HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-05-29 Planning and Transportation Commission Verbatim 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
Verbatim Minutes: May 29, 2024 2
Council Chambers & Virtual 3
6:00 PM 4
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Call to Order / Roll Call 6
6:00 PM 7
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ROLL CALL 9
Chair Chang: Okay. And I’d like to call to order the regular meeting of the Planning and 10
Transportation Commission for Wednesday, May 29. Ms. Dao, can you please take the roll? 11
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Administrative Associate Veronica Dao: Chair Chang? 13
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Chair Chang: Present. 15
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Veronica Dao: Vice-Chair Reckdahl? 17
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Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Here. 19
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Veronica Dao: Commissioner Akin? 21
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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 Akin: Here. 1
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Veronica Dao: Commissioner Hechtman? 3
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Commissioner Hechtman: Present. Appearing remotely with just cause and no one over 18 in 5
the room with me. 6
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Veronica Dao: Commissioner Lu? 8
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Commissioner Lu: Present. 10
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Veronica Dao: Commissioner Summa? 12
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Commissioner Summa: Present. 14
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Veronica Dao: Commissioner Templeton? 16
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Commissioner Templeton: Present. 18
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Veronica Dao: We have a quorum. 20
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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.
1
Chair Chang: Great. So our first agenda item is public comment. Are there any speaker cards? I 2
don’t think so. 3
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Oral Communications 5
The public may speak to any item not on the agenda. Three (3) minutes per speaker.1,2 6
Veronica Dao: I have no requests to speak. 7
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Chair Chang: And then is there anything on line? Let me take a look. Nope. Okay. Great. On to 9
Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions. 10
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Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 12
The Chair or Commission majority may modify the agenda order to improve meeting management. 13
Chief Planning Official Amy French: We have no agenda changes or deletions. 14
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Chair Chang: Okay. Great. And then on to City Official Reports. Ms. French. 16
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City Official Reports 18
1. Directors Report, Meeting Schedule and Assignments 19
Amy French: Yes. Good evening. Amy French, Chief Planning Official. I wanted to first of all call 20
attention to an email that I sent out before 5:00 today, so fairly recently, noting our Office of 21
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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.
Transportation staff is unlikely to be able to make it tonight but forwarded on a statement 1
regarding the Wilkie Bridge subcommittee. Some items there – I suppose I could read it off. 2
Based on the on-line community survey and bridge subcommittee members input, we will leave 3
the anti-slip fiberglass deck strips as is and will replace the rubberized coating section that was 4
installed in the second area with a sharp turn with the anti-slip fiberglass deck strips as part of 5
our upcoming bridge repairs project, which is going into construction in late summer. 6
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Vice-Chair Reckdahl: [Inaudible 13:08]. 8
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Amy French: I’ve done my bit for transportation. 10
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Vice-Chair Reckdahl: I’ll give a summary there. 12
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Amy French: Okay. 14
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Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Thanks, Rafael, wherever you are. I asked him yesterday and he [did 13:18] 16
that fairly quickly. Wilkie Way is a wooden bridge and it gets slippery when it’s wet. And to – 17
they used to put rubber mats on it and those broke up and broke off. So they tried about a year 18
ago two tests. One was you would actually take some fiberglass, non-slip, and screw them into 19
the wood boards. There’s a sharp curve where they did that. Another spot, they painted on – it 20
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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.
almost looks like just paint with sticky stuff in it, non-slip. And that seemed to be almost as 1
good to me. And so they are going to do that for everything where they have that fiberglass. On 2
that sharp turn, they’re going to leave that. So that’s going to be good to get done before rainy 3
season. 4
5
Amy French: Okay. Back to planning component of our Item 1, which is City Official Reports. 6
This gives you the breakdown that we anticipate for the summer. As you might recall, the 7
Commission decided to cancel the meeting of July 31, so we’re sending projects forward and 8
backward from there, and this is the lineup that we’re anticipating for the summer. I’m not sure 9
if the June 26 item from Transportation is going to hold. That might be pushed forward but this 10
is where we are at the moment. I wanted to note that I learned… 11
12
Chair Chang: Ms. French, did you have a slide to share for us? 13
14
Amy French: Am I not sharing a slide? 15
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Female: [Inaudible 15:15]. 17
18
Amy French: Oh, gosh. Okay. Let me try again. I thought it was sharing. Share. Now am I 19
sharing? Yay. Okay. Take two. This is the breakdown, the anticipated lineup for the summer of 20
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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 and Transportation Commission Meetings. And I was just noting some anticipated 1
dates here that kind of inflects − these are always tentative until we actually have the report in 2
hand and can advertise it and all of that. So for now, this is what we’re looking at. Note that the 3
retail report that we worked so hard to get through the Planning and Transportation 4
Commission process with our subcommittee and everything to try to get it before Council June 5
10, that slipped to June 18. And now I hear that this – the amount of items and such before the 6
Council break is too much and there’s some more discussion − needs to happen. So likely, we 7
will put that off till August 5th Council and we’ll have an opportunity as a Commission to have 8
another powwow before then if we can figure out what to bring forward. That would probably 9
be July, the July 10th meeting. Okay. Does anyone have any questions about upcoming dates? 10
As always, let me know if you’re planning an absence. You get to take summer breaks so – the 11
next slide here is just Council target dates for May and June. I did slip in August there at the 12
end, again, because of that retail study report. But these are the anticipated items coming 13
before Council. You’ll note that I put a note here about these are not viewed by the PTC. Some 14
of these items, such as the Quarry Road Extension have not come to the PTC but it’s of interest 15
to the Planning and Transportation Commission. So if you’re representing in June or – well in 16
June. This is all June. There are only a couple of these that the Planning and Transportation 17
Commission actually saw, which was the June 10th item, on the California Avenue CUP and the 18
June 17th item, which is the bike lanes on El Camino Real, and, of course, the NVCAP, which is 19
June 18. So – yeah. 20
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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.
1
Chair Chang: Ms. French, I have a question for you. So I believe Commissioner Lu is our rep for 2
June but I believe he also had to recuse for NVCAP. Is that correct? So then… 3
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Amy French: Yes. 5
6
Chair Chang: …we should move on to the backup. Is that correct? 7
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Amy French: Yes. 9
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Chair Chang: Okay. So it’ll be myself. 11
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Amy French: Who’s backup? 13
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Chair Chang: I am. 15
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Amy French: Oh. 17
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Chair Chang: Yeah. That’s why I wanted to ask. 19
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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.
Amy French: That they know who you are. Perfect. Okay. If no questions, then I suppose we can 1
move on and I will switch presentations. 2
3
Chair Chang: So our first action item for today is Review and Recommendation to Finance 4
Committee and the City Council on the Proposed 2025 to 2029 Capital Improvement Plan and 5
Comprehensive Plan Compliance. 6
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Action Items 8
Public Comment is Permitted. Three (3) minutes per speaker. 9
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2. Review and Recommendation to Finance Committee and the City Council on 11
Proposed 2025-2029 Capital Improvement Plan and Comprehensive Plan 12
Compliance. 13
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Amy French: Okay. Why is this not – there we go. It’s thinking. Okay. The presentation is 15
thinking and I will start presenting while it thinks. So tonight we are here to review the 16 new 16
2025 to 2029 capital improvement projects for consistency with the comprehensive plan and 17
forward the findings to Council. The Commission can also review the programs as a whole and 18
propose suggestions to improve the efficiency. The Commission can also identify projects it 19
feels are missing from the existing CIP list and propose those for next year. Staff will 20
communicate the findings of tonight’s meeting through a letter to the City Council. To assist 21
your review tonight and answer any questions on the CIPs, we have in the Zoom room, staff 22
from different city departments. I believe we have budget, public works, utilities, police, and 23
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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.
community services. We’ll see. So this is the letter that currently says from Doria Summa, Chair, 1
but we now have a new Chair. And so we’ll fix that letter for signature. So after tonight’s 2
meeting, we’ll go ahead and get that done and then forward that to City Council. So every year, 3
the city departments identify new CIPs based on citywide infrastructure needs and City Council 4
priorities. This year, 16 new CIPs have been included in the capital budget. Staff has used the 5
same analysis and metrics of previous years to determine comp plan consistency. Each CIP is 6
linked to a primary comprehensive plan element and a goal policy and program, which it aligns 7
to. Staff has added information on types of boards, commissions, and if an environmental 8
review is required. So this slide shows 194 capital improvement projects that were included in 9
the capital budget, 16 of which are new, so these are described in Attachment B of the staff 10
report. And just as in previous years, we focus our analysis on only the new projects at this 11
time. The report in your packet said 270 cited capital improvement projects. That was kind of 12
an error. Even though there’s that many projects in the system, there’s only the 194 that were 13
funded in the 2025 budget book. So the other CIPs are continuing and have already been 14
reviewed by the PTC in previous years. So this shows that we have 5 CIPs that align with 15
community services and facilities element and we have 5 CUP – CIPs aligning with the natural 16
environment element and 3 CIPs that align with the safety and transportation elements. Three 17
each. Some examples of building facilities, upkeep, maintenance, and technology upgrade CIPs. 18
You can see here on the screen children’s theater lighting, art center, radio replacement, and 19
fire equipment. Then we have some examples of transportation and traffic improvement. 20
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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.
Transportation improvement CIPs, which is Cal. Avenue, parking improvements, traffic 1
intersection accessibility improvements, Charleston Road/Alma Railroad crossing and safety 2
improvements. Then we have the distribution that shows, I think, that’s 42 percent for the 3
natural environment, 36 percent for CSD, land use and transportation is 8 percent each and 4
then safety is 5 percent. So we come to the recommendation that we seek Commission finding 5
that these CIPs are consistent with the comp plan and recommend Council concur with the 6
finding. Thank you. And if you have any questions for the team members – I was going to check 7
and see – yeah. We have someone from CSD, someone from administrative services, and 8
someone from public works, and someone from fire. Yeah. Several folks from those 9
departments. 10
11
Chair Chang: Okay. So light them up if you’ve got any clarifying questions. We’ll start with 12
Commissioner Reckdahl and then Commissioner Akin. 13
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Vice-Chair Reckdahl: I’m not sure if this is a question for Amy or for Chief Blackshire but one of 15
the new ones is the eucalyptus tree removal. And looking in the funding, it’s not funded this 16
year. On page 13 of the big binder, it lists 7 different CIPs that are on the list but aren’t funded 17
at all. What’s the status and why was this introduced but not funded at all? Is it low priority? 18
19
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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.
