HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-08-10 City Council Summary MinutesCITY
COUNCIL
MINUTEs
Regular Meeting
Monday, August 10, 1981
CITY
OF
PALO
ALTO
ITEM PAGE
Oral Communications 1 1 3 0
Approval of Minutes 1 1 3 0
Special Orders of the Day 1 1 3 1
Resolution of Appreciation to Michael Kass
for Outstanding Public Service as a Member.
of ..the Human Relations Commission
Appointment• of a Human Relations Commission
Member to Fill the Unexpired Term Ending
December 31, 1983.
Consent.Calendar - Referral
Consultant Selections for 1981-82 - Referral
to Finance and Public Works Committee
(Continued from 7/27/81 Council meeting)
Consultant Selection for Baylands Bicycle/
Pedestrian Path - Referral to Finance and
Public Works Committee
Consent Calendar. - Action
Resolution to Amend the Municipal Fee Schedule
to increase the fee for the . Palo Alto Munici-
pal Code
Ordinance Authorizing the Northern California
Power Agency _ to issue Revenue Bonds
Ordinance re 185 Bryant Street from RM-1. to
RM- 2
Ordinance re Lucas Lane from PF to CC and CS
Agenda Changes, Additions: and Deletions.
Condominium Conversion Ordinance (2nd reading-
continued from 7/27/81 Council meeting)
Public Hearings Crescent Park II Underground
Conversion
Request of Vice Mayor Fletche
Medfly Control
Proposed Ramp Metering:. -on 101
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8/10/81
ITEM PAGE
Mayor Henderson re Date for Meeting with Korn -
Ferry re City Attorney Recruitment
Adjournment to Special Joint Session With Planning
Commission - Arastra Property. Study Draft Report
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Final Adjournment 1 1 5 7
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8/10/81
Regular Meeting
Monday, August 10, 1981
The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in
the Council Chambers at City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, at 7:40
p.m.
PRESENT: Bechtel, Eyerly, Fazzino, Fletcher, Henderson,
Klein Left at 9:00 p.m.), Levy, Renzel,
Witherspoon
Mayor Henderson announced that the Council would be forced to
adjourn by about 11:30 p.m. due to the aerial spraying of..
Malathion which would commence shortly after midnight.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. Albert Davis, Craig Hotel, Room 210, 164 Hamilton Avenue, re
policy of Palo Alto hotels of not allowing a monthly rental
rate to the disabled, elderly retired, retired military
veterans, disabled military veterans, welfare recipients., and
handicapped, and its possible relationship to involuntary
slavery. He said that the hotels only allow daily/weekly
rates which meant that one ended up paying far more than if
one were paying on a monthly basis.
2. David Blumenthal, 1766 Willow Road, #210, Oak Creek, read a
letter into the record which is on file in the City Clerk's
office, re Oak Creek Conversion/lifetime lease.
3. Scott Carey, 180 University Avenue, said that the contents of
the letter which Mr. Blumenthal read into the record were
included as a condition to the tentative map granted by the
Council.
4. Louis Fein, 1540 Oak Creek Drive, said .the Council had
approved a tentative map for Oak Creek conversion which
-included a condition of a lifetime lease to unmentioned
Specifications.
Mayor Henderson suggested that City Attorney Don Maynor prepare a
brief report recapping the entire issue in the next week or two.
MINUTES OF JUNE 1. 1981
Vice Mayor Fletcher submitted the following correction: Page
8511, 1st paragraph should. read:
"Vice -Mayor Fletcher commented that the history of tare law, as
she understood it, was that there was a legislator who received a
speeding ticket which he claimed was a speed trap. Thereafter,
the legislator set about e-liminating speed traps. Approximately
1-1/2 years ago amendments were made . to the law to exempt certain
neighborhood streets..."
MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon' moved, seconded by Fletcher,
approval of the June 1, 1981 minutes as corrected.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.,
MINUTES OF JUNE 8, 1981
Councilmember RenZel had a correction on page 878, fourth para-
graph from the bottom, second -,l line, should, read, "or such other
roadway improvements as may be acceptable to Council..."
MOTION: Councilmember Fletcher - moved, seconded by ' Klein,
approval of the June 8, 1981 minutes as corrected.
MOTION PASSED unanimously._
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SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher introduced the. following resolution
and moved, seconded by Fazzino, its approval.
RESOLUTION 5948 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO EXPRESSING APPRECIATION- TO
MICHAEL KASS FOR OUTSTANDING PUBLIC SERVICE AS A MEMBER
OF THE HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION"
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
Mayor Henderson presented a framed resolution to Michael Kass.
APPOINTMENT OF A HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MEMBER TO FILL THE
Mayor Henderson read the list of applicants:
Harry W. Anisgard, Sidney Blumenfeld, Mary H. Burns, Diana
L. Diamond, William C. Empey, Maida Fong, Douglas A. Haslarn,
Randal B. Hopwood, Iris S. Karol, Michael Kr onstadt, Mary
Payton Minkus, Jules G. Moritz, dr., Agnes C. Robinson,
Sylvia J. Smitham, Florence G. Sund.
City Clerk Ann Tanner read the first round of voting results as
follows:
VOTING FOR KOROL: Bechtel, Fazzino, Klein, Eyerly
VOTING FOR ROBINSON: Henderson, Fletcher , Renzel
VOTING FOR MINKUS: Witherspoon, Levy
Ms. Tanner read the second round of voting results as follows:
VOTING FOR KOROL: Fazzino, Klein, Eyerly, Bechtel
VOTING FOR ROBINSON: Henderson, Fletcher
VOTING FOR MINKUS: Witherspoon, Levy, Renzel
Ms. Tanner read the third round of voting results as fol 1 ows:.
VOTING FOR KOROL: Eyerly, Klein, Bechtel
VOTING FOR ROBINSON: Renzel, Fletcher, Henderson, Fazzino
VOTING FOR MINKUS: Levy, Witherspoon
Ms. Tanner read the fourth round of voting results as follows:
VOTING FOR KOROL Eyerly, Witherspoon
VOTINGVOTING FOR ROBINSON: Fletcher, Renzel, Klein, _ Henderson,
Fazzino, Bechtel
VOTING FOR MINKUS: Levy
Ms. Tanner said that Ms. Robinson had six votes and was
appointed.
Mayor,; Henderson cong,atulated Ms. Robinson and welcomed her
the )roman Relations Commission (HRC),
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Councilmember Bechtel said she thought it was a difficult choice
for the Council because there were 15 good applicants* and as a
Councilmember she appreciated all of the applicants who were
willing to volunteer their time to serve on the HRC.
: Mayor Henderson thanked all the applicants.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Councilmember Renzel removed item 5, Proposed ramp metering an
101 by CalTrans.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Fletcher, to remove
item 10, Contracts for Health Resources Coordinators, and ,that
it not be considered.
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher moved, seconded by Fazzino, to
approve the consent calendar as amended.
Referral
CONSULTANT SELECTIONS FOR 1981-82
PUBLIC WORKS COM1TTtE 'Continue
REFERRAL TO FINANCE AND
PATH
CONSULTANT SELECTION FOR BAYLANDS BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN
ORAL TO FINANCE AND
Action
RESOLUTION TO AMEND. THE MUNICIPAL FEE SCHEDULE TO INCREASC. THE
RESOLUTION 5949 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO. AMENDING THE MUNICIPAL FEE
SCHEDULE TO INCREASE THE FEE FOR THE PALO ALTO
MUNICIPAL CODE AND SUPPLEMENTS"
ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY TO
MIT -REVENUE . Bans (C RR :3134 :1) _
Staff recommends that the City Council approve the .ordinance,
thereby giving NCPA the ability to issue revenue bonds for its
Geothermal Generating Unit Project #3,
ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AUTHORIZING THE
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY TO ISSUE REVENUE BONDS
(SHELL_EAST BLOCK PROJECT -SECOND PHASE BONDS)"
ORDINANCE RE 185 BRYANT STREET FROM RM-1 TO RM-2 : '2nD READING
ORDINANCE 3293 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION 18.08.€140 OF THE
PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE (THE ZONING MAP) TO CHANGE THE
CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY KNOWN' AS 185 BRYANT STREET
FROM RM.-1 TO RM-2" (Ist reading 7/20/81, Passed 8-0,
Fazzino absent)
ORDINANCE RE ° LUCAS LANE FROM P-: ` TO CC and CS 2ND " READING)
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ORDINANCE 3294 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
')TE- CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION 18.08.040 OF THE
PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE (THE ZONING MAP) TO CHANGE THE
CLASSIFICATION OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS LUCAS LANE FROM PF
TO CC AND CS" (1st reading 7/20/81, Passed 8-0, Fazzino
absent)
MOTION PASSED unanimously.
AGENDA CHANGES ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS
City Manager 8i 1 1 Zaner said item 5, Proposed Ramp Metering,
would become item 13-A.
Mayoe Mender son said he. intended to discuss two other items, one
concerning signatures on the, ballot arguments, and one to
schedule a meeting with Korn -Ferry and Company.
CONDOMINIUM CONVERSION ORDINANCE (2nd Readingg - continued from
/81, C o u r3 c i 17 me _.`" - _
MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Renzel, second
reading of the ordinance.
ORDINANCE 3295 entitled "ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF PALO ALTO 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
voting 'no.")
