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1988-03-07 City Council Summary Minutes
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES PALOALTOCITYCOUt4CILMEETINGSARE BROADCAST LIVEVIAKZSU-FREQUENCY9O.1 ON FM DIAL ITEM Oral Communications Minutes of February 1, 19&8 Consent Calendar 2 . Regular Meeting March 7, 1988 PAGE 59-276 59-277 59-277 Contract with Inspiration Consolidated 59-277 Copper Company for Recycling Water Quality Control Plant Waste Ash 3. Ordinance 3795 Amending Various Provisions of Chapter 16.52 of the Palo Alto Muni- cipal Code Relating to Flood Hazard Regulations 5. Finance and Public Works Committee Recom- mendation re Consultant Selection for Byxoee Landfill Park and Artist Selection for 8yxbee Landfill Park Agenda Changes, Additions, and Deletions 6. Ordinance Amending Title 18 (Zoning) by Adding Conditional Uses to the Public Facilities (PF) Zone 6A. (Old Item 4) Ordinance Clarifying the Architectural Review Process 7. Vice Mayor Klein and Council Member Cobb re Modifications to City/School Lease 59--277 59-278 59-278 59-278 59-281 59-281 59-274 3/07/88 ITEM PAGE 8. Vice Mayor Klein and Council Member Cobb re Procedures for Sublease of Space in Leased School Buildings Adjournment at 8:57 p.m. to Study Session re New Multi-Fami.l Zoning Ordinance Regulations Synopsis of Study Session on Multi -Family Regulations Final Adjournment at 11:20 p.m. 59-287 59-288 59-288 59-290 59-275 3/07/88 Regular Meeting Monday, March 7, 1988 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:33 p.m. PRESENT: Bechtel, Cobb, Fletcher, Klein, Levy, Patitucci, Renzel, Sutorius, Woolley Mayor Sutorius announced that Council would adjourn to a Study Session to Consider New Multi -Family Zoning Ordinance Regulations in the Council Conference Room upon the conclu- sion of the meeting. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 1. R. O. Deck, 3580 South Court, was concerned about the recent electrical outage and the cost to citizens. 2. Ben Bailey, 171 Everett, spoke to the number of com- plaints and disciplinary actions against police officers. 3. Kenneth D. Scholz, 4150 Willmar Drive, spoka to the installation for cable television and said even though the tap pedestals were in the ground, they were not underground and definitely were not out of sight. His neighbors were annoyed at the lack of information. 4. James Johnson, 1006 Ramona, presented a proposal signed by, approximately 90 people, regarding a meeting to for- mulate plans to deal with the recent subsidence of soil at the foot of El Palo Alto and the tree's increasing lean. They were distressed at the deteriorating condi- tion of San Francisqu.ito Creek and its associated park and were concerned by the increasing number of tran- sients. They asked the cities and counties to cooperate in efforts to clean up the creek. 5. Linda Norton, 460 Churchill Avenue, was concerned about the replacement of Palo Alto's green areas and trees by stucco, asphalt, and concrete of new residential con- struction remodeling. She urged the Council not only to canvass the community but to declare a moratorium on any further residential construction or remodeling. 59-276 3/07/88 6. C.,•rlie Collins, 1212 Fulton Street, was worried about a chsige in building heights or a moratorium on R-1 lots. 7. Terry Stewart, 1141 Forest Avenue, spoke to the 1159 Lincoln Court parcel map change agendized for. the March 14, 1988, City Council meeting. He invited the Council to visit the site. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Vice Mayor Klein moved, seconded by Bechtel, approval of the Minutes of February 1, 1988, as submit- ted. MOTION PASSED unanimousiy. CONSENT CALENDAR Mayor Sutorius removed Item 4, Ordinance Amending Chapter 16.48 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Clarify the Archi- tectural Review Process, at the request of a member of the public. Item 1, Agreement with Santa Clara County Central Fire Pro- tection District re Hazardous Materials Response Vehicle Mutual Aid Plan, was removed by staff. MOTION: Council Member Woolley moved, seconded by Klein, approval of the Consent Calendar. 2. CONTRACT WITH INSPIRATION CONSOLIDATED COPPER COMPANY FOR RECYCLING WATER QUALITY CONTROL PLANT WASTE ASH (CMR:173:8) (1122-01) The Director of Utilities was also authorized to notify World Resources, Inc., of contract termination under the provisions of the March 1987 contract after successful exe- cution of the new contract with Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company. 