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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-12-01 City Council Summary MinutesCITY COUNCIL SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 13 Regular Meeting December 1, 2025 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers and by virtual teleconference at 5:32 p.m. Present In Person: Burt, Lauing, Lythcott-Haims, Reckdahl, Stone, Veenker Present Remotely: None Absent: Lu Call to Order Mayor Lauing called the meeting to order. The clerk called roll declaring six present. Agenda Changes, Additions and Deletions Ed Shikada, City Manager, reported Item Number 14 will be pulled and reagendized in January. Public Comment 1. Mark W., Bay Area Air Quality Management District, encouraged Council to take economic impacts into consideration when making decisions like banning gas appliances and making public meetings at a time more convenient to the community. 2. Yvonne E. urged Council to consider the socioeconomic impact poor air quality has on poor communities and seniors. 3. Tina F., Environmental Justice League, expressed a need to provide information to the community about chemical sensitivity. 4. Jennifer L. read some comments from an email sent to Council from Sky Posse Palo Alto about the recent certification of a deeply flawed environmental declaration from San Francisco about SFO arrival flight path impacts on the City. Council was urged to repeat the document and inform the broader community about it. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 5. John M. supported the installation of quiet zones via quad gates and asked Council to expedite the process to find the budget. Council Member Questions, Comments and Announcements Mayor Lauing indicated one in six residents depend on Second Harvest for food support and wished to allocate $1000 from the contingency fund to support their efforts. The Vice Mayor supported the donation and Council members approved. Vice Mayor Veenker mentioned that the Turf Study Ad Hoc would be returning to Council with a recommendation likely on January 12. Staff confirmed that that timing works with respect to the El Camino decision for Council to consider the ad hoc's recommendation. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims stated the Oversized Vehicles Ad Hoc continues to be interested in potential partners coming forward to locate and land new safe parking sites. Study Session 1. Receive an update and provide feedback on the City Council’s priority Implementing Neighborhood Town Halls. Meghan Horrigan-Taylor, Chief Communications Office, provided a slide presentation including a video displaying neighborhood town halls, purpose of the presentation, introduction, foundational meeting elements, areas for further development and exploration, meeting dates/neighborhoods, and Council discussion. Public Comment: Jennifer L. suggested there should be meetings on specific topics. Councilmember Reckdahl believed promotion should be done with postcards and having people go door to door. Regrouping the neighborhoods and outreach as to what the best day and time for meetings was suggested. Ms. Horrigan-Taylor replied neighborhood leaders were asked about day and time. Councilmember Reckdahl suggested a Zoom option for meetings. Councilmember Stone agreed with Councilmember Reckdahl's comments. Staff working with neighborhood leaders can continue to be refined. Councilmember Stone wanted to know how feedback was actively tracked and followed up. Ms. Horrigan-Taylor responded the first town hall meetings showed the importance of closing the loop by ensuring those that attended filled out their email in order to be reached. Work is done to address action items with department heads and neighborhood representatives. City Manager Shikada described how issues were able to be addressed on the spot. There was a need to synthesize the input received. There was a suggestion to keep a transcript of the comments and have them responded to individually. Having the town halls become a substitute for 311 was not desirable. Staff's ability to close the SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 loop with the neighborhood leaders as a point of contact to ensure quality control is and improvement that can be incorporated going forward. Vice Mayor Veenker queried if other cities go out in neighborhoods. The only example City Manager Shikada was aware of is Mountain View who does something similar. Ms. Horrigan- Taylor added Redwood City did something similar where the mayor and vice mayor rotated into different neighborhoods to host meetings. Mayor Lauing questioned if the staff matchups are the right amount. City Manager Shikada thought there was a good equilibrium. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims was curious how emails were being gathered. Ms. Horrigan- Taylor answered there were sign-in sheets, a QR code to fill out a form, or Staff would take their email. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims advised Staff to encourage the use of the QR code. Suggestions were made to foster a sense of community at the meetings. Councilmember Burt had interest in to what degree City Staff learned and gained understanding of the community as a result of participating and if a survey has been done. Ms. Horrigan-Taylor responded a survey is done after each meeting as part of the follow up. Councilmember Burt spoke about the value of flyers on front doors to promote meetings. Ms. Horrigan-Taylor indicated that was an aspect of publicity and outreach. NO ACTION 2. Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan (BPTP) Update: Draft Plan and Near-Term Projects. CEQA Status: Exempt Pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21080.20. Ozzy Arce, Sr. Planner Office of Transportation, provided a slide presentation including the purpose of the study session and recommended action, background, project timeline, table of contents, highlights of feedback incorporated into the Draft Plan, 2026 Bicycle Network, low- stress network, near-term projects, district areas, Phase 4: Draft Plan, recommended changes to near-term projects for Council consideration, plan adoption, and next steps. Public Comment: 1. Helene G. (presentation) on behalf of 5: Tim H., Andrew H., Sarah H., Aaron H., Vicky P. provided a slide presentation including Vision Zero in Palo Alto, where trust breaks down: design standards, Ohlone sidewalk is anther example of inexplicable design, Greer and Thomas: the ultimate example of a clearly unsafe intersection the City will not fix, visibility at Greer and Thomas does not meet standards and is not sufficient to yield appropriately – but still no action, daylighting: clear Council direction, no execution, what other cities are doing, the Transportation Department has not taken SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 action on a single request filed without petitions and escalations, and better systems needed. 2. Penny E. urged Council to direct Staff to work with Safe Routes to School staff, PAPD, sustainability staff, local hospital trauma workers, PABAC, and PTAs to create new local policies and programs to ensure that City efforts across all departments regarding e- cycles is aligned and guided by appropriate public safety goals, expedite efforts to develop bike/pedestrian facilities ahead of occupancy of new buildings, and adding the sentence "street closures may be considered when such closure will enhance safety or will increase use of active transportation modes" to comp plan T4.1 as recommended by PABAC May 7, 2024. 3. Ken J. requested Council consider how well the plan addresses Safe Routes to Work, how the near-term projects list would look if latent demand for the Stanford hospitals, the research park and the campus itself were depicted, if the Draft Plan addresses how students in non-PAUSD homes will get to school, and using road verges to separate the sidewalk and curb. 4. Lara A. encouraged Council to add the Middlefield Corridor as a bicycle-friendly zone, prioritize real bicycle enhancements for South Palo Alto and Midtown residents, direct resources toward safety for youth around e-cycles, and ensure the South Palo Alto Bikeway Project move forward. 5. Mark S. (Zoom) supported focusing on bike infrastructure on South Palo Alto and daylighting the curbs and thought well delineated bike lanes in California with reasonable speed limits and walking bikes during events to be favorable. 6. Arthur L. (Zoom) commented there is no need for the Chimalus spur Councilmember Burt has talked about through the Bol Park path, bicycle boulevards should have top class pavement, and wanted to hear comments about establishing a formal direct communication channel to PTC and City Council for PABAC. 7. Alan W. (Zoom) wanted to see the Draft give more guidance about implementing Comprehensive Plan Policy T-3.5, commented that the Draft recommends a number of class four separated bikeways that would create much greater conflicts at turning and crossing points, and asked for a thorough, written, and impartial response from Staff to be delivered at a future date but in a timely fashion that would enable appropriate changes in the Draft Plan. Councilmember Burt inquired to what extent surrounding communities and work commutes have been prioritized in the plan. Mr. Arce replied conversations continue to be held with neighboring jurisdictions' planners. Feedback from Council is being requested regarding installing a facility on the north portion of Middlefield connecting Middlefield downtown area to Menlo Park. Councilmember Burt emphasized Stanford integration to be a high priority, wanted to look at and elevate the connections at the extension of Park down to Wilkie and SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 Seale Avenue Tunnel, wanted to add vertical curbs and street filters to the Comp Plan, and discussed restrictions of e-cycles in school districts. Councilmember Reckdahl asked about the policy for daylighting curbs. Ria Lo, Chief Transportation Official, replied Staff is working through an analysis and an implementation process for the daylighting process. Analysis has been done to highlight the starting locations. Staff will look at daylighting when doing the signage for street sweeping. In locations where street sweeping is done, someone can be sent with a paint can. In other cases, there is need for more infrastructure. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if Staff would do a vision check on all the curbs. Ms. Lo responded the plan was to go out and pain the 20 or 15 feet. There is no estimate of start time. Councilmember Reckdahl wanted to know what could be done about people parking on rolled curbs. Sylvia Star-Lack, Manager Transportation Planning, Office of Transportation, agreed leaflets could be placed on cars. There is a flyer on the transportation website that instructs how to park on rolled curbs. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if areas where there are a lot of children walking and biking could be prioritized. Ms. Star-Lack stated that could be prioritized assuming there are staff resources to do that. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims thought this was a perfect opportunity to educate people on rolled curbs with a clever video. Councilmember Stone echoed the comments made by Ms. Grossman and felt regulating e-bikes should be prioritized. Vice Mayor Veenker suggested including driver education, asking PAN to help circulate flyers, and wanted to hear more about the North Palo Alto-Menlo Park connection. Mr. Arce stated in certain areas of the City, it is appropriate to have a redundancy in the bicycle network and that portion of Middlefield is believed to be a good candidate for that. Mayor Lauing asked if there is anything that can be done in the short-term around Churchill. Mr. Arce stated Staff discussed adding the class four separated bike facility on Churchill Avenue from Alma to Bryant Street with a traffic circle. It addresses an area of significant concern. Councilmember Burt supported the need to improve the safety of the student riders going to and coming out of Paly. Prioritizing daylighting zones is important. Staff response to how PABAC's recommendations were or were not incorporated is important. Councilmember Burt endorsed a program to promote bike parking to facilitate bike use and recommended having a signal at Cowper. Vice Mayor Veenker endorsed the idea of making bikeways more like Bryant and wished to find a way to figure out the Middlefield corridor between Greene Middle School and Winter Lodge. Mr. Arce agreed to look at that area as part of the Middlefield strategy. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 Councilmember Reckdahl indicated having better connections at Middlefield to be high priority, asked about a protected bike lane on Alma. Ms. Star-Lack replied the southern part of Alma is being looked at. Councilmember Reckdahl asked about the timeframe of the Matadero undercrossing. Mr. Arce answered preliminary discussions have been held with Valley Water. It is on the City to facilitate the bikeway. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if there have been discussions about the Utilities Department being receptive to making the utility driveway a bike lane. Mr. Arce stated there have not been preliminary discussions about using the driveway near that area. There were discussions as part of the Midtown Connections Study that looked at the other area of Matadero Creek closer to Loma Verde. The 2012 plan for Matadero Creek included a larger section to carry forward a part of Matadero Creek closer to 101 for future consideration. Councilmember Reckdahl said another area that needs work is the Bryant Bike Boulevard. Mr. Arce responded that project is on the near-term list. Councilmember Burt discussed concerns about gaps in Replica data. There were issues raised about how this bike plan compares to the 2012 plan and the focus on the relationship of the bike plan to the South Palo Alto Connectivity Project. NO ACTION Consent Calendar 3. Approval of Minutes from November 10 and November 17, 2025 Meetings 4. Policy & Services Committee Recommendation to Adopt Updates to the Advocacy Process Manual; CEQA Status - Not a Project 5. PUBLIC HEARING: Finance Committee Recommends City Council Adopt a Resolution Approving the 2026 Natural Gas Cost of Service Analysis Report, Amending Rate Schedules G-1 (Residential Gas Service), G-2 (Residential Master-Metered and Commercial Gas Service), G-3 (Large Commercial Gas Service) and repealing G-10 (Compressed Natural Gas Service). CEQA Status: Not a Project under Public Resources Code Section 21065. 6. Approval of Purchase Order C26196043 with Carahsoft, Utilizing a General Services Administration Cooperative Agreement, to Procure S/4 Hana Implementation Services, for a term of Twelve Months and a Total Amount Not-To-Exceed of $5,839,230, including $4,399,300 for Basic Services and $439,930 for Additional Services, and Approval of Budget Amendments to the Information Technology; CEQA Status – Not a Project. 