HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/07/2002 Minutes of a Regular Meeting
February 7, 2002
Town of Los Altos Hills
City Council Regular Meeting
Thursday, February 7, 2002, 6:00 P.M.
Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road
1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick called the Regular Meeting of the City Council to order at
6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall.
Present: Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick and Councilmembers Cheng, Finn and
O'Malley
Absent: Mayor Casey
Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham, Dan Siegel City Attorney's
• Office, Planning Director Carl Cahill, Director of Public
Works/City Engineer Mintze Cheng and City Clerk Pat Dowd
Press: Liz Cloutman, Los Altos Town Crier
2. APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS
2.1 Presentation by Dawn Jackson, Government Relations Representative —
PG&E
This presentation was continued to a later meeting due to illness.
2.2 Appointments to Emergency Communications Committee and adoption of
revised resolution establishing standing committees and adopting general
and special rules pertaining thereto —increasing the number of members of
the Emergency Communications Committee from 8 to 12 to 10 to 16 —
Reso #
Council had received fourteen applications for the Emergency Communications
Committee: Jim Abraham, Dru Anderson, Robert Anderson, Peter Berman, David
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Gilmour, Rick Ellinger, Robert Hall, Robert Lisbonne, Scott Overstreet, David Pratt,
Edward Radlo, Robert Smithwick, Maynard Stevenson and Sam Wood. In addition
they had an amended resolution increasing the membership number on this committee
to sixteen.
The following introduced themselves to the City Council and discussed their
experience and interest in serving on this committee: Dru Anderson, Scott Overstreet,
David Gilmour, Edward Radlo, Maynard Stevenson, Rick Ellinger, Robert Smithwick
and Sam Wood. They also thanked the Council for supporting the formation of this
new committee and their efforts to prepare the Town in case of emergency.
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by O'Malley and
passed unanimously by all members present to appoint Jim Abraham, Dru Anderson,
Robert Anderson, Peter Berman, David Gilmour, Rick Ellinger, Robert Hall, Robert
Lisbonne, Scott Overstreet, David Pratt, Edward Radlo, Robert Smithwick, Maynard
Stevenson and Sam Wood to the Emergency Communications Committee each for
four year terms and to adopt Resolution #15-02 establishing standing committees and
adopting general and special rules pertaining thereto.
3. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
There was no report as the Planning Commission was on their schedule of one meeting
a month.
• Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick moved item 6.1 to the Consent Calendar.
4. CONSENT CALENDAR
Items Removed: 4.1 (Fenwick), 4.6 (O'Malley) and 4.9 (City Manager)
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously by all members present to approve the balance of the Consent
Calendar, specifically:
4.2 Approved Warrants:$165,628.89 (1/9/02— 1/3 0/02)
4.3 Approved agreement with Mark Thomas & Company for corporation
yard site improvement project—Reso#16-02
4.4 Approved amendments to deferred compensation plans —Reso
#17-02
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4.5 Awarded Certificates of Parks &Recreation Committee(Lisa
Appreciation Dorrian); Safety Committee (Art
Bernstein, Nobuko Cleary, Robert Hall,
Scott Overstreet, Robert Smithwick,
Maynard Stevenson, Tom Turner); and
Utility&Information Systems Committee
(Andrew Colman, Ray Egan, Richard
Ellinger, George Knight, Robert
Lefkowits, Amir Rosenbaum and Evan
Wythe)
4.7 Approved an agreement with Du-All Safety for the Town's Safety
Program—Reso#20-02
4.8 Approved an agreement with Karen Jost for contract administrative
services—Reso #21-02
4.10 Approved proposed reorganization of the Public Works Department in
Engineering and Maintenance Divisions
Items Removed:
4.1 Approval of Minutes: January 17, 2002 (Regular Meeting)
Les Earnest, 12769 Dianne Drive, asked that the comments attributed to him on page
six be amended to reflect the fact that he had walked this path a number of times
before the gate was locked.
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously by all members present to approve the minutes of the January 17,
2002 Regular City Council Meeting with the following corrections: Page 5, Item
5.2(b), third paragraph, change 8/27/02 to 8/27/01 and on page 6, first paragraph, add
the following sentence: "He noted that he had walked this path a number of times
before the gate was locked."
4.6 Approval of amendments to Personnel Policy Manual and Employee Benefit
Plan—Resolutions#
O'Malley asked if these amendments simply brought the personnel manual up to date
rather than include any substantive changes and was advised by staff that this was the
case.
