HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-02-02 City Council Summary Minutes1
PAGE
6 0 5
6 0 5
6 0.5
6 0 6
6 0 6
6 0 6'
6 0 7
6' 0 8
6'0 9
6 1 0
6 3 2
4 2
6 4 4
6 4 8
6 4 8
6 5 0
6.5 0
CITY
COUNCIL
MINUTES'
CITY
CAF
PALO
ALTO
Adjourned Meeting of January 26, 1981
Monday, February 2, 198 1
Regular Meeting
ITEM
Oral Communications
1. Louis Fein, 1540 Oak Creek Drive
2. Frank Manfredi, 219 Addison Avenue
Minutes of November 3, 1980
Consent Calendar - Action Items
Regional Water Quality. Control Plant
(RWQCF) - Award of Bid For Pumping
Plant Repairs
Resolution Re County Plan For
Expenditure Of Proposition 1 Funds
(California Parklands Act Of 1980)
Ordinance Authorizing Northern California
Power Agency (NCPA) To Issue Bond Anti-
cipation Notes
Modifications To Public Hearing And
Application Notice Procedures
Request Of Councilmembers Eyerly, Bechtel,
Fazzino, and Witherspoon q.e Rental Housing
For Employees
Public Hearing:
Deletion Of Willow Road ."Prot sed
Arterial"/Review Of 13 --Acre ' Site
Planning Commission Recommends Re
Updated Comprehensive Plan
Downtown Parking Management Plan
Animal Services Ordinance
ITT Excavation/Restoration Agreement
Report of, City Attorney and City
Controller Regarding Council Vote Of
January 12, 1981 Budget Amendment
Request Of CouncilMe hers Eyerly-
and Levy Re Drought Precautions
Request Of CouncilmemberLevy
and Mayor. Henderson Re Allocation
Of Interest Income
Regttest Of .Councilmember Renzel Re
Gift Of Labor Library To Palo Alto
Report Of Councilmembers Witherspoon,
Levy and Eyerly Re Visual ' Arts ► xgry
Selection
Adjournment of Meeting of January 26, 19.81
60
1/26/81
Regular Meeting
February 2, 1981
ITEM
Minutes of November 10, 1980
Resolution Of Appreciation -
Delmar D. Wilcox
Resolution Of Appreciation -
Georger`t. Briggs
Consent Calendar - Action Items
Crescent Park 1, Underground Utility
District No. 20, Assessment Bonds -
Underground Conversion
Northern California Power Agency (NCPA)
Member Service Agreement
Cable Television
Ownership Alternatives
Yacht Harbor - Santa Clara County
Park and Recreation Department's
Recommendations
Request Of Mayor Henderson Re
Filling Frances H. Brernner's
Term Ending 1W31/81
PAGE
6 5 1
6 5 1
6 5 1
6 5 2
6 5 2
6 5 2
6 5 2
6 5 5
Request Of Councilmember Fazzino Re
Annual Fee For Tennis Court Use
(Referral To Finance and Public Works
Committee) 6 5 5
Northern California Power Agency (NCPA)
Member Service Agreement 6 5 5
Adjournment of Regular Meeting of 2/2/81 6,5 6
Adjourned Meeting of January 26, 1981
Monday, February 2, 1981
Regular Meeting
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in
the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 6:00 p.m. for an
Executive Session concerning personnel, and at 7:45 p.m. for
the adjourned meeting of January 26, 198.1.
1
PRESENT: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzinc, Fletcher, Henderson,
Levy, Renzel, Witherspoon
ABSENT: None (One Council seat vacant - Frances H.
Brenner, deceased 1/26/81)
Mayor Henderson'announced that the Council would meet, probably
at 9:30 p.m. recess and possibly later if necessary, for an
Executive Session concerning personnel.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Louis Fen, 1540 Oak Creek Drive, (a) referred to a
letter in the packet to the Councilmembers concerning
the Oak Creek Conversion, complaining about the
questionable, probably unauthorized activities of the
converter in soliciting irrevocable consents, and of
the city staff in processing and validating these
consents, even before the filing of an application by
the converter for a new subdivision 'map. He asked
that his suggestion for a remedy be placed on the
agenda for the next regular meeting, and tha. staff be
directed to discontinue processing consents in the
interim, until the Council ruled on the subject. (b)
Mr. Fein addressed the organization of the City
Council and the School Board. He had considered for
some time that the City Attorney, the City Collective
Bargaining Negotiator, and.the City Internal Auditor
should all report directly to the City Council, and
that the School Attorney, the School Collective
Bargaining Negotiator, and the School Internal
Auditor should all t'eport directly to the School
board. He made this suggestion in the interests of
avoiding possible conflicts -of -interest.
2. Frank Manfredi, 219 Addison Avenue, expressed his
regrets at not being able to attend Councilmember
Brenner's memorial- services, due to illness. He
wanted to express his feelings that Frances Brenner
was one of the most outstanding women in the City of
Palo Alto, and. in his estimation came up to the
standards of Ma Perkins, Eleanor Roosevelt, and
others. He thought they should honor her further, by
caring the Council_ Chambers the "Frances H. Brenner. -
Memorial Hall," because. for. those who knew her, "she H
can`t.be beat."
MINUTES -OF .NOVEMBER 3, 1981
11-
Councilmember Witherspoon pointed, out that, on page 406, in the
paragraph just above "RECESS," the word "jobs" should be
changed to the term "employed persons," to read: "...they
agreed that the issue of number of employed persons per
household would be included in the Employment Section."
MOTION Councilmember Fa•zino"moved, seconded by. Witherspoon
that the minutes of,November 3 be approved as corrected.
.5 .0 5
1/26/81
MOTION .PAI:cED: The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Mayor Henderson asked that the item regarding the request for
approval to accept state f;rnds for the federally funded Housing
Improvement Programbe continued, to allow for the accumulation
a.' more documentation.
Mayor Henderson asked that the item regarding the second
reading of the Animal Services Ordinances be removed, at the
request of a member of the pubi i c.
Referral Items
None.
Action Items
REGIONAL WATER IUALIT'i CONTROL
OR
Staff recommends that Council authorize the Mayor to execute
the contract with General Engineering & Machine Works in the
amount of $35,311.32.
AGREEMENT - REFURBISHING OF REGIONAL
WATER QUALITY CONTROL PLANT STANDBY
PUMPING PLANT
General Engineering and Machine Works
RESOLUTION RE COUNTY PLAN FOR
XPENL�ITUR�iiF�li UNDS
CALIFORNIA PARKLANDS ACT OF 198D
r' 1: 1
Staff tecommends that Coup:.: i 1; enact the following Resolution
approving the Santa Clara County "Priority Plan for
Expenditure" in accordance with Proposition One, California
Parklands Act of 198 ;.
RESOLUTION 5868 entitled "RESOLUTION -
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO
ALTO APPROVING THE PRIORITY PLAN FOR
EXPENDITUREOE ALLOCATION OF FUNDS TO
THE COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA FOR PARK,
BEACH, R'CREATIGNAL AND HISTORICAL.
PRESERVATION PURPOSES (CALIFORNIA.
PARKLANDS ACT OF -1980)' -
ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING. NORTHERN
TO
TSTIrIUMTWITTITT
Mayor Henderson introduced the following ordinance for first
reading:
ORDINANCE _OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF PALO ALTO AUTHORIZING THE NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY TO ISSUE
REVENUE NOTES (First Reading)
MOTION: Counci lmember Fazzino moved, seconded by Levy,
approval of the Consent Calendar as corrected.
.r
6 0 6
1/26/81
MOTION PASSED: The motion passed on a unanimous vote, with the
item regarding the federally funded Housing Improvement Program
removed for continuance, and the item regarding the second
reading of the Animal Services Ordinance removed at the request
of a member of the public.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fazzino, that the
item regarding the federally funded Housing Improvement Program
be continued to February 9, 1981.
MOTION PASSED: The motion passed unanimously.
AGENDA CHANGES, ADuITIONS AND
NS
None.
UNFINISHED BUS_I NESS
MODIFICATIDNS TO PUBLIC HEARING
The.Planning Commission unanimously recommends modification of
the City's public hearing and application notice procedures.
MOTION: Councilmember Eyerly moved, seconded by Fletcher, that
this item be referred to the Policy and Procedures Committee.
Mayor Henderson had some hesitation about this referral,
because the Planning Commission did act as the Council's advi-
sory body on this type of matter, and had submitted a ver;,
complete report on.this item. He wondered about consulting
them in the first place, only to rehash the subject and hold a
as public hearing at the committee level.
Councilmember Eyerly answered that it was not one of the func-
tions of the Planning Commission to set policy. They__were
pushed for time that evening, and he felt that this item did
warrant disscussion. The fees, for instance, should be consid-
ered under the Budget Hearing in the Finance and Public Works
Committee, along with the other fees.
Councilmember Fazzino agreed with Mayor Henderson that there
••�c c:., to i ,1ly a wealth of matterial already available on the
item and it appeared that. the Planning Commission had discussed
it at length. At ,fife same time, if there were some issues that
Councilmember Eyerly or some others wished to have discussed
further and in`more detail,'he would prefer to simply refer the,
matter to the Policy and Procedures Committee, if Vice -Mayor
Fletcher were wi l l ing. He asked Councilmember Eyerly if there
was a particular item of concern to him.
Councilmember Eyerly replied .°vhat there seemed to be quite a
bit of detail, mentioned by staff, about mailing labels and
areas to be noticed, etc. He had ,many questions and felt that
the procedure would require so much time that it would be
better dealt with by the Policy and Procedures Committee.'
Vice -Mayor Fletcher had seconded the : motion for referral,
because she had some 4uite substantive suggestions for changes
to the `recommendation. , She emphasized that she certainly did
not mean to imply lack of respect for the work of the Planning.
Commission, but the urgency of the many —items on that evening's
agenda influenced her decision to second the motion.
1
607
1/26/81
•
Councilmember Bechtel suggested that, rather than referring
the item to the Policy and Procedure Committee:, it be continued
to a. later Council meeting, if lack of time that evening was
the problem. She asked if there was some urgency for complet-
ing the item from the staff's point of view.
Mayor. Henderson ascertained that staff felt no urgency regard-
ing the matter, and added that he would support that suggestion
himself-.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by
Levy, to continue the item regarding the Planning Commission's
recommendation for modifications of the City's public hearing
and applications notice procedures to the Council meeting of
March 9, 1981.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION PASSED: The substitute motion passed on the
following vote:
AYES: Bethhel, Fazzino, Henderson, Levy, Renzel,
Witherspoon
NOES: Eyerly, Fletcher
REgUEST OF COUNCILMEMBFRS EYERLY,
' ACHILL, FAZZINO, AND WITHERSPOON
RE R NTAt HOUSING FOR EMPL _ S-
Tcon nued from 1 /19/x1
Councilmember Eyerly referred to a memorandum to the Council
from Councilmembers Eyerly,,.Bechtel, Fazzino and Witherspoon,
on this subject, dated January 10, 1981, a copy of wh>ch is on
file in the Office of the City Clerk. He felt it fairly obvi-
ous that City, as well as other, employees found it extremely
difficult to find housing, and that this problem impacted on
the availability of qualified employees for hire. He therefore
made the following motion, as a step toward trying to set some
policy for alleviating the situation.
SJTION: Councilmember Eyerly moved, seconded by Bechtel, that
Council direct staff to provide. a report on:
1. The relation of housing costs to employee retention
and recruitment;
2. Housing assistance programs that major employers and
other cities are using, and
3. The legal and economic feasibility of ways to ease
housing costs for Palo Alto employees.
Vice -Mayor Fletcher said she had no problem with the motion,
but wondered if the staff would comment briefly on the status
_,of their current assignment on :this matter.
City Manager Wil1 am'Zaner said staff was in the process of -
preparing material And -making of survey of the various cities
to determine if,' or how, they were dealing with the housing
.cost issue. Findings .so far, indicated that some cities were
dealing with At; others were looking to Palo Alto for some. -
guidance. He did -not believe preparing the type of report now
requested by' Council wovlt: prove difficult for staff; -it would
be a cont-1 nuat i on of -their present ass i gn6ent .
608
1/26/81
MOTION PASSED: The motion directing staff to provide a report
dealing with the housing problems for City employees passed
unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING:
W LLOW ROAD "PROPOSED
TCTI
Mayor tUenderscn opened the Public Hearing on` the Planning
Commission recommendations regarding deletion of the proposed
Willow Road "Proposed Arterial" designation from Arboretum to
E: Camino Real, and a change in the land use designation for
all or part of the 13 -acre creekside,area.
Philip C. Williarras, Director of "tanning, Stanford University,
did not wish to belabor, or waste Council's time on, a subject
which continually gave discomfort to all concerned. He thought
it obvious that Stanford supported the connection of Willow
Road to El Camino, as a potential solution of a number of traf-
fic problems and an improvement of the access to the hospitals
and potential housing sites in that area. He felt a little
uncomfortable, as a Planner, seeing a plan forecl^sed on any
alternative for solving that kind of a problem, before all the
facts.or options had been made clear. As far as Stanford was
concerned, he thought it a matter of leaving the options open
until then. Regarding the 13 -acre parcel, again he did not
think the options should be foreclosed, and Stanford would not
want to place a use in that area that would foreclose the
Willow Road option. .However, the value and the taxes paid on
that property had been established for well over 20 years, and
it seemed somewhat unfair to redesignate it to a far different
kind of use, especially since the planning in that area had not
yet been completed. Standford had designated that site as a
study area in their new land use plan, and it .seemed prudent to
them to retain the present designation until, again, all the
planning had been done and all the facts were in.
Ali 1 ly Davis, 344 .Tennessee Avenue, reported on a meeting of the
Palo Alto Neighborhood Coalition, held on December 9, 1980.
The members had voted unanimously in support of the deletion of
the "Proposed Arterial" symbol for the Willow Road extension
from Arboretum to E1 Camino, so that the land use map would
conformto the Comprehensive Plan.
There being no other -.members of the . pubs is wishing to speak to
this item, Mayor Henderson closed the Public Hearing.
City Attorney Roy Ahr1ams reported that, as he had previously
advised Councilmember Witrrerspoon not to participate in matters
impacting Willow Road because of the relationship to the' previ-
ous request by Stanford, he would continue to so advise her.
Mayor Henderson ascertained frwm Mr. Abrams that five votes
were required for approval of the Planning Commi ss i on recom-
mendations. He then called for a motion to uphold the Plar:n4..ng
Commission recommendations.
MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by Fletcher,
that Council pass the following Resolution and uphold the
Planning Commission recommendations that:
1. The "Proposed Arterial" symbol for the Willow road
extension from Arboretum to El Camino Real be deleted:,
6 0 9
1/26/81
2. The former "Proposed Arterial" area be designated
Regional/Community Commercial up to the Shopping Center
lease line, and Major Institution/Special Facilities for
the Children's Hospital lease area;
3. The remainder of the 13 -acre parcel (from the Shopping
Center lease line to San Francisquito Creek) be designated
Open Space...Controlled Development.
RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF PALO ALTO AMENDING THE PALO ALTO
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR ,THE DEVELOPMENT
`OF''THE CITV OF PALO ALTO REGARDING
LAND USE DESIGNATION OF CREEKSIDE SITE
ADJACENT TO' SAP FRANCISQUITO. CREEK.
Councilmember Eyerly mentioned a call he had had from the
Committee for Green Foothills, giving their peeference for
retaining the symbol, because, as he understood their recom--
mendation they saw the need for housing acid for facing the
issue, as previously suggested by Mr. Williams,.before ,closing
the door completely..
MOTION FAILED: The motion failed on the following vote:
AYES: Fletcher, Renzel
NOES: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Henderson, Levy
ABSTAINING: Witherspoon
PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDS
Mayor Henderson briefly reviewed the background of this item,
commenting that work on the Revised Comprehensive Plan hod been
goingwi for a full year; the first Planning Commission meeting
on the subject had been held in January 1980. The Resolution
on the floor was based on the Council's final action following
review of the recommended plan forwarded by the Planning Com-
mission. Following that Council review, all changes made by
the Council had to be returned for further review by the Plan-
ning Commission. The Resolution before the Council that
evening was based on the Council's action, plus a list of 36
changes recommended by the Planning Commission. The Council
could, and should, take action on those recommendations, amend
the Resolution, or not, as required, and pass the Resolution.
He cautioned that they must avoid making any further changes,
because these would have to returnto the Planning Commission
for further review. They would then have a never-ending cycle
of review, and thus never attain adoption of the Revised Plan.
