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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/19/2001 i Minutes of a Regular Meeting July 19, 2001 Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Thursday, July 19, 2001, 6:00 P.M. Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Casey called the Regular Meeting of the City Council to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall. Present: Mayor Casey and Councilmembers Cheng, Fenwick and O'Malley Absent: Councilmember Finn • Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham, City Attorney Sandy Sloan, Planning Director Carl Cahill, Public Works Manager Jim Rasp, Administrative Services Director Carol Ferrell and City Clerk Pat Dowd Press: Liz Cloutman, Los Altos Town Crier MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Cheng, seconded by O'Malley and passed unanimously by all members present to add the following item to the agenda as an urgency item: CLOSED SESSION: CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION: Government Code Section 54956.9(b): Significant Exposure to Litigation: unknown number of cases. Council also directed that Item 6.2 be moved to the end of the meeting for discussion. Casey noted that Carol Ferrell, the Town's Administrative Services Director, had submitted her resignation and would be taking a position with the City of Cupertino. On behalf of the Council, Case thanked Carol for her contributions p Y to the Town and wished her the best in her future endeavors. 2. APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS 2.1 Presentation by Pacific Bell on HR1542 i July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 1 Stacey Wagner, External Affairs Director—Pacific Bell, asked Council for their support of HR1542, the Tauzin-Dingell Bill. Ms. Wagner reported this bill would stop cable monopolization of high-speed internet access; keep the internet open; increase choices and reduce prices for high-speed internet access; guarantee high-speed internet deployment; protect competitors' access to networks; and improve the economy. Ms. Stacy asked that a letter of support be sent to Congresswoman Eshoo as soon as possible. Jim Abraham, 12831 Viscaino Road, commented that DSL service was not regulated whereas phones were. Casey asked Ms. Wagner if she knew the status of broadband in Los Altos Hills. Ms. Wagner stated that she did not have the facts with her but believed it would be about five years. Casey stated that five years was unacceptable and wanted it done in a year. She asked Ms. Wagner to provide the Council with a clear status report on the scheduling of broadband for the Town. Casey supported sending a letter of support for HR1542 but other Councilmembers present stated they did not feel they had enough background information on this issue to send such a letter. It was agreed that a letter of support could go out with the Mayor's signature only. 3. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT • The Planning Director reported on the following items from the 6/12/01 Planning Commission Meeting: Lands of Mendez, 27581 Elena Road: request for a site development permit for a 13,000 square foot barn and arena - approved; Lands of Mora Drive Sewer Project, unincorporated Santa Clara County lands: prezoning of approximately 245 unincorporated parcels by the Town — recommended approval; Lands of Laura Court Association, 28008 Laura Court: request for a right of way vacation for a 20 foot wide portion of Stonebrook Drive near Laura Court—recommended denial; and Lands of Macomber, 25980 Vinedo Lane: request for a site development permit for a new residence and pool and a variance to allow parking area encroachment into setbacks— approved. In response to an inquiry from the Mayor, the Planning Director noted that Mr. Askari had filed a complete application and his grading plan was being reviewed by the Engineering Department. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR Items Removed: 4.1 — 6/21/01 Regular Minutes (Casey), 4.1 — 6/22/01 Special Minutes (Fenwick) and 4.4 (Casey) MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Fenwick and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the balance of the Consent Calendar, specifically: July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 2 • 4.1 Approved Minutes: June 21, 2001 (Special Meeting) 4.2 Approved Warrants: $444,262.77 (6/1/01 —6/30/01) 4.3 Accepted Investment Report for the Quarter ended June 30, 2001 4.5 Adopted Resolution endorsing private fundraising efforts to furnish new theaters at Los Altos and. Mountain View High Schools—Reso#47-01 4.6 Approved second amendment to Measure B Pavement Management Program Cooperative Agreement— Reso#48-01 4.7 Accepted dedication of right-of-way, Lands of Wadhwani, 26170 Fremont Road—Reso#49-01 4.8 Concurred with action of the Planning Commission at their June 28, 2001 Meeting: 4.8.1 Request for a landscape plan permit modification, • Lands of Haber, 13164 La Cresta Drive—approved 4.9 Concurred with approval of Site Development Permit for a new residence and new secondary dwelling, Lands of Sandlin, 25720 Carado Court(Fast-Track Application) 4.10 Concurred with approval of Site Development Permit for a new residence and pool, Lands of Kizhepat& Govind, 24201 Hillview Drive(Fast-Track Application) Items Removed: 4.1 Approval of Minutes: June 21, 2001 Regular Meeting PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To direct the City Clerk to review the tape of this meeting specifically regarding the reorganization of the Council and to continue this item to the next meeting. 4.1 Approval of Minutes: June 22, 2001 Special Meeting MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Fenwick, seconded by O'Malley and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 3 minutes of the June 22, 2001 Special City Council Meeting with the following corrections: page 1, Item 1, references to Mayor Finn should be changed to Mayor Casey. 