With a packed public audience at its March 26 meeting, the Signal Hill City Council reorganized, rotating in a new mayor and vice mayor– Lori Woods and Robert Copeland, respectively– and swearing in four newly elected members: City Clerk Carmen Brooks, Councilmember Tina Hansen, City Treasurer David Hopper and Councilmember Keir Jones.
The council also heard a general-plan progress report and approved its submission to the State, as required by law.
Reorganization
Before reorganizing– as it does each year per the city’s charter– the council approved a resolution certifying the results of the March 5 general municipal election.
Deputy City Clerk Kim Boles said those results show that Tina Hansen and Keir Jones were elected as members of the city council, Carmen Brooks was elected as city clerk and David Hopper was elected as city treasurer.
She added that while each was elected to a four-year term, they would be shortened because of a four-month earlier vote date established by Measure N approval, which changes the municipal election date to coincide with the statewide election date in November rather than March.
Outgoing mayor Tina Hansen invited the other three newly elected members– Brooks, Hopper and Jones– to briefly introduce themselves. All expressed enthusiasm for contributing their skills to serve the city.
“There are some big shoes to fill in Signal Hill,” Jones said. “All those folks that came before us really have shaped this city into a really special place. We’re very fiscally responsible, and we really maximize what we have to do the most for our residents and our business community.”
The council then selected a new mayor and vice mayor, nominating from existing councilmembers for each position.
Brooks opened nominations for mayor. Hansen nominated Lori Woods, and there were no further nominations. Councilmember Edward Wilson moved that nominations be closed, which Jones seconded. All five councilmembers voted affirmatively for Woods.
Woods thanked the council for nominating and voting for her as mayor, and welcomed the new councilmembers.
“I look forward to the new face of the council [and] the new culture that this will develop for the city,” she said.
Woods then opened nominations for vice mayor. Wilson nominated member Robert Copeland and there were no further nominations. Hansen moved to close nominations, which was seconded by Wilson. In a roll-call vote, the council unanimously approved Copeland as vice mayor.
Copeland thanked the council for their confidence in him and spoke in appreciation of outgoing members Larry Forester and Larry Blunden.
After inviting each councilmember to recognize their family members in attendance at the meeting, Woods acknowledged the efforts of Hansen as outgoing mayor.
“[Hansen] served this office with authenticity, enthusiasm and dedication,” Woods said. “As mayor, Tina oversaw a busy year of economic-development activity– including the planning of future projects, such as Heritage Square, the Spring Street/Atlantic Avenue corridor and Signal Hill auto-center expansion.”
Woods also listed several projects Hansen oversaw that increased residential quality of life, such as initiating a parks-and-recreation master-plan update, upgrading the Calbrisas Park playground, purchasing property for expanding Signal Hill Park and seeing to near-completion the new public library.
Woods further delineated environmental and fiscal practices that Hansen supervised that enhanced the city, she said.
Herlinda Chico, a field deputy of LA County Board of Supervisors member Janice Hahn’s office, came forward to commend Hansen on behalf of the county.
“The leadership that you demonstrated over decades, but also this particular year as mayor, has been outstanding,” Chico told Hansen.
Woods said that Congressmember Alan Lowenthal, though he couldn’t attend the meeting, also sent a proclamation recognizing Hansen’s service as mayor, particularly in terms of increasing safety and adding low-income housing and greenspace.
Finally, Woods presented Hansen with a gift on behalf of the city– a plaque with the words, “Live what you love.”
Earlier in the meeting, while still mayor, Hansen gave a proclamation to outgoing City Treasurer Larry Blunden, recognizing his more than four years of service.
“[He] has demonstrated independent judgment and has been dedicated to the highest ideals of honor and integrity in all public and personal relationships,” Hansen said of Blunden’s service.
She added that Blunden assisted the finance department in managing banking relationships and served as a diversity officer for the LGBTQ caucus of the League of California Cities, of which Signal Hill is a member. Through that organization, Blunden was also instrumental in publishing “Transgender in the Workplace: A Guide to Municipalities,” Hansen said.
“This has been such an honor and a privilege to be doing this for the city,” Blunden said. “It’s kind of a bittersweet thing for me to leave.”
