HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-09-12 City Council Summary Minutes Special Meeting September 12, 2000
CLOSED SESSIONS..........................................................481
1. Conference with City Attorney-Potential/Anticipated Litigation..........................................................481
2. Endorsement of Recommendations from the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Third Middle School Regarding the Possibility of the Palo Alto Unified School District Using Eminent Domain Proceedings to Reacquire All or Part of the Terman Community Services Facility for a Third Middle School and Relocation of the Jewish Community Center..........................................................481
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m...........................................................491
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The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Conference Room at 5:30 p.m. PRESENT: Beecham (arrived at 5:35 p.m.), Burch, Eakins (arrived at 5:40 p.m.), Fazzino (arrived at 5:50 p.m. via teleconference from Washington, D.C.), Kleinberg, Kniss, Lytle, Mossar, Ojakian (arrived at 5:40 p.m.) CLOSED SESSIONS Council Member Beecham would not participate in the Closed Session due to a conflict of interest based on the Brown Act. One of his clients had property within one-quarter mile of Terman. 1. Conference with City Attorney-Potential/Anticipated Litigation Subject: Significant Exposure to Litigation Authority: Government Code section 54956.9(b)(1) arising out of the Palo Alto Unified School District’s announced intention to take the Terman Community Center through condemnation.
[Gov. Code, ∋ 54956.9(b)(3)(B) & (E).] The City Council met in Closed Session to discuss matters involving potential/anticipated litigation as described in Agenda Item No.1. Mayor Kniss announced that no reportable action was taken on Agenda Item No. 1. SPECIAL MEETING 2. Endorsement of Recommendations from the City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Third Middle School Regarding the Possibility of the Palo Alto Unified School District Using Eminent Domain Proceedings to Reacquire All or Part of the Terman Community Services Facility for a Third Middle School and Relocation of the Jewish Community Center Mayor Kniss said the City found itself in the situation of being the owners of the site that the Jewish Community Center (JCC) had a long-term lease on. The Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) discovered they needed an additional site for a middle school. The City needed to come up with a resolution that would work for the entire community. Much discussion occurred with a variety of groups for approximately one year. PAUSD had discussions with Stanford University, the City, and the JCC. The situation was a four-part problem: 1) the PAUSD, which needed a third middle school site; 2) the JCC, which provided many services in the southwest part of the
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community; 3) the City, which was the landlord; and 4) Stanford University, which was a part of the PAUSD. The Council’s goal was to satisfy the needs of the PAUSD, the JCC, and the City. Three goals were established: 1) Facilitate the siting of a third middle school; 2) Ensure that community services are maintained, if not enhanced, for southwest Palo Alto; and 3) Preserve the JCC as a community asset for Palo Alto. The Ad Hoc Committee that met on this matter consisted of the Mayor, Vice Mayor Eakins, and Council Members Kleinberg and Ojakian who represented the Council on the City/School Liaison Committee. Mayor Kniss referred to the six options listed on page 7 of the staff report (CMR:358:00). Option 1 – District Uses Eminent Domain to Reacquire Terman: Under this option, the District takes the Terman site through the use of eminent domain, and renovates the current buildings for use as a middle school. This option fails to meet City goals for a number of reasons. It makes no provision for the continuation of JCC services or for relocation of the JCC to another site. It is possible, however, that some level of community services could continue through a joint use agreement between the City and the District. The City would incur increased cost for the provision of these new services. This option has the potential to create additional traffic and neighborhood impacts that would need to be addressed by the District. Option 2 – District Exchanges 25 Churchill Avenue for Terman: Under this option, the District would exchange its offices at 25 Churchill Avenue (4.4 acres of land) for the Terman site (7.97 acres plus access to 7.66 acres of park land). The District would renovate the current Terman facilities for use as a middle school and the City would lease the Churchill site to the JCC. This option contains a solution for the JCC, and could allow for the continuation of some level of community services in the southwest Palo Alto area through a joint use agreement between the City and the District. The option raises the possibility of traffic and neighborhood impacts, and might require an EIR for the Churchill site. Should this exchange be implemented through a land swap, there would be no negative financial impact to the District or the City. However, the City would still be exposed to some additional costs related to operating community services at Terman, through a joint facilities use agreement with the District.
