Latest Refinery Meetings Scheduled for This Week, Including Town Hall by U.S. Rep. DeSaulnier

Martinez Junior High named California Distinguished School; MUSD budget update; new housing accessibility standards; slow start to affordable housing goals; traffic safety concerns

This figures to be a big week for meetings related to PBF Energy’s Martinez refinery.

U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Walnut Creek, will hold a town hall on refinery safety at John Muir Elementary School in Martinez on Monday evening, accompanied by local and federal regulatory officials.

PBF’s Martinez Refining Co. on Pacheco Boulevard has received the lion’s share of attention since the 2022 Thanksgiving night spent catalyst release that showered at least 20 tons of toxic dust on the surrounding community, followed by a series of unplanned flaring and coke dust releases in the months that followed.

But the Marathon renewable fuels refinery on Solano Avenue has also come under scrutiny for a major fire in November that left a worker severely burned. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has been investigating that incident, and it will be represented at Monday’s town hall, along with officials from Contra Costa Health and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which have been investigating PBF’s facility.

The town hall will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the school’s Multipurpose Room, located at 205 Vista Way. It also will be livestreamed on DeSaulnier’s Facebook page: facebook.com/repmarkdesaulnier Those planning to attend in person can RSVP at the following link: https://desaulnier.house.gov/town-hall-rsvp?fbclid=IwAR1JVgH4kAY8P8wQqRjPCA7j73NKhPuz3OCx-ZZ3YZYkwym88JxoHf0KxNY

Then, on Thursday, the county-led Martinez Refining Company Oversight Committee will hold a meeting via Zoom at 10 a.m. to receive updates on the independent root cause investigation into the spent catalyst release and the broader safety culture review of the PBF refinery. Scott Berger’s draft report on the cause of the spent catalyst accident was released last month, citing training lapses, worker fatigue and inadequate safeguards by PBF, though some of the findings were disputed by the refinery’s representative to the oversight committee. Information on how to attend that meeting can be found at the following link: https://www.cchealth.org/home/showpublisheddocument/29800/638466303285000000

Martinez Junior High named California Distinguished School

Martinez Junior High School has been named a California Distinguished School, marking the first time in four years that a Martinez Unified School District school has received the statewide honor.

John Muir Elementary was recognized with the honor in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Superintendent Helen Rossi said at the March 11 MUSD school board meeting. Before that, Morello Park Elementary and John Swett Elementary were named Distinguished Schools in 2012.

In all, 293 middle and high schools throughout the state received the distinction this year from the California Department of Education. MJS was one of seven Contra Costa County schools honored. According to the department:

Schools are recognized for exceptional student performance based on achieving exemplary performance in English Language Arts (ELA) and math, reducing suspensions, and demonstrating high graduation rates (high schools only).

Rossi noted at the school board meeting that MJS had show notable progress in its English Language Arts, math and English learners metrics, as well as reducing chronic absences and suspension rates. This is the fifth time MJS has been named a California Distinguished School, the most of any MUSD school, Rossi added.

The honor came as a bright spot for the school and district after concerns were raised at a board meeting last month about the impacts that district budget cuts would have on MJS in particular, with the position of a popular vice principal slated to be eliminated. Several parents and students spoke against eliminating the position, to no avail, as the school board approved cuts totaling over $2 million in the face of a worsening budget situation.

The budget picture appeared no brighter on March 11, as the school board received the second interim report for the 2023-24 school year. While the recent cuts will allow the school district to maintain fiscal health in the short term, it expects to continue running a structural deficit through at least the 2025-26 school year, even with no salary adjustments (the district hasn’t yet settled on new contracts for its certificated and classified bargaining units). District revenues are expected to slide over that period as one-time, pandemic-related funding ends and Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funding continues to decline in the face of negative enrollment and attendance trends in recent years. The district is also having to contribute significant sums from its general fund to provide required special education services.

