The Santa Clarita City Council has five items on its agenda for Tuesday’s meeting at City Hall, all consent calendar items that are typically approved collectively on a yes-no vote from council members.
Consent calendar items ”are generally noncontroversial items that do not require much, if any, discussion,” according to the Institute for Local Government, a Sacramento-based policy group associated with the League of California Cities.
However, two groups recently have made themselves known to Santa Clarita City Council during recent public comment: Placerita Canyon homeowners, and more recently, members of the nurse’s union for Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
Recent public comment
Placerita Canyon homeowners have been upset at the city for more than a year over the proliferation of student housing in their community, due to growth at The Master’s University.
City Council members have said previously they have asked the university to revise its master plan and are waiting for it to do so before discussing the situation.
That news last month further upset residents, who have said the city’s ministerial process for the high-occupancy housing permits are causing neighborhood crowding and safety concerns in the fire-prone area.
Nurses from Henry Mayo also made a showing at the previous Santa Clarita City Council meeting over their ongoing negotiations with the local hospital.
A news release from the California Nurses Association, which represents the hospital’s nurses union, stated the current contract expired Jan. 22.
At the Feb. 25 City Council meeting, Jose Estrada, the nurses’ representative in labor negotiations, led a group that asked the City Council for a letter of support. Neither the city manager nor the council acknowledged the request in subsequent comments.
Hospital officials Thursday acknowledged a filing against the CNA made on Jan. 14, alleging a violation of 8(g) of the National Labor Relations Act. The measure prohibits labor organizations from “engaging in strikes, picketing, or other concerted refusals to work at any health care institution without providing at least 10 days’ written notice.”
Patrick Moody, a spokesman for the hospital, declined to comment on the hospital’s allegation against the union.
However, he acknowledged the “active negotiations” with the union.
“We highly value our Henry Mayo nurses and look forward to reaching an agreement that is fair to both parties,” Moody wrote in an email Thursday.
On Thursday evening, Estrada referred a request for comment to a press email address for the CNA that did not respond to a request for this comment as of this story’s publication.
Consent calendar
The first three items on the “calendar” could be described as typical housekeeping for a city: the approval of minutes for the last two meetings — a closed session and the previous Feb. 25 council meeting; and the regular approval of the city’s check register.
The fourth item involves a staff request for the city to approve a purchase agreement for five compressed natural gas Dial-a-Ride buses. The contract is not to exceed $1,220,576, but there’s no impact to the city’s general fund, as 80% of the cost is coming from a federal grant and the other 20% from the city’s participation in the Municipal Operator Service Improvement Program with Metro.
The final item is the approval of an environmental impact review for Belcaro at Sand Canyon.
A developer is seeking to build a community similar to Belcaro of Valencia on the other side of the city.
New Urban West would like to build 341 homes that would be for residents 55 and older, near Oak Springs and Lost Canyon roads in Sand Canyon.
The EIR, which is approved by the city but paid for by the developer, is the first step to any such development. The report contains assessments from consultants who look at the potential impacts of the development and determine what mitigation measures are required by local, state and federal laws.