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MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously by all members present to adopt Resolution #18-02 adopting a
revised personnel policy manual and Resolution #19-02 amending the Town's
employee benefit listing.
4.9 Approval of request from Friends of Westwind Barn for assignment of
space to Town's Parks and Recreation Committee
The City Manager requested that this approval also include authorization for the City
Manager to amend the lease with Westwind Barn to reflect this use of space by the
Parks and Recreation Committee.
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously by all members present to approve the request from Friends of
Westwind Barn for assignment of space to Town's Parks and Recreation Committee
and to authorize the City Manager to amend the lease with Westwind Barn to reflect
this use of space by the Parks and Recreation Committee.
5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
5.1 Update on Mayor's Goals
1) Break ground for a new Town Hall funded by resident donations.
Renderings and revised elevations will be completed on or before February 15,
2002.
2) Complete the building and planning fee study and revise fees in accordance
with State law.
Staff had received preliminary information from Maximus,the consultant conducting the
fee study. The analysis of the engineering fees should be received in one to two weeks.
Staff will review this information and bring it to Council.
3) Implement a Resident Customer Satisfaction Survey Program.
This survey was implemented by the Planning Department on September 1, 2001.
Surveys received will be provided to Council with each Council packet.
4) Complete an analysis of all Town codes, policies and ordinances for
consistency,relevance and conformance with the General Plan.
The Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee will report on fences and driveways
at the February 7, 2002 Council Meeting.
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w5) Have broadband internet access available to all residents
PacBell is still scheduled to complete Project Pronto, their Town-wide DSL
project, by the end of the first quarter 2002. The dispute over an encroachment
permit with the County had been resolved and the project was moving forward.
6) Adopt and implement a town pathway policy which includes a specific
five- year program for the new construction of along side the road paths
and a plan which improves the maintenance and materials of current town
pathways.
The Town has retained Mr. Brian Robinson (winner of the Calendar Triple Crown)
to walk our known pathways and provide visual observations of their conditions.
This task will be completed before February 21St. Input was being received on the
pathway easement map and the pathway map showing on an off road easements
will be brought to the 2/21/02 Council Meeting.
7) Complete the review of setbacks and height limits and revise town
ordinances accordingly.
This is scheduled for a study session on February 21, 2002.
• 8) Continue to explore alternatives to underground all utilities in Los Altos
Hills.
Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick, Councilmember O'Malley and Amir Rosenbaum will
schedule a meeting to review the notification letter and this will come back at the
next Council Meeting for discussion.
9) Adopt a plan for the highest and best use of town property for all town
residents. (Los Altos Hills owns 27 parcels totaling 168.04 acres of
unused and/or underutilized property.)
A title report for the Westwind Barn had been received and a response from
Caltrans regarding the O'Keefe property had also been received. This letter
indicated they needed to retrieve off site records and should be responding to the
Town's request in about four weeks.
10) Approve a five-year capital spending budget to assure the infrastructure
of the Town is sound.
Completed
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An additional goal was added:
11) Joint Meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission
A Joint Meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission was conducted on
Thursday, December 6th at 6:00 p.m. This meeting was a Study Session to review
planning issues.
12) Data Base for Emergency Emails
The Town's computer consultant will have installed a program for this data base on the
City Clerk's computer by Monday, February 11th. The City Clerk will enter the
information into the data base and will report at each Council Meeting on the progress of
the project.
5.2 Adoption of Ordinance amending Section 10-1.223 (Floor Area) of Title 10
(Zoning and Site Development) of Chapter 1 (Zoning) of the Los Altos
Hills Municipal Code (SECOND READING)
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Cheng, seconded by Finn and
passed unanimously by all members present to adopt Ordinance #418 amending
Section 10-1.223 (Floor Area) of Title 10 (Zoning and Site Development) of Chapter 1
• (Zoning) of the Los Altos Hills Municipal Code.
5.3 Adoption of Ordinance amending Section 10-1.601 of the Zoning Code
with regard to residential off-street parking (SECOND READING)
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously by all members present to adopt Ordinance #419 amending
Section 10-1.601 of the Zoning Code with regard to residential off-street parking.
5.4 Update on unauthorized import material at Sayar property on O'Keefe next
to Knight property on Vista Serena
The City Manager noted that a meeting was scheduled for 2/11/02 with the Sayars,
City Attorney and staff to further discuss this issue. A report will be made at the next
Council Meeting.
5.5 Approval of notification process for undergrounding utilities options
Council agreed that Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick and Councilmember O'Malley would
schedule another meeting with Amir Rosenbaum to review the draft notification. This
issue will be on the 2/21/02 Council agenda for discussion.
