HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-03-22 City Council Summary MinutesCITY
COUNCIL
MINUTES'
CITY
OF
PALO
ALTO
Special Meeting
Monday, March ?2, 1982
ITEM
Interview of Candidates Seeking Appoint-
ment to the Architectural Review Board
Special Meeting
Monday, March 22, 1982
The. City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this
date in the Council Conference Room at City Hall, 250
Hamilton Avenue at 6:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel, Cobb, Fazzino, Fletcher, Klein, Levy,
Renzel, Witherspoon -
ABSENT: Eyerly
The purpose of the meeting was to interview applicants for
two vacancies on the Architectural Review Board:
For Northway or Sutorius' Term
6:00 p.m.
7:10 p.m.
6:50 p.m.
Jocelyn Baum
Anthony Carrasco
Virgil Carter
For Northway's Term ending 9/30/82
6:30 p.m. Naphtali Knox
6:40 p.m. Jonathan Schink
For Sutorius' Term ending 9/30/84
6:10 p.m. Ronald Hall
7:00 p.m. Roger Kohler
6:20 p.m. Richard Pennington
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
APPROVED:
CITY
COUNCIL
MINUTES
ITEM
CITY
PALO
ALTO
Regular Meeting
Monday, March 22, 1982
Oral Communications 1 7 9 9
Consent Calendar 1 7 9 9
Referral 1 7 9 9
Seismic Hazards Reduction Program Referral to 1 7 9 9
-Policy and Procedures Committee
Action 1 8 0 0
Resolution re Conflict of Interest 1 8 0 0
Ordinance re -,Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance 1 8 0 0
Amendments (2nd Reading)
Painting Exterior of Civic Center 1 8 0 0
Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions 1 8 0 0
Public Hearing: Planning Commission Recommendations 1 8 0 1 -
re a Specific Plan .for the Terman Middle School Site
at 055 Arastradero Road
Planning Commission Recommendation re Appeal of 1 8 0 9
Robert O. Roberts from the Decision of the Acting
Zoni ng Admi-ni st rator
Historic Resources hoard Recommendation re Request 1 8 1 2
for Delay of an Issuance of a Demolition Permit
City Clerk Request for Council Support for AB 2400 1 8 1 4
(Sher/Stirling) - All Mail Ballot Election
Request of Councilmembers Witherspoon and 1 8 1 4
Levy re Loans of City Funds
,Request of Counc1leeemoers Fletcher and Levy re 1 8 1 6
Control of Concealable Small Pistols and
Revolvers
1 7 9 7
3/22/82
Request of Counci lmeinber Witherspoon re Santa Clara
Valley Medical Center
Request of Counci lmembers Renzel and Levy to Adjourn
Meeting in Memory of Ethel Anderson
Adjournment
1 8 2 8
1 8 2 8
1 .8 2 8
l 7 913
3/22/82
Regular Meeting
Monday, March 22, 1982
1
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the
Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:30 p.m.,
with Vice Mayor Bechtel presiding.
PRESENT: Bechtel, Cobb, Fazzi no, Fl etcher, Klein ,
Levy, Renzel , Witherspoon
ABSENT . Eyerly
ORAL COMMUNICATCOMMUNICATIONS
1. Dr. Harvey K. Roth, 3422 Kenneth Drive, Architectural Review
Board (ARS) ca^di date, i ntroduced himself to the Council.
2. Bob Moss, 4010 Orme, said it had come to his attention that
1 ett.ers were going out from Counci imembers which contai ned
misstatements with regard to Measure A. He realized that no
Counciimember would want to be thought of as misleading or
misinforming the public or making an intentional misstatement
of fact. Those who had not attended the Civic League debate
might not be aware of some of the misstatements; and, he
thought it would be appropriate to offer the corrections in
the event a Counci lmember might wish to send out a correcting
letter before, rather than after, the election. He said it
had been said that the area to be resolved was in Commercial
for 60 years which was false; it was in M-1 for more than 50
of those years. He said it was rezoned less than 10 years
ago--the-difference was that h-1 had a floor area ratio of 1,
and CC had a floor area ratio of 3; therefore, three times the
density was allowed. Further, there was another misstatement
that the nei ghbors opposed the rezoni ng to resi denti al in
19817. He read excerpts from the Planning Commission minutes
of December 12, 1980 which indicated wi despread support from
the nei ghbors. He sa& d there was tel k . about a 2% to 4%
increase i n traffic which was based on 44,000 trips per . day.
There was not ..a single street i n Palo Alto that carried over
40,000 cars —not even El Cami no Real. He said that on just
one street --Park Boulevard -a very conservati ve City staff
estimate said there would be a 20% increase in traffic on that
street. ' Regarding whether the issue was fair to the
developer , he was fed up with hearing about what was fair to
the devel oper--he was i nterested i n what was fair to the.
people. He hoped when the citizens voted, they would be fair
to the public first
CONSENT CALENDAR
MOTION: Counci lmember Fl etcher moved, seconded by F azzi no,
approval of the Consent Calendar.
Referral
SEISMIC HAZARDS REDUCTION PROGRAM REFERRAL TG POLICY AND
Staff recommends that the staff. report and proposed ordinance be
referred . to the Policy and Procedures, Committee for consideration
on April 20, 1982. The -owners of each property identified by
staff as being affected by the ordi Dance will receive a copy of
the staff repnrt and attached ordinance three weeks prior to the
Policy and, Procedures Committee meeting.
1 7 9 9
3/22/82
RESOLUTION RE CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The City Attorney and City Clerk recommend approval of the
Resol Fiti on.
RESOLUTION 6012 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO ADOPTING DESIGNATED POSITIONS FOR
THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE FOR DESIGNATED POSITIONS
AS REQUIRED , BY SECTION 2.09.010 OF THE PALO ALTO
MUNICIPAL CODE AND REPEALING RESOLUTION NO. 5738"
ORDINANCE RE ZONING AND SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS (2nd
21
For the second reading, several changes have been made in the pro-
posed amendments to the zoning and subdivision ordinances. The
changes reflect the Council's decisions of March 8, 1982.
1. Proposed changes regarding a cottage zone and the reduction of.
the height limit for mixed residential and commercial uses in
the CN District have been eliminated; these items were con-
tinued.
2. Sections 9-14 have been added in accordance with the Counci 1 ',s
preference for staff's "Alternate A" regarding temporary
parking. Section 1€.83.060(d)(1) has been amended to state
that minimum landscaping may be required of temporary parking
facilities.
3. Section 18.90.040 has been amended to state that variances may
be recorded at the request of the recipient of the variance or
the City.
ORDINANCE 3340 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING THE ZONING CODE (TITLE
18) AND THE SUBDIVISION CODE (TITLE 21) REGARDING
CHANGES IN DEFINITIONS, CHANGES IN PERMITTED AND CON-
DITIONAL USES IN ZONES, CHANGES IN THE OS ZONE,
REORGANIZATION OF PARKING REGULATIONS, ACCESS TO FLAG
LOTS, ETC." (1st reading 3/8, as amended, Passed 9-0)
PAINTING EXTERIOR OF CIVIC CENTER (CMR:I63:2)
Staff recommends:
1. Council award the contract to Tollner Painting, Inc. and
authorize the Mayor to execute the contract for the amount of
$92,885.
2. Staff be authorized to execute change orders to the contract.
of up to $20,000.
AWARD OF CONTRACT - Toilner Painting, Inc.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent, Renzei voting
the second part of Ordinance No. 3340.
AGENDA CHANGES. ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS
Councilmember Witherspoon added Item 11,
the end of the agenda.
o" on
Family Medical Center,
1 8-0 0
3/22/82
PUBLIC HEARING: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS RE A SPECIFIC
T 5b5 'CRASTRADTRU RUAU
Vice Mayor Bechtel declared the public hearing open-, and deferred
to the Chairperson of the Planning Commission for comments on the
Terman Specific Plan.
Planning Commission Chairperson Jean McCown-Hawkes commented that
the only significant modification made on the Specific Plan by the
Planning Commission related to the alteration of the provisions
for a sound and noise buffer between the site and the housing on
Ramona Avenue which was adjacent to the site. Those changes were
to the berm to the wall in response to very specific requests from
the neighbors most i mmedi.ately affected. She said the Planning
Commission understood that the Jewish Community Center (JCC) was
amenable to the change, and was discussed after the Terman Working
Group had 'made its recommendations of the "berm" or ' buffer con-
cept. She thought the desire was apparent that everyone wanted to
provide whatever the appropriate Anechanism was to adequately
buffer those homes from the impact of noise and lights coming from
the parking which would occur immediately adjacent to those homes.
At the same time, the Planning Commission was concerned about
leaving sufficient flexibility for the architects and planners of
the site so that the most compatible solution -could be achieved.
She said that ,as a result, the Planning Commission changes
included a recommendation that rather than a landscape berm, it be
a solid wall. The Planning Commission left i n the text the
languag which allowed the JCC to propose an alternative desi gn, if
that were determined to be more appropriate, so long as it was not
disapproved by more than 25% of the housing immediately adjacent
to .the site on Ramona Avenue. She commented that the draft, which
was originally discussed, included a concept which allowed those
neighbors the ability to comment or veto the design. The Planning
Commi ssi on arrived at a provisi on that the wall design or "berm"
design shall be deemed acceptable if it was not disapproved by
more than 25% of the households. She said the concept was to
ensure that if people remained silent and took no position one way
or the other, they would not be in a position to veto because they
would actually have to speak- up and disapprove the design.
Councilmember Klein asked about the status of the lease negotia-
tions beteen the City and the JCC.
City Manager Bill Zaner responded that the negotiations were
still in progress. lie said that the JCC had a draft of the lease
and were in the process of reviewing i t .
Counci lmember Klein said he understood that a draft had been sub-
mitted to the JCC at the beginning of the year, and urged that
staff yet the JCC to move ahead a little faster. He was concerned
about the language regarding the vote of the neighbors on some of
the designs. While he was sympathetic .t.o the neighbors' concerns,
he was worried - about what would ` happF n i f three neighbors said
"no" to a design of the wall. He asked if, in the -worst situa-
tion, that mould create a stalemate situation, or if the City had
a mechanism by which to get out of a stalemate.
Director of = Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber
responded that under the plan, the City would end_ up in a negotia-
tion situation and would have to attempt to overcome it.
haphtal i Knox consultant, commented that,the vote was only on an
alternative. He said the wall was imbedded into the Specific Plan
and the `JCC had the option to offer an al ternati ve design of the
wall. In that case, not knowing what the solution was, a .mecha-
nism was offered that, the neighbors who immediately adjoined that
buffer could have the chance to review it. He said it was stated
before that 75% had to affirmatively-- approve the change and now it
said that 25% had to respond negatively.
18 0 2
3/22/82
Councilmember Klein clarified that he was referring to the sen-
tence which was added which stated "that design of the wall shall
be reviewed by the residents...and be deemed acceptable if not
disapproved by more than 25%." He hypothesized a situation where
ten different designs were submitted and the neighbors still said
no. He asked what the City's mechanism would be to get a solu-
tion. Usually the mechanism for getting a solution was a final
decision -making body and usually it was the .City Council that said
yes or no. He was concerned that a procedure like that was not
included and the possibility of a deadlock existed.
Mr. Schreiber suggested that language could be added that in the
event of a stalemate, those designs most acceptable to the neigh-
bors could be made available to the City Council for resolution.
Councilmember Levy said he was unclear about who was paying for
what improvements to the property.
Mr. Schreiber responded that there was a long list of improve-
ments. He said the wall and the road were the City's responsi-
bility, and that the resolution of some of the other improvements
were part of the lease negotiations.
Mr. Zaner said that the parking lot, the wall and access dri veway
were the City's responsibility and were to be improved by the City
out of its funds.