3. ORDINANCE 3795 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER .16.5 OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO FLOOD HAZARD REGULATIONS (701-04/1073) 59-277 3/07/88 CONSENT CALENDAR CONT'D 5. FINANCE AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE UNANIMOUS RECOMMENDA- TION TO CITY COUNCIL RE CONSULTANT SELECTION FOR BYXBEE LANDFILL PARK AND ARTIST SELECTION FOR BYXBEE LANDFILL PARK (CMR:159:8/ CMR:172:8) (1321-d5) AGREEMENT WITH HARGREAVES ASSOCIATES LANDFILL PARK MASTER PLAN CONSTRUCTION SERVICES FOR FIRST PHASE SION AND TO TO UPDATE BYXBEE PROV ID E DESIGN AND OF PARK CONVER- AGREEMENT WITH PETER RICHARDS AND MICHAEL OPPENHEIMER, ARTISTS, TO COLLABORATE WITH HARGREAVES ASSOCIATES RE UPDATING BYXBEE LANDFILL PARK MASTER PLAN MOTION PASSED unanimously. Council Member Patitucci called attention to Item 2, Con- tract with Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company for Recycling Water Quality Control Plant Waste Ash, and pointed out'that staff, in negotiating the sale of the City's waste ash from the Water Quality Control Plant, had made a signi- ficant economic benefit for. the City. AGENDA CHANGES. ADDITIONS, AND LELETIONS City Manager Bill Zaner said Item 4, Ordinance Amending Chapter 16.48 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Clarify the Architectural Review Process, would become Item 6A. 6. PUBLIC HEARING: ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 18 (ZONING) BY ADDING CONDITIONAL USES TO THE PUBLIC FACILITIES (PF) ZONE MR: / : - 1 Council Member Woolley was not able to participate in the item due to a conflictof interest. Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber introduced to the Council, Zoning Administrator Nancy Lytle. Mayor Sutorius declared the Public Hearing open. Enid Pearson, President of the Committee for Green Foot- hills, also spoke on behalf of the Peninsula Conservation Center (PCC), and said the PCC had concerns regarding leasing for their facility and the time lines ° involved. 59-278 3/07/88 Toby Cooper, 120 East Creek Drive, Menlo Park, Vice President of the Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation (PCCF), said basically the PCCF's job was to make the work of the other organizations easier, more efficient, and more effective. They maintained a headquarters at the foot of California Avenue and Park Street in Palo Alto. Research convinced them it would cost less money in the long -run to purchase a property, unless there was a significant subsidy of a rental situation. They had extensive fund-raising plans and were preparing to launch a capital campaign to raise money for a new headquarters, but that would take time. They needed time to establish their goals and were in favor of establishing a nonprofit center at Jordan School. Jordan could meet their needs and would enable PCC and its affiliated organizations to stay together. They would be amenable to the consideration of it becoming a permanent facility if that was in the Council's objectives. Their current understanding of a deadline to leave the Park Street location was April 15, 1988, and they understood the Jordan site would not be available until. September, so they were asking for some leniency. Anne Page, 1365 Lincoln Avenue, said the Environmental Volunteers (EVs) was started 16 years ago with a grant from the PCC. They had grown to an independent organization but still had ties with the PLC. Even though they were an edu- cational organization, they benefited greatly from close association with other groups with similar philosophies. It was important for the PCC and i.ts tenant groups to stay together. They hoped a decision could be made quickly and that they and other Peg groups could have an office space together. Jeanne Morris, 1248 Harriet Street, said the Sierra Club thanked the City Council for its assistance in locating a site; however, they were troubled about the possible con - f ict between when they had to leave the PCC and when Jordan would be ready. Unless the City addressed their concern, the Sierra Club might not be able to stay with the PCC. Mark Lovelace, 2254 Park Boulevard, spoke as a member of the Board of Directors of the Camp Unalayee Association. Camp Unalayee, a nonprofit wilderness summer camp, had been part of the Palo Alto community for over 40 years providing a multi -cultural wilderness experience for children. As an environmental education organization, they had been a resi- dent member of the PCC for 14 years. They needed the City's help in creating an arrangement whereby they might occupy the Jordan Middle School site. They asked for the Council's help in whatever ways it could be provided to ensure the residents of Palo Alto were not deprived of the unique resources provided. 