Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/19/2001 Minutes of a Regular Meeting April 19, 2001 Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Thursday, April 19, 2001, 6:20 P.M. Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road 1. CALL TO ORDER,ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Pro Tem Casey called the Regular Meeting of the City Council to order at 6:20 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall. Present: Mayor Pro Tem Casey and Councilmembers Cheng, Fenwick and O'Malley Absent: Mayor Finn Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham, City Attorney Sandy Sloan, Planning Director Carl Cahill, Public Works Manager Jim Rasp and City Clerk Pat Dowd Press: Liz Cloutman, Los Altos Town Crier; Mark Shahinian, Palo Alto Daily MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Fenwick, seconded by O'Malley and passed unanimously by all members present to add the following to the agenda as an urgency item: approval of a proposal by Wilsey Ham to provide construction staking for the sanitary sewer construction as part of the Elena Road Pavement Management and Storm Drain Project, CIP 00-01 — Reso# 2. APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS 2.1 Proclamation: Aaron Justin Epstein---Eagle Scout The Council presented Aaron Epstein with a proclamation honoring his accomplishment of attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Mayor Pro Tem Casey thanked Mr. Epstein for his many contributions to the community and congratulated him on this outstanding achievement. 3. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 1 The Planning Director reported that the following applications were approved at the April 12, 2001 Commission Meeting: Lands of Vaidyanathan, 11910 Rhus Ridge Road—request for a variance to allow an existing barn to encroach within the front yard setback; and Lands of Askarinam, 27830 Elena Road - request to place 2,410 cubic yards of fill on parcels A and C. The Planning Director also commented that the Planning Commission would like to get technical outside assistance for their Council directed review of proposed ordinance changes on such issues as height and setbacks. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: Council agreed to schedule a Joint Meeting with the Planning Commission for April 26, 2001 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the report from the LUF Committee and to discuss Council direction to the Planning Commission for review of ordinance changes. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR Items Removed: 4.1- Regular Meeting Minutes (Fenwick), 4.4 (Casey), 4.5 (Casey), 4.6 (City Manager) and 4.8 (Fenwick) MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Cheng, seconded by Fenwick and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the balance of the Consent Calendar, specifically: • 4.1 Approved Minutes: April 5, 2001 (Special Meeting) 4.2 Approved Warrants: $491,690.67 (3/2/01 —4/10/01) 4.3 Approved change order No. 2 to the contract with O'Grady Paving, Inc. for the construction of the Elena Road Pavement Management and Storm Drain Project—Reso#23-01 4.7 Approved contract with Dr. Marilyn Manning-Reso #24-01 4.9 Approved a proposal by Wilsey Ham to provide construction staking for the sanitary sewer construction as part of the Elena Road Pavement Management and Storm Drain Project, CIP 00-01 — Reso #25-01 Items Removed: 4.1 Approval of Minutes: April 5, 2001 (Regular Meeting) MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Cheng, seconded by O'Malley and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the minutes of the April 5, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting with the following • correction: page 4, second paragraph, change"10-1.505.a.l"to "10-1.503.a.1". April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 2 4.4 Fast Track Application approved by Planning Director: Lands of SKneip and Kung: 23515 Fernhill Drive: site development permit for additions and new second story Casey noted that she did not have a problem with this fast-track application but she just wondered if the applicants were aware that the Council was considering the constrained lot ordinance. The Planning Director responded that the issue had never come up during this application. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Fenwick, seconded by Cheng and passed unanimously by all members present to concur with the Planning Director's approval of a Fast Track Application for Lands of Kneip and Kung: 23515 Fernhill Drive: site development permit for additions and new second story. 4.5 Approved Investment Report for the quarter ended March 31, 2001 Casey asked if the Investment Committee had seen this report and was informed by staff that they would be seeing it at a Joint Meeting of the Finance and Investment Committees on May 9th MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Fenwick, seconded by Cheng and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the • investment report for the quarter ended March 31, 2001. 4.6 Approval of Agreement with Skyhawks Sports Academy —Reso# O'Malley inquired about the funding of this program and was advised that fees would be charged through the Recreation Department. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Fenwick, seconded by Cheng and passed unanimously by all members present to adopt Resolution #26-01 approving an agreement between the Town and Skyhawks Sports Academy. 4.8 Approval of updated Emergency Handbook Fenwick raised some questions about this handbook, particularly the section on the neighborhood coordinator program. He also noted that the Safety Committee had some questions about the Emergency Handbook. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To send the updated version of the Emergency Handbook to the Safety Committee for review and comment. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 5.1 City Engineer Recruitment April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 3 O'Malley referred to the City Manager's report and asked if this recruitment was going to be done without using a recruiting firm. The City Manager responded in the affirmative noting that they planned to use present staff to identify potential candidates. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Fenwick, seconded by Cheng and passed unanimously by all members present to approve the job description for the City Engineer/Public Works Director position as stated in the City Manager's report dated 4/19/01 and to authorize recruitment and selection process for this budgeted position also outlined in the same report. 5.2 Town Hall Building Project The City Manager requested that Council give staff direction on the Town Hall Building Project. She noted that last year proposals had been received from architects to provide a preliminary site plan for this project but the building was then put on hold. Council agreed that.at one point in time they thought the building could be remodeled but now agreed that a new building would be more cost efficient. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Fenwick, seconded by Cheng and passed unanimously by all members present to direct the City • Manager to reissue the request for proposals for the Town Hall Building Project and to bring the proposals back to Council for review 5.3 Continued discussion on basement ordinance Council noted that a Town wide mailing had been sent on the proposed basement ordinance for the March 15, 2001 City Council Meeting. Council had received input and had also visited the sites of several homes in Town that had basements. Bob Owen, Los Altos, stated that historically if there was six feet of fill on three sides of wall the basement did not count as floor area. Ken Olcott, 12950 Brendel Drive, inquired about bunkers and asked if the basement was under hardscape would it be counted as development area. Marsha Robinson, 15411 Vista Serena, inquired about putting pool equipment underground and was advised that this would be such a small area that it would not be counted as development area. Carol Gottlieb, Planning Commissioner, asked how the water table was affected if too much basement space was allowed on a lot. She believed that by limiting the permeable area on a property the Town would be increasing the input into the drainage systems. April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 4 Allan Epstein, 23828 Ravensbury, inquired about the size of light wells. Eric Clow, Planning Commissioner, asked if a house was stepped into a hillside was the part exposed counted as floor area and the rest not counted. Ron Perrier, Burlingame, noted that he was the architect for a project in Town and they were hoping for some flexibility regarding the basement ordinance in particular as it related to allowing basements not directly under the house. He also supported allowing basement within.setbacks. Concerning their project they were hoping to lower the garage and cover it with landscaping as a more visually pleasing approach to the house. Council agreed to send an ordinance to the Planning Commission for review and recommendation which included the following: basements can go under the house, pool, secondary dwellings and earth (i.e. wine cellars) but can not exceed the footprint of the buildings. Basements can not go in setbacks. Daylighting is allowed if not facing street. Fenwick and O'Malley agreed that if a basement was put under developed space it would count as development not floor area but Casey and Cheng disagreed with this opinion. It was agreed that the City Attorney would draft two ordinances reflecting each opinion for the Planning Commission's review. 5.4 Discussion of adoption of policy, procedures and guidelines for the • implementation of Sanitary Sewer Reimbursement Agreements Council had before them a draft of policy, procedures and guidelines for sanitary sewer reimbursement agreements. Staff s recommendation was that Council approve this document to give clear guidance to applicants on this issue and to assist staff. Bruce Askari, 27830 Elena Road, noted that he was putting in a 3 1/2 mile sewer extension which involved fifteen homes allowing easements. He disagreed with some of the statements in the proposed policy. He did not believe that reimbursement agreements should be submitted for approval only after the final direct costs of construction had been determined. He recommended allowing submittal with reasonable estimates for the project in hand. Mr. Askari also did not agree with the section that stated "For gravity sanitary sewer mains, future users are all those properties that have frontage along the gravity sewer main and can connect directly, via a single lateral. . ." He believed that whomever benefitted from the sewer should pay for it. In addition, Mr. Askari recommended that attorney fees be included in the direct cost of construction and the agreements should be for more than fifteen years. Ken Olcott, 12950 Brendel Drive, did not believe the proposed policy encouraged cooperation among neighbors. While he agreed the reimbursement agreement should be based on actual costs, he believed there should be conceptual agreement (a letter of intent from the Town) before applicants spent April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 5 money on these sewer projects. Mr. Olcott concurred with Mr. Askari that all 48 those who benefitted should pay and that all costs incurred (including interest, attorney fees, land acquisition, etc.) should be included in the. reimbursement agreement. Ramesh Padmanabhan, Los Altos, commented that he owned a lot on Elena and wondered when the reimbursement agreement became effective. Staff