Hopes for a state bailout don’t look promising heading toward the governor’s annual “May Revise” budget update. Chief Business Official Andy Cannon said state tax receipts are showing no improvement. Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) funding increases are also expected to drop significantly over the next couple of years, Cannon explained, adding that the impact of recent COLA increases in MUSD are being offset to some degree by the declines in ADA revenues.

In approving the district’s first interim budget update, the Contra Costa County Office of Education strongly encouraged the district “to take steps to eliminate operating deficits while maintaining sufficient unrestricted reserves to protect the agency from unforeseen hardships,” Rossi told the board, referencing a letter the district received from the agency that also “commended us for successful management of finances in spite of the operational challenges…”

In other district news, Alhambra High English teacher Samantha Groess has been named Martinez Unified’s teacher of the year.

New accessibility design rules for residential units

The City Council last week updated its municipal code to require that at least 15% of total dwelling units constructed within developments with five or more total units adhere to universal design requirements for meeting the needs of residents with disabilities or accessibility challenges. The goal of these standards for new residential development is “to enable residents to remain in their homes during periods of temporary, developing, or permanent disabilities or frailties and which accommodate a wide range of individual preferences and functional abilities.”

Some examples include pathways and doors wide enough for wheelchairs; regulating steps along a path of travel or at an entry; maximum slopes for pathways; and interior wall bracing for future grab bar installation.

The original staff proposal was to apply the new standards to at least 30% of dwelling units within applicable projects, but the council scaled that back after public comments about the challenges and costs of complying with such requirements.

The resolution accompanying the municipal code update noted that, according to the 2023-31 draft city Housing Element, 8,439 Martinez residents have at least one disability, and approximately 21.6% of the city’s residents have conditions that may affect their ability to live independently in conventional residential settings.

The resolution can be found at the following link: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/2506677/Ordinance_-_Universal_Design_and_Accessibility_Regulations.pdf

No progress in 2023 on building affordable housing

City staff produced its annual report on progress toward meeting the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for the 2023-31 Housing Element cycle.

While 2023 saw 84 building permits issued, they were all in the above-moderate-income category, continuing a long-term trend of the city failing to produce affordable housing. The city’s RHNA goal is to create 772 units of housing for very low-, low- and moderate-income groups by 2031; it ended 2023 with zero progress toward that goal in terms of building permits issued.

However, there was a glimmer of positive news on the affordable housing front in the report. Staff reported issuing planning entitlements for 47 additional units, including nine very-low income units as part of the Riverhouse Hotel project at 700 Alhambra Ave.

The report can be found at the following link: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/2506684/Staff_Report_APR_2023.pdf

Road safety data released

The council reviewed its Local Roadway Safety Plan at Wednesday’s council meeting, including data on the frequency and location of vehicular accidents in the city.

The report found that from 2017 to 2021, the city averaged 143 collisions annually. During that period, 41 documented collisions involved pedestrians and 29 involved bicyclists, including nine that resulted in fatalities or severe injuries.

The following corridors and intersections experienced the highest collision rates:

Improper turning was the top reason given in the report for collisions, followed by unsafe speed. The No. 1 type of collision reported was sideswipes.

City engineer Joe Enke said the city is hoping to obtain grant funding to implement traffic safety improvements at locations that are experiencing the highest rates of collisions.

Mayor Brianne Zorn expressed concern about the lack of assurance in the Local Road Safety Plan that the public will see improvements to the areas identified.

“The Local Road Safety Plan has a lot of great recommendations but no clear path to what’s going to be done first and what we can expect,” she said.

Several residents spoke during public comment about witnessing frequent accidents in their neighborhoods, particularly at the intersection of Brown and Pine streets.

Councilman Satinder Malhi noted that the city has made significant progress on traffic safety over the past year but also said “it’s very clear to me that we do have problematic sites at all of the thoroughfares and corridors that are near or adjacent to all of our school sites.”

He added: “I think we need to be prioritizing those areas and seeing where we can get those grant funds.”

The road safety plan can be viewed at the following link: https://martineznewsandviews.substack.com/publish/post/142849106?back=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fdrafts

Follow Martinez News and Reviews on Facebook and Instagram