Riverside council forms three-member artificial intelligence working group, approves 56 homes on La Sierra Avenue
Councilmembers Robillard, Hemenway and Falcone were named Sept. 15 to an ad hoc group that has 13 months to bring back AI policy recommendations. The council also approved a Meritage Homes subdivision with a revised traffic condition.
The Riverside City Council voted Sept. 15 to create a temporary three-member working group on artificial intelligence strategy and policy.
The motion carried unanimously, according to meeting minutes prepared by the city clerk. Councilmember Robillard made the motion, Councilmember Falcone seconded it, and four members of the public spoke.
The council appointed Robillard, Hemenway and Falcone to the group.
The minutes are a draft. They were attached to the council's Oct. 6 agenda and had not yet been approved.
What the group will do
The group has 13 months to return with policy recommendations and what the council report calls an AI strategic framework.
The report, brought by Robillard, lists five focus areas:
- rules for how city departments use AI
- economic and workforce development
- infrastructure and land use, including data centers, electrical capacity and cooling water
- cybersecurity and data privacy
- education and the local economy
The report says AI questions cut across several standing council committees and that a single group avoids duplicated work.
Under Section 201 of the city charter, the group will be treated as a body subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's open meetings law, the report says.
It will dissolve when it submits its final report. The report states that creating it has no direct cost.
La Sierra Avenue subdivision
After a public hearing, the council approved a Meritage Homes plan for 56 single-family lots at the southwest corner of La Sierra and Alhambra avenues.
The motion, by Hemenway and seconded by Mill, passed, with Councilmember Cervantes recorded as absent for that vote, the draft minutes say. One caller spoke.
The 9.88-acre site now holds three houses, according to a staff report. Fifty-two lots would range from 3,555 to 7,397 square feet and take access from La Sierra Avenue. Four lots of more than 20,000 square feet would face Alhambra Avenue.
Three of the homes would be reserved for very low-income households. The developer used the state density bonus law to request waivers of some setback, open space and wall height standards, the report says.
The Planning Commission approved the project July 16 on a 6-0 vote with three commissioners absent, adding a condition that requires an opening in the La Sierra Avenue median at the project entrance.
Hemenway referred the case to the council to review that condition. The council kept it with staff's revised wording, which the report says requires the developer to rebuild the median with a northbound left-turn lane into the project. Left turns out would not be allowed.
Staff also recommended a second condition for a high-visibility crosswalk and flashing beacons at La Sierra and Alhambra avenues, near a rear gate of Loma Vista Middle School.
E-bike rules postponed
The council continued to Sept. 22 the introduction of an ordinance regulating e-bikes and similar devices. That motion also carried unanimously.
An item on a foreign direct investment strategy and overseas travel by elected officials was taken off the agenda, the minutes show.