7. Approval of Two Contracts: 1) Blanket Purchase Order with Minsait Advanced Control Systems (ACS) in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $1,000,000 to Purchase As-Needed Hardware and Software Components, 2) Professional Services Contract No. C26195119 SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 with Minsait ACS in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $439,450 for SCADA System Software Licensing and Support for a Period of Five Years in an Combined Contracts Amount Not- to-Exceed $1,439,450; CEQA Status – Not a Project 8. Approval of Two Blanket Purchase Orders with S&S Trucking in the Amount of $2,543,677 and with Zanker Road Resource Management LLC in the Amount of $1,090,753 for On-Call Off Hauling Services for a Total Amount Not-to-Exceed of $3,634,430 for a Five Year Term. CEQA Status: Exempt. Pursuant to CEQA Guideline 15302(c) – Maintenance of Existing Utility Systems. 9. Approval of Amendment No. 1 to Contract No. C22181106 with Universal Site Services Inc., to Provide Additional High Pressure Steam Cleaning Services for Downtown University and California Ave Business Districts, and to Extend the Contract for Six Months for an Additional Amount Not-to-Exceed $239,832; CEQA Status - Not a Project 10. Adoption of (Corrected) Resolution Amending Five Rate Schedules Setting Forth Utility Connection Fees and Other Charges: Utilities Rate Schedule E-15 (Electric Service Connections), W-5 (Water Service Connections), G-5 (Gas Service Connections), S-5 (Sewer Service Connections) and C-1 (Utility Miscellaneous Charges); CEQA Status: Not a Project Under CEQA Guidelines Sections 15378(b)(4) and (5) and Exempt Under Section 15273(a). 11. Approval of Amendment No. 2 to Contract C09124501A with GreenWaste of Palo Alto to Extend the Term for an Additional Four Years Through June 30, 2030, for an Estimated Average Annual Compensation of $24,840,211, including an Estimated $1,400,589 in Additional Expenses; Approval of Replacement of Aging Collection Vehicles for an Estimated $5,900,000 in Additional Expenses; Approval of a Budget Amendment in the Refuse Fund; and Approval of Amendment No. 1 to the Revocable Non-Exclusive License For Use of a Portion of the Former Los Altos Treatment Plant Located at 1237 San Antonio Road by GreenWaste of Palo Alto Through June 30, 2030; CEQA Status - Not a Project 12. Approval of Seven Items to Support the Automated Weather Observation System Project, AP-19000, at Palo Alto Airport: 1) Approval of Construction Contract No. C26194026 with Vellutini Corporation DBA Royal Electric Company, in an Amount Not to Exceed $1,699,810; 2) Authorization for the City Manager or Designee to Negotiate Change Orders Up to a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $254,971; 3) Approval and Authorization for the City Manager or Designee to Execute Contract Amendment 3 to Contract No. C21178372C with C&S Engineers, Inc. for a Not-to-Exceed Amount of $464,613 and a Contract Extension Through December 31, 2026; 4) Authorization and Approval for the City Manager or Designee to Execute Contract Amendment 1 to Contract No. C21178372B with Burns & McDonnell for a Contract Extension Through December 31, 2026; 5) Approval and Authorization for the City Manager or Designee to Execute Contract Amendment 1 to Contract No. C211783782A with Centurion Planning SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 & Design LLC to extend the contract term through December 31, 2027; 6) Adoption of a Resolution Authorizing the Submittal of Applications and Execution of Grant Agreements with the California Department of Transportation for Airport Improvement Program Matching Grants; and 7) Approval of a Budget Amendment in the Airport Enterprise Fund; CEQA Status - Exempt Under CEQA Guidelines Section 15302 13. Approval for the City Manager or their Designee to Execute Contract No. C26195084 with SCA of CA, LLC, to Procure Services for the Sweeping of City Parking Garages, Parking Lots and an Underpass for a Period of Five Years for a Total Not to Exceed Amount of $581,852; CEQA Status – Not a Project 14. FIRST READING: Adoption of an ordinance to Amend Chapters 4.54 and 4.56 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Amend the Regulation of Massage Establishments and Hot Tub/Sauna Establishments as Recommended by the Policy & Services Committee; and Adoption of a Resolution to Amend the Administrative Penalty Schedule to Amend Related Penalties; CEQA status - not a project. Item Removed Off Agenda 15. SECOND READING: Ordinance Repealing Chapter 15.04 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code and Adopting a New Chapter 15.04, the California Fire Code (2025 Edition) With Local Amendments and Related Findings (FIRST READING: 11/3/2025, PASSED 6-0-1, Veenker absent) 16. SECOND READING: Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Sections of Chapter 10.56 (“Special Speed Zones”) of Title 10 (Vehicles and Traffic) to Reflect the 2025 Traffic Survey (FIRST READING: November 10, 2025, PASSED 5-0-2, Stone, Veenker absent) 17. SECOND READING: Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Amending Section 18.08.040 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code (The Zoning Map) to Change the Classification of Property Located at 511 Byron St, 660 University Ave, and 680 University Ave/500 Middlefield Rd from RM-20 Low Density Multiple-Family Residential (RM-20) to Planned Community (PC) (FIRST READING: November 10, 2025, PASSED: 4-1-2, Lu no, Stone, Veenker absent) Public Comment: 1. Herb B. (Item 9) opined businesses should be responsible for cleaning their sidewalks and suggested removing this item from Consent Calendar. 