Louis Fein, 1540 Oak Creek Drive, urged the Council to add three
items to the ordinance. 1) In the text of the lease, rent con-
trol, as well as a particular statement which would be equivalent
to Article 16, which was the subject of controversy on the Oak
Creek matter. He did not think that what was happening at Oak
Creek should be allowed to happen again. He felt the ordinance
should include language making specific the conditions Under
which a tenant could be displaced. He recommended that the text
be substantially the same as that suggested by Mr. Blumenthal for
Oak Creek, 2) The statement that the condition of consent must
be that the landlord offers the apartment for a particular price
before consents were given should be added. 3) A provision which
would indicate how the consents, should be validatede sho,'ld also
be included. He thought it should be that when consents were
obtained from tenants that they should be notarized.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Bechtel moved, seconded by Fazzino, to
amend Section.21.40.060(1)(d) to read: "(vi) In the event that a
tenant or- tenants in a unit held by the City or its designee- as
below market rate rental housing pursuant to Section 21.40.050
(2) is eligible to receive any available rental housing assise
tance payments, such :tenant or tenants may --choose to enter into -a
lease providing for such rental: housing assistance payments in_
lieuof the extended lease required by this section,"..
Couneilmember "Witherspoon asked what the concerns were
Mark Chandler, a member of the Palo Alto Housing Corporation,
said that the problem was that in some cases some programs such
a s_. Section 8 have various requirements for the- components of a
lease that a person would have to maintain tenancy under in order
to be eligt,ble and :one could not be a tenant with two leases. He
said there was a fear that if people were - not underthe terns of
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the Section 8 lease or another type lease which might be required
by some other program they would be ineligible foi the payments.
Assistant City Attorney Margaret Sloan added that the Section 8
leases, which were what they would probably be, were different in
the two major aspects of a lease. First, they were yearly
leases. Those eligible; would get the lease for one year and, if
still eligible, would get the lease for another year. Secondly,
the rents were different. Someone eligible for a Section 8 lease
would undoubtedly pay less rent than under the extended lease.
This provision was designed by the Housing Corporation to meet
the probably few cases where a tenant who normally would receive
an extended lease because of that tenant's income qualifies for a
Section 8 lease. The tenant would have to weigh whether they
would rather have lower rent under the Section 8 lease, but
renew the lease annually, with a chance of losing the lease if
they came into some money.
Councilmember Witherspoon asked if the net effect would be to
cancel most of the lifetime leases for anyone eligible for
Section 8.
Ms. Sloan said anyone eligible for Section 8 would .have a
She did not think there would be many people eligible
Section 8 was directed at low income not moderate or
income.
Councilmember Levy said he was not clear that this would
the tenant with anything that the tenant would not
possess because it said the tenant may choose to enter
lease.
choice.
because
middle
provide
al ready
into a
Ms. Sloan said technically Councilmember Levy was correct. She
said the way the ordinance was written, it required the converter
to offer al.1 tenants extended leases. If a tenant were eligible
for a Section 8, technically the tenant could find that out if
the Housing Corporation owned the unit and be explained the sire..,-
cumstance.s, and then say "le terminate my tenancy under the
extended lease," and then an lieur later enter into a Section 8
Tease. This would spell out that choice -a little more clearly.
She felt it was a small detail that was fine to spell out because
there was a chance that the tenant would say they could have a
Section 8 lease so I terminate my extended lease . Then, maybe
some fluke would come up in the next hour, and the tenant. would
not get a Section 8 lease. This would just make it a little
clearer.
Councilmember Bechtel felt that Ms. Sloan had very adequately
explained the provision, but clarified that several weeks ago,
the Housing Corporation had asked the Council that for those sub-
sidized units that it be conveyed to the Housing Corporation they
were asking that there be no lease at all. She said this did not
say that, this was giving the tenant a choice and making it very
clear at the beginning and as part of the ordinance that the
tenant could either choose a one-year lease, but reduce payments
if they qualified under some form of housing subsidy, or a life-
time lease or an extended ten-year lease de;.iending upon the age
of the tenant. She thought "the choice was up to the tenant and
it enabled the Housing Corporation to comply with the federal
regulations which required that specific type of lease.
AMENDMENT PASSED unanimously..
Councilmember Levy said in. ,paragraph 2(a) it said that, "one,
below market rate unit must be 'provided." He thought the word.
"rental" should be included because there was a below -market -rate
program for purchase.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Levy moved, seconded by _Witherspoon,
that the word "rental" be inserted in Paragraph 2-A and ii .
AME )MENT PASSED unanimously.
Councilmember Levy said regarding Mr. Fein's comments on notari-
zation, he was uncomfortable th-roughout the entire process of the
Oak Creek conversion that the -method of voting was subject to
being tampered with. He thought that having the consents-notar-
i zed would be a simple way of handling it , so that it world be
known that the votes were coming from the units they were sup-
posed to be coming from He asked if that would present a probe
lemL
Ms. Sloan did not think that would present a problem.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Levy, seconded by Renzel, moved that
all tenant consents must be notarized.
Councilmember Renzel said she did not want the notarization to
substitute for the validation that tenants were the proper
tenants of those units.
Councilmember Klein said he would oppose the motion because he
felt notarization _held out a lot .more pronise than it would
deliver. He felt that if someone were going to cheat, notariza-
tion would not atop that one bid. He felt most notaries only
paid attention to whose signature they were notarizing, and did
not have a significant obligation to verify thing.e, and ire was
concerned that it might create a system in which the notarization
would be relied upon. He said Councilmember Menzel mentioned
that verification would still be needed and he was concerned that
five years from now, a staff member would be checking the con-
sents and see that they were notarized and feel nothing further
was required,
Mayor Henderson said he agreed with Councilmember. Klein in terms
of what a notary meant. He said it was only witnessing a signa-
ture.
Councilmember tLevy said he was open to an alternative way of
handling the problem, but felt some better system was needed of
making sure the proper people voted.
Counci.lrrember Renzel said she did not know the legal obligations
of notaries public,- but, presumed that if they wholesale validated
signatures that were not valid, they would be subject to loss of
their certification and possible penalties and she felt that
course of action should be omIrsued in order -to at least cause
tenants to take their action seriously when they offered their
consents.
AMENDMENT FAILED by a vote of 7-2, Renzel and Levy voting "aye."
Vice -Mayor Fletcher commented that itemizing specific conditions
under which the tenancy could be terminated would be complex to
add to the ordinance_. She said that a proposed just cause evic-
tion ordinance would be coming to the . Council which she hoped
would be successful in protecting all tenants not only those of
conversions.
Councilmember Renzel said that apparently rather .than having
items notarized, people were now asking for declarations
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under penalty of perjury and she wondered if the City Attorney's
Office had thought of using that in the tenant consent forms.
Ms. Sloan said she had not thought of a declaration under penalty
of perjury, but perhaps it was. a good idea. It could cover both
that the tenant was that tenant and that the tenant .lived in, that
particular unit.
Councilmember Renzel asked if the City would still do a spot
check for validation.
Associate Planner Bob Brown said staff would follow the precedent
set on the Oak Creek conversion where they did a rent sampling.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Renzel Roved, seconded by Klein, to add
the "penalty of per jury" cl ause to tenant consent farm.
Mayor Henderson asked if that could be done without the services
of an attorney, or would an attorney have to be involved to get
the declaration,
Councilmember Klein .:said a declaration undeTe penalty of perjury.
meant that if Someone , were lying, they would run the risk of
going to jail.
City Attorney Don Maynor said it was a typical requirement i.n`
some cities' condominium conversion ordinances. The City of,
Mountain View had such a requirement. It was not unusual and
was very easy to administer.
AMENDMENT PASSED unanimously.
MOTION TO ADOPT ORDINANCE, AS AMENDED. PASSED by a vote of -5-4 as
follows:
AYES: Renzel, Henderson, Fazzino, Fletcher, Bechtel
NOES: Eyer ly, Klein, Levy, Witherspoon
UNCILMEMB[R KLEIN LEFT AT 9;,O0 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING: CRESCENT PARK II UNDERGROUND CONVERSION
Mayor Henderson read the following statement into the record
"This is the time and place set for the public hearing on the
matter of the formation of Underground Utility District No. 23.
"The purpose of the public hearing is to. hear all pretests and
receive evidence for and : against the proposed formation_ of the
Underground Utility District. The ultimate _question to be deter-
mined by the Council, based:. on the Public.hearing, is whether the
public necessity, health and safety require the establishment of
the district and the removal of poles, overhead wires and asso-
ciated -overhead structures . and the underground installation of
wires and facilities for supplying electric communication or.
similar associated _Services in the proposed district.
"To this end the Council is required to take ,evidence and cones
sider the question .Of whether such under -grounding is • in the gen-
eral public interest for one or More of the following -reasons
"1. Such; 'undergrounding; will avoid :or eliminate an 'unusually
-
heavy.coneentration of .loverhead distribution facilities, =Or-
the reconstruction of an existing pole line.
.12.
The streets within the proposed district are extensively
used by the general public and carry a heavy volume of
pedestrian and vehicular traffic;
"3. Said streets t.r rights of way are scheduled for major new
roadway construction, reconstruction, or realignment.
"4. Said streets or roads or rights of way adjoin or pass
through a civic center.
"The reason apparently applicable in these proceedings is the
elimination of reconstruction of existing pole lines.
