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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-18 City Council Summary MinutesCITY COUNCIL SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 10 Special Meeting February 18, 2025 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date at Mitchell Park Community Center and by virtual teleconference at 5:30 P.M. Present In Person: Burt, Lauing, Lu, Lythcott-Haims, Reckdahl, Veenker Present Remotely: Absent: Stone Call to Order Mayor Lauing called the meeting to order. The clerk called the roll with six present. Cubberley Visioning Workshop Session Action Items 1. City Council discussion and possible action on an overall vision for the Cubberley master plan. NO ACTION Vision Statement: A vibrant and beloved destination with activities, amenities, and offerings that promote learning, joy, and wellbeing where all cultures and generations belong. Mayor Lauing had been contacted by a member of the public who witnessed statements of antisemitism and vulgar and derogatory language addressed toward the police department. He reiterated that although the Council fully supported the rule of law and free speech as documented in the First Amendment, they rejected all forms of hate and bigotry. He assured Council and public safety officers would remain vigilant in fostering and supporting safe and open communication and a welcoming environment for everyone in the City regardless of their backgrounds or beliefs and asked that all citizens to practice these values with their neighbors. Ed Shikada, City Manager, explained the context of the item being discussed. Kristen O’Kane, Community Services Director, provided a slide reviewing the Council Vision Session goals for the evening. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Elizabeth Chen, Concordia Consultant and Steven Bingler, Concordia Consultant, shared a slide presentation outlining the Cubberley Master Plan roadmap, foundational pillars from the 2019 planning process, community led design guidelines, tying into the 2025 Council priorities, values “word bank”, domains of planning, buckets the domains of planning would filter through. Public Comment: 1. Ollia Y., Children's Preschool Center in Palo Alto, hoped what they created would translate to the people currently living at Cubberley. 2. Elizabeth A. described why she felt the concept from 2019 should be rethought. 3. Tara D., tenant in the Cubberley Artist Studio Program, wanted to see collaborative spaces included moving forward. She emphasized that the building was a treasure. She wanted to see festivals happening there and suggested the covered outdoor spaces could be utilized for markets to create revenue. 4. Arthur K. recalled the previous incarnation failed due to proposed housing which failed. He recommended having a large, multipurpose room with a kitchen nearby to cook lunches for La Comida. He spoke about the poor shape of the gyms and hoped they would be rebuilt. 5. Rebecca M. remarked if the land was lost to housing they would never get it back. She wanted to be sure they would not be putting housing back on the plan. She talked about the importance of the fields. She mentioned the routing of traffic. She thought it would be great to employ playable spaces. She thought having a pool on the site would be good. 6. Shani K. had participated in the last effort and advised being humble and looking for things that serve the community rather than square footage. She thought the PRC should be part of any outreach. She urged going back to the kind of organic development that used to be in the area and not glass. Bobbie Hill, Concordia Consultant, encouraged everyone to stay in touch and participate in the meetings. She acknowledged they did asset mapping when they started the previous plan and would bring it back to make sure they understood all the programming that existed, where the needs were and where there would or would not be appropriate duplication. She explained how the meeting would be a conversational activity. George Silvertooth, Concordia Consultant, provided a visual describing activity instructions for creating a Cubberley Vision Statement for the updated Master Plan. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Councilmember Lythcott-Haims asked for a broader description of the word organizational in the context of the buckets. Consultant Hill replied it encompassed anything that would be an organization. The intent was to be thinking about the roles of organizations in any capacity as it related to Cubberley. She mentioned other words from the work bank and asked if any of those words would be key for a vision. She invited discussion about the organizational domain. Councilmember Reckdahl mentioned broadly used as they wanted the building to be for the whole community. Mayor Lauing brought up diversity of occupants. Vice Mayor Veenker agreed with the word collaborative and also thought complimentary would be good. Councilmember Burt was struck by the fact that the multicultural aspect was not being represented and he was interested in finding a way to have wording that embraced that. Councilmember Lu chose the word explorable in the context of being district-like or organic. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims appreciated the comments by Elizabeth A. about organic, more creative, less of a planned community and more of a small urban area. She was interested in the concept Ray Oldenburg pioneered in the field of sociology of a third place. She thought they wanted to ensure organizationally that it was set up to invite people to come and pursue various things as opposed to a rigidity, formality or limitedness. Consultant Hill invited discussion of the social domain and described the word banks relating to social. Councilmember Reckdahl chose the words foster social connections. Vice Mayor Veenker picked the word synergies thinking of how things work together. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims liked the notion of accidental encounters. She wanted to put a star next to community porch/living room/boulevard. Mayor Lauing added amenities that draw other neighbors. Councilmember Lu offered the words flexibility and eyes on the street. Councilmember Burt echoed spontaneous and citywide attractions and added joyful experiences and playful. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Councilmember Lythcott-Haims thought it was important to carry forward combatting loneliness as a hoped-for outcome. She wanted to add the art of the possible in the realm of the organic. Consultant Hill invited conversation about the economic domain and described the word banks related to that. Councilmember Reckdahl offered ambitious but realistic. Councilmember Lu proposed economic activity or potential cost recovery. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims chose not an exclusive club and low barrier to entry. Vice Mayor Veenker expressed thoughts that it should meet the needs analysis and not be duplicative except when it should. She gave the words good, better, best in terms of economic reality. Councilmember Burt echoed looking at going into the process several different visions depending on the voter appetite. He was interested in looking at a range of possibilities and then having an iterative process that would inform them at a certain point in time to polling or otherwise to narrow that. He added creativity can be cheap, buildings are expensive. Consultant Hill added that world-class does not have to be the most expensive thing. Mayor Lauing suggested the possibility of leasing out the facility on a short-term basis as a revenue opportunity. He advised they had to be selective to avoid pricing people out of using it. Consultant Hill invited discussion about the physical domain. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims opined the physical structure of the building ought to be designed with climate action and sustainability goals as well as wellness and belonging. She hoped the architecture and design would embody and reflect their values and facilitate human interaction. Councilmember Reckdahl thought it needed to be compact enough so the next generation would have room to expand it down the road. Mayor Lauing remarked there was a risk in putting too much square footage there and they needed space for trees and playgrounds. Vice Mayor Veenker supported right-sizing the playing fields. She thought the covered outdoor spaces was a way of having less doors, windows and walls but could also be effectively an indoor space. She brought up supporting the multimodal transit. She agreed with the need of a youth space but thought they needed to ask the youth what should be in it. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Consultant Hill described the process of bringing in community fellows in order to recruit people to participate and make connections to their neighbors, organizations and friends and help facilitate at the table. She announced they were in the recruitment process for community fellows and they had at least 11 or 12 youth that would be part of their fellows team. Councilmember Lu agreed with all the comments that had been made. He advised minimal surface parking and would not make a hard line on undergrounding the parking. Having that flexibility in light of all the costs was something to keep. He agreed with the need of trees. Councilmember Burt thought of multimodal as being accessible other than by car. He did not know if the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan was thinking of Cubberley as it would be versus as it is. He remarked he would feel more comfortable coming up with a draft that he would like to see the public have an opportunity to feedback on before they finalized a vision statement. Regarding the physical, he mentioned the concept of it being more of a living lab, making it more human scale and looking at multiculturalism in design, not just users. Consultant Hill indicated they would be in discussion to understand where they could best coordinate with the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. Consultant Hill invited discussion about the educational domain. Consultant Bingler clarified they were not talking about classrooms but how it could become a learning center. Vice Mayor Veenker indicated it was classrooms for the performing and visual arts and they would hate to lose those learning opportunities. She also mentioned the Friends of the Palo Alto Libraries as an educational piece. She believed being multigenerational and multicultural would be educational and important. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims acknowledged Cubberley could be a place to expand the notion of what educational means and develop mind, body and capacity in other ways. Mayor Lauing stated multigenerational should stay. Councilmember Burt wanted the educational part to be dynamic through digital means and as art education. Councilmember Reckdahl suggested outreach to nonprofits. Councilmember Lu wanted to add distributed exhibits and a gym and rec center. He echoed the points about education in terms of mindfulness and arts. Vice Mayor Veenker supported the addition of gyms. Consultant Hill invited discussion about the cultural domain. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Councilmember Lythcott-Haims added reflects and is responsive to the various communities that make up Palo Alto. Vice Mayor Veenker chose informed by community feedback. She indicated this was where serendipity could come into play. Councilmember Burt thought cultural intersected with educational. He stressed the need to be continually educating each other culturally. Councilmember Reckdahl advised sufficient capacity and right sizing for the demand they would have. Councilmember Lu added exhibition space and high value partnerships would interest him. Vice Mayor Veenker thought there should be performance space onsite. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims wanted to see a constant presence. Consultant Hill indicated the words they received would be added to the word bank. She described a vision statement as a statement that was not a lot of words but captured the vision for what the Cubberley Community Center would be to the city of Palo Alto, surrounding area and visitors to the community center. Consultant Silvertooth pointed out that he starting grouping similar ideas and bolding some of the main words based off the discussions to help with the prioritization. Consultant Hill shared that if a plan was intended to be built on everybody’s interests, ideas and input, people needed to talk about those things together. She described how the process would include everyone. She encouraged everyone to come together once the first meeting was launched on March 19. They would be speaking to the consultants and City departments to find out what was happening in any of those projects that would impact this project. She noted that the master plan would be a specific roadmap and not an architecturally designed plan. That would be the next phase. She guided everyone to study the words under the buckets of place, policy and program and pick one or two words in each bucket that were the most important foundational ideas. Mayor Lauing chose the words unique amenities. Councilmember Burt picked the word creative. Councilmember Lu preferred multicultural. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims added organic and spontaneous. Vice Mayor Veenker added synergies. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Councilmember Reckdahl thought vibrant would be similar to dynamic. Mayor Lauing chose balanced needs. Councilmember Burt opted for accessible with the intention that it could have multiple meanings. Vice Mayor Veenker added community health. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims stated the word destination came to mind. Mayor Lauing thought that incorporated with his concept. Councilmember Burt liked human scale. Vice Mayor Veenker favored balanced. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims liked the concept of village in terms of how the buildings were organized. Vice Mayor Veenker wanted to add responsive to community needs/wants. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims added third place. Councilmember Lu added multigenerational. Councilmember Reckdahl chose realistic. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims thought beloved was a valuable word. Consultant Hill asked each Councilmember to use the words and write a statement that could be the vision for the new Cubberley Community Center. The following statements were offered by the Council members: Councilmember Burt: “A creative, vibrant, multicultural destination that brings joy to all generations”. Councilmember Lu: “A unique multicultural village that is accessible to all, acknowledging cost and space constraints”. Vice Mayor Veenker: “Our community center will be a unique and beloved destination that balances our community's wants and needs to provide a vibrant, organic and healthy experience where spontaneous multicultural and intergenerational interaction and learning happen”. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Mayor Lauing: “Cubberley is a destination community center providing a balance of multi- generational activities including the arts, athletics and performances to a diverse demographic in a human scale building integrated with scalable open space and landscape”. Councilmember Reckdahl: “Create a vibrant and beloved facility that provides balanced and unique amenities to improve the lives of the entire community”. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims: “A beloved village where all belong, rich with unique offerings to grow your mind, body, and soul.” She acknowledged that soul might be a little controversial. There was discussion about the words that were repeated in the different statements and they were prioritized into which were most important to all of the Council members. They agreed on avoiding words that were limiting. There was speculation that they were missing words to describe what would go on at the facility and health and wellness. It was also proposed that a word needed to be added to denote joy. Consultant Silvertooth summarized the vision statement using the words that had been proposed: “A vibrant and beloved destination with activities, amenities and offerings that promote joy and wellbeing where all cultures and generations belong”. Councilmember Lu thought it read well as a vision statement but was not sure how useful it would be for community outreach and planning going forward. Consultant Hill explained this vision statement acknowledged their support and vision for this. The intent was to take this to the community with an activity for them to do for a short period in the beginning of the meeting which they could bring back to the Council for a final review to edit and move forward. Consultant Bingler felt the vision statement nailed it and it would be on them to carry all those qualities to the community in the next meeting. Consultant Silvertooth added they would have also reconfirmed the community-led design guidelines which would support the vision statement. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims suggested adding the words learning and growth between the words promote and joy. Mayor Lauing thought they could get by with just adding the word learning. Consultant Hill provided a slide presentation outlining the next steps including meetings and community engagement efforts. Councilmember Lu wanted to know what was meant by most of the community fellows would be youth. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 Consultant Hill explained they had 11 youth signed up. She had read the applications and they were going to do interviews with everybody who signed up. Her initial take was that every one of the youth were highly qualified and motivated. They had three fellows from the previous process and four other adults who had signed up. They would do an interview process after the deadline and would be reaching out to others to fill the last few slots. Mayor Lauing inquired when the popup tabling would be on the timeline, at what point they would have a structural diagram to show what they were thinking of and when they would get to the point where they would be energizing the community to get excited about this and learn more of the details. Director O’Kane replied the popup timeline was not scheduled out yet. She indicated there would be a multicultural event coming up in the end of March and that would be a great opportunity to have a table with an exercise to ask people what a multicultural community center would look to them. Those would be scheduled as different events when opportunities come up. She commented they were working on a comprehensive schedule from now until November 2026 that would also include things like polling when they go to different committees or Council. The hope was to have that finalized by the end of next week. Consultant Hill stated community meeting number two would have three concepts they would develop and would go through a process in that meeting to determine what resonated with people. After that, they would focus on the program organization, circulation and green space to highlight that. The presentation of the master plan would be in late fall/early winter. She explained they had a meeting with the bond counsel, city staff and the existing tenants at Cubberley so this would launch the process. They hoped to have many people participate in the meetings. They would have opportunities online for those unable to attend meetings and also the popup events. They would get the word out in every way possible. They would provide a meeting summary document to share literal and graphic analysis of the data. It would be available on the website, the listserv across the City and anyone who had signed up and participated in the meeting. They would reach out to all the organizations that were in the City and asking them to share that information with their listservs and community members. Vice Mayor Veenker queried at which point do dollar numbers get associated and at which point they would poll. She asked if the three options were building on one another. Consultant Hill could not answer about the polling but they would be coordinating with them. They would be adding a cost estimator to the team between the second and third meeting. She indicated the master plan would need to be generic. In the process, they would have to be in consultation with city staff, bond counsel, and Council and understand the polling they were doing and having that inform the process in guiding what they were discovering. Consultant Bingler remarked they tried to make the three options significantly different. One might have qualities of good, better and best because they need people to make decisions that include economics, size and layouts. There would be more and less expensive options at SUMMARY MINUTES Page 10 of 10 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/18/2025 meeting number two. They wanted to be sure everybody had all the information when they were looking at the three options. City Manager Shikada explained the Cubberley ad hoc description was general to maintain flexibility. He noted that the following Monday would be the next opportunity to speak to the role of this ad hoc along with the other committees as a part of the priority objectives discussion. They knew that all of the committees were having meetings that were being scheduled that would allow them to have greater definition on how the committees would be able to contribute on topics like the range of options that come back to Council for discussion. The polling would take the approach of starting off general looking for the areas of interest. That would inform their ability to bring that information back for Council’s decisions on what would be included and the relative financial feasibility. The polling would attempt to reflect the citywide audience. They wanted to test the confirmation of what would be in the program rather than a specific plan. There was not the expectation that they would be doing polling on a specific plan for the site. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:01 P.M.