He urges°Council to deal a~ rapidly as possible with the Plan-
ning Commission recommendations, and to approve the,Resolution
that evening, either in its present state, or as amended. He
would therefore not be calling on each Councilmember, but hoped
they agreed that the best approach was for each to read through
all the items and ;speak only on those with which they dis-
agreed. For> -those ,items not mentioned, it would be assumed
that a -single motion of approval would`be in order, after.
dealing with the others.
Councilmember Renzel wondered if it would be possible to follow
a semi -Consent Calendar pt'ocedure, by moving the full Planning
Commission recommendation, aid then removing items for discus-
sion.
6 Co
1/26/81
Mayor Henderson's Feeling was that these were recommended
changes, so that the change was the motion that should require
the necessary number of votes. If Council moved the entire
recommendation, negative action would be, required to reject
specific. items.
Counci?member Renzel asked if herassumption was correct that
only those items disagreed with were to -be discussed, rather
than moving for each item in agreement.
Councilmember Bechtel suggested working through the recom-
mendations page by, page, for instance, she would move Items 1
through 12 on the first page.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, :seconded by Witherspoon, that
Council pass the following Resolution, upholding the Planning
Commission recommendations regarding the updated Comprehensive
Plan: (a) Approval of the r2comended changes, and (b) Adoption
of the Plan.
'RESOLUTION 5869 entitled "RESOLUTION
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO
ALTO ADOPTING A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF PALO
ALTG
Councilmember Eyerly had some concerns about the overall
procedure. lo his understanding, five votes were required for.
passing the overall Comprehensive Plan, as structured and voted
upon. His concern was that some of the programs and.policies
had not been given five approval votes by the Council. There
may have been only a majority vote of four, but there was no
information before Council that evening regarding the voting on
individual items. He did not feel free to vote on the Compre
hensive Plan, incorporating those items which had not received
a substantial vote at the time of discussion.
Mayor Henderson checked his assumption with the -.City Attorney
that all of the previous actions had been legal, now that they.
had reached the point of an overall Resolution.
City Attorney Abrams replied that the final Resolution pursuant
to charter provisions required five votes. Historically,
throughout all preceding Comprehensive Plan reviews, the
present Council had utilized -the administrative procedure of
allowing the adoption of amendments by majority vote, because
the final Resolution required five votes. Notwithstanding, he
had attempted to monitor, throughout this process, any changes
in' the actual wording in the policies themselves to assure that
theyhad received five votes, To his kaowledge, all the actual
policy changes had been approved by fi ve,votes
AMENDMENT TO MOTION Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by
Renzel, to approve Items 1 through 12, on Page 1 of the Plan-
ning Commission recon►rtendations, dated January ?.5, 1981.'
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Levy moiled ,to
exclude Item 4 from Councilmember Bechtel's Amendment to Motion
appeOving' Items 1 through, 12 of Planning Commission recommenda-
tions. The motion died for lack of a second.
Councilmember Levy c}lled attention, regarding Item 4, to P1ar�--
ring Co'dmjsOon Secy`etary.Kenneth Schreiber's comment, in the
Planning Comuission eeting, that the _25% figure he hod heard
.(for households to allot for housing costs) was establ is,hed
1 1
1/26/81
sometime between 1915 and 1920, and was based -on pure conjec-
ture even. then. He felt that, . ay it did ,riot seem to, have been
establ�s: ed nii a formal basis, an intention to change it should
be inserted in the Comprehensive Plan. Otherwise, it appeared
to Councilmember Levy, that they would be legitimizing a nuumbe,r•
that was in process.of change'anyway, and the derivation of
which was in question, as well.,
Mayor Hendereson remarked that_figure had been the traditional
housing cost percentage throughout all his life, and he had no
problems with it.-
Councilmember Levy said the chart on Page 12B, Item 6, was not
clear to him, unless the heading stated that the median Santa
Clara County income, was' for purposes of housing .assistance.
The figures listed -were a series, beginning with an ,arbitrary
figure based on a household of one person, and adding more
income':is the number of persons per household increased. He
was sure that it was untrue that the median Santa Clara income
for a family consisting of one person was $15,000, for two
persons, $17,000; for three persons, $19,000; for four persons,
--",21,000 per year, etc. He thought it should be made clear that
these were not the actual median incomes, but the median
incomes which had been listed for purposes of housing assis-
tance.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved,
seconded by Witherspoon, to delete Item 6 from Councilmember
Bechtel`s Amendment to Motion approving items 1 through 12 of
Planning Commission recommendations.
Mayor Henderson stated that the recommended change was to elim-
inate that wording, as the Planning Chmmission had decided it
was unnecessary.
Councilmember Bechtel said it seemed to her, from reading the
minutes, that the heading at the top of the page had merely
been unnecesarily duplicated further down, therefore the change
in wording to delete one of the headings. The heading, "Feder-
al Assistance Program Income Limits" would still be retained at
the top of the page.
Mayor Henderson welcomed members of the Planning Commissinn who
were present and asked for any comments they might have.
Planning Commission Chairman Nichols expiained"that "Housing
Assistance" -had been listed twice. It was their understanding
that the title was sufficient tu'_cover the column listing
median Santa Clara County incomes for the purposes of housing
assistance, because of the reference jri the title.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTiON PASSED: The Amendment ,to the
Amendment to Motion excluding Item; 6 from the approval list of
items 1: through 12 of the Planning Commisson recommendations,
passed on the following vote:
AYES: Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher, ` Henderson, Levy,
Witherspoon
NOES: Bechtel, Renzel
Councilmember Levy felt ghat, regarding Item 10 (on Page 14B),
the phrase "...and the :jobs/housing imbalance..," should not be
added, because the critical element was the °absolute size, and
not they balance, existing at any time°between jobs and ,housing.
rExplaining.further, he said he did not wish to see a lot more
employment= or housing, even if brought into balance.
6 1 2
1/26/81
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MUTTON: Councilmember Levy moved,
seconded by Witherspoon, to delete the. phrase "...and the
jobs/housing imbalance..." from Item 10 of approval list of
Items 1 through 12 of the Planning Commission recommendations.
Mayor Henderson confirmed that the point the :Planning Commis-
sion had tried to make was that employment growth would have a
negative effect on the jobs/housing imbalance.
Councilmember Renzel opposed deleting that language; she felt
it important to keep in mind as they proceeded with the imple-
mentation of the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilmember Witherspoon thought it was simpler just to delete
the phrase, rather than spend a great deal of time discussing
it.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION EAiLED: The Amendment to
Amendment to the Motion failed on the following vote:
AYES: Levy, Witherspoon
NOES: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher. Henderson,
Renzel
Coranci lniember Levy wished to discuss Item 11, where the
Planning Commiss£on had suggested the addition of the words
"...work to maintain the shift in land use along El Camino Real
from Automobile and Service/Commercial toward Neighborhood/
Commercial and Residential." He felt that, since the
Comprehensive Plan zoned part of El Camino' -as
Neighborhood/Commercial and part as Service/Commercial, the
wording, which recommended shifting the land use from
Service/Commercial, was inconsistent with the Comprehensive
Plan.
Mayor Henderson thought that the idea was to work from the
Service/Commerc;a.l uses, where they exist on El Camino, toward
the shift to Ne ghborhood/Commer-cal and Residential.
Planning Commission Chairman Fred Nichols thought the Planning,:
Commission was not necessarily making reference to the current`'
zoning, because that may or may not change.
Councilmember Eyerly asked, -egarding Item 11, that the.lan-
guage, "...in line with current zoning," be added to the end
the paragraph, because the intent, as it now stood, was to
change that zoning to more Neighborhood/Commercial, and that
was not what had been set up on the zoning map or in the
Comprehensive Plan. He thought it important to clarify, for
future readers of the Comprehensive Plan, that it was intended
to change only within the. zoning accepted.
Councilmember Fazzino did not disagree with Councilmember
Eyerly's approach, but was concerned with Councilmember'Levy's See
feeling that it was necessary to _,emphasize the fact that they; Correction
were totally behind the emerging trend toward Neighborhood/ pg. 786,
Commercial and Residential along El Camino. He thought- the. 4/27/81
statement did indicate a clearly -defined trend, and he would
certainly support its retention in the Plan.
Councilmember Renzel's.understanding of the intent behind the
policy, or program, was to.. add a little emphasis to the fact
that a land use change" had recently been made along El amino,
and that it was' desired. to may nt_ ai h , that change, and not make
exemptions and shift back. She thought that perhaps Council -
members Eyerly and Levy's intent might be accomplished ..by
of
6 1 3
1/26/81
-adding the word "recent" before "shift," so as to read,
"...work to maintain the recent shift in land use along El
Camino from Automobile and Service/Commercial to Neighborhood/
i,oinmercial and Residential."
Mayor Henderson pointed out that the statement related to what
had .been done, but -not the intention of continuing that trend.
Councilmember Renzel countered that it would state the inten-
tion of maintaining that trend, and not shift back.
Councilmember Levy read aloud the present wording in the
Comprehensive Plan, because he thought it quite adequate and
accomplished Co-uncilmember Renzel's intention: "The appearance
and function along El Camino Real, especially, from Matadero
Creek to the southern limits, is of special concern among Palo
Alto's commercial areas," and, "...work to maintain the,shift
in ratio of land use along El. Camino Real from Automobile and
Service/Commercial towards Neighborhood/Commercial and Residen-
tial, in line with current zoning." He felt the language made
it obvious that there was no intent to change the zoning.
Commissioner_Ellen Lynne Christensen commented that the Plan-
ning Commission's particular concern was with the words "ratio
of"; that the change was in the land use, not just the ratio.
Mayor Henderson asked City Attorney Abrams if the recommenda
tions would have to be returned to the Planning Commission, if
changes made by Council ir, the wording were not too substan-
tial.
Mr. Abrams answered that the recommendations would not have to
be returned to the Planning Commission if the changes were not
too substantial, and promised to notify them if Mr. Schreiber
indicated they were veering in that direction.
Councilmember Bechtel suggested amending the Motion to
retain the second portion of Item 11, "in line with current
zoning," but delete the wording, "in ratio of," which seemed to
worry the Planning Commission.
Councilmember Levy concurred with this suggestion. At Mayor
Henderson's request, he the., read the Item as amended:
"..:work to maintain the shift in land 'use along El Camino
Real from Automobile and Service/Commercial to neighborhood/
Commercial and Residential, in line with current zoning."
Planning Commissioner Christensen said that the only concern
she had with the language "current zoning,"-- was that the
Comprehensi-ve Plan would have to be revised if any future .
changes in zoning for that area should be desired for some
reason, at neighborhood request, for instance. She wondered if
it was wise to "lock themselves in" by such ,specific language
in the Comprehensive Plan:`
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO THE MOTION: Councilmember Levy
moved, seconded by Eyerly, to delete the ph;ase ratio of"
from, and add the phrase •"i n line with current zoning" at the
end of the paragraph of, Item 11 of the approval list of Items
1 thrcugh 12 of the Planning Commission recommendations. _ -
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO s THE MOTION PASSED: The. Amendment to
Amendment to the, Lotion passed onthe following vote:
AYES: .Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Levy, ._:Renze1,
Witherspoon
NOES: Fletcher,Henderson
6' 1 4
1/26/81
Mayor Henderson then called for a vote. on the original
Amendment to the Motion:
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: Councilmember Bechtel's Amendment
to the Motion to approve Items 1 through 12 of the Planning
Commission recommendations, dated January 15, 1981, passed
unan,'mousiy.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded oy
Fletcher, to approve Items 13 through 25, on Page 2 of the
P13nniny Commission Minutes, dated January 15, 1981.
Councilmember Bechtel suggested that the phrase "delete 198"
should be changed to "delete 1981." She also had questions
about Items 20.and 22, which appeared somewhat confusing.
Mayor Henderson, after checking Item 20, ascertained that it
became clearer upon closer reading. He agreed that there might
be some question about the clarity of Item 22.
Councilmember Renzel suggested a change in. Modifier in Exhibit
I, under Program 27. The words, "in. assessment district"
should follow "development," so as to read, "...requiring new
developments in assessment districts to provide_ a significant
proportion.of their long-term employee parking...," otherwise
the requirement appeared to be for new developments to provide
new assessment district parking. It seemed to her the modifier
belonged with "new development."
Mayor Henderson opened the hearing to Program 27, stating that
the only motion required would be to not adopt Item 22.
Councilmember Witherspoon suggested it might expedite matters
and clarify the discussion if Item 22 were withdrawn from the
approval list and continued to a time when Council discussed
the Downtown Management Plan and/or other aspects of the
problem.
Mayor Henderson was concerned about the delay in approval of
the Planning Commission recommendations and consequent defer-
ment to another updating of the Comprehensive Plan, because a
Resolution had been passed adopting the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilmember Witherspoon countered that additions were made to
the Comprehensive Plan all through the year.
Mayor Henderson tbought the issues should be faced and_,dealt
with. His own inclination was to delay this particular pro-
gram until the next updating of the Comprehensive Plan the
following year, studying it in depth in the ,interim, because of
its many hidden. ramifications.
Vice -Mayor Fletcher pointed out that there did exist a proce-
dure for updating the Comprehensive Plan, consisting of:
reviewing of recommendations from the Planning Commissions,
suggesting some changes, sending recommendations with suggested
changes back to the Planning Commission; presumably they 'were
now acting only on those changes which they had recommended.
The ' program -under discussion was an entirely new program,
which, because it was such a lengthy item, she felt inappro-
priate to insert at that time.
City Attorney Abrams agreed that Vice -Mayor Fletcher was
basically correct. As he understood it, part of the question
was whether or not the language in that program was mi"splaced.
To that extent, modification would ',he considered clerical or
minor. ' General ly, he agreed; with 'her statement that the Plan-
ning Commission was restricted by those suggestions returned by
the City Council.
6 1 5
1/26/81
Planning Commission Secretary Schreiber stated that the section
regarding park.i'ng had been thoroughly reworked by the City
Council the previous. fall, so that the Commission and staff
felt they had the prerogative of revising and rearranging the
section also. The changes that were. now before Council flowed
out of the changes made by Council.
Planning Commission Chairman Nichols further explained that
Commissioner Cullen had taken that section, as it was returned
f rom_. Counci 1 , and tried to bring some order out of the
cons`:aerable hodge-podge of ideas, a mixture of parking and
neighborhood traffic problems. What little new material had
been added came from what seemed to be missing from already
existing material, mostly addressing the downtown parking
problems.
Mayor Henderson said he had no problem approving the rest of
the programs in the new sequence, but he did have concerns
about Program 27.
Planning Commissioner Patricia Cullen wished to add to Mr.
Nichols' statement.. The Planning Commission had rearranged, the
programs which had been returned by Council, but, in the
rearrangement, it became very clear that there was a very real
policy. Therefore, given that parking section, they had
devised and recommended a new policy, the one before the Coun-
cil for approval, which they hoped would be given very careful
consideration.
Planning Commissioner Christensen added that the deletion by
the Council of the Downtown Parking Management Plan, and any
reference to it, had left a gap relating to the downtown
parking problem. The gap had been filled when the recommenda-
tions had been sent to Council, was addressed and again
deleted, so the Planning ('omrnission had filled it again.
Mayor Henderson replied that he had no problem with that; it
was the one new program which concerned him.
AMENDMENT TO AMEt1DMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved,
seconded by Fletcher, to accept all of amended Item 22, except
for Program 27 and material right under it,
Councilmember Fazzino explained the reason for his motion. He
was seriously concerned with the recommendation, how realistic
it really was, and whether it could really be ir*rplemented as
the Planning Commission hoped. He suggested it was worthy of
some additional study, but questioned its viability in its
present -form, and hoped they could'defer action on it.
Mr. Nichols suggested inserting the requirement to consider the
item, if Council wished to keep it live.
Councilmember Bechtel thought that the Planning Commission had
legitimately raised a really serious issue. There were in -
lieu, below -market -rate, housing paymentt, and .there were those
who belonged to the assessment district and who di.d not have to
build houses. She was, however, hesitant about the exact
wording, because that did not really allow them any "out." She
knew there were really quite a -few parcels, and really small
lots. It would be ridiculous -"to have underground garages under
every,50-foot lot up,and down Hamilton Avenue. They could
either water it down - perhaps, specify "stud ," or "encopra e,
new developments to provide a significant proportion of long-
te'rn employee parking,"- or, _ to make it stronger; "re wire
apma or new developments...parking." This was all really setting
icy that would then require implementation under various
zoning mechanisms. She thought it wdrrant.ed additional study.
6 1 6
I/26/81
Counci lmeinbev •Eyerly said that Item 22 referred to Exhibit I,
which was over two full pages of recommendations which he was
not sure had ever been before Council. He thought the public
wished to address some of these ,~ecommendations, and'Exhibit 1
was holding them up. He did not understand why they could nct
simply remove Item 22 for this time, and proceed with the
other 36 items of the Planning Commission recommendations, to
complete those they had already discussed. He asked, first, if
his understanding was correct thet Council had not considered
Exhibit I.
