HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-05-06 City Council Summary MinutesCITY
COUNCI L
M1NUTES
ITEM
Regular Meeting
May 6, 1985,
Oral Communications
Minutes of April 8, 1985
Minutes of April 15, 1985
Agenda Changes, Additions, and Deletions
Consent Calendar
Referral
Action
Item #1,
Mari ash
Item #2,
Podesta
Item #3,
Mena
Resolution of Appreciation to Estelle
Resolution of Appreciation to Faye R
Resolution of Appreciation to Fred Nava
Item #4, Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course o Golf
Professional Lease Amendment
Item #5, Adjustment to Below Market Rate Prices at
Lot Q - Amendment to Conveyance and Developer
Agreements
Item #6, Summary Vacation of Easements - 3101 Park
Boulevard
Item #7, Summary Vacation of Portion of Underground
Waterline Easement - 1117 California Avenue
Item #8, Grant of Easement
Rehabilitation of Historic Building
Street
Item #9, 4270 Suzanne Drive - Final .Map
Structural
520 Ramona
Item #10, Resolutions re Park Boulevard
Lindergrounding
Item #11, Calaveras Project Return of Development
Funds
Item #12, Deloitte, Haskins & Sells
Item #13, Arastradero llndergroundi ng Construction
Contract
CITY
of
AL1U
P AGE
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5 6 8. 3
6 6 8 3
ITEM
Item #14, Ordinance re Blanco Water Line at 5 6 8 3
Foothills Park (2nd Reading)
Item #14-A, Request of Counci lmember Fletcher re 5 6 8 3
Transportation 2000 Work Program
Item #15, PUBLIC HEARING: Establishing Cambridge 5 6 8 3
Avenue Underground Utilities District
No. 27
Item #16, 7:45 p.m. - Planning Commission 5 6 8 4
Recommendations Regarding Uses of the Gamble
Property, 1431 Waverley Street
Adjournment
5 7 1 4
5 6 7 8
5/06/85
Regular Meeting
May 6, 1985
The Ci ty Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the
Council Chambers, 25O Hamilton Avenue, at 7:35 p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel , Cobb, Fletcher, Klein, Levy,
Renzel, Sutorius, Witherspoon, Woolley
Mayor Levy announced that a Closed Session re i) Litigation,
Century Federal Communications v. City of Palo Alto, pursuant to
Government Code Section 54956-.-9(a) and e7 Personnel was held at
6:15 p.m. i n the Council Conference Room.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Michael Lee, 164 Hawthorne, was concerned about Downtown Park
North and its master plan. The proposed park master plan
could not endure forever in that the site's eventual use as an
underground parking garage would be difficult to forestall.
He read a letter from Dorothy Star who expressed appreciation
to Mr. Zaner, Mr. Harrington, Mr. Thi l tgen, and Don Pi ana for
the immediate follow up on the needs for the downtown garden
site. She requested that the fence on the back edge of the
garden plots, which was demolished by the bulldozer, be
replaced;
2. John Fredrich, 421 Everett, said as the plan for Downtown Park
North reached culmination, he was concerned by the lack of
preservationist elements. He requested that Council recon-
sider the demolition of 421 Everett as it was well worthy of
preservation and might be used as a youth center or to help
with some of the City Hall shortages. It made no sense to
demolish 1,500 square feet of prime :real estate owned by the
City. He suggested that Council review the estimates of fix-
ing up the house, which were deficient in terms of fact and
judgment, particularly because the year and number of reroof-
ings were incorrect. He did not believe due process was fol-
lowed in the planning of the park. Regarding the trees in the
remaining quadrant of the park, he hoped more restraint was
exercised with those trees than was exercised with the 10
trees of . the middle of the park that were felled by _ the bull-
dozer. He urged the apple, plum, walnut, oak, two cypress,
and the guava trees slated for uprooting and demolition with
the remaining houses be saved. An inordinate amount of trees
were destroyed and they were about to lose a remarkable City
asset; namely 421 Everett.
3e Daniel Bartsch, 302 College Avenue, speaking on his Own behalf
and as a staff .ember for the Ecol`<°lgical Land Use Planning
Project, Magic, Inc, said the City encouraged development at
the expense of its residents. Each new layer of building
caused increased crime. He urged that ,commercial development
be stopped.
Jack ..Morton, 2343 Webster Street, urged land uses to ..provide
the maximum benefit to the people of the City of Palo Alto.
5. Bob Moss, 4010 Orme, spoke as President of the Palo Alto Civic
League re the Neighborhood Traffic Study. In January the
Civic. Leilal. sent a letter_ to the-Counct l _suggesting a co u--
pity -wide traffic c* oiitee, which he believedwas appropriate
for the Policy and Procedures-` CO ittee deliberations. OA his
own behalf and regarding the initiative _ Circulated by Citizens
Ages nst Barriers, h+e -believed .;the proposed initiative ordi-
nance made .i t more difficult to retan: barriers than it did to
amend the Censtttution or .raise taxes.' It required two:out-
side consultants to cer_tif,' that b rri,cades and ,barriers -even
those clearly necessary for traffic safety and to avoid
hazards to the children --were necessary, plus a unanimous vote
of the City Council. He believed the ordinance interfered
with the magisterial and ministerial functions of the City
Council. If the initiative was certified for the ballot, he
urged the City Attorney to include in the arguments a state-
ment as to .whether i t was legal based on the 101 Alma case
which found that the initiative and referendum pi T"or� caul d
exceed constitutional bounds. He requested a financial impact
statement because it would cost the City hundreds of thousands
of dollars if it was required to verify the existing barri-
cades and barriers or if they had to be removed. He urged
that no one sign the Citizens Against Barriers petition.
MINUTES OF APRIL 8, 1385
Councilmember Fletcher submitted the following correction:
Page 5629, second from last paragraph, sixth line, "Celia'
shoriTiThe "Theo's."
ki
Councilmember Klein had the following correction:
Page 5636 and 5637, second from last paragraph and second para-
graph, respectively, phrase should read "bad, worse and worst."
Councilmember Witherspoon had the following correction:
Pa a 5617, third paragraph, should read: "Councilmenber
rspoon said the staff report correctly identified the major
concerns: increasing traffic and future congestion. She believed
they needed to evaluate the consequences of a 'containment' policy
on traffic on .future sales tax revenue. She saw no provision for
a consultant or a staff study to identify what those impacts were
likely to be on future sales tax revenue."
Fifth paragraph, "Councilmember Witherspoon believed the City was
handicapped because it had never taken the time to find out..."
Page 5623, line 26 of Councilmember Witherspoon' s statement, put a
period after the word "possible." Strike rest of sentence and
beginning of following sentence to word "and." Next sentence
should read, "She did not know how that could be explained_ to a
consultant, but she realized it was the overwhelming public senti-
ment. There were property rights..."
MINUTES OF APRIL 15, 1985
Councilmember Witherspoon had the following correction:
Page 6658, fourth paragraph from the bottom, fourth line, word
road" should be "rode._ " Line five after word "personally,"
strike "commented about the illegalities," and insert "chastised
them."
MOTION: Mayor Levy moved, seconded by Klein, approval of the
M entos of April 8 and April 15, 1985 as , corrected.
MOTION PASSED eaaoi.easly.
AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS
MOTION: Ccumci1merailer Pletcher moved, secoadtd by Levy, that
the Transportat19a 2000 Work Program be added to the Coos.ot,
Calendar.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
Mayor Levy said Transportation 2000 Work Program would be added to
the Consent Calendar as Item 14-A.
CONSENT CALENDAR
MOTION: Vice Mayor Cobb roved, seconded by Klein, approval of
the Consent Calendar.
Cvuncilmember Renzel asked to be recorded as voting
#5 Adjustment to Below Market Rate Prices at Lot Q.
Referral
None
"nv 1°
on Item
Action
ITEM #1, RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO ESTELLE MARIASH
RESOLUTION 6374 entitled °'RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITT0—FNE€' ALTO EXPRESSING APPRECIATION TO ESTELLE
MARIASH UPON HER RETIREMENT"
ITEM #2, RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO FAY; R. PODESTA
RESOLUTION 6375 untitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CCITT OF PALO ALTO EXPRESSING APPRECIATION TO FAYE R.
PODESTA UPON HER RETIREMENT"
ITEM #3, RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO FRED NAVA MENA
RESOLUTION 6376 entitled °RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
Tilt CITY Dr PALO ALTO EXPRESSING APPRECIATION TO FRED
NAPA MENA UPON"HIS RETIREMENT°
ITEM #4, PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE - GOLF PROFESSIONAL LEASE
:S
Staff recommends that Council authorize the Mayor to sign the
First Amendment to Lease with Brad Lozares, the Golf
Professional.
LEASE AMENDMENT
Bred Lozares -
ITEM #5 ADJUSTMENT TO BELOW MARKET RATE PRICES AT . LOT
t CAR:284 5i
Staff recommends that Council approve the First Amendment to the
Revised Conveyance Agreement and the Second Amendment to the
Kinney and Kinney Oevel oper Agreement with the City and the
County.
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO REVISED CONVEYANCE AGREEMENT
AMENDENT'MO. 2 TO DEVELOPER AGREEMENT
Kinney aid Kinney, Inc.: sed City of Palo Alto and
County of Santa Clara
ITEM #6 SUMMARY VACATION OF. EASEMENTS 3101 PARK BOULEVARD (UTI
Staff recommends that Council adopt the Resolution ordering vaca-
tion of the two utility easements and the roadway easement at 3101
Park Boulevard.
RESOLUTION 6377 entitled 'RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
TITS- CITT OF PALO ALTQ ORDERING THE SUMMARY VACATION OF
TWO PUBLIC SERVICE EASEMENTS FOR UTILITIES AND AN
EASEMENT FOR PRIVATE ROADWAY PURPOSES AT 3101 PARK
BOULEVARD"
ITEM #7, SUMMARY VACATION OF PORTION OF UNDERGROUND WATERLINE
, 2) (CMR:n4:5 )
Staff recommends that Councii adopt the Resolution ordering
vacation of a portion of ..the underground waterline easement at
1117 California Avenue.
RESOLUTION 6378 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO ORDERING SUMMARY VACATION OF A
PUBLIC SERVICE EASEMENT FOR UTILITIES AT 1117 CALIFORNIA
AVENUE"
ITEM #8, GRANT OF EASEMENT - STRUCTURAL REHABILITATION OF HISTORIC
Bu!LOIWG
TCRA:03:6)
Staff recommends that Council authorize the Mayor to execute the
Grant of Easement.
GRANT OF EASEMENT
ITEM #9, 4270 SUZANNE DRIVE - FINAL MAP (PLA 3-1) (CMR:298:5)
Staff recommends that Cuncil approve use of the. new street name
Suzanne Court and approve the final map.
ITEM #10, RESOLUTIONS RE PARK BOULEVARD UNDERGROUNDING (UT1 8-10)
(CMR:295:5)
Staff recommends that Council adopt the resolutions.
RESOLUTION 6379 entitled 'RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
nit CITY #F F E0 ALTO PRELIMINARILY APPROVING ENGINEER'S
REPORT, APPOINTING TIME AND PLACE OF HEARING PROTESTS
AND DIRECTING NOTICE THEREOF, AND DESCRIBING PROPOSED
BOUNDARIES OF ASSESSMENT DISTRICT AND DIRECTING FILING
OF BOUNDARY MAP°
UNDERGROUND UTILITIES DISTRICT MO. 28
RESOLUTION 6380 untitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
Tar-TTMLO ALTO APPROVING PLANS AND SPECIFICA-
TIONS, CALLING FOR SEALED PROPOSALS AND FIXING LIQUI-
DATED DAMAGES FOR FAILURE TO COMPLETE THE WORK WITHIN
TINE SPECIFIED
UNDERGROUND UTILITIES DISTRICT NO. 28
ITEM #11, CALAVERAS PROTECT - RETURN OF DEVELOPMENT FUNDS .(UTI
-II ICMR:2 7:5f
Staff recommends that Council pass the Budget Amendment Ordinance
returning Calaveras Development Funds to the Electric System
Improvement Reserve.
ORDINANCE . 3613 entitled °O t3 INANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY 0rtnO ALTO AMENDING THE BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL'=
YEAR 1984-85 TO PROVIDE FOR THE RECEIPT OF REVENUE FRO
THE NORTNER4, CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY'
ITEM #12, (JELOITTE, HASKINS & SELLS (FIN 2-1)
Staff recommends that Council approve the Budget Amendment of
$53,100 for the City Auditor's Office.
ORDINANCE 3614 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE : COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO_ AMENDING _THE BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR 1984-85 TO PROVIDE AN APPROPRIATIONS FOR AUDIT
SERVICES IN THE CITY AUDITOR'S OFFICE"
ITEM #13, ARASTRADERO UNDERGROUNDING CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT (UTI
B-6) [ ;
Staff recommends the following:
1. The low bid of West Valley Construction Co. be accepted and
that the Mayor be authorized to execute a contract for the
work;
2. Council approve the Arastradwro Road Joint Construction
Agreement and authorize the Mayor to execute the document on
behalf of the City; and
3. Council authorize the execution of change orders to the
construction contract up to 10 percent ($102,700) of the
construction contract amount.
