TO: CLAREMONT CITY COUNCIL
FROM: ADAM PIRRIE, CITY MANAGER
DATE: JANUARY 31, 2026
Reviewed by:
City Manager: AP
SUBJECT:
Title
2026-28 CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES PLANNING WORKSHOP (FUNDING SOURCES: VARIOUS)
Body
SUMMARY
Staff has engaged Jacob Green and Associates to facilitate the 2026-28 City Council Priorities process. The process included a community survey, two community outreach forums, and this City Council workshop. The intent of the workshop is for the City Council to discuss priorities for the next two years, as well as determine specific objectives related to each priority, which will inform the development of the 2026-28 Budget.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Action
Staff recommends the City Council:
A. Receive and file an update on the 2024-26 Priorities and Objectives that were previously established by the City Council;
B. Invite City staff and its consultant to provide an introduction and overview of the 2026-28 priorities setting process, including a summary of the community forums and survey results;
C. Invite public comment;
D. Discuss priorities and work plan objectives for 2026-28; and
E. Provide direction to staff.
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ALTERNATIVE TO RECOMMENDATION
In addition to the staff recommendation, there is the following alternative:
• Request additional information.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The process of updating City Council Priorities is intended to inform the development of the City’s 2026-28 operating budget (July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028). In many cases, objectives identified by the City Council will require the allocation of funding and/or resources through the budget development process. Accordingly, the financial impacts related to the 2026-28 Council Priorities and Objectives will be accounted for in the City’s 2026-28 operating budget, which will be presented to the City Council for its consideration later.
The cost of engaging Jacob Green and Associates to facilitate this process is $24,500 and is included in the Administrative Services Department’s operating budget. The cost of City staff time to prepare this report and the information presented in the attached documents is estimated at $5,000 and is included in each department’s operating budget. The cost of staff time associated with preparing the survey, conducting outreach, and compiling results is estimated at $1,000 and is included in the Administrative Services Department’s operating budget.
ANALYSIS
2024-26 Priorities and Objectives
At its meeting on April 23, 2024, the City Council approved the 2024-26 City Council Priorities and Objectives document, which informed the budget development process for 2024-26 (July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026). The City Council affirmed the following Priorities:
• Preserve Our Natural, Cultural and Historic Resources
• Maintain Financial Stability
• Invest in the Maintenance and Improvement of Our Infrastructure
• Ensure the Safety of Our Community Through Community-Based Policing and Emergency Preparedness
• Increase Livability in Our Neighborhoods and Expand Opportunities for Our Businesses
• Promote Community Engagement Through Transparency and Communication
• Develop Anti-Racist and Anti-Discrimination Policies and Plan to Achieve Community and Organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In addition to revising the City Council Priorities, the City Council discussed objectives under each priority. The objectives include a variety of specific projects, program enhancements, and policy recommendations. At the end of the workshop, the City Council had identified 27 objectives under the seven main Council Priorities. The City Council also directed staff to provide bi-annual updates in January and July of each fiscal year. The most current updates on these objectives can be found in Attachment A to this report.
2026-28 Priorities Setting Process
Late last year, the City began a public engagement campaign to gather community feedback on City Council Priorities for the next two years (July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028). The City hired Jacob Green and Associates (JGA) to facilitate two community forums and a City Council Priorities Workshop. The first community forum was held in-person at the Hughes Center on January 7, where approximately 45 people were in attendance. The second community forum was held virtually on Wednesday, January 14, where approximately 33 people were in attendance. JGA took notes during these forums and compiled summaries, which can be found in Attachment B to this report.
The City also opened a community survey on December 4, 2025 that asked participants for their opinions on City programs and services, priorities for the City Council, and suggestions for improvements. The survey closed on January 8, 2026. At the close of the survey, 938 participants completed the survey. A summary of the results can be found in Attachment C to this report, which also provides information on how the 2026-28 Priorities Setting Process was advertised. All other public comment that was received prior to the posting of the agenda can be found in Attachment D.
Additional Items for Consideration
In addition to the work plan items identified in the 2024-26 Priorities and Objectives, there are items that the City Council has previously expressed interest in discussing as part of the 2026-28 Priorities Setting Process. The items that the City Council may wish to discuss at their upcoming January Workshop are as follows:
1. Discussion of program funding for the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program, as well as an update on other available rental subsidy programs.
2. Consideration of a Leaf Blower Ordinance that would hold property owners responsible if gas-powered leaf blowers are used on their property.
3. Discussion on the on-going viability and effectiveness of the City’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance.
4. Discussion on amending the Claremont Municipal Code (CMC) to allow dogs in City parks.
5. Discussion on the City’s current code enforcement practices and capabilities.
6. Discussion on the City of Claremont Elected and Appointed Officials’ Handbook, and consideration of any proposed revisions.