Option 3 – District Reacquires Terman, JCC Relocated to Another Site: This option provides for the District to reacquire the Terman site without the use of eminent domain, and proposes relocation of the JCC to another site. The District would renovate the existing Terman facilities for use
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as a middle school. With this option, it appears that the District is assuming that the City can and will acquire another site for the JCC. This option provides for the JCC, and could lead to continued services in the Terman area through a possible joint use agreement between the City and the District. However, this option raises significant financial issues for the City. Acquisition of comparable land, if it were to be available, could cost $25 to $30 million. Site development and facility construction could cost another $30 to $40 million. It is unclear who would pay these costs. As mentioned earlier, placing a third middle school at Terman raises possible traffic and neighborhood impacts. Option 4 – Shared Use of Terman by the District and JCC: This option would have the District sharing the Terman site with the JCC. The District would construct a new, compact, school site. This option provides for the JCC and leads to the continuation of services in the Terman area. It has minimum financial impacts for the City. It raises potential traffic and neighborhood impacts. However, the District has concluded that this shared use option may be too tight of a fit and has eliminated its consideration of the option. Option 5 – Build a School at Deer Creek: Under this option, the District would build a new middle school on Stanford land on Deer Creek. This option provides for the JCC and preserves services in the Terman area. There is no negative financial impact to the City. However, it is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan since the Deer Creek site is beyond the City’s urban growth boundary. Moreover, it is removed from residential areas. Option 6 – Locate the School at Cubberley: This option calls for the District to take the Cubberley site through eminent domain and renovate the facility to open a middle school there. This option provides for the JCC, preserves services in the Terman area, and minimizes financial impacts to the City. However, the City could lose a significant number of service providers housed at the Cubberley site, including Foothill College, dance studios, animal rescue services, and child care. (Annually, Cubberley has 800,000 users, of whom 200,000 are Foothill College students.) Moreover, this is a poor location for the middle school given the enrollment data. In addition, the District would lose significant lease revenue from the City. Finally, the District desires to consider the Cubberley site for a future high school if the need arises. The District removed from consideration shared use of Terman (Option 4) and of Cubberley (Option 6) and indicated that an exchange involving 25 Churchill (Option 2) and the use of the Deer Creek site (Option 5) were low priorities. Consequently, the Board of Education directed PAUSD staff to seriously
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explore the use of eminent domain to reacquire the Terman site (Option 1) and to structure a negotiated agreement among all parties. Council Member Beecham would not participate in Option No. 1 regarding transfer of property due to the conflict of interest previously stated. Mayor Kniss said assuming the PAUSD proceeded with eminent domain proceedings at Terman, the Ad Hoc Committee recommended that the City Council take the actions to address City goals. City Attorney Ariel Calonne said there was discussion about the City’s possible acquisition a site for a community center to replace what might be lost with Terman. The eminent domain issues focused on by the Council dealt with the PAUSD’s statement that it intended to file an eminent domain action against the City to reacquire the Terman center. He perceived eminent domain in that context was not intended to be hostile but was a means of acquiring property for school use. Mayor Kniss said her understanding was the eminent domain allowed the best framework for the City to construct a fair way to end up with a property reacquisition in a way that could be explained to the community. Mr. Calonne said eminent domain was the only way he was aware of for the PAUSD to resolve what compensation should be paid for the Terman site and lease. Mayor Kniss asked that staff be directed to use its best efforts to achieve the three goals previously established. Assuming the Palo Alto Unified School District (District) proceeds with its plan to file eminent domain action to reacquire Terman, the Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Third Middle School recommends that the City Council take the following actions using best efforts in support of those recommendations: MOTION: Council Member Ojakian moved, seconded by Kleinberg, to direct staff to work on an expedited basis, with the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in order to establish concurrent timelines for transitioning ownership of the Terman site from the City to the PAUSD; acquiring a new site in South Palo Alto for the relocation of a City community center and services provided by the JCC; the transitioning of the JCC to a new site; and the opening of a new middle school by the PAUSD on the Terman site, using best efforts to avoid interruption of the JCC and City services. Council Member Fazzino supported the motion, noting the key word