Mayor Henderson replied that there were a number of things they
had not discussed; the problem again was with completing
approval of the Planning Commission recommendations.
Councilmember Eyerly answered that he understood, but he
thought that Exhibit I was e. big enough item that, they needed
to separate it from the rest of the 36 items. He thought the
only way they would be able to proceed with the 36 -items was to
separate Item 22, so that they could address it and let t,r2
public speak to it if they wished.
Mayor Henderson pointed out that had been done; there was a
motion on the floor to adopt Exhibit I, excluding Program 27.
Councilmember Eyerly, referring to the first page of Exhibit I,
said he had problems with Policy 9, "Reduce Employee or Com-
muter Parking in Resideritial Neighborhoods," as well as the
last paragraph or. the first page, "The 1978 Downtown Park i rig
Management Plan," specifying steps which could be taken, etc.,
which seemed to indicate, erroneously, that the Council had
accepted the Downtown Management Parking Plan. He suggested
the adding of a phrase such as, "...as presented by the
Consultant.,.," so as to clearly indicate that the Council had
not yet accepted the Plan. Regarding Program 24, "Help Plan
and Develop Short -Term Parking," the last sentence had been
added to a program contained in the original 1975 Comprehensive
Plan and had been moved by the Planning Commission down to
Program 27, but he felt it still belonged back with Program 24:
"Private business should provide more long-term employee
parking in assessment district areas as it is needed; the
short-term and long-term parking should primarily be below
ground or multi -story parking structur=es, so as not' to replace
business and homes with extensive surface parking."
Mayor Henderson explained that one program dealt with the,
public sector and the other with the private sector. Program
24 referred to public action to help plan end develop short-
erm parking; Program 27 was under 'Privately -Provided
Parking," and spoke of requiring new developments to provide a
proportion of their long-term requirements.
Councilmember Eyerly was still convinced that the statement
belonged under Program 24, not under Program 27; he felt,
further,' that they
were not 'yet in any position to accept
Program 27 Regarding .Program 26, hethought the statement,
...Consider the use of park -and -ride lots located at the edge
of the, city...A way of helping to reduce the effects of commute
traffic is to use shuttle b,4ses to take people to their yobs
from outlying parking lots...," could be used advantageously
with .Program 23 at the time of its implementation. In summary,
he. Was not in any position to accept Item 22, because of the
problems hi`' had with Exhibit 1, and which he felt warranted
more debate.
Mayor Henderson acknowledged that that a fair debate.
Councilmember Renzel said her understanding was tt1at::Exhibit 1
was a> retyping of a plan that Council had considered,. but from
the, -recent exchanges, she was now gathering that, because the
6 1 7
1/26/81
3>
Downtown Parking Management Plan -,as still under consideration,
this particular section had not in fact been adopted
Mayor fiendnrson thought he could clarify this for her. He had
just received a note from Mr. Schreiber, stating that Policy 9
was approved by the Council as Program -29, which stated,
-"Reduce employee or commute- relate parking in residential
neighborhoods."' Therefore, although Council may have belayed
on some of the parking -related details, they had adopted the
the -most important part of Exhibit I - the pol icy.
Councilmember Renzel said she had tried comparing Exhibit I - -
wi.th the section of the plan it was supposed to.,replace, and it
appeared to be basically intact,. other than Program 27, which
was new. She asked the City Attorney if a new program sent to
Council by the Planning Commission necessitated the requisite -
public hearings at Council level, etc, before it could be
adopted.
City Attorney Abrams explained.that it would not require a new
set of hearings, if, in the Council's opinion, the new program
was a natural outgrowth of the changes sent back to the
Planning Commission. A_totally new program, however, would
require public-hearings"at Counc rlevel, etc.
Mayor Henderson said that, as he interpreted it, the one new
section was Program 27; all the other material did appear in
the Comprehensive Plan. Public hearings would have to be held,
if desired, on Program 27.
Councilmember Renzel confirmed her understanding that, with
reference to the remainder of the material, Council should
basically be dealing only with those areas where substantive
changes had been made by the Planning Commission.
Vice -Mayor Fletcher concurred that Program 27 was the only
really new section; regarding the program study suggested in
the Downtown Parking Management Plan, the feasibility study was
accepted'by the Council and had become City policy.
Councilmember Bechtel, referring to the motion to exclude
Program 27 from the approval list, asked Mayor Henderson if he
was proposing that it be returned to the -Policy and Procedures
Committee for -:More discussion, after the public hearing and if
the motio, passed.
Mayor Henderson confirmed that his proposal' was to return it,
not in,relation to the Comprehensive Plan, but as a separate
item. -He then opened the hearing to members of the public.
Ned. Gallagher, 440 Melville Avenue, of Downtown Palo Alto, Inc.,
pointed out that the Planning Commission had not just addressed
itself to -:changes made by the Council but had incorporated
these into -the Comprehensive Plan as Exhibit 1. They were.,very
concerned; that this new integral part of -the Plan was being
presented to Council for approval at this point in time, with
-major changes and with recommendations, for immediate haste An
the approval process.. They felt,it unwise, because portions of
Exhibit I were not continuous with relevant portions of„the
Plan, or compatible -with touncills original intent. Mr.
Gallagher then read a letter from the Downtown Palo Alto Inc.
to the City: ,Cdunci l , dated January 28, 1981-, a ;copy of which is
on file in the Office of the City Clerk, stating, i.n summary,
that organization's opposition to the" adoption of the new=,
-Program 27 - The main reasons for, opposition were that it Was
in -opposition to >th-e basic .purpose. of the parking assessment
district`s that was created`to, achieve collective solutions to
parking problems in the Downtown - area, rather than ,relying on
piecemeal -and--sporadic -individual-efforts by._properties on
small lots. .
6,',1 8
1/26/81
Ryland Kelley, 30.5 Lytton, of the Parking Assessment District,
wished to add to points made by Mr. Gallagher only that the_
Parking Assessment District did.exist; was available for use,
and had participated with the Downtown Parking Inc. in parking
studies which had illuminated the fact that ' there was at least
a 2,000 -car parking shortage.,for employees and that these cars
were spread throughout the nearby residential areas. It has
been the desire of the Parking Assessment District to reduce
this significantly by the creation of additional parking, to be
paid for by taxes against the property Several requests had
been made to 'Council for the acquisition of new property and
studies for structural parking, with no actions that they -could
see forthcoming toward solving this problem. They did :rot
believe a solution could even be approached by requiring new
developments to provide employee parking. The solution had to
be a collective one, and they stood ready to cooperate with an
aggressive program to help alleviate the parking shortage..
Saskia Boissevain, 410 Cambridge Avenue, Manager of the
California Ayenue Area Development Associates, said CAADA's
main concern for their parking was the financing of current and
future bonds, taking into consideration their intent to
double -deck the lots and perhaps sell off some of the smaller
lots to help finance the bonds. A recently proposed five -story
develor3ment on the corner of Cambridge and Birch had raised
some questions regarding the provision of parking for new
business, She asked. if there was any means by which new
businesses could pay a retroactive proportion of the costs of
the existing bonds, and about the possibility of handling the
bonding by having new business buy into the district, as did
San Mateo and Menlo Park, and how condos and apartments would
fit into their parking district.
Mayor ,Henderson mentioned that Program 27 would apply to the
-.California Avenue Assessment District, not only to the Univer-
sity Avenue District, which presented some additional problems
for him. There being no other member of the public to speak to
the issue, Mayor Henderson then called Council's attention to
-the motion on the floor to delete Program 27. He asked Coun-
cilmember Eyerly, who had expressed concern about the enure
Exhibit, if he could urge him to act on that motion, and then
make a motion to delete the entire Exhibit I, if he so desired.
Councilmember Eyerly replied that he wished to make a subst tue
motion, as he would uot. be satisfied with the removal of onlyi,
Program 27.
SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT: Councilmember Eyerly moved
that Item 22 be removed, in its entirety, from discussion that
evening. The motion died for lack of a second.
Councilmember Renzel strongly supported -the concepts in Program
27, but she thought that, it would be wiser, pr;ocedurally, to
continue it for., proper discussion at a later date.
Mayor Henderson argued that then they would be unable to com-
plete the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilmember Renzel countered that the Program was not prop
erly before them as part of the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilmember Fazzino interjected here that it Was his assump-
tion ' that any Colunc i lmember could bring the subject up for
discussion at any time.. His motion was to remove the program
from the .Comprehensive Plan that evening.
Councilmember Renzel concurred she did feel that the Planning
Commission had made a very compelling case. All of the exist-
ing .assessment district funds currently being collected were
6 1 9
1/26/81
paying for parking that was already in place, not for any
future marking. New developments were being built daily with
no parking provisions, thus using up the existing parking,
compounding the problems for the assessment districts. She
felt this was a serious problem and would reluctantly support
the deletion of it at that time, so that they could proceed
with adopting the rest of the Comprehens:iv' Plan.
Mayor Henderson wished to emphasize that he agreed with the
principles behind the program; he was just concerned with the
ramifications and did not feel he could move to make At a firm
policy that quickly.
Councilmember fazzino also reiterated his cmpathy and concern
with the problem and was very concerned that its implementation
in its present form would hurt small parcel owners and severely
hurt the revitalization program of the downtown area.
AMENDMENT. -1.0 AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: ..The Amendment to
Amendment to the Motion to accept all of amended Item 22,
ex,ept for Program 27 and the material right under it, passed
unanimously.
Counci lmember Levy had some changes, relating to other programs
and policies, for Exhibit I. First, he thought the first
paragraph confusing because it did not specifically state
assessment districts as being either private or public. He
suggested the following wording for the first sentence: "Park-
ing spaces are provided by private property owners or the city
through on -street parking and assessment districts."
Mayor Henderson pointed out that the assessment districts were
not city -owned. Counci lmember Levy quoted the beginni ng of the
next paragraph as statiii "Assessment districts have been used
to develop publiclly-owned parking lots," so he assumed that
the term "public" included assessment districts, which in that
context were further discussed as a public item. This was
precisely the confusion he was trying to clarify.
Mayor Henderson suggested the wording be, "on -street parking,"
and "public lots." Councilmember Levy then suggested the
following the following motion:
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT, TO MOTION: Counci lmember Levy moved,.
seconded by Fazzino, to amend the first line of Exhibit f to
acid, after "owners," "...the city, through on -street parking,
and through assessment districts," so as to read: "Parking
spaces are provided by private property owners, the city,
through on -street parking, and assessment distracts."
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to
Amendment:to,.the Motion passed unanimously.
Counci lmember Levy then :rloved on to Program 24, where he sug-
gested the deletion of the last sentence in that paragraph,
which stated: "Extensive long-term"daytime .parking on streets
next to business districts hurts the,residential-areas and
should be prevented through, regulations," because of the
immpl ication that sho!^ --term parking was more desirable than
long-term parking. IW his opinion, short-term parking was more
disruptive of a residential area, besause of -more traft is
movement.
Mayor Henderson suggested the alternative of just deleting the
phrase "long-term," to read, 'Extensive ..daytime parking...
regulations." Counci:member-,Fazzino concurring, the following
motion was made: } .
5 2 0
"1/26/81
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved,
seconded by Fazzino, to remove the ;cords "long-term," from the
fifth line of the text below Program 24, in Exhibit I.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to
Amendment to the Motion passed unanimously.
Councilmember Levy then referred to Program 26; it appeared to
him that the use of taxicabs should be considered for carrying
passengers into the downtown -areas from the parking lots, in
addition to shuttle busses. He thought that, in the long run,
they would prove more economical; they were already in exis-
tence and were paid to carry people all day, ,while the shuttle
busses would be used primarily for commute traffic. He made
the following motion.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved,
seconded by Fletcher, to change the wording to; "A way of
helping to reduce the effects of commute traffic LS to use
shuttle busses or cabs to take people to their jobs from
outlying parking lots," in Program 26.
Vice -Mayor Fletcher suggested the wording "shuttle busses, cabs
or other forms of transportation," be substituted.
SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember
Levy moved, seconded by Fletcher, to add the words,- "or other
forms of transportation," to Program 26, to read, "A way of
helping to reduce the effects of commute traffic is to use
shuttle busses, cabs or other forms of transportation to take
people to their jobs from outlying parking lots."
Councilmember Renzel remarked that the outlying parking lots
were supposed to reduce commute traffic, and having cabs run-
ning tack and forth seemed to somewhat defeat that purpose.
SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The
substitute Amendment to Amendment to the Motion passed on the
following vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fletcher, Henderson, Levy,
Witherspoon
NOES: Fazzino, Renzel
Vice -Mayor Fletcher had minor question regarding Policy 9,
"Reduce Employee oir Commuter Parking." She wondered what the
difference was Between "employee" ,=nd "commuter." The
dictionary- defined both as "a person who traveled regularly
between two points of the same distance." She made the
following motion:
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Vice -Mayor Fletcher:, moved to
remove the word "employee" from Policy 9. The motion dies for
lack of a second.
Counoilmember Eyerly, referring to Exhibit I, suggested adding
the words "as presented by the Consultant," after "the 1978
Downtown Parking Management Plan," :in the last paragraph, of the
first page.
Mayor Henderson commented that those words would still give the
impression that the Downtown Parking Management Plan had been
approved. •
6 2 1
1/26/81
Director of Planning _and Community Environment Naphtali Knox
interposed here ti'at the City :.Council had approved and adopted
the Downtown Parking Managrent Plan, consisting of short-range,
mid -range, and long-range steps, but had not yet proceeded with
implementing the mid -range portion.
'Councilmember Eyerly then referred to Program 24, the descrip-
tion in the first paragraph, reading, "In its Assessment
Districts the City should emphasize providing more short -time
shopper parking," and made the following motion:
AMENDMENT TO_AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Eyerly moved
to add, "and at the same time provide more long-term employee
parking to take care of the long-time shortage," to the
description in.the.first paragraph of Program 24, to read: "In
its Assessment Districts the' City should emphasize providing
more short-time_shopper parking, and at the same time provide
more long-term employee parking to take care of the long-time
shortage." The motion died for lack of a second.
Counci lriembor Eyerly then referred to -Program 26, and made the
following motion:
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Eyerly moved,
seconded by Levy, to add the following sentence before the
initial description: "This program could be used advanta-
geously with Program 23 at the time of its implementation."
Councilmember Eyerly felt that this would be a real opportunity
to tie the regulating of parking out of the business district
with providing a place for employees to move to, as there would
be less problem if the two programs were done in concert.
Councilmember Fazzino had no problem with the language, but
voiced the sobering thought that they had spent more time
discussing the Comprehensive Plan than had been spent iri
drafting the Constitution of the United States. He understood
Councilmember Eyerly's approach, but he strongly urged the
Council to refrain from rewriting so much of the'language. He
did not feel drafting the Plan by Committee was the best proce-
dure; Council should set the policy, and then stay with the.
language as set forth by staff.
AMENDMENT TO' AMENDMENT TO MOTION FAILED: The Amendment to
Amendment to the Motion to add a sentence to the initial
description in Program 23 failed on the following vote:
AYES: - Bechtel, Eyerly, Levy, Witherspoon
NOES: Fazzino, Fletcher, Hend"'rson, Renzel
CounciLuember Renzel referred to Item 13 on Page 13D, ,stating
that this should be deleted, because it replaced a former
program and had the effect of adding an incentive for mixed
development, including housing in non-residential zones, rather
than an incentive for straight housing. The desired result was
to encourage employee housing near industrial .,sites, so :that
people who work in Palo Alto could also live in the city. She
therefore made the following motion:
AMENDMENT" TO AMENDMENT TO. MOTION:- Councilmember Renzel moved,
seconded by r' 1 etcher, to delete Item 13 from ire approval list
of Items 13-25 of the Planning Commission recomaMendations.
6 2 2
1/26/81
AMENDMENT TO AMEN0M NT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to
Amendment to the Motion passed unanimously.
Councilmember Renzel then referred to Item 19, making the
following motion.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved,
seconded by Fazzino, to delete the phrase "to the bridge" in
Item 19, so as to read, "Palo Alto continues to oppose an
approach road south of University Avenue."
AMENDMENT TO ,AMENDMENT 1=0 MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to
Amendment to the Motion passed unanimously.
Councilmember Levy referred to Item 23, where it was suggested
,,that the phrase, -"appropriate traffic alternatives," be.changed
to, "appropriate traffic solutions.". He admitted this might be:
a minor change, but .he had found traffic solutions generally
caused many more problems. He would therefore move to leave in
the word "alternatives" and not change it to "solutions."
