Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/18/1975 (2)E CITY COUNCIL TOWN OF LOS ALTOS HILLS 26379 Fremont Road Los Altos Hills, California MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, June 18, 1975 cc: Reel 77 - Side 1, Tr. 2 - 001-870 Mayor Stanley Grabowski called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:30 P.M. in the Council Chambers of Town Hall, 26379 Fremont Road: A. ROLL CALL: Present: Councilwoman Miller, Councilmen Cheney, Helgesson, Mayor Grabowski Absent: Councilman McReynolds Staff: City Manager Robert Crowe, City Attorney Frank Gillio, City Engineer Alex Russell, Building Inspector/Planner Ken Pastrof, Planning Commissioner Keith Brown, Clerk Ethel Hopkins f Press: None were present. B. CONSENT CALENDAR: Mayor Grabowski stated that anyone wishing to remove anything from the Consent Calendar may so do. Mrs. Schick wished removed Item 4, and Mr. Cheney requested Item 1 be removed. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Councilman Helgesson moved, seconded by Council- woman Miller in an interim motion to adopt the rest of the Consent Calendar. The motion carried unanimously to adopt the remainder of the Consent Calendar as follows: 2. Approval of Warrants: $42,321.59. 3. Actions of the Variance and Permit Commission: a) Lands of Robinson, BSA #,6041-75: Recommended Building Site Approval. Councilman Cheney addressed the meeting concerning Item 1 on the Consent Calendar, specifically Page 8 of the Minutes of June 4, 1975, beginning "Councilman Cheney moved...". Councilman Cheney stated that he wanted in- serted the words and pathway" between the word "water" and "easements" in the last line of the paragraph. He wanted to make sure that his motion included the map under discussion at the time. Otherwise, the motion would have been made according to the April 18 nemo wliich actually included no path recommendation, as Mrs. Miller pointed out and Mr. Cheney concurred with. CITY COUNCIL MEETING - June 18, 1975 Mayor Grabowski stated that since there was dissent, the June 4, 1975 Minutes would be held until the tape was researched. He determined that the entire set of minutes should be held in abeyance until such time, and then brought before the Council for approval. firs. Theodora Schick 26400 Heston Road: asked if, with the passing Of Item on the agenda, would t e ubdivision Moratorium be extended another four months. Mr. Gillio responded that this resolution merely sets the time and place for a public hearing, as required in the Code. MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Councilman Helgesson moved, seconded by Council- woman Miller, that Resolution No. 885 setting time and place for a Public Hearing to consider further extension of Resolution 790, the Subdivision Moratorium, be passed. Potion carried unanimously. C. SPECIAL REPORTS: There were no Reports of Standing Committees, Reports of Ad Hoc Committees, nor were there any Presentations from the Floor. D. STAFF REPORTS: A. The City Manager, Mr. Robert Crowe, addressed the Council regarding his memo to them of June 13 regarding a Proposed State Revenue Sharing Plan. This memo proposed a letter which was in response to a request rem the League of California Cities on an Action Plan adopted at the 1973 Annual Conference concerning State Revenue Sharing with Cities. He pointed out that the purpose of the plan was to relieve assessment on land evaluation, pointing out that assessments on property are a regressive form of taxation, and tax- payers cannot afford to have this tax increased. It does not relate to an individual's ability to pay, whereas an income tax does relate to a person's ability to pay. This proposed letter would support League action and assess the interest in proposing Legislation on the matter. MOTION PASSED BY GENERAL CONSENT: Player Grabowski stated that if there were no objections, the City Manager should address the proposed letter to support the Revenue Sharing Plan proposed. B. Resignation of a Planning Commissioner Mr. Crowe addressed the Council concerning the resignation from the Planning Commission of Commissioner Kenneth E. Phillips. Applications are available for interested individuals at Town Hall, and there are some applicants on file from previous interviews. Mayor Grabowski suggested that the matter of appointing a new Planning Commissioner be placed on the agenda for the meeting of July 2. POTION CARRIED BY GENERAL CONSENT. -2- CITY COUNCIL MEETING - June 18, 1975 Since it was too early to go on to Item E. Special Orders, the Council decided to suspend the order of the Agenda and take up Item F. F. GENERAL ORDERS AND UHWUSHED BUSINESS: 1. Plans and specifications for Taaffe-Elena Intersection (City Engineer) Mr. Alex Russell, City Engineer, stated that at this time he did not have ready plans and specifications for the defective intersection at Taaffe and Elena. Mrs. Miller expressed the urgent wish to get this matter under way, since it had been before the Council any number of times and a matter under consideration by the Town for some eight years. There was discussion concerning farming the work out to another firm, a suggestion which fir. Cheney said he did not even wish to contemplate. It was agreed between Mayor Grabowski and Staff that Pir. Russell would bring the matter before Council again by the second meeting in July, and if at that time he could not be ready with plans and specifications, other methods such as farming the work