AGREEMENT FOR JOINT PARTICIPATION INSTALLATION
OF UNVERGROUKD FACILITIES SYSTEM, UNDERGROUND
UTILITY DISTRICT NO. 26 - ARASTRADERO ROAD
CONTRACT
West Palley. Construction
ITEM #14, ORDINANCE RE BLANCO WATER LINE AT FOOTHILLS PARK (2nd
Reading) (PAR 7_ )
ORDINANCE 3615 entitled 'ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
O ALTO APPROVING AND ADOPTING A PLAN FOR
THE IMPOROVENEMT AND CONSTRUCTION OF BLANCO WATER LINE
AT FOOTHILLS .eARK° (1st Reading 4/15/85, PASSED 9-0)
ITEM #14-A, REqUEST OF COUNCILMEMBER FLETCHER RE TRANSPORTATION
2000 I ORK 'PROGRAM (PIA 4/
Copunci lm.ember Fletcher_ moved, and was duly seconded, to request
on behalf of the City of Palo Alto that the Transportation 2000
Steering Committee add comprehensive bicycle plan.eing to the Phase
II work program. .
MOTION/ PASSED unanimously, teazel . voting °no,a on Item #5,
Adjustment to Below Market Rate Prices at Lot Q.
!TEti #15 I'tiBLIC HEARING:.> ESTABLISHING CAMBRIDGE AVENUE UNDER -
TS 1 =9)(CMR:296':5) _
Mayor Levy said that evening was the time and place for a public
hearing on the matter of the formation of the Underground Utility
District- Ro. 27 On Cambridge Avenue. Council , was required to take
evidence and consider the question of whether such..undergrounding
was in the : general public interest and primarily of local benefit.,
Anyone interested was invited to present : protests and present
evidence either for or against the formation of the proposed
district.
Mayor Levy.. declared the public hearing open. Receiving no
requests from the public to speak , he declared the public hearing
closed.
Vice Mayor Cobb: advised that he would not participate on -the
item due to a conflict of interest
MOTION: Counci lmember Sutori us moved, seconded by Woolley,
approval of tt a ,resolutions and ordinance.
RESOLUTION 6381 entitled- 'RESOLUTI0.4I OF THE COUNCIL OF
wrinnnnur-nto ALTO DETERMINING THE CONVENIENCE AND
NECESSITY,: ADOPTING ENGINEER'S REPORT, CONFIRMIU6 THE
ASSESSMENT AND ORDERING THE WORK AND ACQUISITIONS,
DIRECTING RECORDING AND FILING OF ASSESSMENT, ASSESSMENT
DIAGRAM AND NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT, APPOINTING COLLECTION
OFFICER, AND PROVIDING FOR NOTICE TO PAY ASSESSMENTS
CAMBRIDGE AVENUE UNDERGROUND UTILITIES ASSESSMiENT -
DISTRICT NO. 2i"
RESOLUTION 6382 entitled 'RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
T}iE CITY Ur PALO ALTO OVERRULING PROTESTS - CAMBRIDGE
AVENUE UNDERGROUND UTILITIES ASSESSMENT DISTRICT NO.
27'
ORDINANCE 3616 entitled 'ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
cfl . OF PALO ALTO AMENDING. SECTION 12.16.020 4F CHAPTER
12.16 OF TITLE 12 OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE 8Y
ESTABLISHING UNDERGROUND UTILITY DISTRICT NO. 27' •
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Cobb 'not participating."
ITEM #16, 7:45 .m. - PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS
WriaRDING ifSES OF GAMLL • R , 1431 kVY RLg ? STREET (PWK
6-2-0)
Mayor Levy said the item would be considered both that evening and
on May 13. He said Council would consider the Gamble item until
9:35 p.m. at which time Council would break before considering
Item #17, the Trust for Community Skating.
Mayor Levy said Mrs. Elizabeth Gamble lived in Palo Alto for many
years, was generous during her lifetime, and upon her death,
gifted her home and garden to the City of Palo Alto. During the
past three years, the citizens and City staff have studied uses of
the property, The City Council closely followed all aspects of
the process. He assured the public that each Councilmeaber
visited the Gamble property, followed staff and Planning Commis-
sion hearings, read all the minutes of all public proceedings, and
read all cards and letters. Only the most recent Planning Commis-
sion minutes were lacking, but Council received a summary of that
meeting. Any letter sent to the Mayor, Councilmember or staff
;member was reproduced for all Cauncilmembers. That evening began
the final process of consideration leading to a Council decision
on May 13. He requested that everyone join in a moment of silence
as a tribute to Ms. Gamble and in appreciation of her generousity
in her lifetime and with the bequest to the City of Palo Alto.
However the -City decided to use the property she cherished, it
would benefit and further enhance the community she loved. In
light of the substantial public input received on the Gamble prop-
erty, he requested that the City's Real Property Administrator
firstsummarize the most likely alternative uses being considered.
Then, he requested that Planning Commissioner Mark Chandler sum-
marize the previous week's Planning Commission hearings which
ultimately resulted in a 3-3 vote. He requested that Counci lmem-a
hers withhold all questions until Monday, May 13, 1985, when Coun-'
c i l would again consider the item. After hearing from the ` staff,
he would call on one .representative of each of the perspective
uses being proposed agd then other members of the public.
Real Property Ad*i ni stretor Jean Diaz showed a transparency of the
two main alternatives. One reflected an art and garden center
which would use the entire property, with the art center uses =i n
the carriage house. A second proposal was for a mixed use plan
which, in addition to a garden and . art center,. would include
approximately .4 acres which would be developed for 21 new units
of senior housing.
Planning Commissioner Mark Chandler said of the six participating
Planning Commissioners, all six expressed reservations and objec-
tions to the specific site plan for the mixed use housing, and
five of the six expressed concern that the scale of the garden
center proposal could lead to either more activity and traffic
than the neighborhood could accept or might not take sufficient
account of the value of City resources that would be made avail-
able at virtually no cost. There was not extensive consideration
of alternatives other than those pointed out by Mr. Diaz.
Herb Heckert, 237 Washington, spoke on behalf of the Lawn Bowling
Club, who believed the Club was a City -operated function for re-
tired people. The membership included a little more than 100 ac-
tive members, but only 42 could play at any one time, which was
okay because of the danger of overuse. With another lawn green,
another 100 members could be accommodated. The membership list
included people from other areas because the facility was built
with WPA money, with a condition that it be a community facility
not limited to the City of Palo Alto. With an additional lawn
green, the plan was for one group of lawn bowlers to play in the
morning using one green and another group to play in the afternoon
using the other green. No additional parking was foreseen for the
Lawn Bowling Club. It was suggested that there be additional
parking between Churchill and the Lawn Bowling Green. That sug-
gestion would close the Club's front gate and destroy the beauti-
ful site, and take away the playing area for the young people.
The present club was a good steward of the City property ,and the
City's recreation program.
Karen Prosser, Development Director for the Junior Statesmen Foun-
dation and Chairperson of the Standing Committee on the Arts and
Sciences for Palo Alto, 667 Marion Aves,ue, said the Standing Com-
mittee was concerned about the diminishing low cost work and stu-
dio space available for artists in Palo Alto. There were many
classes to train artists, but once their craft was perfected,
there was no low-cost studio space available, and they were con-
fronted with cutting back on their art or moving away from the
City. 'The Committee tried to address the problem by asking Palo
Alto to consider the carriage house as a mini art center. Floor
space in the carriage house was about 1,100 square feet, and in
exchange for the subsidized space from the City, the committee
would raise the funds to renovate the Carriage House. Part of the
downstairs would be renovated for handicapped restroom facilities
to be available to the entire garden complex, and the second part
of the downstairs would be renovated to provide studio space for
visual artists. The renovation was envisioned as being bare white
walls, lots of windows, and track lighting with a lot of cabinet
space so that the artist's materials could be put away find secured
so that when there was need to use the space for meetings, it
could be held for use by other citizens of the City of Palo Alto.
The other end of the ground floor would be renovated for writing
space with minor partitioning and carpeting and could then accom-
modate handicapped visual artists and writers. The loft was
smaller and would be renovated for writers. The only necessary
improvements to bring it up to code included refurbishing the roof
and some wire sprinkling for safety. The estimates totaled about
$200,000. The Committee understood that a garden center complex
had $500,000 worth of renovations and money to raise, and the Com-
mittee wanted to come in as a partner. The Committee would raise
its $200,000 and anything over that would go into the garden cen-
ter complex. The Bank of America Foundation was encouraged about
the opportunity . to look at a proposal for an interest -free loan
which would be the Committee's springboard to bring other funders
on board. The California Arts Council and 'lational Endowment for
the Arts gave numerous tinges to campaigns such as that proposed
fob, the Gamble House. They made a presentation at a recent meet-
ing'`in Washington, D.C. They spoke about public and private part-
nerships for restoration projects and developing and promoting the
arts. The d uesti on was raised about using City low-cost, subsi-
dized space forthe rise of artists, and whether it was a private
use as opposed to public. It was ironic to raise the question at
a time when 2,600 square feet of the house would never be accessi-
ble to the public because that was the second and third floors
where the gardner and' caretaker and his or her family would
reside. Because of the cost of renovating the second and third
floors for public use, i t was proposed that it be a private area
for the gardener. Art was a public use and the City's artists
would offer free art classes 4nd share and donate their art to the
public collection of Palo Alto. The Committee hoped Council would
permit the artists to add and restore something valuable to the
City.
Sylvia Seman,`3381 Middlefield Road, Executive Director of the
Palo Alto Housing Corporation (PAHC), said its job was to find
suitable sites to meet the clearly defined needs for affordable
housing in Palo Alto. It kept abreast of the needs and all fed-
eral, state, and local housing programs that might be brought to
bear those needs. PAHC's present proposal was to build a modest
amount of housing for low-income seniors on a small portion of the
Gamble property. They were aw re of the other proposals for use
of the site when its architect was instructed to select an area
and a number of units that would becompatible with other proposed
uses. They did not believe it would be appropriate to put a large
number of housing units on the site, or to put anything but hous-
ing for seniors on the site. The PAHC was sensitive to neighbor-
hood and Garden Club concerns and reduced its proposal twice by
limiting the housing to no more than two stories and by reducing
the number of units to the minimum that would make a viable pro je
ect as well as reducing the amount of ground it would take. The
PAHC believed it was in the best interests of the community that
the asset be utilized in a way that all benefited from its use and
that the legitimate interests of all could be met. The PAHC was
particularly concerned that the quiet enjoyment of the neighbors
in their homes be preserved. About 26 elderly people, according
to all estimates, was the maximum number who would live on the
block at one time and would not in any way alter the character of
the area. The 10 parking spaces included in the .4 c res was more
than ample for such housing developments and would not bring in-
trusive parking or traffic into the neighborhood. The PAHC knew
there would be no objectionable noises introduced into the neigh-
borhood from the senior adults. The structure itself, nestled
into the existing trees on the site was in keeping with the char-
acter of the neighborhood. It would be designed attractively and
be of good. qual i ty materials. Moneys from the City's housing fund
could be utilized to augment the Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) funding to assure the aesthetics of the property would be
enhanced by the .addition of the stucture and its residents. Coun-
cil would receive testimony given to the Plannig Commission next
week. She asked that Council consider the comments from the May 1
Planning Commission meeting as it deliberated how to use the asset
from both a land useand social policy position and for the great-
est community benefit. ThePAHC would continue to be flexibile
and would work with all interested parties to seek ways for the
solution of locating housing on the site. She requested approval
of the concept that some senior housing be included on the Gamble
property and that an appropriate portion of the site be so desig-
nated. I n . order to win in a fierce competition for the meager
amount of HUD funding for low-income housing, the proposed site
must be outstanding. The Gamble property would produce a superior
application. She knew of no better site.
Jane ulrick, President of the Garden Club of Palo Alto, said three
and one-half; years ago when the City announced its evaluation and
decision process for the disposition of the Gamble property the
Garden Club began formulating plans for a garden center which.
would encompass the entire site They saw the property as being
unique --a turn of the century hoagie with carriage house, tea house,
and greenhouse in a beautiful garden setting. It was a gift to
the citizens of Palo A,l to. The Garden Club felt it could best be utilized -by -preserving the property asa whole for _a horticulture
center, which would benefit everyone in the City and would provide
a tranquil, quiet spot in the center of town, where one could work
in the soil, learn about gardening and conservation or just stroll
and enjoy the beauty of nature. In researching other garden cen-
ters, they found a garden center was not just a garden grown lar-
ger, but a complete horticultural environment, providing space for
relaxation, participation and hands on experiences Buildings
were an integral part of .a garden center, providing space for
classes. lectures and workshops, a horticulture library, and an
office for the administration of the center. In addition to the
horticulture uses, a community garden center could provide class-
room and meetingspace for other _community groups and garden areas
could be rented for small receptions. The Garden Club hoped the
Neighbors Abroad program and the Palo Alto Historical Society, as
well as music and art groups would find the facilities appropriate
to their use. The Garden Club made a study of four garden centers
in the Bay Area. All of them were larger than the Gamble proper-
ty. The Garden Club's proposed garden center would most closely
resemble the ones in San Mateo and Walnut Creek. One of the Plan-
ning Commissioners asked where they would provide bus parking.
They did not envision buses coning to the garden center. The pro-
posal called for a working educational center, rather than a
regional showcase. In addition to researching other garden cen-
ters, the Garden Club had assessed the funding sources available,
analyzed the capital cost requirements and operating expenses,
consulted with City staff about use, traffic, parking, and zoning,
gathered tremendous support from the community, participated in
beautifying the gardens for the Decorator's Showcase in 1982, and
maintained and improved a portion of the flowerbeds in the garden.