responded that the situation on Elena was different in that the Town was putting in this sewer line. Allan Epstein, 23828 Ravensbury, believed that construction costs should include all fees and that there should be a clear understanding of the policy before anyone started on such a sewer project. He also believed there should be some incentive given to encourage people to hook up to sewer. Mr. Epstein commented that he hoped the homes in the County on Ravensbury would be able to hook up to the Town's sewer if they were annexed to the Town. The City Attorney referred to the section which stated that reimbursement agreements would be submitted only after the final costs of construction had been determined. She noted that letters of intent could be filed but they would not be enforceable as they were unable to. bind a future Council to such a document. The City Attorney also commented on the 'costs to be included in the reimbursement agreements. She stated that there was no way for the Town to control land acquisition and attorney costs involved in such projects and she did not agree with including them in the agreements. Regarding land acquisitions she noted that one option would be for the Town to have the appraisals done. The City Attorney further noted that the cost of construction index could be included which would be fairer than interest. Council discussed the draft policy before them and the comments made. Casey, Cheng and Fenwick agreed with including attorney fees in the reimburseable costs. O'Malley did not support this. Fenwick and O'Malley did not believe upstream properties should be included but Cheng did not agree stating that this did not encourage residents to hook on to sewer. The majority of those present did agree that the reimburseable costs should include appraisal costs (as done by the Town), cost of construction index and attorney costs not to exceed 5% of the proj ect. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To direct staff to bring back a revised policy statement including the comments made at this meeting to a future Council meeting for final approval. 6. NEW BUSINESS 7. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES, AND COUNCILMEMBERS ON OUTSIDE AGENCIES April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 6 • 7.1 Town Newsletter Casey asked that the newsletter be reviewed by the entire Council before being printed. She referred to the last newsletter and expressed some concerns. In particular she commented on the Pathways Committee project of constructing a new picnic site at Byrne Preserve and noted that this should be a Parks and Recreation project. In addition the article by Jitze Couperus on internet connections should have been reviewed by the Utility and Information Systems Committee. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: Council agreed that Duffy Price, Editor of the Newsletter,would be contacted regarding this new procedure. 7.2 Santa Clara County Cities Association Casey reported that she had attended a meeting in Sacramento where the ERAF bill was being discussed. She urged Council to keep apprised of this issue as it affected the Town. 7.3 Valley Transportation Authority Cheng commented that the Town had about $250,000 remaining in assigned Pavement Management Program funds and would lose this money if it was not spent. The Public Works Manager reported that the money would be used for Town Projects. 8. STAFF REPORTS 8.1 City Manager 8.1.1 Tracy Court Bridge The City Manager referred to the disrepair of the Tracy Court Bridge and noted that a temporary repair had been done and a permanent fix was in the budget. 8.2 City Attorney 8.3 City Clerk 8.3.1 Report on Council Correspondence a) Request from Los Altos School District for an appointment to the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 7 MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Casey, seconded by Fenwick and passed unanimously by all members present to appoint Eric Clow the Town's representative on the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance Casey also referred to the letter which outlined a situation in Town where someone driving through was spoken to rudely by a resident. Casey stressed that this type of behavior was not condoned by the Council. 9. COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS 9.1 Study on Fee Structure (Mayor Pro Tem Casey) Casey noted that this issue had been under discussion for some time and the Acting City Manager Bill Norton had prepared a report on the review of development fees in September of 1999. The Finance Committee had also reviewed this issue and in February of 2000 recommended that an outside consultant be hired to review and make a recommendation on the fee schedule. At that time the Finance Director had prepared a request for proposals but this had not been discussed by the Council. Casey asked that the RFP be agendized for a Council decision. Council concurred with this request. 9.2 May 3, 2001 and May 17,2001 City Council Meetings • PASSED BY CONSENSUS: Council agreed to cancel the May 3, 2001 City Council Meeting and to hold the May 17, 2001 City Council Meeting at Bullis School. This meeting would start at 6:00 p.m. and the following would be on the agenda: Town Survey results, report from the LUF committee and the first reading of the ordinance on zoning amendments on development and floor area. 10. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS 12. ADJOURNMENT There being no further new or old business to discuss, the City Council Meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. es ectfully submitted, Patricia Dowd City Clerk The minutes of the April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting were approved at the May 17, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting. April 19, 2001 Regular City Council Meeting 8