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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-07-22 City Council (3)City of Palo Alto C ty Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL 3 FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: PLANNING AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT JULY 22, 2002 CMR:348:02 151 LAURA LANE: SITE AND DESIGN REVIEW FOR A NEW PUBLIC ACCESSIBLE PEDESTRIAN PATHWAY CONNECTING THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL AND THE BAYLANDS ATHLETIC CENTER’S PARKING LOT [02-D-01, 02-ARB-36] AND APPROVAL OF LICENSE AGREEMENT RECOMMENDATION Staff, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Planning and Transportation Commission, and the Architectural Review Board recommend that the City Council approve the Site and Design for the proposed pedestrian pathway based on the findings and subject to the Conditions of Approval in Attachment A. Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the Mayor to execute the attached license agreement between the City of Palo Alto and the International School BACKGROUND City Council reviewed this project at its April 8, 2002 meeting and referred the project to the related commissions and boards for review, .as well as directing staff to prepare an agreement between the City and the school. The proposed pedestrian pathway is 1,095 foot long and will traverse parcels owned by the International School, Santa Clara Valley Water District and the City of Palo Alto. The project involves installation of new path and the repair of an existing path on City-owned land. The material being used for the new section of the pathway is decomposed granite, which is pervious and allows drainage. This material is more natural in appearance than other paving materials and will not create heat spots as would an asphalt surface. The Public Works division has reviewed the grading plan for the path and will coordinate with the school to eliminate any drainage and runoff impacts. The proposed path will be maintained as a fully accessible public pedestrian pathway and will not be gated. The new segment of path, starting at the school, will be 333 feet long and made of CMR:348:02 Page 1 of 4 decomposed granite path with low-level bollard lighting. The remaining 762 feet of path is 9 foot wide and will be repaired as required by the City. DISCUSSION In order for the pathway to be constructed and utilized, the school needs an agreement with the City and also with the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD). The license agreement (Attachment B) provides for path construction, ingress and egress and maintenance of the pathway. Major terms include construction of the path at the school’s expense, non-exclusive ingress/egress fights, and City maintenance of the path with the school to reimburse the City for one-half the cost of maintenance. The license is for an indefinite term and is revocable at the will of the City. The school has made arrangements with SCVWD for a land swap at a future date which will give the school ownership of the district’s land on which part of the pathway will be constructed. SCVWD is in support of the project and will work with the City and the school to make the necessary arrangement for immediate access and use. The SCVWD has provided the City with a copy of a Botanical Survey of the area affected by the new section of path. This survey determined that "there are no wetland issues or sensitive plant species issues" for this area. The removed wildlife cover and habitat will be re-supplied when the SCVWD replants the levee providing an improved ecological area. The project includes coordination by the school and the City’s Naturalist to survey the site adjacent to the existing post office fence for any ground nesting, roosting, or other significant wildlife before any work begins. As part of the review of the path project, Council also wanted the school to update its Transportation Management Plan. Staff.has reviewed the proposed plan and finds that it would adequately address the school’s operation (Attachment C). Some of the highlights of the plan are as follows: o Staggered arrival and drop-off times of students. A colored placard system, associated with a designated pick-up time has been e~tablished with the parents to control the flow of the cars during the afternoon pick-up. ®"Van Plan" carpool program established to assist parents with organized carpooling. The school is also committed to work to create incentives to encourage more participants. After school programs and free childcare. (until 4 p.m.) allow for student pick-up later in the day. School staff has worked with the City’s Transportation Division to develop the potential of a new shuttle stop for the Embarcadero Shuttle that would be easily accessible at the Baylands Athletic Center (BAC). The school will follow up on this once the pathway project has been approved. ®The parents of the students will use the public parking lot during specific times in the day for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. Staff does not anticipate that CMR:348:02 Page 2 of 4 this limited increase in use of the parking lot will have negativ~ impacts on the available parking at the BAC because it is during weekday non-peak use hours (7:45-8:30 a.m. and 3:00-3:45p.m). BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS On June 25, 2002; the Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the project and expressed their support of the project. The issue was raised regarding the use of the levee for the path as opposed to providing a new section of land. Staff was present and responded to the issues raised. On June 26, 2002, the Planning and Transportation Commission reviewed the project and recommended that the Council approve the project. There was concern expressed from Commission members that the increased use of the Geng Road/Embarcadero Road intersection would create a new traffic impact, specifically the left turn movement from Geng Road. The Commission recommended as a condition that the school shall coordinate with the City to provide traffic monitoring to assess the circulation from the new drop-off/pick-up program. On July ,11, 2002, the Architectural Review Board reviewed the project and recommended that the Council approve the project. The board reviewed and discussed the design, materials to be used, and the environmental impacts of the project and unanimously approved the project. RESOURCE IMPACT The construction of the new pathway and the repairs necessary for the existing path will be paid for by the school. The maintenance costs will be shared equally between the City and the school and are further described in the License Agreement (Attachment B). ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW .~ The project is exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); Section 15304. POLICY IMPLICATIONS The project is in conformance with City of Palo Alto’s Comprehensive Plan and the Baylands Master Plan. Analysis and review was done to ensure the. pathway is a supportable use in the Baylands. Please see Attachment, D describing policies and programs related to the proposed uses at the Baylands Athletic Center. The installation of this pathway provides a benefit to the school as well as to the public. This pathway will provide an alternate entry/exit point for pedestrians Using the BAC as well as visitors to Baylands. The pathway is designed for daylight hour use. There are some commercial uses around Laura Lane where employees may also use the path for lunch hours. CMR:348:02 Page 3 of 4 ATTACHMENTS/EXHIBITS: Attachment A Site & Design Findings and Draft Conditions of Approval Attachment B License Agreement Attachment C Transportation Management Plan Attachment D Table: Policies and Program Related to the Proposed Uses at the Bay lands Athletic Center. Attachment E Planning and Transportation Commission Staff Report (w/o attachments) Attachment F Planning and Transportation Commission Verbatim Minutes, June26, 2002 Attachment G Santa Clara Valley Water District Correspondence Attachment H Location map Attachment I Project Plans (Council members only) PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD REVIEW: CLARE CAMPBEL~Plan-~er EMSL~~ Director of Planning and Community Environment CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: EMILY I~RRISON - Assistant City Manager cc:Stuart Berman, International School, 151 Laura Lane, Palo Alto, CA 94303 Bill Springer, SCVWD, 5750 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, CA 95118 CMR:348:02 Page 4 of 4 ATTACHMENT A FINDINGS FOR APPROVAL ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD STANDARDS FOR REVIEW International School Pathway. 151 Laura Lane/Files No~ 02-ARB-36, 02-D-01 The design and architecture of the proposed improvements, as conditioned, furthers the goals and purposes of the ARB Ordinance as it complies with the Standards for Architectural Review as required in Chapter 16.48 of the PAMC. (1) The design is consistent and compatible with applicable elements of the city’s Comprehensive Plan in that the Comprehensive Plan promotes the enhancement of existing park facilities to meet the growing needs of the community and allows for low impact recreational uses; (2) The design is compatible with the immediate environment of the sitein that the pedestrian pathway is a low impact use within the ecologically sensitive Baylands habitat; (3) The design is appropriate to the function of the project in that the pathway is designed such that the materials, grading, and drainage have little or no impact to the surrounding environment, including the vegetation which has been identified as semi-low quality; (7) The planning and siting of the various functions and buildings on the site create an internal sense of order and provide a desirable environment for occupants, visitors and the general community in that the additional access provided by the path will enhance the Baylands experience; (10) Access to the property and circulation thereon are safe and convenient for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles in that the path meets the ADA requirements for a pedestrian path and allows additional access to the Baylands; (11) Natural features are appropriately preserved and integrated with the project in that the design and materials proposed for the path are more natural looking and will not take away from the surrounding environment; (12) The materials, textures, colors and details of construction and plant material are appropriate expression to the design and function in that the materials proposed for the path are more natural looking and will not take away from the surrounding environment, and the pervious materials used are compatible with the adjacent and neighboring structures, landscape elements and functions; Page 1 of 3 ATTACHMENT A ARB standards/findings #4-6, #8, #9, and #13-15 are not applicable to the project. DRAFT CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL Files 02-D-01 and 02-ARB-36 The plans submitted for Building Permit shall be in substantial conformance with plans dated May 6, 2002, except as modified by these conditions of approval. The designs shall incorporate the. directives of these conditions where applicable, and these conditions of approval shall be printed on the cover sheet of the plan set submitted with the Building Permit application. Department Comments 1.Building 1.1. The design of the path, including that portion in the proposed easement extending into Laura Lane, shall comply with the standards specified in the California Building Code section 1132B.2. 1.2. The path design and construction shall be reviewed and approved by the City’s ADA coordinator. 1.3. ADA requirements: path must be in compliance with UBC 1132B.2. and the cross slope is not to exceed 2%. Public Works 2.1. Provide a survey of property lines to determine property line locations. 