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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10281974CITY COUNCIL MINUTES C TY Of - PALO ALTO Special Meeting October 28, 1974 ITEM PAGE The Planning Commission, by a vote of 6 in favor (one absent) advises that the Commission has reviewed the Comprehensive Plan impact Report and recommends the planning options as recorded in its minutes of August 14, 1974, and August 20, 1974 5 1 7 10/28/74 5 1 9 October 28, 1974 The C ey_Coune l_ --o£ the City of Palo Alto met on this date at 7:40 p.m. in a continued special meeting with Mayor Shet presiding. Present: Beahrs, Clay, Comstock, Henderson, Norton, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher Absent: Perwald Minutes of the meeting of September 23, 1914, as corrected by Planning Director Naphtaii Knox by memo of October 15, were discussed. MOTION: Vice Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Comstock, approval of the minutes of September 23, 1974, as corrected. The motion passed unanimously. Mayor Sher said the minutes of the meeting of October 1, 11974, would be approved at a later date. The Planning Commission by a vote of 6 Mayor Sher said this meeting is the sixth session of the Council to consider the Comprehensive Plan. Council is nearing ccmrplecion of this particular phase of the work on the Plan. Option Set 6 on "Employment" is before then. Mayor Sher noted presentations by Planning Commission and staff members had been made at the close of the October 22 meeting re Option Set 6 and members of the public were now to be heard fro. Mr. ,Aaairien, 553 Patricia Lane, voiced a plea that Palo Alto send its planners to Alicante, a city in southeast Spain. He had toured Europe and enjoyed this resort coastal city along with many other Spanish and French cities that face the Mediterranean. These cities use their coast as an asset for the pleasure and enjoyment of the people as well as for the development of the land adjoining it. With land to even greater de- mand, it would be a vise city council that could see these fullpotentials of the coast and could begin laying out plans for its future use. Care would have to be exercised not to destroy the habitat of native creatures in the process and to integrate the yacht harbor and the duck pond in the general concept. Mr. Am i.rian said there are hundreds of acres in our coastline, left.t.o nature and undeveloped. This is perhaps the wish of some environmentalists and others, but it is a great asset which should be utilized for the use of the people's enjoyment. Mr. John Breedlove, Manager of Land Resources at Stanford University, spoke to Options 6(c) and (d). He stated that on September 18, Vice President 5 1 8 10/28/74 Robert 4ugsburger wrote to the Council to express the University's re- sponse to several of the planning options that were before them at that time. With regard to 6(c), Hr. Breedlove stated again Stanford's belief that this option is unnecessary in the case of the Stanford industrial Park. The amount of development permitted on Stanford lands under existing zoning is already very low. This has not happened accidentally. The University and the City have cooperated over the years to establish strict standards that are found in few, if any, research parks in this country. Both parties have pointed with pride to low density development that has attracted highly responsible firms and which has helped provide many programs for which Palo Alto is so well known. He requested that the zoning densities be maintained at their present levels. The properties in question have been prezoned, annexed and leased with that expectation. The gain to the city in reduced traffic through reduced densities would be minimal as the city staff and consultants have pointed out.. He felt that in the case of option 6(d), everyone agreed that there should be reasonable balance between expansion and transportation and housing opportunities. The project -by -project approach that this option suggests, however, would unfairly penalize those who are engaged in commercial activities. He continued that if responsibility for local housing and transportation were to be added to the lease price and the taxes the firms must pay, he would have serious doubts about their ability to attract tenants to some of the vacant parcels. Stanford hoped that the Council would seriously consider the consequent loss to the city and to the University as well as the con- tinued tax outlay that the property represents to a non-profit educaional institution. Historically, the broad housing, transportation and service needs of a community have been the responsibility of municipalities which receive the taxes or private entrepreneurs who charge for their services. He believed that it would be unwise and unfair to transfer these responsi- bilities only to those firms coming to the city or growing within it. 1f a broad social need ism be met, it should be subsidized by all beneficiaries through direct charges or taxation. He felt that it would be a mistake to transfer these costs to so few. Vice Mayor Henderson asked Mr. Breedlove to clarify his remark about re- duced density limits being unnecessary in relation to the Stanford Industrial Park, because they are already well below those limits and development is not going to get anywhere near those limits. He didn't understand such great concern if there were a slight reduction in such limits. Mr. Breedlove said the property had been leased to others with certain expectations about what they cotald do with the property, and this would remove certain of their property rights. In the caae of those lands still owned by Stanford, it would affect the price of what they would receive for the lands or the value of the lands to a user, so they would have a direct economic concern. Vice Mayor Henderson maid in terns of density limitations, it therefore does not seem unnecessary to slightly 1oier density limitation since apparently there are cases where Stanford might reach the limit* that are now established. In response to a question from Councilman