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved,:
seconded by Dit erspoon, regarding item 23, to change the word
"solutions" to. "alternatives," so as to read, "The City will
work closely with the Community and School District to deter-
mine appropriate traffic alternatives, when the safety of
students ...cutback of school bus service."
Commissioner Cullen said she was the Commissioner who had
suggested the word change, because in the context it seemed to
put the burden on the school to find alternatives to traffic.
The paragraph :!as really meant to address the question of edu-
cation for bicycle use and crossing concerns for children, and
for them to find a way of dealing with traffic.
AMENDMENT TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION FAILED: The Amendment to
Amendment to Motion failed on the following vote:
AYES: Eyerly, Levy, Witherspoon
HOES: Bechtel, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson, Renzel
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to the Motion to
approve Items 13 through 25, and as amended, on ,?age 2 of the
Planning Commission recommendations, passed on the following
vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson, Levy,.
Renzel, Witherspoon
NOES: Eyerly.
Mayor Henderson sugges`eed that Council not attempt to hold an
Executive. Session during recess, but after the meeting.
RECESS
Recess was held from 9:30 to 9:40 p.m.
Mayor Henderson announced that he was certain there would not
be time enough to discuss two items on, the new agenda,.the
Member Service Agreement for the Northern California Power
Agency, or the Cable Television Ownership Alternatives.
6 2 3
1/26/61
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Bechtel :roved, seconded by
Eyerly, to approve Items 26 through 30 of the Planning
Commission recommendations dated.Janeary 15, 1981.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED:
unanimously.
The Amendment to the Motion passed
AMENCMENT. TO AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved,
seconded by Bechtel, to add the words, "environmentally accept-
able," after "long term," to Item 31 of the Planning Commission
recommendations, dated January 15, 1981.
Councilmember Renzel explained that this was the description,
on Page 59A, of the reason for the Bayl ands Master Plan, and
that the mandate from BCDC had used the wares "environmentally
acceptable."
AMENDMENT TO AM.ENDMENLTO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to
Arendmeiit to the Motion passed unanimously.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by
Fletcher, to approve Item 32 of the Planning Cornnission recom-
mendations, dated January 15, 1981.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to the Motion passed
unanimously.
Mayor Henderson went on to Item 33, questioning a large dele-
tion. Councilmember Bechtel explained that the deletion was of
the second paragraph under "Transportation Heading," dealing
with an extension of Willow Road from Arboretum Road to. El
Camino Real.
Mr. Schreiber pointed,out that, given the action on the 0-revi-
ous agenda item, the Plan still showed the.extension. •
Mayor Henderson agreed that the Plan map showed an extension of
Willow Road; therefore, it would be inconsistent to approve the
deletion.
.,1
Councilmember Bechtel suggested a motion to retain subject
paragraph, because it did include the sentence, "In solving the
severe traffic congestion problems in this area, solutions
othor than extending the road should be considered.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded `y
Henderson, to retain Item 33 of the Planning Commission recom-
mendations, dated January i5, 1981.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The amendment to the Motion passed
unanimously,Witherspoon not participating.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by
Levy, to approve Item 34 of the Planning Commission. recommenda-
tions, dated January 15, 1981.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to the Motion passed
unanimously.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by Fletche
to accept the planning Commission recommendation regarding Item
35 to change zaniri.
6.2 4
1/26/81
i
Councilmember Renzel reminded Council of the many discussions
on the jobs/housing imbalance and or:the many projections that
their actions would exicerbte the situation. She pointed out
that the particular site under considerat-ion was substantial,
and was located near transportation and within walking distance
of an entire shopping ind 'commercial area, of the -industrial
park, and of the transit center at El Camino and Page Mill.
She thought this an ideal=.location for housing, and a real
opportunity for'them to ensure the building of housing there:
She urged Council to support what she termed a farsighted
action on the part of the Planning Commaission.
Councilmember Witherspoon thought that the area in its present
state, with its interesting mix of housing and commercial, was
exactly what they had , been encouraging all along.
Councilmember Eyerly would agree with Councilmember Renzel, but
thought that it would be wiser not to change the area, con-
sidering its present state of development, as mentioned by
Councilmember Witherspoon. Changing it might disturb -some
commercial parcels along Park,Boulevard which might well be
left commercial, with the development taking place there now.
He reminded Council of their many discussions regarding that
zoning and of the decision made to leave it as. it was, and he
supported that decision.
Vi- -Mayor Fletcher said that, the previous discussion had been
influenced a great deal by the neighborhood's fears of being
impacted by a great deal more traffic if the area were changed
to residential. Since then, they seemed more informed of the
effects a zoning change would have, and that it would probably
impact them less than `the present zoning. She would have no
difficulty in leaving the zoning as it w,as, if they could
guarantee that it would. become and/or remain truly a mixture of
residential and commercial. However, there was no way under
the present zoning laws that they could mandate that residen-
tial be added to commercial. Given their choice now, she
preferred residential.
Mayor Henderson commented that they were having many problems
with this issue,, because they had debated it for some time, and
for a number of reasons had concluded that it was wiser to
leave the zoning as it was. They were now hearing rumors to•
the effect that the neighborh°-ad had changed its mind;: he had
been working to get them to change their minds at the time, but
he had no public input to that effect now, and there did not
seem to be anyone to speak to the issue that evening. He
realized decisions should not be !Ade on a.property based on
what washappening at the time, but he did know mixed develop-
ment had been ongoing, with all the plans being drawn based on
statements Made before the Council. Therefore, he had problems
with changing that in mid -stream, and he was also quite certain
that there were not going to be any changas in the plan!: to an
all commercial or an all -office building development within the
next -year..
Hilly Davis, 344 Tennessee Avenue, informed the Council of the
results of one of their neighborhood meetings. .The Evergreen
Park Neighborhood did not have any objections to residential
development on the site, if they could be assured that that the
traffic generated by that development would not be allowed to
travel through their neighborhood.
MayorHendersondid nut feel the Council was prepared to give.
such assurance; there was no guarantee that the entire area was
to be closed off to traffic at that' Point.
6 2 5
1/26/81
Councilmember Renzel wished to reiterate that they were not
dealing with a specific.applicatioC Certainly a_ developer had
approached all of them and had indicated an interest in the
site, but they were dealing with the general plans of the city
and with how they wished the site developed. They had no
guarantee of what would happen to a particular developer or his,
-plans. She felt, therefore, that they really did have, to
address the problem from the land use standpoint. They had
lost nearly every other opportunity to rezone to residentia'
thrughout the city; she thought it would be a real tragedy to
lose tili s opportuni ty as well.
Councilmember Witherspoon agreed that Council should consider
the parcels from a strictly land lase point of view and not as
an individual developer. However, even'consfdering the site
only from the standpoint of 'its land use, she could not see
California !,venue as a strictly residential area. She thought
of it ideally as a mix, and greatly wished to explore, sometime
in the future, some kind of mechanism that would require a mix.
They did not have that now, and for that reason she felt they
should stay with the commercial zoning for the present.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION FAILED: The Amendment to the Motion, to
uphold Item 35 of the Planning Commission recommendation, to
change zoning, failed on the following vote:
AYES: Fletcher, Renzel
NOES: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Henderson, Levy,
Witherspoon
Councilmember Bechtel confirmed from Mr. Schreiber, with
regard to Item 36, that if the site were rezoned, there would
be a 15 -year amortization period. She then asked if it was
possible to build a heliport on top of a hospital building if
it was structurally strong enough, and, should this be true, if
a 15 -year amortization period would be adequate.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by
Fletcher, to,,uphold Item.36 of the Planning Commission
recommendatidns, dated January 15, 1981.
Mr. Schreiber replied that a. heliport could be placed on any
type -of building which had enough space and met the structural
requirements. Whether that could be done at Stanford hospital,
now or in connection with remodeling, he really could not
answer.
Director of Planning for Stanford University, Phi1i`p Williams
said Stanford was studying a number of housing .sites all of
which they thought would be better for housing than for the
heliport. They did not have another heliport site to propose
in that area; therefore, they felt striingl,y it was
inapp"opriatc at thattime to change the designation. To
answer Councilmember Pechter's question, Stanford . had no
buildings at the present time that, could suport a helicopter,
It was possible that, as part of the hospita Y expansion, they
would be able to provide such a building, but they could riot
giveany assurance on that point at this point. Therefore, as
far as they knew, the current heliport site was the best one
for that purpose.
Councilmember Eyerly said he resisted changing the zoning on
the helipad, because he did not think that site was suitable
for housing it was itolated from other hooting now and tilere.
)
-6 2 6
1/26/8L
was no possibility of its being joined to other housing in the
future. He did not believe good planning called for housing it
such isolated packets. 'As affirmed by Sanford, there were
other, more suitable sites to consider for housing.
Councilmember,Renzel stated that it had been brought out at the
Planning,•Commission level, artd she had observed many timzs
passing that particular site, the heliport was only a very
small portion of that e!itire site; it as a large parcel and had
been zoned R-4 at one the, as was the entire Welch Road site.
Unfortunately, construction of professional offices was allowed
under that designation, and that was the choice made for most
of the other sites. She did not feel this site would be all
that isolated; it -was certainly close to shopping and to a
major employment center that was desperately in need of housing
for its employees. In her opinion, it would be very short-
sighted of the Council to fail to rezone some of the major
sites that were still available.
Councilmember Fazzino felt this was a difficult issue.- He had
previously walked a tightrope and supported Stanford's request
to keep the site as a heliport, but was not now so certain of
the real need for a heliport on that site. There was no ques-
tion in,,his mind that the heliport need could be met, given the
possible expansion of the next few years. On the other hand,
he was really concerned that this was not the ideal site for
housing. It might be a unique and innovative mixed -use
approach, and they might ask Stanford to consider it in that
lights at the same time, he thought there were a number of
other sites in the Stanford area which would be ideal for
housing. He thought, perhaps at this point, it would be best
to remain with their original recommendation, observe Stan-
ford's development and commitment to the housing issue over the
next few years, and possibly reconsider rezoning this site for
multi -family residential, if they did not feel Stanford had
kept up with the housing needs in that area. At this point, he
would stay with the original recommendation, but it was not a
strong vote in favor of, it.
Councilmember Levy asked Mr. Schreiber if the map was drawn to
scale; he was wondering if the site was twice as large as most
of the other lots -along Welch Road. Mr..Schreiber answered
that it was. Councilmember Levy said he was in agreement with
Councilmember Renzel's statements about the suitability of the
site for housing. He asked if there was any action Council
open to Council to keep the. site for a heliport, but ensuring
that any future development be residential, not commercial. He
felt that, if Stanford had no alternative, the site could
rennin a heliport -site, if it could be kept non-commercial.-
Councilmember Bechtel explained that was the reason for `the.
15 -year amortization period.
Councilmember Levy answered that he was willing give Stanford a
lifetime amortization if they wished it, bout what -he did not -
wish to see was for them to take -advantage of the need for a
heliport'today, to build commercial on that site tomorrow.
Mr. Abrams responded that the answer was very similar to one .
given in answer to a question at than last meeting- chahge the
nonconfora=ante ordinances to allow an expansion, an ongoing
use, 'etc. However, h'e gave eiiat 'answer only in response to- a
quiesti'on, not as a recommendation - it would strike. him as
piece -by -piece legal planning.
6 2 7
1/26/81
Vice -Mayor Fletcher recalled that, upon the rezoning of 1100
Welch Road, she was approached, by several of the inhabitants of
the Welch Road Office Buildings, who requested that she be sore
to notify them as soon as the development was underway. They
warted to get their applications in the mail as soon as possi-
ble, because they welcomed the opportunity of being able to
walk to work. She did not see that, the site was that unsuit-
ble for housing, because it was surrounded by employment
sites, filled with employees wishing to live near their work.
Mr; Abrams wished to amplify and correct his last statement.
He had,been reminded that, since the site was not yet noncon-
forming, Stanford would be entitled to a .notice under the
accepted procedure and could seek an exception under that
process._
Councilmember Bechtel first suggested that one solution would
be to grant a longer -amortization period than the present 15
years, and then stated her support of -the motion for the
following reasons: (1) The site was practically across the
road from the 46 -acre parcel that was being considered for
housing, (2) housing was under construction down the road on a
new parcel on Welch Road, and (3),they had certainly been
encouraging mixed use of housing in downtown Palo Alto.
Mayor Hendersonwas not sure how he would vote; he was a little
tied to his opinions on the Varian property. He preferred
housing on sites with other housing in sight somewhere on its
four boundaries. He had doubts about housing surrounded by
industry or commercial. He thought Varian was an improper
location for housing , and was having some trouble with this; on
the other hand, he was.committed to the housing program. Mayor
Henderson then asked Mr. Williams if Stanford felt strongly
about the unsuitability of the proposed heliport site for
housing, or if their main concern was with protecting the
heliport.
Mr. Williams replied that Stanford was more concerned with
with the former, but did have concerns about keeping the site
as an academic use, which included a heliport, It was quite
possible that, in the future, considering its .proximity to the
hospital, they might consider the s.te more appropriate for
another medical center/academic use than for housing, whatever
.might be the final solution for a helliport. Ft- was also
possible, that they would decide for housing, possibly open to
people working in the area, but more likely restricted to those
working in the medical center. In summary, Stanford considered
it an ,academic site currently and di d:.. not intend fOr it to
return to a development status. He could -not attest to the
feasibility of planning to locate a heliport on top of new
structures in connection with the proposed_,expansion of the
medical center, although this really was th;ei r .preference. It
would be better, i n the long run, to have a het,'cvpter land on
the roof of the hospital and transport ,the patient directly.
Counc.ilmember levy .thought he favored designating the site as
residential, with' the idea that the heliport become a noncon.-
forming use under that designation.
Mayor Henderson clarified the point that a „15 -year amort i zat ian
period would be imposed if the site became nonconforming. He
was under the impression the Council was able to obtain a
variance to continue that use.
6,2 9
1/26/81
Mr. Abrams explained that, as the code now read, all uses that
ylere nonconforming as of June 1978 had two years thereafter to
rile for an exception, and an exception period had be provided'
also for those uses thereafter made nonconforming as a result
of changes in the Comprehensive Plan and subsequent rezonings.
If it was decided to designate the site nonconforming, Stanford
was entitled to apply for an exception for period desired.
Councilmember Levy asked when application should be made.
Mr. Abrams answered that, upon the rezoning of a property to
nonconforming, it was necessary to mndify the zoning ordinance
to allow the exception process to be used by the new noncon-
forming uses. A time limit was then set for those uses to come
forward.
Mayor Henderson clarified the motion as upholding Item 36 of
the Planning Commission recommendations, which would change the
zoniny of the site to multi -family residential, then to a
nonconforming use with a 15 -year amortization period, with the
prerogrative of seeking an exception.
Planning Commissioner Cullen wished to reiterate the Planning
Commission's position. They had taken a great deal of time, at
Council -'s request, considering various parcels of land through-
out the city; many of them which they considered not nearly as
appropriate or attractive as the site under discussion. Very
few of them were directly connected with a major employer who
could control, in fact, the kind of housing that would be tied
to the employment. The Planning Commission felt very strongly
that this was an ideal spot for housing.
Councilmember Faziino declared that he had been convinced. He
would vote for the motion, because, as Commissioner Cullen had
correctly stated. a number of possible sites had been consid-
ered for housing in the last few months, on which they had, not
taken supportive affirmative action_ HP_ thought. they would
have to return to their housing policy as recorded inthe Plan.
He did want to express his concern that this remain a`'heliport
site for as long as Stanford needed it, and that, if any
further development was necessary, it should be mixed -use and
not commercial.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to the Motion, to
uphold Item 36 of the Planning Commission recommendations dated
January 15, 1981, passed on the following vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson, Levy
NOES: Eyerly
NOT PARTICIPATING: Witherspoon
Councilmember Renzel wished to discessone more item regarding
the Planning Commission recommendations. She said that part of
the reason staff wished to change the map along the creekside
was because a portion of what was intended to, be part of the
Open Space Zone had been erroneously 'designated Major Insti-
tutions in the 1975 plan, as though it were part of the
Children's Hospital. Therefore, without reopening the Willow. -
Road question, which had been.resolved that evening, she would
like to move that the small portion erroneously designated
Major. Institutions be redesignated CreeksideOpen Space.
b 2 9
3./26,/8.1"
1
Mayor Henderson confirmed from Mr. Schreiber that this would
merely be a correction of a clerical error.
AMENDMENT TO MOT:ON: Councilmemer Renzel moved, seconded by
Fletcher, to go back and correct clerical error on Item 8 on
agenda regarding changing "Major Institutions to "Creekside
Open Space," in the Planning Commission recommendations of
January 15, 1981.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to t1, e Motion passed
unanimously.