They had followed the proscribed process to a staff recommendation
on February 28 in favor of a garden center. They had worked long
and hard to come up with an exciting plan that met all the criter-
ia set forth by the staff and was fiscally sound. The Garden Club
continued to feel Alternative IV was not feasible for the follow-
ing reasons: 1) Their primary goal has always been to preserve
the property in tact. In considering the land as an inheritance
for all Palo Altans, they must remember that if it was subdivided
for different uses, some of the parts would not be as great as the
whole; 2) The land already had the foundation for a garden center,
with mature trees and shrubs, aesthetic landscape design that took
into account the placement of buildings and plants. They were
asking for no other property in Palo Alto. There was nothing com-
parable and there never would be. On the other hand, there were
several other sites more suitable for housing; 3) They were op-
posed to any alteration of the character of the open space park-
land surrounding the property. Therefore, parking on the side of
the bowling green was unacceptable; 4) The community support stood
behind the Garden Club's use of the entire property; 5) The visual
effect of a 13,000 square foot apartment building detracted from
the tranquil, serene atmosphere that they wished to preserve. In
order to attract maximum outside funding, the Garden Club needed
to have an exceptional project, and they felt the proposal they
had presented was such a project. In view of the reasons, the
Garden Club would withdraw its proposal i f. Alternative IV was the
Council's choice.
Karen Olsen, 566 Washington Avenue, Chairman of the Gamble Garden
Committee for the Garden Club, said she would like to talk about
roots for in order to have flowers the ground : needed to be well
prepared and the roots needed to grow. The Garden Club was offer-
ing to do the ground work to set up a non-profit organization
which would create and fund a community garden center for horti-
culture. It would be .similar to''Palo Alto's other community cen-
ters, -such. as the= Cultural Center focusing on the arts, the
Basplands Interpretive Center focusing on nature, and the Junior
Museum for children. The proposed community center would focus on
gardening. The major' di fferenco was that the City, would not be
responsible for funding and it would be run by : a non-profit organ-
ization, much like the one that operated the Senior Center. All
programs and activities would be for the benefit of the public,
Palo Alto's roots run deep in the tradition of offering diverse
recreational and educational opportunities for its citizens. It
was an important part of the City's heritage and made Palo Alto a
special city in which to live. They were now in a period of
drought when public or City funds were scarce and it was becoming
increasingly necessary for the private sector to step forward and
nourish the soil. They were prapesi ng the private sector estab-
lish a community center for gardening that required no funds from
the City. It might be questioned whether a garden center would be
used by a majority of citizens. According to the April issue of
Demographics magazine, gardening was America's favorite outdoor
Tefsure activity. The. Gallup poll did a national gardening survey
and discovered eight out of ten households in America were in-
volved in gardening last year. People were discovering gardening
was a great way to relieve stress. They believed the garden cen-
ter would have a good chance for success, for, they had gathered
together a board of community leaders who had been selected
because of their proven ability and expertise in areas necessary
to founding the center. The research showed that funding from the
private sector was available if there was a board that gave the
garden center credibility. The individuals had agreed to serve a
one year term, during which time the board would be expanded to
include a broader base of community interest. Palo Alto citizens
would be encouraged to serve on one of the nine committees of the
board. They had already received inquiries from many potential
volunteers and would continue to solicit community participation.
The ground would be prepared well in order for the roots to
thrive. None of this would transpire if the Council's decision
for the Gamble Estate was a combination of housing and gardens as
proposed by City staff. The Garden Club had decided they would
have to withdraw their proposal in that case. It was not a short--
sighted decision. They had talked with garden experts and man-
agers of other garden centers, they had received advice from land-
scape designers and foundations which might fund the protect, and
they had worked on the propertyand tried to imagine an apartment
building as a backdrop. In order to create a viable garden cen-
ter, it was important to keep the property in tact and not to sub-
divide a portion for housing. A combination of housing and gar-
dens would produce a good compromise but not an excellent garden
center. She asked the Council to allow the flowers to bloom.
Richard Mamelok, 364 Churchill, said he was a newcomer to Palo
'alto and thought the City had a good, sensible sense of planning,
lots of neighborhood charm, and there_. was a sense of uniqueness
which was missing from the valley. was\ strongly in favor of
the garden center as the only use for the Gamble site and felt it
would benefit all of the community, and felt it would benefit many
more seniors than the limited number of dwellings proposed for the
housing project. Mrs. Gamble's wish to use her property for
seniors would not be violated and if she explicitly wanted housing
on the site, she would have said so. He was a strong supported of
the garden: center and felt it would preserve the quality of the
neighborhood, the open space, and urged the Council to accept the
plan to use the entire site for the garden center.
Stephen duel, 3400 Cowper Street, Activities Director at Lytton
Gardens Health Care Center, said he was here to represent a group
from that, facility, and he read a letter . that they sent out as a
group to the City Council last September.
Edith Henry, resided at. Lytton Gardens, said she vaguely knew Miss
ramble, and worked for her both indoors and out, and learned much
out her ` love for her garden and her home. Nothing would please
Miss Gamble more than to have a .group take over who would care for
her home after she had given it such tender loving care all of
those years
/66,81
Mr. duel said they were supporting the garden group with the
understanding that accossi bi 1 i ty would not be a problem for them
and that was why they were supporting the effort.
Ethel Souza, resident of Lytton Gardens, said she agreed with
everything Mr. duel and Miss Henry said. She realized there was a
need for other things such as senior housing and art centers, but
she would like to have it kept as a garden renter.
Rose 8allen, 4290 Wilkie Way, said the Garden Club offered a
jewel; jewels were lovely and who could refuse a jewel once his
life necessities have been taken care of, but when people were
desperate for that basic need of shelter, would that jewel put a
roof over their heads. The citizens of the community were lucky
to be surrounded by many jewels of the garden center variety, and
Foothills College offered excellent courses in horticulture.
Unfortunately, the addition of yet another such jewel would not
begin to solve the City's acute crisis in housing for the non -
affluent. There were other jewels which came in different shapes,
colors, and values. There were many who joined her in considering
people the most valuable jewel and the most precious gems of all
were children --their investment in the future. If it was a matter
of either or as to disposition of the Gamble site, then she had a
proposal . Since affordable housing was the number one priority in
Palo Alto, the entire Gamble property could graciously and beauti-
fully serve as a start in easing the crisis. Since the Housing
Corporation felt more secure with customary rental units rather
than a co-op procedure housing, so be it. Sensitively placed
around the remainder of the grounds, leaving the existing house
and some garden area intact, could be developed a housing co-op
composed of several low structures in attached cottage design for
childen and their parents. Limited equity co-ops made sense for
families; they were affordable in pevpetuity; savings increased as
the years went by. It spelled security and stability for citi-
zens; it kept the schools open; it brought diversity and bat nce
people so fluently verbalized. The City Council with admirable
foresight had been amassing a fund for affordable housing. With
more courage, she was sure the Council could bring forth a shining
example for mixed clientele with affordable rentals for seniors
and affordable ownership for families.
Linda Norton, 450 Churchill, said her concern was not only for the
neighborhood but especially for the City. It was her hope the
City Council would support Alternative 2, the garden center pro-
posal for the Gamble a property. As she said that, she frequently
senses hostility. Increasingly, to be in favor of preserving the
entire Gamble estate as a community garden center was being mis-
construed as being against housing assistance for seniors.
Emotions were taking over, even the facts were getting fuzzy.
Palo Alto was being portrayed as guilty of not responding to the
housing crisis. That was clearly not true. Palo Alto has made
large strides in trying to alleviate the area -wide housing prob-
lem. One year ago Palo Al to had 958 units of subsidized housing,
72 adds t1 onel units were added this year on the Terman site, for a
current total of 1 4O subsidized. units. Mountain View, a larger
city with 5,000 more households than Palo Alto, had a total of 558
assisted .unite; 558 versus Palo Alto's 1,040. Redwood City had
253 units, San Mateo, 327 units. Palo Alto was clearly taking
responsibility. The Palo Alto Housing Corporation was to be com-
mended and there was much more to be accomplished, but to accom-
plish responsibly, within the sound planning practices as set
forth in the housing element of the City's Comprehensive Plan a
plan adopted by the City Council less than a year ago. The need
for housing :-for seniors required a rational, thorough response,
not a stop gasp effort. The. City should investigate all City owned
land. They had heard from Jean Diaz about - a parcel on. Park
Boulevard already zoned multiple family which was close to trans-
portation, groceries, shops, a park. She asked if there were
other suitable City owned multiple family locations. In addition
she was advised by Glenn Miller of the Planning Depaetmeot that
there were over $1.3 mi li lon in the City's in lieu reserve fund,
which under Program 19 was to be used for the purchase of sites
suitable for lower income housing. The fund continued to grow
under the Below Market Rote and Environmental Mitigation Programs.
It appeared they now had or could make available sites for lower
income housing that were already zoned multiple family. In order
to construct the lower income housing, Palo Alto must have federal
funds. She urged that Palo Alto's next application for the funds
be for a soundly planned project, worked out within the policies
and programs of the Comprehensive Plan and that would be a project
that would make a significant difference in the housing supply for
seniors. A vote for the original garden center proposal which
turned the entire Gamble estate into an asset and a resource for
the entire community at no cost to the City was not a vote against
senior housing. Palo Alto could have a garden center as origin-
ally proposed; Palo Alto could have senior housing. A vote for
the garden center was not a vote against senior housing.
Jane Simons, 520 W. Crescent, said she was an ASID designer who
helped clean out the Gamble house and she went through many of
Miss Gamble's magazines and felt sure Miss Gamble had no thoughts
of having her garden divided in any way. The thought never would
have crossed her mind to provide low cost housing. There were
many other places in Palo Alto more appropriate for the low cost
housing for senior citizens, namely behind the main library. She
did not think Miss Gamble had a Socialist bone in her body and she
felt they should do something for the whole of Palo Alto, which
would be the garden center.
Wayne Swan, 240 Kellogg Avenue, referred to the April 4 staff
report, which stated any chosen use would require further environ-
mental assessment as specifics of the uses were finalized and as
further City actions were required, such as zone changes, use per-
mits, etc. and thought a resubdi vi sion might be necessary if any
portion was to be isolated for a specific use, particularly for
financing. There were two tools the City staff used; 1) The Zon-
ing Ordinance; and 2) the Zoning Map. Those two items were used
for making decisions about land use to develop harmonious uses
that were across property lines. The purpose of the zoning code
was to promote and protect public health, safety, peace, morals,
comforts convenience, and general welfare, but it was also to
prevent overcrowding of land and undue concentration of popula-
tion. It stated, "no land shall be used and no facility, struc-
ture, building, shall be erected, constructed, enlarged, altered,
moved, or used in any district except in accord with the regula-
tions established by this title." He presented a zoning map of
the relative area of the City and referred to the R-1 Combining
District 929 and the Public Facility Zone, which was presently
devoted to a parkette and bowling green. The Gamble property was
one parcel of property in the R-1 929 Zoning District. Uses per-
mitted in the R-1 929 District were principally single family
uses, The Public Facility Zone permitted most any use that the
City should determine it found necessary for that particular loca-
tion. There were residential districts spelled out in the Zoning
Code and most of the property in Palo Alto was in an R-1 District,
but then there were the Residential Multiple, RM-1, which was
restricted density for six to twelve units; R-2 low density multi-
ple 10-20 units; R-3 moderate density 15-30 units; R-4 medium
20-35 ►,nits; and R-5 high density multi -family 35-45 units.
Dividing four -tenths of an acre into 21 units, totalled 52 units
per net acre, which was approximately ten times the number of
units that might bepermitted if it were developed, as a nine -unit
subdivision. The RM-5 . residential density regulations required
2500 square feet of land area for the first unit and 900 square
feet of land area for each subsequent unit. Therefore, on four -
tenths of an , acre, according to, the R-5 zoning district regula-
tions, 17 units would be permitted. The solution to the problem
was a planned community ty district regulation. The decisions the
Council would arrive would find their solution best for .. a.:mixed
use through that' Maimed Community District regulation. He asked
if there was a way that particular small parcel of property could
be integrated into the community in a way that it did not become a
spot zone. Even if it was developed as a planned development
area, the Planned Community District itself became somewhat of a
spot zone in the midst of R-1 929 zoned district.
Joan Paulin, 357 Kellogg, worked with Mrs Gamble in her Garden
Club show in 1958. There was then talk about her leaving her
property to the Garden Club, but she chose to leave her property
to the City of Palo Alto and the decision on its use to the City
Council. She could not help but believe she would have been
pleased with the compromise. If the City Council decided that the
garden center should go in the site, she hoped the Garden Club
supporters would get behind another site in the neighborhood for
senior citizens.
Rita Cane, 275 Ventura, represented many senior citizens without
the vitality to attend an evening meeting. She supported sub-
sidized housing for senior citizens and did not believe it would
spoil the neighborhood.
Carole Flaherty, 890 Echo Drive, Los Altos, submitted a letter to
the City Council (which was on file in the City Clerks office),
supporting the concept of the garden center.
Jack Roriinger, 1057 Guinda, was on the Board of the Garden Center.
He did not support the Palo Alto Housing Corporation's. proposal
for a senior housing complex on the property and urged they enlist
their energy in locating other more suitable sites within the City
of Palo Alto. He preferred the area be retained for the Garden
Club and as an asset to the City.
Kathleen McConnell, 153 California Avenue, worked with seniors at
the Palo Alto Senior Center and heard daily about the senior's
need for affordable housing. The need for affordable senior hous-
ing was overwhelming. Many seniors had been in Palo Alto for many
years, sold their homes and rented on what they believed would be
an adequate budget for their retirement years, only to find them-
selves following their rent increases to a point where it was un-
bearable. She. urged Council to consider the need of the seniors_
in the community for affordable housing and urge the. Garden Club
to consider some type of compromise. She believed Option . a was a
viable alternative for the community.
John Davis, 1861 Middlefield Road, supported the Garden Center
proposal. He believed there were many alternatives open to the
Palo Al to Housing Corporation. With many units of completed new
construction vacant in Palo Alto, he suggested- those same funds be
used to purchase appropriate housing for seniors. He urged that
Council act with foresight and leave a legacy of single use of
clear direction for a unique property.