"The effect of the formation of the district would be that no
person or utility would be allowed to erect or construct within
said district any pole, overhead line or associated overhead
structure used or useful in supplying electrical communication or
similar or associated services.
"Anyone interested is, therefore, invited:to present protests and
to present evidence either for or against the formation of the
proposed district, with particular emphasis on the- foregoing mat-
ters."
Mayor Henderson declired the public hearing open.
Councilrrember Witherspoon said: she lived in the district proposed
and, therefore, would not be participating in the matter.
Ann Hicks, 557 L. Crescent Drive, said she assumed that public
funds were used to build traffic barriers -to benefit one or two
blocks. She asked why public funds could not be allocated to
insure that those citizens on fixed incomes would -continue to
have a utility seryirc. She was opposed to the undergrounding
because the least expensive estimate she obtained to insure her-
self of electricity and phone lines, which .she was being forced
to change, • was $3,800, and she had obtained five estimates She
thought that the fact that she was being told that for 21 years
she had enjoyed the utilities, and because the City did not want
poles lowered, o> to tr im trees, they would have to spend rrril--
lions of dollars and have residents take thirty years to pay it
off for the visual enjoyment of some neighbors who opposed poles.
She did not think that was fair because she was on a fixed income
and could not afford it.
Virginia G. Lenderking, 515 W. Crescent Drive, said she agreed
with everything Ann Hicks had said. She said that the City had
started the project in. what was supposed to be the most affluent
area of -Palo Alto, and wondered what they .would do when they got
to the less affluent areas. She said the financial burden being
placed upon the residents was unreasonable.
John Reiland, 1570 University Avenue, said he could not mrke cap
his mind on the issue. He asked for some qualitative data con-
cerning the need to replace the poles and the cost. He inquired
as to the number of poles to be replaced over a given period of
time, their locations, and why they wereso difficult to replace.
He thought easements existed on the properties for the poles and
access _ to them and he did not understand = why it was difficult to.
replace them. He said the citizens affected had pa i a -their share
of assessments, via utilities bills, over a period of many years
to provide for ` maintenance of the system, and now they were told
the system would no. longer be maintai bed - on -the basis of those
contributions, but rather, in addition, they would have to
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contribute a sizable portion. He felt the economic period was
difficult and a lot of budgetary requirements were being placed
on the citizens and government and he said that if this continued
everyone would be bankrupt. He said he had heard that the
Council had already made its decision, and questioned whether it
was a democratic process at all.
W. L. Lewis, M.D., s'aid their professional building on California
Avenue had had its lines under grounded in 1956. He said they * had
trouble with the telephone lines, and put them overhead, and they
had trouble with the plumbing and other things. He did not nec-
essarily agree that these things would be cheaper in the long
run. He said he was content to see the squirrels running along
the lines with their nuts, his utilities had been fine, and he
was not in favor of the undergrounding.
Jean McHugh-Bodylski, 561 Center Drive, was in favor of the
underground utilities, because he did not like the squirrel
droppings. He asked how the City determined the location of the
ut l i ty box. He also asked about doing the work himself.
Glenna Violitte, 95 Crescent Drive, said she did not feel she had
enough information tomake a decision of how she felt about it.
She said she could not get a price on how much it would cost her.
She did not think she should have to go to the telephone company
to find out how she would be impacted, and felt the City should
provide, that information to her She said the contractor had
told x.. over the phone that if she dug the ditch herself, she.
coule save $1,000, but he had no idea how much additional she
would have to pay. She also wanted to know the mystery item that
might someday go into the trench besides the telephone.
Scott Carey, 155 island, said he was within the assessment dis-
trict, and pointed out that a benefit of the undergrounding was
the elimination of the safety hazard to children, which he felt
in and of itself was sufficient to justify the undergrounding.
Rolf Landshoff, 525 E. Crescent, was in favor of the under -
grounding and agreed with Mr. Carey. He also asked if he could
do it himself.
Carol Munch,Taylor, 1771 University Avenue, was basically in
favor of the undergrounding, but asked about the maintenance of
the underground cables, and the cost to the homeowner. She asked
if there were alternative sites in the homeowner's access to the
pipes which could be entertained besides the one used for the
estimate. She also felt nore information was needed before a
good decision could be reached,
Mayor Henderson declared the public hearing closed.
Counci lmember Fuzzino recalled a similar problem occurring ;a
couple of years ago. He said he would prefer to have staff
answer all of the residents' concerns and then return to Council.
for final judgment later. He felt that the information process
that occurred two years . ago alleviated and resolved manyconcerns
and oppostion on the part of .the neighbors and to the degree
possible, he wieuld like. to see that achieved.
'Mayor Henderson asked why this matter had to be dealt with
tonight.
Principal Engineer for the Utilities Department, jack Taylor said
it would simply deloy the joie and runs the project on into the_
_winter that much further. He said he might be able" to_ satisfy a.
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8/10/81
lot of the questions tonight. -1{e said the reason the particular
area was chosen was purely because of the age of the poles. Most
of the poles were over 40 years old, and they•were getting unsafe
to climb. It was like when a car wore out, there was a choice of
fix the car, buy a new ,one, or find some other means of transpor-
tation. He said in this case,.the poles supporting the electric
system were wearing out, and if the lights were going to remain
on, the system either had to be fixed or get a new system. He
said that after examining the poles and costs, the best long -run
solution to the problem, cost wise for the City and hopefully for
the citizens, would be_ the undergrounding. The estimated savings
on a \ preset t cost basis were calculated at about $86,000. Some
of the poles in the backyards had taken a lot of damage, wood-
peckers, shell rot, and some butt rot which could not be seen
because it was below the ground, but iwhatever the, problem,- the
poles were unsafe to climb. He said if someone's lights went out
a 2:00 a.m. on a stormy morning, he could not send a lineman to
repair it if the pole was unsafe. Regarding replacement -of the
poles, he said the poles ranged from 50-60 feet tall, and Weighed
about 2,000 pounds and; therefore, could not be carried -back on
one's shoulders. He said that people had built enough obstacles
in the past 40-50 years that because the poles were not hinged,
new -poles could not be gotten in the yards. The only way one
could be brought in the yards, would be to use a helicopter. - In
order to use a helicopter, trees would have to trimmed to make a
big enough hole to drop eit down through. He showed many slides
to illustrate -his meaning.
Mr. Taylor responded to how the service box locations were
selected and said that an estimator was sent to ascertain that
the box locations would be the best places from which to serve a
hoarse. He said that some People might ;think it appeared to be on
the wrong side of a home, and it was probably thought that it
would ..be the easiest way to enter, briny the meter up front, and
instead of worrying about running conduit clear around the
house.Ie was crawl space under a house, cable strapped to the
floor joist could be run across and under at much less expense
than with the conduit. If a person still felt that the box was
in the wrong place, and a contractor suggested he could save that
person money if the box were elsewhere, the project engineer,
Jack Taylor should be contacted; he would look at it, and if
there were a better way, then that was his job, to do it the best
way possible.
Regarding doing the trenching from the street to the. `rouse your-
self, Mr. Taylor said it could be done, but a homeowner's permit
was required, he would give the specifications on how to do it,
and when completed, if it passed inspection, it would be stif .
He said a person could just do part if desired. Some electri-
cians, were allergic to shovel and would be happy to have a person
put. tine trench in the ground for them and they would then lay the
conduit and put the pipe and wire in. He gave a number of,alter
natives.
Regardingthe cost to repair the cable, he said average costs of
tree trimming and maintaining overhead, lines were compared with
the average cost of maintaining underground cables. They used
average costs with making the cost comparisons, and the under -
grounding cost a bit less. He said that the digging' up of the
underground should not be necessary because unlike some cities
that put ..it in direct buried : so that it -would have to be dug up,
Palo Alto put it all in conduit Hopefully, if the wire failed,
you get on one end, of the pipe, pull it out, put in new wire, and
it would be fixed.
Regarding safety, he said_ the under gr oend method was not perfect,"
1
1
1
but they we
poles were.
it cost the
residents
He said a
figure out
to the hou
was in th
figure on
figure w
seated wa
the even
1 ower fi
Councilm
the box
Mr . Ta
why it
dent c
had no
Counc
re secured and were not the attractive nuisance that
Cost wise, he said it would cost the City a lot, and
residents quite a bit. The estimates obtained by the
were not necessarily what a contractor would charge.
man was hired to go out and look at each property,
the easiest way to get from the proposed service point,
se. In some cases, he suggested that the service point
e wrong place and it was changed. He said he ,.gave a
what he thought a contractor might bid to do ii. The
s purposely made high because what the figure repre-_
s how much the City would be able to loan on that job in
t the deferred payment options were elected. He said a
guy a might be obtained from a contractor.
ember Renzel asked if there was flexibility as to where
es could be located.
ylor said they could look at any one, and either explain
was there to the resident's satisfaction, or if the resi-
ould convince staff there was a better way of doing it, he
objection to changing it.
i lmember Renzel asked if there was one box per house.
Mr. Taylor said there rrere three boxes --a power, telephone. and
communicatians.
Co un
str
do
Mr
gr
we
ea
p
a
1
d
cilmember Eyeriy asked if the City assumed the cost of the
et portion, or did the homeowner pay part of the street por-
n.