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5.6 Introduction of Ordinance amending Chapter 1 (Emergency Services) of
Title 4 (Public Safety) of the Los Altos Hills Municipal Code (FIRST
READING)
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously by all members present to introduce an ordinance amending
Chapter 1 (Emergency Services) of Title 4 (Public Safety) of the Los Altos Hills
Municipal Code.
6. NEW BUSINESS
6.1 Approval of proposed reorganization of the Public Works Department in
Engineering and Maintenance Divisions
This item was moved to the Consent Calendar.
7. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES, AND
COUNCILMEMBERS ON OUTSIDE AGENCIES
7.1 Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee
7.1.1 Report on driveways and fences
Evan Wythe presented the committee's report on fences, driveways, color and lighting.
Concerning fencing, he noted that the height issue was covered in the Municipal Code.
However, the following issues were not addressed in the Code: use of natural or dark
colors, discouragement of entry gates and porticos, less desirability of silver chain
fences and discouragement of solid fences. The Code also did not address special
fencing considerations such as deer fencing or color and did not specify
fencing/walls/heights outside of setbacks. The recommendation of the committee was
that there should be a separate section in the code for fences which would clarify issues
such as heights of walls not in setback areas, would address exclusions and color and
would also address special fencing issues such as type and allowed location of deer
fencing. Regarding color, Dr. Wythe noted that color control currently only dealt with
reflectivity. The committee's proposed code wording for colors was: A. Exterior
Walls and facades: colors should not exceed a reflectivity of greater than or equal to
50%. These standards are not applied to trim, doors, columns, railings or trellises.; B.
Roofs: Colors and materials should not exceed a reflectivity of 40%. On the issue of
lighting, the code should be modified to reflect the following suggestions: Accent and
feature lighting is permissible with approval of the Planning Director or Planning
Commission.; Pathway and driveway lighting is permissible in setback areas if needed
for safety.; and Down lighting from trees is acceptable if needed for safety or accent
feature lighting, but should be limited to several in number. Up lighting of trees for
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Mfeature accent lighting is allowed if limited to several in number. Concerning
driveways, the committee addressed the following questions and arrived at the
following conclusions. Should there be a requirement for where driveway entrance
should be located with respect to street intersections? No, because the driveway
entrance location depends on site topography and code section 10-2.1101 already states
that driveways must `provide adequate sight distances'. Should driveways be 12' or
14' wide? Driveway width should be 12' since other Santa Clara County communities
allow them to be 12' which has been accepted by the Fire Department. Should
maximum driveway slope be 15% or 20%? Maximum driveway slope should be 20%
to be consistent with Santa Clara Fire Department standards already established.
Should double access driveways be discouraged?No, for particular lots, double access
driveways may even be beneficial. The committee made the following recommended
changes to the Code regarding driveways: Section 10-2.1101 shall read: "The purposes
of this article are to insure that driveways are designed and constructed to provide
adequate sight distances; to allow for emergency access; to limit the removal of trees
and environmental damage; and to insure that while minimizing impermeable
surfacing, sufficient off-street parking is provided on each site to meet the needs of the
occupants, their guests and service vehicles." Section 10-2.1102 shall read:
"Driveways shall meet all standards for width, vertical clearance, grade, surface,
weight, turning radius, turnouts, and turnarounds as established by the Santa Clara
County Fire Department."
• Council thanked Dr. Wythe, Bill Kerns and Councilmember O'Malley for their
excellent report and thorough study of these issues.
PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To send this report to the Planning Commission for a
public hearing on 2/14/02.
7.2 Parks and Recreation Committee
7.2.1 Request to hold an Earth Day Celebration at Westwind Barn on
4/21/02 — Event to be sponsored by the Parks & Recreation
Committee, Environmental Design & Protection Committee,
Community Relations Committee and Friends of Westwind
Nancy Couperus explained the purpose of Earth Day Celebrations noting that they
promoted public awareness of educational resources in our community. Groups that
would be invited to participate included all Town committees, local conservation and
wildlife groups, school groups, recycling organizations, etc. She asked Council to add
any groups to the list which they thought appropriate. In addition, Mrs. Couperus
asked that Leopards, Etc. also be invited to attend. This group will bring selected wild
cats to the event and their goal is to expand learning opportunities about wild cats and
increase awareness of the impact of human behavior on the habitat and the survival of
these rare species. Mrs. Couperus also noted that a nature walk in Byrne Preserve was
being added to the program.