2.2. School’s contractor shall be made aware that the Santa Clara Valley Water District (District) is retaining a contractor to restore the existing San Francisquito Creek levees to their original as-built height. This. levee construction will take place in close proximity to the School’s proposed path. Work on the levee project is expected to begin around July 1, 2002 and continue through October 2002. The City of Palo Alto will be allowing the District’s contractor to use an area opposite the existing softball field, between the levee and the existing gravel/AC path, as a construction staging/storage area. The District’s contractor will also be using Geng Road and the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot as a haul route to access the levees. ’It is anticipated that the levee work will not preclude the path construction from proceeding concurrently. The School’s contractor shall coordinate his activities with the District’s Contractor to allow full access to the levee and the designated storage/staging area at all times. 2.3. The chain link fencing should be black or green vinyl coated. Page 2 of 3 ATTACHMENT A o 2.4.The School shall submit a grading plan, including drainage det’ails, to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works. 2.5.All improvements shall be reviewed and constructed to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works. 2.6.The pathway shall remain open as a public pathway at all times. The exception would be if the pathway were closed for repairs Real Estate 3.1. The construction of the path will be at school’ s cost. 3.2. The maintenance cost will be shared between the school and the City. 3.3. The school shall obtain easements andlor license agreement from the City of Palo Alto to permit ingress/egress from city=owned lands. 3,4.’ The school shall comply with all the conditions of the License Agreement dated July xx, 2002. Transportation 4.1. The school shall implement the Transportation Management Program dated June 18, 2002 4.2. The school shall coordinate a traffic monitoring program with the City. The monitoring program shall include, but not be limited to circulation impacts, including turning movements at Laura Lane/East B ayshore Road and Geng Road/Embarcadero Road. 4.3. The monitoring report shall also document numbers of cars utilizing both drop-off/pick-up locations, use of van/carp0oling and the City’ s shuttle system. The report shall be prepared quarterly and submitted to the City’s Transportation Planning for review. Page 3 of 3 ATTACHMENT B Summary of Terms of the License Licensor: City of Palo Alto Licensee: International School of the Peninsula, a non.profit corporation Premises: For construction purposes only, a 9-foot wide pedestrian path through City parkland near ’Baylands Athletic Center off of Geng Road. Purpose: The purpose of the license is to provide for the installation and maintenance of a pedestrian path and ingress/egress onto the path. Term: Indefinite and revocable at will by the City. Consideration/Rent: Licensee agrees to construct the path at its expense and to pay ½ the cost of path maintenance. Allowable Use: Licensee .shall use the Premises for constructing improvements to a pedestrian path for access between the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot and the Santa Clara Valley Water District path connecting to the school’s site, subject to the following conditions: 1.Construction of the Path shall be at Licensee expense and in accordance with plans and conditions approved by City. 2.Priorto construction on the site, Licensee shall provide City evidence that any and all permits from agencies having pre-construction jurisdiction over the proposed Path have been authorized and are available. 3.Prior to construction on the site, Licensee shall provid~ City evidence that sufficient funds will be available to complete the Path as approved by the CITY. ATTACHMENT B 4.Use of ingress/egress by LICENSEE is non-exclusive. 5.CITY shall maintain the Path, and LICENSEE and CITY shall share maintenance costs for the Path on a pro-rata basis. 6.Access by the general public from Property to Laura Lane. through District and School Site property may not be impeded or prohibited by any gate or other means. Construction or Alteration by Tenant: Licensee may not make any changes to the property without prior City review and approval. Completion of Path and Acceptance by City Following completion of construction, the path shall become the sole property of City. Maintenance and Repair: City shall maintain the path and Licensee shall reimburse City for one-half the cost on a bi- annual basis. Assignment/Subletting: Any assignment or encumbrance of the license is prohibited. Utilities: Tenant shall be responsible for all utilities supplied to the Premises. Insurance: Tenant shall maintain insurance,meeting the City’s standard requirements for insurance protection. Attachment C Traffic Management Update International School of the Peninsula Background & Current Traffic Management Processes In the summer of 2000, International School of the Peninsula (School) moved to its new permanent facilities at 151 Laura Lane in Palo Alto. Prior to this, a traffic Study. of the area had been conducted by an independent consultant hired by the School. Using information from this traffic study, the School developed a traffic plan that would constitute the first step in re.ducing automobile traffic volume and enhance safety of the School community members along the busy East Bayshore corridor. Th~ initial plan consisted in staggering ’arrival and departure times of students, therefore reducing the number of cars arriving at the campus at a given time, and as .implemented, a procedure to speedup the pick-up of students in the afternoon by assigning i2 to 16 staff members to supervise the parents, load children in cars and monitor traffic in the parking lot. Carpooling was also encouraged. ISP also has created a "Van Plan" to assist parents who want to carpool. As of today, close to 100 students out of 350 are being picked up at the 151 Laura Lane campus through carpools. The School also created an extensive After-school Program to encourage parents to .leave their students at the campus longer, which would mean picking them up later in the ’ afternoon. Almost 50 students participate daily in the After-School Program on’Monday -Thursday. The School also offers free day care until 4:(10 p.m. to give parents additional incentives to pick up their children when the traffic from East Bayshore onto Laura Lane is lighter. The morning drop-off is veryefficiently managed. However, the traffic plan is not. sufficient to handle the traffic flow in the afternoons during the after=school pick-up time from 3:00 - 3:45 p.m. Because of the volume of traffic in the afternoon, the School has done the following: investigated hiring off-duty police officers to manage the traffic on the city streets, ¯reviewed the procedures of School staff in the parking Iot,. and ¯sent numerous communications to the parelats reminding them to help the School be good neighbor and follow the Sch0ol’s traffic procedures. A!ong with the t-raffm plan, the School entered into negotiations with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and City of Palo Alto to create an access gate and path from the campus to the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot located on Oeng Road. Fall 2002 For the fall of 2002, the School will continue to implement the current traffic m~nagemcnt plan for the Laura Lane campus. The School intends to center its traffic ¯ m.anagcmcnt plan around the Geng Road access. Access to Geng Road Once the School receives permission to build the path to Geng Road, the School will create and implement u pick-up schedule for the parking lot on Geng Road. At least half oftheSchool’s students would be picked up from Geng Road, thus reducing School- related traffic along the East Bayshor~. corridor during the after-scho!! pick-up times. The Geng Road schedule will be communicated to parents.before school resumes.in the fall.’ Parents will have to follow the Geng Road schedule in order to pick up their children after school. Enhanced Carpool Program The School also is working with parents to develop anincentive program for families who carpool, such as priority dismissal. (See Van Plan). Shuttle The School is in communications with the City ofPalo Alto’s Embarcadero Shuttle to pick up students at Geng l~oad and take them to the School’s campus on Cowper Street. 0 0 0 To: :FROM: DATE: PARENTS WITH CI~[I_,DREN ON T]~ CO]~I CAMPUS P~PE D~TZ~ ACT~G ~AD SEPTE~ER 2001 CO~ CAIUS PICK-~ ~STRUCTIONS ..4_p_p~ndix A Today you received a colored placard. We will be using placards to alleviate the traffic flow problem at the Cohn Campus during the pick-up times. PIease pIace the placard in the front window of the vehicIe you drive: when you pick up your child(ten)from the Cohn Campus. The placard colors are assigned according to the approximate time your child’s school day ends. If you have more than one.child at the Cohn Campus, your placard color and pick-up time correlate with the chi!d whose school day ends the latest. Your other child(ten) with be supervised by ISP faculty and administrators in the Cohn Campus play area until it is time for you to pick up all of your children at one time. Every afternoon, monitors will be located at the comer of Laura Lane.and East Bayshore and at the entrance of the Cohn Campuspark!ng lot to notify parents as to when they can enter: The monitors will indicate when the next color is a!lowed to enter the parking lot by changing the color of the notification signs,.which will be located at the comer of Laura Lane and East Bayshore. The following are the approximate pick-up times fo~ the placard colors: > Blue placards: Pickup your child(ten) at 3:15 p.m. > Green placards: Pickup your child(ten) at 3:35 p.m. You will not be allowedto enter the Cohn Campus parking lot until approxbnately 3:25p.m. >Red placards: Pickup your child(ten) at 3:50 p.m. You will not be allowed to enter the Cohn Campus parking lot until approximately 3:45p.m. If you arrive early, you will be asked to leave and to return when.your placard’s color is indicated on the signs. The monitors will be making a note of those who do not follow the new pick-up procedures and appropriate actions will be taken. There also will be monitors in the parking lot to assist children to their cars and improve the flow of traffic tkrough the parking lot. One monitor with a walkie-talkie will be located at the entrance of the parking lot. This person will ask for your children’ s names and w~ll t~ansmit the iifformation to a monitor in the playground area. The playground area monitor will then announce your children’s names over a bullhorn. When the. children arrive at the gate, another monitor will walk them to your car. We encourage parents to use both lanes in the parking lot and to drive your car as close to the playground gate as possible. Please do not block ~affic at the parking lot entrance .or stop your car in the parking Iot while waiting for your children. If your children do not come to your car qu{ldy, please park your car in an available parkifg space and walk to the gate to pick them up. ’ We ask for you~: full cooperation with the new pick-up system. As you have noticed, the traffic flow situation during pick-up times at the Cohn Campus is far less than ideal. This new system will insure that students are picked up in a timely and orderly manner and will help prevent the traffic flow probIems we have been experiencing. Thank you! Your cooperation isgreatly appreciated. ISP CAR_POOL PLAN Get kids home safely & efficiently Purpose Get students home quicklyl safely and efficiently Provide incentives.that will help reduce use of individual cars for student pick-up and congestion around Cohn Campus Simplify pick-up for parents who drive to both Cohn and Cowper Increase feeling of community and cooperation among school families Driving a Shuttle Drivers arrive by 3:10 pm Drivers gain parking passes for on campus parking while other cars are turned away from campus Students are assigned a seat in a specific van Drivers must be able to take a minimum of 4 children Drivers are scheduled for weekly duty from a pool of volunteers Drivers are responsible for driving their shift or must fred replacement or lose parking lot accesspermit Riding the Shuttle Parents register for Van Service and pay ahead of time (cost TBD) Students are shuttled to Cowper Campus for pick-up by 3:40 An aide chaperones students at Cowper until parents arrive Parents who are late to pick-up pay a fee to the chaperone, Shuttles are allowed to leave campus before other students are released To Be Resolved Need a place