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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-04-30 City Council (7)City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT:CITY MANAGER CMR: 219:0~ APRIL 30, 2001 UPDATE ON CITY COUNCIL 2000-01 PRIORITIES This is an informational report and no Council action is required. DISCUSSION On November 29, 2000, the City Council reaffirmed its commitment to its top five priorities - Joint Master Planning of City/School Facilities and Services; Infrastructure Master Plan, Long Range Financial Planning, Zoning Ordinance Update and Traffic Calming and Alternative Transportation - while clarifying somewhat its intent for each of the priorities. Staff has prepared a quarterly progress update on the priorities for internal reporting purposes since the priorities were initially adopted in May 2000. This report will now be provided to the City Council. Attached are the first, second and third quarter reports for Fiscal Year 2000-01 (Attachments 1, 2 and 3). ATTACHMENTS Attachment 1: Third Quarter Report - Fiscal Year 2000-01 Attachment 2: Second Quarter Report - Fiscal Year 2000-01 Attachment 3: Fir.st Quarter Report - Fiscal Year 2000-01 PREPARED BY: Emil3 Assistant City Manager CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: City Manager CMR:219:0~Page 1 of 1 Ci,ty Council Priorities Update: April 2001 ATTACHMENT 1 Joint Master Planning of City/School Facilities and Services: With the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), develop and implement a processfor long- range planning for facilities addressing educational and commtmity~services; actively explore opportunities for joint use of facilities and joint provision of services. ¯Negotiated and received City Council and School Board approval for a Conceptual Agreement Between the City of Palo Alto and Palo Alto Unified School District to Exchange Property (Terman and Cubberley); now negotiating a four-party memorandum of understanding (to be presented to Council and School Board in late May). ¯Completed Needs Assessment for City and School District Facilities and presented to City/School Liaison Committee. ¯Completed Needs Assessment for Non-Profits in Palo Alto and transmitted to City Council, School Board and all participating non-profit agencies. ¯Began planning for a Non-Profit Forum, to facilitate communications among non-profits on facilities and service needs: ¯Prepared staff report to City Council which provided an update on the discussions of the City/School Liaison Committee and requested Council input in the prioritization of opportunities to be studied in Phase 2 of the Master Plan. ¯Received direction from City/School Liaison Committee that joint library services and expanded shuttle services will be the areas of focus for the Committee; began preparing information on options and cost impacts. Infrastructure Master Plan: Engage the community in a discussion of budget and infrastructure priorities.. Continue implementation of the Infrastructure Management Plan through recruiting and hiring key staff developing standards and procedures and initiating projects. ¯Freed up additional $1 million in 2000-01 budget for Infrastructure Reserve. ¯Completed hiring of final approved infrastructure position, Senior Project Manager in Public Works Engineering, who started March 26. ¯Significant progress on the following infrastructure projects: completed Alma landscaping project, including Alma at West Meadow and Alma at Charleston -1- Q Ci ,, Council Priorities Update: April 2001 Road along the Caltrain tracks; completed Johnson Park lighting; held final neighborhood meeting on Mitchell Park improvement project and finalizing requests for bids that will be issued in June; completed design of Robles Park improvement project, with RFB to be issued in April; completed design of three PAUSD fields improvements projects with RFB to issued in April; began construction on Duck Pond improvements; began design on improvements to Byxbee Park and Harbor Point parking lots; and completed construction of equipment washing facility at the Golf Course to prevent solid materials from entering the Water Quality Control Plant. ¯Initiated quarterly review by staff Infrastructure Committee of all open capital projects. In first review, identified approximately $600,000 of General Fund projects that can be closed or disencumbered. ¯Completed 5 Community Dialogues (Juana Briones School, January 17; Art Center, January 27; Mitchell Park, February 10;. Lucie Stem, February 21; Service Clubs, January 24), and 5 Family Room Dialogues, as well as a City staff Dialogue, to discuss the City’s budget and infrastructure priorities with members of the Palo Alto community. ¯Worked with Midpeninsula Access Corporation to prepare a video on the Community Room and Family Room Dialogues; scheduled