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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-03-29 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 29, 2023 2 Council Chambers & Virtual 3 6:00 PM 4 5 Call to Order / Roll Call 6 6:03 pm 7 Chair Summa called the meeting to order and requested Staff conduct the roll call. 8 Ms. Veronica Dao, Administrative Assistant, conducted the roll call and announced all 9 Commissioners were present with the exception of Commissioner Roohparvar who was absent. 10 She read aloud the protocols and procedures for hybrid meetings. 11 Oral Communications 12 The public may speak to any item not on the agenda. Three (3) minutes per speaker.1,2 13 Chair Summa invited members of the public to share their comments on items not on the 14 Agenda. 15 Ms. Veronica Dao, Administrative Assistant, announced there were no public speakers for oral 16 communications. 17 Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 18 The Chair or Commission majority may modify the agenda order to improve meeting management. 19 Chair Summa asked if there were any Agenda changes, additions and deletions; seeing none 20 she moved to City official reports. 21 City Official Reports 22 1. Directors Report, Meeting Schedule and Assignments 23 Mr. Jonathan Lait, Director of Planning and Development Services, reported City Council, at 24 their last meeting, discussed the Parklet Program Standards. They provided feedback to Staff 25 and Staff would be returning to the Council with those recommended changes at a future 26 meeting. On May 1, 2023, the City Council would consider the appeal for 2147 Yale Street 27 which the Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC) recommended denial of the proposed 28 Parcel Map with Exception. On May 8, 2023, a joint session with PTC and Council was scheduled 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. to discuss the revised Housing Element. On March 30, 2023, was a community meeting to 1 inform the community about the proposed Rental Registration Program. The public could find 2 information about the community meeting on the City’s website. The City would hold several 3 Town Halls to discuss the Bona Vista Mobile Home Park redevelopment plan. Lastly, in the 4 coming months, the City Council would consider revised plans for the Palo Alto HomeKey 5 Transitional Housing Project. 6 Ms. Sylvia Star-Lack, Transportation Planning Manager, shared that May is bike month and May 7 18, 2023, is Bike to Work Day. The City would be providing three energizer stations on that day 8 around the city. Then Bike to Wherever Days were May 19th and 20th throughout San Mateo 9 and Santa Clara County. She shared that more information could be found on the Silicon Valley 10 Bicycle Coalition Bike to Wherever Days website and the City’s Bike to Work Day website. 11 Secondly, the Palo Alto Link, the city’s on-demand corner-to-corner ride-sharing service, had 12 provided 2,473 rides since the launch of the service. Since its conception, 3,627 accounts were 13 created in the app with 728 unique active riders. The average ride duration was 13.7 minutes, 14 the average ride distance was 3.3 miles, the average ride rating out of 5 was 4.8, the average 15 pick-up walking distance was less than 400-feet and the average pick-up estimated time of 16 arrival was 14.4 minutes. 17 Commissioner Templeton suggested Staff sync the notifications on the app with the hours of 18 operation for Palo Alto Link. 19 Commissioner Hechtman asked if the density of the HomeKey was being adjusted. 20 Mr. Lait believed the capacity was staying the same. 21 Commissioner Templeton noticed the Packet did not list the May 8, 2023, PTC meeting and 22 recommended that be included in future dates. 23 Mr. Lait predicted the exclusion was an error. 24 Commissioner Templeton asked if Staff had planned a study session to discuss El Camino Real 25 and the Caltrans Repaving Project. 26 Ms. Star-Lack remarked Staff had not planned a study session but noted she could provide an 27 update on that project. 28 Mr. Lait suggested the information be shared during the next item. 29 Commissioner Reckdahl asked when construction on the HomeKey would begin. 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. Mr. Lait believed the update that was scheduled with the Council would include that 1 information. 2 Vice-Chair Chang requested Staff share an update on the Code violations at Ellsworth Place. 3 Mr. Lait mentioned Staff was aware of the chain link fence and was following up with Code 4 Enforcement on the matter. While Code Enforcement was on the site they would evaluate the 5 pile of dirt and wood stakes for Code compliance. 6 Vice-Chair Chang noted there were comments about a tree as well. 7 Mr. Lait recalled the tree was a prior comment and Staff’s analysis was that the tree itself was 8 not a protected tree at the time that it was cut down. The tree was covered under the prior 9 rendition of regulations for protected trees. 10 Chair Summa noticed there was not a list of tentative future Agenda items. 11 Mr. Lait announced there was a continued discussion of the Work Plan for the April 12, 2023, 12 PTC meeting. On April 26, 2023, Staff would present Zoning Code Text Amendments for the 13 Parklet Standards, there was to be a study session on the NVCAP and a discussion on Assembly 14 Bill (AB) 2097. There was also a study session to review quiet zones as a conceptual plan for 15 Palo Alto Avenue. 