Mrs, Diane Rolfe, 1360 Emerson, supported 21 or more units of
senior housing., plus a garden center on the remaining area of the
property. She considered that to be a "win -wing situation in that
the Garden Club could have a well -deserved .garden, plus the City
could fulfill its ethical responsibilities for providing seniors
with affordable housings That use of the property was consistent
with Mrs. Gamble's will in which she stated the hope "that the
property be used for the benefit of older citizens of Palo Alto."
The property's use for senior housing and garden center combina-
tion would help to promote Palo Alto diversity and she wanted her
daughter to grow : up in a- community with both h cultural and age
diversity. Palo Alto's true wealth was its diversity in the back-
grounds `of its citizens. She called on the City - Council _ to choose
a quality of life for Palo Alto which meant dedication to its
senior citizens as well as the needs of the Garden Club. She
would be honored to have seniors as her neighbors.
Marie Green, 580 Oregon Avenue, lived i n Palo Alto for 57 years,
and was a retired school teacher. She was a member of the Garden
Club and supported its plan. She knew Mrs. Gamble and worked with
her in her garden. As a senior, she could not imagine having to
live on Embarcadero. The trees, shrubbery and gardening built
around the old estate were started about 1900 and were still in-
tact, and still had careful gardeners employed by the City. She
worked in the present gardens and the Garden Club kept the gardens
alive since Mrs. Gamble's passing. Many of the gardens and plants
were labeled. She envisioned a.11 the shrubs and trees being
labeled so people could learn something about gardening. Mrs.
Gamble shared her interest in gardening with young as well as the
old, and there was not another spot for the Garden Center equal to
the Gamble property.
Herb Rosenberg, 878 Miranda Green, was a consultant on public
policy issues. The issue before the Council was action on the
bequest of the late Elizabeth F. Gamble. Paragraph 19 of her
will succinctly suggested "that said property or the proceeds
thereof be used for the benefit of older citizens of Palo Alto."
That was her only suggestion in the will with respect to uses
other than relatives and bequests and she placed the matter
enti rely with the Ci ty Council . The staff report of the Planning
Commission commented that her specific suggestion was ambiguous
and that her specific intent remained. "subject to speculation."
He said 7,000,000 households were unable to get affordable housing
in the country. Many of those households in Palo Alto were headed
by women in their 50's, 60's, 70's .and 80's. Clearly, Mrs. Gamble
anticipated the problem before the Council. It was the provision
of low cost housing for senior citizens. The land was bequeathed
to the City. The open space available on the Gamble Estate, which
was not open space on Embarcadero, but on the opposite side of the
land, could provide 6,000 square yards of open space, 18,000
square feet on the east and south areas of the property. Assum-
ing a maximum of 650 square feet per dwelling, the area available
would accommodate a minimum of 22 dwellings. Assuming two levels
rather than one, it would accommodate a minimum of 44 units, visu-
ally pleasing, :not too dense and compatible with the neighborhood.
Recognition of that potential by the Council would add 44 plus or
minus low cost housing units for senior citizens..- a start toward
increased availability of housing for senior citizens. He was
aware that the Garden Club proposed to expand its present use of
the estate. Their stated purpose was to grow more flowers.
Elaine Elwell, 1057 Middlefield Road, was divorced, aged 62. She
worked in Palo Alto and bicycled to work. She recently received
notice of a rent increase of $430 per month which she could not
afford. She qualified for low income: senior housing, but was told
she had a two to five year wait. Her housing arrangements during
that wait were such that people were taking her -in until she could
find something. The Gamble property could contribute to the hous-
ing shortage without destroying social and aesthetic value.
Sylvia Martinez, 794 Allen Court, was a housing advocate and the
State convener for thetats anal - Housing Coalition. Two-thirds of
the low income people in California were elderly, and in the - very
low income population, 39 percent were elderly. The average ,in-
come for a very low income person was $4,466--60 percent of which
went for rent, leaving only $149 for all other necessities. The
average social security check was $400. California's housing.
problem was more acute for very low income people than any other
state in the nation. For every affordable unit; there were three
renters. Elderly people had the hardest time finding housing
because they had to compete with wage earners. It was a moral
dilemma. No city and county in California was absolved of the
responsibility of. doing its utmost to . provide housing and take
advantage of every opportunity parts col arty; for the elderly popu-
lation that suffer, d the cost. . She urged the Garden Club to share
the property and compi'dai se,
1
Linda Elkind, 2040 Tasso, echoed the comments of the previous
speaker..
Jean Dawes, 350 Santa Rita, appreciated the careful thought and
considerable effort on the part of the Garden Club in preparing
its plan, but could not accept the order of their priorities nor
their unwillingness to consider the mixed use on the site. The
Planning Commission's dilemma was that neither proposal was whol e-
ly satisfactory. the supported housing and regretted that a bet-
ter site plan had not evolved as a result of the Garden Club's un-
willingness to acknowledge the viability of a mixed use. She
clearly supported housing on the site. The Comprehensive a1an's
documentation of the need for elderly housing was extensive and
the documented need for a garden center did not exist. Elderly
housing needed to be located near public transportation and com-
munity services. The Gamble site met those criteria. A garden
could be located and was welcomed anywhere, but affordable housing
was never welcome in any neighborhood. The City must place its
subsidies where they were most needed. She urged that Council
request the interested parties return together to the drawing
board and come up with a workable plan to provide the desperately
needed housing and retain the balance of the site for a garden
center.
Nancy Tiffany, 1031 Shoreline, associated herself with the com-
ments of the previous speaker. The issue was whether the need for
housing and gardens could be filled together. She believed there
should bean attempt at compromise.
Elizabeth White, 129 Emerson, lived in subsidized housing and
felt fortunate. She moved to Palo Alto in 1914 and knew what it
was to try and find rental property. She sold her 10 -bedroom
house in 1962. Mrs. Gamble was a friend of her family's, and she
would love to think her property went to the use of the elderly
people of Palo Alto.
Alfred C. Escherich, 1929 Bryant, hoped Council would decide in
favor of the people in Palo Alto and against the impairment or
destruction of a prime park and cultural facility. He trusted the_,
decision would permit the Garden Club to proceed with its develop-
ment of the Gamble property for the benefit of all the people of
Palo Alto without the intrusion of any form of concentrated hous-
ing.
COUNCIL RECESSED FROM 9:35 p.m. TO 9:45 p.m
ITEM #17, 9:45_p.m. - REQUEST OF THE TRUST FOR COMMUNITY SKATING
(PWK 6-21 .
City Attorney°Di ane Lee said the proposals before the Council were
twofold: the removal from dedicatiop, of certain City parklands at
the golf course; and the exchange of 'that parkland for the site of
the current ice skating facility on Middlefield Road. A major
question was whether the matters could be combined in one ballot
measure. The answer was no. The actions must be separate mea-
sures. Only the City Council could i ni t e ate proceedings to remove
or discontinue the > park use of any dedicated City parklands.
Either the Council or the people, by _ initiative, could authorize
the exchange with the proviso that .ultimately ,the exchange could
not be accomplished without such 'removal from :dedication of the
parklands in question. There was no requirement they be done
simultaneously. They could be done at different times. Regarding
tieing. the City Clerk's office prepared a Special Election
Calendar which specified that a resolution calling the. election
must be: presented -and passed by the Council on July 1, 1985. That
timafra*econ: l dered several required actions by the COunci l with
respect to consolidation with the. County or State-wide election
and providing time for rebuttal arguments to proposi tt ons to - be
placed on the ballot. If Council celled a specidl _ineeting,_ they -
could do so on Friday.. July 5, which would be the last date to
act. July 1 was the last regular Council meeting at which a mea-
sure could be placed on the ballot. .There was a difference
between the measure Council would place on the ballot for park-
lands. It required parklands to be removed from dedication and
required a minimum of thirty (30) days from the. date Council
called a hearing on the matter. The latest that could be done and
still meet the July 1 deadline was May 28. If there was some
question about finalizing the wording, she suggested that Council
back that period up to May 20 and call the hearing and set it for
June 24. Two other issues related to the removal from dedication.
In order for Council to pass a resolution, Council needed to know
the exact size and description of the parcel to be included in
that resolution. She did not believe that information was pres-
ently finalized. further, the property at Geng Road specified f:r
the exchange was part of the Golf Course and was tied to and
served as security for the Golf Course bond financing. Council
sought advice from bond counsel regarding the release from that
portion of the golf course as security for the bonds. Until the
City established whether it could be done and the process was fol-
lowed, she could not assure Council the exchange could be accom-
plished without impairing the City's obligation under those bonds.
If it was possible to remove the land as security for those bonds,
it would probably be necessary to obtain approval of the Golf
Course Board of Directors in order to do so. As soon as defini-
tive information was received by the City Attorney's office on
those issues, it would be provided to the City Council.
Councilmernber Sutorius asked for clarification about the time ele-
ments associated with either alternative initiatives that might be
determined by the Council and amendments if Council determined
that amendments should be associated on the ballot.
Ms. Lee said a removal from park dedication measure required an
additional thirty (30) days. For any measure, the last date Coun-
cil could put any matter on the ballot, providing it acted at a
regular Council meeting, was July 1. That also included any
measure which qualified and was certified for placement on the
ballot.
Marilyn Eaton, 690 Hermosa Way, Menlo Park, skated at the Winter
Lodge most of her life, taught at the rink for the past 14 years,
and was presently the Skating Director. She was involved in the
efforts to save the facility as a member of the Friends of the
Winter Club, and • more recently as a member of the Trust for Com-
munity Skating. Regarding its attempts to save the Winter Lodge,
the Trust took one step at a time and frequently responded to the
Council's concerns before taking the next step. In 1983, the
Friends of the Winter Club were asked by the City to enlarge their
group to provide a plan about how the rink would be run, a finan-
cial report for the rink, and to demonstrate public support.
Shortly thereafter, the Trust for Community Skating was formed.
An organizational and financial report was submitted to the City.
and in two weeks tiime. $11,000 was raiseddemonstrating public sup-
port. The City Council generously responded by offering a match-
ing grant up to $25,000. That grant along with the contributions
were to be, used for operating the rink the following year and to
allow the Trust the necessary time to investigate a - way to save
community 'ice skating permanently. A new lease was arranged
between Mr. Peery and the Palo Alto YMCA for two additional years.
Luring that time, the Trust actively pursued possible plans to
retain community ice skating= ng. Extensive meetings were held
between the YMCA, the Trust, and the City about the future owner-
ship of the Middlefield Road site by the YMCA After lengthy di s -
c ussi ons, , it appeared i uprobabl a that the YMCA could undertake
purchasing the land as their funds were previously allocated for a
new development in Mountain View,,. A plan was considered to build
a new rink on, the property where Hoover School . was situated, but
eventually the outcome included 99 condominiums instead. There
was another plan to build a new` skating rink on a City -owned par-
cel on Geng Road, but few supported a skating rink so far removed
from the children it served. It seemed a waste of funds to build
a new rink when the perfect recreational rink already existed.
One reason those two plans failed was because Palo Altans did not
want a huge new modern rink. Part of the specialness of the
Winter Lodge was that it was outside and smaller in site. The
larger rinks had the necessary space for competitive skaters and
hockey players. Once scheduling included those two groups, there
was little time left for recreational skaters. The primary focus.
of the Winter Lodge was to serve that group. Its continued suc-
cess over the past 29 years proved that recreational skating was
enjoyed by the entire community. As the• demolition date grew.
closer, a petition drive was started to take the question of com-
munity ice skating to the voters. The initiative was broad and
open-ended, but while enough signatures were being obtained,
another plan emerged, which seemed to be less costly. In response
to the concern -about the first initiative being a blank check, the
second initiative would not require a major expenditure of City
funds. Itwas not a new plan, but a re-emergence of a land swap.
Richard Peery, the rink's landlord and a commercial developer,
offered to swap the Middlefield Road site for the land on Geng
Road provided that he could build a 49,000 square foot office
building. The City would obtain the Middlefield Road site without
any cash outlay and could maintain it for recreational open space.
The Winter Lodge could then lease the land from the City and pre-
vent the demolition of the facility. An additional feature to the
plan was that while saving the community ice rink, it would also
stop additional .condominiums .from being built along the
Middlefield corridor. Many ci ti tens and recent editors in both
the Times Tribune and the Palo Alto Weekly endorsed the land swap
idea as being innovative and possible. The plan required a deci-
sion the voters should have a choice in making. Because of the
details involved in undedicatsng and rezoning the Geng Road site,
the Trust for Community Skating requested that Council put two
measures on the ballot in November. The voters should have all
available information in order to make a knowledgeable decision.
For the past few years, the Trust for Community Skating responded
to the City Council's direction in looking for a positive solution
to the issue. In November, the voters of Palo Alto would be able
to make the final decision.
Carole Kraiss, 836 Clara Drive, said over 3,500 signed the first
petition because ice skating was a valuable community asset. It
was a healthy, family recreational activity and a positive envi-
ronment for children, teenagers, and young adults. People
believed the outdoor, family -sized rink was unique, should not be
lost, and was w •rthy of City involvement. People believed that
keeping the Winter Lodge helped to keep Palo Alto a' desirable
place to live. Some people believed the issues should be decided
by the voters Initiative petition No. 2 was supported by the
same group of individuals which supported the first petition and
was a wey to achieve the same objective without the financial bur-
den to the taxpayers. It was also supported by a group of people
who believed a recreational area was a good way to relieve the.
high density housing in the Midtown area. The people in ,the Mid-
town area believed their quality of life was rapidly deteriorat-
ing. Arguments for saving the Winter Lodge in Palo Alto were
centered around maintaining and preserving those things that made
Palo Alto a unique and desirable community and kept it one of the
most pleasant placeseito live. Arguments against saving the Winter
Lodge , no matter how well intended resulted in the erosion of one
more important community and family activity. The Council was not
being asked to endorse the land exchange idea or the undedication
of the Geng Road lot, but rather to commence the legal proceedings
to get an undedicati sin - for the purpose of gi vi ng the voters the
right to decide the land swap measure on the November ballot.