This list is non-exhaustive and the City Council may wish to discuss requests from community members that are detailed in the Attachments and/or are raised during public comment. If during the Priorities Workshop the City Council directs staff to add any of these items to the 2026-28 work plan, staff will incorporate proposed budget/staffing impacts into the City’s 2026-28 proposed operating budget, which will be presented to the City Council later for formal adoption.
Rental Assistance
On April 25, 2023, the City Council voted to allocate $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to fund the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program. Due to the high demand for rental assistance, on April 23, 2024, the City Council voted to allocate an additional $680,000 towards the program. The additional $680,000 is a portion of the $3.4 million in proceeds from the sale of the 451 W. Arrow Highway property, which represents a twenty percent “set-aside” for affordable housing.
The number of households receiving assistance and the amount disbursed each month vary based on the number of households receiving one-time emergency rental assistance payments; rent increases; number of eligible housing providers receiving assistance; number of new applicants enrolled in the Program receiving monthly subsidies; and number of households exiting the Program (i.e., moving out of Claremont). The total amount disbursed each month ranges on average between $50,000 and $60,000. This program is temporary in nature and will conclude when the $1,680,000 is exhausted, which is anticipated to occur in June 2026, unless the City Council directs otherwise.
Due to the program’s success, significant staffing resources have been required to review applications, meet with applicants, and process payments. Additionally, staff have spent a significant amount of time with program applicants and prospective program applicants answering questions about the application process, assisting with filling the applications out, and corresponding with property managers and housing providers. The current estimated cost of staff time, to date, is well over $200,000. In addition to emergency rental assistance payments, approximately 200 subsidy payments are issued each month, which has resulted in an approximate 25-30 percent increase in workload for Accounts Payable staff alone. While staff can maintain the current program without the need for additional staff positions, staff does not have the capacity to take on additional programming without creating new staffing positions and hiring qualified candidates to fill those positions.
In November 2024, LA County voters approved Measure A, which is a one-half cent sales tax Countywide that is anticipated to generate over $1 billion annually. 35.75 percent of the collected Measure A funds are allocated to the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) to produce affordable housing and for renter protection and homelessness prevention. In its 2025-26 Expenditure Plan, LACAHSA has allocated this Measure A funding as follows:
• Production, Preservation, & Ownership (PPO) (60 percent of allocated funds): Eligible uses include new construction (including substantial rehabilitation), preservation, acquisition, rehabilitation, ownership, and rent and operating subsidies.
• Renter Protection and Homelessness Prevention (RPHP) Programs (30 percent of allocated funds): Designed to help renters of lower income households (less than 80 percent of area median income). Eligible uses include but are not limited to intake and assessment; legal assistance and tenant outreach; emergency rental assistance; short-term income support; flexible financial assistance; and relocation assistance (beyond that which is required by State or local law).
• Designated LACAHSA “Annual Priorities” (15 percent of allocated funds).
• Technical Assistance, Research, and Policy Development (TA) (5 percent of allocated funds): Eligible uses include local agency technical assistance grants; direct programming; program design, administration, monitoring, and evaluation; and professional services.
• LACAHSA Administration (5 percent of allocated funds).
As part of the RPHP Programs component, LACAHSA was tasked with developing guidelines for a permanent rental assistance program (“Transitional Program Guidelines”) using Measure A funds and issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking agencies to implement said program. In November 2025, City staff submitted a timely proposal to LACAHSA requesting funds to sustain the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program through June 30, 2027. Unfortunately, the City was not recommended as a funding recipient. City staff requested that LACAHSA perform an administrative review to understand why Claremont was not recommended.
Based on the proposal scoring conducted by LACAHSA, its primary goal is to fund agencies that can provide assistance Countywide and/or that offer services to underserved geographies, and Claremont does not fall into these categories; however, LACAHSA is required to allocate 70 percent of its allocated funds within the PPO, RPHP, and TA funding categories to the “Eligible Jurisdictions” that are defined in the LACAHSA-enabling legislation. The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) is one of these Eligible Jurisdictions and will be responsible for administering LACAHSA funds on behalf of 30 of the 31 cities in the San Gabriel Valley, including Claremont. For the regional RPHP Program, the SGVCOG anticipates receiving approximately $8.5 million, pending sales tax receipts.
In October 2025, the SGVCOG released an application to identify RPHP implementation partners. The goal of this application process was to identify partners that could help the SGVCOG quickly establish a comprehensive renter protection and homelessness prevention program that complies with all LACAHSA Transitional Program Guidelines, and that advances an integrated, accessible, regional approach. Through this process, the SGVCOG identified multiple partners with whom they have been meeting weekly to design a coordinated approach that complies with the LACAHSA guidelines. The planning process began in late November 2025 and is anticipated to be completed in late January 2026. The SGVCOG’s goal is to begin RPHP Program services in early February 2026, and they will work with member cities, including Claremont, to ensure that program information is shared with tenants who may need assistance.