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was “concurrence.” The City Council was indicating its strong desire and commitment to preserve the services that the JCC offered to the community. The Council felt strongly that, as the process moved forward to establish a third middle school, the process should also go forward on a parallel path to assure retention of the services provided by the JCC to the community. Mayor Kniss stated for the record that the Council’s actions were revisions from the Ad Hoc Committee. MOTION PASSED 8-0, Beecham “not participating.” MOTION: Council Member Ojakian moved, seconded by Kleinberg, to direct staff to work with the PAUSD to establish a joint use agreement to maintain some level of community services at the Terman facility. Council Member Mossar wanted to make clear to the public and staff that the Council was not talking about replacing existing community center services with the joint use services but, rather, the direction was to pursue joint use facilities with the PAUSD at Terman and not at the exclusion of the creation of new community services in south Palo Alto. The PAUSD and City often had different interests in the way the facilities were to be used. Council Member Ojakian said the provision was important because it helped retain some services in the facility currently used by people in the neighborhood and worked in conjunction with other agreements the City might have with the PAUSD. Continued access during off hours to facilities such as the gym and swimming pool were important. The site should remain available for afterschool care. Vice Mayor Eakins believed the necessary community services included a gym, a possible new library, playfields, and swimming pool. Council Member Ojakian said the playfields were currently dedicated park land, and any agreement concerning the fields would be one that the PAUSD would have with the City for use of the playfields if the property became a school site. Mayor Kniss said the Council discussed a joint use library at Gunn High School approximately two years prior, and she was disappointed that the joint use library did not work out. Council Member Fazzino recalled the vote was 5-4 and agreed it was a lost opportunity. Mayor Kniss said the disagreement at the time was that the joint use would be more technical than anything else.
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MOTION PASSED 9-0. MOTION: Council Member Ojakian moved, seconded by Kleinberg, to direct staff to evaluate expeditiously, in conjunction with the JCC, a number of possible sites for community center facilities if the JCC so requires for City programs and other possible non-profit community services. This evaluation of sites would include preliminary environmental studies (e.g., traffic impacts) as well as real estate appraisals. Mayor Kniss said the issue was of great concern to people with children and people who wanted community services maintained. Council Member Fazzino supported the Option 3 in concert with Option 1 where the Council made a strong commitment to a concurrent process. The City needed to evaluate and identify sites expeditiously. Mayor Kniss assured the community that the staff worked expeditiously and identified a number of sites. MOTION PASSED 9-0. MOTION: Council Member Ojakian moved, seconded by Kleinberg, to direct staff to develop expeditiously a financing package adequate to provide for site acquisition, including revenue from the sale of the Terman site by the PAUSD as well as contributions from the JCC, other possible non-profit tenants, and other potential new revenue sources. Council Member Lytle said the language in the original staff report did not specifically say the City would be a partner. She suggested inserting into the language “other potential new City revenue sources.” She wanted to be clear that the City was a partner in the financing package. Council Member Mossar said Council Member Lytle’s suggestion restated the obvious. A large discussion would be opened up which the Council was not prepared to have. She did not want to make indication that the City had the ability to provide unlimited revenues or major revenues. Council Member Ojakian said any finance package should come back through the Finance Committee which would provide the Council an additional opportunity to review the package. Council Member Burch asked for an explanation from Council Member Lytle why she felt her suggested wording was important. Council Member Lytle said her point in suggesting the language change was that she heard a lack of clarity from the community that the City would be a partner. 09/12/00 90-486