59-279 3/07/88 Ms. Pearson summarized that the groups wanted to stay together and to stay in Palo Alto. They were asking if they could move the date when they had to move out to at least June 15, 1988, to enable the EVs to continue their program. They wondered whether they could at least move in their equipment and furniture before September. If they could not stoLe the equipment at Jordan, they esked if there was another place where they could store things, e.g., the Municipal Service Center. They were worried about how long the application system would take. She made a special appeal for a place where the library could be stored for a while. C. R. McEwen, 753 Garland Drive, said his house was contigu- ous to the south boundary of the Jordan campus. After spending last year pleading with the Planning Commission and the Council not to let Jordan go commercial but to use it for community purposes, it seemed only proper to say, "This is the way it ought to go." He thanked the Council. Mayor Sutorius declared the Public Hearing _closed. MOTION: Council Member Levy moved, seconded by Cobb, to adopt the staff recommendation as follows: 1. Adopt f h e negative declaration prepared for the Zoning Ordinance amendment to add three conditional uses to the Public Facilities (PF) Zone (Chapter 18.32) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code); and 2. Initiate and approve the Zoning Ordinance text amendment expanding the list of condit..onAl allowable uses in the PF zone to include: (a) . diministrative office services for nonprofit organi- zations; (b) retail services as an accessory use to the adminis- trative offices of a nonprofit organization, pro- vided that such retail services do not exceed 25 percent of the gross floor area of the combined uses; and (c) churches and religious institutions ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF T®E C TYT OF' PALO ALTO AMENDING TITLE 18 (ZONING) BY ADDING CONDITIONAL USES TO THE PUB- LIC FACILITIES (PF) ZONE" 59-280 3/07/88 Council Member Levy believed the ordinance provided a natu- ral expansion of the uses of the closed school sites. The nonprofit organizations which were likely users of the sites proved to be sensitive to the neighborhoods in which they were located and because of the conditional use permit, the City could still control the allocation of uses to ensure integrity of neighborhoods. Expanding the list did not say that any one user would be approved. A procedure needed to be established. r,O JON PASSED unanimously, Woolley not participating,' 6A. ORDINANCE CLARIFYING THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW PROCESS (701-04/702-01) MOTION: Council Member Bechtel moved, seconded by Klein, approval of the ordinance. ORDINANCE 3796 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING CHAPTER 16.48 OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE TO CLARIFY THE ARCHI- TECTURAL REVIEW PROCESS 1 MOTION PASSED unanimously. -7 VICE MAYOR KLEIN ANn COUNCIL rMEMEER COBS RE i n�DTF 4 Cow TIONS TO CITY/SCHOOL LEASE (1341-01) Council Member Woolley would not participate in the item due to a conflict of interest. Vice Mayor Klein said Items 7 and 8 were companion items with respect to the negotiations with the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) on the City/School lease. MOTION: Vie Mayor Klein moved, seconded by Cob©, to approve in concept the memorandum of agreement, dated February 25, 1988, including the modifications indicated in writing. Vice Mayor Klein said if the motion passed, he expected to return in March with the actual final lease for considera- tion and approval. It was anticipated that the lease would be ready for the City/School Liaison Committee meeting of March 14, 1988. If it was approved, it would probably be before the Council on March 28, 1988. Council Member Cobb said it was a long process and even though it was difficult at times it concluded on a positive note. He believed everyone involved felt it was a "win -win" solution. The letter which he and Vice Mayor Klein sent to 59-281 3/07/88 Diane Reklis and Carolyn Tucher, dated February 25, 1988, was a clarification of the issue of the committee the PAUSD formed. Members of the public and others expressed concern that the lease as drawn might in some way not permit the school site choices to be available to them to select. The purpose of the letter was to clarify the choice was before them, and while he and Vice. Mayor Klein did not want to change the form of the lease, they were prepared to negoti- ate a lease which would be consistent with the decision. The letter anticipated that the Council colleagues would support the opinion expressed by the letter. The letter was an expression of good faith which resolved one of the prob- lems. Council Member Renzel appreciated the hard work done by Vice Mayor Klein, Council Member Cobb, and the PAUSD representa- tives in forging the agreement. She believed it solved some of the problems of the City's getting value for the money it would be paying, and also for the PAUSD. Since