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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/17/1999 _ Minutes of a Regular Meeting June 17, 1999 Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Thursday, June 17, 1999, 6:00 P.M. Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Johnson called the Regular Meeting of the City to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall. Present: Mayor Johnson and Councilmembers Casey, Dauber, Finn And Siegel Absent: None Staff: City Manager William Norton, City Attorney Sandy Sloan, Planning Director Curtis Williams, Public Works Manager Jim Rasp,Finance Director Carol Ferrell and City Clerk Pat Dowd Press: None • MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Johnson, seconded by Finn and passed unanimously to add the following as an urgency item to the agenda: Closed Session: Personnel: Public Employment: Government Code Section 54957 -- City Manager lA REORGANIZATION OF COUNCIL MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Johnson, seconded by Siegel and passed unanimously to appoint Dauber Mayor for a one-year term. MOTION SECONDED AND FAILED: Moved by Finn, seconded by Casey and failed by the following roll call vote to appoint Dauber as Mayor and Casey as Mayor Pro Tem. AYES: Councilmembers Casey and Finn NOES: Mayor Dauber and Councilmembers Johnson and Siegel MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Dauber, seconded by Siegel and passed unanimously to appoint Finn as Mayor Pro Tem for a one-year term. Dauber, on behalf of the Council,presented Johnson with a gift in appreciation for his service to the Town as Mayor. She referred to the Town's list of accomplishments for'the past year and thanked Johnson for such a successful year. Johnson thanked the Council. He stated that he had been proud to be Mayor of Los Altos Hills during the past year. It had been an interesting and challenging experience. i June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 1 2. APPOINTMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS 3. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT The Planning Director reported that the following applications were discussed at the 6/9/99 Planning Commission Meeting: Lands of Green Earth, 27168 Moody Court: request for a site development permit for a 7,273 square foot new residence including a two-car garage and a three-car detached carport-denied; Lands of Barth, 14350 Manuella Road: request for a site development permit for a 6,952 square foot new residence with an attached three-car garage, a 2,758 square foot basement including a pool and a 600 square foot accessory structure- approved; and the proposed amendments to Matadero Creek Subdivision Conditions of Approval related to building coverage and maximum development area were continued. Casey suggested that all Councilmembers listen to the tapes from this Planning Commission Meeting. She also believed that the Planning Commission should be including the required findings in their motions. Casey further recommended that the Planning Director should make the report to the Commission on Council actions just as he now makes the report to the Council on Commission actions. She believed this would result in a more objective report. Council agreed that the matter would be agendized. Dauber stated that she thought it was important for consistency when dealing with the basement ordinance. MOTION FAILED DUE TO LACK OF A SECOND: Moved by Casey and failed due to lack of a second to request Council consensus to bring the Lands of Green Earth forward to Council for review. Casey appealed the denial of the Lands of Green Earth site development permit application. A • public hearing would be set for Council review of this project. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR Items Removed: 4.1 - 6/3/99 Regular Meeting Minutes (Dauber) and 4.3 (Dauber) Casey did not want to remove Item 4.4 but did want to note that she had met with the Associate Engineer for clarification of the bids received for the Fremont Road Path Project and she was in agreement with the staff s recommendation. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Siegel, seconded by Johnson and passed unanimously to approve the balance of the Consent Calendar, specifically: 4.1 Approved Minutes: June 3, 1999 (Special Meeting) 4.2 Approved award of purchase order for replacement of a 5 CY Dump Truck for the Public Works Department 4.4 Awarded contract for the Fremont Road Path Project, CIP98-99, recommendation for award of contract and amendment to Capital Improvement Budget -- Resolutions #34-99 and#35-99 4.5 Approved presentation of Town accomplishments for FY 98-99 4.6 Approved recommendation for adoption of Goals and Objectives for Fiscal Year 1999-00 June 17, 1.999 Regular City Council Meeting 2 Items Removed: 4.1 Approval of Minutes: June 3, 1999 (Regular Meeting) MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Dauber, seconded by Johnson and passed unanimously to approve the minutes of the June 3, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting with the following correction: page 2, last paragraph should read: "PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To add a statement to the assumption agreement that Sun would demonstrate their compliance with the franchise agreement requirement to serve 85%of homes within existing Town limits on the effective date of the franchise." 