Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-01-27 City Council Summary MinutesCITY COUNCI L M1NUTEs ITEM Regular Meeting January 27, 1986 CITY et To PAC{) PAGE Oral Communications 6 7 8 6 Approval of Minutes of December 2, 1985 and 6 7 8 6 December 9, 1985 Item #1, Resolution Honoring Leland. 0. Levy 6 7 8 6 Consent Calendar 6 7 8 7 Referral 6 7 8.7 Action 6 7 8 7 Item #2, Animal Shelter Improvements 6 7 8 7 Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 6 7 8 7 Item #4, PUBLIC HEARING: Community Development 6 7 8 7 Block Grant Program Progress Report - Item #5, Planning Commission and Architectural 6 7 8 9 Review Board Recommendatiod re Foothills Park Dam, CIP 84-03, Site and Design Review Application, Park Improvement Ordinance Item #6, Planning Commission Recommendation re 6 8 0 0 Downtown Study Environmental tal Impact Report: Extension of Review Period Item #6-A, (Old Item #3), Ordinances re San Antonio 6 8 0 1 CS/GM Zone Study (2nd Reading) Mayor Cobb re Chief Planning Official Bruce 6 8 0 3 Freeland Item #7,Jordan/Garland School Site - Updated . 6 8 0 4 Status Report on Open Space Negotiations with Palo Alto Unified School District Adjournment: 10.00 p.m. 6 8 0 9 Kegu l ar Meeting January 27, 1986 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:30 p.m. PRESENT: Bechtel, Cobb, Fletcher, Klein, Levy (arrived at 7:35 p..m.), Patitucci, Renzel, Sutorius, Woolley ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 2, 1985 AND DECEMBER 9, 1985. MOTION: Councilmember Klein moved, seconded by Sutorius, approval of the Minutes of December 2, 1985 and December 9, 1985 as submitted. Councilmember Bechtel wanted to be recorded as "not participating" on the December 2, 1985 minutes. MOTION PASSED unanimously, Bechtel "not participating" on the Minutes of December 2, 1985. ITEM #I, RESOLUTION HONORING LELAND D. LEVY (COO 2) Mayor Cobb was privileged to honor Leland Levy for his service to the City as Mayor. Leland D. Levy served as Mayor of Palo Alto from January 21, 1985 to January 6, 1986, and appointed several outstanding members of the public to various committees such as the Arastradero. Preserve Committee, the Community Development Block Grant Citizens Advisory Committee, and the Rental Housing Mediation Task Force Committee. He represented the City of Palo Alto as the delegate to the City/School Liaison Committee, the Santa Clara County Inter -City Council, and the League of California Cities Peninsula Di vi Sion, and represented the City Council at numerous local events including groundbreaking and ribbon -cutting events, the May Fete Parade, the Arbor Day ceremo- nies, as a judge in the Annual Chili Cook Off Contest, the Japanese Cultural Festival, and numerous occasions welcoming visiting dignitaries. During his term, the City of Palo Alto con- tinued its tradition of maintaining an excellent quality of life by significantly adding to the recreational and cultural facili- ties such as the Gamble House Garden Center, the Terman Library, and to the City of Palo Alto's permanent collection Of art. Therefore, he and his colleagues on the City Council honored Leland D. Levy and conveyed to him their appreciation for his many services to the City of Palo Alto. MOTION: 4ayov Cobb moved, seconded by Sutorius, approval of the Resolution. RESOLUTION 6487 entitled *RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF lirrinnrrairma ALTO HONORING LELAND D. LEYYa MOTION PASSED by a vote of 8-0-1, Levy 'abstai of dg.." Mayor Cobb presented Councilmember Levy with a framed copy of the Resolution, a framed plaque saying, "Leland D. Levy, Mayor," from the Council Chambers, and In recognition of his service and unique contributions to the city a printed copy of the words to a famous hit song in Palo Alto, "Mayor Levy's Band* with his picture, signed by all the members of the. Band named in the song, including staff members and colleagues on the Council. It was given with appreciation and affection. Counci1 had lot of fun with all the good singing, and Mayor Levy's Band Was a happy band indeed. 6 7 8 6 1/27/86 Vice Mayor Woolley said the Councilmembers particularly appre- ciated the style with which Councilmember Levy carried out his duties. His musical entertainments were outstanding, both as a lyricist ani as a performer. His song, "Mayo r Levy's Band" was appreciated by Council and particularly by staff. She heard several comments that staff was delighted the Mayor took the time to compose something especially for the occasion. She particu- larly enjoyed the saga of Charlie, being a Southgate resident. She had not yet learned it,'but intended to do so. It was most unusual that Councilmember Levy actually conducted the Youth Orchestra when it was present in the Council Chambers. She knew he thoroughly enjoyed being Mayor, and his colleagues were grate- ful for his extraordinary devotion. Mayor Cobb seconded Vice Mayor Woolley's comments on behalf of all the Councilmembers. Councilmember Levy thanked the Council for the presentations, his colleagues and staff for their cooperation during the year. He heard it said in times past that some of their predecessors did not get along well with each other and were acrimonious. It was not the case with the present Council. They were divided on issues, but were never divided as far as personalities were con- cerned or as far as their objective of working together for the good of the community, and he appreciated the support he received toward that end. CONSENT CALENDAR Mayor Cobb removed Ik.em #3, Ordinances re San Antonio CS/GM Zone Study (2nd Reading) , at the request of a member of the public. MOTION: Vice Mayor Woolley moved, seconded by Klein, approval of the Consent Celendar. Referral None Action ITEM f2, ANIMAL SHELTER IMPROVEMENTS (SAF 3-2) (CMR:3.25:6) Staff recommends that Council: I. Authorize the Mayor to execute the contract with Schmaltz Construction Company in the amount of $15,852. 2. Authorize staff to execute change. orders to the contract of up to $2,500. AWARD OF CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT Schmaltz Construction Company MOTION PASSED unanimously. AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS City Manager Bill Zaner said Item #3, Ordinances re San Antonio CS/GM Zone Study (2nd Reading) would become Item #6-A. ITEM! f4 PUSi.IC HEARING: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT ( CM11:1114761 Councilmember Levy referred to the Housing Improvement Program (HIP) , and asked whether the City could loan back the 'money when it was repaid .to the City, and was it then free to be used either for the Housing Improvement ,Program or any other programs. 6 7 8 7 1/27/86 Planning Administrator Toby Kramer said money was put into a fund to be used to originate new loans for rchabflitatioe of housing units, which was where most of the money came from. About half of the funds used every year came from the revolving loan fund. The funds could not be used for other kinds of programs; the money was earmarked for other HIP loans. Councilmember Levy asked how staff planned to account for the funds in the future. Would they automatically go into the HIP unless Council asked they be earmarked elsewhere. Ms. Kramer believed the funds had to be used that way unless some- thing could be done to change it. Program income had to be used for eligible Block Grant activities, and the City depended on those funds to sustain the housing rehabilitation at 30 units a year.. It would continue to do it that way especially with the funding cut -backs. Staff was presently, starting the application process for 1986-1987, and received funding requests for about 18 activities which totaled about $875,000. However, the City had not received any allocations from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) because of many issues facing the adminis- tration in Congress which might substantially reduce the amount of money the City would receive the following year. They were pres- ently talking about cuts between 25 to 32 percent for the Block Grant program, which gave the City only about $433,000 to $478,000 the following year in funds; therefore, the City had about twice as many applicants as it had funding. Some of the communities tried to mobilize together to get support to do what they could to fight some of the legislation, or at least direct the administra- tion to not defer some of the funds for 1986-1987 3S proposed. She recommended Council to direct the Legislative Committee to look into the matter a little further to see what kinds of impacts the substantial cut s had on Palo Alto programs and return with some kind of action. City Manager Bill Zaner clarified the response to Councilmember Levy's question, and said the funds which returned to HIP, i.e., the repayments, 'sere presently programmed to be re --lent out under Council policy, There was nothing, however, to prohibit Council from using those funds for some other purpose as long as the pur- pose was Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) eligible. Council could not use the funds for General Fund purposes, but could redesignate those funds for any CDBG program. Councilmember Fletcher .said with regard to referring the funding problem to the Legislative Committee, she was concerned about the time element because she read in the press the administration had to act by February, and the cuts would become effective in March, which left a rather short time for the Committee to become involved. Ms. Kramer agreed it was a short fuse. She understood from talking to people that day they were looking for opportunities during the February recess of Congress to: talk to members of Congress to see what they could direct. The administration plane ned to take action quickly, but it looked as if the February 12 Legislative Committee meeting might be an opportunity to take some action so word could get to the City's representatives in Congress. Councilmember Fletcher said that was fine, and if there was a more urgent time line, she believed Vicci Rudin had authority from Council to fight for the funds. Councilmember Sutorius observed a very small portion of the cost of the HIP, as with other programs, went toward administration over all of the programs. In, the years the City had detailed records, the cost of administration averaged about three and one - quarter percent, and in the most recent years about two percent. It was an admirable record for the most current year, and a good record for the eight year average. 