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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/01/2005 Meeting Minutes December 1, 2005 Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Thursday, December 1, 2005 6:00 P.M. Town Hall Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road 1. CALL TO ORDER,ROLL CALL,AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Kerr called the regular meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. in Council Chambers at Town Hall. Present: Mayor Breene Kerr, Mayor Pro Tem Dean Warshawsky, Councilmember Craig A. T. Jones, Councilmember Jean Mordo and Councilmember Mike O'Malley Absent: None Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham, City Attorney Steve Mattas,Planning Director Carl Cahill, Public Works Director/City Engineer Henry Louie, and City Clerk Karen Jost MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Mordo and passed unanimously to limit the length of time for public comments to three minutes. 2. APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS 2.1 Appointment to the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance(Los Altos School District) Councilmember Jones introduced candidate Francis La Poll. He advised Council that the Public Education Committee had unanimously endorsed La Poll's appointment to the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance. Jones provided a brief historical overview of the Committee's inception as an oversight committee following the adoption of the 1989 Parcel Tax and their current role within the Los Altos School District. Francis La Poll thanked Council for their consideration of his appointment. He noted that he had served on the CACF for seven years during his term as a City of Los Altos Council Member. He acknowledged that as a new resident to the Town he was looking forward to serving the community as the Town's representative to the Committee. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Jones, seconded by Mordo and passed unanimously to appoint Francis La Poll to serve as the Los Altos Hills representative to the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance. i 1 City Council Meeting Minutes December 1,2005 2.2 Appointment to the Open Space Committee Council had before them a Community Services Application from Alice Sakamoto requesting appointment to the Standing Open Space Committee. Council briefly interviewed the candidate. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Mordo, seconded by Warshawsky and passed unanimously to appoint Alice Sakamoto the Open Space Committee for a term of four years. 2.3 Appointment to the Emergency Communications Committee MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Warshawsky, seconded by Mordo and passed unanimously to appoint Tierney "Terry" Smith to the Emergency Communications Committee for a term of four years. 3. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT Planning Director Carl Cahill reported that the Planning Commission had not met since the last Council meeting. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Mordo, seconded by Warshawsky and passed unanimously to approve the Consent Calendar (Mayor Pro Tem Warshawsky abstained from consideration of items 4.1 and 4.5 and Councilmember O'Malley abstained from item 4.5): 4.1 Approval of Minutes: Regular City Council Meeting November 17, 2005 4.2 Review of Disbursements: 10/10/2005— 10/22/2005 $309,595.40 4.3 Award of Professional Service Work:2005 Sanitary Sewer Cleaning&Video Inspection—Reso#109-05 4.4 Proposed Agreement between the County of Santa Clara and Town Granting Homeland Security Funding for Emergency Management and CERT (continued from 11-17-05) 4.5 Update on Westwind Barn Arena Design 4.6 Notification of Fast Track Approval: Lands of Divatia,27101 Byrne Park Lane; A Request for a Site Development Permit for a 1,705 square foot Addition to the Existing 4,270 square foot Single Family Residence (maximum height 18 feet) (139-03-ZP-SD) • 2 City Council Meeting Minutes December 1,2005 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 5.1 Town Goals 5.1.1 Implementation of Strategic Conservation Goals Councilmember Jones referenced a recent San Jose Mercury News article on solar panel systems that had included a cost comparison of municipal permit fees. He noted that the Sierra Club had recommended that the cost for project fees be below $300. Jones asked that consideration of a zero cost for Town permit fees be agendized for Council consideration at their next regular meeting. He suggested that the adoption of a zero permit fee policy would be a positive symbolic gesture that would identify the Town as "pro-solar". 5.1.2 Bringing Public Education Back to the Hills Councilmember Jones advised that there was nothing new to report from the Public Education Committee. They are continuing to perform their due diligence on the issue of redistricting and would report their findings to Council at a future meeting. 5.2 Underground Project Status Report Mayor Pro Tem Warshawsky deferred his report to Public Works Director Henry Louie. Louie reported that the Ad Hoc Undergrounding Committee and staff had recently met with PG&E to discuss the Town's pilot project. The design project had been moved up to July 2006 and construction was expected to start in early 2007. The next meeting with PG&E was scheduled for January 2006. 5.3 Update on General Plan Review Councilmember O'Malley reported that the Ad-Hoc General Plan Review Committee has not met since the last Council meeting. Their next scheduled meeting was December 14, 2005. 5.4 Update on Improved Cell Phone Coverage Planning Director Carl Cahill reported that the Town had received four applications for cell towers. They are currently being reviewed by the Planning Department and he expected them to be forwarded to the City Council for their consideration in early January/February 2006. 6. NEW BUSINESS None • 3 City Council Meeting Minutes December 1,2005 7. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES,AND COUNCILMEMBERS ON OUTSIDE AGENCIES 7.1 Update on Town Ham Radio Repeater at La Cresta Water Tank—Emergency Communications Committee-Dru Anderson, Chair Dru Anderson, Emergency Communications Committee Chair, addressed Council. She advised them of the Committee's ongoing efforts with technical evaluations of the emergency operations, member training and current drill activities. The Committee members were being encouraged to be CERT trained and certified. Anderson reported on the status of the La Cresta water tank antenna. The project was on budget and installation of the antenna would be scheduled when the conduit to the equipment box was installed. Anderson was hopeful that the project would be completed before the end of 2005. The installation of the new antenna would ensure that the Town's repeater was a more stable, permanent structure with greater flexibility. Anderson reported that the Committee had completed it's co-testing of the Ham equipment in the EOC and the Cingular Wireless "Cell on Wheels" (temporary cell tower) at Town Hall. The test findings identified that co-locating the emergency antennas on a common tower with a Cingular cell site was not expected to cause any degrading interference to the use of the Ham emergency communications systems. Anderson concluded her report by reviewing her annual plan for the Committee that included consideration of defining the Committee's responsibilities with the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department during emergencies and the potential for a closer working relationship with the Department. Council thanked Anderson for her report and extended their appreciation to the Committee for their efforts. COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS Councilmember O'Malley reported that he had attended the Lower Peninsula Flood Control District's (SCVWD) meeting. A presentation of California's Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS) had been given to the Board. He was very impressed with the excellent presentation of the emergency program and was hopeful that a similar presentation could be made to Council in the near future. O'Malley noted that SEMS was now being adopted by others as a model for their emergency communications. 'Male reported that the SCVWD had now garnered 2.6 million for the Adobe Creek O'Malley $ Y P g restoration project and he was hopeful that they would be able to identify the additional $1.4 million needed for the project from other budgets. He extended his kudos to the Adobe Creek Collaborative for their ongoing efforts on the project. Councilmember O'Malley reported that he had been advised by City of Los Altos Councilmember Curtis Cole that it could potentially be two—four months or longer before the Sewer Agreement between the two jurisdictions was finalized. O'Malley noted that the Town had not had a sewer right from Los Altos in approximately three years and he had requested consideration of Los Altos providing the Town with 25 capacity rights in the interim. • 4 City Council Meeting Minutes December 1,2005 Councilmember O'Malley reported that he had met with Tax Equity Act consultant Greg Sellars and the other low property tax cities that included Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino and Monte Sereno. Santa Clara County Supervisor Jim Beal had participated in the meeting. The Town could potentially recapture approximately $390,000 per year. City Manager Cassingham and Councilmember O'Malley were scheduled to meet with Sellars on December 2, 2005. O'Malley expected a resolution to the issue in the next couple of months. Mayor Kerr reported that the Ad-Hoc Committee recently established by Council to review the Parks and Recreation Committee membership and oversight charter had convened their initial meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Warshawsky reminded everyone of the Annual Joint Volunteer Awards Luncheon to be held December 2, 2005. Tickets would be available at the door. 8. STAFF REPORTS 8.1 City Manager 8.2 City Attorney 8.3 City Clerk 8.3.1 Report on Council Correspondence 9. COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS 10. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR John Harpootlian, Anacapa Drive, addressed Council. He had prepared a presentation titled "Proposed use of Fremont Hills Stables for Year-Round Riding Program. Council had a copy of the presentation before them. Harpootlian recommended that the City Council direct staff to provide a full proposal for using Fremont Hills Stables for the program. He offered that Fremont Hills was an impeccably maintained stable that would be able to facilitate the riding classes year round and would require no Town subsidy, construction of a new arena or Town management. Harpootlian summarized his proposal by stating that relocating the YRRP to Fremont Stables would provide a more convenient, better maintained and better managed barn without any Town subsidy and the Town would still have $100,000 available to spend on recreational facilities. Harpootlian's proposal included pictures of Westwind Barn's arenas and Fremont Hills Stables' arenas. Jitze Couperus, Page Mill Road, suggested that Westwind Barn would be an ideal location for trail riding classes/program which would be of interest to predominately male riders. He added that this could potentially increase the population of participants in "horse"programs. Couperus noted that female riders were the primary partakers of arena • riding. 5 City Council Meeting Minutes December 1,2005 Roy Woolsey, Community Relations Chair, provided Council with an update on the Town's 50th Anniversary Gala. The Committee had approved a revised Town logo to be used on the invitation to the Gala. He suggested that staff be directed to use the new logo on Town letterhead stationery and the website. The Committee had also drafted a letter from the Mayor to be sent to former Mayors in conjunction with the formal invitation to the Gala encouraging their attendance at the event. Woolsey informed Council that the Committee had voiced their concern at their last meeting about the recent appointment of a non-resident to the Pathways Committee and had forwarded a memo to Council about same. Council thanked Woolsey for his report. They advised him that they had been reviewing the appointment and that it was scheduled for discussion at the next Council meeting. 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS None Passed by consensus of the Council to adjourn to the Closed Session at 7:04 p.m. 12. CLOSED SESSION CLOSED SESSION: CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-EXISTING LITIGATION: Government Code Section 54956.9(a): Campbell and Ligeti v. Town of Los Altos Hills Council reconvened to Open Session at 7:28 p.m. No action was taken 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned by consensus of the Council at 7:28 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Jost City Clerk The minutes of the December 1, 2005 City Council meeting were approved as presented at the December 15,2005 City Council Meeting. 6 City Council Meeting Minutes December 1,2005