Riverbank council approves construction standards update, library MOU and housing-element progress report; all measures pass unanimously

The Riverbank City Council approved several noncontroversial but substantive items at its April meeting, voting unanimously on a package of construction-standard updates, a library operations memorandum of understanding and the city’s 2024 housing-element annual progress report.

Why it matters: the construction-standard changes affect how public works and private contractors design and build in the city right-of-way, the library MOU establishes temporary operations during renovation, and the housing-element report documents how Riverbank is meeting state reporting requirements on housing production.

Consent and library MOU: The council approved the consent calendar, which included a resolution authorizing a memorandum of understanding with Stanislaus County to host library operations at the teen center while the Riverbank Public Library is renovated. The consent calendar motion passed on a 5–0 roll call.

Public works standards update (Item 12.1): The council approved five parts to update the city’s standard specifications. Director of Public Works Cody Bridgewater told the council the revisions add a vertical‑curb-to‑rollover‑curb driveway approach, update two‑inch water service details, add catch-basin and vertical-drain drawings, adopt microtrenching and trench‑paving details to reduce patchwork pavement, and replace design standards for trash enclosures. The council approved the resolutions by a 5–0 vote.

Housing‑element annual progress report (Item 12.2): Contract planner Michael Arroyo presented the 2024 annual report required by the State of California to track housing-element implementation. The report summarizes building-permit activity and planning approvals for the calendar year 2024 and will be transmitted to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Key figures cited in the presentation: 202 building permits for new dwelling units were issued in 2024 (reported as 194 single‑family detached permits and 8 accessory dwelling‑unit permits), and the staff report shows the city’s sixth-cycle regional housing need allocation (RHNA) at 3,591 units with roughly 312 units reported as completed or issued to date. The council voted 5–0 to accept the annual report and authorized staff to transmit it to state agencies.

Public comment and professional input: Planning-commissioner and local civil engineer Sid Halterman spoke in support of the standards updates and urged the city to continue vetting standards carefully to avoid inadvertent technical errors; the public works director said multiple city and contract staff review the standards as they are drafted.

Roll-call results: For each item described above, the motion passed with five yes votes, zero no votes and no abstentions.

Next steps: Staff will implement the approved construction standards, execute the library MOU with Stanislaus County, and submit the housing-element annual progress report to the two state agencies named in the presentation. Council did not take final action on several other agenda matters at the meeting and scheduled follow-up and closed-session items as noted in the minutes.