What Buena Park is about to decide

The council meets at 5:00 PM in the Council Chamber, 6650 Beach Boulevard, with one public hearing set for 6:00 PM and a two-part study session after a recess. These are pending decisions from the posted agenda — not outcomes. Every item links to the official record.

Source: official agenda packet (PDF) · meeting page

✅ What actually passed (per the draft minutes): The draft minutes of this meeting, attached to the September 22 agenda packet for approval as Item 4.A and not yet adopted by the council, record every vote as 5-0 with Ahn, Franco, Hoque (by teleconference), Sonne and Traut present. The consent calendar, Items 4A–4H, passed in one motion (Traut/Sonne) — adopting Resolution No. 15162 (plans for the sewer manhole project and the $832,926 Ayala Engineering, Inc. contract), Resolution No. 15163 (plans for Bellis Yard and the $412,734.81 Ortiz & Son, Inc. contract), the SC Fuels fuel agreement, the Aurelian call-automation pilot with its $25,000 Asset Forfeiture appropriation, the $11,810 Onward Engineering amendment, and claims resolutions Nos. 15160 ($1,572,436.37) and 15161 ($1,317,579.64 in payroll). Preferential Parking District No. 16 was approved as amended, 5-0 (Resolution No. 15164): on a motion by Hoque, seconded by Traut, the council added “8741 Valley View Street, 8751 Valley View Street Unit A, and 8751 Valley View Street Unit B to purchase up to two resident/visitor permits each, and the residences on Los Encinos Street” after seven speakers, including two asking to exempt Yoshikane Dental Group employees; the minutes record staff being asked to work with the apartment owners, OCTA and Albertsons on parking. The 6591 Beach Boulevard restaurant lease with LLP Investments, LLC was approved 5-0 (Franco/Ahn). Ordinance No. 1770, the Zoning Code text amendment, was adopted 5-0 (Franco/Traut) after a public hearing with no speakers; Council Member Sonne asked for educational materials for residents. In the study session the council directed staff to bring the feasibility of a recycled-water system account to the next budget discussion, continue regional collaboration and prepare greywater and rainwater education, and to run a community survey on street-sign design options 1, 2, 5 and 10. The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. We will update this when the council adopts the minutes.

The headline: the council is asked to award an $832,926 contract to Ayala Engineering, Inc. to rehabilitate 139 sewer manholes — a $926,196 project with contingency and workforce-agreement costs — and a $412,734.81 contract to Ortiz & Son, Inc. for the Bellis Yard Improvements, a job the council rejected all bids on in June and re-bid at a narrower scope. In new business, the city-owned restaurant building at 6591 Beach Boulevard gets a proposed new tenant: LLP Investments, LLC (Leo Prats), who would finish the half-built remodel left behind when the Mr. Tempo lease was voluntarily terminated in April 2026 and open a breakfast-and-lunch "Beach Cafe" by late October, paying $3,068 per month plus $38,000 in option and lease fees. The 6:00 PM public hearing is a wide-ranging Zoning Code text amendment (C-26-2) — updated ADU rules under state law, new uses like food halls and axe throwing, flat industrial parking ratios, a 600-foot buffer for crematoriums — and the Aurelian AI call-taking pilot discussed August 25 comes back as a $25,000 contract on consent.

