and enforcing code.

When she stated her concern that there may be other residents inadvertently violating the code, an anonymous voice from the audience said, “Yeah, about a thousand!” So, she further wondered if the code still met the needs of the residents. Watch it, Leticia, someone may think you’re a sane voice on the panel.

Mayor Murray agreed with Clark and asked the city to hold the appellant’s application in abeyance (OK, he didn’t really use those big words) and take another look at the application of the code. He didn’t give a timeline but it is likely to be late September before we see this on the docket.

There was a lengthy discussion on, what I felt was, the most important item on the agenda, the reinstatement of the Historical Resources Committee. Although the item was ripe for discussion and Old Town resident, Linda Jennings waited her turn patiently to speak on the matter, it was pretty obvious that most of the council was either too tired or not informed enough on the issue to discuss it. It is, however, important enough for us to talk about it in a separate article.

No, I didn’t stay to hear all the exciting places Doctor Allan and the Mayor went to this month in their personal reports. And, although the Mayor mentioned that Councilman Puckett was absent due to being “under the weather”, he left us wishing the best for him. He has a month and a half to get better as the city council is conveniently dark for the month of August.