HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-10-11 City Council Summary Minutes1
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CITY COUNCIL
MINUTES
PALO ALTO CITY COUNCR, MEETINGS ARE BROADCAST LIVE VIA KZSU-FREOUENCY90.1 ON FM DIAL
Regular Meeting
October 11, 1988
ITEM PAGE
Oral Communications 60-331
Minutes of September 12, 1988 60-331
CONSENT CALENDAR
1. Ordinance Amending Chapter 10.44 of the 60-331
Palo Alto Municipal Code re Overnight
Parking
PUBLIC HEARINGS
2. PUBLIC HEARING: Planning Commission Remora- 60-331
nondation re Santa Clara County's Draft
Environmental Impact Report on the Proposed
Stanford University General Use Permit
UEPORTS OF OFFICIALS
3. League of California Cities Annual Conference
Resolutions
4. Statement of Policy Water Quality Control
Plant - WPDES Permit Rer-seal
S. Water Usage and Conservation Update
ADJOURNMUT
Adjournment at 10:12 p.n.
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Regular Meeting
Monday, October 11, 1988
The City Council o2 the City of Palo Alto ast on this date in the
Council Chasberm, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:35 p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel, Cobb, Klein (arrived at 7:36 p.m.),
Levy, Patitucci, Renzel, Sutorius, Woolley
ABSENT: Fletcher
City Attorney Diane Northway introduced Senior Assistant City
Attorney Susan Cass.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Ben Bailey, 171 Everett, spoke regarding street people and
how many Police Department omplainta resulted in
disciplinary actions.
2. Bunny Good, founder, International Group Organization for the
Disabled, Menlo Park, spoke regarding inhumanity with respect
to children's books.
MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 12, 1988
MOTION: Council Member Levy moved, seconded by Bechtel,
approval of the minutes of September 12, 1988, as submitted.
MOTION PARSED by a vote of 7-8-1, Bechtel "abstai:aing,n Fletcher
absent.
CONSENT CALENDAR
1. Ordinance Amending Chapter 10.44 of the Palo Alto Municipal
Code re C,4fernight Parking
Item removed by staff.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
2. PUBLIC LNG: Planning Commission Recommendation re Santa
Clara County's Draft Environmental. Impact Report on the
Proposed Stanford University General Use Permit (232)
( R: 4$1:$)
Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber
introduced Brent Ogden, Rorv* tnginsering, the traffic: consultant
hired by Santa Clara County and Stanford University and Brian
Boxer, EIP Associztaa, whose responsibility waspreparation of
the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR).
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Mr. Schreiber said the DEIR tree prepared under the guidelines of
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and its primary
purpose was to provide a sufficient information resource for the
decision -makers. Ths project was the adoption of a now Use
Permit by Santa Clara County to govern the activities and future
development on the Stanford campus. Staff separated review of
the DEIR from review of specific conditions for the Use Permit
since the information generated in the DEIR eight be important in
wording specific conditions of the Use Permit. Council was
requested to review the DEIR and comment back to Santa Clara
County. Staff requested that Santa Clara County's proposed Use
Permit conditions be forwarded to the City of Palo Alto for
Planning Commission and City Council review prior to
consideration by the County Planning Commission. The County
Planning Commission was the gain focus of the Couxty's
decision -making process.
Council Member Patitucci clarified that individual projects on
Stanford land which commenced after issuance of the Use Permit
Haight also require a separate Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
prior to completion.
City Attorney Diane Northway said it would depend on the quality
and size of the project.
Council Member Patitucci clarified if the environmental impacts
were considered in the previous EIR and the Use Permit, those
projects world go ahead with an assessment.
Ms. Northway said depending on the project's size, etc., the
project might sous forward with an assessment. Additional
environmental review might be required in the area of hazardous
materials if it arose by virtue of a particular project.
Council Member Patitucci clarified the City might not be involved
in any of the individual projects depending on whether they fell
within the City's sphere of influence in terns of zoning and
regulations.
