Acton Town Council Regular Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 approved

1. Flag salute & Roll Call – The Regular Meeting of the Acton Town Council was called to order at 7:35 pm by President Tom Costan.  Members present at the meeting: Angela Toghia, Jacki Ayer, Katherine Tucker, Tom Costan, Pam Wolter, John Farrar, and Kelly Teno.
2. Community Comments -Comments allowed on non agenda items only – Acton Resident Russ Fawkes asked for our help in how to pursue getting rent control on the Acton Country Mobile Homes.  He said there is rent control in Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Lancaster.  Most of the residents are seniors on a fixed income and they have had up to 40% rate increases.  The rent can easily be raised because people cant readily move there home, it is costly and can cause damage.  They have plans to talk to the Board of Supervisors.  It was suggested that they gather all the residents they can and contact the Supervisor and also try The Department of Consumer Affairs.  Acton realtor George Thompson asked about the new realtor with the large billboard size signs.  They are not regulation size according to the standards and he wanted to know if we had noticed them.  Pam Wolter said she had been looking onto them for the last two weeks.  She needs to look up zoning enforcement to see if they are in violation of County Code.  County contacts are Oscar Gomez and Dan Garringer.  Pam will pursue this.  Acton resident Kevin Sheldon asked if we had ever considered Incorporating Acton.  There was a discussion about expense and that no one had ever really talked about it.  We would need to rally the majority of the people in the community to pursue this.  Traffic on Soledad Canyon Road was brought up.  Cars are speeding and passing on the double yellow.  Residents need to continually call CHP and write to them over and over about all the violations with the time and date.  Resident Mike Ross talked about the Access Ordinance Meeting on this past Saturday and thanked the members of the Council who were there.  He had a follow up call with the County, on November 14th they are going to the Board of Supervisors meeting to postpone or table the ordinance.  Jacki suggested a follow up meeting with Sorren, Glaser and Fountain from Regional Planning.
3. Minutes of the last meeting: Pam Wolter made a motion to approve the minutes of the September 19, 2016 and the October 3, 2016 meetings as written.  Angela Toghia 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.
4. Treasurer’s Report – Bank Balance $1486.27
5. Sheriff’s Report-  Deputy Short reported that they were down 26 deputies in Palmdale due to the lack of people coming out of the academy.  He reported 34 incidents that resulted in reports.  They caught the people ho broke into Wences, The Old Acton Market , and Crazy Ottos.  He was asked how many calls they get about neighbors not allowing access for someone to use the road.  He said about 40 to 50 calls per ________.
6. Library Report – None
7. Announcements and Correspondences – Veterans Day Celebration at the park.  A survey has come in the mail to quite a few Acton residents asking what type of food establishments would be good for Acton.  Not all residents have gotten them, some businesses have.  They look like they come from the same PR group that Primo Burger hired.  A letter was received about the signs near Grizzly Burger.  This person felt that the signs were an eyesore, he likes Acton’s rural quality and felt they violated Community Standards.
8. John Pappas – Cell Tower Development – John Pappas from Mission Viejo was there on behalf of AT&T to talk about cell sites for Acton.  He explained that they look for where they need coverage in an area, they only look at sites that can be approved.  They try to stay away from open vacant areas and mountain tops.  PUC always wants phone providers to share sites and that is also their goal.  Their poles will accommodate additional carriers.  He passed out information about the sites they are looking at and they are still in the permitting stage.  He explained that the poles would be 75ft tall and would look like trees.  He was asked if the site could go on existing power poles.  He said they have to be so far away from power poles.   He said that in the site areas residents will have better AT&T service, better broadband and better internet.  He was asked where other AT&T sites are in Acton.  He did not have that information and he would ask but he was not for sure if AT&T would share that information.  He was asked about if the sites kick off EMF and the health concern for residents close by.  He passed out some information about health concerns and said the FCC sets the legal limits on the sites and AT&T only goes to 2% of the limit.
9. Chris Croisdale – Thousand Trails – Acton resident Chris Croisdale talked about the residents up Bootleggar Canyons concerns about the loud events happening often at Thousand Trails.  They are renting out for large parties/venues like the recent music festival.  There original CUP expired over 10 years ago but they are working under that old CUP.  Under the old CUP they are not supposed to use outdoor loud speakers but the County is issuing permits that allow for outdoor speakers.  If the Sheriff is called on a noise complaint, they go off the permit issued.  The County sent people to observe the last music festival and they said they were working within and compliant with their issued permit.  The issue is that the County is issuing these permits against the old CUP.  There are also septic issues at Thousand Trails already without these large events.  Shambala is downstream from Thousand Trails and has had to put in a purification system.  Jacki Ayer made a motion to send a letter to Regional Planning to have no more projects with outdoor PA systems at Thousand Trails, what is the status of the CUP, and no more TUP’s without notifying the ATC.  Pam 2nd the motion. Motion passed with 1 abstention.
10. 2016-2017 Vision Plan – tabled
11. State Legislature Hauled Water Prohibition – tabled
12. San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Environmental Assessment Comments – tabled
13. Committee Reports – Planning, Coordination, Trails & Open Space – Jacki reported about the Access Ordinance Community meeting with the County.  The County said they did not realize it was a big deal and that the ordinance doesn’t even have to happen.  Mitch Glaser explained the ordinance and then took questions and comments from the audience.  They did not really answer questions and said they would take our comments back and discuss them.  Residents asked that they bring their January 2017 meeting here to Acton.  Jacki Ayer made a motion to write a letter to Regional Planning attention Mitch Glaser, in opposition to the Access Ordinance stating the ATC and Community concerns.  Pam Wolter 2nd the motion. The motion carried.  High Speed Rail – Pam Wolter reported about an email she received with a link to a You Tube Video of Dan Richards talking about the HSR and not his exact words but the purpose was not to just build a train from Sacramento to San Diego but to pave the way for property development.  Publicity & Assoc. of Rural Town Councils –tabled.  Finance Ways & Means – no report.  By-Laws, Community Standards & Decorum – no report.   Public Works & Utilities – no report.  Emergency Response & Disaster Planning – no report.  Beautification, Illegal Dumping and Perspective – Jacki Ayer made a motion to invite the community to be members of the M Zoned Property Land Use Task Force to be started in January 2017. Pam Wolter 2nd the motion.  THe motion passed. Jacki will write the invitation for the Country Journal.
14. Unfinished Business – Primo Burger / Country Club Feed is trying to subdivide the property.  Now it is two different projects and this divide will make the project different than their permit.  There was a discussion about the number of dogs that should trigger a CUP for an Animal Facility.  After discussion it was decided this number should be 12.
15. New Business – None
16. Adjournment – Meeting was adjourned at 11:15pm  Next scheduled meeting 11/21/2016 @7:30pm at the Library.