16 Study Session 17 Public Comment is Permitted. Three (3) minutes per speaker. 18 2. Review 2022-2023 Work Plan and Discuss Drafting the 2023-2024 PTC Work Plan 19 Chair Summa asked if Staff had a presentation. 20 Mr. Jonathan Lait, Director of Planning and Development Services, answered no. 21 Chair Summa suggested the Director update the Commission on each Project Goal and then 22 discuss whether to keep the Project Goal or not for the 2023-2024 Work Plan. 23 Commissioner Hechtman shared he forgot how detailed the prior Work Plan was and how long 24 it was. To gauge what progress the PTC made on the prior year’s Work Plan, he shared that he 25 went through all of the Agendas and linked the items to the various Project Goals in the Work 26 Plan when applicable. He shared that Project Goal 9, the Housing Element Update, was 27 discussed four times and the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Ordinance was discussed five times 28 during the year. Among the other 16 Project Goals, five of those were discussed one time and 29 seven were never discussed. He remarked he did not want a Work Plan with items that would 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. never be discussed and recommended the PTC be realistic when considering the 2023-2024 1 Work Plan. 2 Chair Summa commented she did a similar exercise but compared the prior years’ Work Plan to 3 Council’s Priorities. She recommended the Commission consider Project Goals in the 2023-2024 4 Work Plan that aligned with Council’s Priorities. 5 Commissioner Templeton commented the PTC had seen several items multiple times and was 6 not having the diverse discussion that it had hoped to have in the prior year. She echoed the 7 comments made throughout the last year that PTC wished to work more with the Office of 8 Transportation on safety. 9 Chair Summa mentioned the 2022-2023 Work Plan was not prioritized. She began the 10 discussion with Project Goal 1 of the 2022-2023 Work Plan and invited Staff to provide an 11 update. 12 Ms. Sylvia Star-Lack, Transportation Planning Manager, shared for traffic safety Staff presented 13 a Road Safety Report on October 26, 2022. She noted the Office of Transportation does not do 14 an annual report and brought reports to the Commission when they become available. Staff 15 received a federal grant to update the Road Safety Report and that would come to PTC for 16 consideration before finalization. She mentioned the Office of Transportation conducted 17 neighborhood traffic improvement projects on an ongoing basis and those were based on the 18 311 comments the City received from residents and collisions. For the intersection at 19 Middlefield Road and Lincoln Road, Staff was finalizing a report that included recommendations 20 for improvements. Staff would hold a community meeting in April about that report and then 21 follow up with an additional workshop if needed. With respect to the El Camino Real Repaving 22 Project, she clarified that the project was a Caltrans project and this was not an opportunity to 23 redesign the road. Staff consulted the City/School Transportation Safety Committee and the 24 Pedestrian Bicycle Advisory Committee who both provided comments on the repaving project 25 and those were submitted to Caltrans. Caltrans was incorporating those recommendations and 26 Staff’s comments, when feasible, into the repaving project. The Committees’ and Staff’s 27 recommendation was to bring the signage, striping, pavement stencils and signals up to newer 28 standards. Neighboring cities have drafted a plan for additional improvements to their section 29 of El Camino Real but those improvements were being funded by those cities, not Caltrans. Palo 30 Alto had not had an extensive community conversation about a redesign of El Camino Real but 31 the repaving project did not hinder the City’s ability to improve safety after the repaving project 32 is complete. Staff would soon begin updating the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan 33 and that update will be used to discuss safety improvements to all roads including El Camino 34 Real. 35 _______________________ 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 Chang understood that the City could later implement safety improvements after the 1 Caltrans project was completed. 2 Ms. Star-Lack confirmed that was correct. 3 Vice-Chair Chang asked if the Traffic Safety Report Update would happen within the next fiscal 4 year. 5 Ms. Star-Lack predicted it would come within the next year. 6 Vice-Chair Chang mentioned it could be placed on the Work Plan. 7 Commissioner Templeton appreciated the updates from Ms. Star-Lack. The reason she raised 8 other cities taking action on the El Camino Real repaving project was that those cities were 9 working to prevent deaths at dangerous intersections. A Palo Alto child was killed at one of the 10 intersections along El Camino Real and then a year later another child was killed in a 11 neighboring city along the same road. She expressed frustration that the public continued to be 12 in the dark about what safety improvements the City was doing. Many children had to cross El 13 Camino Real to get to school and it was important for PTC and the community to advocate for 14 the work the Office of Transportation was doing in improving safety. She invited Staff to share 15 any way the PTC and the community could help raise awareness that the city wanted safer 16 intersections. 