Acton Town Council Meeting Minutes -5-4-2015 – Draft
Meeting called to order at 7:45 p.m. at the Acton Agua Dulce Library
1. Present at the Meeting: Chris Croisdale, Michael Hughes, Pam Wolter, Tom Costan, Ray Billet, Jacqueline Ayer, and Katherine Tucker. Absent: Thor Merich
2. Minutes of 4/20/2015 posted on Acton Town Council website. No Corrections noted.
3. Treasurer’s Report: No Report
4. Sheriff Report – Deputy Short 661-272-2571: There were nine incidents in April which included residential burglary, vehicle burglary, 3 petty thefts and stolen vehicles.
5. SCE: SCE Liaison Patricia Bartoli-Wible announced a SCE Community Forum on 5/21/2015 regarding grants for non-profit groups. Ms. Bartoli-Wible also commented on progress of hydroseeding on Segments 6 and 11 and said that planting will take place in the fall. Ms. Ayer asked which specific plants will be planted. Ms. Bartoli-Wible said that the detailed list of plants are in the HMMP for the project.
6. Library Report: Valerie Bailey announced that she will introduce the new Library Manager in June or July. She handed out the schedule of events for the library for May 2015.
7. Presentations / Speakers:
- Alan Laslovich shared his experience with LA County Regional Planning with the process of trying to develop his own property in Acton with the proposed new Juniper Woodland Mitigation. Originally Mr. Laslovich was going to subdivide his property into three lots and then he reduced it to two lots. He is questioning the restrictions of the Juniper Woodland Mitigation program which was not mentioned in the Town and Country Plan, and to his knowledge, there was no public comment on the plan and no hearing in front of the Board of Supervisors. Mr. Laslovich brought with him, Dean Paradise, Civil Engineer and PCR Biologist – Hunt Brailey. Mr. Laslovich spoke about the requirement of having to buy Juniper Woodlands elsewhere (Peterson Ranch) at $150,000 an acre, to offset the impact to the land in Acton. Mr. Laslovich has a hearing before the LA County Planning Commission on May 20th – 320 W. Temple Street, Room 150. He is very concerned that LA County Regional Planning is ruling by “Fiat” and not by implementing a program that was vetted through the public process.
- Kathleen Trinity and Dale Bibe spoke about the Red Rover Mine area and High Speed Rail. They wanted to make sure that the community understands that they would like an underground engineering analysis to be completed by HSR for the Red Rover Mine Road area. They submitted a letter to the ATC and signed petition. The ATC declaration already calls for undergrounding the HSR anywhere it is in Acton or placement outside of the Acton Community Standards District. Kathleen Trinity’s transcript is posted below.
- LA RICS Project – Jacobs Program Management Team spoke about a new interoperable mission critical communication and data network for first responders. It was noted that 34,000 first responders protect 10 million residents across 4,000 square miles. The system will be dedicated to only public safety agencies so they don’t have to compete with private parties. The system consists of an LTE System on a secure 4G data network and a “Push to Talk” Land to mobile radio network (LMR). 78 new monopoles will be set up which wil be 28-70-feet tall. In the Antelope Valley they will be at the Lancaster and Palmdale Sheriff Stations, and at the Mira Loma Detention Center. The LTE system will go “live” in Q3 2015; the LMR will go “live” in Q3 2017. The LA-RICS system was approved by the LA County Board of Supervisors. CERT members will have access to the system. HAM operators will not because of confidential information on the network. To get more information go to www.la-rics.org
8. Announcements and Correspondence:
9. 501 c3/c4 – Michael Hughes – No Report.
10. Committee Reports:
- Planning Coordination, Trails and Open Space, Recreation Committee – Jacqueline Ayer – Ms. Ayer announced that there is a Draft Ordinance for Animal Facility Permits which will allow a permitted use of 50 dogs / 1 acre of land on A2 zoned property and on 2.5 acres of land 100 dogs. There would be no consideration of the noise to surrounding parcels and no concentration limit. It was discussed that restrictions on the number of dogs could be put into the CSD’s and also a distance requirement for placement of kennels from adjacent homes.
