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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/16/2002 Minutes of a Regular Meeting May 16, 2002 Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Thursday, May 16, 2002, 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,Finn and O'Malley Absent: None Staff: City Manager Maureen Cassingham, City Attorney Sandy Sloan, City Engineer/Director of Public Works Mintze Cheng, Administrative Services Director Sarah Joiner and City Clerk Pat Dowd Press: Liz Cloutman,Los Altos Town Crier 2. APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS 3. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT _ The City Manager reported that the following actions were taken at the May 9t' Planning Commission Meeting: presentation by the Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee on outdoor lighting, structure colors and materials, landscaping and structure siting—continued for further discussion; Lands of Swan, 13201 Burke Road—request for vacation of a portion of Burke Road right of way at 13201 Burke Road and 13190 Burke Road —recommended approval; and ordinance amendment regarding height— continued for Eirther discussion. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR Item Removed: 4.3 (Fenwick) MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by O'Malley and passed unanimously (with Casey abstaining from the 5/2/02 minutes as she was not at the meeting)to approve the balance of the Consent Calendar, specifically: May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 1 4.1 Approved Minutes: May.2, 2002 4.2 Approved Warrants: $589,105.52 (4/24/02—5/9/02) 4.4 Issued Proclamation: Community School of Music and Arts 4.5 Accepted dedication of right-of-way, Lands of Scheibold, 27260 Sherlock Road—Reso#56-02 4.6 Adopted resolution ordering and calling a General Municipal Election to be held in the Town of Los Altos Hills on November 5, 2002; requesting the services of the Registrar of Voters; requesting consolidation of elections and providing for giving notice of election — Reso#57-02 4.7 Approved amendment to contract with City Manager—Reso#58-02 Investment Reports for quarters ended December 1 2 4.8 Accepted In p q 3 001 and March 31, 2002 Item Removed: 4.3 Adoption of Resolution on standing committees—Reso# Fenwick suggested that the statement that officers of committees shall not serve for more than two consecutive one year terms be deleted. Other Councilmembers disagreed, however, stating they thought change in leadership was good. CARRIED: Moved b Chen seconded b Finn and MOTION SECONDED AND , Y g Y passed by the following roll call vote to adopt Resolution #55-02 establishing standing committees and adopting general and special rules pertaining thereto. AYES: Mayor Casey and Councilmembers Cheng, Finn and O'Malley NOES: Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 5.1 Update on Mayor's Goals 1) Break ground for a new Town Hall funded by resident donations. New renderings are being prepared by the architect and will be available in Council Chambers for review. No variances will be required for this project. Staff is directed to being the planning process and a Town Hall budget will be ready by the June 201' Council Meeting., _ May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 2 2) Complete the building and planning fee study and revise fees in accordance with State law. The revised fee study will be discussed later in this meeting. 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 has completed their review of the Town's codes. The proposed ordinance changes on,heights and setbacks will be heard at the June 20th Council Meeting. The recommended changes to the ordinances with regard to conservation easements, driveways and fences will be discussed at a public hearing later in this meeting. 5) Have broadband internet access available to all residents Pac Bell remains on schedule to complete Project Pronto, their DSL project serving Los Altos Hills, by the end of this year. The first of their two gateways (vaults) has been • completed and it serves 972 homes. The second gateway will serve 1,343 homes for a total of 2,315 residences and it will be in service on or before December, 2002. 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. Council agreed that a Public Hearing on the new path map would be scheduled for the June 6h Council Meeting. It was also noted that included in the proposed budgets for Fiscal Year 2002-03 there would be a plan for the construction and maintenance of pathways. The City Engineer was working with the Chairman of the Pathways Committee on this plan. 7) Complete the review of setbacks and height limits and revise town ordinances accordingly. A public hearing will be scheduled for a public hearing for the June 20'' Council Meeting. 8) Continue to explore alternatives to underground all utilities in Los Altos Hills. May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 3 Fenwick and O'Malley expressed concerns that there was no clear directive from the residents to pursue undergrounding. They commented that perhaps there should be a ten- year plan with the Town doing the undergrounding on a regular basis. Casey thought the residents were interested in having this done. It was agreed that bringing this matter_to the voters on the November ballot would be discussed with the City Attorney and would be brought back to Council at the June 20th meeting. 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 Special Meeting of the City Council and Finance/Investment Committee and Parks and Recreation Committee was held at 5:00 p.m. on April 18th to discuss Town-owned properties. The discussion focused on the following properties: Westwind Barn, Byrne Preserve, O'Keefe and Story Hill/Page Mill. 