HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-01-24 City Council Summary Minutes2 8 7 8
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CITY
COUNCIL
MINUTEs
CITY
OF
M[ (0
ALT()
Regular. Meeting
Monday, January 24, 1983
ITEM PAGE
Oral Communications 2 8 7 I
Approval, of Minutes of November 8, 1983 2 8 7 2
Consent Calendar
Referral 2 8 7 2
Action 2 8 7 2
Item #1, Modifications to Chlorine Building 2 8 7 2
Item #2, Resolution re Gas Rate Increase 2 8 7 2
Item #3, Ordinance re Utility District
No. 24, 2nd Reading
Item #4, Ordinance re College Terrace
Mu 1•t i pi a Family Land Use Study, 2nd Reading
Item #5, Recruitment Services for Position
of Director of Utilities
Item P6, Legal Services for Utilities
Department'
Item #7, Public Hearing: Planning Commission
Recommendation re Application of City of
Palo Alto for Amendment to the Terman Specific.
Plan, and for Preliminary Parcel Map to Divide
One Parcel into Two for Property at
655 Arastradero Road
2 8 7 2
2 8 7 3
2 8 7 3
2 8 7 3
2 8 7 3
Item #8, Human Relations Commission re 2 8 7 3
Human Services Resource Allocation Plan
Item #9, Downtown Business Improvement Area
Item #10, Northern California Power Agency/
Pacific Gas and Electric Interconnection
Agreement.
Item #Ii, Request of City Manager re 2 8 9 3
Director of Utilities Position
ITEM
Item #1?., Request of Councilmembers
Renzel and Eyerly re Lytton Plaza
Lighting
PAGE
2 8 9 3
Item #13, Request of Councilmember Cobb 2 8 9 4
re Amortization Schedule for
3011 Middlefield Road
Adjournment 2 9 0 0
Regular Meeting
Monday, January 24, 1983
The City Council of the city of Palo Alto met on this date in the
Councii Chambers at City gall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:30 p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel. Cobb, Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher,
Klein, Levy, Menzel , ' Witherspoon
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Colin Mick, 2130 Hanover Street, was a property and business
owner in the City of Palo Alto. for over ten years. He said
that this morning his basement_.had -eight feet of water in it,
which had come from Werry Park. The ,water was in Werry_ Park
because the storm sewers in College Terrace were not being
maintained. The water was diverted out of the storm sewer
system, the creek system, and went running down Stanford
Avenue, diverted, ran through the upper part or the Terrace
and down through'Stanford Avenue. and College Avenue totally
fi l l ing Werry Park. He cal led the City's emergency number at
midnight and reported the problem, but nothing happened. He
found the source of :he problem himself, and called the City
emergency number again: at 1:0(1 a.m., and reported precisely
what and where the problem was, and nothing happened. This
morning he called the City Manager's office at 9:00, reported
the problem, and was assured that something would be done. He
received a call asking why he complained about the emergency
communication system. ,He said the storm drain known as the
"Stanford Ditch" cuts across Stanford Avenue slightly to the
west of the Amherst intersection. The Stanford side of the
storm drain was totally blocked, and the water poured down the
ditch, and diverted into Stanford Avenue. It also poured down
on the other side of the street, but could not get into the
drains there.. The same problem occurred at approximately noon
on .Saturday, -yet 3 hours later, nothing was done, and the
problem occurred again. The drainage ditch was also full of
bundled: newspapers. He checked the area again at 5:00 and as
far as he could determine, no City .employee had done anything
about it, the junk was still there, and if it ,rained tonight,
the same thing would occur tomorrow. He asked woo was respon-
sible for maintaining those drainage ditches, why they were
not maintained, why did he. not receive a response, what 'Was
the . Li._ty„ going to_-� do 'about it, and who would pay for the
$5,000 plus damage to his house caused by negligence.
Mayor Bechtel said she ,could understand.`.why Mr, Mick was :so- upset,
and assured nirr -that staff rould be it -touch with him right. away.
David. Dlatner, 1211 Hamilton Avenue, represented the Musical_
Theatre Company, which;was a.teenage theatre group comprised
ofi young people ages 14 to 19 years. 'The first production
would be "Runaways" and would cost 'approximately $2,000. eThe
Canpany was in : the process Ofaecoming an :.aff i l,iate member of:
CAPA., which would make them a nonprof..i.t organ`] nation Money'e
was needed to pay.; for. renea rsal space, space . to perform, and
royalties "for the musical . He- asked .the. Council to eonsi der a
grant for the :llusi cal - Theatre Company.
1
MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 8 1982
Vice Mayor Fazzino had the following correction:
Page 2652, sixth paragraph, should read as follows:
r
"Councilmember Fazzino clarified that the thesis used was based
upon an idea of what would conceptually be better for the City
given geographic considerations, rather than a value judgment
based upon usage of the two sites. There was no relationship of
data regarding the usage of those two sites with respect to the
report's final conclusion.
Councilmember Fletcher had the following correction:
Page 2651, fourth paragraph, sixth line, word "obliged" should be
robligated.
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fazzino moved, seconded by Renzel , approval
of the Minutes of November 8, 1982, as corrected.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
CONSENT CALENDAR
MOTION: Councilmember Klein moved, seconded by Fazzino,
approval of the Consent Calendar.
Referral
None
Act on
ITEM #1, MODIFICATIONS TO CHLORINE BUILDING (CMR:135:3)
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the Mayor to sign
the aEnendment to the James A. Montgomery Consulting Engineers,
Inc. contract in the amount of $22,000.
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO AGREEMENT -
PROFESSIOHAL CONSULTANT SERVICES
CHLORINE FACILITY
James N. Montgomery
ITEM #2, RESOLUTION RE GAS RATE INCREASE (CMR:I41:3)
Council is requested to approve the resolution ;confirming the
action taken by the City Manager adjusting gas rats 1.5 percent,
effective January 1, 1983, in accordance with Resolution No.
6082.
RESOLUTION _ 6089 entitled 'RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL
PALO ALTO AMENDING UTILITIES RATE
SCHEDULES S-1 AND G-50 AS A RESULT OF TRACKING PGAE
RATE CHANGES
ITEM#3, ORDINANCE RE UTILITY DISTRICT NO. 24 (2nd Reading)
ORDINANCE 3408 entitled MORDI NANCE : OF THE COUNCIL OF
INE` cliT uF MO ALTO. AMENDING SECTION 12.16.020 OF
CHAPTER 12.16 OF TITLE 12 OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL
COPE BY ESTABLISHING UNDERGROUND UTILITY DISTRICT. NO.
24" (1st Reading 1/10/83, PASSED 9-0)
ITEM #4, URUINANCE RE COLLEGE TERRACE MULTIPLE FAMILY LAND USE
nd rcea
9
ORDINANCE 3409 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
uiE GirT OF PALO ALTO EXTENDING THE EXISTING
MORATORIUM ON ISSUANCE OF DEMOLITION PERMITS FOR ALL
RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURES IN THE RM-3 ZONE OF COLLEGE
TERRACE BETWEEN CALIFORNIA AVENUE, STANFORD AVENUE, EL
CANINO REAL AND WELLESLEY STREET (1st Reading 1/10/83,
PASSED 9-O)"
ITEM #5, RECRUITMENT SERVICES FOR POSITION OF DIRECTOR OF
Staff recommends that Council authorize the Mayor to execute the
attached agreement with Korn/Ferry International for recruitment
services for the position of,._Di rector of Uti l ities.
AGREEMENT
Korn/Ferry International
ITEM #6 LEGAL SERVICES FOR UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. SO.1954
BETWEEN CITY OF PALO ALTO AND DONALD H. MAYNOR
ORDINANCE 3410 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
ALO ALTO AMENDING THE BUDGET FOR THE
FISCAL YEAR 1982-83 TO PROVIDE AN ADDITIONAL
APPROPRIATION FOR LEGAL SERVICES IN THE UTILITIES
DEPARTMENT'
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
ITEM #7 PUBLIC REARING: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION RE
ernan cnoo
e
Planning Commissioner Fred Nichols said that the CommissioI's
major concern was the lack of a showing -or designation on the map
of an easement. The easement to the Jewish Community Center site
from Arastradero Road was now shown on the map.
Mayor Bechtel declared the public hearing open. Receiving no -
requests from the public to speak, she declared the public hearing
closed. .
NOTION: Counci'member Cobb. moved, seconded by Faazino, to adopt
the Planning Commission recommendation to approve application with
the condition that the preliminary parcel `'map be revised to show
n.. easeent .for access to Parcel 1.
RESOLUTION 6090 entitled "RESOLUTION OF - THE COUNCIL OF
PALO ALTO AMENDING THE TERNAN SPECIFIC
PLAN°
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
ITEM #8 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION RE HUMAN SERVICES RESOURCE
•
Mayor Bechtel -introduced Administrator' of Social and Community
Services Hal Ari jo, and Chairperson` _ of the Human Relations,:
Commission Joe Podol sICy
Mr. Poclol sky Said that the human Relations Commission strongly ..
believed that Palo Alto faced increasing financial pressures in
the years to come. Everyone now lived under the ages of
Proposition. I3 and the related decrease in state subsidies as well
as diminished support from federal sources. Even the abundant
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mill of the municipal utilities cash cow night dry as questions
arose about the volume of -money being transferred from the Utili-
ties daepartment to the General Fund, The HRC remembered the
specter of what happened last year to the Human Services Programs
that were funded by the County of Santa Clara. Many of those
proyrams faced an abrupt and uncoordinated decrease in funding,
and in some cases, the decreases seemed arbitrary. He .said triat
the HRC had no influence on the income side of the eivation for
the City of Palo Alto, but felt strongly that by implementing the
resource allocation process,that had.. control over the allocation
of the scarce 'resources available could be improved. In July, the
HRC was pleased to receive the initial draft of the Human Ser-
vices Plan from the City Council, which contained a strong theo-
retical base that was built by Hal- Anjo and,Carleen Bedwell, and
it was reviewed very thoroughly by City staff.- In spite. of its
strengths, the HRC worked long and di.l igently through the summer
on the..p lan and developed _the resource. allotatione process being
presented. The resource allocation process had three concepts:
1. A rational set of processes and procedures;
2. eA mechanism which contained broad citizen involvement; and
3. A collaboration of activities with other non -City funding
sources to maxirni ze the leverage of the process itself.
Mr. Podol sky said the process was sufficiently general to accommo-
date a wide variety of activities, and asked that the Council's
concerns focus on activities already in the HRC's sphere of activ-
ities-. Further, the HRC did not want to get involved with a lot
of things outside its sphere of activities because there was a lot
of other work for them to do, and they felt that the process
should be tested and tuned before it got out of nand. It was
agreed that incremental costs resulting from the process should be
minimized, and, therefore, the scope of the application .for
resource allocation process was limited to activities shown cur -
._rent ly in Appendix C. The HRC urged `,;;the Council to• approve an
interim implementation of the process for fiscal year 1983-.84, and
a full implementatioe of the process for the next budget year at
which time it would be given a full evaluation. He said there was
a small amount ,of money shown in Hal Anjo's staff report that
would be necessary- to implement the plan in the 1983-84 time
frame, and he asked the Council to consider the process and imple-
ment it.