Councilmember Levy asked if that meant all of the parking,
including the parking that was essentially community center
parking, and the parking that was essentially housing parking.
Supervising Engineer, Jim Harrington said that was correct except
for that required by the Palo Alto Housing Corporation.
Councilmember Levy asked about the rationale for the parking
related to the community center and the wall being. paid for by the
City.
Mr. Knox said that it was not possible4o o ferret out what parking
was. -used by the JCC foe its clientele and What would be used by
citizens going to City programs. He said the parking areas were
clustered in one location, and that was taken into account in the
initial discussions between the City and the JCC. -He said Jean
Diaz had indicated that in the negotiations with the JCC as to the
lease. payments to the City, they would take into account that the
City was expending funds on a start-up basis initially to take
care of the wall and the parking area.
Councilmember Levy said he could not see the wall being part of
_anything but the JCC, and asked what the. rationale was for the
City's paying for it. Further, he asked for some rough estimates
on the` st for the wall, road and parking..
Mr. Harrington responded that preliminarily the figures indicated
that the ►wall would cost on the order of $40,000 to $50,000..
Further, staff allowed for 300 feet on the width wall --which wall
was west of the site, ';and which bordered the nursery, which cost
should be on the -'order of $15,000 to $20,000. He said the parking
was on the order of $►140,000 to $150,000 and that . excluded areas
that were needed for landscaping, which would be on the order of
$70,000. He said that the elements could be separated, but for
the first year's development, they were talking approximately $1.2
million. .
—1---8"0 2 --
3/22/82
Councilmember Renzel said that as she understood it, when the
Council adopted the Specific Plan, essentially any subsequent
details or plans that came in which complied with the particular
plan would be administrative acts of approval.
City Attorney Diane Lee said she did not think that was the case.
She. said that part of the intention was to give the Council some
flexibility• in drafting the plan. She said there would be occa-
sions when there would be the application of discretion in a sub-
sequent permit.
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Councilmember Renzel said that page 15 referred to the bases upon
which the Greenacres. 1 resid.enta could use the pool at Terman
under the JCC auspices; and, No. 4 on page 16 said that when the
Gunn pool became unavailable to the City, the JCC would continue
to operate the Terman pool , but the public would have access to
the Terman pool during the summer. She asked if -that meant the
general public or just those that qualified under the Greenacres I
exemption.
Mr. Knox responded that it meant the general public, and added
that the language in the excerpt read by Councilmember Renzel was
taken directly from the Terman Working Group agreement.
Councilmember Renzel said she understood that and said it seemed
unclear because all the preceding language related to the
Greenacres I -access to the Terman pool. She thought clarifying
language should be added in #4 at the top of page 16 to make it
clear that they were talking about the general public and not just
a limited group that would have access if the Gunn pool was
unavailable. .
Mr. Schreiber said he thought that perhaps sub -item (a) indirectly
spoke to that because it said that if at least two other pools
other than Terman and Gunn were operated by the City, then the use
of the pool by the public would be limited to the residents of the
Terman neighborhood only.
Councilmember Renzel said that on Page 17, she did not understand
how the mechanism under ti4lA would work. She understood that the
term of the lease would be determined by how much improvements the
JCC made ;=luring the first five years, She pointed out that no
improvements would be made in the first five years if the City did
not have a lease with terms to cover that. She asked if it was
because the language on the third line from the bottom of the
first paragraph said "made by the JCC" instead of "to be made by
the JCC," where presumably the City would know in advance what the
JCC intended to do in terms of amounts and then the lease could be
set accordingly.
Mr. Zaner responded that "to be made" could be inserted.
Councilmember Renzel said ;hat on Page . 1€l, #4, it said "the JCC
will endeavor to obtain additi onal offstreet parking for special
events." She asked for examples of where that offstre-et parking
would be found,
Mr. Schreiber responded that the paragraph referred to the unusual
once or twice a year eventwhen anticipated crowds would be large
enough that parking.:at Gunn high School might be necessary.
Councilmember Renzel said that Page 23 and 25 made reference to a
building height that would not exceed 25. feet. She wondered if
that meant building heights under the zoning code . definition or if
25 ;feet was an absolute figure.
Mr. Schreiber responded that that might be another item that was
never spoken to directly. He interpreted building height to be as
defined in whatever codes were applicable at the time.
Mr. Knox said that all the references were to the zones---RM-2 or
RM-3. He thought the references to the zoning ordinance were
implied.
Mr. Zaner responded to Councilmember Levy's question regarding
finances and said Mr. Harrington had given the Council a gross
figure of $1.2 million as the first year capital cost. He
reminded the Council that they were under no obligation to appro-
priate those funds. He said the agreement was that funds would be
included in the C. I . P, budget and in the Operating budget, and
that no amount was set in order to begin the improvement of the
property or to provide for its operation. The funds would be
included in the budget for Council consideration; however, they
competed with all other funds recommended by staff.
Ms. Lee commented that in response to Councilmember Renzel's ques-
tion re Page 23, #3, "the following physical factors will govern
any housing development 'irrespective' of any actual zoning that
would apply." She interpreted that to mean that those would be
the actual restrictions that would be applied to the development
of the property.
Mr. Schrei ber suggested that for clarification on page 23, it read
"irrespective of the actual zoning district." He said that would
bring it into conformance with Page 25, under subi tear? 3.
Planning Commission Chairperson Jean McCown -Hawk es added a comment
on Councilmember Klein's question regarding the wall. She said
the original language provided for the opposite mechanism --that
the wall had to be approved by at least six of the fi rst eight
houses. She said that wording came directly from the Terman
Working Croup. At the Planning Commission meeting, Joe Hirsch
commented on Page 20 of the minutes, that he felt :the recommenda-
tion wast not wise after all because the way it was written it
allowed three people to have a veto. She said discussion followed
as to how the wording should be changed to avoid the problem, and
Mr. -Knox suggested the wording be "subject to the disapproval of
25%." She thought the concept the Planning Commission was looking
for was something that would avoid the three person veto idea that
Councilmember Klein described. She did not know if the Planning
Commission's language solved the problem, but the concept was to
try and get around the problem by a change in the wording. She
thought that any changes made by the Council that went in that
direction more clearly would be consistent with what the Planning
Commission was after.
Coun .i l member Witherspoon asked the City Attorney to explain what
process the Council would have to follow after tonight if they
wanted to change anything,
Ms. Lee responded that as part of the Counci 1 's enabl i ng ordinance
to adopt specific plans, provisions of the Government _ Code were
also added. Those provisions provided that if a legislative body
made additions or changes to any proposed specific plan, those
changes must be referred back to the Planning Commission for a
report. She said the Planning Commission would have 40 days in
which to report back to the Council. After that, the Council
could adopt the plan with or without the changes if they wished.
Councilmember Cobb commented- that nothing was mentioned on Page 14
that the tennis courts might have to be moved.
Mr. Zaner responded that . It : was a budgetary item and the ..tennis
court moving and athletic field renovation were not included in
the figures quoted earlier
Councilmember Cobb asked if all the costs had been looked at, and
if the City had some sense of what the budget would look like in
the future.
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3/22/82
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Mr. Zaner responded that staff did not have precise numbers and
commented that Council had just authorized staff to engage the
design firm. He said the best estimate was still that the total
capital costs would be about $3;5 million. He said the first
year's costs had been identified as $1.2 million.
Counci lriember Cobb said that on page 23 it said "an attempt will
be made to ,limit the number of structures over two stories high"
which he thought was "permissive rather than obligatory" language.
He asked if everyone was comfortable that the surrounding people
had been given sufficient protection.
Mr. Knox responded that an agreement among those who served on the
Terman Working Group was that the height would not exceed 35 feet
and the Palo Alto Housing Corporation (PAHC) agreed that it would
make every effort to minimize the number of buildings that exceed.
two stories in height.
Mr. Schreiber said that when the housing plan was submitted, it
would need Architectural Review Board (ARB) approval as any other
development would. He said it would have to be ascertained if the
plan was consistent with the Specific Plan and the ARB item was
something which was appeal able to the City Council; and, in the
event of a major breakdown between the design of the housing
development and what the neighbors want that avenue would be
available. Further, he said that the PAHC was on record that it
intended to work with the neighborhood in the development of the
housing; and, staff was on record that .they were interested in
setting _ up an ongoing process with the nei gnbors all around the
site to keep them involved as the JCC, the City, and the hoasi ng
moved forward so that decisions would not be made in isolation.
Harry Wood, 673 Arastradero, represented his wife's nursery, Ruth
Wood Nursery School. He read a letter into the record, dated
March 18, 1982, written by Ruth Wood, which is on file in the City
Clerk's' Office. He said it was important to note that the nursery
school's play yard was only 14 feet from the roadway --the nursery
school was closer to Terman than any other neighbor. Also, the
nursery school would be in close proximity to people and cars even
if much of the JCC operation was on the opposite side. He said
there would be a greatly increased use of the pool and the ath-
letic field. The a road along the nursery school property line
would be the most direct access to those activities. He said that
when their son attended Terman, there were a lot of traffic prob-
lems related to the many cars which went to the basketball courts
on his side, to the swimming pool, the entire athletic field,
tennis courts, etc. Because of the problems, the principal, at
that time, asked that parents, children, and students not drive in
and not use "the bus drive." He said that did not help and people
flooded into the area because it was the most convenient. He said
that had not changed and that the particular Layout of Terman was
such that the best parking, and most easily available access to
the athletic field and swimming pool was on the nursery school=
side of Terman, which could change sometime in the future when
parking was provided in front of the school. He said that since
no timetable was mentioned in the Terman Specific Plan, the
Nursery School requested that they be given the same consideration
as the Pomona people; and when the proposed wall along the Pomona
side was installed, theirs be installed simultaneously.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orme, a member of the Terman Working Group, said
that regarding the 35 -foot height limit, he intended that 35 feet
meant 35 feet --not 35 feet to the_ .mid point of anything, but 35
feet to the peak of whatever. was built. Regarding the improve-
ments to be made by the JCC, the neighbors intended that they be
completed and in place at the end of the five years. He said the
JCC was not particularly concerned because they -assured the neigh-
bors on a number of occasions that there were a number of things
that had to be done to the site , in order to make it usable for
their purposes. The JCC said . they would have no problem putting
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3/22/82
in $1.5 million in improvements within five years. He urged that
the verb not be changed. Regarding the neighbors veto power on
the wall or berm, he said the neighbors intended to be protected
from noise, traffic, dirt and commotion. From listening to the
neighbors for over l-1/2 years, he sensed that they would not be
unreasonable and that anything which met the goal of the neigh
bors' and neighborhood's protection from interference would be
accepted. He did not sense that any of the neighbors were unhappy
with the design of the wall as proposed, He thought the Council
might wish to make some arrangements for mediating any unlikely
event of deadlock, but thought the people would be reasonable. In
terms of. the two story bui 1 di nge ; he said a commitment was made
that every attempt would be made --and it was finalized in the
agreements- thot the buildings adjacent to Fni gl i o Way would be
two stories. He said that when the various layouts were looked
at ,. the Palo Alto; Housing Corporation thought it was clear that
two story buildings could be put in adjacent to those few homes
without impacting the rest of the development or unduly tying
their hands in terms of development. Regarding whether the plan
could be changed administratively once it was adopted, he said
that the whole purpose of the Specific Plan was to go through the
ful 1 plan hearings if any Significant changes were to be made, and
there would be ample opportunity for appeals and public hearings.
He said that was built into the concept of the Specific Plan. He
commented that he would still like .to see a statement under
"Phasing City Programs" about completion of the plan, He thought
a time limit was useful and he proposed tea years from the date of
the acquisition of the site --or July 1, 1992.
