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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-01-26 City Council Summary MinutesITEM CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Regular Meeting PALO ALTO CITY COUNCI LMEETINGSAREBRO O lj yAlatti- FEIJaa asICY90I ON FM DIAL Oral Communications PAGE 8 0 0 9 1. Presentation by Acting President, James N. 8 0 1 0 Rosse and Other Stanford University Officials Minutes of January 5, 1987 8 0 1 4 3. Amendment to Contract with West Valley 8 0 1 4 Construction Company for Galvanized Water Service Replacement 4. Agreement with Malcolm Jones & Associates for Fuel Cell Applications Feasibility Study 5. Contract with Davey Tree Surgery for Tree as Stump Removal 6. Ordinance re Plans for Seismic Reinforcement of Foothills Park Dam 7. Policy & Procedures Committee Recommendation re Stop Signs at El Verano/Waverley & El Verano/ South Court r- 8. Recommendation from Neighbors Abroad re Sister City Relationship with Linkoping, Sweden 9. Ohlone School Site Palo Alto Unified School District's Intent to Lease Outdoor Recreation Area Adjournment at 9;05 p.m. 8 0 1 4 8 0 1 4 8 0 1 4 8 :0 1 5 8 0 15 8 0 1 7 8 0 1 8 8 0 0 8 1/26/87 1 Regular Meeting Monday, January 26, 1987 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:31 p.m. PRESENT: Bechtel, Cobb, Fletcher, Klein (arrived at 7:35 p.m.), Levy, Patitucci, Renzel $utorius, Woolley ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 1. Ben Bailey, 455 Forest Avenue, spoke regarding the retirement of Police Chief Jiro Zurcher. 2. Van Aarern, 2155 Harvard Street, spoke regarding swimming schedules for the public and the Master's Swim Program. The average attendance per hour was 29.7 for Masters and 28.3 for citizens counted over two weeks. There were desirable noon hours remaining unused. Adults lost many swim hours during the summer months. Large concentrations of children never occurred on weekends, and he suggested they begin one and one-half or two hours later so adults could keep the Saturday noon swim. 3. Harrison Otis, 2721 Midtown Court, was involved with the voyager project and said the scientific achievement was completed and the journey was successful. He asked for a proclamation which could be submitted to the Smithsonian Institute to show Palo Alto's participation. 4. Jim Dinkey, 3380 Cork Oak Way, requested Council's assistance in reviewing the attempt to get Middlefield Road restriped. 5. Bob Moss, 4010 Orme Street, spoke regarding the statusof the Cable TV system and the existing lawsuit with Century Federal. He hoed the City would continue its stance of requiring that any franchisee meet the same terms and conditions that Cable Co-op already agreed to in regard to facilities, services, public access, and community and civic access, and he urged Council and staff to make it clear to Menlo Park Council and staff that the lead agency in the Joint Powers was the City of Palo Alto and any terms: and conditions granted to any franchisee should be the same as granted to Cable.Co-op. 8 0 0`9 1/26/87 1. PRESENTATION BY. ACTING PRESIDENT JAMES N. ROSSE AND OTHER TA FORD UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS (232) Mayor Woolley welcomed the Stanford University officials. She said Stanford was the reason Palo Alto was founded and Stanford was still very important to the City."` Andrew Doty, Director of Community Relations, introduced Robert Freelen, Vice -President of Public Affairs; Phil Williams, Director of Planning; and Jim Rosse, Acting President. Jim Rosse said Stanford continued to be in good economic health, but they did not take that for granted. They were in the process of balancing the budget which was more difficult than any year in recent history. Stanford's costs usually ran about 2 percent ahead of inflation, and the development of programs to carry out faculty ambitions usually added another 1 or 2 percent. Revenue sources were not rising at the same pace, and Stanford had to cut costs or increase income each year. Increasing income was not. easy, and in order to make modest improvements in salaries and program quality, Stanford had to ; make moderate to severe cuts in its budget expenses in 13 of the last is years. Regarding the Centennial campaign, Stanford planned to undertake an ambitious five-year fundraising campaign to go along with the celebration. The celebration would involve the Palo Alto community in many ways, e.g., participation in a cornerstone -laying event in May 1987. He knew Palo Alto was concerned about the number of people at Stanford University but said Stanford was not anxious to increase the size of its faculty or student body, and the campaign was to strength programs, facilities, etc., and to help solve the space and budget problems together with a modest amount of new program development. Stanford reported on a number of occasions that its population was fairly well stabilized