1 1 Councilmember Patituccl said if there was a prospect funds would be reduced, it looked as if most of the programs funded currently were continuations of past activities. He asked if anything was brand new, or if the City promised somebody it might expand in the future, and in fact, might not be able to meet those commitments. Ms. Kramer said staff was going to look carefully at the issue with the Citizen Advisory Committee which met during February. Some programs were ongoing, administrative, service -type function, and were funded many years, and many relied largely on CDBG funds. Other programs were individual projects which could use partially CDBG funds and partially other funds; which could be completed within the year's time. Those projects were one-shot deals which might be cut, and staff would have to do some trimming. The list before the Council was for projects funded from 1984 to 1986. Councilmember Patituccl said the only project which seemed to have new funding in 1985-1986 was the Emergency Fund;ug Housing Renovation Project. sHe questioned whether it was the start of an ongoing, continuous program or a time -limited project. If not, people ought to be aware they might not get fully funded on a con- tinuing basis in the future. Ms. Kramer said the CDBG funded the renovation; the actual admin- istration was something the people took care of themselves. Many times renovations were done in increments and people looked each year to get as much funding as possible to be able to continue on to do other improvements in the project. Some of the projects would be unable to get funding the following year at all. Staff would have to make careful choices. Mayor Cobb declared the public hearing npen. keceiving no requests,from the public to speak, he declared the public hearing closed. Councilmember Levy said staff indicated they were interested in Council feedback, and he endorsed the CDBG program and the manner in which the grants were decided. He believed the public commit- tee which recommended the CDBG grants over the years was well handled, and he was pleased with the way the funds were used. If Council was forced to cut back on CDBG, he hoped the funds paid back into the HIP were looked upon as belonging to the total CDBG program so they could be used to fund other elements of it if nec- essary. It was not to say the HIP was not good, but as the $2,000,000 principal amount out there was paid back, Council might have more funds for the program and less for some of the other programs Council wou"d like to fund. Councilmember Bechtel said Council had a clear, readable report and she applauded the staff member. She concurred with Councilmember Levy the process of involving members of the public in making the decisions and recommendations to the Finance and Public Works (F&PW) Committee and ultimately to Council was excel- lent. Mayor Cobb seconded the remarks made by Councilmembers Levy and Bechtel. ITEM #5 PLANNING . COMMISSION AND ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD L . DAM C4 O3 filr [FSl . D'2SI�FF AE'VIt U APPL ICATIO it PARK IMP#i� W 8ENT ; A 2-15) {C R:14O:61. Councilmember Sutori us had an area of questioning that did not directly get into the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) as far as its evaluation of the proposal, but came to the subject of both the cost and, outcome of the process. A letter from the Department of Water Resources (on file in the City Clerk's office) commented that, "If the repair is made, the State Division of Safety of Dams t/i75488 does not require the lake to be drained. However, it is riot tech- nically feasible to du the repair work saf -1y without draining the lake and reducing the total saturation of the dam embankment." The comment was appropriately incorporated in the EIR. However, the Department of Water Resources also said, "If no repair is made, the owner has to take the dam out of State jurisdiction either by reducing the reservoir capacity to less than 15 acre-feet, or by lowering the dam height to less than 25 feet." That comment, along with the additional information received on the item on the increased cost for taki►rg the necessary repair action to preserve Boronda Lake, triggered a question. Boronda Lake was between a 10 -acre and 12 -acre lake, and there was to 1,800,000 cubic feet volume at the current water levels, which he believed meant at the normal current, not that day's current. It translated to some- thing in the vicinity of 40 to 41 acre-feet of historic and continued volume if the lake was maintained. in its present con- figuration. Fifteen acre-feet took the lake and the dam out of the jurisdiction of the State, and he was sure the standard related to the volume of water therein contained in the event of a catastrophy had such low life risk associated with it, the State did not maintaia jurisdiction over water bodies behind dams of such, low volume. He appreciated the effects of eutrophication and recognized a bodyof water had to have a certain depth and mixing effect in order to avoid turning into a marsh, and ultimately, swamp over. Among the various alternatives Council reviewed, he did not recall any cost effective alternative which looked at a reduced size of the lake which retained the water amenity in Foothill Park they all enjoyed and wanted to preserve. He did not know where the depth was to avoid great additional expense as far as eutrophication, but the City presently paid money out periodic- ally to clean the lake, and would probably have to pay money in future periods if the City were to maintain the lake at i ..s hi atori c levels. It could also pay money at a lower level to rnaiitain the lake as a water resource, a scenic resource, an aesthetic resource and, perhaps, eliminate a great deal of the projected costs involved in the restoration. He asked staff about the pros and cons, what types of analyses were made, if any, and what type of analyses needed to be made if a reduced lake size appeared to be a viable alternative to the proposal currently under consideration. Director of Pu'al is Works David Adams deferred to Project Engineer Pat Stone. who, together with the consultants looked into the matter in the past. Senior Engineer Pat Stone first addressed the Division of Safety of Dams, and the statement if the water level in the lake was reduced to 15 acre-feet, there was a lower life risk factor. He believed it could be the case, but did not necessarily believe it would be the case for certain. Staff looked at many different ways in which the lake volume of water could be reduced. One way might be to lower the water level to approximately one and one- third feet in depth, whereas the depth was now approximately four feet. It presented many problems with eutrophication, management of the pond weed which grew prolifically, and the cattails, etc. Staff discussed the matter with the Director of Parks who believed it would be an enormous maintenance problem to approach a smaller lake volume where the depth level was only one and one-half feet based upon the maintenance conditions. Regarding . the safety factors, with an earthquake registering eight on the Richter Scale, and a depth of water of approximately one foot, staff did not know precisely how the dam would fail. All of the soils information indicated a deformation of anywhere from 6 to 13 feet vertically, or a . slip -out of the dare. If, in conjunction with the slip -out, a crevasse opened up directly over the road which tra- versed down the dare perpendicular and parallel to the crest, there could be a sudden release. of water equal to the first one -foot of water to come out in a four -foot depth lake which might be 1 1 1 b 7 9 0 1/27/86. basically no less ha7ardotts than a foot of water in a lake only one foot deep. Staff did not believe there was any guarantee the danger or risk involved with a 15 acre-foot volume w_ a s any less than a 45 acre-foot volume. Staff also considered other options for reducing the volume of water, like building a perimeter berm similar to the crest around the perimeter of the lake to essen- tially close in the lake shoreline area, which could be an expensive proposition and did not appear to be a practical approach. The surface area of the lake was approximately 500,000 square feet, and if it wase reduced to one-third, something like 125,000 to 130,000 square feet, it was a pretty small lake surface area, and staff was uncomfortable about' a lake that size. How- ever, when staff started addressing the issue, there were engineering problems with building a berm on the shoreline to contain the water with the soil materials in the lakebed area in terms of removing bad soil materials in the lakebed. An ade- quately engineered fill could be built eight feet above the existing lakebed area to contain the lake, but involved a lot of soil excavation to get down to basically good soil material upon which to build an engineered fill, which was an undesirable thing to do. Assistant Director of Public Works George Bagdon said if the lake was lowered to one and one -quarter feet, or lower, it would be taken out of jurisdiction of the State Office of Dams. No matter what the depth of water, there was still a risk to the City of an earth slip -out. From an engineering standpoint, staff did not want to pursue fixing the dam, The City needed to fix the dam no matter what depth the water was because there would still be an earth slip -out whether there was one inch of water or four feet of water in the lake. The dam °gas saturated in either case. Councilmember Sutorius clarified even in a dry -bed situations, something needed to be done as far as the existing dam. Mr. Bagdon said that was correct. He clarified the saturation below the dam caused the problem, and the water could be saturated by underground springs, or by water ponded on the lake as it was presently. Unless the soil was dry beneath the lakebed, the City could still have earth slippage. Councilmember Sutorius clarified the lake would have to be emptied and excavated to find out whether artesian situations contributed to the problem. Whatever the solution, the City needed to get down there anyway. Mr. Bagdon said the solution was not to eliminate the saturation, but to remove it; to drain it out with underground draining. Councilmember Sutorius clarified even if it was determined to be necessary to drain the lake and not restore it, there was still work to be done to relieve the problem of continued saturation of the earthen area. Mr. Bagdon said if the lake was drained, staff would get a better idea of how big the problem was in terms of how much water wa.s actually draining from under the lake Staff could not fully assess the problem with the lake being full. They wanted to drain.. the lake to_. see the effects of underground springs, etc. to see how much drainage needed to take piece, which was why staff's pro- posal was to drain the lake and let it sit for five months. Councilmember Klein asked for further clarification. If Council changed its mini and decided it did not want to replace the lake., but to turn i t into a meadow, would the dam have to be repaired. 