Amy French: So seeking – those of you who are attending from other city departments – oh, 1
Paul. Excellent. Hi, Paul. 2
3
Budget Manager Paul Harper: Hi. Paul Harper, Office of Management and Budget. So this 4
project actually is funded in fiscal year 2025, so that’s the first year of the five-year CIP that 5
were looking for or looking at. Fiscal year ’24 would be the current year that we’re in. And so 6
what we’re reviewing now is for anything that’s starting in fiscal year 2025 and beyond as part 7
of this new five-year CIP plan. 8
9
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. But in the booklet that we have, it says it’s not funded if you look on 10
page 13 of the booklet. 11
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Chair Chang: Page 13 of the… 13
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Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Of the big binder. Yeah, the big binder, page 13. 15
16
Chair Chang: When I looked at the specific item, it was funded. I don’t know what page it was 17
though. 18
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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.
Paul Harper: Yeah, I guess I would reference you to page 212 of the Capital Budget, the Fiscal 1
Year ’25 Proposed Capital Budget. That’s where the project page would be. 2
3
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Oh, wonder if – I used the link in the soft copy and I wonder if that’s 4
linking to an old version. Okay. That is good. That answers my question. Thank you. 5
6
Chair Chang: Commissioner Lu − Commissioner Akin. 7
8
Commissioner Akin: Thank you, Chair. My question is about Packet Page 19, that’s item number 9
5, the Arastradero Creek gas line repair. And the question is which elements it might be most 10
consistent with. I found it odd that it was associated with policy N7.1, which is specifically about 11
electricity needs and wondered if maybe S1.13.4, which is enhanced the safety of city-owned 12
natural gas pipeline operations, might be a better fit. So I’m curious as to why the decision was 13
made to use N7.1 instead. 14
15
Amy French: Let’s see. So do – do we have someone from utilities? Roger? Is that – are you 16
from utilities perhaps? I see you’re [unmuted 27:13]. Roger? 17
18
Male: Roger is not from Utilities. 19
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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.
Amy French: Sorry. I just see one word there. Well – so… 1
2
Commissioner Templeton: [Inaudible 27:33], right? 3
4
Amy French: Sorry. 5
6
Commissioner Templeton: The budget [inaudible 27:37]. 7
8
Amy French: The budget guy, maybe. 9
10
Commissioner Templeton: [Inaudible 27:40]. 11
12
Amy French: Oh, Paul is with the ASD. I don’t have this binder you referred to to see – I mean I 13
have the Packet Page 19 – is what we’re talking about for anyone out there who wants to 14
follow along. Item 5, gas line repair at Arastradero Creek appears to be a utilities item, 15
wastewater and water pipelines. And the policy that it is referred to is in the energy section 16
with Utilities Department as the lead on the project. 17
18
Chair Chang: And Commissioner Akin was suggesting that − which part of the Comp Plan would 19
be more relevant? 20
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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.
1
Commissioner Akin: Yeah, what caught my eye was that it’s currently associated with a program 2
that’s all about electricity needs. And my first thought was, “Oh, are we running a gas-powered 3
generating plant down there somewhere?” And so I did a quick search through the comp plan 4
looking for other more likely sections and… 5
6
Amy French: Okay. 7
8
Commissioner Akin: …S1.13.4 is the one that cropped up because it’s specifically about a 9
natural gas pipeline operations. So no… 10
11
Amy French: I’d be – yeah. 12
13
Commissioner Akin: …urgency about this. 14
15
Amy French: Yeah. 16
17
Commissioner Akin: I just wondered why it was done the way it was done. 18
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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.
Amy French: I don’t have an answer for that and if no one else is here from Utilities to answer 1
that, then it can’t happen tonight. But S1134 I have noted and I can follow up with the Utilities 2
staff tomorrow. 3
4
Commissioner Akin: That’s great. Thank you. 5
6
Amy French: Sure. 7
8
Paul Harper: So – sorry. Paul Harper, Office of Management and Budget. So we rely on the 9
Planning Department to actually align these with the comprehensive plan, so I believe the 10
person who did that is actually not here this evening. I will say if that’s a correction that is 11
recommended, I would include that in the letter to the Finance Committee and we can make 12
that correction as part of the adopted budget for that project page. 13
14
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you. I’ve got a question for Mr. Harper. So I noticed that there were a 15
cou-, several of the 16 new CIPs that don’t hit the fiscal ’25 budget and somehow my 16
recollection is that the last time we did this that most of the time that projects do. So is it just a 17
planning exercise that – it’s because – for example, if you look at the Children’s Theater Lighting 18
System, there’s nothing until fiscal ’28 and ’29. And so is it just because we know that this is 19
something that’s coming down the pipeline and that we’re planning ahead for it? 20
_______________________
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.
1
Paul Harper: Yes. Essentially, yes. The five-year capital plan is a plan where we try to put in 2
needs of items that we know are coming along. Ideally, we try to get them in there as early as 3
we can when we have information that is somewhat accurate and we can program in dollars 4
and scope and timeline. A lot of the time, things kind of pop up as somewhat emergencies. And 5
so that’s why a number of them kind of fall into the first couple of years. But when possible, we 6
do try to put them in there as far out as we can just so that we have the plan in there. Things 7
can move around. I will say when Council adopts the budget, they are only adopting the first 8
year of the five-year plan, so in this case, it would be 2025. The rest of the years are used for 9
planning, and essentially, we reference back to them if there are changes made going into the 10
next five-year cycle. But yeah – to answer your question, yes, they are put in there with the 11
idea that we want to plan ahead as far as we can. 12
13
Chair Chang: Thank you. And then I had a little bit more of a specific question about the third 14
new CIP, which is the Palo Alto Art Center Ceramics Equipment. And the – this is on Packet Page 15
18. There was a note that said that the arts center has not had a sustainable plan to maintain 16
equipment for the ceramic program unlike nearby municipality. And I’m wondering is that going 17
to be something that we’re changing or is this just going to be kind of a one-time Band-Aid 18
patch? Mr. Do, you’re on mute. 19
20
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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.
Superintendent Lam Do: Good evening, Commissioners. Lam Do, Superintendent Open Space 1
Parks and Golf representing Community Services this evening. The maintenance of the ceramic 2
equipment is not funded at the time. We are asking for the facility to be upgraded and some of 3
the equipment to be replaced, and then from there, we will be planning on looking at how we 4
want to in the future maintain or plan for replacing that budget. But we haven’t reached that 5
point yet. So for now, we’re asking for funding to upgrade and replace the equipment that’s 6
needed. 7
8
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you. And I’m going to keep going because I’m not seeing other lights. 9
One more question about the Number 6, City Radio Replacement Program. Just a question 10
about this is – the report on Page 19 notes that the replacement program will be the first time 11
digital radios have been replaced since the City joined the Regional Interoperability Authority. 12
So I’m wondering when – just for context, when was that? When did that take place? I 13
remember that it was in the news but… 14
15
Paul Harper: Paul Harper with Office of Management and Budget. I will throw out a date but I 16
wouldn’t quote me on this. I want to say it was in like 2014 or 2015 is when we started the 17
replacements previously. 18
19
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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 Chang: Thank you. Okay. And then, I think, this is my second to last question. So on 1
Number 13 [or 34:03] Packet Page 21, this is regarding the stormwater improvements and the 2
capacity upgrades. When I was looking at the binder, and I unfortunately didn’t note what page 3
this all was in the binder, I noticed that Louis Road is slated for 2029, so much later than these 4
two, which are earlier. And so my question is is it because these are kind of emergency or 5
suddenly more urgent improvements because of the flooding or what’s – like it jumped ahead 6
in line, so I was wondering what happened there? 7
8
Assistant Director Holly Boyd: Yes. Hi. Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Holly Boyd. 9
I’m the Assistant Director for Public Works. Yes, it’s the latter. Louis Road was previously in the 10
budget to work on next out of the 13 stormwater [inaudible 35:00] fund priority projects. But 11
given the New Year’s Eve flooding in 2022, we prioritized Hamilton and Center over Louis and 12
pushed Louis out because of the impact that it will have on the residents in those 13
neighborhoods. 14
15
Chair Chang: Okay. And then I also looked in terms of when the funding is going – is really being 16
used for the most part. For the Hamilton system upgrades and the Center Drive capacity 17
upgrades, it looks like the Hamilton system happens first, right? And is the staggering simply a 18
workflow management issue or a budgetary issue or – because if they’re urgent, that’s what I 19
was wondering about. What’s the timing based on? 20
_______________________
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.