Joe Hi rsch, 4149 Georgia, a .member of the Terman Working Group,
said he supported much of Bob Moss' comments. Regarding the
statement made by the JCC about the completion of improvements
within five years, he said the JCC clearly intended to have the
improvements completed in the first five years. He said it would
be determined about 15-25 years down the road when it came up for
renewal so clearly there was a time when it could be determined
that the,,;. improvements were made. He said no time frame was men-
tioned about when the wall between the roadway and the DeWitt
property Would go in and he urged that the .Council add something
to the effect that the wall would be erected at the same time that
any wall was erected pursuant to paragraph 7(b). He thought th&t
if the work was done between the Pomona property and the Terman
site, the other wall- should .be taken care of between the nursery
school and the Terman roadway which led to. the at_ hl eti-c field.
Regarding the report dated March 18, 1982 from Mr. Schreiber and
.the modification to paragraph 7(b) of the contract that a -solid
wall would be erected, it was originally drafted that a,,berm would
be put up, and it Was - also stated that a buffer could be substi
toted. He ,said that the Planning Commission deleted the buffer
and• the -provision that the .design of the wall would have to be
reviewed was inserted. He said that was never a concept that the
first and primary barrier could be approved by other . people. It_
Baas now suggested that the wall was the primary barrier for sound
and other purposes. He agreed with Councilmember -Klein that the
sentence at, the bottom of page 2, "The design pf the: -wall shall be
reviewed by the residents of the houses located 'on - th.e Terman
Middy School side _of- Pomona Avenue between';Arastradero Road and
tl-enbrook Drive and shall be deemed acceptable if not disapproved
by more than 25 per cent of these households," was unnecessary and
should be eliminated. Thus, he said the recommendation would The
"a wall,- and that would -go in if no other :substitute was provided
and would eliminateet-he possi bi 1 i ty ofh having it, deadlock some-
where along the line.
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3/222/82'
Mr. Hirsch said that under subparagraph (d) on page (3), the
statement that "The JCC may propose alternative designs..." also
contained the "not disapproved" language. He suggested that in
addition the statement include that the Pomona Avenue residents
could also propose an alternative, and that "if not disapproved by
others" could go in. He thought that would provide an alternative
mechanism for something other than a wal 1 if necessary.
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Counci lmember Menzel asked for clani fi c ati on about the initial
lease period.
Counci l member Klein clarified that the minimum period of the JCC's
lease was 15 years plus an option for a 15 -year renewal. He said
that i f the improvements exceeded $1 mil l ion in the first five
years, the lease would be for 20 years plus a 20 -year renewal
option. Yf the Improvements exceed $1.5 million, the lease would
be for 25 years, plus a 25 -year renewal option. -He agreed that
the understanding was that those would be improvements actually
made during the first five years, and that the JCC would have to
submit -receipts to the City that their improvements exceeded
either the $1,000,000 or the $1.5 million figure.
Councilmember Levy said that the wall- along Pomona Avenue Was
because of the proximity of the homes to the buildings and , the
parking lot and that the purpose of the wall was to shield Pomona
Avenue .from noise and the lights of the cars around the parking
lot. - He asked what_ the purpose was for the wall along the
southern part of the property.
Mr. Hirsch responded that that wall dealt with the nursery school,
and that in fact the children could play closer to the buildings
if they were in that corner of the nursery school yard. He said
it was the children's play yard and it went right up to the wall
or the presently existing fence. He said that the roadway and the
proximity of people who could be walking very close to the
children playing was the concern.
Marion E. Hill, 4270 Pomona, said that their property was con-
tiguous to the Terman driveway.. He said that in the process of
developing the Terman Working' Plan, the Terman Working Group
Report, the resi dents of the "Pomona Strip" attended the Terman
Working _.Group meetings, and in fact appended themselves to the
working group. He said that in the course of the various plans
being presented, it was recognized by members -of, the Terman
Working Group that the proximity of the music room, cafetorium,
and the definite fact that they were sound boxes arid projected
their sounds very easily, the entire neighborhood new pretty well
what was going on there if the sound was at any level- above ambi-
ence to any extent. As plans were proposed, changed and elimi-
nated, how best to ,maintain the livability- of homes along the
driveway which was to be : parti al ly el iminated was discussed and
the berm came up anid then later the JCC. presented the idea of the
sound wail. 'It seemed that that was the best of the various solu-
tions. He said they lived there 365 days a year and would, be sub-..
j ected to whatever . happened i n the community center, from early in
the aiorni r!g , ti 1 late in -the evening. He_ said it was absolutely
vital to the residents of Pomona Avenue, to maintain the
11 yabi l i ty of their homes by having' some sound,_ protection. He
said he endorsed Mr, Hirsch's suggestions and changes i_n wording,
and he thought that would cl ani fy the situation. a Further, he
expressed appreciation, on behalf of the Pomona Avenue _resi-dents,
for the cooperation -given to them by the staff, the Terman Working
Group and everyone, concerned.
1 8 0 7
3/22/82
Marilyn Norek Taketa, 755 Page Mill Road, said that one of her
children had attended the Ruth Wood Nursery School and she hoped
to have her daughter attend shortly. She was uncomfortable with
adults being in -close proximity to the childrens' play area in a
rel ati vely unsupervised situation. She said it used to be stu-
dents at Terman who were in classes or supervised by their
teachers. She thought the area was fairly isolated and that it
was most appropriate to have a physi cal and visual barrier between
adults and little children-. She commented' that there could be
behavior on the other side of the fence that children should not
see_ and there could be ogling that children should not be exposed
to and perhaps a dangerous set-up for the children. She thought
it would be most appropriate to have the wall in sooner rather
than later because of the: close proximity of two areas which were
not very compatible.
Vice Mayor Bechtel declared the public hearing closed.
MOTION: Councilmember Klein moved, seconded by Cobb, to refer the
following changes back to the Planning Commission: 1) Amend sub-
paragraph B :on Page 2 of the staff report by deleting the. entire
last sentence, 2) Amend Page 20 of the Specific Plan by adding a
sentence at the end of the first sentence, "this wall will be con-
structed at the same time as wall described in K7(b) _below; 3) On
Page 17, Paragraph (h), Subsection A, insert in the 7th line
following the word "will be not less than 15 years with a longer
term .depending ....'f Planning Commission _to report —back to the
Council in 40 days.
Councilmember Renzel asked that the City Attorney rule that the
language stated that the. 35 foot height limit was ,tbsol ute.
City Attorney Diane _Lee responded that her ruling related to the
35 feet and not how it was measured. The 35 feet limit was
binding, but how 35 feet was measured was not addressed by that
language.
Councilmember Renzel said she understood that the 35 feet would be
the maximum height at the highest point of the...roorn.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Renzel moved, that the building height
not exceed 35 feet at the highest point.
AMENDMENT FAILED FOR LACK OF A SECOND.
Councilmember Fletcher . said she could not find any, mention of
bicycle parking.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Fletcher moved, seconded by Levy, that
bicycle. parking be provided subject to the determination of the
Director of Planning and Community Environment.
Councilmember _ Klein pointed out that discussion of the bicycle
parking was on pages 39 and 40.
AMENDMENT WITHDRAWN.
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Counci lmember Cobb asked staff to comment about Mr. Moss' sugges-
tion re the ten-year limit on completion.
Mr. Zaner responded that no limitation was included with regard to
the timing of the program, and he recommended that none be
included. He said staff attempted to give the Council the maximum
amount of flexibility in order to weigh the program along with all
the other programs in the budget.
Counci lmerber Levy said he was concerned that the City had paid a
lot of money and the amounts kept escalating. He calculated that
the City was paying about 60% of the value of the property and
getting less than 50% of the land and not necessarily the most
valuable land. He_ said that was understandable but thought that
the City was paying much more than its percentage pro rata share.
He was concerned when he also found that the City would pay for
all the parking, and for the construction of both walls. Particu-
larly with regard to the walls, the City was not the ' major cause
for the need. He asked if it was correct that the negotiations so
far with the JCC and the Palo Alto Housing Corporation had
included discussion of all elements such as roads and parking, but
did not include discussion of the construction of the wall.
Mr. Zaner responded that the discussions with the 'Housing
Corporation and with the J -CC always included all of the improve-
ment factors. He said that the proposed lease was put together in
.consideration of who would do which improvements. The arrange-
ments were worked out with --the Housi rig Corporation so that all
three parties were aware of what parts of the improvements would
be done by the City, and what improvements the other partners
would do. He deferred to Mr. Knox to comment on what was dis-
cussed at the working sessions themselves.
Mr. Knox said that was correct. Re said it was clear from the
housing standpoint that there would be no design at thi s time nor
any improvements made within the housing area --that would all be
done by the Housing Corporation. The fuzziness was in dealing
with the Terman buildings which would be occupied by the JCC,
because the JCC would use some of the buildings, the City would
use some of the buildings, and there was the joint use of the
parking area. He said that the JCC was not enti relay the cause of
all the noise because the City would have two of the wings. He
said it was simply a recognition that the parking would be jointly
used and there would be control on the use of the gymnasium and
the location and access. As the things were worked out, it would
get muddier still as to who was parking in whose place, or whose
door someone was walking through to get to whose gymnasium to use
which program.
Councilmember Leey said that since many of the issues were muddy,
he was concerned about future negotiations related to joint costs
because the City had amply .paid its share. He did not think the
Council should pass the item without commenting on the fact that
it was an exemplary example of extended citizen participation
among numerous _ parts of the community, the result of which was
excellent in his opinion. He thought the plan _ was a definite plus
for Palo Alto.
MOTION PASSED ,.unanimously, Eyerly absent
PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF THE APPEAL OF -ROBERT G.
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Planning Commission Chairperson Jean McCown -Hawk es said that the
request was for a variance to the daylight plane requirements and
side yard requirements for the property. She said that the Zoning
Administrator recommended denial of the variance, and the Planning\\
Commission unanimously recommended reversal of the . Zorn ng
Administrator's recommendation. She said the variance was for a
continuation of a six—foot encroachment into the daylight plane,
and a one —foot encroachment into the side yard. It was a large
building .on a small lot which :was built in Barron Park prior to -
the . annexation to the :City and, therefore, was not built in
accordance with the City's regulations, She said there was an
1 O 0 9
3/22/82 -
open roof or deck area on the rear of the property which was felt
to be a hazardous condition by the owners because of children's
access to the roof and difficulties in keeping the roof water-
tight. On -der the City's regulations, the -deck or roof area could
not be completely _ enc:l osed because the building was already non-
conforming, The Planning Commission on recommended granting the
variance to allow a partial enclosure of the space:. She said one
side would have to remain an open screened area in order to make
the space usable and improve the safety-, provided that the con-
struction met all the City's codes and: passed a review before the.
Architectural Review Board (ARB ). The Planning Commission made
findings under the variance procedures that the size of the
building on the small lot, the prior existing nonconformity of the
building, and the zoning were exceptional and extraordinary cir-
cumstances -and that it Would be.a-hardship to refuse the owner the
opportunity to improve the safety situation of the property and to
make use of it as a recreational space and to provide protection
for, the building because of -the water damage probl em. She said
the Zoning Administrator concurred with. the finding that the pro-
posed variance was not detrimental to any of the adjacent prop-
erties.
Marilyn Norek Taketa, Attorney, 755 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto,
represented the appellant, Robert Roberts. She said that the roof
line already existed and a minor extension of the roof line with
an encroachment into the daylight plane and side yard were being
requested. The Tot was very undersized compared to other lots in
the area which was a condition the owner had to work with in order
to protect the safety of the children and people on the property.
The apartment traditionally had allowed families with children to.
l i ve there and presently there were five children in the
apartment --four were teenagers and one was a toddler. There had
been problems in the past because the children had no other place
to play but in the apartment building. She said the streets were
hazardous and very close to El Camino Real, and the children
tended to go up on the sun porch and pick nuts and throw them.