4.3 Request for Council support for a regional letter of support for the Calfed Bay-Delta Program by Santa Clara County Cities Dauber presented a brief history of the letter before them and the related issues. She referred to the statement in the letter "We cannot accept any unmitigated degradation of water quality in order for CALFED to meet other program objectives." and commented that the environmental groups did not believe this statement was strong enough. She noted that the Santa Clara Valley Water District, who wrote the letter, would be working with the environmental groups to address their concerns. Rick Callendar, Government Relations Manager- Santa Clara Valley Water District, commented that the Board of Supervisors endorsed the letter at their meeting last week. In addition all of the Chambers of Commerce had endorsed the letter except Los Gatos and all cities in the County except Los Altos Hills. He confirmed that the environmental agencies had not signed the letter but they had also not stated their outright opposition to the letter. He believed this was a good • opportunity to work together and believed there might be another letter forthcoming as a result of these additional discussions. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Dauber, seconded by Johnson and passed unanimously to approve the request for support of a regional letter of support for the Calfed Bay- Delta Program. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 5.1 Approval of notice to residents regarding the Town Color Board and setting the date for a public hearing Council had before them the following draft notice to be sent to Town residents on the color board issue. CITY COUNCIL MEETING REGARDING HOUSE COLOR REQUIREMENTS On Thursday, 1999 at p.m., in the Cit Council Chambers at Town Hall, City 26379 Fremont Road, the City Council of the Town of Los Altos Hills will conduct a public meeting to consider comments regarding the Town's requirements for limiting the exterior color of new homes and roofs. Specifically, the Council will consider whether to retain the • Town's current policies and regulations, to modify them, or to eliminate them entirely. June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 3 Intent of Color Limitations The basic intent of regulating house colors is to provide an additional means of "blending" a home with its environment. Regulations in Town and in other communities frequently rely on either "earth tone" colors or light reflectivity values (LRV)to suggest darker tones which do not show through vegetation as readily and are not as conspicuous as lighter colors. The Town's existing "color board" limits the exterior color of most new homes to a modest range of colors with limited reflectivity. The Town does not, however, regulate color when re- painting an existing home, so that the main concern is to limit colors until landscape screening grows to better shield the visibility of the structures. Options Several options have been identified to address the exterior color issue: 1. Maintain the existing color board and policy, but specify how long after final approval a house must remain painted (probably 3-5 years), to allow time for landscape screening to mature. 2. Expand the colors on the color board, either in terms of the color "tones", such as adding yellow, or by allowing a greater LRV, say 60% instead of 50%. 3. Revise the existing regulations to limit how colors are combined, to limit the gloss as well as the LRV of paint colors,and/or to limit the color and reflectivity of roofing materials. • 4. Limit color restrictions to highly visible hillside and ridgeline lots only. 5. Eliminate all requirements for exterior colors on new homes. 6. Eliminate paint color requirements, but retain some limitations on the color and/or reflectivity of roofs. If you have comments on the above issues, please plan to attend the meeting, or provide written comments to the Planning Department, Town of Los Altos Hills, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022, or Fax comments to (650) 941-3160. For further information, please call (650) 941-7222. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Johnson, seconded by Finn and passed unanimously to amend the second sentence of the second paragraph to read: "Regulations in Town and in some other communities . . . .". PASSED BY CONSENSUS: #1 change 'probably 3-5 years'to Tor example 3-5 years'; #6, add 'including reroofs';put on webpage and add webpage address; include email address; direct Planning Director to sign notice; and give Council a clean copy of the notice MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Siegel, seconded by Johnson and passed unanimously to schedule a public hearing on the color board for the second meeting in September, include information in the September Newsletter and mail notices to residents three weeks before the meeting. 6. NEW BUSINESS • June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 4 i 7. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES,AND COUNCILMEMBERS ON OUTSIDE AGENCIES 8. STAFF REPORTS 8.1 City Manager 8.2 City Attorney 8.3 City Clerk 8.3.1 Report on Council Correspondence PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To direct the Mayor to send a letter to Ken Schroder and Jim Abraham asking if they would like to serve on a subcommittee on airport noise issues. 9. COUNCIL-INITIATED ITEMS 9.1 Discussion of fee schedule(Councilmember Casey) Casey raised the issue of the fee schedule, specifically the building fees and asked what was covered by these fees. She believed the building fee were very high and asked Council to further review these fees. She referred to several specific examples for Council's information. The City Attorney stated that legally the amount of fees for services could not exceed the cost of the services provided. The costs could include however, overhead such as copying, electricity, • etc. Council and staff discussed what charges were covered by such fees, including staff time and overhead costs. Casey suggested that the Finance Committee review the fee schedule. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To direct the City Manager to review the fee schedule and report back to Council. 