1
Holly Boyd: It’s both. We have a limited number of staff and we also collect the stormwater 2
management fee on an annual basis, so the Hamilton Avenue system is prioritized first. The 3
design will be starting in July once this project’s approved and then go to construction the 4
following year. And so while we could have asked for a loan from the general fund or something 5
like that, it’s really a workload issue because of the limited staff and then also the disruption to 6
the neighborhoods because they are in the same neighborhood. We’re staggering them to 7
follow year by year. 8
9
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you. Next we have questions from Commissioner Lu. No? 10
Commissioner Summa? 11
12
Commissioner Summa: [Inaudible 36:55]. I was – I had a question – a couple of – I had an 13
interest in Number 9, the eucalyptus tree removal as well. And I’m just wondering − our CIP 14
descriptions when you look them up on their – by page number in the big binder, don’t tell you 15
much more than the summaries do. A little bit more information. And this is a program I have 16
sort of negative feelings about but I’m wondering where one can look up and find the exact 17
locations of the trees slated for removal and a little bit more about the process of this. And if 18
you direct me to it, I can just do that offline. I don’t need – I don’t know that the whole 19
Commission needs to hear about it. Like if the stumps are going to be ground out or if the 20
_______________________
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.
stumps will be left and they’ll be treated with some kind of chemical. These kinds of details. 1
Where would I find that? 2
3
Lam Do: Commissioner Summa, this is Lam Do again with Community Services Department. The 4
– an assessment was done through – between Community Service Department and Office 5
Emergency Services to identify the trees that we would like to have removed. I can provide that 6
information to the Staff Liaison French and then from there perhaps she can forward it to you 7
as well. 8
9
Commissioner Summa: Okay. Thank you. That would be very helpful. It was the Urban Forestry 10
Department involved? 11
12
Lam Do: That is correct. 13
14
Commissioner Summa: They were? Okay. Sorry. You maybe said that. I didn’t hear that. Okay. 15
16
Lam Do: There were multiple departments; OES, Office Emergency Services, Urban Forestry, 17
and Community Services. 18
19
Commissioner Summa: Okay. Thank you very much. That will be helpful. 20
_______________________
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.
1
Chair Chang: Commissioner Templeton. 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: Thanks. I appreciate you bringing that up, Commissioner Summa. I 4
also noted this one but for a different reason. And I would love to hear what concerns you have 5
if you do want to share them. Don’t necessarily assume we don’t want to know. But my 6
understanding is that eucalyptus trees provide a fire hazard for the communities in which 7
they’re present. Is that – it’s not mentioned really. Oh, there it is. Fire Safety. Yeah. So is that 8
under safety? What’s PG? What does the PG mean? 9
10
Lam Do: Thank you for the question, Commissioner Templeton. Each CIP is identified by 11
nomenclature two letters and then a series of five digits. The two letters – the first two letters 12
represent the program area where the CIP is managed – to be managed. And PG in this case is 13
parks and golf, which falls under the Division of Open Space Parks and Golf. 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: Okay. Thanks for clarifying that. Yeah – so I think – I’m just looking a 16
little closer and listening to Commissioner Summa’s concerns. Like if this was a fire safety 17
program, I think that would make a lot more sense to me and I guess we’ll hear from Planning 18
Departments since you’re the ones who classified them. Is that what the speaker said before, 19
Ms. French? 20
_______________________
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.
1
Amy French: Yes. Chitra Moitra is not here this evening to tell you her thinking about that 2
particular one. You’re looking in the binder. I don’t have the binder, just the packet. 3
4
Commissioner Templeton: I’m not looking at the binder. I’m looking at the packet. 5
6
Amy French: Okay. Can you say again which… 7
8
Commissioner Templeton: Number 9, the eucalyptus tree removal. 9
10
Chair Chang: Packet Page 20. 11
12
Commissioner Templeton: Thank you, Chair. 13
14
Amy French: So I heard Lam Do say that he has some details he will send to me that I will 15
forward to the Planning and Transportation Commission? 16
17
Commissioner Templeton: Yes. 18
19
Amy French: Does that not get to your… 20
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Templeton: That’s what I was asking you to confirm. Yes, if you’ll do that, that’d 2
be great. 3
4
Amy French: Of course, I will do that. As soon as I receive it, I will forward it on to the PTC. 5
6
Commissioner Templeton: So the concern here is how are the trees being removed? Are they 7
being removed safely and does it provide fire protection, so therefore, is it classified properly or 8
improperly? Thank you. 9
10
Lam Do: And if I could add to that. It’s – the departments will work together in regards to 11
managing the project just because it’s identified initially as one PG, it may or may not remain 12
there. We have [inaudible 41:36] times depending on the complexity or the level of the project 13
[inaudible 41:40] with other departments or transfer projects to other departments as well. 14
15
Commissioner Templeton: That’s wonderful. And I agree. I’m glad that we’ll look closer at this, 16
but specifically, the community is going to have a different feeling about removing trees in 17
parks versus improving fire safety. So I think that’s just something to think about. Thanks. 18
19
_______________________
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 Chang: Okay. One last clarifying question for me. This is Packet Page 21, Number 15. This 1
is the scheduled vehicle and equipment replacement that we see every single year. So my 2
question is when I was looking in the binder at the item, the expense was pretty much the same 3
every single year except that in 2029, it jumps up by about $600,000. And so I was wondering if 4
anybody could give a little visibility into why that’s happening. I don’t know which staff member 5
it would be. Oh, hello. 6
7
Fleet Manager Danitra Bahlman: Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Danitra Bahlman, 8
Public Works Fleet Department. And I can take this question. In fiscal year 2029 − I’m not sure 9
what the budget total is that you have but we have approximately $3.5M allocated for 10
replacements that year. Is that what you’re showing? 11
12
Chair Chang: I didn’t bring my binder but I – if I remember correctly, it was about $3.5M every 13
single year and then in 2029, it jumped up to like almost $4.2M. 14
15
Paul Harper: Yeah, 4.2. 16
17
Danitra Bahlman: Okay. So I will go back to that list because I’m actually looking off of the fiscal 18
year ’29 that I had submitted and I’ve got – it’s at $3.5M. So let me get back to you on that. I 19
don’t know, Paul, what – if you have a list in front of you. But I certainly don’t have that one. 20
_______________________
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.
1
Paul Harper: I don’t have the list. I guess I will say that the City is in the process of working 2
towards replacing the fleet with electric vehicles where possible. And so we are trying to do 3
that in the earlier time where possible. But I think going out to the end of the five-year plan, 4
increasing the dollars because those vehicles do cost more to replace at this point in time. 5
We’re looking at kind of increasing the budget, so that we have the capacity to do that in the 6
outyears. 7
8
Danitra Bahlman: And that wouldn’t be just for FY29 but – yeah. 9
10
Chair Chang: Okay. Great. That does answer – it sounds like that’d be a ramp up in EVs purchase 11
to replace non-EVs in 2029 and that’s why we’re budgeting more for it. Because my next 12
question would have been are we replacing with EVs but it sounds like you’ve answered that. 13
So thank you. And it looks like we’ve got one more question from Commissioner Summa. 14
15
Commissioner Summa: What? 16
17
Chair Chang: Okay. 18
19
Commissioner Lu: Okay. 20
_______________________
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.
1
Chair Chang: From Commissioner Lu. 2
3
Commissioner Lu: Yeah, thank you. I wanted to ask about Item Number 12, the 4
Alma/Charleston Railroad Crossing Safety Improvements. So looks like the budget is around 5
$1.3M over the next two years but for the design phase only. I was wondering if someone could 6
comment on what the broader scope and budget of that project would potentially be projected 7
to be. And also if there was any scope or consideration of upgrading the crossings, so that could 8
support a quiet zone. So yeah – I would appreciate any answers there. 9
10
Amy French: Looks like we have Phillip Kamhi – oh, great. Phillip, did you hear… 11
12
Chief Transportation Official Philip Kamhi: Yes. Are you able to hear me? 13
14
Commissioner Lu: Yes. 15
16
Philip Kamhi: Okay. Great. Yeah, so this is actually really similar to a project that PTC had 17
approved for Churchill. So just a very similar project to that that we did at the Churchill 18
Crossing. We are doing – entering the design phase but we’re hoping in a similar fashion to get 19
Section 130 funding for – similar to what we did for the Churchill Avenue Crossing for this 20
_______________________
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.
project to move into the future [phase 46:17] for construction. And then the question about the 1
quiet zone. No, this is not the quiet zone’s project; however, we do have that project, which is 2
already proceeding on – it’s not on the same timeline. It’s already moving forward. We’re 3
already starting the study for the other crossings other than Palo Alto Avenue, which is already 4
in the final design phase. 5
6
Commissioner Lu: All right. Thank you. That’s helpful clarification. 7
8
Chair Chang: Okay. Seeing no more… 9
10
Philip Kamhi: My pleasure. 11
12
Chair Chang: …lights from Commissioners for clarifying questions, I wanted to see if there was 13
any cards for public comment on this item or anybody on line. 14
15
PUBLIC COMMENT 16
Veronica Dao: I have no speaker cards or raised hands. 17
18
Chair Chang: Okay. Since there are no public comments, now if the Commission has any 19
additional comments, not clarifying questions, but comments. I think we kind of blended 20
everything this time. I would be curious – it sounds like since our job for this item is to make – 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.
ensure that each of these new CIPs are consistent with the comprehensive plan and because 1
Commissioner Akin raised the issue that perhaps the gas line repair is kind of matched to a 2
portion of the Comp Plan that might not be as appropriate as a different one, I was wondering 3
if Commissioner Akin could share with us what the language is for the item that you thought 4
was more appropriate. 5
6
Commissioner Akin: Sure. It’s really pretty simple. It says, “This item is to enhance the safety of 7
city-owned natural gas pipeline operations.” So it’s in the safety segment of the element of the 8
Comp Plan rather than natural environment. 9
10
Chair Chang: That seems to make sense. So let’s see – and then we have Commissioner Summa. 11
12
Commissioner Summa: Thank you, Chair. I support at least adding Commissioner Akin’s 13
suggestion. That seems to be a really good idea. If not, reevaluating that. But for sure that 14
seems like an appropriate change. And then I − to answer Commissioner Templeton. My – the 15
eucalyptus tree removal, I think, is a very separate issue for open spaces and in public parks in 16
the city. And I’ve always thought it was a bit weird in open spaces to target some eucalyptus 17
trees. I don’t think anybody should ever plant a eucalyptus tree but where they exist in wooded 18
areas − and often it’s by creeks because they like a bit more water. They are – they were 19
introduced in 1853. So they’ve been a part of open spaces for a very long time and they do 20
_______________________
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.