Horton, Mr. Breedlove said he didn't think the Univers ty would evert establish specific coverage ratios that were different from wb.at the city had. He felt that Stanford's standards relate to aesthetics and parking ratios and various other things that aren't regulated in quite the sae manner as city standards. He stated that there were a ntimber of tenants in the Industrial Park who have not built to the maxims capacity under either standards, and to come in after the fact and deny them the ability to expend on a site which they bought for their current reeds and potential expansion, was something Stanford was objecting to. 5 1 9 10/28/74 Councilman Norton asked Mr. Breedlove if he thought 13-20X coverage was a result of Stanford's policies or the natural restraint of the particular tenants they selected? Mr. Breedlove replied that it was more a result of the tenants themselves. He said he was not aware of any specific density restrictions that the University imposes that are different from what the city imposes. He said he felt Stanford's general emphasis on high quality development, on maximum amount of open space and landscaping, etc., have encouraged tenants to come in and do the kind of job that has been done there, and he felt they will eonti.nue to do that. Councilman Clay asked how Stanford impressed upon the present tenants to develop at the present density --what was Stanford's influence? `sir. Breedlove replied that it was a natter of the selection of the tenants and the types of people who come there. He cited Syntex as an outstanding example. Councilman Beahrs asked if Mr. Breedlove had any Information on. Stanford requirements, if any, concerning the parking capabilities of the various sites. Mr. Breedlove said through the years Stanford has had a parking standard which is a slightly higher parking standard that the city has had, The city and Stanford, about the same time, changed their minds about parking standards and started to think about whether, in fact, it was right to just require a maximun amount .of parking. Stanford encourages new tenants to put in only the parking they think is necessary and leave the rest of the ptential parking areas in open space until such timd as it is proven to be needed. Kenneth Schreiber, Assistant Planning Director, checked the City Code at the request of Councilman Beahrs, re site space to be used for parking in the Zoning Crdinence. The urdinanee listed alternative requirements for industrial areas which are either one p king space for each two employees or one space for 250 square feet of floor area, or whichever is greater. He said staff had not calculated the a unt of floor area of the various sites and that floor :area would nct be di.reetly related to the site coverage statistics that ate available, The site coverage statistics used in the staff presentation were a sample and did not include data on the portion of the site devoted to parking. Councilman Beahra said he felt that, requirements of the individualbusiness have influenced the amount of parking area provided at industrial plots. Robert Moss, 4010 Orme, said the reason he was addressing Council tonight was because he was beginning to get a settle that they were starting to flounder. There are some nice goals, and some ideas on how they can be achieved, but it is not tco clear as to what should specifically be done. Regarding Option 6(d), Mr. Moss said he would like to raise a few questions such as: how are we going, to control requirements for expansion; what type of expansion are we talking about; are we to lb ing about all non- residential expansion including medical centers, shopping centers and the various types of commereial areas as well as industrial areas that might be developed? tf the Council treated all of them the same, he thought they were making a big mistake. For example, if the development le a shopping center, the number of employees is gong to be minute co.npared to the number of trips by shoppers. The vehicle trips associated with a shopping tenter will bunch up in certain time slots, though they will not be the kind of peak hour commutes that one gets t industrial areas. He said he also felt that the city cannot necessarily control the number of employees that are going to use a facility because business conditions change. The company may tell you In allcandor it intends to expand to house 500 people. Business may be better or worse than they intended but the. city will initially make some imposition n on them either in their having to provide transportation or housing or both. He also looked at the equity involved in different size corporations. A. large corporation could be 5 2 0 . 10/28/74 requited to provide carpools or tra:asporatton or housing and it would not be a -very significant imracr to them. Put a small company that is just getting started would have problems meeting these requirements and bight very likely not want to settle in Palo Alto and the city may not get some of the types of development which they would like to have. The city could become a transit point between the people on the north going to jobs in the south and vice versa, the biggest impact on traffic is not people who live or work in.Palo Alto; it's the people who are going through Palo Alto to get someplace else, The city can't close the streets off to through traffic. It is going to come whether the city wants it to or not. If the city does things P ke not expanding 101, the area is going to have a significant amount of deverted traffic on the Bayshore access roads, and other roads in Pate Alto. If 101 remains six lanes, what is going to happen is that traffic jams are going to be extended in length and severity, th smog is going to increase. Even the relatively low smog automobiles of 1975 produ;e more smog per minute while sitting in traffic idling than they do while traveling at a reasonable rate of speed. He stated that if you try any one or two of the proposed solutions by themselves, you are liable to find out that the eolution is worse than the problem. Mr. Frank Koch, Syntex Corpora ion, said he had•read a copy of