6 7.g 1 1/27/B6 Mr. Adams said staff would first see to it the area was dry; then, soils tusts would be made to determine if the area remained sat- urated. If it was the condition, staff would return with a recommendation to fix the known condition. Councilmember Klein asked if it would be the same type of fix Council had before it with regard to replenishing the lake. Mr. Adams said it might be of the same nature, but if there was water in the lake, the face of the dam would be saturated. If there was not water in the lake, it might not be saturated. Assuming it was not saturated, the area could remain dry, but staff could make no certain predictions until the area was dry and tests were made. Mr. Bagdon said the cost and scope of the repair work could be affected by what staff found after leaving the lake dry for four or five months and took tests. The work might not be as extensive or as expensive. Councilmember Klein assumed staff's rationale because of the dif- ferences in cost estimates between dam replacement and turning the lake into a meadow. If he understood the report correctly, Council was talking about almost a $600,000 difference. Where was the difference in the money. Mr. Adams said the low end of $250,000 assumed no major remedial work on the face of the dam. Councilmember Klein said the worst case figure was $750,000 to leave it as a meadow= Mr. Bagdon said t..e worst case assumption was as a Site and Design mitigation measure, staff would have to actually grass or sod the entire area and put an irrigation system in. Councilmember Klein asked about the difference between the two alternatives, and what the extra $550,000 was for if they went back to the lake and reconstructed the dam. Mr. Adams said it was a matter of being sure construction was unnecessary on the dam after the lake was drained. Staff knew with any water, the dam -must be fixed. Staff was certain when the area was dry, the dam would not have to be fixed, but there way an element of uncertainty until the condition was reached and tests were made. Mr. Stone believed once the lake was drained, staff would file an application to the Division of Safety Dams to remove; the dam from their jurisdiction. It would require meeting a couple of crite- ria, one of which was to lower:; the capacity plate retention area behind the dam .to 15 mega -feet or less, which could be done by locking off the crest of the dam. If that was done and if the lakebed area was graded, it would no longer be in the jurisdiction of the Division of Safety Dams. Staff would probably not have any additional problem in terms of loss of life danger. Councilmember Klein asked if Council could rely on the figures whereby if it turned the lake into a meadow, the cost would not exceed $750,000. Mr. Stone said $750,000 was staff`s best cost estimate presently. If the area were turned into a meadow, the costs should not go over the figure indicated. Councilmember Klein asked if they could. 6 7 9 2 1/27/86 Mr. Bagdon said council was asking the impossible because the Office of Safe Dams could put regulations on their releasing jur- isdiction of the dam. Staff did riot know what requirements might.. be placed on it, and would not know until a . formal application was filed to remove the dam from their jurisdiction. Staff did not believe there was anything in addition to the $750,000, but it was not within staff's control to guarantee it. Councilmember Klein asked how much it cost to maintain the lake annually. Mr. Bagdon said as water leaked out of the lake, fresh water had to be put back in at a cost of about $25,000 or $26,000 annually. Basically, the lake was filled up 1.5 times per year. Councilmember Klein clarified removal of the cattails was about $35,000 every three or four years. Mr. Bagdon said that was correct. Councilmember Klein clarified it was approximately $35,000 a year to maintain the lake. Mr. Bagdon said that was correct. Vice Mayor Woolley understood the lake used to be a meadow area, and she asked if there were materials available which showed what the area was like originally, or even what it looked like when the City gained possession. Mr. Store said there were aerial photos which showed the area prior to the existence of the lake. Vice Mayor Woolley asked if it W4S somewhat like the lower meadow area. Mr. Stone said the area where the lake presently existed -was a meadow in appearance and there was no vegetation growing in the area. It was a valley -meadow -type area. The hills surrounded, but they were not right where the lake was. Vice Mayor Wool l eN asked if the flyers handed out to the public mentioned the costs involved with fixing the dam. Mr. Adams said no. Vice Mayor Woolley asked if the costs for an excessive amount of grading, should it become necessary, were incorporated in the present figures. Mr. Stone said only the costs -of moderate grading were accounted for. Substantial grading would cost more money. Vice Mayor Woolley referred to the preferred fill area, and said the slops there was 14:1. A statement in the EIR said when the grading was finished, the finished slope would not exceed 2:1. She did 'not understand how it could be accomplished. M r.:Stone said staff would basically use conventional fill placing methods and lay the ri l i material s-- down in increments of 12 inches successively until the entire area was flat and keyed into the -hillside. There was a surface area of 400,000 square feet, and. -- then they= would begin laying the next layer of 12 inches of WI. material and continue to do it successively until it rose i'r1 el e vation at which time they would be .keyed into the hillside eehere the, slope was approximately 14 percent. It was not --difficult. - Councilmember Bechtel believed Council reluctantly approved going ahead with the project 'when it was half the cost because_ of the price and location. She asked about the implications in terms of timing if a decision were delayed for a while. She realized statt wanted to get things done before the next year's rainy season. She asked about a delay on the utilities relocation. What would happen in terms of the ongoing project if the lake drainage were finished and it sat for a while to see what happened. Mr. Adams said staff would be delayed a year. If staff could not proceed with advertising for the relocation of utilities by the end of February, staff would be delayed a year. The utilities must be relocated before starting with the dam. Unless the con- tract were awarded in early April, there would not be suffic;.ent time tr. relocate the utilities in time for the work to start on the dam. If a decision were delayed beyond the end of February, it would mean Council decided to postpone forea year. Councilmernber Bechtel clarified a decision needed to be made by February 24. Mr. Adams said it was the maximum, but staff preferred a decision to do it or not that evening because staff would continue with planning as if Council was going to go ahead with the project between that evening and the end of February. Mayor Cobb asked about the likelihood of the projected cost of $1.3 million being more if Council went ahead with the lake. Mr. Bagdon said staff was previously before Council with one number, and were there again that evening. They were trying to ensure it did not return a third time, and tried to consider the worst case scenario all the way around. Mayor Cobb clarified the number might improve, but would not likely get worse. Mr. Bagdon said that was correct. Mayor Cobb realized the $750,000 represented an upper limit of the no refill case, and $1.3 million represented the uppper limit of the refill it case. I e staff had to speculate, he asked for a ballpark about the real aifference in cost between refilling and not refilling. Mr. Bagdon said he would use the same level of confidence on the high end of both estimates. Mayor Cobb asked about the impacts on other CIP programs in the City if the lake were refilled. City Manager Bill Zaner did not anticipate any impacts partially because the City had reserves for unusual events. The dam leakage was an unusual catastrophic event. Staff would expect to go to tte reserve fund and it weel root affect the rest of the CIP. Mayor Cobb referred to the one cost related to the overall costs of the over time, and he asked for elaboration. Mr. Zaner said the amount of capital costs put into Foothills Park over a period of time was relatively small. The last major repairs to the park were the flooding repairs done a few years ago. Extensive repair from flooding was required to the park from both the -General Fund and the Utility Fund. Aside from the ongoing maintenance costs each rear of filling the c- :ke and the prorated costs of cleaning the lake out, Foothills Park did not cause much additional expenditure. Other parks had their own maintenance requirements, but Foothills Park had a different set. Over the long haul, Foothills Park was good to the City in the sense it did not cost a great deal of money to operate. Staff anticipated the costs referred to coming out of the Utility Fund for their. portion* and a portion coming out of the reserves. Councilmember Patitucci asked how Many po'pl t!