Mel imah- Van Tuyl 4017 Middlefield Road, was a member of the Trust
for Community Sk,ating. 8ecause of the.;rapid-growth in Silicon
Valley and decisions by past _Couneils to bring big business to..
Palo Alto, there were many office buildings in the City, but there
were more people who wanted to live in Palo Alto than there were
housing units available. Single family houses took up a lot of
room, multiple family units housed more people per square foot,
and the City Council was committed to provide as many units of
housing as possible. Midtown was traditionally an area of the
City where one could find moderately priced housing for both ren-
tals and homeowners. In addition to the many apartments already
along the Middlefield corridor, recent • condominium additions
included 99 condominiums at the Hoover site, 67 condominiums at
the Loma Verde site, undetermined condominiums on the 1.23 acres
where the Chinese Community Center was,- and 80 condominiums were
proposed to be built on the Winter Lodge/Chuck Thompson site.
Midtown provided a large number of the City's multiple family
units per square mile. Housing was important, but the increase in
multiple family housing needed to be balanced with some important
recreational open space amenities. The land swap plan gave the
City some options on planning the . devel opmert of the last four -
acre parcel in Midtown. The alternative created 80 more condomin-
iums that would likely sell for $200,000 plus for a two- bedroom,
which might unalterably change the "affordable" Midtown housing
area into a "prestigious neighborhood" where apartments might con-
vert Condominium and housing prices would go up. There was al-
ready an increase in the rents paid in some of the apartments near
the condominiumse Instead of creating more affordable housing, a
more prestigious neighborhood was created which lessened the hous-
ing options in the City. Regarding traffic, additional traffic
would be created on Geng Road. On Middlefield Road, traffic was
already increased. At Hoover School, the City Transportation
Department provided figures which showed that Hoover School orig-
inally, had a trip generation of 400 vehicles per day. When the 99
condominiums went in, there were now 564 trips per day. In evalu-
ating proposals for development on City -owned lend east of
Bayshor°e Freeway, a determinatior, should be made of whether public
benefit and need outweighed potential traffic increases generated
by development.
Jacqueline Stewart, 1580 Walnut Drive, said because the time frame
was so critical,- Council was urged to direct staff to take what-
ever action was necessary to provide information to lead to a vote
on the resolution at the earliest moment to allow for full airing
and discussion by the community of their concerns in the removal
from dedication. If the 3.74 acres requested by the resolution
was passed and the entire area was removed from dedication, it was
not impossible should circumstances dictate to either rededicate
all or a portion of the -area removed. That was Cou.nci l's option
so that any action taken by the resolution was not absolutely
definitive. Because .of the timing, the resolution required imme-
diate attention by the Cou_nci1. As a housing advocate, she was
concerned about the jobs/housing imbalance and the potential house
ing area on:Middlefield Road. It was important to remember the
possibility for providing low and moderate income units on Geng
koad. It seemed like an ideal spot --it was close to the consumer
amenities, and she urged Council to keep that in mind as it delib-
erated.
Karen White, 2875 €me►son Street, resided in Palo Alto for 30
years. She spent many hours speaking with residents of Palo Alto
regarding the land , swap proposal and there was an overwhelming
positive response to , putts ng the -issue on the Wovember bal i ot.
The people rho signed the petitions-tamepetitione-tamei from ell waft s of Alf0
and all areas of Pail o Alto, It -was clear that citizens were con-
cerned about the alarming rote of recent development In `Palo Alto
and wanted it to slow- down, --,. any believed the City.- planners
allowed developaent to`teke;place which was totally out of context
with: Palo alto in :terns of size,,.arc.hitectural style, and traffic
considerations. People believed the Midtown area- was being over-
whelmed ,by high --density , condolainivaas_ which_ could create serious
traffic probleos along Middlefield Road and congestion In the
1/86181
Midtown Shopping area, to short, the people wanted a voice in the
decision which would affect the quality of life now being exper-
ienced in Palo Alto. People wanted the Winter Lodge to remain at
its present location. They believed it was a wonderful resource
for people of all ages to enjoy together and it served the City
well through the years. She spoke with senior citizens who remem-
bered how much fun it was skating with their children as well as
young married people who •looked forward to going there in the
future when their children became of skating age. Her daughter's
physical endeavors were somewhat limited due to arthritis. She
was a member of the Winter Lodge and hecause of its dedicated
teachers, learned to become a skater. Each spring she was able to
skate in the end of season ice skating show in a specially chore-
ographed routine which featured what she could do --not what she
could not do. The staff, family, and friends of the Winter Lodge
totally supported her efforts and truly fostered in her a real
feeling of self-esteem and accomplishment. As a teacher and
parent, she could think of nothing more important for the children
than that type of caring and concern. The Winter Lodge was a
valuable resource which encouraged development in a warm, loving,
and fun atmosphere. She believed everything possible should be
done to preserve it.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked about the status of the initiative
which qualified for the ballot and which committed the City to a
financial obligation to provide skating in Palo Alto and whether
it was possible to amendan initiative which already qualified for
the ballot.
Ms. Lee did not believe the initiative which Councilmember
Witherspoon spoke about was turned into the City Clerk for submit-
tal to the Registrar of Voters to verify that it had sufficient
signatures to have qualified. She understood from the proponents
that it had more than sufficient signatures, but from an official
perspective, that was unknown. The initiative could be amended by
a separate measure if and when it was before the Council.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked if the pumping station on Geng
Road was to be a part of the acreage.
City Manager Bill Zaoer said no. He understood i t was to be ex-
cluded.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked if that was why there was a dis-
crepancy in the size of the parcels.
Mr Zaner did not know why there was a discrepancy, but there was
one.
Councilmember Witherspoon was concerned abut the wording and the
City being asked to guarantee a certain deesi ty of development on
the Geng Road site as a quid .pro quo of the exchange. She hoped
there would be some way for the City to accomplish the exchange in
writing . between the City as the owner of Geng Road and Mr. Peery
as the owner of the lots on Middlefield before the measure went
before the electorate. In other words, it would be an agreed to
and there would not be a situation where the voters would okay the
exchange and Mr. Peery might decide • than perhaps he did not want
to go throdgh with it. She asked if there was a way to have an
agreement between the two parties before the election passed
whereby if the electorate did riot pass the measure, the deal was
offs but if it passed, then the deal was on.
Ms. Lee said given some of the ,time frames involved in terms of
when a measure had, to be on the ballot, i.e., the July 1 deadline,
it aright be difficult and a question of how quickly the parties
could negotiate. Council also had the other deadline of May 28 in
order to call a hearing ,: on the issue of removal of parkland from
dedication so that the hearing could be held no later than July
1.
� Witherspoon
l ` a_ _ _ t
Cuunc i 1 hnember� W i i.rierspoon clarified that the May 28 deadline was
the subject of the other measure.
tis. Lee said yes. Regarding amendments to the initiative, what it
meant to amend a measure which qualified for the ballot as an ini-
tiative was that the measure went on as a separate measure. Any
amendments proposed would also be a separate measure and voted on
separately. The measure which qualified could be passed and the
amendments which were also voted on separately might not pass.
Councilmember Renzel said if a land exchange was approved and i; f
Council sewed down exactly what it approved in terms of zoning
prior to an election, she was concerned that it was "contract
zoning" to agree to zone something a certain way in exchange for
something.
Ms. Lee believed in tying down the exchange agreement, the issue
would be that the exchange would be contingent on a rezoning in
some sense. She believed that could be done without being "con-
tract zoning." If the zoning were in effect within a certain per-
iod of time, then the agreement could be rescinded by the parties,
and if it was strictly a matter of placing the matter on the bal-
lot, then the voters would decide the zoning as part of a measure
that might be approved.
Councilmember Renzel said assuming such a measure passed, Council
saw some demands from Mr. Peery as to what he wanted to see and
what he did not want to see, and she asked to what extent the City
was obligated to grant Mr. Peery's requests.
4s. Lee said to the extent the proposed measure was predicated on
removal of City land from park dedication, that was required
before any exchange .could be effected. That was strictly within
the province of the City Council tc accomplish. Pecau se a prop-
erty received a certain zoning did not mean that other City proce-
dures would not apply to the normal site and design review.
Normal housing mitigations for the particular project, architec-
tural and environmental review would all apply.
Councilmember Renzel said the City recently rezoned a good portion
of the Baylands due to congestion at the Frontage Road,
Embarcadero, and Geng Roads, and she asked what could be built on
the land if it were zoned the now prevailing zoning versus what
was requested by Mr. Peery.
Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber said
the East Bayshore Study resulted in a modification of the LM dis-
trict in the area to decrease the floor area from .4 to .3. The
49,000 square feet referred to by Mr. Peery was based on the .3
floor area ratio.
Councilmember Renzel asked how many employees would be expected in
a project of that size.
Fir. Schreiber said a rule of thumb was four per thousand. At
49,000 square .feet, it would be about 200.
Councilmember Renzel. said the City recently improved the inter-
section and asked about the level of service before the improve
means and what 200 new trips might do.
Mr. Schreiber said there were two traffic lights. The Geng/
Embarcadero traffic depended on the situation at East Bayshore
Frontage Road and Embarcadero, which intersection was somewhere
between, Level of Service "k" and MF," which was severe congestion.
The improvements recently completed by the City using mitigation
funds provided byvarious developers east. of Bayshore was designed
to bring that intersection back to Level of Service "Du which was
the lowest acceptable level of service. Those improvements were
designed to accomplish everything staff believed could be done
within the existing right-of-way short of going into structures
within the roadway. It was anticipated that because of traffic
generated outside of the area, diverting off of 101 in East Palo
Alto and other areas that the level of service wouldagain deteri-
orate back from "D" to' "E" probably to "F" by perhaps the 1990s.
Staff sensed that it might not have gotten back to "0" because the
backups being observed were longer than were anticipated with a
"0" level of service. The backups were based on casual observa-
tions of the intersection `during the afternoon rush hour. He
believed the current level of service was likely at "0" and mere
likely it was worse.
Councilmember Renzel .asked about the demand for housing units cre-
ated by new employment of 200 people.
Mr. Schreiber said the demand would range from 100 to 135 units.
Vice Mayor Cobb asked about the legal effect if both initiatives
passed; if Council moved ahead or the second initiative moved
ahead successfully, would the first initiative still be filed.
Ms. Lee said the first i.nitiative seemed to bind the City in per-
petuity to not only provide a physical site for ice skating, but
to fund it. She believed that was the major distinction.. The
measure Council was being asked to consider that evening,
addressed the capital plant for that facility and how Council
would accomplish preserving the capital plant. The first measure
circulated talked about the broader provision of funding and main-
tenance of ice skating in Palo Alto, and the measure Council was
considering that evening was a mechanism by which to accomplish
one aspect of it for whatever period of time the capital plant
continued to exist.
Jack Morton, Trust for Community Skating, said the first initia-
tive was deliberately withheld from filing to give Council as much
flexibility as possible. The Trust had tighter deadlines than the
Council and if there was not some clear indication of what might
be on the 'ballot, the Trust faced the decision of filing both ini-
tiatives. The Trust was pretty sure it would shortly qualify the
second initiative. The first one was believed to be effectively
qualified.
Vice Mayor Cobb asked if something could be structured which in
effect said the voters would approve the undedi cats on subject to
the successful negotiations between the parties.
Ms. Lee believed it could be effective provided something occurred
within a fixed period of time. If it did not, then the land was
not removed from dedication._ She would add to the hypothetical
some fixed period of time when either the condition occurred or
did not occur.
Councilmember Klein said .if Council wanted to put the undedica-
tion, and more particularly the exchange of properties on thebal-
lot, it seemed to involve land use planning. He asked if that re-
quired Council to refer the matter to the Planning Commission.
Ms. Lee said with respect to ballot measures, the requirement did'
not exist. The question of whether those actions needed to be
followed in ballot kinds of matters arose in the context of other
cases involving zoning Actions and procedures, and with respect to
any zoning action or land use planning action, Council was not
making the decision --the _ voters would be making the- decision If
Council were making the decision, then ..themutter would need to be
referred to the Planning Commission.
Couucilmer ter Klein said if Council wanted to include language in
the ballot measure which specifically designated what the zoning
might be for the property, he asked if Ms. Lee's opinion still
held that it did not need to go to the Planning Commission for
consideration.
Ms. Lee said yes because Council did not rezone it. It was only
being proposed for the voters to rezone.
Councilrnernber Woolley asked about the `cost to the City of a
special election assuming one occurred in April or June.
Assistant City Clerk Gloria Young said if a special election
occurred in April or June, 1986, and another election was not
scheduled in Palo Alto, the City would pay the complete cost of
approximately $35,000. If another election was scheduled in Palo
Alto on April 8, 1986 or June 3, 1986, it would cost about $15,000
because it would be consolidated.
Councilmember Sutorius asked about the operative language on a
petition and whether. the "whereas clauses' ° were incorporated or
whether it was the "now, therefore" that was the operative lan-
guage of a petition.
Ms. Lee believed the binding language was that the "People do
Ordain as follows." The "whereases" were reviewed by the court if
there was an ambiguity in determining the statement of purposes.
Counci l raernber Renzel said in the event the language on the ballot
specified a particular zone, she asked if it also needed to
include language with respect to the Comprehensive Plan and the
Baylands Master Plan which had policies affecting the property.