the lease of the Jordan site would begin July 1, 1988, she asked if that precluded the City from doing some of the repair work con- templated prior to that date and whether the July 1, 1988, date was negotiable if the repair work was done sooner. Vice Mayor Klein said the question was explored in depth with th staff. The July A, 1988 _ dare reflected the time when the City could use the space, taking into account the amount of work and the planning process. explained they needed 22 to 26 weeks before much of the space could be occupied. While the actual repair work would take only approximately 6 to 8 weeks, as a governmental entity, the City was required to do a variety of things before it could have the work done. The work would be done over the summer, so occupancy by Labor Day was a tight time- line. It was not appropriate for the Council as a public body to let thepublic use the space if it did not believe the facilities were in proper shape to be used. Some of the work was State -mandated, e.g., making the restrooms access- ible to the handicapped, and other work could not be done with people there. He was persuaded that was the way things had to be. . Some of the capital projects outlined in the memorandum were essential. They were public buildings, and they all had an investment in them. Because of the PAUSD's financial difficulties over the last ten years, it was clear maintenance had been their last priority. Council Member Renzel clarified it was a long process, to get to the point of doing the construction, which would not occur until after July, and the City would` be paying rent Staff had 59-282 3/07/88 for the facilities during the construction period without being able to occupy them. Occupancy by anyone would not occur until Septeieber. Vice Mayor Klein said that was right. Council Member Levy also commended Vice Mayor Klein, Council Member Cobb, and the members of the PAUSD for the work they had done. In regard to costs, he asked if the Council was committing itself to any costs for capital improvements or repairs other than the costs noted in the memorandum. Vice Mayor Klein said no. Council Member Fletcher asked about the credit towards even- tual purchase if the school sites were sold. She believed it was particularly appropriate to have that type of arrangement when the City was putting considerable money into capital improvements. Vice Mayor Klein said the item was brought up on numerous occasions, but the PAUSD adamantly and unanimously opposed it. It also was not in the lease the City entered into with the PAUSD last year. He noted the PAUSD asked for a variety of things to which the City said "no," but it was part of negotic tione illicit nobody go . everything they wanted. Council Member Fletcher asked if the particulars of the lease mentioned that the City would be putting in consider- able capital improvements. Vice'Mayc.y Klein said they did and they did not. The. anticipation of the whole plan was if the City had taken possession of Jordan on January 1, 1988, they had a report from the staff indicating there were about $1.8 million in capital improvements which would have gone into Jordan. Therefore, while it was not part of the lease, it would have been a part of the program. Council Member Cobb sympathized with Council Member Fletcher's viewpoint and was a strong advocate of the credit toward purchase in the negotiations; however, Vice Mayor Klein had correctly characterized why the credit was not in lease. He added that the lease was, in part, an interim lease to get through 1989 until thePAUSD's decisions were made in terms of school site configuration. Creation of a long-term lease would give them en opportunity to raise the issue again. They also discussed the possibility of the City purchasing Cubberley , and there was no agreement to do that or even discuss it at present, but he and Diane Reklis. agreed to figure out a way to discuss planning for the long- term uses of Cubberley for the benefit of the entire eommu- pity. 3,Wgi Council Member Fletcher pointed out school boards had been opposed to past arrangements, and that they were equal part- ners in the arrangement. She believed they could try to reach an agreement rather than saying the PAUSD was so strongly opposed that the matter could not be considered. Vice Mayor Klein said there were some things the PAUSD wanted, and the City said "no" very strongly. When cne side said "no" so strongly, it was difficult to reach a compro- mise. For example, the ; PAUSD's initial position was to receive the money without the City's obtaining what it regarded as equal value. He believed there was probably a great deal of frustration on the part of the school board members who had not participated in the negotiations believing their