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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/21/1999 • Minutes of a Regular Meeting October 21, 1999 Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Thursday, October 21 , 1999, 6:00 P.M. Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Dauber called the Regular Meeting of the City Council to order at 6:05 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall. Present: Mayor Dauber and Councilmembers Casey, Finn, Johnson and Siegel Absent: None Staff: City Manager Mark Miller, City Attorney Sandy Sloan, Planning Director Curtis Williams, Public Works Manager Jim Rasp and • City Clerk Pat Dowd Press: Leslie Martin, Los Altos Town Crier Casey questioned why Item 5.4 was on this agenda. She believed this issue had been decided upon at the September 2nd Council Meeting and there had been no additional developments to warrant it being agendized for further discussion. She asked Council if they wanted to discuss this issue. It was agreed to keep it on the agenda. 2. APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS 2.1 Utility and Information Systems Committee: Presentation on televising City Council and Planning Commission Meetings Evan Wythe, member of the Utility and Information Systems Committee,made a presentation to the Council on their report on televising Council and Commission Meetings. He noted that three cameras would be installed in chambers with a video equipment table set up where the current press table is in chambers. SunTel would pick up the tape the next morning and the tape of the meeting would be shown tape delayed. Council could decide when it was shown. The City of Los Altos shows theirs the next day. Mr. Wythe also described two preliminary budgets: one at approximately $25,000 and one at$43,200. The higher budget obviously included more sophisticated and higher end equipment. In response to several questions raised by Council at their last meeting Mr. Wythe made the following comments: He did not know who would be in charge. In some other communities it was staff but he had no idea if that would work in the Town as he was not familiar with staff's responsibilities. Los Altos used volunteers but they were planning on hiring a full time paid employee. The meetings would be unedited and the October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 1 direction of the cameras would be determined by Council. In some other cities, for example,the • cameras were directed on the main speaker. The meeting in its entirety would be taped—no matter how long it ran. He could not find any copyright issues. Copies of the tapes would be made available on a check-out basis for residents with tapes stored for posterity at Town Hall. Their committee agreed that top quality was essential and recommended approval of the higher end budget. He noted that other cities had not necessarily gone for the higher quality but so many changes had been made since their systems had been put in that it was difficult to make a valid comparison. The equipment could be rented but not the operators. He also commented that Los Altos and Palo Alto did not know what their viewership was. Mr. Wythe commented on the issue of webtv and suggested that he go back to his committee and get more information about this to bring back to Council and also obtain a more specific cost proposal. Michael Scott, 27856 Black Mountain Road, offered the Council the alternative option of webtv and briefly explained how this could work. David Vellequette, 13944 Fremont Pines Lane, cautioned that presently homes could not get the best quality off the webtv. He suggested renting the tv equipment at this time and going with webtv when advancements had been made in the area of home reception quality. Council thanked the Utility and Information Systems Committee for all of their work on this project and the excellent presentation. They supported proceeding with this project with the higher quality equipment. It was agreed the committee would obtain more specific information and bring this back to Council at a future meeting. Dauber did ask the committee to find out who administered this project in other cities and if done by staff approximately how much time it took. • 3. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT 4. CONSENT CALENDAR Items Removed: 4.1 (Mayor Dauber) and 4.10 (City Manager) MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Johnson, seconded by Casey and passed unanimously to approve the balance of the Consent Calendar, specifically: 4.2 Approved Site Development Permit(Fast-Track) for a new residence at 12080 Kate Drive, Lands of Robertson 4.3 Approved Site Development Permit(Fast-Track) for a new residence at 12100 Kate Drive, Lands of Mittelman 4.4 Approved Site Development Permit(Fast-Track) for a new residence at 12007 Kate Drive, Lands of Windy Hill Associates 4.5 Accepted dedication of right of way along Moody Road,Lands of Huang, 27760 Sherlock Road—Reso#57-99 4.6 Accepted dedication of right of way over Sherlock Road, Lands of Huang, 27760 Sherlock Road—Reso#58-99 4.7 Grant of conservation easement, Lands of Huang, 27760 Sherlock Road— • Reso. #59-99 October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 2 4.8 Grant of pathway easement, Lands of Huang, 27760 Sherlock Road—Reso #60-99 4.9 Approved dedication of right of way and utility easement, Lands of Stirling, 28025 and 28030 Natoma Road—Reso #61-99 Items Removed: 4.1 Approval of Minutes: October 7, 1999 (Regular Meeting) This item was continued to the next Council Meeting. 4.2 Approval of grant of sanitary sewer easement, Lands of Morrison. 27641 Purissima Road—Reso# The City Manager asked that this item be removed as more work needed to be done by staff on this easement issue. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To removed Item 4.10 from the agenda. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 5.1 Adoption of Ordinance enabling the Town to provide for reimbursement agreements for sewer main extensions in the public right of way (SECOND READING)—continued from October 7, 1999 Council Meeting • MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Casey, seconded by Johnson and passed by the following roll call vote to adopt Ordinance#402 enabling the Town to provide for reimbursement agreements for sewer main extensions in the public right of way with the change from 10 to 15 years. AYES: Mayor Pro Tem Finn and Councilmembers Casey, Johnson and Siegel NOES: Mayor Dauber Dauber stated that she could vote for 10 years but not 15. She believed this length of time was a problem for staff. 5.2 Report from Crawford, Multari & Clark on the review of the land use element of the General Plan Paul Crawford, representing Crawford, Multari& Clark,presented a status report on the Land Use Element Committee. He reported the committee had met twice and was discussing the concerns of the community regarding land use issues. They were also formulating a survey to be distributed to the community. They expected this survey to be available for Council approval in January and then sent to the residents. Council requested and it was agreed that they would also be sent copies of the draft survey for comment and review. • October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 3 5.3 Status Report on Appointments to Town Hall Building Committee Council appointed the following to the Town Hall Building Committee: Bob Owen, Bill Downey (Johnson); Janet Vitu and Bob Dailey (Casey); Dave Vellequette and Kelly Porter(Finn); Sid Hubbard and John Vidovich(Siegel) and Diane Brauch and Lew Throop (Dauber). 5.4 Vote on whether to retain Charles Wong as a Planning Commissioner Johnson stated that this issue had been discussed at the September 2nd Council Meeting. He noted that that meeting had gone very late and a decision had not been made. Johnson believed the Council should have done a better job that night and he fully expected a motion on this issue tonight. Casey did not think this issue should be discussed again by the Council. This issue had been discussed on September 2nd and nothing new had happened since that date. Casey further referred to the Planning Director's report on violations on the Wong property. Casey particularly questioned how Mr. Wong could have gotten a building permit if planning and engineering inspections had not taken place. She believed the issues listed in this report had been resolved. Siegel referred to the sign put up by Mrs. Gallo on her property. He condemned this sign and thought it was the worst thing to happen in Town in ten years. Siegel stated the sign should be removed at once. The Planning Director, in response to Councilmember Casey, stated that it was not the usual process to receive a building permit prior to planning and engineering inspections being made. In this particular case the former Acting City Manager had directed the Building Official to inspect Mr. Wong's property prior to these other inspections so that any building issues could also be addressed. • The following addressed the Council in support of Mr. Wong staying on the Planning Commission: Patrick Ng, 12700 Leander; Stan Mok, 25691 Chapin Road; Kenneth Fong, 15466 Vista Serena; Mary Calderon, 12200 Kate Drive; and Evan Wythe, 13828 Moon Lane. The following addressed the Council stating that Mr. Wong should be removed from the Planning Commission: William Downey, 14330 DeBell Drive; Robin Gallo, Los Altos; Diane Barrager, 13220 Robleda; Les Earnest, 12769 Dianne Drive; L.S. Chen, Palo Alto; Millie Gallo, 25720 La Lanne Court; Ginger Summit, 13390 Lenox Way; Jitze Couperus, 13680 Page Mill Road; Jim Steiner, 14195 Wild Plum; Fred Osterlund, 26238 Fremont Road; Denise Williams, 25462 Altamont Road; and Betsy Bertram, 11854 Page Mill Road. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Siegel, seconded by Casey and passed by the following roll call vote to agree that Charles Wong would remain on the Planning Commission and have until January 1, 2000 to bring his property into compliance with Town regulations. At that time the City Manager would report to the Mayor on the status and if compliance had not been reached,this issue would be agendized for the first Council Meeting in January. In addition, Council condemned the sign on Mrs. Gallo's property as a hate sign and directed staff to see that it was removed at once. AYES: Mayor Pro Tem Finn and Councilmembers Casey and Siegel NOES: Mayor Dauber and Councilmember Johnson Dauber stated that she believed Mr. Wong should step down until the violations had been corrected. She believed it was a basic problem that a Planning Commissioner was in violation and furthermore did not believe that there were violations. Siegel believed that Mr. Wong October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 4 • understood that there were violations and was going to do what was needed to correct them. Johnson did not believe that the majority of the community understood that his only complaint to Mr. Wong remaining on the Planning Commission was that he was not `squeaky clean'. Johnson believed Mr. Wong to be a decent, honorable person but a Commissioner needed to be above reproach. Casey commented that the Council did not provide any training for Commissioners nor state any qualifications needed for the job. 6. NEW BUSINESS 7. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES,AND COUNCILMEMBERS ON OUTSIDE AGENCIES 8. STAFF REPORTS 8.1 City Manager 8.1.1 Report on impact on applicants by requiring a structural engineer inspection The City Manager reported that there was no financial impact on applicants but there was a delay of approximately one to two weeks. Staff was preparing a more detailed report on actual applications and this report will be brought back to Council. 8.1.2 Update on Building and Planning Fees • The City Manager reported that the Finance Director had obtained some information on consultant costs associated with reviewing the Town's fee schedule. The approximate cost would be $10-15,000. Council agreed that they wanted to review the former City Manager's report on development fees, the City Attorney report on fee increase/decrease legal requirements and a draft of the request for proposals from the Finance Director before determining which direction to go on this project. It was agreed to bring these reports would be brought back to Council for review. Siegel also noted that the issue of adjusting pathway fees needed to be addressed. Would an election be necessary. 1 54 Page Mill Road suggested that it would be helpful t applicants c Bets Bertram 1 8 o ants to receive Y g gg p pp a list of all steps and associated fees associated with a project. She further suggested changing the name of on-road paths to sidewalks and keeping ofroad paths as pathways so that taxes could go to pay for the sidewalks and pathway fees to the pathways. 8.1.3 ERAF The City Manager referred to an article in the 10/21/99 issue in the San Jose Mercury News on the issue of ERAF funds. 8.2 City Attorney 8.2.1 Recommendation to share costs of having Michael Riback analyze ERAF Calculations October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 5 • MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Casey and passed unanimously to authorize the City Attorney to retain, along with the cities of Cupertino, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, Michael Riback of the law firm of Meyers Nave Riback Silver and Wilson to analyze the accuracy of the County's applying the ERAF shift to properly taxes before it applies the TEA guarantee. 8.2.2 Utility and Information Systems Committee The City Attorney reported that she had been invited to attend the 10/22/99 meeting of the Utility and Information Systems Committee to address the issue of what role committee members had in representing the Town. She noted that she would be reporting to the committee that they could not represent the Town,nor negotiate on behalf of the Town. They could however serve as information gatherers. In addition all correspondence going out from the committee should be approved by Council. 