Council Member Beecham said the City had certain assets that were made available to the community by subsidy and encouraged the JCC to make services available. He hoped, as a trustee for the City, that the City was basically kept whole in the process. He wanted to see a solution worked out where the City was not in a position where it had to put up substantial funds for any new solutions. Mayor Kniss did not recall the City doing anything of such magnitude with the PAUSD since the Cubberley lease in the late 1980s. The Cubberley lease turned out to be advantageous to the City and the PAUSD. Vice Mayor Eakins wanted to remove the word “expeditiously” from the motion and registered a “no” to including the word. Mayor Kniss clarified the motion did not include Council Member Lytle's suggested word change. MOTION PASSED 9-0. MOTION: Council Member Ojakian moved, seconded by Kleinberg, to direct staff to return promptly to Council after identifying acquisition of one or more sites for community facilities and after staff has developed a financing package with respect thereto and recommended a site to be acquired. Mayor Kniss recommended adding “within a 45-day period.” City Manager Frank Benest said staff has no problem returning to the Council with a report of its expeditious efforts but could not guarantee that all the details and financing would be completed. Mayor Kniss said no one anticipated that everything would be completed within six to seven weeks. The goal would be to return to the public between the middle and end of October with an indication of the progress that was made. Council Member Mossar suggested adding a sentence that asked for report from staff within 45 days. Mayor Kniss said the intent was to have a progress report within 45 days. INCORPORATED INTO MOTION WITH CONSENT OF MAKER AND SECONDER for staff to return to Council with a progress report within a 45-day period. Council Member Ojakian said the Council and staff said they wanted to move ahead; some of the action was dependent upon prior action happening. The Council did not want to put staff in a disadvantageous position to get something done over which it did
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not have total control. He was confident the staff would move ahead and get things done as quickly as possible. Mr. Benest said it took the best efforts on the part of staff and the representatives of the PAUSD and the JCC. Staff would do its best to exert leadership. Mayor Kniss said the expectation would be that a progress report would be presented to the Council at the end of 45 days. MOTION PASSED 8-0, Fazzino absent. MOTION: Council Member Ojakian moved, seconded by Kleinberg, to commit the resources of the City to expedite any assessments, evaluations, inspections, regulatory actions, reviews, etc., as may be required by or of the City in considering and acquiring a new site for a community center facility or facilities and the transitioning of community services, which may include the JCC to the new site, including the building of a new community center facility or facilities thereon. Council Member Mossar clarified the action meant committing resources to make sure the various assessments, evaluations, and expectations were done, rather than holding the Council to a different standard than others would be held. Council Member Ojakian said that was correct. Council Member Lytle said she supported the direction developed by the Ad Hoc Committee because she saw the City as being in the critical path regarding what was happening. She heard an extreme sense of urgency on the part of the PAUSD and the JCC. MOTION PASSED 8-0, Fazzino absent. Council Member Mossar would not participate in Option No. 7 due to a conflict of interest. MOTION: Mayor Kniss moved, seconded by Kleinberg, to request that Stanford be a party to the discussion regarding the resolution of a middle school site and the identification of a site for a community center. Mayor Kniss said Stanford had an agreement with the PAUSD. The City identified two other parties with major involvement: the City and the JCC. The City felt it was fair to involve the fourth party. Council Member Lytle supported the motion. The City had direct impacts resulting from Stanford’s General Use Permit being included in projections for the school enrollment and the need for school sites that was directly displacing the community centers, Terman and Cubberley. The PAUSD confirmed that the Stanford General Use 09/12/00 90-488
Permit (GUP) calculations were included in their projections that required the PAUSD to take the properties back from the City. Stanford made the case that since they owned the school properties, Stanford did not need to mitigate the impacts because they provided performing art services, museums and football to the community and did not have to help provide gym space, recreation fields, and homework centers. She was curious as to why Stanford, with its reputation for being generous to the community, did not step up to the table as a partner to assist the City in solving the community crisis. Mayor Kniss said the annual report from the Santa Clara County Assessor was brought to the Council’s attention that day indicating Stanford was excused from some of their tax burdens because of their status as a school. The report indicated that Stanford received an annual exemption of $3.3 billion, the largest exemption in the State of California. Council Member Ojakian supported the motion and agreed with comments made that the four groups were part of a community. There were opportunities for Stanford, from a public relations point of view, to help participate in the process. Council Member Beecham said Stanford and