HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-07-27 City Council Summary MinutesCITY
COUNCIL
M INUT€S'
Regular Meeting
Monday, July 27, 1981
ITEM
Oral Communications
Agenda Changes, Deletions, Additions
Resolution of Appreciation to League of Women
Voters
Resolution of Welcome to Representatives From
Oaxaca
Resolution of Welcome to Representatives From
Enschede
Consent Calendar
Fire Fighters' Memorandum of Understanding and
Compensation Plan (CMR:371:.1)
Compensation Plan for Council Appointed Officers
Recycling Agreement With Palo Alto Sanitation
Company for 1981-82 (CMR:363:1)
Book Publishing Company - Amendment to Contract
Final Subdivision Map - Hewlett Subdivision on
.Los Trancos Woods Road (CMR: 3 7 5 :1 )
PUBLIC HEARING: Planning Commission, by a vote
of 4 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention, Recommends'.
Denial of a Preliminary Parcel Map for property
at 1451 California Avenue
Policy and Procedures Committee Recommendations
to Council re Stop Signs
Policy and Procedures Committee Recommendations
to Council re Overnight Parking Ordinance
Recess to Executive Session 10:00 - 10:15 P.M.
City/School, Liaison Committee Recommendations re
Use and Maintenance of Community Recreation and
Arts Facilities
Condominium Coversion Ordinance (Second Reading)
(Continued from 8/10)
European Health Spa (C.MR:368:1)-
County Termination of Land Development Referral
fCMR:372:1j
--Request of Vice. Mayor Fletcher re DOwntown_Non-
ltetai i:--Morafor i.um
CITY
PALO
ALTO
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ITEM PAGE
Request of Mayor Henderson Re Establishing A Committee
to Work With Staff in Negotiating With PAUSD for
Purchase of Terman
1 1 2.2
Request of; Mayor Henderson Re Human Relations Commission
Interviews 1 1 2 4
Requestof Mayor Henderson Re Schedule of August and
September Council Meetings 1 1 2 4
Vice Mayor Fletcher Re AB 256 Re Age Discrimination in
Housing 1 1 2 4
Adjournment 1 1 2 5
Regular Meeting
Monday, July 27, 1981
1
The City Council of the City of Pala Alto met on this date in
the Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:40
p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson. Klein,
Levy, Renzel, Witherspoon (arrived at 8:30 p.m.)
ABSENT: Eyerly
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS.
1. Lou Fein, 1540 Oak Creek, said that the Palo Alto Unified School
District (PAUSD) board rejected the City's offer to buy the
Terman School site for $6.8 million. One trustee said it was
worth $10 million and could bring $12 million on the open mar-
ket. He quoted a trustee as saying, "We can't back away from
our responsibility of providing funds to insure education to
district's students." Another board member urged that the
Council be told that because of Proposition 13, the District was
strapped for money, and that the situation of poverty was part
of the reason for the District turning down the City offer.
The board member said that only land sale revenues could lift
the PAUSD out of poverty. Another trustee urged the Terman
group to press the City to raise its offer. The legislation
passed one month ago by the State affecting future school rev-
enues had resulted in the PAUSD getting millions more money in
revenue than it would have gotten had Proposition 13 failed. He
said for something over 9,000 students next year, the total
revenue and beginning balance of the District would be $39 plus
million dolle.s, which was in excess of $4,000 per child. He
said it would be rare any unified school district in the
country to match that' ,unt. He said so much for District
poverty, Proposition 13, 'and reason for the City to up their
offer. He felt that one of the trustees was misleading in
saying that some of the moneys would go toward insuring stu-
dents' education. A few months ago the board had discussed
whether they should set policy on the purpose to which land sale
revenuesshould be put. Should part be mandated for maintaining
and expanding structural courses and services and parts to the
negotiating table. Traditionally, all of the money had been put
on the negotiating table with the other revenues. Mr. Fein said
no policy resulted from the discussions, all money would go to
the negotiating table,, and as traditional, compensation would be
raised, and staff courses and services reduced. He recollected
that the Superintendent had granted 25% increases to some of his
managers. He felt there was no educational or financial reason
for the. City to pay the District mors than its present offer and
the Terman group should press the District to accept the offer,
rather than press the City to. raise its offer. He suggested
that the City should instruct. staff to cease negotiations until
after the November Council and Board elections. He thought_ .. the
City should put_. the question of the Terman price to the people.
He .suggested the possibility of putting an advisory issue on the
November ballot and have the people -sly whetherthe price should
be $6.0 million or $10 million. Mr. Fein felt that in that way
the issue could be debated between now and then. Another alter-
native wouldbe to make it an election issue for people running
for both the school boar.; and the City,Council.
Councilmember Fazzino asked if the City was beyond the deadline for
adding measures to the November ballot.
Acting City Attorney Don Maynor advised that he thought they were.
AGENDA CHANGES, DELETIONS, ADDITIONS
Mayor Henderson announced that there would be additional items on
the agenda. One would be that one or more members of the Council
would be supporting the consideration that the Council establish a
committee to work with staff on the Terman school site negotiations.
Further, the HRC applicant interviews needed to be d3,scussed, and
the Councilmembers needed to discuss scheduling of Council meetings
over the next two months.
Vice Mayor Fletcher wanted to discuss the State legislation dealing
with the child discrimination in rental housing because it would be
heard in a Senate Committee on August 12, and Council would not be
meeting next week. She asked for a determination tonight.
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino introduced the following resolution
and moved, seconded by Klein, its passage.
RESOLUTION 5942 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO EXPRESSING APPRECIATION TO THE LEAGUE OF
WOMEN VOTERS FOR ANCHORING OF THE KZSU BROADCAST OF THE
MONDAY NIGHT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS"
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Witherspoon and Eyerly absent.
Mayor Henderson presented the resolution to Irene Sampson.
Ms. Sampson thanked the Mayor and members of the Council on behalf
of the League of Women Voters.
RESOLUTION OF WELCOME TO REPRESENTATIVES FROM OAXACA
MOTION: Councilmember Levy introduced the following resolution and
moved, seconded by Bechtel, its passage.
RESOLUTION 5943 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY 6F PALO ALTO RECOGNIZING THE PRESENCE OF, AND
WELCOMING TO THE CITY OF PALO ALTO OAXACA, OAXACA.
REPRESENTATIVES"
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Witherspoon and Eyerly absent.
Mayor Henderson read the resolution and with Dr. Mario Perez
Ramirez, presented a resolution to the following students:
Olga Leticia Corres Tenorio, Rafael Ortega Meixueiro, Rosalba
Gonzalez Gallo, Alejandro Abad Garcia, Jesus Larumbe Mendoza,
Enrique Gomez Migoya, Arturo Bolanos Cacho, Emilio Bolanos. Cacho,
Maria de los Angeles Fernandez Perez, Jorge Suarez Perez, Dora Luz
Vargas Guzman, Claudia Lopez Paladfos, Guillermo Gomez Abascal,
Samuel Vargas Fabila, Miguel Angel Bustamante Underwood.
Dr. Marto. Perez Ramirez presented a gift to the City of Palo Alto.
RESOLUTION , OF WELCOME TO REPRESENTATIVES . FROM ENSCHEDE
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher introduced the following resolution and
moved, seconded by Klein, its passage.
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RESOLUTION 5944 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO RECOGNIZING THE PRESENCE OF, AND WEL-
COMING TO THE CITY OF PALO ALTO, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM
ENSCHEDE, NETHERLANDS"
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Witherspoon and Eyerly absent.
The resolution was presented to Cor Bouwhuis.
CONSENT CALENDAR
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fazzino, to remove Item
4, Referral of Consultant Selections for 1981-82 to F&PW, from the
Consent Calendar and continue until August 10, 1981.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Witherspoon and Eyerly absent.
MOTION: Councilmernber Klein moved, seconded by Fletcher, to approve
the Consent Calendar as amended.
FIRE FIGHTERS' MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AND COMPENSATION PLAN
(CMR:371
Staff recommends that Council adopt the resolutions approving the
Memorandum of Understanding and the Compensation Plan for Fire
Employees in Order that the agreement may be implemented.
RESOLUTION 5945 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION 1501 OF THE MERIT
SYSTEM RULES AND REGULATIONS RE MEMORANDUM OF UNDER-
STANDING BETWEEN THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AND LOCAL 1319,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS"
RESOLUTION 5946 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF PALO ALTO ADOPTING A COMPENSATION PLAN FOR FIRE
DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL AND RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 5865 AS
AMENDED BY RESOLUTION NO. 5922"
COMPENSATION PLAN FOR COUNCIL APPOINTED OFFICERS
RESOLUTION 5947 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE
ITY OF PALO ALTO ADOPTING SALARIES FOR COUNCIL APPOINTED
OFFICERS"
RECYCLING AGREEMENT WITH PALO ALTO SANITATION COMPANY FOR 1981-82
Staff recommends that Council approve the proposed contract with the
Palo, Alto Sanitation Company for the operation of the City's
Curbside Collection Program and Recycling Center for two years, or
expiring June 30, 1983.
AGREEMENT - OPERATION OF CITY OF PALO ALTO RECYCLING SOLID
WASTE PROGRAM - Palo Alto Sanitation Company
BOOK PUBLISHING COMPANY— Amendment to Contract
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AMENDMENT NO. 4 TO CONTRACT NO. 2861 - Book Publishing
Company
FINAL SUBDIVISION MAP - HEWLETT SUBDIVISION ON LOS TRANCOS WOODS
Staff recor ends .that the -.City Council approve the final map.
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MOTION PASSED to approve the Consent Calendar as amended, by a vote
of 7-0, Witherspoon and Eyerly absent, Fazzino "abstaining" on item
#9, Final Subdivision Map for Hewlett Subdivision.