negotiators did not get a good enough deal. Council Member Levy was concerned the City was going to start putting a fair amount of money into Jordan over and above the items listed, such as handicapped access to bath- rooms, etc. He wanted to be sure what moneys the Council was committing to- for a lease that, in effect, would only run for one year at that point. Vice Mayor Klein had not fully understood Council Member Levy's concern. The list of capital items in the memorandum did not nave anything to do with the occupancy of Jordan. They were a compromise basically on the use of the money which would otherwise have flowed to the PAUSD---referred to as the "gap`' money The space the City was leasing at Jordan fell into two categories: The first category being space for use by the City staff and for City projects which were being displaced by renovation of Lucie Stern. In that category, the City chose to lease those places at Jordan which fit the needs of the Recreation. Department being dis- placed from Lucie Stern, and which required the least amount of improvements and repairs. It would cost $82,000 for the repaip -' ovations necessary to get the Recreation rs and .�:,.....,..._,..._ Department into the space. The second category being space the City intended to sublease to community/cultural/ artistic groups. The criteria in selecting that space was whether. it was usable by such groups and, secondly, being space which had the least amount of repair associated with it. Taking into account the repair work, they requested staff to figure what repairs could be done on a temporary basis. The figure for the space in Category.B was $64,000. He said that Manager, Real Property, Bill Fellman and Chief Building Official Fred Herman did a marvelous job and deserved a lot of credit 'for their work. 59-284 3/07/88 Council Member Levy clarified while the Council was not approving the $146,000 that evening, i t was a natural conse- quence of what they were doing. He asked if any of the $146,000 had been budgeted as part of a CIP, etc. City Manager Bill Zaner said the $146.000 were always plan- ned to be expended from the proceeds of the Utility Users Tax, When they talked about doing the entire Jordan site, the City had programmed funds out of the Utility Tax to do that, and the $146,000 would be -a portion of those moneys, Vice Mayor Klein said the original plan ,was for the Utility Users Tax to raise approximately $4.5 million per year. One million dollars was going to be set aside for roads and sidewalks repair which left $3.5 million. In the first, second, and third years, the City's commitment to the PAUSD was only $2.35 million for each year because Jane Lathrop School (JLS) was not scheduled to be on line until 1990. The difference between the $2.35 million and the $3 million for the two plus years was intended to be used for capital items because the City knew that Jordan needed substantial repairs and if the City took over JL.S, i L would also need substantial repairs. The City was going to have somewhere around $1.5 to $2 million for capital items with regard to the two school sites so when repair work at Jordan was dis- cussed, the money for it was coming out of the "surplus." Council Member Levy asked whether the City would be compen- sated for any of the funds it expended if Jordan was taken back by the PAUSD.. Vice Mayor Klein said the interim lease proposal did not call for any payment by the PAUSD to the City for any of the repair work done by the City. If the PAUSD took back Jordan as a school, it was anticipated it would not be used as a school until September, 1990. The City's interim lease of the space would terminate in September 1989, because the PAUSD believed it needed approximately a year to renovate, rehabilitate, and refurbish Jordan. The PAUSD would spend a considerable amount of money if it followed that policy and would need 12 months to do it. Council Member Renzel said in the negotiations prior to the election, Council insisted on a 15 -year lease period in order to make any capital repairs make sense. Now the City was putting in the capital repairs on blind faith. She was concerned the City was losing a negotiating position when the process reopened in a year with respect to a►ny type of credit. It was important to consider whether there was 59-285 3/07/88 some way to guarantee some consideration beyond 1989 with respect to a credit. Once the improvements were made, they were no conger a negotiating chip from the City's point of view. Council Member Cobb said the Utility Users Tax was origin- ally proposed to the voters that it would ultimately benefit the PAUSD to the tune of approximately $3 million per year. It was somewhat less at that point. The moneys going into capital improvements, for