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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-09 Planning & transportation commission Summary Minutes_______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Planning & Transportation Commission 1 Action Agenda: March 9, 2022 2 Council Chambers & Virtual 3 6:00 PM 4 5 Call to Order / Roll Call 6 Approximately 6:02 pm 7 Chair Lauing called the meeting to order and expressed his excitement that the Commission 8 was meeting in person. 9 Rachael Tanner, Assistant Director, read out the instructions on how the public can participate 10 in the meeting. 11 Madina Klicheva, Administrative Assistant, conducted the roll and announced all 12 Commissioners were present. 13 Oral Communications 14 The public may speak to any item not on the agenda. Three (3) minutes per speaker.1,2 15 Chair Lauing invited members of the public to address the Commission on any topic, not on the 16 agenda; seeing none, he moved to the next agenda item. 17 Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 18 The Chair or Commission majority may modify the agenda order to improve meeting management. 19 Chair Lauing announced there are no agenda changes, additions or deletions. 20 City Official Reports 21 1. Directors Report, Meeting Schedule and Assignments 22 Rachael Tanner, Assistant Director, reported the Commission will continue to meet in a hybrid 23 meeting. Masks were optional for members of the public and Commissioners joining the 24 meeting in person and no vaccination cards were required. The Staff was updated to reflect 25 those changes in procedures as well as included current projects underway for the Planning and 26 Development Services Department as well as the Office of Transportation. 27 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Chair Lauing invited questions from Commissioners; seeing none he moved to the next agenda 1 item. 2 Action Items 3 Public Comment is Permitted. Applicants/Appellant Teams: Fifteen (15) minutes, plus three (3) minutes rebuttal. 4 All others: Five (5) minutes per speaker.1,3 5 2. Planning and Transportation Commission Retreat: Topics Include Discussion and 6 Approval of Potential Items for the 2022 Work Plan 7 Chair Lauing requested the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC) discuss potential 8 items for the 2022 Work Plan, process improvements and begin working on the draft Work 9 Plan. With respect to potential items for the 2022 Work Plan, he cautioned the Commission on 10 underestimating how huge the Housing Element update was, and expressed it will take up 11 several meetings throughout the year. Recently Council directed Staff to do an 18-month 12 comprehensive study for California Avenue and he inquired if PTC was interested in postponing 13 the item until Staff has completed their work. 14 Commissioner Roohparvar asked how many projects can the PTC realistically accomplish for the 15 year 2022 and/or should the projects be prioritized. 16 Chair Lauing answered it depended on the size of the project on how much can be 17 accomplished. 18 Commissioner Roohparvar supported discussing California Avenue but felt it was pre-mature to 19 have the item on the Work Plan seeing that Council directed Staff to do a comprehensive study. 20 Commissioner Chang inquired if Council was giving the consultant studying California Avenue 21 the background information or should PTC hold a meeting with the consultant and provide 22 feedback before the process begins. 23 Rachael Tanner, Assistant Director, reported the City had issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) 24 for an economic development consultant and the City would be interviewing those candidates 25 soon. In parallel, the City Managers' Office was hiring an Assistant to the City Manager role that 26 would focus on economic development. Both positions were predicted to be filled by the 27 middle of 2022. Planning and Development Services Department also had a consultant 28 reviewing best practices for vibrant retail and making recommendations regarding land-use 29 changes or Zoning Code changes to help support vibrant retail. Council also directed Planning 30 and Development Services as well as the Office of Transportation to explore solving parking 31 concerns on California Avenue. One proposal was to implement a subscription in-lieu program 32 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. that would allow land-use changes that require more onsite parking to subscribe to use publicly 1 available parking spaces on California Avenue. 2 Chair Lauing remarked PTC has to stay in the right sync with the consultants and Council. That 3 way PTC has input in the process. 4 Commissioner Chang agreed. 5 Chair Lauing suggested the Work Plan outline that PTC is interested in being part of the 6 California Avenue planning process. 7 Ms. Tanner noted there was also a consultant exploring the possible closure of California 8 Avenue. 9 Vice-Chair Summa supported Commissioner Chang’s idea about meeting with the new 10 consultants to understand how the various consultants and Staff will work together. 