PUBLIC HEARING: PLANNING COMMISSION BY A VOTE OF 4 IN FAVOR, 0
arrom. 't ABsTENTfOP; t 'Z MMEMOS , It IAL OP A PRELIMINARY PARCEL MAP
FOR PROPERTY LV T
Chairman of the Planning Commission Fred Nichols said that a funda-
mental question which had been dealt with was the question of
shifting the '.property line in conformance with the Comprehensive
Plan. He said the issue was moving the property line to permit the
construct='_on of a building larger than what would otherwise be per-
mitted. He said that under the suggested configuration, the
building would be theoreticallythe same as what would be allowed
now, but realistically the Planning Commission felt that by moving
the parcel, more could be created than if it were left alone.
Mayor Henderson declared the public hearing open.
Warren Higgins, 1294 Hamilton Avenue, spoke on behalf of Tab
Products Company, 1451 California_ Avenue. He said that the purpose
of the request was to consolidate Tab's corporate headquarters with
the other facilities at the Industrial Park thereby vacating the
leased facilities on Hanover Street. In order to do this, the lot
line adjustment would be required. He said that all of the proposed
plans which were submitted fell within the required building ordi-
nances -and codes. Regarding the employment density factor, Tab had
and would continue to minimize the employment density in both the
,manufacturing facilities and the administrative operations by
adopting and utilizing the most modern office procedures such as
computers, direct entry terminals and other systems andprocedures
efficiencies. In manufacturing, they had automated their production
line. The Palo Alto operation, five . years ago, employed 344 people
and now they employed 243. He said the labor intensive operations
in Palo Alto would be minimized. Tab's density in relationship to
the, square footage ratio was three per thousand. Regarding traffic,
at the present time, their ingress and egress was by way of
California Avenue which on one, ,side of the street are single family
homes and on the other, the Industrial Park. He said that by
making the lot line adjustment, part of the conditions of the agree-
ment with the residual parcel A would give TAB ingress and egress at
Page Mill Road which would transfer most of the California Avenue
traffic on Page Mill.
Councilmember Levy asked what assurances the Council would have that
the average employee per square footage would continue to be below
the average.
Mr. Higgins said that Tab's normal projected growth rate was about
3% per annum. He said that Tab was determined to continue their
efforts to modernize and use more computer systems in the adminis-
tration side of the business and also to automate the production
lines.
Bill Hebard, 845 Page Mille Road, said that if the lot line were
left as is, it would be possible to build 35,000 on parcel A, and.
28,000 additional on parcel B, which , if added together would be
about 63,000. If it were done as staff pointed out, 35,000 could be
put on parcel A, and 18,000 on parcel B with no problem. If the
property line were adjusted, the total buildable would' 'be the same,
the 40,000 _.would . be on parcel B. The larger amount- would be on
parcel. B. 4s far as the ordinance was concerned, 23,000 could be
put on parcel A, which would give the 63,000. He said that one of
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the' problems with parcel A, when the size was reduced as proposed -in
the revision, was that it would be difficult to develop the full
potential of the 23,000. There was a 22 foot wide easement which
runs down one side, a drainage canal, and a 50 foot setback on Page
Mill Road, which all put constraints on the property as far as where
to build and the amount of parking. He estimated about 16,000
square feet, and 40,000 square feet.
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Mayor Henderson said he assumed Tab could obtain parcel A and put
their building there so they had a choice between what they were
asking for and the possibility of developing under the existing con-
ditions. He asked if Tab would try to obtain parcel A in the event
their request was turned down.
Mr. Hebard said it was an option.
Mayor Henderson declared .the public hearing closed.
MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded Any Klein, to,uphold
the recommendation of the Planning Commission. and deny,_ the
request.
Councilmember Fazzino pointed out that he opposed the motion and did
not feel that it was a major issue. He thought that key issue which
the Council should focus on was that construction could occur on the
site with or without lot adjustments. He felt that Tab Products had
been exemplary in reducing employment in Palo Alto and their new
addition with employees per square foot far below . the norm in that
area, was something to be considered. He said a company could build
on that site to capacity with a much higher employee per square foot
:formula and not be as responsive to the City in terms of total
employment in Palo Alto, but still work within the parameters of the
Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Ordinance. He did not think that
approving the application of Tab Products would increase the density
in the area, and he thought it was a recognition of the outstanding
job the company had done in the past in reducing Overall employment
in Palo Alto, and should be considered'a.minor issue.
Vice Mayor Fletcher was torn on the issues but was aware that the
number of employees in a particular building was not a constant
factor because of ownership changes or the use by the present owner
did nothing from stopping the number of employees from rising. She
said that because they had had a reduction in the past, the City did
not zone for a particular company, it was a lot which was zoned.
She did think there was an advantage to having the traffic along
Page Mill Road rather than California Avenue.
Councilmember Klein agreed with Councilmember Fazzino that it was a,
small issue, but felt you could get hurt by a sercies of small issues
which added up to a big one. He was sympathetic• to Tab Products,
but thought the City had to take stronger action with regard to.
limiting the job growth. He felt that the job growth already
approved during the year far exceeded the amount of housing which
had been approved. He felt Council had made the jobs/housing
imbalance worse in the past year and the trend must be reversed. He
would uphold the Planning Commission recommendation.
MOTION TO DENY PRELIMINARY PARCEL MAP PASSED by a vote of 6-1,
Fazzino voting "no," Eyerly and Witherspoon absent.
POLICY AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS TO COUNCIL RE STOP SIGNS
Vice Mayor Fletcher, Chairperson of the Policy and Procedures
Committee, said the Committee reviewed the staff recommendations
regarding requests for additional stop signs or removal of two
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existing stop signs. She said they went along with the staff recom-
mendations with the exception of the removal of a stop sign on Los
Robles because that particular stop sign needed more input from the
local school people and the PTA because the request originally came
from them. She said that one was being held off until the Fall when
they could hear from school persons.
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher moved for the Policy and Procedures
Committee that the Council not make any revisions to the existing
"Stop Intersection System" map identified as Exhibit "A," and that
the Council support the staff recommendation in Exhibit "B" with the
proviso that No. 11, Intersection at Los Robles/La Donna be reviewed
after school starts in September.
Councilmember Levy said regarding the recommendation that instead of
installing stop signs, .increase existing no parking zone on Waverley
to 50 feet on both, sides of the street, he felt that parking was at
a premium in the area of Waverley and Forest, and he was concerned
that the trade off was wrong and that as much parking as possible
should be maintained and the stop sign installed. He asked how much
parking would be eliminated.
Transportation Engineer, Ashok Aggarwal, said that the existing red
zone was thirty feet and staff intended to increase it to fifty
feet, 20 feet on either side. He said it would be a loss of four
parking spaces.
Director of Transportation, Ted Noguchi, said he did not think any
of the four parking spaces were time limited and did not think
customer parking was involved in that area.
Councilmember Levy did not think he had enough information to sug-
gest installing stop signs, but suggested that so long as the Policy
and Procedures Committee was continuing the evaluation of the Los
Robles/ La Donna recommendation, he asked that they also review the
Forest/ Waverley recommendation in teems of the loss of the four
parking spaces. Although not many parking spaces would go, he felt
they were in a critical area and was concerned that there had been
eight accidents at the intersection. The intersection was in need
of something, and he felt in -his heart that the stop signs would be
a better way of proceeding than eliminating the four parking
spaces.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by Bechtel, to refer
the recommendation to install stop signs on Waverley and Forest back
to the Policy and Procedures Committee to reconsider at the same
time as the Los Robles/La Donna intersection.
Vice Mayor Fletcher pointed out that the particular intersection was
very close to the Civic Center parking garage, which would assist in
the event of a parking shortage. She said there was a problem of
site distance at that intersection. With regard to the accidents,
she pointed out that two of them were due to the drivers running the
stop signs. She said it was pointed out at the Committee that it
would mean that there were stop signs one block after another with-
out a break, and with that many stop signs, people were likely to
violate them,
Councilmember Renzel said . that there was a perception problem at the
intersection because the street on one side of; Forest was wider than
the street on the other side which created an `optical allusion that
maybe part of the problem and was one of the reasons staff requested
to draw -back the parking spaces from the corner. She said that
Waverley Street was a bicycle route and a major ` bus route, and she
felt it would be ill-advised to put a Stop. sign' there if the problem
could not be solved with the parking space removal. She would vote
against, the amendment. She felt there was a difference between this
proposal and the Los Robles/La Donna proposal, i.e. with Los
Robles/La Donna the status quo was being left in tact. She said
that the proposal from the Policy and Procedures Committee was to
make a change at Forest and Waverley with respect to parking and
she thought that Perhaps Councilmember Levy suggested that they, go
ahead and make the change and then review the change six months from
now. If not, she thought there was quite a distinction between
reviewing the decision to make no change and to not make a change at
all at this time.
Mayor Henderson felt that the Committee had discussed the matter
thoroughly and that if the change of parking was not successful, the
possibility of stop signs could be looked at another time. He did
not see much to be gained by sending the matter back to the
Committee now.
AMENDMENT FAILED by a vote of 5-2, Bechtel and Levy voting "aye,"
Witherspoon and Eyerly absent.
Councilmember Fazzino said he would vote "no" because he was opposed
to the recommendation to put in a stop sign at Homer and Cowper. He
felt the matter was thoroughly. discussed by the Committee .and he did
not see the votes tonight doing anything but implement the recom-
mendation of the Committee. He said he would like to see it moni-
tored and explored again in the future. However, he was pleased
with the idea of a crosswalk.
Councilmember Renzel said that the . Women's Club, who requested, the
stop sign, agreed to the solution and she thought the need would be
taken care of by the crosswalk.
MOTION PASSED by vote of 6-1, Fazzino voting "no," Eyerly and
Witherspoon absent.