Mayor Henderson thew asked for votes to -adopt Resolution 5869,
as amended, adopting the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilmember Eyerly'stated his negative vote on the adoption
of _k.he Comprehensive Plan' for the following reasons. The 1976 -
Plan as it had come to them from the Planning Commission had,
very stringent policies and programs-, which were then tempered
by the Council-. What had basically happened over the long
process the past year was that those programs and policies -were_
reinstated, including many he had voted against because he did'
not -feel they were right. He did not wish to go into detail,
but wished to make some general comments. ire thought the Plan
was ignoring many of the City's traffic problems, by removing
the wording on policies on Willow Road. Page Mill Road had
been removed. He felt the Baylands Master Plan was wrong in
removing the Yacht Harbor and opting for the ITT excavation,
and this would eventually show in the cost of waste disposal to
the residents of the city. Regarding housing; the thrust of
the Plan now was completely for providing more low and moderate
income housing. He was not against this, but he thought
consideration needed to -be given to all levels of housing. In
fact-, there was some -wording in the Plan to that effect, but
the Council has rot been willing to try to speak to that in any
policies or. programs. He had already (poken that evening on
the Downtown Parking problems-, a large section of which he
thought will have major impact on the downtown area. He just
could not support that whole section. There were policies
within the Comprehensi ve Pl an which had }been supported by the
Council, but which needed more debate before being incorporated
into the' Plan. Twa which came to mind were an age discrimi-
nation ordinance in rental housing, and the prevention of
intensification of employees by current employers in expansion
of their properties. There -were many such others- in the Plan,
and -he just could not accept a Plan which spelled out policies
in detail, because, as -he had learned in the past four or five
years with the -current Comprehensive Plan, _people expect
exactly what is contained in the Plan. The consequent public
pressure on the Council made. it ,very difficult ,to back away
from former decisions,
Vice -Mayor Fletcher had some comments on the Environmental
Assessments which were being approved as part of the Resolu-
tion. Page -12, under the program to develop Downtown Park
North, the impact assessment did not mention the negative
impactNon the BMR rental housing stock in the city.
Mr. Schreiber responded that, if there were ,no objection, the.
negative impact could be so noted and included in the _environ
mental. document.
Counci lmember Witherspoon commented_ that the housing was there
as`a kind of serendipit;, because the original plan had called
for a park in that location. ,'The housins; was left in the
interim until the development of . the park. She therefore
thought it legitimate not tomake the negative impact on - the
rental housing stock a major .concern.
6 3 0
1/26/81
,J1
interim until the development of the park. She therefore
thought it legitimate not to make the .negative impact an the
rental housing stock a major concern.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Vice -Mayor Fletcher moved, seconded by
tlenzel, that, as part of the impact of development of Downtown
Park North, there is a negative impact on the BMR program.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to the Motion passed
on the following vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson, Renzel
NOES: Eyerly, Levy, Witherspoon
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Vice -Mayor Fletcher moved, seconded by
Renzel, tv include bicycling and walking, with carpooling and
vanpooling, in the item under the Transportation Program,
"Encourage Employees to Establish Transportation Coordina-
tors.
It
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amendment to the Motion passed
unanimously.
Councilmember Levy stated his support of the Comprehensive
Plan, calling it c large and complex document which it was
iuiipossible to agree with totally. He thought it -a. really,
excellent document in the way it assessed traffic, housing,
employment, use of school sites, etc. They had studied it in
great detail, -and perhaps it was worthwhile at this time to
"look at the forest rather than the individual trees." The
main thrust of the Plan, as he saw it, was to maintain Palo
Alto as the truly outstanding community that it was, where a
modest population maintained parks, libraries, services and
amenities usually available only in much larger cities, and
where in those cities, they were far more t:rowded, much less
well maintained, and the populace was much less well served.
He did not want to vote on it without very highly commending
the Planning Commission. As much time as -Council had spent on
the PTO, they had spent far more, with a. tremendou-s.
conscientiousness, and he, for one, was very appreciative of
all their their work.
Mayor Henderson said Councilmember Levy had taken his speech."
He wished tb respond to-Councilmember Eyerly'"s statements. He
had supported the original Comprehensive Plan that was changed
in 1976, so he' was relatively pleased with the present Plan..
As Councilmember Eyerly had said, it was not perfect, and he
even agreed with some of his stz.ements, but he thought it a
very good Plan. He too, wanted to thank the .Planning Commis-
sion, all those in attendance and the others. He knew he spoke
for the entire Council and staff.
MOTION PASSED: The Motion to approve Resoluton 5869, as
amended, adopting a Comprehensive Plan for the Development o
the City of Palo Alto, passed on the following vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson, Levy,
Renzel, Witherspoon
NOES: Eyetrly
6 3 1
1/26/81
DOWNTOWN PARKING MANAGEMENT PLAN
(CMR:111:1)
Vice -Mayor Fletcher-, Chairperson of the Policy and Procedures
Committee, gave a brief history of the Downtown Parking
Management Plan. A study Was commissioned --and completed -almost
three years ago. It had been approved at the Council'level,
then referred to the Finance and Public Works Committee for the
implementation stage. The Finance and Public Works Committee,
after discussion, was unable -to reach agreement or give any
recommendations, so it was returned to Council: It was then
seat to the Policy and Procedures Committee, which has
Submitted the following recommendations. The discussion
focused primarily on two documents: (1) the Staff Report dated
October -2, 1980, which listed 8 alternative actions which could
be taken to deal with the parking problems of downtown Palo
Alto, giving the advantages and disadvantages of each, and (2)
the Memorandum from. Vice -Mayor Fletcher to the Committee,
listing 7 suggested possible actions for downtown.
MOTION: Vice --Mayor Fletcher as chairperson of the Pol i c,y; and _
Procedures Committee, introduced the following recommendations
regarding the Downtown Parking Management Plan:
1 By unanimous vote, that the matter of re-routing transit
buses onto University Avenue be kept in committee pending a
report from staff, who will consult with the County; and
that meanwhile the suggestion for better signing be
implemented.
2, By unanimous vote, that as many bicycle lockers as possible
be implemented in the downtown area.
3. By unanimous vote, approval of the staff recommendations
listed below, with Homer being the limit at this time,
preserving the potential to expand the area out if
necessary in order to prevent a creep of the problem
further out:
a. Implement a residential and commuter permit system, with
alternate mode program as presented in CMR:352:0 and
Attachment 8, which includes a signing provision which
limits commuter parking to one side of the block so as
to provide relief to resident.
b. Investigate the feasibility,of building parking struc-
tures.
Implement an alternative modes program including, but
nut limited to, bike lockers, car pooling,., van pooling,.
discounted transit/SP passes, shuttle service ,from park
and ride lots.
The Committee further -recommends teat the Planning Commis-
sion explore the possibility of having the 'rate structure
in private oarking facilities comparable to the City's
public parking rate : structure. -
4. By vote of 3-0-1, Witherspoon abstaining, that the City
Council encourage the downtown people to=hire a transpor-
tation coordinator.
Ned Gallagher, 440 Melville A=venue, Executive Director of
Downtown Palo Alto, Inc., referred'to a report from his
organization to the Council, dated January, '8,"1981,„a coy of
6 3 2
1/26/81
which is on file in the Office .of the City Clerk. He said he
would not repeat the contents, except for two items. (1)
Downtown Palo Alto, Inc., strong j agreed with the
recommendation for investigating thn feasibility of building
parking structures (subpara.rph 3 b), pointing out that there
was already a vehicle - the University Ayenue Parking
Asses»ment District,- for a omplishing this in an organized
manner. Preliminary investigations had disclosed some
excellent possibilities, one of which was to use the existing
parking lots that were completely screened -from public View,
specifically, Parking Lot J, already .the subject of a letter to
Council in -May 1979.° (2) Referring to the recommendation for
the "downtown people" to hire a- transportation coordinate,
(subparagraph 4), the Downtown Palc Alto, Inc., felt the idea
sounded fine generally; but they would like a specific job
description, s� that they could comment more -intelligently on'
the -subject.- It also lent itself to an organization which they
were working towa,r'd--, a Downtown Business Improvement District..,
in which he thought a traffic coordinator could lend valuable
assistance,_to the general ideal of providing close coordination
with the city on parking and traffic matters.
Bill Byxbee, of Downtown.?alo Alto, Inc., ponted out that the
the Comprehensive Plan and the Staff Report an the Downtown
Parking Management Plan of October 2, 1980, indicated that 24%
of those persons,,occupied or -employed in downtown Palo Alto use
other modes of transportation than the automobile - carpools,
bicycles, busses, rides from friends, or walking. Off-street
parking facilities were available fur 54% of the downtown
working force. Consequently, 78% used means of commuting which
did not require parking on the neighboring residential streets.
In their opinion, this was a very good record, and certainly
meant the City did not have a parking crisis. Trie difference,
or at least 22% of employees, were not p rkirrg on neighboring
residential streets. in terms of magnitude, this represented a
current shortfall of some 1800 long-term parking spaces, a
difference of 200 in short -fall between that and the 2,000
long-term parking spaces described in the Downtown Parking
Management Program. Within the private sector, two business
organizations had •constructed extra employee parking lots,
providing for some 100 spaces. Within the public sector, the
Assessment District, at least 100 long-trm off-street parking
spaces were established, some -.,on the new Ki pl i ng ..,tree t Parking
Lot, some added :n existing parking lots through parking
engineering adjustments. He,__complimented Mrs. Joan, Thomp.on,
of the Palo Alto Transportation Staff, for her work in parking
lot design. He did not agree with the Comprehensive Plan
projections for an :increase of 800 downtown employees by 1990,
calling attention to tP:e qmi nirnal amount of property available
for construction within the .downtown area. He also noted that
new developments outside the Assessment District Were required
to provide employee parking, and within the District, at least
some new employers would voluntarily provide parking space.
Taking everything into consideration, Downtown Palo Alto Inc.,
projected: a difference of -only i00 new parking spaces needed by.
1989. Regarding what could be done to mitigate the -expected
shortfall of -2200 off-sreet parking spaces: (1 ). An ade04te
number of -tricycle and Moped lockers could --prove an inducement
to the 1500 downtown employees who reside within a,two-mike
radius; carpioling----was implemented lay the, City's Transportation
Plan, and improv-ed, bus scheduling could enti e more ..bus ride s.
(2).Regarding the enhancement ' of off-street p"a*king, he
recommended serious consideration ,of using Parking Lot J
multi-story`'parking--structure'. _In -'summary, he,
633
1/26/81
suggested that the Council take action by authorizing the prep-
aration of a feasibility study on building a multi-stor•_y garage
cn Lot J, and implement the Transportation Division's proposal
for installation of bl,cycle iockers.
Cliff Chambers, 18.37 Bryant Street, a new resident of Palo
Alto, having been employed, as Transportation Manager in San
Francisco, on similar programs, wished to briefly share some of
the results. About'a year ago, 13 institutions in San Fran-
cisco, including hospitals, universities, and private insurance
companies, combined to:develop a broad array of transportation
programs that included many of the means of alternative com-
muting mentioned in the ree'immend tions.,,A year -long study
disclosed a reduction in single-cccupied automobile commuters
of 15%, accomplished by increasing ride sharing by 30% and
improving public transportation by 20%. This..was all made
possible by the creation of a public and private `partnership,
which had never really been tried before, although_ i.t was
beginning to be done now, for instance by the Santa Clara
County Manufacturers' Association. Also, this was a compre-
hensive program; there was no ore strategy singled out; they
were flexible and were able to implement programs that had a
broad appeal: They used transportation coordinators tc, work at
the site,:and they were able to utilize some marketing skills
and personalized matching quite successiully. They realized
that there was a very.strong relationship between parking
management and the effectiveness of TSM.PrograM implementation.
In summary, he said he felt the whole concept as being
approached that evening was a real opportunity, and one that
should be given careful consideration, and would, hopefully, be
a access.
Kerm Knopf, 930 Palo Alto Avenue, thought that the recommen-
dations, for the most part, addressed many of the parking
problems with creative solutions. Referring to the recommen-
dation for implementing a residential and commuter permit
system, including a signing provision for commuter
parking to one side of the block (subparagraph -3 a), he
:Lommented that:this would be creating a type of "musical
chairs." By suddenly wiping out about a third of the neigh-
borhood parking, he cold see a real problem, with people
'bumping" for the spaces left. He suggested that other parking
be provided before implementing this recommendation. Referring
to the recommendation to investigate the feasibility of .huild-
ing parking structures (subparagraph 3 b)', he commented that he
honed for fast ,implementation. .Referring to the recommendation
regarding rate structures in private lots versus public lots
paragraph 3), he thought there should not be any rent contro`t'
on the private par.kirig sector-; further, that the`' public rate
structure should be increased.
Mayor Henderson wished to acknowledge the receipt of a °letter
from the Peninsula Times Tribune.
Counci lmember Renzel reminded Council of their 1er4thy
struggle with the Downtown Parking Management Plan, and their
realization that they needed some kind of comprehensive
appreach, that .involved a mode of obtaining revenue to support
alternate modes and construction of additional parking down-
town, and that ,'there really had to be alternatives to the
single -passenger -commute cars in order to reduce the demand for
parking, at the same time reducing the'on-street parking supply
in the residential neighborhoods. Theend result had been a
return to the bas. c recommended Parking Management Plan,' with a
somewhat, narrower, _parameter in terms pf the on -`street parking
6 3 4
1/26/81.
limitations. She thought, however, the original Plan had been
well thought out and that it did provide, at the sane time, a
means of increasing parking, alternatieve modes, and a revenue
`source for implementing these solutions. :t was.very clear to.
her that the Assessment District was not providing adequately
for the current demand. It had been disclosed at their meeting
that about 50% of the supply side of the figures used by staff
was private.parking -'it was not permanent Assessment District
parking. At the same time, the vacant land being considered
for development was -not considered as part _of the demand side
for parking. Therefore, at any time, appreximately 50% of the.
spaces downtown could be removed to create buildings, losing
the parking and cti'eating tore demand. She thought., it impera-
tive that Council begin now with scme sort of creative solution
to the parking problems. It was her opinion that serious con-
sideration must be given to some '.:ind of parking structures
downtown, but:that Assessment District funds should not be
spent only on parking structures; the City had a responsibility
for setting in motion a comprehensive parking plan. She there-
fore supported the Committee recommendations.
Mayor Henderson recalled extremely strong statements by present
members -of the Cou.:ci l that under no circumstances would they
ever consider building parking structures, and he did not want.
to send staff off on a very expensive, lengthy feasibility
study.., if the Council was not really serious about this
alternative. The second problem he had dealt with was the
probable immediate results of implementating the residential
commuter permit system. He asked what provision was made to
take care of the replaced demand in the immediate future. The
feasibility of -a parking structure was years and years down the
line, He had some problems with implementing the permit system
without an immediate, really significant means for taking care
of the demand - he did not feel that 400 bike -lockers could
take care of 1,000 cars. .
Councilmember Bechtel said that she thought that objection had
been answered. She sympathized with Mayor Henderson's concern,
and thought Ned Gallagher's concern as stated in his letter was
one that the Committee was very aware of - the City could not
just prohibit parking on -half of the streets without providing
an alternative. She thought that was why the Committee was
proposing a really multi -mode type of program, including
outlying lots with some sort of shuttle system, arid that they
did realize construction of a parking structure took a long
time. She thought Councilmember Renzel's points were well.
taken - that there were 2,000 parking spaces short of the
projection, that those 2,000 packers were parking outside
someone's ho►e,`,that one parking structure alone could not
approach solving the problem. They had just begun, with`the
cooperation of the downtown people and the downtown !
transportation committee, wring on the -carpooling and
.vanpnoltn g program. All theO. approaches had to be strongly
encouraged. Speaking,to-the recommendations specifically, she
did not wish to see implementation of the commuter permit
system (subparagraph 3b) until some alternate parki ng was
provided. She, believed .a disincentive had to be accompanied by
ihcentives.
Mayor Henderson asked if that item should not then remain in
Committee until some evidence was received that they were in a
position to move on.
Counci lmember,Bechtel replied that staff wished stronger
support - a crucial point was that a grant, appi icat;on ;was',
involved.
6 3 5'
1/26/81' -
Councilmember Levy said he had receiied "mixed signals" from
Associate Planner Joan Thompson's memo dated January 20. 1981,
relating to a meeting on downtown parking. -Under "Lot Utili-
zation Survey Results," it stated, "The Committee discussed the
attached utilization survey results. During peak hours, the
two-hour stalls in lots F, K, L, and at the Civic Center, were
consistently under-utilized." The memo futher stated, on page
2: "Since t'ie Civic. Center Garage has over 100 unsold permit
stalls, the Committee did not want to add permit stalls, even
though the two-hour stalls are under-utilized." What_ he under-
stood from the foregoing was that the parking problem was by no
means universal, that there were a number of.lots that were
constantly under-utilized, and that the Civic Center's permit
stalls were under-utilized.