11 Commissioner Chang explained there are two pieces pertaining to California Avenue. There 12 were retail and transportation but also the broader retail questions. She encouraged the PTC to 13 explore both issues. 14 Chair Lauing invited Commissioners to provide comments on retail in general. 15 Commissioner Hechtman noticed some of the upcoming items provided by staff did not mesh 16 with the potential items on the Work Plan. There were no future traffic safety improvements or 17 neighborhood planning items coming to PTC from Staff. 18 Commissioner Chang mentioned citizens expressed to her that the City was not tracking which 19 intersections or areas in the City have the most traffic accidents. This was an area she wanted 20 to have a study session and she believed the study session would provide information for 21 several Work Plan initiatives. She shared that she became a PTC Commissioner to be involved in 22 solving traffic safety issues. 23 Commissioner Templeton strongly supported Commissioner Chang’s desire to see more 24 transportation topics come to the PTC. Allowing PTC to hold more meetings regarding 25 transportation will allow the public to have their voices heard. She acknowledged there are 26 many concerns in the community about transportation and safety. 27 Chair Lauing understood traffic safety improvements would involve data gathering, and 28 problem identification and then having PTC recommend changes to Council. 29 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Commissioner Chang answered yes but confessed she did not understand what the Office of 1 Transportation was working on as well as what was feasible or not feasible from a Staffing 2 standpoint. She requested basic data on where incidents happen. 3 Commissioner Templeton added it was not just about reviewing the data and knowing what 4 projects the Office of Transportation was working on. It was also about the accountability of the 5 Office of Transportation’s work. 6 Sylvia Star-Lack, Transportation Manager, agreed it would be beneficial to share the accident 7 data the Office of Transportation had collected as well as the department’s process on how 8 changes are made. In the year 2022, Staff will begin the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation 9 Plan Update which will identify areas that need more attention. After reviewing the data, Staff 10 identified San Antonio Road and Charleston Road as high priority areas to mitigate collisions. 11 She noted that many times, multiple jurisdictions have to become involved to address sections 12 of the City. 13 Commissioner Reckdahl requested a monthly update on what events or accidents have 14 occurred in the last month that are noteworthy and what the trends were. 15 Commissioner Chang agreed with Commissioner Roohparvar that the Commission should rank 16 its priorities and indicate that in the Work Plan. 17 Commissioner Hechtman recalled the Commission prioritized its Work Plan in the previous 18 year. The top three priorities were time-sensitive Council items, customer applications, and 19 matters requiring annual review. Missing from that Work Plan were PTC-initiated projects. 20 Chair Lauing suggested including initiated items in the Work Plan, but with the understanding 21 that Council items would be prioritized first. 22 Commissioner Hechtman supported Chair Lauing’s suggestion. 23 Ms. Star-Lack mentioned that a monthly collision report would have to come from the Palo Alto 24 Police Department (PAPD) and there were privacy concerns with that data. PAPD provided a 25 verbal report to the Safe School Transportation Safety Committee monthly but that report was 26 focused on youth on the street. 27 Commissioner Reckdahl inquired if the data could contain big picture details. 28 Ms. Star-Lack expressed concerns about the quality of the data at that high of a level. Staff 29 could provide historical data but PAPD would have to provide the previous month's data. 30 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Commissioner Reckdahl asked how can the Commission see the report from PAPD. 1 Commissioner Templeton suggested that the data shared with the Safe School Transportation 2 Safety Committee be provided to the Commission. 3 Ms. Star-Lack reiterated the report focused on youth on the streets. 4 Commissioner Reckdahl wanted to understand how many of each category of accidents 5 happened and the long-term trends. He confessed he had no idea how many car crashes 6 happened in Palo Alto in the previous year and felt it would be beneficial for the PTC to know 7 what type of public safety there was in the City. 8 Commissioner Templeton shared that there is anecdotal evidence but those accidents may not 9 get reported. She supported Ms. Star-Lack’s suggestion to have a discussion about traffic safety 10 during the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan but wanted to see more collaboration 11 outside of the plan update as well. 12 Commissioner Hechtman remarked that PTC has expressed its interest in understanding the 13 topic and encouraged Staff to explore how to better inform the PTC. 14 Ms. Star-Lack articulated she would reach out to PAPD but noted that the PAPD record 15 department Staff were stretched thin. 16 Chair Lauing moved to neighborhood planning and reported the idea was to identify what 17 might be on the list of items that should be explored as new neighborhoods are created in the 18 next 10- to 12-years. 