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 Caltrans would prepare the quitclaim deed which should be accomplished in the next six months or sooner. 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. 10) Approve a five-year capital spending budget to assure the infrastructure of the • Town is sound. Completed 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 Council directed staff to send out a Town-wide email to residents on the recent burglaries in Town. The email notification will be sent to Council for review and approval. Council further agreed that another mailing would be done to see if additional residents were interested in such notifications. 5.2 Continued discussion of development fee review and report from City Attorney on State Law requirements May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 4 Casey thanked the Administrative Services Director for her further analysis of the building permit fees. It was noted that some fees charged were too low and some too high. While further study on this issue was needed Casey believed some steps could be taken at this time to correct certain of the fees charged by lowering them to more accurately reflect incurred Town costs. O'Malley urged caution and Cheng believed more study should be done on this issue. The City Attorney noted that certain fees could be lowered by resolution but if Council was considering raising fees a public hearing would be required. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To direct staff to bring a report to the June 20th Council Meeting reflecting actual times used for applications and reflecting reduction of fees where appropriate. 5.3 Discussion of process and agenda for June 6, 2002 Council Meeting on pathway issue Casey stated that if Councilmembers have any questions of staff they should get them answered before the meeting. Council will focus on the existing off-road pathway easements without paths and the additional off-road pathways identified on the 1981 Master Path Plan. The existing roadside pathways and the existing off-road pathways with easements will not be discussed. The recommendations from the Pathways Committee will be handled like a consent calendar item (all considered at one time unless • someone removes a particular path for separate consideration). The map will be discussed section by section and the residents directly affected by the path will be heard from first. Comments will be limited to one minute. Council will not be making decisions but rather will be directing recommendations to staff to take to the Planning Commission. The City Attorney reminded Councilmembers that if their residence was within 500' of a path they could not discuss it. Maps showing conflict of interest areas would be distributed to Coucnil. Nancy Ewald, 26131 Altadena, inquired about the consent calendar approach. Ginger Summit, 13390 Lenox Way, noted that there was only one hearing on this important issue and to allow only one minute to speak was in her opinion the height of rudeness. Dorothy Price, 26435 Anacapa, asked if the map being sent to everyone was correct and also if the procedure outlined by the Mayor was included in the mailed notice. Dot Schreiner, 14301 Saddle Mountain, stated that the map was not complete and asked why the conflict of interest regulations did not apply to the Pathways Committee members when they voted on this issue. May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 5 Fenwick commented that Council could decide at the June 6h meeting how long people • could speak on this issue when they saw how many were attending the meeting. 6. NEW BUSINESS 7. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES, AND COUNCILMEMBERS ON OUTSIDE AGENCIES 7.1 Santa Clara Valley Water District: Lower Peninsula Flood Zone Meeting O'Malley reported that he had attended a recent meeting and one of the topics discussed was building within 150' of a creek bed. He noted that this would affect quite a bit of the Town. The Water District had also taken no position on the Hetch Hetchy legislation and should be presenting a report on the Rogez property the end of June. 7.2 Valley Transportation Authority Cheng again noted that funding was available but the Town did not take advantage of this opportunity. Staff noted that they would discuss these funding opportunities and their limitations with Councilmember Cheng. 8. STAFF REPORTS • 8.1 City Manager 8.2 City Attorney 8.3 City Clerk 8.3.1 Report on Council Correspondence 9. COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS 10. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR Mr. Kerr, 27261 Sherlock Road, referred to the proposed new Town Hall and noted that a lot of work had already been done and the public was only now being made aware of these plans. He believed a Town Hall should be an expression of the entire community and input should be requested from the community. Concerning Westwind Barn, he believed this was an historic structure and can not be moved. To consider selling Westwind was an inappropriate use of resources. Pauline Navarro 13274 Melody Lane was not in favor of selling Westwind Barn. � g Jan Fenwick, member of the Purissima Hills Water District Board, noted that Council would be discussing the lease with the Water District at a closed session at the end of this i May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 6 meeting. She noted that they would like to stay on the Town property when the new Town Hall is built and would like to see a fair discussion of a lease agreement. She believed this could result in a win/win for all involved. 