Taylor said that in Creenacres I and II jobs where under -
ounding was requested by the :property owners, the residents
re assessed 25% of the cost of the --work in the street, plus
ch of therm paid for their own service conversion. In Crescent-.
rk I and the -proposed Crescent Park II, the City Utilities
epar tnent initiated undergrounding, and because the City
nitiated the project, and not the homeowners, and the City was
oing it for its own cost benefits -believing it would be cheaper
ver the next 30 or 40 years to maintain the underground than the
overhead, the City considered it as a_general benefit job because
what benefitted the municipal utility should benefit the City
generally. He said. it had been proposed on that basis so there
would be no .assessment of homeowners for the work in the street
The only cost to the homeowner was that ofa changin • service ---
across their own private property.
Counci lrnember Eyerly asked regaedi ng the work the homeowner was
responsible for, if someone did not choose to dig their .own ditch
or provide their own work, the City would assume 'that on whatever
the estimated cost was.
Mr. Taylor said no. He said the City did not have the manpower
to do 168 homes or even a large fraction thereof within the time
1 imits set.
Councilmember Eyerly said -that in the. California Avenue area
situation, they were faced with the same problem and the City
provided an outside contr actor to provide the connections to the
street. If the homeowners did not do their own digging, he asked
if the City would be prepared to hire a contractor to .do it.
Mr. Taylor said .no. He said the City would prefer not to, because
the wot.k was on' private proper tye He said what the City had derne
on California Avenue in th. e two alleys - was arrange - to do. e;the
1 1 4 0
8/10/81
part of the work that a contractor would not do, i.e., the
digging, the concrete and the repaving, and because it was a
small project enough that the City could handle, the City took it
on using its own forces. He said this involvedj a much larger
area and the work was different enough that the City did not feel
it could handle it.
Councilrnember Eyerly said he was not clear how the City coordi-
nated getting all the homeowners to have the trenching done and
to make the connections to_ the house. He presumed there was a
deadline by which it would have to be done --by the time the back
lines were disconnected, etc.
Mr. Taylor said there was a deadline and that the deadline was
arrived at by the ordinance which would be passed by the Council,
which said it would be a misdemeanor to maintain the overhead
system ninety days after the underground was completed. He said
that nas the underground neared completion, everyone would be
notified that the expected completion would be on such and such a
date, arid a request anade that the homeowner get his property con-
nected to it within the next sixty days to allow the utility the
remaining thirty in which to get the. things off the pole.
Counci lrnember Eyerly asked regarding the estimates that. ini ght be
the cost for the resident to provide the necessary work, if the
City was willing to loan that money, what was the percentage cost
on the carrying.
Mr. Taylor replied that_the interest rate was fixed by thee ordi-
nance at 3/4 of 1 percent above the New York Bond Buyer Index for
the week preceding the date on which the job was ordered done.
He said that in this case, if the ordinance were to be introduced
tonight and have the second reading in two weeks, it would be the
week ending in two weeks that world be the determining interest
rate. He said the Bond Buyer Index for the past five months was
averaged and the figure given to the homeowners in their notice
that they had the option. He said the latest Bond Buyer Index
was 11.63 or 11.73% for the week .that just ended. He did not
know what it would be in twa,,weeks.
Councilmember Eyerly agreed it was a pretty low percentage and
asked if the homeowner provided sweat equity and did the work
himself, would they still be eligible for the loan.
Mr. Taylor'•, said yes.
Counci lrnember Bechtel asked if the Council approved the under-
grounding, when would the work begin;
Mr. Taylor . said assuming final approval in two weeks' time, the
work in the street world be out to bid and it would depend on how
long the contractors took to get their bids back, evaluated and
approved. He guessed it would begin in late September or during
October.
Councilmember Bechtel asked if staff was .attempting to get the
work completed before the rainy season or ,'Mould that matter.
Mr... Tay or said working out _ in the street would not be as
critical, and the work across the lawns'. and so forth would not
have to be dote until next Spring. The sixty, days gave a com-
pressed impression of how much time onewould have in which to do
168 homes. The moment the boxes were in, place out in the street,
they could commence getting them piped from the -house to the box
In the ensuing period, the city would be : pulling, .I n primary -wire,
1 1.4 1
8/10/81
setting transformers, pulling in secondary wire, doing splicing,
connecting, doing testing on the system to make sure it worked,
and that would ail take about a month or two so that actually a
person would have at least three or months in which to do it.
Councilmember Bechtel said various people had asked about doing
it yourself, and she asked whether the City would provide addi-
tional information for those who wanted to do it themselves. In
addition, she asked whether the City would consider buying con-
duit or any other necessary supplies that could be purchased in
bulk and, therefore, at a cheaper rate than if purchased indi-
vidually.
Mr. Taylor said the specifications would be readily available.
He said he could give the same specifications that were given out
to the contractor for bid in the Crescent Park I job. As far as
buying conduit on the residents' behalf, there was probably a
legal point involved, and he would defer to the City Attorney for
response.
City Attorney Don Maynor said he had concerns about the general
rule of giving of public funds and it may be involved here. He
said he would like to consider it closely before approving such a
policy.
Councilmember Bechtel said she did not mean the City to buy the
conduit to give to the residents, but to buy the conduit at a
wholesale rate.
Mr. Maynor said there .was the gift issue, and anti -competitive
issues tp cpmsoder and he wanted to look at it carefully. He
said normally the City would not use City purchasing capabilities
for the citizens.
Mr. Taylor suggested that if a number of people wished to do it
themselves, they could probably function as a group and purchase
supplies through the homeowner's association. He suggested to
let the University -Crescent ._park Association do the group
purchase.
Councilmember Bechtel said it seemed to her that the ultimate
question was the cast. Two years ago it was considerably
cheaper. She had received calls from people who were concerned
about the interest rate and potential damage to their yards. She
asked what if a homeowner just could not pay.
Mr. Taylor said he did not have a good answer for that. He said
the poles were getting to the point where they would be unsafe to
climb and something had to be done.
Councilmember Bechtel said the problem for many homeowners was
that they had the service, it functioned, and it works now, and
it was hard to envision that it might not.
Councilmember Levy asked if the alternative was to replace the
poles. He asked if that would result in cost to the homeowners.
Mr. Taylor said there would be no , cost, but there would be an
overall cost to the utility.
Vice Mayor Fletcher thought the Council had a lot of information,
and the project was definitely to the benefit of the utilities
Department, the City as a whole, and to the , property owners. She
said if the ordinance was passed, she assumed the details
regarding the City providing a discount rate could .still be
looked into.
1 1 4. 2
8/10/81
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher introduced the following ordinance
for first reading and moved, seconded by Eyerly, its approval.
ORDINANCE FOR FIRST READING entit: f "ORDINANCE OF THE
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION
12.16.020 OF CHAPTER 12.16 OF TITLE 12 OF THE PALO ALTO
MUNICIPAL CODE BY ESTABLISHING UNDERGROUND. UTILITY
DISTRICT NO. 23"
Councilmember Eyerly asked what the total amount of objections to
the assessment district were compared to the total amount of
properties.
Mr. Taylor said that 191 properties were involved; of those, 23
were underground and not affected, and 168 were faced with the
underground service.
Mayor Henderson said regarding numbers, the best the Council had
was that there were 1 who spoke against it, and he said he
received a sheet that had a list of people that supported it, and
there were 3 who opposed it, 1 who had not spoken tonight, so he
thou lht 8.
Councilmember Eyerly urged approval of the ordinance.
MOTION TO APPROVE CRESCENT PARK II UNDERGROUNDING PASSED unani-
mously, Klein absent, Witherspoon "not participating
Councilmember Levy mentioned that he hoped that when the Public
Works Department repaved the street, they would pave it
smoothly.
REQUEST OF VICE MAYOR FLETCHER RE. BIOLOGICAL MEDFLY CONTROL
Vice Mayor Fletcher said that the Entomological Sc?ences
Department at U. C. Berkeley had a long history in pioneering
biological pest control. She said they were working on a project
whereby a worm ,night help eradicate the Medfly. Apparently worms
were already being used for pest control in other countries in
Europe. She said she was shocked to find out that the Medfly
!}reject officials were totally uncooperative with the researchers
who have tried to make use of their knowledge tO,. help eradicate
the Medfly.
MOTION: Vice Mayor Fletcher :roved, seconded by Renzel that the
Mayor be authorized to write a very strong letter to Jerry
Scribner, Project Director for Medfly Eradication Project, with a
copy to Governor Jerry Brown, urging full cooperation with Dr.
Poinar's efforts in the biological control .of the Medfly.
Councilmember Levy said he felt uncomfortable specifically
endorsing one person's research. He said he supported the con-
cept, and supported the motion, but felt uncomfortable mentioning
one particular person.
AMENDMENT: Councilmember Levy moved, 'seconded by Witherspoon,
that a 'strongly worded letter be sent urging that the State fully
consider the use of nontoxic naturally occurring materials such
as nematode worms in the Medfly Eradication Project, for example,
Dr. Poinar's efforts with nematode worms.
Councilmember Witherspoon agreed with Councilmember Levy because
she thought there was also a research project in -Florida and in
other parts of the United States', and she did not want to be a
1 1 4 3
8/10/81
1
party to endorsing it or encouraging the State to fund it.
Ccuncilmember Eye:ly agreed with Counci members Levy and
Witherspoon. He asked if Mr. Scribner's office had been con-
tacted to ascertain why they had not been sympathetic. He said
he wondered about the other side of the coin.