Mr. Schreiber said the County referred to the City's planning
staff, all unincorporated area pro j ects in Palo Alto's sphere of
influence. Those projects were reviewed by the County at the
Architectural and Site Approval Committee. For the majority of
those projects, the City's review was a staff review and comment
back to the County. If a new Use Permit was required, those
applications were forwarded to the Planning Commission, and if an
EIR vas prepared, in most cases that would also be referred to
the Planning Commission.
Council Member Patitucci queried whether the Use Permit
overlapped or whether it was totally separate from those areas in
which the City had actual zoning.
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Ms. Northway said the specific project referred to a County Use
Permit so by implication it only applied to those areas on the
Stanford campus in the unincorporated area and over which the
County had jurisdiction. With respect to any areas within the
city limits of Palo Alto, the Use Permit was not controlling.
The City's zoning policies and Comprehensive Plan would apply.
Council Member Renzsl asked for clarification that the structure
of the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) mitigation measures
created a presumption that if the diverted trips, i.e., those in
some mode other than cars, were equal to the demonstrated
population growth, then the Use Permit did not have an impact on
growth of traffic at the intersections.
Mr. Schreiber said Staeford proposal was to measure trips in
carpools, vanpools, buses, trains, etc. They did not propose to
measure bicycles or pedestrians because the vagaries of counting
those people tended to dilute the validity of the counting
system In that sense, the proposal was a conservative
underestimate of the trips diverted out of cars. The presumption
was the impacts of the Use Permit were adequately and
appropriately mitigated. Intersection -by -intersection specific
impacts might vary and there might be impacts at specific
intersections which were not completely covered by the
corresponding reduction in trips which might benefit other
insections. The trade-off was thought by City staff to be
worthwhile given the value the City placed on TDM programs and
the attempt to emphasize trip reduction rather than intersection
and roadway expansion.
Council Member Renzel referred to TDM mitigations and her
concern about projects outside the Use permit which could bump
the intersections from Level "D" to "E" or "E" or "F" in some
places. The project outside the Use Permit would be compelled to
fix the intersections as mitigations. She asked how additional
impacts were dealt with.
Mr. Schreiber said the specifics of the TDM condition could be
structured to address the question. The subject EIR did not
remove previous obligations imposed on Stanford to pursue
mitigation measures and did not limit or undermind the City or
the County's ability in future environmental reviews to impose
mitigations. In four or six years, he was certain the
transportation analysis would include an assessment of the TDM
measures and their status as well as the current status of
roadways. It would then be up to the decisionemakirg body,
whether it be the County or the City, to determine appropriate
mitigation measures. Mitil ations were subject to CEQA and would
need to receive environmental review. If mitigation were
triggered by some agreement car by some level of service, at that
point, the decision -making body would have to undertake an
environmental assessment and determine whether the mitigations
themselves had impacts which would lead to future mitigations.
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1
Council Member Renzal referred to Stanford's latter in the packet
(on fiie in the City Clerk's Office) which objected to the use of
Palo Alto's standards for measuring traffic impacts. She queried
what standard could be used and how it protected Palo Alto.
Mr. Schreiber said identification of a standard for determining
what constituted a significant impact was the responsibility of
the local jurisdiction. Palo Alto's standard regarding traffic
impacts was strict and relatively moderate or low levels of
impacts in certain situations were as deemed a significant level
of impact because of the nature of the particular intersection.
Staff hoard nothing from the_County which would indicate they
would not use the Palo Alto standard. It was the County's
ultimate responsibility to determine what was significant..
Council }ember Renzel asked whether staff's position with respect
to the TDM program would remain the same if they County adopted a
lesser standard.
Mr. Schreiber said staff's position would remain the sane because
the basic policy issue with the TDM program was whether to
encourage a large-scale effort to get people c>;&t of single
occupancy care or to pursue a large scale program of intersection
and roadway improvements. Staff's understanding of the City's
policy was in most situations to get people out of cars rasher
than spending money on intersection and roadway improvements.