17 Commissioner Reckdahl asked what the other cities were doing to improve El Camino Real. 18 Ms. Star-Lack shared that the City of Mountain View and the City of Los Altos were removing 19 parking and adding protected bike lanes on El Camino Real. The City of Menlo Park was 20 considering the installation of protected bike lanes. 21 Commissioner Reckdahl asked if the City had to receive approval from Caltrans if it wanted to 22 improve safety. 23 Ms. Star-Lack confirmed Caltrans would have to grant approval but they had already approved 24 other city’s projects. 25 Commissioner Templeton noted the intersection in the City of Mountain View where the young 26 child died was also retrofitted with safety improvements. 27 Ms. Star-Lack confessed she was not aware of that. 28 Commissioner Reckdahl commented the median was quite narrow in places along El Camino 29 Real and there was no pedestrian refuge if they could not make it across the street in time. He 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. predicted increasing the width of the median would be easy to do and that would improve 1 safety. He inquired if that could be included in the requests to Caltrans. 2 Ms. Star-Lack answered yes, but that would be something the City did by itself. She did not 3 believe pedestrian refuge islands were included in Caltran’s repaving project. 4 Commissioner Reckdahl mentioned work continued at the intersections of Charleston/El 5 Camino Real and Arastradero/El Camino Real. He asked if bicycle safety was going to be 6 improved at those two intersections. 7 Ms. Star-Lack said that was the City’s project and having a through bike lane was part of the 8 project. 9 Commissioner Reckdahl stated he looked forward to that. 10 Commissioner Templeton asked why Caltrans delayed the repaving project to the end of 2023. 11 She emphasized the road desperately needed to be repaved and that it was dangerous. 12 Ms. Star-Lack could not answer why the project was delayed. 13 Commissioner Reckdahl asked in what way was El Camino Real dangerous. 14 Commissioner Templeton stated it was the potholes and the lane widths. Also, along El Camino 15 Way, the road was very wide which decreased safety for children rushing to school. 16 Commissioner Hechtman commented that Project Goal 1 was to discuss traffic safety and that 17 happened on October 26, 2022. He stated that based on the discussion, the Commission 18 seemed to be in consensus that Project Goal 1 should continue forward to the 2023-2024 Work 19 Plan. He recommended Project Goal 1’s language be revised to include the Traffic Safety Report 20 Update. He suggested that any project goal that may not come to the PTC in the next fiscal year 21 be placed on a list that could be reviewed by PTC at its next Work Plan discussion in the next 22 fiscal year. 23 Chair Summa agreed with Commissioner Hechtman’s suggestion to revise the language. 24 Commissioner Templeton suggested the language be more specific because she was not 25 satisfied with the Traffic Safety Report the first time it came through. The report had a lot of 26 gaps in terms of safety. 27 Chair Summa wanted the language to be broadened to reflect general concerns about traffic 28 safety and how they can be addressed in the city. Staff had indicated they had a plan and PTC 29 indicated that it wanted to be a part of that work. She moved to Project Goal 2 and prefaced by 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. saying that Project Goal 2 aligned with Council Priorities and believed the Commission would 1 want to keep it for the 2023-2024 Work Plan. 2 Director Lait believed Project Goal 2 was tied to Project Goal 7 and recommended merging 3 those two. Council has directed Staff and the Commission to hold discussions about retail. He 4 explained the PTC discussion Conditional Use Permit (CUP) Thresholds and recommended it be 5 continued. Staff wanted to complete that because Staff was working on a more comprehensive 6 retail project and was folding all retail components into one effort. Council directed Staff to 7 explore retail preservation, CUP Thresholds, understand what the proper definition of retail is 8 and explore retail on a City-wide, and district level, basis to understand the existing conditions. 9 Staff engaged a consultant to help with the work and they were directed to revise their draft 10 report to include the Streetscape study that was done, best management practices and other 11 elements. AB 2097 was recently passed and it eliminated the requirement for parking for 12 housing or commercial projects within a half mile of major transit with exceptions. With that 13 said Staff will be coming to the Commission frequently for recommendations. 14 Chair Summa agreed to consolidate Project Goal 2 and Project Goal 7. 15 Commissioner Hechtman mentioned the Commission discussed retail at its August 31, 2022 16 meeting. He shared that at the Council meeting where they discussed the CUP Thresholds, 17 Director Lait told the Council that the ordinance would remain a Temporary Ordinance for 18-18 months because that was how long the comprehensive approach would take. He said when 19 Staff modifies the language for the combined Project Goals 2 and 7, he wanted it to reflect that 20 the expectation was not to come to the end during the next fiscal year. 21 Mr. Lait asked if the Work Plan followed a fiscal year or a calendar year. 22 Chair Summa understood the finalization of the Work Plan aligned with the new appointments 23 but suggested that be clarified. 