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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/18/2002 Minutes of a Special Meeting April 18, 2002 Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Special Meeting Joint Meeting with the Finance/Investment Committee and Parks and Recreation Committee Thursday,April 18, 2002, 5:00 p.m. Town Hall, 26379 Fremont Road 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Casey called the Special Meeting of the City Council to order at 5:05 p.m. at Town Hall. Present: Mayor Casey and Councilmembers Cheng,Fenwick, Finn and O'Malley Absent: None • Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham, City Attorney Sandy Sloan,City Engineer/Director of Public Works Mintze Cheng and City Clerk Pat Dowd Finance/ Frank Lloyd, Chairman; Lalla Carsten,Lall Jain, L. Investment William Krause, R. Douglas Norby, Roy Rogers Committee Parks and Rebecca Hickman and Patty Radlo, Co-Chairmen; Recreation Karen Bergh, Jane Kawaskai,Valerie Metcalfe Committee Press: Chuck Carroll, San Jose Mercury 2. STUDY SESSION ON TOWN OWNED PROPERTIES I Casey stated that she was proud to be part of a Council that was addressing the issue of accountability of the Town's assets. She also thanked City Engineer/Director of Public Works Mintze Cheng and local realtor and member of the Pathways Committee Charlene Geers for their assistance with this project. Casey referred to the report on the Town-owned lands and noted that the discussion would focus on the following properties: Byrne Preserve, Westwind Barn, O'Keefe and Story Hill/Page Mill. One of the suggestions Council wanted to receive input on was the relocation of Westwind Barn to the Byrne Preserve or if it was more cost efficient the building of a new Westwind Barn on the preserve property. She stressed April 18, 2002 Special City Council Meeting 1 i that the Council was not talking about getting rid of Westwind Barn but relocating it to a better location. Frank Lloyd noted that one of their committee members, Shabnam Jain, was preparing a report on Westwind Barn, thus the Finance and Investment Committee had not reviewed that property and had no position on it at this time. As far as O'Keefe and Story Hill were concerned, they supported selling them. Mr. Lloyd commented that the money from the sale of these properties could possibly be used for the Town Hall project as well as Town recreation programs. During the discussion, Douglas Norby noted that the Finance and Investment Committee had not recommended the sale of Westwind Barn, as it had not yet reviewed it. Rebecca Hickman noted that Parks and Recreation could not use the O'Keefe property and they had no objection to it being sold. Patty Radlo further commented that issues with the O'Keefe property, if used for recreation purposes such as soccer fields, included parking, noise, and impact on the neighbors. The Parks and Recreation Committee also did not object to the sale of the Story Hill property but noted there was some history of erosion problems on this piece of land. The Parks and Recreation Committee strongly supported not selling the Westwind Barn property. Rebecca Hickman further suggested looking at the Town Ring land near the little league fields as a possible site for recreation programs. • There was parking available, the neighbors were used to a programs being conducted at the ring and it could result in a `recreation corridor' along Purissima. Finn believed selling the Westwind Barn property and moving the Barn to the Byrne Preserve would be a `win/win' for the Town. Los Altos Hills would have a better facility for Westwind Barn and would get needed funds for additional recreation programs in the Town. Finn also inquired about the possibility of moving the Town's corporation yard located on Purissima and was advised that Council would be discussing a request for proposals for consulting services for evaluation of the Public Works Maintenance Department at the regular meeting later in the evening. Cheng stated that she thought the Council should have a specific plan for the funds obtained from the sale of Town-owned lands before any sale was contemplated. The City Attorney stated that she would be providing a report to the City Council on the legal steps required when considering the sale of Town- owned lands. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: It was agreed that O'Malley would contact the Nature Conservancy to see if moving Westwind Barn onto the Preserve would be in accordance with their restrictions on the property. Regarding the O'Keefe property it was noted that discussions were ongoing with April 18, 2002 Special City Council Meeting 2 Caltrans regarding the quitclaim deed. Council directed staff to obtain an appraisal on the Story Hill property and also directed the City Attorney to prepare a report on the restrictions and process for selling Town land. 3. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR Sandy Tanaka, resident, asked if as taxpayers they would have an opportunity to comment on the potential sale of Westwind Barn. In her opinion it was a treasure and no amount of money received for the property would be enough. Dan Alexander, 27200 Elena, commented that he moved to Los Altos Hills for the beautiful open space. He questioned why the Council would think of selling this property when it did not need the money. Jill Jensen, 26225 Purissima, agreed with the comments made by Dan Alexander. Westwind Barn could be an historic building and she believed moving it to Byrne Preserve would ruin the preserve. John Metcalfe, 12933 Tripoli Court, commented on Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick's `dream' for Byrne Preserve and noted that the preserve already included a picnic area and a car park. Doug Patterson, Dezahara Way, supported selling Westwind Barn. Craig Breon, Executive Director of the Audubon Society, asked that he be put on the agenda mailing list for continued discussions on these issues. 4. ADJOURNMENT There being no further new or old business to discuss, the City Council Meeting was adjourned at 5:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Patricia Dowd, City Clerk The minutes of the April 18, 2002 Special City Council Meeting were approved at the May 2, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting. Corrections were further made at the July 18, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting. April 18, 2002 Special City Council Meeting 3