Planning Commissioner Helene Wheeler referred to page 2 of the
staff report (CMR:481;8) which outlined the major inadequacies of
the HEIR in the areas of transportation, air quality, housing,
public health and safety and traffic safety. While the Planning
Commission separated the issues of the RIR and the Yse Permit
process, the Commission believed it was important to make
significant comments on the Use Permit issues at that time
because it was only a request proposed to be made to the County
that the Use Permit and its conditions return to the City and it
was not guaranteed it would happen.
A significant issue was a specified point in the development of
the population threshold that would trigger an evaluation of the
Stanford Use Permit.
She referred to a tightening of permitted use for flexibility and
a significant reduction in the amount of square footage allowed.
There needed to be enhanced opportunities for City and public
review of ASA applications and there needed to be the inclusion
of specific provisions in the traffic mitigation agreement.
The Planning Commission generally agreed with the issues raised
by staff. She urged the Council support the recommended actions
outlined on pages three and four of the staff report (CRP: 4 81; 8) .
Council Member Woolley referred to the Housing issues, and asked
whither the specifics of mitigation measures and the mechanism to
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awake the mitigation measures binding would be in the EIR or the
Use Permit.
Mr. Schreiber said the specific implementation mechanism would be
contained in the Use Permit.
Council Member Woolley queried what mechanisms were envisioned to
make the Housing mitigation measures binding.
Mr. Schreiber said mitigation measures needed to be clearly
identified in the environmental document either in the initial
draft or the responses to the comments in public testimony for
the County's use. The application of the mitigation measures
would occur with the project approval, which was the Use Permit.
Ms. Northway said when dealing with something like a Use Permit,
it would be traditional to incorporate all the mitigation
meaeursa as conditions of the Use Permit which was what made it
binding because the permit could not be used without the
conditions being complied with. In the instance of subdivisions,
the mechanism often used to make mitigation measures binding was
the agreement with the subdivider.
Mayor Sutorius referred to the DEIR, Section 6, page 7, the
bottom of the page which described "the most serious aspect of
the projected traffic growth is the number of intersections which
would be at or close to capacity." He was concerned about an
intersection becoming worse than level of service "D" and the
amount of time it could take before corrective action would be
impl emented .
Robert S. Grandy, Porvs Engineering, Inc., said the build out
review encompassed a long term, and the actual growth on a
year--by-year period would be slight if it was a uniform rate of
growth. Generally, th, period during which an improvement could
be implemented would not allow for a lot of growth in traffic due
to the project, however, ' if the growth trend et Stanford began
to deviate sebstantially from the projected rate of growth, it
might be necessary to consider a way to dead with it ass special
avant.
Associate Transportation Engineer Carl Stoff,l said the procedure
referred to by Ms. ?reason was the s etaajls of how the TOM and the
intersection improvements interacted which would be part of the
details which would return with the Use Permit conditions. If
TDM was shown to be failing, then intersections were reviewed and
if an intsrseotion reached level of service "U* or worse, then
the time period was 18 months, which was the saris time period for
the intersection monitoring program already in etZtect for several
intersections due to previous projec'..s. The two to three year
pew iod, actually referred to a period of time the City . allowed
Stanford to thew that its TOM program vas working.
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Council Member Cobb said if TDM failed and given the size of the
proposed project, it seamed conceivable the point could be
reached Where it was not just a case where an intersection had to
be mitigated, but rather it became impossible to mitigate. He
,asked what happened to the process at that point.
Mr. Schreiber said the assumption was it would be possible to
mitigate the impacts of the Use Permit. The Use Permit had two
caps,, one for square footage and one for population which related
to the number of drivers during peak periods. Other developments
and general traffic growth would also impact the roadway network.
