COVID-19 continues to impact the Big Bear Valley, however, the number of new cases continues to decrease, thankfully. There have been a total of 45 new cases reported in the Big Bear Valley over the last two weeks, or an average of 3.2 new cases per day during that time. The Big Bear Valley was averaging 9.4 new cases per day in August.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, there have been a total of 1,569 Big Bear Valley residents that have contracted COVID-19. This is equal to 8.3% of the total population. Sadly, 24 residents have lost their lives due to COVID-19, and this is equal to 0.13% of the Big Bear Valley population. Approximately1.5% of those individuals who have contracted COVID-19 in the Big Bear Valley have passed away.

City residents continue to be vaccinated at a higher rate than the unincorporated communities in the Big Bear Valley, with 74.6% of all City residents age 12 and over having received at least one dose. This compares to 43.0% of all residents age 12 and over in the unincorporated communities.

The City continues to recommend that EVERYONE in the Big Bear Valley get vaccinated, and continues to offer free weekly vaccination clinics every Thursday at City Hall.

The next clinic will be held on Thursday, September 30 from 10 am - 2 pm at City Hall, and both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be offered. Appointments can be made at this website, and walk-ins are also welcome!

PLEASE get vaccinated! It's the best way to protect yourself, your family, and your community!

The City and the Municipal Water District (MWD, which manages the lake and ancillary features) have reached an agreement for MWD to transfer a total of 3.4 acres of land, the existing gravel parking lot at the corner of Stanfield Cutoff and Big Bear Boulevard, and more than 2,000 linear feet of elevated boardwalk to the City. The City already owns approximately 4 acres of adjacent land and is working to acquire an additional 1.6 acres in this area. In total, the City expects to assemble a total of 9 acres of land in this area, with nearly 1 mile of frontage along Big Bear Boulevard and Stanfield Marsh, in the near future.

In the short term, the City plans to pave the existing gravel parking lot to enable it to remain open year-round, and will also install a new public restroom facility near the corner of Stanfield Cutoff and Big Bear Boulevard. These initial improvements should be complete by spring 2022. Over the next few years, the City intends to make significant repairs and improvements to the existing boardwalks, and extend a new asphalt bicycle trail from Stanfield Cutoff to Division Drive. The City also intends to develop the entire 9-acre site as a new City park in the coming years.

MWD is contributing a total of $500,000 toward the boardwalk repairs, and Visit Big Bear is contributing a total of $125,000 toward the new restroom facility. The City has been awarded an additional $331,000 of grant funds for the new asphalt trail, providing nearly $1 million of funding from non-City sources. The City has also allocated an additional $1.789 million of transient occupancy tax revenues derived from our overnight visitors for the planned improvements, resulting in a total planned investment of $2.75 million through FY 2025-26.

With the recent endorsement of the City Council, and following support from other regional partners, Mountain Transit is set to offer enhanced public transit service in the City and the entire Big Bear Valley! The enhanced service will include three convenient routes, running from early morning to late evening, every day, with frequent stops every 30 minutes. The routes include stops at all key destinations in the City, and the service is FREE to the rider - simply hop on the trolley and be on your way!

The enhanced service is intended to make it easy for our residents and visitors to simply leave their cars parked at their home, second home, hotel / motel / lodge, vacation rental, or one of our large public parking lots, and take the free trolley instead! Take the trolley right to the base of Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, right to the Village, right to Boulder Bay Park, right to the shopping centers, right to the Stanfield area, or any other place on your list in the Big Bear Valley. You'll be nearly able to come and go as you please, with a new trolley coming by every 30 minutes to take you back, or anyplace else you want to go. We recognize that people need to drive their car to get to Big Bear, but we're hoping once you're here you won't need it - use the trolley instead, and help us reduce congestion and maintain our excellent air quality!

The new service is expected to begin on October 31. Check out route maps for the Red Line, Blue Line, and Gold Line! For more information about Mountain Transit, please check out their website.

The City continues to work hard to prevent and resolve vacation rental concerns, and is now offering a great incentive to our vacation rental owners to install noise monitoring devices. For the next year, the City is offering a $150 license fee credit to any vacation rental owner that installs a noise monitoring device at the unit and maintains the service. This fee credit will be applied at the time of license renewal, and will reduce the annual license fee from $550 to $400.

In addition, the City has partnered with VRBO and NoiseAware to offer noise monitoring devices and services at a special discounted rate of $150. Thus, the combination of this special offer and the City's fee credit means all vacation rental owners can secure the noise monitoring device and the first year of service at NO NET COST!

The noise monitoring device is easy to use, and will alert vacation rental owners and managers to any excessive noise in real time, so that the owner or manager can immediately contact the guests and remind them to keep the noise down. The City is hopeful that this initiative will prevent and resolve noise concerns from vacation rentals BEFORE they impact our neighborhoods!

For more information, please contact the Tourism Management Department at 909-866-5832 or this email.

City Council members each represent one of 5 Council districts in the City, with approximately 600 registered voters in each district.

