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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIV(a) - Draft Minutes on December 20, 2023Attachment No. 1 Draft Minutes on December 20, 2023 Page 1 of 4 CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH GENERAL PLAN UPDATE STEERING COMMITTEE MINUTES COMMUNITY ROOM – 100 CIVIC CENTER DRIVE DECEMBER 20, 2023 REGULAR MEETING – 5:00 P.M. I. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER – 5:00 p.m. II. WELCOME AND ROLL CALL Present: Chair Nancy Gardner and Committee Members Phillip Brown and Kimberly Carter Staff: Acting Deputy Community Development Director Jaime Murrillo and Principal Planner Ben Zdeba III. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS None IV. CURRENT BUSINESS a. Meeting Minutes of October 4, 2023 Motion made by Committee Member Carter and seconded by Committee Member Brown to approve the minutes of October 4, 2023, with a spelling correction on page one to read Charles Klobe. The motion carried unanimously 3-0. b. General Plan Update Committee Procedures and Outreach Discussion Based on the feedback received at the General Planning Advisory Committee’s (GPAC) meeting on December 6, 2023, City staff prepared a memo to outline suggested procedures for the GPAC, including four key recommendations to promote more effective engagement and use of the GPAC’s time and effort. In addition, Dudek and Kearns & West worked alongside City staff to create and launch the online engagement platform through Social Pinpoint that will continually evolve over time. The website initially serves as both a way for those interested in the General Plan Update to formally keep updated, as well as a repository of documents and information related to the update. Part of the initial efforts will be pop-up events to begin getting the word out to the community regarding the update. Recommended Actions: 1- Review, discuss, and provide feedback on the recommendations; 2- Pending concurrence, direct staff to share the recommendations with the GPAC; and 3- Provide feedback on the commencement of the outreach and engagement efforts, including, but not limited to pop-up events and website review. General Plan Update Steering Committee Meeting December 20, 2023 Page 2 of 4 Chair Gardner summarized GPAC’s reaction at the last meeting to the work done so far by the consultants, noted having sat with staff to brainstorm better ways to move forward, and suggested increasing subcommittee involvement with consideration for staff and consultant time. Acting Deputy Community Development Director Murillo thought this is a good time to reset and noted meeting with Principal Planner Zdeba to put together a framework to better engage the GPAC and subcommittees, increase efficiencies, and advance review of materials for public consumption. He indicated that he would assume a supervisory role and Principal Planner Zdeba is the project manager of the General Plan Update. Principal Planner Zdeba stated that after reviewing the last GPAC meeting recording, staff prepared an approach to move forward that suggests a chairperson or spokesperson be assigned to each subcommittee, virtual or hybrid meetings as needed, consultant involvement for broad and specific guidance, expertise, and best practices, and action minutes. Acting Deputy Community Development Director Murillo thought part of the job of the subcommittees will be to review and discuss the recommendations in the background reports and provide feedback and/or recommend missing goals. In response to Committee Member Brown’s questions, the meeting attendees did not think the subcommittees have clearly defined goals and objectives. Committee Member Brown expressed concern and questioned who is tasked with providing this guidance. Nancy Scarbrough suggested Dudek provide a meeting outline structure. Chair Gardner noted the time to get a consultant on board and thought the new year is a time to reset and make progress. In response to Committee Member Carter’s question, Principal Planner Zdeba outlined the process for the subcommittees to review the Existing Conditions and Background Analysis Reports and provide feedback to the GPAC on policy endorsement or recommendations for change. Chair Gardner noted the benefits of preparing action minutes. In response to Charles Klobe’s question, Acting Deputy Community Development Director Murillo noted that Dudek was provided with a consolidated set of comments from subcommittee members and clear actions items are expected for future subcommittee meetings. Susan DeSantis suggested a test for consensus approach. In response to Susan DeSantis’ question, staff confirmed the recommendation to appoint a chair from the GPAC for each subcommittee who will determine availability to meet, clarify meeting objectives, honor the timeline, and report to the GPAC. Chair Gardner thought the subcommittee action minutes will help to address any objections. In response to Chuck Fancher’s inquiry