the staff's presentation of opt icn Set 6 and he had several comments. Specifically, on page 7, staff indicated that Syntex had noted a lack of back-up data for both Options 6(c) and (d) and opposed both of these options. He said h2 thought that might be a a:re forceful way of putting it than the way it was expressed in the letter Syntex had scat to the Council where they had said ,only one of those option was included in the Impact Report and la -:king a let of back-up data, they could only express their concern that the implementation of those options would appear to have the potential of producing similar unfavorable results as in Option 1(d). He didn't want to give the impression that they would reject out of hand any possibilities that right be developed undo= those particular options: He commented on Figure IV showing the various industt:ai sites and the sate coverage densities. He s.id it was very important to recognize that employee densities vary :significantly among various industrial areas, and he felt it would be very illuminating to have some statistics on employee densities. Syntex has about 600 square feet of space for every individual, with theft highest density being 380 square feet per person and the 1ov:est density being one building where they had 6,000 square feet per person, They had supplied the Planning staff with some additional data on their, operation: He commented on staff's suggestions re Options 6(c) and (O. Syntex felt 6(c) as suggested by staff is an improvement over the Planning Commission recommendation, Also, the elimination of the housing requirement in 6(d) made sense This type of requirement would not be viable. It had been suggested that on their own site, a portion of the triangular area be allocated to one -family dwellings. Two hundred and sixty dwellings could go into that part of the triangle but realistic-3ily, those homes would cost fro $70,000 to $90,000 apt.ece and only a. small portion of Syntex's Palo Alto work force could :Word that kind of housing, and of ' those, the number that would actually elect to Live•within walking distance of the plan was probably only a handful of people. There would be buyers, but they would probably be wor'ting in San Jose or elsewhere and the traffic would be .in the•opposite direction. Syntex did feel it was useful to explore the pos&tbi.lit.ies of various cooperative efforts in terms of trans- portation„ and Stanford Ixrdustrfal Park companies are paatiaipating in the transit study which is going forward under the direction of Stanford University. There see d a. short -range -potential to reduce the number of people using automobiles and increase the people using busea. He concluded by saying the present parking requirements were a deterrent to growth on the Syntex triangle because land was either allocated to parking or was covered with buildings. he proposed that at the end of the considerations of the options, there be one additional meeting.including public comment *bout the a Uriiy of the option -sets selected. An overview of the options sad how they relate to one another would be very helpful itt the work to. be dome la the next phase 521 10/28/74 Mr. James Steele, 525 Center Drive, was tepresenting the Pala Alto Chamber of Commerce. He stated that the city, in relation to the lnduotrtal Park and the University, was lucky to have such land holdings and to have such a good cooperative neighbor. He continued that in developing this prcpetty in the way it has been developed, Stanford has paid for a great amount cf what we are as a city. Palo Alto is a leadership city in many different ways. He felt that the reason for this is the attractiveness of both the University and the city themselves, and the type of employment which has located in Palo Alto. ro rezone or reduce the attractiveness of 1o;ating or continuing to locate in Palo Alto had the potential of being devastating in its impact to Palo Alto. It is logical that if there are not places for people to locate, and if the city zones so that people no longer wish to locate here, Palo Alto will be surrounded by development and will become a traffic throughway rather than a terminus point. He offered the example of the new development at Sharon Heights with its office space on Palo Alto's periphery. He asked if Palo Alto wished to be surrounded by development and have others determine for the city the difficulties and the problems and have none of the benefits of this development. He said the Chamber opposed 6(c). They opposed the re- zoning of non-residential lands for residential use They opposed the reduction of the density in all non-residential. areas. They noted that the option w_uld snake no teal differen,e in reduction of traffic volume in 1990 but it could make Serious difference in revenues that are available for the city's work. Major employers and landowners had testified that they .:i1.1 and have developed their lands at low densities, and ill the Chi?zber's opinion it s.culd be a mistake to place theta in a .trait i-icket which would tcb them of the fot=are flexibility. Co erce and industry p:ovtde b5? or Palo Alto's revenues; the city should not penalize them with an unnecessary regulation of this kind. The Chamber does sopp Ott 6(a) to maintain intact the prevent_ non-residential densities. They felt 6(d) was a dangerous and unworkable option, though caking improvements in housing and tr.nspottstfcu-aa prerequisite to building expansicr or to expansion ci empicyement, possibly at the expense .;f the firm involved, ar at least, involving time consuming and complicated coordination This new requirement would add a burden the business sector cannot afford and could very well be a final element in cotporate decisions to remain or expand in this city. Councilman Comstock asked Mr, Steele how the impact of the total carrying capacity of commercial cones cau1d be ignored. He gave as a cave in point the horrendous traffic volumes in the C zoned areas near University Avenue Mr. Steele replied that in the Chamber l; review of the options, traffic was one of the great concerns. • The Chamber