the PAUSD had good faith negotiations and came up with an agreement that the PAUSD School Board currently stood by. Those involved in the discussion supported it, and that should be acknowledged. During prior discussions, he asked a number of times for a total accounting of what Stanford contributed to the schools, which he had not seen. The City’s attitude was that it was inviting Stanford to the table and hoped Stanford could help find a solution. The issue was a PAUSD-driven rather than a community services-driven issue. The City needed to stand by the PAUSD School Board on the agreement they made. Council Member Ojakian said a community service need was the issue. Stanford had an opportunity to collaborate with the City to work with something that was beneficial to everyone. Vice Mayor Eakins supported Council Member Ojakian’s comments. INCORPORATED INTO THE MOTION WITH CONSENT OF MAKER AND SECONDER to change wording from “Request that Stanford” to “Direct staff to include or invite Stanford.” Council Member Burch said the process would not be easy. The City, the PAUSD, the JCC, and Stanford would have to participate. The intent was not to put the “arm” on Stanford, but the City had to express that everyone participate. Council Member Lytle said most public agencies with public dedicated parks and schools had control of those lands and were not
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beholding to other institutions. Council Member Beecham said taking land by dedicating it as a park would be a clever idea. Council Member Lytle said most communities provided park acreage to meet national standards based on the number of citizens they had, and the citizens assumed the public dedicated parks were publicly owned. MOTION PASSED 7-0, Mossar “not participating,” Fazzino absent. Vice Mayor Eakins commended the public for the high quality comments made at the prior evening’s meeting. Comments she highlighted included, “make sure the direction the entities went was for a ‘both/and’ solution rather than an ‘either/or,’” “to avoid divisiveness,” “maintaining community to recognize differences and respect others,” and “to be creative.” Items mentioned at the prior evening’s meeting included, “long term planning” and “site such as the Elks Club and the Mayfield site.” She heard several times that the City had not approved housing in the most responsible way. Approving housing in a community with a jobs/housing imbalance was a good idea. The City had participated in and accepted the Association of Bay Area Government’s (ABAG) allotment for housing goals, but the City added so much housing that the schools were swamped. Director of Planning and Community Environment Ed Gawf said he reviewed the Consolidated Plan 2000-2005 housing element which used information from the State of California that looked at housing units added during the decade of the 1990s. For the period 1990-1999, 764 dwelling units were added to the community. During that same period, the population increased by approximately 5,000 people. Mayor Kniss clarified 149 of the 764 units were below moderate income units. Mr. Gawf said that was correct. Vice Mayor Eakins said the change in the population increasing by approximately 5,000 and the PAUSD’s increasing by approximately 2,500 during the same period of time was not expressly due to the City of Palo Alto adding new housing units. The turnover in housing added to the population of both the City and the PAUSD. She was unsure how to respond to phone calls, some anonymous, and mailings, some anonymous, she received that were not of the character Palo Alto liked to be known for. She hoped that with the action the Council took with regard to the seven recommendations and three goals that anxiety would begin to go down, emotions would begin to quiet, and people would feel more like working together than blaming each other for the anxieties they felt. She hoped everyone
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would work together and believe in the common goals. Council Member Lytle agreed with Vice Mayor Eakins’ comments. She acknowledged the work of Mayor Kniss, Vice Mayor Eakins and Council Members Kleinberg and Ojakian who served on the Ad Hoc Committee. Mayor Kniss said the Council took extremely definitive steps at the current meeting and, in doing so, encumbered staff who committed to operate expeditiously. The Council was attempting to heal the rift that the Council felt had developed in the community. The Council’s goal was to pull everyone together to continue to provide what the community needed. The Council looked forward to seeing the City, the PAUSD, the JCC, and Stanford work together. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 9:25 p.m.
ATTEST: APPROVED:
City Clerk Mayor NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis) are prepared in accordance with Palo Alto Municipal Code Sections 2.04.180(a) and (b). The City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are made solely for the purpose of facilitating the preparation of the minutes of the meetings. City Council and Standing Committee meeting tapes are recycled 90 days from the date of the meeting. The tapes are available for members of the public to listen to during regular office hours.
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