meetings with service groups and other business organizations to report back on results of the Dialogues. ¯Developed two-year $14 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for 2001-03 (dramatically increasing previous CIP effort). ¯Developed "$22 Million Solution" to fully fund Infrastructure Management Plan over 10-year period. Zoning Ordinance Update." Complete work plan for Zoning Ordinance update by the end of FY 00-01; review and receive approval from the Council and initiate public input process in FY 01-02. Created "CityWorks" brand for all non-utility infrastructure projects. Phase I (Issues Identification) of the ZOU program was completed in December of last year. Due to scheduling difficulties, the planned City Council study session was not held. Instead, on March 5, staff prepared an informational report to the Council outlining the major issues and transmitting the summary list of issues, zoning library catalog information and a "white paper" on issues and consideration. The informational report also outlined the next steps for the update effort including an analysis of ordinance techniques -2- t Ci , Council Priorities Update: April 2001 and formats, history of major policy issues addressed in the last comprehensive update (1978) and amendments since, and an analysis of use classifications and districts. ¯Study session with the Planning and Transportation Commission scheduled for May 30th, to be followed by a Council study session or informational report. ¯Council and Commission Members invited to class on "Designing and Implementing Effective Zoning Ordinances" taught by Paul Crawford, a land- use consultant (and former San Luis Obispo planning director) who specializes in comprehensive zoning ordinance updates. ¯Per City Manager’s request, staff is prioritizing the "top ten!’ zoning ordinance update issues. ¯Completed process to devise R-1 Single Family Review Guidelines (to be presented to Council in June). ¯Engaged residents, merchants and property owners in issue of preserving neighborhood-serving retail; interim ordinance now in place for Charleston and Midtown. ¯Secured Council direction to seek and acquire land for affordable housing. Traffic Calming and Alternative Transportation: Identify options for achieving traffic calming in residential neighborhoods and on key arterials in the city. Institute driver education and awareness programs. Vigorously pursue opportunities for alternative transportation including a citywide shuttle. ¯Neighborhood Traffic CalmingProgram: The City Council approved the program on April 9, 2001, to implement the $100,000 that was budgeted for FY 200-2001. This program is for ".spot" traffic calming projects (i.e., involving just one or a few streets and smaller amounts of funding). To date, the Transportation Division has received approximately six requests for traffic calming, some of which were received several months ago. Ranking and qualifying data has been obtained for about half of these requests. Within about two weeks, Transportation will have the necessary data for the remainder of the requests, at which time they canbe qualified and ranked and the process for the first project can begin. The application of the Program to larger areas, including entire neighborhoods, awaits further review by the Finance Committee. ¯Embarcadero Road Traffic Calming Project: On April 9, 2001, staff recommended to Council to defer this project indefinitely due to financial and staff resource considerations. In the meantime, staff is pursuing operational -3- Ci,ty Council Priorities Update: April 2001 improvements, including, but not limited to, (1) sychronization of the traffic signals at 25 mph, (2) monitoring and enforcement of vehicle speeds using,’ primarily, motorcycle officers, (3) deployment of the speed trailer once every two weeks, (4) completion of engineering and traffic surveys to determine if the existing posted speed limit of 25 mph is consistent with the California Vehicle Code and Caltrans requirements (to allow Police to use radar for speed enforcement), (5) enforcement of red light, right-of-way, bicycle, and pedestrian violations, and (6) encouraging Stanford University and other employers using this corridor to use transit, ridesharing and other commute options. Traffic Signal Synchronization: Currently staff is converting the traffic signal timing data to a format suitable for input in the computer for synchronization and working toward completing the engineering and traffic surveys. Staff anticipates that this work will be completed by the end of June. Additionally, the Transportation Division staff, through the Commute Coordinator’s program, will begin working with Stanford University and other employers in the near future. Trial Roundabout: Staff has solicited nominations from Palo Alto neighborhood associations