out would be looked into. E. SPECIAL ORDERS: 1. Lands of Fortis, BSA 6036-75 - Appeal from Pathway Easement (Letter dated May 16, 1975). Mr. Crowe, the City Manager, stated that the Council had approved on an oral recommendation made by the Pathway Committee, that a pathway be placed inside the property line of Mr. Fortis. The pathway would go some thirty feet into Mr. Fortis' property through a heavy vegetative and drainage area and would be of considerable expense to Mr. Fortis, therefore, this appeal. Mr. Nick Fortis, 705 University Avenue, Los Altos: spoke from the assembly stating that he was for pathways, but this diversion of an already established path would make the current path discontiguous with the existing pathway, is an unreasonable request, prohibitively expensive, and one that he seriously challenges. P9r. Conrad Mizer, Pathwa C mittee P9ember: stated that there is a good pathway a the way up La a oma until t its this property line, and at this property line a serious drainage problem exists, making the path impassable at certain times of the year. Mrs. Miller stated that after considering the recommendations made, qoing into the property forty feet does not make sense. She regrets voting for this. MOTION MOVED AND CARRIED: Mrs. Miller moved that Mr. Fortis be granted his appeal from a pathway easement. Mr. Helgesson seconded the motion. All were in favor except Mr. Cheney who voted against the appeal for a pathway easement. -3- CITY COUNCIL MEETING - June 13, 1975 E. SPECIAL ORDERS (continued) 2. Tentative Subdivision, Lands of Newman, Monte Lucero #4, Natoma Road, Sandis A Associates, Engineers, Alan Lambert, Developer, TM 2026-75, Recommended approval of subdivision. Mr. Crowe informed the Council that the tentative map was for a 20.83 acre parcel along Natoma Road, a proposed subdivision to create four lots on the parcel, the largest being in excess of nine acres. Planning Commission had recommended approval to the Council. Mr. Pastrof referred Council to his memos of June 6 and June 13 and answered questions conrarrr.iitg ?fm proposed suf)Cieisiun r,�ap. He recommended that Section I of the pathway request be accepted as proposed, but citing the fact that the path easement, if it could be purchased, could be an expensive item. On Section II of the pathway request, his recommendation was that this request be denied. Reasons cited for his recommendations on the pathway requests were the problems pathways would encounter due to steep terrain, expansive soils, lack of visibility on the pathways due to vegetation, the expense of obtaining easements, and the excessive amount of traffic that would occur on several sides of one or two parcels in particular. Mr. Alan Lambert, 141 First Street, Los Altos: raised the question of paths and the liability o the omeowner or disasters that occur within the path 4 easement on his property. fir' fir. Conrad Plizer, Pathwa Committee: explained that this pathway request was an important one since t wi as a link that connected all other paths in the Town. Because so much discussion was generated, Councilman Helgesson made a MOTION TO SUSPEND THE RULES ON E 3. AND TO CONTINUE DISCUSSION OF ITEM E 2. Councilman Cheney seconded the motion. All responded in favor of the Notion. firs. Bets teFiksdal, Pathwa Committee: and Member of the Stevens Creek Trai s Conmlte noted that this was an important aspect of a trail from Inter - State 230 to the Bay that other communities, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos and Sunnyvale had precluded having for themselves. These communities, in granting Subdivision rights that ran all the way to Stevens Creek, had lost forever the opportunity to connect up to a regional trail system that could have run from Fremont Avenue to Stevens Creek Dam. Los Altos Hills would never again have the opportunity to approve so important a link in the trail system. She supports the whole trail, running completely around the perimeter of the property as proposed by Mr. Mizer. Mr. Pete McSweeney Los Altos Hills Horsemen's Association: also saw the two sections of the pathway request as an important link to the pathway system. He further proposed a pathway and trail between the 470 and 550 foot contour lines on Section I of the pathway. `l Mr. John Lambert, when asked about a trail along the contour lines suggested, said he could not respond without further checking of the property. -4- CITY COUNCIL MEETING - June 18, 1975 E. SPECIAL ORDERS (continued) Mr. John Ewinq> Lupine Road: requested clarification at this point. Did this mean if this request was approved, one whole section of the trail would be lost? Mr. Pastrof addressed the remarks made by reminding the Council that there -as no link between the two proposed sections. Mrs. Carico noted that she regretted this coming about at this time, that in her work on the Pathway Committee, the Committee did obtain easements leading out of Almaden Court through Lucero, but not all the easements connect. It was the intent, however, that someday they would all connect. Both Mr. Ilelgesson and Mr. Cheney noted that there was too much conflicting information being presented and that several different and conflicting maps were being referred to. Mrs. Miller noted that she realized this was an im- portant part of the pathway system, that Mr. Stutz of the Pathway Committee is asking the applicant to change his plan almost overnight; and she felt that since the application has been kicking around for two years more time should be taken and the matter come before the Council in two weeks with a more objective presentation on the part of the Staff recommendations. NOTION MOVED APRT CARRIED: Mrs. Miller moved, seconded by Mr. Cheney to defer this matter to staff for further investigation and planning to resubmit to the Council a new program. Mayor Grabowski charged the staff and Pathway and Developer to formulate a new map, saying he would like a member of the Horse- men's Association to be present in the discussions. Motion was passed by a general consent. 