and expected to grow slowly. Undergraduate enrollments had been controlled at 6,500 --plus or minus 50 --since 1974. Graduate enrollments had been at the level of 6,600 for the past few years, and Stanford did not intendto control that as strictly but expected the rate of growth to stay slow. Faculty remained fairly constant. The total of n onhosp►ital employees stood at just over 7,000# only 394 more : than five years ago. It . was not the University's policy to grow, and initial projections showed the total campus population would grow at a rate of less than one-half percent a year from the present until the year 2000. The pressing need to accommodate those who worked and studied on the ca opus remained, and the scarcity of affordable housing was a major obstacle to faculty recruitment. Stanford developed a number of housing programs to help recruit faculty. They rejected several methods and decided the housing programs needed to be embedded in the residential economyof the Midpeninsuia area. It would be burdensome and undesirable to house all faculty.. on Stanford land, and the value of Stanford houses should be determined by the local market. Stanford did not 8 0 1 0 1/26/87 try to make housing attractive by controlling the price, but rather by explicit subsidies to faculty, by mortgage plans, and other means. Any development of housing not directly subsidized on Stanford land would be at market rates. They hoped to revive a scaled -down Stanford West project in the spring. A 12 -acre archeological preserve would make the site a more attractive academic preserve and would lower the density. However, the reduced 28 -acre site would have considerably fewer housing units than previously. The purpose was to develop rental and purchase housing for middle- and lower --income groups within Stanford, and the priorities would be Stanford faculty and staff and other employees on Stanford land. A complex for 780 single graduate students just off Escondido Road was currently in the approval stage. They were contemplating a 400 -bed undergraduate student dormitory in the next five or six years. When that was finished, all undergraduate students who wished to live on campus could do so. .The Centennial campaign would do much to enable the University to modernize an increasingly obsolete research and teaching physical plant. In progress was a major urban renewal project planned to take place over ten years. Stanford planned to tear down or renovate many old buildings and rebuild with new structures. The 41 -acre area would have about 1.2 million gross square feet on it. They planned to tear down 400,000 and build 800,000 tor an net of 400,000 gross square feet. That infilling in the central campus would reduce the tendency for the institu- tion to spread. The increase in square footage did not carry large increases in employment because academic structures were lightly populated, and the area in quetion was a science and engineering .area with many laboratories. Regarding the modifica- tion of Stanford's 1962 Use Permit from Santa Clara County the application for the revision had been withdrawn following consid- erable misunderstanding of its provisions. A new application was being worked out which was expected to be less confusing while meeting Stanford's desire to spell out its land use intentions as specifically as possible. Stanford believed the Sand Hill Road extension improvement project was badly needed and long overdue. A 1984 survey showed 64 percent of those living in Palo Alto and Menlo Park favored the extension and only 14 percent were opposed. The cost of the project and its mitigations increased from $2.2 million to $6 million. Stanford and City staff were discussing the possibility that Pa1.o Alto create an Assessment District to pay for the work. The District would include the same .parcels as those listed inatne 1976/77 proposal. Stanford offered to provide the land for the road at no , cost and believed the time had come for the jurisdictions involved to discuss a comprehensive solution to a vexing, long-standing problem. The Reagan Library was a matter of concern on Stanford and the larger community of the Mid - peninsula area. Stanford appreciated the City's support for the location of the library and the "think-tank" area in the Foothills. The library would be a valuable academic resource. 