provide a very valuable habitat even though they’re unwanted trees. But they are a fire hazard. 1
And so that’s why I was curious about what kind of methods they were using to remove the 2
trees. If you’re deep into Foothill Park, in some locations, it wouldn’t be disruptive. In other 3
locations, I feel it could be more disruptive and isn’t really worth the effort of removing them. 4
And I don’t know if they [inaudible 49:59] the trees and leave them when they are because – 5
where they are – where they fall because rotting material is also very valuable in a forested 6
area and provides habitat. So that’s just – I’ve always thought it was – it’s not a hill I would die 7
on to save the eucalyptus but I think it’s really important in urban areas where they’re more 8
likely to cause a problem and in areas where − it’s more kind of that I’m lukewarm on it as a 9
value-add to our natural areas. And I hate to see our natural areas overmanaged, if that helps. 10
11
Chair Chang: All right. Thank you. Any other comments? If not, I can take a motion. 12
13
Commissioner Summa: I’ll make a motion. I’d be happy to make a motion to move staff 14
recommendation with the addition of Commissioner Akin’s comment or correction, I guess it is. 15
16
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Second. 17
18
_______________________
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 Chang: All right. Do we have any… 1
2
Commissioner Templeton: I have a question for Commissioner Summa. You don’t want to ask 3
them for more information that you mentioned earlier in your comments? 4
5
Commissioner Summa: They’re going to provide that. 6
7
Commissioner Templeton: Yeah. 8
9
Commissioner Summa: I don’t think it needs to – this is a program that’s already been going on 10
to a certain extent. I just wanted to be able to know more about it myself. 11
12
Commissioner Templeton: Okay. 13
14
_______________________
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 Summa: And actually it’s not all in open spaces. If you look in the big binder, it’s 1
also in Eleanor Pardee Park. So I’m not against it. I’m neutral on it as being a benefit for our 2
open spaces but it is something that the City has been pursuing. So… 3
4
Commissioner Templeton: Well I think your point is well taken that there’s not enough 5
information for the public to get from what we currently have. So if you wanted to add that, we 6
could add it to the motion. If not, just leave it as a comment and let’s take your point as well… 7
8
Commissioner Summa: If you’d like to add it as an amendment, it’s fine with me. I wouldn’t say 9
no. Sorry. I didn’t hear you. 10
11
Commissioner Templeton: You’re the maker. I’m not going to worry about it. If you want to add 12
it, you can add it. And if not, that’s okay. 13
14
Commissioner Summa: Does my… 15
16
_______________________
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: [Inaudible 52:17]. 1
2
Commissioner Summa: Would my colleagues like me to add that? Okay. So then I would say I 3
would add a clause that says reexamine the value and cost of removing eucalyptus in open 4
areas – the value to the open space maintenance and cost of the City and consider it, which… 5
6
Chair Chang: Does the second accept that change? 7
8
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: To me, it’s more of a general issue of just providing more information 9
about what’s being removed and where it’s being removed. That to me – my mind is more 10
interested in that than actually the cost breakdown. 11
12
Commissioner Summa: That’s – I mean I don’t know if you’re saying you would accept it or not. 13
14
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Oh, I would accept it. But I’m just wondering if we should [inaudible 15
53:24]… 16
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Summa: Word it differently. 2
3
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Word it differently. Yeah. 4
5
Commissioner Summa: Well why don’t you take a crack at it? 6
7
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. Request that we get more information about where and how many 8
of the eucalyptus are being removed. 9
10
Commissioner Summa: Well I think it’s also about – I mean if they’re going in with a large crew 11
and dragging a giant tree out, it’s really disruptive in a remote location in our open spaces. 12
Whereas, if it’s along a road, who cares in some ways. So I think it’s the details − the 13
operational details kind of. 14
15
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: So how many, where, and how they’re being removed. 16
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Summa: Yeah. That’s fine if we want to incorporate – if – that’s fine. I mean… 2
3
Chair Chang: Okay. So I’m going to try and restate the motion just so we know where we are on 4
this. So we’re moving the staff recommendation with the addition of Commissioner Akin’s… 5
6
Male: Reclassification. 7
8
Chair Chang: …reclassification for the alignment of the gas line repair at Arastradero Creek with 9
the comp plan, which was S1.13.4. And then also requesting more information on the location, 10
number, and method of removal for the eucalyptus trees. 11
12
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yeah. 13
14
Commissioner Summa: That sounds fine. 15
16
_______________________
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 Reckdahl: Okay. 1
2
Chair Chang: Is there any discussion about this? Okay. Then, Ms. Dao, could you please call the 3
vote? 4
5
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Akin? 6
7
Commissioner Akin: Yes. 8
9
Veronica Dao: Chair Chang? 10
11
Chair Chang: Yes. 12
13
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Hechtman? 14
15
_______________________
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: Yes. 1
2
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Lu? 3
4
Commissioner Lu: Yes. 5
6
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Summa? 7
8
Commissioner Summa: Yes. 9
10
Veronica Dao: Vice-Chair Reckdahl? 11
12
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yes. 13
14
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Templeton? 15
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Templeton: Yes. 2
3
Veronica Dao: Motion carries 7-0. 4
5
Chair Chang: Okay. Great. Moving on to the next action item, which is Ordinance of the Council 6
of the City of Palo Alto Amending Chapters 18.14, 18.18, 18.30, 18.42, 18.52, and 18.77, and 7
adding Chapter 21.11 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Clarify Existing Regulations to 8
Implement Recent State Housing Laws. Could we have the staff presentation, please? 9
10
3. Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Chapters 18.14 (Housing 11
Incentives), 18.18 (Downtown Commercial District), 18.30(F) (Automobile Dealership 12
(AD) Combining District Regulations), 18.42 (Standard for Special Uses), 18.52 (Parking 13
Regulations) of Title 18 (Zoning) and 18.77 (Processing of Permits and Approvals), and 14
Adding Chapter 21.11 to Title 21 (Subdivisions and Other Divisions of Land) of the Palo 15
Alto Municipal Code to Clarify Existing Regulations and to Implement Recent State 16
Housing Laws 17
18
Amy French: Yes. Thank you. So this evening, in your report and on the screen are showing five 19
state laws. Four of these went into effect or – two of these went into effect January 1. Another 20
one is going into effect July 1. And two previously went into effect in prior years and we have 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.
been operating without changes to our code under state law. So we are taking the opportunity 1
to make some modifications to our code or request Planning and Transportation Commission 2
review of these changes that we will then bring to the City Council for adoption. So you can see 3
here we have three of these; two from this year’s effective bills and then one from 2019 that 4
require ministerial review processes. So no discretionary permits required. No CEQA required 5
for projects under these state laws. So this is just to note that we do have existing zoning code 6
chapters that provide streamlined reviews – planning reviews. And so we’re relying on those 7
sections as existing in our codes. Then we have some parking items, which were – let’s see. So 8
under this – I’ll go backwards a slide. AB 894, AB 2097 are both related to parking. So we have a 9
couple of changes to existing codes for that with trying to address the loading of bicycle facility 10
requirements, putting in something about the shared parking agreements, and we have 11
something in there about TDM programs as well addressing AB 2097. And then we have some 12
other items that are related to just changes that were needed to be made, just clarifications, 13
because we are just taking the opportunity to do this sort of non-substantive changes. And then 14
the last one there on this screen is we are anticipating Council’s action on the NVCAP on June 15
18. And so we are proactively coming forward with a section for late-night uses and activities 16
that would add these zone districts that are in the NVCAP, so that when that Council takes 17
action on that, we have then – in August, we’ll come back with this – these set of ordinance 18
revisions that would then enact – facilitate late-night use and activity reviews in those new 19
_______________________
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.
zones. So Mr. Yang is here to weigh in on some adjustments here regarding EVSE-related 1
equipment and accessibility and… 2
3
Assistant City Attorney Albert Yang: Thanks, Amy. 4
5
Amy French: Thanks. 6
7
Albert Yang: So after the staff report was published, staff identified two additional non-8
substantive changes or two additional changes. One responding to state law and another being 9
a non-substantive clarification. So the first one is response to AB 970, which was operative last 10
January. And that section requires cities to reduce their parking requirements if a retrofit to 11
install EVSE would result in a loss of a parking space. So we had actually already provided for 12
this in our code but we had some provisions that could be read to conflict with AB 970. AB 970 13
doesn’t have a limit on how many parking spaces can be removed to accommodate EVSE and 14
the City’s version did have a maximum of 10 percent of the existing stalls or one stall, 15
whichever is greater. In practice, that probably was not likely to come up but just to avoid any 16
confusion, we’re recommending this change. So next slide. And then the other change that 17
came up after packet publication was the clarification in our Subdivision Code to allow tentative 18
maps to be placed on the Council’s Consent Agenda. This is something that the City Staff has 19
done with some regularity over the years but there’s been some confusion about whether an 20
_______________________
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.
item on a consent calendar could satisfy a public hearing requirement. So we’re trying to 1
resolve that confusion just to say the City Council simply needs to consider the map at a public 2
meeting rather than using the words, “public hearing.” That’s also consistent with the State 3
Subdivision Map Act, which refers to public meetings rather than public hearings. 4
5
Amy French: Jumping back in as well, on the SB 684, which I was thinking would be of a great 6
interest being that it’s kind of like the SB 9 that came through a few years ago that we prepared 7
objective standards for. The SB 684 projects allow up to 10 parcels and it allows ministerial 8
planning entitlement process similar to SB 9 but this is just for multiple family-zoned properties 9
of a certain size and so we’re – we do have objective standards for three or more housing units 10
that we use for those types of projects. We have the SB 9 objective standards, so depending on 11
what projects come in, we can use those in the interim. But we do think we need to do some 12
tweaking and create some SB 684 standards – objective standards specific to those types of 13
projects as well. And then also have a process that we call the SB 684 process to come through 14
with initial prelim designs to have conversations with staff work through what they’re thinking 15
to submit formally. I think that is the last slide. So I’m going to take our slides back to the first 16
one to help with focus on the state law items perhaps if you would like to talk about those first. 17
18
Chair Chang: Okay. So first let me ask the Commissioners if they have any clarifying questions 19
before we take any public comment. So let’s try and keep it to clarifying questions. 20
_______________________
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 and then Commissioner Summa. 1
2
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: If you go to Slide 10, they talk about this voluntary code review. Can you 3
give more detail exactly what a voluntary code review is? 4
5
Amy French: Yeah. So a voluntary code review would be something where we highly encourage 6
people to come through. We do this with the Individual Review Program. It’s not a requirement 7
that they come through and show those – show their concepts for a new, two-story home in a 8
neighborhood, but we highly encourage it. They come in, we have a discussion, we look at the 9
context, we talk through the Individual Review Guidelines and how they’re doing with their 10
plans. So that would be an example of a voluntary process. 11
12
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. And if they don’t want to do it, they don’t have to do it? 13
14
Amy French: Correct. 15
16
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: But they would – it’d add value because then they don’t have to worry 17
about passing code. 18
19
_______________________
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.