POLICY AND PROCEDURr S COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS TO
INKRR ZNG CROTHANCE
COUNCIL RE
OVERNIGHT
Vice. Mayor Fletcher, Chairperson of the Policy and Procedures
Committee said that the Committee had discussed the overnight
parking ordinance at length and heard from many members of the pub-
lic, and they came up with what: they felt might take care of some of
the problems which were voiced by people who were opposed to the
ban. She said she was a little hesitant about the recommendation in
the beginning and would feel schizophrenic when she pu'. the recom-
mendation to the Council and argued later :against it.
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher for the. Policy and Procedures Committee
moved that the Overnight Parking Ban be enforced; that the ordinance
be revised by staff to apply only to R--1 neighborhoods, with the
exception of neighborhoods such as Downtown North, Downtown South,
Ventura and others that have a severe lack of on -site parking; that
there be a permit system for the other R -I neighborhoods, the ones
that are not exempted (in line with the schedule set forth by staff
in its report of May 14, 1"81), that the permit system be such that
the persons have to demonstrate that they do not have adequate off-
street parking for their vehicles before they can get a permit for_.
on -street parking; that there . be an easily administered ; system by
telephone to allow quests' overnight parking; and, that commercial
vehicles be banned from parking_ in the residential area streets.
COUNCILMEMBER WITHERSPOON ARRIVED AT 8:30 .m.
Vice Mayor Fletcher, said that the Policy and Procedures Committee
Minutes of July 7, 1981, page 10, . paragraph 4, should read "Chief
Zurcher,. thought that were legal problems with enforcing the
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ordinance on a complaint basis."
Jean Libby, 1222 Fulton Street, supported the proposed enforcement
of ..the -ban on overnight parking. She particularly supported the
limitation of the number -of permits which could be issued per house-
hold`. She said that on a small R-1 street it was not fair for one
household to control it, when there were six vehicles parked regu-
larly on the street. She felt they were eneroachinq on the front of
their neighbors homes. She realized recently the visual impacts of
looking out your window and always seeing a vehicle parked in front
of your house that did not belong to you. She supported the ban on
overnight parking.
Mike Gal l i , 525 Homer Avenue, opposed the ordinance. He felt that
because the ordinance would only be enforced between 2:00 a.m. and
6:00 a.m. , people could still park their cars on the streets during
the day, therefore children would still be running out into the
street between parked cars, so the ordinance would not solve that
safety problem. Further, there was no indication that burglary or
vandalism would be reduced. He said that very few people would be
awake during that period. Further, he said that a March staff
report said there was no indication that crime would be reduced by
this ordinance. Regarding aesthetics, if people could park during
the day, there was no impact because between 2:00 a.m., and 6:00 a.ni.
very few cared what the street looked like. Finally, he did not
feel the ordinance would have any impact. He said the Chief of
Police had stated that it was inequitable to enforce the ordinance
on a complaint basis only. He said there were only five complaints
in a 12 month period.
Harry Sanders, 1456 Hdgewood Drive, recommended enforcement of the
ordinance. He was concerned about safety and security. He said
that several years ago a member of the Police Department had called
a neighborhood meeting and asked the neighbors to report strange
cars because of the series of robberies in the area. He said that
cars parked between 2:00 a.rn. and 6:00 a.rn. would often remain the
next day and through the weekend which made it impossible for the
street cleaner to get through. From the standpoint of safety for
the children and security, he urged the enforcement of the ordi-
nance.
Jonathan Reider, 3407 South Court, said regarding, crime 'it was
unlikely that the strange cars parked on the street belonged to a
burglar. He did not see that an overnight parking ban would affect
his child's safety since she would be inside during the night. He
thought the ordinance would impact- different neighborhoods differ-
ently and . for the majority of the neighborhoods affected there were
very few problems. He felt what was proposed was a "nonso.ution to
a very small problem."
Helen McStravick, 562 Military Way, said in her opinion overnight
parking was not the problem. She said the problem was continued
building of high density housing and residential neighborhoods being
overrun with cars, commercial vehicles, trucks, vans, RV's and
boats. -
Raymond Lux, 4126 Sutherland Drive, said he and his wife supported
the ban to prohibit overnight street parking except by paid permit
and by temporary guest permission. He said they hoped for greater
night safety .and an improvement in the residential nature of the
City. He favored the proposed ban.
Joyce Anderson, 3881 Magnolia Drive, read a letter from Rex Ling,
which is on file in, the City Clerk's office. She supported the
overnight parking- ordinance and felt it must be enforced..
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he felt when cars overflow onto a neighboring property it was an
abuse. She said that in the past few years it appeared that the
City Council and staff had lowered the City's standards and turned
its back on blatent abuses and violations. She pointed out that the
Comprehensive Plan stated as a policy to protect and enhance those
qualities which make Palo Alto's neighborhoods especially desirable.
She supported enforcement of the overnight parking ordinance, and if
the Police Department did not want to enforce it, give the enforce-
ment powers to another department. She urged that the Council
eliminate the exception of a lack of on -site parking.
Jane Grubgeld, 3746 LaCdlle Court, urged enforcement of the over-
night parking ordinance. She said her situation had not changed
since she spoke before the Policy and Procedures Committee. She did
not think the hours of parking prohibition would solve the problem,
but there was nothing else before the Council. She felt that the
people asking for the privilege of parking on streets should pay for
the privilege.
Bern Beecham, 321 Cowper, did not support the permit restriction in
dense areas. He lived in Downtown North. He felt that in the
densely populated areas, there would still not be parking spaces in
front of their homes even if they had paid for a permit. They would
still wind up parking wherever they could find a place.
Ralph Crawford, 1111 College Avenue, opposed the proposed ban on
overnight parking. Regarding aesthetics, he felt a lot of street
signs would be added and felt that was another blight upon the
aesthetics of a neighborhood. He felt it was awkward to go into a
town when there was a ban on overnight parking, and you did not know
about it. There was an assumption that a lot of cars would go away,
but he did not think the cars would go away --they would have per-
mits.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orrice, pointed out that the ordinance was not a new
one, but was a modification of an existing ordinance which would
help the enforceability. He felt the control for overnight parking
would make it easier to identify incorrect uses in residential
zones. He supported enforcement of the ordinance.
G. L. Bradshaw, 255 Campesino, opposed the ordinance because not
everyone lived in a big house with a two -car garage and a double
driveway. He had a single -car. garage and single -car driveway which
was inadequate to park one car. He did not think the ordinance
would help getting cars off the street. He felt the main complaint
of citizens was strange cars being parked in front of their prop-
erty. He suggested that the thrust of the ordinance should be that
owners would be allowed to park cars in front of their homes, and if
someone else parked in front of thei a place, then those cars should
be \removed He thought that the police efforts would be better
spent in controlling crime rather than where cars are parked.
Gail Woolley, 1685 Mariposa, said that when the .overnight parking
ordinance was enforced, there were no cars parked where they should
not be. Further, she felt the ordnance was an incentive for people
to get rid of unneeded cars and _- to place cars in driveways.
Glynn Falcon, 1221 Webater, had an old house with no garage or
driveway. He felt the problem was no communication between neigh-
bors. He wasopposed to the ordinance to the extent that it would
pose a fee which would constantly be increased.
David Moberiy, 3899 Magnolia Drive, supported the overnight parking
ban.
1 1 0 7-
7/27/81
Mayor Henderson said he had supported the overnight parking ban.
years ago, based upon police recommendations concerning criminal
activity, street sweeping, and aesthetic improvement.. He said at
that time the permit fee was modest. He was concerned about
applying the ban to everyone. He said the Finance and Public Works
Committee approved the ban and permit requirements, and then
exempted areas, .including others that had a lack of on -site parking.
He was not sure it was right to charge $19 for a permit to park in
front of one's own home especially when there was no other alterna-
tive. Further, he felt it penalized lower income people because
they had less on -site parking available. He thought it was a nuis-
ance to obtain permits for guests sad that it might be the ultimate
bureaucratic interference with private lives. He did not think it
greatly improved aesthetics if permits were obtained. Further, he
thought the worse problems were in the day time and the parking ban
would not do that much good during the early morning hours. Mayor
Henderson said the police now recommended against the ban because
they did not see it as any substantial help in reducing crime. He
felt it was silly to put substantial resources into such a program
when there were so many other important police needs that existed in
the community. There were alternatives such as enforcing and
tightening the existing laws concerning abandoned cars and cars with
expired license plates. There isn't any excuse for those types of
cars to remain on the streets for any significant length of time.
He would also ban commercial vehicles and recreational vehicles from
parking on the streets. He felt that if there were safety problems,
then a ban on parking on one side of the street should be con-
sidered. He would oppose the Committee recommendation.
Vice Mayor Fletcher felt there were problems with people parking on
the street when off-street space was available. Regarding signs
being posted on the street, the legal staff felt that anyone
receiving a citation as a result of overnight parking, without a
sign being posted on the street, would probably prevail in court.
Due process was discussed regarding one neighborhood vs. another,
with one neighborhood having the enforcement and the other neighbor-
hood not. Vice Mayor Fletcher said that `under the proposal each
permit application would result in individual police on -site
inspection to investigate how much parking space was available, and
how many vehicles a family owned. She thought there would be a lot
of regulations which on balance would not justify the ordinance.
She said there Were times when government intervention was jus ti
f led, but in this case she weighed the% ;o-:os and cons and was
appalled to institute a program which created such a bureaucratic
heavy-handedness, where the police core out and say that you have to
get a permit, and someone else would. riot have; 'co get a permit . She
felt that people who had overnight guests. and gust inform the police
boa dered on denial of their civil liberties to come and go as they
please. Further, she remembered when the ordinance was first in
effect and the complaints from people who were new in the area and
did not know about the ordinance She thought, it was inequitable
that those persons would be given a = ticket. especially if > they
arrived on a Saturday night and City Hall was not open until Monday
to get a permit. She felt there were too many situations -_where its
would cause unjustified problems. She thought it might be 'a geed
idea to bars parking on one side_ of the street whe i the streets were,
unusually narrow. She thought the neighbors could start the process
of trying to get some sort of control on those particular streets.