With the completion of the 2020 Census, the City is required to engage in a redistricting process to ensure that each district includes approximately the same number of voters and to ensure proper consideration for communities of interest. City Council will begin this process with public hearings at the October 4 and November 1 City Council meetings, and additional meetings will be scheduled over the next several months. The City Council is expected to complete the redistricting process in spring 2022, and the new districts will be used in the November 2022 City Council election.

To view a map of the current City Council districts, please click here.

City crews have been hard at work over the past two months to complete the rehabilitation of 4.6 miles of City streets, and will complete all work by September 30.

The City is proud of our Public Works staff and appreciates their hard work, and is pleased to have completed more than twice the typical amount of street rehab work this year. The City remains committed to providing a high quality street network, with plans to rehabilitate at least 4 - 5 miles of the City's approximately 87 miles of City streets each year in the future.

In addition to the City staff's efforts to rehabilitate approximately 4.6 miles of City streets this year, the Department of Water and Power (DWP) is also resurfacing an additional 1.8 miles of City streets and a key segment of Big Bear Boulevard in conjunction with water line replacement work.

All water line replacement work along Big Bear Boulevard is now complete, and DWP's contractor will be resurfacing one lane of Big Bear Boulevard between Cienega Road and Talbot Drive near the western City limits on Monday, September 27. Work is expected to be completed in one day, but may extend into the following day. Traffic will be reduced to one lane during paving operations.

City staff are in final negotiations with Bear Valley Mutual staff, and hope to present a formal 99-year lease agreement for City Council consideration in November. If the City acquires control of the 19-acres, the City would take initial steps to make the land available for public use in the next year. Future development and redevelopment plans would be determined over the next few years, and will ultimately be developed based on community input.

City staff continue to aggressively enforce the City's new vacation rental regulations, and have issued more than 250 citations with total penalties in excess of $550,000 since February 2021. The vast majority of these citations have been issued for excessive noise, illegal parking, and unlicensed properties. Summary and detailed reports are now available on the City's website, and will be updated monthly in the future. To view these reports, please click here.

It's important to note that the vast majority of our vacation rental owners and managers are diligent and engaged, truly care about our community, and are working hard to ensure that their guests are respectful neighbors. It's also important to note that the vast majority of our vacation rental guests are just like you, and are simply here to enjoy this special place for a few days with their family and friends. In fact, more than 99.5% of all occupied vacation rental nights do not result in any concerns at all. As such, the City's enforcement efforts remain focused on addressing the relatively few disrespectful guests - we absolutely value and welcome those who respect our community, but those who do not will be held accountable!

Mayor Herrick recently appointed 9 individuals (and 2 alternates) to serve on the new Economic Development Advisory Committee. The new committee will help the City develop strategies to promote responsible economic development, quality new commercial development, the improvement and/or redevelopment of blighted commercial properties, and diversify our local economy.

The committee's efforts will focus on all areas within Big Bear Lake, and will also include discussion of strategies to promote the availability of more goods and services locally so that our residents can minimize the need to travel off the mountain for shopping. The City has also retained a consultant to assist in identifying desired retail tenants for the former KMart location, and continues to work closely with the shopping center owner.

The new committee's first meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 25 at 3 pm at City Hall.

With fall now upon us, it's just a matter of weeks before the first snow in Big Bear Lake! City staff are busy preparing for snow season, and will be ready to quickly and efficiently remove snow from our streets and public facilities this winter. City staff are prepping our equipment, placing orders for additional leased equipment, and renewing contracts with private snow removal contractors and Big Bear Mountain Resorts.

The City continues to offer its helpful berm reduction program to minimize the amount of snow remaining at residential driveways after street plowing has been completed. In order to participate in the berm reduction program, and help our snow plow operators identify the boundaries of your driveway, please purchase and install berm reduction poles at the end of your driveway before the first snow arrives. Special poles are available for purchase ($25 plus tax) at City Hall during normal business hours.

Based on cell phone data, including day visitors and overnight guests, there are typically 40,000 - 50,000 visitors in the City of Big Bear Lake during the Christmas / New Year holiday period.

Thank you for checking out this issue of Elevation 6752', the official newsletter of the City of Big Bear Lake, CA! This newsletter is presented to keep you well-informed about the City's issues, projects, and initiatives, and is complemented by other public communications strategies as needed. The City Council, Planning Commission, City staff, and numerous others are all working hard to provide the highest quality City services, in a helpful and professional manner, and promote new public and private investment in our community - in order to enhance the quality of life and visitor experience - and we want to make sure you are well-informed about our efforts on your behalf!

The easiest way to stay-informed about the City of Big Bear Lake is to sign up for this email newsletter. It's easy to sign up - simply visit https://www.citybigbearlake.com/ and click on "Text & Email Notifications" in the top center of the homepage. Simply click on the link, enter your name and email address, and you're all set. Signing up will ensure you receive the new Elevation 6752' newsletter each month, and also any special communications from the City of Big Bear Lake for emergency situations, special events, and more.

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