at Cowper for a study hall (or day care) for students whose parents are late Need to establish fees if additional insurance is required for drivers Need to patrol Laura Lane parking lot to keep access open for shuttIe vans ¢} o’x~ o A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A ~o o A A A A A A A A A A A ,--,6 ATTACHMENT E PLANNING DIVISION STAFF REPORT TO:PLANNING & TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION FROM:Clare Campbell Associate Planner DEPARTMENT: Planning and Comlnunity Environment AGENDA DATE: SUBJECT: June 26, 2002 151 Laura Lane [02-D-01, 02,ARB-361: Request by International School of the Peninsula for Site and Design review for the installation of a new public pedestrian pathway which would connect the school grounds with the existing pathway at the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot. Zoning: General Manufacturing District with General Manufacturing Combining overlay GM(B), Public Facility PF, and Public Facility with Site and Design overlay PF(D). Environmental Review: Exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act per section 15304. RECOMMENDATION Staff recomlnends the Planning and Transportation Comlnission recommend approval to the City Council for the installation of a publicly accessible pedestrian pathway connecting the International School and the Baylands Athletic Center’s parking lot, subject to the attached recommended Conditions of Approval (Attachment A). PROJECT DESCRIPTION Site Information The International School (Cohn Campus) is located at 151 Laura Lane, a short dead-end road off of East Bayshore Road (Attachment B: Location Map). The private school is situated across the street from the Palo Alto Main Post Office. The school’s property is adjacent to the San Francisquit0 Creek and within walking distance to the Baylands Athletic Center (BAC). The BAC is a City owned recreation area with two baseball fields and is open the general public. City of Palo Alto Page I ATTACHMENT E The Cohn Campus serves approximately 350 students, ranging from first grade to ninth grade. In the afternoon hours, especially, the pidk-up of children creates a traffic impact to Laura Lane, the intersection on East Bayshore Road and the entrance to the post office. The school is proposing a pedestrian pathway to the BAC parking lot as a means to reduce the traffic impacts caused by the pick-up and drop-off of students. After the pathway is constructed, parents will be required by the school to go to the BAC parking lot, which has sufficient space and parking, to drop-off and pick-up their children. The use of the BAC parking lot would divert approximately 30-40 vehicles away from the busy arterial road and eliminatesthe queue of cars that flow out of the school’s parking lot, onto Laura Lane, and then onto East Bayshore Road. The proposed pathway is for use by pedestrians and would not meet the design standards required by the City to qualify as a bicycle path. The 1,095 foot long pathway will traverse parcels owned by the International School, Santa Clara Valley Water District and the City of Pa!o Alto. Construction of the pathway will also include the repair of the existing path on the BAC site. The existing path, adjacent to the baseball fields, provides access to the fields for the recreational users from the BAC parking lot. In order for the pathway to be constructed and utilized, the school must establish agreements with the City of Palo Alto and the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD). The school has made arrangements with SCVWD for a land swap at a future date, not yet determined, which will give the school ownership of the district’s land on which part of the pathway will be constructed. The district is in support of the project and will work with the City and the school to make the necessary arrangement for immediate access and use. The City is currently working on a license agreement that would allow the construction of the path and ingress/egress onto City property. The proposed pedestrian pathway falls across three zone districts, the General Manufacturing District with General Manufacturing Combining overlay GM(B)- school property, Public Facility PF- district property, and Public Facility with Site and Design overlay PF(D)- City property. The PF(D) designation requires Site and Design review. The scope of the project is as follows: The proposed path will be maintained as a fully accessible public pedestrian pathway and will not be gated at the school access point. The total length of the path is approximately 1;095 feet. Twenty-eight (28) feet of the path falls on schoolproperty, 145 feet on district property, and 922 feet on City owned property. The new 6 foot wide decomposed granite path will start at the school and extend 333 feet. The last 160 feet of the new segment is on City owned property. City of Palo Alto Page 2 ATTACHMENT E The remaining 762 feet of the 9 foot wide path (owned by the City) is existing and will be repaired as required by the City. Five 32,inch tall low-level bollard lights will be installed as well as a four-foot tall chain link fence on the creek side of the newly installed pathway. The length of path that will be lighted is173 feet, and does not include the segment that is on City property. The estimated cost of the pathway project;which includes repairs to the .existing path, is $35,000, which would be paid by the school. The City and the school will share the cost of maintenance for the pathway on a pro-rata basis. Details on this arrangement have not been finalized yet. The timeline proposed for the completion of the pathway is before the beginning of the new school year (Fall 2002). The agreement between the School and the City includes conditions that all improvements including drainage, materials and lighting are subject to review and approval for the Director of Public Works. Project History_ In May 2001, representatives from the school approached City staff with a proposal to build a pedestrian pathway extending from the BAC parking lot to the school and to improve a section of the BAC with playfields and other amenities for public uSe. The request by the school to have public-private partnership with "limited exclusive rights" to use City property prompted staff to consider the appropriateness of the request. An evaluation by the Council’s Policy and Services Committee brought forth a recommendation to the City Council to direct staff to proceed with the public-private partnership with the pathway. The proposed playfields have been deferred until further site analysis has been completed. SUMMARY OF ISSUES Comprehensive Plan . The project is in conformance with City ofPalo Alto’s Comprehensive Plan and the Baylands Master Plan. Analysis and review was done to ensure the pathway is a supportable use in the Baylands. The results of that analysis are included in attacNnent C of this report. Traffic The school was directed by Council to provide an improved Transportation Management Plan to address the current traffic impacts. Staff has reviewed the proposed plan and finds that it would adequately address the school’s operation (Attachment D). Some of the highlights of the plan are as follows: Ci~ ofPalo~l~Page 3 ATTACHMENT E Staggered arrival and drop-ofttimes of students. A colored placard system, associated with a designated pick-up time, has been established with the.parents to control the flow of the cars during the afternoon pick-up. "Van Plan" carpool program established to assist parents with organized carpooling. The school is also c01rnnitted to work to create incentives to encourage more participants. . After school programs and free childcare (until 4 p.m.) allow for student pick-up later in the day. School staff is working with the City’ s Transportation Division to develop the potential of a new shuttle stop for the Embarcadero Shuttle that would be easily accessible at the BAC. Parking Lot The parents of the students will use the public parking lot during specific times in the day for morning drop:off and afternoon pick-up. Staff does not anticipatethat this limited increase in use of the parking lot will have negative impacts on the available parking at the BAC because it is during weekday non-peak use hours (7:45-8:30 a.m. and 3:00- 3:45p.m.). Council requested that the P&TC provide additional comments on proposed time limits in the BAC parking lot. Drainage. The material being used for the new section of the pathway is decomposed granite, which is pervious and allows drainage. This material is more natural in appearance than other paving materials and will not create heat spots as would an asphalt surface..The Public Works division has reviewed the grading plan for the path and will coordinate with the school to eliminate any drainage and runoff impacts. Zoning Ordinance Compliance The proposed path would be a permitted use for the three zone districts involved, the General Manufacturing District with General Manufacturing Combining overlay GM(B), Public Facility PF, and Public Facility with Site and Design overlay PF(D): General Benefit The installation of this pathway provides a benefit to the school as well as to the public. This pathway will provide an alternate entry/exit point for pedestrians using the BAC as well as visitors to Baylands. The pathway is designed for daylight hour use. There are some commercial uses around Laura Lane where employees may also use the path for lunch hours. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The project is exempt from enviromnental review per CEQA section 15304. City ofPaloAIto Page 4 ATTACHMENT A portion of the new pathway, adjacent to the post office property, will require the removal of existing vegetation. The SCVWD has provided the City with a copy of a Botanical Survey of the area affected by the new section of path. The following is an excerpt from this report: Vegetation was thick, dense and very woody. It Was composed dominantly of shrubs such as coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) and Italian buekthorn (Rhamnus alaternus). Most of the coyote brush was mature with some dead wood also present. Other species present included coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia; mostly saplings but at least 1 semi-mature tree), and Eucalyptus sp. (many saplings and two large mature trees). The survey site contained no real understory, but scattered Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor) and ivy (probably English ivy, Hedera helix), as well as smilo grass (Piptatherum milliaceum) near the levee in more open areas. There are no wetland issues or sensitive plant species issues at the sample site. The vegetation is mostly disturbed and is of semi-low quality with a lot of exotics, although it could provide excellent bird cove.. The only plant species of interest would be the coast live oaks and the coyote brush, due to the cover and habitat they provide to other species as well as the fact that they are native species of mature stature. [There are no tree removals proposed for this project.] ¯ This survey determined that "there are no wetland issues or sensitive plant species issues" for this area. The removed wildlife cover and habitat will be re-supplied when the SCVWD replants the levee providing an improved ecological area. The project includes coordination by the school and the. City’sNaturalist to survey the site adjacent to the existing,post office fence for any ground nesting, roosting, or other significant wildlife before any work begins. The SCVWD has advised staff that as part of the mitigation work for their Matadero Creek Flood Control Project, the levee area will be replanted with California native vegetation. The timeline for this project is not yet defined, but the district is committed to the replanting of the levee. NEXT STEPS The Planning and Transportation Commission’s recommendations will be forwarded to the Architectural Review Board for review and recommendation and then to City Council City of Palo Alto Page 5 for final action. ATTACHMENTS/EXHIBITS: ATTACHMENT E Attachment A. Attachment B. Attachment C. Attachment D. Attachment E. Location map CMR: 185:02 Draft Transportation Management Plan Project Proposal Letter from International School Project Plans (Commission members only) COURTESY COPIES: Stuart Berman, International School, 151 Laura Lane, Palo