Further, she suggested commercial vehicles and recreational vehicles
be banned from parking ,on the Streets in residential areas. She
thought -it would be a good -idea to speed up the_ process of enforcing,
the law re_ cars which had been; parked .'an the ;street in .exvess_ of 72
hours.
Caunci lmember Levy felt that the ?2 .heir - parking limit which was
required to enforce" the removal_ of older.:' cars was extremely
difficult to implement hence the cars remained for a long time.
Further, people who had several older cars left the cars outside.
He thought it was more than an aesthetic problem there was also a
problem of safety. In the past, he believed that burglaries were
easier to _ stop at night . if the police had some knowledge of which
cars were normally in the neighborhood and which were not. He felt
the ordinance would help that situation. As he recalled, the
College Terrace Rapist was caught because of a strange. car in the
neighborhood. Another safety .element was that of children playing
in the street, and he felt that would be helped if there were fewer
cars on the street. The ordinance would effect substantially less
cars being on the streets during the day as well as on the street
between 2:00 a.m. and 6.00 a.m. He was sensitive to the problems,
and felt that the fact that the ordinance had been weakened so as to
not affect neighborhoods where clearly it was inappropriate was a
good idea. Most R-1 residences had a oneor two car garage and a
driveway or a two -car driveway and most people tend not to use their
garages for cars. He felt the ordinance would cause people to
rearrange their lives and start using their caraQes . and driveways
for the purpose for which they were intended. He supported the
recommendation of the Policy and Procedures Committee.
Councilmember Fazzinosupported the enforcement -of the ban and the
recommendation of the Committee that such a program be enacted on a
complaint and self-supporting basis. He had noticed a significant
increase over the past few years of on -street parking in residential
areas since revocation of enforcement. He did not want to set, up a
bureaucratic program which emphasized cost and paperwork. When the
program was successful in the late 1960's and early 1970's, it did
have a positive impact on crime prevention programs, street sweeping
efforts and was aesthetically. pleasing. The program which was pro-
posed was heavily oriented towards ongoing complaints about inappro-
priately parked automobiles. He said that practical implementation
of the ordinance would be an .effective anti -abandonment ordinance.
In reality, no guests of a residence would be cited if only there
for a viait. He said that only those automobiles which . had created
tremendous problems over a .period of time would be cited because
those would be the automobiles noticed by residents and phoned in as
a complaint. - He asked Mr. Maynor whether a ban of nonresident
parking in front of residents' homes was a legal approach.
Mr. Maynor deferred response for the moment.
Councilmember Fazzino said pending Mr. Maynor's opinion, he would
support the original recommendation.
Councilmember Bechtel was concerned about the bureaucratic maze.
which might happen, but felt something had to be done about the
amount of vehicles parked in residential . areas which did not need to
be there.
Councilmember Klein felt there was a ,deterioration in the situation
since the City stopped enforcing the ordinance.. He agreed with,
Councilmember Levy, and said that although the means for enforcing
the ordinance was a ban on parking from . 2:00 ; a.m. to 6:00 a.m./ he
thought the real $ttempt Was to get people to get their, cars off the
street and put them in driveways. or : garages. He thought that would,
occur, and said that the = reverse had occurred over the last five
years. He did not think it was a drastic infringement on civil
rights, and:, did not think that when the ordinance was being
enforced, people felt them civil ' rights ,were ' being violated.
Further, he .:chid not think it was an infringement on the occasional.:
1 1 0 9
7/27/81.
visitor. who needed to park on the street overnight. He thought that
a balance was attempted, and the problems of various neighborhoods
tried to be exempted. He thought there might be otherimprovements
which could be made in order to tailor the ordinance to the prob-
lems. He recognized that there were different neighborhoods, and
that there were not ordinances which applied equally to all areas.
He did not think there was anything unique about exempting some
neighborhoods and applying the ordinance to others. He felt that
was owed to the citizens. He was concerned about the fee. The
,notion passed by the Policy and Procedures Committee, set no fee
because the concept was changed from that which was described in the
staff report, which set forth the $19 annual figure. He discussed
with Chief Zurcher the idea that with the various neighborhoods
exempted from the enforcement of the ordinance that the cost should
be substantially less to the City than originally proposed by the
staff report, and he hoped the fee would be substantially less than
what was originally proposed. However, he did intend to support the
motion.
Councilmember Renzel felt that several years ago, the Council Made a
commitment in the course of preparing the Comprehensive Plan to
beautify the neighborhoods, protect the R-1 zones, and to try and
seek new uses for street space besides parking automobiles, When
she was on the Planning Commission, she was very concerned about
getting adequate parking off-street in developments as they came
before the Commission. She felt most people were capable of parking
their vehicles off-street in R-1 zones, and even those of their
guests. The actual impact in terms of i. npossibility of ,parking off
the street in R-1 zones was .not as great as one might surmise.
Regarding notices and signs on the street, at the Committee level,
the City Attorney had indicated that it would probably be adequate
to have notice in the utility mailers. Regarding the hours of
enforcement, she felt that basically what it said was when you go
home, put your car off the street. She felt it would encourage the
habit of parking in the driveways and garages. She would support
the recommendation.
Mayor Henderson asked the City Attorneysf the fact that it might be
announced periodically in the utility bills was sufficient for pro-
tection in court or would it be a tough argument.
Mr, Maynor said ultimately it would be for the judge to determine,
but what was interesting about the State law, which basically pre-
empted the whole field was :that the . sect ion which dealt with over-
night parking did hot require the posting of signs. He said that
reading the statute -strictly it would appear that the City would be
in compliance . with State law. He was concerned about a due -process
argument being made, and he thought that one.measure which could be.
taken would be sending ,notices via utility flyers -and whether or not
it would work would ultimately .be found when the tissue went to
court. Regarding Counciimember Fazzino's question re whether or not
a ban of nonresident parking in front of a residence was legal, Mr.
Maynor, responded that it was clearly allowed by State law. State
law allowed:preferential parking systems for the handicapped -and and for
residents,
Vice Mayor Fletcher said regarding the statement that the previous
ordinance had a significant effect on the removal of cars . when it
was enforced, according to reports from the Police Department, that
;gas not the case, a significant number of cars were not removed.
Regarding the fact that the ordinance wouldbe enforced on a com-
plaint basis, she said the Police Department made it very clear that
that would also not be the case, they would not enforce it on a com-
plaint basis, it would be across-the-board. She said' guests would
also be cited if they did = not have the special exemption because
there would be police personnel who would be doing the enforcing,
and they would not recognize which cars belonged and which cars did
not belong, which car was . new, qr which car "parked one night . after
1
1
1
the other, and that it would be too much bookkeeping to keep track
of which car was new or old. Vice Mayor ,Fletcher, said that.
regarding the utility flyer, the utility bill would not arrive the
day that the hook up was made, so for the first few weeks, the new
person would not be notified at least through the utility flyer.
She wondered what the Utility Department would think of the idea, or
whoever had to do it, because each address would have to be checked,
against whether that was a zone that was exempt, or what side of the
street it was on, or whether it was a single-family or multiple -
family. It -was -not an easy thing to accomplish. The deterioration
over the years and more cars .on the street, was a true fact and was
a reflection of the housing costs and nature of the change in the
household composition. 'Mare were fewer families with lots of small
children and much --more shared housing because that was the only way
many people could afford to live in Palo Alto at all. She did not
think most of those cars would be taken off the street because they
would be eligible for permits . The ordinance benefitted those who
had large estates and large lots with lots of room to park cars, but
penalized those large families and Shared housing and types of stu-
dent groups who could least afford to pay the high fee. It was a
complicated program, and she thought the fee would have to be pretty
ateep to make it self-supporting.
Councilmember Renzel said that' in the past when the ordinance _was
enforced, the only limitation on the number of permits was the
space in front of aproperty. As a result, she said than: people who
had off-street parking space could still buy permits on -street and
one of the conditions of the proposal from the Committee was that
you -could only get permits )?or cars for which you did not have an
off-street space. Further-, she said it included the limitation
according to street frontage as well, but she thought that with that
extra proviso, there would be a significant number of cars parking
cff-street.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Fazzino moved to have staff come back to
Council with a plan for a preferential parking permit program which
would allow resident parking in front of a home, but not nonresident
parking.
-AMENDMENT FAILED for lack of a second.
Councilmember. Fazzino commented that the Council was the one dic-
tating the program, and he believed it should be enforced on a com-
plaint basis and, that was how he would support it when it cane back
later.
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 6-2, Fletcher and Henderson voting "no,''
Eyerly absent.
RECESS TO EXECUTIVE SESSION .10:00 - 10:15.
CITY/SCHOOL LIAISON COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS RE USE AND MAINTENANCE OF
Councilmember Fazzino said that the: Liaison Committee felt that the
possibility of having a single person designated with full authority
for scheduling all athletic facilities and for issuing .binding and
enforceable permits should be ''explored. Councilmember Fazzino said
that many members of the City were also constituents of the School
District and the City, and did _ not knw where 0o,turn for use of
school sites' athleticfacilities around town The feeling was that
one area where the City and ; School District could work together
would be in consolidating athletic and other facility coordination.