24 Mr. Lait predicted it was a fiscal year and if that was the case then the 18-month timeframe 25 would fall under the 2023-2024 Work Plan. 26 Commissioner Hechtman suggested that be made clear in the Work Plan that it was based on a 27 fiscal year. He recommended that the Work Plan not be approved until April when the new 28 Commissioners are appointed. 29 Chair Summa agreed. 30 Vice-Chair Chang understood that the Work Plan was to be presented to Council by the end of 31 Quarter 2 and that fit with the fiscal year. 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. Chair Summa moved to Project Goal 3 and predicted the Commission would want to leave in 1 the Work Plan. 2 Director Lait mentioned Staff called neighborhood plans Coordinated Area Plans (CAP) and he 3 asked if that term was intentionally left out. He said the Grand Jury Report recommended that 4 the City use more CAPs to help plan for neighborhoods. He acknowledged that CAPs take time 5 and that they are costly. The City Council recently requested that Staff draft a schedule for CAPs 6 for El Camino Real, San Antonio Road, California Avenue, and Downtown. He predicted there 7 was a strong interest to prioritize the San Antonio area first due to the amount of housing that 8 was being contemplated in the new Housing Element. 9 Chair Summa remarked that was a lot of work and agreed the San Antonio area should be 10 prioritized. She understood Project Goal 3 was to bring awareness to the changes in the growth 11 of the City and ensure that public amenities and other elements are considered during the 12 planning process. 13 Mr. Lait agreed and suggested the Commission be open-minded to different approaches to 14 developing a CAP. The City and the community have to process a CAP more quickly and that 15 meant reconsidering the engagement strategy. He noted those areas were areas that the 16 Commission could help Staff with. He acknowledged that the North Ventura CAP (NVCAP) took 17 a long time but was soon to be completed. Staff would soon review that process with PTC to 18 identify what worked and what didn’t work. 19 Chair Summa stated that kind of thoughtfulness must be folded into individual and smaller 20 projects that come forward. Those have to be considered through the lens of the broader 21 picture for specific neighborhoods. 22 Vice-Chair Chang asked what area would be covered for a San Antonio CAP. 23 Mr. Lait clarified it would include the areas that would be redeveloped for housing. 24 Vice-Chair Chang recalled Project Goal 3 intentionally did not use the term “Coordinated Area 25 Plan” because it was to bring awareness to public amenities and other planning elements that 26 must be considered before redevelopment occurred. 27 Mr. Lait remarked Staff could come to the Commission to discuss those further and then draft a 28 proposal for Council that included all the elements that a CAP should include. Also, he 29 suggested revisiting the Municipal Code language that outlined the process for a CAP and how 30 it could be revised to streamline the process. 31 Commissioner Reckdahl agreed the NVCAP process was not efficient. He acknowledged the 32 success of the South of Forest Area (SOFA) Plan was too successful and the City had high 33 _______________________ 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. expectations for the NVCAP which was a different problem. He believed a better process would 1 have been to focus on zoning to achieve what the City wanted. He echoed the comments that 2 the San Antonio area should be prioritized and should include discussions about parks, schools 3 and other public amenities. 4 Commissioner Hechtman mentioned that Project Goal 8 was specific to the NVCAP and Project 5 Goal 3 was more generic. He noted the Commission has not held a study session on 6 neighborhood planning and either Staff could bring forward a strategy for the Commission to 7 discuss for neighborhood planning or the Commission could initiate the discussion. If the goal is 8 to remain in the Work Plan, it must be completed during the coming fiscal year or be set aside 9 for a future Work Plan. He wanted to see the goal include a strategy and to identify if the work 10 was Staff drive or Commission driven. 11 Chair Summa agreed and added that there are specific principles that may apply City-wide. She 12 invited the other Commissioners to consider writing the goals so that they reflected the desire 13 of the Commission. She asked if Staff would appreciate help writing the goals. 14 Mr. Lait concurred it was a collaborative effort and it should reflect the intentions of the 15 Commission. 16 Vice-Chair Chang said since the goal aligned with Council Priorities it should be Staff lead. 17 Mr. Lait explained Council acknowledged that Staff did not have the time to return with a 18 finished product within the year and directed Staff to draft a schedule. Anything beyond that 19 work should be identified by the Commission and shared with Staff. He shared the Chair and 20 Vice-Chair of the Architectural Review Board (ARB) wish to hold a joint session with the PTC to 21 discuss planning for the San Antonio area. 22 Vice-Chair Chang asked if Council was prescriptive in that the timeline must include CAPs or if 23 was there leeway in there to decide what type of plan it should be. 24 Mr. Lait predicted there was leeway but the Municipal Code only provided guidance for CAPs. 25 He mentioned Staff was doing something similar with the Downtown Housing Plan in not calling 26 it a CAP. 27 Vice-Chair Chang stated there are two components to Project Goal 3, one was a study session 28 with the ARB to discuss the San Antonio area and the second was to hold a process discussion 29 parameters of a plan that was not a CAP. 30 Mr. Lait agreed the Project Goal should be rewritten to reflect that and focus on how can the 31 City efficiently prepare a plan that included housing, transportation and amenities. Also, how to 32 efficiently and successfully move a project forward that had different opinions. 