4.4 Annual Approval of Investment Policy Fenwick expressed some concerns and questions about the investment policy before them and wanted to know if they had the opportunity to make suggestions, changes, etc. to this policy. Council also asked if the Finance/Investment Committee had reviewed this policy. The Finance Director stated that the Finance/Investment Committee had reviewed the investment policy. She further noted that this policy by law needed to be approved annually and the deadline was approaching for this annual approval. However, at any time Council could modify the policy if they wished. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Cheng and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the investment policy as stated in the 7/19/01 Finance Director's staff report. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 5.1 Approval of Request for Proposals for engineering consulting • services MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Fenwick and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the request for proposals for engineering consulting services. 5.2 Report on website redesign and enhancement project The Administrative Services Director reported that staff and the Town's computer consultant, Aleuron Systems, had reviewed the suggested improvements to the Town's webpage as made earlier in the year by the Community Relations Committee. The result of this review was to divide the recommendations into categories ranging from those requiring regular maintenance to those dependent on the results of another project(items cannot be completed until another project outside the scope of the website is completed.). The Administrative Services Director recommended Council authorize proceeding with Phase 1 which would include the redesign of the website, improve the interface for existing pages, add Council packet information and staff reports and take advantage of the resident volunteers for some page content. The cost to implement this phase has been estimated at $19,000. Website modifications recommended but not included in this phase should be prioritized and scheduled after proper consideration of existing Town operations and limited staff resources. July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 4 PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To direct staff to implement Phase 1 of the website redesign and enhancement project. Council further directed that the short list of firms to be interviewed be brought back to Council for their review and input. 6. NEW BUSINESS 6.1 Analysis of Wilsey Ham expenses with in-house City Engineer The City Manager referred to the four year chart which had been prepared on the Wilsey Ham charges. This chart showed the total costs for the following Wilsey Ham services: applicant billings, engineering administration and Capital Improvement Projects. For FY97/98 the total was $157,758; for FY98-99 the total was $129,877; and for FY99-00 the total was $372,506. The proposed total for FY01-02 was $105,000 but this did not include Capital Improvement Projects as this budget has not yet been done. The Wilsey Ham engineering administration and applicant billing costs budgeted for the current year reflected a dramatic decrease from the two prior fiscal periods — more in line with FY97- 98 and FY98-99 expenses when Mr. Peterson was the Town's in-house City Manager/City Engineer. The City Manager further commented that these costs might be further reduced at mid-year as the new .City Engineer had an opportunity to analyze the most cost effective use of outside engineering consultants. It was likely that some project design would have to be outsourced along with some specialty engineering services like hydrology, surveying, • mapping, staking and inspection. Mayor Casey believed the outside consultant costs were still high and recommended this matter be reviewed again in the near future. Council agreed that this analysis should be looked at after the recently hired City Engineer has had a change to evaluate the analysis in view of workload. 6.2 Approval of contract with architect for Town Hall Project—Reso # This item was moved to the end of the meeting for discussion. 6.3 Ravensbury Pathway Status The Public Works Manager referred to his report which addressed the cost and construction options for constructing the extension of the existing pathway along the southwest side of Ravensbury Avenue from 25701 Lomita Linda Court to Camino Hermosa. This estimated cost was $137,000. $82,000 of this estimated cost was for the retainingwall, excavation and backfill that would be needed to put the path in this location. Council discussed this proposed project and related costs. Casey commented that it seemed very expensive for a relatively small project. Casey noted that she was going to be meeting with the Pathway Committee on September 20th and she • would discuss this project with them at that time. July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 5 7. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES, AND COUNCILMEMBERS ON OUTSIDE AGENCIES 7.1 Report from the Los Altos Hills representative to the Los Altos School Districts Citizens Advisory Committee Eric Clow, the Town's representative to the Los Altos District's Citizens' Advisory Committee, addressed the Council on budgetary issues facing the school district. He noted that the school district was experiencing a drop in revenues for 2001-02 and it was predicted that the budgetary shortfall would get larger in 2002 and beyond. One option to correct this situation would be to close a school and Bullis School was a possibility. Mr. Clow asked Council to send a letter to the school district stating their non-support of such a closure and also stating the limited possible other uses for the school site. Mr. Clow noted that when Covington School had been closed it had been reopened as a site for day care centers, the Morgan Center, etc. He hoped that if the school district was advised by the Town regarding future possible uses for this site at this very early stage in their discussions, they may not consider Bullis School as a viable site for closure. The Council thanked Mr. Clow for his participation on this committee and for his report. However, they felt that this matter should be responded to by the PTA of • Bullis School rather than the City Council. 