GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - At the July 15 regular Gridley City Council meeting, City Administrator Elisa Arteaga discussed how the city should respond to a proposed letter of agreement initiated by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) regarding communication procedures to be followed in planning future housing development projects for the community.

Arteaga indicated that she was approached about the possibility of entering into such an agreement following a concern raised at a meeting by the Local Agency Formation Commission and local municipal districts about a lack of appropriate notification from city officials to area districts regarding a particular project. She stated “this did in fact occur, we acknowledged that, we said we would be better at that moving forward and they discussed having an agreement or letter of agreement that supported this. I said ‘sure, send me what you have.’ They sent me what they were proposing but upon review, our city attorney and myself, we noticed there were certain sections that really called for their (the districts’) final approval (of future projects proposed).

City attorney Anthony Galyean provided additional context, noting that a particular water district threatened to sue the city last year after concerns that the city had approved a project without making certain requirements of the developer.

He stated that “it was agreed then that in the spirit of cooperation we will do what we can to facilitate (desired) enhancements … but it’s not the city’s obligation to necessarily dictate what a developer can or should be required to require. But rather that is the purview of the landowner, as long as the engineer signs off on the appropriateness of whatever the mitigation or protective measures are that are taken.”

The proposed letter of agreement requests signatures from the City of Gridley, the City of Biggs, the Butte Local Agency Formation Commission, Reclamation District 2056, Reclamation District 833, the Butte Water District, the Biggs-West Gridley Water District and Drainage District 1. It was submitted to the City of Gridley, having been previously approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission and the City of Biggs.

Upon review, the City of Gridley suggested edits to ensure clarity of language around preserving local control over development projects. A revised draft, with additional edits from the Local Agency Formation Commission that appeared to support creating or defending an ultimate “veto power” of special districts, was returned to the City of Gridley.

Attorney Galyean stated “we definitely wish to extend the olive branch of collaboration … but it’s the City of Gridley that is going to decide the conditions under which we approve.”

Administrator Arteaga called for a more proactive approach, stating that she does not recommend entering into the letter of agreement as it stands.

“One of the things I would suggest,” Arteaga said, “is to do what’s called a Development Kickoff Meeting and invite (the districts) to the round table, have the discussion, prepare a matrix of all the properties and development as it’s moving forward that describes the lands, the use designation, the area, and then have the special districts notify us which areas of concern and things that they would like us to address in a round table session.”

“This agreement is not going to fix the issues,” Arteaga continued. “It’s just giving authoritative direction, from the language we see [in this draft] … it’s obvious that there is something to this agreement more than a spirit of collaboration, in verbiage. And so, if you want to have a spirit of collaboration, let’s a do a kickoff meeting, let’s bring everybody to the table, everybody roll up your sleeves and let’s figure this out. But it’s not going to be (resolved by) an agreement that gives ultimate approval authority to one district.”

The council voted unanimously to reject the current drafted letter of agreement from the Local Agency Formation Commission.

The Finance Department presented next, sharing the final Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Single Audit, GANN Limit Report, and Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Audit Report. Finance Director Martin Pineda stated that the city is now fully up to date on their financial audits. Mayor Mike Farr expressed his pride in the Finance Department, stating they are doing good work.

The council approved a resolution to authorize the mayor to sign this year’s agreement for services with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Mayor Farr expressed his appreciation to CAL FIRE for the work it is doing to mitigate all the recent fire activity.

Administrator Arteaga discussed and recommended the council to vote in favor of city participation in a 20-year project with Northern California Power Agency and Grace Orchard Energy Center, LLC (PPA). This is a third phase agreement that will allow the City of Gridley to meet the state’s requirements for renewable energy use. Arteaga stated there will be a public study session with the Northern California Power Agency in the future to explore the details of this plan. The council approved 5-0.