Further, he said there was a feeling that the possibility of identi-
fying and separating `costs , for athletic and other community
1-_1. 1 1
7/21/81
1
e
facilities which were not run by the School District, but which
received heavy City citizen use should also be looked at. Identi-
fying and separating those numbers would give a better idea of the
cost, resources, and burden on the City in looking at the possi-
bility of eventually purchasing or leasing or in, some other way pro-
viding control over the facilities for community use. There was a
general feeling that the City and the School District should go for-
ward with the study and that three basic points would be considered:
1) Central authority in one location: 2) a joint powers agreement on
funding with the recognition that the City coffers just like the
School District were limited and that the City would not be in.a
position of expending a tremendous amount of money purchasing sites
around town; and 3) consideration of educational vs. noneducational
uses of school facilities. Councilmember Fazzino felt that this was
the critical point in terms of delineation between School District
and City responsibilities. He said the City could not assist the
School District with their educational concerns. He said the City
could look at the School District's Programs which were noneduca-
tional in nature and which concerned all citizens in Palo Alto, and
look at the poss=ibility of operating those kinds of facilities.
MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded by Levy, the City/
School Liaison Committee recommendation that the City and District
develop a proposal that will (1) explore the c Acept of a central
authority for community use of recreation and performing arts
facilities as recommended by both the Palo Alto Athletic Council and
the Standing Committee on the Arts and Sciences; (2) delineate the
costs for all programs; (3) explore a mechanism to bring about a
joint legal authority for funding; (4) propose trade-offs to cover
costs (user fees, taxes, volunteers, etc.); and (5) define the use
of school district facilities for educational purposes.
Bob Moss, 4010 Orme, asked that the City not take any action that
would in any way reduce the School District's cost of operations or
funding levels because hewas upset at the School District's refusal
of the City's generous offer (about $6.8 million)' to purchase the
Terman site and the indiction that they wanted the citizens of Palo
Alto to` pay an exhorbitant price for their own property. Since the
City was not getting much cooperation in the financial end from the
School District, he thought it would be a good idea for the City to
make it clear to the School District that if they were r&ot going to
play, the City was not going to play either. He felt the financial
handle was the only one the City had on the School Di_strict , and if
no cooperation was received from the School District, the City
should start eminent domain, condemnation proceedings on the school
sites.
Councilmember Levy felt that what the City was doing here should ` be
looked at in the spirit of cooperation so that mutually the citizens
of Palo Alto would be better:° served. He was also concerned about
thestate of the Terman negotiations but 'wanted to look uponthat as
a separate issue and not let it get in the way : of working coopera-
tively. ,
MOTION PASSED unanimously., .Fyerly.. absent.
CONDOMINIUM CONVERSION, ORDINANCE (Second Reading) (Continued
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Renze
of the ordinance.
second =reading
ORDINANCE FOR SECOND READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE
TO AMENDING CHAPTER 21.40 OF
THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING CONVERSIONS TO
CONDOMINIUM AND OTHER COMMUNITY HOUSING" (1st reading
7/13/81 - Passed 5-4, Eyerly, Klein, Levy, Witherspoon
"no")
Sylvia Seman, 3380 Middlefield Road, Executive Director of Palo Alto
Housing Corporation said that the Corporation had addressed the
Council earlier on the matter and she would address the Council as
an individual and not on behalf of the Corporation. She was con-
cerned about lifetime leases applying to units that the Housing
Corporation might acquire if they were in the same complex. She
said that the Housing Corporation's goal, when properties are
acquired was that as years go by, and it could be afforded by the
Corporation, to rent them to low-income people under whatever fed-
eral program was available. She said in the acquisition_. of 129.
Emerson, the Housing Corporation was planning to lease their units
under the Housing Authority's moderate rehab program. That program
had a lease that those tenants would have to be under, and she did
not have any notion of how those tenants, if they had a lifetime
lease, would be able to have a lease under the federal program she
was also concerned about how it would work with having two leases
guaranteed to tenants and being able for them to have a subsidy
involved. Ms. Semen understood the Council's concerns that where a
condominium conversion was to occur in one building, it would be
difficult to delineate those units that would be converted from
those units that would be sold under the Rental_ Housing Program. As
she perused the ordinance, the definition of "complex" was not
limited to one building, it could be several buildings. The defini-
tion of "complex". meant.. a structure or structures containing at
least three rental units .on the sage parcel or adjoining parcels of
property. In that case, if the converter wished to convert the 32
units, as Ferne, then instead of 16 units going to the Housing
Corporation, there would be approximate.iy 11 units that went to the
Housing Corporation and 22 units would be converted because the com-
plex could be defined as the two parcels rather than just one
building. Her understanding of the Council's concern of the complex
would be if it was in one building, a building such as Forest Towers
where it would be difficult to separate those units=, but in the
definition, ''complex" was defined as more than just one building.
She was not sure if that was Council's intent, because she thought
they were trying to delineate conversions when they were off -site
rather than those within. She was unsure that Council had done what
they intended to do, and wanted to bring that to the Council's
attention. Regarding 21.40.050(2) (a) which stated: "Units (i);
equal in number to fifty percent of those units proposed for conver-
sion (excluding any units which are subject to the tentative or pre-
liminary parcel map and are to be provided to the City as below -
market -rate units) ," ahe did not understand the language in the par-
entheses as being clarifying to the point that she thought the
Council wanted. She thought it would be simpler to remove it _unlehs
there was something in it that required to, to remain.
Mayor Henderson clarified that it meant units .equal to fifty percent
of those proposed for conversion, so I in one building there were
100 units, and 67 would be converted then 33 units would have to be
provided -at low/moderate rates:
City- Attorney : Don Maynor agreed with .Mayor Henderson. He thought,
however that it might bebetter to continue the matter since the.
attorney who wrote the ordinance was not there top.respond to Ms.
Seman's questions
1 1 1 3
7/27/81
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher moved, seconded by Fazzino, to continue
second reading to August 10 to allow the attorney • to study the pro-
posed language changes.
Mayor Henderson said he shared Ms. Seman's concerns and would sup-
port the continuance.
Councilmember Fazzino said he did not want the Council to rehash all
the issues previously discussed, and if the Council's discussion on
August 10 could be limited to the three issues raised by Ms. Semen,
he would have no problem supporting the continuance.
Vice Mayor Fletcher said she saw no reason to hash and rehash
tonight and on August 10, and thought that if points other than
those mentioned by Ms. Semen needed to be discussed, it ought.: to be
done tonight.
Councilmember Renzel commented that it was a second reading before
the Council, and that it had already been hashed through by the
Council. The proposed changes for second reading were considered
nonsubstantial and were presumably wording changes to accomplish the
Council"s.purpose. So, she thought that if it were continued, it
should be continued as a second reading with the discussion
basically limited to the wording changes requested by the Housing
Corporation. If there were further geestions, she felt they should
have been asked when Council reviewed the ordinance during the first
reading.
MOTION TO CONTINUE PASSED by a vote of 6-2, Levy and Witherspoon
voting "no," Eyerly absent.
EUROPEAN HEALTH SPA (CMR:368:1)
Mayor Henderson said he had received a call from Mr. Turley, the
Vice President of Grecian Health Spa, and he was concerned because
he had had no opportunity to get any background on the subject and
it would be difficult for him to deal with the issues tonight and,
therefore, he asked that the item be continued. Mayor Henderson
said that Mr. Turley indicated that the Council should take into
account the fact that it was a new owner, and that there was evi-
dence from the :staff report of apparent cooperation. Mayor
Henderson said he hoped the Council would accept the staff recom-
mendation that. Council instruct staff to work with the Grecian
Health Spa management in order to obtain as much improvement as pos-
sible through %.aluntary means. He felt that there was every evi-
dence that the new owners wanted to cooperate and do everything pos-
sibie,to alleviate the situation.
Councilmember Fazzino said hisconcerns had not abated and he was
very concerned about the parking situation, at the same time he was
getting` increased feelings that resolution of this problem would be
related to resolution: -of. the Evergreen Park area Problem. He
thought that since there was new management and according to staff,
they had shown a willingness to discuss the problem, and develop
some conclusions, he was willing to hold off: a few week's , and have
staff work with the new management. He did not think it would_. be
fair to impose a solution on the new management without givingthen
a chance to review some of the problems. He said he would be care-
fully monitoring the isene and if no change = had occurred in a
month's - time, he would bring it back to Council and consider some of
the other options which has. been lookedat previously.
MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded by Renzel, to
instruct staff to work with the new management as they seek to
obtain voluntary changes in the parking habits of their customers.
Staff Staff would take no action except to encourage the new management to
follow through -with the committemerits described in CMR:368:1
POTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly =absent:
COUNTY TERMINATION OF LAND DEVELOPMENT REFERRAL (CMR:372:1)
-rte. r.-.... ►
Chief Planning Official, Bruce Freeland, said he had spoken with
the Director of Planning at Stanford, Phil Williams and asked that
he reassure the Council that even though the County was backing out
of the referral process, the University intended to continue its
part of the referral process and would abide by the previous agree-
ment between the City and the University.
Mayor € end.erson said he had a conversation with Mr. Doty from
Stanford who conveyed the same message and also said that Stanford
would be willing to ;join with the City in asking the County to
retain the referral system. Mayor Henderson said he felt everyone
saw it as a serious situation. He thought, that it was a unique
situation because Stanford was not like all pockets of land in the
County, and the least the City should get, would be an exception to
where the system would continue for the Palo Alto/Stanford CS zoning
relationship.
MOTION: Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by- Renzei, to. authoe
rize .the Mayor to send a letter to the County Board of Supervisors
protesting the unilateral discontinuation of land development refer-
rals and urging the reinstatement of these referrals; and: further,
that the Mayor personally contact Supervisor Becky Morgan and other
supervisors; that letters be sent to Mayors in other cities, and ask
that the item be placed on IGC agenda.