�ew take per it},ar Oacn dud Mr. Adams had no breakdown of how many used the lake versus other areas, but he believed it was 250,000 visits per year. Councilmembar Patitucci suggested the possibility of a surcharge of one dollar ($1) would pay for the improvements over three years. He referred to having a smaller lake. He understood the project was to take the berm -type dam and backfill it along where the road was to ,strengthen that side after all the inappropriate soil was taken out and new soil was put in, and then the back of the dam was strengthened. He asked if the front of the dam could just be filled in to make a smaller lake. Mr. Stone said the option was looked at, but the problem was the dam itself. The "downstream berm" was saturated, and if a stabil- ity berm was placed on top of the existing berm, it would not strengthen the dam because there would still be saturated soil, which was what caused the soil in the dam to become weak and subject to failure in the event of a major earthquake. Some pro- vision had to be allowed for draining the water. Councilmember Patitucci asked if the lake could be drained and nothing more done to see how people felt about it. Mr. Adams said yes. Councilmember Levy saidit was mentioned an alternative to fishing on Boronda Lake was fishing on the lake in the Arastradero Preserve. The Arastradero Preserve seemed to have a different set of access problems, and he asked for comment on the usefulness of Arastradero Lake as an alternative to fishing on Boronda Lake. Zoning Administrator Bob Brown. had a transparency of Arastradero Lake which showed it to be about three to four acres in size, roughly one-third the size of Boronda Lake. There were access problems. The Arastra Park plan did not include vehicular access to the lake so it -was accessed by about a one-third mile long trail from the parking lot, and also did :rrot have improvements such as the dock, etc., which Boronda had. However, its fish population was enhanced from the draining of Boronda Lake. It would be possible, by amending the Arastra Plan, to provide a greater .degree of access to Arastradero Lake if -desired. Councilmember Levy said a one-third mile did not seem long, but he recalled there were not many good sites around Arastradero Lake for fishing. Mr. Brown said there could be. There were not many steep banks, and there might be some cattail removal required, a'nd possibly the addition of a dock, but with some degree of maintenance and rela- tively few improvements, it could become a decent fishing lake. Mr. Zaner said improvements to Arastradero Lake began to change the character of the hrastra Park a The Council's policy and advice from the citizens' committee was to have a passive, non - active park. One advantage of the lake at Foothills Park was it was close to the entrance so the lake activity, including people who picnicked on the -green next to the lake and the small ameunt of boating and fishing, .was confined to the front end of the park, and the Aautomobiles did not have to penetrate all the way down into the park. In the cave -of Arastradero Lake, one-third . of a mile walk was not too far, but it would change the nature of the area especially if vehicular traffic were --..allowed. Regarding _safety,' the iake at Foothills Park was open and easily viewable by the rangers, end the children who used the lake had some degree of. safety from adults An the neighborhood and nearby. The Arastradero Lake was more isolated and chtlhen who might us it would be some distance away from adults. 6 7 9 5 1/27/86 As corrected 3/03/86 Vice Mayor Woolley said if the lake remained empty for the summer and nothing was done about the dam, could they find out how the citizens of Palo Alto felt about it, and could the cost figures be made more firm. Mr. Bagdon said one of the major cost increases was the amount of money set aside for dewatering and working the wet soil at the base of the dam when the lake was repaired. If, when the lake was drained, the conditions were found to be dryer, they would not have to extend the amount of money for working the wet soil and the cost of the improvement would go down. Vice Mayor Woolley asked about the range they were working with. Mr. Stone said in terms of a reduction in cost due to being able to remove the water thoroughly and effectively over a year long period, they might be talking about lowering the cost between $125,000 and $175,000. The bids might be more competitive and the contractors would be assured there would be less unknowns in bid- ding the project which would be an encouragement to contractor's. Mr. Bagdon said on page 2 of CMR:140:6, No. 2 specifically addressed dewatering and soil saturation, and the total cost of both items was an additional $270,000. It was the figure which could be reduced. Councilmember Sutorius asked about the average depth ef. the Arastradero Lake._ Mr. Brown was not certain of the actual depth, but it was quite a bit deeper than Boronda Lake. Councilmember Sutorius said its size would potentially faJ,1 within the jurisdiction of the State Bureau of Dams. Mr. Stone said to his knowledge there was never any discussion with the Division of Safety Dams about the Arastradero Lake dam. Mr. Bagdon said staff knew of no inspections by the Division of Safety Dams so he assumed it was not under their jurisdiction. Geoffrey Paulsen, 630 Los Trancos Woods Road, spoke as a citizen, Palo Alto taxpayer and landowner directly downstream from the lake. He recommended Boronda Lake be closed partially because of the amount of Hetch-Hetchy water required. It was , ironic they used Hetch-Hetchy water which flooded in Yosemite to unnaturally flood a valley in a nature preserve in Palo Alto. Another problem was the ongoing maintenance costs of scraping the cattails out and mowing the weeds because it was such a shallow lake. His biggest reason for closure was the cost as he believed $1.3 million was a lot of money to spent on an unnatural lake. It was more than Palo Alto spent to buy the land to make the park in the first place. An alternative might be fishing and small boating in the Arastradero Preserve. However, sailboats would not be able to sail at the Arastradero Preserve and sailors were having a hard time that year. He pointed out San Francisco Bay nearby which provided some of the best sailing in the world. If the valve were closed and the lake drained, it would probably look like a marsh at low tide for the first year. A 1939 aerial photograph showed a dry area, and he believed it was used to tai.ge hay in the area and suspected it would return to it. He believed a meadow could be produced with fairly minimal cost. The lake was beautiful, and it would be hard for a lot 9f Palo Al tana to accept the lake looking like a +udhole for a year, As lit gradually turned into a meadow, he believed the change would , fits easier to accept. He proposed consideration of permanent lake closure, rnd believed it sounded good to wa i t a year to seehoer the puhl is responded. 6-7 9 6 1/27/86 Councilmember Fletcher was uncomfortable approving site and design for the project considering the recent information about the sub- stantial costs. She was sure the general public was unaware of the casts, and they deserved to hove public debate on the issue. It should be more than just a couple of weeks, and there should be time for the -community to consider the different alternatives. It Night increase the costs slightly to leave the lake dry for a year, but on the other hand, the lakebed might dry out more and cause the costs to be reduced. MOTION: Councilmember Fletcher moved, seconded by Woolley, to delay approval of the application for Site and Design approval to stabilize the Boronda Lake Dam at Foothills Park until staff provides.a further report related to costs and other alternatives included but not limited to filling the lake. Mr. Zaner suggested if Council wanted to delay the project, it be done until staff had hard cost information with which to return. Councilmember Klein asked if the costs would also relate to the option of refilling the lake and turning it into a meadow. Mr. Zaner said staff would drain the lake, see what happened, and return with a report. Councilmember Klein was concerned about extensive publicity which also talked about comparative costs. AMENDMENT: Councilmember Klein moved, seconded by Sutorias, that during suck time as the lake was drained, staff prepare information to be disseminated to the public as to why ft was being done and the tentative costs of proposed solutions to the problem. AMENDMENT INCORPORATED INTO MAIN MOTION BY MAKER AND SECOND Councilmember Patitucci agreed there should be a pamphlet at Foothills Park gate or something to inform people why the lake was drained, and the options being considered by Council in the future. Councilmember Levy asked what the area would be like in the summer when the park was used heavily. If Council continued a eng with its original plan, ht asked if there would be a new 1 ake in the summer. Mr. Adams said no. He said the construction project would limit. access to the park. Councilmember Levy clarified there would be no use of the drained lake. • Mr. Adams said that was correct. Under the construction project or the current proposal, the lake would be graded so it would drain, and it would be open until the dam was fixed. Councilmember Ley,; •esUed to what degree the public would have a feel for what the _area might be like as a meadow. Mr. Adams said they. would see the cattails removed and -the general area graded in a manner .to drain the water. It would not have any vegetation except what_sprouted up in --the summer. Councilmember Levy said- i t would not be available for use in any way. Mr. Adams said it would be pasted off limits _i n some manner. 6 7 9 7. 