She said there was not much that could be done about i t , the area.
was hard to supervise, and there had been complaints from the
neighbors about . the nuisance which was being created. She was
concerned that it was a third floor area; and the railing was very
low and there was a hazard that the children could topple over.
She said that Mr. Roberts would like to close the area i n as much
as possible, and provide a ping pong table and other recreational
facilities for the children and their parents. She ' pointed out
that other apartments in the area, because of their larger size,
had recreational areas for the children and the tenants, and she
thought it was appropriate that all apartments should provide for
families. She thought there was almost a duty on the . part of .the
owners to provide the recreational areas to go along with the
amenities of living in the apartment. There were problems with
water damage if the area was not closed off which would pose a
financial hardship and a hardship to the tenants. She said that
there had not been any neighborhood opposition to the granting of
the variance, and in fact, letters were submitted by all the sur-
rounding neighbors which indicated support of the variance. She
understood that a lot of the 'original staff opposition to the
variance was that it was thought that the lot was not undersized
in comparison to other lots in the neighborhood. She thought
there were sufficient facts relating to both the land and improve-
ments to st;Pport the granting of the variance, and that the
Planning -Commi ssi on' s recommendation should be approved.
MOTION; Counci lmember ; Fletcher moved, seconded by Fazz i no,, to
approve the Planning . Commission .- recommendation and grant the
appeal of Mr. Robert G. Robarts from the decision of the Acting
Zoning Administrator with findings: (1) There are exceptional or
extraordinary circumstances or conditions applicable to the propJ
erty involved that do not apply generally to property in the same
district; and that the physical characteristics of the property
were unusual compared with . properties in the RM District; (2) The
granting of the application is necessary for the
1 8 1 0
3/22'/82
preservation and enjoyment of a substantial property right of the
applicant, and to prevent unreasonable property loss or unneces-
sary hardship; and that the problems of safety and water damage
required the issuance of a variance; (3) The granting of the
application will not be detrimental or injurious to property or
improvements in the vicinity and will not be detrimental to the
public health, safety, general welfare, or can, eni ence.
1
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Councilmember Fletcher commented that it was a clear case where
there were 'substantial improvements to be made to the property.
She thought it was refreshing to find a rental property which had
children and which was trying to make the property more suitable
for children.
Councilmember Renzel asked staff if there was a way the porch
could be enclosed within -the setbacks and daylight plane.
Chief Planning Official Bruce Freeland said no. The probi em with
the building. was that it was noncomplying --it was built in the
County and was a much more dense structure than anything allowable
under the actual zoning.. He said that anything that would be an
enclosed space would be an expansion of the noncomplying use and
was strictly forbidden by- the code.
Councilmember Renzei said she thought that when they were working
on the Zoni ng 'Ordi nance, the noncompliance of a particular aspect
could not be increased. She asked if the building was already An
excess in every respect.
Mr. Freeland said it was.
Councilmember Fazzina said that Councilmember Fletcher had made
his speech, but commented that the application was a clear cut
case for a variance. He said he was surprised and concerned that
it was denied when it was first before the City, and was pleased
that the Planning Commission reversed the decision. He suspected
that on the basis of the laws there was not much else that could
be done. He thought that safety was a major factor associated
with this variance request and the major reason why the Commission
voted to overturn the. Zoning Administrator's decisions and asked
if safety was a factor when a variance proposal was consi dered.
Mr. Freeland responded that he thought staff would like it to be.
He said the reason he turned the variance down initially was
because he felt the actual presentation at the first hearing was
weak with regard to facts on which findings could be made. He
said a wealth of material was submitted on the appeal that was not
available at the hearing, and further, staff used the strict
reading of the findings as they were instructed to do by the City
Attorney's office. He said that in the next package of zoning
ordinance amendments, there would be a specific amendment which
included a broader definition of "property" than the one which was
historically used and which would explicitly open :up improvements
as fair game for future variances. He thought it would make the
entire process work easier.
Councilmember RenZel said. she was sympathetic with the fact that
the apartment building rented to families with children., and that
there were some unusual circumstances in terms of the amount of
building currently on the lot. She was concerned that , properties.
which were already more densely built than would otherwise be
permitted in the zones were being used as a basis for a finding to
allow a variance ' because if at variance were not granted they would
not be allowed to build more. She thought there was a danger in
doing a, hat, 'a'nd also in looking at the current occupants of the
building in judging whether to grant a variance. She said she
would support the motion, ;hut cautioned that the City ` should be
extraordinarily careful in looking at the status quo as the basis
for granting the variance,
1 8 -1 1
/22/82
As Corrected
5/17/82
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
HISTORIC RESOURCES BOARD RECOMMENDATION RE REQUEST FOR DELAY, OF AN
I SO N OF A DEMOLITION PERMIT FOR HOUSE LOCATED AT 610
CAI. FORNIA AVENUE (CMR:180:2)
Gail Woolley, Chairperson of the Historic Resources Board, com-
mented that the building was not large, but that the architectural
value was typical of cottages which were built in Mayfield in the
1880's and 1890's, which structures were now rare in the area.
She said that the exteri or - of the bui l di rig remained remarkably
intact considering how long it was there. She commented that the
3-2 vote by, the Board did not reflect a disagreement as to the
extension, but just as to the time of the extension.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked Mr. Herman if the house was in
shape to be moved.
Chief Building Official Fred Herman responded that the interior of
the house had not been inspected. He said the house was in some
need of repair, but without a thorough analyst s, it was difficult
to determine the feasibility of relocating the house and bringing
it up to certain standards and bracing it for moving.
Mil ly Davis , 344 Tennessee Lane, said that the of der homes in Pal o
Al to were threatened with demol i ti on to provide the land on which
to build condomi ni ums. She said that the condomi ni ums which
replaced the older homes were'' more expensive . and usually out of
the price ranges of many young adults , . femi l i es , and others that
were displaced when the older homes were torn down. She thought
that the elimination of the affordable housing resulted in Palo
Alto's becoming a community of professionals. She said businesses
had to raise their pay scales and prices or else lose clerical and
staff help who could not afford to live in Palo Alto. The cost of
condomi ni um developments included the higher price of the new
units, the loss of affordable housi ng, the loss of segments of
Palo Alto's society and work force, and the loss of some of Pal o
Alto's heritage. She asked i f the Council imposed a 60 -day
moratorium or some other time on the demolition permit , would the
Council be bound to, grant the permit in sixty days, . and what:
action should the Council take which would not bind the City to
grant a permit toni ght or- any certain date in the future. She
thought that an opinion from the City Attorney should be submitted
to answer those questions. She said, the demolition of older homes
was having a serious impact on meny residents, and: that it was a
problem which should be studied further by the Council, staff and
the public before _ any more houses were demolished and more people
displaced from their homes. She requested that the Council take
action which would not bind the City to grant a demolition permit
at any certain ` time in . order, to allow time for an additional study
of the problem.
Mr. Herman said that if the Council took no action, he had an open
demo] i ti on :permit application and had 180 days to act on the per-
mit at which point , it must either be dani ed or approved. He said
there was another code section , which _ requi rcd- -before a demolition
permit could be i sued for a resi dence--that there must be a
building permit issued for a replacement structure. He said that
if no building permit were issued,- the appl i cant could apply for a
one time 180 -day extension. He said that if the Council grantec+,>
no extension that meant the City. would have a 60 -day automatic
wait period, and then the 180 day demolition permit .process which,
could be extended for 180 more days. If the moratorium were
extended to six months: the 180 day permit application would not.
start until -that, time.. - He said if no approved permit was received
by ,then, the permit would be denied and the process would start
again.
1.8 1
3/22/82'
1
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Councilmember Renzel clarified that if an application was received
during the 180 -day period with the proper application for a
replacement structure, the Chief Building Official was obliged to
issue the demolition permit.
Janice Dodge, 164 Main Street, Palo Alto, represented the owners
and commented that the proposed six-month delay, which ended
September 10, 1982 was not a problem as long as the demolition
permit would be issued at the time approved plans were submitted.
Mr. Herman said the plans must be submitted, Architectural Review
Board approval received as required, and a building permit issued,
before a demolition permit could be issued on the property.
Councilmember Faxti no asked what step could best be taken by the
Council _ to avoid demolition.
Mr. Freeland said the six-month mo� atori um should be applied as
proposed; otherwise, as soon as the applicants could meet the
conditions for the issuance of the permit, Mr. Herman would be
obliged to grant it. He said the six --month moratorium in no way
increased Mr. Herman's obligation to grant the permit once al l the
conditions were met, it just delayed the time in which i t ' coul d be
granted.
MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded by Cobb, to adopt
the Historic Resources Board recommendation directing the Chief
Building Official to delay issuance of a demolition permit for 610
California _Avenue for the maximum period of six months from date
of application (until September 10, 1982) for the purpose of
exploring alternatives to demolition.
Councilmember Fazzino said he doubted that the home was built in
1931. He said it was a beautiful old College Terrace home, and he
was concerned that the City lost some of its heritage when homes
like it were demolished. He wanted to see the home saved and
would not look kindly upon any proposal to demolish it and place
any other structure there. Al though he preferred to see a
demolition prohibition on old homes of this type, and hoped the
Planning Commission's demolition subcommittee would eventually
recommend such a prohibition, and that the Historic Resources
Board (HRB) would be given some teetn, he would support, the HRB
proposal to delay issuance of the demolition permit. He was very
concerned that as a precedent, the Council not alloy_ homes to be
demolished before a: specific use was proposed for the site. He
did not want to see an empty lot being used as a lever to invite
potential buyers on areas around town which once had old Palo Alto
homes. He encouraged the Council to. support the motion.
Counci lmember Witherspoon clarified that the intent was to save
the building and if the_ representative of the owner indicated that
they wanted the building off, the site, she assumed that while the
time period was running, it would not preclude someone coming in
to get a permit to move the building.
Mr. Herman said that was correct.
Councilmember Cobb said he attended the HRB hearing, and .strongly
concurred with Councilmember r=azzi no's comments. He noted that
the staff report stated "that a six—month delay would allow and
might result in either offers to move the house to another lot, or
bring forth a developer who would rehabilitate and retain the
house; or :its facade on the present site." - He asked if there was
anything, during the six-month period, that could be done to get a
solution along those lines to happen.
1
Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber
responded that the reality was that there was very little, if
anything, the City could do. He said staff was not in the
position to solicit development for a particular property, and
thought the process would need to run its course. He said the
intent of the City's ordinance was to al 1 ow for the waiting
period, but not to get the City involved in actively trying to
line up a developer or line up a mover of the house. He thought
that would go beyond the role intended for the City and staff.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
CITY CLERK RE UEST FOR COUNCIL SUPPORT FOR AB 2400 SHER/STIRLING
MOTION: Councilmember Fletcher moved, seconded by Fazzino, that
the Coun;il go on record in support of AB 2400, and that the Mayor
be authorized to send a letter to the Committee members, with a
copy to the League of California Cities, and Assemblyman Sher. and
Senator Stirling in time for the March 29 meeting of the
Committee.
Councilmember Fletcher commented that the bill was in the legisla-
ture, sponsored by Assemblyman Sher and Senator Stirling, to per-
mit jurisdictions to conduct elections by mail for sped &1
elections and ballot measures only. She wholeheartedly supported
the legislation.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
RE UEST OF COUNCILMEMBERS WITHERSPOON AND LEVY RE LOANS OF CITY
Councilmember Witherspoon said that she and Councilmember Levy
were concerned that the City's second largest source of income was
interest income, and that when a loan was made to an entity, no
matter how worthy, it resulted in lost revenue. .She and
Councilmember Levy proposed that the City's policy be that the
City loans carry a floating rate of interest equal to the average
return on the City's investment portfolio for the preceding year.