There might well be things going on outside of the project which
lead to improvement or worsening of the traffic situations. He
believed even a moderately successful TM( program would mitigate
many of the impacts of the project, and it was possible to
mitigate 311 of the impacts of the proposed project. It did not
mean traffic would always flow smoothly through or around the
University in the part of San Mateo or Santa Clara Counties.
Mayor Sutorius asked about the statement in the DEIR that an
independent evaluation of Stanford's TDM program indicated
Stanford would reach TDM target.
Mr. Grandy said Crane Associates was hired by HIP to review
Stanford's TDM program. They reviewed all the different
categories of people who eight participate in the program and
evaluated the reduction in cr muters they thought would occur.
The reduction in daily commuters was translated by Korve
Engineering into the impacts that would occur at the
intersections due to the level of paLticipation they projected.
It appeared as if the reduced trips would mitigate the level of
traffic projected during the peak period.
Council Member Renzel queried whether part-time employees were
counted in the population cap.
Mr. Boxer said part-time employees were not included because of
the presumption that part-time employees did not enter or leave
the campus during peak hours and would not contribute to peak
hour traffic in the sure way as full-time employees.
Council Member Menzel disagreed. Theoretically, a part-time
employee would have at least one-half of a peak round trip and
the person working the other half day would have the other half
of the peak round trip. She referred to the statement that
Stanford p►rcpct.d to construct 3.8 million square feet of new
buildings over the next L2 years. In addition, there would be
the 1.6 million aquara feet of buildirg that was already approved:.
and the additional 500,000 square feet. It added up to 5.6
million square feet in the pi_peiine plus the Use Permit.. The
DEIR talked abut 3.38 million square feet. She queried whether
the difference was projects that would require their riwn EXR.
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Mr. Schreiber said the process had gone on for a long time. When
the first draft of the EIR was not accepted in 1986, a variety of
projects that were part of theUse Permit in 1984 received their
ow*t environmental reviews and were built, approved or acted on
and were now outside of the Use Permit. Thera were also projects
outside of the Use Permit that were included in the overall total
of University lands development potential, i.e., Stanford West,
but wore not part of the Use Permit itself.
Mr. Boxer said the summary report produced by Stanford attempted
to describe for the public its building plans on all of its land
during the neat 12 years. The DEIR only attempted to analyze
that which was anticipated to be built within the unincorporated
County portion of Stanford lands. The DEIR analyzed the impacts
of all of the building, but only a portion of the building was
defined by the DEIR as the project. The remainder was identified
as part of the cuaulative growth that would occur within the
vicinity of the project.
Mr. Schreiber said when Stanford issued its summary report, staff
compared it with other EIR done recently, the EIR in process,
and other things in process between the City and the County.
Essentially the same set of numbers was used in all of the
different environmental documents. The summary report was not
new information.
Council Member Renzel clarified they were talking about 5.6
million square feet of new building with that evening's
discussion being 2.38 million square feet plus the additional
room.
Mayor Sutorius said that was correct.
Council Namber Re zal said Stanford objected to counting
mitigation for housing because housing was a mitigation measure
itself. She clarified in a normal community all land uses would
be considered in terms of their impacts rather than just selected
uses.
Fr. Schreiber said that was correct.
Mayor Sutorius declared the Public Rearing open,
Sam Sparck, 565 hrastradera Road, represented the Barron Park
Association (L144. who hoped its letter, which was Attachment 2
to the staff report (tom:481:1) , would be among the material
forwarded to the County Planning Coy s ission. The DEIR did not
contain,rough information to warrant a blanket Uso Permit for
a-1 prof ects . Each project should be evaluated by the public on
its own merits. Regarding toxic air emir: ions the BPA was
coned about the current level of air quality, particularly of
nitrogen oxides emitted from Stanford University's Incinerator
Wo. 639. No paxit should be issued until the ommunity had a
clear understanding that its health . was not comprised. Future
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burning of dead animals, hospital waste, chemical and toxic waste
should be included in the Use Permit planning and discussion.