Amy French: Yeah. So the idea there – it’s a carrot rather than the stick. It’s suggesting that they 1
will have more efficiency when they do finally put more detailed development drawings on 2
paper to submit for building permit if they’ve had preliminary discussions with staff before they 3
hardline some of their choices that may not follow our objective standards. 4
5
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. 6
7
Amy French: Or other codes. 8
9
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: That’s useful. Thank you. And how does that differ from the ministerial 10
planning entitlement process? 11
12
Albert Yang: So… 13
14
Amy French: [Inaudible 65:46]. Go ahead. 15
16
Albert Yang: Yeah. So a ministerial entitlement process would basically just be a planning 17
review against objective standards and it would be at a staff level. But the main difference is 18
applicants would have to come through the Planning Department before they went to get a 19
building permit. And so they would have to come in and submit their plans for Planning to 20
_______________________
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.
check them against the objective standards. And then they would need to get that approval, 1
that entitlement from the Planning Department before going to the building permit process. So 2
that’s in contrast with the voluntary code review approach where you could just go straight to 3
the building permit and then your plans will get checked against the objective standards as part 4
of the building permit plan check. But there’s no first step at just the Planning Department. 5
6
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. The ministerial planning seems pretty streamlined. It’s not very 7
onerous. Why would we not want to do that? 8
9
Albert Yang: Well what we found with SB 9 is that it is a – the voluntary process is useful for 10
many applicants but if you’ve got someone who feels confident, we don’t want to require more 11
process than is necessary. 12
13
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. And because we don’t think that it’s going to add value − we’re not 14
going to catch anything. Is that [the issue 67:31]? 15
16
Albert Yang: Well I think we feel like we often do but we’re trying to streamline our processes 17
as much as possible. 18
19
_______________________
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 Reckdahl: Yeah, I understand you don’t want people jumping through hoops that 1
aren’t needed but also if there’s value added and it’s not a terrible hard hoop to jump through, 2
it – there may be value on both sides. Okay. 3
4
Albert Yang: And the voluntary process is always available, right? Even if it’s not required. 5
6
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. Thank you. 7
8
Chair Chang: All right. Commissioner Summa and then Commissioner Lu. 9
10
Commissioner Summa: I had a question about Senate Bill 684 and it has to do with – it applies 11
to projects with up to 10 homes [inaudible 68:23] size and density criteria in zones allowing 12
multiple family use. And I find the code a little bit conflicting about whether RE, R2, and RMD, 13
which are described as low-density residential uses. I think the [inaudible 68:43] and then 14
multifamily. So the question really is does that – does multiple family residential use mean 3 15
units and more or does it apply to RE, R2, and RMD, the [three 68:58] low density. 16
17
Amy French: So I’ll take a crack at that. Our code defines multiple family residential as 3 or 18
more units and so that is how we think about the RM15 – or sorry. Now it’s RM20, RM30, 19
RM40. So Albert, would you concur with that? 20
_______________________
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.
1
Albert Yang: Yeah, that is the view that I would take as well. I’ll just – I’m just going to double- 2
check one thing and I’ll come back to you if I find something more to add. 3
4
Commissioner Summa: Okay. Thank you for that. And then the next one, I believe – well I just 5
wanted to confirm what AMI Senate Bill 4 applies to, up to 60 or 80 AMI? 6
7
Albert Yang: I will check on that and get back to you as well. 8
9
Commissioner Summa: Okay. Thanks. And then – oh. This is a question on Packet Page 27. It’s 10
also under Senate Bill 5. At the top of the sentence – at the top of the page, second sentence, it 11
says, “No additional parking requirements can be imposed if the development is within half a 12
mile of a high-quality public transit or one block from a car share vehicle.” And I wasn’t sure 13
what that one – I totally know what high-quality transit is but I didn’t – I was really confused 14
about the – and I think it’s just the way it’s worded. “Or one block from a car share vehicle.” 15
Does that mean any shared vehicle that happens to be parked some place or what does that 16
mean? 17
18
Albert Yang: So it’s not thoroughly defined in the law but we have interpreted it. There’s a 19
similar provision in SB 9. We’ve interpreted it to mean there’s like a fixed location car share as 20
_______________________
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.
opposed to a free-floating car share, so something like a Zipcar that is located within one block. 1
And we’ve also, in our SB 9 Regulations, defined what is a block, if it’s unclear, at a certain 2
number of feet. 3
4
Commissioner Summa: Okay. So I think that could be written more clearly. I was a little 5
confused. And then – I think I’ll save my other question because I don’t think it’s just clarifying. 6
It’s longer. So thank you for those questions and I’ll await the answers on the first two. 7
8
Chair Chang: Okay. Commissioner Lu. 9
10
Commissioner Lu: Yes. One question likely for Albert. There were a couple of references to SB 9 11
here. I just wanted to very explicitly confirm what the City’s thinking was on SB 9 following the 12
court decision. 13
14
Albert Yang: Yeah. So the Redondo Beach versus Bonta decision held that SB 9 was not 15
enforceable as to charter cities but the kind of procedural status of that case means that it’s 16
only effective for the 5 charter cities that were parties to that litigation. And those cities have 17
also asked the court to declare SB 9 unenforceable for all charter cities throughout California 18
but the court hasn’t made that ruling yet. 19
20
_______________________
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 Lu: Okay. Thank you. 1
2
Chair Chang: Just to clarify then, so the court hasn’t made that decision or ruling yet? So we are 3
just waiting? Is that the… 4
5
Albert Yang: Right. We’re waiting to see how the court rules on that request and then beyond 6
that, once – that’s kind of the last step for the trial court to take – is to rule on that issue. Once 7
that happens, then the State can also appeal the ruling and ask for it to be stayed. So – and 8
that’s also to be determined. 9
10
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you. I’ve got a couple clarifying questions. So for SB 684, I just 11
wanted to clarify my understand-, or confirm my understanding on Packet Page 26, where it 12
says, “It requires cities to allow up to the Mullin densities.” So does that mean that if something 13
is zoned − for example, if something is zoned RM20, that we have to allow it to become RM30 if 14
that’s what the developer wants and if it is up to 10 units and under 5 acres. Is that what it 15
means? 16
17
Albert Yang: Right. So we have to allow up to 30 units per acre. That density. It doesn’t 18
necessarily – it doesn’t get the RM30 development standards. It’s just that we need to allow at 19
least that density. 20
_______________________
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.
1
Chair Chang: Super helpful. Thank you. And then this is a question I asked through pre-meeting 2
but I wasn’t 100 percent sure on it. So the description about SB 684 says it requires projects to 3
provide the number of projected units for sites identified in a housing element. And so if a 4
developer chooses to develop less than is projected in the housing element, then the 5
development is not eligible to go through the SB 684 process. Is that correct? 6
7
Albert Yang: That’s right. 8
9
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you. And then clarifying question about Senate Bill 4. So I just wanted 10
to make sure I was reading this correctly. So it says, “Ancillary ground floor uses are also 11
permitted.” And so things like the child care centers, etc., are allowed only on the ground floor, 12
correct? 13
14
Albert Yang: I believe that’s right. 15
16
Chair Chang: Okay. And then finally, for Assembly Bill 894, this is on Packet Page 27. When 17
would it be used? I’m trying to understand what a shared parking agreement looks like. 18
19
_______________________
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.
Albert Yang: Yeah. So I think the – like the vision that the legislature had was you’d have a 1
parking lot that exists some place and an adjacent lot wants to redevelop without providing 2
parking on site. And so they − the lot that wants to redevelop would approach their neighbor 3
and say, “Hey, I’d like to do a study showing that your parking spaces are underutilized, and 4
therefore, I’d like to be able to share them with you.” And then they would have to prepare the 5
parking study showing that the parking is in fact underutilized and that the use is – the timing at 6
which the parking will be in demand for the sharing to [inaudible 76:58] the properties that are 7
sharing it wouldn’t conflict. 8
9
Chair Chang: Okay. But then ultimately, it’s up to those two property owners to come to some 10
agreement about how that… 11
12
Albert Yang: Right. 13
14
Chair Chang: …would work. Except that we, the city, would then have to approve it. Okay. That 15
makes sense. 16
17
Albert Yang: Right. 18
19
_______________________
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 Chang: And then I actually have one more question. This is on Packet Page 28, relating to 1
AB 2097. And this question came up before, I think, in the context of the retail discussion. And 2
it was regarding – so the law said that it doesn’t affect requirements for EVSE or ADA parking 3
spaces and then – but that Palo Alto’s interpreting our approach is to only require these spaces 4
when a developer is voluntarily providing spaces. Is that something that we can change or – 5
yeah. That’s my question. 6
7
Albert Yang: Yeah. So this is an area where the law is somewhat ambiguous. What does it mean 8
that AB 2097 doesn’t affect EVSE and ADA requirements that otherwise would apply? And 9
we’ve seen cities take differing approaches. The majority approach, I believe, is the one that 10
Palo Alto has taken, which is ADA and EVSE requirements apply as a percentage of the parking 11
that you provide. And so if you’re not providing any parking, there’s no percentage to take. 12
Other jurisdictions have – I think a minority of jurisdictions have looked at what is the parking 13
requirement − the base parking requirement [pretending 79:10] that AB 2097 did not exist and 14
then you take the percentage of EV/S − spaces to find the number of EVSE and ADA spaces that 15
would be required and then you require that those spaces be provided. And so you’d only be 16
providing ADA and EVSE spaces and there would be no other spaces. 17
18
Chair Chang: Right. 19
20
_______________________
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.