1/27/86 Councilmember Levy asked if staff could return with an innicetinn of costs to develop Arastradcro Lake as an altornative. By "develop" he di d • not mean -intense development, but the I. -Hues Bob Brown mentioned ;T terms of clearing cattails to make it a little more accessible for people who wanted to fish. His intent was for -people to be able to walk up -and have a pleasant area for fishing, and had no interest in vehicular traffic. Mr. Adams said staff could do that. Councilmember Levy had mixed feelings regarding the motion and welcomed the opportunity to go slowly. Mayor Cobb opposed the motion because he believed Council shoul d move ahead. Closing the lake would change the entire character of Foothills Park, and the lake was a focus of family activities in Palo Alto for many years. It was a place where dads and moms could take their kids to fish, or watch the ducks, or du simple boating. They were nice family activities together with the meadows and other parts of the park. It was s also a place where senior citizens could go and literally park next to the lake and watch the ectivities and the young people taking advantage of them. His children were too old to take there, but he still went to refresh himself, which was exactly the kind of environment it provided for people. It was special in Palo Alto, and a lot of generations went through every year and enjoyed the same kinds of things his family did. He believed the cost issue was a little out of proportion. Tne difference in cost between draining the lake and turning the area into a meadow, aed the cost of actually refilling the lake was a lot of money, but the cost spread over the fix they were talking about making, which he assumed was a 20 -year or more life, was really a small animal cost. The annual cost to maintain the lake was also small. It was a hard hit on the present budget, and he did not welcome it, but when he thought of generations deprived of the lake, it was a significant change in character Council should not do. When the public found out about it, and even when they understood the cost, he believed they would strongly support going ahead with the lake. It had to cost less to restore the•_ l ake then instead of in a year or two after considerable public reaction. He did not see Arastradero Lake as an acceptable alternative. The idea of a senior citizen driving up and watching the kids would not work because they would have to hike in. In terms of a family carting their kids in, some would and same would not. In any event, it split the activities to go to one park. Arastra Preserve was supposed to be a low inten- sity use park, and it would increase the intensity if used as a lake. He perceived Foothills Park as a family park and did not believe Arastradero replaced it. It simply split the activities up and probably did more harm to the Arastradero preserve then he liked to see. He preferred Council focus its energies on keeping the cost as low as possible and get a jb done he believed the public wanted. He would vote against the motion. Assuming the motion passed and Council wanted to get back on track of the schedule, he asked about the "drop -dead" date for taking action. Mr. Adams said February 24 was the last date, and staff had to proceed from that date on as if they were going to do the project, continue with design and preparation of plans and specifications for the relocation of utilities. Mayor Cobb said staff would not have its public outreach program together nor any better cc±st data by then, so whatever public reaction garnered in the. next four weeks would be based on the same kinds of visceral feelings he had. He hoped there was enough to persuade his colleagues, if they supported the motion, to change their view at that time. He suspected there was a lot. of support for his view in the community and hoped it was firth- coming, s 7 9 8 1/27/86 Councilmember Sutorius said his comments paralleled Mayor Cobb's about 98 percent, but he supported the motion. He agreed in terms of the value of Foothill Park as a family experience, and the use of the Park including Boronda Lake. If the cost factors were not the way they were, the agenda item probably would have been more brief and Council would have commended staff, their consultants Nancy Hardesty and Earth Science Associates, for a good ens: iron= mental document. The ARB and Planning Commission gave the Matter careful thought and attention, and the documentation was such that if Council only addressed the EIR from a site and design stand- point without the financial cloud, Council would have moved ahead by then. However, it was dealing with a situation where costs had risen substantially. When Council was first presented with the problem with the dam and what the alternatives appeared to be, including the ._construction techniques involved, Councilmember Klein identified the alternatives as "Bad, Worse, and Worst." Councilmember Klein was wrong, those alternatives were not the worst because it got significantly "worse." As far as the costs, -11-e appreciated the concern about the "'delay factor of a year, but the potential year delay reduced the risk of the worse case scenario because it meant a dewatering through natural processes and considerably more could be achieved in that way than by what was proposed for the start date of the project that year. In fact, the recommended construction start date was advanced to early June. e Therefore, the allowance for dewatering built into the initial proposal was no longer there. Secondly, from a cost standpoint, he had yet to see a contract proposal go before the Council which did not have a built in contingency of 10 or 15 per- cent. If the real.worst..case evolved, the $1,280,000 could turn out to be more, and as far a s the effect of inflation, it was not as damaging with inflation running at the present three to four percent as in years past when Council looked at the delay factors in increasing the cost. The proposed action was sound. He agreed with Mayor Cobb on his regret if it turned out Palo Alto could not retain the lake. He hoped a lake of a slightly tower depth and smaller surface area could contain the water resource in a safe fashion, and was sc;ry to hear it was _not possible. He visited the ducks moved to Arastradero Lake that day, and said they were fine. Councilmember Renzel reluctantly agreed with Councilmember Sutorius and also with his concurrence e.eh Mayor. Cobb. She hoped Boronda Lake could be preserved. It made sense to postpone for one year in order to know exactly what they were dealing in terms of drying the lake out since the major portion of the financial cost contingencies were related to what kind of soil conditions would be found, and it removed a substantial amount of uncertainty for Council, for, contractors, and for everyone. The lake was a tremendous aspect of Foothills Park, and she agreed with Mayor Cobb in the desire to retain the lake. She hoped Council would feel more comfortable when it better knew the situation. Even though there would be some inflation in cost over the year, the removal of the Uncertainty might provide more Competition in the bidding and perhaps sore better prices in the end. A good solu- tion might be a two -stage project. Councilmembers should probably be prepared to hear from many disgruntled citizens during the year as they went to the park for the first time and found what was happening. -- Councilmember Kleiit agreed with much of what Councilmembers Sutorius and Renzel stated, and thanked Geoff Paulsen as well as the others for their thoughtful comments, which made him rethink his position on the issue. He stood --at Boronda Lake that after- noon and it was hard to imagine a meadow •looking as good as the lake did. If the only issue was whether to save the lake, then he agreed with Mayor Cobb, but it was not the only alternative. The alternative of taking another year made sense; and, if he heard :staff correctly, it would produce some cost savings. It also gave time for public support. It was -distressing -Council had not had any public input except for Mr. Paulsen's. It was a major issue 6 7 9 9 _ 1/27/86 As corrected 3/03/86 the people ought to know about if for no otheu reason than to qet the idea across the lake was not tree. Maybe the City ought to follow up with Councilmember Patitucci's suggestion of a User Fee. From tine -to -time they all got the idea, despite what economists said, there was such a thing as a free lunch; and, it was impor- tant citizens understood if Council went ahead, it would not be able to cit some other things despite its reserves. He welcomed the telephone calls on the issue. It was a difficult decision, but the one-year delay made sense, and he would support the motion. Mayor Cohb said Councilmember Levy's request for information regarding Arastra Lake's use as a substitute did not need to be included in the motion, but would take place normally. MOTION PASSED by a vote of 8-1, Cobb voting "no.' ITEM #6, PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION RE DOWNTOWN STUDY ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT: EXTENSION OF REVIEW PERIOD (PLA 7-14) (CMR:148:6) Councilmember Klein said it appeared he had a conflict of interest, and therefore, he would not participate at least for the present. Councilmember Patitucci did not have a definitive response from the City Attorney as to whether he was disqualified. To be safe, he would not participate that evening. The issue was being researched as to' whether he had a conflict. J. Brian Hennessy, 165 Channing, said the Community Service Business Association, cams from the service industry perspective in Palo Alto, and was a group of citizens concerned with the con- tinued quality of life in Downtown Palo Alto. The energetic deve.'_opment within the downtown during the last five years resulted in an acknowledged need to examine .the direction growth must take in order to maintain the quality of business and resi- dential life they all hoped to enjoy for many years. The purpose of the Community Service Business Association was to provide,.a focus for representation of the resources and requirements of the service business interests in the community. The Association sup- ported the informed participation and representation of the busi- ness community in the Downtown area's decision -making process relative to the comprehensive planning, zoning, and/or actions on the part of City Council or Planning Commission which impacted the future of service business activity and investment. The presence and economic help of those services in. Palo Alto was critical to the. continued health of the community as a wl uie. The Association's immediate concern was the progress of the City Council's Downtown 8tuiy and specifically the draft EIR hearings scheduled for January 21 and February 12. The Association's objective first was to investigate, summarize, and interpret the activities and recommendations of the Downtown Study and the EIR; They would work with the business community, one-on-one to formulate responses/recommendations to the. City Council, Planning Commission, Downtown Study Committee, or other appropriate bodies. It was hoped the Association could stimulate the communication network of various small businesses to fully utilize the valuable resources in Palo Alto. They were the community and all `were responsible to participate in setting the growth direction of the Downtown area. The Association supported informed participation ie the future of Palo Alto. Regarding the. petition, in obtaining approximately 80: percent of 219 signatures in two and one-half days from community service business people, he noted people did no;: read -the papers or the Palo Alto Weekly often, which was. not to say they did not dp laundry well, but rather they did it 14 hours a day. Consequently, there was not Much public,publicH response, although `there was a great public need to respond to the parks situation. A response problem existed in the service industry, and .it was an essential support vehicle for harmony in the 6 8. 