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS 11.1 Adoption of resolution amending the General Plan Pathway Element Master Path Map by deleting the off road pathway route designated on the map for the property at 27125 Taaffe Road and adoption of resolution ordering the vacation of the pathway and trail easement on 27125 Taaffe Road, Lands of Carse—Resolutions# Sandy Carse, applicant, reiterated that the path under discussion was redundant and not wanted by any of the neighbors. While she supported on-road paths, Mrs. Carse believed such off-road paths imposed an unfair burden on a small portion of property owners in Town. Nancy Ewald, 26131 Altadena, referred to the liability issue raised by Mrs. Carse at an earlier meeting and noted that according to California laws property owners were not liable in these cases. Mrs. Ewald recommended designating this area as a wildlife corridor. • Al Whaley, 26925 Taaffe Road, concurred with the applicant's request to delete this off- road path. He believed that owners could be sued and also commented that he believed this was a private asset being used for the public. Carol Petty, 26932 Almaden Court, expressed her concerns at what she considered verbal abuse to Council and residents when this issue had last been discussed at a Council Meeting. She concurred with the applicant and did not believe the animal life in the area nor the steepness was going to change. Beverly Bryant, Appaloosa Way, recommended making a decision on the Carse path after the meeting and discussion of the Master Path Plan. Jolie Houston, attorney for the applicants, stated that the easements were not necessary and owners were liable in such situations. She supported approving her clients' request. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and passed by the following roll call vote to adopt Resolution #59-02 amending the General Plan Pathway Element Master Path Plan by deleting the off-road pathway route designated along the northern boundary of the property at 27125 Taaffe Road. AYES: Mayor Casey and Councilmembers Cheng and Finn NOES: Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick and Councilmember O'Malley May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 7 MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Cheng and passed by the following roll call vote to adopt Resolution#60-02 ordering the vacation of • the pathway and trail easement on 27125 Taaffe Road. AYES: Mayor Casey and Councilmembers Cheng and Finn NOES: Mayor Pro Tem Fenwick and Councilmember O'Malley 11.2 Proposed Planning Commission recommendations for amending the Site Development and Subdivision Ordinance with regard to conservation easements, driveways and fences Council had before them the following recommendation from the Planning Commission concerning conservation easements: "Conservation easements shall be defined as a portion of land reserved for the express 'purpose of protecting the natural vegetation, wildlife, terrain, and watercourses, and for the purpose of prevention or limiting drainage and erosion problems. The Council will consider requiring conservation easements over certain portions of private land, as a condition of approval for a site development permit for a major addition or new residence or a proposed subdivision, where one or more of the following conditions exist: 1) areas with slopes of 40% or greater except where located in open space conservation areas as identified on the General Plan Land Use Diagram. Lands within open space conservation areas shall require conservation easements on slopes of 30% or greater as stipulated by the General Plan pages 14, 46, 52 and 53; 2) natural streams and creeks as identified on the General Plan Land Use • Diagram, flood plains (see General Plan page 46) or water channels within the jurisdiction of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The easement width shall extend at least 25' as measured from the top of each stream or drainage course bank; and 3) mature groves of oak trees. All proposed conservation easement boundaries shall be subject to review by the Planning Commission or City Council." Casey noted that with the restrictions of conservation easements owners were limited in what they could do with their property. Finn commented that if an owner came to Town Hall and fought for what they wanted to do in their conservation easements they could be granted approvals but he did not think owners should have to do this. Cheng did not agree with the change to 40% commenting that she did not think it was feasible. Al Whaley, 26925 Taaffe, objected to the proposal that lots with greater than 40% slope be subjected to additional restrictions on use. He did not think that there were well thought out principles behind these proposed restrictions. Dot Schreiner, 14301 Saddle Mountain, believed that the proposed ordinance changes on conservation easements were in direct conflict with the General Plan and a General Plan amendment and an environmental impact report should be required if these changes were made. Ginger Summit, 13390 Lenox Way, believed that conservation easements were what the general character of the Town.was about and she urged Council to make any changes carefully. May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 8 Ken Pastrof, the Owen Companies, commented that in 1975 he was the Town Planner. The General Plan done at that time preceded the subdivision ordinance and the regulations