believes that the plan sho!ald include a Willow Road Corridor or a Sartd Hill Road extension type of option with consideration of what this could do for traffic on Oregon Expressway, Embarcadero, Alma and Middlefield. While it is true that with additional employment, there would be additional traffic, it was also true that the traffic could be routed-ina manner to have less impact than it does have. Councilman Comstock mentioned Mr. Steele's reference to the Sharon Heights induscttal area which has developed parallel to development is Palo Alto and provides substantial increases in traffic into that corner of the community. He said he understood Mr Steele's point was a very strict control here was going to produce even more peripheral develop le t, when existing rather loose controls have not seemed to prevent peripheral development anyway. Mr. Steele replied that one of Councilman Comstock', assumptions was that the business climate in Palo Alto was ideal and that development was encouraged and he did apt think that was the stage. Mr. Soyd Smith, 301 Coleridge, spoke primarily about the Stanford Industrial Park lands. He had had rather close association with those properties for the laat ten yeas. For eight years, he was with property management at Stanford University. and for the last two years was involved in private 522 10/28/74 development of property in the Stanford Industrial Park- He thought there vas an overlying assumption in the total analysis that it is possible to place a number of strong, adverse limitations on people who now are in the Park with no apparent consequence He felt that the balance that now exists in the Park is a very fragile one. He didn't think, as the staff report implied, that Palo Alto is a name which draws people to it like magic He would say chat about 95% of the people who want to locate in the Santa Clara Valley go south of here because there :Is no housing available and because of transportation difficulties. The marketplace has already basically eliminated Palo Alto as a manufacturing area. The people coming now are basically research and development. Manufacturing uses which once took place in Stanford Industrial Park are moving out and that floor space is being occupied by people who are involved in more sophisticated type of work, Expansion comes from people already here and who are expanding; to cut off their means of reasonable expansion could jeopardize the basic revenue base of Palo Alto. Small businesses can't afford the luxury of paying for a bus for their people and could not afford the higher price that would be caused by reducing density. His appeal was that this be locked at with great care and sensitivity. He commended Stanford's high standards for new tenants re setbacks, parking, landscaping and maintenance of it, night lighting, roof screens, etc. He Indicated that staff's assumption that a company which now occupies 23% coverage, would expand to 40% was in orrect. Stanford would not allow the landscaping to be run over by .another building. As far as Stanford is concerned, mist of the co7paotes to the L -M area have 100% built-up sites. Ms. Crystal Ca ge, representing 1owntoSzn Palo Alto, Inc., stated that the downtown was one of the &teas specifically s er.ticned in 6(a) in the Impact Report. She pointed out that the position of do ntown.to maintain the present den:lity is quite ccnsisteni with their policy over the past few years of opposing any rezoning from C-2 to Residential. She felt the amount of land left downtown was barely adequate to provide the retail, commercial and i inane tat services that are desired. Downtown Palo Alto, Inc., hoped that. Option 6(a) would be maintained. Downtown, was beginning to be used very heavily again and more and more public and private moneys being used for improvements and developments They felt they could not do with less commercially zoned areas than they have. She pointed out that some ct the concerns of staff and Council are already being met in that downtown is in the center of many transportation services and that should enhance their ability to handle any additional employment. The new downtown zoning, of max of residential and business activity should take care of the concerns of c: &-,ining housing with job opportunities. They would opt for 6(a) as far as downtown goes: Mayor Sher listed correspondence from California Pacific Commercial Corp., and others regarding the Option Set. Councilwoman Pearson commented that any reduction fn the number of cars moving through Palo Alto becomes an asset to the people living here. It seemed that the Planning Commission was asking for direction and flexibility front the Council and they will costae back with recommendations. When Council at this point says, "Let's consider plscing a tax on new businesses, perhaps the Planning Commission would come back and say, "Let's have a tax on all businesses regarding transportation" or "on a sliding scale." She said that zoning and development rights are subject to change and speculation and that it is time right of a public body such as a city to change the zoning, if it benefits the city as a whole. Palo Alto is a uniatte, very popular city attracting many businesses, Palo Alto has many benefits, owns its own utilities and the residents have a clean city, a low tax rate and a multitude of fine programs, schools and facilities. She stated that businea:a also benefits from low utility rates and superior services and no business taxes. The voters have made it clear over the years that the continually expanding businesses and industrial companies have caused them to wonder if the extra city "goodies" are worth the cost. The cost is a steadily increasing commute traffic dad steadily increasing noise and pollution and deterioration of the residential environment. The public made it clear 523 14%2(#/74 at Planning Commission meetings that they wanted zero growth which is a complicated dilemma because she did not think the Council can say "no more business" and "no more expansion." Businesses cannot stagnate and jobs are needed but if there are no restrictions, Palo Alto will become an impossible place 'to live. The Planning Commission recommendations sounded reasonable to her and they were a modest attempt to control Palo Alto's destiny: If there are controls, the possible number of employees could be kept at 73,000 or less versos 50,000 as it is today. She agreed they probably should be using the Planned Community Zone but urged a word of caution because it is a variance maneuver and has some loopholes in it, She urged the Planning Commission to strengthen that variance procedure. Automobile usage must be decreased which means a change in lifestyles; support for crass transit can come from employers and employees. Palo Alto has created many innovative programs and utilized many daring ideas, the majority of which have been successful. MOTION: Councilwoman Pearson moved, seconded by Henderson, 6(c) : Reduce density limits in some non-residential zones. Review and evaluate the P -C (Planned Community) standards and procedure tomard encouraging its use. Councilman Comstock said as he understood it, planning staff and consultants would examine some alternative density limits, clearly sower than is now the casein those zones. Where there is a co:poration that has fairly well determined a fairly low density proposal, they could come through and obtain a P -C which would establish for them what their agreed total development program would be. Whereas, others which had not yet prepared their total development plan would them be bound as lec,g as they intended to operate under some revised density. He responded t : some comments from the audience. He had said they couldn't necessarily erovIIde a home for everyone who wanted to live in Palo Alto. Likewise, they can't supply housing for everyone who works here. In a similar manner, they can't supply jobs for everyone who wants to work here. Stanfor1 has not encouraged high employment intensity type activities, the City hasn't either and there aren't a lot of manufacturing firms filled with row upon row of workers. He was particularly interested in Mr Smith's emphasis on the changing character of tenants coming into the Industrial Park being exemplified by the arrival of tenants such as Xerox. He felt SOME comments were well taken re 6(d) Applying some requirements of this sort to the last firms to develop has certain elements of inequity in it. The Planning Commission, staff and consultants should think about that factor and future development of this coneeptn The city is concerned about equity in parking assessment districts when credits are given to reflect the amount of off -street -parking established by the individual property owners, It would seem to him that a similar aituation would exist it some of the existing employers produce an innovative scheme for employees transportation such as a shuttle or transit bus that reduces the need for parking spaces. In giving guidance to the Planning Commission and to indicate ultimately what the Commission should produce in the plan, certain assumptions have to be made 'about the controls or Haiti on industrial growth: Mayor Sher said Options 6(a), (b) and (c) were originally put together as a group to be considered as alternatives with (a) to maintain densities, (b) to allow selective adjustmen%s and (c) to reduce densities in some zones. Councilman Beahra had the feeling they should consider 6(a) since it per- tained to certain areas and not the general city, having been warned by many persons who had serious concerns of the competitive position of the Stanford Shopping Center, for example. Other developments are having a snrLous impact on the Center and in turn, on the city's income. This was his chief concern, He warned the Council they did not have absolute powers, but rather are at the mevey of the market. He said onto by Mr. Moss and ea. Smith were highly persuasive to him. Blithely idealizing the General Flan and the future of the community was a fallacy because the City was just a microcosm in an immense economy. They must preserve a 5 r 4 10/28/74 degree of flexibility in their thinking and in the General Plan, and he feared the Council was not allowing a sufficient degree of flexibility and therefore might wind up with colossal headaches in less Than a decade. Business cannot be put in a strait jacket unless the wish is to destroy it, Frem staff's arguments, none of the actions proposed nor taken are going to ameliorate the traffic problem. He said he agreed with Mr. Moss that if reasonable development in this community were completely dis- couraged, over the space of a few years business or activity would locate peripherally. Sand Hill and Sharon Heights developments were cited. Palo Alto would increasingly become a thoroughfare for the Midpeninsuia; whereas if we would continue the previous programs of enlightened and reasonable development, some of the traffic would be terminating here instead of the transiting type over which we have no control. The marketplace and the general economic needs should influence decisions to a large degree, at least they should be provided for and accommodated or there will be greater problems. Councilman Rosenbaum said to him this option set was perhaps the most important o: all in determining the future nature of the city. The public has made several important points in that they didn't like all the traffic and the projections for increased traffic, and the pressure on the housing market brought in by continuing to increase the ratio of Jobs to house- holds in the city. He said he saw 6(c) and (d) as efforts to meet these two problems. 6(c) his the potential to reduce the potential upper limit -on the ratio of jobs to homes. 6(d) gets to the traffic situation by suggesting that they phase in new development with transit. He felt this should be supported. WrN'DMENT: Councilman Rosenbaum coved, seconded by Comstock, to reduce the base cane employment increase figure and change the period after "zones" and add the words, "with the goal of reducing the projected base case employment by a significant percentage (on the order of 50%). Mr. Schreiber said staff was in the process of d3ing a finer grained employ- ment analysts and while it was not finished, they could conclude at this time that the base case projections made i:! the Impact Report, e.g., about (.2,000 employment in 1980 .:rd 73,000 in 1990, were reasonable and might even be conservative. Staff has noted in doing interviews with seventeen manufacturing firms, which had an approximate 1970 employement of 15,560 in 1970, that these seventeen firms had increased employment by 2,850 by 1973. These firms had gone up about 3,000 in employment in three years and they had only a little over 15,000 employees In 1970 cut of a total of 50,000 in the entire city. It would appear that the projected numbers are certainly not high. Councilman Clay asked the status of the study at present time and Mr. Schreiber said staff was finishing the interviews of firms and that it would take at least another month to complete the study. However, the work was far enough along to indicate that the new projection would be close or exceed original projections. He noted that this more detailed analysis was providing valuable information es well as calming the con- cerns and fears that had been expressed regarding proceeding on an inadequate projection base. Cxou.ncilman Clay asked if the base case data was developed on the basis that the city did nothing and the parcels were developed to their full capacity. 4r. Schreiber replied that in theory the maximum that could be developed under the present honing ordinance ?,f all the parcels were developed to the.maximum permitted would be 201,000 employees. In actual practice not all parcels are developed to their maximum and 73,200 was the estimate for 1990> Councilman Clay asked chat impact would Option 6(c) have on the number of jobs in 1490. Mr. Schreiber explained that staff's effort in Option 6(c) was to lower the district maximuns to a point which corresponded with the 5 2 5 10/28/74 general development pattern in the community. A spot check of a limited number of sites indicated that there appeared to be some very definite site coverage patterns and that land was not being. developed to the permitted zoning maximum and the gap between maximum development and actual development was somewhat consistent in many cases. The intent of 6(c) was not to reduce the base case number of 73,200 for 1990, but t, bring the decision -making process in line with actual development trends. He noted that the thrust in 6(c) and (d) was twofold. 6(c) was to bring the district site coverage limits in line with present develop meat patterns and remove some of the aspects of the very high maximum development numbers. 6(d) was so tackle problems developed by vehicle trips and the trips the city would have significant control over would be the nips that had their origin or destination in Palo Alto. He felt Councilman Beahrs was correct in noting that Palo Alto is a rather small portion of a large and complex regional area. Roberta Mundt, Gruen Gruen 6 Associates, added to Mtn Schreiber's com- ments on the purpose of looking more intensively into the employment forecast for Palo Alto. It seemed to her one of the benefits from taking a more detailed look at the frrecase was to gain an additional indication of there in Palo Alto employment growth could be expected to take place. It came back to the issue Councilmen Rosenbaum and Clay were discussing. If the increase: in employment expected for 1990 is 20,000 workers and if that increase Is to be reduced by 501, where specifically could you expect that decrease to take place, i.e., in the Industrial Park or in some other part of Palo AIte? Given the opportunity to look. more closely at those sectors of the economy which expact , or can he expected, to have the greatest percentage increase in employment would help determine where the kind of decrease in employment proposed under the amendment would have to take place. Vice Mayor Henderson read from the Planning Commission minutes where 'ice Chairwoman Steinberg said, when she kept stove from the public meetings, the greatest response on all the optione was in favor of 6(c) . Almost everyone was in favor of 6(c) except for the people who spoke for the Indust* iai Park --which is a reasonable enough response from them. In the examples of site coverage that were given by staff in the October 24 report, Vice Mayor Henderson said seven of the sites on page 8 were Stanford sites. The two highest density percentages were 20.2. and he donbted it any adjustment in Palo Alto's zoning require- ments would get down to anything like that figure. He said Palo Alto appreciates the requirements which have been set by Stanford. Residents do want assurance of the maintenance of these low densities, and they also want revisions to apply to other parts of Palo Alto and that desire can't be ignored. People have expreesed to him than an example of br:r.aktng the density limits might be the development at the corner of Page Mill Road and Foothill Expressway, and yet he ,understood that the land coverage density limits had not been exceeded on that land. He supported the Rosenbaum amendment but would have preferred not to put In a figure. }le had a concern re "reduce density limits in some non- residential zones." Was Council saying too staff and the Commission to look at all of the zones; make their own determination as to in which zones deni:.icy limits should be reduced? Councilwoman Pearson explained that her intent in the main motion with regard to "some," was simply to taste up what staff had given to them. She didn't feel the Commission was limited to any way. She would hope they could simply choose; if they decide it was better to go across the board, they world do it. Vice Chairwoman Steinberg explained that the Commission was not saying no more development. They were merely trying ro control the dispro- portionate growth of employment, There would be other employment besides industrial employment that would be irtcreaatng. Given the choice of 526 10/28/74 expansion, as an example, of the medical center against the expansion of the shopping