At its regular meeting Tuesday, the Benicia City Council heard an annual report from the Planning Commission; a monthly water update from multiple city department representatives; a request for approval of a marketing contract for Industrial Park business development; a proposed ¼-cent sales tax initiative for the November, 2016 ballot; and a request for amendments to a business lease agreement, among other items.
Major issues addressed at the meeting included affordable housing and mobile home conversion, public outreach regarding water and sewer infrastructure as it relates to a proposed rate increase, and the city’s continuing efforts to assist those businesses that would be hardest hit by the proposed increases.
Following is the first of a two-part report on the meeting, which covered a multitude of issues pertinent to all residents. Part Two will follow in a future edition.

Planning Commission Annual Report
For the first time, the planning commission’s regular, annual report was presented to the City Council Tuesday, as a way of bringing to council’s attention any projects the commission would like to add to its work project list for consideration in the city’s budget implementation plan.
The report itemized the overall functions and authority of the commission, including for example use permits, environmental review, appeals, zoning issues, public hearings and studies, and numerous other responsibilities.
The single proposed project for consideration in the next budget plan was “Modifications to the Zoning Ordinance, General Plan and Downtown Mixed Use Master Plan to correct inconsistencies and ambiguities,” which Dean explained arose primarily as a result of the commission’s deliberations regarding the East 5th Street mobile home park last year.
“Of course the big news for the planning commission in 2015 was the crude by rail project,” Dean told the council.
Additionally, “in our discussion of the zoning ordinance, we found things that may need to be updated. We worked with staff and they helped us to separate the issues we had with the ordinance into three levels, the first being items that could be added (relatively easily), then those requiring a little more research, and finally those requiring more substantial time and research.
“One of the ongoing issues in the last couple of years has been the issue of personal services in the Industrial Park. The questions is, which services should be allowed, which are compatible, and at what point are we tilting the balance of industrial to more business and personal services.
“The Downtown Mixed Use Master Plan was identified as something we should take a deeper look at. The plan is now ten years old. Some new interpretations might be considered, and how the plan compares with the historic zoning for downtown. That was something that deserved a deeper look in terms of research and discussion.
“The affordable housing issue came out of the East 5th Street mobile home park discussion last year. When we looked at it we thought, here’s a situation where the affordable housing policies come into play. Have we reviewed those recently, and do we really understand those. The commission is interested in taking up some of that discussion in the next year.”