Alto, CA 94303 Bill Springer, SCVWD, 5750 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, CA 95118 Prepared by: Clare Campbell, Associate Planner Reviewed by: John Lusardi, Current Planning Manager Department/Division Head Approval: Lisa Grote, Chief Planning Official City of Palo Alto Page 6 Attachment F Planning and Transportation Commission Verbatitn Minutes June 26, 2002 DIL4FT EXCERPT NEW BUS[NESS. Public Itearings: 151 Laura Lane (International School Pathway) File Nos. [02-D-01, 02-ARB- ~ Request by Stuart Berman on behalf of International School of the Peninsula for Site and Design review for the installation of a new public¯ pedestrian.pathway which connects the school groun.ds with the existing pathway at the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot. Enviro.nmental Assessment: Exempt .from the California Environmental Quality Act. This item has been tentati~,ely scheduled for a public hearing with the City Council on July 22, 2002. Chair Burt: Would Staff like to make a presentation on this subject? Ms. Grote: Thank you. I would like to introduce Clare Campbell who is an Associate Planner who has been the project manager on this particular project. This is the first time Clare has appeared before you so we would like to welcome her. Also to let you know that Clare, John Lusardi and I as well as Wyrme would be available for questions if you have them after the presentation. Ms. Clare Campbell, Associate Planner: Good evening Mr. Chair and members of the Commission. Staff recommends the Planning and Transportation Commission recommend approval to the City Council for the installation of a publicly accessible. pedestrian pathway connecting the International School and the Baylands Athletic Center’s parking lot. Please reference the. overhead projection while I describe the project site. The Cohn Campus of the International School is located at 151 Laura Lane, a short dead- end road off of east Bayshore. The private school is situated across the street from the Palo Alto Main Post Office. The school’s property is adjacent to the San Francisquito Creek and within walking distance to the Baylands Athletic Center. The Baylands Athletic Center is a City owned recreation area with a baseball and softball field and is open to the general public. The Cohn Campus serves approximately 350 students, ranging from the first grade to ninth grade. In the afternoon hours, especially,, the pickup of children creates a traffic impact to Laura Lane, the intersection on East Bayshore Road and the entrance to the post office due to the queuing of vehicles. Page 1 The school is proposing a pedestrian pathway to the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot as a mean to reduce the traffic impacts caused by the pickup and drop-off of students. After the pathway is constructed, parents will be required by the school to go to the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot to drop off and pick up their children. The project involves installing a new segment of decomposed granite path which is represented by the green blocks on the aerial and the repair of an existing asphalt path which is represented by the pink and white line. The school proposes to pay for the construction of the path and the maintenance will be shared between the City and the school. This pathway traverses parcels owned by three entities, the City of Palo Alto, Santa Clara Valley Water District and the International School~ In order for the pathway to be constructed and utilized the school must establish agreements with the City of Palo Alto and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. The school has made arrangements with the District for a land swap at a future date which will give the schoo! ownership of the District’s land on which part of the pathway will be constructed. It is the last segment. You can see on the illustration right there. The District is in support of the proj ectand will work with the City and the school to make the necessary arrangements for immediate access and use. The City is currently working on a license agreement that would allow the construction of the path and the ingress and egress onto the City property. On April 8 the City Council directed Staffto work with the school to accomplish this pathway. As part of this project the school was directed to update their existing transportation management plan and have the Planning and Transportation Commission review this updated plan and the path project. The Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed this project yesterday and has expressed support for the project. The Planning and Tr~nspo~ation Commission’s recommendations will be forwarded to the Architectural Review Board, scheduled for July 11, for their review and recommendation and then to City Council for final action on July 22. This concludes Staff’s report. The applicant, Stuart Berman, will make a presentation of the project. We also have here Bill Springer from the Santa Clara Valley Water District available for questions as wel! as Paul Diaz of Community Services. Chair Burr: Thank you. Are there any questions from the Commission prior to hearing from the applicant? Phyllis. Commissioner Cassel: I had asked Clare some questions about numbers and she indicated earlier about how many families are involved and what the actu.al numbers are and was there a real traffic count. I was told that the school was going to do that part of the presentation. Chair Burt: Great, thank you. Mr. Berman, welcome. Page 2 Mr. Stuart Berman, Chairman, Site Committee, Board of Trustees, The International School of the Peninsula, 2180 Cowper Street, Palo Alto: Thank you. Just to answer Ms. Cassel’s question I will have one of our other school personnel address that question at the end of my talk. ¯ I am a m’ember of the Board of Trustees of the school and the head of the Site Committee and that is why I am the lucky one who gets to come here and talk about the path. Clare gave a very good overall summary of what we are trying to do and having that photograph up there is just wonderful because I brought my little diagram which you really can’t see from there. The school is proposing a path that connects the ISP property with the Baylands Athletic Center.and Geng Road. Really one of the main reasons for doing that isto have an ability to pickup our children in the afternoon when traffic on East Bayshore Road is really quite terrible and it is really a logjam at student pickup times. The reasons for our proposal are that we seek to eliminate that traffic congestion on East Baysh0re Road and give better access not only to the school but to local businesses and the post office which have been quite severely affected by the traffic situation. E;cen more so it is important to increase the safety .of our students not only when they are being picked up in the afternoon when they dart between stopped cars and are in cars that are trying to negotiate the traffic but also during the school day when physical education classes are trying to make their way over to the Baylands Athletic Center and have to walk along the substandard sidewalk along East Bayshore Road to get to the Baylands Athletic Center.~ A number of times there have been questions about the exact placement of the path. Most often the question from people who have come out to examine the site is why don’t you just put it on top of the levy. Fortunately we have Bill S.pringer here from the Water District tonight who can address this question even better than I can. At this point it was where the school originally sought to locate the pathway because it appeared that there was a good solution already in place. Upon further inspection it really is problematic for pedestrians in general but even more so for groups of school children because not only are there Water District service trucks using that pathway fairly frequently but the path is about 12 feet raised from the creek bed and there is a 12 foot drop off or basically a 12 foot cliff onto large boulders onto which someone could easily fall. There are a number of impacts to the path that we are proposing and I would like to just go through them quickly..The first one is traffiC. The school anticipates relocating about half of its afternoon pickup activities to the Baylands Athletic Center parking lot. That would basically take our cars off the street, off of being stopped on East Bayshore Road and offofblocking the entrance to the post office. In addition to the shift of traffic we believe we can reduce the absolute size of the traffic that we generate. We have been working with the City to try and link of with the City shuttle so that it can shuttle our students over to our other campus on Cowper Street. The shuttle people have been quite supportiveof that mostly but they have been unwilling to bring the shuttle down East ]3ayshore Road because of the traffic congestion. However, they have been willing to consider bringing it into Geng Road, which is essentially at the end of one of its routes as Page 3 it goes down Embarcadero Road. Philippe Dietz from the school and possibly Francois Guedenet from the school will address our traffic management issues in a little bit more detail at the end of my talk. Another area that is affected by what we plan is the Baylands Athletic Center. In the ~ words of Joe Kott from the City Transportation Staff, it is a great dual use of a property. Essentially this property is unused before about 4:30 in the afternoon when the baseball players start arriving. All of our activities would occur between approximately the hour of three o’clock and four o’clock. So there would really be no overlap in activities there. In terms of environmental impacts there are a number of those. First of all a path such as this is a sanctioned use in the City Plan as far as what types of uses are permitted or even supported in riparian areas. It will also reduce the number of idling cars that are sitting out on,the street and therefore reduce air pollution. We have designed the path so that it would have minimum impact on where it goes. It takes the shortest route possible between the school and the Geng Road parking lot. As Clare stated it is made of pervious materials to minimize runoff and also the plants that are in the area that may be affected are mainly coyote brush, which is a native plant but k is not a threatened plant- and it is quite abundant in the area. I add to this that there will be other things going on, other construction issues going on, at the time from the Water District and I am sure Bill Springer will step on my toes if I state anything too wrong but much of this area will be under construction beginning late this summer when the Water District begins raising the levy up to its originally constructed, 1959, levels. Then the good part about this is that the Water Distinct will then be using the area essentially between Highway 101 and the begirming of the Baylands Athletic Center as its Matadero Creek mitigation area. I did say Matadero Creek. This area will be replanted with native species and brought back to a natural state. So what I really want to say here .is that this proposal is going to benefit all o.f the residents of Palo Alto whether through the traffic relief it affords or more directly through a safer environment for.some of our youngest citizens, our school children.. I am going turn the floor over to Philippe Dietz and Francois Guedenet. ’ ’ Mr. Philippe Dietz, Assistant Heat, Inicernational School: Good evening I am Philippe Dietz the Assistant Head at the International School of the Peninsula and this is Francois Guedenet our Director of Finance and Operation. We have been working on designing, with our staff, a traffic management plan that would help us solve the issue that we face. The first item on that plan was for us to reduce the number of cars coming at a certain time on the Laura Lane campus. As mentioned by Stuart Berman we had approximately 350 students on our campus representing approximately 245 families. As for number of cars we have approximately 175 cars coming to school every day. Page 4 The big issue that we are to address was the time between 3:15 and 3:34 where there is a huge congestion in front of the school due to pickup. To alleviate that we created a staggered schedule at school. Students leave the campus