33 _______________________ 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 if the Downtown Housing Plan was the same as the Downtown 1 Plan. 2 Mr. Lait mentioned the Downtown Housing Plan including University Avenue, the Transit 3 Center, Stanford, connections to the Stanford Shopping Center and the academic lands. The 4 City recently received an $800,000 grant from the Metro Transportation Commission (MTC) to 5 work on the Downtown Housing Plan. 6 Commissioner Reckdahl was concerned that a plan that was too broad would never have an 7 ending and suggested Staff explore rezoning the low-density sites in the Downtown area. 8 Mr. Lait agreed the plan should be focused. 9 Commissioner Reckdahl predicted many seniors would sell their houses and move downtown 10 due to the proximity of everything. 11 Chair Summa moved to Project Goal 4 and suggested it be brought into alignment with the 12 work that had been accomplished so far for California Avenue. 13 Mr. Lait confessed he did not understand the objective of Goal 4. 14 Chair Summa suggested the goal be rewritten to reflect Council’s considerations so far. 15 Mr. Lait agreed it should be rewritten with clearer objectives. 16 Commissioner Templeton echoed Chair Summa’s comment and recommended it be simplified. 17 Vice-Chair Chang remarked the PTC’s goal was to support Council and unless Staff knew 18 something would be coming to the Commission, she suggested the goal be eliminated. 19 Mr. Lait agreed to delete it. 20 Commissioner Hechtman agreed and mentioned Project Goal 18 was tied to the purpose of 21 Project Goal 4. He recommended the vestiges of Project Goal 4 be folded into Project Goal 18. 22 Commissioner Templeton agreed with Vice-Chair Chang that PTC supported Council. With that 23 said, she asked how PTC differentiates which items should be in the Work Plan and which 24 shouldn’t be. She believed there was a little bit of ambiguity regarding what the point of the 25 Work Plan was. 26 Chair Summa agreed. 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. Mr. Lait commented the Work Plan identified upcoming work tasks and aligning Staff’s work 1 with Commission’s input helped Staff stay on track. He admitted Staff comes bogged down in 2 work and it was helpful for PTC to flag items in the Work Plan that should be coming forward. 3 Commissioner Templeton answered PTC needed to understand why the Project Goal was 4 included in the Work Plan and what the benefit of the Work Plan is. She found 18 Project Goals 5 to be too many and suggested they be reduced to 10 or fewer. 6 Chair Summa moved to Project Goal 5 and invited Staff to provide an update regarding the 7 Wireless Ordinance. 8 Mr. Lait remarked work was being done to refine the standards for the Wireless Ordinance but 9 it was behind due to Staff vacancies. He recalled the Commission discussed the Wireless 10 Ordinance and there was direction to check in with the neighbors and develop a system that 11 streamlines the applications. 12 Vice-Chair Chang understood that because the City’s Wireless Ordinance did not include 13 Objective Standards, it was a lost opportunity for the City to have facilities that were up to Palo 14 Alto standards. She did not want to include items that would most likely not be discussed but 15 was concerned that it had been at least 3 years since the ordinance was last updated. 16 Chair Summa wanted to keep it as a Project Goal because there was a lot of interest in the 17 community. 18 Commissioner Templeton did not believe the Commission needed to drive the work and did not 19 think the Commission needed to remind Staff. She agreed that the Wireless Ordinance did not 20 come close in the order of magnitude compared to the other items that had been discussed so 21 far. If it was eliminated, that was not an indication that the work should not be done. 22 Commissioner Hechtman stated the Work Plan was not a wish list, it was a to-do list and the 23 Commission did not discuss the Wireless Ordinance during the last fiscal year. Unless Staff knew 24 it would be coming forward in the next fiscal year, it should be eliminated from the Work Plan. 25 Commissioner Reckdahl agreed the Work Plan should be condensed as much as possible and 26 recommended it be placed on a waitlist to be considered in the next Work Plan discussion. 27 Vice-Chair Chang agreed but emphasized her concern with the amount of time that had passed 28 since the ordinance was last updated. 29 Mr. Lait agreed it was important to get the ordinance up to date and the work being done was 30 being balanced with other pressing matters. He stated the current ordinance was not in a 31 _______________________ 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. critical state and the recent ruling did not invalidate the City’s ordinance. Staff was working to 1 strengthen the ordinance. 