Home Minutes Acton Town Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 17, 2017 Approved

Acton Town Council Regular Meeting Minutes July 17, 2017 Approved

  1. Flag Salute & Roll Call – The meeting was called to order by President Tom Costan at 7:07pm.  Present at the meeting – Dylan Lunde, Angela Toghia, Jacki Ayer, Russ Fawkes, Tom Costan, Pam Wolter, Ruth Brock and Kelly Teno.
  2. Community Comments – None
  3. Minutes of Last Meeting – Pam Wolter made a motion to accept the minutes from the following meetings 3/06/2017, 3/20/2017, 4/03/2017, 4/17/2017, 5/01/2017, 6/05/2017, 6/19/2017, & 6/30/2017. Any additions or corrections please get note to Kelly Teno by next meeting.  Ruth Brock 2nd the motion. Motion carried.
  4. Treasurer Report – Current Bank Balance $1,359.27, no expenses, no income.
  5. Sheriff Report – Last month there were 29 incidents that resulted in reports. The Sheriff Department is in negotiations to have an office in Santiago Square, it will be a place to write a report and be there unless they are out on a call.  2 men, responsible for pharmacy burglaries, have been taken into custody in Fontana.  Russ Fawkes inquired about the auto trailer parked for days on Sierra Hwy at Red Rover.  Deputy Short reported that he had been ticketed and also red tagged.  Deputy Short reported road closures that will take place due to the Sheriff’s doing time trials.  August 8th Soledad Canyon will be closed from 8:30 am- 4:00 pm and August 9th Escondido Canyon Rd and Soledad Canyon Rd will have rolling closures.
  6. Library Report – The Librarian reported about the Summer Reading Program and events going on in July and August.  August 3rd is a staff training day and library will be closed.  There are new hours for Friday and Saturday, the library will open at 9:00am instead of 10:00 am.
  7. Announcements and Correspondences -There were 2 emails inquiring about developing homes in Acton.  Jacki answered them guiding them in the correct direction.  There was another email from a company inquiring about wanting to do a website for the ATC.  Russ Fawkes announced that the husband of an ATC supporter has passed away.  We hope to see her back at meetings soon.  Supervisor Kathryn Barger has changed the number of dogs allowed from 3 to 4 and is encouraging people to adopt a pet. It was also announced that the County is out in force this month looking for unlicensed pets.
  8. Albert Einstein Academy – ATC wanted to invite them to present so more people could listen to them.  The ATC does not take sides and will not weigh in on this matter.  The presentation was about what Albert Einstein is all about and the proposed Grade 9-12 Independent Study/Blended Learning at the Agua Dulce Campus.  Some of the questions they were asked after the presentation included, Where do they expect the students to come from?  Students will come from Acton/ Agua Dulce (they get 1st choice), home schools, Santa Clarita students who wish to stay.  They will not be going to Palmdale to reach out, however would accept students from there.  How many students K-12 are needed to make the school viable?  301 students are needed. Do you include special needs students.  Yes they do include special needs and depending on the needs will determine the amount of teachers.  They described the blended program and talked about the presentation for July 27,2017.  Audience comments came from Ken Phaltzgraph, Agua Dulce resident Christine Johnson, and Agua Dulce resident Nicole Higdon.
  9. Commercial Cannabis Ordinance – The discussion was about how the County is going to implement this in Industrial areas. The County has already passed for residential growth and they can have up to 6 plants.  All commercial and industrial properties in Acton are surrounded by residential or schools.  We need buffer zones.  The County’s idea of buffer zones are fences and trees.  We need to write a letter with ATC concerns and maybe work through the ARTC . Comments from the audience include Deputy Short spoke about haw industrial cultivation is working in Arizona, it is working well and they have armed guards that are not seen.  This is because it is an all cash business.  Another resident raised concerns and said the more conservative they are the better.  She was asked if she would send us an email with her ideas and concerns.  It was asked how or can commercial property be re-zoned to industrial.  The concern is that we have a lot of commercial that could be re-zoned.  We should give community comments and let them know we are doing a survey.  Jacki Ayer made a motion to initiate a survey to get community input, in the mean time supply initial comments to the County to not allow commercial cultivation that abuts agricultural, residential, or commercially zoned properties. Also to not allow firearms.  Dylan Lunde 2nd the motion. The motion carried. Ruth Brock and Russ Fawkes will work on the survey with Lillian, and Jacki will write the letter.    Tom Costan made a motion to ask for collaboration with the ARTC regarding buffer space and ask for this to be put on their agenda.  Angela Toghia 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.  Tom will contact Susan Zahtner and make presentation.