If it. was a one --year loan, it would be the year preceding the
beginning of the loan, and if it was a five-year loan, it would be
a floating rate based on the previous year's interest rate. She
said it was a policy they would like the Council to adopt. because
in retrospect there was an item before the Council a few weeks ago
where an interest -f-ree loan was made to a nonprofit entity. She
said she .believed that- the City staff negotiated the loan, and
felt that if -it was the City's policy and the Council's intent to
have the policy, an interest -free loan would not happen without
staff requesting that the Council override the policy, eend
therefore, the Council would have more control.
MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by Levy, to
adopt a general policy that all City 1 oans carry a rate of
interest at least equal to the average return on the City's
investment portfolio for the preceding year.,
Councilmember Klein said he was not persuaded on the necessity for
the motion although he agreed with its reasoning. He said it was
true that interest -free loans caused the City a loss of revenue,
and were a form of benefit to the recipient. He thought the
motion implied that the City was willy-nilly granting Interest -
free loans which was hardly the case.` He did, not think that had
been done, and staff did not have the authority to do i t , so the
necessity of going before the ,Council Was already there, and a
policy was not needed do it. He:, thought the Council members were
well-advised, and it was nice to be reminded that they had a r,ns,t
to them, but it was a means . for the City to do things. He 1 -so
thought it was a relatively -inexpensive _ way for the City to J
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3/22/82
accomplish certain social goals. He could not understand the pur-
pose of the motion and thought it was intended to mean that the
Council would tie their hands about projects they knew nothing
about at the moment and totally rule out the idea of making
interest -free loans. He was not willing to do that without
further bases as to why he should, and commented that the Council.
was careful, and was well-advised that interest -free loans carried
a cost to the City.
1
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Counci lmember Fletcher recalled only one incident where the City
advanced moneys to outside agencies. Those were in the area of
housing when Community Development Block Grant -(CDBG) moneys had
been applied for by the Housing Corporation, and Capital
Improvement Program (CIP) moneys were advanced from the City's
budget and .then replenished when the CBDG funds were received..
She said that recently the City permitted the Housing Corporation
to use an interest —free loan in order to pay a developer fee in
order to qualify for revenue bonds -for subsidized housing. She
reminded the Council that in each instance the Council had the
opportunity to review the appropriation and weigh the benefits.
Further, the City had policies to facilitate affordable housing
and the funds did not really go to an outside entity, but directly
into the housing ..which made the housing more affordable. She said
that if interest were added in the instances where the City had
made loans, the cost of the interest would be added to the cost of
the housing and would raise the cost of the housing. She said she
would oppose a blanket prohibition on interest -free loans and
leave each instance to be weighed on its merit.
.Councilmember Renzel said :.,he was• concerned that the policy
appeared to be a fixed one .and more than just a situation where
occasionally the Council would make exceptions She preferred to
see such a policy referred to the Finance and Public Works
Committee (F&PW) for discussion and let it come back to the
Council with a recommendation.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by
Fazzino, to refer the matter of interest -free loans to the Finance
and Public Works Committee.
Councilmember Levy commen ed that truly proper municipal
accounting requi red . that all costs be visible. He said many
cities had gotten into fiscal.: trouble by dealing with too many
off -balance -sheet items, and he thought this was one of those. He
said that interest on money was not truly visible and should be
because if the Council utilized its reserves without receiving
proper interest for them, they were costing the City money. He
thought everyone understood that, and that it was visible to all
the current Councilmembers; and, therefore, the purpose of the
policy was to make it continually visible to all Councils. He
asked that in connection with the referral to the Finance and
Public Works Committee, staff report on the loans made, the
amounts, interest rates, etc.
Vice Mayor Bechtel said she would vote against the - referral
because she agreed with Councilmember Klein that the policy was
unneeded. She " said that in those extraordinary and exceptional
circumstances when a request came through and was recommended by
staff, as with the Housing Corporation item two weeks ago, it was
clearly something that was for the public good and the benefit of
the citizens of Palo Alto, and by making the short-term, interest -
free l jan the City enabled the Housing Corporation to provide
units at a lower cost. She felt ,that it was pointless to refer
the item.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION TO REFER. PA=SEU. by a vote of 5-3, Bechtel ,
Fletcher, Klein voting "no," Eyerly absent.
1 8 1 5
3/22/82
ESS FROM 9:35 e.m. TO 9:50 p.m
REQUEST OF COUNCILMEMBERS FLETCHER AND LEVY RE CONTROL OF
MEW
Counci 1member Levy read the memo submitted by he and Counci 1menber
Fletcher to the public, which memo is on file in the City Clerk's
Office.
MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by Fletcher, to
request the City Attorney to report on the legality of Palo Alto
enacting a handgun control ordinance along the lines of the Morton
Grove, I 1 l i not s ordinance, for consideration by the Policy and
Procedures Committee,
Counci1member Levy said that the issue was an important one and
deserved a full public hearing. Be said the nature, of the pro-
posed action' was to first request a report from the :City Attorney
so that the Council would be aware of the options available in
Palo Alto. He said it was important to note that no substantive
action would be taken toni ght--the City Attorney's report would go
to Committee, be discussed there, and recommendations would be
made by the Committee to the Council. He said both Committee
hearings and future Council hearings would be fully advertised
public hearings. He wanted it to be clear that the motion was
limited to conceal abi e:, small weapons. only, - He said there was no
intent to limit a ci ti zen s right to possess a rifle or other long
gui.
Vice Mayor Bechtel clarified that the motion was to refer the mat-
ter to the City Attorney, and the City Attorney would report to
the Policy and Procedures (P&P) Committee who would meet when the
report was ready, and that meeting would be advertised and
announced i n local newspapers. Fol l owi ng .the P&P Committee
meeting, interested citizens would have another chance to come
before the City Council when the the P&P recommendation was made.
Counci1member Cobb asked the staff action to include some informa-
ti_en that would define the extent to which there was a gun problem
in' Palo Alto, i.e., how many handguns were registered in Palo
Alto, to what extent handguns had been stolen in Palo Alto in past
years, and that sort of general information. He wanted to know
what kind of problem they were dealing with in Palo Alto. He
asked that when the report was made on the legality of handguns,
the question of whether State 1 aw preempted the Counci 1 from
acting would al so be addressed as had been suggested by some
parties at the State level.
Amy Vossbrinck, 552 Kellogg Avenue, supported referring the ques-
tion of a handgun ban to the City Attorney. She read some
articles from the newspapers which regarded handgun incidents.
She spoke about a 17 -year -old boy in Nevada who used a handgun to
shoot and kill his 55 -year -old teacher, and wound two of hi s_
fellow students. The- boy was subsequently killed himself as a
result of his trying to be stopped from shooting other -people.
She sal d the reason he was ab1 e to.,get away with the handgun was
because it was easy for him to hide it, and easy for him to take
it into the classroom without anyone seeing.it. The next article
spoke about a 15 -year -old boy in, - San . Francisco who used a handgun
to shoot himsel f while playing Russi an Roul ette, She said the boy
found, a gun in the bushes at school and was able to hide the gun
from his mother until he shot himself with it. She spoke about an
incident which recently occurred in Palo ' Alto on the corner of
Arastradero Road and Page Mill. A man got into an argument with
another man and the second man fired four shots from a smal 1 hand-
gun into the roof :,.of, the other man's car. The man was not hurt.
She commented that those incidents were not isolated and that
during the Viet Nam war, there were more pecpl a killed on the
streets of America with handguns than were killed in all the
fighting in Viet Nam. --- She said the numbers had increased since
that time --40 to 50 people per day were killed with handguns in
the United States.
1-$ 1. 4
3 /22/82
Ms. Vossbri nck reiterated that they were talking about concealable
handguns. She said one argument against the handgun ban had to do
with a Second Amendment argument. On five separate occasions, the
Supreme Court of the Uni ted States ruled that the Second Amendment
was intended to protect members of a' state mi l i ti a from being _di s-
armed by the federal government. In addition to those five
Supreme Court decisions, the American Bar Association stated that
every federal court decision regarding the Amendment had given it
a collective militia interpretation and/or held that firearms con
trol laws enacted under a state's police power were
Constitutional. She said that meant that the right to carry a
handgun or other weapon was a pri vi 1 ege--not a right guaranteed by
the Second Amendment. Another argument against handgun control
was that usually a handgun was needed to protect someone in a
hor;►e. Studies on actual handgun deaths showed that six times as
many family members and children were ki 11ed as a result of acci -
dents as opposed to deaths due to protection. She said the City
needed a cooperative sol uti on to the probl em, and that the protal em
was for handgun owners and non handgun owners alike because
everyone was threatened by the existence of the guns, and everyone
needed to work together to find ,a sol uti on. Those who supported a
control on shotguns and rifles needed to realize that other people
wanted to use shotguns and rifles for hunting, but everyone needed
to underst and that handguns had •ki 1 l ed over 11,000 people per year
in the United States. She thought those who used handguns were
being done a disservice because they were so readily available,
and reiterated that handguns oftentimes were used against family
members or by children who accidently found them. She recommended
that the Palo Alto City Council be the first in the Bay Area to
support a handgun control ban even if no problem existed in Palo
Alto. She said such an acti on. would ref l ect a significant step
toward Palo Alto's nonsupport of violence as a way to solve prob-
1 ems.
Donald L. Cline, 2455 Al varado Road, Santa Clara, said he thought
handgun control was like an epidemic and was getti ng out of hand.
He spoke about the relationship between a legally -owned handgun
and , crime. He said that San Francisco had one handgun per 9,5
residents purchased legally in the last ten years. San Francisco
was a very violent city according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report,
and San Jose by compari son had almost the same population and
almost the same amount of handguns. He said that the number of
handguns purchased in San Jose amounted to one handgun for every
9.9 residents in the last ten years, and yet the FBI Uniform Crime
Report said that San Jose was one of the four safest cities in the
United States. Thus, handguns were not the cause of violent
crimes. Palo Alto had 39 robberies in the last eight months --25
of which were perpetrated at the point of a firearm, which was 64%
of the total amount of robberies. He said that according to the
Palo Alto Police Department, 39 robberies, with Palo Alto's fairly
smai 1 population, took Palo Alto ri ght of f the scale as far as the
number of robberies which normally occurred per capita in any
normal jurisdiction in Santa Clara County. He thought it was si g-
ni fi cant to point -out that San Francisco had one handgun : per 9.5
ee'.i dents, San Jose had one handgun per 9.9 residents, Sunnyvale
had one handgun for every 11 residents, and, Palo Alto had one
handgun for every 47 residents. He pointed out that Palo Alto had
a very small handgun popul ati on but a very hi gh armed robbery
rate. He said that with today's Taws on unl awful search and
seizure, it was virtually impossible to make ai drug bust stick --
the police could not go into a house and hunt for drugs without a
great deal of information proving that drugs were there. A hand-
gun:control ordinance would be equally impossible to enforce, it
would be -,ignored by criminals . who by definition- did not obey the
laws . anyway, and an even i urger percentage of Palo Alto residents
would be made defenseless as was currently the case, and the
remainder of the population that owned firearms would not submit
to the law because the right to defend yourself and your family
superseded any aw _ ever written Including the Uni ted States
Constitution.
1 8 1 7>-
3/22/82
Hugh Le Master, 3285 South Court, Palo Alto, said he agreed with
Councilmember Levy, and wanted the Council to . research some ques-
tions. He said that Handgun Control Incorporated had stated that
people who carried handguns increased their chances of being
killed during an armed assault. He thought some statistics should
be gathered in order to educate the people before passing such an
ordinance. He did not think that private handguns served the pub-
lic safety --an effective police force and public cooperation with
the police force were much more effective in protecting the public
than everyone trying to protect themselves by carrying a handgun
around. He rejected the idea that possession of concealable
weapons were protected by the Constitution. He thought that the
purpose of such an ordinance should be considered in terms of its
effectiveness, and obviously a ban in Palo Alto would not be
effective in and of itself unless other communities followed suit.