2 Vice-Chair Chang shared that what the community was concerned about was the items that 3 were removed for the ruling were next placed back into the ordinance. 4 Mr. Lait said he’d have an update on the Wireless Ordinance next meeting and the Commission 5 could discuss it then. 6 Commissioner Hechtman mentioned the Commission discussed the Wireless Ordinance on 7 January 12, 2022. 8 Commissioner Templeton was concerned with how much discussion was happening and 9 suggested changing the process to be more streamlined. 10 Chair Summa agreed and moved to Project Goal 6. 11 Mr. Lait said Project Goal 6 has been completed. 12 Chair Summa announced that Project Goal should be deleted and moved to Project Goal 7. 13 Mr. Lait restated that Project Goal was merged with Project Goal 2. 14 Chair Summa moved to Project Goal 8. 15 Mr. Lait mentioned Staff would be returning in the next several months with an update. 16 Commissioner Hechtman requested Staff update the dates throughout the entire Work Plan as 17 well as other refinements like Commissioner and Staff names. 18 Commissioner Templeton suggested Project Goal 8 be prioritized high upper the list. 19 Chair Summa restated that the list was not prioritized. 20 Commissioner Hechtman suggested using letters instead of numbers to eliminate inadvertent 21 prioritization. 22 Chair Summa agreed and moved to Project Goal 9. 23 Commissioner Hechtman mentioned other Housing Element items would be coming soon to 24 the Commission. 25 Chair Summa suggested the language be updated to reflect the next steps. She moved to 26 Project Goal 10 and believed the goal was complete. 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 Hechtman remarked it was half done because the Commission had discussed the 1 framework ordinance and still had to discuss detail ordinance. 2 Mr. Lait mentioned because some of the implementations were administrative regulations, 3 Staff would be following up with the ARB. 4 Vice-Chair Chang believed the PTC’s portion was complete. 5 Mr. Lait agreed. 6 Commissioner Hechtman recalled the Commission moved items out of the framework and into 7 implementation with the intention that the ordinance would return to the Commission for 8 discussion. 9 Chair Summa agreed it should remain and be updated. She moved to Project Goal 11 and 10 invited Staff to provide an update. 11 Ms. Star-Lack recommended combining all the parking items into a Parking Program Update. 12 Commissioner Hechtman remarked that included Project Goals 11, 12, 13 and 17. 13 Ms. Star-Lack recommended that Project Goal 17 remain as separate because it was governed 14 by the Planning Department. Staff will be bringing a Parking Program Update to the 15 Commission in the 4th Quarter of the current fiscal year. 16 Chair Summa agreed they should be combined and should remain on the Work Plan. She 17 moved to Project Goal 14 and stated it was completed. 18 Ms. Star-Lack mentioned the Office of Transportation would be bringing to the Commission a 19 Service Evaluation of the on-demand transit program’s first year. 20 Commissioner Hechtman agreed it should remain in the Work Plan. 21 Commissioner Reckdahl mentioned Staff was applying for more grants to extend the hours of 22 Link. 23 Ms. Star-Lack answered Staff was hopeful to hear if the grants were awarded to the City in the 24 coming months. 25 Chair Summa agreed it should remain in the Work Plan but be refreshed. She moved to Project 26 Goal 15 and mentioned the PTC discussed ADUs several times. 27 Mr. Lait agreed the Project Goal was complete. 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 Summa suggested it be eliminated. 1 Vice-Chair Chang agreed. 2 Chair Summa moved to Project Goal 16 and understood Staff was currently working on it. She 3 suggested it remain in the Work Plan but be updated. 4 Ms. Star-Lack concurred the scope of work included three meetings with the Commission. 5 Commissioner Templeton agreed it should remain in the Work Plan and wanted to understand 6 what the City was doing to improve areas with high collision ratings. 7 Ms. Star-Lack clarified the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan will include a crash 8 analysis and if granted, the federal grant will also include a crash analysis and set the tone for a 9 robust program of work around traffic safety. 10 Commissioner Templeton said anything the Commission can do to help, to let them know. 11 Commissioner Reckdahl shared there was interest in having a pedestrian crossing under or over 12 the railroad tracks near Seal Avenue and he asked for an update. 13 Ms. Star-Lack stated Council directed Staff to include that consideration in the Bicycle and 14 Pedestrian Transportation Plan. 15 Chair Summa moved to Project Goal 17. 16 Mr. Lait recommended it be removed from the Work Plan because AB 2097 effectively 17 eliminated the need for the program. 18 Chair Summa stated that was a good point and it had been a concern of hers for many years 19 because it was keeping businesses from moving into new spaces. 20 Commissioner Reckdahl asked Staff to provide a synopsis of AB 2097. 21 Mr. Lait explained if a property was located within a half mile of rapid transit, the development 22 was not required to provide parking. This applied to all projects that pulled a Building Permit. 23 Chair Summa asked if that applied to Occupancy Permits. 