HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-02-06 City Council Summary Minutesww
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CITY
COUNC(L
MINUTEs
ITEM
Ural Communications
Minutes of October 24, 1983
Minutes of November 14, 1983
Referral
CITY
MI
ALTO
Regular Meeting
Monday, February 6, 1984
Item #1, Seismic Hazard Reduction Program
Referral to Policy and Procedures Committee
Action
Item #2, Annual Review of Conflict of Interest Code
Item #3, Resolution re Neighbors Abroad Official.
Visit to Palo, Leyte, Philippines
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Item #4, Ordinance re Water lank in Foothills Park 4 1 7 7
(2nd•Reading)
1..em #5, Ordinance re Resale Controls (2nd Reading)
Item #6 Ordinance re 8aylands, Bicycle Trail to East
Palo Alto (2nd Heading)
Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions
Item #7, PUBLIC HEARING: Planning Commission recom-
mendation .re approval of amendment to the Zoning
Ordinance to add new Neighborhood . Transition
Combining District (T)
Item #8, PUBLIC HEARING: Planning Commission recom- 4 1 7 8
mendation re application of City of Palo Alto for
change of zone district for prop.ertie.s loacted at
_741-905° Middlefield, 715 Homer Avenue, and 722.728
Channi ny Avelfue
Item 19, Recommendation of Finance and. Public Works 4 I 8 5
Committee to the City. Council re Finance Office
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Item #1U, Planning Commission Housing Element Review 4 1 9 0
Item #1.10 fuel Efficient Traffic Signal Management 4 2 n 0
&ran : -: Referral to Finance and Public Works
Committee
Item #12, Allocation • of Jobs .Bill/Community Uevel- 4 2 0 2
opment Block Grant Funds
Item #13 Request of Vice Mayor Levy to Canel t
Council Meeting of April 16, 1984
item #14, Request of CouncilRember Woolley re letter.
to Metropolitan Transportation Commi lion (MTC) re
Dumbarton Bridge
Adjournment: 11:55 p.m. 2 0 4
4. X .7 3
2/6/84
Regular Meeting
February 6, 1984
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this day in the
Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, at
7:33 p.m.
PRESENT: 'Bechtel (arrived 7:35 p.m.), Cobb,
Fletcher, Klein, Levy, Renee], Sutori.us
Witherspoon, Woolley
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Sandy Lockhart, 405 Olive Avenue, said her street was affected
by the new barrier on Park Boulevard. Olive Avenue was
affected by constant, major commercial infringements, and
there were noise and odors from the industrial plant across
the street. .Wrecked cars often parked overnight on the
street, there was heavy parking, large truck traffic during
the day; commuter traffic at selected times; light spills and
manufacturing -type noises behind them until late night hours;
industrial power lines in front of their. house, and now a Sam-
Traos bus went down the street at 6:30 p.m., despite repeated
complaints to SarnTrans. It was a struggle to maintain some
type of residential semblance on their street. By the Coun-
cil's rezoning the street from industrial to residential, it .
was financially impossible to improve the properties. She
considered the California Avenue area as part of her immediate
neighborhood, and the park on Park Avenue and the Stanford
residences were extensions of the, neighborhood they frequent-
ed. It was a pleasure to be able to reach her Stanford
friends or the park by traveling through %a -hat she felt was
part of her neighborhood. It was a pleasant route, and the
Council had made it difficult. Blocking off Park Avenue fur-
ther isolated their street into a segregated neighborhood with
a few connecting links. She asked if they were paying
penance because they were email, or because the houses were on
the lowest side of the economic scale in Palo Alto. They did
not have the large trees, a quiet street, or a large neighbor-
hood from which her children could find friends. They had to
choose from nearby areas they could reach easily and safely
without confronting major • crosstown traffic. Park Avenue was
a thread_that afforded her that- neighborhood extension, and
she resented having it blocked oif. She suggested -the Council
leave that link unobstructed.
2. Rolf Horn of Varian Associates represented the Palo .Alto Cham-
ber of Commerce and introduced the Chamber's new Executive
Vice President, as ar`February 1, 1984, Jim Haliburton. Mr.
Hallburton came to the Chamber —after a.dis;a'nguished career in
business and Chamber work. He was. the Executive Vice Presi-
dent of the. Campbell Chamber of Commerce, and for six years
was the General ; Manager of the Santa Clara Convention and
Visitors Bureau. The Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce had sought
a new Executive Vice President for the past six months,` and
were fortunate to find :`Mr. Ha i i button in their neighborhood
Who was familiar with the mid -Peninsula and knowledgeable
about many of the issues which faced the City.
3. Jinn Ha l iburton, said he was pleased to be :associated with the
City of Palo Alt° and the Chamber of Commerce. He looked for-
ward to getting to know the Council and working" with then.
His goal was to have the Council consider hMm, his staff,` and
the Chamber organization a valuable resource to make the City
.a better: place.
4. Ur. Nancy Jewell Cross, 3ui Vine Street, Menlo Park, repre-
sented the Committee for Safe and Sensible San f`rancisquito
Creek Area Routing. She wrote a letter to the Council which
was on fiie in -the City Clerk's office, because she was con-
cerned about the action which ensued from her presentation two
weeks ago. She requested that Council write a letter or ex-
press its desires to the Metropolitan Transportation Commis-
sion. (MTC) for an electric train or trolley across th.e
Dumbarton Bridge into Menlo Park and Palo Alto to connect Cal -
train in Menlo Park and Palo Alto with BARI in the East Bay to
relieve much of the traffic congestion, air pollution, and
problems that concentrated in the West Bay cities. The matter
was heard after midnight that night, and the form of the reso-
lution effected a letter asking for public .transit. Her
request was for rail or electric trolley --not public transit.
Public transit to most people meant more money for diesel
buses, which were pollutants. The object of her endeavor was
air quality fit for health. Rail or electric trolley, offered
an attractive means for people to get around in the area. It
was unfamiliar, except for a long time ago when there were
trolleys in Palo Alto that went to Stanford University. She
requested the Council write a second letter, and specify the
form of transit believed desirable for the West side communi-
ties as soon as possible. There would he. a further public
hearing in San Jose next Thursday, which was scheduled after
the Council's last meeting. The MTC Executive Committee would
start the series of hearings on the new rail at 10:00 a.m. at
the Board of Supervisors' Chambers. Anyone could speak, but
it was designed to hear the concerns of the people in Santa
Clara County on Santa Clara County issues, and it was appro-
priate for Palo Alto to speak there. At the most recent hear-
ing in Oakland, a number of Councilmembers attended and ex-
pressed the will of their cities. She believed it would be
appropriate if the Palo Alto Council e- ignated an .interested
person .to go sown and carry the messag if Palo Alto's inter-
est and to hear other concerns in Sahaal Clara County. She
requested it be put on the agenda or be acted upon that eve-
ning if possible.
Jack Otto, 3157 Louis Road, fortified Dr. Cross' plea for
clean air and for the City to have a rail system to eliminate
the cars and buses that traveled through the area. He had a
complete system in mind although it might have to start on a
small scale. The complete system would affect every human
in the area because they were being polluted to death by the
fumes especially those who thought they were exercising, but
were inhaling the fumes with which the air was polluted. In
addition to what was spent to get people around, there were
also increased costs in all transportation systems. If one.
included all the factors --the police, taxes, insurance pre-
miums, etc., he believed it was one of the mast important cur-
rent items to take into consideration. Before the costs got
out of sight, people must acquire certain rights of way. He
believed the subjea;t _of a rail going down to Santa Clara to
intersect the lines in that area and the same thing with- the
BART system was brought up a year or_ two •ear.lier, bute by-
passed. There was some controversy. with San Mateo County, and
it was believed -that if nothing was done, Santa Clara could
forget it. Nothing was done in the area, and it was important
to ail that_ the. matter be taken up and considered before it
got out of hand .;-rid to the plaint where it had to be .done, no
utter what the cost.
MINUTES OF ,OCTOBER • 24 1983
Courici imeaber Renael had the following correction:
Pa e 3913, paragraph 4, line 6, should read "...equity and consis-
ency. n the Council's action on. East Bayshore, exempted proper-
ties provided their own parking, and did'not shift the burden.,.
4 1 7.5
2/06/84
Councilmember Witherspoon submitted the following corrective:
Page 3899, third paragraph, should read:
"Vice Mayor Witherspoon' said development for residential condo-
miniums was perceived to be a problem two years ago when several
rental units were being lost to new condominiums. She was con-
cerned about the Planning Commission's proposed approach, and
pointed out that alternative suggestions had been given in public
testimony before the Planning Commission, and were in the packet.
Some rental units in the downtown area were substandard, and some
qualified for historical status. If they based the rules on
tmmediate previous use, then they were encouraging the landlords
to evict tenants so there would be no rental units existing when
the redevelopment plans were presented. She preferred the use of
incentives, rather than prohibitions. After all, the City does
need to renew some of the housing stock, and she Was not surese
could support the proposed resolution. 'She believed the private
sector should be persuaded to use IRS tax Write-offs for
rehabilitation rather than make laws to preclude redevelopment of
rental units."
MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by Cobb,
approval of the minutes of October 24, 1983, as corrected.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Woolley, Sutorius "not partici-
pating.'
Minutes of November 14 1983
Councilmember Wither.poor submitted the following correction:
Pa)e 3935, item #2U, paragraph 3, line 5, the words "due to"
should reed "nit available."
Payt 3944 line 6, "the retail mix of edibles downtown was
should .read "The retail stores downtown offered a variety -
of edibles also offered in a supermarket..."
Councilmember -Cobb made the following correction:
wage 3937, paragraph 5, line 6, should read:
"That would involve different assumptions about subsidies, kinds
of ownership, models, possible operation by volunteers and/or
retired people from the Senior C. ter, 'ell of which could change
the overhead picture..."
MOTION: Vice Mayor Levy moved, seconded by Renzel, approval of
the minutes of November 14, 1983,'as corrected,
NATION PASSED unanimously, Woolley, Sutorius "Pot partici-
pating.'
Minutes of November 21 1983
Councilmember Henze] made the following correction:
Pap 3973, line 3, insert the word "however" after "disenfrane
ch sed; " and on line 5, insert "If it i s a choice," before "she
would prefer..."
Councilmember Cobb made' the following correction:
PP 3-974, paragraph 3, line 1, replace "nursed" with "urged."
NOTION: Vita Mayor levy waved, seceded by Rental 0 approval
the minutes of November 21, 1943, a$ corrected.
Si3TMON PASSED unanimously, Woolley, Sutorius "not
participating."
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2/06/84
CONSENT CALENDAR
MOTION: Coenci 1aember Woolley aoreo , seconded by Renzel , to
approve Consent Calendar Items 1 - 6.
Referral
ITEM #1, SEISMIC HALM) REDUCTION PROGRAM - REFERRAL TO POLICY AND
DOES COMMITTEE (CMk:123:4)
Action
ITEM #2, ANNUAL REVIEW OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST. CODE
�.��w�rnswrrraiwr�rirnrrrr�re� -ar ..+��ra w.� ar�.r+rr.�e.v
RESOLUTION 6225 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
TrirmIrrevranto ALTO ADOPTING THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST
CODE FOR DESIGNATED POSITIONS AS REQUIRED BY. SECTION
2.U9.U10 OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE AND REPEALING
RESOLUTION 61U1*
ITEM 13 RESEILUTILIN RE NEIGHt3ORS ABROAD OFFICIAL VISIT TO PALO
LEYTE F` L VES
RESOLUTIOI4 6226 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
ALTO CONGRATULATING THE GIANTS CLUB OF
PALO AND THE NEIGHBORS ABROAD OF PALO ALTO ON THE
OCCASION OF THE FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO PALO AND 1HE
TWENTY-FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE SISTER CITY RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN PALO AND PALO ALTO"
ITEM #4 ORUINANCE RE WATER TANK. IN FOOTHILLS PARK (CMR:152:4)
econ ea :ng,
ORDINANCE 3504 entitled 'ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
O ALTO APPROVING AND ADOPTING A PLAN FOR
THE IMPROVEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF BLANCO RESERVOIR AT
FOOTHILLS PARK (1st Reading 1/16/84, PASSED 8.1, Bechtel
ITEM #5, URt3INANCE RI RESALE CONTROLS (2nd Reading)
ORDINANCE 35:35 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITr OF PALO ALTO AMENDING CHAPTER 9.70 ON RESALE
CONTROLS FOR UNITS ORIGINALLY FINANCED WITH MORTGAGE
oREVENUE BONDS" (1st Reading 1/16/84, PASSED 9-0)
ITEM #b ORDINANCE }LE i3AYLANI:S BICYCLE TRAIL TO EAST PALO ALTO
n ea n ,..�....