While Claremont tenants may apply for LACAHSA/SGVCOG RPHP Programs, to be eligible for rental assistance through these programs, their household must have experienced an emergency, crisis, or unexpected event within the previous 12 months that puts the household at risk of losing their housing, such as:
• Action of landlord or property management
• Unlawful detainer (eviction lawsuit)
• Threat of displacement or housing instability
• Loss of income
• Loss or delay of public income benefits
• Medical emergency
• Change of household (birth, death, loss of income earner)
• Natural disaster
• Sudden increase in critical expenses
• Other emergency that threatens housing stability
Additionally, RPHP Programs limit rental assistance duration for up to six months, and the rental assistance amount is capped at $18,000 total per household. Whereas the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program offers longer term monthly subsidies, RPHP Programs are not designed to provide long-term or permanent housing assistance, but they will include program components that the City does not offer, including legal services, flexible financial assistance, and short-term income support. The Transitional Program Guidelines can be found on LACAHSA’s website: https://lacahsa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/LACAHSA-Transitional-Guidelines_September-2025.pdf.
Due to the temporary nature of funding that is allocated towards the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program, and to support tenant households during their transition out of our program, staff recommends the following:
• No longer accept any new applications for the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program, and instead, provide information to interested parties on how they can apply for RPHP funding through LACAHSA or the SGVCOG.
• Continue to offer monthly rental assistance subsidies through the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program to all tenants who are currently enrolled in Program Cycle 3 (7/1/25 - 6/30/26).
• Because income-qualified tenants who are currently receiving monthly subsidies through our program may not qualify for rental assistance through RPHP Programs (unless their household experiences a qualifying event as described above), the City Council may consider allocating additional funding so that the City can continue to provide monthly subsidies to those enrolled in the Claremont Temporary Housing Stabilization and Relocation Program through the end of calendar year 2026. This would effectively extend the program’s sunset date from June 2026 to December 2026, and the associated cost is estimated to be $360,000. Sufficient funding is available in the City’s Successor Housing Fund, which has a current balance of approximately $2.3 million. The California Health and Safety Code allows a "housing successor" (the city or county entity that took over the housing functions of a former redevelopment agency) to spend up to $500,000 from its Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Asset Fund (LMIHAF) for specific homeless prevention and rapid rehousing services, including rental assistance.
• Staff can collaborate with LACAHSA and the SGVCOG to connect income-qualified tenants with resources that may be available to them as they transition away from receiving a monthly rental subsidy through our temporary program.
Leaf Blower Ordinance
Claremont Municipal Code Section 8.24 regulates the usage of leaf blowers and expressly prohibits the use of internal combustion engine (gasoline) powered leaf blowers in the City after March 1, 1991. Community Improvement staff currently issue citations to individual landscape gardeners and residents throughout the City that are operating gasoline powered leaf blowers found violating this Municipal Code section. Community Improvement staff has had some success over the years with educating property owners and landscape contractors; however, formal written and verbal complaints of gas leaf blower usage Citywide have continued.
Claremont Municipal Code Section 1.12.010 states, “No person, whether as principal, agent, employee or otherwise, shall violate, cause the violation of, or otherwise fail to comply with any of the requirements of this Code.” The current practice is to issue citations to the person physically operating gasoline powered blowers. In most instances, this consists of issuing citations to private landscape maintenance employees working on privately owned yards. Issuing citations is challenging for enforcement officers since it is difficult to monitor the days and times contractors will be at a particular site and challenging to view the person using the prohibited equipment if they are not visible in side yards and rear yards of properties.
A change in policy to issue citations to property owners may increase compliance since the financial implications of citations would go directly to the ownership of the parcel where gas blowers are in use. There could be some administrative efficiency to issuing the citation to the property owner rather than individual employees actively at work on an individual property. Currently, on the first offense, a citation is issued with verbal education to the operator of the equipment and a letter is mailed to the parcel owner of record informing them of the City has a ban on gas blowers and includes educational materials and incentives available through the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). If the operator returns to City Hall with proof of ownership of a non-combustible engine leaf blower and confirmation of a City business license, this first citation is waived. The citations include a $100 fine for the first offense, $200 for the second violation within one year, and $500 for each additional violation within one year of the first offense.
Staff recommends that the City Council discuss the enforcement of the City’s Leaf Blower Ordinance and provide direction to staff should they wish to consider any amendments, including those that would make the property owner subject to citation for violations.