Ms. Lee believed the Comprehensive Plan would have to be
addressed. The Baylands Master Plan had policies, but to the
extent those were not incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan,
there were no laws which required that zoning be consistent with
the Baylands Master Plan. The laws required that they be consis-
tent with the Comprehensive Plan.
John Joynt, 3589 Laguna, Chaired the Barron Park Association, and
supported the concept of the land swap proposal derived by the
Trust for Community Skating, The Trust was comprised of energetic
and hard working men and women who lived in Palo Alto. The land
exchange proposal was imaginative and was "doable." He applauded
the concept of addressing alternative methods to achieve a desired
goal of keeping a viable recreational facility in the Midtown area
of Palo Alto. He also applauded the "sticktoit1veness" of the
Trust personnel. They personally held several ice skating parties
at the Winter Lodge particularly with Cub Scout groups, "Y,'°
Westerners, and Sunday school peoxl e. He urged the Council to
encourage the initiative be put on the November ballot so every
voter might choose for themselves the ultimate fate of the ice
skating rink known as the Winter Lodge.
Sam Spa,ret, 4099 Laguna, said after he spoke to the Council on
April 1 under. Oral Communications, he went to the ice rink to see
what aright have been the last session ever of ice skating in those
surroundings. His daughters and many others were there, and the
spirit that prevailed the rink could have brought peace to a war-
ring and strife -filled world. As a recreational facility and
almost a cultural asset, the ice rink was worth preserving. Two
generations of Palo Al tans enjoyed it, it served a wide spectrum
of citizens, and was enthusiastically supported. The infra-
structure was intact and in good shape. Regarding staffing, cus-
tomers, and physical plant, the rink was as well staffed as the
Winter Lodge as it was, when it was the Winter Club, and .__ the
present staff would like nothing better than to continue for the
1985-86 season. The large cl_lentele of skaters of all skill
1 evels was equally eager to get back on the ice. The physical
plant was in good shape and ready ato go. Routine maintenance and
discretionary cosmetic repair was all that was required. There
were no disruptions of skating activities in the last years due to
mechanical breakdowns or structural problems. The land swap plan
to preserve the rink deserved serious consideration by, and the
support deft the Council and staff. He rejoiced at the possibility
recreational Ace skating in Palo Alto might continue. He. urged
Council to place the issue on the November ballot and let pub! i e
discussion of the land swap, traffic, parking, and housing consid-
erations take place over the .summer and the fall and give the pub-
lic, as voters,- an _opportunity to decide the issue. As a voter
and a concerned citizen in the matter, he urged it be done in
fairness to a .large number of people in Palo Alto 'as well as to
future generations of ice skaters in the City.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orme, urged on behalf of the Palo Alto Civic League
Steering Committee that Council try and work creatively to pre-
serve community skating in Palo Alto. The Steering Committee did
not take a position on the specifics of how to do it. The concept
of a land swap was interesting and creative and warranted close
Council consideration. As an individual, he doubted, despite the
statements by various assessors, that 3.75 acres of RM-2 zoned
land was equivalent to 3.75 acres of LM -3 zoned land. He believed
the City would be giving away more than it got in terms of pure
value. He was concerned about guaranteeing any zoning on a piece
of property in advance and questioned whether it was legal for the
Council to guarantee a specific development or size of building in
advance of going through an environmental impact review. He did
not believe the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per-
mitted it. For example, if application was made ?or a development
which the staff found would lead to a level '°F service at the
intersection by itself, Council would have to find some compelling
reason for allowing the development to proceed under CEQA. He did
not believe it was legal or appropriate to make that finding in
advance. Council would have to wait until after all the reviews
and assessments were made. Mr. Schreiber said there almost no
feasible means of improving the intersection to get it to an ac-
ceptable flow level, i . e. ; level "D" or better, and he believed it
was inappropriate to prejudge what could be built or what was
appropriate on the site. Council was aware that it would be trad-
ing approximately B0 housing units in Midtown, even though the
area was already overcongested, for a need for 120 housing units
for the proposed development --a net loss of 200 units in the jobs/
housing imbalance., That should also be factored into any Council
decision. It did not mean Council should not go ahead with some
sort of land swap, but he cautioned against any advance guarantees
to any developer and any prejudgment before all of the reviews, and
environmental investigations were : ade and the findings appropri-
ately approved. To do anything less would be a bad. precedent.
Alison Hershberger, 1454 Dana, was a competitive skater, and
skated at the Winter Lodge for about 10 years. She skated mostly
at the Redwood City training facility, which was cold and large,
and had none of the warmth offered by the Winter Lodge. She often
started skating at 6000 a.m, at the Winter. Lodge and the ice was
hand -cleaned for her to show support for her career. She saw two
and three year olds trying to skate and she loved seeing new
people go into the sport In such a great atmosphere. She skated
almost everywhere in the United StatLs and it did not seem that
the warmth of the Winter Lodge was felt anywhere else. The Winter
Lodge provided a - great place for children, teenagers, young
adults, and older adults and it was a place where everyone could
skate together It would be hard to let go of the outdoors, the
people, or the facility. Palo Alto would_ belacking without it.
Richard Peery, 2200 Cowper Street, resided in Palo Alto for 46
years. fie did not own the property and said it was an asset of
the H- Taylor Peery Trust, his deceased father, and hit another was
5 1 0 1
5/06/85
the p►'imar°y behef iciary. His remarks were on behalf of his •mother
and the final decisions on the property would come from the
Trustees of the Trust which was Crocker National Bank. They
sought his advice on items, but the final decision was theirs.
There were cash offers to buy the property, but they were turned
down because the persistence of the skating group and various mem-
bers of the community --a cross section from presidents of major
companies to people who skated to everyday people., who loved the
sport and the use of the facility. Because there was so much
interest in the Winter Lodge, his family personally subsidized it
at a cost of $200,000 per year: If it was sold and the money put
in the bank, it would be about the difference between what they
received and what they would get as. plain interest in the bank.
They wanted a decision grade one way or the other. The idea was
created by the ice skating group on a property that was once pro-
posed and authorized by the. Council to be used by the ice skating
group --the Geng Road property.. He loved living in Palo Alto
because —it was a family -oriented community and it had foresight.
He liked .the fact that there were 3,75 acres on the edge of town
where no one went and there were 3.75 acres of land in the middle
of town where everyone was. One area was vacant and the other had
an ice skating rink, tennis_ courts, and a swimming pool that could
all be used. The latest proposal was intriguing because it would
not cost big money to build the ice skating. rink. There would be
a permanent park dedication if the exchange was worked out. If it
aid not work out for the City's purpose, :there would still be the
same acres of land i n a good location.. With all the schools being
closed and housing being built, the City was losing some good
sites. He liked the idea of ice skating being provided as a com-
munity asset somewhere. They did not want to trade the property
and find out they could not build on it or that there was an en-
vironmental problem. If the Trust accepted the proposal, they
wanted to know the property could be used for something worth-
while. If the exchange was entered into and the use was allowed,
something first class would be done there.
Councilmember Fletcher said Mr. Peery's agreement to the land swap
was contingent on being permitted to build a structure of not less
than 49,000 square feet. She did not believe the City could guar-
antee the 49,000 square feet, and she asked about his feeling if
the square footage permitted was not decided until after the elec-
tion.
Mr. Peery did not want to operate a duck club on the property.
The zoning was just changed north of Bayshore from the 40 percent
coverage down to 30 percent, and the building would lie in conform-
ance with that zoning. The Trustees would not want to enter into
an exchange and have a hearing come . up and they were only allowed
to build 15,000 square feet. Before making an exchange and being
authorized to go ahead, the Trustees would have to know what it
was getting. They did not want a surprise package in the end, and
would work with the City to define everything in advance.
Councilmember Fletcher asked whether Mr. Peery was aware of the
mitigations he might be asked to provide for the office building.
Mr. Peery said he was, but neither he nor the Trustees had a
chance to evaluate thews. Each property had its own problems, and
fill would need to be brought in and there were many things to be
considered. The idea was that the exchange of land basically Was
all right and the other points, considering the all over package,
he did not believe were major or could not be worked out.
Mayor Levy said the a Winter Lodge itself was on approximately . one
acre of . land and ht -,believed it —was an' individual parcel. He
appreciated what Mr. °eery did over the Past two years for the
community and he also appreciated his desire to keep ice skating
in Palo Alto. He asked, about the market worth of the one acre
parcel.
g/6698i
Mr. Peery said he would not sell the une acre. If he sold the
entire property including the Shell Station land, he would not
permit a "hodgepodge" development to go up. It all went together
which was why the Minter Lodge, Chuck Thompson, and everything
else should be done in one coordinated, first class project. He
was not selling off one acre for the Winter Lodge by itself. He
wanted the property coordinated because a flag lot would remain
and it would not be the right thing to do. Layouts were done on
the property trying to figure it out roughly and other developers
looked at it. It would make a nice housing development as unit.
Mayor Levy clarified that 2.7 acres were not big enough.
Mr. Peery said he had no experience with housing developments and
was not interested in selling off one acre.
Councilmember Renzel said regarding mitigation measures, she was
concerned that if such an initiative passed, the City would be in
a position where it would be difficult to require those things
that were badly needed to offset some of the impacts that might
occur. She asked if it was Mr. Peery°s intent that he would con-
form to normal mitigations that were required for projects of the
one proposed.
Mr. Peery believed he did his own mitigations. He sat through
$00,000 worth of time waiting for the matter to be worked out.
I f there was some fee or something, it could be worked out. It
was an unusual situation --not a precedent setting one.
Cauncilmember Renzel asked if Mr. Peery was suggestingthat he did
not believe it was appropriate to have housing and traffic mitiga-
tions on a project in that location.
Mr. Peery had not studied the; matter in detail. Generally speak-
ing, when he looked at all the costs involved in doing so, there
was a lot out there with the reduction in density on the property
to the 30 percent, and as more things were imposed on the proper-
ty, which would take much landscaping to make it good, it would
have to be looked at carefully.
Couaicilmember Renzel asked if Mr. Peery was willing to agree to
some minimal mitigations that might be provided in advance of the
election.
Mr. Peery said the matters would be considered, but the final
decision would rest with the Trustees in looking at the entire
package.
Counci lmer ber Renzel asked the City Attorney if something like
that could be done prior to the election.
Ms. Lee said unei1 the property was rezoned, she was premature to
impose mitigations, but once the rezoning occurred, the project
had to go through some -City approvals. which triggered environ-
mental review and could mean an Environmental Impact Report, which
had mitigation .measures aside from any housing mitigation pay-
ments. Under CEQA, Council did not have the power to approve a
project which did not include the measures determined by the envi-
ronmental impact report to be feasible --whatever they might be.
She clarified that -they were talking about -something which was.
.nebulous at that pointy
Mr. Peery was concerned if he said okay he would make the trade
and it was ready to so, he wanted to know the, total package from
his side to _present to the Trustees. He did not know what would.
be required.
C.ounci ieiember. Renzel asked Mr. Schreiber about the criteria for a
negative declaration.
Mr. Schreiber said a negative declaration required a finding of no
significant environmental impact. The critical intersection was
the Embarcadero/Cast bayshore Frontage Road which was at best at
level of service "0" and heading towards `IEIS and "F" or severe
congestion. They were unaware of any way to mitigate the problems
short of massive physical changes to the area. With any develop-
ment of the associated number of employees, they would most likely
be in a situation where there was no feasible mitigation to the
traffic impacts. Under CEQA, there were three ways of handling
the environmental review, but the only way to make a finding that
a significant environmental impact of level of service "E" or "F"
situation was acceptable was the full environmental impact report
process. If someone walked in his office and started talking
about a development of 49,000 square feet somewhere east of -
Bayshore, staff's first reaction would be to recommend that the
developer assume there would be a full environmental impact report
because of the traffic. When receiving the specifics of the
development, it might not be required, but it was likely.
Mr. Peery clarified it was almost a six month process.
Mr. Schreiber said staff would recommend to any developer that
they should assume a six month process, but perhaps a little less.
It required. Planning Commission and City Council review.
Mr. Peery asked if the process, without any voting, could be ini-
tiated immediately.
Ms. Lee said there was no application to trigger environmental
review.
Mr. Peery asked if the proposal would be enough to do so.
Ms. Lee said if a ballot measure required environmental review, it
would be infeasible. The Courts said that environmental review
was not dorie for ballot measures. The answer was that there was
not a proposal to trigger CEQA.
Counci lmember Fletcher asked how long Mr. Schreiber envisioned the
process to final approval, and if Mr. Peery would envision it to
be within his parameters Qf accepting the swap.
Mr. Schreiber said giving the number of unusual processes he heard
being discussed, he asked for clarification of start point.
Mayor Levy believed Council shaul d move ahead with some policy
decisions and the swap negotiations should be taken care of with
the assistance of the Planning Department and the City Attorney.
Councilmember Fletcher said her questions related to Mr. Peery's
comment regarding limits to the size of the building. He com-
mented that within a month after the election, negotiations could
occur and she wanted to clarify that Mr. Peery would still be
willing to go forward i f negotiations did not begin within a
month.
Mr. Schreiber said if the land was rezoned in the election pro-
cess, there would then be site and design, which process, without
an £IR, would take about three to fou- months. With an EIR, the
process would take about six ` Months In either .case, the ultimate
decision on the site and design process rested with the Council.
Doug Graham urged Council to place the matter on the bal 1 ot.
William Rosenberg, 820 Bruce Drives resided in the Midtown area.
He skated and urged Council to consider the community recreation
provided by the Winter Lodge. It provided community -oriented
recreation which was missing at other larger rinks on the pent p..,
sula. He urged Council to consider the balance of housing density.
in the Midtown area. A major change occurred in the Middlefield
corridor over the past couple of years and it was time to put a
stop to the increase in density and provide for recreation of the
present and future members of the Midtown area and the City as a
whole.