example, improving playing fields, he b :lieved fell into somewhat the same category as any improvements at Jordan should it wind up reusing Jordan as a school. Simply stated, to the extent the City relieved some of the capital pressures of the PAUSD, it meant more money indirectly for education which was the purpose of the tax. He did not believe the City gave away that many bargaining chips. There were many other things on the table which could be discussed and used as leverage towards negotiating for a credit towards purchase which he would pursue, Mayor Sutorius attended almost all of the City/School Liaison Committee meetings for the past year and observed firsthand the skills, goodwill and objective representation of the City's interest exhibited by Vice Mayor Klein and Council Member Cobb. He echoed the commendations extended to Bill Fellman and Fred Herman and incorporated the contri- butions and efforts of the City_ Attorney's Office and the tremendous personal involvement '+.f the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Director of Recreation and the Director of Arts and Sciences. Regarding the expenditure of certain kinds of dollars at certain locations, a key factor that went into the thinking as the negotiations progressed and one which was analyzed at all times was the value received from the use or availability of the space and, therefore, hew the dollars amortized out. There were certain significant spaces where the City would get consid- erable value by its own occupancy during the seismic hazard retrofits, etc., at Lucie Stern. There were other situa- tions, i.e., the gym at Cubberley where significant changes would be made to one existing lockerroom dividing it so it could have separate accommodations for both male and female. The Liaison Committee carefully considered what the revenue generation would be and the community value of the term of that lease so the City knew whether it was properly amortiz- ing the capital costs that would go into it. NOTION PASSED unanimously, Woolley 'not participating." 59-286 3/07/88 8. VICE MAYOR KLEIN AND COUNCIL MEMBER COBB RE . PROCEDURES FOR SUBLEASE OF SPACE IN LEASED SCHOOL BUILDINGS (1341-01) Council Member` Cobb said during the course of the negotia- tions, the Committee was presented with many appeals by many groups from the arts and related areas for space to help them keep their programs alive. The appeals were related to the campaign in November where it was suggested that among the people to benefit would be the arts community. The Committee attempted to clarify that its charter was to simply secure a lease with space attached and once secured, someone would have to decide who would be the proper occu- pants of that space. Now that the space was secured, it was ppropriate to move ahead and set up a process to decide who got the space. MOTION: Council Member Cobb ved, seconded by Klein, that staff be directed to set up an equitable mechaniim for requesting, receiving, processing, and deciding upon appli- cations from community groups for space at Jordan, advising on the terms of such sublease, and to return to the Council for its review and adoption prior to implementation. Council Member_Cobb said it was clear from the people who spoke to the City/School Liaison Committee that there were many worthy arts groups that could benefit greatly and the community would benefit from their use of the space. Vice Mayor Klein referred to the comments by the Peninsula Conservation Center (PCC) and reiterated that it was inap- propriate for Council to say a particular group'was entitled to the space. If there were more people who wanted to use the available space than there was space available, diffi- cult decisions would have to be made as to who got it. There needed to. be an orderly process for .doing so. Ale believed the Policy and Procedures (P&P) Committee would do the initial screenings as to how Council acted on applica tions for available space. The entire --public needed,assur- ances that the process Was fair and equitable and anyone in the community had an opportunity shot at the space and no favorites were being played. Council Member ,Woolley_ agreed -the issue was delicate and competitive. She clarified staff would return with a geh- eric lease..that would serve for all thg spacee. Council Member Cobb said the generic lease. would return long before any actual leases. 