on the status of each subcommittee, Chair Gardner presumed the action minutes will provide this, as well as opportunities to address overlapping. General Plan Update Steering Committee Meeting December 20, 2023 Page 3 of 4 Chair Gardner noted a suggestion by staff to meet ahead of the meeting time with the GPAC Co-Chairs to ensure the agenda is followed. Susan DeSantis suggested allotting timeframes for each GPAC agenda item and subcommittee meetings be run the same as GPAC meetings. Principal Planner Zdeba envisioned sharing draft documents and taking feedback through email and holding subcommittee meetings when needed. In response to Committee Member Carter’s question, he suggested selecting subcommittee chairs at a GPAC meeting or at a subcommittee meeting. Furthermore, he acknowledged the use of an agenda at subcommittee meetings and flexible meeting times and noted the key takeaway of recommendation number four to ensure that the Outreach and Engagement Subcommittee is looped in on all outreach efforts and in advance of public consumption. Committee Member Carter requested that the GPAC drive the outreach and engagement event calendar and Dudek fill in the gaps. In response to Committee Member Brown’s question, Principal Planner Zdeba stated that there will be an official community presentation. Chair Gardner noted Dudek’s experience and the opportunity to work together. Principal Planner Zdeba announced that staff is preparing an Outreach Subcommittee survey to identify event types, Kearns & West is attempting to create a workshop-in-box presentation for GPAC members to use in the community, and staff is available to augment the PowerPoint slide decks to better reach audiences. Chair Gardner thought it would be great to have GPAC members at events. Jim Mosher thought the Outreach Subcommittee’s authority includes providing recommendations for consideration by the full GPAC and not advisement or guidance and suggested the subcommittees formulate questions for public consideration. In response, Chair Gardner expressed concern for whether the GPAC wants the Outreach Subcommittee to have this authority and supported subcommittees preparing public inquiry questions. Principal Planner Zdeba concurred. In response to Nancy Scarbrough’s inquiry, Principal Planner Zdeba stated that public feedback collected will go to staff and Kearn & West to help inform the process. Chair Gardner suggested using an event comment page. Susan DeSantis suggested using the poll feature with the PowerPoint presentation and incorporating the survey questions on Social Pinpoint’s interactive map and the dialogue box for comments that go to a back-office spreadsheet. Principal Planner Zdeba stated that the current website is a landing page to generate an interest list and will evolve over time to include more robust and engagement tools. In response to Jim Mosher’s inquiry, Principal Planner Zdeba relayed the GPAC’s concern for the fast pace and was doubtful that the schedule would remain as presented but did not think the overall project schedule would be impacted. He forecasted more frequent General Plan Update Steering Committee Meeting December 20, 2023 Page 4 of 4 meetings to maintain the schedule. Chair Gardner anticipated that the focus of the January meeting will be on this subject. In response to Jim Mosher’s question, Principal Planner Zdeba noted that about half of the reports have been prepared in rough draft form by Dudek and staff and appropriate professional internal staff will review them before involving Dudek, the subcommittees, and the GPAC on policy shaping. In response to Nancy Scarbrough’s request, Principal Planner Zdeba agreed to place the timeline on an upcoming agenda. In response to Susan DeSantis’ comment, Principal Planner Zdeba thought the last GPAC meeting got a little off track and future meetings are anticipated to be productive and timely. In response to Chuck Fancher’s question, Principal Planner Zdeba noted that the draft reports prepared by the consultant are a baseline to help foster subcommittee and GPAC discussion and do not contain any policy. c. Reviewing 2023, and Setting Expectations for 2024 Committee Member Carter suggested that all subcommittees have the same authorization entitlements as the Outreach and Engagement Subcommittee. Committee Member Brown questioned the timeframe for the workshop-in-a-box availability for the public. Chair Gardner expected that the process will not be as smooth as desired and hoped for consistency and that the subcommittees will be empowered. Principal Planner Zdeba invited participants to reach out to him with concerns or feedback. V. COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENTS OR MATTERS WHICH MEMBERS WOULD LIKE PLACED ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR DISCUSSION, ACTION OR REPORT (NON-DISCUSSION ITEM) None VI. ADJOURNMENT With no further business, Chair Gardner adjourned the meeting at 5:53 p.m. until January 17, 2024.