At the December 16 Coronado City Council meeting, the City Manager, Tina Friend, introduced Coronado’s new Deputy City Manager, Allyson Violante. Friend also thanked the community and organizations that were involved in recent festivities, including the Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting, which marked the 50th anniversary of the event.

Council members also provided some end-of-year updates on their committee assignments, with Councilmember Amy Steward noting that she was recently appointed to serve on two new committees starting in 2026. She will be serving on the League of California Cities Environmental Quality Policy Committee, as well as the SANDAG Shoreline Policy Task Force, which will help update and guide shoreline preservation policy for the region.

Councilmember Carrie Downey mentioned attending the remote public meeting for the Caltrans Rehabilitation Project, and that she is seeking to get additional notifications for such meetings to the community, so anyone interested in learning more about such projects is aware of those opportunities.

Mayor John Duncan also thanked Downey for her work throughout the year with SANDAG and their Regional Housing Plan as a voice for Coronado, noting that some changes were recently made to that plan that will be helpful for the City.

Duncan also spoke more about the Minute 333 treaty between Mexico and the United States, which now includes two things the City has been advocating for regarding managing the sewage flows. The first is consideration for Mexico to build another sewage treatment plant in addition to the new plant that was built this past year, and consideration for a six-mile-long outfall pipe for treated sewage.

The agreement also requires Mexico to pay for everything listed within the treaty and to identify a source for funding those projects, as well as to set aside an agreed-upon amount of funds to the North American Development Bank to be used for ongoing maintenance for treating sewage.

Councilmember Mark Fleming commented on the updates on this topic as well, adding that as part of this section of the agreement, Mexico will also be expanding the output of the new SAB plant to be able to treat up to 43 million gallons per day.

Councilmember Kelly Purvis provided an update on the JPA Wastewater agreement, mentioning that by January, half of the municipalities will have approved the Second Amended and Restated Agreement (SARA). Once six approvals have come in, they will be able to start the process for final reviews and approval. She was also recently appointed to serve on the Housing Community and Economic Development Policy Committee for the League of California Cities.

The sole item for discussion at Tuesday’s meeting was a review of the City’s 2026 legislative policy guidelines and priority legislative goals in terms of advocacy at the county, state, and national levels. The document remained largely the same from the previous year, though Friend recommended going through and doing a more robust review and update of the guideline document within the next year, as time allows.

Included within the priority legislative goals are the elimination of cross-border water pollution; funding storm water, wastewater, recycled water, and other major capital infrastructure and resiliency projects; implementing a reasonable Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) for the next (7th) cycle (focusing on land-use within the a city’s jurisdictional control); and allowing for the local establishment of e-bike regulation. The document also covers legislative policy guidelines for public safety issues, transportation, public works, regional economic development, environmental policies, and the City’s relationship with the Navy.

Steward agreed with Friend’s assessment regarding a clean-up of the document and suggested forming a subcommittee to work with City staff and take a closer look at making changes reflective of the current state of each section. Friend also suggested that councilmembers may send their suggested modifications for language or removal of outdated sections to her for staff to review and compile into a single document for the 2026 guidelines. A subcommittee could then work throughout the year to establish any larger edits to be presented before the Council for the 2027 guidelines.

The Council was in agreement with Friend’s suggestion, and the 2026 legislative guidelines and priority goals will come back before them with the suggested revisions for final consideration and adoption in January.

The next City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 6, at 4 p.m. at City Hall. For more information, please visit the City’s website at https://www.coronado.ca.us/449/Agendas-Minutes.

VOL. 115, NO. 52 – Dec. 24, 2025