at 3:15, 3:35 and 3:50. We also have offered incentives to our parents by providing them with free daycare until 4:00 so that they could come after. We also have increased .the number of after school activities at school on the campus to allow parents to leave the students on campus longer. The biggest of course really is between 3:15 and 3:45. After that time, because most of our employees have left our building, we have parking spaces available for parents and therefore there is more traffic. We also have worked very diligently on increasing carpooling in our community. As I said before, approximately 70 families use carpooling now on a regular basis, which also helped a lot. The big hope we have is that working with the City and the shuttle will allow some of our older students to get back to Palo Alto by different means. It.was also a priority for us. All this was done with the idea of safety. When we worked on this plan we also anticipated the fact of being able to go to Geng Road may allow some of our students to . use ~he bike paths and therefore be able to go back to Palo Alto on the overpass over the freeway using their bike. That is nearly impossible right now because students drive on East Baysh0re at peak hour is not very safe. So it was a big concern. We are working in conjunction with the City and tried with our neighbors to also find different ways. We have talked with businesses in the neighborhood to try to rent parking spaces from them. It is an ongoing process. Nothing was available now but we have been asked to come back to them a few months from now. It is something we will do in order to put our staff there and at times be able to park on the parking lot where we have 50 plus spaces, which will alleviate. At peak time, during this half hour, we have approximately 85 cars coming. It takes us a minute to load approximately five or six students in a car and that is why we create the backup. The .backup is also created because some of our families come earlier to school in order to be first in line and not wait. We have worked very hard to educate them in not blocking Laura Lane. Mr. Frangoise Guedenet, Director of Finance, International School: In order to alleviate congestion, if we can take half of our students between 3:15 and 3:45 and walk them to the Geng Road parking lot by the path we will cut the number.of cars. in half that actually come during that period of time. That will completelychange the dynamics of the backup that actually occurs between 3:15 and 3:45. It is just about 40 to 50 cars.that in fact are too much and do not allow the flow and the traffic to move because it is exactly the same time that people are talking East Bayshore to bypass 101, which is slowing down, so they can get to the Dumbarton Bridge. So we hope that by splitting our students in half it will really help the situation, which is being caused in that half hour period of time, which is really a difficult time. Thank you. Chair Burt: Thank you. Do Commissioners have any questions of the applicants? Phyllis. Page 5 Commissioner Cassel: My concern is that you aren’t asking enough of us.. Where do people park during the day when they are coming to visit the school? I only saw your staffparking and a couple of visitor spaces. Mr. Dietz: Yes, we have only a few visitor spots on our lot. We have four spaces on the school lot. During the day usually there are spaces available on the street so we advise our parents to park along East Bayshore and some may have to park after the creek, after the bridge and walk to school. Commissioner Cassel: Would it not be safer if the parents parked over in Baylands Athletic Center? Mr. Dietz: It would be safer but when we asked for the use of Geng Road it was only for the pickup period and not for anything else. We have no intention of using the parking lot longer than during that half hour. Commissioner Cassel: If you were given permission wouldn’t it not help? Mr. Dietz: If we were given permission it would definitely help, yes. Commissioner Cassel: Thank.you. In the morning would it help to be able to drop students off?. There is certainly no one playing games over there at eight~in the morning. Mr. Dietz: Yes, it would help but as we have seen in the morning we don’t have an issue of backing up. The parents come to campus, students get out of the car, the process goes smoothly. We also have a staggered schedule in the morning so not everybody Comes together. So in the morning we have never seen an issue. That is why we are concentrating on working on the evening. Chair Burt: Bonnie. Commissioner Packer: I have a question about what will happen at the Geng Road- Embarcadero intersection. I don’t remember, is that a signalized intersection? Then there is only a small amount of places for people to make left turns. Has that been looked at? I don’t know if this is a question for Staff or the applicant. I think that would befor Staff. Has the impact on left turns at that intersection been looked at with 40 cars coming at once? Ms. Campbell: Transportation didn’t review that and they didn’t see that would be an impact. I don’t think they thought that everyone would be coming right at the same time and they didn’t think there was an issue. I thiN< in speaking with Carl Stoffel that they would consider redoing the timing of the lights if that was Something that would help out if it was needed. Mr. Guedenet: May I also add that our parents are looking for a spot to actually talk to each other. So they would be coming a few minutes earlier so they could actually sit and Page 6 talk for a little bit waiting for the children to come and then they would leave. So they would not all arrive all at the same time. I know that they really want an area to congregate because we don’t have that space in our parking lot. Chair Burt: Karen. Commissioner Holman: I had the same concern that Bonnie does about that left turn lane. It looks like it only handles about three cars. A couple of questions for you. If you could educate me about why.there is not a problem in the morning but there is in the afternoon. Could you expand on that, please? Mr. Dietz: Yes. The process of taking students out of the car and bringing them from the playground to the car is shorter. When parents are coming in the morning we have five or six staff outside opening car doors and taking them out and walking them to the playground and it is very quick. For the evening we have a system where we have somebody on the playground with a walkie-talkie and someone inside the playground with a walkie-talkie. We are calling cars by numbers because we have a plaque system. We have to call the cars, we have to call the students in the courtyard, they have to be walked down to the cars which takes moretime. The other issue is that we are dealingin some instances with young students, some of them are first and second graders, and it takes them more time to move out with all their stuff than it does in the morning. In the morning the only action is to get out of the car, open the door, close the door and the parents can proceed. The other issue that we see in the evening is that it is 3:15-3:3 0 and that is the time when post office trucks come back to the post office, which is adding to the congestion in Laura Lane. It is really the time for us to call the students to make. sure they are ready to be placed in their car, which creates the backup. The other thing I mentioned before is that we have some parents who are coming earlier so we begin our dismissal process with a backlog onto Laura Lane, which takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to be resolved. Commissioner Holman: It begs the question then, I don’t mean to speak of children this way but could the children not be staged so to speak in the afternoons? Instead of waiting for them to get to the cars, it seems like an obvious thing unless there is something I am not seeing here, I understand why there would be a backlog if the kids have to be called from a playground to get to the cars. That sounds like a formula for failure. Mr. Guedenet: In the morning it doesn’t matter which student you pull from the car because he needs to come out of the car. In the afternoon it does matter which student you put into a car. It has to be his car.. Mr. Berman: IfI could just add one thing to that. The school actually does marshal the students to some degree. There are picnic benches along the side of the school where they have their lunch. So the kids are brought out, they are seated at the picnic tables and they are required to stay there until they are picked up in the afternoon. It is not a lot of fun for them but they are not running around the playground while they are waiting for Page 7 the cars. So I think it really is done as efficiently as possible but it is still not fast enough to really prevent the backup from occurring. Chair Burt: If I might add, the issue is basically that you can’t predict which parent is going to come at which time. So they can’t anticipate the arrival of particular parents. Commissioner Holman: I thought though, the purpose of staggering and sequencing the hours is so you could have a better predictability of what parents are coming.. I know of course you can’t just shove a kid in a car. Mr. Guedenet: We still have more than 100 children at that one period of time and the cars are coming in whatever order they show up. We still have to identify that one child and put him in the car. It just takes a little bit longer than it does in the morning. In the morning the post office is not open. So there is no post office traffic and the East Bayshore traffic doesn’t. It is very, very small compared to the afternoon where the actual traffic already is very heavy on East Bayshore from the people leaving work. Chair Burr: Phyllis. Commissioner Cassel: You gave quite an extensive explanation of how you do this pickup, which looks like a valiant attempt. Do you have a number for how minutes it takes for pickup? It takes one minute to drop-off. It sounds like it would take three or four minutes to pickup and that that’s what happens. Mr. Dietz: On an average we can move approximately five to six children per minute. Commissioner Cassel: In the afternoon? Mr. Dietz: In the afternoon. Commissioner Cassel: I couldn’t get my kids to move that fast in the system you have. That is Sort of like a miracle. You are flying them through the air. Mr. Guedenet: We have six to eight staff people who are working who are taking kids. As the walkie-talkie is calling the kids, we are calling the kids and then one person goes and gets the kid and brings them. So there is a whole line. Chair Burt: it sounds like quite an efficiency. I should witness it some time. Mr. Berman: You arewelcome to come. Chair Burt: Thank you. ’It is not like herding cats. Thank you very much for your presentation.. Do we have some additional, questions of Staff at this time? We have one public speaker coming up. There was a reference to an absence of Attachment C in our packet. Is that correct? Was there an email to that effect? Page 8 ’ Commissioner Cassel: There Was a mix-up with Attachment A and they have explained that. Ms. Campbe!l: Originally in the first draft of the Staff Report Attachment A was the conditions of approval and in the final report we had removed that one and in error I left a reference to that conditions of approval. That is in the very first paragraph of the Staff Report. Chair Burt: I was having trouble finding what is reference as Attachment C on.page three of the current Staff Report under the Comprehensive Plan analysis. Could you walk me through that? Ms. Grote: In regard to your question on Attachment C, the Traffic Management Update, International School of the Peninsula is towards the back of the packet. Chair Burt: The C I am referring to when we look down toward the bottom of page three of the latest Staff Report, second paragraph from the bottom under Comprehensive Plan and the final sentence says, "The results of that analysis are included in Attachment C of this report," That is the one I couldn’t locate. Maybe while we hear from the member of the public you could research this. Mr. John Lusardi, Current Planning Manager: That Attachment is actually an attachment for the Planning Commission’s report to Attachment B. That is an attachment of the CMR that the Commission received. The Staff prepared an analysis of the Comp Plan policies for that CMR. Chair Burt: I think I found it. Thank you. We have one speaker from the public, Herb Borock. Mr. Borock: Hello again. The project before you is really a piece of a project because on its faceit talks about that it requires a land swap. So it is essentially piece-mealing. The project that originally came before the Architectural Review Board prior to the construction did a traffic analysis that assumed the maximum of 400 students at this location. Currently we are told there are only 350. It would seem to me that it would be appropriate to place a limit of 400 because there has been no traffic analysis for this pathway. It is just a statement from the Assistant City Manager that she talked to transportation people and they said there wouldn’t be a problem.. That is not substantial evidence. I have just the opposite opinion of Commissioner Cassel about the use of the parking lot. I don’t believe the parking lot should be a substitute for any businesses including the schools employee parldng. So I don’t see the parking lot being used for some other use other than the one that is being proposed. When this was before the Council, I believe or the Policy Committee, I can’t recall which but I believe it was the Council it was mentioned that at one time the school had a bus contractor of its own but the parents didn’t want to pay the money for the bus sitting in the traffic to pickup the students. If Page 9 the purpose of this pathway is to provide a location where traffic flow is much smoother it seems possible that instead of having all these cars coming in at that time that there be transportation such as a school bus to pick up the students and bring them to a place where apparently it is less congested at the International School’s other campus on Cowper Street, Our. Lady of the Rosary, I believe if where it is. The apparent problem seems to be that the parents do want to congregate and want a place to congregate. So if that is what this is for then I can understand the reluctance to have a bus but it Seems to me that that’s the simple solution instead of 30 or 40 trips you have one trip. I don’t see how the existing shuttle system that Palo Alto runs would be of any help. The shuttle that goes on Embarcadero is a different shuttle than the one that goes. across town and it is difficult to connect between the two of them if the intent of using the shuttle is to bring it to a place such as the school’s other campus in South Palo Alto on Middlefield Road. The Zoning Ordinance compliance that I ’am concerned about is that some of the land that is proposed to be swapped is Santa Clara Valley Water District land and typically that land is flood control easement land that can’t be used in determining a properties allowable floor area ratio. I don’t know where the current property sits in terms of being close to or not close to its allowable limits but you will recall recently on Edgewood Drive you had to amend the City Code regarding excluding floor control area from calculating allowable floor area. You gave an exemption to that in that case where they were taking away. Here that is not the same situation. Here the school for its own . : reasons wants to swap property. It may be a very small amount of property in which case it may not be material but those are the kinds of issues that will be discussed in environmental review if the entire project was treated with one environmental review as it is required to be by CEQA. Thank you. Chair Burt: Thank you. We have no other speakers from the public so at this time we can return to the Commission. Are there any additional questions that the Commission has of either the Staff or applicants? Michael. Commissioner Griffin: While I am generally supportive of what the school is trying to accomplish here, wheni went over to doa site visit I like two of the other Commissioners here this evening was struck by the exceptionally short length of that left-hand turn lane from Embarcadero onto Geng Road. I guess I might have expected the Staff to look into that a little bit because considering the time of the afternoon when, like the applicants have stated, East Bayshore Road is absolutely to the max with traffic if in fact there is a backup in front of that green left-hand turn light you could easily back traffic back into that intersection. I thiN< it has serious ramifications. I am wondering if Carl Stoffel or anyone else is going to be discussing this in more detail. MS. Grote: Yes, Carl did look at this. He reviewed the application and determined that there isn’t a conflict there however, if that occurs in the future signal timing.can be modified so that it accommodates that turn. Andwe can have him look at the possible extension of the left-hand turn lane if that is needed. Page 10 Commissioner Griffin: My observation is there is not a lot of room to be doing that sort of thing and there is just a terrific amount of traffic coming right.down into that intersection that time of the afternoon. Ms. Grote: The other factor to keep in mind is that most of the traffic coming from the school is a non-peak hour for that location. So Carl did.look at this and recommended that any future problem, should they occur, he is not anticipating them but should they occur they can be accommodated through the signal timing. Commissioner Griffin: I hope you are right. Chair Burt: Annette. Commissioner Bialson:.: What power will we have to perhaps amend or revoke this permission should we find that we have done nothing but transfer the traffic problem from Laura Lane to that intersection at Geng Road? ~ I too had the same reaction when I went out to visit the site. I understand and appreciate Carl’s analysis but I think the reality of the situation is not really going to .be able to be assessed until we see what occurs. We may find that the parents create their own traffic problem just by the presence of the number of cars we are talking about. So I am wondering what can we do to perhaps givd ourselves an.ability to alter this arrangement at some point in the future. Mr. Lusardi: I will try to answer part of that and then let Wyrme add to the agreement. Basically what the Commission can recommend included in the site and design review is a mitigation monitoring program. That is, look at this on a regular basis as we do with a lot of conditional use permits for schools we do quarterly or annual reviews of their operations. You can include that in the annual review. The other part of it is the license agreement that is being brought forward between the school and the City and I will let Wyrme speak to the legal requirements of the license agreement. Ms. Wvnne Furth,. Senior. Assistant City Attorney: This is an interesting situation. This school doesn’t have a conditional use permit be_cause the school is a permitted use at this site. So it originally was located in this area with a design review. This proposal before you for a site and design review, and of course the Council also asked you to comment on the proposed TDM that goes with it, is not like the ones you usually see because it involves a modification to City Park property. That is going to require aPark Improvement Ordinance for adoption by the Council before this can go ahead. It also, because of the proposal to get another access to the City park from a place where we don’t have access now, there is going to be a license agreement. A license agreement is a non-exclusive shared use of property. It is not a lease because a lease excludes other people. The license means that we agree to make this access available. So when negotiating the terms of that license agreement it is certainly possible to include language that addresses this. All licenses, incidentally, to City parks are revocable licenses. The City can terminate them if circumstances require. We can make it clear that the purpose. .Page 11 of this is to alleviate traffic congestion and if it is causing traffic congestion then we will have to either get better traffic mitigation or make another arrangement. Chair Burt: Annette. Commissioner Bialson: I think that we n~ed to do something to try to help the school handle this problem but I essentially see the problem as being one of a failure of due diligence on their part when they selected the site. Locating the school in the area they did was ripe for this problem to arise. I am loath to have the-City bear the burden by shifting the problem somewhere else. I also know that once we agree to something we always try to work it out and accept compromises that might not be to the best interests of the other citizens of the City. So I am not quite sure how we deal with this but I just wanted to express those thoughts. ChairBurt: I think Mr. Berman, the applicant, would like to also comment on that. Mr. Berman: Yes, ifI could please. I would like to comment on the left turnlane. IfI may I would also like to comment on.why the school sited itself where it did. Would it be okay to address both of those? First of all with regard to the left turn lane..Essentially the Geng Road traffic light is about 150 feet beyond the East Bayshore Road-Embarcadero Road traffic light. So it is essentially part of the same intersection and it is a T-intersection, it is not a through intersection. So the light at Geng Road can be timed in coordination with the light at Bayshore Road. So that when the light at Bayshore turns green the light at Geng turns green as well and stays green throughout that whole period essentially eliminating any traffic backup at the Geng Road left turn lane. That is why the traffic folks do not feel that there is an issue with that intersection. With regard to why the school located itself where it did, I am sorry to say that Palo Alto is a City where nimbyism reins. All you have to do is look at bond issue that the Palo Alto School District issued where they were going to raise JLS Middle School and build a new two-story building and it was fought offby the residents. The International School spent more than 10 years looking for a site not only within Palo Alto but within other surrounding peninsula cities going .as far south as San Jose and I am not sure of the northern border but at least to Redwood City and I think to San Carlos..The fact is that -the residents of cities just don’t like to have schools. They don’t generate revenues and as much as everybody says that they are in favor of education it is really tough to find a location for a school. You can look at the battle that the Phillips Brooks School is undergoing in Woodside right now. The Children’s International School in Palo Alto which is currently located at the Cubberley site has purchased a piece of land in South Palo Alto which I have heard it is going to relinquish at this point because it has been unable to convince the neighbors that they should be allowed to put a school there. So it wasn’t for lack of trying that the school located where it did. We realize there are . problems to the site, we run into it, and we thought that rather than going out of business we would make the best of a less than perfect situation. That is all I have. Page 12 Chair Burr: Karen. Commissioner Holman: I have another question if you would. Have you explored to the best of your ability van-pooling? The report says that one-third of the students are in Pa!o Alto and two-thirds are from Communities outside of Palo Alto. So to tryto alleviate this problem by more extensive use of van-pooling would certainly be preferable and I know you have explored it but. is there any other wa, y that you can? .. Mr. Berman: The school tried a couple of things ilast year, which was our first year at the site. Maybe one of these gentlemen can help out a little bit more on that. First it tried using some nine passenger vans and using those as shuttles to go up to the other campus. One of the problems with that was that because of the traffic Situation trying to get back they could essentially make one run or two runs through?. Just one run in the Course of the afternoon and it was prohibitively expensive because we had to have drivers hired for that. Then the next solution that we tried was to hire a bus. Probably not surprisingly all school buses are in use at that hour so the bus that we hired last year was one of those inner-city buses, the plush ones with the high seats. The cost of that I believe was $60,000 for about half of the year and being a school we just don’t have that much money. So looking at tight budgets and the difficulty in supporting that and seeing a $60,000 or maybe it is $100,000 a year stream going on into etemity just wasn’t something that made sense. Commissioner Holman: What I am lo.oldng for is I am looking for parents who come from San Carlos for instance to van pool kids from San Carlos to the ¯school instead of trying to get kids from Cowper to the Laura Lane site. So I am talking about getting kids in van pools from other communities here to lessen the burden on the streets. Mr. Berman: There have been some efforts to increase the carpooling among the families. I don’t know the exact numbers maybe Philippe does..We have lists that show all the families by zip code so that families can identify each other and form carpools. I think there has been a reasonable amouilt of carpooling that has taken place. Reasonable is a subjective term but there is more carpo01ing occurring now than there was in the past. The traffic problems now are not as bad as they were before. So everything we have . done has improved the situation somewhat. . Commissioner Holman: IfI could I have one more question for you. You have some firsf graders too, some rather young children, and so has there been any consideration of shortening their school day to have be through at 1:00? Or does that get to be complex because people have more than one child in the same school? That would also stagger traffic. Mr. Berman: There is also an educational issue there, which I am not confidem of addressing. Page 13 Mr. Dietz: What we need in order to minimize or lower the number of students is to increase the day for the older students. In fact our middle school students spend seven hours in class every day between 8:00 and 4:00 with an hour for lunch. The other students are leaving earlier. We thought about shortening the day for first graders and the way to create an impact was to have the day shortened by almost an hour to make it worthwhile. As you mentioned, we have many families in our school so we need to have time for those parents to bring them somewhere and then come back to school, not to stay at school waiting for the older students, which some of them would have done. So we have looked at all those possibilities but we are seeing that by increasing after school activities, increasing access to study hall after school we have succeeded in maintaining a big number of students within the walls of the school and not use cars before 4:00 or 4:30. It is something that we car~ loo1~ into the again to see if we can improve that. Commissioner Holman: One last question if I Could for you. This is a very long path that is being proposed here. Again you have some very young children here. What :are you anticipating as far as the children getting down to the BAC parking lot? Are teachers going to escort them? Mr. Dietz: Absolutely. In fact we are going to limit the walk for students in grades three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine. Six, seven, eight and’nine is not as important because they end at four. So we speak about bringing students .from grades three to five over to the Baylands Athletic Centef parking lot. They will be able to walk. It took us approximately four minutes to make this walk with a group of students, which will be . enough. Commissioner Holman: I have to follow up on that. If you just want the older children ¯ to walk that path what about like, the previous question about if you have first graders and " the same parents with children that are older then how do you manage that? Mr. Dietz: Because of the staggered schedule they will be left on Geng Road first and then be able.to come onto the other campus. So i.t will be after the traffic congestion. It really lasts only between 20 and 30 minutes. If we have half the students on campus the congestion will not be a factor and people will be able to come later and then park. At 3:30 or 3:45 we have a big portion of our faculty and staffleaving the campus therefore leaving parking space in the schoolyard. Thank you. Chair Burt: Phyllis. Commissioner Cassel: If there are no more. questions of StaffI am prepared to make a motion with some conditions. Chair Burt: Go ahead. I may have a question after you make your motion but go right ahead. Page 14 MOTION Commissioner Cassel: I want to support the Staff Report with some exceptions. Unlike what I have heard from some of.you I think we ought to anticipate more cars than 30 to 40 using the Geng Road area, perhaps 50 to 60, they may not use it but they should be allowed to. We should allow them to drop offin the morning if it is neededl May park visitors during the day. Encourage a simple covered area forprotection from rain for people waiting there. To be sure that it is written in the permission that there be supervision at the site for the pickup of children. And that they have a mitigation and monitoring report that goes to the Planning and Transportation Staff to follow up on the TDM plan to make sure this happens, that we actually get relief. I was .disappointed in the numbers we received because they are kind. of soft. I know there has been a lot of work on this plan but it doesn’t say there are ’x’ families dropping kids off and it doesn;t say how many cars they expect this relief from. There are some numbers in there that I think would help the City Council in their understanding of the program and in our ability to assess whether this really works. The reason I think we should do this is I think the businesses in the area need some relief from this excess traffic. We have talked many, many times about shared parking. It is publi~ parking space at the park anyway and it is an absolutely good use for shared parking. It is not a situation I thought we would have thou’ght of putting ourselves in if we had been able to anticipate this or had some say in it but we didn’t. So now we need to make sure that people using the post office and the post office staff and others have an ability to move in and out and that if they are going to be able to use a bus system that they are able to make that work. If people are visiting during the day they are able to park in a safe location. Chair Burt: Bonnie. SECOND Commissioner Packer: I would like to second Phyllis’ motion with all the little piece parts and also add to it to encourage the school to continue aggressively with their TDM program and hopefully explore other ways to reduce the.number of cars,. I am assuming that even at Geng Road if it becomes a problem the parents will be incented to do some more carpooling. Chair Burr: Are you offering that as a comment or as an amendment proposal? Commissioner Cassel: I think I included it that there should be a TDM in that monitoring. Commissioner Packer: Then it is just a comment. Chair Burt: Yes, Wynne. Page 15 Ms. Furth: I wanted to get a little more clarity from you. What you have in front of you is a site and design plan review, which is essentially saying are these drawings of an appropriate path connecting this private property and this public property. We don’t have any conditions on this about when people can walk up and down that path. So if more people want touse that path or if business people who work in the businesses ..want to walk over to the path to be at the park or whatever, those are fme uses. So we would construe your comments as suggestions that the TDM plan be modified to say that the City encourages use of this that relieves congestion for the businesses in the area provided that it doesn’t cause traffic backups on Embarcadero. Commissioner Cassel: That is correct. Ms. Furth: These are comments about statements of goals in the TDM program. Commissioner Cassel: Correct. The goal here is to not put limits on it in a negative way. It keeps repeating here that they are trying to ask for use of this space between three o’clock and four o’clock and I am concerned that someone will come back and say oh but you are using it now in the middle of the day. I don’t want to get into that bind. I want an effective TDM program that provides relief. Chair Burr: Annette. Commissioner Bialson: I have a real problem with suggesting that we have public parking space used by the school for other than meliorating this difficult situation. That I be used by visitors and that they be encouraged to construct a covered area for parents to visit with one another is not a good precedent. I think it is use of public property, for inappropriate purposes and I would appreciate Wynne’s comment on that. I think that~ what we are responding to now is a particular problem which the school has asked us to address and I appreciate the difficulties they had in locating alternate space for them to occupy when they could no longer occupy the space they were in for 10 years plus. I am generally in favor of allowing the creation of the path and a license agreement which would allow the school to use the path and the lot for pickup and drop off if that becomes a problem in tl{e mornings for them. I think that is about all I would accept and I would like on that license agreement the ability to revoke it should we find that all we have done is move the problem to Embarcadero Road and cause difficulty there that cannot be meliorated by anything other than capital improvements. I don’t want the City to get into the situation of talcing on this problem as their own. Chair Burt: So are you first asking the Cit Attorney for a response and then I hear a prospective friendly amendment? Commissioner Bialson: A friendly amendment or an alternate motion, yes. Ms. Furth: All that stuff may have more useful comments on the history of the.efforts to make the situation better for everybody in that area but it is certainly a basic principle that parkland has to be used for park purposes. So the first question that the City addressed Page 16 when this proposal for a path came in was is that a good thing for the park as a park. You need to believe that if you want to approve this project. That same test should be applied to any other improvements that are proposed. You will recall that the original proposal was closer to the creek and then it was moved back because of the sensitive riparian area. There was also some discussion of playing fields and that has been taken offthe table at this point. So the proposal before you is pretty bare bones because it is intended to be quite simple and just something that makes sense for the park as a park and for the school as a neighbor of the park. We do have a whole range of formal and informal circumstances under which groups, individuals or institutions have limited preferential access whether it is a recreational program or a softball league or whatever. So it is not that you can’t have programs that give priority to particular users at particular times but that is not what is envisioned here. All that is proposed here is an ability to construct a path that canbe used to go back and forth and to have a license agreement so that if this access, which was not originally organized, turns out to be a difficulty we can cut it off. It is not anticipated that it will be, Staff is pretty confident that it won’t be. Chair Burr: IfI could ask a follow up question regarding Phyllis’ proposal as I understood it for a covered area, is that what would be considered an appropriate shared facility and use for that area not only potentially serving the school during the winter season and to facilitate this objective of having the loading occur at this location but would it benefit the public otherwise? Mr. Lusardi: Essentially yes. The Council was very careful in their deliberations to say that any improvements that occur are improvements that are a public/private partnership. That they are not exclusive to a private use. So if the Commission feels that a shelter be placed in the park for the purposes of facilitating pickup and drop off that is a shelter that Staff would also want to address as a useful shelter for the park use. Paul Diaz is here and can speak to whether that shelter can serve the park use as well.and the play fields. I think it was very clear direction by the Council to the Staff.to the Commission to come up with a plan that