211008 1334 October 8 Weekend News and NotesFrom:Peter Grant
To:Peter Grant
Subject:October 8 Weekend News and Notes
Date:Friday, October 8, 2021 1:33:33 PM
Mayor and Council (via bcc),
+ If you’re attending tonight’s Festival concert, they advise you bring your own chair (like Concerts
on the Green).
+ At tomorrow’s Meet Your Council Members booth, please be sure to avoid talking to each other
about city business if/when there are more than two of you in the booth (#BrownAct). It’s up to you
to decide how long to keep the booth open, but we’d suggest winding down no later than sunset. Be
sure to bring your name tags and business cards. This is a great opportunity to introduce residents to
our app and you can share any notes for follow-up with me Monday. Here is the schedule: 2 to 4:
Jon; 3 to 5: Anne and Scott; 4 to 6: Paulo.
+ Monday’s meeting start at 5 at Lexington Park. It’s a joint meeting with the RCS Commission. Plan
on wearing closed toe shoes, getting them dirty and walking on uneven surfaces. You will need to
enter the park from east bound Cerritos (we’ll send a separate map).
+From the park, we have closed session on the CVRA challenge at 630 and open session at 7. The
only new business item is authorizing the Housing Element to be submitted to State HCD.
+ The pandemic forced us to cancel several employee appreciation and recognition events over the
past 18 months. To get back on track, we’re planning on bringing the In-N-Out truck to the civic
center in early November. Usually department directors BBQ for employees in the early fall, but this
feel more pandemic safe and the In-N-Out truck is a special experience. The City Council is always
invited to this event and we hope you can make it (the date is still TBD). I’m already working on
expanding my stomach.
+ We had a bunch of succulents left over from State of the City and RCS had the great idea to give
them to seniors as part of next week’s meal distribution.
+ OCFA has been working to secure State funding to expand hand crews. On September 24, the
Governor signed Senate Bill 170 which includes $14M to staff additional hand crews. These crews
conduct critical fire prevention and fuel management work throughout the year to mitigate the risk
of wildfires.
+ From the realm of “things that never happen,” both Marilyn and Gail provided unsolicited
discounts on their bills for our recent Strategic Planning session. The invoices included a note
“discount given for excellent job this workshop.” It’s nice to see all our preparation pay off - literally.
+ We’ve only sent two or three Mailchimp email updates so far, but are tracking about 15% ahead of
the open/engagement rates of other Mailchimp government customers.
+ Please be sure to carve out time for this month’s cybersecurity training. We have stellar IT staff
and top-of-the-line security hardware, but users are the weak link in the system. This training helps
strengthen that link.
+ We have served the civil code enforcement complaint against Anna Makkouk and her property at
8121 Gay St. This is the first step in a multi-phased process of declaring the property a public
nuisance and petitioning the court for receivership. Ms. Makkouk has 30 days to abate the property
before the city can file a receivership petition. In a few weeks we will inspect the property to check
on the status.
+ One business received a waiver from the Business Recovery Program: a new lab space for Serology
Lab on Valley View.
+ The Goodman Group closed escrow on the 27 acre site at 5757 Plaza Dr. Goodman is an
international industrial developer and operator based in Sydney, Australia. They have told us they
intend to demolish the two existing buildings and reconfigure the site into a more modern
commercial development, however they have not provided any plans. Goodman reports it paid well
over $100 million for the property and that “logistic centers are the best and highest use for it.” As
you might guess from this perspective, Goodman is a long-term owner of distribution warehouses.
However, Specific Plan doesn’t permit more than two warehouses. Goodman plans to build the new
(permitted) buildings and lease them while working with Planning to propose a project. Staff has
been crystal clear with Goodman that additional warehouse uses are not permitted by the Specific
Plan and that we do not support changing the Specific Plan to accommodate additional logistics
uses. Our professional opinion is that more warehouses are out of character with the community
and not in the business park’s or Cypress’ long-term interest.
+ Westmont Assisted Living received its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy this week and has
begun leasing units. Currently they are 50% pre-leased with a monthly lease rate of $7,000 - $9,000
(that’s not a typo: $84,000 - $98,000 annually). They should receive final C of O within the next
couple of weeks after all licensing authorities have inspected the project.
+ This week the Governor signed AB 1398, which changes how long cities have to implement 2021-
2029 Housing Element programs (including rezoning).Cities who adopt their Housing Element
between October 15, 2021 and February 2022 (like Cypress), now have one year rather than three to
implement their Housing Element. This is very concerning (and largely impossible), and like most
State laws, is poorly written and with no guidance. The HCD plans to release guidance within the
next month so cities may try to plan. SCAG estimates the law will impact over 50% of its member
agencies.
+ As Lexington Park gets close to opening, the designer recommends no play on the natural field for
at least 75 days after it is planted. Assuming planting starts late October, the natural turf will be
ready by February. Public Works is working with RCS on the best way to protect the grass while it
gets established. The natural turf will also need to rest up to two months out of the year. The
synthetic turf will be ready to go day one and never needs to close.