“Larry’s vision and leadership helped transform Signal Hill from rustic oil fields into a vibrant community with award-winning parks, high-quality workforce housing, homes with million-dollar views, a thriving business community and safe neighborhoods for its residents,” Hansen said.
Hansen also said that Forester stressed inclusivity and that his engineering background allowed him to become a regional expert on stormwater quality. She listed projects begun during Forester’s time on council, including the Los Cerritos Channel Stormwater Capture Project, the new police station and library, the city’s first dog park, the widening of Cherry Avenue and the Well Nine groundwater pump and treatment system.
“Larry has been my mentor and my ally, my cheerleader,” Hansen said, referring to her own 25 years serving on the council. “For me, this is a difficult goodbye.”
Forester received a standing ovation from the attending public in accepting the proclamation.
“I’ve had a delightful 21 years,” Forester said. “I’ve enjoyed seeing all the development happen.”
Porter Gilberg, executive director of the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, stepped forward to thank Forester for his work advancing the concerns of the LGBTQ community.
“You are an incredible public servant for our community,” Gilberg said. “You’ve done that as an openly LGBTQ person, and you’ve also not only advocated for all residents of Signal Hill, but brought such a sense of urgency to increasing equality for the LGBTQ community through your service.”
Community Development Director Scott Charney presented the city’s general-plan progress report, due to be submitted per state law by April 1 to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the State Department of Housing and Community Development.
“Doing so gives us the opportunity to reflect on the achievements from the calendar-year 2018,” Charney said.
Charney covered progress across the six elements of the city’s general plan, including land use, housing, circulation, environment, parks and safety.
In terms of land use, Charney listed projects completed in 2018, including a dog park, the Crescent Square housing development, renovations at Long Beach Honda and Mother’s Market and demolition of two sites in anticipation of future Heritage Square development.
He also listed progress in the constructing the new library and beginning construction of Jimmy E’s– a restaurant replacing the former Delius on Cherry Avenue.
In terms of housing, Charney emphasized the completion of two new housing units that add to the city’s Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) requirement. He said that the city has achieved 71 percent of its RHNA target– 120 units out of 169 required– compared to its 62.5-percent prorated target five years into the eight-year program.
Despite exceeding the overall target, however, the city is actually deficient in the RHNA requirement for “above-moderate” income-level new housing, Charney said. Therefore, the city is subject to state law Senate Bill (SB) 35 “streamlining” to increase housing in that category.
SB 35 is one of several statewide regulations went into effect in 2018 to address the housing supply and affordability crisis, Charney said.
“SB 35 […] shifts the housing-element obligation from one simply providing zoning for residential development to one that essentially penalizes cities for that do not report production in line with RHNA targets,” he said.
That penalty streamlines the planning process so that certain projects no longer require public hearings, public notice or CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) review, Charney said.
In addition, ADUs (accessory dwelling-units)– secondary residential units or “granny flats”– are now allowed under state law, preempting design review, parking requirements and impact fees, Charney said. He added that the two new units built in 2018 are such ADUs.
Though the city did not meet RHNA’s goal in every housing category, Charney said that a housing-advocacy group gave Signal Hill an “A” grade for providing housing for the underserved very-low- and low-income categories.
Wilson cautioned the council about a housing idea discussed at a recent SCAG (Southern California Association of Governments) meeting he attended in which some members proposed to donate to other cities for the construction of low- and very-low-income housing. Wilson advocated against this approach.
“You can easily get to the point where all low-income housing is in one city and all the affluent housing is in other cities,” Wilson said. “That is what we’re trying to avoid.”
Continuing with his progress report, Charney said that, in terms of the environmental element, the city installed 1,100 LED streetlights, earned two Beacon Awards for environmental best practices, began construction of EV charging stations and reduced water usage by the state-required 12 percent.
In terms of the park element, the city is updating its master plan, Charney said. In terms of safety, FEMA approved the city’s hazard-mitigation plan.
The council unanimously approved submitting the plan progress-report to the State.
After the meeting, the council and public adjourned to a mayor’s reception at the Alpert Jewish Community Center in Long Beach.
The next Signal Hill City Council meeting will take place Tuesday, April 9, at 7pm in the council chamber at 2175 Cherry Ave.