Councilmember Renzel felt it was important that the County continue
the land development referrals, the CS agreement which was shared
with Stanford and the County was an alternative to a land develop
ment process which applied to unincorporated pockets and various
spheres of influence throughout the County. She said the City was
not p.ugged into that process because of the CS zone agreement and
would he prepared should the County. not go forward, to raise the
question of whether the City should not go _.to the basic land devel-
opment proposal process for unincorporated areas.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
REQUEST OF VICE
Vice Mayor Fletcher said she had addressed the problem of retaining
the retail vitality of the downtown which was a positive feature in
Palo Alto and a necessary service to the residents of the City. She
said the threat was the loss of retail space to office uses and, the
loss of food markets and hardware stores was a symptom of the larger
problem. She said Palo Alto had become a prime location for office
space now that San Francisco was running out of space. Vice Mayor
Fletcher indicated that some months ago, there was a workshop with
the Association of Bay Area Governments who had told them that Palo
Alto was the second most desired location foroffice space after San
Francisco. It had been argued that a moratorium was not justified
because a study of the problem was being commenced. She said that
in the time it would take to complete the study and for the Council
to take action, if the studyindicated that action was needed, more
retail space could be lost, which could not be retrieved for several
decades. She thought the situation was serious enough to warrant an
immediate freeze. Then, if the study revealed there was no problem,
the freeze could be lifted.
MAYOR FLETCHER RE DOWNTOWN NON-RETAII. MORATORIUM
MOTION: Vice Mayor. Fletcher moved, seconded by ,Henkel, that Council
direct :,the City Attorneyto institute a 6 -month moratorium' on non-
personal service uses at street level on University Avenues and cross
streets from Webster to High ( north boundaries of Lytton and
Hamilton) to be for new uses only, and ' that the moratorium ordinance
be returned to Council at the next me?ting.
1 1 1 .5
7/27/81
Mayor Henderson asked for a definition of "personal services." He
said normally "personal services" would include banks, and savings
and loans.
Vice Mayor Fletcher said she did not intend to include financial
services. She said she was at a presentation of a merchants' com-
mittee where there was a speaker from Los Altos who said they had a
similar ban on non -retail uses. She thought they might have a model
which could be followed as to what type of services might be
excluded. She asked if there was a definition in the zoning ordi-
nance.
Principal Planner George Zimmerman said there was a definition which
essentially included beauty shops, barber shops, shoe repair, self-
service laundry and similar type uses.
Councilmember Bechtel said that assuming the Finance Committee
approved the consulting firm recommended, %-,hen would staff estimate
the downtown retail study would begin and be completed.
Mr. Zimmerman responded that if the Finance and Public Works
Committee recommended negotiating with the consultant selection
committee's recommended consultant, staff wculd take the budget
amendment and contract to Council for approval in late August and
the consultants would be ready to begin the study in September. The
results would be back by January 1 as a report to the Planning
Commission.
Councilmember Bechtel asked foe figures on the amounts of retail use
by square footage or whatever over a ten . year period and if pos-
sible, what changes have occurred in the last cotpi:..,of years.
Mr. Zimmerman said that as part of the downtown retail study., staff
indicated, to both Council and the Finance and Public Works Committee
that analysis of land use in terms of ground floor square footage
between 1970 and 1981 had been commenced. Staff figures were pre-
liminary. Overall there was more ground floor area in 1981 than in
1970 because there was more development downtown. He raid that in
staff's category of "Retail, which was . not :quite the sane as the
zoning definition, but close, downtown had increased by 110,000
square feet. Under "services," which included both personal ser-
vices and business services, there had been an increase of. 10,000
square feet. He emphasized that they we ra all approximate figures.
In terms of "office space," there had been an increase of 35,000.
square feet. For "public and quasi -public uses" there had been an
increase of 10,000 square feet Although staff's figures were pre-
liminary figures, there had been an increase, but the major increase
had been in retail. He pointed out that olf the approximate 110,000
square feet increase in "retail," approximately 50,000 square feet
had been in eating and drinking establishments. Eatinu and drinking
establishments had accounted for much of the increase in tax'ble
retail sales in-; the downtown ° area _during the last decade and had
aloe accounted for a substantial share of the , increase in retail
floor area.
Mr. Freeland presented a list of applications - which had coe:, before
the City in the period from January, = 1980 through June 11,_ 1981. He
said there was one significant application since that date which was
tlett Food Mart site on Waverley. Within the 1-1/2 year time period,
there were 12 applications which would involve , a change in: the ` land
use status of properties in the general area of the downtown. He
gave an individual breakdown. He mentioned that as a caveat for all
of the listings the Council should keep in mind that several were
being built as speculative space and the tenancy of " the building
would not be setuntil the building was complete It was possible'
that several of the '<-applications could very_ < wen l involve retail
uses, some were. identified' as either retail`"orr offices in the infor-
mation which accompanied the application,` : but basically -. staff
.recorded the information that came into the City. The first appli-
cation was at 181 Lytton,'which was from a gas station, restaurant,
and a house to -offices of a -little less than 10,000 square feet; 124
University Avenue, the Paris Theater to two offices of a little over ..
5,000 square feet each; 745 Emerson was. to offices. of almost 5,600
square feet; 335 Bryant from -a residence and a parking lot to
offices of less than 1,000 square feet; 146 Forest from automotive
to retail end_ antiques, this was one where there was 11,000 square
feet gained in reteile 247 High from'a manufacturing concern to
offices -interior decorator of 2,500 square " feet; 339 University
Avenue which had been retail to an an expansion of Imperial Savings
of 2,300 square feet; 420 Univer sity from retail to Union- Bank,
another expansion of 2,-800 square feet; 623 Alma from automotive to
offices nof a little less than 6,000 square -feet; :119 University from
retell tce offices of 3,000 square feet; 165.175` Forest from a gas
station to offices and retail of 16,000 square -feet. He said it was
being built as a spec building and it was intended that one floor
would be primarily :retail. The fact :was that: .one would not know
until the bui ldings were.. occupied just what would be there. The
final one was 365-369 Forest which had been •residences and a beauty
shop and would now be offices and/or retail for 12,000 square feet.
lie said that 11 out of the 12 involved a change in use from a non -
office use to "a potential office use. Most of, them did not cone out
of retail, but from auto related or other non -retail activities.
Overall there was about as much gain ein retail as there was loss and
there was a big unknown as to what- the tenancy would ultimately .be.
In terms of the heartland of _the downtown, -Mr. Freeland said there
were very few of the applications and they tended to be small in
size. He said to keep in mind the Food Mart side on Waverley, about
10,000 square feet was formerly retail and proposed to office. He
did not see a clear pattern "of loss of retail, but clear activity
toward office. It was not a clear case ir. -terms of building a case
one way or the other.
Counc i 1 member Witherspoon asked i f the so called "office space" .was.
a total loss for sales tax revenues or were there some taxes from
' certain offices uses.
Mr. Zimmerman responded that it depended on the use, but most office
uses would not generate a taxable sales space. Business machines
and>. rentals such as the IBM sales office, that were not even ground
floor establishments were major contributors to the taxable sales
revenue in the downtown area.
Douglas W. Rucker. 227 University Avenue, of Rucker Uniforms, said
he and his wife were in. their 35th year of business. He was opposed
to the moratorium because the more legislation, the less regulation.
As a property owner, he did not feel it was in the best interests of
the City to say what type of business must exist.
Ann Werry, 460 Waverley, Werry Electric, spoke first as President of
Downtown Palo Alto, Inc. She said the new merchant's promotion com-
mittee did.: not represent Downtown Palo Alto, Inc. She _.read a letter
dated July 27, 198.1, from Darryl Wallace, Manager and Co-owner of
the Habit at 384 University Avenue,` which stated that a copy of a
petition dated July 1.f, 1981 was,,attached and that it ..bore Mr.
Wallace's 'endorsement. He asked that his name be ` removed from the
petition. He was under the misassumption that the petition was
authorized by Downtown Palo Alto. Inc. He felt that . the petition
was: a nistepresentati on of the group and, therefore,- he did not
endorse the proposed moratorium.
Mrs. Werry said that she was a member of a long-time retail family
whose firm had been in business for over 66 years in downtown Palo
Alto, 55 years on University Avenue. Thev did not" support a ban on
any kind of business because of its negative aspect on the business
community at large. She felt it would pre-empt the action - already
taken in referring the downtown retail study to the Finance and
Public Works Committee and that when the results of the study were
evaluated, they could work together toward maintaining the unique
downtown community Palo Alto as it had always been. She hoped that
Council's only conclusion would be that no restrictions of any kind
were necessary especially after having heard from other positive
speakers who had been part of the downtown business community for
many years.
Roxy Rapp, Rapps Shoes, 375 University, said he was opposed to the.
proposed moratorium on office space He spoke of - the various prob-
lems which had existed over the years, and of the help which had
been received from the banks and other financial institutions He
felt that downtown had developed a base of the financial institu-
tions and good offices and during the time of deterioration these
institutions had helped keep the town from becoming totally dete •-
rated. He hoped that no action would be taken on the matter, .he saw
no benefit to it, and urged .the Council and fellow merchants to
address themselves to more realistic dangers which faced downtown
such as parking for customers and employees, and toward making down-
town a safer and cleaner place to shop.