🏗️ Contracts, bids & infrastructure

$832,926 to Ayala Engineering, Inc. of Anaheim for the 2025-2026/2026-2027 Sewer Manhole Rehabilitation Project: replacing manhole frames and covers and installing new epoxy coatings at 139 manholes citywide. Two bids were opened August 27, 2026, ranging from $832,926 to $881,657 (Sancon Technologies), against an engineer's estimate of approximately $809,593.50. Staff also asks for $85,000 in contingency, a $7,470 purchase order to the Solis Group to administer the Community Workforce Agreement plus $800 CWA contingency, and a $252,000 budget transfer from the Miscellaneous Sewer System Improvement Account (53-9806-490010) to cover the balance — a total project cost of $926,196 from Wastewater Funds. Construction is anticipated November 2026 through January 2027. Item 4.D
$412,734.81 to Ortiz & Son, Inc. of Buena Park for the Bellis Yard Improvements Project at the Public Works maintenance yard, 7171 8th Street: asphalt rehabilitation, concrete pavement and masonry walls for green-waste and material storage areas, relocating the chain-link fence, and perimeter security improvements. On June 23, 2026 the council rejected all bids on a combined Bellis Yard and City Yard Parking Lot project that came in over budget; the two were split and re-advertised. Five base bids opened August 19 ranged from $412,734.81 to $668,200 — all above the $351,900 engineer's estimate. With $21,375.19 contingency the total is $434,110, from the Measure R Fund (13-9806-190300). Work is anticipated September through October 2026. Item 4.E
$11,810 Amendment No. 1 to Onward Engineering's $172,258 design agreement (PSA No. 25-18) for SCE Corridor Trail Phase III, the next Silverado Trail segment between Knott Avenue and El Monte Drive along the north edge of Peak Park. After design, the construction estimate came to $1,607,049.75, pushing the total above the approved $1.7 million budget; staff and the consultant found that reusing the existing irrigation point of connection, backflow assembly, and mainline and dropping a new booster pump could cut roughly $400,000. The amendment pays for the redesign and extends the term to December 31, 2026. Item 4.H
Fuel supply agreement with Southern Counties Oil Company (SC Fuels) for the city's two refueling stations and fleet of more than 300 vehicles, piggybacking on a City of Westminster bid (File No. 25-954, May 14, 2025) after the Garden Grove contract Buena Park had been riding expired. Staff asks to dispense with competitive bidding under Municipal Code Section 3.28.080.H; the one-year term runs July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027 with four one-year options. Per the staff report the new pricing is "$.03 cents lower for unleaded and $.21 cents lower for diesel than the previous agreement"; the agreement lists gasoline at $0.161 per gallon below the OPIS rack price plus a $0.0521 delivery charge, and diesel at $0.041 below OPIS plus $0.0610 delivery. The city has $650,000 budgeted for fuel and oil (71-171710-6460). Item 4.F

🏘️ Development, property & zoning

New restaurant lease at 6591 Beach Boulevard: the council will consider an Agreement for Option to Lease with LLP Investments, LLC for the city-owned historic building (about 1,173 square feet, on the local historical registry) that housed the Tice House Café and then Poquito Mas. Per the staff report, Poquito Mas assigned its lease to CH Buena Park, LLC (dba Mr. Tempo, owned by Arturo Concha) in January 2023; after "several months of delayed construction and failure to pay rent," the city issued a Notice of Default in July 2025 and the tenant "agreed to voluntarily terminate the lease" in April 2026. The new tenant, Leo Prats — described as a 30-year Los Angeles County restaurant owner who also runs an architecture and construction company and is the registered architect and general contractor for the unfinished remodel — would complete construction and sublease to a breakfast-and-lunch "Beach Cafe" with Mexican and classic American menus, open at least five days a week from 8 am to 3 pm and closing no later than 10 pm. Terms: $3,068 per month escalating 3 percent annually from year two, a five-year term with up to three five-year renewals at the city's sole discretion, and a $19,000.00 option fee plus a $19,000.00 lease fee ($38,000 total). The option must be exercised before February 1, 2027. Prats has also expressed interest in an EV charging sublease, which the city would take over if the main lease ends. Staff says construction could finish "in the next three weeks" with an opening by late October. Item 5.B
Preferential Parking District No. 16 on Los Ramos Circle, Los Rapidos Circle, Los Cientos Circle, Los Ranchos Drive, and the Valley View Frontage Road from Los Ranchos Drive to Los Encinos Street. Residents' July 2026 petition cites overflow parking from four apartment complexes across Valley View Street (about 230 units with roughly 354 on-site spaces) and the weekend Cypress College swap meet about 1,900 feet away; 73.1 percent of residents signed, above the two-thirds threshold. Nighttime counts found peak demand of 114% on Los Ramos Circle and 81% on Los Ranchos Drive, with Los Rapidos (73%) and the frontage road (71%) just under the 75% guideline and Los Cientos Circle at 20%. The Traffic & Transportation Commission voted 3 to 1 on August 6 to recommend approval and to not consider a lottery system. Signs would cost about $6,300 and permits about $2,500. (The staff report's budget section refers to "PPD No. 15" while the resolution and the rest of the report say No. 16.) Item 5.A