He thought that if the ordinance was to be passed, Palo Alto
should take an educational role in doing so, and that a voter
referendum would be more effective in carrying out that education,
and would foster confidence that the ordinance represented the
will of the people and was not imposed against the voter's
desires. He was in favor of studying the issue further, and
eventually bringing the matter before the voters.
Steve Vi rgi l i o, 1251 W. McKinley, #A, Sunnyvale, agreed with Mr.
Cline and said their figures were the same. He said that in fis-
cal year 1971-72, Palo Alto had 78 armed robberies, and in fiscal
year 1969-81, Palo Alto had 135. In less than 10 years, the
amount of armed robberies had doubled, and according to the infor-
mation officer, the police staff in Palo Al to had remained the
same. He said there were 55,225 people in Palo Alto, and 100
police officers, and only 94 were sworn in, the other six were
available for training positions. The most officers on duty at a
time in Palo Alto was 20 --one officer for every 2,761 people.
Between the hours of 9:00 -p.m. and 7:00 a.m., there were only 17
police officers on duty --one officer for every 3,248 people. He
did not think Palo Alto needed gun control , he thought more police
officers were needed. He asked if people's guns were taken away,
how One officer would protect 3,000 people in the middle of the
night.
James Westenberger, 756 Rosewood Drive, Palo Alto, said he had
lived in Palo Alto for 24 years. He said he did not want the City
Counci 1 to think they had a right to take his weapons from him.
Alan Henderson, 565 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto said he thought
the gun control issue- was a subject on which the Council would be
sorely tested. He had past experience with the subject both as a
Councilmember and as a member of a National League of Cities com-
mittee. He recalled one session of the League of Cities conven-
tion in 1972 where he watched John Lindsay, then Mayor of New
York, endure unbelievably vicious personal attacks from members of
the audience when has' epok-e out for handgun control. He said it
came very close to being a physical attack. He commended
Councilmember Fletcher and Councilmember Levy_ for being willing to
take the :initiative to speak up publicly on the issue, but cau-
tioned that for many people, .the desire to possess guns was equal
in fervor to the strongest of religious crusades and for many of
the same people and others taking away their guns was seen as
taking away their manhood. He said the feelings were very
intense, but he was confident the Council could stand up to them.
He said they kept hearing that guns' did not kill --people killed,
automobiles killed, knives killed, and baseball bats ki l l ed, but
the difference was that guns existed- for the single purpose of
killing. He could not drive ,a gun, cut bread with a gun or hit
baseballs with, a gun --a gun shoots bullet$ --that's it.
'1 8 1 8
3/22/82
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He thought it was ridiculous to say that banning handguns made no
difference in the death counts. He reiterated some 1980 figures
on handgun deaths: Japan, 48; Canada, 52; Israel, 58; Sweden, 21;
West Germany, 42; Great Britain, 8; United States, 11,522 and
growing. He said there was no need to discuss the
Constitutionality of gun control, it was ruled upon favorably a
number of times. The favored statement of gun advocates was that
if guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns. He thought
it was unfortunate that the City had to attempt anti -handgun
possession laws at the local level because local laws could not be
totally effective if guns were found in neighboring communities.
He thought it was insane that no federal legislation existed
banning handguns, but since there was no federal legislation, it
was a step that must be taken at the local level. He thought that
if cities and then states enacted such laws, perhaps the national
leaders would overcome their fears of National Rifle Association
threats. He realized that some people were reluctant to support a
local law and would rather support a state initi ati ve. He urged
that they support both. He thought the issue was so important
that it must be fought at all levels and the proposed state law
spoke only of registration and an eventual banning of new weapons.
He urged that the first step be taken and that it be done unani-
mously. He did not believe there was one person who did not
believe deep down that society would be far better off without the
existence of handguns.
Dr. Herbert H. Zeman, 464 W. Charleston Road, commended Council -
members Fletcher and Levy_ for their courageous support of the
handgun measure and" said he agreed with Councilmember Levy's and
Alan Henderson's statement. Further, he pointed out that a shot-
gun was a much better weapon for protecting a home than a hand-
gun.
Eric R. Auchard, 235 Churchill Avenue, said he was working, an the
State Handgun Initiative and reaffirmed the comments made by
people in favor of -referring the ban to the City Attorney. . He
said that in California there were a number of cities that were
considering the same acti on. As he understood i t , Palo Alto was
the furthest al org in terms of actually carrying out plans to ban
handguns in the local community. He thought it was part of a
growing movement of a lot of towns in the area and in other areas
in the United States. At the state level, there were at least
five states that were going to have initi ati-ves for stronger hand-
gun control. He thought i t was all a movement towards stricter
controls over types of weapons that were used in crimes and street
crimes so often.
Joshua Goldstein, ` 1082 College : Avenue, said that on behalf of
those that lived in Palo Alto, and wno believed that the U. S.
Constitution ''had priority over the right to bear arms, he hoped
the Council would unanimously support the motion. He said that
although it might not solve the problem, it was certainly a step
in the right direction and one that was long overdue.
John Rogers, 921 Maddux Drive, said he was against the proposed
ordinance to:. ban handguns in Palo Alto: He said he : had lived . in
Palo Alto for 10 years and felt that Councilmember Fletcher's 'pro-
posed ordinance, given the long history of liberal support for
social issues and civil liberties, was . ironic in that if the ordi-
nance passed, it would result in a serious need to bridge some of
the civil liberties which h supposedly had been guarded over the
years. . He
said it would make many law abiding citizens, who
refused to turn in -their handguns, criminals and subject _ to some.
kind of search. A < lot of -pressure would no doubt develop for
various kinds of - information to ascertain where the handguns were
and.:possilb'ly:s`ame►:searches .would be the result of ,Informers giving
information . as to ,,the whereabouts of the handguns. He thought the
scenario , Was hard to imagine in Palo Alto and guessed that " .many.
people felt it -could never happen here. He remembered that toward
the .end of the Viet Nam war there was a time when Palo Alto
enforced an anti -commune ordinance, and searches were conducted to
ascertain if more than five unrelated people lived in one house.
He said several searches were conducted either early in the
morning or late at night to find ;out how many people were sleeping
in the beds in the house and_if f they were related.. Al though that
type of thing might not -happen in this case, the possibility
existed. He said most, people in Palo Alto did not have handguns,
and if he were a criminal and was thinking about breaking into a
home, he would be afraid of being shot by a gun; and if he knew
there was little chance that a gun would be present'in the house,
it would- be more of an incentive to commit a crime in Palo Alto as
opposed to Hayward where no such ordinance existed. He felt the
ordinance was a legitimate reaction to the problems in America of
crime and violence; but on the other hand, he felt the effort was
futile in that it did not attack the real problem of crime and
violence. He thought the community should be trained in some form
of nonviolent . self-defense, and trained` ,so that- people could
relate to one another and be aware of what :gas going on in their
neighbors' houses so they could protect each other,
Ross Thompson, 555 Forest Avenue, said that he was personally
against guns, had never owned one and had only 'fired one once. He
said he was drafted during World War 11 and: spent 4-1/2 years as a
medical soldier because he refused to bear arms. He believed that
he who fought and ran av:ay lived to fight another day. He was
totally against handgun control in any form ,. tsoever because it
was a very -superficial approach to the probem. He showed a
Sample Ballot and although he spoke '-:Spani sh, ` he had to wade
through half of the ballot in Spanish ,-when he lived in, a country
that spoke only English. He thought putting a foreign language on
a ballot where a person should be educated in the language of the
country he was voting in was silly. He thought that if such silly
things as that were done, they should not be surprised that people
killed each other' with guns. Another illustration was labor
unions in the United States. They knew that some of the companies
union members worked for were going under financially, but the
labor unions were too stubborn to take a cut in wages and insisted
on getting a good salary when they knew it would kill the company.
He said the young people in the country's.:colleges and universi-
ties were the most psychologically advantaged, highest educated
and sharpest ever in hi story, and yet those rating- people would
argue i n favor of using drugs which was downright silly. Another
example was the Roman Catholic -Church, which knew very well that
this country had separation, of church and state, but every month'
,the Roman Catholic Church- got millions of dollars in federal
moneys to run their -pri-vate schools. In his opinion, no. one
person was any more capable of determining whether another. person
should have a gun, and the Dan White case in San Francisco was the
best example..
Joe D'Ambria, 777 W. Middlefield Road, said he was bony and raised
in the lower east side of Manhattan,. New -York, and for the most
parte lived under very strict gun -cont ebl laws. He said the
Sullivan laws" really flowered when he was about ;ten years old, .and
his neighborhood ' became a very nasty place in which -to live. As a
result,- people became very impersonal. with one:OnOthervr and. in,
one i nstan'Ce a .man was ki l -led right outside hips door. Police
would not r=espond and'--"neighbors could. not respond and- were terrie..
fi ed, He said the neighborsneighbOrsa would not ` even testifytestifya against the
people who had committed -the cnimu fair "fear of reprisal. He hoped
the Council did not follow the -failure -of that kind of l egi sl a -
ti on.
Robert S. Ha4gqui st, 132 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, said he had
heard the same arguments for gun control for the past ten years.
He said police officers carried handguns because they had been
establ i Oed as an effective means for pr'otecting their lives, and
he did not understand why it would not be a perfectly good and
effective means ft:ill protecting other peoples' lives, As he read
the ..Constitution, his life_ was; valued: as highly . as- .: that of any
police = officer. He said that one of Pete McCl oskey' s favorite
arguments was that a handgunwas not effective to protect a life,.
a shotgun was a .:wonderful weapon to use for.. that. . He agreed with
that under certain circumstances. He had heard the same arguments
for many years, and had yet to hear one of the groups say well
let's get a range available and a police officer to train these
people to 'use a shotgun as a weapon for defending a home. He
would like to see Counci1members look into that proposition. He
said that several years ago when he first moved to Palo Alto he
was living on Emerson Street, and much of his furniture was out in
the garage. He said he happened to be sleeping on a hi deabed one
night, without a handgun, and i n the middle of the night he heard
a woman screaming "he'.s ki i 1 i ng me, he's ki l l i ng me." He grabbed
his knife and headed i n that direction, and when he got to the
street, several other people were there and informed him that the
woman had mental problems and that it had happened before. He
said it bothered him that if that sort of situation happened
again, and he had a handgun instead, he would have to think about
the person in dire need, and whether he should let whatever was
happening happen, or whether he should go out and make an attempt
to protect .her knowi ng that hi s fell ow citizens wished to see him
arrested because he had a handgun in hi s possessi on. He assumed
that most people would act like they did in New York City several
years ago when a woman by the name of Gennovese was `being raped
and murdered i n. the street and more than 50 peopl a in nearby
apartment houses looked down and watched and not one person came
out and lifted a finger to hel p her. If they had, under the
Sullivan law, they could have _been arrested and prosecuted if
they had a handgun.
Barbara Reid Brown, ;02 Charleston Court, congratulated the
Council for the proposed action and was delighted that her -City
Council was brave enough to take such an action and to lead in an
idea whose time had come. She added that she supported the peti-
tion for a California initiative for the ballot on November 2.
She spent three- hours in the shopping area on Saturday, and
reported that she spoke to about 130 people in that ti me, and the
vast majority signed the peti ti on and said to hurry up.