Don Klages, owner of Wideman's, 281 University Avenue, said he
agreed with Mr. Rapp that through the years there had been many dif-
ficulties, and that many banks and savings institutions stood by the
merchants and helped stabilize downtown Palo Alto to make it what it
is. He said that although they were not .a shopping center, they
were a financial center, and a place to find excellent food. He
felt that one thing which brought people to shop were the fine
restaurants. He said that what had made his business so vital had
been the people employed by many of the firms, the emplo,,ees worked
in downtown and shopped in downtown. He felt that sort of thing
must be addressed. He said Northern cal ifornia Savings and Loan had
their head office in Palo Alto, Bank of America had its major branch
in Palo Alto, Crocker Bank was planning the same thing. He felt it
would bring a clientele of customers who were very strong for the
business. He felt .the moratorium was self-destructive and would do
a great deal more harm than good,
Warren Thoits, 525 University, spoke on behalf of Thoits Brothers,
Inc., had two points concerning opposition to the proposal. He felt
declaring the moratorium was an extreme in the exercise of political
power. It mooted peoples` rights, which he felt should be restric-
ted to emergency matters only. . He felt the reference to the old
Paris Theater was inaccurate, that there would be retail there, and
felt there would be retail in several of the other locations where
"office" was indicated. The situation was hardly an emergency and
in any event no emergency which would warrant the exercise of the
extreme measure. In terms ,of downtown Palo Alto ownership, he
assured " the Council that the . tenancy was. toward, not away, from
retail. In terms of personal experience, any.request for space over
the last 18 months in which he had an interest, had all been for
:. retail use, not office = use, He re-emphasized that there was noe.
emergency warranting the moratorium.
Joel Budgor, = 305 Lytton, representing the downtown property owners
group, said no one had presented any evidence to show that the .mer-
chants were concerned about being driven, out of the downtown. He
said that: Hare, _Brewer and Kelley had= prepared a report documenting
thanges in business uses in the ;downtown Palo Alto commercial area
from 1970-1980. The source of information for that study was the
Palo_ Alto City Directory for 1970 published >: by R. 1. Polk and
Company. The ,information .far 1980' uses was gathered through on -site
inspection,' He said that In that study All changes;; in use from 1970
to 1980 was -categor ized prior and subsequent ;'to, the change in use.
Four main categories were =used: Retail, Norp.Retail, Vacant and
Other. , The findings showed .:that -for 1910-1980 _ on University Avenue
and its cross streets, excluding' businesses that had not changed
their use and therefore -were Irrelevant to the issue, the number . of
retail, establishments increased from 39 to 58, while the number of
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non -retail eetabl ishments decreased from 25 to 15. He said that if
changes along Lytton and Hamilton Avenue were included, the number
of new retail establishments in the downtown area would increase to
85 from the 59 retail establishments existing in the same area in
1970. Further, he said that figure declined with „the. decline of 13
non -retail businesses from 35 to 22 for the same area in the same
period. His information did not support the claim that non -retail
businesses had been overrunning the downtown area. In studying the
impact of business changes on the character of the downtown business
community, it was found that of the 70 -odd charges in business uses
which had occurred on University Avenue and its cross streets from
the 1970-1980 comparison, only 14 resulted in a loss of retail
establishments as compared to 23 which resulted in losses of non-
retail establishments. If the impact of business changes along
Lytton and Hamilton Avenues were included, the trend was reinforced.
Conversely, Mr. Budgor said that if you looked - at business which
operated in 1980 on University Avenue and its cross streets, you
would find 31 instances of business changes which resulted in growth
of the retail community vs. only 11 such instances in the non -retail
community. The trend on Lytton and Hamilton Avenue was similar if
not- quite as strong. Regarding the claim that non -retail businesses
were driving retail businesses out of downtown, the actual numbers
did not correspond with the image offered. For every retail use
that was changed to a non -retail use --10 to ,be exact --twice as many
non -retail uses became retail uses. If you add the business changes
on .Lytton and Hamilton, the findings would become stronger. During
the 1970's with no ban on the use of ground floor space except
standard zoning ordinances, downtown Palo Alto retail establishments
expanded largely at the expense of non -retail establishments and not
the other way around.
Carol Mullin, Bentwood .Rockers 201 Hamilton, said she opposed the
moratorium because she felt .the merchants who were arguing for it
were mistaken in their analysis. The people who filled the offices,
who went to the banks, and filled the restaurants, or bought from
the merchants were customers. She felt most landlords would prefer
to have strong retail tenants. She believed that the banks and the
offices were what made them prosperous and if their needs and
parking could- be fitted in, that would be even better.
Councilmenbe.r Levy asked Ms. Mullin what percentage of her gross was
represented by her rent.
Ms. Mullin responded approximately 6%.
Ira Kaplan, 4283 Ponce Drive, . Owner of Kitty O'Hara, had gathered a
group of Concerned merchants relative to sales promotion in the
downtown Palo Alto area. His group met every Friday morning and
discussed the growth of non -retail in the downtown area. It was
highlighted by the action taken by the City of Los .Al tos e and by the
strengthening in the Stanford Shopping Center with the announcement
that . they would build the new Nieman Marcus store, thereby
reinforcing the position that they were concerned about what would
happen in the downtown Palo Alto retail community. The group
believed that a contiguous area of retail . activity was necessary for
the survival of the retail community in downtown Palo :A1to& He said
that .custoiei s liked to _ window shop and to go from . store 'to -Store
and that, activity was broken when they moved from ` a retail store
past a non -retail office, bank,eetc. He said_>the very. fact that the
Council had/ authorized a study -to review - the : retail climate showed
than:°there was a concern .about the future. - He felt that if Council
placed a moratorium in effect -which would last until the results of
the study, that would at least' halt the erosion of -the downtown
community should the study suggest that the downtown retail zone was
in jeopardy. He said the merchants who met on Friday mornings were
willing to abide by the results of the study, but felt that until
the study was complete and had a chance to be evaluated, a mora-
torium should be put into effect. He 'clarified the statement made
by Mrs. Werry about the signatures and the drafting of the resolu-
tion which was presented to the Council. He said there were four
members of Downtown Palo Alto Board of Directors that met every
Friday morning. He understood that Mrs. Werry had submitted a let-
ter on the stationery of Downtown Palo Alto, Inc stating their
position. -As a member oi the Board of Directors of Downtown Palo
Alto, Inc., he knew of no such meeting which was called that gave
Mrs. Werry the approval to go ahead with- that letter. He urged
adoption of the moratorium.
Howard Churcher, 377 Fletcher Drive, supported the moratorium until
the proposed study was completed.
David Gaskill, 4060 Manzana Lane, read a letter from Victoria Basch,
which is on file in the City Cherk's Office, and supported the mora-
torium.
Don Douglas, 355 University, felt that the moratorium was a neces-
sity.
Ann Miller, Studio. D, Inc., 657 Alma, read a letter from Peter.
Giamalis, which is on file in the City Clerk's Office. She sup
ported the moratorium because she saw the retailers around her going
out of business and offices going in. She realized that banking
establishments were needed, and she was concerned that Studio 0
would be the only retail outlet left in downtown Palo Alto.
Steven Singer, 552 waver 1 ey, Owner of Deal i n' Down, supported the
mop atorium.
Don Surath, 1930 Ivy Lane, said he loved banks, but was concerned
about where they: were being located[. He felt that the banks,
offices and merchants should be separated and each kept together.
He supported the moratorium until the study was completed.
Councilmember Witherspoon said she opposed the motion. She pointed
out to those who wondered why a moratorium was being proposed before
the study, that Council had voted to have the st!tdy at the insis-
tence of the same group that now wanted the moratorium. She thought
it behooved the supporters of the moratorium to make an overwhelming
case for an emergency necessary to enact an ordinance. She did not
see an emergency. She thought. that Menlo, Park and Los Altos were
different communities and what might be appropriate for their area
was not necessarily appropriate for Palo Alto. She said it was
attractive to her to be able to do all her errands in one place, and
she did not: limit herself : to shopping just in retail stores, but
tried to do all her family errands in one area. She said doing that
meant she avoided having to drive here, there, and everywhere, which
was what she thought was trying to be achieved in the downtown area.
The mix was needed and she could sense the concern among the
retailers. It was no secret that the economy was failing down and
at this time of the year retail trade was at a slow ebb, but she, did
not think . it was because offices were Coming, and she did not think
in _ the ' next four months there would be enough offi ce space being
used at the cost of retail space to justify a moratorium.
Counc1 Ime,aber Levy said he el so opposed the coati or, He saw nothing
against the concept of moratorium,: and generally favored them if'
things- were changing too rapidly . or":.If there was a reasonable pros-
pect .of his possibly favoring ,the changes being considered. In this
case, he did not think either of those situations: prevailed. He
said he road down . University on his way to the Council meeting, _ and
observed between Cowper and Kipi ing.= no banks or . savings and roans,
between Ki pl ing and Waver ley two, between Waver ley. and: Florence two,
between Florence and' Bryant One, between Bryant and Ramona one. He.
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did not observe at this time that the downtown was being overwhelmed
by savings and loans or banks. The data from staff wherein there
were a total of 160,000 square feet added between 1970 and 1981.of
which 110,000 was retail indicated to him that retain had been on
the upsurge over a longer term trend, In the short- term, if he
counted the data correctly, in the last 1-1/2 years, the City had
lost 19,000 square feet in retail, gained 11,000 of retail
definitely, and 30,000 square feet some of. which - would be retail. -
If a third of that was retail, .there was about an equal loss and
gain. He felt it would be unwise to install a freeze in this
situation.
Councilmember Klein- said he was concerned about the commercial
viability of the University Avenue area. 'He did not feel that a.
moratorium would add to the health of the area. He felt moratoriums
warranted an overwhelming amount of evidence that an emergency
existed. He thought it was a drastic solution and was a long way
from'finding an emergency at this time. He did not see any trend at
all at present, and thought perhaps the in depth study would show
more, but absent that evidence, he would oppose the motion.
Councilmember Fazzino said he shared some concern about the
viability of retail. He said during the seventies, the shift had
been toward retail, and also during the past 1-1/2 years. He
thought it was incredible that any member could support.a moratorium
when there was such little evidence that a major problem existed.