0 0 1/27/86 community, The problem was although all the requirements were taken care of in terms of educating the population which was the City's responsibility, the word did not effectively get out. Most of the businesses he talked to did not know what the Downtown Study -was. An informed response was essential from the service people who provided basic needs to the community. As far as short and long-term goals for the Association,- the short-term objectives were to prepare a summary and analysis,of the EIR to act as a working document for businesses within the Downtown area. Essen- tially, the Association would utilize a summary document published by the City on the February 17, input from Planning Commission staff, Downtown Study Committee members, and individuals expert in the areas under discussion and would distribute the document to the business community, provide contact for additional information regarding the DEIR proposals, and current activities of the City Council, Planning Commission, etc. The Association also wanted to provide assistance in the development of responses to the DEIR, and the Downtown Study for submission to the Planning Commission, Downtown Study Committee, etc., and obtain support of the residen- tial community for service businesses operating within the Downtown Study area. Long-term goals were to create a liaison between the service business community and the City Council and Planning Commission to provide efficient and effective bilateral communication. He noticed an incredible amount of apathy, almost suppressed anger and hostility, among service people in town. To summarize, the Association wanted to get into an intense educa- tional process because they were given three weeks according to the proposed recommendation. His motivation was of a service nature and a liaison between the Council and service community would be valuable. MOTION: Council ember Levy moved, seconded by Woolley, to adopt the Planning Commission recommendatloa to direct staff to extend the public review period of the Downtown Study EIR until February 12, 1986. MOTION PASSED unanimously, Klein, Patitucci "not participating." ITEM #6-A, (OLD ITEM #3), ORDINANCES RE SAN ANTONIO CS/GM ZONE TIDY (2nd Reading) (PL17i17) Arthur R. Rule, 850 Webster Street, was concerned about the short notice of the official meetings given to him and other property owners in the area. He did not recall the exact time of the notice of the Planning Commission meeting except e11 agreed it gave no time to organize collectively and therefore they had to react individually. The notice of the January 13 meeting was received by him late in the afternoon of January 13. He was com- mitted to deliver a talk before :the residents of Channing House at 7:30 p.m. the same evening and had no time to find a represent- ative tc.appear for him at the Council meeting. When he called to express his dismay to the City Manager, he was told a meeting was in progress end he could not talk to him. He told the lady who answered the reason for his call and she suggested he talk with the Planning Department. He told her he wanted to register a com- plaint against the Planning Department and believed i t should be registered with the City Manager. She took his ,name and telephone number saying she would get back to hie. Her log, if she kept one, would show he called and would i1 so show the call was not returned. It was frightening when acts or omissions of City employees led one to suspect an effort was being made to prevent property owners from expressing themselves to officials and at official City meetings until it was too late. He referred to page 10 of the November 1, 1985 study, under 2.4202-4080 Fabian Way, and said the Planning Department represented it made a careful study of the specific area. The second paragraph stated, "These four parcels were presently fully developed with buildings and so forth. There were not four, but five parcels including one undeveloped lot on which he paid the taxes. Perhaps he was fortunate the study was flawed because it was apparent staff con- templated changing the area to residential, and if they knew a vacant lot existed, they might have pursued it further. Inaccur- ate information was used in decision -making, and he queried how careful and accurate the Planning Department was in making other so-called statements of fact. Regarding traffic, he said the entire action was contemplated because of a traffic problem. At the Planning Commission meeting he raised the question of using some formula for traffic density which might not apply to the study area. He pointed outethe two buildings he owned each had 12 vehicles, and the drivers arrived in the morning, ate lunch at the building, and left in the evening. The frequency of trips was substantially below the figure used in the study. He also asked about the actual count for vehicles based in the study area. No answers were given until after the Planning Commission completed their official deliberations and adopted, with minor modifica- tions, the recommendations of the Planning Department. After the official action was taken, a member of the Commission asked for an answer to his question, which was no actual count was ever made. A CalTrans formula was used to estimate the local traffic. It was interesting to note the Planning Department arbitrarily reduced the CalTrans formula by nearly 50 percent. He asked what percent- age of the total traffic resulted from local traffic, i.e., traffic based in the area. Me was told only 30 percent of the traffic was a result of vehicles based in the study area. Even using the Planning Department's figure of 30 percent, which he believed was flawed, it war unreasonable to expect the study area to be saddled with the entire cost of the recommended street improvements. The percentage was not discussed in the study, nor was it brought out in discussion, and it was absent srom the information given to the City Council for its deliberations. Nothing was proposed to reduce more than two-thirds of the total traffic which admittedly came from outside the study area. The Planning Department's formula, not Ca►lTrans, estimated the vehicles based in the area of his buildings produced 466 trips per day. It was only 24 vehicles, The amount of traffic produced by the vehicles in his buildings was actually about 10 percent of the traffic stated in the study which led one to reexamine the so-called 70 percent which carne from traffic outside the study area. He queri ed whether the 70 percent should be restated as being over 90 percent. He believed his buildings were typical of the area. The Planning Department had the authority and should make a proper survey and get facts. Council did not know the density of traffic coming from the study area; the Planning Department could not tell Council because they did not know either. He believed the important, pertinent information was not presented and should be reviewed. The passing of the three ordi- nances would not solve the problem. If all the traffic from the study area was eliminated, 90 to 95 percent of the problem would remain. He urged the action be stopped and the Planning Department make more accurate studies and return with solutions to solve the problem. Councilmember Fletcher commented the traffic figures related to the potential use of the site and not the specific uses to which the p4 operties were currently being put. As far as notice of the meeting, she believed the Planning Commission always told the pub- lic when the item reached the Council. Councilmember Renzel concurred with Councilmember Fletcher that Council could not do the zoning based on indleidual circumstances, but had to look at what the zone would permit generally, winch was the basis on which the decisions were made. 1 6 8 0 2 1/27/86 MOTION; Councilmember Fletcher moved, seconded by Sochte i , approval of the ordinances re Sari Antonio CS/GM Zone Study (2nd Reading). ORDINANCE 3663 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITT OF PALO ALTO AMENDING THE GM AND GM(B) ZONING DISTRICTS AND CREATING A CS(3) ZONING DISTRICT" (1st Reading 1/13/86, PASSED 9-0) ORDINANCE 3664 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITT OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION 18.08.040 OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE (THE ZONING MAP) TO CHANGE THE ZONE CLASSIFICATION OF VARIOUS PROPERTIES IN THE SAN ANTONIO/WEST BAYSHORE AREA (1st Reading 1/13/86, PASSED 9-0) ORDINANCE 3665 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITT OF PALO ALTO AMENDING THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING CHAPTER 16.46 REGARDING APPROVAL OF PROJECTS WITH IMPACTS ON TRAFFIC IN THE SAN ANTONIO/WEST BAYSHORE AREA (1st Reading 1/13/86, PASSED 9-0) MOTION PASSED unranmously, Patitucci "not participating.' MAYOR COBB RE CHIEF PLANNING OFFICIAL BRUCE FREELAND Mayor Cobb said Palo Alto was losing a valuable staff member to another city which they all deeply regretted. Chief Planning Official Bruce Freeland took action so quickly and would be gone so soon Council did not have time to prepare the kind of formal recognition it wanted to do, but it would in due course. However, all Councilmembers wanted an opportunity to say thank you for exemplary service to the, City of Palo Alto. Mr. Freeland was tremendously valuable to the City, did many fine things and would be greatly missed. He had a card in which all Councilmenbers wrote a note. He served the City well, and Bel l evue' s gain was certainly Palo Alto's loss. He thanked Mr. Freeland