Andrew Maier, 252 Swett Drive, Woodside, said he was a member of
the Nati anal Ri fl e Assoc' ati on (NRA-) by choice, and that the NRA
had not solicited his presence at the meeting. He empathized with
those who wanted to take steps to curb today's violence, and
wished there was a simple formula to do so. He thought that many
seemingly perfect solutions to problems created many unintended
side effects, and the idea of gun curtailment was not without the
unwanted effects., He agreed that handguns existed to ki l 1 some-
one --to kill someone that was trying to kill you. He said that in
1930, the FBI began compiling crime statistics and publishing them
as the Uniform Crime Reports. The stati sti cs,.. were grim and sug-
gested that anyone concerned with the issue should obtain a copy
from the nearest bookstore and study .it. In 1980, the Director of
the FBI did not consider handguns worth mentioning as a factor in
violent crimes. The idea of handgun control was not new and had
peen around since about 1900 with the original Sullivan law. He
said that the areas in the :United States that had the type of
1 egi sl ati on-; Palo Alto was considering were experiencing a wake of
crime increase-- about one and one-half to two times as much as the
areas which didn't have that type of legislation. Massachusetts
alone experienced a 17% increase against an increase on the Nest
Coast of 8.8% during 1979. He said there were many incidents
Involving individuals which were not found in the statistics. For
example, he liked to fish, but did not like to hunt, and a few
Yeats ago he was in northern Nevada in a 'remote area- and ran into
a young man who claimed that his father had gotten drunk and
driven off and left him. He said he was a sucker for kids and
tool(" the boy and fed him some breakfast, _ supplied him with a
fishing rod, - and took him out and they fished. They y :came back,
cleaned and cooked the- fish for dinner, and when.. he walked up to
get Something from the cab of his ,'_tr'uck, the boy ..picked up the
re
1 8,2 .1 _
3/22/82
_ hunting knife he had used to clean the fish and told him to drive
him into Elko. He said he was wi•thi n reach of his handgun and
'told the boy no, to lay the. knife down very quietly and very
. slowly. He said that he and his wife tied the boy up very
securely with .some clothesline, and took him to a friend's house
about 20 miles away, and contacted the local authorities who
picked him up. When he returned to the area about nine months
later to do more fishing, someone_ recognized him as the fellow who
had brought the boy to the friend's place the preceding year; the
man told him he was lucky to be alive because the boy was an
escapee from the Nevada Youth Authority, and was there for killing
his father with a knife. He felt that when something like that
happens, statistics mean nothing.
Mike Breslin, 2123 Ramona, Palo Alto, said he was a native
Californian and was educated in Palo Alto. His father was an NRA
life member, and a certified rifle, pistol and shotgun instructor.
He said he loved the sport of handgun shooting, and was not into
killing anyone, but assured the Council that if the situation
arose and .he had to protect himself with a handgun, he would do
so. He said he valued the sport of shooting, and started out when
he was six years old shooting a 22 -cal i ber rifle. His father
would not- let him shoot a. handgun until he was 18 years old --the
fact was that handguns had a short barrel and were easily con-
cealed and carried about by youths. He thought that according to
thch statistics, a lot of the crimes were committed by youths. He
was not a parent, but wondered how youths protected themselves,
and What parents were` doing to protect the youths. He said one
statistic which stood out in his mind Was the fact that there were
/1,000 handgun deaths each year and i n the United States there
were 50 million handguns. He thought there were very few deaths
compared to the total number ofehandguns in the. -country. He urged
that when the Council looked at'the ordinance, each Councilmember
ask themselves . if anyone they knew in the City of Palo Alto was
ever confronted with a handgun and had violence committed to them,
before casting their vote.
Tommy Bright, 2271 Cowper, said that he and his wife were about to
start the fifth generation of Palo Alto natives. He told the
Councilmembers not to worry, that they could get away with it
because executive action could get away with anything. He said
American people believed what they were told to believe. He said
not to worry about the gun nuts, tell them that concentration
camps were not always the result of pistol registration. He said
to ask his grandfather, Isadore Bright, of Poland. He could not
contradict them because he was too dead to say anything. He said
not to worry about- all the dead victims of . Fascism or, the ex
executive councils, or of any of history's other benefactors of
enforced public order, because those victims were all too dead to
speak up. He ' said " not to worry about the victims yet to come
because they did not know what was in store for them. He told the
Council to. do whatever they felt noble --whatever• could be
rationalized could be enforced. He said' to leave the people
defenseless for their own good or some such noble notion. He said
not to worry about the taxpayers because they were just simple-
minded ..
serfs who enjoyed working for a living. Only idiots like.
himself loved his family and worked profitably with his neighbors.
He asked the Council to pity the poor victims of society who shot
each;; other during screaming drunken arguments, those poor victims
of society who knocked down the elderly and held bankf of ds of the
helpless hostage. He said to pity and protect those misunderstood
saints amongst -them and help " them` and force them, to .save- more of
them. He said he held a thief at gunpoint for 45 minutes waiting
for a police: car to respond, but what would -he know. He said he
identified , the body of a good- friend in the morgue_. killed by an
unrepentent youth ;who was subsequently .releaseddue to en adminis-
trative error -only to ki l l_ again;. but again, what .would he know.
He said he wondered why he _marched for : the underprivileged in
voting drives in high school. He said that was why he Was down on
the
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pavement being kicked by hoodlums. He said his wife's 87 -year -old
grandfather was knocked down in a robbery this year --he was being
robbed with a kitchen knife. Should he be found guilty of not
offering enough to the good guy who was holding him up. He said
not to worry though, it's in the bag. He did not think that such
frivolous questions as who should live and who should perish
needed to be answered. He said the historical trend was with the
executive council to promote lawlessness-, create helpless victims,
and prevent effective self-defense. Eventually it would demand a
dictator to bring order. He said punks should be encouraged to
cultivate the more refined ski l l s of breaking the bones of old
folks, killing policemen and byst andees in hold-ups, and raping;
but by all means the sweet punks should be prevented from shooting
their drug suppliers, getting shot by their battered wives, or
from accidentally ending their own pitiful lives. He said not to
worry, the American people believed what they were told to
believe, they did not talk back anymore --not like they did in
1776. He pointed out how far people had come in 200 years. He
asked the last time Switzerland was invaded, and said he believed
Switzerland had a mandatory gun possession. People had to train,
and have ammunition,in the household. He thought Japan could
hardly be used, as a statistic because Japan did not border Central
America —Central America had been killing its own people for
thousands of years. He said it was not for them to decide who
would live and die, but if someone was going to kill themself why
should they be stopped. He asked if the police would be disarmed,
and said he thought the same arguments were true for the police.
He pointed out that Dan White killed with a police gun. He said
Richard Speck killed eight nurses slowly with a kitchen knife; the
Manson kids were lovely, they killed with knives. He said it was
just the good guys versus. the bad guys. People could not be
forced to be good, they could only be prevented from -being really,
really bad.
Stan Cottrell, 990 Blair Court, said that Al an Henderson had made
his speech. He said he heard a lot of expressions of concern
about the ability to defend oneself. He thought that the fact
that the element of surprise was always with the attacker was
being overlooked. He said he could not help wondering what would
have happened to the gentlemen who spoke earlier if the young boy
he spoke of had reached for the gun rather than the knife. He
said if he were a burglar and was entering a house where a handgun
would likely be, he would simply shoot faster., If he was in then
bank when the man entered with a shotgun, he hoped to God no one
was standing next to him with a handgun in his pocket.
J. Jeffrey Clyde, 3031. Sibbits Drive, said he worked at Century
Liquors for three years, and had never been approached by anyone
with a handgun, but was hit on the head with a bottle. He thought
that if everyone was seriously concerned about getting shot by a.
handgun, they should go out and get a flak jacket which would be
readily available.
Robert Schauer,, 546 Jackson Drive, represented the Palo Alto Civic
League, and said the Civic League supported the concept of local
handgun control. While the Civic League recogni zed the strong
feelings of those who opposed such controls, it felt that on
balance; the unrestricted availability of handguns presented more
of a hazard to the community than control s. The Civic League
urged that the City Attorney be directed to examine the legality
of local restrictions on handgun possession and use, and that an
appropriate ordinance be drafted.
Doughl as: McGaughy, 464 W. Charleston Road, :supported the handgun
control concept and applauded the courageous efforts of . Council
members. Levy and Fletcher.
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3/22/82:
John Braun, 3494 South Court, said he supported handgun control
with some reservations. He said he grew up on a farm and had used
shotguns, rifles and handguns when he was younger, and did enjoy
it. He -did not like anymore _ government interference in peoples'
lives than was absolutely necessary for order, health and safety.
He did not think the amount of weapons one had in the home would
help them if one was robbed on the street. He understood that the
purpose of handgun control was to control domestic violence, and
the kinds of things that go on in the home between members of a
family, the accidental shootings, and the moment of anger when
someone got shot. He said a policeman had to_ have a probable
cause to enter ones house for search and seizure. If someone had
a guh in his or her home, there was no way the police could come
with a gun control ordinance and' search that house to find out who
-had a gun because it was forbidden by the Constitution. He said
people would still be able to- have their guns in their homes, but --
.hopefully some people would turn them in and -fewer guns would be
around town. He hoped the issue of compensation for anyone who
did turn in _a weapon would be -di cussed so that .people were fairly
compensated. He was offended by anyone saying that police were
killers in the same sense as hoodlums on- the street who were
robbing banks and older people, etc. The policemen were desig-
nated by the legally constituted society to apprehend bankrobbers,
insane people, etc. He said the Council was elected, by society to
make decisions based. upon what the people felt was their will.
Baxter H. Armstrong,' 4339 Miranda Avenue, Palo Alto, thanked
Counci lmembers Fletcher and Levy for proposing -the study for a
handgun control resolution. He seconded everything Alan Henderson
said.
Elaine Lotter, 739 Layne Court, was Chairperson of the Palo Alto
Area Democratic Association (PAADA). She spoke as ei individual
and on behalf of the PAADA in favor of an ordinance banning the
sale and possession of handguns i n Palo Alto. She was proud to
have grown up in Palo Alto, and .sal d it was a wonderful ly safe and
peaceful place then. She could remember only 'one murder by a
handgun the entire time she was growing up, and subsequently she
lived many years in Germany and England where citizens could still
safely walk through large cities alone at night. When she
returned home to Palo Alto, she was shocked at the violence both
on the Stanford campus and in Palo -Alto. She said the United
States was known throughout the world as the most dangerous and
violent country in the -free world. She pointed out that Great
Britain, in spite of unemployment and racial conflict, had only
eight deaths from handguns last year. She said Europeans were in
far more danger traveling in_the Bay Area than anywhere in Europe.
She hoped Palo Alto would be the first to pass the ordinance.
Bart Anderson, 2091 Amherst Street; said he was a night desk der!:
in e downtown Palo Alto hotel. He saw a lot of unbalanced, and
regular people get into fights and it made him nervous to have a
lot of handguns floating around. He wanted to see ---P al o Alto pass
a handgun law. He realized that a city could not solve' the prob-
lem by itself, but the only way anything would be done was by
cities like Palo .Alta making a start. He said someone had to
stand up to the handgun law, and it would take courage.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orme, commended Councilmembers Levy, and Fletcher
for having the courage to support and bring the issue to a head.
He thought that Ms. Vossbrinck and Alan Henderson covered the
issue eloquently. He thought it should be pointed out that the 52
handgun deaths in Canada, on an equivalent population basis,' would
be 885 in the United States. He said it was true that both Israel
and Switzerland. were essentially . °armed camps, and that-! the adult
males were almost required to have weapons, but not handguns, to
defend themselves and their country. He said ' accidents did happen
and spoke . of the : Young fourth grade ,girl in an East Bay school who
found ' her parents' gun, took it to sohopl , and fired some shots
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3/22/8Z
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into the school yard ground narrowly missing a group- of children.