- High Speed Rail: Pam Wolter – Ms. Wolter emphasized the need for the Acton Agua Dulce communities to stay together and to send money to support the Hanford lawsuit. She also stated that the Coalition has not eliminated any routes. She announced the next HSR Community meeting is 6/6/2015 at the High Desert School at 3620 Antelope Woods Road in Acton. She summarized the short notice tour of Acton by Dan Richards, Michele Boehm, and Juan Carlos on 5/12/2015. Ms. Ayer commented that the HSR has no problem tunneling 21 miles, and has no problem tunneling under interchanges, and that their preferred method of constructing tunnels is to do a “hatch and patch”. Ms. Ayer made a motion to write a follow up letter to HSR adding these three elements. She also noted that the Acton Town Council position is and always has been to keep the HSR out of Acton or route it underground. The motion was passed unanimously.
- Publicity and Association of Rural Town Councils Committee: Tom Costan and Ray Billet: Ray noted that at the last ARTC meeting there was a discussion on the Title 22 Zoning update process. Because the Planning Commission approved changes and streamlined the processes, there maybe omissions. Ms. Ayer has asked for a backstop provision which states that if omissions are noted, that these omissions can be reinstated. It was also noted that the Renewable Energy Ordinance was approved on 4/20/2015 by the Planning Commission. It is now going before the Board of Supervisors. A question was raised regarding the percentage of land which can be covered by solar panels – 25%? Michael Hughes will call Bruce Durbin to find out the status.
- Finance Ways and Means – Thor Merich: No Report
- By-Laws Committee – Michael Hughes: Waiting for input from the ATC
- Public Works and Utilities Committee – Chris Croisdale: No Report
- Community Standards and Decorum – Michael Hughes: Meeting at the Library 5/27/2015 6-8 p.m. The goal is to look at all of the area community standards, to pick the best and publish for feedback. Michael will start a blog on the Acton Town Council Web page to solicit input from the community on the Community Standards revision.
- Beautification, Illegal Dumping, and Perspective Committee- K. Tucker: No Report
- Emergency Response and Disaster Planning – Michael Hughes: No report
11. Liaison’s
- Community Center Liaison – Michael Hughes – No Report
- Chamber of Commerce Liaison – Pam Wolter – 5/28/2015 Mixer at the Images Salon
- School Board – Lillian Smith – Teacher of the Year announce. Michelle Van H. There was a delay in the State matching funds; but the $27 million should be delivered now. The campus is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2015.
- Friends of Acton Park – TBD
- Women’s Club – Pam Wolter: 5/21/2015 – Women’s Club will hold their 47th Annual Scholarship Luncheon
- Boy Scouts of America – TBD
- Girl Scouts of America – TBD
- Thousand Trails – Cathy Fiore, Manager – Ms. Fiore announced that LA County Regional Planning made their yearly visit. She said that there were only 4 rigs left which need to be towed away. And, there are only 5 individuals left who are exceeding the occupancy limitation of no more than 90 days out of 180 days. The Fire Department will evaluation whether or not an Arizona Crossing is required for emergency response. On 5/16/2015 there will be an open house for the newly renovated “Splash Pad”. On 6/6/2015 there will be the annual “Walk the Trails” A question was raised on whether or not the CUP for 1000 Trails will be required to be periodically renewed. Ms. Fiore said that she would find out. A map of the site with zoning was requested.
12. Unfinished Business:
- Acton Town Council Vacancy: The Acton Town Council has received three letters of interest from the community from the following residents: Michael Hainline, Ted Hamm (who has recently said that he is no longer interested), and Kelly Tino. Ms. Tino presented a position statement to the council.
13. New Business: None
Meeting adjourned at 10:30 p.m.
Kathleen-Trinity-Address-to-ATC-May-4-2015
Next meeting scheduled for 5/18/2015 at 7:30 p.m. at the Acton Agua Dulce Library.