3. Plans and Specifications, East Branch, Barron Creek Storm Drain Improvement. Mr. Paul Mowack had been instructed by Council to prepare plans for a storm drain deficiency that exists from Fremont Pines Lane to the East Branch of Barron Creek. The design engineer was not present to present his plan. Mr. Russell, City Engineer, was available for questions. Mayor Grabowski stated that if there were no objections, the Council would defer this item until the meeting of July 2. 4. Adootion of the 1975-76 Budget. Fir. Crowe stated that the Council has before it the Proposed Preliminary Budget for 1975-76. The Council has had several study sessions and has pared items that it felt should be reduced. A brief overview showed that the proposed operating budget was $463,680 prior to the cuts, as compared to the previous year's budget of $472,000 plus. Revenues for the forthcoming year due to increased assessments showed a $30,000 increase due from property taxes, but scme areas of revenue showed a decrease. For instance, building fees decreased due to the moratorium. Proposed budget includes approximately $16,000 in capital expenditures and new equipment plus $12,000 for landscaping and Town entrance improvements. A comparison with last year's budqet shows that even with an inflation factor, the current budget is well under what could have been proposed at this time. -5- 7 L-A CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - June 13, 1975 E. SPECIAL ORDERS (continued) 4. Adoption of the Budget (Continued) Mayor Grabowski asked for comments from the Assembly and set July 2 for the adoption of the Proposed Preliminary Budget. Mrs. Theodora Schick, 26400 Weston Road: addressed the Council with the following remarks, requesting their verbatim inclusion in the Minutes: "I want to preface my remarks with this comment. I have found the entire staff to be very nice, and my comments in no way reflect dissatisfaction with them. My statements are presented from a resident's point of view. I have followed and studied the budget over many years. I have expressed before Council untold times my strong conviction that this is a small unique town, and we should strive to keep it that way. We have no industry, apartments; or in-house services such as police or fire departments - just single family homes. When the proposed budget for running this Town anain indicates an unwarranted upward swing, I must speak out. "Ile are a town of approximately 2,100 homes. The estimated General Fund revenue for 1975-76 is $436,000; and approximately fifty percent of the $436,000 is slated for personnel. This averages out to about $100 per house- hold. The General Fund revenue derived from our property taxes, even with our increased assessments, is $136,000; and this amount is not anywhere near the $200,000 plus budgeted to run our government. I ask Council to re-examine the budget dealing with these items. Many public agencies are being faced with the problem of excessive management overhead in relationship to their revenues. Our schools are a goad example. I believe that Council is cognizant that un- less a halt is made now, our town government expenses will continue to grow even further out of proportion. I ask that Council act accordingly for a small town government with minimum governmental expenditures." Mrs. Schick made several suggestions about ways to increase revenues, one being a tax on the real estate sold within the Town. Mr. Cheney directed the City Manager to explore this further to see what could be done on the matter. Mayor Grabowski stated that if there were no further comments, this con- cluded the discussion on Item 4. G. NEW BUSINESS: Mayor Grabowski reminded each Council member not to forget to attend the Bicentennial Kickoff on Saturday, June 21. The Bicentennial Committee haf'. workeddiligently, an fir. Ne gesson and mrs. Fava were to be commended for their efforts. Mr. Crowe requested that Council set the date of a public hearing on July 2 for discussion of Adobe Creek Lodge Conditional Use Permit, Application 3004-74; because according D o e requiremen s, i c s n en within eleven days, the action becomes final without the consent of Council. -6- L CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - June 18, 1975 G. NEN BUSINESS: (continued) 4W It was agreed by GENERAL CONSENT that July 2 at 9:00 P.M. would be the date of the Putlic Hearing for discussion of Conditional Use Permit 8004-74, Adobe Creek Lodge. Mr. Fortis, 705 Universit Avenue Los Altos: thanked the Council for hearing his appea an expresse is appreciation to the Staff for its courtesy to him during these past months. H. ADJOURNMENT: Councilman Cheney moved, seconded by Councilwoman Miller, that this meeting be adjourned to June 20 at 4:00 P.M.. All were in favor of adjourn- ment, and the meeting adjourned at 10:30 P.M.. -7- Respectfully submitted, Ethel Hopkins Clerk