Vice Mayor Fletcher said she spoke to Dr. Poinar, but did not
speak with anyone :on the project.
Councilmember Eyerly said he would like to see them given- a
chance to respond. He said there may be specific reasons which
they would like to express.
Counci lmember Fazzino said his concerns about supporting indi-
vidual research had been expressed. He said he was fearful that
if the Council. supported Dr. Poinar, every researcher at Stanford
and Cal and other places would approach them with their marvelous
ideas for a Nobel Prize in, one area or another. He said he sup-
ported nontoxic approaches` toward eradicating the Medfly. He
would support that aspect of a letter, but was concerned about
going ahead, not knowing very much about nemotode worms, and
sending something to the State without additional information.
He would prefer that staff obtain some information about this and
whether it was a reasonable way to proceed. Short of having that
information, no letter should be sent.
Gouncilmember Renzel said that a citizen had called her and said
that the Medfly had been successfully eradicated somewhere in
Southeast Asia using some cubes laced with something. She sup-
ported the main motion and the amendment so long as there was
enough of a reference to let the State know what nematode they
were talking about.
Jean McHugh-Bodylski, 561 Center, said he had a lot of dead bees
in front of the hive and all over the garden. He asked i_ f there
was any recourse for losing hi.s bees.
AMENDMENT PASSED by a vote of 7-1, Fazzino voting "no," Klein
absent.
Vice Mayor Fletcher said she understood that from here on out the
spraying would; start at 9:00 rather than midnight, and she was
horrified. She said the original pr .posal was to start at 2:00
a.rn., then they moved it to midnight,` and now to 9:00 p.m. She.
said she would like staff to investigate this and do --whatever
possible to'prevent the spraying from starting before midnight.
MOTION, AS AMENDED, PASSED by a vote of 6-2, Fazzino, Witherspoon
voting "no," Klein absent.
PROPOSED RAMP METERING ON 101 BY CALiRANS (CMR:386:1)...
Staff recommends that Council adopt a motion;requesting CalTrans
to:
1. Conduct a detailed analysis to determine the specific adverse
impacts of the proposed work on the Palo Alto street network
and to pursue appropriate mitigation measures as part of -'the
overall project.
Hold a public hearing to assure that all elements of the
community are informed and made familiar with the ` proposed
scope of ,the work and the impacts involved.
•
1 1 4 .4
8/10/81
Counci'member Renzel said she concurred with the' two recommenda-
tions that staff made regarding the ramp metering on 101 pro-
posal, but was conear ned as to whether the impacts could be suc-
cessfully mitigated. She said she would like to have a third
recommendation that if staff felt the mitigation measures would
not be adequate regardless of who paid for them, that, the City
should oppose proceeding with the ramp monitoring. She thought
it was appropriate to conduct a detailed analysis, determine the
impacts; and to pursue appropriate mitigation and hope the State
would pay for it. If there was no appropriate mitigation, and if
there would just be something that would make it a little less
serious, but not solve the local problems which would be created
on Embarcadero and Oregon and down by San Antonio, she thought
the Council should be in a position to oppose proceeding with the
ramp monitoring.
Mayor Henderson asked Director of Planning Ken Schreiber about
the intention to give CalTrans the direction and suppose the
answers were not satisfactory, what did staff intend.
Director of Planning and Community Environment Ken Schreiber said
that when staff had obtained the additional information, staff
intended to take the item to the Planning Commission and then
back to Council for review of the response.
Counc i lmember Renzel inquired if there would still be ample time
for the City to comment to CalTrans prior to the adoption of the
project if this went to the Planning Commission and back to
Council.
Mt. Schreiber said that was one reason that staff wanted CalTrans
to schedule a public hearing was that it would set a process in
motion which should give Palo Alto enough time. In any event, he
said-- staff. would be reporting back to the Commission eel!
Council.
Vice Mayor Fletcher commented that the purpose of conducting a
detailed analysis would be to determine the impacts in Palo
Alto.
Councilmember Renzel said that the suggestion in the staff report
was that appropriate mitigations be determined and CalTrans be
requested to pay for them.
MOTION: Counci lmember Renzel moved, seconded by Eyer l y, to
request CalTrans to: Conduct a detailed analysis to determine
the specific adverse impacts of ,;the proposed work on the Palo
Alto street network and to pursue appropriate mitigation measures
as part of the overall project, and hold a public hearing to
assure that all elements of the community are informed and made.
faith tar with the proposed scope of the work and the impacts
involved.
MOTION PASSED: unanimously, Klein absent
MAYOR HENDERSON RE SIGNATURES ON
BALLOT ARGUMENTS
Mayor Henderson said that the City Attorney had expressed: concern
about Councilmember's who signed ballot ar'gwnents using titles
such as councilmember, etc. He said if members appeared on only
one side of an 'argument, then it appeared to be a Council
endor sement. He said he found three paints which favored
allowing titles on arguments for. Measures, such as in the sexual.
orientation ordinance. He said, first, there were one or more
Counci 'member s signing :on either side, second, a precedent would
ba set if it were- not done. in the past, Councilmembers had used
titles, and other signers were almost always identified. Since
1 1 4 5
8/10/81
Counci)members were not that well known individuals, there was a
benefit to having the identification as long as it in no way
indicated overall Council support.
Councilmember Witherspoon agreed with Mayor Henderson and said
she was a little surprised when it was stated that. Council.members
were not to be allowed to use titles. She said she did not know
where it left persons such as ;former mayors of the City.
Mr., Maynor said it would not apply_ to persons with former titles.
Heo said he was trying to give some meaning to a very poorly
drafted State Elections Code provision, which stated that members
of the City Council who wanted to file a ballot argument must be
authorized by the City Council. He said he had ruled than an
individual councilrnember did not have to be authorized by a
majority of the Council if they wanted to file on their own
, behalf but suggested if one was to do so as an individual voter,
they should not do so using the designation of councilperson, so
there would not be an implication that the entire -City Council
was being represented. He said in this particular instance,
where there were Cou:ncilmembers on both sides of the issue, he
did not think there was an implication. Further, he said his
ruling was not part of the State law, he was trying to give an
ambiguous clause in the State law some meaning. He said if a
Councilmember felt_ there was no implication that they were acting
on' behalf of the entire City: Council when they signed a, ballot
argument bearing their designation as City Councilmember, then he
would not be opposed to making it a regular policy.
Councilmember Renzel said that although she did not know the
details of the state law, the language read to her suggested that
basically the authorization from the Council was, since there
were only five slots to sign and there were nine councilmembers,
that if the Council were not signing as a body, they should
designate who may sign for or against an issue so that there
would be no ambiguity as to who from the council might have that
priority above citizens _end official groups. She thought it was
important that individual councilmembers supporting or opposing a
Measure sign as individuals.
Herb Borock, 3401 Ross Road, said it seemed to him that the
statutes simply provide a priority that Ahe Clerk would choose
among. If there were more a ."_than one ballot argument submitted,
the purpose for the.. Counci 1 authorizing members to sign would be
merely to place those signatures in a higher priority as the City
Council or as certain members. Other than that, it seemed to him
that if there was no authorization, then Councilmembers would _be
treated the same as other citizens in terms of the priority in
which their ballot arguments. are considered vis-aavis thee other
ballot arguments,, and .that the identification was no problem at
all.
Councilmember Levy agreed with Mt: Borock that for councilmembers
to be designated as councilmembers was satisfactory. He thought,
the key question was the public perception of how the Council
itself had acted. He thought the City Attorney analysis should
state specifically that the .Council had endorsed the measureby a
certain vote, or had taken no position .on the measure. He felt
that if that were done, the total picture was complete, and indi-
vidual 'councilmembers could present their arguments on either
side ,and be so designated.
Mr. Maynor felt it would be' helpful to ` develop a policy for : the
future for consistency. He felt Councilmember Levy had a good
suggestion about putting something- in: the impartial analysis
about whether the City Council had taken a position. He said he
1
would amend his impartial analysis to reflect that. He thought
that the Council could go ahead and vote on it. He said his
understanding was that if the Council were to file a ballot argu-
ment, they could do so in their capacity as a City Councilmember
and be designated in that capacity whether they were receiving
authorization or not.
MOTION: Mayor Henderson movrod, seconded by Fazzino, that
Co unc i l member s be allowed as a W i cy to sign ballot argument and
to be designated as Councilmemb.:rs.
Councilmember Renzel said she concurred with the intent of the
motion, but was concerned that it was a general motion rather
than one specific to the upcoming ballot issue. She said there
may be a time when there would be seven councilmembers all
desirous of signing a ballot argument, and only five could sign.,,
She said at that point, the Council would have to designate the
five individuals, therefore, she did not think a general state-
ment could be made at this point allowing councilmembers to sign
ballot arguments. She thought the Council should designate at
some point if there happened to be more councilmembers than
slots.
Mr Maynor said that regarding Councilmember 'enzel's concerns,
State law would prevail in that situation. He thought it would
be helpful to have a policy, and when the issue comes up again in
the future, it would be written.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Klein absent.
MAYOR HENDERSON RE DATE FOR MEETING WITH KORN-FERRY RE CITY
RNEY R RO
Mayor Henderson said Director of Personnel Jay Rounds had sug-
gested that September 3 and 4 would be available times, day.. or
evening. Mayor Henderson suggested that the applications be
available during the day so that councilmembers could look
through the applications as well as noting Korn -Ferry's top list,
and then perhaps meet in the afternoon.
Councilmember Fazzino said he was concerned that it was right
before Labor Day weekend.
MOTION: Councilmember F.azzino moved, seconded by Levy, that
Council meeting at 8:30 a.m., September 4 and that the material
be available to Councilmembers during the day of September 3.
Councilmember Witherspoon said she probably would not be in town,
and asked about September 1 and 2.
Councilmember Eyerly said he would be out of town on September
4.
Councilmember Renzel said it had been suggested that the Council
meeting the day after Labor Day would probably be cancelled, and
she did nut think that if they caret on Tuesday it would cause a
significant delay. She thought it would be more within the
Council's regular habits to have a night meeting on Tuesday.
evening since it would have been anticipated, had they not planned
to cancel it.
SUBSTITUTE MOTION: Councilmember Renzel moved, seconded by
Fletcher,- to set a Special Executive Session for Tuesday,
September 8, 7:30 .m. , to meet with Korn -Ferry, re City Attorney
search, with applications to be available to Counci l member s on
September 3 and 4 for perusal.
MOTION PASSED unanimously, Klein absent.
RECESS FROM 10:15 to 10:25 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT TO SPECIAL JOINT SESSION WITH PLANNING COMMISSION -
Mayor Henderson said that no action was to be taken. He said
that the objective of the joint City Council/Planning Commission
meeting was to assure that the final report included all the sub-
ject matter and data that would ultimately be considered. He
said the City Council said it could not make a decision on
whether to develop any portion of the Ar astr a property without
having further data. He said the Council had voted to provide
that date, and the question now was whether there was sufficient
data to eventually make the decision.
Principal Planner, George Zimmerman said the following con-
sultants were present: Richard Warren Smith from the joint
venture team of Sedway/Cook - Richard Warren Smith Associates,
Pat Smith from Sedway/Cook, Dick Recht, Economic Consultant of
Recht iiousrath & Associates, and Herman Minch from the soils
geological firm of Su loger, Long & Associates.
Councilmember Fazzino asked for clarification that it was a study
session, and no motions would be in order.
Mayor Henderson said yes.
Councilmember Renzel said on page 5.5, under "Residential
Development Objectives," the very last objective (k) said to pro-
vide a mechanism for ongoing modification and implementation of
objectives and the develpment program and she asked for ampl ifi-
cati on because she thought that if a development alternative was
based on open space objectives, etce she wanted to know what type
of mechanism would change those objectives.
Mr� SO th said basically the "ongoing modification" meant was
refinement. If a development option were selected, there would-
be a refinement of the.design guidelines and a definition of the
implementation procedures to be used to adopt it.
Councilmember Renzel clarified that they were talking about a
mechanism for modification and inplernentation of design rather
than objectives 'bec,ause it seemed _to hee the objectives would
remain the same throughout.
Mr. Smith said yes, unless there was some reason fore modifying
the objectives also. If the set of objectives could be accepted
as being complete and something to be perpetuated, . then _ it would
not be needed, but other objectives might be defined as they went
along.
Councilmember Renzel said on page ?-/, under financial arrange-
ment fixed price option, it was suggested that the City could
also lease the Arastra site, subject to a lease agreement that
would call for the
City to share in the development profits. She
asked how the profit was measured because they all knew that
developers could get certain discounts on purchasing materials
and profits for themselves were built in before any subsequent
profit was "measured.
Mr. Smith said he thought she would find elsewhere =in the eval ua-
Lion section that that was listed' as one of the crucial iifficul-
ties with Implementation of any alternative Which called for
profit sharing. He said presumably the City would try and
1 1.,4 8
8/10/81
improve its position by choosing the developer with the best
reputation and insisting on independent accounting controls to
give the best interpretation of what was actually going on and in
essence sharing the benefits of favorable purchasing contracts,
and identification of non -independent party contracts.
Councilmember Renzel said on page 7-8, under permanent home mort-
gages, she had read the first part of the paragrap!i, and at the
bottom it said in other words the City .would ultimately accept
and trade mortgages on homes as they were completed. She said
she had not understood that from the beginning part of the
language and she still did not understand if the City would
become a mortgage lender on the homes or what the City's status
would be.
Mr. Recht said in some sense the City would become a mortgage
lender and there were varieties of -how it could be implemented.
He said in ,terms of process, .when the property was first sold,
there would be an agreed upon price, arid using $5 million as an
example, there would be a .contract situation to require that
being paid up -front, or the contract would allow for some options
or mandated requirements of it being spread over time. He- said
that would be secured by whatever arrangements the City insisted
upon for securing payment, which . would presumably include title
for -.the land or maybe a letter of credit. He said one way to
convert the value to long-term cash flow and enhance the value of
the land would be to then allow it to be used for mortgages.
Thus, when a house was sold that lot would no longer be secured
for the land payments to the City, but the City would receive and
become the beneficiary of a trust deed which would guarantee the
payment of -the mortgage over time. He said there were a variety
of arrangements that could be made. He said arrangements could
be made with a savings and loan whereby:they would make the loan,
provide .all the administrations, and accept all the risk. The
proceeds from the land sale'cedld be deposited in the savings and
loan, be left there at an agreed upon interest rate and be repaid
when the people with the mortgage repaid their mortgage gradually
over time or upon sale. He said there were various ways it could
be =structured, but in essence, because the crucial ingredient in
marketing homes and hence marketing the land on which --`homes would
be built is the availability of permanent mortgages, a developer
would pay a premium for knowing that mortgage loans would be
available for at least some of the homes he would be attempting
to sell.
Mayor Henderson asked if the consultant saw other areas of the
Arastra land which might be a better site for housing than the 77
acres in question.
Mr. Smith said they did not, he said they had been on the
Bressler property and had done analyses of policy and zoning on
toe surrounding area, but had not done specific development
analysis.
Mayor Henderson said he realized that, but wondered if, when they
were going around, being that they were experts, it struck them
that there was a better area' for development.
Mr. Smith said no, and- said he had no way to ar-rive at that con-
clusion. He said there were some advantages'to- the 77 acre piece
such as iv was more closely located to utilities and roads, etc.
which were already in place, but the land characteristics seemed
to be quite similar throughout the the Arastra property.
Planning Commissioner . Pat Cullen said she .noticed that the value
given to mast of the lots consisted primarily of their size and
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their view sites. She wondered -why other elements were, not taken
into consideration. For example, the pl oximity to the Club and
pool, the distance from the noise from 280. She said there were
other elements which she thought would affect the marketability
besides the two principal ones identified, and she -asked if she
was correct.
Mr. Recht said he shared her views. He said they studied all the
lots which had been sold in the last year in the area which were
comparable to the property. He said they studied another two
dozen developments in the 'Bay Area which were comparable in some
ways, and -in particular, they studied another group of develop-
ments that had a variety of lot sizes, views and any other.varia-
tions which would enable them to deal with the differences in
lots sizes. Hey said they found that, to a large extent the view
and the size of the lot were the two considerations. He said it
could also be expressed that the size of the lot gave a sense of
privacy and control of their environment to people, and an
unimpeded view gave' a sense of being spacious. He said the view
ratings were given to all the lots in all .the design alternatives
by Richard Smith and Tom- Gook, then he said they all met and
incorporated the considerations Ms. Cullen mentioned. He said
they made modifications to value where -there was a reasonably
good views, or a noise problem from 280. There was a trade off.
He said some places had more than one view in which case the
value rate.was enhanced. In other cases, the value was enhanced
because of a good setting. In general, the study did not show
that accessibility to the Club facilities made a major differ-
ence, in fact being very close to the facilities was a disadvan-
tage because of the increased traffic, etc.
Councilmember Witherspoon said she noticed a number of table.,
and said she would find it helpful if in the final report, they
could also put a range of financial figures, i .e . as well as the
risk, what would be the anticipated cash flow and/or return. She
said that .would help her evaluate which way to go.
Mr. Recht said he thought he would have some difficulties in
trying to do that. He said if it were to be a partial role for
the City, they would have to define what alternatives were- being
considered. He said:;to suppose the City played developer -All- the
way through, and the: he, would want to ask, what . was the City's
primary concern, identification of and attempt to quantify the
financial exposure, or the control of the project. Something
like that would help him indicate where the focus was. He said
that anyone who played developer, whether it be the City, a
Cityerelated agency or --- a private developer, would minimize oy
maximize their financial exposure based ors the type of financing
agreement entered into. He would have to make arbitrary assunp-
-t i ons i n any example he put together, and wi thout working out
with the City what it was trying to achieve iy having the City
undertake the development activities, he would have a hard time
putting a- scenario together that he could,quantify.
Councilmember Witherspoon said that the reason the City would be
at all interested in, being a developer would be to maximize its
return. She said she assumed a private developer would have to
go through the same motions such as take an option of participa-
tion, of which the consultant had=;'identified a number, and then
give the City some rough ideas of Yti c i.oated return and;. what the
necessary out-of-pocket cash flow would be.
Mr. Recht said he tried to deal with that because he felt the
potential, for profit would be something that .might influence City
policy.' He said he was sceptical- that the City should undertake
any development' activities for the sake of profit. He did not
a
think from an economic rational point of view that if the price
were marketed at a competitive market price, that the developers,
in their bidding, would leave any extra profit other than that
justified by expertise and risk. He said the City would have to
gain the expertise probably at the cost of profit sharing con-
tracts with a co-partner or a joint venture partner and would
have to accept financial risks if it wished to play developer.