19 Commissioner Hechtman shared that at a previous meeting he made a motion regarding the 20 low-density residential areas within a quarter-mile of Caltrain. He shared his interest in the PTC 21 discussing whether to upzone those areas for the next Housing Element Update. 22 Commissioner Roohparvar agreed with Commissioner Hechtman. She recommended PTC 23 discuss Fabian Way and the change from industrial to a neighborhood. 24 Commissioner Chang supported Commissioner Roohparvar’s suggestion and recommended 25 discussing Stanford Research Park as well. 26 Chair Lauing understood neighborhood planning for PTC was to identify the goals, identify what 27 type of housing will be included, and then work down as to how to develop the neighborhood. 28 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Vice-Chair Summa echoed Commissioner Chang and Commissioner Roohparvar’s suggestion 1 but felt it was pre-mature to explore Commissioner Hechtman’s recommendation. She asked 2 Commissioner Hechtman if his recommendation only applied to California Avenue or did it 3 include the other two train stations. 4 Commissioner Hechtman explained the maps provided by Staff highlighted that the California 5 Avenue train station had significant low-density residential near it and that was the focus area 6 of his comment. 7 Vice-Chair Summa echoed she was also interested in understanding how the Stanford Research 8 Park can be included in the next Housing Element Update. She wanted to understand what 9 percentage of the jobs in Palo Alto was associated with Stanford University, the Research Park, 10 and Stanford’s medical institutions. She concluded neighborhood planning would be included in 11 PTC-initiated projects. 12 Commissioner Reckdahl emphasized the City, Staff, and PTC should identify what front work has 13 to be completed first and what agencies have to be involved in that initial work. 14 Chair Lauing commented the timing would be interesting relative to how Council processes the 15 Housing Element and the required upzones. 16 Commissioner Reckdahl added the Housing Element programs will inform what early work has 17 to be accomplished. 18 Chair Lauing noted PTC will want to drill down on the programs more after the Housing Element 19 Update Working Group completes its work. 20 Commissioner Reckdahl agreed. 21 Chair Lauing expressed concern that the Housing Element Working Group may not be able to 22 complete their work on the programs and provide the level of detail that is needed for the 23 Council to make an informed decision. 24 Commissioner Chang mentioned she recently read an article about a proposed affordable 25 housing project along El Camino Real and acknowledged that affordable housing is not required 26 to provide the maximum amount of green space. She expressed concern that key components 27 such as parks and schools will be missed as more applications come into the City. 28 Ms. Tanner remarked the City was under tight State deadlines to submit the Housing Element 29 and cautioned there may not be as many PTC meetings with the Housing Element as was 30 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. stated. She noted PTC can do a deep dive on the programs after Council has adopted the 1 Housing Element. With respect to neighborhood planning, she suggested PTC discuss what the 2 City’s approach currently is for neighborhood planning and how to add infrastructure for new 3 neighborhoods that have been upzoned. 4 Chair Lauing remarked State law has loosened requirements, such as open space, and those 5 were not negotiable. 6 Commissioner Templeton suggested PTC hold a study session about possible area plans that 7 have identified areas for densification and evaluate items that make a complete neighborhood. 8 Commissioner Chang agreed. 9 Commissioner Hechtman mentioned the North Ventura Coordinated Area Plan (NVCAP) and 10 the infeasibly of that plan ever coming to fruition. He recommended the City plan future 11 neighborhoods with the inclusion of a discussion regarding public subsidy at the beginning. 12 Chair Lauing quoted a Council Member who stated all housing was infeasible because there was 13 no substantial public funding. 14 Commissioner Templeton added all three plans for the NCVAP included parks. 15 Vice-Chair Summa found the idea that the public would subsidize new neighborhoods a strict 16 notion. The City will have to explore other sources of income and the State will have to 17 contribute to housing development. She reminded the Commission that zoning is a tool that 18 limited the value of property through the uses that are allowed and that needed to be 19 considered. 