He did not see the major danger signs of office/bank shifts which
would necessitate emergency action. Further, he did not feel
moratoria solved anything, they showed no imagination and no
creativity. He thought it was a negative public policy. He would
agree that there were some slight concerns for retail uses in the
downtown area that should be looked at, i.e. higher rents, little
parking, loss of food markets, and some reputable firms moving out.
That concerned him, but he would prefer that substantive proposals
be brought forth to nurture and sustain development of retail growth
in the downtown area rather than do-nothing moratoria approach. He
wanted to explore the concept of the pedestrian ground floors which
were looked at a few years ago along certain blocks of University,
additional parking, and other approaches during the course of the
downtown retail study. He also wanted and invited smaller merchants
in the downtown area to participate fully and actively in the
downtown study to 'deal with the approaches. He encouraged his
fellow Councilmembers to vote against the motion.
Mayor Henderson said he had previously supported a moratorium under
what he considered to be an emergency situation, but the data in the
downtown area did not substantiate the conclusion of an emergency
situation. He said retail and personal services growth had
considerably exceeded office space growth over the past ten years..
He did not see , an emergency gency now, and did not see one for the next
six months, and, therefore, would oppose the moratorium,
Councilmember Renzel supported the moratorium not because it was an
emergency, but because it was an area under study. Moratoria had
been used in the past during the Comprehensive Plan process and
application of the zoning ordinance when an area was under study.
She had watched University Avenue go down and then pull itself back
up, and she felt it was a vital and lively place, but 'the balance
was delicate, particularly because of the inter -ref ati onshi ps of the
parking with the land uses. She said retail merchants used a lot of
short term parking where one space could .be turned over many times
during the day for:: a customer, where offices eaand otheu employment
type uses utilized the parking spaces all day long, and one parking
space was used for one car and one person, She thought it was a
very delicate balance and they knew there were parking problems
downtown and the balance and the lively atmosphere that drew custo-
mers _to the retail uses in downtown Palo Alto should be preserved.
She said she would support the motion.
Councilmember.Bechtel said she was concerned about- the vitality of
downtown Palo Alto and University Avenue. She thought it had been
exciting to see the growth of a number of -restaurants and new retail
stores which had come in.' She felt that offices could -not do it
alone, and if there were all offices, the restaurants would not.
survive. She used the example of downtown San Jose Where a series
of restaurants had tried to survive on solely the lunch crowd. She
thought the mix- of -active and vital stores was needed. She did not
think there was an emergency in this case, and would not support the
motion. If :the results of the study showed that there really was a
danger of losing the viable mix, then she would support retail only
on University Avenue.
Vice Mayor Fletcher said she could not understand why they had to go
all the way to an emergency before instituting a moratorium. She
said, it had. been done several times before. All she was asking for
was a temporary holding action. She could not see .that a short-term
moratorium until the long-term solutions were seen, was such an
action that would affect anyone very drastically. She said there
was a problem downtown, it was recognized in the Comprehensive Plan.
She said they were not talking about eliminating the banks and
offices that were there. There were ample banks and sayings and
loan, and no one was.suggesting that they be eliminated. They would
still be there -even if a moratorium were put .into effect, it was a
matter of making sure that they would not lose any of the prime
retail uses now in effect.
MOTION FAILED for a moratorium by a vote of 6-2, Renzel and Fletcher
voting "aye," Eyerly absent.
RE UEST OF MAYOI HENDERSON RE ESTABLISHING A COMMITTEE TO WORK WITH
Councilmember Levy said he was dismayed and very concerned at what
he felt was tha School district's arrogant rejection of the City's
offer for . Terman. He said that without intruding on the preroga-
tives and efforts_. of the City's negotiating team, he wanted to see
the Council more intensively involved. He said that June Fleming
and dean Diaz were in agreement with the concept.
MOTION: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by Fazzifo, that the
Mayor., be authorized to appoint an advisory committee to work with
staff in negotiating with the PAUSO for purchase of Terman.
Councilrnember Levy said that since the School District had set a
deadline of July 31, he felt it was an emergency situation regarding
the item._
Counciimember Witherspoon asked what were the Council's options
under the deadline. She asked if condemnation proceedings would be
started if a price could not be reached by the 31st.
Assistant City Manager June Fleming said staff's understanding was
that the School District Board was not .recommending an extension of
that deadline, but that they were willing ,to continue to negotiate
Counci lmember Wither spoon said thzte was not ,a deadline then except
on paper.
Ms. Fleming answered that was correct.
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Councilmember Witherspoon said she would support the motion, but did
not know who would volunteer to spend the next two weeks with the
School Board.
Councilmember Renzel said she was concerned about how complex the
negotiating process would get if two or three Councilmembers were
added to the staff members' negotiating team.
Ms. Fleming said that as she understood the concept, Councilmember
Levy had said that this would not be a negotiating committee as
such, and the Councilmembers would not be actively involved in nego-
tiations,
the way it was currently being carried out was how it
would continue. This would be an advisory group that would be sup-
portive of and would serve as a sounding board for the negotiating
team. That would be very helpful. She agreed with Councilmember
Renzel that it would to very confusing if the Councilmembers became
a part of the actual negotiations. That was not her understanding
of Councilmember Levy's proposal.
Mayor Henderson said he thought that if staff found it useful for
Councilmembers in some way to participate such as making phone
calls, that would be the extent of the subcommittee.
Councilmember Renzel asked if the Council subcommittee would speak
for the Council or was the subcommittee to guess at what Council
felt, She asked what the perceived role of the subcommittee was.
Councilmember Levy thought that the situation was such that perhaps
the negotiating team could benefit from two-way communication with
formally named members of the Council so that an elaborate procedure
would not be needed whereby the Council in a public meeting had to
be polled and discuss items, etc. If there was a major departure
from the parameters that the Council had laid out, then they would
go back to a whole Council He said that at this point the School
Board and the City were now substantially apart, and perhaps some
more intensive Council advice. and help was necessary.
Councilmember Renzel said she found it difficult to understand the
concept. If those Councilmembers were not authorized to make
decisions on behalf of the Council and if they were not
participating in the negotiating process, what would they be doing.
She thought the Council was always available, individually and
cumulatively, for staffto have a sounding board.
Councilmember Fazzino saw than group as being advisory on this issue
as any other. . subcommittee or board was advisory to the .entire
Council on any other issue. He thought it would be nice to march
all the Councilmembers down to the School Board chambers and perhaps
that should be done as a final action if they continue to "arro-
gantly" rr:fuse the Council's very reasonable proposal. He felt that
one ofthe big problems and one of the great concerns arising out of .:
the Ventura hassle a few months ago was that it was a Board/staff
process. The Board or the School District elected officials were
dealing directly with City staff and there was a real need for
elected officials to speak with elected officialson an equal basis.
He felt that utilizing the talents of some of the City's representa-
tives would be helpful. He said a committee person would merely be
an advisory position supporting staff and who were able to talk to
the School Board members to raise some of the political and other
issues' which were -a basic part of the proposal in an informal way.
He thought it was an irnportant._:approach, and hoped the motion would
be adopted so Mayor Henderson could quickly appoint the group.
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7/27/81
MOTION PASSED by a vote of 7-1, Renzel voting "no," Eyerly absent.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fazzino, to appoint
Councilmember Klein as chairman, and Councilmembers Levy and
Witherspoon as members of the advisory committee to work with staff
in negotiating with PAUSD re Terman.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
MAYOR HENDERSON RE HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION INTERVIEWS.
Mayor Henderson said there were 15 applications and his feeling was
that the Council submit five or six choices and that the top six or
so be interviewed. He noted that a number of the candidates had
been interviewed before.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fazzino, that
Councilmembers submit up to four names by Thursday, July 30, to the
City Clerk.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fletcher, that
interviews of top six applicants be on August 3.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Eyerly absent.
MAYOR HENDERSON RE SCHEDULE OF AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER COUNCIL
Councilmember Witherspoon said she probably would not be available
September 8.
Councilmember Levy suggested that September 8 be cancelled because
it fell between two holidays rather than September 14.
Mayor Henderson asked if there was a special reason for the
September 14 meeting being cancelled as opposed to September 8.
Ms. Fleming said that staff was concerned about time being available
to prepare information, agendas and CMR's for the 14th meeting when
there were two holidays in the preceding week. She said there were
deadlines for getting information to the public and getting things
through reproduction.
Councilmember Renzel pointed out that there would not have been
meetings for two weeks prior to that time.
Ms. Fleming said that would mean the agenda would have to be in
place two weeks in advance.
MOTION: Councilmember Fazzino moved, seconded by Fletcher, to
cancel August 3 Regular City Council Meeting.
MOTION PASSED. unanimously, Eyerly absent
VICE MAYOR FLETCHER RE AB 256 RE AGE DISCRIMINATION IN HOUSING.
Vice Mayor Fletcher said that recently the Council had directed the
Mayor to send a letter in support of the McCarthy Hill, AB 256,
which would prohibit discrimination against fail1il ies with children
in rental housing. She saiJ that in the Council- packets, they had a
letter from Leo McCarthy'' pot nt ing out that the bill sti l) needed to
go through the Senate. She said it would be before the Senate local.
government committee on August 12.
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1/27/81
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher moved, seconded by Fazzino, that Mayor
send a letter in support of AB 256 to Chairman of Senate Local
Government Committee (Senator Marks) .
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MOTION PASSED by a vote of 6-1-1, Henderson "no," Witherspoon
"abstaining," Eyerly absent.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 12:20 a.m.
APPROVED:
Mayor
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher moved, sec by Fazzino, that Mayor
send a letter in support. of AB 256 t .irman of Senate Local
Government Committee (Senator Marks) .
MOTION PASSED by a vote of. 6-1-1, Henderson "no," Witherspoon
"abstaining;" Eyerly absent.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 12:20 a.m.
APPROVED:
Mayor
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