9
ORDINANCE 3516 entitled *ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
O ALTO APPROVING AND ADOPTING PLANS FOR A
PORTION OF THE BAYLANDS BICYCLE TRAIL OVER A PORTION OF
BUM PARK, . THE. CITY -OWNED BAYLAMDS AND THE MUNICIPAL
GOLF COURSER (1st Reading 1/23/84, PASSED 8.0,
Witherspoon absent)
MOTION .PASSED meenieerslyp Bechtel votiA9 'ns,e on Item /4,
Ordinance re Water Tank in Foothills Park.
AGENDA CHANGES AUDITIONS AND DELETIONS
iMis-rNnes� r 7.�wmr�n&.r______ r+r_4
Counci lmeober Woolley added Item #14. re Dumbarton Bridge.
MAYOR KLEIN RE CONSOLIDATION OF , PUBLIC HEARINGS F)R ITE! 07 AND
A
MOTION: Mayer K l e i e moved, seconded by Cobb, to c4Pesl i da to the
pu iiIc M arings oe Items 17 and 8, to hoar tostim@ey at the .sage
time.
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2/06/84
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
iELM #/ , PUBLIC HEARING: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION RE
ITEM #3 PUBLIC HEARING: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION RE
AVPLICA1If N Uk clrY OF PALO ALIO 1 -OR C —Z L
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Planning Commissioner Jean McCown said the (T) District concept
was discussed by the Planning Commission at its November 30, 1983
meeting, with regard to the discussion of the specific Middlefield
Road properties. The feces of the Commission turned to the par-
ticular neighborhood concerns about scale and height of potential
multiple family developments. It desired to review a concept with.
some reduction in height in transition zones, and asked staff to
draft an ordinance for its review before making a final decision
on the particular propertie;. At its subsequent meeting, the
Commission was satisfied with the concept returned by staff. In
many transition areas, there would only be a slight reduction• in
height from 35 feet to 30 feet since in many multiple family zones
adjacent to sin -91e family zones, 35 feet was the maximum allowed.
As indicated by the staff report, there were other design implica-
tions when the height was reduced which might necessitate a fur-
ther reduction in density of the multi -family district, which was
apparent i;: the Commission's action on item #8, related to the
specific properties on Middlefield. The Commission was unanimous
in recommending a reduction, in the density from the present. RM-4
to an RM-2 zone. The priMary factor in the decision was the
informatiori in the staff report about the potential bulkiness and
design characteristics of structures if the density was left high-
er after the imposition of the new combining zone. The neighbor --
hood concerned with Item #8 requested a reduction in density on
those properties all the way down to R-2, but the Commission
believed the characteristics of those properties were not really
single family, but rather multi -family. Because of its transition
characteristics when comparing the density with properties across
d Mi dlefield, the RM way` believed to :be the appropriate density
Mid
dlefield,
for the property.
Councilmember Witherspoon r:larified that the daylight -plane would
affect the properties since they were located adjacent to an R-1
zone.
Chief Planning 'Official Bruce Freeland said they find ` a daylight
plane regardless of the proximity to the R-1 neighborhood. There
were also side :and rear yard setbacks within the RM-2 district.
Councilmember Cobb asked if using the overlay zone in an applica-
tion which involved only a few properties presented the City with
any particular legal problems given its narrow focus, _and whether
the (I) zone could have application in. other areas.
City Attorney Diane Lee did not believe there was a problem with
the overlay zone, and that the opportunity existed to apply the
(T) zone to other properties.
Mr. Freeland said that when the California avenue rezonings
returned to the Council on March 12, there would be a staff recom-
mendation to apply the (T) district to the mult°.ple family prop-
erties along College Avenue.
Councilrember Sutor-ous clarified that as a result of the subject
overlay, the City would have a situation, unless some other action.
took place, where R-1 would have a 30 foot height' limit; RM-1 and
up in the multi -family zones would have a 30 foot height limit if
adjacent to R-1 or R-2, and R-2 would have a 35 foot height limit,
which created ananomaly of a less dense zone with a higher height.
limit than an adjacent multi -family zone.
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2/06/84
Mr, Freeland said the R-2 district had a 35 foot height limit, and
it would be an application where several of the properties adja-
cent to R-2 would have a lower height limit on the multiple family
RM-2(T) property than the adjacent R-2 property.
Mayor Klein declared the public hearing open.
Barry Tharp, 765 Channing Avenue, said last summer about 200
neighbors - irnrnediately around the RM-4 and R-2 zones, which were
zoned R-1, presented a petition to the City Council, which was
prompted by the application of a large three-story condominium
project to be built on the corner of Channing and Middlefield.
The petition requested an R-2 rezoning of the RM-4 zone because it
was believed to be a logical transition from an R-1 neighborhood
(and all were single family dwellings except for the RM-4) between
the HM -2 across the street, and the neighborhood. The neighbor-
hood still bel ievrd that R-2 was a better zone for the area, but
realized people bought property there as an RM-4 zone. He asked
the Council to support the change in zoning to RM-2(T) in order to
preserve their neighborhood, and hoped it could be further down -
zoned in they future.
Chuck'Cdelstein, 355 Santa Rita Avenue, owned the property at the
corner of Middlefield and Channing, which was the largest of the
several parcels. A medical and dental office building was located
on the site, and he had no plans to take it down and replace it
with housing. The controversy across the street with the three-
story structure originally proposed lead to the directive for the
Planning Commission to review the entire matter. At the first
Planning Commission meeting, there was a high sense of urgency to
e take sor . action. The combination of the two actions before the
Council was the first step to foreclose a lot of housing potential
in the community in a lot of areas as yet unexamined. He believed
the actions were premature because of the review of the entire
housing element within the Comprehensive Plan review. By the
proposed action, he stood to lose some 30 dwelling units if the
entire area were turned over to housing and developed to the new
level rather than the present one. There were elements in the
staff report which spoke to a preference for larger scale units,
but everyone's battle was to try and scale the units down; and
bring the prices and cost- of living down. He believed the Council
should reject the staff and Planning Commission recommendations
because absent -,_`the original controversy, there was no project
emerging, and he had nothing in mind until the Comprehensive Plan
review was completed. He saw no urgency to take action that eve-
ning. The staff report contained little language about affordable
housing, and dealt primarily with zoning and -the closeness of the
project to neighboring projects of lesser density. Density was
the crudest tool with which to address the problem pf the neigh -
hors, and he believed it was possible to build all the units the
density now allowed on his site in two stories. He believed an
appropriate -approach to minimize impacts _on the neighbors and
still preserve density would be to,. retain, .the present height
li mit, but ensure that the three-story portion did not have a
serious impact on the neighbors.- The proposed action should be
rejected because he believed it was another in a long series of
individual cases where housing lost out in the heat of Controversy
to downzo*li ng_s He believed his office -building had a good rela-
tionship with the --residential neighborhood, and in the three years
he owned the property, he received - no calls from 'any •nei ghbot
about the -presence of a, coinrnercla l - use in that area. He believed
there was- a way not yet found td reach more (inits . ith less im-
pact. The ,action was discri,minnatory because _ i Y`.he were geared to
develop the property,, although there was idle comae€+t about -look-
ing at other irpa,cts `of that kind. of zoning, the only aria in the
commmunity where the combination zoning -was aimed was- the one par-
tel. He -urOed that the.. issue -be. subsumed- Into the housing element
review and the other elements -:.of the Comprehensive Plank review.
At the end of those dei-iberations, he . would have the knowledge
that the decision was made With sore: -consistency.
4 1 1 9
2/06/64
Mayor Klein declared the public hearing closed.
Vice Mayor Levy asked about the feasibility of the concept men-
tioned by Mr. Edelstein of a higher height limit at some distance
from the adjoining R-1, R-2 areas in the (T) zone.
Mr. Freeland said it was not discussed. The height was only being
changed by a few feet; and although it seemed possible, it cut
matters fine to step up from 30 feet to 35 feet over the front
part of the property. The main concern 'was with the number of
floors, and not height per se, so it might be possible to have
three floors in some circumstances. The properties were not deep,
and most of the properties around town where it might be a con-
sideration, were properties of similar to smaller size, and he
doubted there was much practical benefit by having a degradation
in height over those relatively small properties.
Vice Mayor Levy asked about the permitted lot coverage in R-2 and
in RM-1, RM-Z, and RM 3.
Mr. Freeland said 35 percent in all cases except RM-3, which Was
4U percent.
Vice Mayor Levy clarified it was conceivable that an owner of R-2
property could cover es much of his or her lot to a 35 foot height
as the adjoining Rhl-2(T) owner could cover up to a 30 foot height
limit.
Mr. Freeland said that was correct.
Counci lrember Fletcher asked about the process planned for other
similar possible (T). zones.
Mr. Freeland said staff received a Council assignment at the same
time the subject assignment was received to look at all mu,itiple
family areas in the City where there was_ high density in close
proximity to a lower density. Staff was proceeding with that
study, and it was on Lynni`e Melena's work program. Staff believed
there were relatively few areas in town where there was as exag-
gerated RM-4 immediately adjecent to Rel, but ail such cases were
being searched out. Staff was not necessarily looking at the two
floor limit for application :to all -such arias, but kept an open
mind as to whether the change in density was appropriate, and if
not, why. The (T) district was also bein considered for the
strip of College _Avenue between El Camino and Park Bouelvard,
which was an existing KM -4 area where the buildings were dense but
only two stories. Staff believed that architecturally it would be
better for future developments to key into the two floor limit.
It was not necessarily the same type of issue, but it was another
application where a two floor limit might be useful.
Cobrnci lmember Fletcher said the yue tion of the area being singled
out and whether it should be put off until the entire City's simi-
lar possible pones were reviewed was discussed at the .Planning
Commission. It was pointed out that since the area was identi-
fied, if the Council delayed action with the signal that it would
probably happen sooner or later, it might stimulate immediate
applications. In order to prevent precipitous action on the part
of any developer, it would be prudent to pass the ordinance now as
recommended and when the other areas
., s i - the City =-� :��e�� Ir. t��e .:�ty were reviewed,
the ordinance could be modified if necessary.
NOTION: Cossci iaeMber Fletcher aw.ed, seconded ex itenzei . to
adopt the filming Commission recommendation for approval of t
amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to add a new Neighborhood Trans-
ition (T) Combining t ttrict, aoad introduced the ordinance for
first reading.
4 1 8 0
2/06184
MOTION CONTINUE!)
ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE
ALTO ADDING CHAPTER 18.31
(NEIGHBORHOOD TRANSITION COMBINING DISTRICT) TO THE PALO
ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE TO MODIFY CERTAIN SITE DEVELOPMENT
REGULATIONS IN THE MULTIPLE FAMILY ZONES"
Councilmember Fletcher said there was a conflict which everyone
felt between the need for additional housing and the need to pro-
tect the neighborhoods. In areas 5o close to R-1 neighborhood?,
it was important to be sensitive to the densities and height
limits because if action was not taken, the proposed developments
would only be opposed by the citizens who lived in ithe area, and
there was more disruption to the developer's process to have the
Council turn down a proposal which fit the zoning because of the
neighborhood.objections. The motion would send a clear message to
developers from the outset and spell out the exact limits.