Albert Yang: General parking spaces provided. 1
2
Chair Chang: That would make more sense. 3
4
Albert Yang: So… 5
6
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you for explaining that. And then I’ll save the rest of my comments 7
about that to later on. Are there any other clarifying questions? Okay. So then are there any 8
public comments? I don’t think I saw anything on line. 9
10
PUBLIC COMMENTS 11
Veronica Dao: Yes, I have one speaker card from Herb Borock. 12
13
Chair Chang: Okay. Great. Hello. 14
15
Herb Borock: Hello, Commissioners. I also had a question about the status of the City of 16
Redondo Beach case on SB 9. That is that we have programs and policies in the comprehensive 17
plan and regulations in the zoning code to implement that law, which at least for those 5 cities, 18
and maybe for the entire state or we declare it unconstitutional for charter cities like Palo Alto. 19
And it seems to me to be prepared now, if that is the case, to have changes to restore those 20
_______________________
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.
policies and programs and regulations to what they were prior to the enactment and also to 1
consider how that affects the way in which we meet our regional housing needs assessment 2
quota. That is to be continuing to suggest changes, such as this evening, when we’re not sure 3
whether that is still a legislation that we are required to abide by and that was the rationale for 4
changing our comprehensive plan and our zoning ordinance. And it seems to me we shouldn’t 5
just let those things stand but rather be proactive, so that – just as the legislature sometimes 6
has bills which take effect at a later date and if you look at the code and the statute for a 7
particular code, you can see where it will show both what the law is up to as of a certain date 8
and what it would then change to in a future date. And here we would be having that – those 9
changes. Say if or when a final decision is made that it is unconstitutional, that we would 10
already have those changes restoring the language ready. Thank you. 11
12
Chair Chang: Thank you for your comment. All right, Commissioners, any comments about this 13
item? I’ve got Commissioner Reckdahl and then Commissioner Summa. 14
15
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Question for Albert about the public speaker’s, the SB 9. When we 16
implement SB 9, do we have it – contingent on SB 9 [being 82:48] valid law or is it just that 17
we’ve changed the law to be consistent with it? 18
19
_______________________
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.
Albert Yang: So the – our SB 9 Ordinances do have a provision saying that they will no longer be 1
effective. Our ordinances will be void if SB 9 is substantially amended or repealed. So we do 2
have some language that might come into play here. But I’ll note it doesn’t speak to what 3
happens if the law is invalidated by a court. It doesn’t specifically mention that. 4
5
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: And in particular, if it’s invalidated for just certain cities, then… 6
7
Albert Yang: Right. 8
9
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: …it seems kind of special case. So your opinion is that our ordinances 10
would not change if it was invalidated by the court? 11
12
Albert Yang: It’s something we’d have to look at more carefully if we – if that decision does 13
extend to the rest of the state. 14
15
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. Thank you. 16
17
Chair Chang: Commissioner Summa, and then Hechtman, and then Akin. 18
19
_______________________
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 Summa: Thank you, Chair. So – and thank you to the Chair for asking the 1
question about the ADA issue, which came up for me at a previous meeting as kind of a ti-, 2
tangential issue. But I think if we have latitude within the law to still provide ADA spots close to 3
the locations, that we have a responsibility to do so. I’m sure that our attorneys have looked at 4
whether this stance is consistent with the federal law but I see no reason – I just – it really 5
bothers me that we would not do this when we can if we have the ability to do so legally. So I 6
will just say that. And then I would also like to thank Commiss-, Vice-Chair Reckdahl for asking 7
the question about kind of the get-out-of-jail-free clause at the end of our ordinances. I think 8
that any of these ordinances that were imposed on cities, perhaps unwillingly by some at times 9
– and I think they should all have a clause, so the minute they are such as that that is clear − 10
that the minute they are no longer considered legal requirements by the state, that we have it 11
written into the ordinance that we will abandon it at that – that they become null and void, 12
whatever the right legal language is, at that time. So I have a strong preference for a change in 13
− to require ADA spots if it’s legal to. I think that’s the biggest takeaway for all of this for me 14
because the rest of this we have to do and it seems – I had a lot of questions about 894, so 15
thank you for asking that that I forgot to ask. But I think you clarified it. Because I was trying – I 16
read this so many times before I could realize when it would be used and I came up with the 17
exact thing that an existing development – and the one thing about this that I think is kind of 18
funny is that we’re at a situation – and I know this is extremely true in the Research Park, where 19
because of the long-term leases, the buildings are still leased but people aren’t showing up and 20
_______________________
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.
working at them. And so this is an affect of what we don’t know how – of COVID work from 1
home and we don’t know how to predict how much of that will stay. And so I think a snapshot 2
in time of what 20 percent vacancy is may not be at all true some time in the future. So I think 3
we have to be very careful about how we evaluate this vacancy in the sense that we don’t know 4
and have no way of knowing now if those buildings will be fully occupied by employees. I have 5
friends that work in the Research Park and they have the same amount of square footage, 6
hundreds of thousands of square feet, and there’s like 25 people working in the whole thing. So 7
that – not that we have any choice but in as much as we can be strict in our evaluation of claims 8
of underutilization, I think we should be or that it should be short term enough that if the 9
conditions change, that really changes – that can be reevaluated. And then I do think that car 10
share vehicle needs to be defined better to make it clearer. And I think that’s all I have for now. 11
Thank you. 12
13
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Hechtman. 14
15
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you, Chair. I’ve got just a few questions and suggestions and 16
comments on the ordinance itself. And I’m wondering if somebody can pull up the ordinance at 17
Packet Page 31. 18
19
_______________________
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 Chang: Maybe while we’re waiting for the ordinance to be pulled up, I wanted to circle 1
back with Mr. Yang to see if he had an answer to the outstanding questions about the 60 versus 2
80 AMI, and then also sort of the what happens to the low-density residential. 3
4
Albert Yang: Right. So the low-density residential, I believe, the answer is still what we – what 5
Ms. French stated earlier that it would not apply to those R2, RE districts. As for the 6
affordability provisions, I believe it is, they have to be offered to households who make up to 80 7
percent of AMI but then the rent is limited to 70 percent of AMI. 8
9
Chair Chang: Thank you. Okay. I think we’ve got the ordinance in front of us now. So take it 10
away, Commissioner Hechtman. 11
12
Amy French: [Remind me 89:58]… 13
14
Commissioner Hechtman: Right. 15
16
Amy French: …please, which page – Packet Page. 17
18
Commissioner Hechtman: Thirty-one. Yeah. 19
20
_______________________
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.
Amy French: Okay. 1
2
Commissioner Hechtman: You’re there right now. So scroll up to the recitals, you’re at F. Okay. 3
There. And so in Section 1 – so we’re basically folding into our ordinance five state laws and 4
here in Section 1, we reference four of them but we didn’t reference AB 894. And so I just 5
wanted to point that out to staff. If it was intentional, you had a reason, that’s fine. If it was an 6
oversight, you might want to – since you’re sort of teeing up each of these other four, you 7
might want to tee up AB 894. Next, let’s go to Packet Page 34, and I want to go to 18.14.060.A2. 8
No, that’d be before that. Yeah. Packet Page – so it would probably be – there. Start right at the 9
– down a little bit. I think it’s right at the top of 34. Here we go. All right. So I’m looking at this 10
first provision here that the – for the applicable housing, we get the – they use the 11
development standards for the RM30 except there’s a callout for FAR. So I wanted to first ask – 12
I’m trying to – I probably could look this up. What is the FAR for RM30? 13
14
Amy French: I would have to – I’m sharing the screen, so I’d have to look that up to say what it 15
is. I believe this 1.25 relates to a housing element implementation ordinance and it escapes me 16
now which action that led us to this 1.25. But it relates to – and Albert, perhaps you… 17
18
Albert Yang: Yeah. So… 19
20
_______________________
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.
Amy French: …might remember. 1
2
Albert Yang: The FAR for the RM30 district − the base FAR is 0.6. Sorry. [Inaudible 92:28]. Yeah, 3
.6. 4
5
Commissioner Hechtman: Zero point six. Okay. So we’re actually by virtue of this provision 6
allowing the development standards for the RM30 partdouble the FAR roughly. 7
8
Female: [Inaudible 92:44]. 9
10
Albert Yang: Yes. 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. All right. And since the purpose of this legislation driving us to 13
do this is to promote additional housing, that’s not going to run afoul, right? As long as we’re 14
not below their limit, we can be above it. 15
16
Albert Yang: Right. And this – that 1.25 number is taken from the standards and the RM30 – this 17
whole set of standards is taken from our treatment of housing opportunity sites in the R1 18
[districts 93:16]. 19
20
_______________________
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: All right. And I think that’s what Ms. French was alluding to is this 1
really is a tie into our housing element work to meet our RHNA goals. Okay. All right. Next, at 2
the top of Packet Page 35. So one more page. Let’s see – where we’re talking about seeking 3
relief from full compliance with our parking standards, we’ve routinely responded with a 4
requirement for a TDM. And that makes perfect sense. Our code says how much parking we 5
think you’re going to need. You’re saying you want less. Well we need some protections in that. 6
Adopting these low to no parking regulations – is there dialogue in the intent for these statutes 7
about encouraging TDMs, that that’s really the way we want to do this or limiting TDMs as 8
some kind of restraint? Is there a flavor that’s coming out of the state on TDMs? 9
10
Albert Yang: To my knowledge, there’s not really discussion of TDM. It’s just sort of a policy 11
direction that if you don’t provide the parking, then it won’t be used. 12
13
Commissioner Hechtman: Okay. All right. Well it makes sense to me in this context that we’re 14
doing it and – so I was just curious about that. Toward the bottom of the page, if we can go to – 15
and this is my last one, 18.52.040. Right here. And my issue is in Subpart D, “where feasible.” I 16
always get nervous when I see this in an ordinance or statute because it is potentially fertile 17
ground for disagreement and slowing things down to accommodate and resolve that 18
disagreement. So do we have a definition anywhere in our code of what feasible means? Do we 19
have a different word that we more normally use and is defined? How will an applicant know 20
_______________________
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.
whether it’s feasible or not? I mean if I can cut down a tree and provide that loading space, 1
does that make it feasible? 2
3
Albert Yang: Yeah. This may be an area where we can just get rid of that “where feasible.” And 4
have it be a requirement and rely on an adjustments exceptions process. 5
6
Commissioner Hechtman: Right. Okay. Well I’d like staff to consider that. So I’m not – I don’t 7
know that I want to make it part of a motion because if they – as you say that, you may have to 8
trail it through the code to make sure that would work. And I don’t want to bind us to 9
something that might not work. But I would like staff to look at that. And those are my 10
questions and comments. Thank you. 11
12
Chair Chang: Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Akin. 13
14
Commissioner Akin: Thank you, Chair. Just a couple quick ones here. Since we’re on page – 15
Packet Page 35, let’s stick with that first. In 18.52.040, there’s a typo, at least it appears to me 16
that there’s a typo. 17
18
Female: Yeah. 19
20
_______________________
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 Akin: But loading a bicycle parking facilities should be “and.” And I wanted to 1
reinforce my appreciation for the required TDM plans for AB 2097 projects. I’m very happy to 2
see that. I had one concern that Commissioner Summa’s comments about SB 894 raised in my 3
mind. The difference between a project that has absolutely no parking at all and the one that 4
has the required ADA – otherwise required ADA and EVSE spaces might be really significant 5
because you might have to provide driveways and other space requiring features of a design 6
that otherwise wouldn’t exist. So I’m curious as to whether the state might regard that as a 7
constraint on production. And that’s all I have for this. Thank you. 8
9
Chair Chang: So I’ll take my turn now. I also, as I alluded to earlier, have a concern about the 10
lack of EVSE and ADA parking. And it’s not just ADA for me; it’s also EVSE because as part of the 11
retail Ad Hoc, we saw that it – primarily two areas in the city that are going to be affected by AB 12
2097 and those areas of the city for us right now are pretty much built out. And I believe our 13
plan regarding EV – getting EVSE spaces into those areas of the city was to sort of slowly get 14
them in as people rebuilt, remodeled, whatever. But if we’re not allowed to put any additional 15
parking requirements in and our interpretation of the law is such that we’re not going to ask 16
people to put in any EVSE spaces, then my concern is that we won’t be preparing our City’s 17
infrastructure adequately in the areas of University and Cal. Ave., and I think that’s pretty 18
important. So I wondered if there’s a way for us to put that EVSE parking back in. And similarly 19
− I have a similar – I do have the same concern about ADA parking because if we have a new 20
_______________________
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.
building going up, we can’t have a city that just – if these areas become much denser, it’s not 1
going to be very accommodating if we don’t allow visitors who have ADA needs to not be able 2
to park or for shoppers who have ADA needs to be unable to shop. And so we’ve got to think – I 3
think it’s short-sighted to not plan for those needs. So I’d be curious about what the other 4
Commissioners think about this and also would like to know from Mr. Yang if it’s – if it would be 5
reasonable to modify this or to recommend a modification given that it’s not a specific – what’s 6
agendized is implementation of this law but this is a little bit different from that. So I didn’t 7
know if it was outside the scope. And then I also hear Commissioner Akin’s concern about 8
requiring just one ADA spot or just one EVSE spot might also have unforeseen consequences. So 9
I would be curious to hear what the Commissioners have to say about that. Mr. Yang. 10
11
Albert Yang: Yeah. So I don’t think it’s beyond the scope of the agenda item. But I also don’t 12
think that staff is prepared to weigh in on that discussion tonight. So it is something that the 13
PTC could do but I think staff would probably appreciate the opportunity to have a more fuller 14
analysis. 15
16
Chair Chang: So when does this item go to City Council or when’s it slated for City Council? 17
18
_______________________
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.
Amy French: We didn’t have it slated to go in June before their break as we have so many other 1
items. So we have the luxury of some time, if needed, if you wanted a portion of this discussion 2
on this particular item to come back. 3
4
Chair Chang: My personal perspective is I would like staff to take a look at it and staff to have a 5
perspective on this, and maybe give us some information on it because it’s a pretty big deal for 6
long-term planning. But again, I’m – I would like to hear what other Commissioners have to say 7
about it. And we’ll go to Commissioner Templeton. 8
9
Commissioner Templeton: Thanks. Yeah, I’m open to a study session as well. And I really like 10
your questions that we’ve been hearing tonight. I’ve been thinking about it. Before I moved 11
here, I lived in a city slightly larger than Palo Alto, maybe a few thousand larger but all along the 12
same order of magnitude. And it was already built up 1,000 years ago, so there was no adding 13
spaces and when – the things that they’ve done that I thought was so interesting in the 14
shopping areas and downtown like sub-downtowns is they had – they thought about parking 15
differently. They thought about parking as a zone and not on a per-property basis. And I 16
thought that was really interesting because they were able to get more parking, more facilities 17
for the parking but also because of how they structured their pedestrian zones. They were able 18
to have certain types of vehicles permitted to drive closer to the properties. And I thought that 19
was a really cool way to solve it. So for example, there’d be a pedestrian zone in a shopping 20
_______________________
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.
district and it would have a space for a tiny little shuttle that would just drive around this area 1
and provide people access to get from their parking facility to their destination very close. And, 2
of course, all those vehicles were outfitted for ADA accessibilities. So I thought that was an 3
interesting approach and one of many I’m sure if we were to study it better and closer, we’d 4
get a variety of different approaches that might be able to be an innovative and interesting 5
solution for Palo Alto. Thanks. 6
7
Chair Chang: Commissioner Reckdahl. 8
9
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yeah. To answer your question, I feel strongly about the handicap because 10
you can’t have a handicap parking half a mile away and have it useful for the handicap. EVSE, 11
I’m a little more flexible on and the city could have a bunch of chargers elsewhere and the 12
problem is that if they don’t do that, you really need to [distribute 104:55] it within the 13
properties. But that’s not the only solution. The other solution could be cluster them but 14
clustering of handicap doesn’t work. 15
16
Chair Chang: Commissioner Summa. 17
18
Commissioner Summa: I had one more question on Packet Page 35, which is the draft 19
ordinance and it’s on – it’s in 185204D also. And it’s the new part − says where feasible projects 20
_______________________
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.
providing blah, blah – at least, what I’m asking about is it – it only has to provide at least one 1
on-site [inaudible 105:34] space for passenger vehicles to be used by taxicabs and similar 2
transportation and delivery services. Are we limited to one space for all of that or could we 3
have – can we require more spaces for larger buildings? And that there’s so many – so are we 4
limited to one or can we require more? 5
6
Albert Yang: It’s at least one for structures with 50… 7
8
Commissioner Summa: Well I can imagine this being really [inaudible 106:05] in areas with 9
restricted parking. So I – adequate for – it doesn’t seem adequate to cover all of the situations. 10
11
Chair Chang: One for every 50 [inaudible 106:19] in the spirit of what we’re trying to do and 12
accommodate… 13
14
Albert Yang: Yes. We would [inaudible 106:23] any project that’s utilizing AB 2097 might be too 15
much because with the various short frontage. 16
17
Commissioner Summa: That’s a good point too if they’re – they’re really important and when 18
you don’t have passenger loading, so… 19
20
_______________________
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 Chang: Well I’m a little confused [inaudible 106:45] frontage to accommodate [inaudible 1
106:46] like where these… 2
3
Albert Yang: [Inaudible 106:48]. 4
5
Chair Chang: …lots would be. 6
7
Albert Yang: It’d be 2097. Commissioner Hechtman suggested where feasible is – I think it 8
solves the problem of what if you have a… 9
10
Chair Chang: It seems like – I mean if you’re looking at Cal. Ave. for example, we have a bunch 11
of very small [inaudible 107:11] with the loading zone. So that for me – so I – loading zones 12
basis. One question I had for the Cal. Ave. or University area is in the case that if they couldn’t 13
[fund 107:28] − isn’t that right? 14
15
Albert Yang: That’s true [inaudible 107:32]. 16
17
Chair Chang: Okay. So maybe what it is then is that – and so now we wouldn’t [inaudible 18
107:36] and ADAs, so that we can put those into our parking structures [inaudible 107:40] 19
onerous. That’s just an idea for the study session. 20
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Lu: Yeah. I think I’m also comfortable with the study session. It is hard to really 2
picture and project the – like what requirements are appropriate. Not to kind of prelude that 3
too much but – and can we also clarify whether loading like a white stripe on the sidewalk as 4
loading or kind of a loading zone in an alley or something similar could satisfy or has been used 5
to satisfy this requirement before. 6
7
Amy French: So I’ll just refer to the existing code section regarding [inaudible 108:24] as related 8
to site planning circulation and access. So this was in the Director’s adjustments with a 9
maximum reduction of one loading space. So it allowed for a kind of administrative process to 10
make that determination unrelated to the 50 units. [Inaudible 108:46]… 11
12
Commissioner Lu: Okay. 13
14
Amy French: …it’s just existing code. 15
16
Commissioner Lu: Okay. 17
18
Albert Yang: Yeah. I think we’re probably not prepared to speak to the 50 units issue but it’s 19
something we can research and come back. 20
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Lu: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. 2
3
Chair Chang: Commissioner Reckdahl. 4
5
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yeah, I agree. I think we should have a study session. I have no idea right 6
now. So – okay. Thank you. 7
8
Chair Chang: Okay. Do we have other comments? Because I’m not seeing anything. Oh, 9
Commissioner Hechtman. Sorry. I thought it was a ghost town. Commissioner Hechtman, go 10
ahead. Commissioner, you’re on mute. 11
12
Commissioner Hechtman: Thank you. So I’m hearing some recommending this ordinance and I 13
think we’ve just heard that we have the luxury of some time. So I’m wondering if really we want 14
to bring this back as a study session because at a study session, I don’t think we can move 15
forward a recommendation. I want it to come back to us so that we might be able to at that 16
next meeting make a recommendation moving this forward to Council. So it’s really just more 17
of a next step in the process question. 18
19
_______________________
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 Chang: Thank you. We could at least approve the staff recommendation with the 1
exception of certain items that we hope – that will come back to us and then we can make a 2
recommendation about – to approve those remaining sections. Just so that we – so that when 3
it comes to us, we’re not reopening up the whole thing for discussion again. 4
5
Albert Yang: [Okay 110:38]. 6
7
Chair Chang: Okay. Would somebody like to take a stab at making a motion? 8
9
Amy French: Would it help if I share screen again the ordinance itself, so we can go section by 10
section of the ordinance or [inaudible 111:11]… 11
12
Commissioner Templeton: My preference would be to hear from people who want to pull stuff 13
out. Because I mean I’d be happy to have a study session. [Inaudible 111:18] that feel strongly 14
that there’s stuff [inaudible 111:19] to pulled out. Speak up. 15
16
Chair Chang: Where did it go? 17
18
Commissioner Summa: I think it pertains to sections – I have to find it. 19
20
_______________________
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 Chang: I think it pertains to Section 18.52.040. 1
2
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Does staff want us to site sections or just topics? 3
4
Albert Yang: The topic is sufficient. We’ll… 5
6
Chair Chang: Okay. 7
8
Albert Yang: …work with that. 9
10
Chair Chang: So that will make it much easier to make a motion. Does anybody – does 11
somebody want to take a stab at a motion? 12
13
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. All right. With exception that we would come back for a study 14
session to talk about EVSE parking, handicap parking, and also loading zones. 15
16
Commissioner Templeton: I’ll second it. 17
18
Chair Chang: Do you want to add in Commissioner Hechtman’s note – suggestions as well as 19
part of that motion? 20
_______________________
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.