for a six-month roundabout trial. Two. neighborhoods submitted nominations for the trial. The Midtown Neighborhood Association submitted two locations-~-Loma Verde/Cowper and Louis/Colorado, and the College Terrace Neighborhood Association submitted one location--Stanford/Bowdoin. Over the next few months, staff will evaluate the three locations, meet with the neighborhood associations, conduct neighborhood meetings, and return to Council in the fall for approval of a preferred location. Public Education: The "Share Our Streets, As If" is a Traffic Safety Education and Outreach program that is funded by the Office of Traffic Safety. The grant for $79,000 (Transportation Division) has funded an educational campaign that started in October of 2000. The program is in tandem with a grant that the Palo Alto Police Department received to purchase additional motorcycles and radar devices for the Traffic team. PD and Transportation have been working together with a local graphic design firm (Jacobs Fulton Design Group) to target all street users. The campaign includes posters, advertising, public outreach and information. All,the design work has been done pro bono by Jacobs Fulton Design Group and the advertisements running in the Weekly are. sponsored by the Palo Alto Weekly. Grant funds have been used for printed materials, reflective bands, production of two 3’ X 40’ banners and for -4- Ci,ty Council Priorities Update: April 2001 disposable cameras used to take photos of the street environment. The campaign will also include work with two PAUSD elementary schools using the disposable cameras in an art project focused on traffic safety. ¯Downtown North Traffic Calming: The Council approved the Downtown North project at its February 5, 2001 meeting, including a six-month trial of the "Recommended Preferred Option," intersection improvements at Lytton/Alma and Lytton/Middlefield, and a new Lytton Neighborhood traffic calming study to be started with the installation of the Downtown North trial. Implementation of these projects is. on hold indefinitely until a source of funding can be identified. ¯Now finalizing Intermodal Transit Center and seeking grant funding for engineering. Long Range Financial Plan Update: Identify resources to address the current funding gap for existing infrastructure. Make recommendations and receive Council approval for a financing plan for new infrastructure. Analyze and make recommendations regarding revenue opportunities including fees, and new or extended taxes. Identify options for funding rehabilitation of the existing storm drainage system. Complete implementation of financing plans for Council- approved initiatives, including the downtown parking assessment district. ¯Development Impact Fees - a nexus study is being conducted. ¯Federal and State Grants - an aggressive grants procurement policy has been initiated. ¯Redevelopment Funding - staff is investigating the advantages of establishing a redevelopment agency and will be reporting to Council information on creating a Redevelopment Project Area. ¯Business License Tax - staff is in the process of developing altemative forms of a Business License Tax to propose to Council (to be discussed with Finance Committee by June 30, 2001). ¯Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) - staff will be discussing a proposal to increase TOT when we do further infrastructure-related outreach to the community in Fall 2001. -5- City Council Priorities Update: January 2001 ATTACHMENT 2 Joint Master Planning of City/School Facilities and Services: With the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), develop and implement a process for long- range planning for facilities addressing educational and community services; actively explore opportunities for joint use of facilities. ¯Continued work with City/School Advisory Committee to scope the planning effort. As a result, have added opportunities for joint provision of services to the contemplated scope for the Master Plan process. ¯Received City/School Advisory Committee approval of Proposed Criteria to Guide Evaluation of Joint Facilities and Services Opportunities. ¯Prepared and distributed surveys on facilities and services to City and School District staff as well as users. ¯Prepared and distributed inventory survey of current and projected services and facilities needs of non-profits in the community. o Infrastructure Master Plan.’ Continue implementation of the Infrastructure .Management Plan through recruiting and hiring key staff, developing standards and procedures and initiating first year projects.