8.2.3 Email The City Attorney reported that the City Attorneys were attempting to formulate a policy on email as it related to the Brown Act and Public Information Act. She cautioned Council that they should not send an email to more than one Councilmember. -Should a complaint be filed the City Attorney noted that it would be handled by the District Attorney's Office. Michael Scott, Black Mountain Road, commented on the complexity of the issue. He reminded Council that it was easy to blind copy on an email so that it would be difficult • to ascertain what the actual distribution of an email might be. 8.3 City Clerk 8.3.1 Report on Council Correspondence 9. COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS 9.1 Solid Waste Subcommittee (Mayor Dauber) Dauber asked Casey and Finn if they had met as the Solid Waste Subcommittee and if not when they planned to meet. Casey responded that they had not yet scheduled a meeting but planned to do so in the near future. It was agreed they would report to Council by early December. Betsy Bertram, 11854 Page Mill Road, commented that the level of service from the Los Altos Garbage Company was lessening and she asked Council to also address this issue. Dauber commented that the Town should be getting service reports from LAGCO and it was agreed the City Manager would contact LAGCO about these reports. 9.2 Town Newsletter(Mayor Dauber) Dauber noted that in the December Town Newsletter a message from the Council to the community on the millennium was planned. This message which would address where the Town has been and where it is going will also be placed in the time capsule in Los Altos on New Year's Eve. It was agreed that Johnson would draft this article and bring it back for Council approval at the next meeting. • October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 6 • 9.3 Santa Clara County Cities Association(Councilmember Johnson) Johnson referred to legislation that would address the ten year liability issue related to condominium builders. They had been subject to undue class action suits and law suits and legislation was now underway to correct this unfair situation. Council agreed that the Mayor would send a letter on behalf of the Town supporting this legislation. 9.4 Los Altos Focus Workshops (Mayor Dauber) Dauber suggested that members of the Utility and Information Systems Committee might want to attend the Los Altos Focus Workshops to be held on cable tv issues. These might provide worthwhile information which could be shared between the communities. 10. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR Michael Scott, 27856 Black Mountain Road, reiterated his concerns to the Council concerning their management style. He did not see where constructive changes were being made. Les Earnest, 12769 Dianne Drive,referred to several unfavorable comments and generalizations made at the last Council meeting concerning bicyclists. He believed such comments as `arrogant disregard for motorists', `run through stop signs', etc. were uninformed and insensitive. He urged the Council to encourage bicyclists in the community. Ray Inglin, 27855 Moody Road, submitted a letter to the Council asking that the following issue • be agendized for Council discussion: adoption of an ordinance clearly allowing issuance of not only a grading and paving permit to an easement owner, but also allowing the easement owner to maintain the easement for their safety and convenience. He further noted that presently all easement owners in Los Altos Hills had to rely to California State Law to support their right to grade and pave their ingress/egress easements. 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS 11.1 Amendment to Chapter 10-1.702(k) of the Zoning Code to allow second units to be Permitted on lots in excess of one (1.0) gross acre in size and negative declaration (FIRST READING) Tibor Fish, 26018 Todd Lane, supported this ordinance and urged Council to act favorably on it. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Siegel, seconded by Casey and passed unanimously to introduce an ordinance amending Chapter 10-1.702(k) of the Zoning Code with regard to development of secondary dwelling units. 11.2 Proposed Ordinance amending Sections 10-1.1109, 10-2.1313(b), and 10-2.1313(c) of the Los Altos Hills Municipal Code regarding appeals from decisions of the Planning Commission and Staff Committee (FIRST READING) MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Casey, seconded by Finn and passed unanimously to introduce an ordinance amending Sections 10-1.1109, 10-2.1313(b) and 10- 2.1313(c) of the Los Altos Hills Municipal Code regarding appeals from decisions of the Planning Commission and Staff Committee. October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 7 • 12. ADJOURNMENT There being no further new or old business to discuss,the City Council Meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. s m' ed, Patricia Dowd City Clerk The minutes of the October 21, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting were approved at the November 4, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting. • • October 21,1999 Regular City Council Meeting 8