The State of California Air Resources Board had no current plans
to perform air monitoring or source testing at the Stanford
incinerator over the next five years. A program should be in
place to monitor air emissions on a regular basis with results
explained to the community. There needed to be protection of San
Francisquito, Barron and Watadoro Creeks. The current ltatadero
Creek construction work being performed by the Santa Clara Valley
Water District (SCVWD) could be impacted by Stanford's projected
growth. Regarding traffic, if the mitigations were ineffective,
the Barron Park neighborhood would be adversely impacted. The
BPA urged regular studies be conducted to insure the
effectiveness of the mitigations and that if any two of the
intersections in Palo Alto listed in the DEIR on page 6
experienced a deterioration, that no development larger than
5,000 square feet be allowed without a separate Use Permit
hearing. The BPA believed the DEIR was inadequate. It supported
the staff report and Planning Commission recommendations to alter
the EIR and better protect the residents in Palo Alto.
Betsy Crowder, Community for Green Foothills, commended staff
and the Planning Commission for their work. For the first 60
years of Stanford existence it was called the "Farm', and the
campus was an island of academic buildings surrounded by open
lands. Stanford now proposed to fill in the entire central
campus with buildings and to begin development of the open space:
south and west of Junipero Serra Boulevard. A small fringe would
be left open along Palm Drive and E1 Camino Real along Sand Hill
Road and the golf course. The student population had grown
slowly. The DEIR indicated the anticipated maximum student
population was 14,806. Based on Stanford's projections, it
intended to more than quadruple its building size yet its
students only increased by 5,000 since 1448. The Committee for
Green Foothills agreed with Stanford's proposal to include the
areas called Stanford North and South in Special Area C because
it was the most ecologically sensitive of the Stanford lands.
/Cooping .it in open space has served as a mitigation for
development. The Committee believed the DEIR was inadequate in
term* of population growth, and it needled to state who would
monitor the proposed TDN mitigation. It appeared the only
effective way to do so would be to reduce rather than add to the
number of buildings on carpus. Hydrology was based on the
10 -year flood rather than the 100 -year flood.
Colin Mick, 3130 Hanover Street, represented the College Terrace
Neighborhood. The DEIR was a loose attempt to predict the
future. Individual projects should be reviewed on their awn
writs. Currently, the review was conducted at the County levol
by the Architectural and Site Approval (ASA) group operating
uncles* the County Planning Commission. He urged strong review of
the Use Permit process and that the County Planning Commission
consiager a system of review more attentive of public
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participation. The ASA was not equipped to handle such projects
as Stanford expansion. There needed to be a better way.
Mayor Sutorius declared tho Public Hearing closed.
Council Member Cobb asked about Stanford's rea►rtions to the
Planning Commission recommendations.
Stanford University Planning Director Phil Williams believed the
Planning Commission review was thorough. Hs was surprised that a
part of the City Services Agreement of 1974, which was the
subject of continuing agreements between the City of Palo Alto
and Stanford since that time, was somewhat modified in terms of
the 5,000 square foot liait on building projects under the Use
Permit in the Foothills Area of in Area C of the existing permit.
Council Member Woolley referred to the Historic Values Index
elaborated on in the DEM. The working group evaluated 43
features and she asked for clarificatio:a.
Mr. Williams said the features, most of which were buildings,
were evaluated on the basis of five categories which included
age, impact on Stanford .cultures, and impact an community
concerns that might deal with architectural heritage. The rating
was not combined into an average score --it was more of a consumer
report type of rating in order to see how each facility rated in
each category. Stanford meet quarterly to discuss about six
additional buildings each time.
Council Mesbsr Woolley clarified it would be fairly easy to
summarize the evaluations for the buildings.
Mrs Williams said that was correct.
Council Member Bechtel asked about the comment regarding the fact
that the student population had not increased very such in the
past 20 years, but overall staff and number of buildings had
quadrupled.