Jonathan Eddy, 2579 Cowper Street, spoke about the contribution of
the Winter Lodge to the City, and urged the measure be placed on
the ballot.
Councilmember Sutorius believed the City's interests benefited if
the voters who faced either or both initiatives simultaneously
faced an initiative which included the undedf cats on question
because it was the only way the electorate could receive and
understand the full dimension and all associated consequences.
Everyone wanted an informed electorate to make an informed deci-
sion and the calendar permitted Council to bring back an undedica-
tion initiative for consideration. He personally believed it was
wrong to try and develop the resolution in the Council Chambers
that evening and it might result in the same difficulties encount-
ered on other occasions where Council tried to do staff's job. He
proposed that Council provide direction to staff to prepare the
appropriate resolution to set the undedicatlon, appropriate public
hearings, . i thout supplying "whereases and now, therefores" and
have that return to Council at a date not later than May 20. That
schedule would permit legal posting, noticing processes, and set-
ting a hearing to occur in time so that if approved, Council
action would allow for having an initiative included on the
November 5 ballot. He believed it was better to propose a motion
to speak to the resolution for the undedication and then propose a
motion to provide direction to staff to return to Council not
later than May 20 with the content of a Council initiative treat-
ing the swap. He believed if the proposed Council initiative
returned to Council on May 20, there would still be time for the
Trust to determine whether such a swap ballot measure was satis-
factory and permit them to rely on the Council proposed initiative
and no longer require circulation of the existing initiative No. 2
petition for additional signatures and would not require the Trust
to file initiative No. 1. The big question was what the Council's
action would be in terms of acting on such a proposed ballot
measure and the Trust's reaction to any differences it might con-
tain from what their present initiative No. 2 contained.
NOTION; ; Councilmenber Sutorii:s moved, seconded by Cobb, that
staff be directed tc prepare an appropriate resolution for the
City Council for consideration no later than the Regular City
Council meeting of 5/20/85 to set the utdedicatian utilizing the
following rationale Rationale for the preparation of the undedi -
cation reseletion and concepts to be incorporated therein:
1. To provide for the necessary public processes in tine that a
legal initiative, if approved by the Council, can be placed on
the November 5, 1985 election ballot;
2. To provide that the property subject to exchange negotiation
is officially described by the City, and that only that part
of the pro erty necessary to an equivalent market value
exchange will be included in the transaction, and that any
residual portion of the property will be returned to dedlce.
ties);
3. To assert that all ,facets of underlying aweershi p, leasing and
financing obl i gate emu are researched and ogad - to preset no
legal obstecles,or f?feaenciel impositions!
4. To obtain independent Professional market value appraisal con.
saltation in ordeiu that approximations of exch.*** properties
egeival ecy is aireiiloa/o;..
5 7 0 5
5/06/85
MOTION CONTINUED
5. To assess whether any rights of private property owners in the
vicinity or city obligations to such property owners are
affected by the undedication and proposed exchange;
6. To acknowledge that, in the event of undedication, all appli-
cable rezoning for the property proposed to be exchanged,
including site i design review, and related processes will be
adhered to with respect to the exchanged property as it would
with regard to any other property;
7. To provide that the u►idedi cats ors measure, even if passed by a
majority of the electorate, will not be implemented unless a
companion measure (citizen -initiated or Council -initiated)
authorizing the exchange negotiation also passes by a majority
vote.
Councilmember Sutorius said the points of his motion were to be
associated with the preparation of the undedication resolution.
Some of the points might be equally applicable in direction to
staff to prepare an initiative to treat the swap.
Vice Mayor Cobb thanked Mr. .Peery for providing the Winter Lodge
with breathing room over the past two years. He supported the
swap in principle and hoped it might be accomplished such that was
fair and reasonable, with no special benefits to the developer.
The community could obtain significant benefits if the swap
worked. He was not particularly happy about allowing new office
space, but something had to be given up in order to get something.
He did not believe the 200 or so jobs involved was too high a
price to pay for a recreational facility to be enjoyed by thou-
sands of people. Palo Alto was a unique community and facilities
like the skating rink were what made it unique. Another 80 or so
m. rket-priced condominiums in an area with too many already would
not help to duke the City unique, but rather moved the City
towards losing its uniqueness. Even if a few of the 80 tnarket-
pri eed condominiums were below -market -rate units, it would not
solse the affordable housing problem. If the voters approved the
measure, i t preserved the possibility that the "YMCA" might wind
up on the site, and operate the ice rink and other recreational
facilities, making the Ross Road site available. The best use of
the Ross Road site would be housing, and he dared say it would
make the people in that area happy. He was anxious to . see the
matter get to the ballot in a sound manner. For those who did not
support the swap, it was important that Council put the matter on
the ballot because it could then be done in a legally and struc-
turally proper manner . and could be something the City could live
with in all other respects rather than a measure which, through
the initiative process, was likely to be much more simple and
prone to abuse and misinterpretation and unfair benefits to the
wrong people. The public wanted and needed the choice and it was
up to Council to work out a mechanism by which the public might
have it. If Council did it then the first measure, which he
believed was badly flawed, would not make it to the ballot.
Counci lmember Bechtel said the swap was not a new concept as Jack
Morton proposed it about two years ago. At that time, Council
voted against it because the area was already heavily congested.
It was difficult to consider a 49,00O square, foot office building
because it meant an additional 200_ more workers who -would all. need
housing somewhere. She heard the people in the Midtown area
wanting to save ..the Winter Lodge, with which she concurred,
because they had too much development in their area., and given the
choice between. thte_ Winter Lodge and 80 condominiums; they chose
the Winter Lodge. `She did not believe that was ,the, choice because
if there was too much multi -family housing in: a particular area,
Council had the power to \rezone the :property. She wanted the
Winter Lodge saved, but she did not want it done by a compromise
of allowing another office building. If Mr. Peery agreed to such
a swap, he wanted to provide the Trustees of his father's estate
;with a guarantee thathe could build the office building without
providing traffic or housing mitigation measures which were
crucial for the area. She believed there were other ways to save
the'' Winter Lodge without the proposed swap.
Councilme€nber Witherspoon had major concerns about the swap, but
believed Councilmember Sutorius' motion requested staff to provide
a ,,rofessional opinion about how it might be accomplished. She
was willing to see what Council would put before the voters and
then decide whether she wanted to do it. Her major concern was
the word "negotiation" in No. 7. She believed the measere would
pass on the ballot and Council would find itself in negotiations
and the pressures on Council to capitulate whatever Mr. Peery
wanted would be astronomical. There was no way to hold out as
there would be with an ordinary developer proposing such a project
on the site. Before Council put the matter on the ballot, she
hoped the voters would know the type of development, the mitiga-
tions and the impacts of agreeing to the swap on the site. Coun-
cil only heard from the Midtown area who had valid concerns about
development in their area, but each week residents spoke about
overdevelopment throughout the City. She wanted _ to pin down a
time period for negotiations and some parameters from which Coun-
cil would not budge in such negotiation process.
Counci i member Klein said the issue was difficult with many com-
peting interests, all of which were good and valid. He felt
strongly about trying to save the ice skating facility and
believed the time had come for Council to try and do something
different in the Midtown area. He was concerned about the jobs/
housing unbalance and Council consistently did not take actions to
expand the number of jobs the zoning allowed. Council attempted
to create some additional housing while maintaining the amenities
of the community and the swap was contrary to those policies. He
agreed that one did not get something for nothing, and Council had
to decide on the trade offs. Balancing the concerns, he agreed
with Councilmembers Sutorius and Cobb. that the twin benefits of
preserving the ice skating and adding some needed amenities in the
Midtown area were worth the trade off of the increased number of
jobs and reduction in potential housing units. He deliberately
did not use any numbers on the job creation or the housing units
that would be lost because he believed the numbers were theoret-
ical and he would not commit to them. Even though he supported
the exchange and would support the motion, his support was not at
any price. There was a limit to what he was willing to expend as
a City father on any project, and they were close to his personal
limit on the ice skating facility. The price was one of the
deterioration in the City's jobs/housing imbalance and giving up a
valuable City asset. Everyoane needed to ask themselves whether i t
was worth expending the valuable City asset for the ice skating
facility. His answer was yes because it was a uni q ie opportunity
to preserve the ice skating rink and help to preserve the ameni-
ties`.. in an impacted neighborhood. He did not believe that a
49,000 square foot building was a given, and th developer
needed to go through the same processes as any other developer,
The Council had a responsibility not only to those in the Midtown
area, but to those who worked east of Bayshore. There were com-
ments that the people who worked east of Bayshore did not live in
Palo Altos but one did not solve one nei ghborheod's problems by.
creating problems for another. A11 City processes needed to be
followed, and experience showed that. the Architectural Review
Board (ARB) frequently requested reductions in the amount of
square footage in _a building. He would not agree to the idea that
the 49,000 square foot building was an absolute *given." On the
other hand, he did not believe the BO condominiums suggested for
the Middlefield site were a given either. Those numbers were out
the window in his opinion and were subject only to later
5 7.0 7
5/06/85
Correc
6/04/U
copal dcreti on and negotiation. «e bel ieved the swap could be
accomplished even though it involved difficult trade offs. The
Geng Road site was a City asset which.belonged to the entire City
and he supported the motion. If Council decided to put the matter
on.the ballot, his concern was that it be one motion because if he
recommended them to the voters, it would have to be a package.
AMENDMENT: Council ember Klein moved, seconded by -Bechtel, to
amend paragraph 6 to say *To acknowledge that, in the event of
undedicetion of the property proposed to be exchanged, all applic-
able rezoning, site and design review and related processes will
be adhered to with respect to the exchanged property ' as it would
with regard to any other property.
LANGUAGE INCORPORATED INTO MAIN MOTION BY MAKER AND SECOND
THEREOF
Councilmember Renzel expected Council would hear considerable
debate about whether to provide 21 units of senior housing. The
senior citizens of Palo Alto were victims of the jobs/ housing
imbalance and were being squeezed out by the demand for housing.
She was not suggesting that the Winter Lodge site should be con-
verted to housing, and opined that exchanging park for park was
not an unpleasant idea, but exchanging housing zoning for jobs
zoning was something she could not do. She served on the Planning
Commission for six years and on the City Council for six years,
and the jobs/housing imbalance was the number one problem of land
use in the City. One of the reasons Midtown was packed with high
density condominiums, which she did not support, was because
everyone was afraid to nibble off one or two units of housing and
make a better, more acceptable development because housing was so
scarce in the community. The City seemed to be unwilling to apply
strong standards to what was built because it wanted the housing.
She believed high standards should be applied to. every- decision..
They were talking about 21 units that did not apply to the jobs/
housing imbalance but only to an unfortuante result, which was the
displacement of seniors. The proposed swap talked about adding a
demand from anywhere from 100.135 units of housing while subtract-
ing from the potential housing supply. Just doing one of the two
things would upset the imbalance further in the direction of too
many jobs for the number of housing units, but to do both was like
a "double whammy.` It seemed to be unconscionable that after all
the efforts to try and provide a few units of housing here and
there in the community at considerable difficulty and a lot of
public expense. the Council turned around, and as a public action,
completely negated 100-135 of those actions. She could not do it.
She used the Winter Lodge, believed it was a wonderful facility,
and supported whatever could be done to maintain it, but she would
not support swapping residential land for commercial land
especially in an area where Council knew it was impossible to
mitigate the traffic effects and it was an environmentally sensi-
tive area.
rouncilmember Woolley imagined there might be other ways to save
the Winter Lodge, but they were not yet found. She was a member
of the subcommittee that started work a year ago January, and
worked with the YMCA and staff. They came up with ideas of how
the a1" might be involved and staff analyzed various financing
mechanisms. All of it seemed to point to taking a, sizable chunk
of money out of the General Fund, which the subcoammittee did not
believe was a reasonable way to go. She agreed the swap was not
the perfect way to go, but it was a possibility and the best one
so far. She did not believe Council needed to talk about the pros
and cons of the swap itself because that .was nOt what Council
would act upon, and was grateful to Councllme*ber Sutorius for
having carefully formulated his thoughts. She supported the
motion and believed it 'would help to present the measure in a
sensible and logical manner so that the voters would be informed
in November. :
Mayor Levy shared Councilmember Klein's uncomfortabi1ity with the
issue. Although he might support the motion before the Council,
he doubted he would support it when it returned to Council on May
20. He was concerned the City was in danger of signing a blank
check. Councilmember Klein was correct there was value in the
Geng Road property, and he guessed the value was stated at being
in the neighborhood of $2,000,000. The fact that it was a value
not currently being realized by the City made it no less a value
that was held in reserve and could be used at any time. There
were other costs such as the perspective costs to the City of run-
ning the facility. The assumption was there would be no costs to
the City, but he believed that needed to be checked.
AMENDMENT: Mayor. Levy moved, tecoRded by Klein, to add No: 8 to
the rationale, that staff be asked to determine what the City of
Palo Alto's expenditures were estimated to be for operation, main-
tenance and repair of a. Winter Lodge facility and conformance with
applicable building codes and parking regulations,
Councilmember Sutorius said the motion before the Council dealt
only with instruction to staff to prepare an undedication resolu-
tion. It was not the motion that would provide direction to staff
to prepare a swap initiative. The City Attorney advised that
whether it be by Council process or citizen process or a combina-
tion thereof, there were two issues to be dealt with. To deal
with the undedication issue, there needed to be action by the
Council and only the Council. The Council must pass a resolution
which must speak to the undedication process, set a hearing date,
and then return to Council in a public hearing. That was all his
motion dealt with.
Mayor Levy asked if Councilmember Sutorius planned to introduce
swap motion.