and presented him with the card on behalf of the entire Council. Councilmember Renzel said planning was her particular interest in Palo Alto, and since Mr. Freeland had been with the City, he was a wonderful asset to the Planning Department and planning process and brought the City along on some difficult issues. She was particularly grateful and wished him good luck in his new .job and was sorry to see him go. Councilmember Klein said before Mr. Freeland came to Palo Alto he worked for Santa Clara County's Planning Department where he got to know him while serving on the County's General Plan Advisory Committee. He remembered thinking Bruce Freeland was an out- standing person, and wishing Palo Alto could get him. Therefore, he was really excited and sang Bruce's praises when he ,joined the staff. His hopes and expectations were more than borne out and his service was outstanding. He hoped it did not mean he had to go to Bellevue to see Bruce again. He was pleased to have worked with Bruce over the years and knew Bellevue was getting an out- standing new Planning Director. Councilmember Levy said when Mr. Freeland came to Palo Alto, Councilmember Bechtel said the City had a good person, as she had worked with him in the County and he was top-notch. It certainly proved to be the case. One thing he always admired in Palo Alto was their Planning Department tended to be creative and positive in its approach, and.the wring he appreciated about Mr. Freeland was when Council had some ideas, no matter how non- impl ementabl e they turned out to be, he always attempted to tell Council how he would go about looking into the idea, hew he would go about imple- menting the idea, and he would go about trying to accomplish the objectives. Oftentimes the objectives as stated by Council were vague, but as repeated by Mr. Freeland, they turned out to be con- crete. He appreciated all the contributions Mr. Freeland made to Council and envied the community of Bellevue. 1/2786 Counci 1 member Bechtel said Mr. Freeland had a knack for telling council and members of the public things they might not always want to hear, but with such grace ant style he was absolutely con- vincing. He also could Wake planner "gobbledygook" and make it understandable. He could write and say something simply, and she really appreciated it. Mr. Freeland said he was embarrassed by being the cause of stretching out a City Council meeting. He enjoyed his four and one-half years in Palo Alto very much. He was surprised to find out he was leaving, since he had not been actively seeking it, and it was something which seemed too good to pass up. He undoubtedly gained more from working for the City than he left and appreciated it all. He would miss the Council, and thanked them for their patience and support over the years. ITEM #7 JORDAN/GARLAND SCHOOL SITE UPDATED STATUS REPORT ON OPEN SPACE LEASE NEGOTIATIONS WITH PALO ALTO UNITM SCHOOL l�rs 'TCT PRE 8-2) (cKp:1T3: 6 ) Vice Mayor Woolley said she would not participate in the item because of a potential conflict of interest. Julian Crocker, Superintendent of schools, Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD.), appreciated the working relationship the PAUSD had with Mr. Freeland. His predecessors spoke highly of Mr. Freeland, and he joined in wishing him the best of luck in Bellevue. He referred to negotiations between the City and the PAUSD as it related to the Jordan/Garland property, and emphasized the several areas of agreement in terms of the sprinkler system, tennis court issue, and at least an alternative for providing locker space for the swimming pool. As the report pointed out, the major difference was the issue of the rent credit. For the record, the basis of''>*,he PAUSO's position was a belief the current law which addressed the issue of how cities and school districts should deal with the issue of open space and playgrounds, better known as the Naylor bill, gave the City an extremely favorable position, i.e., approximately 25 percent of the fair market value in acquiring playing fields and open space. Anything more, i.e., rent credit, seemed to be over and above. However, PAUSD staff was prepared to accept the Cubberley formula, i.e., the three-year lease credit assuming a ten-year lease, and would recommend approval to their Board. He also encouraged Council to approve the retroactive lease payments as outlined in Item No. 3. With only those two changes, he believed they had the basis for a speedy agreement and the fields could be ready for spring use. Mayor Cobb queried if the PAUSD decided to sell the non- playing field part of the Jordon site at any time during the life of the type of lease being discussed, whether the City was pro- tected under the existing Naylor Act, and essentially had a built-in option to buy based on the way the Naylor Act was structured. City Manager Bill Zaner clarified the question was if the PAUSD were to sell the developable portion of the property. Mayor Cobb said that was right Mr.: Lamer said the Naylor Act did not apply to that portion of the property. Mayor Cobb clarified Council still had to deal with the question in terms of buying the playing fields themselves separately. The PAUSD had to make a decision to sell the fields before it trig- gered the automatic option. Mr. Zaner said that was correct. The proposed lease for ,Jordan was similar to the Cubberley lease, neither of which included any provision for acquisition by the City. i/ 798 MOTION: Councilmember Klein moved, seconded by Levy. as follows: 1. No change in negotiating positions - reaffirms the July, 1985 direction that tie Jordan and Garland open space lease should contain the Cubberley rent credit formula; 2. Retroactl,a lease payment - the open space leases should be retroactive to July, 1985; and 3. Term of lease - the term of the lease should be for a ten-year period. Councilmember Bechtel clarified in the staff report (CMR:143:6) it said the Garland lease would be done separately. Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber believed the .City essentially had parallel leases for the Jordan site and the Garland site. Councilmember Bechtel clarified the motion as made by Councilmember Klein described both. She presumed it could still be done as one motion and still two separate leases. Mr. Schreiber assumed the motion applied to both leases. Councilmember Bechtel clarified she heard Or. Crocker say PAUSD staff and the School Board were recommending the retroactive lease payment, which was one option City staff recommended, and staff agreed with the Cubberley formula which was what they were going for. Mr. Zaner did not recall Dr. Crocker saying PAUSD staff agreed to the retroactive portion. The question with regard to whether staff recommended an arrangement similar to the Cubberley arrange- ment, staff did not recommend the Cubberley arrangement. Staff's position with the Jordan lease was the same. Staff die not recom- mend the Cubberley arrangement for the Jordan lease either; how- ever, Council's instructions ei,ere clearly to include the Cubberley arrangement, which was the arrangement to which Dr. Crocker pres- ently agreed as he understood. Mayor Cobb wanted staff to investigate the possibility of an autc*- matic trigger of a purchase option for the playing fields in the event of the sale of the developable part of the land. He did not want to include it in the motion because he was concerned Council might complicate a process which went on too long. He asked staff to at least approach the PAUSD to see if it might be a possible addition to the lease. AMENDMENT: Mayor Cobb moved, seconded by Renzel, a decision to sell the developable part of the site would trigger an option to buy the playing fields under the lease. Councilmember Renzel asked whether it was meant to trigger PAUSD's declaration of surplus property so Council could then pursue it under Naylor, or whether it was an actual option to be negotiated, and would be triggered by a decision t� sell the developable part of the site. Mayor Cobb said his intent in making the amendment was to trigger the decision to declare part surplus so Council could proceed under Naylor. Councilmember Renzel queried if the City had a = ten-year lease on. the playing fields, and, at year three, PAUSD decided to sell everything else, the City, at that time, would have to come up with the money or financing plan for purchase. Mayor Cobb .clarified Council had to make a decision then. 5 8 0 5 1/27/86 Councilmember Renee"! asked Mayor Cobb to elucidate on what he wanted to Nave happen as far as the relationship to the develop- able property. Mayor Cobb said he raised the issue because if the developable part of the site was sold and put into some sort of housing development and the City still had a lease running on the playing fields to the PAUSE), it seemed more sensible to purchase it and be completely under City auspices because ft would no longer be con- nected to a site with any educational use, potential or otherwise. He did not want to further complicate the negotiations by the amendment, and might vote against his amendment before he was through. Mr. Zaner believed the amendment would complicate the existing lease because in order for the City to purchase under Naylor, the PAUSD had to declare the property "surplus and for sale." It was declared "surplus and for lease" but not "for sale." He did not believe a lease provision could trigger something to force the PAUStl to declare its property "surplus and for sale." If Council wanted to accomplish that, he suggested staff be directed to try to negotiate an arrangement with the PAUSD for them to declare their property "for sale" at the time it triggered, but to do it. the other way around just complicated the matter. In fact, he did not believe Council could do it, Senior Assistant City Attorney Anthony Bennetti did not know the answer off -hand, but believed the City ran into problems trying to negotiate a situation where their discretion in deciding whether the property was surplus was somehow decided ahead of time. Councilmember Levy believed Mayor Cobb was trying to get at whether PAUSD could sell the buildings without selling the recrea- tion land, or Ihether it yeas all one piece of property; and, if they declared part of it for sale, they had to do something else to disassociate one element from the -ther. Mr. Schreiber