South Pasadena
“Yes in my inbox”
Friday, October 16, 2026
The Council’s Oct 21 agenda is out, and its draft minutes finally show what happened Oct 7: everything passed 5–0, including $30 million for the Huntington/Fremont corridor and $10 million for Fair Oaks signal technology. Next week the Council takes up a tennis and pickleball court plan, an Olympics committee and a resolution backing Measure SOS. Planning holds a special hearing Tuesday on downtown design standards and on shielding 84 historic sites from SB 79. The Red Flag Warning runs through 10:00 tonight.
The draft minutes in next week’s packet show all five members voted for every action on Oct 7. The consent calendar passed, including the library special tax report, a $413,810 residential slurry seal contract with Roy Allan Slurry Seal, on-call sewer and storm drain contracts with W.A. Rasic, GRBCON and Ferreira (up to $200,000 this year), renewal of five Mills Act contracts, and contract extensions for HVAC (ACCO, now up to $359,716), elevators, engineering and street-project inspection. Pulled from consent and then approved separately: Amendment No. 2 to the Measure R agreement with Metro, which adds $30 million to the Huntington Drive / Fremont Avenue corridor project, and a $3.34 million amendment to Kimley-Horn’s design contract for that project (new total up to $5.78 million). The Council also took $10 million in Measure R money for intelligent traffic systems on Fair Oaks Avenue, adopted the amended fee schedule (film, fire and Community Services rental and program fees), and received the 2026 scorecard update. The Olympics committee item was pulled by staff, and closed session had no reportable action.
At the study session, the Council told staff to draft a noise ordinance using Noise Map Option 2, with daytime hours of 7 a.m.–10 p.m. and nighttime hours of 10 p.m.–7 a.m. Where a property sits next to a different noise zone, the lower limit applies at the receiving property. Staff will report back about six months after adoption with complaint and noise-measurement data. At the joint meeting on downtown design standards, the Council and Planning Commission asked staff to clarify when the standards apply, review rules for buildings next to historic resources on Mission Street and El Centro, and refine shopfront façade, shading and proportion rules before Tuesday’s Planning hearing. Oct 21 packet (minutes are Item 5)
The regular meeting is Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Under action items, the Council will consider a six-month pilot for tennis and pickleball at Garfield Park and Orange Grove Park. The plan sets court hours of 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., keeps first-come, first-served play with limited reservations and permits for organized activities, and keeps the current striping (Garfield tennis-only, Orange Grove shared tennis/pickleball). It also asks for direction on sound-attenuation panels at Orange Grove, priced from about $18,000 before installation, with up to $30,000 set aside for planning. The Olympics ad hoc committee is back: staff wants two Councilmembers to coordinate with LA28, SCAG and Metro and bring back recommendations, with the committee ending when the 2028 Games begin. The Council will also consider Resolution No. 8041 supporting Measure SOS, the Nov 3 bond measure that would authorize up to $80 million for streets, sidewalks, curbs and gutters if two-thirds of voters approve.
On consent: a reorganization of the Finance Department that adds no positions (the Accounting Manager becomes Deputy Finance Director/Controller); a Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth contract for bond counsel on a possible refunding of the water revenue bonds (up to $65,000, paid only from bond proceeds if it closes); three police electric vehicles (two Chevrolet Blazer EVs and a Silverado EV) from Sierra Auto Group for up to $187,000 from a CHP cannabis-tax grant, plus up to $89,000 to outfit them; an update on the Metro Throne restroom near the A Line station (17,326 uses since October 2025, about 49 a day) and approval of a new exterior wrap; plans and specs for the Fair Oaks traffic-signal project; a grant application of up to $360,000 for pedestrian crossing improvements at Mission/Mound and Mission/Milan; an amendment to the Measure M agreement for pedestrian crossing devices; the 2025 fire inspection compliance report; and the quarterly capital projects update. Closed session at 6:15 p.m. covers two potential cases of anticipated litigation. Agenda
The Planning Commission meets Tuesday, Oct 20, at 6:30 p.m. to make recommendations to the Council on two items. The first is the Phase 1 Objective Design Standards for the Downtown Specific Plan along Mission Street and Fair Oaks Avenue (Resolution No. 8038), built around the American Mercantile and Spanish Colonial Revival styles. A companion ordinance (No. 2423) would apply the standards to residential projects that get ministerial design review elsewhere in the city until Phase 2 standards are ready. Staff says the standards don’t change allowed uses, density or height. The second item would grow the city’s temporary SB 79 exclusion for historic sites from the seven local landmarks deferred in July to 84 sites, using the categories added by AB 2576. The 77 new exclusions would take effect no earlier than Jan 1, 2027. Together with the 111 high-density sites already deferred under Ordinance No. 2419, that would put 195 sites near the A Line station outside SB 79’s default standards. Agenda packet
Before last night’s meeting, the commission posted a second additional-documents memo with one more public comment. Josh Albrektson, who owns the house next door at 1123 Windsor, wrote that he fully supports the plans for the addition at 1129 Windsor Place. No results from Thursday’s meeting have been posted yet. Memo
The Red Flag Warning stays in effect until 10:00 p.m. today. Keep streets and fire lanes clear, especially in Monterey Hills. There were no new police releases or Nixle alerts overnight.
No new permit records to report.
No business-license changes to report.
No new city solicitations to report. PlanetBids
The Finance Commission’s Oct 22 regular meeting is cancelled. A special meeting is set for Thursday, Oct 29, at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers, with an agenda to be posted at least 72 hours ahead. Notice
Still no minutes from Monday’s Community Services meeting, the Oct 8 Library Board or Wednesday’s Public Works meeting. No new filings from NREC, Public Safety or Public Art.
Finance posted the 2026 Amended Schedule of Fees, which replaces the FY 2026-27 schedule on the city’s fee page. It reflects Resolution No. 8037, adopted Oct 7, which updated film permit, fire and Community Services facility rental and program fees. Fee schedule
The online municipal code is still current through Ordinance No. 2412. Saturday’s Emergency Preparedness Fair and Fall Arts Crawl, the Oct 23 Boo Bash and the Oct 24 Take Back Day stand as reported.