Councilmember Witherspoon clarified the motion created the zone in
the City's lexicon of zones, but did not apply to anything in
particular.
Mayor Klein said that was correct.
Councilmember Witherspoon .aid there would be other recommenda-
tions in the next year for possible combining zones or changes in
zoning once the Comprehensive Plan review started. She clarified
that Council first decided on policy, and then the policy was
translated into necessary zone changes.
Mr. Freeland said that was the ideal situation, and he hoped the
process would work that way. There was a State time limit staff
was working toward on the housing element, and it might not be
possible to have all multiple family area issues in front of the
Council by the time At had to act on the housing element. Staff
might present part of the recommendations after the Council com-
pleted the housing element, but would attempt to complete the
study of the other multiple family areas, and bring them all for-
ward at the same time.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked about the timing.
Mr. Freeland said the City heeded an adopted housing element by
about July, and hearings wOu I d have to start much earlier. There
was also a State review of the element.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked if the housing element had
include zoning.
Mr. Freeland said no, but if the Council was looking to it to set
the policy, ail information might not be available in time.
Councilmember Renzel believed it was important for the Council to
establish tne zoning tool. Prior to 1976, the zoning ordinance
had a stringent similar tool that was not added into the ordinance
adopted in 197b, and as a result, expectations changed, but in
fact, protections were built into the old zones. A.sirailar situ-
ation would have permitted A In font hieh b' 3din9'- c' en feet
from the adjoining R-1 property line, starting at a plane of ap-
proximately 10 feet at the property line and sloping yep to .34
feet. It would take 90 feet to get to the 30 foot height under
the old zoning ordinance, and when the new zoning ordinance was
applied, it was solely on numbers of units without regard to some
of the old zoning qualifications _that existed as protections to
the neighborhoods. It was important to have such a _facility to
proVide for orderly transitions between zones and she would sup-
port the notion.
4 1 8 1
2/06/84
Vice Mayor: Levy clarified the (T) zone only had ur e i honye r ruin
the regular zone --the height l imi t was 30 feet instead of 35
feet.
Mr. Freeland said it was two habitable floors plus a 30 foot
measure to the peak.
Vice Mayor Levy said the RM-2 zone could cover 35 percent of_ the
lot, and the R-1 zone could also cover 35 percent of the lot, so
that the person with the single family home could cover his lot in
exactly the same way as the multi -family dwelling, but the single
family person could do it to 35 feet, and the multi -family person
could do it to 30 feet.
Mr. Freeland said the City had two single family designations --
single family and two family. In the zoning ordinance, only R-1
was called single family, and it had a 30 -foot height to the peak.
The R-2 allowed a 35 foot height. In the Comprehensive Plan, both
one and two family dwellings were called single family, and R-2
was referred to as an anomaly of the higher height on the lower
density that might be adjacent.
:ice Mayor -Levy asked about the rationale for treating R-2 differ-
ently from RM-f .
Mr. Freeland said RM-2 was only treated differently with the com-
bination of the (T) zone. RM-2 was not being changed across the
board --the (T) zone was a tool for application to a given locale.
Vice Mayor Levy said he understood that, but if there was a row of
R-2 lots, and next to it was RM-2(T), he asked about the rationale
for the RM-2(T) being more restrictive than the R-2 right next
door.
Mr. Freeland said the only difference was the impact of more than
one or two dwellings looking over a rear property line. With a
two family development, it was unlikely under any circumstance
that there would be more than one dwelling up in the air where it
looked down on the neighbor's property. In a multiple family
project, particularly if three floors were allowed, there might be
more of an invasion of that sense of privacy on the single family
neighborhood next door. Even though the numbers came out the
same, the types of structures likely in the multiple family con-
figuration was more likely to have people high in the air with the
visual contact in and out of those single family homes and their
backyard.; than compared to_the type of two family structares. The
difference was "of kind" and not numbers.
C ouncilmember Sutorius said he made the motion at the Planning
Commission to investigate the concept and return with -a proposal
for a transition type of zone, which resulted in the (T) zone. He
would support the motion, but clarified his support was in the
light of his Planning Commis ion motion and with the understanding
that there would be the full review during the Comprehensive Plan
period, end the opportunity to evaluate how the (T) zone actually
applied in other areas in the -City, and any necessary adjustments.
He could not separate the item entirely from Item 110, which was
the: housing element, and shared ._the: concerns of Commissioner
McCown about the reduction in units that a rezoning in combination
with the (T) zone would bring. = His tupport Of the motion had
y,i v d.. : t_ i i " - f }a, w$ h on the d en! ai ,i 7 � r i-i i s � � � � id � 7i � t � is � -- a y =_s .' - s- - . , ii' 1 � 3 , d �..
oe
MOTION PASSED IAaaieeealy.
COUNCIL IIISCUSSIUI4 OF ITEM 8 ZONE CHAW FROM RM-4 T.O R l-2 1
•
1777ZI7213 CHAl ,TWG
1
1
4 1 8 2
2/06/84
Councilmember Woolley said she supported the staff nrnposal of an
overlay which limited the height to two habitable floors because
she sympathized with the R-1 property owner immediately behind
those properties, but she did not support the zone change from
RM-4 to RM-2. The Council was aware of the need for more housing
units, and she did not want to see the City try and build enough
houses to fill the need. She was eager to see houses built at the
lower end of the price range presently in Palo Alto, and the staff
report said that if the RM-4 zone were retained, the units would
have to be 800 to 850 square feet, which might be an advantage.
She believed that was the kind of housing needed in Palo Alto if
one considered that present housing was coming in at the high end
of a continuum from $100,000 to $2005.000. She did not want to see
the zoning changed before the review of the Comprehensive Plan,
and the application of the (T) zone to the area would provide suf-
ficient protection for projects that might come up in the short
term. Regarding the possibility of structures being "boxy," if a
developer tried to squeeze that many units into two stories, it
was a risk, but she -was willing to rely on the City's open space
requirement, the difficulties of satisfying the parking require-
ments, and an the judgment of the ARB for those properties under
discussion.
MOTION: Councilmember Woolley moved, seconded by Sutorius, to
retain the RM-4 zone, but to add the overlay zone to the proper-
ties at 741--905 Middlefield Road, 715 Homer Avenue, and 722-728
Channing Avenue,
Councilmember Witherspoon said she was concerned about the impact
on the neighbors behind the properties and preferred that Council
look at its whole housing element, decide on what should be accom-
plished, and then decide which properties should be rezoned. She
did not believe the properties would be discriminated against by
the application of the (T) zone, but she was not willing to down-
-zone that evening. Dawnzoning should come about in an orderly
process, through the review of the potential for future housing in
Palo Alto under the housing element.
Councilmember Bechtel spoke against the motion, and did not
believe Council was acting precipitously. The issue arose the
previous summer, and Councilmember Fletcher made some good points.
If Council was concerned about the homes immediately behind that
area on Middlefield, when the Council had a particular project
before it and was confronted with a roomful of neighbors who said
it vas too much and too big, the Council would find itself in a
situation where it was unable to approveea prtoject that met the
present zoning, and it would create a pro em . Right behind the
darner of Middlefield and Channing was R -1 --not RM-2--single
family homes. -- She believed an RM-4 would allow 22 dwelling units
at .the eorher of Middlefield and Channing and that was more than
ample. RM-2 still allowed 13 units. Housing for families was
most particuia.rly needed, and too- small housing Would not be
appropriate for families and would be difficult. She opposed the
motion, and if . At failed, she would support the Nanning
Commission recommendation.
Councilmember Cobb said the proposed zoning would permit 39 units,
where 28 housing units currently existed, and -clarified that the
change to Rid -2 would permit a net growth of 11 housing units. If
Council supported the motion ' with the (T) overlay . he asked about
the likelihood that a project more dense than RM-2 could he devel-
o.,..,i within that king! of cohstr.aint. H± was- torn between the
r�i -
orderly process and ,the fact that once something was put aside for
a while, it might be . a long whi l e. before it was resolved because
thing stacked up ahead, and some people might core in and attempt
cola`development in -anticipation of the down2oning taking pl-ace.
If `the a ---was to be an orderly .process, there must he -some protec-
tion against that kind of development taking place.
4 1 8 3
2/06/84
As Corrected
4/09/84
Mr. Freeland could not speak to the likelihood of someone coming
in with a project or LhaL it might be d successful design. When-
ever there was an announced intention to reduce density, the City
risked that such a thing might happen before it was done. ,Timing
was a good question, and when the downtown study was before the
Council, staff would recommend that the overall Comprehensive Plan
be postponed in order to direct all attention to that study. He
anticipated that even with the downtown study, staff could take a
look at the multiple family areas since that study would be
relatively small and could be wrapped up by the summer.
Councilmember Fletcher responded to Councilmember Woolley's open-
ing statements and pointed out staff's comments on page 2 of the
staff report, paragraph 3, that RM-4 would result: -in boxy building
design with little light and air available to the individial
units, and with minimal open space. She saw "The Redwoods," the
I17 -unit development on El Canino, and although she lauded the
many units squeezed into that lot, there was not one square inch
of open space where -children could ride a tricycle or play with a
ball. There was only driveway and shrubbery, which discouraged
families with children. She believed that would be the type of
development the City would get with constraints on the height
limit while allowing so many units on site. She also opposed the
motion. -
Councilmember Renzel concurred with Councilmembers Bechtel,
Fletcher and possibly Cobb on the issue. It was obvious from the
map that the RM-4 was somewhat of an anomaly and probably a mis-
take when it was done. The neighborhood clearly had a logical
boundary at Middlefield Road for a change from a single family
into a higher density, and the single family aspect on the north
side of Middlefield should he respected. She believed the afford-
able housing issue sometimes lost sight of the fact there was a
great deal of family housing in single family homes which were
fairly expensive. The units being built -were called "affordable"
and were small units unsuitable for families, and almost as expen-
sive as the .existing single family homes in many parts of town.
That argument alone should not be the basis for disrupting the
fabric of a largely single family neighborhood, and she believed
Council should support the Planning Commission recommendation for
that particular site. It was not untimely because it was a
relatively isolated area. What needed to -be done thtre was clear,
and it did not bear a large relationship to other parts of the
City, which would also have to be judged on their own merits.
Vice Mayor Levy said he would not support the motion because when
preserving a single family neighborhood, it was important to have
an orderly transition. RM-2 was clearly designed for a transi-
tional feeling, while RM-4 was too dense. He did not believe 800
square feet Was the kind of housing they were looking for, and as
pointed out by Councilmember Fletcher, it discouraged children.
He wanted to encourage housing for either single parents or fami
lies with children. He found himself willing to agree to the con-
cept Mr. Edelstein mentioned earlier about an orderly process. -As
he saw it, there- were ,two parcels developable in the RM-4 sec`--
tion---one was the_ parcel at the corner of Middlefield and
Channing, and the other was the parcel eon the south side of
Channing, a little way in. from .Middlefield, where there was a
small multi -family apartment house. lTtlat could be torn down and
s-omethi ng larger built. If he were assured that neither of -those
two parcels would ebe developed during th2-nexte ;year or -so while
the Council took a broader, more comprehensive look at -.zoning,- he
would support postponing a specific decision. He believed the (T)
zoning should apply there in any case, and that a proper transni -
tian to protect the identity of the single and double family -hous-
ing in the R-1 e:,ind the R-2 adjacent areas was clearly needed;
MOTION FAILED by a vote of 3-6, Woolley, litherspoo o and
Sotorios voting "aye.'
