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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06241974CITY COUNCIL MNUTES June 24, 1974 CITY or- MLO FLTC) Adjourned Meetin of Jenne 17 z 1974 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date at 7:30 p.m. in an adjourned meeting of June 17, 1974, with Vice Mayor Enid Pearson presiding. Present: Beahrs, Berwald, Clay, Henderson, Pearson, Norton, Sher Absent: Comstock Lytton Plaza Mr. Sipel felt his report of June 13th was self-explanatory, but he said would be pleased to answer any questions that members of Council had, Vice Mayor Pearson noted this was an item which she had put on the agenda regarJing the Lytton Plaza in downtown Palo Alto, It had been her suggestion that staff inquire into the possibility of purchasing the plaza and the building next door, both of which are owned by the Great Western Savings. The building contains 6,500 square feet, and the plaza is 8,500 square feet. Great Western is willing to sell both the building and the plaza for $250,000, and she understood they would be willing to sell them separately. One question which staff asked had been whether the development of a downtown design plan should precede any more major public expenditures in the area for aesthetics and open space. Vice Mayor Pearson said her answer to that would be that the city does need more open space in downtown Palo Alto, the Plaza is already there, and it has been used in the past pleasantly and signf±cantly by shoppers and people who work in downtown Palo Alto. Further, in response to staff's questions, she felt maintaining the Plaza as open space would tie in with the downtown beautification project. She noted that the plaza had begin to be maintained, with light bu1ba being put on the fixtures. It was her opinion that Lytton Plaza and the building would be a good addition to downtown Pain Alto, and she personally would like to see both purchased. Vice Mayor Pearson believed the building might be a good place to locate the Senior Citizens' Center, and she pointed out that there was approximately 5,000 square feet on the ground floor, plus a basement and a second story. The senior citizens need a minimum of 4,500 square feet if they are going to have a place where meals can be served, such as is now the case at La Coaawida at the church on Waver'ey. It also would be a place where seniors could go and get the special information they need as senior citizene. Vice Mayor Pearson noted that several groups had written to Council to inform them that they would be willing to rent space in such a building. It was her proposal that Council support the purchase of both sites. Councilman Sher asked to hear from Mr. Sipel as to the feasibility of the Great Western building for a project such as a Senior Center, a Youth Center, or any of the other facilities for which the city might need to provide space. 583 6/24/74 Mr. Sipel responded that staff had made no analysis of the bui'ding itself to determine specific uses to which it could be put. }e felt, however, that generally its location for a senior facility, in terms of where seniors are in the area, would be rather good. With regard to a Youth Center, he said the city had been looking for a facility that would be more centrally located to the three high schools. He questioned locating this kind of a public use on a major thoroughfare which is commercial in nature. Councilman Beahrs believed purchasing this property would be an extravagant expenditure of public money. He could see a great need for money in other programs that were highly desirable in the community, including the expansion and development of neighborhood parka. Therefore, he would not support the proposal. Councilman Clay asked if it would indeed be possible to purchase the plaza separately. Mr. Sipel replied that in the discussions with the representative of Great Western, the indication was they wished to sell the property as a package; however, in further discussions, some ways had come up whereby the city could sell off the building if they wished to do that as part of the tote]. transaction, Great Western's desire, though, is to sell the open space and the building as a package, Ccuncilman Clay asked how this might impact the senior study that was about to begin, Mr. Sipel responded there was no doubt that staff would go ahead with the senior study, and there was another proposal in the budget that would impact the senior study about the same amount. The suggestion is that there ought to be a facility of approximately 2,500 square feet available for seniors. This building is subsantially larger and if it Caere to be used for seniors only, it could help to very quickly hake the decision that Council has before it of whether to include La Camida or not, Councilman Clay asked if any of the financial data had been worked out with regard to down payment, carrying costs, etc. Air. Sipel responded negatively and said the only financial information is the asking price, the parking assessments, and the beautification assessments that currently exist against the property, If Council wished to proceed, the next step would be to get an appraisal and to talk about terms with the potential seller. Councilman Clay asked how long the property had been on the znaxket. Mx. Sipel said approximately four or five years, and to his recollection there were contacts that had been made in the late sixties, Councilman Henderson said he saw some people in the audience who were in attendance at the Finance and Public Works Committee meeting when the Senior Citizen's Center was being discussed, and they probably heard his referring to "you know what property" in discussions with Ms. Sipel, and he could now aay that this was the "you know what property" he had been referring to. He felt this location would be an ideal one for such a center, and ha noted there was plenty of space for - the 2,500 square feet mentioned for reg:lar activities of the center, plus 5 8 4 6/24/74 sufficient space for the lunch service and enough space left over for offices for organizations that have work related to senior citizens' activities. Councilman Henderson said he had computed that the purchase cost would be about $38.00 per square foot. The rental figures that had been proposed would mean about $6.00 per square foot per year so that its six to seven years, the city would be paying off the full purchase price of the building and the plaza; whereas if the city rented the space, it would still be paying the rental costs after seven years. Councilman Henderson agreed that the city should plan for open space but felt this was an exceptional, special opportunity for purchase. This is not really adding open space, but preserving some that is already there. He urged suppprt of the entire idea of purchasing the building and the plaza. MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, that staff be directed to negotiate with Great Western to acquire the plaza and building, and to determine the best way to acquire it with regard to down payments over a period of years, and further that it be added to the budget. Councilman Rosenbaum stated he did not feel there hsd been sufficient analysis, and he questioned whether the city should buy that much cffice space. The fact that it was not all on the first floor was a negative point as far .s senior citizens were concerned. -e said he would favor buying the plaza, since he felt it vas a very significant piece of open space and would not like to see an office building go in there. Councilman Rosenbaum said he would vote against the present motion. Vice Mayor Pearson offered to divide the motion so that Council members could vote for the building, or the plaza, or both. This would mean the first part of the motion would be staff be directed to negotiate regarding the purchase of the plaza itself, and the second part would be for the building. She said that in that case, if just the plaza were approved, staff would have to go back and negotiate with Great Western to see if it were possible to obtain just the plaza. Mr. Sigel said staff would need some flexibility in that action. He thought one of the ways it could be done would be to enter into an agreement with Great Western to purchase the whole thing, but have a contingency of sale within a certain period of time such as ninety to one hundred and twenty days, to someone in the private sector. He felt the whole transaction would have to include both parts to make the situation feasible for Great Western, Mr, Sipel added that since he had not pursued this at any length with Great Western, he did not really know what their limitations and interests were. Vice Mayor Pearson wondered then if the station should be to direct staff to negotiate with Great Western to determine the best way to acquire the plaza, and have staff come back to Council with a report. Councilman Berwald asked if a park or open space on University Avenue was part of the downtown perks etedy long-term objectives. Mr: Sipel said he could not recall that answer, but his guess was that it was not. He thought the open space identified in the study was off of University Avenue, with some "green fingers" protruding from University to Lytton and to Hamilton, Vice Mayor Pearson recalled there was a multi -million dollar program for purchase of land between E barr.adero and the creek, but she did 5 8 5 6/24/74 not feel any pinpointing had been done. There were simply little green plazas shown here and there with an attempt made to not be specific because they did not want anyone to get the idea that someone was trying to acquire that particular piece of land. There was the idea, however, that there should be mini -parks and open spaces in downtown Palo Alto. The Plaza has been open space for about ten years and provides a very pleassat oasis in the downtown area. She felt a high-rise building on that site would be a detriment to university Avenue. Councilman Berwald felt that the city had a number of priorities, and Council would be talking about them later on in the next agenda. Some of the priorities are financially demanding on the city, such as child care, the drug abuse program, senior citizens` center, and on and on. There had been counsels from the City Manager about the need to,eet priorities and stick to them. Re recalled that the city still had the Webster block undeveloped and held in city ownership for a couple of years, and still had the Downtown Park North undeveloped, and for these reasons he was not too willing to go along with the purchase of a new piece of property at this time. Councilman Berwald said he would be willing to support a motion to have the staff examine varicus alternatives short of purchase to keep this parcel as open space. Ifiit were found that purchase were the only avenue, then he would support a study of the purchase. He really felt there were other alternatives and they should be explored before a vote was taken to negotiate for the purchase of the property. MOTION WITHDRAWN Vice Mayor Pearson withdrew her rioiion. MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, the subject of purchase and alternatives of Lytton Plaza for determination as to how to uiai twin the plaza as open space and whether or not the building can be used for a senior center be referred to the Finance and Public Works Committee. 'ails motion to refer passed on the following vote: AYES: Berwald, Clay, Henderson, Pearson, Sher, Rosenbaum NOES: Beahrs, Norton taajaitaLeaveauttc4ffigiieADAMAXd re Bur&lary and Relate_ r.t ea W I r __the_C MOTION: Councilman Berwald moved, seconded by Norton, that this matter be continued for one more week to July 1st. The motion passed on a unanimous vote. (tom: 343:4) Vice Mayor Pearson stated that all the Council members had received :eanatter from Mr. Deverel before he left the city regarding the Tower property on Alma, and she had plated it on the agenda so a decision could be made as to whether Council wanted to dispose of the property. 566 6/24/74 Councilman Berwald felt the Tower property wss a piece of open space that should remain perhaps as an historical monument, with some benches aided to make it usefel to people. Other than that, he felt Council should do nothing with the property but to retain it as a city facility. Councilman Beahrs recommended that the property be returned to the tax rolls, and he said he was not addicted to preserving everything that wes ever built in Palo Alto. He felt the offer to purchase was ridiculously low. MOTION: Councilman Beahrs moved that the Tower property be advertised for sale. The motion died for the lack of a second. Vice Mayor Pearson said she was not inclined to do anything at the moment. She asked for comments from Mr. Sipel. Mr. Sipel noted that when staff sent its report, one of the concluding sentences was a "speak or forever hold your peace" type of statement where staff indicated its intention to advertise the property =or sale and development unless it heard otherwise from the Council. He said staff would not get around to doing anything for at least sixty days. MOTION: Councilman Norton moved, seconded by Berwald, that Council convey to the City Manager that it was the sense of Council that nothing be done to the Tower property. The notion passed on the following vote: AYES: Berwald, Clay, Henderson, Pearson, Sher, Norton NOES: Beahrs, Rosenbaum uest of un c i1 Appo tment to .ante Clare ounty m2 ortation Commission + Vice Mayor Pearson noted that Council should appoint one of its members to a two-year tears to the County Transportation Commission. She said that Councilman Rosenbaum had been a member of the Santa Clara County Transportation Commission for the past two years and it was up to Council to re -appoint him if he wished it. Councilman Rosenbaum volunteered his services. MOTION: Councilman Beahrs moved, seconded by Berwald, that Councilman Rosenbaum be re -appointed to the Santa Clara County Transportation Co;a- m.isaion for a two year term expiring June 30, 1976. The motion passed on a unanimous vote. i uest of Cc�euxci? t i easier .> cis a Status pb-..�r�sosir �.rha its .ra�ln�r��k ww® rae Report on Pesticide C„Q got p.4404162, Councilman Henderson referred to his memo of June 13 to Council members in which he stated he had been having discussions with Paul J. Growald, 5 8 7 6/24/74 a Palo Alto resident and President of the Self -Reliance Institute, con- cerning the benefits to be derived from a proposed integrated insect control program for street trees and parks. Mr. Growald would like to see Palo Alto have a program similar to the one in Berkeley which had been highly successful. Mr. Paul Growal, 628 Georgia, said he would like to see a detailed report of exactly how much pesticide use is going on in the city, how much money is spent, specifically what types of pesticides are being used, and money in terms of labor and pesticide costs directly. Also, he wanted to know what progress had been made toward adoption of an integrated biological control program.. Mr. Growald recommended that all of the money in this year's proposed budget be allocated to reducing pesticide use and reducing insect population on the trees. Councilman Henderson felt it was important for Council and all interested citizens to know where the city was at the moment in these programs, and what the plans were for the near future. MOTION: Councilman Henderson moved, seconded by Rosenbaum, that Council direct staff to prepare a report for Council an the status of pest control and the use of pesticides in Palo Alto. Councilman Norton said this was the kind ,,f thing that Mr. Growald could have found out by calling fir. Sipel. He comm-rented that Council has had these reports before, and it was probably helpful to have them updated; however, he pointed out that the subject of pesticides had been gone into quite often in the past, and he would prefer that Mr. Sipel not have to spend .3 lot of time on it. It was Councilman Norton's feeling that perhaps a one -page report would suffice for a change. Councilman Beahrs agreed with Councilman Norton, saying that this kind of information was readily available from the staff. He noted that fungus was as much of a problem as anything, and he did not think it any great burden to throw in a few milligrams of pesticide since te trees had to be sprayed anyway. This would give double action out of the labor involved. Councilman Berwald asked to hear comMents from Mr. Sipel, who had given Council several reports on pesticides over the past year. Mr. Sipel responded that in terms of providing Council with a status report, that could be done relatively quickly and easily. He felt the results of the report would show what Mx. Growald already knew from discussions with staff, and that was that staff was not moving as comprehen- sively or as fast as Mr. Growald would like the city to do. Councilman Sher asked if the motion in referring to the use of pesticides in Palo Alto meant the use of pesticides by the city of Palo Alto. Councilman Henderson responded affirmatively. CouwiciiMan Sher said he felt there was aoue kind of behind -the -scenes mystery involved in this matter, but if Mr. Sipel was willing to give a report on the matter, then he would vote for it. Vice Mayor Pearson favored a status report, commenting that such reports are prepared periodically, but there was a request from a citizen asking what is being done in Palo Alto. Further, it was a good idea to keep Council up-to-date on this subject. 588 6/24/74 The motion passed on the following vote: AYES. Clay, Henderson, Pearson, Norton, Sher, Rosenbaum NOES: Beahrs ABSTAIN: Berwald itec3ue$t of Councilman Henders zo� f.o-t' a- -�yrees rinwrr .r +fermi irsw��c�r.wnauM •+Ile .� Discussion of Alma --San Antonio Project: ( en n ust_rie Councilman Henderson felt that by now all of the Council members had been involved with this subject one way or another, concerning the f111 that was brought in and the new elevations that were causing some distress to people in the adjacent neighborhood. Discussion the week before had been held off because of the possibility of litigation, but the suit had been withdrawn and Council was free to talk about 1t. Councilman Henderson said that as a result of all the discussions involving the City Manager, the City Attorney, and Council members, there had been an alleviation of the problem to some extent. The height involved was now considerably less than it had been before. Councilman Clay asked whit changes had been made. Bernard Pawloski, Director of Public Works, said as a result of disc.u.ssions with property owners, the one significant change made vial the floor slab in one building was lowered eight inches. Several other proposals had been made but were found to be unacceptable by the residents. Councilman Henderson said it was his understanding that the fill was lowered, that it had been as high as three feet and was now down to a F:a.ximuis: of something like 1.7 feet. Mr. Pawloski responded that lowering the slab did entail reducing the height of the fill. Councilman Henderson asked if this had been done to just one property. Mr, Pawloski responded affirmatively. Councilman Berwald asked if the slab that had been repourecl was on the east side. Mr. x?awloski replied that it was on the easterly side, and It was lowered before the slab was poured. Councilman Berwald said he walked through the area that evening, and the fill was at ill fairly high on that side. He wanted to hear comments about the fact that the slabs are not poured, but the cement slurries had been poured, and the wooden forma are up on the easterly side, but there was nothing but fill on the northerly side. Those sites on the northerly side, however, were still higher than the neighbors would like to have them. Councilman PJosenbauw commented that some of the residents in the area are of the feeling that builders will quite often unnecessarily build up slabs in order to avoid the necessity of trucking away dirt. He eked Mx. Pawloski if it were hia impression that that sort of thing went on. Y,r. Pawrlosk.i respon4ed that one of the fundamental considerations in the grading of a site is to get adequate drainage for storm drainage 584 6/24/74 and also proper drainage of the plumbing system. A secondary consideration is to try to balance the amount of cut and fill that is on the site so that excess material does not need to he hauled out or in. Councilman Rosenbaum asked Mr. Pawloski if .:e were of the feeling in this particular case that the various height elevations are necessary for proper drainage. Mr. Pawloski replied affirmatively. He said a look at the fill on thn site shoved some areas at existing grade, some begin at existing grade and several hundred feet farther down is the area near Hemlock Court where there is about two feet of fill. Mr. Pawloski noted that the whole question of fill had to be put in proper context, and there wale a drawing from the developer iu the Council members' packets that explained the significance of the fill. It turned out to be relatively insignificant because of the type of construction that was chosen. Councilman Sher did not wish to cut off discussion if there were something still at issue, but the memo from the City Attorney's office stated that the lawsuit was withdrawn, and the property was to be considerably Icier. He asked is there were really any issues left between the parties involved. Councilman Henderson said he was still receiving telephone calls daily from people in the area so there was something at issue. The question his to o with the fill that was brought in and the elevation is now higher than what appeared to be true in the drawings Council received when the P -C was passed. Some people had done some checking and said the drawings indicated about nineteen feet, whereas the construction seemed to be going up to twenty-two feJ.t. Councilman Clay referred to the project going in at Creenmeadow and Alma and asked what had been done there to avoid going through this sort of thing. Mr. Pawloski said he was not familiar with the details on that project. For purpoaea of clarification_, Mr. Pawloski stated that he felt some people were misled to begin with. He explained that in looking at the fill, people assumed that meeent the building would be two feet higher because there was fill on the existing ground. it turns out: that the floor level on the existing house on Hemlock Court is eight inches lower than the floor level of the adjacent house which is not yet built. That teems to he a contradiction, but the difference is that the existing house has approximately a twenty-four inch crawl space beneath the floor; whereas the new unit has a concrete slab floor with no crawl space. Therefore, it is placed en approximately two feet of fill. If that construction were similar to the existing house, it would have the two feet of crawl" space beneath it, the fill would probably not have been placed, but the end result would probably have been the same. Raul Conti, 164 f'erne Court, said he felt that he had suffered a loss of privacy in his back yard from the fill in question. He explained his hose was an Eichler one, and one of the architectural concepts is to open the house to the outside through extensive use of glass. Throughout tha hearings with Dividend Industries about their development, there was no indication given that the houses would sit on fill pads. Hr. Conti felt the point at issue was whether there was an unexpected raising' of this grading, and the best solutiou would be to leer the grading. He said if this would be a real hardship, he would be willing to compromise by having the developer put up an effective screen. The developer had suggested a lendscaping ss.creen, but Hr. Conti felt that would take some 540 6/24/74 time before it would be effective, it was hard to specify, and there would be no real control over it. He stated than an eight foot fence would be easily specified, effective from the beginning, and would restore two feet of pritacy. Councilman Sher asked If Mx. Conti could explain his basis of understanding that there would be no raising of the level on the development. He wanted to know if it was because of some representation that the developer had made to Mi. Conti, or wee it due to some documentation in connection with the P -C zoning, or was it just a personal assumption. Mr. Conti responded chat the only information on the elevation of the buildings -that was available was in two perspective renditions that were part of the development's plans. He said they looked perfectly flat with their adjacent grading. Councilman Beahrs asked how far the back of Mr. Conti's house was from the fence. Mr. Conti replied that it was fourteen feet at the closest point. Councilman Beahrs said he understood the developer had offered to raise the fence, and he felt that was probably the best solution, recommending a lattice type of addition to the fence that could be covered with something like wisteria. Joseph Wakabayashi, 182 fetlock Court, said the =Sorest spot was that he had discussed grading with 5r. Oliver of Dividend Industries, pointing out that excess illegal fill was being dumped on the lot by swirni.1rtg pool builders. `fr. Wakabayashi had called the city more than once asking to have this practice stopped. He stated that Mr. Oliver had assured hid, that the grade would be continued. Dividend Industries was putting the only two story unit on the periphery of his boundary, and his house was the one closest to the boundary of the development. The added height was really the last straw as far as he was concerned. He explained that his house did not have a 24" crawl space as had been mentioned, but the houses was about 18" above grade and there was about a 6" cud: underneath the grade to create that crawl space. Mr. Wakabayashi gave facts to illustrate his belief that the fill was not necese sry for drainage or for the saving of a tree in the area. In his opinion, the builder's motive was simply one or economy so that no dirt need be hauled in or out. Mr. Watr.kabeyashi asked Council to find that the actual construction is rot substantially as shown in the development plans, or if the Council required additional time to consider the matter that it request the builder to postpone further work on the building until the matter can be considered with appropriate thoroughness. Councilman Rosenbaum noted that Hr. Conti thought his aitua.tion could be ameliorated if the fence were raised two feet, and he asked Mr. Wakabayashi if that would help his situation. Mr. Wakabayashi responded that if his home were as far away from the fence as Hrr. Conti's then he would feel that would be an acceptable solution, but he pointed out that his house was only nine feet from the fence. Frank Crossley, 193 Hemlock Court, spoke in support of Mr. Wakabayasshi's appeal. He said he stood on the pad in question and could see directly into two rooms of Mr. Wakabaya.shi'e house, and he considered this a serious violation of privacy. He asked that steps be taken to redress the wrongs that were being done to the property owners that butt up against the development. 5 9 1 6/24/74 Richard Whaley, 4240 Briarwood Way, civil engineer, looked at the pads and in his opinion they could have been lowered. He felt the builder was merely trying to balance the cut and fill. Councilman Beahrs asked Mr. Whaley how many days work would be necessary to reduce the height of the pad. Mr. Whaley replied the problem was that the foundation had been poured ane the utility connections were being put in, so that it would be necessary to remove concrete to lower the pad. It would take a day to a day and one-half to remove the concrete, and another half day to six hours to lower the pad. Councilman Beahrs asked how many slabs had been poured. Mr. Whaley replied that he believed most of them along the fence line had been poured. Clement Chin, 4288 Briarwood Way, reaffirmed all of the previous citizens' statements. Mr. Richard Oliver, Vice President, Dividend Industries, stated he had spent many hours with Mx. Wakabayashi trying to resolve the problem, but they had reached an impasse. He said no one in his company had ever misrepresented anything to Mr. Wakabayashi; to the Council, Staff, or Planning Commission. He explained that if there had been any indiscretion it was perhaps their not realizing the extent necessary of the grading operations at the time he was before the Planning Commission and the City Council. Mr. Oliver explained that about $1,500 was expended to remove the fill opposite Mr. Wakabayashi's horse, which was seven -tenths of a foot. He pointed out such other problems as driveways six inches apart where there would be separation of elevations. Councilman Henderson asked if. Mr. Oliver would respond to Mr. Conti's problem, where he seemed to be speaking in teams of a fence problem. 24r, Oliver said he suggested adding a lattice and putting some planting on it, but Mt. Conti did not want planting on the development side because he feared it would not be maintained. Mr. Oliver felt this was the sane problem every home owner had in the entire city, and he felt this was an unreasonable approach. Councilman Berwald asked if pads 7 and 8 were now 36.8 elevation. Mr. Oliver responded chat those two pads were 38.2, having been dropped by aseven-tenths of a iToot. Councilman Berwald asked what the elevation was of the Wakabayashi property. Mr. Oliver replied that the elevation at the fence line ias 37,2. Councilman Berwald said what he could not understand was that `'ir. Oliver said the grades before he did any moving of the dirt were between 36.5 at the fence and then some other figure because it rose rather Sharply. Mr. Oliver said that Mx. Conti's lot went from 36.5 to 37.8, approximately. Councilman Berwald said he thought Mr. Wakabayashi said the pad was 37.5 originally on the two homes opposite his property. 34r. Oliver explained that the 37,5 elevation was the one opposite Mfr. Conti's home. Councilman Berwaid asked what it was opposite Mr. Wakabayaahi'a home. Mar. Oliver replied that it was originally 38.9, and the elevation on 592 6/24/74 1 that whole strip was 37.5, and it dropped down to about 38.5. MOTION: Councilman Berwald moved, seconded by Beahrs, to continue this matter for one week. Councilman Henderson said the concern was that if Council continued this matter, further work would be done during the week that would make it impossible to alleviate the situation. He asked Mr. Oliver what would happen in that week. Mr. Oliver replied that the concrete glebe were scheduled to be poured on Thursday. MOTION WITHDRAWN Councilman Berwald withdrew his motion to continue the matter. Councilman Berwald asked Mr. Oliver what he could do that he had not done for Mr. Wakabayashi. Ile asked if Mr. Oliver could reduce the elevations any more, could the houses be made less intrusive, and had he seen the pictures Mr. Wakabayashi gave to Council. Mr. Oliver said he saw the picture with the white outline Welch Blade his building look immense, and it was not an accurate representation. Councilman Berwald asked if Mr. Oliver's drawing was an accurate portrayal. M.r. Oliver. said that was the portrayal of how his company envisioned it looking before Hemlock Court was open and before they knew the requirements. Councilman Berwald asked what else, if anything, Mr. Oliver could do. Mr. Oliver pointed out there was not one two-story window that looks over any property of Mr. Wakabayashi's. All there is, is a continuation of a roof sine that drops down to an elevation of about eight feet. Councilman Berwald asked if anything else could be done. Mr. Oliver said he had made an offer of landscaping and raising the fence. Councilman Berwald asked how much it would cost to remove the pads. Mr. Oliver replied that it would be somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand dollars. Councilman Berwald asked if the grade across from Mr. Conti'a home could be lowered. Mi. Oliver said Mr. Conti told him he would not request that kind of a change, and so they did no engineering studies on that. Councilman the week, Councilman and advise Berwald asked if the pads would be poured on that side during Mr. Oliver responded negatively. Berwald asked if Mr. Oliver would be willing to study that the staff as to whether that pad could be lowered. Hr. Oliver responded affirmatively, but he pointed out that when you charged pads, you had to look at what happened to water in and around front and back yards and how it pertains to streets that are already graded. Councilman Berwald asked if Mr. Oliver would be willing to add a trellis and some plantings. Mr. Oliver, responded affirmatively. 593 6/24/74 Vice Mayor Pearson stated that what she was hearing was that the developer did comply with everything that was required by the city, but what happened was typical. She said Council did not really address themselves to gradirL,gs unless they are really pointed out to them, and they do believe architectural renderings. This points up one more question in P -C's, and that is one that Council members would certainty be aware of from now on. She felt the only thing she could see happening now was the developer being asked to alleviate the situation with a fence. Councilman Henderson asked staff if there had been any failure by the developer in meeting the P -C requirements. Staff responded negatively. Councilman Henderson asked if there were any basis for Council to request the developer to construct a higher fence. Mr. Booth replied that the Council had no particular authority to require the developer to put a higher fence in at this stage or to do landscaping; however, ir. Oliver had agreed to do this if Council so desired. MOTION: Councilman Henderson Roved, seconded by Beahrs, that Council request the developer to take such action that will ameliorate the problems with the neighbors including the posaibility of adding two feet to the fence on Conti property with trellis and plantings, Councilman Norton said too much time had been spent on this matter at this meeting. He felt that what had happened was unfortunate, but he did not feel there was anything the city could or should do, MOTION 0 TABLE: Councilman Norton moved that the entire matter be tabled. The motion to table died for the lack of a second. Councilman Rosenbaum asked Mr. Booth if the developer were free to change the height of the fence and add landscaping without amending the P -C plans. Mr, Booth responded that if the fence height were to be increased over six feet, the P -C plan would have to be amended; however, there were some alternative support situations in landscaping which perhaps would not require such a change. He added that staff would be presenting in July or i ugust some chEngea in the fence ordinance that will allow this type of thing to be done through a much simpler procedure. At the moment, if the developer wants to increase the fence height, he will have to amend the P -C zone to do so. Support materials for landscaping are not covered by the fence ordinance; therefore, that would be acceptable without such a change. Councilman Rosenbaum asked Mr. Oliver if he would be willing to apply for an amendment to the P -C ordinance. Mr. Oliver replied that he would rather wait until July or August to see if an easier way would be resolved to take care of the matter. If that would not be forthcoming, then at the end of August he would be willing to seek the amendment. The motion paused on a unanimous vote. Oral Socavp. ice t iQua None. 5 9 4 6/24/74 A4 iourr►went The June 17 meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m., June 24, 1974. June 24, 1974 1 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date at 9:20 p.n. in a regular meeting with Vice Mayor Pearson presiding. Present: 5eahre, gerwald, Clay, Henderson, Norton, Pearson, Sher, Rosenbaum Absent: Comstock *See: do re t u�barton Prfdge �+. v.r wirt�FVrm C am• Councilman Henderson announced there would be a meeting of surrounding communities with regard to the Dumbarton Bridge, Wednesday, June 16, 8:00 p.m., 8ellehaven Community Center, East Palo Alto. Minutes of June 1 ,,, I.l? MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, that the minutes be approved as submitted. The motion passed on a unanimous vote. Minutes of June 11 1974 Councilman Henderson referred to the top line of page 532 and asked that "Joel Davidson, staff" be corrected to read "Joel Davidson of the City Recreation Staff anti a PACDAB member". Councilman Henderson noted that the first line of the fourth paragraph from the bottom of page 547 was missing and that it be inserted as -follows: "Mr. Sipel asked what the intention was for the City Controller's role to be, and would MOTION: Vice Mayor Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, that the minutes be approved as co_rected. The motion passed on a unanimous vote. : 1974-75 Annual Budget Vice Mayor Pearson noted that a thirty-three million dollar budget would be under discussion, and this was the most important meeting of the year. This meeting was the culmination of months of Finance and Public Works Committee meetings which were devoted to reviewing the City Manager's proposed budget. The budget is a working document of the Council. All programs funded at this meeting in the budget hopefully would be implemented by the hard-working staff. The budget sets the policy for the Council for the next year. Vice Mayor Pearson expressed pleasure at the number of people in the audience who came for this budget study. She said the budget adopted tonight would be passed by majority vote, and that Is significant. Any further funding of new programs during the neat year will require a two-thirds vote of the Co;mtil. Fifteen million dollars of the total budget was i.n the general fund which includes 595 6/24/74