8 0 1 1 1/26/87 The location for the library was chosen because it was aca- demically important to be available to students and faculty, and so that academic, scholarly visitors to the library could have access to the Stanford community. Stanford was concerned and anxious to limit nonacademic visitors to the community. The site was being challenged, but Stanford hoped to be able to use the property for the educational purpose for which it was set aside. There seemed to be a general misconception that the Stanford Foothills were permanent open space, which was not Stanford's intention or belief. Stanford valued the lands and regarded them as a resource that must be preserved for their successors and would fight to preserve the lands as open space dedicated and reserved to academic purposes. Stanford also reserved the right to use the land as the needs appeared. His impression was there were no massive issues presently dividing Stanford and . Palo Alto nor did he see any in view. Many factors pulled them together. Stanford was a complex institution with many points, of view and encouraged a vigorous arena of discourse, dissent, and discussion. He thanked the Council for its friendship to the Stanford com- munity as a former Palo Alto resident and as a University offie cial. Councilmember Patitucci asked for clarification of the Times Tribune article .regarding a Reagan Center for .Public Policy Analysis. There `seemed to be an effort to locate the component close to the campus and create the kinds of activities the University rejected in its original approval of the Library. Mr. Rosso said a public affairs center was not a tourist attrac- tion but a.modestly sized research, scholarly place which brought in a small. number of scholars to think about issues, do research, write books and papers, with occasional conferencesi etc. Stanford did not know where the center would be -located nor that it would definitely be built. The committee he chaired considered three components to the proposal: 1) the library itself; 2) the museum= and 3) a public affairs center. The committee recommended the governance of the public policy center was better connected to the tan ive.rasty' a academic management, and specifically recommended the Provost play a role in the appointment of a govertement commit- tee. :-The e Ronald Reagan Foundation found that provision to be unacceptable and chose to move its public policy center elsewhere. Stanford did not anticipate an enormous amount of traffic would be generated betwoen the policy center and the library because the two faci.l itaea did not have a lot in cola Fon. Councilmember trails. Klein asked what would happen to - the jogging 8 0 1 2 1/26/87 1 Mr. Rosse said the jogging trails would basically be left in place and access to them would be somewhat easier. Stanford worried about access and preserving the Foothills in as natural a state as possible. Phil Williams said Stanford was planning to maintain and improve the jogging facilities, and the vegetation would be more complete and natural. The view would be a little different on part of the trail, but the access and use would not change. Councilmember Cobb perceived over the past few years the relation- ship between the University and the City was a positive one. He asked how that relationship was perceived by Stanford and whether there Rare any aspects that needed attention. Mr. Rosse believed Stanford and Palo Alto were strong partners in the community. The relationship had rocky times, and one of the causes was that Stanford had a long-range planning horizon with an objective of developing an academic enterprise and hardly paid attention to anything else. The Council and City had other con- cerns having to do with more general land use and off -campus traffic patterns. He believed the biggest difference was that the Council needed to listen carefully to its constituents and to reflect their interests in ways that did not always match up with Stanford's necessary interests. An honest recognition of the..,dif-� ferences of view kept them from fighting all the time but also was a source of continuing difficulties. It was remarkable how well the communities worked together, but because they were different kinds of institutions, they would always be pushing hard on each other to accomplish their divergent purposes. Councilmember Bechtel heard rumors that the Super Bowl might be at Stanford again in 1991. She asked if Stanford supported that move and about possible cost -sharing arrangements. Mr. Rosse said when Stanford undertook to host the Super Bowl the last . t; me, a t the behest of the larger Bay Area community, they agreed to consider the possibility of a second Super Bowl and were living up to that arrangement. If the Bay Area community wanted the event to happen, and if Stanford could pay its bills as a result, they would consider it. Stanford would want Palo Alto to be well represented and did not want to inadvertently place a burden on Palo Alto. He suggested Quentin Kopp and the National Football League were in a better position to answer questions. Mayor Woolley said Council had directed its .question to Quentin Kopp and would be putting something in the packet that week. She 8 0 1 3 1/26/87 authorized thanked the Stanford officials for the presentation. She said Council would be appreciative if something could be done to improve the turn -around time of the minutes of the City/Staff Liaison Committee, made up of Stanford and City staff. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 5k. 1987 MQTZONs Coencil.ember Bechtel roved, seconded by Levy, approval of the Minutes of. January 5, 1987, as submitted. NOTION PASSED unanimously. CONSENT CALENDAR Item 2, Agreement betweeen Santa Clara Valley Water District and City of Palo Alto for Construction of Bank Stabilization Measures along San Franciscquito Creek between Cowper and Waverley Street, was removed by staff. MOTIONS Couftilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by Levy, approval of the Consent Calendar. 3. AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO CONTRACT NO. 4667 WITH WEST VALLEY CONSTRUd'!ON COMPANY FOR GALVANIZED WATER SERVICE REPLACEMENT (CMR: 2317) (1120) 4. Staff is authorized to pay up to $46,000 to West Valley Construction Company for the replacement of approximately 50 additional galvanized water services, and to execute change orders to the amended contract up .to $5,000. AGREEMENT WITH MALCOLM JONES & ASSOCIATES FOR FUEL CELL iPFfIC1T a3S ASIBILITY STUDY (CMR:118:7) (11.01) Staff is further authorized to execute: change orders to the agreessnt`' in the amount of $9,450. 5. CONTRA (CMR: WITH DAVEY TREE SURGERY FOR TREE AND STUMP REMOVAL Staff is Surgery. 6. ORDINANCE 3733 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF TH LTY t5? PALO ALTO APl ROVING AND ADOPTING PLANS FOR THE SE C: RCEM T a ObOTHILLS LA: ` DAM4 (1st Reading 1/12/8 sent (CMR;5 6) (1321-12-01fir,, *OTtal MUD gwialsomsly pay up to $93,000 to Davey Tree 8 0 1 4 1/26/87 7. POLICY AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION RE STOP SIGNS AT EL VERANU/WAVERLEY A!ii�EL VERANO/SOUTH COURT (CMRz591:b) (1013) NOTION: Councilsember Klein for the \Policy and Procedures Committee moved that the City Council not.. change the current stop sign situation on El V raao/Waverley and El Marano/South Court. MOTION PASSED unanimously. 8. RECOMMENDATION FROM NEIGHBORS ABROAD FOR A SISTER CITY RELATIONSHIP WITH LINKOPING, SWEDEN t CMRl124 tom/ 1540-05 ) Marge Collins, 3950 Duncan Place, President of Neighbors Abroad, said their Board of Directors voted to propose to Palo Alto the establishment of a Sister City relationship with Linkoping, Sweden. For nearly 25 years, Neighbors Abroad operated under the auspices of the City of Palo Alto. The organization directed the activities of Palo Alto's Sister City program and deeply appre- ciated the support of the City Council and staff. Palo, Leyte, in the Philippines was the first Sister City affiliation in 1963, and Neighbors Abroad was deeply involved in a , joint project with Palo through a vocational education resource center offering classes to the young people of that city and the surrounding area. In 1964, Oaxaca became the second Sister City, and an active and stimu- lating relation hip began with many travel opportunities, .cultural exchanges, and more than 20 years of student exchanges. Oaxaca and Palo Alto jointly constructed an observatory and planetarium in Oaxaca, and last year's Oaxaca village exhibit at the Junior Museum was highly successful. In 197.8, Neighbors Abroad recommended acceptance of the third Sister ^ity, Enschede, in The Netherlands. The relationship grew through many visits and cultural exchanges. A fourth -year of summer student exchange was beginning, and they were hosting a concert in early spring featuring the troubadours of Enschede. Neighbors Abroad was part of Sister Cities International, which. numbered 1,200 affiliations representing a program of global goodwill, and which had given Palo Alto and Neighbors Abroad the Best Single Project, Award on four occasions, Patricia Sanders, .1004 McGregor Way, Liaison for Sister Cities International, reviewed the history of the Linkoping and Palo Alto relationship beginning in 1984 with a letter: from the Mayor of Linkoping and the President of Linkoping University proposing a bond of friendship. In 1985 a delegation from Linkoping visited Palo Alto, and several Neighbors Abroad board members traveled 'to Linkoping, In December 1985, the Board voted to propose the bond of friendship be formalized. She read .a formal letter (on file in the City Clerk's office) from the Mayor of Linkoping expressing pleasure at the recommendation and hoping the decision of the City Council would be according to the proposition presented by Neighbors Abroad. The relationship was not being entered into lightly nor inadvisedly. She read the information, a history of Linkoping and its University, which would be in the Neighbors Abroad new brochure if Council approved the recommendation. - Ralph White, 580 Van. Buren Place, Los Altos, said .Linkoping's population was approximately 120,000, it was located about 120 miles southwest .of Stockholm, and would celebrate its 700th anniversary in June, 1987. Linkoping was a city of aviation, medical and underwater technology, energy technology, and computer image processing and microprocessing technology. It was the home of the .'