20 Chair Lauing noted some affordable housing projects can be constructed by using tax credits. 21 He asked if Vice-Chair Summa was stating that the value of the appreciation of the land and the 22 building needed to be taken into account by developers. 23 Vice-Chair Summa clarified the City should use zoning to limit uses and thereby retain some 24 properties at lower values for investors that will be more readily available for subsidized 25 housing. She reiterated her comments from previous meetings that the Regional Housing 26 Needs Allocation (RHNA) Cycle has failed every cycle to produce more affordable housing. 27 Commissioner Reckdahl stated if the City had appropriately sized Impact Fees, those fees will 28 be able to provide sufficient parks for future neighborhoods. If the City wants more housing, 29 the City has to zone for it. 30 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Commissioner Chang wondered about the school impact fees and where those fees calculated 1 appropriately to fund a new school. 2 Commissioner Hechtman mentioned from his work experience, that school impact fees were 3 decided upon by State law, and there was no negotiation about it. 4 Chair Lauing recommended for the Work Plan include high-level concepts for neighbor planning 5 and then identify two or three concepts to do a deeper dive on. 6 Commissioner Hechtman supported that idea and suggested PTC focus on the more densified 7 areas in the updated Housing Element. 8 Ms. Tanner commented the Grand Jury report suggested cities use coordinated area plans as 9 the mechanism to map out new neighborhoods. She agreed that coordinated area plans 10 require a lot of Staff time and resources. There may be other mechanisms to use that provide a 11 better outcome and that should be discussed further. 12 Chair Lauing encouraged Staff to identify those other mechanisms and present them to PTC for 13 discussion. 14 Ms. Tanner remarked the Work Plan would include a goal to explore appropriate approaches to 15 neighborhood planning. Then highlight the impacts, hold several study sessions, and come to a 16 consensus on what a complete neighborhood is and possible approaches. 17 Chair Lauing remarked neighborhood planning was a high priority for PTC’s initiated projects 18 but understood that it may take several years to complete. 19 Commissioner Reckdahl mentioned there was a lot of discontent with how retail was managed 20 in the City and encouraged PTC to explore it further. 21 Chair Lauing understood the consultants would be studying retailing. 22 Commissioner Reckdahl understood the consultant’s work was focused on California Avenue. 23 Ms. Tanner clarified the consultants were not just focused on California Avenue. The consultant 24 studying California Avenue will include retail but also look at the broader neighborhood and 25 parking concerns. 26 Vice-Chair Summa explained the California Avenue Business District was parked differently than 27 the other Business Districts. It was based on square foot as well as a specific use. Also, how 28 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. parking concerns will be solved for the California Avenue Business District will be determined by 1 how many folks continue to work from home. 2 Ms. Tanner mentioned there was a lot of change happening in the neighborhoods that 3 surrounded California Avenue and she believed that should be an area of focus. 4 Vice-Chair Summa agreed there was a lot of development planned for the Mayfield 5 Neighborhood but believed those would be included in the consultant’s work. 6 Commissioner Chang understood the only component PTC had expressed interest in for retail 7 was to hold a study session to provide input to the consultants. The other components could be 8 moved after the consultants complete their work. 9 Ms. Tanner recommended some Council referred retail items be included in the Work Plan but 10 with the caveat that PTC wanted to coordinate with the broader City resources. 11 Chair Lauing agreed. He moved to process and invited Commissioners to provide comments. 12 Ms. Tanner mentioned with respect to the minutes, the contractor was able to provide 13 summary minutes quicker than verbatim minutes. She asked if PTC wanted to see the minutes 14 come as a package set or review them as they come. The process was the minutes would be 15 reviewed by Commissioners, who can then propose revisions in redline, and then PTC would 16 approve or deny the revisions. 17 Chair Lauing asked if the minutes would have to be approved twice. 18 Ms. Tanner confirmed that each set of draft minutes would have to be approved if the 19 summary and verbatim minutes were decoupled. 20 Commissioner Hechtman found it useful to see proposed revisions and supported keeping that 21 format. He felt it was better to decouple the minutes so that Council items will have at least 22 one set of minutes instead of no minutes. He strongly supported keeping the verbatim minutes 23 and found them particularly helpful when there are long periods between repeated items 24 coming to the PTC. 25 Chair Lauing inquired why summary minutes should be approved. 