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Cheng expressed the concern of some in Town that with more and more such events
being planned, the paths would become very popular with non-residents as well as
residents. Councilmembers commented that they would just have to monitor approval
of such events.
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by O'Malley and
passed unanimously by all members present to authorize the request by the Parks and
Recreation Committee to hold an Earth Day Celebration at Westwind Barn on 4/21/02
and to include Leopards, Inc. in the list of groups to be invited.
7.2.2 Request to hold a Los Altos Hills Trails Walk/Run Fundraiser
on 5/11/02
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by g Chen and
passed unanimously by all members present to authorize the Parks and Recreation
Committee to hold a Los Altos Hills Trails Walk/Run Fundraiser on 5/11/02.
7.3 Santa Clara Valley Water District
O'Malley reported that he had attended a meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Water
District last month and two major issues discussed were security issues and the
measures being taken to keep the water supply safe and the infrastructure concerns
regarding the Hetch Hetchy which was under the auspices of San Francisco.
• 7.4 Emergency Communications Committee
Fenwick reported that he had attended several meetings of this new committee and one
issue being discussed was the possible use of radio repeaters for cases of emergency.
7.5 Library Meeting
Cheng reported that at a recent meeting the topic of discussion had been the end of the
current tax supporting libraries in 2006 and the efforts being made to support the bond
measure which would continue this tax. It amounted to approximately $20 - $30 per
parcel and was extremely important to the libraries in the community.
8. STAFF REPORTS
8.1 City Manager
8.2 City Attorney
8.3 City Clerk
8.3.1 Report on Council Correspondence
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9. COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS
10. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Les Earnest, 12769 Dianne Drive, referred to a recent article stating that the Town had
hired someone to walk the paths in Town and report on their condition. He referred to
a report he had done on this issue seven years ago when he chaired the Pathways
Committee and noted that the current Pathways Committee was now walking the paths
and updating this report. Mr. Earnest submitted another copy of his report and
commented that the Town could have saved$3,000.
Sandy Humphries, 26238 Fremont Road, recommended that the neighborhood
coordinators be included in the Emergency Communications Committee. She believed
they were vital to the community in cases of emergency and this program should be
reactivated. Many of the neighborhood coordinators actually thought the program was
still in place.
11. PUBLIC HEARINGS
11.1 Request for a site development permit for a new garage and a variance to
allow the garage within the front and side yard setbacks, Lands of
Harpootlian and Price, 26435 Anacapa Drive
O'Malley noted that there was no neighbor objection to this project and no request was
being made to increase maximum development area or maximum floor area. Finn
commented that while the original findings for the variance were general and
applicable to other lots in Town, he believed the new findings made for this variance
addressed the uniqueness of this lot more appropriately.
Fenwick read the following statement from the Mayor who was unable to attend this
meeting: While I do believe that the findings are weak and that the Council should
review this situation, I do agree with the decision of the Planning Commission. I met
with John and Duffy at the site as well as with Kent Sessions, the neighbor most
affected. After this conversation and site visit, I do believe that unless there is
opposing information presented at the meeting, findings as presented by the staff and
Planning Commission can be supported. It would be my vote to uphold the decision of
the Planning Commission.
John Harpootlian, applicant, thanked the Planning Commission and City Council for
their thorough review of their request and for visiting the site.
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and
passed unanimously by all members present to approve the request for a site
development permit for a new garage and a variance to allow the garage within the
front and side yard setbacks, Lands of Harpootlian and Price, 26435 Anacapa Drive
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11.2 Request for a site development permit and a conditional use permit for the
placement of three flush-mount antennas with a seven foot extension on an
existing pole, and the placement of equipment within an existing
telecommunication facility, Lands of California Department of
Transportation/Metro PCS, 2350 Old Page Mill Road
Karen McPherson, representing Metro PCS, explained to the Council Metro PCS's
plans for providing services to the area and also explained where the equipment would
be placed. She noted she was available if Council had any questions.
MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by O'Malley and
passed unanimously by all members present to approved the request for a site
development permit and a conditional use permit for the placement of three flush-
mount antennas with a seven foot extension on an existing pole, and the placement of
equipment within an existing telecommunication facility, Lands of California
Department of Transportation/Metro PCS, 2350 Old Page Mill Road
12. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further new or old business to discuss, the City Council Meeting was
adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
• CSlly sub 'tte
. .
Patricia Dowd
City Clerk
The minutes of the February 7, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting were approved at
the February 21, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting.
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