- Completed Proposed 2001-03 General Fund Capital Improvement Program proposal for infrastructure and received approval from City Manager and Executive Staff. Completed hiring of all but one of the approved infrastructure positions in Community Services,. Public Works Facilities Management and Public Works Engineering. After a lengthy recruitment process for Senior Project Manager in Engineering, a key position for facilitating major infrastructure projects, the candidate selected did not accept the City’s offer, citing commute and housing costs as the primary reasons. A new recruitment process has been started. The new Engineer in Facilities started on January 29, and will take some time to become familiar with City processes and the infrastructure program. -1- o City Council Priorities Update: January 2001 Zoning Ordinance Update: Complete work plan for Zoning Ordinance update by the end of FY 00-01; review and receive approval from the Council and initiate public input process in FY 01-02. ¯Residential and commercial/industrial focus groups held in early December. The residential group provided input on the physical transitions between multiple family uses and single-family uses and between commercial and single-family uses. The commercial/industrial group provided information about parking ratios and commercial development standards. Both groups were very concerned about the inability to design and build mixed-use, residential/commercial, projects and said that the development regulations regarding mixed-use projects were some of the most important ones to change. ¯"White paper" on the use of zoning codes nation-wide and the relationship between the Zoning Ordinance, Comprehensive Plan and other policy documents prepared. The paper is available through the Planning Division. ¯Study session with the Planning and Transportation Commission held on December 13th. A study session with the City Council is tentatively scheduled for April 2001. ¯As a result of the extensive community outreach and in-house staff meetings, about 400 issues identified that are in need of updating. Planning staff is now in the process of categorizing and organizing those issues and developing a system for tracking the code sections that will change as a result of addressing the issues. Planning staff is also continuing to obtain copies of zoning ordinances from other jurisdictions to review the formats used. Traffic Calming and Alternative Transportation: Implement residential traffic calming by developing and receiving approval for a prioritization system and completing the first year ($100, 000) of projects. ¯Solicited Neighborhood Associations. for a nomination of a trial modem roundabout for traffic calming on two residential streets. The deadline for receipt of nominations is March 2, 2001. ¯Prepared staff report and revised neighborhood traffic calming, as recommended by the Planning and Transportation Commission, for Council consideration. -2- City Council Priorities Update: January 2001 Presented Downtown North Traffic Calming plan, as recommended by the Planning and Transportation Commission for initial Council review in December. Long Ra.nge Financial-Plan Update: Complete the Long Range Financial Plan by 1) identifying the remainder of the financing required for the Infrastructure Management Plan; 2) making recommendations and receiving Council approval for a financing plan for new infrastructure; and 3) completing implementation of financing plans for Council-approved initiatives, including the storm drainage fee increase, downtown maintenance district and parking assessment district. ¯Reside~nt survey placed on hold until the Community Dialogues are completed. ¯Began process for implementing Development Impact Fees. ¯Worked with the City Attorney on reviewing the Utility Uses Tax ordinance to determine methods to increase revenue; once the Community Dialogues are completed, will begin to work on the process for increasing the TOT ¯Given Council’s preliminary approval for the Downtown parking structures, moving forward with the mail-in ballot process. ¯Working on the preliminary.plan for adoption of a Redevelopment Agency. -3- ATTACHMENT 3 City of Palo Alto CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES UPDATE September 2000 Long Range Financial Plan Update: Complete the Long Range Financial Plan by 1) identifying the remainder of the financing required for the Infrastructure Management Plan; 2) making recommendations and receiving Council approval for a financing plan for new infrastructure; and 3) completing implementation of financing plans for Council-approved initiatives, including the storm drainage fee .increase, downtown maintenance district and parking assessment district. Plan reviewed by Finance Committee in June 2000; staff was directed to: v" Conduct voter survey to determine resident preference and sensitivity to cost. v" Move forward with major funding objectives. " Pursue a TOT increase of 2%. v" Extend the Utility Users Tax to interstate and international phone calls. v" Update Utility Tax Ordinance to include