The only reason no one was injured was because the gun jammed. He
thought that a total ban on handguns in Pale Alto would not solve
the probl em, but was a necessary first step. He-- thought that
since the people were afflicted by gutless legislators in both
Washington and Sacramento, it was time that someone on the local
1 evel spoke up. The police should be depended .upon for protec-
tion.) He said he would be terrified if his neighbor thought he
heard a burglar and started shooting away. - --He would much rather
he 'picked up the phone and dialed 911 and.. cal led the professional s
to come and handle the job the way it should be done. Regarding
whether people would break into homes because someone had guns, a
coworker of his had a gun col 1 ecti on that was an attracti ve nui -
sance and he was burglarized .and the en ti re collection was ripped
off. The fact that he had more than a dozen guns in his home,
both handguns and rifles, did not dissuade _ the burglars in the
least. He felt that having handguns in the house as a means of
personal protection was_ foolhardy. He commented that one of the
most heavily armed countries in the world was. Afghanistan. He
said it was a right of passage to manhood that a male child be
given a gun --not a pistol, but a lotto gun. - Handguns would not be
of much use, and rifles had been proven to be even less use, in
resisting the invasion of a modern army.
Carroll U. Fruth, 108 Lois Lane, said he had lived in Palo Alto
for- 23 years. He said that his 45 was registered. All his
children and his wife had had formal training in the use of guns.
Once, when hi s chi ldren were quite small , he was glad his wife was
checked out on the 45 because the "front end" Was convincing in -a
certain si tuati on and that was that. ' He said a federal law
existed that no felon could possess a gun of any kind --it was
another felony automatically.. In 0.01 and a couple of weeks ago,
two police officers stopped a speeder, the one on the left hand
side asked for the registration. The driver reached in the glove
compartment and hauled out some kind of rather large handgun.
Fortunately, the pol iceman on the right hand si de took charge,
they took him, and the' judge released him. He was a felon, had
already killed one policeman and was released. He understood that
the fel on had since been picked up again and was rel eased another
time. He said the Supreme Court decided that a felon could not be
required to declare, turn in, or register any gun' in his posses-
si on because it was sell-i ncrimi nati on; and, therefore, felons
would get a free ride. Questionnaires were sent out to. a random
selection of citizens of all ages and occupations, and 511,765
people responded. Some questions Were as fo l lows:
"Do you bel i eve pri vate citizens have the right to own fire-
arms to defend themselves , their families . and their property from
violent criminal attack?" 90.9% said yes,
"90 you believe judges should be required to impose heavy
prison sentences on criminals- who _use guns or other weapons to
commit - crimes?" 86.7% said yes.
"Do you believe that a ban on .pri vate ownershi p 'of firearms
would significantly reduce the number of murders and robberies in
your -community?" 96.0% said no.
"Do you bell eve that a new law prohi bi t i•ng all ownershi p of
firearms would make it impossible for criminals to ;;get guns?"
98.3% said no.
The poll concluded that 1) an overwhelming majority - of Americans
believed they . had the' right to own firearms for self-defense; _ 2)
Americans primarily blamed, the crime problem on the court system
and would favor . mandatory sentences for - criminals _ using guns to
commit - violent crimes. He said that in an eastern state, there
was an automatic mandatory ten year sentence to be served consecu-
tively -and the judges had,: no.. discretion in the matter, _and the
violent crooks moved' out. 3) Americans also believed that gun
controls are not an " effective means to` control crime; and '` 4)
nearly 100% of Americans polled indicated that new laws outlawing
the use and ownership of firearms would directly affect every
citi xen! s right to a safe = home. He added that the boom should be
lowered ors the crooks, and there should be : a . "use: a. gun, go to
jail" law with no possible discretion by the courts, so that the
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soft judges would have no choice but to throw then in jail and
have them stay there.
Scott Williams, 835 Thornwood Drive, said that rather than banning
handguns, more serious thought should be given to tightening the
restrictions on criminals. He thought that rather than setting
murderers free after serving seven years of a life sentence they
should be put to death. H.e also felt . there should be a state
funded educational program for handgun training.
Lou Cava, 826 Nectarine Avenue, Sunnyvale, said that since
January, he was doing work on the handgun control issue in a
charter committee. He hoped Palo Alto would upstage them, and
the committee would follow Palo Alto. He said that waving the
1979 FBI Crime Report seemed to be a habit of NRA people. He said
it was pointed out that the FBI had not made menti on of handguns
in that report --it was not mentioned because the FBI had not yet
attacked the subject. He said that report would be out in a.
couple of weeks. He said that 92% of all burglaries were com-
mitted when the home was unoccupied, and of the remaining 8%, 4%
of the people slept through them. The police recommended that if
you suspect a burglar is in your home, lock the door, dial 911,
open the window and scream, and turn on as many lights as possible
because a burglar hates noise and light the most. He said he had
asked Mr. Fell from the NRA what the NRA had done with regard to
supporting the Assembly Bill now in the California Assembly
regarding the sale and possession of the teflon coated cop -killer
bullet. His answer was that "it was a silly question and a silly
law to think about. What possible difference would it make to a
policeman if he was killed with an ordinary bullet or with a tef-
lon coated bullet.0 The fact was that if a police officer had on
a flak jacket or a bullet-proof vest and an ordinary bullet was
used, he had a chance. If the teflon coated bullet was used, he
had no chance, it could go through three policemen let alone one.
He said that a San Jose police officer addressed a letter to the
California representative of the NRA regarding that same question,
and the answer was that they had taken no position.
Ken O'Neil , 652 Melville, said he was reminded of a quote by Wi l l
Rogers that there were three kinds of lies. There were lies,
there were damn lies, andthere were statistics. He thought that
dependent upon .a point of view, the statistics could be moved
favorably one way or the other. He did not own a handgun, but may
decide to buy one regardless of which way the vote went. He
agreed with several people that perhaps the problem was dealt with
in a manner that was not in everyone's best interests. He wished
they could get away from the mentality that said when a complex,
and controversial subject was dealt with, a ban was .adopted.. He
spoke of the historical passage of the Harri son Act which was
passed in the same kind of legislative furor that this one was
except, that the subject was drugs, which at the time were licit
and not illicit drugs like opium and heroin. He said the contro-
versy raged and what the legislators ended up doing with the
passage of that Act was to guarantee one of the largest, most
flourishing businesses in America today. It happened to be
illegal, but nevertheless it was there. He was concerned that if
handgun legislation passed, what guarantee would there be that in
1983 there would not still be 11,000 deaths occurring with hand-
guns. His mind was not made up, -but he admired the courage of
Councilmembers Fletcher and Levy, and admired the NRA for taking a
stand. He -liked the .idea of a forum to address the issues, and
since he was a new American, most precious to him was the ability
to decide what was: his and _ given to, him by _-the rights of the:
Consti tuti Qn.
1
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Angie Fa, 235 Churchill , thanked Councilmembers Levy and Fletcher
for introducing the resolution. She thought she was fortunate to
be working in Santa Clara County as the staff coordinator for the
Handgun Control Statewi de initiative. She said that 80% of the
American public was in support of a strong sense of handgun con-
trol. She said that the current laws had a problem with enforce-
ment because if she' sold someone a gun, th.e fact that she sold the
gun would not have to be reported back to the State Registration
System. She said that the gun that, killed Robert :;Kennedy was
hard to trace back to Si rhan Si Than because he had purchased the
gun from an individual and a big loophole existed in the
California Gun Legislation in that regard. She said one reason
for that was that the National Rifle Association was a power lobby
i n the country, and the United States Legislature and the
California Legislature were intimidated by the lobby. She urged
support of handgun control, and thanked Counciimembers Levy and
Fletcher for their courage and all they had done to put the issue
of banning handguns on the agenda in Palo Alto.
Mark Diamond, 4146 Fain Way, said that over� the past few years he
had been a sal esman in various nei ghborhoods throughout Palo Alto,
and 251 of the time when he went to the door, people would not
answer. He said Palo Alto wa.s often spoken of as a model com-
munity and was considered to be sheltered. He said that when one
out of four people he went to would not open the door because of
fear, there was a reason behind it. People were afraid of crime,
and afraid because their neighbor was burgl ari zed, and afrai d
because people right in Palo Alto were being killed. His experi-
ence was that the room was not full tonight because there were
people who did not want to go out in the evening.
Counciimember Fletcher said the charge was made that peoples'
homes would be invaded in searching for handguns, and the Chief
of Police had assured her that that was not the way Palo Alto
envisioned enforcing an ordinance. . She said that if a handgun
was evident at the time the police were present, they would have
the right to confiscate it at that time if an ordinance were
passed. She said many references were made that people would not
be able to bear arms, and said that the Council was not addressing
any control of rifles or shotguns. She was shocked at the indi-
vidual who claimed that 10,000 or 11,000 deaths per year in the
United States was small compared to the number of handguns. She
felt that a human life was much more valuable than the percentage
over the number of handguns. She. said that Morton Grove, Illinois
was the first city to enact a handgun ban, and she .-read a 'portion
of a letter she had received from the Mayor of that city regarding
their handgun control:
"Handgun control law_ reflect not only the feelings
and desi res of our resi dents , but those of the
majority_. of Americans as wel l . National ,polls . of
the past 10 years support this goal.
"Our ordinances have been upheld. by two courts and
we anticipate that ultimately both the Illinois and
United States Supreme Court : will also uphold these
laws.
"The National Ri f'1 e. Assoc.i.ati on, . which represents
the manufacturers of weapons, promulgates _; tnei r
sel fish myth that any controls on handguns are
`unconstitutional.' With over 50 million handguns.
now in circulation and an estimated two million more
added each year, we can see their fi nanci al interest
i n opposing these regulations at the expense of
everyone's: safety. But the NRA does not _have. tiff
responsibility for interpreting -the Constitution.
This responsibility belongs to the Supreme Court,
and the Supreme Court had never ruled.., that we have
the right to-possess.any- weapon we' wish. In fact,
just the contrary is true. A 1939 opinion from the
Supreme Court.. prohibits our owning sawed-off
shotguns. Ownership of automatic weapons are also
severely re.stricted."
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3/22/82 A
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Councilmember Fletcher stated that the proposed action was only to
ask the City Attorney to look into\ the legality of enacting an
ordinance, and to refer that to the Policy and Procedures
Committee. She said the Committee would explore the possibilities
of such an ordinance, and refer a recommendation to the City
Council. She hoped that everyone would show their interest and
air their concerns at the Committee level. She said that prohi -
bi t l ng the private possession of handguns was what was in, mind,
and if Morton Grove's example was followed, law enforcement and
security service personnel would be exempt 'as would antique gun
collectors and licensed gun clubs. She said they had been told
that a ban on handguns would deprive law abiding citizens of the
ability to -protect themselves. She said no restriction was being
proposed on rifles or shotguns, but she recommended tear gas for
self-protection. She said about 100 handguns were stolen from
Palo Alto households in burglaries in 1978 alone, and there was
not one instance of which the Police Department was aware in which
a handgs.n .-in. the hands of,a private citizen in the City aaf Palo
Alto had deterred a criminal act. Instead, the 100 handguns
stolen both before and after 1981, were now in the possession of
criminal s. She said the situation must stop. She urged a vote in
favor of the motion.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
Vice Mayor Bechtel commented that the item would not be before the
Policy and Procedures Committee until May or later. She encour-
aged citizens to watch the newspapers to determine the exact
date,
REQUEST OF COUNCILMEMBER WITHERSPOON RE SANTA CLARA VALLEY MEDICAL
CENTER
Councilmember Witherspoon said she received a letter from the
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center urging support for their appli-
cation for a Certificate of Need to remodel and update their
facilities. She believed that Mayor Eyerly had written a letter
on his own behalf saying that the facility was very valuable and
should be certified by the State for an update.
MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by Fazzino,
that Council send a letter to the Santa Clara Valley . Medical
Center expressing support for remodeling.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
REQUEST OF COUNCIEMEMBERS RENZEL AND LEVY TO ADJOURN MEETING IN
,Councilmember Renzel said that i ast Friday, Ethel Anderson, .a long
time Council watcher and person who was active in civic affairs in
Palo Alto passed away.
MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by Levy, to adjourn
in memory of Ethel Anderson.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly. absent.
ADJOURNMENT
Council` adjourned at 11:30 p.
ATTEST: