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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-01-14 City Council Summary MinutesRegular Meeting January 14, 1980 ITEM Minutes of December 3, 1979 Oral Communications Resolution re: Appointment of David Mains _- Director of Public Works OCMR:105:0) Motion to Bring Item Forward Request of Councilmember Fletcher re: H&R Bookstore Study Session re: Joint Powers Agreement for Solid Waste Recess Study Session re: Join Powers Agreement for Solid Waste (Cont.) Councilmember Brenner re: Staff Work During Recent Storm PAGE 373 373 373 374 374 378 382 3 8 2 385 Adjournment to Executive Session 3 8 5 3 7' 2 1/14/ 1 January 14, 1980 Regular meeting The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council - chamber at 250 Hamilton Avenue at 7:45 p.m., Mayor Henderson presiding. PRESENT: Brenner, Eyerly, Faxxino, Fletcher, Henderson, Levy, Sher, Witherspoon ABSENT: Renzel Mayor Henderson announced thatan executive session on litigation would take place at the end of the meeting. MINUTES OF DECEMBER 3, 1979 Councilmember Brenner asked that the last sentence on page 319 read instead: "She (Councilmember Brenner) thought that the 1972 discussion had the effect of separating Peter Coutts Hill from the ongoing discussion about how to handle the rest of Stanford University's land." MOTION: Councilmember Witherspoon moved, seconded by Fazzino, that Council approve the minutes of December 3, 1979, as corrected. The motion passed on a unanimous voice vote. ORAL. COMMJNICATIONS 1. Mildred Moulds, 605 Guinda, said she wanted Council to know that where there were once five signs at the Hamilton/Cuinda traffic barrier there were now eleven, and that traffic was still turning around in her driveway. She emphasized that "...it's like living in the middle of a freeway=" She said neighbors, with 300 signatures representing over 100 homes, had a petition protesting the situation. She said her fellow petitioners had nothing against Hamilton Street residents who wanted less traffic, but she thought everybody in the City wanted less traffic. She thought that until there were more buses and fewer cars Pr_l o Al tares should share in the (inconvenience of) diversion, Mayor Henderson said that after some discussion it had been decided to take traffic counts at Hamilton/Guinda ahead of the customary time for such data collection, and a report on that would be on the agenda January 21. CONSENT CALENDAR - -- -------- --- Refirra� t i M None Action Items None RESOLUTION RE: APPOINTMENT OF DAVID William Zaner, City Ma r, said he very strongly recommended that all of the CounciImea trs join in welcoming David Adams, new birectur of Public Worms, effective January 28, 1980, to the staff, by tray of adopting the resolution. MOTION: Councilsember Fazzino introduced the following resolution, and, second by Witherspoon, moved its approval by Council: 373 1 /14/80 i RESOLUTION 5761 entitled "RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL Or THE CITY OF PALO ALTO APPROVING THE CITY MANAGER'S APPOINTMENT OF A DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS/CITY ENGINEER." The motion passed on a unanimous voice vote. Mayor Henderson welcomed David Adams to the staff and assured him of full cooperation from Council. MOTION TO BRING ITEM FORWARD MOTION: Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Witherspoon, that matter concerning H A R Adult Bookstore be brought forward, in view of the number of people in the audience waiting to hear about it. The motion passed on a unanimous voice vote. RE EST OF Ct CILMEMBER FLETCHER amerasneenAlvernmsmairmormismir Councilmember Fletcher noted that adult bookstores were subject to distance limitations and all other ordinances adopted in relation to adult entertainment enterprises in 1976. The amortization period for H & R Bookstore had expired in September, 1979. In October 1979, Council voted not to extend the amortization period. At that time the City Attorney's office had cautioned Council that protections afforded by the First Amendment could forestall the move against H&R Bookstore's continuance. Council had voted against the extenrion however, because of problems created by the presence of NIR Bookstore. Since then Council had been told that the problems said to have occurred had in fact tsken place five or more years ago when a "...large number of so-called massage parlors attracted undesirable clientele to the area." Councilmember Fletcher said that no new complaints had been made, and that led her to agree with the assessment of the police department that there was no evidence of illicit activity associated with the bookstore. Also, the bookstore owners said they had been unable to find another location. Councilmember Fletcher said she thought many people did not want the bookstore there, but the alternative was to risk loss of an ordinance that had done so much to improve Palo Alto. She did not want to take that risk. MOTION: Councilmember Fletcher moved, seconded by Henderson, that the mOortization period for all bookstores under tine Adult Entertainment Ordinance, be extern for five years. City Attorney Abraes amplified that MitSbokttcire Wet -the boy one soled foramortization; in the interests of making the motion neutral, "all bookstores' would be the Correct wording. CouncOnamber Fletcher amplified that her motion would not result in new bookstores being brought into Palo Alto, Michael 6. Regan, 777 North First Street, San Jose, attorney for WAR Bookstore, said he worked with Donald Tennenbaum, vihose letters Counci leers may have had included in their packets. Mr. Regan referred to the City Attorney's report of October 1, 1979 --he commended the report's accuracy. Mr. Regan said he understood the purpose of the ordinance was to regulat adult entertainment businesset, not to outlaw them. Section 4..55.0T0(c) set forth locatton requirements in order to prevent a "skid -rte" atmosphere resulting when a number of such establishmentstere located in close proximity to one another. HIA BookstoOremat the only such -establishment in Palo Alto and se that would not be the case. Also, [i&R Bookstore had not caused llama since enectuent of .The ordineece and he asked "plat Councilmombers vote In favor motion,- He would regarding the Co titOloabli ' of the rstt, ' should. t be stions, 3 7 +1 though the City Attorney's report had been clear about that. Councilmenber Eyerly asked where H&R Bookstore had looked , when it sought a place to move. Mr. Regan said that H&R had engaged a realtor to search within the legally defined areas according to the ordinance, and the realtor had not found a place. Vice for Sher asked what H&R Bookstore planned to do after the proposed 5 -year extension ended. Council thought perhaps another extension would be requested. Mr. Regan said Vice Mayor Sher's assumption might be correct; he could not predict future events. Council.ember Levy ascertained that H&R Bookstore had hunted for another location since October 1, 1979. Robert K. Lancefield, 189 Walter Hays, said he thought H&R's search had not been for a long enough period; he added that police may not have reports of the bookstore being a nuisance because they had not been reported. He thought ci ti zens had had to push to bring about present improvements though they had been cautioned again and again about the First Amendment considerations. He thought Council needed more facts on the "...true situation. . ." H&R Bookstore was not a desirable element in the City. He asked those in the audience who supported his statements to rise. William Robinson, 4164 Wilkie Way, said his hove in Charleston Meadows was about 3000 feet from H&R Bookstore. He did not want the 5 -year extension; his daughter would be eleven years old in five years. He said citizens had had "...onIy hours of notice on a situation that it's taken us years to resolve," and he asked that more facts be gathered, with the extension to run for six months only so HISR could find a new place --he thought their attempt had been only half-hearted so far. James Lyttle, 930 Roble Ridge, said "I want to echo the public sentiment and views that have already been expressed." He did not want H&R Bookstore to continue at that location. He gave the City Clerk a letter from his neighbors, the Dalrymples, 985 Paradise Way, that expressed the same view as his awn. Gretchen Leland, 3700 Laguna, expressed dismay that in spite of what the ordinance and the Comprehensive Plan stated the extension for H&R Bookstore had nonetheless been moved. She charged City staff and Council with uKidieg the Comprehensive Plan. David Jeong, 4056 Paris Boulevard, said his daughter had been followed home by a men who had geed from the MGR Bookstore, He had a he said, on which he had fated 22 permissible locations where the bookstore could relocate; the bookstore had had three years to find a new location. He said that if the City Attorney did clot feel capable of defending the ordinance perhaps a lawyer who was expert in the area could be found on the outside. Count lmomber Fa=zing read from the police department account of the reported incident with Mr. Jeong's daughter and asked if it was correct. Mr. Jeong said the report was incorrect and he particularized the two episodes in which his daughter had been involved; he said she appeared to have been followed on oree occasion and had been accosted on another occasion. Mayor Henderson asked if any of the 22 loot mold 'ps legally pevmtssibbe _ axe fl. 375 1/14/80 1 Mr. Jeong noted two possible locations on El Camino and two on California Avenue. Denny Petrosian, 443 Ventura Avenue, expressed concern that this matter had been agendized for discussion and stated that children were shamed by '.eing accosted and would not speak of it to others, not even parents. she objected to having to "...pile tip new evidence' on a matter so clearly proven to be undesirable. She urged that Councilmembers read the Supreme Court decision on the same subject in the Detroit case. She read a few passages of it. She pleaded that only a short extension be granted, adding that to grant a longer extension would be to act in bad faith. Carl Gillespie, Jr„ 4142 Amaranta Court, said his child would have to pass the Hell Bookstore next year on his way to school. He said Palo Alto was in other ways a very desirable place to raise children, and he asked that no extension of any kind be granted. Councilor Witherspoon said she shared the frustration of the speakers: "It seers that every six months we bring it (the bookstore) up again." She asked if amortiration was permitted in the area zoned "Neighborhood Commercial." Ken Schreiber, Assistant Director of Planning and Community Environment, replied that he would have to check the ordinance, and he left the Councilchamber to do so. Councili er° Witherspoon continued. She said she thought the City should take Nee Bookstore up on their "blackmail' of seeming to want to take the City to court to challenge the ordinance. She was only slightly willing, she said to go so far as to extend the present moratorium six months, and was definitely opposed to a longer extension. Councilmember Eyerly said he did not know why Councilrrember Fletcher had moved the extension moratorium, because there was no new evideore of any changes. "Every ordinance has its risk and we discussed this and the pros and cons previously and decided to take the risk, and I see no reason to extend the amortization period, or voting to change what we've done." Councilmember Fazzino said the issue before Council was that of legality-- Corrected the City Attorney had said it was extremely unlikely that the City's See Pg. 412 stand would prevail in court, and he had cited previous court decisions 214180 relevant to the one now before Council, in which bookstores' rights had been upheld particularly when there were no documented problems. He said the threat was onerous to him that restrictions on all bookstores might be lined. He die Getwant the City to spend a lot of money fighting a case which it eight *11 lose. Con i? r -Levy ascertained with $r. Abram one possible legal locations for Neil Bookstore to relocate. He asked Mir. Abrams to discuss the Detroit case: Mr. Abrams said that he thought the Detroit case raised a different situation; Palo Alto was much mere restricted in area than Detroit, also according to the police report, there was not the actual or potential evidence of illicit activity that had been the case in Detroit. Mr. Abrams said that Citizens might have information that the City did not have, and the City did not concede to nr. Regan's assertion that such evidence did not exist. in the Detroit case a situation had not been presented in which a bookstore had been requested to leave a particular arOt. Since the court had not addressed that question, that was perhaps the significant question in the matter now before Council. Counci fiber Levy asked whether or not the . City had the right to bane 3alacioos bookstores. Mr. Abrams replied that at present that was the state of the law; when dealing with a commercial interest protected by First Amendments, the difficulty of arguing the position suggested was much greater. Co►uncilmember Levy reviewed his own thinking: no one supported haying a porno bookstore enywhere in the City; H&R kept a low profile; the "Freedom -of-the-Press" law was needed for material that was not favored by the general majority; Council was discussing, he thought, whether or not it had passed an ordinance that prohibited a bookstore not generally favored from locating in Palo Alto; if so, the City could not have its action upheld in court. Councilr er Levy said he would find all locations unacceptable for the bookstore —he noted objections had been made because the bookstore was on a travel route, not because it was close to a residential area, and any location would be on some travel route or other. He did not want to risk losing a court case, and perhaps have the possibility of a return to intensification of the activity. Therefore he favored extending the amortization period, perhaps for three more years. AMENDMENT: Councilor Levy moved that the amortization period be extended for three years only. The meendment died for lack of a second. Ken Schreiber reported on amortization provisions for Neighborhood Commercial zone, noting that there was provision for termination of non- conforming uses after a period of no :t ess than ' a years. The length of time depended on the type of construction, and could extend to as many as 35 years. The ordinance had been adopted August, 1978. Mayor Henderson questioned whether or not an adult bookstore was classified as a non -conforming use. Vice Mayor Sher said he was frustrated to have the matter on the agenda again because there was nothing new on the matter. The motion to extend the amortization period did not address the Freedom -of -Speech issue -it had been proposed because the amortization period had been thought too short a time to find another location, but in reality the extension of time was being proposed to avoid possible litigation. The amortization period was not unique with adult entertainment, and applied to non- confrming uses. He thought extension of this period would set a precedent for non -conforming users to apply for extensions also. He hypothesized that deletion of the word °°bookstore" from the ordinance might clearly promote the Freedom -of -Speech arguent, the theory being than; bookstores ought not to be controlled in that way, but such action was „)t being proposed. Vice Mayor Sher continued He said i t might be good to welcomelitigation and in that way determine if the distance limitation in the City's orbdtnance, _ as . applied to bookstores, is Cons ti to ti ral , or if there is some Freedom -of -Speech defect in the ordinance. There was a risk with litigation, of course, but if those who lived near the bookstore were prepared to take that risk he did not think Council should sky away from i t . He ermphas i zed that the motion before Ce i l , if passed, would seriously weaken the City's amortization procedures. He would vote against it. Mr. Schreiber referred to Mayor der°son's query about . adult bookstores being non -conforming; sale of books is regarded as a retail service and is a conforming use in Neighborhood Commercial zone, That stipulation, under the zoning ordinance, therefore had no termination provision. Councilmember Brenner agreed that the matter repetitive; she thought neghbows determined whether or foto "pub11e ,pPcble " extstad. The neighbors had voiced their concerns repeatedlY. She thought there had Wen_convincing evidence MI.t; halo& no roma afteilmlmove* and had taken the rtlzation IOd s 'awl Was over. She was not wri l l ing to VO4,10 ,th i rtiON �. T 1/14/410 Mayor Henderson said the ordinance had been presented as a massage parlor ordinance by the City Attorney; Council had amended it to include other adult enterprises, adult bookstores and theaters among them. He congratulated Councilmember Fletcher for placing the matter on the agenda now that liklihood of a suit was substantial. Ee said it seemed as though some speakers would accept H&R Bookstore if it were relocated. Any relocation though, would lead to more visibility. He concurred with Councilmember Levy, he said, in not liking pornographic bookstores but in respecting freedom of speech. Councilmember Fazzino said that the City Attorney had come before Council in executive session with new information on the issue in support of his recommendation that Council carry through the amortization. MOTION FAILED: The motion that the amortization period for all bookstores sender the Adult Entertainment Ordinance be extended for, five years failed on the following vote: AYES: Fletcher, Fazzino, Henderson; Levy NOES: Brenner, Eyerly, Sher, Witherspoon ABSENT: Renzel Corrected See Pg. 413 2/4/80 Roy Abrams, City Attorney, responded to Mr. Jeong's earlier remarks regarding the ability of the City Attorney's Office to pursue the litigation com- petently. Mr. Abrams stated that his office took their job seriously and sought to advise the City Council objectively on legal matters. He further stated that Mr. Jeong confused this responsibility with desire to pursue litigation in the H&R cased Mr. Abrams said that his staff had great success in court and that the Council was, and the citizens ought to be, proud of the staff and its ability. He added that the current Council direction was clear and that litigation against H#&R Bookstore would be pursued forthwith. Mayor Henderson said he was sure there was no question in any Wunc'ilr bens' minds that the City Attorney would pursue any case in the most vigorous manner. STUDY SESSION RE JO NT ID (1 :523:9) Mark Harris, Manager, Utilities Financial and Administrative Services, said there were a number of important decisions occurring related to solid waste. He would brief Councilmembers about the work being done by the'ecru Santa Clara Can ,print Powers Asst -WA) at ideas could be gr=ated on resource recovery and their possible effect on Palo Alto* then Council could provide direction to Councilaembers Fazzino and Reneel - for mre enntation at . the : PA -governing board meeting to occur on January 10, 1900, at which each of the seven jurisdictions would create recommeodations about resource recovery. Councilmember Fazzino noted the issues involved with jurisdictional resource recovery; at present Palo Alto dumped 250 tons daily at the City's landfill. Council had decided in 1979 that the landfill would close between 1993-199a or sooner if the resource recoverysystemwould be adequate enough to permit. Council had had a long discussion about hertz l it would be before a resource recovery system mould ,:come on line. Oee City poi i'cy was for solid -waste recycling, and it had begun in Aare Park in 1978, and would become Citywide in April. There had been encouraomment of legislation on the part of the City for the state to requtre recyclable bottles, though that did not lock hopeful. Successful resource reoovery was to prolong o usefulness of the landfill; 17 in the Comprehenstve Plan asked for a long-term solid waste emnagement progrmm calling for safe and environmentally sound disposal methods. State law, passed in 1975, required counties to develop their own local resource recovery plans. JPA included seven North County cities; it was formed tn Spring, 1977 --Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills„ Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara County had the objective of having ten years' landfill capacity for all eeeen jerisdictions, and to evaluate the environmental and economic feasibility of solid waste recovery In the North County area, and, based upon those findings, to form a permanent organization to accomplish the desired results. Councilmember Fazzino said he had been the City's representative to JPA for the past two years. Emily Menzel served as his alternate. To date the cities had allocated $250,000 toward their joint effort. The state had been the source of about $40,000 to help with the study. The seven jurisdictions Wirth cc ierated � tthem o Alto. Whenout 1000 sof the study beganrbage lsixwith about of the cities, not including Mountain View, had a critical shortage of landfill space -- less than five years° capacity. Palo Alto set a long-term closure plan, but still had to pursue long-term recovery objectives. JPA had originally been scheduled to terminate in 1978; the closure had been moved forward two years. Councilmeeber Fazzino said JPA was 2-3 years behind its overly am- bitious schedule but had accomplished a great deal: potential capacity for landfill to serve Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills had been located at the Stierlin Road site in Mountain View, and it would serve for about ten years; JPA had also completed a comprehensive resource recovery study which that evening's meeting would focus on. Mr. Harris passed pictures to Ctuncilrr bers showing resource recovery facilities in Milwaukee and Chicago. "Resource Recovery" was any conversion or recovery of useful material from solid waste, with a range from shale technology such as source separations reduction of excess packaging,to highly complex, intensive systems with mechanical separation, conversion techniques with glass, metals and the like, or conversion of organic wastes to sane other material, such as compost, fuel, or to an energy form such as steam or electricity. Highly sophisticated systems would be e shas i zed at that time. Resource recovery could handle about 80 percent of the waste. Debris from demolition could not be reduced. Existing landfill needs could be reduced by a factor of three. Current disposal routes would stay the same for Palo Alto, but the end product would be handled differently. Resource recovery would provide a hedge against anticipated escalation in fuel costs against inflation. Mr. Harris continued. He said the City could not expect instant implementation of resource recovery. The City was now in the pre -construction state; lead time from now on would be about six years. The largest project currently for the City was the wastewater treatment plant, a $10 million project; resource recovery would be a project involving about $25 million, and building the facility would take time. Discussion of possible location of the building, type of facility, ways to finance the facility, and operation, would tam place twat evening. There wild not be total elimination of aame ,wastes could not be processed, and all wastes had soee residue. . Hates said the operation would _ not be trouble -free. Facilities in both Chicago and Milwaukee were involved in preparing refuse -dry fuel to be used in a coal-fired plant to generate eleealcity, and there had been significant operating difficulties. The field was still it, its infancy. The nature of waste was that it was non -uniform; it was difficult to handle and frequent stoppages for a variety of reasoes could be anticipated. The facility would have an environmental ntal pct resulting fry the large plant necessary for processingtestes. Design and so on could mitigate the impact sit, Mr. Harris said he foresaw no profitability, and that that had been realized from the sale of sewage sludge would not be duplicated. He thought, , that resource recovery would be less expensive than landfill, the long run, though capital costs would be about110 a ton; current landfill costs were about $7.60 per ton. ntlke 379 1/14/90 Mr, Harris introduced Lyrn Ferrante of Earth*etrics, a firm retained by JPA to provide coordinating services for JPA. Ms. Ferrante would summarize Phases I and II. Councilor Brenner confirmed with Mr. Harris that costs would be about $10 per ton for resource recovery, and she asked ff the value of the product recovered had been taken into account, Mr. Harris said his figure was for costs only. The $25 million would be amortized over a period of 20 years at about 8 percent. Ferrous metals capable of magnetic separation mould be recovered. Glass and aluminum would probably be best recovered through source separation. Gross value of the fuel product was about $16 a ton --it's actual market worth would depend on negotiations. If $16 could be obtained it would offset the capital costs. But there would still be operating costs. Councilor Brenner asked if federal or state funding could be found for the project. Mr. Harris replied that both federal and state thought waste recovery was a local problems --wastewater was considered a public enterprise, There were pre -construction development funs available, ho ver, to get things underway. There was some subsidy in the form of tax refinancing and there was great emphasis in writing tax provisions in certain laws to give private corporations incentives to invest in waste recovery facilities. Mr. Harris said there was no grant funding or indication of legislation to make grant funding available at the present time. Mayor Henderson noted that estimated figures already seemed out of date with current rate of inflation. Mr. Harris said that the economic analysis in the document needed refining, He noted that inflation just gave larger figures --both for the product and the facility that would produce it, but there was a significant difference between those figures and figures for space for landfill. Resource recovery was much more capital intensive --once the City had it many costs mould be fixed; landfill was labor intensive cost, and that escalated with inflation. Councilm*r Levy rooted that the City would not be the only one practising resource recovery and prices for the products recovered would probably be less in a competitive market. Mr. Harris said that mos an 1aeportant point and that was why not much money should be invested in recovery of glass and aluminum, An article in the Wall Street Journal shoaled that aluminum was being recycles now because of cne economic incentives. 'The driving force in any revery is that steel portion, and-i_dam'c think we're going to saturate that market for sae tom: Vice Nayor Sher asked if the system Mr, Harris was describing was the same as that proposed by Combustion Power, a Menlo Park company, some years back. Mr. Harris replied that Combustion Power's system had involved the use of inappropriate technology --there had been a return to some of the conventional incineration methods since then. Vice Mayor Sher asked if the furl it was propped to form was to be sold or used to create energy by PAR or both. Mr. Harris said that fuel so generated would be sold to either PG&E or San Francisco City and County, Stanford University or the City of Alameda. Use of the fuel by the City of Palo Alto itself did not appear to be as tally attractive as just the straight sate oftb fuel. The potential siting farene ef such facilities preseetted teems, stnceit 3$0 1/14/80 would be so large. The key was to find a market then build the facility. Vice Mayor Sher ascertained that the technology selected would be proven; it would be heat recovery and not a several -stage recovery process. He asked if legislation to reduce solid wastes, such as a bottle bill, was contemplated. Mr. Harris said that the emphasis of JPA had been to look at large scale systems with an eye to reduction of wastes; JPA also emphasized soerce separation. JPA would stress public awareness. Lynn Ferrante, EarthMetrics, said the purpose of the first phase of EarthMetrics' study was to gather information on a variety of resource recovery systems. The Association of Bay Area Governments (AUG). had made population figures available, and predictinns of quantities of waste were developed. EarthMetrics assessed information on markets for ferrous and non-ferrous metals, glass and paper, and also potential markets for electricity, steam, or refuse -derived fuels had been identified and analyzed: Veterans Administration Hospital, Stanford University Palo Alto, and PG&E. Design, land requirements and technology and costs of material -recovery processes were evaluated and three cost-effective options had been identified. Processes were evaluated from the standpoint of technol ogy , environment and econoai cs . She enumerated the other factors EarthMetrics had evaluated and regulations on air quality and their effect on choices. Ms. Ferrante continued. She said that Phase II analyzed selected projects on a site -specific basis in relation to sixteen sites. Four sites had been found to be feasible: Los Altos Treatment site as a possible electrical generating site was not in use at present. It would require annexation to Palo Alto. The second site in Mountain View near Central Expressway and Highway 237 was evaluated for materials recovery and refuse -derived fuel. The Veterans Hospital = i to was evaluated for a modular incineration facility for steam production. Stanford University's recommended site was near an abandoned quarry off Old Page Mill Road. It was considered for an energy -conversion facility; refuse -derived fuel production for the facility would take place at the Los Altos treatment site. Ms. Ferrante continued. A waste stream study had been conducted fly Brown and Caldwell based on the methodology of a five-day truck 9f ten-day we i ght and compos i ti on survey at each l andfi l l ; l andfi l l closures and the resulting impacts had also been assessed. Ms. Ferrante spoke of . the many cents of possible environmental impact that had been factored in, along with risk assessments should Md lyer Canyon in South San Jose not be available for landfill, or if Palo Alto's present l andfi l l Ism - ee. rinse before _ ...minty tees _ . _ . I t Meer# t.. eit s etee w.srsrle4 test . +8 w mac. - - . :iw=+s.+ . o�.ej 4wrw. r. - e .....W v`r `G. . `.w C�_••..r�.s- rV -v. fiY pursue- a resource recovery p est_ whenever _ reserve landfill - ca ci - fell below ten years' use. Amt six to ten years meld be needed to bring a resource rtery gyration into action. In the JPA only Mbuntain view and Palo Alto had met yet reached that limit. Ms. Ferrante said that a rrefuse-4erived fuel facility at the Central Expressway site had been found to be most feasible, though there were market uncertainties and there were problems with the site regarding zoning. The site was now zoned light industrial, and would have to be zoned for heavy industrial. Also, she said, ten of the fourteen acres were protected under the Williamson Act for agricultural tural use. The site was now privately owed.- The residual waste would have to be landfilled at a cost of about $13.60 a ton in 1996, with coestruction costs to run about $22 million. Ms. Ferrante said the electrical generating site at the . Los Altos site had the most stable conditions, bUt about a l00 -foot high stack in a bayshore area and economic considerations were disadvantages. Landfill costs would be about $20.50 a ton, with the comstpuctions cats estimated at OS million. Mark Harris explained that a term frequently used in the ivA WAS "co- generati'on." That meant that an energy source was used twice, that is, both steam and electricity, for example. would be recovered, The term "modular" described smaller resource recovery systems; 50-100 tons a day as opposed to about 1000 tons a day. It was possible that a place lime the Veterans Hospital could use such a facility, saving transportatton and handling costs and saving effort trying to locate a site for a huge facility for regional use. Also, emission standards would be more easily met. Mr. Harris said that the ten-year clock (on dimtntshtng landfill sites) was already ticking, and perhaps JPA should have started construction a couple of years ago. Councilmenber Fletcher ascertained that the term "tipping fee" meant the price that had to be charged per ton of garbage to bring the facility to a break-even point on costs. "Refuse -derived fuel" would be the remains of the organic waste stream --grass, leaves, paper, cardboard, reduced to particle size that would leave small amount of ash. Aluch that went into the garbage can was non-compostable. RECESS: Council recessed from 9:42 to lO;OO p.m. STUDY SESSION RE JOINT POWERS .oncuriarvararr-Trifnt•) Mr, Harris said that staff recommended that a refuse -derived fuel facility at the Los Altos sewage treatment site be pursued. He showed a slide of that facility. The boilers, cooling towers and 100 -foot stack had been eliminated from the proposal; it could resemble pictures he had circulated among Councilmembers of the Chicago facility. Palo Alto's recommendation was to be considered by the JPA, governing board and that would be to make a detailed economic study of all impacts related to inflation and fuel costs. A market was to be sought within the next few months. It was recd ended that interim sites for landfill at Mountain View's Stierlin Road, and future use of Hellyer Canyon be pursued --technologically the canyon was ideal but the impact on the surrounding areas had to be assessed. Should JPA recommend for the Los Altos site Palo Alto would be asked to commit to its fair share and allocate en additional $12,000- $15,000 for further study. The Los Altos site was within the Palo Alto sphere of influence and would eventually be: annexed into the City; a commitment to Step II, phase 3, would require an additional $150,000 and that would complete all the necessary work up to the pre -construction phase, which was an EIR, and a financing package. If it were determined that any jurisdiction was impacted more than another by construction of the facility that jurisdiction would receive some compensatory adjustment, and would have influence in choice of design' end the like. __. Ma nr wren a et,F.T i 'ter that Harris vortti d . be _ returning 44. rr--nc i l � ._ .... -..• Harris 13 arri C1C {.I'4. ti with the _ JPA recommendation, _ and thy: Co xi l wuld - take action. Counci 7member Fazztno, Palo Altos reementative to JPA, said that _ the only action JPA would be taking in the meeting to occur within two days Was to decide whetherort not to spend $50,000 more on additional gathering of information related to the Los Altos treatment site. Palo Alto could, at any time during the next two years, decide not to put anymore money into the propasa l . Councilsaamber Witherspoon asked wiry one or another jurisdiction should claim the proposed Los Altos site; why not leave it in Los Altos? Van Schreiber, Assistant Director of Planning end Community Environment, said the proposed site was incorporated with but not contiguous to Los Altos. Under Local Agency Formation Cc ssi+ ( O) rules and regu1 atto1 s the area was part of the Palo Alto sphere of influence. LAFC© would require .the site's annexation to Pelo Alto prior to any substantial development. 382 1/14/00 Councilor Witherspoon said she did not thank any•lobbyin9 would have much effect on residents near Hellyer Canyon to push for it as a landfill site. Mr. Harris said he thought the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors realized that landfill was necessary; there was an EIR for Hellyer Canyon, and it had an approved permit; residential concern had held up going forward with its use as a landfill. There was controversy but polittcal efforts would have to be made. Councilarernber Witherspoon learned that householders could take household refuse to the proposed sites as they had done in the past to & landfill site. Vice Mayor Sher asked questions aboue height and traffic. Mr. Harris replied that the height of the proposed facility would be about 50 feet; traffic would have freeway access and would not impose unduly on any neighborhood. The garbage fleet of each city could discharge its garbage at the facility, and would be charged a tipping fee calculated to make it possible to meet operating costs. The more efficient the recovery system and source separation the less the tipping fees would amount to. Vice Mayor Sher ascertained that depending on arrangements with purchasers trucks would deliver fuel from the source at the proposed site to the customer's delivery point. Trucks would also carry out the residues. Were long-term contracts with purchasers anticipated? Mr. Harris replied that a revenue source had to be found so that the facility could be financed. A dialogue between Mr. Harris and Vice Mayor Sher ensued, and disclosed that should Palo Alto not find a market for refuse -derived fuel elsewhere the City might undertake to become its own market, and generate electricity at the Los Altos refuse site, complete with boilers and the 100 -foot smokestack. A place for residue had to be found, should Hellyer Canyon not be available. Some conclusion was foreseen within four to six months. A letter of intent would specifiy the terms of a long-term contract. Vice Mayor Sher said the questions of who would buy the fuel, and where it was to be generated remained; the site must be a long way away, he said, or Palo Alto might be a customer far it, if an environmentally sound place for the residue were found. Mr. Harris replied that the economics of sending the product to the Collinsville Plant in the Delta ads to its _coal-fired ge rating facil. a * being built by PG&E, were best. lTh assumption that that could be done was untested, Mr. Harris said, Vice !fir Sher said much energy would be consumed transporting the fuel to that location in the Suisun marsh - He had attended a meeting at the s i tee-P%4E was proposing two 104 -car coal -loaded trains a day. Vice Mayor Sher continued; he asked if it was assume that the Palo Alto landfill would be closed out as soon as possibl .* Mr. Harris replied that the assumption of early closure was wrong; use of Hellyer Canyon had Met to be established, and resource recovery had to be explored to its fullest. Caunctlmaber Fletcher ascertained that about- 75 percent of waste would become reuse-dertved fuel; 25 percent remaining glass would become landfill. 383 Councilm nber Brenner ascertained that the residue thus formed would contain less toxicity than ash residue --the organic portion became the fuel, the metal portion was recovered. Mr. Harris told her that about five of the thirteen acres would be taken by the proposed plant. Ken Schreiber said that five acres was about 200,000 square feet of coverage. Counci i +ber Brenner said she liked the idea of refuse -derived fuel but Corrected the building would be huge, She noted that nearby buildings had been See Pg.414 required to keep to a 35 -foot height ll it. She calculated the number 2/4/80 of incoming and outgoing trucks, and the routes they would take. She thought Palo Alto should work on becoming its owe market. She noted the political difficulty of putting pressure on the blue-collar netghhorhood near Hellyer Canyon to take residue that Palo Alto did not want. She noted that low- and middle -income housing had been difficult to generate. She observed that the proposed plant was on land that would experience violent quakes IA an earthquake. Was the proposed building planned to withstand that risk? Mr. Harris replied that he thought seismic considerations had been taken into account; the facility could handle it. Councilor Brenner said she understood the land was not a part of the City drainage system, and that meant flood problem. did the land have to be raised to support the building? How much had the other site had to be raised? Mr. Schreiber replied that he thought the flood insurance act required a seven -foot minimum raise. Most projects were being raised seven and one-half feet: first floor elevation. Only the five acres foe the building site had to be raised, A little bit of grading had been done, the plans were in the plan -check process and would probably be approved within 10 days. He shooed a slide of the Los Altos sewage site, along with one of the adjacent property. The site was designed to be several compartments: each varied in size, for warehousing with smaller areas for starter fleas. Mayor arson asked that discussion deal with guidance for Councilmember Fsezino when he attended the JPA meeting, and not digress into details. Mr. Harris said he thought that the other cities should know that there was interest in the site for future refuse recovery If Council felt it was the correct direction to take. that could be expressed at the Wednesday meting. Vice M*yor° Sher confirmed that Council had to explore a site for re ource _ recovery sa that tha City% landfill site could be closed. The idea of eloping a fuel with the waste stream. the fuel to be transported, was a new idea to hire. That the fuel was going so far away raised a question about apossible l -ter customer; that seamedto`himtobeakey factoe and he wondered how quickly en answer that was a fires commibment old be obtained, Those explorations had to be mom. Councileember Encino said he thought that was the dilemma facing the City. He thought it would be valuable to hear any objections as to the enviroemental somas of the site. Coencileember Witherspoon said she would like to see the next phase doped; she woodered if transpert of the refuse -generated fuel could be by barge or railroad, though she sear no VW. to avoid having the refase trucked I. Councilmseber Brenner said she favored p dthg, and that environmental Corrected oonceres that malt stop the project shoOld be noted. She thought it See Pg. 414 2/4/80 3.84 1/14/80 would be a good idea to lower the height, if passtble, Mr. Harris said that after the 3PA meeting the project would be referred to the Plannthg Coortisston if all went well; it late February or early March the suggesttons of iPA and Planning Commtsston would return t3 Council. Councilme+i er Fazzino said that the technology would imply some envtronmental tradeoffs --a decision had to be made. The PA would be urged to approve a concept for refuse disposal that was most consistent with the comprehensive plans of the PA's adjudicating cities. He thanked Mark Harris for the good report. CO'iLMEMBER BRENNERRE STAFF Councilmen er Brenner praised the maintenance work of City staff during the storm of the preceding day. William Zarwer, , City Manager, said he would pass that praise along. Councilmember Levy noted that Ed Aghayen, Director of Utilities, had explained the electric arcs caused by trees brushing against lines had caused most outages, both for PG&E and for the City. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None ADJOURNMENT TO EXECUTIVE SESSION Council adjourned at 10:50 p.m. to executive session regarding litigation. The Executive Session and the meting adjourned at 12:15 a. .