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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/13/2020 1 Joint City Council/Planning Commission Special Meeting Minutes February 13, 2020 Town of Los Altos Hills Joint City Council/Planning Commission Special Meeting Minutes Thursday, February 13, 2020 Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, California Mayor Wu called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. CALL TO ORDER (4:00 P.M.) A. Roll Call of the City Council and Planning Commission Present: Councilmember Corrigan, Councilmember Spreen (arrived at 4:08 p.m.), Councilmember Tyson, Vice Mayor Tankha, Mayor Wu Commissioner Mandle, Commissioner Smith, Chair Couperus Absent: Commissioner Patel Staff: City Manager Carl Cahill, City Attorney Steve Mattas, Planning Director Zach Dahl, City Clerk Deborah Padovan B. Pledge of Allegiance 1. PUBLIC COMMENT (PUBLIC COMMENT IS LIMITED TO ITEMS WHICH ARE THE SUBJECT OF THE SPECIAL MEETING) Carol Gottlieb, Los Altos Hills, said these regulations will affect the ambiance of the Town and she hoped that careful consideration is being used to protect the environment of the Town. Malka Junaid, Los Altos Hills, asked about the additional square footage and setbacks. Birgitta Indaco, Los Altos Hills, said she would like to see the parking requirements addressed for ADU especially with the narrow roads and having cars not park on pathways. She also questioned fire truck access. Kjell Karlsson, Los Altos Hills, talked about bunkers and sewer fees for ADUs. 2. STUDY SESSION ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION/ACTION: A. Update on Recently Adopted State Legislation for Accessory Dwelling Units, 2 Joint City Council/Planning Commission Special Meeting Minutes February 13, 2020 Discussion on Updated Development Regulations for Accessory Dwelling Units in the Town of Los Altos Hills and Direction by the City Council (Staff: Z. Dahl) Planning Director Zach Dahl presented the staff report. Council asked questions of staff and received responses. Councilmember Tyson said would be hard defend fire risk in some areas more than others. Councilmember Corrigan expressed concern about enforceability. Councilmember Spreen suggested discouraging building in the four-foot setback. Planning Director Dahl outlined the next steps as follows:  Council to provide comments and direction to staff  Draft an updated ADU ordinance  Planning Commission Review  City Council Review and Adoption The Planning Commissioners each shared information about MDA and MFA. Further Council discussion ensued. The Mayor opened up the floor for public comment. Malka Junaid, Architect, Los Altos Hills, said that ADU's should be welcomed in Town. She expressed concerns that 17 or 18 of her current projects want to come in now to get their ADU's permitted. She highly recommended passing an ordinance regulating ADU's as soon as possible. Allan Epstein, Los Altos Hills, asked about sewer connections. J.J. Harris, Los Altos Hills, said that she has a very constrained lot and dropping the square footage would be incredibly detrimental to them. Vice Mayor Tankha said it is our obligation to create more affordable housing. We need to be careful to make sure our community has a desire to retain rural look and feel, so balance must be found. She suggested providing incentives instead of penalizing residents. Staff should spend time to give more thought to incentives. Councilmember Corrigan said the incentives need to include speed of review, additional MDA and MFA bonuses or opportunities for homeowners to reorganize 3 Joint City Council/Planning Commission Special Meeting Minutes February 13, 2020 their current property in a way that doesn't impact the neighbors when in current building envelope. Encourage building the ADU within the primary structure and keeping the existing footprint. She suggested figuring out how to get out of the way of construction and make it less painful. She agreed that penalizing is not the way to go, but to provide incentives. Councilmember Tyson agreed with design standards and lighting as was previously discussed. He believed that we should build in some flexibility in the ordinance. Councilmember Spreen said we should avoid unintended consequences with MFA and MDA. He said that basements have an effect on what is coming in as they are an “under the line bonus” that encourages using as much development area as possible. He suggested maybe restricting basements. He agreed with encouraging attached housing and sewer charges may be use to incentivize that. Mayor Wu said that the state is requiring more density, but she was in favor of having maximum local control in compliance with mandated state law. She suggested looking at what other rural communities are doing and maybe we can learn from them. The Planning Commission was in agreement with the Council’s comments. Vice Mayor Tanka said that staff should have to have latitude as every situation will be different. Staff will work with the residents to find the best solution. City Manager Cahill said that staff is proposing bringing an ordinance to the Planning Commission and the City Council by the March City Council meeting. 3. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Deborah Padovan Deborah Padovan City Clerk The minutes of the February 13, 2020 Joint City Council/Planning Commission special meeting were approved as presented at the April 1, 2020 special City Council meeting.