appropriated forms of telecommunications not included in the current ordinance. "Return with final recommendations on financing options after voter survey is completed. ¯Hired public education consultant to assist in analysis of survey results ¯Survey firm is on-bOard and in final stages of completing draft survey questions Joint Master Planning of City/School Facilities: With the Palo Alto Unified School District, develop and implement a process for long-range planning for facilities addressing educational and community services; actively explore opportunities for joint use of facilities. ¯Formed Steering Committee with representatives from City staff (City Manager’s Office and Community Services), PAUSD and Stanford. ) Prepared and issued Request for Proposals for consultant. Selected Parsons Brinkerhoff as consultant. ¯In the process of re-evaluating scope of services for consultant in light of developments with Terman/JCC. Zoning Ordinance Update: Complete work plan for Zoning Ordinance update by the end of FY 00-01; review and receive approval from the council and initiate ¯ public input process in FY 01-02. ¯City Council Study Session.- Sept. 18 ¯Staff currently compiling list of issues, basic Comprehensive Plan Comments from Planning Commission (PC), Architectural Review Board (ARB), and Historic Resources Board (HRB) v" PC - enthusiastically support the project and "oversight" role v" HRB - issue of transfer of Title 16 to Title 18 (Zoning Ordinance) v" ARB - several issues including supporting "sustainable city", transfer of Sign Ordinance to Zoning Ordinance Community Meetings - identify Issues, "kick-off’ and community information, advertised in PA Daily and Weekly, mailing to community and professional organizations, press release v" Tuesday, Sept. 19th @ tChUbberley Community Center, 7 p.m.v" Monday, September 25 @ City Hall., 7 p.m. v" Wednesday,.October 4~h @ Juana Briones school, 7 p.m. ¯Web Page - Zoning Ordinance Update - featured site, will be updated, on a regular basis through the "life of the project" ¯E-mail address: zoneupdate@city.palo-alto.ca.us, staff will be reviewing regularly, respond if request for staff contact Combined CC and PC study session on issues identification and identification of specific modules for review (i.e.i order and composition of components for review such as land use characterization, development standards) anticipated in January. Infrastructure Master Plan: Continue implementation of the Infrastructure Management Plan through recruiting and hiring key staff, developing standards and procedures and initiating first year projects. A team of City managers representing allCity departments has held 3 meetings to identify and begin prioritizing the City’s existing and new infrastructure needs. ¯A comprehensive list of City infrastructure needs and costs has been collected and is being finalized. Of the 6.5 FTE approved by Council for the existing infrastructure program, 1.5 positions have been filled and interviews for the remaining positions will be completed by the end of September. The team is ready to begin the prioritization process and has scheduled weekly meetings in order to develop recommendations and meet the City’s budget schedule. Administrative Services has agreed to work with former Assistant Director Melissa Cavallo on a contract basis, to take the lead on recommended improvements to the contract/procurement process. Residential Traffic Calming: Implement residential traffic calming by developing and receiving approval for a pdoritization system and completing the first year ($100, 000). of projects. The Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program will address single street "low- impact" traffic calming measures and neighborhood-wide traffic calming studies and projects. Guidelines will be reviewed by the Planning and Transportation Commission on September 27, 2000. ¯The proposed Downtown North traffic calming plan will be discussed by the Planning and Transportation Commission on October 11, 2000. The City has undertaken a Residential Arterial Traffic Calming Program, beginning with an extensive study of ways and means of slowing cars speeds on Embarcadero Roads without shifting traffic into adjacent neighborhoods. The Planning and Transportation Commission on November 8, 2000 will discuss the Embarcadero Road traffic calming plan, The Residential Artedal Traffic Calming Program will be extended to eventually include Middlefield, Charleston, Arastradero, and University Avenue. The City has undertaken, with -funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety, development of a traffic safety education campaign. This initiative, managed by the Transportation Division, will disseminate safe driving messages to motorists, including the importance of "sharing the road" and of responsible driving behavior.