1/A6,81
MOTION: Counciimembe r. Bechtel moved, seconded by Renzel, to
adopt the Plaisning Commission recommendation finding that the
change in the zone district will not have a negative environmental
impact and to approve the change in zone district from RM-4 to
RM-2 (T) for properties located at 741-905 Middlefield, 715 Homer,
and 722-728 Channi ng
1
1
ORDINANCE FAR FIRST READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE
tinntrTirmarmsMIT ALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION
18.08.040 OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE (THE ZONING
MAP) TO CHANGE THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE PROPERTY KNOWN
AS 741-905 MIDDLEFIELD ROAD, 715 HOMIER AVENUE, and
722-728 CHANNINi6 AVENUE FROM R$-4 TO RM-2(T)6
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 6-3, Woolley, Witherspoon, Sutorius
voting "no."
ITEM #9, RECOMMENDATION OF THE FINANCE AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
Councilmember Cobb, Chairman of the Finance and Public Works
(F&PW) Committee_ said there was no tape of the Committee meeting,
and the City Clerk prepared the minutes without that aid. The
F&PW Committee met in a special session to deal with the ordinance
which was put before them because of the problems related to the
abolishment of the office of City Controller and the related
establishment of the Finance Office. The Committee acted quickly
as a result of the electorate voting last November to abolish the
office of City Controller, which put the City Manager in the posi-
tion of approving expenditures for the City with no explicit
authority provided by ordinance. The City was attempting to fill
the important position of Finance Director with. no specific
authority spelled out by ordinance. The report to the Council
dated February I?, i9a4 from Anthony Bennetti, Senior Assistant
City Attorney, which was on file in the City Clerk's office,
toted the changes to the ordinance recommended by the F&PW Come
'mittee were all unanimous, and he hoped the various items were
clear. He clarified Section 1 spelled out that other City offi-
cers "shat 1 attend the meetings of the CoOnci i ," which was a way
of saying the auditor would be encouraged to attend when it was
appropriate. Section at basically specified "coordination and co-
operation of Couhcll appointed officers," which paralleled a simi-
lar phrase existing with respect to senior staff. Section 5,
Z.UI3.153,,concerned consultation with the City Auditor in estab-
lishing the various financing and accounting procedures of .the
City And ---the reporting thereof. Language in. Section 6 dealt with
a slight relabeling of. the Finance Office to the "Department of
Finance" and labeled the person in charge as the "Finance
Director" for consistency with other organizational language used
throughout the City codes. The Committee believed it was i mpor-
tent that the ordinance in no way preclude any later modifications
that could reflect any input, advice or recommendations from. the
Auditor who would eventually be acquired. 'urther, there was dis-
cussion with regard to the fact that the Auditor would be kept
significa=ntly' removed from the actual financial- process organiza-
tions, so the Auditor could be as objective as possible in the
conduct- of his or her activities. There were two itemS , an emer-
gency ordinance to Immediately fill the gap -.described, and an
ordinance that Would take place in the normal course of events.
The F&Pic Committee believed the gap should not be allowed to cone
tinue any ionoer.a Both motions could be moved together and voted
on .separately,
MOTION; CoeociImember Cebb fur the Finance and Public Works
Committee solved that Council adopt the two ordinances:
1. An emergency ord. i u*ce tobecome effective immediately; and
2. A regular o=rdinance to become effective on the 31st Ady after
second .reading.
..
4 1.8 5
2/06/84
MOTION COMTINUEll
both ordinances to be amended as follows:
(1)
SECTION 1, section 2.04.0610 Order of business.
(a) To insert after the cord "such," the words "other city
officers and";
(2) Add to page one of the ordinance in SECTION 2, after section
2,08.010, a new section to be> codified by. the City Attorney
to read as follows: "Coordination and coo eration of council
a ofnted officers. comnc appo nee o cars s a
liTifTi—laiir—ITOW all other council appointed officers on
matters within their respective provinces and will coordinate
their activities and cooperate with each other on matters of
mutual concern.";
(3) Add a sect$on to read The financial accounting procedures of
the city and the reporting thereof shall be established and
maintained in consultation with such auditor.";
(4) Substitute the terms "Department of finance" and "Director of
Finance" in place of "Officer of Finan:e'° and "Finance
Officer"; and
(5) Include an uncodified clause in the ordinance to state "The
authority to the city manager is retroactive to November 33,
a
1'53.
ORDINANCE 3507 entitled °ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
t1TY ')F PAT71tTO AMENDING VARIOUS SECTIONS OF THE PALO
ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE REFLECTING ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES
R£&ARUINU THE ABOL1TLOli"OF THE OFFICE OF CITY CONTROLLER
AND CREATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE ANO DECLARING
AN EMERGENCY"
ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE
r ALO ALTO AMENDING VARIOUS
SECTIONS OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE REFLECTING
ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES REGARDING THE ABOLITION OF THE
OFFICE OF CITY CONTROLLER AND CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF FINANCE"
V -ice Mayor Levy asked if the emergency ordinance was required to
state what made it an emergency.
City Attorney Oiane Lee said yes-, and she believed the ordinance
did that.
Mayor Klein clarified M. Lee -referred to Section 27 on page 10 of
the ordinance.
Vice Mayor Levy said he assumed the explicit -.assumption of the
-duties by a responsible officer was assigned to the City Manager
but without explicit authority from. the Council.
City Manager Bill Zaner said that WAS correct.
lice Mayor Levy said - i f, .the Council did. not Want to make changes
in the Municipal Code 'right now, was it legally acceptable to
simply -confirm the .assumptions of authority that the City M.Inager
had made up to that time, > and authorize him to_ .continue that
authority until such time as the Council took s:peti fic action to
amend the code.
Me. Lee said that from a legal perspective, she would not be com-
iorLable with that because it left a lot of grey areas in the run-
ning of the financial aspect of a municipal government. It also
created problems in terms of the City Manager signing checks. At
some point a bank would ask for written authorization for that
person to sign checks for the organization, and she wanted to have
it in writing. She was sure it would make the City Manager more
comfortable to show that Palo Alto was run in a way similar to
most governments, and that explicit authority was given to its
officers to act. With respect to accounting procedures, when the
officer in charge had written procedures, if members of the organ-
ization were not following them, there were grounds for looking
into the matter mere carefully and perhaps taking disciplinary or
other types of action when appropriate. Without those written
procedures, they were on shaky ground legally in pursuing it.
Vice Mayor Levy said that aside from signing checks, he did not
understand what other shaky ground there was.
Ms. Lee said an organization without.written financial procedures
authorized by the appropriate officers was without a guide book to
be followed by the people who handled the money and did the ac-
counting. If someone did not follow the rules and regulations,
and the City wanted, to take appropriate action against them, it
would have nothing to use to say that person acted improperly.
Vice Mayor Levy asked if she referred to the Municipal Code in
front of the Counci l , or to providing the City .Manager with the
power to make those rules.
Ms. Lee said either one.
Counci member Renzel said in the original item which was before
the 'Council, there were six staff recommendations, and three spoke
to financial statements or policies and procedures on accounting.
She noticed that the F&PW Committee included a section under Sec-
tion b on consultation with the City Auditor on those matters.
She asked_about a new person coming into the Auditor's position
aed desiring a different method of accounting which was more
desirable from an auditing point of view, and how that kind of
interaction could occur comfortably for a new person charged with
that duty.
Acting City Controller Clayton Brown said the new auditor would
not. have the opportunity, and it would not be desirous to develop
new procedures. Rather, he or she would continue with the ac-
counting and finance procedures already in place. _The he key point
was that Section b said the Auditor and the City Fanager would
consult oe procedures, and realistically, the new auditor would
not have the opportunity to develop all new financial procedures
or accounting systems. When the new Auditor came on board, that
person would begin a program of audits on a whole range of finan-
cial • activities performed by the City. Ile or she would no doubt
find deficiencies with some and recommend changes. Other accept-
able activities would be continued.
Counci lmesaber Menzel asked if .there were standards by which ac-
counting systems were set up that Were routine and not apt to .be
in conflict with an audit, procedure. The --City used a system that
Seemed to work well and caused ne pr^obtems, and she -presumed the
system world continue in one way or another. She asked for aSsur-
antes that the. City would not have a, system that defied auditing
because At was cumbersome or not according to standard practice..
She did not expect that to be that case, but if she .were hiring 'a
new person", she would.. not want that person to.cvme into a cumber-
some -situation.
Mr. Brown said he did not -expect there would be many changes to
the accOUflting esyste» to meet standards of accepted - practice for
accountancy during the short term. the outside auditor reviewed
the City's books every year and pointed out specifically where the
financial systems, controls, or accounting procedures did not con-
form with standard practice: In the financial reports of the past
several years, there were qualifications where the system did not
conform, but they were relatively minor, and not because of lack
of an audit trail or anything like that.
Councilmember Cobb said an outside auditor was -involved with the
City every year, and they could not set up procedures that were
not on the basis of that audit. The new Auditor would be a Coun-
cil Appointed Officer responsible to the City Council end report-
ing' directly to i t. Part of that person's responsi bi 1 i'ty would be
to say if procedures did -not lend themselves to a good audit, and.
recommend that Council direct the --City Manager to correct them.
The .language with respect to.consultatioe with the City Manager
was designed to make that happen in the natural course of things
and without question. A new auditor Would initially have to learn
where things were, but within six months or some reasonable period
of time, the Council would have the kind of situation it wanted
and expected and as was spelled out by the ordinances
Bob Moss, 4010 Urme, responded to a comment made by Mr. Zaner at
the top of page 7 of the F&PW Committee minutes, "...if there had
been cases of misappropriation of funds in California. cities in
the last 2U years, he wanted to hear of them." An article in that
morning's newspaper spoke about a gentleman at San Francisco Muni
who earned approximately $300 per week, with over $900,000 in
assets, which appeared to come from the San. Francisco Municipal
Transit district. A week earlier there was another item in the
news about a large amount of property being misappropriated --again
from San Francisco Muni Not too long ago, there was a case about
people stealing money .from parking, meters in San Francisco,
People also stole money from the bus fare boxes in Santa Clara
County. A fire fighter in Mountain View was fired for stealing
gasol;ne from the municipal pumps. Approximately 15 years ago
Urvi l Hodge was the Controller of the State of Illinois and went
to jail for . stealing $2.4 million. There was an Illinois
Secretary of State who had a heart attack and died suddenly, and
over $0b0,U00 in cash was found in shoe boxes in a closet in`. his
apartment. Years ago in San Francisco the Harbor District sent
people to tour harbors all around the world, and not only the Com-
missioners ',lent, but also their spouses, lovers, and hangers- on.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it cost in excess of
$b0U per person per ay3 etc us ve o ravel expenses. Those were
the surts.::of things that could happen without proper auditing
procedures. There might be someone in the ir°easurer's office col-
lecting money from the utility payments --•a dollar for the City,
and a dollar for hire. He was concerned that there be adequate
procedures in place, and that the new Auditor be in no way inhib-
ited from making changes if necessary. Reports from the outside
auditors stated that municipal ri.pance was different from business
and ,different controls were necessary.. The Council was in the
-process af_-lnstalling a new computer#zed: system for data manage-
sent and financial -controls, and if that .ears not done properly, it
would`: be diffic'alt to track -the C'ty finances, and. it_ would be
easy t -o steal. It was essential that the Auditor have an open
hand with all -the procedures, not Just consultation with the City
Manager. If he found a problem but could not convince the City
Manager the problem existed, it should be clear that the. Council
wanted to know about it. It might be an honest difference of
opinion, but it was important -for everyone to know that -the Coun-
cil hired the City Auditor because itewanted controls and adequate
tracking, and it dl_o_not want to find eOuteaboet a problem three :or
six months after the fact Me knew of. no present difficult -1-4S,
but clarified that they were going Into a new routine with: a haw
Auditor and accounting system., -- , Every `-effort should be made to
clearly track i►verytliln-g.
i
1
Harrison °tie, 90_ North Cal iferuie Avenue, was a 66 year resident
of Palo Alto. The City was set up with George King as Controller
of the City of Palo Alto, who did a magnificent job. He hoped the
Auditor's office would be independent of the City Manager's of-
fice. He believed City Hall was pretty well run, but preferred to
keep certain things independent. He was not afraid of someone
ripping off Palo Alto because it had a lot of good people and many
counterbalances, but the City must keep the Controller's office
independent of the City Manager's office and - it should be respon-
sible to the City Council, who was responsible to the taxpayers in
the community,
Councilmember Cobb said there would be a gap between the time an
Auditor was appointed and when the ordinance took effect. With
regard to Section 5 at the top of page 2, the City Attorney sug-
gested some language to 2,08.153 to avoid the immediate problems
that there might not be an auditor for some short period of time.
ANENUMEMT: Councilmember Cobb moved, seconded by Witherspoon,
an amendment to 2.08.153 on page 2 "So long as the Office of the
City Auditor is occupied."
Councilmember Renzel asked if it was expected that the Auditor
would be on board before the new computer system was .installed.
Mr. Zaner said yes,
Councilmember Henze] said it was important for the Auditor to pro-
vide input to the financial system on the computer, and she sup-
ported the motion.
Mr. Zaner said the independent auditor, Deloitte, Haskins &
Sells, who recommended the City switch to a different accounting
system, was informed that a new accounting system would not be
recommended until an auditor and the. new finance director were on
.board.
Vice Mayor Levy objected to moving ahead rapidly with the ordi-
nance as proposed. Council needed thee best advice before con-
ducting a broad scale search for a City Auditor, or making changes
before that person came on board to provide input. He was also
concerned about inaugurating the City Auditor the wrong way by
taking actions before the Auditor was -on board. The Council could
change any action it took, but -once systems were in place, inertia
set in and there was a resistance to change. He believed only
necessary changes should be made and that all others should be in-
cumbent upon setting up a Department of finance when, a City
Auditor was hired. He: did not question the. role of the City Mana-
ger in basically running the City, but it was also his responsi-
bility to set up the basis upon which the. financial decisions
would be made. It was important for the Council to be sure that
:►s the City Manager set up. the basic department for finance, there
were proper audit trails to ensure proper safeguards. As Council -
member keinzel and others mehtioned, the Council needed to be sure
that the system was not an easy one to avoid the kinds of audit
trails -necessary in ea city the size of Palo Alto. He did not
believe the Council -should enact the all -encompassing .amendments
at that time, but should authorize theT City Manager eteetake the
necessary actions to carry putt,,; his pole as manager of the City's
finances until the permanent�' actions were taken after- a City
Audl toy° was hired.
eet
Councilmember Bechtel supported the MOtion -as recommended by the
F&PW Committee. She said the decision to:separate financiai man-
element .from the. audit function Weaemade last Mey and approvedby
the voters in November, after extensive studs.=by ah ad hoc commit
tee of experts in the fieldi council was setting up a budget
process: strictly under the City Manager's office~, and with regard
to the financial operation of the City., -Council was affirming:what
was already in practice. Council was not setting rip a new
accounting system, and that would only be done after a new auditor
was hired. Council was not establishing a new data processing
system, and it would take time to make that kind of change. She
believed it was iecumbent upon the Council to adopt the two ordi-
nances particularly in light of the words of the City Attorney.
Mayor Klein believed it would be anomalous for Palo Alto to pro-
ceed the better part of a year without the financial system set
forth in the ordinances. The clock could not be stopped until the
Auditor was hired, and there was_ no reason to do so. It was the
responsibility of the City Manager and his assistants to recommend
the financial planning of the City, and it was the Auditor's job
to advise the Council if those plans did not meet proper audit
standards. Once the Auditor was on board, that function could be
accomplished. The Council had to -move forward; the City could not
operate with an ad hoc system for finances, and he urged his col-
leagues to support the motion, and adopt the recommendations of
the FiPW Committee.
Courrcilmember Cobb agreed with Mayor Klein.
Ms. Lee said the amendment could be voted on once if the proviso
W3S incorporated into both ordinance.
AMENDMENT TO BOTH ORDINANCES PASSED by a vote of 8-1, Levy vot-
ing "no."
Mayor Klein clarified that the amendment was added to both ordi-
nances before the Council, and he asked that Council first vote on
Emergency Ordinance 3507, which required at least eight votes to
pass.
EMERGENCY ORDINANCE -1507 PASSED by a vote of 8-1, Levy voting
"n0."
Mayor Klein said the emergency ordinance was effective immedi-
ately, but the City Attorney advised that Council . should vote on
both ordinances.
ORDINANCE FON FIRST READING passed by a vote of 8-1, Levy voting
"'no."
COUNCIL MECESSLU FROM 30 p.m. TO 9:41244.
IILM #IUs PLANNING COMMISSION HOUSING ELEMENT REVIEW (CMR:138:4)
.aa�i�[�Ila�tlYnn�101r�...r�ti�11e.M1�1®rr 7�ilrM .i}f f.
Planning Commission representative, Jean McCown, said the Commis-
sion discussed a conflict in goals presently stated in the Housing
Element --of the Comprehensive Plan. Commissioner Cullen called it
the "conflict between the objective of expanding affordable hous-
ing in the community and protecting existing neighbor- hoods from
the effects of higher 'density." The Commission desired, to cnn-
sider whether choices were necessary between the t'fo objectives,
and whether priorities should be recommended between those objec-
tives or any other goal in the:P1-an during its review of the hous-
ing dement. There was discussion about mechanisms by which to
encourage and increase :the .production of -affordable housing, and
concern was expres~Fed about whether density was the answer. Inno-
vative steps should be reviewed in the areas of financee coopera--
tives, and other such mechanisms. There was some discussion about
whether there should be a particular policy for the use of 'surplus
school sites, and Commissioner Christensen was concerned that
-there might _already -be a defacto polity about how `the sites would
be used when located in R.-1 neighborhoods. She reiterated that
the Commission desired to `focus oh the foregoing .-items durl_ng its
-_revliwi. Of the Housing Eleueni.
'City Planner Glenn Miller -Clarified that staff intended to- have a
draft plan ;to the. State byt the middle of March, :which ,was consis-
tent..with its schedule, and it would be returned to the City with
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2/06/84
any iiei,e aary citori9es before July 1. After the plan was submitted
-to the State, staff would send the draft to the Planning Commis-
sion and City Council for specific evaluation. That evening staff
requested direction on the recommendations set forth on page 6 of
the report.
Vice Mayor Levy was concerned that the Housing Element sent to the
State in March would be without. Planning Commission and City Coun-
cil review.
1
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Mr. Miller said if there were major directional changes from that
currently contained in the Housing Element, that evening was the
time to comment.
Councilmember Witherspoon -asked if the Council was expected to
respond to all the material before it that evening.
Mayor Klein believed the Council should follow the same procedure
as the Planning Commission, and comment on various items listed in
the staff report. Council was basically providing a sounding
board for staff about whether they were on the right track. Coun-
cil wool d not go through the report item by item, and unless a
Councilmember brought up an item, silence would be construed as
acceptance. He did not want Council to drift, and suggested that
if a major point was brought pup, Council stay en that issue. He
clarified that if -someone brought up an issue, such as density as
suggested by the HRC, Council would stay on that issue until
closure was reached.
Councilmember Woolley asked for clarification about Policy 5 con-
tained on the chart which accompanied the staff report.
Mr~. Miller stated there vas an o;jective, policy, and a program
under Policy 5. He said there were three major objectives, many
other objectives and 25 programs. The intent was for a variety of
programs to implement the various policies, although some policies
only contained a few programs. Program -7A Was put under Policy 5
after the 198U Comprehensive Plan was approved.
Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber said
the objective was a detailed restatement of the second objective
in the Comprehensive Plan Housing section. He pointed out the
objective on page 1 of the staff report to "maintain caaracter,
physical quality of the neighborhoods," and said there were sev-
eral policies and programs related to it. The second major objec-
tive in the staff report was ''maintaining diversity of housing
opportunities and increasing our housing supply," which was a com-
bination of: the second and third objectives be page 5 of the Corn-
prehensive Plan, and the remainder of policies and programs in the
report spoke to those objectives.
Councilmember Sutorius Said on page 3 of the report, second °pars -
graph, there was some update information, on employment and housing
units in Palo Alto. e The 1990 estimates in the report were the
figures currently. conga i ned ,ee the 1980 Coraprehensi ve -Alan, and
he asked if that was staff's current projection.
Mr. Miller said the figures were eelifted out of the Plan." Mo
attempt was made to ee definitive because there would be some em-
pioyeent projections in the near future. Staff attempted to up-
date to 1984 the actual housing .figures included in the report,
and made some projections. Tee housing figures used information
from the 1984 building_ permit activity `and `construction to' -be as
accurate as possible.
Counciiraember Sutorius clarified that the result arms a reduction
its the housing unit estimate to 26.4 ,where -`-the current Plan in -di,
catd
Mrs` Mi l ter said that was correct.:
4 .4 9 1
2/06/84
aleyur Klein declared the public hearing open.
Dick Roe, 720 Kendall Avenue, was the Chairman of the Human Rela-
tions Commission (HRC). He asked that Council not identify the
HRC's concern with density because it recently,learned that densi-
ty wes not a panacea, and it was concerned about the character and
population of Palo Alto. He and his wife moved to Palo Alto 22
years ago and rented a modest house in Barron -Parke Three years
later, with the help of friends and family, they put a down pay-
ment on a house and had lived there ever since. When they pur-
chased their house, there were many children in the neighborhood,
and now there were few. The housing costs dictated'who lived in
Palo Alto, and people with modest incomes could not afford to live
in town and those were the ones with children. The HRC believed
that Palo Alto was losing the vitality of its population as, it
lost diversity, the liveliness of children, the idealism o= , youth,
and future leaders. The solutions to tile problem were not easy,
and if the possibility existed to change the direction, it seemed
to be in identifying as a community that the highest priority was
to maintain present diversity. Only when that was identified as 4
high priority could one begin to break through the barriers- of
creative thinking. He appreciated the work of Palo Alto in the
BMR program and what the PAHC accomplished He pointed out that
if the City only contlnued,its current level of units developed
for people of low and moderate incomes, there would be no impact
on the direction. The programs would become symbolic- gestures.
The HRC requested that the Council speak for the community and
express the urgent concern and establish some priorities. The
review of the Comprehensive Plan should be done iA terms or what
housing could be developed that would make it possible for those
presently excluded from Palo Alto to live here.
Joe Podolsky, 950 North California Avenue, Human Relations Commis-
sioner, said there were three objectives in the Comprehensive Plan
Housing Element: 1) Maintain the character and physical quality
of the residential neighborhoods; 2) Maintain the -diversity of
housing oppertunities and -increase housing ,supply. Diversity of
the population was discussed in three areas, variety of household
sizes, variety of age groups, and a wideerange of income levels;
and 3) Increase the housireisepply, especially for individuals and
families earning low to _moderate incomes, who worked in the City.
When he started\ dealing with numbers, he wondered what the City
should have done yesterday to make them different. The staff
report said that for a $180,000 house, which was a low -medium
priced house in Palo Alto, one nehded to come up with $65,000,
which meant that someone who wanted to buy a house like that had
to have an income about two and a half times the median income in
F'aio Alto. The senior population of Palo Alto was growing at e
significant rate, 15.3. to .18.4 percent. Household size, another
element of diversity, diminished from about 3.1 in 1960 to about
2.33 in 1980. The City must recognize that it cannot achieve the
diversity objective with its current methods and priorities. The
HRC believed the City could redefine_ its priorities and emphasize
diversity, and hopefully that would lead to creative ideas. h The
best ways -to increase diversity .might involve innovative -uses 'of
existing housing stock and/or ,management . and financing alterna-
tives. The Comprehensive: Plan was the right place to affirm the
City's desire to be a demographically diverse community. -The HRC
urged, -that the Counci l lead the City to -ward that complex -goal by_
talk i ng a small first step and resequenc i ng the objectives of the
Haus_iny Etement.
Counci lmetaber Renzel clarified the HRC conclusion was to ` rese,
quince the priorities of the -objectives in the Comprehensive Plan,
and Mr.- Roe suggested, that Counci l particularly focus on expanding
the City't diversity_. -and setting' a- priority for it. She asked
whether his suvyestian included adding new,. oo e,etl.ves.
Mr. Podolsky believed the three objectives. in the Comprehensive
Plan .04sing Element were good, and did ' not want to add.,, to the
1
list. The problem was that Objective 1 was met, and in doing so,
sight was lost of the second and third objectives, and the City
was unable to achieve them. The HRC recommended the City start
focusing on the second objective, not necessarily to the exclusion
of the others, but on achieving the second objective. It might
mean changing the list and the City's attitudes as it approached
those objectives --not the wording --just the sequence and the focus
placed on achieving the objectives.
Councilmember Renzel said Objective 2 spoke to the diversity of
housing opportunities, and Mr. Podolsky's statement seemed to sug-
gest that the City not only deal with the housing opportunities,
but the mechanisms by which they might be realized fur the target
population groups.
Mr. Podolsky said he believed the programs in the Housing Element
needed to be reviewed in that regard.
Sylvia Semen, 3380 Middlefield Road, said that Jackie Stewart
would make the official Palo Alto Housing Corporation recommenda-
tions. The staff recommen.lation on page 6 - stated that Program 15,
The Piggybackei rogram, could be removed because the subsidy pro-
gram was termindted by the federal government, which was true.
When she was at HOU last week for the closing of Terman, it was
learned that there were some new federal programs coming down the
pike. They were small, Out it might be possible to utilize a pig-
gyback program with those new programs. She suggested that the
piggyback program not be iemoved yet although it could not be used
with Program 23, which was dead. It might be utilized with the
new Housing Voucher Program, and she urged that it be kept in the
Comprehensive Plan.
Bob Moss, 4010 0rme, suggested that Policy 7A on page 2 of the
staff report be deleted. It encouraged small units and higher
density, which he believed was wrong. The staff report dated
January 25 stated that new condominium units tended to be smaller,
although not necessarily less expensive. Fixed costs for items
such es bathrooms, kitchens, etc. did not insure proportional
price reductions for smaller units, and he opined that any program
or policy that required a PC zone was a mistake from the begin-
ning. He suggested that Program 11 on page 3, "Work with employ-
ers to encourage occupancy of housing by persons who work .in Palo
Alto," be strengthened considerably. Employers should be required
to provide employee housing whenever they expanded or built new
facilities in Palo Alto. Regarding Policy 12A, there was discus-
sion about assisting developers in constructing low to moderate
income housing, and he proposed that the allowable density for
market rate housing in all multi -family zones be reduced and allow
the current rate of density for those developments with at least
20 percent of thb units affordable to those with incomes no great-
er than 120_percent of the County median. That provided a real
incentive for affordable housing without changing the existing
density, occupancy levels, or street requirements on existing
zones. Regarding Policy 17A to 'require housing contributions for
all nonresidential developments greater than 25,000 square feet,
which money would be used not only for land banking, but to fund
interest rate t i edowns," tiie staff report of February 2 commented
that "long -terse financing at seven percent interest rate is neces-
sary to make units affordableto lower income households." Seven
percent money was not now available, but a combination of tax
exempt government bonds plus City subsidies funded by employer
contributions .a s part of the in -lieu fee would a l l ow a buy down
from the current nine or ten percent to seven percent. The pro-
gram cQuid be structured such that the interest rate climbed over
time4 and over a period of ten years the City would be back at
market rate. It could also be structured such that if the proper-
ty was sold or reconveyed in any way, the City recaptured part of
the profit and used the:.Money to buy down additional properties.
That would ,have no imeediate impact, but would provide more
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affordable housing over the long term. Regarding Policy 27 to
"adopt programs which maintained affordability of the rental hous-
ing stock," one program could be rent control, and although there
were some greedy landlords who took what they could get, some
means of controlling unreasonable rent increases must be estab-
lished. Another program might be to pass an ordinance wherein
anyone who increased the rent on their properties by more than
double the increase in the local consumer price index in any one
year is keelhauled. That would be a method of doing something and
would provide the Council with all opportunity to justify keeping
the yacht harbor open. It was important to not only _focus on the
quality of housing units, but who the units were provided for. He
agreed with Messrs. Roe and Podolsky that building increased num-
bers of $2UU,UOU to $300,000 two -bedroom condominiums, would not
benefit the type of community Pale Alto wanted. He urged that the
Council focus on affordability, reduced potential job growth, and
increased number of housing units affordable to families.
Jack Wheatley, 2[4O Cowper, concur. a with Messrs. Roe and
Podolsky regarding the housing problem., in Palo Alto. He was dis-
mayed that over the past several years, and particularly the last
decade, the housing situation grew worse in Palo Alto than any-
where else. It appeared that every time a housing proposal came
forth, another element would override the Housing Element. He
attended Sa meeting the other day of a City board where a good
housing proposal was in for the third or fourth time. It was not
approved, and not totally rejected. He did not believe the City
addressed the fact that it had the opportunity to actually assist
to building housing units, or that it would not hurt the City to
have 2,00 to 3,000 new housing units although a lot would have to
be on Stanford property. The staff report stated the Housing
Element satisfactorily met the City's needs, which he believed was
untrue. In the past two years he watched and found that high
priced condominiums were being built and that was about all, with
the exception of the PAHC projects. More supply was needed from
several sources. -The City had available land in school sites. He
believed the policy about what was to be put on those sites should
be reviewed, and further that some clustei development on the
Arastrd property with open space and the already available. ser-
vices could produce some beautiful housing units for the citizens.
He urged the Council to reopen negotiations with Stanford in order
to build housing. He suggested some subs dies to private individ-
uals in order to develop housing, which could be by way of some
type of density trade-offs. It must be economically feasible for
someone to build on a site and have it come out with a reasonavle
return on the investment. There was a risk to -build housing that
had to be paid for one way or the other. He believed the -City
could .use some of its payments -from commercial space being devel -
oped `.:o subsidize private housing if it was built, in an affordable
range. He believed the City needed diversity and young people,
Those people would not have high- incomes and could not afford ex-
pensive Units. He suggested that the City look at three issues
(1) City -owned property; (2) Stanford,- and (3) provide an incen-
tive for people t,o.build something that could be occupied by per-
sons with an income in the $30,000 to $40000 -maximum.
Denny Petrosian, 443 Ventura (avenue, spoke as President of Cooper-
ative::Housing of Palo Alto. She asked for clarification that even
though the initial- draft of the. Housing Element would go to the
State in March, it would still bepart of the Comprehensive Plan
review process through the sumMer and that it would still be pos-
Bible to add things.
Mr. Schreiber said the draft' was provided to the. State i n order
-for it to start its review process. The document_ would go through
the Planning Commission and City Council pro+esses, and there
wouldbe plenty of opportunity for review and amendment.
Ms. Petrosian said it would be helpful to future housing develop-
ments to have a \prograrn that specifically , dealt with cooperative
4 1 9 4
2/06/84
housing in the Plan. She believed the advantages to be gained
from limited equity housing cooperatives were too important not to
be encouraged in the Comprehensive Plan in every possible way.
She suggested language for a new program in the Comprehensive Plan
to follow Program 10 on page 13. "To pursue the development of
limited equity housing cooperatives for low and moderate income
families and seniors through land acquisition, financing assis-
tance, and other means wherever possible." That would be followed
in the text by a brief explanation of what limited equity housing
cooperatives were,
Vice Mayor Levy asked how a buyer was chosen if someone wanted to
sell their unit.
Ms. Petrosian said a screening and interview process would be
undertaken by the beard of Directors of the Cooperative,- and
people would be selected for social responsibility, compatibility
with Cooperative philosophy, financial responsibility, and with
the provision that low and moderate income people be inhabitants
of the Cooperative.
Jacqueline Stewart, 1580 Walnut Street, spoke on behalf of the
Palo Alto Housing Corporation (PAHC), and made the following
recommendations:
1. That commercial and industrial developers be allowed to share
in the responsibility for BMR production. Presently, that
entire responsibility was shouldered by the residential devel-
opers. As mentioned by Mr. Wheatley, it would be worthwhile
to look into passing some of that responsibility onto the com-
mercial developers. It might also be well to look into the
possibility of rezoning the commercial and industrial lands to
residential;
2. That Council carefully look at the experiences of the Housing
Corporation in developing Birch Court —the number of units and
moneys involved-eespecially when considering that land cost
was not at issue in that particular development,
3. That Council consider more extensive use of PC zoning for BMR
duplexes on surplus school sites and other available land; and
4. It would ;be nice if Palo Alto could have its own financing
set=up where it could pursue the policies it considered to be
most important, and not be so subject to federal policy, and
possibly draw up the federal funds.
Ms. Stewart submitted material, which was on file in the City
Clerk's office, which addressed BMR units and specifically allowed
a density bonus for up to 15 percent to developers, while keeping
intact the site coverage parking, and daylight plane constraints
of the zoning ordirtnces and off -site units in lieu of onsite
8MR's where applicable.
Councilmember Bechtel commented that staff did an excellent job in
bringing the information. to Council. It was explained easily in
terms of the status and the assessment of the existing housing
element.,. . She concurred with the comments of Sylvia Semen that
Program 15, the Piggyback Program, should not be deleted since a
new federal program might make it still `possible, Council needed
to re-evaluate Program 7A. Mr. Moss had suggested that it be
deleted entirely, and she might agree, but wanted the Planning
Commission to look at it again before she voted to do. so. There
was a serious problem in Palo Alto, and excluding Barron Park, its
population decreased in the last ten years while new housing units
were added. One mechanism to increase the availability of housing
would be to use the .existing suppv better. A good, but minor
start, was the :Cottage Zone which world. add a few housing units
and would allow some larger houses to';be: occupied perhaps by .fami-
lies. The City might also consider changing its ruleson the pro-
hibition of second kitchens in single family residential
4 1 9 5
2/06/84
rye i ynburhoods. She was concerned that the City use its existing
housing better because the population --even though about 2,000
housing units were added --had decreased. She did not believe the
Council needed to reorder the objectives to say that all three
were equally important. She supported the staff's suggested
changes to be re-evaluated on page 6.
Councilmember Witherspoon opposed the suggestion in the Planning
Commission _minutes to create a zone for affordable housing.
Density was the biggest and most controversial issue, and she did
not believe it necessarily translated into more affordable hous-
ing. The Council must be sensitive to it, and she concurred with
Councilmember Bechtel's comments about reordering priorities. If
push went to shove in Palo Alto, preserving the residential char—
acter and low density aspect of that residential character was
what 90 percent of the citizens would say was their first prior-
ity. The people supported a diverse community and always sup-
ported the City Council and Planning Commission proposals for
achieving that goal, but she did not believe the citizens favored
increased density as a way to accomplish the diverse community.
She believed the City had to make better use of its existing hous-
ing stock. Some steps to do that were taken when the Council said
it did not want to have smaller residential rental units replaced
by condominiums. Rental housing had not increased nearly as much
as resale housing, and the City must make use of that fact. The
Housing Corporation aggressively pursued that option in trying to
achieve older housing and keep it in the rental housing market,
and there must be ways to achieve new rental _housing. Lou
Goldsmith and Commissioner Northway both said it was not necessar-
ily the class of the house or the living unit; it was not neces-
sarily that which made it affordeeile to a certain family, it was
the cash flow, It was how much had to be paid each month. The
present economy was driven by the interest rates, and she believed
if Council focused on only a few things, it could.set a goal in
the housing element during the next few years and a lot could be
accomplished. Regarding in -lieu housing payments, she could not
remember an accounting about how much would be accomplished with
them, but it was an interesting thought that might be included as
a requirement for commercial development as well as housing devel-
opment to pay into that fund.
Councilmember Cobb agreed with the overall objectives cited by the
HRC, and that the emphasis on diversity and families was correct.