26 Commissioner Hechtman wanted the revised and approved summary minutes to go to Council 27 because they were easier to read than the verbatim minutes. 28 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Commissioner Reckdahl agreed the verbatim minutes are very valuable. He agreed both sets 1 should be drafted, corrections should be made to both sets, and both should be published on 2 the website. 3 Commissioner Chang supported decoupling the minutes. 4 Vice-Chair Summa echoed the verbatim minutes are invaluable and supported voting on the 5 minutes as they come. 6 Commissioner Templeton assured the Commission that Council does read the verbatim 7 minutes. She believed that the service provider was not being effective and not meeting the 8 needs. She encouraged Staff to discuss with the provider providing the minutes promptly. 9 Commissioner Hechtman complimented the transcribers for their summary minutes. 10 Commissioner Templeton mentioned there was software that can provide raw verbatim 11 minutes and then those needed to be cleaned up. 12 Chair Lauing invited the Commission to discuss hyperlinks and make sure they function 13 properly. He mentioned sometimes the links do not work when the link is listed in a different 14 Board or Commission Staff report. 15 Commissioner Templeton requested the links be located in a consistent location. 16 Commissioner Chang moved to items that should be printed out versus what should be a link. 17 She requested big charts be printed as well as items that are slated for discussion. 18 Commissioner Templeton recommended Commissioners indicate to Staff what documents they 19 wished to have printed by Monday. 20 Ms. Tanner supported Commissioner Templeton’s recommendation. 21 Chair Lauing moved to the topic of public comments broken into two pieces. 22 Vice-Chair Summa preferred Staff to forward public comments as they come in, instead of 23 receiving them in bulk. 24 Commissioner Roohparvar agreed with Vice-Chair Summa and inquired if there was a cut-off 25 time when public comments can be received. She mentioned several times hefty public 26 comment was received an hour before the meeting and that has become burdensome. 27 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Ms. Tanner confirmed Staff can forward public comments to the Commission daily. She 1 answered there was no deadline for public comment but Staff could encourage folks to provide 2 their comments by a certain time. 3 Albert Yang, Assistant City Attorney, stated public comments cannot be stopped from coming in 4 but a rule could be set in the PTC’s Procedural Rules that comments received after a specific 5 time will not be considered. 6 Chair Lauing believed that was the current practice already and that the public just needed to 7 be aware of that practice. 8 Mr. Yang wanted to create the rule to make it clearer and provide fairness. 9 Commissioner Templeton echoed Vice-Chair Summa’s recommendation and mentioned having 10 the comments batched together was distracting. 11 Commissioner Hechtman did not want to receive emails as they come in and believed that 12 process would be more time-consuming. With respect to the timing of comments, it was bad 13 practice to deliver comments at the last minute and was often done so as a delay tactic. He 14 suggested Mr. Yang explore what avenues the PTC can take to solve the problem. 15 Mr. Yang concurred he will explore it further. Council’s rule is if the information is submitted by 16 an applicant for a planning application closer than 5-days after the release of the Packet. Then 17 the item will be pushed to a later date. 18 Commissioner Reckdahl confirmed all public comment for the Expanded Community Advisory 19 Panel (XCAP) was imminently forwarded to the members. He agreed with Commissioner 20 Hechtman that sometimes large qualities of emails would come in and some members could 21 not read all the emails. That resulted in each member having different amounts of information. 22 He suggested having a consistent time where all public comments that had been received 23 would be forwarded to the Commissioners at that time. 24 Commissioner Chang wanted to see more frequent batching of public comments at a set time. 25 Commissioner Roohparvar recommended having encouraging language about the public 26 comment deadline. She clarified the public comments that come in late are not the problem. 27 The problem was late letters from the attorneys of applicants. 28 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Chair Lauing agreed with Commissioner Hechtman’s comment about batching but also 1 supported Commissioner Chang’s comment regarding more frequent batching. He encouraged 2 Staff to explore having a deadline for public comment. 3 Commissioner Templeton articulated that though it may be easier for the Commission to have a 4 deadline, it may not be right to inflict that on members of the public who have a right to share 5 their opinions. 