Mrs. Thomspson replied that he was --correct. There was an
excess of permit stalls in the Civic Center and there were
several lots where, around noontime, the short-term parking was
not being fully uti l i-zed..
Counci]member Levy asked for an explanation. Mrs. Thompson
thought a great deal of it related to the -convenience of the
parking. It had been discovered, in attempting to sell the
Civic Center permit slots, that people preferred to remain on
the waiting list for a lot located at the rear of their place
of employment, rather than park in .the garage and walk a few
blocks. Also, it was very hard to sell permits for the Civic
Center lot to people who were parking on residential streets
for free, and walking two blocks to their work, where they
would have to walk and pay to park in the garage.
Counci lmember' Levy asked about the under -utilization of the
two-hour stalls. Mrs. Thompson said this had been discussed in
Committee, and their only answer was that:perhaps this was
related to convey{fence. Apparently, drivers preferred to drive
around the block to park in front of their destination, than
park in a lot and.walk a few blocks.
Counci lmember Levy responded that what he was hearing, then,
was that there was no shortage of short -terra parking, and that
t le long-term parking was probably a case of people using.
residential streets. In answer to the concerns expressed by
Counci lmember Eyerly and othei s, at least to the degree of
those 100 unsold permit stalls in the_Civic-Center, they could
immediately decrease the amount of long-term parking available
on the streets by 100 spaces. As -he understood it, the problem
had to be addressed, in a way, in relation to the specific
location of parking availabilities
Mrs. Thompson wished to add that the excess in the Civic Center
might perhaps be temporary - Northern Calfornia Savings had
mOed .out':;ot about 100, .stalls . and 'Pacific Telephone was build-
lag a new_ addition which might 'need some° permanent stalls.
Therefore, many of the empty pereiit stalls might be sold in the
next few months.
Couilcilmember Levy said Ke hoped the city's vanpoo1iny,program
might gI t: free even more parking stalle. He stated . he. general ly
agreed With the recommendations, but wanted to make some com-
ments: Regardi ns the recommendation to re-route busses. onto
University Avenue (paragraph 1), he thought it very important
that public transportation not be overemphasized to the:
detriment of the overall aesthetics of the downtown area, as
important as it mdy be. Regarding paragraph 2, he agreed that
- s.
6.. 1 6
W26/81
bicycle lockers should be placed in as Many locations as pos-
sible in the downtown area, but he thought there -should be a -
caveat, which -may be implied, that. it should be consistent with
satisfactory aesthetics and not interfere with pedestrian flow.
Regarding subparagraph 3 c), one of the alternate modes sug-
gested was discounted Southern Pacific passes. He personally
had a fair amount of trouble with that, particularly for those
who use the SP to commute out of Palo Alto. Commuters driving
out of Palo Alto do not eeuse a -parking problem in Palo Alto.
Secondly, he really questioned whether they should be further
subsidizing those people who ride Southern Pacific,
part cularly to San Francisco. He thought the, average income
of the SP rider was much higher than that of the average
resident of Palo Alto. Regarding paragraph 4, which recn-mmends
that "...the Planning Commission explore the possibility of
having the rate structure in private parking facilities
comparable to,' the City's public parking rate structure," he
thought the leaning should be clarified. What. he understood
from it, was that the City'.s rates were lower than private
rates, which should therefore be lowered to meet the public
rates. He did not see how the City could control the rates
imposed by the private sector - the City would have to raise
its rates to meet the private parking rates, if compatibility
was deemed necessary.
1
Couric.ilmenber Eyerly stated his objection to the recommendation
for staff to study the possible re-routing of busses on Univer-
sity Avenue (paragraph 1). He was sympathetic to the thrust of
the recommendation for implementing a residential and commute
permit system (subparagraph 3 a), but, as suggested by Coun-
cilmember Bechtel, he thought that, considering the parking
space shortage, it should be delayed until the establishment of
some park and ride lots with a shuttle service, or the activa-
tion of some of the other transportation mode programs.
Regarding the Civic Center Garage, he pointed out that, besides
Northern California moving out of it, the City had withdrawn
quite a few stalls. He thought all the unused stalls would be
put to use in very short order, as soon as the downtown com-
muters realize they are free.
Councilmember Witherspoon said she too did not, under any
circumstances, want to see the busses re-routed on University
Avenue. -She thought that, in general, this was _a multi -media
approach to a very complex problem, and she would Prefer to -see
the Council accept the Committee's recommendations, except for
paragraph 1, and trust the. staff to implement then in a manner
that was consistent,. and with good timing, so as to avoid
throwing the different relements off. She Could see the imple-
mentation_ of the plan taking more than a year. or sa,: step by
step.
Councilmember.Fazzino agreed with the comments made by Council -
members Bechtel and Eyerly. He thought they would have pure
chadsand pandemonium if they implemented the residential and
commuter permit system (subpragraph 3 a), without the requisite
park and lot ride alternative, and he thought they needed .to
move quickly in establishing those alternatives. He therefore
moved the following amendment.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Eazzino moved, seconded by
Henderson, to amend subparagraph 3 a) of the Policy and Proce-
dures Committee recommendations by inserting at the beginning
of the . subparagraph: "When a park and ride lot or other ,=trans-
portation alternativesare established, to..."
Councilmember Fazzino assumed that the motion gave the staff
the necessary policy to move =ahead and seek the transportation
alternatives. He was so assured.
Counci lmenber Witherspoon pesi nted out .that.. tftey had been count-
ing on the revenue from the parking permits for the federal
grant application.
Councilmember Fazzino_said he seriously doubted that U.M._T.A.
would be giving any grants that year, He then referred, to
paragraph 4, the recommendation for the downtown peoples to hire
a transportation coordinator. He thought this a very gbod
idea and that whoever filled that position should become heav-
ily involved in the ,ride -sharing prlgrams. He mentioned that a
number of local corporations employed full-time transportation
coordinators, citing the outstanding program_at HP. He would
'certainly encourage the Downtown Palo Alto, Inc., to work with
the corporations to define that position more carefully.
Vice -Mayor Fletcher opposed most of the foregoing statements,
and reminded Council that the park and ride idea was soundly
defeated by a great many people who pointed out that the idea
had many problems. She thought a park and ride facility was a
very worthwhile concept for long-distance commuters, but most
commuters in the area lived within three or_four miles; it was
not feasible to°expect people to drive their cars over to the
baylands and wait around for a shuttle bus, for a short trip.
She thought what needed to be done was to study the -overall
transportation system; ;ler idea of re-routing the busses onto
Jniversity Avenue was to couple it with removal of the .cars.
She had been to a number of cities where this idea had been
used very succe sfully. The congestion on University Avenue
would be drastically re, :Iced if it were closed to cars, because
the trips made by buses, running at half-hour intervals, would
be far, far fewer than those made by cars, especially with the
continual driving around looking for parking spaces. She
quoted a report from Mr. Knox, .ATA California Planers Title,
as mentioning bus stops as "...some of the liveliest, most
attractive, most agreeable places of transportation connection
points." She maintained that was the type of community inter-
action people sought - they enjoyed being where they could walk
around without automobile congestion and where there were other`
people strolling around. This concept has worked in many
places where the citizens had beep_originally opposed to it,
but where some far-sighted planners had managed to persuade
them otherwise. :As part of the plan, she alto wished the City
would consider a jitney service; perhaps this could be under-
taken,.by the transportation coordinator. There were any number
of facts _and figures available to them dealing with 'where --
people live and what type of trips_they made; for instanc ,
just: -that week she had received a good deal -of information on a
jitney service being proposed by the City of Berkeley. The
projection= there was that the service would become entirely
self-supporting after the initial investment. The.most effec-
tive method for encouraging the use of. alternate modes of
transportation was to reduce the. number ,of parking spaces. She
quoted from an analysis by MTC "Control strategy which will
decrease the tingle' driver autosr to the,_,greatest extent is
still to reduce the number of parking spaces-, available and
thereby increase walking distance and hence walking time for:
auto drivers." She reiterated that transit, including busses -
ond jitneys,,- should be placed exactly at most commuters` desti.-
nations - University Avenue.: The jitney service could take the.
farm of .q, ,shared tali system, as in washingt'one D.C., where
taxi l.ic,ense$. were_ issued to..indivldual drivers, who then.: pick
6 3 9
1/26/81
' l1
up multiple passengers on their way to work. This was also
mentioned in the Berkeley jitney study. There were many means
of moving people downtown without their getting into their own
cars and parking in a congested area. Palo Alto residents were
constantly complaining about the amount of traffic and con-
9estion in their area; she could not see why they would be
attracted to shopping areas which were really congested and
where there was constant traffic.
Discussing the recommendations further, Vice -Mayor Fletcher
said she approved the idea of the feasibility of parking
structures being studied in Committee (subparagraph 3 b), for
the purpose of obtaining some figures which she hoped would
persuade those who would have to bear the costs that it would
be much cheaper to provide alternate means of transit. Some of
the cities she had visited, for instance, Los Angeles, had
programs whereby developers of new construction were requested
to provide, not parking, but instead, for the life of the
project, some type of transit for their employees. This kind
of program w as much cheaper in the long run, cut down on the
congestion and on parking needs, and provided more land for
development and more vitality in the long run.
Councilmember Renzel commented that the current Assessment
District assessments -were only paying off existing garages.
It was necessary for the District to agree upon some new
Assessment District bonding; there was no guarantee that they
would do so. Therefore, they had no guarantee that the parking
contemplated by the Assessment- District will in fact be pro-
vided. She also wished to mention that, in order to qualify
for funding, it it should be available, it was necessary for
Palo Alto to develop a comprehensive transportation plan which
was innovative and attempted to remove the cars from the
streets and place people into alternative modes of transporta-
tion. She thought the four parts of the Motion (the four
paragraphs of the Policy and Procedures Committee recommenda-
tions) were essential as part of a package.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION _PASSED: The Amendment to the Motion, to
amend Subparagraph 3 a), by inserting a condition:- at the
beginning of the paragraph, passed on a unanimous vote. •
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Levy moored to delete "SP"
from Subparagraph 3 c), so as to rend: ."c) Implemeit an
alternative modes program including, ... discounted transit
passes, shuttle service from park and ride lots." The motion
died for lack of a second.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by
Eyerly, to delete the paragraph between 3 c) and 4, "The
Committee further recommends that the Planning Commission
explore the popssibility of having the rate structure in
private parking facilities comparable to the City's public
parking rate structure."
Councilmember Witherspoon pointed out that -probably the P&P
Committee actually meant the Planning Staff, not the Planning
Commission.
Director of Transportation Noguchi concurred, stating that the
original referral was to the Planning Staff, rather than to the
Planning Commission.
Councilmember Witherspoon, addressing Mr. `Noguchi, said she
believed that the rates charged by some of the parking str.:'uc-
tures was so hi..gh that they were not being used.
6 3 9
1/26/81:, ,f .
Mr. Noguchi agreed that was part of the problem; the Palo Alto
Office Center was charging considerably higher rates than the
City Parking Lot.
Mayor Henderson ensured that his understanding of the ,recom-
mendation was correct - it would require private facilities to
lower their fees to match the public re' es. He thought Coun-
ci"Imember Levy had suggested that this should_be reversed - the
City should charge as much as the private sector.
Councilmember Levy answered that he did not see how the City
could require the private sector to charge less, and he did not
know that the City wished to charge more. Therefore, he
thought it be best to delete the recommendation.
Mayor Henderson alcertained that it was not known if it was
possible for the City to require private parking structures to
lower their rates.
Councilmer;ber Renzel said she had made the motion for the
recommendation, because credit was given within theAssessment
District f.or providing parking spaces, but if the charges were
so vastly different from the public parking fees, those spaces
were not, in fact, used, and the public spaces were used
instead. The idea was, therefore, to bridge the gap in some
ways
Mayor Henderson said that he was willing to explore the possi-
blility, because the problem did exist, and the City Attorney
and his staff could check into it.
Couoiciimeiiber Bechtel suggested that it be referred to Bill
Byxbee's committee as well as to the Planning staff, because it
was a problem for them as well.
Mayor Henderson did not think the Council could refer anything
to a private body. They could only ask staff to discuss the
matter with them.
Mr. Noauchi assured Mayor Henderson that they planned to commu-
nicate with Downtown Palo Altn, Inc.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION FAILED: The Amendment to the Motion, to
delete the recommendation that the Planning Staff explore the
possibility of having the rate structure in private parking --
facilities comparable to the City's public parking rate struc
ture, failed on the following vote:
AYES: Levy
NOES: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson,
Renzel. Withersy on
-
Vice -Mayor Fletcher thought the staff should have some guid-
ance, regar-ding the recommendation for investigating the
feasibility of building, concerning the type of feasibility
study they should undertake. Hera , idea at the committee level
was for a very cursory cost analysis, not specifying a particu-
lar lot and drawing up a design If: .it turned out to' be any
more thana basic financial analysis, she would vote against.
it.
Mayor Henderson- remarked that caused him some concerns. Ne
cautioned that those who supported subparagraph 3 b) of the
recommendation should be firm in thetr.`uppvrt.
6 4 0
1/26/81
Mr. Noguchi said that staff's understanding, as stated in the
staff report, was that they were to be somewhat site specific,
in context with a previous request from Downtowar Palo Alto,
Inc. Lot J was being considered, and Lot Q had been mentioned
by Downtown Palo Alto, Inc.
Mayor Henderson thought it would be difficult to conduct a
feasibility study without mentioning some specific sites.
Vice -Mayor Fletcher announced her intention to vote for removal
of subparagraph 3 b); they had just passed the Comprehensive
Plan,. which designated close -in parking for short-term shopper
parking, not for cummuter parking. She felt that the building
of parking structures would tend to defeat the whole purpose of
encouraging the us: of alternate modes of trznsportdtion.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Vice -Mayor Fletcher moved to delete. the
recommendation for investigating the feasibility of building
parking structures (subparagraph 3 b). The motion died for
lack of a' second.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION: Councilmember Wii:herspoon moved, seconded
by Eyerly, to delete the first portion of paragraph 1 of the
recommendation: " ...that the matter of re-routing transit
buses onto University Avenue be kept in Committee pending a
report from staff, who will consult with the County ...," but
keeping the last portion, stating: "...that the suggestion for
better signing be implemented."
Mayor Henderson thought he would not support the motion, though
he was not in favor of moving buses back onto University `,venue.
For the moment, he was willing to keep that in Committee
pending possible alternatives for removing some of the traffic
from University Avenue.
Councilmember Levy did. not think Council should capriciously
give staff just another report to prepare, if they were not
ready for serious consideration of the results.
Mayor Henderson asked if this would be an assigned report, due
by a certain date. He had thought it was just sitting in Com-
ml,ttee:for later discussion, awaiting new direction. He was
not ready to request a lengthy staff report, either.
City Manager saner- explained that, if the Council did approve
the motion as written, staff would then prepare _ond submit a
report after discussion with the County.
Councilmember Bechtel said that'what she had in ,Hind when she
made the motion originally in Committee was not a comprehen-
sive, major report, but a very brief report of only ore or two
pages in length, with staff conferring and gathering a little
more additional information on the increase or decrease of
ridership of buses over last year, when buses were routed on
Univer,sity Avenue. She had not envisioned an onerous task; it
was her impression staff had already done some of the prelimi-
nary work.
Mayor Henderson asked staff how onerous the task seemed to
them - was it a major undertaking, or a brier study.
Mr. Noguchi,replied staff was not sure; they would have a bet-
ter idea of the effort involved after- a meeting with the County
staff the following morning.
6 4 1'
1/26/81
Director of Planning and Community Environment Naphtali Knox
commented that, in his opinion, there was no such thing as a
brief report. It required a great deal of staff time to gather
information - if the report was too brief-, they,were told the.
information was' inadequate for making a decision; if too long,
it was sent back to committee for condensing. All staff
reports were very carefully prepared and required a' great deal
of staff time.
Mayor Henderson said he was aware of the workload in the
Planning Department, and thought this particular report could
be requested at some future date, when they were ready to
seriously consider the re-routing of buses onto University
Avenue. He would therefore vote for the motion.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION PASSED: The Amenrimer,t to the Motion, to
delete the first part of paragraph 1), the recommendation to
keep thematter of re-routing transit buses onto University
A`venve in Committee, passed on the following vote:
AYES: Eyerly, Fazzino, Henderson, Levy, Witherspoon
NOES: Bechtel, Fletcher, Renzel
Counci lmenber Renzel commented, for the record,, that she was
supporting the pursuit of information on parking structures,
but the only way she would support any parking structure was in
conjunction with a comprehensive transportation plan. She did
not wish to see the Assessment District pursuing only parking
alternatives.