He felt they all knew that since 1974 or 1975, anyone who had
been in the development game through 1980 had either made a large
profit or had been extremely incompetent. However, he said if
that period were looked at, housing prices and land prices went
up tremendously. Anyone who was in the process of development
profited extensively. He said if 1972-1974 or 1981 were looked
at, there were a lot of developers struggling, and the rate of
appreciation being what it was between 1975-1980 vs. now, was
enough to make a huge profit or break a developer . He said he
was hard put to say what assumptions he should put in to show
what profit the City would make if it were the developer.
Councilmember Witherspoon said the consultant would have to give
some financial- figures or she could not determine between the
options. She said; they were recommending a lease as a possible
way, permanent mortgages on a certain percentage of the land
using the City's title as leverage. She could not understand
that the consultant would not put any dollar figures on any of
the options.
Mr. Becht said that roughly speaking, the biggest enhancement of
value would come from providing mortgages. He said he had sug-
vested that there would be a decrease in value if the City used
leases. He said it would be substantial, and the factors he sug-
gested for evaluation would lead most people to conclude that it
would be preferable for the City nct to lease the property. He
said soe people who put a high priority on possibility ;f future
control of the rroperty might still want to lease, but he thought
that should be done in anticipation of`taking away quite a bit of
land value. He thought that if any alternatives were defined
carefully, which would be based on the reason for which it was
being undertaken,'' 'then they could attempt to quantify, He would
be very hesitant when asked to project the City's profit for
playing developer because he would. guess. that the profit would
reflect the: risk taken and the expertise the 'City had to hire.
Therefore, he 'said if the City paid for -someone else . to assume
the risks and provide the expertise, it lould not end. up. with a
profit.
Mayor Henderson said he shared some of Councilmember
Witherspoon's frustrations of not having specific examples.
Councilmember Levy said he was also frustrated. He said he .found
it useful to have the diagrams of possible development to work
with. He said he:, knew that the examples were chosen from prob-
ably 100 variations, but he felt that to choose one from each of
the 100 variations was helpful. He said he would like to see the
same thing with dollar signs attached to the various programs to
be undertaken `so that the Council could see the net: cash flow to
the City at perhaps five different methods aof dealing with the
property. He felt the City "playing developer" was only one
element of the many chfferent things the City could do. He felt
they needed to : have numbers attached to a spectrum; otherwise, it
would be very difficult to make the decision,
Mr. Recht said that with regard to the (.most difficult problems' as
far as financial analysis, he could illustrate by indicating what
development costs would be, what construction costs would'. be,
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what the sale value of the home would be, and under a couple of
.market appreciation assumptions, he could show how the' city could
either. end -up making a fair amount of profit, or end up with
financial exposure. He said he thought the spectrum of results
was a wide spectrum that would include those, examples as well as
many others, but he thought i,t would give a good indication of
hot: it could work out and how a developer would look at it.
Councilmewber Levy thought perhaps that would be overdone. He
said he was not as concerned with the developer element. He did
not get a feeling for what the cash flow would be, for example,
for 'an outright sale of the property and said -he needed some type
of cash flow figures for all of the different alternatives or at
least representations from all the different alternatives. He
did not want to see the consultant spend an undue amount of time
on the fine points of the developer option. He said that if the •
City got to that, they could go back to- a consultant and ask
specific questions.
Mr. Smith said he thought he understood where the Council was
coming from,
Councilmernber Levy said he assumed all of the maps would he part
of the finished document. He asked if- a portion of the.77 acres,
under the different development schemes, would be dedicated as
open space.
Mr. Smith said that generally most of the schemes would permit a
public open space corridor or -portion. However, he said in one
of the options it might be a fairly narrow corridor.
Rose Gray, 1235 Hamilton Avenue, represented Loma Prieta Chapter
of the Sierra Club. She said she was concerned about the roads.
She asked if there were options of bringing in the roads.
Richard Warren Smith said there were two basic areas.
Ms. Gray clarified that the road situation selected was due to
the topography. She asked if there was a way to bring the roads
around through the back.
Mr. Smith said not without major grading and construction.
Ms. Gray asked about the time element between the time of grading
and the landscaping, roads and foundation.
Mr. Smith said that for a project of this nature, construction
would probably go ,for 18 months from beginning to end.
Ms. Gray -asked if any of, the sites had been set so that it;would
be advantageous to use solar heating and conserving uti 1 ities.
Mr Smith said yes that it had been major factor in their guide-
lines. He said they had defined a large area as an area with
good so ar orientation because it was a south facing slope
meaning that all units in that area if properly located would
have unshadowed exposure to' the sun during the winter months.
'Larry Faber, 3127 ' David Avenue President of the Palo .Alto
Horsemen for Trails preservation, invited everyone to attend a
walk.tide.;through the Arastra property to: acquaint the citizetfry
with the property so that when the issues came up they would be
better informed as to what was being talked about. As a citizen,
he said he :preferred that the property remain open _ space. He
suggested another piece of property as being more suitable for
housing because there were already houses and they would be
1 1 :5 2
8/1 i/81
bridging between existing houses and would not break the open
space corridor that existed from Stanford to Palo Alto Park. He
thought that was an important consideration. He said the report
assumed that trees would be pruned and he said trees in that type
of a neighborhood were not pruned unless they obstructed traffic.
Further, he was concerned about the expansive soils which dis-
tressed the foundation, utilities and pavement unless "mitigating
measures" were taken. He wanted to know what "mitigating
measures" would do to the profit to the City and he did not think
it was addressed in the report.
Scott Carey, 180 University Avenue, suggested that either the
Council had more information than they needed to make a decision,
or vastly insufficient in''ormation to make a recision. He
recollected the inception. of the Arastra problem and said that
when the City was involved with the property, it was all zoned
0-S which meant 10 -acre lots for roughly a total developrent
potential of 54 or 55 homes. He said that had the property owner
agreed to the zoning, there would have been about 55 homes
throughout the 500 plus acres. He said it would riot have been
confined to the north -section as the study was suggesting. Had
the Council attempted to confine it, there would have been
another lawsuit. The property owner chose not to accept the 0-S
zone and sued the City. The City was faced with a tough decision
having lost the trial. He said it could have appealed' the case,
and had it won, it would have wen the preservation of the 0-S
zone which would have allowed 55 houses spread throughout the
entire 500 acres. He said that was where they were in 1976. Had
the City gotten everything it wanted then would have had develop-
ment spread throughout the property with perhaps a small caveat
of cluster, but not a cluster of everything on the 77 acres. He
said that had the City lost the lawsuit, it would have either
lost millions of dollars and had no property or it would have
paid millions of dollars and had some property. He said that the
City chose to acquire the property at a far lesser sum so as to
avoid the danger of losing the lawsuit and paying the conse-
quences. He pointed 'Out the link ` between the Arastra property,
the Mullen property and Foothills Park, and said that in 1976
when Arastra was acquired and in 1978 when Mullen was acquired,
you could see a trail and stream link from Foothills Park all the
way to Arastradero. The map shown was missing the development
already there. He thought in order to understand the area,
Council needed an aerial photograph of the entire area showing
the contour and the development. There was a greater profit
potential for development other than confinement to the 77 acres,
and the open space advocates could also be accommodated when they
saw what could be'done. He suggested that -members of the Sierra.
Club, the Committee for Green _Foothills, developers, council-.
members, and planning commission -members all tour the property
and look at it, and have an aerial photograph taken before:. it. was
decided what to do, He thought if that were done with an open
mind, the pieces_ would come together differently from wh-at was
presently before`them.
Enid Pearson, representing the Peninsula Conservation Center,
reiterated that -their position was still thate they wished the
entire 515 acres would be dedicated ,to open. space. She thought
it was depressing_ to realize that the Council had spent- a sub-
stantial amount of money on a report to develop the Foothills
when so many people had the position that they wanted open spate.
She somewhat agreed with Mr, Carey that they`" had enough i nfor ma-
tion to do what they knew they -should do, which in -her -opinion,
was dedication. She thought it was precedent setting and- as
1 1 5 3
8/10/81
Arastra lands gu, so would the rest of the Foothills. She found
it depressing to read that some of the money would be used to.
build below market housing and she maintained that they might get
the money, but she dared anyone or the Council, if they wanted to
be re-elected, to go out and defy a neighborhood and put the
below market housing in their neighborhood. She said she noted
in the report that the land would be sold for an amount for which
it could not; be purchased, and it looked to her that if the $8
million high rate development were eliminated and go for the
lower development, it would be being sold for $60,000 to $75,000
per acre. She urged the Council to look and make sure they could
get all the trail easements through all the property if it had to
be developed and look into maintaining the common open space as
public land. She felt if Council was really going to decide the
issue on the basis of economics, an economic study should be
done.