9.2 Discussion and resolution of the maximum development area for restrained lots (i.e. greater than .5 and less than 1.0 luf) -- (Councilmember Casey) Casey referred to the report she had prepared and asked Council to begin the process of amending the ordinance which dealt with development on constrained lots. She noted in her report that development on these lots was consistently approved with large variances and the minimum 5,000 square feet of development had never been imposed. Casey asked that the Council direct the Planning Commission to visit the sites of constrained lots, hold a public hearing on the ordinance and report back to the Council. She did not think it was appropriate to continue to use variances for these lots. This was very confusing to the neighbors as was exemplified in the Burger application on the Council's agenda later in this g p g pP g meeting. Siegel commented that both sides of the issue needed to be addressed maximum g floor area as well as maximum development area. Ann Wilson, Westwind Way, stated her concerns about development in the Town as a whole. She also questioned the granting of variances for additional development on these constrained lots. Ms. Wilson noted that she was also speaking for LaVon Morton, 25857 Westind Way. June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 5 Rudolph Alfmito, 25870 Westwind Way, stated that be believed the codes should be very • specific on variances and when and why they were allowed. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: Council agreed that this should be placed on the first available Planning Commission agenda, with the understanding that house applications get first priority and that the Planning Commission be requested to formulate an opinion on this matter and bring it back to Council. 9.3 Utility and Information Systems Committee (Mayor Dauber) Dauber recommended that the Utility and Information Systems Committee should establish a regular meeting schedule. Bob Fenwick, member of the Utility and Information Systems Committee, commented that they appeared to be working toward meeting the last Friday of the month at Town Hall at 8:30 a.m. He noted that they had been working through work and travel schedules to get at a convenient time for the members. 9.4 Strategic Planning Meeting for JPA Leadership of the Community Health Awareness Council (Mayor Dauber) Dauber noted that she had been invited to attend this meeting but was asking Council for some direction. In particular one of the agenda items was a discussion of financing CHAC by JPA Partners in the new millennium. Council agreed that the Mayor should go to the meeting and bring back a report to Council on what was discussed. • 9.5 Joint Volunteer Awards Committee (Councilmember Johnson) Johnson noted that members were needed for the Joint Volunteer Awards Committee and if Council knew of anyone who was interested please let him know. It was also noted that the charter of this committee should be changed to increase the term of appointment to more than two years. Both the Councils of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills would have to agree to this change. 9.6 All Star Football Team(Mayor Dauber) Dauber noted that she had received an invitation to attend a game at Spartan Stadium on 7/23/99. She could not attend but if any Councilmember wished to go please let her know. 10. PRESENTATIONS FROM THE FLOOR Jim Steiner, 14195 Wild Plum Lane, stated that he wanted to offer a personal opinion but one that he felt was shared by most if not all of the Town of Los Altos Hills on the very fine job that Mayor Emeritus Bob Johnson has done during the past year. Elayne very correctly identified that he's had a very difficult year in which to be Mayor and the contentious issue of the Planning Commission just underscores that difficulty because it's been a highly polarized issue within the Town and Bob has worked to generate a team spirit. He's worked to be fair to both sides. He has done this with a great deal of grace and I think the Town owes him an enormous debt of gratitude. Bob,you have my plaudits for a super job. Finally, I would like to congratulate Elayne and Steve on your new positions. We wish you well and you have our full support. Good luck. June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 6 11. PUBLIC HEARINGS • 11.1 Request for a site development permit for a new residence and for a variance to exceed allowable maximum development area, Lands of Burger, 25850 Westwind Way (continued from the June 3, 1999 meeting) Johnson stepped down from consideration of this application. The Planning Director reported that since the May 20"'Council Meeting at which time this application was initially heard,he had met with the applicants and the plans had been revised. Staff believed the revised plans substantially addressed the concerns of the Planning Commission and staff recommended that the revised plans be forwarded to the Commission for review. The applicants had also submitted a letter requesting review of their plans at the July 14"'Planning Commission Meeting. Tony Lagorio, attorney for Rudolph Alfinito, stated that they concurred with the recommendation that the application go back to the Planning Commission. Mr. Burger, applicant,referred to the changes they had made to their project including a reduction of square footage, lowering of house, elimination of second floor and less visual impact. While he concurred with the Planning Commission's recommendation he would like to see a resolution to the issue of maximum development area allowed for restrained lots as this affected his property. Casey did not want this project to go back to the Planning Commission. The applicants had already been through several meetings and she believed Council should decide on the project and move forward with the resolution of maximum development area allowed for restrained lots. • The City Attorney stated that substantial changes had been made to the applicants'plans and new plans had not been made available to Council or the public. This was not due process and it was necessary for the revised application to be reviewed by the Commission. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Siegel, seconded by Finn and passed by the following roll call vote to refer the applicants (Lands of Burger)back to the Planning Commission for review of revised plans. AYES: Mayor Dauber and Councilmembers Finn and Siegel NOES: Councilmember Casey ABSTAIN: Councilmember Johnson 11.2 Introduction of Ordinance providing enhancements to the Site Development Review Process and establishing a "Fast-Track" Review Process and a negative Declaration(FIRST READING) Dauber referred to section 1(e) of the proposed ordinance and asked what Council would do if an element was a structural one not a design one. She put forth the example of windows giving a house the appearance of a three story structure. Finn noted that each application would be considered on its own. Johnson stated that he thought they should move forward with this ordinance and see how it works rather than trying to work out every possible situation at the beginning. Casey recommended agendizing a meeting with the Planning Commission to discuss what this ordinance meant as regards the design guidelines. She believed they were in conflict but Johnson noted • that the ordinance would take precedence over the guidelines. June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 7 i PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To appoint Casey and Dauber to a Council Subcommittee to review the design guidelines and highlight areas of concern. PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To change the word'enhancements' in the ordinance to 'limitations' and to correct the typographical error on page 2, section 2.(b)(2) - stall should be shall. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Johnson, seconded by Finn and passed by the following roll call vote to waive further reading of the ordinance, to adopt the negative declaration and to introduce an ordinance providing limitations to the Site Development Review Process and establishing a fast-track process for review of new residences and major additions. AYES: Mayor Pro Tem Finn and Councilmembers Casey and Johnson NOES: Mayor Dauber and Councilmember Siegel 11.3 Adoption of a proposed Town Budget for the fiscal year 1999-00 and the appropriations limit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1999 and approval of revised Compensation Plan for fiscal year 99-00 --Resolutions # Carol Ferrell, Finance Director, noted that the changes made to the budget by the Council at their June 3'd study session had been incorporated into the revised budget. She did note, however,that the issue of the webpage needed to be addressed. Approximately $4,000 had been spent to date on the formation of a new webpage and other related webpage enhancements. About$3,500 was needed to complete the new webpage and to make the parcel data base available on the webpage. Additional enhancements • would of course cost more. Ethel Blank, Exhibit Curator, addressed the Council on the issue of enhancements for the Council Chambers. Some of her suggestions included: new or recovered chairs, replacement of acoustical ceiling tiles, improve lights over the Council dias,paint dark wood trim and walls white. At this time she noted that she only had an estimate for the chairs but she should be getting additional prices in a week. Council discussed these requests and determined that this should be discussed in October with the capital improvement budget. In addition Council asked that a complete package be presented at that time with all requested improvements and costs. Dauber also referred to the committee budgets and clarified that even though the budgets for the committees were approved it was the responsibility of the committees to get approval from Council before expenditure of funds. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Siegel, seconded by Johnson and passed unanimously to adopt Resolution#36-99 adopting the budget for fiscal year 1999- 2000 and an appropriations limit,with the addition to the budget of$5,000 for the webpage and Resolution#37-99 amending the Town's compensation schedule for fiscal year 1999-2000. 11.4 Ordinance amending Title 8 of Municipal Code to adopt by reference the 1997 California Building Standards Code, including Uniform Building, Mechanical, Electrical,Plumbing and Fire Codes,with amendments, and adoption of negative declaration(FIRST READING) June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 8 PASSED BY CONSENSUS: To continue this item to the next agenda. 12. CLOSED SESSION: A. LITIGATION: PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54956.9(b) - CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION: Significant Exposure to Litigation- one case- Cleary/LeFevre Dispute about subdivision conditions. B. PERSONNEL: PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT: PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54957 -- City Manager The City Council adjourned to a Closed Session regarding litigation and personnel at 9:10 p.m. and reconvened at 9:30 p.m. Council returned to open session to report, if necessary, any action taken. 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further new or old business to discuss,the City Council Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. ectf�ully stub 'tted, Patricia Dowd • City Clerk The minutes of the June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting were approved at the July 1, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting. • June 17, 1999 Regular City Council Meeting 9