MOTION PASSED: The Motion to approve the Policy and Procedures
Committee recommendations to Council regarding the Downtown
Parking Management Plan, as amended, p!ssed on the following
vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Ejerly, Fazzino, Henderson, Levy, Renzel,
Witherspoon
NOES: None
ABSTAINING: Fletcher
.ice -Mayor Fletcher explained that she had abstained because of
the portions of the recommendation relating to the parking
structures and the buses. She contended that Palo Alto was
"bucking the trend." Other cities were being much more
forward -looking; the Council had voted for a Comprehensive Plan
and were\not giving any consideration to it.
ANIMAL SERVICES ORDINANCE
Mayor Henderson explained that he had removed this item from
the Consent Cal ender at the request of the : public.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Witherspoon, to
approve the following ordinance (second reading)
ORDINANCE 3257 entitled "ORDINANCE OF
THE COUNCIL Ol` THE CITY OF PALO ALTO
AMENDING CHAPTERS 6.04, 6.08,-.6.12,
6.16, 6.20, 6.c^2 6.?8, 6.32, AND 6.36
,.OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE
.1 REGARDING ANIMAL.. CONTROL.
(First reading j1-/12/81 )
6 4 2
1/26/81.
Mi1ly Davis, 344 Tennessee Avenue, said she had submitted a
report to Council of a survey conducted to determine the .number
of cats or dogs preferred per household. She read some of the
final results: 9 persons preferred 0 cats
1
16
26
12
!1
y
M
1 cat
2 cats
3 or more cats
9 persons preferred 0 dogs
21 try dog
21 I' 11 2 dogs 1 a3 or more dogs
Taking the average for both .pets results in 1-1/2 cats and
1-a1/3 dogs voted per household: Most of,the complaints dealt
with dogs. In rebuttal to a statement made by a member of the
public at the first reading of the ordinance, that mere dogs.
should be allowed per household in order to provide shelter to
animals, she thought a better solution would be a kind of birth
control. In conclusion, she thought the survey demonstrated
that most people thought a total of 2 pets was sufficient per.
household.
Bob Moss, 4010 0rme, first seconded Milly.Davis' statements
about the number of dugs and cats to be permitted per address -
He thought 2 adequate and 3 excessive. He then addressed
Section 6.20.080, Page 6, which requires a permit fog' keeping
livestock and fees es,;abl i shed (a $10.00 fee was discussed at
the first reading). He felt this was unreasonable for fowl;
their dog 1 cease was only $3.00 or $4.00. He could not under-
stood why the fee should be so much higher to keep one or two
chickens than for a dog. He thought it absurd that tho,e who
kept two dogs were not required to obtain the consent of their
neighbors, as did those who .kept a few chickens, especially
when chickens were never the public nuisances that dogs could
be. Living in Barron Park, he liked the rural .atmosphere and
felt it should be maintained; he did not think ordinances
should be passed that were more oppressive than necessary. He
asked, therefore, that Council strike the stction_of the ordi-
nance that so grossly overreacted to the keeping of some of the
animals, particularly fowl.
Douglas Owen, 2814 South Court, seconded most of Mr. Moss'
remarks. He also thought the fees for keeping chickens very
high; he was not even sure there should be one. However, he
principally wished to address his remarks to Paragraphs 4 and
5, under Section 60.20.090 of tie proposed ordinance:, dealing
with the location of chicken coops. This was a matter a grave
importance to his family - they had four children and ten.
chickens. He had no.objection to Paragraph 4, agreeing that 25
feet was an .appropriate distance from a dwelling, but he felt
the addition of Paragraph 5 caused problems, when it stated
that, not only should a coop be More than 25 feet- .from a
dwelling, -but also more than -.25 feet'from a property, line,
unless the written permission of tile',. neighbors --was obtained for
a closer location. He kn&w of at least 7 cases in Palo Alto
where chickens were -kept by private farm 1 ies, all of them on
lots Where it would be _mpossible to locate a chicken coop
farther than 25 feet. from all of the property -lines, without
their -neighbors'. permission. It, appeared to him that put the
onus for deciding the viability of keeping chickens on one's
neighbors, i nstead' of keeping i t the --.respons i bi 1 i ty_ of the
owner. He was aware of_°no other section in the Municipal Co4e
whj,ch .required the obtaining Jf permission from one's` neighbors
6 4 3
1/26/81
to do anything with ode's own property, let alone something as
relatively trivial as keeping chickens. These two paragraphs
rea_lly imposed an obligation on 90% of the residents of Palo
Alto to seek permission of their neighbors to keep chickens.
He thought this wrong, and did not think this was the intent of
the Code in the first place. He therefore requested that Coun'-
cil remove Paragraph 5 from the proposed _ordinance.
Mayor Henderson ascertained that -a fee of $10.00 had been
imposed for a permit to keep fowi. He decided that the matter
should be considered separately from the proposed ordinance.
AMENDMENT'TO"MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by
Fletcher, to amend 6.01.080 of the proposed Animal Ordinance to
specify no more than 2 dogs per house ol d.
Councilmember Witherspoon reiterated her former argument that
Palo Alto was the only city. in the Peninsula that was proposing
so radical a change. A little research disclosed that there
were 9 cities, 3 of them contiguous to Palo Alto, which allow
three or more dogs per household. She did not think the prob-
lems with dogs were necessarily related to the number of dogs
per household.
Mayor Henderson, responding to Councilmember Witherspoon's
survey, said that most of the 9 cities had open zoning, such as
Los Altos Hills, Atherton, etc, leaving Mountain View, Sunny-
vale and Menlo Park, with zoning similar to Palo Alto.
Councilmember Levy said he did believe there was such a thing
as freedom; he just was not disposed to curtail people's free-
dom to have a few pets in their house. Notwithstanding the
survey giving a consensus of those who voted that they did not
want more than 2_ pets per household, he thought they were only
speaking of a few people, and felt those people should have the
freedom to have 3 dogs if they wished.
AMENDMENT TO MOTION FAILED: The Amendment to the Motion to
amend 6.01.0P,0 of the_propdsed Animal Ordinance to specify no
more than two dogs per household failed on the following vote:
AYES: Henderson, Fletcher, Renzel
NOES: Bechtel, 'yerly, Fazziiio, Levy, Witherspoon
MOTION PASSED: The Motion to',appruve Ordinance 3257 (second
reading), amending the Palo Alto Municipal Code regarding
Animal Control, passed unanimously.
ITT. EXCAVATION/RESTORATION AGREEMENT -
RLF'nI OF CITY ATTORNEY r i`CTTY
E OF
2, T9'�'f BURET A M MirtilT7DIR:130:1 )
Staff recommends that Council determine which of the following
three alternative courses of. acti ons -they wish to pursue and
that -they takeappropriate action to;.e.nab,le staff to continue',
the Landfill Closure Project in in orderly manner:
1) Council may vote again on the ITT design contract and
budget amendment from the Refuse Fr,nd Reserve and
'perhaps obtain the required two-tf,irds vote.
1`i
2) A majority of Council may vote to reallocate existing
=appropriations from other projects for this contract,
if so, the alternate budget amendment should be
approved.
3) Council may instruct City Staff to seek other sources
of impermeable cover and to proceed obtaining this
material through contracts with others.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Becntel, to
reallocate existing appropriations from other projects far th'
ITT excavation/restoration contract.
ORDNANCE 3258, entitled "ORDIh'.ANCE OF THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING THE BUDGET FOR
THE 'FISCAL YEAR 1980-81 TO PROVIDE FUNDS
IN THE REFUSE UTILITY OPERATING BUDGET TO
PROCEED WITH THE HT PROPERTY EXCAVATION)
RESTORATION"
Councilmember Witherspoon.made what she felt a valid point -
that, as this was a project involving sanitary landfill, the
citie3 participating in the cast of the "dump" should be
bearing the expense for the ITT project, not the City's General
Fund. She really did not think they should be spending General
Fund money on the refuse operation, and wondered if and when
the funds would be reimbursed.
Mr. Zaner said staff did not contemplate a reimbursement of the
refuse funds.
Councilmember Eyerly agreed with Councilmember Witherspoon. He
thought the cost -of garbage disposal should be paid for by the
users,. not just.R-1 residents, and that it was inappropriate to
take funds from capital improvements, in effect subsidizing by
the general community. He also questioned the staff interpre-
tation of Section 2.28.090 of the City Charter, which reads,
"Appropriations remain in effect until the purpose for which`
each is made has been accomplished or abandoned." It —had been
the practice of the staff to leave remaining funds in capital
improvement projects to take care of -any further work or need.
He presumed that was'why the mor. y..was left in the three speci-
fied projects. It was therefore inappropriate to transfer
those funds to the Refuse Fund, because the Section in the Cty
-Charter stated,;specif cally. that the appropriations reverted -to
--the General Fund when projects were "accomplished or aban-
doned." 'He would therefore contest the propriety of staff's
contention that the funds could be transferred.
Councilmember Fazzino:-was concerned about` the precedent of
having the staff trying_ to .circumvent normal, legal procedures,
by drawing resources from three major cit;�—projects.
Mayor . Henderson saw a problem with the larger sizeof vote
required for a special appropriaticn, after a policy had been
set.
Mr. Zaner wishea to make clear thatithe staff was not trying to
circumvent legal procedure. They had._, given Council two-,,,
alternatives fry, funding the ,project --(1) take the funds,'/ou,
of Reserves, requiring six vc.t4s and ( ) transfer funds from
other''projects with excess funds, requiring five votes.
Mr. Abrams explained that the\Section of the Charter '.referred
to by Councilmember Eyerly also contained a phrase stating,
6 4 5
1/26/81
"..,unless amended by the Council, the appropriation shall
continue in full force...until the purpose -for which each was
made has been accomplished or abandoned." Therefore, the
wording did at least suggest that the Council could amend its
previous budgetary allocations. He would not enter into any
consideration as. to whether or not the amendment should to
made, or whether or not the purpose for the original appropri-
ations had been accomplished.
Counci lmernber. Eyerly thought the Council would be well advised
to read for themselves the Section of the Charter he had just
read. he acknowledged there were other Sections regarding the
transfer of funds, but the Section he had read was very plain
in its meaning, to him, that this was a devious way of arriving
at the appropriations for this. use. He contended it was common
knowledge'tnat the reason for the ITT excavation was the policy
set by the majority of the Council, and the use of that was
spelled out - it was to be used - :to cover the dump, which was
solid waste disposal expense, ; and should certainly come from
the Refuse Fund, not from_the Capital Improvement Fund.
MOTION PASSED: The motion to adopt Ordinance 3258 and
reallocate existing appropriations from other projects for the
ITT excavation/restoration project passed on the following
vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fletcher, Henderson, Levy, Renzel
NOES: Eyerly, Fazzino, Witherspoon
MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by Fletcher,
approval of the following Agreement and Ordinance.
AGREEMENT - CONSULTANT SERVICES
Genge Consultant
ORDINANCE 3259, entitled. "ORDINANCE OF
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO
AMENDING THE BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR 1980-81 TO PROVIDE FUNDING FOR
THE ES1ABLISHMENT OF CAPITAL IMPROVE-
MENT PROJECT NO. R(i,-41 ' ITT EXCAVA-
TION STUDY/DESIGN' APD \'TO DECREASE
FUNDING IN CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJ-
ECTS NO. 78-31 'R[NCONADA POOL RENO-
VATION,' NO. 79-40 'MITCHELL PARK
FOOTBRIDGE REPLACEMENT' AND NO. 79-99
'WAVERLY BIKE/PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
EROSION CONTROL.'
MOTION PASSED: The Motion passed on the following vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fletci.er, Henderson, Levy, Renzel
NOES: Eyerly, Fazzino, Witherspoon
As there were members of the public to speak to the issue just
voted on, Mayor Henderson moved to re -open the discussion.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Levy, torecnnsi der
the item regarding the ITT excavation/restoration project.
MOTION PASSED: The ,motion passed on a; unanimous vote.
-„6 4 6 -
t/26/81
De'k Vyn, 786 Wildwood Lane, first of all, thought Council had
overlooked the third alternative, which he felt should have
been examined more thoroughly. Secondly, he was worried about
the contract itself. He did not disagree with the study, and
he understood the City was committed to using the ITT property
for dump cover, but he had been invoived for many years in
design contracts; and he really questioned some of the services
the Consultant was to provide and the City's resnonsibilities
to him. (1) There was a 20% contingency fee in the contract
he had never heard of this before in all of his extensive
experience with civic organizations. The contingency f.ee was
usually 1O%. (2) The work was divided. into two stages, the
first being preliminary, or the feasibility study, expected to
extend over six months. Sixty percent (6O',6) of the fee was to
be paid at that stage. The second stage was for the construc-
tion documents. In his experience, that was the bulk of the
work, but in this case .J% of the fee was to be paid for
another six-month period. (3) What; really concerned him was
the escalation clause. for 20%, at the end of the contract. He
said he would like that contract himself, on those terms.
REPEAT MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved again, seconded by
Fletcher, to reallocate existing appropriations from other
projects for the ITT excavation/restoration contract.
ORDINANCE 3258, entitled "ORDINANCE OF
THE CITY 6F PALO ALTO AMENDING THE BUDGET
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1980-81 TO PROVIDE FUNDS
iN THE REFUSE UTILITY OPERATING BUDGET TO
PROCEED WITH THE ITT PROPERTY EXCAVATION
RESTORATION"
REPEAT MOTION PASSED: The repeated Motion passed on the
following vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fletcher, Henderson, Levy, Renzel
NOES: Eyer:ly, Fazzino, Witherspoon
Councilmember Renzel asked if staff had any comments on Mr.
Vyn's criticism of the contract.
Director of Public Works Adams responded that they did have
some comments. The bulk of the work for this particular
contract was in the analysis prior to the final construction
documents.-- During that period the, Consultant would be perform-
ing the environmental work, which required a great deal of
research, -and developing a` concept plan. The 20.% escalation
clause wos not really part of the contract, but a contingency
placed by staff, because they had been informed this rwas a very,
complicated procedure and study, and that`.:.there .might be a
future requirement, for hiring another Consultant.
REPEAT MOTION: Councilmember Renzei moved, seconded by
Fletcher, approval of the Agreement with Genge Consultants and
of Ordinance 3Z59.
AGREEMENT Genge Consultants
\\,
6 4 7
1/2'6/81
ORDINANCE nb9, entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE .CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING THE
BUDGET FOR THE :FISCAL YEAR 1980-81 TO PROVIDE
FUNDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENT PROJECT N0. 80-41 "ITT EXCAVATION
STUDY/DESIGN" AND TO DECREASE FUNDING IN
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS NO. 78--,1
"RINCONADA POOL RENOVA.TION," NO. 79-40 "MITCHELL
PARK FOOTBRIDGEREPLACEMENT" AND NO. 79-99
"WAVERLEY BIKE/PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE EROSION CONTROL."
REPEAT MOTION PASSED: The repeated Mot on passed on the
following vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Fletcher, denderson, Levy, Renzel
NOES: Eyerly, Fazzino, Witherspoon
RE UEST OF COUNCILMEMBERS EYERLY
'RE DROUGKT PRECAUTIONS
Councilmernbers Eyerly and Levy had written a memo to the City
Council, dated January 15, 1981, a copy of which is on file in
the Office of the City Clerk, regarding preparations that
should be made by the city staff against a possible drought.
However, Councilmember Eyerly said he understood from the
Utility Department staff that there was no cause for alarm, the
water supply being sufficient - up to two-thirds of normal.
For that reason,- and because of the recent heavy rains, he
thought decision as to whether a_ report was warranted should be
left to staff.
Mayor Henderson confirmed that no motion would be made concern-
ing this item.
RE UEST CF COUNCILMEMBER LEVY
AN' MAYOR Hi'NDERSON RI ALLOCATION
E
Mayor Henderson referred to a memo to Council, which he had
written with Councilmember Levy, dated January 20, 1981, a copy
of which is on file in the Office of the City Clerk, suggesting
that interest accrued by specific funds remain with those funds
rather than _.being held for the general fund. The land bank
reserves were cited as being of primary concern; however, Mayor
Henderson asked that the fiords, "land bank reserves," in the
last paragraph be; changed to "specific funds.
MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by Henderson, that
Council authorize the Finance,ard Public Works Committee to_
review tie policy on allocatiul,of interest income,:particu-
larly as it affects specific funds reserves.
Councilmember Renzel supported; the referral, but •rais,ed'the'
concern that, while appreciative of a desire to improve the
land bank reserves, . she was hot certain that they would want
every fund to retain its own accrued interest.
MOTION PASSED;: The Motion passed on a unanimous vote.