7.2 Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee Evan Wythe, Chairman reported to the Council on their recent meeting y� p g held 7/17/01. At that meeting they had agreed to change the name of their committee to the Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee to better reflect their task. They also agreed on their goals and charges. The committee agreed to focus first on the Municipal Code, Policy Statements and the Residential Design Guidelines. Dr. Wythe pointed out that the committee planned to review these documents and others for inconsistencies and to present these inconsistencies to Council. The committee would not be deciding what the code, policies, etc. should say. The committee planned to bring their suggestions back to Council as the proceeded with their tasks rather than waiting until they had finished reviewing all the documents. At this first meeting they addressed the Design Guidelines document for inconsistencies with the Municipal Code and this initial report would be forthcoming to Council when ready. 7.3 Site Development Ordinance Committee Carl Cottrell, member, reported that the committee had held its third meeting on 7/21/01 and they were proceeding to review the background information. He • July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 6 noted that Council had directed them to report back in September but he realistically did not think this was practical with the amount of review they needed to do. Casey commented that many residents were quite interested in the outcome of this committee report and she urged them to report back in September. 7.4 Parks and Recreation Committee Cheng reported that the Ohlone Camp Program was underway. 7.5 Safety Committee Fenwick reported that the Safety Committee had completed its task of contacting ham radio operators in Town concerning their interest in coordinating efforts on an emergency network system in Town. The response had been quite good and a second letter would be going out to those responding with additional information about the program and future meetings of this committee of ham radio operators. 8. STAFF REPORTS 8.1 City Manager 8.1.1 City Engineer The City Manager reported that Min-Tze Cheng would be starting on 7/23/01 as the new City Engineer/Director of Public Works. 8.2 City Attorney 8.3 City Clerk 8.3.1 Report on Council Correspondence 9. COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS 9.1 Newcomers Event (Mayor Casey) Casey referred to the Newcomers Event which had been held at the Fenwick's home. She commented on the wonderful attendance and thanked the Fenwicks for opening up their home for this event. 9.2 Town-owned Lands (Mayor Casey) Casey asked that the list of Town-owned lands be sent to the Pathways Committee and Utility & Information Systems Committees for their review and input. July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 7 9.3 Customer Survey(Mayor Casey) Casey asked that a status on the customer survey be given at the next Council Meeting. She also suggested that it would be valuable input to have those responding to the test run complete the survey. 10. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS 11.1 Request for vacation of right of way for a.portion of Stonebrook Drive near Laura Court, Lands of Wiesler, 28012 Laura Court MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Fenwick and passed unanimously by all members present to adopt Resolution #50-01 ordering the vacation of a portion of the public easement for right of way at 28012 Laura Court. 11.2 Objections or protests to the proposed adoption of sewer service charges for the Palo Alto and Los Altos Sewer Basins—Reso# Jim Abraham, 12831 Viscaino Road, noted that some residents in Town were on sewer but were not paying for it. He believed this should be corrected. He also asked if everyone in Town was now paying the same amount for sewer. In response Council asked Mr. Abraham to let them know of specific residents who were not paying for sewer services and staff would follow up. Mr. Abraham was also advised that everyone paid the same amount for sewer charges. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Cheng, seconded by O'Malley and passed unanimously by all members present to adopt Resolution #51-01 approving the Los Altos and Palo Alto sewer service charges. 12. CLOSED SESSION: CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION: Government Code Section 54956.9(b): Significant Exposure to Litigation: one case The City Council adjourned to a Closed Session regarding litigation at 7:30 p.m. and reconvened at 8:00 p.m. Council 12A. REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION Council returned to open session to report, if necessary, any actions taken. No actions were taken. July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 8 13. Approval of contract with architect for Town Hall Project—Reso # Council discussed the interviews with five architectural firms related to the Town Hall Project. The five firms interviewed were: CJW Architecture in Portola Valley, Goldman Architects in San Francisco, The Steinberg Group in San Jose, Mock/Wallace in San Francisco and BSA in San Francisco. Of the five firms, Council agreed that Goldman Architects appeared to be the best suited to the Town Hall Project. They had excellent references, their bid was competitively priced and their completion date for the project was earlier than the others interviewed. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by O'Malley, seconded by Cheng and passed unanimously to direct the City Attorney to prepare an agreement for approval at the next Council Meeting with Goldman Architects for predesign and schematic design phase architectural services for the Town Hall Project. 14. ADJOURNMENT There being no further new or old business to discuss, the City Council Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. • Res ectfully submitted, Patricia Dowd - City Clerk The minutes of the July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting were approved at the August 2, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting. i July 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 9