Councilmefber Eyerly said on page 3-7, there were some land use
plans given, and one of the maps. was labeled "land use plan ." He
did not feel there was enough detail on the adjacent properties,
particularly' on the 77 acres,- as to what type of development
might take place. He said the Stanford land was mentioned as
controlled by Palo Alto. He said he would be interested to know -
what developments there were, and what, the acreage was,
surrounding all the Arastra property. Further, regarding the 77
acre parcel, it was adjacent to Los Altos Hills and Liddicoat
Drive, and he wondered whether there was any opportunity for a
connection for access to the 77 acres through the Los Altos Hills
property or whether it had been looked at. He said regarding the
the scenic road of Arastradero Road, the 200 foot setback protec-
tion.of the scenic ,road was mentioned. He said he did not get a
feeling of the impact of the housing on that ridge on the 77
acres would 'be on the scenic road. He said that as -he looked at
it driving by, it looked like a fairly heavy impact,
Mr. Smith said that the land uses around the 77 acre site, the
Stanford lands, were discussed with Stanford Planning in detail.
He said the basic position was that the Powers labsite would
remain a Powers lab use until the day they could build what they
felt would be market rate housing at approximately one unit per
acre, which was beyond the land use policy for the area,' which
was open space, controlled development, and could yield only
about 7 units instead of 77. In terms of the conversion of
Powers lab site to residential, there was no pressure, they did
not need it for housing for the University, it would simply be an
investment return for Stanford. Regarding the larger open space
areas around Felt .Lake . and the rest of the Stanford lands, he
said their position was that they wanted to keep that open land
for decades because it was used for large scale experimentation
research activities such as the Linear Accellerator. They wanted
to keep that open and had no intent to develop it. To the East,
he said there was the Page Mill Estates which was fully defined
as , a development and not fully built up. As far as getting a
road across there, he said there seemed to be only one oppor-
tunity because of the steepness of the land. By looking at the
slope analysis, there was one ridge line coming down to the
eastern border of the site. That was the only place where there
could be a road along the ridgeline and it would lead into a
steep slope as it cane down to Liddicoat Drive itself. He said
across Arestradero, there was privately held land again in the
open space, controlled development land use designation, a low
density type development. Beyond that was .the 438 acres of the
Arastra property.
Planning Commissioner Connie Heneke said the illustrations were
helpful, and she thought it would be extremely helpful to have a
site tour along with the illustrations and include developers and
the other informed people.
Councilmember Bechtel said she thought a site tour was . an excel-
lent suggestion. She asked how much the study had cost so far
Principal Planner George Zimmerman said he thought around
$60,000.
Councilmember Bechtel asked if the drawings had been done spe-
cifically for the study.
Mr. Smith said that some of the drawings were from other previous
studies and many of them, particularly in the back sections, were
done for this study.
Counci €member Bechtel said on page 2-8, a table was referred to
describing prices of houses and an average price, size and price
per foot, -etc, were brought up. She said she was bothered by the
use of "average." She wondered if they really meant average or
did they mean "median." She asked if it should be recalculated
because it was being used on the basis of making assumptions
abodi prices of houses.,
Mr. Recht said that certain information was conveyed in "average"
and certain information was conveyed in "median." He said he
would think that either one was relevant in the situation lie
said all the individual data was looked at and they did not find
that they had isolated extremely high values compared to what the
situation would be if they had used medians.
Councilmember Bechtel said she was bothered by the fact that
Portola Valley's price range was quoted as from $230,000 to
$1,050,000-, and -she did not know how many were in the million
dollar range, and if there were a lot, it made a difference.
Further, she said there were various assumptions made by the con-
sultants in the report, and she said Council was using their
expertise to make some critical decisions, and she did not know
the basis �n which the consultants had made their assumptions.
She thought it night be helpful for some amplification.` She Said
the term "it was unlikely that" had been used many times in the
report, and she thought some sort of substantiation was needed if
Council was to really accept the concept..
Mr. Hecht said that he mi ght be told later of concerns about the
logic or gaps in the logic, arid he asked if it would be helpful
i f he added some discussion as to -why the results in this situa-
tion were different from the results of Livingston and Blaney
report.
Vice Mayor Fletcher said she was concerned about the fire poten-
tial of the retardant types of landscaping that should be con-
sidered. She said there was a comment re minimizing paved sur-
faces and then within the next few sentences it referred to 32
feet _wide roadways.
Mr. Smith said that the Fire -Department required a 32 foot, cub
to curb dimension for fire access.
Vice Mayor,Fletcher said she would like the Council to consider
whether that was necessary.
Mr. Smith said they also felt 32. feet was too wide, . but
safety requirement not a traffic requirement.
it was a
1 1 5 5
8/10/81
Vice Mayor Fletcher suggested that a precedent be cited whereby
Fire Departments had accepted narrower roadways.
Planning Commissioner Lanie Wheeler said that on page 3-5, near
the top of the page, it was- stated that if 9th grade classes were
shifted from Gunn High School to Wilbur, and she stated that as a
matter of fact there was no proposal to put 9th graders back to
the -middle school, but rather to fill up the middle school by
moving the .6th graders up from the elementary-school into the
middle school. She suggested that if the proposal to move the
6th graders came about there would be additional elementary
school closures and the impact of that should be examined. She
said she was also bothered by the cost of information on page
8-30 and beyond because she felt that many of the cost considera-
tions as far as the City was concerned, went to the point of a
development and did not go .beyond the time when the horses would
be in place. She thought that the costs associated with the
road, etc. were dismissed, that the fact that the roads would
probably be dedicated streets and,- therefore, subject to repair
and maintenance costs by the citizens of Palo Alto. She felt the
same was true for Police and Fire services. Generally, she
thought the report went into great detail, but she felt that most
of the detail spoke to physical things, i.e. the land, buildings,
building site, .and there was not sufficient discussion of the
people that would live there, and what their needs would be.
Mr. Recht said that more than one person had -spoken about the
conclusions drawn with regard to the public services and costs.
He said his firm did about two dozen fiscal studies a year and
said they were complex. He said it_was common to have,- a report
go over 100 pages in describing the very careful assumptions that
were made behind the projections of revenues and costs. He said
the work program was not set up to: be, a major fiscal question,
but if that was at issue, he thought perhaps some considerations
of what could be done to satisfy people should be made. He
reiterated that the findings they made, within the scope of the
study, were to identify the fact that the revenues ---would clearly
be above average for homes in Palo Alto from the alternatives
recommended. Based on conver sa 4i ohs with; the people. that sup-
plied all the services, the ongoing cost of services would not
exceed the averages. Then they looked at the cost of connection
of. the services to make sure that there were no .front end costs
to be borne by the City to present a deficit situation. He said
that in essence, the logic would be that .if something paid above
average revenues and. did not incur above average costs, it would
not need to be subsidized. He felt her needed some understanding
of which assumptions created the problem.
Councilmember Fazzino felt communication was lost somewhere
between Council, staff and the consultants. Further, he said, he
was against the idea of the study, and still did not feel the
study was necessary. He thought the Council was wasting $100,000
for a lot of boiler plate -language. He felt there was unclear
economic information which he thought was the entire purpose of
the report. The Council should have made a decision two months.
ago with respect: to developing or not developing. 0nce that
decision was made, the Council should have moved ahead and put
together the necessary economic information needed at that time.
He thought ' a smaller scale, economic study and, housing alterna-
tives could have been commissioned. The Council was finding out
tonight that the financial data would not be .extensive and he
could not support the idea of spending $100,000 for a delineation
of choices which were already before the Council. If the Council
agreed' to dedicate, they had better do so -and consider trails and
parks systems on the property. He said he . would prefer to make a
motion to table the entire issue, but could not do so when
1
$60,000 was already down the tubes. He said short of tabbing,
the issue should be presented in an open space v$. housing con-
text because that was the critical issue before the Council. He
said he needed nece: nary financial information to deterAnine pos-
sible rate of return to the. City with respect to various housing
alternatives. He said he viewed Chapter 8, verse 4 to be the
only critical element of the study, and if that information was
not adequate, he felt the entire study was rendered obsolete.
Further, he thought this type of study session was unnecessary.
If specific suggestions and comments were needed, they could have
been forwarded directly to staff_ . He did not sense any focus in
the discussion, and felt it had been a waste of time.
Planning Commissioner Mike Cobb also felt that the big issue was
whether to build or not to build housing on the. property and that
all of the trade offs and associated issues should be highlighted
and made clear, but in this report, they tiad to be dug out piece
by piece. He said that on page 526, there was an extraordinary
level of detail about designing interiors of the homes, etc.,
which he thought was a total waste of time since there were big
issues that were not clear. He thought that since the money had
been spent, he wanted to see the report have an executive summary
which would bring together all of the salient data which pre-
sumably the report was supposed to highlight in the form of
tables, gxaphs and short summaries, which would quickly compare
things like cost benefit trade offs, social and environmental
economic issues, etc. He thought the public would be better
served with that type of short executive summary where they could
understand what was going on.
Planning Commissioner Pat Cullen said she :found: the statement of
the wind patterns, with no data or reference as to where the data
came from, contradicted other wind studies which had been done in
the past. She was curious where the one school age child per
unit information was found. She also said that the profit
Margin, which had already been mentioned, was a critical item,
and she had no way of assessing any of that from the report.
Mayor Henderson said in his own mind he had moved in the direc-
tion to have a consultant because he wanted some data on whether
to consider building or not building. Re thought that required
answers to three broad areas --was the 77 acres buildable to begin
with,. what_ were the Visual Impacts, and what were the financial
results, He agreed wi ter_. some of his colleagues that he. did not
feel 'he had enough- information on the third area. He was con-
vinced the area was buildable-, but was not sure that the 77 acres
was the` best spot visually.
FINAL AOLlO RNMCP1T
Final adjournment- was at 113-40 p.m.
ATTEST:'
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