  10. SEA (Significant Ecological Area) Ordinance –  The SEA has been continued to November 8, 2017.  They are working on Draft 10 and a implementation guide.  This gives us a chance to meet with our Supervisor.  It might be good to meet with Regional Planning also to tell them our understanding of Antonovich’s exemptions.  We did not dispute the SEA boundary changes because of this promise.  Jacki Ayer made a motion to seek a meeting with Regional Planning to discuss prior commitments regarding the SEA exemptions.  CC the Fifth District.  Angela Toghia 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.
  11. Measure A Park Funding – Tom spoke about the Parks presentation at the ARTC meeting .  Acton will see about $40,000 per year which will not be sufficient enough to build the things from our needs study.  Jacki said she had been approached by a couple young boys who would like to see a skate park, which might be doable with that money.  The County said they were going to come to each area to talk about the money we will get in our area and what we can do with it.
  12. Accessory Dwelling Unit – There is an ordinance coming out for accessory dwelling units.  At the last ARTC meeting many people were conflicted with this. A couple of questions were raised, one is the purpose to expand or increase the housing?, two is this to conform to the state law about secondary dwellings?  Jacki was hoping they would relax well standards and septic standards.
  13. ATC Officer Elections – President Tom Costan named a nominating committee to name a Vice President.  The nominating committee is : Jacki Ayer, Angela Toghia, and Dylan Lunde.  They nominated Russ Fawkes for Vice President and he accepted.   List of ATC Officers: President- Tom Costan, Vice President – Russ Fawkes, Recording Secretary – Kelly Teno, Corresponding Secretary – Jacki Ayer, Treasurer – Pam Wolter
  14. Committee Reports –  A. Planning, Coordination, Trails and Open Space – The Planning Commission hearing is on Wednesday the 20th.  Jacki started reading the language for the ban on drive throughs but it looked like there were some other minor changes so she said she would send us all the link.  Jacki Ayer made a motion to write a letter supporting the agenda item provided no issues are found in the fine print and ATC members to go speak on the item.  Pam Wolter 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.  Kathy from Rainbow Ridge Ranch is interested in joining the trails committee. High Speed Rail – Pam reported about an article in the AV Press on July 3, 2017.  The Tehachapi to Palmdale route has been delayed. The article also stated that from South Palmdale they are looking at 3 mountain routes to Burbank and the DEIR should be out in December 2017.  Publicity and Association of Rural Town Councils – Tom thought the ARTC was a good medium to work through.  Maybe we could get them to join us in asking for a strike effort in changing CSD’s.  Finance Ways and Means – Thank you to Ruth Brock for setting up the fundraiser at Don Chatos.  By-Laws , Community Standards & Decorum – Committee will meet Monday August 7, 2017 at 6pm an hour before the ATC meeting.  Public Works and Utilities – The SAFE Schools grant is kind of falling apart.  Tracy Costan is starting over and contacting Congressman Knight.  She also believes that the ATC could lead on this, that it does not have to be the School Board.  Emergency Response & Disaster Planning – None  Beautification, Illegal Dumping and Perspective – Ruth Brock reported that the Acton Takes Action meeting with Donna Tremeer and county officials was successful. Ruth explained why they had the meeting and reported that at the end of the meeting Tina Carlson said that they need to do a blanket inspection of Acton.  Ruth tried to look up the Clean Hands Waiver but can not find much on it.  The ATC has already asked for a meeting to discuss this and we need to put together a list of what we want. A few things that were brought up : If the approval of it does not do any harm to anyone else, and the Clean Hands Waiver should run with the land.
  15.  Unfinished Business – None
  16. New Business – The ATC needs to name an Election Committee.  It can only be Tom Costan, Jacki Ayer or Pam Wolter, the remaining members must run for election.  Tom Costan will head the Election Committee and Pam Wolter will help if needed.
  17. Adjournment – The meeting was adjourned at 11:07pm.
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