said the Jordan site was one property and the Garland site was a separate property. Councilmember Levy clarified the PAUSE) could not offer for sale the buildings alone. Mr. Schreiber said PAUSD could offer for sale the buildings by themselves if they obtained a subdivision from the City Council dividing either or both of the properties. Councilmember Levy asked if it was legitimate for Council to with- hold a subdivision because if the PAUSE) divided the property, then the fields were no longer an educational use and it was inappro- priate to divide the property in that way. Mr. Schreiber did not believe staff could definitively answer the question that evening. He sensed it would be difficult to deny a subdivision an Councilmember Levy's reasoning, but it might be possible. Mr. Fennetti was also not sure a discontinuation of an educational use necessarily resulted in the next finding the property was surplus. He was not sure Council could deny a subdivision based on the parameters outlined by Councilmember Levy. Cou_icilmember Levy sympathized with what Mayor Cobb was after. He always looked upon the City's relationship with the PAUSD as being straightforward; that as the PAUSE) found schools to be not useful for their purposes, they got rid of a total site which triggered the City's 'ability t.o acquire the open space portion of the site. The City presently had the benefit of being able to acquire the site at the Nay/or valuations, which benefit might not always be the City's, . Just as, for example, when properties the PAUSD owned on Stanford property were no longe► used, presumably the District war, obliged to return it to Stanford at the original price for which they allowed the PAUSD to acquire it. He hated to see games played with the relationship whereby buildings were sold and the open space held off hoping for a better political climate. He believed if one was sold then the other, then a reasonable portion of the other should also be offered into the public domain, other- wise, the City had a difficult and not responsible planning situa- tion. He was a little uncomfortable with the amendment because it complicated the situation Council was presently in, but hoped as they looked to the future, the properties would be considered in a way to enable the City to maintain an appropriate amount of open space from each one for civic use. Mr. Zaner suggested a different way to get at part of what Mayor Cobb suggested. While he believed it complicated things at that point to try to go forward, i .e. , to trigger a sale to the City, it would not be too complicated to do the reverse: Should the PAUSD sell the developable portion of the property, the City's 1 ease with them would then cease. The PAUSD woul d then be deprived of income and would either have to renegotiate the lease with the City or sell the property to the City. The City would no longer have a lease, which would be an incentive on the part of PAUSD to sell. It would not guarantee they would sell to the City, but at least it moved it in that direction. Councilmember Bechtel clarified staff wanted to ensure it was done all in one package, but one advantage to Council in leasing a property for a longer period was 1 t did not have to come up with funds to start paying for it, and she was not so sure she saw the advantage in insisting up'n being able to purchase the playing fields at the same time as the other portion. Mr. Zaner said from the staff's perspective, the benefit cane from the original proposal which credited the rent back against acqui- sition costs so the City ended up paying only once. The idea was for Council to ultimately control the open space, which was the part it wanted for public benefit, and eventually get the property into public ownership, and pay for i t . so it had the asset in its hands. If Council kept making lease rayinents, at the end of the 10 years, it spent $500,000, $50,000 a year for 10 years, but had no asset, no property. The idea was to eventually get the asset. Councilmember Klein opposed the amendment because he believed it wos importar , it be placed on the floor and not merely be a sug- geseion to staff. It was a negative in the negotiations with the PAUS a';,, aad would extend negotiations which took far too long alrer+ly, which was why he favored the retroactivity to July 1. The proposed amendment was unnecessary and perhaps inimical to the City's aid the PAUSD's interests, which concerned him since PAUSD was a e. eter public body. The City had many controls over what PAUSD did with the property. The property was presently zoned PF and had to be rezoned before it was used for any other purpose. He also did not know whether the situation contemplated by the amendment would ever exist, but if it did, there might well be good reasons for the PAUSD's action. It was not Council's place to inhibit the judgment of the PAUSD by forcing them to. sell some Property which they might not want to sell for good and sufficient educational purposes. He did not know what the reasoning of the PAUSD of 1990 or 1395 might be, but if they did not want to sell the playing fields, he did not see why the City should have the option to acquire them. He did not want the PAUSD to be an unwilling seller to the City, which was possible under the pro- posed amendment. The lease provided the. City with sufficient protection it would have the fields and open space for the fore- seeable future; and, under the Naylor Act, which did not seem likely to be changed in the next few years, the City had pro- tection on the price as wel 1 . It seemed the City's interest in keeping the property as open space for the use of its citizens was protected. He urged a no vote on the amendment. 6 8 0 7 1/27/86 Councilmember Renzel asked if tnero was any advantage to the City if the playing field portions being leased were subdivided off and the Jordan parcel put into two parcels, and whether it would address Mayor Cobb's concern of trying to protect the City for' future acquisition. Mr. Schreiber did not believe there was, and it might be better to keep the parcel together so any action on the developed portion inherently involved the undeveloped portion. Councilmember Renzel supported the amendment because she believed it gave the City some opportunity to purchase the site. The City's ultimate desire was to have the playing fields, and it was almost the antithesis of Councilmember Klein's motion Council could go on paying rent forever. It meant a costly long-term process free Council in order to have the use of the playing fields, and in the end the City might lose them because the value of the land would have gone up beyond the City's ability to pay. She was not so sanguine about the Naylor provisions remaining intact over a long period of time. Councilmember Patitucci asked what the land was worth --the playing fields, the part the City was leasing at Jordan. Mr. Schreiber said the appraised value last fall was about $475,003 an acre for single-family residential land. Councilmember Patitucci asked how many acres were involved. Mr. Schreiner said about 9.4. Councilmember Patitucci said the City was paying about one percent of the value. Mr. Schreiber said the City was paying five percent of the Naylor value. Councilmember Patitucci clarified it was about one and one -quarter percent. Mr. Schreiber said correct Councilmember Patitucci said it sounded like a good Beal. The City was, in effect, financing control of the land with a one per- cent price. The risk was higher prices in the future, but as far as the value of leasing the playing fields, the City was getting a goad deal. Regarding trying to control the sale of the developed site, the playing fields were the open space, and if the City wanted more open space at the time the other part was offered for sale, it could buy it like anybody else, or condemn it, and decide it wanted a park there and use eminent domain. It seemed like a non -issue and Council ought to get on with the matter. He asso- ciated himself with Councilmember Klein's comments acid hoped they could defeat the amendment. Mayor Cobb apologized for prolonging the discussion. It was help- ful for him because he better understood how he felt about the issue, and was convinced his amendment was not needed. MAKER AND SECOND WITHDREW AMENDMENT Mayor Cobb appreciated the discussion, and believed it might have provided some information to the PAUSU about how Council felt in the long -.term about ultimately acquiring the land if the property was ever put up for sale. Councilmember Sutorius said the motion included retroactivity, and the lease negotiation . would. consider the existing interim use of the Jordan swimming area He asked whether there was any finan- cial condition the Counc',1 had not .accounted for ,i n the motion. t /9798 Mr. Schreiber did not believe so in the motion. The Jordan open space lease involved the swimming pool, and the major financial Aspect was what it would cost the City to repair and operate the pool. Part of Council's instruction to staff was when the lease returned to Council, staff provide information on repair and operation costs, which staff would do. Councilmember Sutorius asked if retroactivity was associated with the lease, then the payment of the retoactivity should be adjusted. Mr. Schreiber -clarified Councilmember Sutorius' point was the City leased the pool in the summer of 1985; and, in fact, leased _part of it alter July 1, which should, in effect, be credited against the 1985/1986 lease of the open space. Councilmember Sutorius said exactly. Mr. Schreiber said staff would discuss it with the PAUSD staff, and would appreciate Council direction. Councilmember Sutorius said in light of the retroactivity men- tioned in the staff report, to which Dr. Crocker spoke and which Councilmember Klein included in the motion, he was prepared to support the motion which included the retroactivity. He wanted to be sure Council understood there already was some financial out- flow from the Ci ty to the PAUSD and therefore there should be a credit when it came to actual payment under the lease. Mayor Cobb asked Mr. Laver if it needed to be included in the motion. Mr. Zaner said the motion was sufficient. MOTION PASSED unanimously, Woolley not participating." ADJOURNMENT Council adjourned at 10:00 p.m. ATTEST: ox ,i(./4) • 6.,,z212e7 MT -Clerk APPROVED: 6 8 0 9 1/27/86