CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) – The first action at the Sept. 11 Citrus Heights City Council meeting was for council members to fill the seat recently vacated by former Mayor Bret Daniels.

Councilmember Tim Schaefer nominated Vice-Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa to serve as the new mayor and Councilmember MariJane Lopez-Taff to serve as vice-mayor. Councilmember Porsche Middleton seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.

Bret Daniel’s resignation, which was effective Aug. 31, also left a vacancy on City Council for District 1. The vacancy can be addressed by appointing someone to fill the seat or by holding a special election. Since there is already a general election coming up this November, in which the council seats for districts 1 and 3 will be up for election, City Council also had the option of holding the vacancy until after the election when a newly-elected member would take that seat.

During Public Comment, Citrus Heights resident and former councilmember Al Fox urged City Council to hold the vacancy until after the election. Fox said that the four remaining councilmembers are capable of finding consensus and governing the city, and that staff time of bringing on an appointee for such a short time would not be worth the effort. The focus now should not be on training an appointee, Fox said, but on the campaigns of the new council candidates.

City Councilmembers agreed and voted unanimously to hold the vacancy until after the November election.

Councilmembers then considered updates to the zoning code, a process undertaken each year to clarify existing standards and ensure compliance with current state laws. This year, the most significant change was a proposal to eliminate duplicative processes in the review of applications for alcohol sales. Any business requesting to sell alcohol must obtain a license from California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).

In that review process, Alcoholic Beverage Control considers an applicant’s proximity to areas such as schools, parks and churches, and also looks at police records and the potential for public nuisance.

If a proposed business is located in an area considered by ABC to be over-concentrated with existing alcohol sale licenses, the applicant must request a Letter of Public Convenience and Necessity (PCN) from the City Council.

Additionally, under the current code, the applicant must also obtain a use permit from the Citrus Heights Planning Commission. So many applicants must go through at least two reviews, with many requiring all three. 

Staff found that these various reviews are duplicative and repetitive, and the time and cost needed to navigate the process could discourage new businesses. The proposed amendment would remove the requirement for a use permit, if the new business had standard operational hours (closing by 10 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday). But non-standard operations would still require a use permit through the Planning Commission.

Under this change, new businesses in under-concentrated areas would only need to undergo Alcoholic Beverage Control review for licensing, and any in over-concentrated areas would then apply to the City Council for a Letter of Public Convenience and Necessity. The city retains its ability to protest any license application submitted to Alcoholic Beverage Control.

During the public hearing, Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheri Merrick said she supported the change: “It will help our business community immensely.”

The city also received a letter of support from Sunrise MarketPlace Business Improvement District Executive Director Kathilynn Carpenter.

Mayor Karpinski-Costa said, “We don’t want to be known as the city with more red tape than we need to have,” and City Council voted unanimously to approve the zoning code updates, including the change to alcohol sale application review.

Council next considered an Economic Development Support Fund request from the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce for a $25,000 grant. The city’s Economic Development Support Fund provides grants and sponsorships to business associations, businesses and other organizations to support economic development within Citrus Heights.

The Chamber of Commerce requested $10,000 for the annual Chairman’s Circle sponsorship (which the city has sponsored since 2012), $7,000 for the annual cost to rent the Citrus Heights Community Center to host monthly chamber luncheons and $8,000 to support relocating its office to a more central location within the city.

City Council voted unanimously to approve the total funding request of $25,000 for the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce.

The Citrus Heights Police Department (CHPD) brought back the updated nuisance camping ordinance. At the last meeting, City Council voted to approve it but with an exception for passenger vehicles to ensure people living out of their cars would be able to find somewhere safe to sleep. Before the change went into effect, the Citrus Heights Police Department wanted to offer some additional information.

According to the Citrus Heights Police Department, the updated ordinance against nuisance camping would increase public safety, reduce blight and bring the city’s ordinance in line with recent legal updates at the state level. But creating an exception for passenger vehicles would limit officers’ enforcement ability in cases of nuisance camping, particularly because there is a broad definition for passenger vehicles that can include RVs, motorhomes, vans, trucks, cars and any non-commercial vehicle that carries passengers. Citrus Heights would also be the only city in the region that would have a specific exception for vehicle camping.

During the meeting’s Public Comment, several members of the public asked the council to maintain the exception for passenger vehicles, since there are limited housing options for homeless people and a car might be the last safe space available to them.

One resident cautioned that as the only city in the region with such an exception, it could encourage people from other areas to come to Citrus Heights to take advantage of the loophole for vehicle camping.

Citrus Heights Police Department Chief Alex Turcotte affirmed that the ordinance is not a mandate that officers must enforce, just a tool that gives them the ability to use their discretion on a case-by-case basis. Turcotte said that Citrus Heights Police officers have compassion for the homeless population and work with partner agencies to refer people to supportive services. Turcotte said they must balance that compassion with “the rights of the other citizens” to enjoy the city, access services and maintain their properties.

Councilmember Middleton said it was a difficult decision but she had faith that the Citrus Heights Police Department will “find that balance.”

Karpinski-Costa agreed and said, “I trust the police department.”

Councilmember Schaefer said he did not want to exclude motorhomes. Since those are included in the passenger vehicle definition, Schaefer made a motion to update the ordinance to remove the passenger vehicle exclusion. City Council voted unanimously to approve the nuisance camping ordinance as originally presented, without the exclusion for passenger vehicles.

The next Citrus Heights City Council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sept. 25 at City Hall, 6360 Fountain Square Drive.