Councilmember Sutorius said yes. If it would facilitate matters,
he would identify those things he believed to be appropriate for
giving direction to staff relative to a swap.
Mayor Levy believed the swap and undedication were inextricably
interconnected and it might be well to request staff. to provide
Council with all of the information relative to boththe undedica-
tion and the swap and then Council would be in a position on May
20 to decide whetherto approve the undedication by itself, both
it and the swap, or nothing. Apropos of the swap, he believed the
Trust should move ahead with gaining the necessary signatures for
the 'swap. Personally, he believed if the Trust had the si gntu res
for the swap so that the swap could become an initiative, he would
be willing to put an undedication resolution on the ballot so that
it could all be voted on at .the same time. Personally, he was
reluctant to approve the swap at least until he received the
information which told him what kind of a check the City was sign-
ing.
Ms. Lee believed Councilmember Sutorius was trying to help staff
receive clear direction in being able to prepare separate mea-
sures, but if Council chose to deal with the matter as one motion,
staff would extract what was necessary to prepare two separate
measures.
Councilmember Sutorius believed the specific wording of the amend-
ment was contrary to :; his position on the swap. The amendment
requested information having to do with operation and maintenance
costs, and he did 'not believe those , should be a City responsi-
bility. The purposes for the..acquisitior of'the property included.
preserving the opportunity for continued availability of community
ice- skating at the Winter Lodge for „.at _ least a period that
extended through the 1991-92 ice skating season and so :long as its
operation and .saintenpnce costs were user; -supported. The Winter
Lodge demonstrated it could be user -supported and he opi lied that
it should stay that way. It might be the operation continued
under an arrangement involving overseeing and channeling through
the YMCA. If the exchange was effected, the City would have to be
involved in determining the lease arrangements, lease conditions,
and .the liabilities and responsibilities, but he did not see, and
did not believe, the Winter Lodge or the Community Trust, in its
initiative No. 2 anticipated that it was a City -supported facil-
ity. The information showed it was user supported, which was what
he believed the City was buying into in pursuing the exchange and
acquiring the property.
Councilmember Klein appreciated Councilmember Sutorius' comments
and believed it cleared up the point he was concerned about. He
would not support the amendment because he preferred Councilmember
Sbtorius' position. It was appropriate that all parties under-
stood and acknowledged that whether the City operated the facility
or leased it to someone else, user fees would cover everything and
there would not be any City subsidy for operations or capital
improvements.
Mayor Levy believed if a swap involving several million dollars
were on the ballot, the public would expect that a skating facil-
ity be maintained. If that skating facility could not be main-
tained by user fees, the public would expect the City to maintain
it otherwise it would almost be a betrayal of the purpose of the
swap. It was important for everyone to know the expenditures.
The facility was self-supporting for two seasons and virtually no
capital expenditures were made during that period. He understood
there would be a fair amount of capital input, but was not sure if
the building was appropriate to be operated if it was owned by the
City and it might well be that substantial changes were needed to
bring it up to proper building codes for handicapped access, etc.
He was also not sure whether parking was satisfactory. The prop-
erty as it was now used had several different uses and the Winter
Lodge was one acre. He questioned whether the City was expected
to continue to operate the entire 3.7 acres or whether the Winter
Lodge would use the parking from the other acreage for itself.
Those things needed to be examined before voting on the matter in
November. Whether it was examined as part of the undedi cats an or
part swap, it was an important part of the total decision.
Councilmember Renzel concurred with Mayor Levy and believed it was
important for everyone to understand what City staff perceived to
be the needs of the site up front. The more information everyone
had, the better off everyone was. She supported the amendment.
AMENDMENT FAILED by a rate of 4-5, Bechtel, Fletcher, Levy,
Renzel voting °aye,w
Councilmember Fletcher said if she supported the main motion, she
reserved the right to vote against the resolution when it returned
to the Council. She was completely opposed to voluntarily creat-
ing 200 jobs as the City worked hard to find sites to convert from
commercial and industrial to housing. Although she enjoyed the
ice skating rink and believed it was a valuable asset, she did not
know how many more years there would be families in town to enjoy
the facility. The school aged population was cut in half in the
past 10 years, and if it was cut i n half again, there might not be
the demand for the type of facility being discussed. If the
Winter Lodge could make it on its own, that was fine
Councilmember Bechtel said she would rather take some money out of
the General Fund or reserves than to add further to the jobs/
housing imbalance. She agreed with the comments made by Council -
members Fletcher and Renzel. Thee would not bemore children in
Palo Alto simply because families'could not find affordable hous-
ing.
5 7 1 0
5 /06/85
Vice Mayor Cobb served on the ice skating subcommittee and other
feasible al tern ati of could riot be found. Unfortunately, time ran
out and either they took the step proposed or the Winter Lodge
would be lost forever. He did not share the bleak view of the
future that the entire community would be elderly and childless.
There were young children in his neighborhood and he believed
things happened in cycles. Over time, Palo Alto would have new
families and new children and the Council was obliged to look into
the future and provide for it. He was willing to take any reason-
able steps to save the Winter Lodge, and short of the proposal
before the Council, he saw no other way to do it. He believed the
City's General Fund would be heavily taxed when Council considered
issues like Jordan Middle School.
Councilmember Klein agreed with Councilmember Woolley and it was
wishful thinking to believe there were other alternatives avail-
able. The cash Council would have to spend to acquire the site
under almost any reasonable scenario was out of the question as it
would expend more than half the City's cash reserves, which he
could not justify. He did not believe there were other ways to
accomplish saving the Winter Lodge short of that and if there
were, the entire community missed the boat. While the solution
was not perfect, it was the most feasible. .While Palo Alto's
school population was down considerably from what it once was,
7,000 to 8,000 children in the school district was not to be
ignored.
Mayor Levy supported the main motion. He understood the motion
only dealt with the undedication element and from a procedural.
standpoint, if the swap was on the ballot, then it was proper for
the undedication to be on the ballot at the same time. His favor-
able vote represented support of the concept that the proper pro-
cedure was for Council to take the action to allow the electorate
to vote on the undedication. He wanted staff to closely look at
Item 2 which spoke to an equivalent market -value exchange. He
assumed the RM-2 zone was for a maximum of 80 units which was why
Council spoke of an exchange of 80 units for something .of compar-
able value.
Mr. Zaner said an appraisal would be done on the highest and best
use of whatever property was being looked at. In the case of the
property on. Middlefield, it would be f n accordance with that zon-
ing, and in the case of the property on Geng Road, an appraiser
would be told to assume a zoning since it was now zoned as part of
the golf course.
Mayor Levy believed the assumption related to the Middlefield
property should not simply assure the City would crowd onto the
site the largest number of units possible, but look at what City
actions were on similar sites and assume a density that was like-
ly ---not a maximum density.
Mr. Zaner said the appraiser would follow standard and approved
appraisal procedures which would require him to look at comparable
sales in the area and he would give an appraisal of the value ne
the land based on its highestand best use.
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 7-2, Bechtel, Renzel voting "no. °
MOTION: Councilmember Sutori s moved, seconded by Cobb, that
staff be directed to draft language for a proposed ballot measure.
for exchange of a Palo Alto -owned undeveloped lot for site of
similar value containing the Winter Lodge Ice Skating facility.
With respect to the Geng property, it should speak to transaction
of negotiations as it refers to the Wog property. It should
modify the availability of property by tercel nol ogy that says up to
3.74 acres or not to exceed- 3.74 acres. With respect to the
Middlefield property, the language shouti be based on the
principles that the proposed acquisition is for the eerpeses of
withholding the Middlefield property from near term development
As
°bilfli
5 l 1 I
MOTION CONTINUED
with the attendant impacts of demolition of the recreational
facilities and construction of market rate housing, to provide
adequate planning control and interval in order to determine
long-term uses of the overall property, allowing continued
availability of a Winter Lodge facility for community ice skating
until the 1991-92 skating season so long as all of the operation,
capital, and maintenance costs are user -supported. Staff to draft
language that the exchange negotiation measure is a companion of
the measure to undedicate and can only be implemented if the
undedicated measure is approved by a majority of the
electorate.
Councilmember Sutorius said stripped of the "whereas" clauses, the.
present initiative No. 2 was close to what he believed would be
contained in the language of a Council initiative in terms of the
ballot statement itself. The statement presently read, "the pro-
posed ordinance reads as follows: Now, therefore, be it ordained
by the people of Palo Alto that the City of Palo Alto shall take
all necessary and appropriate actions permitted under applicable
laws to exchange the City -owned undeveloped lot of similar value
at the northeast corner of East Embarcadero Road and Geng Road for
parcels 127-53-11, 12, 13 and 15 at 3009 Middlefield Road on which
the Winter Lodge ice skating facility is situated." The thrust of
his direction to staff as it applied to that portion only modified
the ordinance by saying it was to negotiate an exchange. It did
not effect the exchange --it required negotiating the exchange and
acknowledged that the amount of property might be less than 3.74
acres and it, therefore, set a cap. As it applied to a comparison
with initiative No. 2, there was not that much difference between
what he suggested and what was contained. The purposes behind the
references to the Middlefield property were for the types of con-
cerns expressed as to what might happen with the balance of the
property and to reflect upon the fact that his 1991-92 dates
related to the amortization expiration of the ARCO station. He
remembered being the dissenting vote of a 5-1 decision on the
Planning Commission that tried to be responsive to the Midtown
community who poured into the Council Chambers in support of the
amortization district that would have cojoined the Shell Station,
Cultural Center, Veterinary Clinic, and the Arco station to the
common amortization date of 1991. As pointed out by Mr. Peery,
had that occurred, there would have continued to be an income
stream supportng the property for the Trust purposes and Council
would not be contending with the present situation. 0epite that
fact, he believed Council needed to assure the ultimate uses of
the property were carefully planned and in the context of what the
total property might ultimately be when the Arco station amortiza-
tion occurred.
Mayor Levy clarified that all maintenance and operating costs were
user -supported, and he asked if that referred to all recreational
facilities on the site or just the Winter Lodge.
Councilmember Sutorius said he referred to the Winter Lodge ice
skating facility. Council would have to address how the other
facilities were managed on the property. Mr, Thompson might be
interested in a tern lease for both facilities since his lease
expired in August
Councilmember Klein did not believe the motion contained language
that "all" operating and capital costs would bce� covered by user
fees.
Mayor .Levy asked if the wording should be. that "all costs of the
Winter Lodge were user supported" or whether the costs should be limited to maintenance and operating.
5 :7 1 2
5/06/85
As Corrected
6/03/85
1
Counci imemoer sutorius said there might :be some common costs to
the consolidated properties that were appropriately"City costs.
He was more comfortable with Councilmember Klein's suggestion that
all its operating and maintenance costs be user -supported.
Mayor Levy clarified the language was "all maintenance and operat-
ing costs of the Winter Club be user -supported."
Councilmember Klein believed maintenance costs were to include
capital costs.
Mayor Levy clarified the language was all maintenance, capital and
operating costs of the Winter Club be user -supported.
Councilmember Renzel said Councilmember Bechtel suggested there
might be other ways to acquire the site and she concurred. ,s a
public entity, it seemed as if Council should look into the eco-
nomics of what it was doing. In recent history, Council approved
an air rights .project downtown over a fairly substantial parking
lot that might have accommodated a parking structure. At the out-
set, Council expected to get 44 units of housing under $50,000
each, but ended up with 44 units of housing only four of which
were below market rate the least expensive of which was up to
almost $90,000. The City ended up with precious few of the
affordable housing units it needed and lost an opportunity to pro-
vide parking. Meanwhile, the City agreed to spend somewhere in
the vicinity of $600,000 to acquire a small parcel downtown in
order to build a parking structure or to at least have a unified
site that would be suitable for a parking structure. It seemed
that if Council looked at the situation in'perspective and recog-
nized that it was creating public costs elsewhere with the pro-
posed exchange, it should look more seriously at the economics of
whether it could not acquire the land and be ahead in the long run
rather than running into a situation where it continued to plunge
head long into the same problem which . plagued the City and cost
many thousands and millions of dollars over the years.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked if the City was going to try and
acquire all the property in Midtown.
Councilmember Sutorius said he referred to all of the described
parcels which were presently vacant, i .e. , the former Shell par-
cel, the Winter Lodge parcel, the Thompson Swim and Tennis Club
parcels, and including all associated easements. It included
everything but the ARCO station because that was not offered to
Mr. Peery for purchase.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked at what point Council decided
negotiations were broken down.
Councilmember Sutorius was open to suggestions.
Mr. Zaner said staff would return with some date that made sense.
AMEWDNE$T: Mayor Levy moved, seconded by Renzel, that stiff
retere to Council with the economics of the proposed motion based
on two assumptions
1. That the foci l i ty was operated by the City; and
2. That the facility is operated privately.
Mayor Levysaid while it was intended that the costs be user- sup-
ported, it was incumbent on the Council to know what that meant.
If the costs were too high to l i kely: be user -supported, Council,
should know. He was concerned about the total costs of the facil-
ities. They were talking about are _ than the Winter Lodge because
what the motion did not directly say should be user -supported were
the other 2.7 acres of land involved in tNe ,step.
AMENDMENT PASSED by a vote or u-1, Cobb ¥vtiiiy mho,N
Mayor Levy supported asking staff to develop the proposal because
he was interested in the economics and warted everything in front
of him before he voted. He clarified that his predilection was
not to favor the swap and believed the community should continue
to get the necessary signatures to put the swap on the ballot If
Council did not approve the swap and put it on the ballot itself.
MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED PASSED by a vote of 7-2, Bechtel. kenzel
voting 'no,"
Mayor Levy clarified with staff that both items would return to
the Council on May 20.
ADJOURNMENT
Council adjourned at 12:45
ATTEST:
aefe
APPROVED:
J