center, it would seem to be clear that the health and welfare of the people would not he served by limiting medical center expansion. Councilman Norton asked whether staff would expect to come back with a uniform treatment in the same zone, foe example LeM, although it might be in different parts of the city. For example, portions of Stanford Industrial Park and the industrial area incnding the Philco-Ford area on Bayshvre are in the same L -M zone. Could staff conceive of coming back with different recommendations for those two areas or would they feel constrained to treat theca uniformly? Mr. Schreiner replied staff wouldn't feel a constraint to treat them uniformly especially because the work to he gone -into as the Plan developed was tevision of the zoning ordinance. The zoning ordinance work would include possible new districts, modification of districts and similar major changes. However, even within the context of the present zoning ordinance, further research might indicate that it would be advantageous, especially if there were major differences in types of development between two similatily zoned areas, to recognize that there might be two different districts and propose tecosmmendations within that context Councilman Norton referred again to the report, page 10, lowering the nsM coverage limit from 40% to, for example, 33% with the result that only one film out of ten would be affected or to 30% with the result that four of the same ten firms would be affected. He asked where the staff tocoLmendation w:cuid end up within the rather narrow limit of the spread between 30 and 33%? Mr Schreiber said the overall thrust of the option was to try to adjust tone densities in relation to actual development patterns. Not having looked at the rest of the L --M parcels, they could not at this time pin the percentage to a specific number. It could be 33% or 35% or 30%, but this would have to be evaluated in sub-- se:;uent research. If the Rosenbaum amendment were added, staff would have to shift their approach from present development trends to some- thing less than that in order to achieve the proposed reduction in future employee growth. Staff would probably have to start looking at situations where future development would not be as dense as some of the present development patterns. He said they had to take a look at all industrial locations end consider where the projected employment growth would likely be found. Councilman Rosenbaum was impressed that if it was really their intention to attempt to reduce future employment so as to reduce the impact of higher job/housing ratios, then this was probably the last chance the Council was going to have to give staff some direction and they'd better think in terms of something along the lines of his amendment. ADDITION TO A.MEN'i;i3lENT: Vtce Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Sher, to put the word "increase" after the word "employment." Councilman Rosenbaum said he would incorporate that wording in his amendment and Councilman Comstock, the second, agreed. AMENDMENT TO ? NDMf NT: Vice Mayor Henderson moved, seconded by Sher, to eliminate "(on the order Of 502)" and just leave it "by a significant proportion." The amendment tc: the amendment passed on the following vote: AYES: Beahr s, Clay, Henderson, Norton, Pearson, Sher NOES: Rosenbaum, Comstock ABSENT: Berwaid 527 10/28/74 The RosenbPum amendment, as amended, passed on the following vote: AYES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher NOES: Beahrs, Clay, Norton ABSENT: Berwald The motion, as amended, passed on the following vote: AYES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher. NOES: Beahrs, Clay, Norton ABSENT: Berwald MOTION: Councilwoman Pearson moved, seconded by Sher, Option 6(d) as follows: Require any building expansion in non-residential areas to be balanced by transportation development brought about through direct company programs and/or the provision of in -lieu payments that could be used co finance transit service. Councilman Beahrs said this was the most unrealistic proposal they had had before them. Again, it must be remembered that the city is a small efferent of a very large regional economy and certainly, they have not been able to handle the: local transit problems as witnessed by the fact that the operation has been turned over to the county districts. The city, on its own, cannot solve regional problems. The idea of taking in -lieu payments to finance transit service seemed beyond his compre- hension, He labeled the motion as very vague and most unrealistic and wondered what is intended. Vice Mayo Henderson said he understood it to he additional local service, in addition .o the county .service. He asked the City Attorney if he saw any legal restrictions from applying in -lieu payments only to new businesses. Mr. OeCuir said as he understood the staff proposal, he believed that there was enough elbow room for them to come up with some technique for which there should not be a ligitimate legal objection. Councilman Rosenbaum said the original impact Report options didn't make any reference to atteturting to tie employment to transportation. He recalled char this approach had been suggested by Mr. Blayn.ey, later picked up by the Commission and now recommended but staff. Over the weeks and months, objections have been raised to its implementation. Mr, Blayney's reply was that this was really one-half of a total approach to linking transportation to employment. This would put it only on expansion. This would limit the leverage considerably because the expansions will be a small percentage of the total number of job -related trips in the community. If the city wanted to go the complete route, they would, say, let the employers of Palo Alto do something about reducing the number of trips caused by the traffic they generate. Mr. Blayne), suggested that in considering 6(d), Council should give staff guidance on whether they should look foe an. approach re all employers rather than :;ust expanding employers. AMENDMENT: Councilman Rosenbaum moved, seconded by Comstock, to add