59.287 3/07/88 Council Member_ Bechtel said considering that the City would only have the facility for one year, she hoped whatever pro- cess could be expedited quickly. Council Member Cobb agreed. The fact that it was an interim lease for a short period of time was not the end of the pro- cess of the City having some sort of school properties to deal with over what he anticipated would be the long-term lease for the balance of the 15 years. MOTION PASSED unanimously. ADJOURNMENT Council adjourned to a study session to consider new multi- family zoning ordinance regulations in the Council Conference Room at 8:5/ p.m. SYNOPSIS OF STUDY SESSION ON MULTI -FAMILY REGULATIONS Mayor Sutor i us indicated, that the Planning Commission would provide a series of presentations on key parts of their recommendations, and there would be an opportunity for Council discussion and comments from the public. The Planning Commission had identified three goals at the beginning of the review of the multiple -family= regulations. The goals included restrictions on massiveness and intru- siveness that were associated with many recent multiple - family developments; encouragement of livability in new developments and incorporation of family -oriented facilities and design featnees; and review of the ,._appropriateness of a high-density ane for Palo Alto. The major conclusions of the study included there were too many multiple -family zones in the existing regulations and the existing zones were not tailored to a specific desired multiple -family product; a floor area ratio (FAR), which was not present in the current zone? would do more than any other single development restriction to address the massiveness issues raised by recent multiple -family developments; an increase in minimum lot size .was •necessary to address, especially the massive- ness and intrusiveness concerns; setbacks should be increased to ten feet minimum, or one-half the height of the multiple -family buildings; the height limits should .be reduced to .30 feet .for the new RM-15 zone, 35 feet for the RM-30, and 40 feet for the FPM -40; additional guest parking should be required when projects assigned both required parking spaces to individual units; and there should be guidelines adopted by the City for the design review process for new multiple --family projects. 59-288 3/07/88 The issue of the highest -density multiple -family zone, which was recommended to be an RM-40 zone allowing development up to 40 acres per acre, was the most debated issue in the Planning Commission's extensive review of the new regula- tions. An important feature of the Planning Commission's discussion was the Multiple -Family Subcommittee that worked with staff in developing initial recommendations for the new regulations which would reconvene immediately after Council adopted new multiple -family regulations. The Subcommittee would develop criteria for application of the multiple - family zones and review the appropriateness of the existing multiple -family zoning, especially the RM-40 zoning. The RM-40 would allow excessive development if applied to areas outside of the Downtown CD zoned areas. Commissioner Hirsch presented a proposal that the Planning Commission had not endorsed for RM-15, RM-25, and RM-35 zones plus use of an RM-45 designation in conjunction with CD zone parcels. Information was presented on the issue of the underlying residential regulations applied to the Service Commercial (CS) zone and described a proposal that the Planning Commission had not endorsed, under which CS zoned properties not directly adjacent to single-family zoned properties would incorporate the RM-40 zone and other CS zoned prop- erties would incorporate the RM-30 requirements. Other important features of the proposed regulations included the guest parking requirements; the private usable open space requirements that were not present in the current zoning; the recommendation that the 46 -acre Stanford West property on Sand Hill Road be subject to Site and Design review; and the Multiple -Family Design Guidelines recommended for inclu- sion in the Zoning Ordinance. City Council Members indicated several concerns about the issue of interior streets potentially not being public streets, treatment of projects that were in the development review process; that the. design guidelines not be included in the ordinance, and some technical issues, e.g., setback illustrations. Concerns were also expressed about where the RM-40 zones would abut. single-family development and the lack of new requirements ' for additional guest parking in the RM-40 zones; about encouraging flat -roofed structures in the RM-40 zone; and that consideration be given to allowing a flexible combination of required side yard setbacks in ' commercial areas where new development might be adjacent to solid and unattractive walls with the ten -foot side yard not neces- sarily providing enough space to have a usable open area. 59-289 3/07/8.8 After discussion by Council Members and Commissioners, com- ments were received from the public. FINAL ADJOURNMENT Final adjournment at 1120 p.m. ATTEST: APPROVED: 59-290 3/07/88