6 Chair Lauing agreed but noted the public should not expect that all Commissioners have read 7 the late submission. 8 Ms. Tanner clarified that the expectation was not that Commissioners must read a late 9 submission but rather the comment will be filed into the public record as having been received 10 on that particular day. 11 Mr. Yang announced Staff can bring forward language to add to the agenda about public 12 comment deadlines. 13 Madina Klicheva, Administration Assistant, shared Staff has to batch all the public comments 14 together to submit them on the City’s website. 15 Commissioner Hechtman recommended having a batch of public comments be sent out 1-week 16 after a hearing, then a batch with the agenda, and then daily batches sent the three 17 consecutive days before the meeting. 18 Ms. Tanner suggested the Commission try one approach and then provide Staff feedback on if 19 the approach worked. 20 Vice-Chair Summa supported having a batch sent out 1-week after a meeting. 21 Commissioner Reckdahl mentioned whatever the rule is, it should be posted on the City’s 22 website. 23 Vice-Chair Summa recalled for Council, that all public comments and emails via Staff were 24 automatically posted online. She mentioned that may be considered overkill though. 25 Commissioner Chang mentioned filters could be set if emails are sent individually. She strongly 26 encouraged a deadline rule to be set. 27 Commissioner Templeton supported having a predictable schedule. 28 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Chair Lauing believed it was not necessary to have public comments come to the Commission in 1 an At Place Memo if there is a noon deadline. 2 Ms. Tanner recommended sending out batches on Tuesdays. 3 Commissioner Templeton noted direct forwarding had the added benefit of folks being heard 4 on the day of without having to come to the meeting and providing their comment. 5 Ms. Tanner commented auto-forwarding and batching could happen together. 6 Commissioner Chang supported that idea and suggested Commissioners share with Staff which 7 option they preferred. 8 Chair Lauing encouraged Commissioners to be well versed in the By-laws. Concerning liaisons to 9 Council, the expectation was the Staff liaison would notify the Commission about upcoming 10 Council items. Staff will also call out the PTC liaison to Council so they can ask questions of the 11 liaison. The PTC liaison will not provide comments unless called upon. 12 Commissioner Templeton inquired how early in advance of the Council meeting with Staff and 13 let the PTC liaison know they should be present. 14 Ms. Tanner remarked Staff can let the liaison know when the Packet is published which typically 15 was 11-days before the Council meeting. 16 Commissioner Templeton requested last-minute notifications be limited. 17 Commissioner Hechtman was disappointed to hear that the PTC liaison will not be able to 18 provide a recap of the PTC’s ruling unless called upon. Based on the Council meetings he had 19 watched, Council’s deliberations indicated that they had not read the minutes because the 20 discussion did not reflect PTC’s recommendation. He encouraged Council to formalize a process 21 that allowed the PTC liaison to give a balanced explanation of the recommendation after the 22 Staff report. 23 Vice-Chair Summa articulated the Assistant Director reminds the liaisons of their upcoming duty 24 and that used to not happen. She concurred with Commissioner Hechtman that the process 25 used to be the PTC liaison would give an opening remarking to Council but that was changed by 26 Council. 27 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Commissioner Templeton believed the Staff report reflected PTC’s discussion and she shared 1 Commissioner Hechtman’s frustration when Council goes in a different direction than 2 recommended by PTC. 3 Commissioner Hechtman clarified his issue was not when Council did not support PTC’s 4 recommendation, but rather there was no outward appearance that Council considered PTC’s 5 recommendation. 6 Commissioner Templeton was unsure if adding time for the PTC liaison to share PTC’s 7 recommendation would provide a benefit. 8 Chair Lauing asked if other process items needed to be discussed. 9 Vice-Chair Summa requested that complicated motions be displayed on the screen. 10 Commissioner Chang agreed. 11 Ms. Tanner confirmed Staff could display complicated motions but cautioned the Commission 12 on providing detailed wordsmithing of the motion. She believed live typing would create more 13 anxiety and challenges. 14 Chair Lauing agreed with Commissioner Chang and Vice-Chair Summa and believed it would not 15 be a frequent request. He invited Ms. Tanner to provide a summary of the Work Plan based on 16 the discussion. 17 Ms. Tanner explained the Work Plan will include the items discussed, items that are underway, 18 and there be an understanding that applications will be brought forward as they are submitted. 19 Chair Lauing asked if there were other items the Commission wished to discuss. 