after "brought about.," the words "by public agencies such as the Santa Clara County Transit District." Councilman Comstock said the: amendment is appropriate and strengthens the motion,. Councilwoman Pearson stated that she supported the motion and the amend- ment. She cited au example of in -lieu payments as the new Va1lco Park development in Cupertino. The development will cause terrible traffic 5.2 8 10/28/74 M problems and Vailco Park is going to pay for it. They are doing some- thing and willing to do it. It is the first in Santa Clara County and this is no longer a new idea. Councilman Beahrs asked Council to be realistic, and said they were pro- ceeding on the aasumption they had regional powers. The fact that they might take money from some people to aid in the reduction of local traffic to his manner of thinking is a highly discriminatory tax. Palo Alto is accumulating a lot of expensive litigation. Vice Mayor Henderson said this option says to require any building ex- pansion, and it is easy to coin up with examples such as a 20,000 square foot warehouse with three or four employees that would pay a significant in -lieu amount versus another owner who adds 5,000 square feet for a new building department and 40 employees and pays much less, and yet that second one is bringing :n more commute traffic than the first. He said there were numerous examples where the square footage of the building would not be a measure of how many people would be brought into the industry. It was his concern that this proposal be applied fairly. Mr. Blayney said the assumption would have to be that it could be worked out in some way so there w uld be a demonstration that the vehicle miles of travel in the community would not be increased as a result of the building expansion, That might be through an employer -sponsored bus pooling program or it might be through some sort of a payment that would go to add service that one would buy from a transit district, or any number of other metheds. He wished Cot.: iI would assume it could be solved if they wanted to take that approach. He said if Palo Alto wanted to pursue this, they octal() be the leaders in the flay Area and in the country The azrendeent passed en the ioilewing vote: AYES: Clay, Comstock, Henderson, Pear sen, Rosenbaum, Sher NOES: Beahre ABSENT Berwald, Norton (left at 10:10 p -m.) The motion, as amended, passed on the following vote: AYES: Co totk, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher NOBS: ileahrs, Clay ABSENT: .erwald, Norton M0f0N: Councilman Beahrs roved, seconded by Clay, to accept Option 6(a) as follower Maintain intact present non-residential densities, (This will allow the market to determine retail and office increases or de- creases, within the contest of existing zoning. This would apply to the Stanford Shopping Center, Downtown, and California Avenue, as well as to the city generally. The total employment likely to be reached under these Iiirits will be determined.)" The motion failed on the following vote: AYES: Beahrs, Clay NOES: Comstock, Henderson, Pearson, Rosenbaum, Sher ABSENT: 8erwa .d, Norton Councilman Beahrs related the history of years gone by when Palo Alto was not able to support the service demands o the commanity, It Baas those days and their extreme urgency which caused Stanford and the city at that 529► 10/28/74 time to collabroate and develop the Stanford lands so the city could survive financially. The Council seemed to be turning their backs to that original history anu building in inflexible elements that would produce decay in the mercantile and commercial community. They could loss: more and more trade to Mayfield Mall and Cupertino and various other centers that are proposed, causing Palo Alto to become a ghost town. Mayor Sher said they had reached the end of all the option sets and under the procedure being followed, it was recognized that the sets interact and there would be an opportunity to go back and take another look. He noted Councilman Eerwald's intent to move an amendment to 2(b,c,d) re- lating to recommended rehabilitation programs that would require: significant use of city funds. Since Councilman Eerwa.ld was absent, they would agendize that matter on a regular agenda at some future date. At that meeting, it might be useful, after staff puts all the actions together, to give the public an opportunity to respond. He said he hoped the public would respond in writing in the most part. Vice Mayor. Henderson said there was one item he wished to mention. He had been concerned about the option that states "protect College Terrace residents from Industrial Park traffic intrusion by closure of Hanover at south side of California Avenue." Doing this prior to the construc- tion of the alternative road system could actually cause increased traffic problems in College Terrace. People working on California Avenue may decide to come down Stanford Avenue and work their way through College Terrace. He said he would like to attempt to combine that option with Option 9(e). MOTION: Vice Mayor Henderson moved to reword Option 9(e) as follows: To construct an alternative road system for Stanford Industrial Park industries and upon completion, protect College Terrace ceeidents from Industrial Park traffic intrusion by closure of Hanover at the south side of California Avenue. The motion died for lack of a second. Mayor Sher said that after the Council members have had an opportunity to review staff's digest of the actions taken on the option sets, it would be appropriate to agendize the options for a regular meeting. It would be his intention to limit discussion to those subjects which originated at the Council level and that the public had not previously had en opportunity to comment on. Mayor. Sher complimented the Planning Commission for the long hours and work they did, along with staff and consultants. He thanked the members of the Council for extra time put in, including the four special meetings that month and appreciated their cooperation. The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 p.m. AT1EST APPROVE: 5 3 0 10/28/74