24 Mr. Albert Yang, City Attorney, remarked State Law indicated it applied to any development 25 project but it did not define what a development project meant. In other definitions for a 26 development project in the Government Code, it suggested it would apply to projects that 27 pulled a Building Permit. 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 Summa asked if there would no longer be a scenario where a use with a high parking 1 standard could not move into a facility with a previous use that had a lower standard. 2 Mr. Lait confirmed that was correct if it was located within a half mile of rapid transit. 3 Chair Summa asked if a Certificate of Occupancy would eliminate the need for parking. 4 Mr. Yang remarked that Staff would have to evaluate AB 2097 further in that aspect. He echoed 5 that with a use change, most likely they would need a Building Permit because they would be 6 doing tenant improvements. 7 Chair Summa announced that Project Goal 17 was to be eliminated at moved to Project Goal 8 18. 9 Ms. Star-Lack reported the Office of Transportation planned to bring the item to the 10 Commission soon. 11 Commissioner Templeton agreed it should remain on the list. 12 Vice-Chair Chang announced seven items were eliminated from the list. 13 Commissioner Hechtman announced 10 items remain with one item going to the waitlist. 14 Vice-Chair Chang inquired if there were items that the Commission wished to add to the Work 15 Plan. 16 Commissioner Hechtman recommended a discussion on updating the Commission By-Laws 17 should be added to the Work Plan. 18 Chair Summa agreed. 19 Ms. Star-Lack recommended PTC include in its Work Plan the Crescent Park traffic calming 20 project, the Caltrain quiet zones and a bicycle-focused Municipal Code cleanup. 21 Chair Summa suggested those be added to the Work Plan and considered by the PTC at the 22 next meeting. 23 Commissioner Hechtman asked if the bicycle focus Municipal Code clean-up could be included 24 in Project Goal 16. 25 Ms. Star-Lack remarked they were different efforts and should be separate. 26 _______________________ 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 suggested the Crescent Park traffic calming project could be included in 1 Project Goal 1. He asked if the Caltrain quiet zone was a safety issue. 2 Chair Summa believed it was a safety element. 3 Commissioner Reckdahl suggested it be included in Project Goal 1. 4 Chair Summa agreed if the items could be incorporated into an existing project goal then they 5 should be. 6 Commissioner Templeton echoed the comments regarding consolidation. 7 Mr. Lait mentioned several items that would be included in the Housing Element Project Goal 8 such as zoning changes, a discussion about the carrier over sites with by-right development and 9 Stanford-owned properties that needed to be upzoned. Those all applied to the City’s Regional 10 Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). Another Housing Element component was a discussion about 11 the Housing Incentive Program. 12 Chair Summa announced there was consensus that those should be listed in Project Goal 9. 13 Mr. Lait mentioned the Rental Registry would be coming to the PTC for discussion. 14 Chair Summa believed that would be a new project goal. 15 Commissioner Hechtman mentioned it may not need to be a new goal if Staff was not seeking 16 any action from the Commission. 17 Chair Summa did not believe the list burdened the Commission in any way but was supportive 18 of not adding it to the Work Plan. 19 Commissioner Templeton wanted to see it included in the Work Plan because it would be very 20 valuable information to the City and folks renting. 21 Mr. Lait shared that Council directed Staff to add regulations for developments related to bird-22 safe glass as well as regulations to address uplighting to minimize light population from future 23 developments. 24 Chair Summa strongly supported having those added to the Work Plan. 25 Commissioner Templeton agreed with Chair Summa. 26 Vice-Chair Chang asked if Council directed Staff to update the Streamside Ordinance. 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. Mr. Lait concurred that was the next one he was going to suggest be included in the Work Plan. 1 Commissioner Hechtman agreed all three items should be added to the Work Plan. He recalled 2 during a previous discussion either for the Work Plan or the Boards and Commission Handbook 3 the Commission added a set of priorities. He noted those were not included in the 2022-2023 4 Work Plan and asked if the other Commissioners remembered where those were listed. 5 Vice-Chair Chang asked if it was in the mission statement. 6 Commissioner Hechtman answered he looked at that and that maybe what was written was 7 Staff’s interpretation of that conversation. 8 Commissioner Templeton suggested Commissioner Hechtman and Staff explore it offline. 9 Commissioner Reckdahl inquired if there was a way for the Commission to receive a report 10 once a month that listed traffic incidents that happened within the city. 11 Ms. Star-Lack clarified the Police Department drafted those reports, but they were currently 12 under Staffed. The Office of Transportation was having a hard time receiving the data from 13 them. 14 Commissioner Reckdahl asked if it could be automated. 15 Ms. Star-Lack remarked she would look into it. 16 Commissioner Reckdahl recalled once a month Staff presented a report to Council about 17 housing production in the City. He requested that be sent to the Commission. 18 Mr. Lait clarified it was an annual report. 