REQUEST OF COVNCILMEMBER RENZEL RE
GT .,I OF LABUli L TRARY TO PALO -AL O
Reference is made to memo to the Cou`nci`i: from Counci lmembe'r ,
;: 1
6 4 8-
1/26/81
Renzel, dated January 21, 1981, and a letter_ from Director of
Libraries Mary Jo Levy, dated January 29, 1981, copies of which
are on file in the Office of the City Clerk.
Councilmember Renzel said she would make a motion for. approval
of a Resolution accepting a gift of the Frank Manfredi Labor
Library_ to the City of Palo Alto, a gift of both books 'and
funds from the Frank Manfredi Testimonial Fund.
MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by Fazzino, to
approve the following Resolution:
RESOLUTION 5870 entitled "RESOLUTION
F OIE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO
ALTO ACCEPTING GIFT TO THE PALO ALTO
LIBRARY SYSTEM"
Frank. Manfredi, 219 Addison, commenting on the gift, stated
that, in the history of the world, Labor had carried the
burden for everyone, while, the rich and powerful held them as
serfs and used their creative wealth for their own benefit. He
reviewed the Labor Movement in the United States: The English
Labor System of the Guilds were imported into this country, and
were not successful in either country. From the Guilds the
Labor System progressed to the Knights of Labor, then to the
A.F. of L. He contended that everyone was anti -Labor, though
they all receive the benefits of the Labor Movement. He
recalled the persecution suffered by Labor, and lamented the
almost universal ignorance of the Labor Movement among the
young, and the absence of mention of it in school. He urged
support of the Labor Library, because it was very important for
youth, especially, but adults also, to learn about the Labor
Movement and what it stood for.
Councilmember Witherspoon had some questions regarding the
conditions undzr which the City of Palo Alto would be accepting
the collection,' considering the tightness of funds experienced
by the Library. She asked if the City had agreed to accept the
cost of cataloging, implementing and binding, etc., of the
col l ect i orT.
Mr. Zaner replied in_.the affirmative, and that this was consis-
tent with the City's normal policy.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked if the City reserved the right
-to delete duplicate or damaged items. 'Mr.-Zaner replied that
the -City would have control of the collection. Councilmember-
Witherspoon said :she waned to make clear that there was
flexibility in the use of the funds, Because the Agreement
. sti pul,ated the funds be used for new materials only, not for
\, ma i ntenan :e.
Councilmember Renzel interjected that the funds. were unre-
stricted from the donor's point of view, ; Councilmembei
Witherspoon said she was satisfied 'and, if the _staff, felt
comfortable with the Agreement, so did she.
Mr. Zaner, in answer to a question from Mayor'Henderson, said
that unused portions of the collection would be -.-`periodically
weeded out, so as to keep it current, as.was the case with Ony
Councilmember Levy responded to comments made by Mr. Manfredi,
saying ..that he hoped his .;statements regarding the ruling class
e •
6 4'9
1/26/81
c� ,
APPROVE:
and about government not caring about Labor, did not extend to
the present City Council.
MOTION PASSED: The Motion to pass Resolution 5870, to accept a
gift of Labor Lilirary to the Palo Alto Library System, passed
on ananimous vote.
/REPORT OF COUNCILMtMBERS
WI (HERSPOON, LEVY AND EYE LY
EL v-i 1
Mayor Henderson commented that he was impressed by the report
considering the approval oc seven members, including keeping one
from the A.R.B, which would enable Council to accept the four
recumrr.ended by the selection committee.
MOTION! Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by Renzel,
that -Council authorize the City Attorney .to prepare an ordi-
nance extending membership on the Visual Arts Jury to sever;
members.
MOTION PASSED: The Motion passed on a unanimous vote.
Councilmember Witherspoon, before making a motion to appoint
the four new members, -stated that the selection committee felt
strongly i;hat, as the new members were being asked to take on a
rather taxing job for the City for a term of four dears, they
would like a chance to interview them. It_was her recommenda-
tion that this could be done -afore Council Meetings, inter-
viewing each for approximately fifteen minutes, They had not
yet been interviewed in person, only by telephone.
Mayor Henderson said the selection was acceptable to him, with-
out further interviews.
MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon, moved, seconded by Levy, to
appoint Ruth Braunstein; Joan D. Hancock, Tom Hickey, and Mary
Jean Place to the Visual Arts Jury, and to hold a drawing at
the -meeting of February 9 to -determi ne .whose appointment will
be effective immediately,
MOTION PASSED: The Motion passed on a unanimous vote.
ADJOURNMENT
The Council Meeting of January 26, 1981, adjourned at
12:07 a.m. on February 3, 1981.
ATTEST:
6 5 0
1/26/81
February 3, 1981
Regular Meeting of February 2, 1981
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in
the Council Chambers, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 12:07 a.m,, Mayor
Henderson presiding.
PRES OT: Bechtel, Eyerly,"Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson
Levy, Re<<zel, Witherspoon
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS:
None.
MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 10 1980
MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded by (Henderson,
that the minutes of November 10, 1980, be approved.
MOTION PASSED: The Motion passed on a unanimous vote.
SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION r
Mayor Henderson explained that Delmar D. Wilcox had been an
electric underground inspector for 28 years of.continuous
service with the City of Palo Alto.
MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by Fletcher,
adoption of the following Resolution:
RESOLUTION 58.71 entitled ''RESOLUTION
OF THE.COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO
ALTO EXPRESSING APPRECIATION TO DELMAR
D. WILCOX UPON HIS RETIREMENT'!
MOTION PASSED: The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION -
Mayor Henderson explained that George E. Briggs was a super-
visor of electrical utilities for 32.1 /2 years of :continuous
service with the City of Palo Alto.
MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by Witherspoon,
adoption of the following Resolution:
RESOLUTION 5872 entitled "RESOLUTION
OF THE COUNCIL'OF THE,CITY OF PALO
ALTO EXPRESSING APPRECIATION TO GEORGE.
E. BRIGGS UPON HIS RETIREMENT"
Mayor Henderson expressed the personal gratitude of the. Council
to both -Mr. Briggs and Mr. Wilcox for their Tong and dedicated
service tc the City of Palo Alto.
MOTION PASSED: The motion passed on a ::nanimous vote.
CONSENT CALENDAR '`:
Referral Items
None.
Action Item
5-1
2/2/81
CRESCENT PARK 1 UNDERGROUND UTILITY
Staff recommends that the Lounci 1 adopt the following two
Resolutions, determining`prcperties electing to pay costs over
a prri od of years. -
MOTION: Councilmember Eyerly moved, seconded by Fazzino,
adoption of the following Resolutions:
RESOLUTION 5873 entitled "A RESOLUTION
DETERMINING THAT BONDS BE PURCHASED BY
CITY:UNDERCROUNU UTILITY DISTRICT
NO. 20"
RESOLUTION 5874 entitled "A RESOLUTION
DETERMINING UNPAID ASSESSMENTS AND
PROVIDING FOR ISSUANCE OF BONDS -
UNDERGROUND UTILITIES CONVERSION -
UNDERGROUND UTILITY ASSESSMENT
DISTRICT NO. 20"
Councilmember Witherspoon wondered why the City was taking the
trouble of bonding for the amount of money involved, since it
was only $63,000, instead of taking it from the Utilities
Fund.
Mr. Abrams replied that his assumption was that issuance of a
bond was required in order to extend the payments over a five-
year period and place liens against the properties involved.
MOTION PASSED: The Motion pcssed on a unanimo::s vote.
REPORT OF OFFICIALS
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY (NCPA
. r..�..�.:.
Staff recommends that the Council authorize the Mayor to exe-
cute the NCPA Member Service Agreement, setting operating
guidelines for the NCPA staff and formalizing .the= relationship
among NCPA and its members.
MOTION: "Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded by Bechtel,
approval of the following Service Agreement.
MEMBER SERVICE AGREEMENT -
Northern California Power Agency
MOTION PASSED: The mc;` i o,1 passed.on a unanimous vote.
CABLE :TELEVISION
=MAU AL'LRNATIVES
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fazzino, to
continue this item to February 9.
MOTION PASSED:
vote.
The Motion to continue passed on unanimous
YACHT HARBOR -SANTA CLARA COUNTY
rimmirimemntrtimmirmirs-
1 -
The Santa..Ci'dra County Park and Recreation Department recoc-
mends maintenance dredging ,of the Palo. Ai -to. Yacht, Harbor .,on,)an
as -needed basis‘throiryhout; the remaining five-year lease term,
6 5 2
2/2/81
rather than accomplishing a large scale single clamshell type
dredging.
Mr. Zaner, in a letter dated January 26, 1981, pointed out to
Santa Clara County's Park and Recreation Depr,rtment, that their
recomMendat i on was at variance with the Counc i l.' s 'policy,
adopted June 2, 1980, of 'allowing dre,dgip. "one final time."
Mr. Zaner added than: the County Board of Supervisors had acted
on that date, accepting their stab's recommendation. Con-
sequently, it was accepted that.the County staff would be
contacting the City staff, in accordance with their recommenda-
tion to -the Board. He asked Council to give any further
instructions they might have to staff. -
John Walker, 1,9315 Greenwood Blvd.., Cupertino, said he was
assuming that Council was aware of the Park and Recreation
Department's proposal, citing their memorandum to the Santa
Clara County Board of Supervisors, dated January 12, 1981, a
copy of which is_on file in the Office of the City Clerk. His
primary purpose in speaking was to point out the feelings of
the voters that the County's proposed plan_ satisfied the
objections raised in the past, that "the voters are getting
something for nothing." Under the County proposal, the voters
intended to dig the mud out of the harbor at their own expense.
The County's proposal would serve, they felt, to provide an
equitable arrangement for everyone in-volved, in that the. City
-would receive some dirt to cover up the dump, the residents
would have a place to sail their boats, and the County would
have a park. .Also, in this case, there would be no cost to the
City or County for their boating. He concluded by offerirg to
answer any questions.
Milly Davis, 344 Tennessee Avenue, requested Council to con-
tinue the item; the subject had just been brought up at the
Board of Supervisors that morning, and the citizens had very
little information on which to comment. Her opinion was that,
considering the County's stringent budget and the critical
financial condition of the County park budget, priorities must
be established in the requests for County Park and Recreation
funds. She felt that the November 1980 election. results
demonstrated that the majority rof Palo Altans did not want any
more county or city money spent on the dredging and the opera-
tion of the harbor. A survey of some of the residents who had
voted against Measure D disclosed that 95% of them would not
approve even one more last dredging. She suggested, as an
alternative use of the funds,. the 'construction of two segments
of the planned bayfront trail in Palo Alto, which could be used
for recreation as well as commuting.
Herb Borock, 3401 Ross Road,rquoted Mr. Walker as stating that
there would be no post to the County or the City under the
concept aipproved_by the Board of Supervisors: -He thought there
was a cost to the,County, it__would be foregoing the $39,000 in
-berthing fees which it currently recei ves, -and` the cost of one
cl a-m.sh.el l_.:_dredgi ng was approximately $200,000. He thought that
the minimum the Council could do was ..to ask' the County to
respond,, to questions posed by Mr. Zaner's memo.
Mayor Henders an commented' first, that . this was an en of i ona 1
issue with him because, -despite the personal attacks on his
motives, beyond., anything_ he had ever experienced while on,the
Council, he *as 'sincere in wanting' to all ow for one -More-
dredging,-and he was wi lling to.. keep that finder _serious
6 5 3
2/2/81'
•
consideration. There were many questions to be answered: for
example, he did not know who had control over the public ramp
he did not know the details of putting the spoils on Yacht
Harbor Point -elf put in every year, probably the first year`s.
spoils would not have dried enough to remove for the iier:t
year's spoils, so there would he nothing available for a long
time. That would be differesitlfrom performing the entire
dredging next year, and begin in a couple of years to take
spoils from the top. He was sincere in looking into this, but
felt there Were many questions to be answered first. The best
action he could think of to take that evening was -to move the
following:
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fletcher, to direct
staff to -determine the feasibility of a sublease of the Yacht
Harbor berthing and water areas and report back to Council.
Councilmember Witherspoon recalled the problems they had`
previously encountered when considering the initiation of the
paperwork for the permits. She asked if it was up to the City
or the County to proceed.
Mayor Henderson thought they were going to have to ensure that
the paperwork became _ the responsibility of the .subleases.
Therefore, until it was determined for certain that the
sublease was workable, it would be useless to proceed with the
paperwork - there would be no official body with the authority
to apply for permits. He thought staff was cognizant of the
time problem and would proceed as quickly as possible.
Councilinember Renzel said she had many questions about the
feasibility of th .proposal over the long term, and thought the
City Manager had raised some important questions. She wondered
if the City Attorney had any comments on the subleasing provi-
sions of the City's current lease agreement.
Mayor Henderson suggested that perhaps, this could be part, of
the report directed in his Motion; anything related to the
issue should be included in the staff report, including the
Ci t_y ,Attorney's 'opinions.
Counci lmember Renzel agreed, but still wished to commment that
one reason for rejecting the dredging plan that had been
proposed, for dump covering was the constant disturbance of that
'-Area. She did not see how the County's proposal answered: eeib&ection, For that reason, she: would not support the Motion,•
4-;n4. because she did not believe it was in keeping with the one
dredging proposal adopted by the Council in 1980.
Vice -Mayo -Fletcher asked if staff really had the capability of
making the determination of the.feasibility'of the County's -
proposal to use -the spoils for dump cover.
Di rector of _public Works; Dave Adams reskonded that a portion of
that questionwould be included-'-in-the permit process; the
environmental'impact would be considered at that times Regard-
i n'g the feasibility, the hydraulic dredgi rug ,;.`ould work in small
stages in `that area. Also, as he understood it, thee -County
would be responsible for initiating:t,he "permit process, with
the City staffs assistance.. However, they Would check into.
that aspect, and report the results to Council.
Counci lmeraber Bechtel said she would "vote for the motion,- -but
with many reservations, She encouraged the ..staff to consider
every -aspect Of -the proposal very closely.
6 5 4
2/2/81
DECUNSIZTRATIONY.
MOTION PASSED: The motion, to direct staff to determine the
feasibility of a sublease of the Yacht Harbor berthing and
water areas and report back to Council, passed on the following
vote:
AYES: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson,Levy,
Witherspoon
NOES: Renzel
REQUEST OF MAYOR HENDERSON RE
T""1 E1 y i 'S H.' BRENNER' S
I LKA ENDING 12/31/81
Mayor Henderson made the following motion to fill the Council
seat made vacant by the decease of Frances H. Brenner.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Levy, to accept
recent applications (November 1980) for appointment to Council,
subject to request for removal by the applicants; advertise the
vacancy and accept other applications until noon on
February 9.
Councilmember Eyerly declared his support of the motion.
MOTION PASSED: The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
REQUEST OF COUNCILMEMBER FAllINO RE
WORKS
MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded by Eyerly, to
refer the question of an andual fee for tennis court use to the
Finance and Public Works Committee.
MOTION PASSED: The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY (NCPA
Councilmember Eyerly asked to move for reconsideration of the
NCPA Member Service Agreement, which had already been voted on
for approval.
MOTION: Councilmember Eyerly moved, seconded,by Henderson, to
reconsider the' matter of the NCPA Member Service Agreement.
MOTION PASSED: The motion to reconsider passed on a unanimous \.
vote.
Councilmember Eyerly explained that the NCPA members who had
notyet approved the Service Agreement were Palo Alto and two
other large cities. Once approved, they would be locked into
the Member Service Agreement for at least,threeyears. This
was fine, if all the cities became members, but if, for some -
reason, the other two cities did not approve, Palo Alto should
reconsider its membership, because then' they would be involved
with a number of..smaller cities. At the same time, they needed
to be able to debate the future of the NCPA with the other two
large cities, if they did not sign the Member Service Agree-
ment., In view of:, these comments, he would make the following
motion:
6 5 5
2/2/81
MOTION: Councilmember Eyerly moved, seconded by Witherspoon,
approval of the NCPA Member Service Agreement contingent upon
'approval by all cities who have 10% or larger participation in
the NCPA.
Councilmember Renzel asked if_the Member Agreement referred
only to the geothermal proposal at that point, -or if the whole'
Development Fund was involved.
Counci lmember - Eyerly replied that the Development Fund was not
involved, but the Member. Service Agreement did involve. all
projects and the City's relationship with other NCPA members on
any'projects Palo Alto might join.
MOTION PASSED: The motion passed on a unanimous vote.
ADJOURNMENT
The Council meeting adjourned at 12 30 a.m. to Executive
Session re Personnel.
FINAL ADJOURNMENT
The final adjournment of Council took place at 1:45 a.m.
ATTEST: APPROVE:
City Cler
6 5 6
2/2/81
Mayor
\1'