Vice Mayor Fazzino applauded the HRC and Hat Anjo :;for an excel-
lent job. He believed that the list of servic9:s before the Coun-
cil was far more realistic, and he hoped a groupaon'which the HRC
could bring to bear some important background material to give the
Council an -,indication of the relationship to other agencies pro-
viding or -not providing those _;services. -He asked about affirvia-
Live action -Within the ityTh structure, and said that was sone-
thine he wanted to see addressed on an annual basis by the H.RC.
Mr. Podol sky responded --that the plan was not- designed- -tv include
all of ;he HRC's activities. It ---was a process by which the HRC
could review specific funding allocation ideas --primarily that
which went to the Council in the budget Process.. -as contracts with
-outside agencies.
Vice Mayor Fazzino clarified that the list would in .no way -limit
the HRC from developing ideas about a new area of, service.
Mr. Podolsky responded , that the HRC hoped not to be limited, and
it was not their intent :to do. so.
Vice Mayor Fazzino said he was: not .'Sure that there' was a need for
an abbreviated plan this
ye4r, and a full application next year.
He believed_ that given the level of service, the HRC could move
ahead and provide 4s much input - and background _material as they
desired to the Finance and Public Works (F&PW) Committee and City.
Council. He asked for clarification about the abbreviated appli-
cation for this fiscal year.
Mr. Podolsky said the key reason for doing it in a more abbre-
viated form was because the HRC was out of time. ' It was the end
of January, and to do it right, the HRC should have started in
October.
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Vice Mayor Fazzino clarified that in the 1983-84 fiscal year, the
HRC's intent was to start much earlier working with the City
staff -was the departments developed their own budgets --to design a
specific plan for each of the service areas.
Councilmember Eyerly said he would be interested .in receiving a
list of all currently. funded City activities that would be in the
scope. of the resource plan for the first full budget year.
Mr. Podolsky said that to the best of the HRC's ability at this
point, that list was covered in Appendix C.
Councilmember Eyerly said that as he interpreted the list on
Appendix C, it provided general fields of service, but did not
name contractors or specific programs. He believed the Council
would want to scrutinize the, specific list in order to reach an
agreement with what the HRC was to pursue when the time came.
Mr. Podolsky said that the Plan itself was not intended to name
specific contractors. Council would receive, as a result of the
plan, specific contractor names, recommended funding and prior-
ities.
Councilmember Eyerly clarified that the people currently being
funded should be notified that their funding would be scrutinized
under the Resource Plan. That was not to mean they would continue
to be funded, but he believed it behooved the Council to serve
notice through the HRC as to which programs would have to go
through the process.
Mr. Podolsky said that there were two public hearings as part of
the HRC process, at which time draft copies of the plan were
mailed not only to those people currently being funded by City
contracts, but to a wide variety of other interested people.
Mailings were sent to some 30Q organizations about the last public
hearing. Many of those 'organizations attended the public meetings
and responded favorably. to the plan.
Councilmember Eyerly asked if the HRC planned to scrutinize
affirmative action.
Mr. Podolsky said that affirmative action in the City contracts as
well as age discrimination in housing .were programs that the HRC
was studying apart from the resource plan.
Councilmember Eyerly asked about.. some of the police programs.
City Manager Bill Zaner said that the programs contained in the
original Exhibit C were deleted largely using the criterion that
the Council expressed an interest in dealing only with those
traditional HRC programs for the moment, and some were police and
fire programs. The human service programs were left in and every-
thing else was taken out.
Councilmember Cobb complimented r r. Podolsky . and said he believed
that the programin its revised form was very. good. Regarding the
statement contained in CMk 141:3, Page 4, under Abbreviated Appli-
cation, that -the Council would not be asked to review and adopt
the recommended policies and priorities,. he assumed that._ by =the
time . full application was reached, Council would approve policies
and priorities, and that the intent was for the plan to eventually
become a -forma l document of the City of ,Palo Alto.
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1/24/83
Mr. Nodol sky said that in the abbreviated application the HRC
would not have time to prepare the detailed -study, but the full
application ti evid definitely contain a detailed study by the HRC.
Councilmember Cobb asked if ultimately the summary of, policies and
programs would become a Council approved, published document of
the City of Palo Alto.
Mr. Podolsky said that was correct.
Councilmember Cobb asked how criterion would be established to
rank one :program over another, and would it be spelled out in the
document.
Mr. Podol sky said that the first few policies and programs of the
document developed a criterion, but the intent was to determine
through demographic studies, questionnaires, the needs assessment
that would generate a list of criteria which would be measured
against the requests.
Councilmember Cobb encouraged that the HRC be as specific as pos-
sible in whatever form was final ly developed because rank ordering
was painful for everyone.
Councilmember Fletcher asked where Caravan House would fit. She
wanted assurances that individual programs would not fall through
the cracks.
Mr. Anjo said that the classification of field's of service with
all of the activities were those the City was currently involved
in --either under contract or under direct . provision of service
under the HRC. It was a starting place, and- as they moved into
the 1983-84 application of the process, they would look at the
demographic data, services data, and citizen input to determine
whether there were new generic kinds of activities that should be
included in the field. They alight find out next year that a resi-
dential care program was important because there were a lot of
children on the street. If that popped up as a priority in that
criteria analysis, it would show up as .a generic activity that
might then be given a priority for the it:iC's recommendation to the
Council. Nothing was being projected beyond the current services
until they were in the planning phase for the 1984-85 budget.
Councilmernber Fletcher asked if the Youth •Counseling Service was-
sornething the City was now involved in.
Mr. Anjo said that was correct, and • it. was also an activity for
which the City- provided some`direct staff time as well.
Councilmember Fletcher asked._if the concept of a social needs ele-
ment in the Comprehensive Plan had been -dropped, or would it Still
be pursued..
Mr. Anjo said that during the study sessions, a design question
arose about whether to move mead with a social element or yrand.
plan type of thing, which would require precise data about the
kinds of services the City should be providing, or whether they
should look at the development of a process which was dynamic and
permitted a nalyzation from year to year about what activities were
important in that year or in a three to five year period. He
believed that in the design, process, from both the staff's. and
HRC's point of view, it; was decided that rather than stating a
specific plan that was very similar to the other elements;. of the
Comprehensive Plan the option was to go for a planning process.
-
The' research done on background data about social: elements
indicated that very few social elements in the traditional way -
were implemented. They proposed a :. process that would permit them
to look at priorities in a dynamic way.
Mr. Podolsky said that the Hunan Services Resource Allocation
Process was a living document that would be modified over time and
serve the City well. Some Conuiissioners believed that a grandie
ose plan was needed for some idea about what they were doing, and
he thought they would try and work toward that at some point.
Councilmember Fletcher said the plan was something the City needed
for a long time without recognizing it. She -was grateful to the
HRC anti staff for developing it.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked about the cost projection for full
implementation of the plan.
Mr. Anjo said that the Uepartnrent of Social and Community Services
was restructured, and as such the administrative division was
pared down considerably. While he continued to be involved in
some administrative activities, he had time that could be reallo-
cated to the planning process. He said the department was asking
for an increase from .07 to .15, person years in temporary help
-which was about 300 to 400 hours. The $2,500 in consulting ser-
vices was time necessary for some analysis and technical assis-
tance.
Councilrnember Witherspoon clarified that Mr. Anjo would be usin=g
data that already existed in the community and would be pulling it
together. She asked how much 300 to 400 hours translated into
dollars.
Mr. Anjo said it was around $ 1,8003
C€iunciimeunber Witherspoon clarified that the entire staffing could
be done for about $2,000 per year.
Mr. 'Anjo said it could be done for ' $2.500 plus the additional
$2,00U in temporary services, plus redirecting some of his and his
secretary's time. He pointed out that there would be an activity
period of about two months where the HRC would als0 .be intensively
involved as.: a volunteer group.
Councilmernber Klein said he was pleased to read the reports before
the Council. As one who was critical of the list of services to
be reviewed under the plan, he was pleased to read the pared down
list of services to be analyzed.
MOTION:- Councflaember Klein moved, seconded by Fazzino, to
approve the staff recommendation to adopt the iii aer Services
Resource Allocation Process as presented by the H an Relations
Commission and approve the proposed interim application.. for pre-
paration of the 1983.84 budget, plus a formal vote of thanks to
the Haman Relations Commission from the City Council for work on
the Muwan Services Resource Allocation Plan.
'Councilmember Renzel was also pleased with the HRC's modifica-
tions-. e She asked Whether -it would be appropriate for the --Council
to adopt a program pool icy in the Comprehensive Plan that referred
Go the.. process. She believed it could be 'a beginning element for.
the Human Se.rwices Plan. She would -support -the motion
Counci lrrrember Levy . was also pleased about the process. He
believed it would be -helpful to have .a cross reference in relation
to Appendix C which' woul d show each of. the programs , now supported,
ny..--the City as they would fall underuhde.re each of the categories of
human services laial out in Appendix:C. :_ Another reference could .be
a complete list .of all-- of: the social service programs -currently
being supported. by the,,.City to,.enwe that:none .of those now being
supported fell betwee:tn the cracks ' of categorization
Podol..sky. "_bel i eyed. that was a': good idea and . that it -might: help
alleviate soma of the Concerns.' raised by.;.Counci.lmember Eyerly. Ne
noted that the categoti.es--co_ ntalned in Appendix C were .choserr as
such in, order to al lbw some interfacing with the United ,Way cate-
Counci lrnember Fletcher* said she appreciated the way in which the
HRC worked so intensively to complete the draft.
Mr. Podolsky thanked Councilmemoer Fletcher, and commented that
she knew of the' long hours because she was there most of the
time.
Mayor Bechtel concurred with the comments thanking the HRC. She
said she remembered approximately nine months ago during the bud -
yet process when the Council was berating staff and --the Commission
about the lack of a Human Resource Allocation Plan, and it was
indeed a pleasure to see it come back to the Council so quickly.
Since the workshop in December, she thought it would be months
before the Council saw it again. She asked for assurances that
because the scope was limited, programs would not necessarily _be
limited to those already being funded by the city.
Mr. Podai sky said the categories were general because the specific
fund my mechani srns and specific contract requests within them,
whether already existing or new, would be considered as well as
requests in those categories that might not have been considered,
but rrigrit become important-.
Mayor Bechtel asked if the process would be re-evaluated by staff
and by the Commission before beginning with the 1984-85 process.
Mr. Podolsky responded that a full scale evaluation was expected
after full implementation of the plan. The HRC would look at what
happened after the interim application-, but did not think it would
be either worthwhile or fair to look at the interim application
before the full implementation.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
MOTION: Covncilmember Renzel moved, seconded by Witherspoon,
that the Human Relations Commission propose a program for the Com-
prehensive Plan with reference to the Hunan Services Resource Al-
location Plan Process and submit it to the Planning Commission for
its next review of the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilmember Levy asked why it should go to the Planning Commis-
sion.
