10/23/18 City Council Meeting Agenda – Land Trust & Sunshine Ordinance
A couple of noteworthy items are on tomorrow’s City Council agenda – the Land Trust and the introduction of the Irvine Sunshine Ordinance. To read the whole agenda please click here.
The Irvine Community Land Trust is requesting the modification of a land transfer agreement between the City & Land Trust to include office space for their new HQ. The council must vote on it for approval. The city leaders could modify the request on the condition that the Land Trust agrees to make future Board meetings open to the public. For the last 12 years, the Land Trust held public Board meetings and posted all agendas and minutes on their website. However, five months ago, the Land Trust stopped following the Brown Act requirements and now the meetings and minutes are private.
In a separate agenda item discussing the roll-out of the Irvine Sunshine Ordinance, the City Council action could add language that requires any non-profit receiving more than $500,000 annually from the City to be subject to the open meeting requirements (Brown Act requirements).
The Land Trust has received $35 million in cash & land from the City since it was founded and will receive another $23.5 million in taxpayer money over the next six years from the Department of Finance settlement funds. The City is the major funder for the Land Trust – as it should. The Land Trust was created by the City in order to administer affordable housing programs.
Affordable housing is important and so is transparency.
These are two items that caught my attention. You may want to consider coming to the meeting tomorrow.