Because of that, he consistently voted against the addition of
units to the development of market priced condominiums on the
basis that it dealt with the housing pe blem, because it did
nothing but provide more of what the City already had too much of
and could not afford. He did not believe the answer was with high
density or very small units. He was concerned that the City not
use its flatlands, open space and surplus school sites in an ef-
fort to achieve those objectives. Any housing development on
those sites, particularly the large sites, should use density
trade-offs to attempt to provide ways to leverage the retention of
open space and the development of additional, affordable housing
units. It was important fora major emphasis to be placed on the
area of financing as a mechanism for achieving more affordable
units. He liked the concept of cooperative housing and believed
it should be included as one of the mechanisms pursued. Council
must recognize that in order~ to achieve affordability, it must
provide some: kind of suos;idy through land, financing, or some
other mechaniSme'
Councilmember Woolley said that since the Comprehensive Plan was
last written the City enacted the Ri40 zone in College Terrace,
which she believed spoke to Policy 2 --to preserve older single
family homes --and she suggested that it be i ncl Tided , i n the text of
the Comprehensive Plan. She asked if the three objective, were in
any kind of order at the beginning of the Comprehensive Plan or
whether they were' -'considered to be on equal footing.
Mr. Schreiber did not recall whether the objectives were clearly
stated in priorities when the Housing dement was developed, but
it was significant that in the introduction to the Plan, under
"Major Proposals," the first objective was to maintain the general
low density character of the existing single family areas. He did
not believe that WdS an explicit priority order, but the process
recognized that the protection of existing single family areas was
extremely important for the community. He believed it was -as im-
portant as the de:eloprnent of new low and moderate income housing
and many of the other priorities which came out in housing and ot-
her areas.
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Councilmember Woolley wanted to see consideration given to priori-
tizing, and if it was decided that the objectives were not in
priority order, it should be stated at the beginning of the Plan
so everyone knew. After_ discussion of the issue, as well as
Agenda Item #8, she believed staff should consider the definition
of a family. Traditionally, it was a mother, father and two
children, but she was not sure that was the case anymore. Looking
at demographics, the existence of couples without children, single
parents with one child, and the elderly were becoming more promi-
nent, and it might be helpful to have family housing defined. She
supported the suggestion of Cooperative Housing, and believed its
best advantage was that it became more affordable as time went on.
Even though the affordability might not look that attractive at
present, in 10 or 15 years,. the City would be glad it did it.
Co-ops that were built in the early 1970s were just now becoming
bargains, and that should be made a specific program. In terms of
better utilizing existing housing, another application of the coop
plan was senior housing --where several senior citizens together
occupied a single facility on a cooperative basis. She asked for
clarification about Policy 7A, and whether the PAHC proposal pr;o-
vided a bonus unit for each BMR unit built or each extra BMR
unit.
Mr. Miller said the bonus was one additional market rate unit for
every BMR..unit provided, but the density of the site could not be
exceeded by more than 15 percent and all other zoning requirements
of the site applied.
Councilmember Woolley supported that proposal, and believed it was
similar to Policy 7A. She realized that as presently written,
Policy 7A applied to middle and low to moderate income families,
and as long as it applied to middle, it was different from the
PAHC proposal and there was no limit of 15 percent. She believed
parking provided a limit in practical terms, but the Council could
not support the PAHC proposal and throw 'out Policy 7A at the same
time. The Council was at cross proposals there, and the only
project presented did not rea l l.y conform to a l i th.e requirements..
It would not hurt -to keep Polity 7A, and hope for a conforming
project. She had - no objection to l irnitiog to low and moderate
income, --but then Policy 5 was Without a program. She --believed it
was strange to have a policy without a program, and suggested that
perhaps Policy 5 shou 1 d be deleted.
Councilmember Fletcher endorsed the PAHC proposals --especially the
one to require nonresidential developers to provide housing.
Those were the ones who created more of the problem than the resi-
denti,l developers. She suggested that the figures on page 3 of
the January 25 report, that Palo Alto would add 23,400 jobs from
1970 to 1990 and only 5,200 housing units, be included in the text
of the new Housing Element. That was a dramatic illustration of
Palo Alto's problem, and more emphasis must be placed on limiting
the creation of jobs in town. She was uneasy about the PAHC
recommendation for a 15 percent density bonus, and wanted staff to
analyze whether it would result in the type of housing that lacked
open space, _which the City was trying to prevent. If assured, that
Would not happen, she would support it sometime in the. future.
Where the City had an objective to maintain the diversity of hous-
ing opportunities and increase tie housing supply especially for
4 1 9 .7
2/06/84
lower income families and persons who worked in Palo Alto, the
City needed to keep that objective. Some programs addressed the
objective, and she preferred that it be expanded so that housing
opportunities were not limited to lower income families. Families
were declining in Palo Alto, and its emphasis should be toward
families in all income levels. Program 2 provided incentives for
residential developments on nonresidentially zoned land, and the
parking situation in the Assessment District areas was such that
although residential housing was permitted, it was discouraged
because a commercial development;could buy into the Assessment
Dist=ict, and residential developments had to provide onsite park-
ing. She requested language to state the objective of a parking
requirement equity in the Assessment District. She asked what the
City of Palo Alto did to encourage its employees to occupy.Palo
Alto housing, and whether City employees knew they could get onto
a list of the PAHC. There might be other assistance for employees
which the -City could initiate in a leadership role for other em-
ployers to follow.: Staff recommended that the program to adopt
rental housing and age discrimination was no longer needed because
of the ordinance prohibiting age discrimination in rental housing,
but the problem was not licked —landlords found ways around the
ordinance, and she did not believe the ownership condominium hous-
ing problem of age discrimination was dealt with adequately. The
program language might be changed to reflect the City's opposition
to age discrimination in multi -family housing, but it was an on-
going problem. She endorsed the coop housing language for more
emphasis on diversity in the City, and believed Councilmember
Bechtel's suggestion for kitchens in large single family housing
was worthy of exploration. She was concerned about the 117 unit
"Redwoods" development, because children who stepped outside Were
in danger; there was nothing but a driveway. She suggested lan-
guage to lead to a requirement that multi -family housing develop-
ments have open space for potential play areas, something that
would be conducive to children. The "Greenhouse"- development,
where she lived, was a dense development, but the kids had a good
tine --they played on the lawns and rode their bikes in a path, and
it was a delight to see teem. She wanted that to be the norm
rather than exception.
Vice Mayor Levy was.concerned about children, and whenever Council
discussed incentives for families, it should be clear that the
intent was families with children. Policy 7 spoke to the encour-
aging housing developments that low to moderate income households,
especially those with children, could afford. Policy 10 related
to rentals four low -to -moder=ate income households, and children
should be specified. Regarding priorities, he believed the first
should be to maintain the physical character of Palo Alto, and
everything else should be second. He clarified Palo Alto was not
losing young people, and that the 1980 census data stated the age
group 65 years and over increased 28 percent, but the age group 25
to 34 increased 31 percent, and the age group 35 to 44 increased
by 10 percent. When the spurt- of building took place after World
War ti, it happened alrost exclusively as single family homes.
-The people who moved to Palo Alto in the .1950s were: mostly in
their 30s with several young children. He deplored the fact that
Palo Alto lost so many childree, but believed it was inevitable to
some degree, In terms of _the characteristics that made for diver-
sity, between 1970 and 1980, the white population of Palo Alto
declined, but. the black, Japanese, Chinese,. And others all in-
creased. Losing younger aged school children was partly a reflec-
tion of the changing characteristics of society; but cleanly. the
City"s policies should point to housing -to attract families with
children --not just lower .priced housing.
CouncilmeFhtier Renzel basically concurred with- the staff recov-
mendation, but regarding the .PAHC -_15 percent bonus, ..she asked if
units were equivalent in size on a unit -per unit basiseethat a 8MR
studio unit could not be offset with a two -bedroom market liate
unit,
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2/06/84
Mr. Miller said that point was not yet. detailed. The additional
t. rate
unit l J L _ t _ L _ - • _ with
a a
market rate wound have to be consistent with the other units
in the development.
Councilmember Renzel said it might be consistent with the other
units, but she hoped the bonus units would be no greater than the
BMR units, otherwise there might be an incentive to provide family
BMR--units and provide some token BMR unit that was in no way
equivalent to the increase in density being permitted. She was
not sure whether.she supported the program, but believed it was an
interesting concept and worthy of exploration as recommended by
staff, For the past 10 to 15 years, Palo Alto did everything pos-
sible to encourage the construction of low, moderate and afford-
able housing, yet, it was on a backwards moving treadmill, and
there was no way to catch up unless employment growth was har-
nessed.- The Planning Commission began to touch on that, and the
City should take another look at that area. Regarding language in
general support for more families, not just low and moderate in --
come families, she had no objection to higher income families, but
believed.the marketplace provided for them. The City needed in-
centives for lower income families. .Diversity should be in terms
of racial, income, and employment lines. It was valuable to have
people with diverse kinds of employment in the community, and she
was thinking about skilled laborers, carpenters, and plumbers,
people who • knew how to do things that many dithers did not know how
to do. There were school teachers, nurses and a variety of jobs
that were not paid as highly as doctors , lawyers, engineers, and
executives but they provided a valuable contribution to the com-
munity. Those people should be encouraged to participate in the
community and provided with a means to have housing. It was men-
tioned that density alone was not the solution, that the City
needed to look at financial mechanisms and other ways to assist a
diverse population to live in the community, and she concurred.
She questioned the incentives for providing residential housing in
nonresidential zones because the Council previously looked at
whether to provide incentives where the City got 100 percent resi-
dential, or _a large proportion of residential, rather than some
token residential. That should be reviewed again to see whether
the incentives should go in that direction. She asked if It: was
appropriate to move the staff recommendation.
Mayor Klein .wanted to avoid a mini -Comprehensive Plan process.
The purpose of the discussion was to provide staff with feedback
about whether they were on the right track in preparing the draft
for the State. A motion should be presented on a crucial issue,
but for items such as the co-op, he did not believe a motion was
nece3sary or appropriate.
Councilmember Renzel said she concurred with the suggestion to
include a limited equity co-op, and agreed with Councilmember
Witherspoon that preservation of the single family neighborhoods
was a high priority to the community. The citizens were willing
to bend to some extent provided the true objective of diversity
and adding something to the community was achieved by it. No one
wanted to increase density in the single family zones or anywhere
in the City with more high cost condominiums that only benefited
the developer. She believed the citizenry was willing to look at
ways tfbr the City to get the type.. of housing It needed, afford -
able, low to moderate income rental housing. s: 1f the Council
chah;led the neilhborhoodt characteristics and got more density.
witdout some_clear direction toward the diversity it needed and
lacked, the citizens would object.' She believed .the Council must
pay attention to what it traded and what it got.
Councilmember Sutorius supported the inclusion of..Co-op Housing in
the Comprehensive Plan as discussed, and wanted to see the Council
communicate with employers, pa-rticularly the major job producers,
to -.develop participation and partnership possibilities regarding
housing development. He was unclear as. to extent major employers
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2/06/84
produced_ housing in ,Sunnyvale, and asked why it was not none in
Palo Alto. Fe believed mere should be a rent .l component in the
Comprehensive Plan, and incentives to increase the availability of
rental_ housing and, to the extent possible, rental housing to meet
the low and moderate income ojectives. The BMR Program should be
reviewed to see how rental incentives could -be incorporated, and
incentives .in all City zoning processes should be considered
including the (T) zone -adopted that evening. The City wanted to
limit encroachment in the (T) zone; but where limits were set,
there should be allowances for specific and appropriate purposes.