📜 Public hearing: Zoning Code text amendment C-26-2

What is proposed: an ordinance amending Title 19 (Zoning) Divisions 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9, which the Planning Commission recommended 5-0 by Resolution No. 6415 on August 12, 2026. Highlights from the staff report: a "comprehensive update of ADU/JADU standards to comply with state law effective January 1, 2026" (SB 9, SB 543, and AB 1154, signed October 10, 2025); removal of the obsolete Research Manufacturing (MR) zone; new definitions for boarding/rooming house, convenience store/mini-market, food hall, thrift retail store, and light and heavy vehicle repair; exempting like-for-like parking-lot re-striping and trash enclosures from Interdepartmental Review; and a clarified chicken-keeping rule of three to six chickens with minimum coop dimensions. Item 6.A
Commercial and industrial changes: new listed uses including food halls, coffee shops with drive-throughs, indoor recreation such as "karaoke, axe throwing, virtual reality, batting cages, indoor go-kart/sports complexes," and breweries and distilleries with tasting rooms; vehicle sales and repair categories restructured on Federal Highway Administration classes with indoor-only operations; industrial parking ratios switched from a sliding scale to flat rates; new standards for outdoor swap meets; a 600-foot separation between mortuaries/crematoriums and sensitive uses; and tattoo parlors required to comply with the California Safe Body Art Act. The Amusement Resort (AR) zone would be merged into Division 7, retitled "Mixed-Use and Special Zones." Staff finds the amendment exempt from CEQA under Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) and Public Resources Code Section 21080.17, and reports no fiscal impact. Notice ran in the Buena Park Independent on August 14. Item 6.A

🎙️ Study session: recycled water, and new arterial street signs

Greywater and recycled water: at Council Member Franco's request (calendared May 26, 2026), Public Works Director Mina Mikhael reports that recycled water is available — via Cerritos's system fed by the Los Coyotes Water Reclamation Plant, or via Central Basin Municipal Water District — but that "the primary challenge is not the availability of recycled water, but rather the economic feasibility." Buena Park's potable water costs about $778 per acre-foot; Cerritos sells recycled water to Lakewood at $788 and Central Basin charges $815 outside its area, before any cost of building a separate distribution system. Of about 19,000 water accounts, staff screened 36 as potentially suitable (about 1,135 acre-feet a year), nine of them city parks and facilities; Los Coyotes Country Club (about 510 acre-feet) is called a potential anchor customer with "no current commitment." A State Water Board grant could cover about half of a roughly $500,000 feasibility study. On greywater, staff says the city's role is mainly permitting and education; laundry-to-landscape systems run about $1,000 to $2,500. Direction only. Item 9.A
Arterial street sign redesign: the adopted budget sets aside $250,000 in each of two consecutive fiscal years to replace the internally illuminated street name signs the city has used since the late 1970s with thinner LED housings, phased to start on recently rehabilitated streets. Marketing staff will walk through several proposed designs and a survey of other Orange County cities' signs (Buena Park currently uses no street suffixes). Direction only. Item 9.B

📋 Consent calendar

$25,000 master services agreement with Aurelian (Needl, Inc. dba Aurelian) for the Police Department's one-year Non-Emergency Call Automation Pilot Program, following the August 25 study session where the council "supported contracting with Aurelian for a one-year pilot program." The Communications Center took more than 67,000 calls in 2025, about 41,000 (61%) non-emergency. The order form sets Year 1 at $25,000 including implementation, support, and CAD integration, cancellable on 30 days' notice for a pro-rated refund. The amount is within the City Manager's signature authority, but with no existing budget line, Municipal Code Section 3.48.010.C requires council approval of a $25,000 appropriation from the undesignated Asset Forfeiture Fund balance to the Narcotics Recovery Fund (20-651607-6240); no General Fund impact. Item 4.G
Resolutions approving claims and demands: $1,572,436.37 for demand numbers 437518 through 437740, and $1,317,579.64 for regular payroll ending August 14, 2026. Item 4.B
Minutes of the August 19 special meeting and the August 25 special and regular meetings Item 4.A, and a proclamation recognizing September 2026 as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Item 4.C

🪑 Also on the agenda

Recognition of Angelica Lopez for achieving her Certified Municipal Clerk certification. Item 2.A
The August 19 minutes in this packet record the council's 4-0 vote (Hoque absent) appointing Joyce Ahn to a new four-year District 1 term in lieu of an election, canceling the November 3, 2026 District 1 contest under Elections Code Section 10229 after she was the only candidate to file; elections for Districts 2 and 5 proceed. The August 25 minutes note one vacancy on the Cultural Engagement Commission for District 1. Item 4.A
Council listed on the agenda: Mayor Connor Traut, Vice Mayor Lamiya Hoque, Ph.D., and Council Members Joyce Ahn, Carlos Franco, and Susan Sonne. The Aurelian staff report is signed by Brad Geyer as Interim Police Chief. No closed session is listed on this agenda. Items 1, 7, 10–12

Council Brief summaries are produced from official public records by our automated newsroom and reviewed before publication. Items are described as posted; the council may amend, continue, or remove items at the meeting. Spot an error? hello@councilbrief.com — we publish corrections.