Mr. Williams did not want to separate academic and research. The
kinds of teaching and research currently done required more
space. In the summary report, Stanford tried to outline some of
the characteristics which lead to the need for more space. The
amount of staff required to handle governmental and other.
requirements for accounting, personnel, etc., had increased
significantly. The numbers of faculty and students recta► ,nsd
fairly stable. The amount of space required for research andthe
kind of equipment needed to . replace obsolete faeA1ities had
nearly doubled over till) past ten years. Another factor which
lead to more spans cn the campus without increasing the student
body was the addition of fit. lot of housing. Stanford housed a
audh higher percentage of students than it used to and it
provided a more complete community environment in terms of
recreation facilities, etc.
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Council Member Bechtel was advised that 20 years ago a graduate
student and all professors eight not have an individual office
whereas currently, they all demanded individual offices.
Mr. Williams said that was correct. Often, graduate students
were two, three or four in a given work area but nearly all of
them had work space.
Mayor Sutorius asked about the rationale for the ten-year flood
management.
Mac. Boxer said the reference to the ten-year flood capacity of
the Matadoro Creek drainage waa based on information received
from the Santa Clara valley Water District. In response to the
concern, LIP was pursuing additional information regarding types
of mitigations being taken and exploring how and what types of
mitigations to build into the EIR.
MOTION: Mayor Sutorius moved, seconded by Cobb, to approve the
Planning Commission recommendation as follows:
1. Forward the Planning Commission, staff and City Council
comments to the Santa Clara County Planning Commission;
2. Request that Palo Alto's comments on the Use Permit he
considered in drafting the ice Permit and that the Pala Alto
Planning Commission and City Council be given the opportunity
to review the proposed use permit conditions prior to their
final consideration by the County Planning Commission; and
3. Indicate concurrence with the intent that the new use permit
not include additional square footage in the areas west of
Juniper* Serra Boulevard and Foothill Expressway; lea
Further, include they individual written comments from Council
Members.
Council Member Woolley referred to the historic preservation
section of the EIR, and said the 14 buildings listed cage out of
an inventory done by the County when she chaired the commission
in 1979. Palo Alto's list had increasse significantly since that
time and she suspected there were a lot more than 14 significant
buildings on the Stanford campus which should be considered as
historic resources. While the historical values index was a good
system and more buildings were being considered through the
process, she believed it would be h.lptnl if the 43 features
evaluated so far were added to the EIR.
Vice Mayor Klein referred to the TOM program, and asked whether
Stanford made provisions for coordinating its TDIK program with
what the City expected d would be the Golden Triangle's TDM
program, partioulary since it would now be :mandated by the Bay,
Area Air Quality Managehent Board under Assemblyman Shsr i s bill
AB 3585.
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Mr. Williams did not believe the question was specifically
addressed. As unincorporated County lands, Stanford was not
directly part of the Golden Triangle effort. He was sure
Stanford would try and design the program to coordinate with that
effort and to be coordinated with public transit.
Council Mesiber Renael wanted part-time employees to be accounted
for in the total population unless . there was some factual basis
for not doing so. Part-time employees created trips and the peak
periods wore three hour time periods so they were talking about
six hours during per day. Inasmuch as Stanford requested housing
traffic not be counted, Palo Alto should be on record as
indicating its standard practice was to do so. Because many of
the intersections impacted by the Use Permit were Palo Alto
intersections, Palo Alto's standards should be endorsed and
should apply. She believed the DEIR was somewhat deficient in
not going beyond the Table 6-2 intersections. Cars did not stop
at perimeter points but would continue throughout the community
wherever they could find an easy routs. If the TDM failed, she
saw Palo Alto pinched at both sides with the University Circle
project on one end and Stanford on the other. The Use Permit
needed safeguards to keep the impacts from getting out of
control.
NOTION PASSED by a vote of 0-1, Fletcher absent.
