The Sacramento City Council’s audit committee will be busy for awhile.

During a Tuesday night briefing on an investigation into the city’s approval of 35 building permits in a Natomas flood zone, City Attorney Eileen Teichert told the City Council there are more issues to address. She identified one of the issues as the Facilities Permit Program (FPP), but declined to specify the other issues.

“During the course of these initial interviews and documentary review, additional issues have arisen,” Teichert told the City Council.

The FPP became controversial in a recent debate over Nestlé’s move to set up a bottling plant in Sacramento. In three weeks, the city attorney’s office will deliver a report to the City Council on issues related to the FPP, Teichert said.

The office will also give recommendations on how to revise the program to align to related laws, she said.

In addition to the FPP, the city attorney’s office has found other issues, according to Teichert. In response to questions from reporters after the meeting, she did not describe the new issues. However, she said information about the issues would be reported back publicly to the City Council as “as soon as we’re ready to reach some conclusions on them.”

The City Council’s audit committee will analyze some of these additional issues “where it’s appropriate, where it’s more of a systemic or a process issue,” Teichert said

Members of the audit committee include Councilmembers Steve Cohn, Ray Tretheway, Lauren Hammond and Robbie Waters. The committee is currently working on an audit of the Community Development Department; the new issues will be added to the committee’s plate, according to Teichert.

The briefing Teichert delivered Tuesday was not her final opinion on the Natomas building permits issue — it was an update on the investigative work being carried out by her office and Renee Sloan Holtzman Sakai, a third-party firm. The city attorney’s office and the outside firm are reviewing documents and a database and holding interviews. Teichert’s office and the third-party firm are trying to find out if the 35 permits in question are an “isolated incident,” Teichert said.

“We still have some additional legwork to solidify that conclusion,” she said.

Bikes on K Street

The City Council likes bikes on K Street.

Councilmembers unanimously approved a rule change on Tuesday that will let bicyclists ride on the K Street pedestrian mall.

“If you want people to try alternative modes, you’ve got to make it a little more convenient for people,” said Councilman Steve Cohn.

Councilman Ray Tretheway praised the timing of the rule change. “It really seems like the time is right to put bicycles back on K Street,” Tretheway said.

Specifically, people will be able to bicycle on K Street from 13th Street to 7th Street and from 4th Street to 2nd Street. The Westfield Downtown Plaza will continue to be a no-bicycle zone.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.