19 Ms. Star-Lack asked if Commissioner Reckdahl wanted summary-level data or comprehensive 20 data. 21 Commissioner Reckdahl answered comprehensive data. 22 Ms. Star-Lack answered that detailed data was hard to get but restated she would send a 23 request to the Police Department. 24 Vice-Chair Chang asked if the Police Department's database was public. 25 Chair Summa commented this request had come up so many times over the years. 26 Mr. Lait remarked Staff heard the request and Staff would return with available options. 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 Reckdahl requested that the annual housing report be sent to the PTC. 1 Mr. Lait believed it was sent to the PTC, but Staff would forward it to the Commissioners. 2 Commissioner Reckdahl asked if Staff kept a running total for net new housing production 3 Mr. Lait answered yes and announced that the City was working on a new Housing Portal 4 website which would include all of that information. That portal would be available to the 5 public and updated frequently. 6 Commissioner Templeton stated it was important that the PTC received reports on traffic 7 incidents in every Staff Report. She stated the awareness of collisions was minimal at the 8 Commission level. She recommended Staff continue to advertise the 311 App to report 9 collisions in order to have real-time data instead of relying on the Police Department. 10 Chair Summa closed the item and moved to approval of the minutes. 11 Approval of Minutes 12 Public Comment is Permitted. Five (5) minutes per speaker.1,3 13 3. Approval of Planning & Transportation Commission Draft summary Minutes of 14 February 8, 2023 15 MOTION 16 Commissioner Hechtman moved approval of the February 8, 2023 draft summary minutes as 17 revised. 18 SECOND 19 Commissioner Reckdahl seconded. 20 Ms. Veronica Dao, Administrative Assistant, conducted the roll call vote and announced the 21 motion passed 4-0 with Commissioner Templeton abstaining. 22 MOTION PASSED 4(Chang, Hechtman, Reckdahl, Summa) -0- 1(Templeton abstain) -23 1(Roohparvar absent) 24 Commission Action: Motion by Hechtman, seconded by Reckdahl. Pass 4-0-1 (Templeton 25 abstain) -1 (Roohparvar absent) 26 4. Approval of Planning & Transportation Commission Draft Verbatim and Summary 27 Minutes of February 22, 2023 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. MOTION 1 Commissioner Hechtman moved approval of the February 22, 2023 draft summary and 2 verbatim minutes as revised. 3 SECOND 4 Commissioner Reckdahl seconded. 5 Ms. Veronica Dao, Administrative Assistant, conducted the roll call vote and announced the 6 motion passed 5-0. 7 MOTION PASSED 5(Chang, Hechtman, Reckdahl, Summa, Templeton) -0- 1(Roohparvar absent) 8 Commission Action: Motion by Hechtman, seconded by Reckdahl. Pass 5-0-1 (Roohparvar 9 absent) 10 Committee Items 11 None 12 Commissioner Questions, Comments or Announcements 13 Chair Summa remarked this was the last meeting for Commissioner Roohparvar and expressed 14 her thanks to Commissioner Roohparvar for her service to the City. She shared that the Code 15 Enforcement Supervisor was holding a community meeting in mid-April to introduce the second 16 full-time Code Enforcement Officer. Lastly, she expressed her thanks to the Utilities 17 Department for their rapid response to the power outages that took place during the recent 18 storms. 19 Adjournment 20 8:14 pm 21 _______________________ 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. Palo Alto Planning & Transportation Commission 1 Commissioner Biographies, Present and Archived Agendas and Reports are available online: 2 http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/gov/boards/ptc/default.asp. The PTC Commission members are: 3 4 Chair Doria Summa 5 Vice-Chair Bryna Chang 6 Commissioner Bart Hechtman 7 Commissioner Keith Reckdahl 8 Commissioner Giselle Roohparvar 9 Commissioner Carolyn Templeton 10 Get Informed and Be Engaged! 11 View online: http://midpenmedia.org/category/government/city-of-palo-alto or on Channel 26. 12 13 Show up and speak. Public comment is encouraged. Please complete a speaker request card 14 located on the table at the entrance to the Council Chambers and deliver it to the Commission 15 Secretary prior to discussion of the item. 16 17 Write to us. Email the PTC at: Planning.Commission@CityofPaloAlto.org. Letters can be 18 delivered to the Planning & Community Environment Department, 5th floor, City Hall, 250 19 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301. Comments received by 2:00 PM two Tuesdays preceding 20 the meeting date will be included in the agenda packet. Comments received afterward through 21 2:00 PM the day of the meeting will be presented to the Commission at the dais. 22 23 Material related to an item on this agenda submitted to the PTC after distribution of the 24 agenda packet is available for public inspection at the address above. 25 Americans with Disability Act (ADA) 26 It is the policy of the City of Palo Alto to offer its public programs, services and meetings in a 27 manner that is readily accessible to all. Persons with disabilities who require materials in an 28 appropriate alternative format or who require auxiliary aids to access City meetings, programs, 29 or services may contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at (650) 329-2550 (voice) or by emailing 30 ada@cityofpaloalto.org. Requests for assistance or accommodations must be submitted at least 31 24 hours in advance of the meeting, program, or service. 32