1
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Does that have to be part of the motion or is that – he was just advising 2
staff to scrub that. Commissoner Hechtman, what do you think? 3
4
Commissioner Hechtman: Yeah. So the first one is just a recital and the second one, I think, is 5
actually wrapped in the study session because my last question was about on that 18.52.040.D, 6
which I think is going to come back. That “where feasible.” I think that’s going to be part of the 7
study session, so I don’t think we need to wrap it in. And staff has some liberty to clean up 8
things in an ordinance as it moves to Council anyway. 9
10
Chair Chang: And do we have additional discussion on the motion then? We got a motion from 11
Commissioner Reckdahl, second from Commissoner Templeton. Looks like we got two lights 12
from Commissioner Summa and then Commissioner Akin. 13
14
Commissioner Summa: So I guess it’s a question for the motion maker whether – I’m concerned 15
that staff would need to evaluate – my concern was about in the shared park [inaudible 113:53] 16
if work patterns really change. 17
18
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: That’s tricky though because if you’ve allowed someone to build a complex 19
to unshared parking and then now work patterns change – well you’re kind of… 20
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Summa: Not building parking. It’s better that they should be stuck, then they’re 2
going to start parking – I mean so many of the neighborhoods around downtown and Cal. Ave. 3
− all of the neighborhoods have parking permit programs. So you can’t go park there. So then I 4
mean it’s kind of if you don’t hold them to the shared – the commitment of shared parking, it’s 5
like having your cake and eating it too potentially. 6
7
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: I have a question for Albert. How much of this is dictated by state law and 8
how much flexibility do we have for the shared parking? 9
10
Albert Yang: Yeah. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have to meet certain standards. So… 11
12
Commissioner Summa: [Inaudible 114:52] – oh, sorry. 13
14
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: So if we wanted to put a stipulation that that survey that’s… 15
16
Albert Yang: That was actually pretty prescriptive on this. It says that we must approve the 17
agreement if it includes a parking analysis using a peer-reviewed methodology developed by a 18
professional planning association. So… 19
20
_______________________
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 Reckdahl: Okay. 1
2
Albert Yang: …I don’t think that we can add on to the method. 3
4
Commissioner Akin: I was taken aback by the motion that it would be a study session rather 5
than an action item because I thought we were leaning towards making a… 6
7
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yeah. 8
9
Commissioner Akin: …decision. 10
11
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: A study action. 12
13
Commissioner Akin: It is. Right. So do we need to rephrase our motion to make it clear that 14
there will be? 15
16
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: I would say in a future action item as opposed to… 17
18
Commissioner Templeton: [Inaudible 115:38]. 19
20
_______________________
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 Reckdahl: No, it would just be a single action – action item in our meeting. And it 1
would not be a study session but it would be an action item… 2
3
Commissioner Akin: Discussed in the usual way. 4
5
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: …that would be studied. But I do agree it should be an action item. 6
7
Commissioner Templeton: I will just chime in with a opposing viewpoint. It doesn’t mean I’m 8
going to derail a motion. But what we’re talking about is huge like there’s no way this is going 9
to fit in one meeting and we’re going to resolve on an outcome. We’re talking like it – I’m 10
concerned that’s not a one-meeting conversation. 11
12
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: My view is that if it’s an action item, you always can defer it and say let’s 13
come back to part two after we chew on this. But if we all talk about it and really come to 14
consensus, then I want the option to give a recommendation right there. 15
16
Commissioner Templeton: I – theoretically, I like that. Most of the time when staff brings an 17
action item − and so – anyway – either way however we want to do it, it’s fine. But if we want 18
to just get to an action item like we’ve got it in front of us tonight but the staff’s not prepared. 19
20
_______________________
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 Reckdahl: Yeah, correct. 1
2
Chair Chang: Well my thought on that is that we do – because we simply don’t have the data. 3
But to your point, Commissioner Templeton, I think that yes, we need to think more holistically 4
and broadly about what do we do with our two major retail areas and the parking needs for 5
specific audience, the implementation of AB 2097 in a way that doesn’t permanently put into 6
place things that we can’t correct. 7
8
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. 9
10
Chair Chang: So can you… 11
12
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: So you’re happy with changing the motion? Okay. 13
14
Chair Chang: Yeah. Can you just restate the motion, Commissioner Reckdahl? 15
16
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Okay. 17
18
Chair Chang: And then we can verify the second. 19
20
_______________________
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 Reckdahl: Returning for a future action item that will cover EVSE parking, 1
handicapped parking, and loading. 2
3
Commissioner Templeton: Pertaining to these areas. 4
5
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yeah, correct. 6
7
Albert Yang: Even the items that were in the presentation? That was… 8
9
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Oh. 10
11
Albert Yang: …the reduction of parking spaces. 12
13
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: EVSE is going to be going – I mean EVSE is going to be the future action. 14
15
Chair Chang: There was a… 16
17
Albert Yang: Well that – so the [inaudible 118:04] in the staff presentation was unrelated to AB 18
2097. 19
20
_______________________
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.
Amy French: [Inaudible 118:09]. Here. Okay. Am I sharing? 1
2
Female: Yeah. 3
4
Albert Yang: So this is about how to handle retrofits of existing parking spots? 5
6
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yeah. 7
8
Chair Chang: Yeah. This is fine. 9
10
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yeah. This is – I would include both of these as part of the motion. 11
12
Albert Yang: Okay. Thank you. 13
14
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Approving both of these is − recommending both of these… 15
16
Chair Chang: Can the seconder? 17
18
_______________________
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.
Amy French: So this is part of the staff recommendation that goes forward even though we’re 1
not – we don’t have a date with Council but anyways – we’re not bringing this piece back when 2
we talk about – okay. 3
4
Chair Chang: It’s [inaudible 118:46] and we’ve got the first and the second on this motion. Can 5
we… 6
7
Commissioner Summa: I just think the whole thing should come back at – to us instead of 8
approving part of it because it’s not a very big section but it’s very big changes. And why don’t 9
we read it all together in the final version… 10
11
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: [Inaudible 119:07]. 12
13
Commissioner Summa: …if anyone else feels that way. 14
15
Commissioner Akin: Which section [inaudible 119:10]. 16
17
Chair Chang: I think the whole… 18
19
Commissioner Akin: I’m sorry. Which section? 20
_______________________
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.
1
Commissioner Summa: Should come back to us the next time with all – with the subjects that 2
we’ve already expressed interest… 3
4
Male: Yeah. 5
6
Commissioner Summa: …in changing and a few other tweaks. 7
8
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: I understand what your thought process is is that [inaudible 119:25] 9
maybe second time around, we’ll catch something but I’m worried about getting – I don’t know 10
what other people think. 11
12
Commissioner Templeton: I concur. I think − I really appreciated the Chair bringing that option 13
up. So that we can get stuff that is less controversial off and have time to really focus on the 14
other parking stuff. 15
16
Chair Chang: Further comments? So then why don’t we take a vote, Ms. Dao? 17
18
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Templeton? 19
20
_______________________
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: Yes. 1
2
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Lu? 3
4
Commissioner Lu: Yes. 5
6
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Hechtman? 7
8
Commissioner Hechtman: Yes. 9
10
Veronica Dao: Chair Chang? 11
12
Chair Chang: Yes. 13
14
Veronica Dao: Vice-Chair Reckdahl? 15
16
Vice-Chair Reckdahl: Yes. 17
18
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Summa? 19
20
_______________________
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 Summa: Yes. 1
2
Veronica Dao: Commissioner Akin? 3
4
Commissioner Akin: Yes. 5
6
Veronica Dao: Motion carries 7-0. 7
8
Adjournment 9
8:01 PM 10
11
/ls 12