imposed on conservation easements were put into place to prevent abuses such as massive tree cutting. Mr. Pastrof stated that it was always the intent that these easements could be used by the owners. Sandy Humphries, 26238 Fremont Road, expressed her concerns about the preservation of conservation easements. She noted that these were natural riparian habitats and the placement of grass for example close to the creeks could cause damage. Carol Gottlieb, 24290 Summerhill, concurred with the comments made by Dot Schreiner on the need for an environmental impact report if changes were made. Mr. Kerr, 27261 Sherlock Road, commented that he thought conservation easements had been a legal method of extortion of years and he wanted to know if changes were made now to conservation easements what would happen to those already in place. Eric Clow, 27660 Central Drive, referred to pages 14 and 21 of the General Plan and noted that these sections needed to be clarified as well as the map. Specifically, the section stating that canyons and ravines with dense natural vegetative cover should be left open and have been designated Open Space Conservation Areas on the General Plan Diagram. • Evan Wythe, member of the Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee, commented that Council needed to decide how restrictive they wanted to be concerning an owner's use their property. It was their committee's goal to review the code and attempt to clarify these issues. He urged Council to be clear regarding the purpose of conservation easements. If they were being required for aesthetic reasons they so state. If they were being required for drainage reasons then that should be stated. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To continue the discussion on the proposed changes to the code section on conservation easements and to direct staff to clarify the information provided specifically what did the 1975 General Plan refer to concerning conservation easements and is an amendment to the General Plan needed if changes are made. Bill Kerns, member of the Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee, noted that other cities had 12' driveways and recommended that the Town have 12' also. Dorothy Price, 26435 Anacapa, noted that the Fire Department required 14' because of the size of the roads and the fire trucks. Ken Pastrof, the Owen Companies, commented on the resulting retaining walls and difficult slopes when including 14' driveways. He suggested including a statement to the satisfaction of the Fire Marshall or City Engineer. May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 9 MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Fenwick and • passed unanimously to amend Section 10-2.1102(g) of the Municipal Code to read: "Driveways shall meet all standards for width, vertical clearance, grade, surface, weight, turning radius, turnouts, and turnabouts as established by the Santa Clara County Fire Department. Driveway width shall not exceed 12-feet where located in required setbacks except as otherwise determined necessary by the Fire Department. Bob Hall, 12140 Foothill Lane, believed that standard barbed wire and electric fences should be allowed. Al Whaley, 26925 Taaffe Road, recommended that the fence height be considered from where one was viewing the fence. Mr. Kerr, 27261 Sherlock Road, suggested that deer fence posts be spaced a minimum of four feet apart not eight as recommended. He also thought that six feet was too low for a fence but seven feet was a better height. Nina Logan, 14250 Berry Hill, recommended that fence heights and locations be addressed. She also supported see through fencing. Evan Wythe, member of the Municipal Code and Policy Review Committee, noted that there needed to be some clarification of the recommendations from the Planning Commission on the fencing issue. He noted some discrepancies. iPASSED BY CONSENSUS: To continue the discussion on the fencing ordinance changes to a meeting at which the Planning Director would be present and to direct the Planning Director to,meet with Evan Wythe for clarifications of the recommendations made by the Planning Commission. Council also asked for a clear statement of what the code presently requires for fencing. 12. CLOSED SESSION: REAL ESTATE NEGOTIATIONS: CONFERENCE WITH REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATOR: PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54956.8: Property: 26375 Fremont Road: Negotiators: Maureen Cassingham, City Manager, Sandy Sloan, City Attorney: Under Negotation: Lease 13. CLOSED SESSION: PERSONNEL: PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54957: PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION: City Manager 14. CLOSED SESSION: EXISTING LITIGATION: PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54956.9: IDC vs. Cupertino: Santa Clara Superior Court Case# CV793115 Council adjourned to a Closed Session on real estate negotiations, personnel and existing litigation at 8:20 p.m. and reconvened at 9:07 p.m. May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 10 REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION Council returned to open session to report, if necessary, any actions taken: No actions were taken. 15. ADJOURNMENT There being no further new or old business to discuss, the City Council Meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted Patricia Dowd, City Clerk The minutes of the May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting were approved at the June 20, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting. May 16, 2002 Regular City Council Meeting 11