20 Commissioner Hechtman had three minor suggestions on the boilerplate part of the Work Plan. 21 The first was to change “2022 to 2022” to “2022 to 2023 Work Plan Overview”. In the last 22 sentence of that paragraph, insert a colon after “please visit our web page”. In the Mission 23 Statement, he suggested for the first bullet to replace the word “regarding” with “and applying 24 the Comprehensive Plan to proposed”. 25 Chair Lauing wondered if the Mission Statement should highlight that the PTC provides a place 26 for members of the public to provide their comments. 27 Commissioner Templeton supported it. 28 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Commissioner Chang supported the addition. 1 Chair Lauing requested Staff include that component in the Mission Statement. 2 Commissioner Hechtman supported the suggestion but cautioned that the language be 3 carefully selected since not all items were heard in a public hearing. 4 Chair Lauing invited more suggestions for the Work Plan, seeing no other comments he moved 5 to the next item. 6 Committee Items 7 None 8 Commissioner Questions, Comments or Announcements 9 Chair Lauing announced the agenda items for the March 30, 2022, PTC meeting will be Castilleja 10 School and a recommendation on the Ordinance for Conditional Use Permits (CUP). He inquired 11 what the Ordinance for CUP was. 12 Rachael Tanner, Assistant Director, explained Council passed a Temporary Ordinance regarding 13 CUP thresholds for certain types of uses to stimulate filling vacant storefronts. PTC will consider 14 whether to make the ordinance permanent. 15 Chair Lauing asked how long the time will be. 16 Ms. Tanner found the proposed changes non-controversial. The item was time-sensitive and 17 Staff wanted PTC to provide a recommendation to Council before the ordinance expires in June 18 of 2022. 19 Chair Lauing understood Castilleja School’s project will be presented at the March 30, 2022 20 meeting and then again at the April 13, 2022 meeting. He believed there was a strong chance 21 PTC can complete the item in one meeting. 22 Ms. Tanner agreed the ordinance item could be moved to a different meeting but the April 13, 23 2022 agenda could become too full. She did not share Chair Lauing’s optimism that the 24 Castilleja School item could be completed in one meeting. 25 Chair Lauing noted Commissioner Chang will not be present at the April 13, 2022 meeting, 26 Commissioner Reckdahl may have to recuse himself and he had to miss the April 13, 2022 27 meeting. 28 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Ms. Tanner agreed absences were not great for applicants or the City. She commented she 1 would discuss the schedule with Staff. 2 Chair Lauing added that Vice-Chair Summa will be attending the April 30, 2022 meeting via 3 Zoom for she will be on the East Coast. He suggested the meeting start earlier than regularly 4 scheduled. 5 Commissioner Templeton supported starting the meetings earlier, regardless of the subject 6 matter, but understood the reason for a later start time was to allow members of the public to 7 attend the meeting after work. 8 Ms. Tanner stated the meeting could start at 5:00 p.m. 9 Vice-Chair Summa appreciated the sensitivity but suggested the meeting start on time. 10 Commissioner Templeton mentioned the rolling calendar did not include scheduled dates off 11 for the Commission. 12 Ms. Tanner understood there were a couple of dates where several Commissioners were going 13 to be absent. The plan was to wait and see if more Commissioners were absent on those dates 14 as well. 15 Commissioner Templeton commented in order to maximize the number of Commissioners 16 present, the PTC should discuss a potential summer break. 17 Chair Lauing recalled PTC discussed canceling the July 27, 2022 meeting. 18 Commissioner Hechtman agreed with Ms. Tanner that the Commission had not set a date. He 19 suggested the Commissioners share what dates they will miss at the March 30, 2022 meeting. 20 Commissioner Templeton mentioned she did not know her summer plans and wanted to plan 21 around when the Commission would take its summer break. 22 Ms. Tanner shared Council will be discussing the Housing Element Site Selection at their March 23 21, 2022 meeting. 24 Vice-Chair Summa asked if the California Department of Housing and Community Development 25 (HCD) recommended any changes to protected trees in the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) 26 Ordinance. 27 Ms. Tanner answered no. 28 Chair Lauing adjourned the meeting. 29 _______________________ 1. Spokespersons that are representing a group of five or more people who are identified as present at the meeting at the time of the spokesperson’s presentation will be allowed up to fifteen (15) minutes at the discretion of the Chair, provided that the non-speaking members agree not to speak individually. 2. The Chair may limit Oral Communications to 30 minutes for all combined speakers. 3. The Chair may reduce the allowed time to speak to three minutes to accommodate a larger number of speakers. Adjournment 1 8:45 pm 2