is a public/private participation. Paul? Mr. Paul Diaz, Director of Parks and Golf: The shelter is new. My gut reaction is no, that the shelter would not really serve any public use. It is in a back comer of the park. When the weather is bad there is nobody in the park. The public is not there. There is a restroom facility right there if anybody is there using it there is shelter there. So I wouldn’t see a shelter as valuable to the park. I wouldsee it as more of a nuisance factor to the park ultimately due to vandalism and long term repair and maintenance. . Commissioner Cassel: Okay, I wasn’t thinking for that reason. Just something very simple for the same reason. The shelter at the restrooms, I can’t imagine sending people off to the restrooms to wait for a car. I didn’t go into that space. Does it have outside space? Mr. Diaz: It has a small overhang. I would guess like five or six feetI think in parts Of the restroom. So there could be a place there, to congregate. Remember also that they are going to have to move 1,000 feet from the school to the parking lot. Page 17 . Commissioner Cassel: I know. They are going to have to go as a group before the parents get there. Mr. Diaz: I would assume that the International School would have umbrellas for all the kids on those kind of days. Chair Burt: One related prospective use for it is that if we in the future were to extend the City shuttle to the Baylands area, Paul, this is a follow up question for you and anyone else on Staff. Would that shuttle prospectively benefit the users of the athletic field and along the same lines if we are going to have permanent extensions of the shuttle should we be looking for opportunities for essentially bus stops for the shuttle system where we can find public/private partnerships that might help facilitate that? Mr. Diaz: I could see no benefit to the athletic field users. They.come in at different times and they come in fizom such various areas of town, many of them are non-residents or residents. So I wouldn’t see a shuttle for the athletic field use there that would be of value at all. Chair Burr: Karen. Commissioner Holman: Essentially I support the comments of my colleague to the right but I can’t support any motion until we deal with the site and design issues that are before us which we have not even touched on yet. Commissioner Cassel: I didn’t have any problems with the site and design issues. Commissioner Holman: I have some questions and I guess I should goahead. The decomposed granite that is going to be used on the path in one place, there is also asphalt on part of this path, was there any consideration of using decomposed granite or something like a road oil that would be compatible with the environlnent there? Also, on the new part of the path that would have to be e!evated.. When I was out.there walking, if it is built at exisfmg grade it is going to be flooding, it would seem to me. Mr. Lusardi: I’ll take a stab at this and then Paul and/or the Santa Clara Valley Water District can address that also. The purpose of the decomposed granite is to provide a pervious material. Road oil is impervious in that nature. The new pathway is also going to be designed and constructed to both the City and the Santa Clara Valley Water District standards for proper drainage, that is runoff, with respect to the pathway. The asphalt section of the existing pathway that is being put in I believe is to provide for service vehicles from the City that park at the athletic field where they are allowed to park and then provide maintenance. So it is basically a stopping area for maintenance trucks. Commissioner Holman: The path though that is currently asphalt, I was thinking that instead of it being asphalt that it could be the road oil, Page 18 Mr. Diaz: I’m sorry, can you repeat the question? Commissioner Holman: That the part of the path that is currently asphalt if it could be something like road oil so it is more compatible with the environment than asphalt. Mr. Diaz: If the International School wanted to do the expense of the demolition of that and.to rebuild the pathway with that type of a material, that would be possible. Commissioner Hotman: Then also if the International School was open to this there is some rubble in that area. If the International School would be willing to be i:esponsible for cleanup of that while they were constructing the new path. Mr. Diaz: I think that they would be amenable to any kind of cleanup }o help this project go forward. I am sure they would be agreeable to any kind of cleanup to help this project go forward. Commissioner Holman: One last question. Is there any tree removal? Mr. Diaz: No tree removal. Chair Burt: IfI might as one related question to the 100 foot setback along the riparian corridors, could Staff briefly comment on the ways in which this proj ect as now proposed is consistent with that aspect of the Comp Plan? Ms. Campbell: The pathway is an allowable use which is allowed in the setback area. If they were actually to build the field or something like that that is not something that would be considered permitted in that setback. Just a pathway for walking is allowed. Chair Burt: Wynne. Ms. Furth: I was just going to say that I may have mis-spoken earlier. It was the fields that we were trying to remove. There is a prohibition on impervious surfaces and structures. Chair Burt: The pathway as I understand it is an allowable use provided that there are ¯ adequate setbacks to protect the natural riparian environment and my sense is that first this area presently does not really have a natural riparian environment but there is a proposal to actually recreate one to a degree. So is that the basis for this encroachment within the 100 foot setback being permissible? Mr. Lusardi: That is part of it. Also, just to add, pathways are not .a permissible use. Pathways by the Comprehensive Plan in these areas are encouraged to allow that pedestrian activity and enjoyment. What is discouraged as Clare has pointed out is active uses, active play fields in that 100 footsetback. Such things as pathways, bikeways they are encouraged for the purposes of enjoyment as long as they are environmentally sensitive to the riparian habitat. Page 19 Ms. Furth: Then there is a smaller setback, much smaller, 25 feet which is encouraged for re-vegetation. Chair Burt: Just for therecord, I think the actual Comp Plan wording as cited in the Staff Report is, "allow passive, or intermittent outdoor activities in pedestrian, equestrian and ¯ bicycle pathways where there are adequate setbacks to. protect, the natural riparian environment." So I think that this use seems to comply with those conditions. I just want to make sure that important distinction on protection habitat is appreciated. Annette. Commissioner Bialson: I think what is called for now is an alternate motion. Could I make that at this point? SUBSTITUTE MOTION ! propose to make a motion to accept Staff recommendation with regard to this request, however, with the addition to the license agreement that we may be able to revoke it in the event that traffic impact is unacceptable at the Geng Road intersection. I should think that is enough but maybe Staff needs to give us a recommendation as to whether or not we need to expand from the intersection or should I use some words, Wylme, that are perhaps more general to allow us to gauge the full impact? What would be your suggestion there? Ms. Furth: I am procedurally confused. We have a motion on the floor that hasn’t been withdrawn. So is this an amendment to that motion? Commissioner Cassel: I think it is a substitute. She needs a second. SECOND Commissioner Griffin:I’ll second it. Ms. Furth: Okay..You are giving us ’instructions on how you Would like that license written and certainly instructing us that it should be revocable. It is going to be revocable on a broad range of Council discretion. If you want to include that among the factors or conditions under which it. could be revoked it would be evidence of unacceptable traffic ’ impacts as a result of the use of Geng Road that will do it. Ms. Grote: If I could interject, you may want to include a monitoring program explicitly in the TDM. I think it is implied but you might want to include that explicitly. Commissioner Bialson: Those are the recommendations I appreciate and that would be ¯ included in my motion. Chair Burr: Any other comments on the substitute motion? Michael. Page 20 Commissioner Griffin: I am just wanting to clarify here. Do we still have the shelter in our motion? Commissioner Bialson: No. This is just the Staff Report plus the addition to the license agreement. Commissioner Cassel: This does not inclUde any recognition of additional time that they may be using that site. Commissioner Bialson: No. Chair Burt: Karen. Commissioner Holman: One clarification by Staffif you would, please. If there was a condition of approval would you want that now or later? For instance, the gateway, there are bollards that used to have a chain that went across them and now vehicles just go in there. If there is no chain replaced there it is just a natural thing, parents are going to drive up there to pick up their kids. So would that be a condition of approval that you would want to hear now or save it? Ms. Furth: This is :the City’s park and the City’sPark and Community Services Department runs that park and its improvements. So if there are suggestions that you want to make to the City about how the City handles its part of the park design that could be a separate motion. Commissioner Cassel: My understanding is that is in the Staff Report as part of what ¯ they were planning. That is how I read it at any rate. Chair Burt: Okay. Any other discussion of the substitute motion? MOTION PASSED All in favor? (ayes) Opposed? (nay) That passes on a six to one vote with Commissioner Cassel opposing. That completes our discussion of this item. Thank you all for your patience and good luck to you. Page 21 Attachment G Campbell, Clare From:Bill Springer [BSpringer@valleywater.org] Sent:Wednesday, July 10, 2002 7:28 AM To:’Campbell, Clare’ Subject:RE: International School Pathway Hello, Clare, i. The District does support this project. It is to the benefit of the communityto relieve traffic congestion and allow a safe alternative-route to the school. We have not provided written comment to the City because our ~discussions have pr0deeded at meetipgs. 2.Under our Ordinance, we’have permitting authority over activities within 50 of top of bank, and, of course, on our property or easement.I would prefer to discuss issues in advance of City approvals. Usually, concerns can be addressed satisfactorily when all sides can bring them to the table. 3.’ We issue our permits on the basis’of final plans. Since these plans ¯ are’still in the wo{ks, I cannot issue a permit. Naturally, I have reviewed each iteratibn, and made comments to the International. School, which is the applicant. An unsolicited comment: As you know, the District is willing to transfer its fee title property over which the path passes to the School in exchange for a fee and a piece of nearby School property which is of more utility to usl for our flood protection work.¯ We have to date concentrated on the plans.for the pa~thway because we were waiting for the School to receive City approvalsall along the line. It is a District Board of Directors responsibility to approve the disposal and acquisition~of property, and requires a certain lead time and labor. Until there is certainty on all other aspects of the proposal’, I ~am loathe to burden our staff with action that may change in the middle. ¯ We can begin the process at any time. To allow the pathway to be installed in a timely manner, we will issue a permit for the installation and temporary operation of the pathway. Un<il such time as the land is deeded over to the School, ’the pathway is operating on District property, and, as such, is subject to any restrictions or conditions appropriate for the intended use of District¯property.. Therefore, we request that the City solicit our comment on any proposed operating conditions for the path where it is located on our property. And, last, I regret I will not be able to attend the Council meeting.I will be out of town until the 25th. I, too, want the loose ends tied off, and glued down. Thanks, Bill Springer