REPORTS OF OFFICIALS
3. League of California Cities Annual Conference Resolutions
(1340-07) (CMR:484:8)
Council Member Patitucci agreed with the staff recommendation
except for the Resolution 47 regarding arbitration. Even though
arbitration was part of ..ha Charter, it did not mean the City
Council had to endorse it as a method of doing business. He
opposed arbitration as a means of resolving labor disputes.
NOTION: Council Member Patitucci moved, aeconded by Woolley, to
approve than otaff recommendation that the Council endorse the
preliminary recommendations of the League of California Cities
policy committees concerning Annual Conference Resolutions with
the exception of supporting Resolution 47, the League's position
to approve, as toile's*:
Approve Resolutions 2, 31, 22, 24, 30, 24, 34►, 37, 42, amend and
Approve Resolutions 10, 15 and 10; take no action or position en
Resolutions 13, 1!, 30, 32, and 44: and instruct the Council's
voting delegate aacordingl .
Io DIVIO 101 10101100000 OP VOTING
Council Member Levy referred to Resolution 24 which requs" ted the
approval of a /0000 foot separation between residential community
care and drt*g/alcohol recovery facilities. Ho believed 1,000
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feet was too rigorous. He believed the figure should be rAuced
to 500 feet.
Council Member Levy asked to remove Resolution 24.
vi
yor Sutorius clarified the staff recommendation with
r -� } to Resolution 47, arbitration, was to support the League
of California Cities recommendation which was to oppose
arbitration.
FIRST PART OP MOTION REGARDING RESOLUTION 47, ARBITRATION, PASSED
by a vote of 5-3, Sutorius, Bechtel, Klein voting "no," Pletcher
absent.
AMEWDMENTY Council Member Levy moved, seconded by Woolley, to an
amendment to Resolution 24 to reduce the separation to 500 feet.
AMENDXENT FAILED by a vote of 3-5, Lev* Woolley, Klein voting
"aye," Fletcher absent.
SECOND PART or MOTION REGARDING ALL REMAINING XTEMS PASSED by a
vote or $-0, Pletcher absent.
Council Member Levy asked about Resolution 13 re "ticket
scalping" and why staff took no position.
Assistant to the Ci.y Manager Vicci Rudin said there was divided
opinion on the League Policy Committee, The end result was to
recommend no action. The Committee believed it could affect
other avenues of ticket sales and work against people who wanted
to obtain tickets.
Council Mager Levy queried whether taking no action meant
Council supported the position.
Ms. Rudin said the item would not go before the General Assembly
for a vote.
4. Statement of Policy Water Quality Control Plant NPDES
Permit Renswa (1122-01) (Clot:482:8)
Council Member Rensel generally supported the statement of
policy, but queried whether the Council requ.sting sufficiently
flexible implementation scAedule was meant to be a policy
statement precluding any interim standards.
City Manager Hill fanear did not believe the statement precluded
the Soared from 'Adopting any standards they chose. Staff, s
t osition was that prior to the adoption of any standards, a
sufficient amount of study be accomplished to ensure the
ztandarde could blis met.
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Council Member Renzel clarified that if the policy was adopted,
it could be used to say Council was opposed to any interim
standards.
Mr. Zaner said based on the policy, the Board would be end to
not adopt any kinds of standard, interim or other, with • irst
doing the necessary studies and analyses to make s ',' the
standards wore reasonable. Staff did not try and use the policy
as an indication that Council opposed the standards, but rather
Council would not want to see standards adopted that were not
prudent and the result of some type of recant study and analyses.
Trish Mulvey, 527 Rhodes Drive, represented the Santa Clara
Valley Audubon Society, urged :ouncil to strengthen the statement
of policy for the Water Quality Control Plant permits by
endorsing the establishment of enforceable numeric standards for
heavy metals and other toxins and by supporting the prompt
completion of the studies presently underway which were needed to
identify the sources of pollutants. She also urged that staff
review the ..cateement of work for the studies to assure the
studies would accomplish the objectives. The extreme South Bay
was recognized as a unique and particularly sensitive part of the
estuary because of its shallow and constricted nature. She urged
quarterly reports on status and periodic study sessions.