Inclusionary Housing Ordinance
The City’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance was adopted on July 25, 2006, and required that 15 percent of units be affordable to moderate-income households for projects with seven or more units. Residential or mixed-use projects that include five and six residential units can pay “by right” the applicable in-lieu fee into the City’s affordable housing fund. The City Council has amended the Ordinance three times since 2006. The first amendment occurred in 2013 in response to a California court case which invalidated inclusionary housing requirements for residential rental units and again in 2018 after AB 1505 superseded the court case and once again allowed cities to include rental units in their inclusionary housing ordinances. The City Council adopted a third revision in 2021 to deepen the affordability level to include five percent low-income and ten percent moderate-income households.
With the rapid escalation in housing prices over the last twenty years in Claremont and the surrounding market area, it has become questionable whether it is good public policy to continue to include “for sale” housing units in the moderate- and low-income categories of household income. This current policy allows a windfall financial gain on a select few new households within the City. There are other options that could assist a larger number of households on an annual basis in Claremont.
Another policy concern of the City is the use of the State Density Bonus Law (SDBL) and design concession requests by housing developers that may not occur if the City did not have an inclusionary housing requirement. With an inclusionary ordinance, by simply adding a few more units of affordability or deepening the affordability level, developers could obtain up to a 100 percent density bonus on qualifying affordable housing projects and up to six concessions. Concessions can include a wide variety of requests, including but not limited to increased building heights, reduction in setbacks, reduction in open space requirements, etc. The use of SDBL and concessions has been a controversial issue with neighborhood compatibility and arguably undermines a local government’s ability to fully utilize subjective design standards for multi-family housing developments. The City is currently developing multi-family objective design standards, which should be completed near the end of this calendar year. Legal opinions have confirmed that SDBL concessions prevent California cities from fully implementing adopted objective design standards.
Staff recommends that the City Council discuss the effectiveness of the current Inclusionary Housing Ordinance in meeting the City’s affordable housing goals and provide direction to staff should they wish to consider any amendments.
Dogs in City Parks
The Claremont Municipal Code (CMC) currently prohibits dogs in City parks. The City Council previously expressed interest in the possibility of amending the CCMC to allow dogs in City parks. Should the City Council direct staff to pursue this item, staff will provide draft ordinance language and a more detailed report to the City Council at a later date, including potential staffing and budget impacts (enforcement, park maintenance, etc.).
Code Enforcement
The City’s current Community Improvement Division staffing includes two full-time code enforcement employees. The recent hiring of a new Community Improvement Officer to fill a vacancy has created an opportunity to establish work schedules that expand the Division’s coverage of the City to include Mondays through Saturdays. This code enforcement schedule should become effective in mid-February when the new Community Improvement Officer has been trained.
The Division has additional code enforcement capabilities through a contract service provider to supplement existing staffing, and provide coverage on Sundays, or as necessary.
The need for coverage throughout the week comes from complaints received for activities taking place on weekends and after regular business hours. The complaints include the placement of illegal advertising signs, and the conduct of unpermitted events and activities at or near businesses.
Staff recommends that the City Council discuss the City’s current Community Improvement capabilities and provide direction on the ongoing enforcement of the Claremont Municipal Code.
Elected and Appointed Officials’ Handbook
In March 2024, the City Council adopted the City of Claremont Elected and Appointed Officials’ Handbook to clarify role and expectations of elected and appointed officials serving on the City Council or on one of the City’s Commissions or Committees.
The Handbook provides a background on the City’s governance structure, guidance on ethics, codes of conduct, conflicts of interest, meeting decorum, the Brown Act, public engagement, and establishes expectation of performance for those currently serving and those who might be interested in serving the City of Claremont as an elected or appointed official.
The adoption of the Handbook included the requirement that future substantive changes would need to be approved by the City Council. Given the time since the Handbook was adopted, the City Council Priorities Workshop provides an opportunity for the City Council to discuss the Handbook, propose changes and provide direction to staff. If amendments to the Handbook are proposed by the City Council, staff would return later with a revised Handbook for City Council approval.
RELATIONSHIP TO CITY PLANNING DOCUMENTS
Staff has evaluated the agenda item in relationship to the City’s strategic and visioning documents and finds that it applies to the following City Planning Documents: Council Priorities, Sustainable City Plan, Economic Sustainability Plan, General Plan, 2024-26 Budget, and the Youth and Family Master Plan.
CEQA REVIEW
This item is not subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
PUBLIC NOTICE PROCESS
The agenda and staff report for this item have been posted on the City website and distributed to interested parties. If you desire a copy, please contact the City Clerk’s Office.
Submitted by: Prepared by:
Adam Pirrie Katie Wand
City Manager Deputy City Manager
Attachments:
A - Update on 2024-26 Council Priorities and Objectives
B - Notes from Community Outreach Forums
C - Memo to City Council on 2026-28 Survey Results
D - Public Comment