Water and sewer rate proposal update
Assistant City Manager Anne Cardwell presented an update on the city’s efforts to refine the city’s water and sewer rate increase proposal and to conduct outreach to businesses and residents regarding the proposed changes.
“We have a lot of infrastructure in need of maintenance, upgrades and enhancements.
Revenues under the current rates would not be sufficient to cover the needed preventative maintenance and capital improvement projects. Under the current rate structure, if we cover the maintenance and capital improvements, cash reserves will be negative by fiscal year 2017-18,” she explained.
Cardwell told the council that over the past several years, the city has not been able to address deferred maintenance or capital and has been drawing on reserves. Eventually, she pointed out, those reserves will be exhausted and the city will be unable to make needed repairs.
“The basis of the proposed rates is to fairly and equitably cover only the cost of providing services to customers,” she explained. Utilities should be self-sustaining, she said, covering their own costs with revenues received from the rates they charge to customers.
“When designing the rates, we included incentive for water conservation. Since 70 percent (of the water rate) is based on actual usage, and 30 percent is a fixed charge, this encourages water conservation.”
Outreach efforts have included meeting with area groups including Rotary Club, Soroptimists, the Benicia Chamber of Commerce and other boards and commissions; letters sent to all utility customers; drop-in hours at city hall; and individual meetings with business owners. “We will continue to hold those meetings up to August 16 (the date of the scheduled public hearing on the issue), to the extent that we have businesses interested,” Cardwell said.
Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani outlined in detail some of the city’s outreach efforts regarding the proposal.
“The BRIP (Business Resource Incentive Program) will replace or repair over 300 fixtures for our restaurants and other businesses in the Industrial Park. We will identify sinks and toilets that can be repaired or replaced at no cost to the businesses, with funds from the BRIP program and $11,000 that the council committed to a few weeks ago for Cool California,” he reported.
Through the BRIP program, engineers will assess the condition of sinks and toilets and repair or replace them where necessary. “We anticipate saving about 580,000 gallons of water on an annual basis.”
Giuliani told the council that as they met with businesses, they developed ways to move them from a high-use classification to medium-use. Initially, he explained, all restaurants were classified as high. “In the cases where we can’t achieve that (reclassification), we will be partnering with Republic Services with their food waste recycling program. (Through that program,) we can divert all food waste from the garbage disposal into a special compost bin. That should mitigate their category from high to low.”
Republic Services initiated this program in April, but as yet not one commercial business in Benicia is utilizing the program.
“We’re hopeful that we can sign up our restaurants to this program. They will have an incentive to do so now, in order to move from a high use classification to a medium use.”
To illustrate the difference it would make financially for a restaurant business to be classified as medium-use, Giuliani offered a hypothetical example.
“If a restaurant moves from its current rate level to a high-use rate (in the proposed new rate structure), that could be an additional $1,000 to $1,200 per bill for that business. If it moves from high to medium, that bill increase could be only about $200 to $250.”
Another option for businesses is the city’s Second-Use Review Program. “A business can note actions they have taken to reduce the amount of material that goes down their drain, thereby reducing the amount of work that the water treatment plant has to do.” It’s a one-page form that any business can submit in order to achieve the shift from high to medium classification.
In addition, the city is proposing a phased-in fixed rate. “Our finance department and city manager’s office have conceived a program whereby the city would subsidize 75 percent of the fixed charge portion, for six months, if there are any businesses that have not been able to move to the medium use level.
“Our high-use category fixed rate is $806 (per billing cycle). The subsidy would equate to $604. We would review this after five months.” Giuliani estimates that there are currently about 60 business customers city-wide that remain in the high-use category. Among dine-in restaurant businesses, there are currently about 15 that remain in the high category.
The Benicia Chamber of Commerce will also be holding a workshop for businesses in the Industrial Park, Giuliani noted. Benicia Main Street has also volunteered to meet with any remaining restaurant businesses on First Street who have not had the opportunity to meet with the city.
Vice Mayor Mark Hughes asked staff how they came to the three levels mentioned in the report. Finance Director Karin Schnaider responded that the State Water Resources Control Board has 22 different categories and the city has consolidated those down to three. Restaurants automatically fall in the high level category if they have a deep fryer or a garbage disposal, for example. “Restaurants or small catering businesses that don’t have fryers, we’re finding, get moved down to medium or low category.”
Hughes also asked if it might be possible to restructure the subsidy plan so that a business could receive, for example, 75 percent over one time period, then down to 50 percent and so forth over time. Cardwell responded that such a process could be implemented but that the city has identified moving the high level businesses down to medium as its top priority.
Interim City Manager Steve Salomon added that the current goal for city staff is to move businesses down from high to medium within a five-month period. “The main goal of the subsidy program is to allow them all time to achieve that,” he explained. After five months, the plan is to re-evaluate and explore further options at that time.
Mayor Elizabeth Patterson posed the question to staff of Republic Services’ own outreach efforts, in addition to those of the city, regarding their food waste recycling program. Giuliani responded that Republic has met with “a few” businesses to date and that he anticipates their picking up the pace after the Aug. 16 public hearing.
During the public comment period for the issue of the water rate changes, one gentleman who didn’t provide his name asked if the fixture repair-and-replace program would apply only to restaurants either on First Street or in the Industrial Park. Giuliani replied that while the current focus is on dine-in restaurants throughout the city, the program encompasses all businesses in the city.

General public comment
During the public comment period for items not on the agenda, Planning Commissioner Donald Dean, speaking as a resident and not as a planner, brought the First Street sidewalk hazard to the council’s attention. He recently witnessed a pedestrian trip on an uneven area where outdoor restaurant seating comes close to the adjacent tree enclosures. In those places, which are many on the few blocks near D Street, pedestrians have little room and are likely to have to walk on those uneven surfaces, thereby creating a liability risk for the city. The pedestrian he witnessed fell and required immediate medical attention.
Resident Nancy Lund addressed the council regarding an upcoming bike ride with Congressman Mike Thompson, a bridge-to-bridge ride scheduled for Sunday, July 31 beginning at 8:45 and meeting at the East B Street parking lot. More information is available at Wheels In Motion, 735 First St.
In Part Two, the Herald reports on the council’s consideration of a ¼-cent sales tax proposed for the November, 2016 ballot, the state of child welfare in Benicia and Solano County, and the request by Carter’s Biz Cafe for an amendment to its three-year lease agreement with the city.

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