.Iniversity of Linkoping, which had long-standing ties with Stanford University. Palo Alto might benefit from a relationship with Linkoping in terms of its highly cost-effective refuse disposal program, its solutions to senior citizen and community housing needs, and in its advanced community garden program. Linkoping was the headquarters of the Saab. Corporation and where it built military and commercial aircraft. It was also the home of the Swedish Air Museum. Srita--Sting Hagstrom, 1365 Bay Laurel Avenue, Menlo Park, said it was a pleasure to represent Linkoping, where she lived for several years. On behalf of_ the City. Council of Linkoping, she conveyed greetings and invited representatives of the City Council and Neighbors Abroad to visit Linkoping in celebration of the. 700th year anniversary and the inauguration of the new concert hall in June in the presence of the King and Queen of Sweden. £0TION a CoencilMeeb•r Levy moved, seconded by Bechtel, to adopt staff recommendation atiera to approve the recommendation from Neighbors Abroad OCceptiog the invitation from. Linkoping, Sweden, to join with Palo 1t0 as a Suter City. RE ' : 061 65 l entitled "RESOLUTION. 4! THE COMM OF ALT ACCEPTING AN . IMVITATION ?RON THE CITY Of LINEi l , SIDES TO BECOME A SISTER CITY° Council er Levy *aid Neighbors Abroad carefully analyzed what it meant to take on • fourth Sister City and made the decision after several years of deliberation. He was confident the Linkoping: arrangement would continue the high standards Neighbors Abroad set in c000rdinating the other Sister City relationships. All the relationships were people -to -people and not government -to - government, and staff indicated that a fourth Sister City would have a minimal impact on staff: and City administration. He over- whelmingly endorsed the recommendation and urged its support. 8 0 1 6 1/26/87 Mayor Woolley said Vice Mayor Sutorius.. asked her to convey his enthusiasm for the project. She understood the impact on staff would be nonexistent. She believed Palo Alto had arrived at an optimum number of Sister Cities and suggested it would be wise to have the entire Council involved in some formal action at the beginning if Neighbors Abroad desired to consider another project. MOTION PASSED unanimously. 9. OHLONE SCHOOL SITE - RESPONSE TO SCHOOL DISTRICT INTENT TO LEASE OUTDOOR RECREATION AREA (CMR:120:7) (231) Mayor Woolley was unable to participate in the item due to a conflict of interest. MOTION: Councilmember Klein moved, seconded by Patitucci, to elect Councilmember Cobb as Mayor Pro Tem. MOTION PASSED unanimously, Woolley not participating,," Sutorius absent. Mayor Pro Tem Cobb said the item responded to the Palo Alto Unified School District's (PAUSD) intent to lease the old Ohlone School site recreational areas. City Manager Bill Zaner said the City had been in the business of acquiring, leasing, or renting PAUSD property since 1981 and had under its control 39 and one-half acres of open space either being purchased on a lease -purchase, or owned directly by the City in fee or under lease. The total cost of acquiring . the acreage to date was about $10.5 million, the largest portion for Terman. Council had acquired a substantial amount of open space for the community including almost seven school sites. Councilmember Patitucci asked if the provisions suggested by staff were likely to be acceptable by the PAUSD. Manager, Real Property, William Fellman said staff had not talked with the PAUSD directly, but the provisions were in previous leases. 8 0 1 7 ;1/26/87 MOTION: Coencilsember Bechtel moved, seconded by Klein, to appro►e staff recommendation to: 1. Adept Resolution expressing the City's .interest in leasing the identified portion of the Ohle a site.; a®d. 2. Direct staff to _negotiate the specific prof isions of a lease with Palo Alto Unified School District. RESOLUTION 6592 entitled 'RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE r b1TC 0 IAL0 ALTO EXPRESSING ITS INTENTION PURSUANT TO EDUCATION CODE SECTION 3l39R ET.SEQ., TO LEASE CERTAIN PROPERTY ` LOCATED ON THE OHLOIE SCHOOL SITE FROM THE PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT" Mayor Pro Tem Softball in the experiences the Cobb said the field., had been hard to get for past years and its absence had been felt. In his field had a great deal of use within the City. Councilmember Patitucci commended staff on its operations of the fields. He noticed the fields taken over by the City had steadily improved and believed the children who used the field in question would see the difference once it was under City's operations. NOTION PASSED unani ously, Woolley 'not. participating,'° Sutorims absent. ADJOURNMENT Council adjourned at 9:05 p.m. ATTEST: APPROVED: Mayor 041.4. S 0 1 $ 1/26/87