Counci lmer:rber Renzel responded that any amendments to th,e Compre-
hensive Plan were required by law to go through the Planning Com-
missioo.
City Attorney Diane Lee said that was correct. An initiative
ordinance proposed the process for Comprehensive Plan amendments,
and referral to the Planning Commission was part or the process,,
Councilrrernber Levy hoped the Planning Commission would not spend a
great deal ,of time wrestling with the proposed element.
NOTION PASSED unanimously.
ITEM 09 UUWNTOWN BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AREA ( MR:142.3)
Assistant to the City Manager Charles McNeely said that staff and
members of Downtown Palo Alto, Inc. were present to respond to , any
questions.
Councilrnernber Eyerly said. that during his year as Mayor, the divi-
sion between administration and: policy setting was impressed upon_
him,- and he asked for clarifiCation that -staff could suggest
policy to be adopted by the Council, but could not set pol icy by
themselves.
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1/24/83.
City Manager Bill Laner said that was basically correct except'
that the City Manager set policy in the administrative. areas.
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Counci lmember Eyerly said that regarding policy setting, on Page 2
of CMR:142:3, under Reimbursement of City Costs, the bottom two
paragraphs read "I0 addition to the direct cost (billing, collec-
tion, etc.) reflected in the 1983 budget, staff :proposes to in-
clude i=i the 19134 budget, charges to DLIA for actual city expenses
associated with services provided by the City for the general
benefit of the Downtown Business Improvement Area.
"These services consist primarily of coordination/liaison activi-
ties on a wide- variety of Downtown -related projects. Currently
staff members in a number of City departments are working on proj-
ects such as Downtown Retail Study, Downtown Coordinating Commit-
tee, -and the Downtown Food Market Committee..."
Councilmember Eyerly said that all of those assignments were made
by the City Council to staff, and the statement that staff would
create a budget item in next year's budget concerned him because
he believed that was done all the time for different areas. Just
recently in College Terrace, the Planning -Department was given an
assignment to consider a new historic zone, etc. Assignments were
conti ;qua l ly made in planning and neighborhood ,areas- in tears of
traffic -and traffic studies, and he was surprised that staff in-
tended to create fees to charge for assignments that staff was
given Dy the City Council when that was not addressed for other
areas. He had no problem with the item agendized separately, to
ascertain whether Council wanted to set a policy to enact fees or
charges within the budget, but he did not think it was proper. in
connection with the downtown special district.
Mr. Leiner said it should be noted from the way the memo and .,con-
tract were written that no such chat ges appeared in the contract
this year. Staff alerted Council in the memo of their intention
to include such a position in the next budget process and. planned
to ask .that it be funded through the mechanism stated in the memo.
Ho funding was included in the proposed document, and members of
tike Downtown Business- Improvement Association were advised that
the City would continue to staff the downtown operations out of
the general fund as was currently done in accordance with Council
instruction. The recomrhendation, however, would be different in
the new bud9et.
Counci lmember Eyerly asked if that created a new policy of enact-
ing charges to different areas within the City for work done.;.
.Mr. Laver said. that the studies regarding College Terrace and the.
Spa within Evergreen_ 'ark were one time, and the City went in, did
an analysis, prepared- material for the Council and reported back.
The committees downtown were much longer ranged, and staff members
were committed to those meetings- and activities -on a weekly .and
sometimes monthiy basis.- As many a ..s'x staff members -were now
attending the sessions; each one 'attending' a different session,
and staff had to spend more time coordinating toe activities. He
pointed out that a ni mber of the cornmlttees were not assigned to
staff by the City Council and a number of them --had sprung up on
their own. They were being staffed by the City -because they re-
quired coord.i,,natton since they were working on.the_'same projects
as staff. eThere was a mushrooming of committees in the downtown
area, and" an inability on the- part of -staf€ to keep track of them.
Staff would make the recommendation that it all get consolidated
in the 1!84 budget.
Cound i l member Eyerly said he believed there was a d'rw`lerence: de-
pendent upon where the assignment originated. If it was origi-
nated by the Council, he had problems with enacting a charge. _ If
the request came from the Downtown Food -Committee, that mightr'be a
different situation. If the Council -debated the matter and set a
policy to give the staff an assignment, he could not see how staff
could considerthethe suggestion of a charge.
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1/24/83
Councilmember Witherspoon said she believed the' proposal was an
innovative way of coordinating all of -the .Council's concerns in
the downtown area and she favored the concept. Page 5 of the con-
tract talked about the contractor accounting for the funds col-
lected, and that the City at its discretion might require addi-
tional accounting. She asked if that meant the contractor would
not be ,required to have a certified audit, but rather would be
audited by City staff,
Mr. McNeely said that Downtown Palo Alto, Inc.. was budgeting
$1,700 for the audit. The.. clause allowed the City to also audit
if it desired.
Councilmember Witherspoon said she did not see any reference in
the contract to the City's requesting_ an audit by a certified pub-
lic accountant.
Mr. darter said that the contractor was required to provide a
detailed complete accounting of all expenditures made and obliga-
tions incurred during the term of the contract.- Further, the City
had the right to do its own independent audit if desired.
Councilmember Witherspoon said she understood that, but there was
a biy difference between the contractor doing its own accounting,
and :havinga CPA review it. She understood from Mr. McNeely that
the money for an independent audit was included in the contrac-
tor's budget, and that the City expected to receive some sort of
independent audit.
Mr, Laner said that was correct,
Councilmember Witherspoon clarified that it was mandatory for
businesses in the downtown area to pay the $35 per yeer.
Mr. McNeely said that was correct.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked if it would be- paid at City Hall.
Mr. McNeely said the City was taking responsibility for the .bill-
ing and collection service.
Councilmember Cobb .said he remembered that during the initial dis-
cussions of the project, a number of people raised concerns about
if the initially selected contractor did not work out, what
recourse the City would have. He asked if the City had the abil-
ity, if the contractor did not meet the needs of the businesses,
td terminate the contract.
Mr. McNeely said the City: had a 6.O day termination clause which
could be exercised at any ti -me Should it be determined _that the
contractor was not ful fi 1-1 in`g the ob.l i.gations` Of the'` contrac-t.
Councilmember Cobb said he was surprised: that some of -'the promo-
tiopal costs --were so -low, and would be surprised if much promotion
could be done within --some bf the budgets`' laI'd ,out. Fle referred
particularly to the $8,400 set aside. for , advertising -services,
which appeared to cover only printing acid placement but not pre-
parati n costs. He asked for assurances that - the the budget was. ' a.l-
istic, The budget indicated that,an advance would be necessary to-
be repaid with interest, but he did not see the. amount -of. intere,st-
reflected in,.that budget.
Mr. Ia.ner _said that ways a good point because the advance_ wa.s to
repaid with interest.
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1/24 /83
1
Vice Mayor Fazzino said that in reading the staff report, he was
concerned about the degree of City involvement, and the applica-
tion of ongoing City services in the budget. Further, he was con-
cerned about the general bureaucracy. associated with the program,
and that not 'much money would remain for true promotional pro-
grams, which was the purpose- of the law and of the Council's deci-
sion. He wanted to be assured by members of DTPA about adequate
representation for a broad majority of downtown business people.
He realized that DTPA represented the vast majority of downtown
Palo Alto establishments, and was clearly the proper group to im-
plement the program. He -preferred that DTPA have a stronger im-
plementation position than the .City staff. Given some of the con-
cerns expressed to the City Council by downtown businesses a few
weeks ago, he wanted to ensure that the Board of Directors and the
meeting and notifcation processes would heavily involve all the
downtown Palo Alto businesses who would he paying a fee to the
programm. He requested that DTPA and. City staff speak to all of
those `.ssues at some point in -the meeting. He advised that if the
-issue of -general bureaucracy in particular was .not resolved by
City staff, he was of, a mind not to move ahead and support the
•proyrarn.
Everett Steichen, 261 Hamilton Avenue, said he spoke in opposition
to tne-proposed downtown improvement district during the two pub-
lic hearings held in the fall of 1982. He was 'pleased to see that
two of his concerns were -apparently corrected; however, his third
and major concern still remained. The budget request of DTPA,
dated December 30, 1982, clearly showed, under the title, "Techni-
cal Services," that the direct beneficiary of the program would be
the retail merchants of the district even though they constituted
only a small percentage of the businesses in the district. Hence,
those who would not directly benefit from the project were those
who would bear the bulk of the costs. He was advised by competent
legal authority that -At was contrary to California state law. He
added that he was not opposed to the district as long as the bene-
fits and the costs equated. He pointed out the proposed bylaws of
DTPA, and referred to Article 2, "Membership," Section 1, which
read: "All businesses defined and located within the area desig-
nated by Palo Alto Qrdhnance 3388 establishing the Downtown
IMprovenent District shall be considered regular members of DTPA
unless otherwise indicated." He questioned under what provisions
of law could -a person or` a business be required to become a member
of a voluntary association. Further, he referred to Article 5 of
the bylaws, "election of Directors and Officers." Section 1,
paragraph (a), -stated, "The- President sha 1 1 . submit to the Board of
Directors for approval the appointment of a nominating committee
consisting of three .regular members.", He referred back to ---'Article
2 where the members were business associations and organizations,
and he asked. how a business organization could be a Member of a
committee, !Under Article 5, Section 1, paragra-ph (c),, "A regular
member may be nominated for\ el ecti o to the. Board of Directors."
He questioned how a business' organization could be elected as -a
member-- of .a Board of Directors. Disregarding that there was a
problem in Toole, he submitted that the manner in which the
t)ireetof s :were lo be elected practically assured that DTPA would
continue -to be run by the present Board of 'Directors. 1.n other
words, .it was -a closed circle which could net be broken. He
called Count. ,1 s attention to_ :the: iact._that there was - no' statement
in the- bylaws regarding the 04-lifieat ons. of . Board members,. s not
even the requirement -'that they be..rnember�s of_,DTP-A. ,with: all those
thit^gs in mind, he directed' Council,'s- attention to Article b,
"Enforcement of Provisions,-" Setti tee 1 sta-ted that: "The Arti -
cies cif incorporation and these bclaws hail i be ' binding upon the
"rembers of:this--corporation and membership as set forth in Article
1-L of theseby '<- laws shall be considered as --binding the members= by
provisions thereof-a' includin-g adherence to all ru1-;es
regulations-, -resolutions and actf.ons of the Board ,o `irector°s`_.of
this- corporation duly and regoiarly.adopted.
"Section 2, The corporation, by action of its Board of Directors
or any member of this corporation, may undertake to enforce com-
pliance..."
Mr. Steichen said that under Article 11, the -businesses in the
district were being forced to join DTPA, and were at the mercy of
a nonrepresentative board of Dir€ctors and -could be forced by the
acts of any single member to do what the board decided. If that
was not bad enough, he referred to Article X, "Amendments,". which
stated: "The bylaws of this corporation may be amended or repeal-
ed or new bylaws may be adopted by a majority vote of the Board of
Directors." He thought the document was bad and could only be
worsened by the nonrepresentative Board of Directors. He ques-
tioned whether the City of Palo Alto should enter into a contract
with an .organization governed by discriminatory nonrepresenta-
tives, ,with such uncomprehensible bylaws as the'ones proposed.
Jon Parsons, President of ,.the Downtown Civic League, 323 Maclane,
said the Civic League discussed the issues of retail vitality and
'the viability of the downtown commercial district at its ,recent
January 19, 1983 Steering Committee meeting.- The issues of the
preservation of retail uses, along street frontages and the recent
business improvement area were considered. The Committee adopted
two resolutions, which he read into the record.
The following first- resolution was passed by the Committee
unanimously:
"The Palo Alto Civic League Steering Committee wishes to encourage
the maximum possible communication and interchange of ideas as
well as active participation by the members of the Assessment
District and the ,Board of Downtown Palo Alto, Inc. especially in
regard to programs and budgets and activities."
The following second resolution was passed by the Committee co a
vote of 5-1:
"Palo Alto Civic League Steering Committee supports and recommends
that the City Council take positive actions to preserve retail
street frontage in the .downtown commercial district, and expresses
serious concern regarding intrusion of financial-: institutions and
offices into traditionally retail oriented areas."
Bob Moss, 4010 Urme, reinforced the comments made .by Jon. Parsons,
and made suggestions about how the Council could assist the inter-
change that Vice Mayor fazzino and others were concerned about.
The budget, plan schedule and :existing Board all pre=existed as
Downtown Palo Alto, inc. before. there was an assessment district,
and before the assessees were- .given an opportunity to either_ vote
on the Board pr be members of the new assessment: district board.
Therefore, a number of the -assessees had not had an opportunity to
participate actively- in the" activities. He believed that everyone
was interested in getting --the maximum possible bottoms -up type of
management as well as top down. Exhibit "A" suggested a number of
performance measures. and No. 5, for example, called for an aver-
age-,- of two -liaison meetings..'per month, `moo be held with-- the -City
staff and .Council concerning the present and future welfare of
downtown. He suggested that two additional performance,meas:ures
be added to require:
/. Ten liaison meetings with the general membership of the Down-
town Palo Also Assessment District, or -one per month until thee
end of the year.
Accuracy of the budget process': by__comparin'g actual versus bud-
geted expenses and: income in various areas.. That would pro-
vide a direct measurement of, how- well the : organization was
functioning. That cou.d also help to determine whether things
like the $4,400 for ,ad>~ertising= was adequate, and if not,
where it should; bre ,red recited.
1
Ned Gallagher, representing Downtown Palo Alto, Inc., responded
that the comments of Mr. Steichen appeared to be related to a
"star chamber" of DTPA's Board of Directors. During the transi-
tion phase between the voluntary membership of UTPA. and its cur-
rent status as an assessment district, the bylaws were completely
changed after several meetings with: City staff. Every concern,
with regard to the representation of people in the district, was
addressed. He would not be_ associated with UTPA if he did not
believe it represented the people in the district. During the
formative stage of DTPA's work with the district, packets of
information were distributed to everyone in the district advising
that all meetings were helu at the Senior Center and open to the
public. Every effort was made to contact everyone and provide an
opportunity to participate. He assured the Council and Mr.
Steichen that that was DTPA's continued and ongoing' purpose. The
current Board of Di rectors- would be changed as soon as the activi-
ties on ' toni ght' s City Council agenda were completed.. That had
been postponed because of the transition period. The bylaws pro-
vided that nine members of the Board of Directors would change
each year, and that same concept was currently being .considered
for implementation in the immediate future. The terms of the nine
members expired in 1982, and they would be replaced by new members
this year. e The ongoing ,process of changing nine members_ of the
Board of Directors each year was in response to DTPA's own bylaws,
and would be imposed insofar as practicable in accordance with the
provisions of Article III, from which he quoted:
"The government of this corporation shall be vested in a Board of
27 directors, the term of office of the directors shall be three
years, and sha l l be arranged in such a manner that one-third shall
be elected each year, the ratio of membership on the board shall
be approximate, -insofar as practicable, to the ratio of members in
the principal categories of businesses within the district.
:,Section 2. The Board of Directors shall have general charge and
supervision of the management affairs of the corporation, shall
carryout its purposes as provided in the Articles of Incorpora-
tion, and shall make such rules and regulations for this corpora-.
tiQn as it maydeem necessary and expedient."
Mayor Bechtel asked if someone such as Mr. Steichen could get on
the Board of Directors by petitioning if they were not nominated_
by the nominating committee.
Mr. Gallagher, responded that-- di.iring the process of the nominating
'committee's search for nominees for :the slate, there would be bul-
letins posted from DTPA's office indicating to the general member
ship that a _committee had been appointed, and that anyone inter-
ested in €nembershsp on the. Board :of Directors could .,contact the
chairman of the nominating committee. That kind of interest was
welcomed. He said that Mr. Steichen had indicated that he might
not be interested in even being a member of Downtown Palo 'Alto,
Inc. -that was up to him. DTPA's principal interest during the
transition from voluntary .membership into the assessment district
membership was that everyone who paid an assessment benefit would
be given an opportunity for participation on committees, the
executive committee, or the. Board of 'Directors. Regarding the
fact that Mr. Steichen expressed disinterest in becoming a member
of UTPA, he quoted Article 11,' Section 1, "...that all -_--businesses
defined and located within ' a yiven area establ ish,ed ` as the -dis-
trict shall be considered regular members of the --DTP, , unless
otherwise indicated." The words "udl..ess otherwise indicated" wereeo
added to provide that option. He cIarif.iedO thatthatl men:bership , in
DTPA was not mandator'y,> but' unless a: specs fit request. .was made to
the - contrary., everyone - was` -cans dered,::to: be . a nernbe, l�llr.
Steichen conti nual iy inferred :that the: orga'n's aation would be con-
t i nual ly run ty- the current Board of Directors. - The bylaws were
altered' cants derably -to accommodate : those; in`::the di -`strict that -..
wished to- be.ome a part of -DTPA and : its -assotlated. actians,_and-:
procedures, to enable them to participate ,n. : the: ,benefits ::-t.o-- be.
derived by the entire district.
Councilmernber kyerly said regarding the bylaws, Mr.. Steichen
pointed out that a difference existed between regular members and
associate members. He believed the bylaws read that one needed to
be a regular member in order to participate on the Board of
Directors, and he asked for clarficiation about the difference in
initial yearly fee.
Mr. Gallagher responded that fees were not yet established for the
associate membership. Currently, all- members of the district
would be assessed either as Class A in the amount of $110 or Class
b in the amount of $35, and represented the geographical bound-
aries of the area as prescribed by the ordinance. Those members
were eligible for participation on the Board of Directors. He
clarified tilat an associate member was not necessarily within the
district, but might be an absentee landlord and live- in Pacific
Beach, or own property and desire to become a member of DTPA.
That person could become an associate member, but would not be
eligible for the Board of Directors,
Councilmerrber Eyerly clarified that either Class A or Class 8 mem-
bers would be eligible as regular members for the Board of
Directors.
Counciirnember Witherspoon said she was unable to find where Class
A and Class 8 memberships were defined.
Mr. Zan?r- said the distinction was contained in the ordinance.
Regarding finances, the City Council established an assessment
district by ordinance, and comprised the Board of Directors who
levied theeassessrrrents each year. The ordinance established an
assessment for the current year, to be assessed on every downtown
business for both A and 8 categories. In ordr:r to administer the
district, i.e., the the money the City antiOpated would be col-
lected through, the assessments --about $15,000 --the City proposed
to contract with UTPA. The distinction was that DTPA was autho-
rized,: in accordance with their own bylaws, to charge their asso-
ciate membership dues, aut could not_ charge'.their regular members
dues.
Vice Mayor Fazzino said his concerns in no was related to the
abi i ity of DTPA to handle the program, and in fact he believed it
was appropriate for them to do so. He wanted to- see the program
succeed, but wanted to ensure that UTPA had the tools to do so.
A lot._of concerns were expressed at the meeting a few months ago
about representation, and in some ways DTPA ;,had met those con-
cerns. He asked for corrirnents. about a proposal along the lines
suggested by Mr. Moss, such as a monthly liaison meeting whether
it be Board of Directors, or something which involved the entire
rrrembershi p,`' as a performance objective.
Mr. Gallagher said there ryas nothing wrong with that and nothing
new to it either. The meetings of the Board of Directors were
public and d 1 1 • members of the district :were welcome to attend.
The executive committee meetings were also public, and all members
could attend those also. He reiterated that it was not a "star
chamber" operation--DTPA wanted people to participate. They
wanted to be able to report to the member_ s that their assessments
were being spent in accordance with their desires.
Vice Mayor Fazzino asked if . someone would automatically be nomi-
nated to the ,Board of Directors it that person called the nomnat--
ing`committee and expressed that desire.
Mr. Gallagher said that procedure had not yet been established,
but he believed that someone would be invited to express that
interest before the norti nati ng committee.
2 1i1 8-4
1/24/83
1
1
Vice Mayor Fazzino asked for UTPA's honest reaction regarding
staff's decision to include the cost of downtown related planning
functions within the total budget of the Downtown Business
Improvement District. Further, he asked, for a candid reaction
reyarding the available budget for actual promotional programs
given the high amount of adniini strati ve costs.
Mr. bal'.ayher responded that the pie could only be cut so many
ways, and the -money required for staff meant less for the purposes
oft the district. He eras appalled that a part-time position could
be considered at $20,000 to help in the coordination and adminis-
tration of the district. He was concerned that the amount would
add approximately 30 percent to the existing budget, and about the
implications on the future of the district and its reception by
the people who paid the freight. He could not say it was unneces-
sary -=there might be a need --and he respected the right of the
City Manager as so stated, but he believed it must be put in
proper proport'.on to OTPA's careful efforts to be diligent in
arriving at a -budget which would te acceptable. to the people in
the downtown area.
Mayor Bechtel asked where the meetings of the Board of Directors
were held.
Mr. Gallagher responded that the board had been meeting in the
Bank of America conference room on Lytton Avenue for the past ten
years, and would continue to do so if so approved by the Bank of
America. Each bulletin, which preceded a board of directors meet-
ing, stated the time and place of the meeting, the agenda, and
welcomed everyone to attend.
Mayor Bechtel asked if it would be possible to have those meetings
posted in the meeting schedule listed .as a public service by some
of the -local newspapers.
Mr. Gallagher said that would be possible.
Mr. tatter said two Counci lrnembers had raised the question with
regard to the nomination of persons to the Board of Directors. He
called the Council's attention to the fact that the bylaws pro-
vided a procedure for an individual to be nominated to the Board
of Directors by means of petition. Whe?. the required number of
signatures were collected, that person would be placed on the bal-
lot along with the nominating slate and placed before the' member-
ship for eleL't:ion. Further, Mr. Gallagher was totally incorrect
that the funds being recommended: for a part-time person for the
coordination of Downtown activities would affect his budget. He
clarified that the fonds he was recommending to the Council af-
fected the assessment district's funding, Mr, Gallagher was but
one piece of that oissessMent district, -and the City., happened to
contract with him for -administration of a- portion of the assess-
ment district. The Council had the authority, if it sa desired,
t.o incur other..legitimate expenses for the assessment district.
He assured the Council that his recommendation would be legiti-
mate, even though Council might -decide not to exercise it. .
Mr., Gallagher said Mr. caner', clarification of the part-time per-
son was totally -different than his interpretation.e lie understood
from CMit:142e3, that' those charges would ue levied against the
Downtown Business Improvement District because the -p per was about
the Downtown Business 1nproverent District. elWeappreciatedeMr..
Zaner's clarification because 'ianye of the staff -functions current=
1y. being used were directly related to the par.king_.assessment ditee
tri.ct:, and charges- for° any staff_ llaiscn cobrdinatiori would:, be
most -appropriately charged against the€,,:
Council -member Levy was concerned in terms of the proposed budgets
that._unrealisti -ir hopes 'were being: created twhict ,pawed —the -way: foe:
substant al ly . larger budgets. In the future. e le. asked if he was
correctthat $ 75,UUU Was -the budget" for a whoi_e- yea r. Hi s: list of
1
1
direct expenses to serve the area included advertisiny promotional
services and beautification and totalled about $39,000. The over-
head expenses of --the co -executive directors, clerical, office
space, supplies, equipment, accounting, and other general expenses
totalled $36,000. Of the $15,000, only $39,000 would go for
'direct expenses to improve the area. He believed that amount was
rather small, and concurred with Mr. Gallagher's dismay at possi-
bly losing another $20,000 and leaving virtually nothing.- He
believed that .-tne $39,000 was so small an amount that OTPA would
have to curie back An the future and ask for much larger amounts.
Mr. Gallagher said he could not make any presumptions, and could
better answer the question at the next budget cycle.
Councilmember Levy clarified that Mr. Gallagher was not prepared
to -answer affirmatively that $39,00U of direct expenses was
realistic in terns of the expectations of the downtown association
members.
Mr. Gallagher responded that he was quite ;prepared to say yes.
Councilmember Levy asked Mr. Gallagher to briefly explain how the
budget was developed, and how future fees would be set.
Mr. Gallagher responded that the budget process basically started
from a discussion Within the DTPA Committee, the Executive Commit-
tee, and the board of directors based on a program plan of what to
accomplish during the year. That plan was incorporated into the
means by which those objectives and goals could be accomplished,
which was interpreted in terms of money for the costs of the con-
tracts, etc., and the allocation of those costs were broken down
into the appropriate sections of the budget.
Councilmember Levy clarified that the fees would be set by the
City Council as the assessment district board of directors.
Mr. Gallagher said that was correct. After DTPA made its proposal
in the budget .process, they would be e?pecteci to defend it, and if
the Council found that it was appropriate to approve the desired
proyramse the total amount of the budget would be allocated within
the two classifications of A and b, and the appropriate breakdown
of the costs to the individual businesses would be established.
it would be done in much the same manner as the Council dealt with
the University Avenue Parking Assessment District.
Councilmember Levy thanked Mr. Gallagher, and .said he hoped he was
correct that the downtown area would, in fact, realize definite
prornotienal and beautification values for what seemed to be a
modest amount of money.
Mr. Gallagher said t)TPA believed the funds would be adequate, arid
did not want them to be burdensome the first year. DTPA intended
to keep the fees as low as possible. Regarding the comment on
administration, -it was easy to say that the ratio was inequitable
with respect to the amount of money being spent for the benefits
of the assessment district. He pointed out ' that all
admit_ n€i strat i ve costs were to -the benefit of the district. -- If he
walked down to the post office -and bought $100 worth of stamps for
delivery _of the aieit bulletin to the constituents and membership
Of-DTPA, that_- was considered to be_a begefi t ` to the district.
Every' ite€rr- on the budget was for the benefit of the district.
Counci lmember Fenzel asked, with regard to members being able to
:petition for nomination to the board .of directors, how._the repre-
tentative Member of each.: of the; businesses would be ,,determined
since-- the. assessments .would be levied' by business or pro'erty.
She asked how it would be determined whether someone; vas' autho.-
rized to petition, ' and how the list would be made availa.bie to
-those interested in pursuing that particular ;:course of action.
2 8 8 6
1/24/83
Mr. Gallagher responded that the process was outlined in the by-
laws, and anyone wishing to exercise that option would follow much
the same procedure as with a municipal petition.
Councilmember Renzel asked, for example, who would be the official
member from Blue Willow Antiques ' if one day Anne Witherspoon was
there, . and the next day • someone else was there.
Mr. Gallagher said blue Willow Antiques would make the determina-
tion.
Councilmember Renzel asked how signatures on a petition would be
verified. For the procedure to have -any meaning in her opinion,
there must be an authorized signature from each business.
Mr. Gallagher said he agreed. The assessment and collection pro-
cess would be established by the City, and an individual would
probably be indicated as the one responsible. in the business and
the representative of the. -business in the district.
Councilinember -.Renzel asked how a petitioning person would know
that they were obtaining valid signatures.
City Attorney Diane Lee said the City would bill the business, and
the business would send in a check. Staff would not inquire as to
the authorized business representative.
Councilmember Renzel said the directors of DTPA would have to know
who the voting members were. Every member of a particular firm
could not be a voting member.
Councilmember Eyerly said that Article X of "Amendments to the By-
laws," stated that the bylaws may be amended by a majority vote,
or written assent of the membership in good standing, or by a vote
of the majority of a quorum at a meeting of the members duly
called for such purpose. The third way of amending the bylaws was
by a majoriter vote of the board of directors at a meeting duly
called for such purpose. Ne did not see the bylaws as being any-
thing horrendous, but it did not seen proper that the board of
directors could amend the bylaws. .He opined that the membership
would have to do that. He suggested that it was originally be-
lieved that it would be necessary to get the membership out to
vote, but in his opinion, the written assent would accomplish it.
Carl Schmitt, University National Bank, said the approach was
fairly traditional within a set of bylaws of a corporation. He
said his bank's bylaws happened to be the same, and sometimes
there were things within the bylaws that were ,eonsidered.at the
board_level. he did not believe it was intended to change any-
thing radically, but at the same time, there were times when one
would like to amend the bylaws, and it -was appropriate to take
action without going out to all the stockpolders.
Councilmember Cobb said that -although some of his comments might
have appeared critical of UTPA, he believed it was an outstanding
-organizati.opie He was still concerned -about some of the numbers in
the budget in terms of whether -or or not the impact would be realis-
tic for the kind of moneys_: being talked about. He asked for
clarification, with regard to salary and --benefits, ,that the .co-.
exec"oti ve di rectors. at $7,5.00 and $6,500 respecti-vely, and -. partt-
time clerical support at-$1,.77D:were the:, portions allocated to the=.
assessment distric an-d' traat the rest -.of the people were employed
-'by the balance of the activities.
Mre Gallagher' said that co -directors were already in existence,
and that he was one.
Councilmember Cobb said that with regard to the promotional ex-
penses contai ned in the budget, he opined that the figures would
only cover printing and placement costs.
-Z 8 8 7
1/24/83
Mr. Gallayher said that portion of the budget allocated to adver-
tising was essentially institutionaladvertisiny. Those efforts
would be in tabloid ford, and inserts in papers, that would carry
individual advertisements of Other members in the downtown area.
DTPA would not advertise for individuals --there would be much more
adverti si ny and total -cost through the year than was related in
the budget, because the budget merely summarized the overall
institutional advertising in which people would be encouraged to
come downtown for whatever the tabloid represented, i.e., Christ-
mas or Caster. the figures contained in the budget were adequate
for the institutional aspects of advertising.
Councilmerrrber Fletcher said she had suggested on a number of occa-
sions that a transportation coordinator would be one way to deal
with the parking problem. She had been advised that once the
business improvement district was set up, they would be able to
hire a part-time person to handle that, but by listening to
tonight's discussion, she wondered whether that might not more
appropriately be handled in the assessment --district. She asked
Mr. Gallagher for his feeling about where that functtons should
lie.
Mr. Gallagher responded that it the need for a transportation co-
ordinator were adequately demonstrated, he also believed it would
also fall under the parking assessment district.
Councilmember Fletcher asked Mr. Zaner for clarification that
there were two entities -ea downtown parking assessment district
and the business improvement district. She was not clear about
the fine distinction between the business improvement district and
the assessment district.
Mr. Zaner clarified that the parking assessment district had the
authority to issue notes --and bonds in the City's case --for the
construction of parking facilities. The downtown business
improvement area had much broader authority and involved all those
things, except parking, necessary for the vitality of a downtown
area --the beautification, retail advertising, and promotion. The
business improvement district budget was the $15,000 budget before
the Council. There were now two assessment districts --one was a
parking assessment district which had been in existence for years
in Palo Alto, and the other was a new assessment district called
"The Business Improvement Area." The Council had just passed an
ordinance establishing that assessment district, and there were
two classes of membership. The City would collect approximately
$75,00 for that assessment district. Mr. Gallagher's organiza-
tion was asking the Council to -allow his organization to adminis-
ter that $75,000 on behalf of the City.
Mr. Schmitt said regarding the balance of the income and how it.
would be spent between the twr different classes, the formula in-
dicated that the surcharged nonmerchant type category would ac-
count for about U percent of the budged , and the balance would go
to the merchant type of businesses, which included restatrants,
etc.
Charles Kinney, President. of 0owntoWn Palo Alto, Inc., said se v
era l Counci rnembers had asked why UTPA was the most logical con-
tractor. UTPA had been .in. existence for a long time, with a num-
ber of activities, and its interest ine the downtown was wells
demonstrated. With regard to the representation, one:of his first
acts would be to recommend that the. board of directors -and nomina-
ting committee immediately try and nominate nine new -.board members
to fi i 1 the_. current nine vacancies. In October:, 1983,• a second
nominating co:iunitte.e' would be formed In accordance with. the bylaws
in the°more• traditional sense, and by December, another nine board
members wohi d be. needed. Within a - year's time, 18 of the , .27 board--,
rembers,_-would-be:.new. ile said -that he,, the board of directors,: -
and the nominating committee were responsible 'for insuring a broad
representation. -.Life was not always perfect for human beings, but
2 8 8 8
1/24/83.
they tried to do the best they could. The people before the Coun-
cil had worked hard to try and bring the district to where it was
tonight. 0 -IPA was enthusiastic, and he believed it was a great
opportunity to pool talents and abilities to promote the down-
town.
Mayor Bechtel said that Mr. Steichen had asked .about the descrip-
tion in Section 1 under Article II of "Membership...that all busi-
nesses shall be considered regular members,';'' and the problem of a
business being an entity as opposed to an individual.
Ms. Lee said. she believed it was adequate to have a business
represented. The question Councilmember Renzel had about who
would be eligible to represent that business for the purpose of
voting was more on point. She did not know how that information
would be proessed or how it would be validated for the purpose of
the bylaws. She said Mr. Uennetti reviewed the bylaws only with
respect to a few Council concerns that were expressed when the
assignment was given.. She made it clear that the City Attorney's
office did not review the bylaws as counsel for the nonprofit cor-
poration.
Mayor Bechtel said _that Council was requested to approve the by-
laws as part of tonight's action.
Ms. Lee said the request for approval was for Counci l 's purposes
only.
MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by Klein,
adopt the staff recommendation as follows:
1. Approve the draft contract between the City of Palo Alto and
Downtown Palo Alto, Incorporated for administration of the
Downtown Business Improvement Area;
2. Approve the proposed 1983 calendar budget for Downtown Busi-
ness Improvement Area;
3. Review and approve the proposed bylaws to insure that they
provide an appropriate level of representation for members of
the Downtown Business Improvement Area; and
4. Approve the requested budget advance by Downtown Palo Alto,
Incorporated with the requirement that the advance be paid
back at the City's current interest charge consistent with
Council .policy,
AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO AND DOWNTOWN PALO ALTO, INC.
FOk THE PROGRAM AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE
DOWNTOWN BUSINESS INPROVEME$T AREA
Councilmember Witherspoon said she understood from the City Attor-
ney that the Council was to approve the bylaws to insure adequate
representation for the members, and that the fine points of the
bylaws, which might be changed from time to time, were not neces-
sarily a Council concern at this time.
Ms. Lee said that was correct unless Council chose to make the by-
laws a concern.
Councilmember Fletcher Said she was pleased to see the change in
the bylaws, and believed it opened up the process to those willing
to participate. The question of City involvement in the entire
process was appropriate at this point because it was new. _ She
believed that when 'DTPA returned to Council _ in a year or so, they
would probably propose quite a few changes, as experience was
gained. Regarding the charge for City services, CAADA was charged
`a considerable fee when the Council approved the California Avenue
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Area study. CAAUA leadership resented being charged because DTPA
was not. She said the City was moving towards a charge for all of
its serv:tces, and recipients now paid more _than was the case in
the past. She hoped the newsletter identified in Exhibit A, would
not be too narrow and limited to those topics because she believed
the parking issue would be an appropriate topic. Regarding the
two hour parking stalls, a lot of business people downtown did not
realize that their practice of using those two-hour stalls and
continually moving their cars was hurting the downtown. She
believed that kind of topic needed to be covered in any communica-
tion with the downtown. She favored the district, and hoped to
see great results.
Councilmember Cobb clarified that as part of the motion the budget
would be adjusted to reflect the issue of interest charges on the
advance. The issue of staff involvement, as spelled out at the,
top of page 3 in the staff report, would be dealt with by the
Finance and Public Works -(F&PW) Committee and clarified at that
time.--- He was enthusiastic about the activity but retained some
concern as to whether there was enough money in the right places
in the budget to do the kind of promotional jobs he thought would
have to be done, but time would prove whether he was right or
wrong. He wished the district well.
Coonci lmember Levy asked whether DTPA received an income separate
and apart from the income they received from the assessment dis-
trict, or whether the assessment district represented the totality
of their income.
Mr. Zaner said that to the best of his knowledge-, the assessment
district was UTPA's only source of income.
Mr. Gallagher said tnat a recent new method of income to DTPA was
the proceeds from the annual street fair, which was conducted last.
August, and which DTPA expected to make an annual event. That,
plus any other dues that might come from associate members, were
the only two sources.
Councilmember Levy said the motion before the Council stated .that
the budget Advance was to DTPA and ,would be paid back with inter-
est. He asked for clarification that the interest would not come
out of the assessment district, but rather from DTPA's funds. He
believed that was how it should be.
Mr. Gallagher asked whether DTPA was being. asked to keep two sep-
arate funds. He did not believe that was necessary or .wise under
the circumstances.
Councilmember Levy said the budget was tight, and he asked why the
necessity to get started three or fourmonths early and incur $600
or $700 worth of interest.
Mr. Gallagher said that DTPA. nad been in the deliberation phase
and ineffectual for a considerable period of time. Unless the
motion passed tonight, DTPA would stil,l not have the means to go,
forward with any actions or activities that should be ongoing in'
the downtown community. It would still be a matter of two or
three months before tt'e assessments were actually collected "and
distributed.
Councilmember levy said the amount of money to ' be divided ` was
fairly small already,`and they were talking about dividing that...
into smaller parts. In discussing the fine points, Council should
remember that the establishment of a Downtown Assessment. District
was important to improve the downtown business area, the health
and attractiveness\ of:., the University, Avelue shopping area, and
other shopping areas within town. _ He believed that:. the establish-
ment of the assessment district was, appropriate,! and that DTPA. was
the proper entity. to Manage it. He was concerned that there ,might`
be unrealistic expectations since the amount' of ,money actually
r
going into encouragement of traffic into the downtown area and
beautification was so small. - Despite his concerns, he was in
favor of ' approving the motion before the Council. He pointed out
that dS he understood the motion, the advance was for DTPA, and
the interest was to be repaid by then. That wa,s appropriate in
his opinion and he did not want to change it. He wanted assur-
ances that _since a TPA would be:a contractor to the City, that all
board of directors' minutes would be sent to the Council for re -
view.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by Klein, that
motion approval be subject to incorporation in Downtown Palo Alto,
Incorporated's bylaws, a method of identifying the voting. member
from each of the besiness members, and also subject to making a
list of voting members available to any member upon request.
Staff to approve the bylaws amendment before executing the agree-
ment passed tonight.
AMENDMENT INCORPORATED INTO MAIN MOTION BY MAKER AND SECOND.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Renzel moved to incorporate into the
performance measures listed in Exhibit A, Mr. Moss' suggestion
that ten .liaison meetings --or one per, month --take place between
DTPA and those businesses paying the assessments, with which Mr.
Gallagher had no. problem.
AMENDMENT FAILED FOR LACK OF A SECOND.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Renzel moved to incorporate into the
performance measures listed in Exhibit A, Mr. Moss' suggestion of
a comparison between proposed and actual expenditures.
AMENDMENT FAILED FOR LACK OF A SECOND.
Councilmember Eyerly believed that Councilmember Renzel's amend-
ment to identify the membership was a good idea, and he did not
see it causing any hardship on DTPA. .He said the formation of the
improvement district for the downtown area was one of the most
exciting things to happen for a good many years, and it had been a
long-- time since the City was able to provide the services to the
downtown and Ca i i forni a Avenue business areas to make those areas
as attractive as the community would like to have them. Private
shopping areas and centers had the ability to raise money to make
their areas more attractive to customers, and he believed that
setting up the district was a big plus for the downtown area, and
that the _community would'benefit. The lack of resistance to the
district indicated that DTPA had done a- good job of_explaini-ng the
district and working vith the staff to bring the material :before
the Council. He complimented DTPA on whatthey were doing .for the
district.
Vice. Player.. Fazzino concurred, with Councilmember Fye.rly'S comments
about the need for the down.towrn business improvement district and
the appropriateness of DTPA to .facilitate its implementation. He
believed that DTPA made progress in the past few_months regarding-
additional..accessibility to the.dec-isions made- for the downtown
business iMprovement'districtleys members of the downtown commssuni-
ty, and he:Applauded it. He had ..a couple_ of concerns regarding
the bylaws, but for the most: part', . bel iev..ed it was a positive;
well intentioned. -effort and that: .the,Council had to ` see how it
would play out raver the .next ear He said a number of people
_were_ opposed-. to the i'orm,ation_,.o# the district a couple of -months-
ago, and tonight aniy one;pers.,* spoke in:opposi-tion. He had ma-
jor .concerns about --the way 'in which City. staff -approached -the is
`site, but rec:.o.gni zed that .the issues-- of staffing ihd budget .app.ro
p_riately belonged to 'the. F_irance an-CPubl ic` iibrics (F&PW) Cum msttee
- and_, the- CitY :Council':and would:be considered in the 1983-84,budget
p['ocess i-n. 4une. He was concerned .about whether --putting the cc .sts
:,of: planning st,ud,ies in the . assessment ,district- budget_ wa's pl�ro-
prlate, and- whether it Aright pull many a,vaileble resources
1
from the true nature of the program to promote the downtown busi-
ness -district. He was certain that the F&PW Committee would dis-
-cuss those issues at length. He would support the motions,
AMENDMENT: Vice Mayor Fazzina moved, seconded by Menzel, that
performance measure No. 4, be wended to read "Number of Newslet-
ters and number of accessible meetings to inform members ...°
He said that in no way forced the district to hold a certain num-
ber of meetings, but indicated that the Council viewed accessible
meetings to beone of the key performance measures.
AMENDMENT INCORPORATED INTO MAIN MOTION BY MAKER AND SECOND.
Councilmerber Klein said he believed the experiment was exciting,
and hoped it would make the downtown an - even better place to be.
He believed that the criticism about the overhead being too high
was legitimate, and that the Downtown Improvement District,
through its administration by DTPii-, might become the syner:jistic
force. The money spent would serve as a focus for people to do
other volunteer things to greatly expand the utility of the actual
money being appropriated and raised by the assessments .on the var-
ious me;bers. That would be the case in his opinion, and he would
be disappointed if it were not. He suggested that the $39,000 be
multiplied by sore factor, and added in as a performance measure
if there was a good way of doing ,it. He believed that might be
the overa i l way to Judge how much it produced; in other activities
by other people in the downtown area.
Mayor Bechtel said the number of questions and the length of time
spent on the item indicated the.Council's concerns. .The Council
was, and would ultimately be, responsible if there were criticisms
from the assessees and they would be watching closely. She was
excited about the opportunity to make some improvements and con-
tinue the ones being -made in the downtown.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
RECESS TO EXECUTIVE SESSION REGARDING LITIGATION FROM 9:45 .m. TO
Counci lrember Klein left the meetin at 10:10 .11.
ITEM #I0, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY/PACIFIC GAS AND
o.T.�7lM/RwiMR.+.��F��7lRIO.NIM i��®e4��li7�lh��77saw wi������e�1..ti
Senior Assistant City Attorney Anthony Bennetti said that the
negotiations regarding a proposed interconnection between NCPA and
PG&E had :been going on for a long time. The latest development
was that some of the agreements thought to be forthcoming had not
yet been finalized, and staff was' awaiting word from NCPA regard-
ing their recommendation .about how-to proceed. He requested that
the matter be continued to an adjourned meeting on Thursday,
January .0, 1983, at 5-:O0 p.m., in, order for staff to come" back
with NCPA's. position, and explain the ,final arrangements.
Mayor Bechtel asked haw long the adjourned meeting would last.
Mr. bennetti - said eit -should last for :thirty;, -to forty-fi.ve
minutes
Mayor iechtei clarified that- the reason for .a special .adjourned
meeting was betause the deadline was January. 31 and, the :documents
needed :to be signed, etc.
Mr. Bennetti said the Interconnection agreement was being carried
out ; under binding arbitration_ agreement with PG&E. On]`ess all
members of NCPA ratified the agreement by February 1, 1.983, PG&E
could avoid the binding effect of the arbitration, and NCPA
believed that PG&E would do exactly that. Once NCPA's position
was cleared, stuff would recommend a document to the Council,
which must be approved prior to February 1,. 1943. Staff under-
stood that a quorum could only be arranged on Thursday at 5:00
p.m,
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fazzino adored, seconded by Levy, to continue
the matter to an adjourned meeting at 5:00 p.m., Thursday, January
27, 1983.
1
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Klein absent.
ITEM. #11, REi}VEST OF CITY MANAGER RE DIRECTOR OF UTILITIES
sins �.n�c� ocm�w�a�ia i�.�wwewc�oca�swc�
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fazzino moved, seconded by Cobb, that Coun-
cil approve City Manager Bill Zaner to be acting Director of
Utilities until approximately July, 1983.
Vice Mayor Fazzino said he was not sure he wanted this type of
thing to occur on a general basis, but given the importance of the
Utilities Department to the City?s general revenue picture, and
given the fact that it would give Mr. Zaner a good opportunity to
develop some knowledge of the ins and outs of the Utilities opera
tion during that period and give him a sense of how the function
should be run in the future, it could provide a training forum.
Councilmember Renzel said she had no objection to the . proposal ,
but asked if reapportionment of _the City Manager's duties to other
top level staff members would result in compensation differen-
tials, etc,
Mr. Zaner said no.
_Councilmember Cobb asked if the reapportionment would result in
any overloads on other staff members.
Mr. Zaner said no.
Councilmember Levy supported the motion-. He commended Mr. Zaner
for an excellent job in running the City for the past couple of
years, and said he had no qualms about Mr. Zaner running the
Utilities Department.-- He believed Mt. Zaner had built an excel-
lent staff, and that the City would run very well regardless of
the effort being put _ in the Ut_i 1 ities Department. He was :del ight-
ed to vote in favor -of the recommendation.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Klein absent.
ITEM #12, , REQUEST OF COUNCILMEMBERS RENZEL AND EYERLY RE LYTTON
Councilmember Renzel said that she and Councilmember Eyerly had
raised the question of the Lytton Plaza Lighting earlier, and
whether there was some way the City could hook up. A report was
received from staff that for = approximately :$11;;500,' the major
light posts, as well as some of the flood lights on the garden
area of Lytton Plaza, could be repaired.
MOTION. CouscI1member Renzel moved, seconded by Eyerl,f, to
authorize that $11,500 be spent on Lytton Plaza lighting, ,etc.,
and, that staff,, be directed to prepare the budget amendment ordi-
04111Ge .
Councilmember Eyerly said he was impressed with..Councilmember
kenzel's memo. He said the City purchased the Lytton Plaza prop-
erty in about 1977, and no capital improvement had been made since
then, and. it was time to rectify_the lighting problems.
e
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SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by
_Levy, to refer the subject of Lytton Plaza lighting to the Finance
and, Public Works (F&PW) Committee for CIP consideration in upcom-
ing -budget process.
Councilmenber Witherspoon said she concurred that Lytton Plaza
looked son1ewhat shabby and that the City had never spent any money
on it. She: believed- that since undergrounding was occurring in
the area-, At was an appropriate time to plan the expenditure of
the $11,000 on lighting. Since the budget. ,process would be in
another three months, she believed that referral to F&PW was the
appropriate way to go.
Councilmember Eyerly asked whether the undergrounding for that
area was scheduled..
Mr. Laner responded that the undergrounding should not affect the
protect.
Councilmember Eyerly said that a budget amendment as opposed to a
capital improvement would expedite the process by about three
months. The downtown people were on the move, and if the project
were in the capital improvement process, it would not be addressed
and approved until July, there would be another period to rev up
the capital improvement, and the downtown would not have the
lighting Until the fall He preferred that the substitute motion
be defeated, and that a budget amendment be approved in order to
expedite the matter, particularly since the undergrounding would
have no affect on the lighting.
Councilmember Renzel said •that while the allocation was fairly
sizable, it was well below the City's allocation limit for consul-
tant selections and other matters the Council dealt with fairly
routinely from day to day during the year. It was almost within
the City Manager's discretion, and because it was winter when
lighting was most important in the area, that Council should pro-
ceed right `away. She did not see that the City was apt _ to disap-
prove the project in the capital improvement process, and, there-
fore, the matter was whether to proceed with 'the project, now, or
wait some months in order to go through a process that basically
was not necessary. She urged her colleagues to defeat the substi-
tute motion and support the main motion.
Councilmember Levy said he approved of .the installation of light-.
my at Lytton Plaza, but was concerned about the amount of supple-
mental budget activity the. Council had had in between budget ap-
provals. He understood that the Council had approved $1,000,000
in various ways, and that the budget amendment was not the way to
go. Wherever. possible, 13udget Considerations should' be in', the
normal process and considered in coordination with all other
expenditures of the Cit;r. Emergencies, however, -must be treated
specially, and while -At would be nice to move the- matt.er along
faster, it was more appropriate for ; he Council to be concerned
and e,areful in its budgetary. appropriations, For that reason, the
appropriation should be approved in . the normal process.
SUBSTITUTE NOTION PASSED; by
!Kemal _;voting '110.."
vote ; of b-3, Fletcher, Eyerly,
ITEM #134 REQUEST OF COONCILMEMBER COBB RE ,AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE.
FOR "3011 MIDI EFIEL
Councilmember Cobb said ` that- when he first .agendized the item, he
spoke about unintended .:.consequences, He asked Ms. Lee ..for com-
ments.
City Attorney Diane Lee said that after. reviewing Councilmember
Cobb's memo and discussing the options for achieving the desired
result, it might involve two competing businesses and the City
could be looking at a potential anti-trust issue. She recommended
that before the City went any further with the matter, that the
anti-trust consequences be analyzed.
NOTION: Coincilmember Cobb moved, seconded by Fazzino, to refer
the matter of the amortization schedule for 3011 Middlefield Road
to the City Atto: ney to investigate the anti-trust conse-
quences i
Councilmember Cobb said --he eagendized the matter in order to do.
something in an intelligent planning way before the properties
were all finally developed. He believed the City's desires .fwould
be better served in the long run by his. recommendation. He real-
ized that :the location was not the only place in the City with
different -amortization schedules, but it was an important and cen-
tral location where the City could obtain the best result by hav-
ing a coterminous amortization schedule. He believed :there was
'some concern that if the City did not make such a. change, that a
portion of the property Might sit vacante for a long period of -
time, and become an eyesore. He commented parenthetically that he
hoped that with all the properties coming due at the same time at
some point in the future, the Council might be able to take a look
at something like a community recreational center or tennis center .
since that was the type of activity already on the bulk of the
property. e Nine years would provide the Council enough time to
look at that teasibility. if it could not be Worked out, a 'hous-
ing development would be more beneficial to the City if it were on
a larger piece of property.
.Beatrice LaLianca, 1721 Banff Drive, said her parents moved to
Palo Alto in 1926 and had Owned property in the City for more than
50 years. She was born in Palo Alto, attended Palo Alto Schools,
including Palo Alto High School from which she graduated.. The
subject property was contiguous with hers at 3045 Middlefield
Road, and her property was also affected by the unequal 'amortiza-
tion schedule. She requested that' her property's amortization
schedule be extended to coincide with that of the ARCO Service
Station at 2995 Middlefield Road which would not be phased out un-
til 1991, She presented a petition signed by 1,500 persons
requesting that the South Peninsula Veterinary Emergency Clinic be
permitted to continue its outstanding service to the community for
aS long as possible. ,Palo Alto pet owners would no longer have
emergency care available in the area on weekends and holidays when
most veterinary clinics were closed if the C1_inic was forced to
leave -on May 1, 1903, when the present amortization period for
J045 Middlefield Road : terminates. She understood that the proper-
ty at 3011-Kiddiefleld was on the agenda with. t_ he possibility of
being referred to the Planning Commission for consideration, and'
requested that her property also be considered in the same manner
and time.
Richard Perry, 3011 Middlefield Road, sa-id his family owned the
property comprised of Chuck. Thompson's Swim School, the Winter
Club, and the Shell Station.'' The parcel was very deep, •unl ike the
others further down the street- where. Century Liquors was located
and where d lot of them had frontage all down the street, but were.
- not deep. The former Montgomery ;Ward -building, where Cornish and
Carey ,_were now located, was significantly `_,altered by him and hit
partner to bring it ‘up _to -a modern code from _4. junky looking.
building, - and he believed that tied .in, to what the Council wanted
to :ao' in the :City "initially. Further, the Toyota "Agenv,y at San
Antonio- and Middlefield used to comprise several properties, the
Standard 011 Station and sa little restaurant ` which the, Toyota
agency wrapped around and- was -significantly altered., They had`.:.
since renegotiated, and applied for .,a permit,and were combining a
-very nice use, and _landscaping it to the quality.. sought by the
City.. His firm ordinarily did office ;centers like" the Marriott
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Center on Bayshore where Pedfro's was located, e3nd. on Rengstorff
next. to the landmark where he had developed 450,000 feet of office
and garden type things, along with others. His firm's projects
were nice, and the piecemeal --approach would not achieve the de-
sired goals. The ordinance provided for a combination if one
could yet three or more property -owners. They had over three le-
gally separated parcels with permission, but owned two or three of
them, and . oppa rentl y -the owners had to' be s r!;,i ff event . He .said that
ARCU, .for competitive reasons, had neither, objected nor agreed to
sign any paper combining the district, and therefore, he had n_o
resource, except to appeal to the Council, for some.method to
achieve his goals in an organized fashion. He did not know of any
property as deep as hisv and therefore, special consideration was
warranted. He said he appreciated -anything the Council might con-
sider, and suggested that it be referred to the City Attorney to
see if she could come up with a way to legally and properly accom
pl ish those desires. He suggested that simultaneously within the
sarrre motion, -the matter be referred to the Planning Commission to
study what alternatives might be available on the property.
Mayor Bechtel clarified that Mr. Perry did not own the ARCO Sta-
tion.
Mr. Perry said that was correct, and that he purchased all of the
property directly behind the station on the same parcel from
Richfield --before it was merged into ARCO.
Mayor Bechtel clarified that Mr. Perry's plan was that if he even-
tually developed the parcel, he would have to buy the ARCO par-
cel,
Mr. Perry said he believed there would be a combining. He
believed the ARCO property wee too small to do anything with.
Mayor Bechtel clarified that the only thing holding Mr. Perry up
from developing any of the parcels had nothing to do with the City
except for the fact that he held leases on the other properties.
Mr. Perry said that was correct. The Chuck Thompson lease went
about a year within the amortization of the ARCO. Station, and that
would be a natural time for those to come together. Nothing could
be done before that time anyway, and the Winter Club might or
might not stay on. The -Standard Station by itself when it was
torn dowry, was pretty unsightly --people :threw things on it and it
had to be policed often. He thought it was an. interim use that
the lot would not pose too much problem from the City's stand-
point, and he was sincere in his des a re to do the job the way the
City would like to have it done_.
Michael LaBianca, 10903 Northfield;. Square, Cupertino, said he was
the son of Mrs. LaBianca, and owned property at 3054 Middlefield
Road. Mr. Perry touched on several issues about which his family
also felt very strongly. His family supported the residential use
of the area, s but believed that to develop the area piecemeal woul -
not provide the.., desired effect. He looked forward to having the
entire area developed at one time, 4nd either joining forces with
Mr. Perry ore,el se developing something that would ,be in confor-
mance with the- other developed uses. He said that if they were to
keep-theproperty in its current state, it was surrounded by busi-
nesses on . one.. side, the Winter Club and Chuck Thompson behind
them, and the Shell Station to the other side, -which would probab=
l y remain 'undeveloped if an equal amnrti zati orr could not be
obtained. he understood from the staff report that there were,
three ways of dealing with the matter ---one way ` was to = amend the
Comprehensive Plan and rezor'ing, a special e*ception` provision,
and.; through equalizing three properties of different ,amortizations
and three different owners :that . fell in line as frontage, and he
,.1 ieved that his property at 3045 owned by themselves, the Shell
Station at 3011, and the ARCO Station at 2995 filled that criteri-
on. For that reason, he requested that his property also be con-
sidered.
Mayor Bechtel- asked whet!ier there were previous opportunities,
when the amortization schedule was devised, for property owners to
appeal on the -differences in the amortization schedule. She asked
for an explanation about why there were differences.
Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber said
thattheamortization schedules for the properties came out of the
zoning ordinance -which' was in effect prior to 1978. The specific -
dates were established in that ordinance because that ordinance
did not have a procedure for avoiding the termination in the Amor-
tization process other than a special combining zone known -as the
"N" district. The corner area, which included Century Liquors and
the other areas was zoned RM-2 N. The "N'1 was •.designed to create
one amortization date for . a- variety of parcels. He could not
-speak to the objection process in the 1960's when most of the
schedules went into --effect, but there was a process available
which was applied to one part of the hrea, but was not applied to
any number of other parcels put into a nonconforming classifica-
tion.
Mayor Bechtel asked if it was possible to develop such a parcel in
phases, by planning ahead by knowing that one could do something
in nine years.
Mr. Schreiber said that behind the service station site was the
Winter Club site. Council was aware . of the _efforts to save the
Winter Club, but its lease with Mr. Perry was apparently tied to
the Shell Service Station lease. Staff understood that if the
Shell use was discontinued, any lease prerogatives of the Winter
Club would also end at that time unless there was another renego-
tiation. If the Winter Club went, either through a lease .action
er failure to obtain long-term financing to save that use, then
there was an area of about one and two-thirds acres, and under the
current zoning Ihere could be about 35.,units. The remaining. part
of the parcels that' Mr. Perry owned was about another 1.4 acres.
`Gi ven the developments that Palo Alto had seen in the last years-,
a parcel of 1..67 or one and two-thirds acres would be'.seen as an
imminently developable parcel. He said that the Planning Comrnu
pity zone for Century Liquors e1 irninated the termination date for
its -area:, and the Chinese Community Center had a. 1983 termination
date. The area had a large number of parcels with a variety of
different termination. dates.
Councilmernber Renzel said she was concerned about the procedure.
The City had not received an application from Mr. Perry, and the
Council should not bias any plan that would go through the Plan-
ning Commission by referring it or asking the City Attorney for
. opi ni ons -or anything . else. - I f property -owners owners wished to do ..somee.
thing, it was up to: them to submit an appl ic:ati€i'n : and bring it
through ,the piarTning process —in --the normal stream of :events. She
Aid_ not believe it,_ was appropriate for the Council" to 'tae action
which might suggest to the Planning Commission what their decision
should be. .She .was concerned that the pa-rcel s were substantial-,
and as she understood Mr°. Schreiber, 3065.:'s amortization .expired
in 1983 .3114.5_ Was 'under the total control of- the Labiancas _who
indicated their_desire to have residential devel.opnent, and. 3011
and 3009 were . ei thi n the- control of Mr. _ Perry so that the ARCO
Station was the only odd riian -out. Sooner or -later the ARCO Sta-
tion would have to deal with Mr.- Perry In - regard to that- property
oniess .they wished_: to make:.a'"small development...there. She di -4 not
feel` a lot of incl inativn to change anything ,with respect to amor---
- tl zation periods, and believed that ; the ` procedure rshould-take the.; ,-
norwa1, course.. She 'would not -support the motion.
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Councilmember Witherspoon said that when the Council discussed
chanyiny the 'amortization schedule on the corner lots and the
special combining ,district, she had serious problems_ with some of
the requests to chanye the amortization schedules on El Camino.
Unce that type of process was started, especially in neighboring
and adjacent parcels, there was no way to stop it. She did not go
along with the corner rescheduling of the amortization, but could
understand the justification in a combining zone. In this case,
the Council did not have that problem. She did not see a problem
;pith the relocation of the veterinary emergency hospital, and the
press expressed that they, were willing to do so. The owners said
they planned to cooperate on getting together and developing the
properties, and she -could not see an urgency. She did not see any
overwhelming public benefit. whatsoever, and the only detriment
might be a few months or a year of the gas station not being in
business.
Councilmember Eyerly said he believed that the amortization period
on 3011 should be changed in all fairness to the property owner.
That would terminate in April of 1983, where the others would not
terminate until 1992.
Mr. Schreiber said that 3011 terminated in 1983, and 3005 and
3009 were not subject to termination under the City's current zon-
iry ordinance. Those properties would be available subject to
lease conditions.
.Councilmember Eyerly clarified that the leases ran to 1992,.
Mr. Perry said that was correct, but the Planning Commission pro-
cess was not available to him, which was why he asked to have the
matter ayendized.
Mr. Schreiber said that Mr. Perry needed three different property
owners --not three parcels. He could not get the third property
owner to file an application with him and the LaBiancas to process
a zone change to create a common termination date.
Counci lmewber Menzel asked whether he could get an exception for
one property.
Mr. Schreiber said there was no procedure to do that.
Mr. Perry said he was only :talking about 3011. The back parcels
were already conforming, and he wanted them all to go together.
He did not want to leave an L -shape behind, it should all go with
a nice place with a pool and a central court, not just a long
strip on either side. It should be done as a garden apartment and
something nice. They were not asking for all the a parcels to be
changed in zoning because only 3011 was affected by the amortiza-
tion.
Mr. Schreiber said that as - far as he knew, 3009's lease --the
Winter Club site --also terminated in 1983 either under its own
terms or because it was tied to the service station lease.
Mr. Perry said that - if they took :down Chuck Thompson 's'.or the gas
station, they could terminate the Winter Club lease. It expired
by :.its own termination -as of April, 1983, and he had no indica- t -
ions of any commitment to renew that lease. In fact, Duncan
Williams had said that he did, not intend to renew it.
`
Vice Mayor fazzino said it was`=unfortunate that the Council had
reached the substantive issues because he had hoped to simply move.
ahead with Councilmember Cobb's request that the City Attorney
review the antitrust and other issues. He commented that Mr.
Perry had already responded to the fact that: the
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applicant co -0d only use the councilmanic route to get the item
before the Council, and he believed that was appropriate. Despite
the Planning Commission's outstanding work, it was important to
remember, in the final analysis, that they were advisory to the
City Council. The Council should remain the final and ultimate
arbiters .of planning issues. He could appreciate ,the desire not
to ultimately change the zoning which was :adopted .for the area 15
years ago, but even if that were accepted, it was ludicrous to
stand on .ceremony and not ioQk at the practical results of what
might occur . i f. the Council- were to leave some very piecemeal zon-
my -procedures in place for the next few years. H.hat was the is-
suee not the same as what the Council was dealing with in terms of
Century liquors and the stores in that area. In the long run,
there were real possibilities for some very attractive housing in
the area, particularly given the depth 'of the lot. If the Council
wanted to avoid piecemeal. planning or an absolute eyesore for nine
or ter years, it made .sense to make the amortization schedules in
the area consistent •w!th each other. That would serve the City
much better than if the existing procedure were allowed to play
out.- He encouraged the Council to allow the City Attorney to move
ahead and discuss the anti-trust issue and report back to- the
Council.• At that point, the -Council could decide how to proceed.
He did not think anyone was talking about preserving commercial
uses for the long term --they were talking abi'ut developing a con-
sistent planning use for the entire area. In the long run, that
could play out to mean some very attractive. housing.
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Mayor Bechtel said she disagreed with Vice Mayor l=azzino. She
believed the substantive issues must be discussed, and that noth-
i.ng should be referred to staff without making sure that was the
direction to go, The Council must first make the decision as to
whether they were wi 1 1 ing to consider a change in the amortization
schedule, before freaking the decision of having the City Attorney go
through :the work involved of investigating the anti-trust issues.
She had a problem with changing the amortization schedule and
believed there were definite possibilities for Mr. Perry, since he
-owned all of the land which he was presently able to do something
with. He could even buy out Chuck Thompson's lease . if he -- so
desired. He did not own the parcel which belonged to ARC -O-, and
_,.therefore, it was not important to him what the amortization date
Was._ It was only important to him if he acquired that property.
He could purchase that property now if he so desired, and tear
down the building- sooner. There was no reason to delay it for
nine years- if that was truly what he wished to do with the proper-
ty She would not support the motion.
Councilmember R.enzel bel ieved it was clear° that the vast majority
of the property was -within the control of M.r. Perry, a.nd he could
apply for a PC None, which would have a development schedule re-
lating to the ..termination of the lease for Chuck Thompson. That
could all be• done in such a way as to create -a unified develop.- meat. She did not think it.. was necessary for -the Council to pure
- sue a change :In the auaort t zati on sthedul e. e The 'amorti zat l on
schedule was a convenience Ito the property owner to get their
Value out of the property-- i t was a l rea d:iv used up for 'the Shell
Stat i oc--arr,d the overall , >i ntent was to allow for an orderly con-
version to the ultimate zone. The Council should let the amorti-
a.tion- stand and lei t_h ultimate ion .proceed sooner- than it
would otherwise.
-.Cauncilme ber'levy said that the quest'-ons of tr_ ans�lt.i!on of zoning=
wire. always the hardest. He did- not hold that'_ the, Council should,
be absolutely-,so_lid in- tomqiitting th,eitselVes and going through
with something,; that was-'done15 years a0.0, If situations changed,
01.e1 Changes were necessary. ile did no=t bet.:cave. that -mat- the_. rase
with ;the. subject parcel, Ail of the .prope_rt-ies. that would allow
developable , lots: were-dmorti.zed in.,:1 83: : and: it was only the ARCO
p rope'rty =that �''�a an exc_eptlon'. The. lots_' aroun ‘ it could, be
cleanly developed without having everything tied to the ARCO amor-
tization period. He believed that the RM-Z zoning was proper in
this case. The timeschedule had given the owners of the property
ample time to amortize down to consider their interrelationships
of the adjoining property and the various leases that were there.
He saw no reason to make any changes on the property, and Ivould
not support the motion.
MOTION FAILED by a vote. of 3-5, Cobb, Eyerly, Fazzino voting
mays..
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION: Mayor Bechtel moved, seconded by Fazzino, to adjourn
the meeting until 5:00 p.m., on January 27, 1983.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Klein absent.
Council adjourned at 11:20 p.m.
ATTEST:
APPROVED:
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