The Council might -consider the few vacant sites that could be.can-
didates for upzoning. He received a citizen communisation
recently regarding a noise situation in a residential area, and
the noise was coming from an amortized site that could be
developed for single family residences. The site was a commercial
dairy operation for years,: and single family residences were
developed around it. They appeared to be happy and compatible
neighbors through the life of the operation, and a site like that
should be reviewed in terms of whether single family residential
was the only appropriate housing, because clustered housing at the
R-2 or RM level might be appropriate. If it only provided a few
more units, but the units were sufficiently sized for families and
the cost of the unit were reduced, the City gained something, and
the neighborhood lost nothing. The incentive processes should
encourage developers and property owners to submit proposals aimed
at affordability, and the City should find ways to get applica-
tions through the processes faster when i an application was
designed for that particular goal. If a project were. proposed
with a high percentage of BMR units or a commitment to rental
housing, there should be ways to fast tuck it. The City should
also look at the application fees. The report stated that the
City cut its application fee by more than half, and encouragement
:;as given to upgrade the existing housing stock. That concept
could be applied to other application fees where the project was
designed with a specific commitment towards the City's particular
foals. Although he was not a proponent of resequencing Council
objectives for new possibilities, he did not rule out looking at
the City's utility connection processes in the case of the
development applications designed specifically to address rental
and/or below market rate situations. Various subsidies were dis-
cussed. and it was easy to take advantage of federal or state sub-
sidies when available, but the Council must consider that the
electrical hookup process on a medium sized development had mone-
tary costs associated therewith and if the costs to the property
owner/developer were considerably shaved, it might encourage a
better development with a commitment toward a rental or BMR beyond
the City'.s normal programs.
Councilrnember- Bechtel said Vice Mayor Levy described the increases
in certain age segments of the City's population, and she added
that the percentage increases were at the expense of children. It
was believed --that ,the State of California had declining school
enrollments., but educators advised that many districts were
increasing -their school enrollments and that the number of child -
Ten .statewide had increased. In terms of diversity, Palo Alto was
an aging City without children.
NO ACTION TAKEN
ITEM #11, FUEL EFFICIENT TRAFFIC SIGNAL MANAGEMENT GRANT
Mayor Klein said the matter was a referral to the F&PW Committee
for consultant selection,
Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber sad
Council needed to refer the consultant selection process to the
F&PW Committee and accept the State grant by adopting the: budget
ordinance; and including those moneys in the City's budget.
4 2 0 0
Coz st l
MOTION: Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by Levy, approval
of the Budget Amendment Ordinance, and referral of CMR:141:4 to
the Finance and Public Works (F&FW} Committee regarding the con-
sultant selection process for full efficient traffic signal man-
agement.
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ORDINANCE 3508 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
71T7777777,71.0 ALTO AMENDING THE BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR 1983-84 TO PROVIDE FOR RECEIPT OF GRANT FUNDS FROM
THE CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION FOR FUEL EFFICIENT
TRAFFIC SIGNAL MANAGEMENT"
Mayor Klein clarified the motion accepted the grant and referred
the item to the F&PW Committee for its views on whether to parti-
cipate in -selection of the consultant.
Councilmember Sutorius said he was not totally faoi1iar with the
protocol on referrals on co,:,;:1taiui selection to the FP4W Commit-
tee, and in this particular instance, he supported accepting the
gr�ant. He. was not concerned about referral of the matter to the
F&PW. Committee, but if it ecreated a -hardship, or introduced _a
delay, he asked whether Council should consider allowing the
.Selection Advisory Committee process to make the selection. He
anticipated that the Advisory -Committee would include representa-
tion of the point of view and the needs of Menlo Park and
Stanford. He believed it was unnecessary to go through a selec-
t i cio od- i sor-y process and the F&PW Comm: r _ - approval. Committee i ur i i nd i at rova i.
Mrs. Laner said it was Council policy that all such items went to
the F&PW Committee to determine whether the Committee wanted to
look at the consultant selection procedure. If the Council wanted
to waive the rule in that case, he had no problem.
Mayor Klein believed waiving the rule would require an additional
motion.
Mr. Laner said it would either be an additionar motion or a revi-
S1O.n.
Mayor Klein agreed it would be an amendment to the motion.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Sutorius moved, seconded by Cobb, to
omit the referral to Finance and Public Works Committee, and
thereby rescind Council's rule for that particular consultant
case.
Mayor Klein believed Councilmember Sutorius should include that
staff could proceed with the selection of a consultant on its
own.
Councilmember Sutorius said .the matter would go through the Selec-
tion Advisory Committee process normally followed and which was
referenced in the documents.
Counci lniember Cobo said Couric l l member Sutorius raised a point he
was going to bring up. J.4hen he looked into. the process schedule,
#t Appeared_ that referral to the F&PW Committee could slow -down
"getting •a consultant on board, and with the various workshops
-corning ups was there timie" for it to go to the F&PW Committee.
Mr. Schr,eioer said staff realized they were on a fast track and
would need to get back to the Committee rapidly, but there was
time. The Committee would meet -on February 14, and its first
action Mould be to indicate whether it wanted= to be= further
involved,.with the consultant process. If so, the recomi4endations
-of the Consultant' Selection Committee would go back to the F&PW
Committee. If the Committee no longer wanted to be invnlved, the
recommendations would go directi`y to the Council.
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2/06/84
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Councilmember Henze] supported the motion, not because she was
concerned about the time, because time should not be a reason for
bypassing normal procedures. She did not serve on the F&PW Com-
mittee, so could not speak for its members. It appeared that the
particular contract was for technical services which staff could
better evaluate than the F&PW Committee or the Council as a whole.
For that reason, she supported the amendment, but not because of
the time element.
AMENDMENT PASSED by a vote of 7-2, Levy and Witherspoon voting
°na.*
MULIUH AS AMENDED PASSED unanimously.
ITEM #12 ALLOCATION OF JOBS BILL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK
-GRAPii FUND s
MOTION: Counc i lmember Bechtel moved, seconded by Levy, approval
of the budget amendment ordinance.
URUINANCE 3509 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE. COUNCIL OF THE
rminrwmr-ALT0 AMENDING THE BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR 1983-84 TO PROVIDE AN ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION FOR
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT No. 83-96 `HOUSING IMPROVE-
MENT PROGRAM` AND TO PROVIDE FOR RECEIPT OF REVENUE FROM
THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT"
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
ITEM ,13 _ROVES! OF VICE MAYOR LEVY TO CANCEL THE COUNCIL
RE_ "`6 "i3 ?TlI -16 , 1984
+.rrwi..arw��r�sawrnti
Vice Mayor Levy Wanted to cancel the April 16, 1984 Council Meet-
ing because it was the first night of Passover.
MOTION: Vice Mayor Levy moved, seconded by Bechtel, to cancel
the Council meeting of April 16 198!.
Counci l member Fletcher said no one liked long Council meetings,
and she would be more willing to cancel the meeting when -Council
was closer to the date so that a judgment could be made about
whether subsequent meetings would be unusually long. She asked
whetter the meet.i ng following April 16, 1984, or April 23, the day
after Easter, was a City holiday, because in that event, there
would be two missed meetings in a row.
Mr. Zaner said April 23, 1984 was not a City holiday,
Counci lmember Fletcher said that was one less concern, but she las
reluctant to vote on the matter since it was too far in advance to
know what the agendas would look like. An alternative course
would be to hold the Neetinu on -another day of the week rather
than a Cancellation. It could be postponed to the following -
evening or some subsequent evening.
Counci l Member_ Renzel agreed with Counci lmember Fletcher. She had
no. objection to cab -ceiling the meeting, but asked if the Council.
schedule ways st ff-iciently clear to delete a meeting, and noted
there was a1s.g a .fifth Monday in April.
Mr. Laner sal -d it was hard .to_ _tell at that point. - A number of
items were ca-lendared for April. Aras.tra and Greer Park would be
UP, and there might be something on Cubberley
Vice May -or Levy said he had no. objection to -scheduling meetifigs_on
the fifth 1onday: i f necessary, or on any other day of the week.
CouncilmeIAber Kenzel said she assumed a meeting could. be rpeln-
stated,if appropriate.
Mr. laver said one could be noticed.
Mayor Klein said the motion spoke to whether a meeting should be
cancelled, or moved to another day in the week when it conflicted
with members' religious beliefs. It was not a question of
scheduling, but a question of the religious holiday, which both-
ered him. He had no problem rescheduling; the meeting to another
day of the week, but did not like the Council letting involved in
people's religious beliefs. He believed Council should go forward
with its meetings, but as a matter of personal privilege, he was
willing to move the meeting to the next day.
AMENDMENT: Mayor Klein moved, seconded by Fletcher, to meet on
Tuesday, April 17, 1984 instead of April 16, 1984.
Councilmember Woolley said that having recently been briefed by
department heads, the City Clerk said it was difficult for staff
if Council moved a meeting to the Tuesday, and she suggested
moving the meeting to the fifth -Monday.
City Clerk Ann fanner said a problem arose when meetings were
moved to Tuesdays, the normal Committee days.
Mr. Zaner said either date could be accommodated.
Councilmember Fletcher preferred to put the matter off until two
or three weeks before the date, so that Council knew whether a
Committee meeting was scheduled or what.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION TO CONTINUE: Counci liner bar Fletcher moved,
seconded by Wenzel, to continue the item to March 19, 1984.
Councilmember Witherspoon did not want to prolong the discussion,
bu.t said that during her years as a Councilmember, if for one
reason or another a Councilmember had a :meeting, or -a Council or
Committee meeting fell on a religious holiday, it was understood
that the Councilmember or Committee member would be absent, but
she hated to cancel a needed meeting. A quorum of the Council.
could conduct business.
Vice Mayor Levy said three holidays in the course of a year were
significant for the Jewish religion, the Passover was one. As the
Jewish calendar fluctuated, in the course of two years there might
be one Monday night when there was conflict, and since there was a
fairly significant Jewish population in Palo Alto, he spoke not
only for himself, but fur the inconvenience it would Cause a num-
ber of constituents to confront such a conflict. He brought it up
far enough in advance for everyone to schedule time accordingly,
and 6S pointP'1 nut by r.,unc.!rc bcr Woolley, there was a fifth
Monday in April. In his mind, it was not a question of having to
see whether it was possible, it should be mandatory. -
Counci lmember Bechtel supported Vice Mayor Levy and would _ vote
against the continuance. e;She supported the motion to cancel the
meeting an Apei 1 16, 19134.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION TO CONTINUE FAILED by a vote of 4-5, Fletcher,
Menzel, Witherspoon,,Sartorius, voting `aye.'
Mayor Klein suggested that the April 16, 1984 meeting be
rescheduled to April 30, _1984.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Mayor Klein moved, seconded by. Fletcher,
that Council meet on April 300 1984 instead of April 16, 1884, and
that Corrci1 meeting of April 16, 1984 be cancelled.
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2/06/84
SUbSTI-iUIL MOTION PASSE1! by a vote of 8-1, Woolley voting
"no."
ITLM #14, KLIIUEST OF COUNCILMEMUER WUOLLEY RE LETTER TO METROPOL-
MUTIUN: Councilmember Woolley moved, seconded by Levy, teat a
follow up lettet be sent to the MTC on the occasion of a hearing
on new rail starts being held in Santa Clara County indicating
support for a study of a railed electric trolley over the new
Uuwbarton Bridge.
Councilmember Witherspoon opposed the motion bedause she believed
the letter from the Council covered its desires --it mentioned
transportation without pinning it down. Palo Alto w s not the
lead agency, and only responding to a citizen`s request. She
believed that sending a letter every week, slightly different from
the previous letter, would lose credibility.
Councilmember Renzel said she regarded it as a clarification
letter to indicate that Council supported the study of a railed
electric trolley. She did not believe it should be considered a
change in position.
Councilmember Fletcher believed the Council was out of line in
advocating a program because that was not the process used by the
MTC.
MUTIUl4 PASSED by a vote of 5-4, Fletcher,.. Klein, Bechtel,
Witherspoon voting '"no.."
AOJUUR IMENT
The Council adjourned at 11:5 1
ATTLST:
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APPRUVEU:
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