Debbie Mytels, 2824 Louis Road, Executive Director of the
Peninsula Conservation Center (PCC) Foundation, urged that the
Regional Water Quality Control Board be called upon to set some
enforceable standards for heavy motels end other toxic* which was
necessary in order to fully protect the South Bay. The PCC
requested City staff initiate a public education campaign to
inform residents and small quantity waste generators about
products which contributed to the load of metals and toxins in
the Bay. People in Palo Alto cared about the health of the Bay.
Vice Mayor Klein asked about staff's reaction to the changes
proposed by members of the public.
Mr. Zaner saw no problem with the educational caapsign other than
the expense end effort. Me also saaw no problem with Council
going on record as urging the Regional Water Quality Control
Board to proceed with some diligence to complete the studies so
the Bay was not subjected to further destruction. He was
concerned about urging the Board to adopt numerical standards
different than those already in effect. Thera were already
numerical standards and Palo Alto exceeded each one. Before the
Board adopted a new set of numerical standards, which would be
stricter than the ones currently being adhered to, Palo Alto
would w at to be sure that studies and analysis were done to
justify and provide .4 rationale for the new etandards�
Council Member nze1 understood the proposed language to endorse
the establishment of enforceable numeric standards to protect
beneficial uses. It did not say they needed to be established
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10/11/85
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prior to the studies, but rather that Council basically endorsed
the concept of doing so. While there were existing standards,
they were nationwide, general standards which did not apply
specifically to a shallow water discharge area such as the South
Bay. The Regional Water Quality Control Board in considering
Palo Alto's perAit exemption was allowing Palo Alto to proceed
providing it demonstrated beneficial uses.
MOTION: Council Member Meisel wed to approve the • t.atement of
policy adding at the end of the first paragraph "Council endorses
the establishment of enforceable numeric standards for heavy
metals and other taxies discharged into the extreme south bay
which would protect its beneficial uses.
MOTION DID FOR LACE OF . A SICOw[D.
MOTION: Council Member Mensal moved, seconded by ilein;, to
approve the statement of policy adding between the first and last
sentence of the third paragraph "The Council endorses prompt
completion of the studies presently underway."
Mr. Zaner saw no problem in the endorsement of doing the studies
promptly. He was concerned about phrases like "quantify all
discharges" because it tended to get very broad quickly.
Council Member Bechtel believed the proposed policy statement was
very bread. She was hesitant when Council Member Renzel proposed
her motion in addition. They were some very specific additions
to a broad, generalized statement.
a$CA iD TO MOTION WIT*DPAW'M, AND MOTION DIED FOR ACE OF A SECOND.
MOTION: Council Member Bechtel moved, n•aonded by Mleie, that
Council adopt the statement of policy with the addition that
Council endorses prompt completion of all studies presently
underway.
Council Member Renzel was cc : srned about not referring to
proposed studies as well.
Vino Mayor Klein was concerned about endorsing proposed studies
because he did not know what they were.
Council Member Rensel expressed frustration as the Council's
representative to the South Bar Dischargers because the matter
had been studied for i3 years and there were no changes in the
applicable standards. Part of the problem was that at the end of
the five-year study, these were supposed to be somas site specific
standards and somehow the required information was not developed
in the course of the studies. She believed it would be prudent
fog; Council to request the Regional Water Quality Control Board
to obtain the additional information necessary to sake their
decisions so the .issre would not continue to be studied ad
infinitum.
60-344.
10/11/SS
NOTE: Sense minutes (synopsis)` are prepared in accordance with
Palo Alto Municipal Code Section 2.04.200(b). The City Council
meec1ng tapes are retained in the City Clerk's Office for two
yeas from the cute of the meeting, and the Finance and Public
Works Committee and Policy and Procedures Committee meeting tapes
are retained for six months. Members of the public may listen to
the tapes during regular office hours.