+ Please pardon the brown grass at the parks, facilities and parkways. Annual turf renovations are
underway. The process starts with turning off the irrigation and placing "Turf Under Renovation"
signs two weeks before the renovation. These renovations promote healthy growth and each
location will take one week to complete. There should be new green turf within seven to ten days
upon completion. The Civic Center's turf renovation will occur during the week of October 18. The
effort should last about two and a half months to complete all of the park, facility and street
renovations.
+ Public Works started our annual survey to find raised sidewalks, which are either ramped with
asphalt then replaced during our capital project or ground down as permanent repair. During the
process, we also take note of any signs that show need of replacement. This walking survey protects
the city from liability by providing a defense in court should there be a claim.
+ Our new landscape contractor mowed down and cleaned up the detention basin at Nature Park
over the last couple of weeks. The County also performed annual maintenance on their pumps.
+ On October 13 at approximately 530pm, the Civic Center’s emergency generator automatic
transfer switch will undergo maintenance. Our contractor will need to disconnect power for up to
three hours to perform this service.
+ The Lexington Park contractor and various utility companies (Gas and Golden State Water) are
busy working on Lexington Drive to accommodate the upcoming street widening. All parties
involved are aware of the 5k/10k run and will have all steel plates removed and the street
thoroughly swept in preparation.
+ Taggers vandalized two of large Eucalyptus trees in the median on Valley View south of Cerritos
Monday evening. The graffiti was very large black numbers and not something we normally see on
trees. The Police Department is able to monitor the new style of graffiti in our Total Automation
Graffiti Removal System. Our contractor removed the graffiti within one hour of notification on
Tuesday morning.
+ VVS has revised its organics proposal, but we still need some details from them including financial
records and a proposal to increase “traditional” recycling rates. We’ve also rejected VVS’s proposal
to buy two $75,000 electric Ford pick-up trucks when gasoline powered versions are available for
$25,000.
+ PD management finished the first of two team building workshops focused on learning about each
other’s strengths, weaknesses as well as building trust and stronger working relationships. These
efforts will help the Chief new command positions perform at a high level.
+ Last week PD contacted the “flag” vendor on Valley View and learned he is the owner of both the
Valley View and Ball locations. The Police Department continues to partner with Code Enforcement
to monitor street vendors.
+ SRO Yu contacted the California Highway Patrol to assess the grant process for the Every 15
Minutes Program. SRO Yu also met with Cypress High School’s Every 15 Minutes Coordinator
regarding having the Every 15 Minutes Program at the school this year. During their meeting SRO Yu
learned the school is unsure about organizing the event due to the uncertainty around the
pandemic. This program is usually scheduled in April during pro season.
+ PD is working with business park owners to manage panhandlers. Several different options were
explored, including increasing PD presence and additional patrol checks. PD will issue trespass letters
to transients on private property and panhandlers.
+ PD and Code Enforcement are working at 5304 Vista Del Sol to resolve a number of Municipal
Code violations. Code Enforcement has contacted with the resident and PD will monitor the location
for additional violations.
+ Homeless Liaison Police Officers and OC Behavioral Health Services conducted citywide
homeless/mental health outreach. During the outreach four homeless individuals accepted
resources and referrals however, none accepted any shelter.
+ PD is working with the DEA to coordinate the upcoming Drug Take Back Day scheduled for
Saturday, October 23. Information regarding the event will be distributed to the community via
social media.
+ The Chief and I are meeting with Warland and Cypress Land next week to introduce Mark and
discuss his ideas for improving PD presence and nighttime safety in the business parks. It’s an
interesting challenge – there is hardly anyone working in the parks at night and very few calls for
service and if we don’t proactively patrol the area, bad guys pop-up very quickly. But if the bad guys
are scared away, it can feel like there is no reason for PD to be in the parks, they get distracted, the
bad guys notice and the cycle starts over.
+ RCS’s efforts to secure an ASL interpreter at State of the City were unsuccessful. ASL agencies were
reluctant to assign an in-person interpreter and the cost for the 25 minute speech was as much as
$500.
+ Cypress School District told the Festival Association CSD will not be able to support shuttle services
on Friday or Saturday due to a staff shortage. Last we heard, the Festival Association was looking
into other shuttle services but does not have any promising leads.
+ The Cypress Run typically attracts 1,200 runners each year. Last week, we had only 320 runners.
Other run organizers report registration has been down about 50-60% with a majority of runners
registering on the day of the race. RCS will continue to promote the Run and expects approximately
600 runners this year. Register now at www.cypressca.org/cypressrun2021!
+ Three scoreboards will be replaced at Oak Knoll Park starting Tuesday. The project is expected to
be completed by the end of the week.
+ We will discuss this in more detail as part of my performance evaluation, but I expect to appoint
Jeff Draper RCS director once he’s caught his breath from making the Festival Association look good.
Jeff has exceeded my expectations during his time as acting director and I am confident he’s going to
do an excellent job. Upon his appointment, we will begin recruiting to fill Jeff’s previous job as #2 in
RCS. I expect we’ll go outside the organization. Jeff sort of knows this is my plan, but please don’t say
anything to him yet.
+ I hope to see you tonight for Knyght Ryder!
Pete
Peter Grant
City Manager
City of Cypress
Office 714-229-6680
Cellular 714-335-1685
pgrant@cypressca.org