2. Hamilton H. (Item 5) stated the 2025 gas COSA proposed discretionary changes that significantly lowered the cost for small business, raised residential costs by a third, and financially discouraged electrification and advised adding Prop 26. 3. Marie-Jo F. (Item 12) provided reasoning for removing Item 12 from the Consent Calendar. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 4. Darlene Y. (Item 12) stated Item 12 information is partially legitimate but incomplete and deserves Council's attention. It is reasonable to ask why approval is being rushed on any of the issues and would warrant pausing until Council has complete and accurate information. 5. Shani K. (Item 12) asked to have Item 12 pulled from Consent until studies, analysis, public disclosure, and mitigation of potential impacts can be done. 6. Andrew P. (Item 12) spoke in support of Item 12 as it will enable continued safe operations at no cost to City taxpayers nor for the installation or maintenance of the equipment. 7. Tom M. (Item 12) supported Item 12 to give pilots the situational awareness to make good judgment decisions. 8. Bob L. (Item 12) indicated nothing is being done to the airport to warrant the review being afforded here. Real time accurate weather is better for everyone. 9. Mark S. (Zoom) requested more transparency and removal of the Weather Observation System Project from the consent calendar. 10. Rebecca E. (Zoom) (Item 12) opined this is an inappropriate use of the Consent Calendar. 11. Karen P. (Item 12) urged Council to remove this item from the Consent Calendar and refer the new weather system for further review including whether appropriate limitations on use at night should be adopted. Councilmember Stone requested to pull Agenda Item Number 12. MOTION: Councilmember Burt moved, seconded by Councilmember Reckdahl to approve Agenda Item Numbers 3-13, 15-17 (Agenda Item Number 14 Removed Off Agenda). MOTION PASSED ITEMS 3-11, 13, 15-17: 6-0-1, Lu absent MOTION PASSED ITEM 12: 5-1-1, Stone abstain, Lu absent City Manager Comments City Manager Shikada provided a slide presentation including Palo Alto Ave./Alma St. Quiet Zone status, holiday events and December festivities, Climate Action Workshop, Fire Station No. 4 groundbreaking, and notable tentative upcoming Council items. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 10 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 Action Items 18. Recommendation from Rail Committee for City Council on the South Palo Alto Bike/Ped Connectivity: Initial Review of Conceptual Design Alternatives and Elimination of Alternatives from Further Consideration; CEQA Status - Not a Project as Defined by CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(4) Councilmember Reckdahl recused due to living within 500 feet of one of the sites. Charlie Coles, Senior Transportation Planner, provided a slide presentation including the recommendation options 1 and 2, project study area, project background, project timeline, complexity of transportation projects of this size, conceptual design alternative locations, preliminary conceptual design alternatives, initial assessment of conceptual alternatives, phase 2 community engagement (fall 2025 – early 2026), next steps (tentative dates), phase 2 stakeholder input summary (received to-date), and recommendation. Councilmember Burt described the Rail Committee's process of narrowing the alternatives down to focusing on Option A and prioritizing getting it done. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims and Mayor Lauing agreed with Councilmember Burt's comments. Public Comment: 1. Penny E. spoke in support of A2, Fern Avenue, and did not like H. 2. Ken J. asked whether Charleston and Meadow would be closed simultaneously during grade separation and advised consideration for how far people will have to go to get over to El Dorado. 3. Lara A. supported the PTC and Staff's recommendation that the City proceed with alternative A2. 4. Paul A. opined the team did not take into consideration the quality and quantity of traffic going through the neighborhood. 5. Xzang C. stated the needs have not been clearly identified and more time is needed to look at the pros and cons. 6. David H. spoke against the El Dorado proposal for safety reasons. 7. Ward T. was in support for alternative A but advised putting the Cal Ave tunnel where it needs to be. 8. Rebecca E. (Zoom) wondered why this has not been explored alongside the grade separation project, thought there needs to be more stoplights on Alma, and encouraged providing shuttles to take cars off the road. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 11 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 Vice Mayor Veenker wanted to hear more about B and A2. Mr. Coles stated part of the project will be to come up with the package of neighboring bicycle and pedestrian improvement that will go along with the crossing. Once a location is set and there is more consensus on the basic design concepts on Alma, they will be looking toward the 15 percent designs and part of that will be additional improvements to get to and from that future crossing. Personal security is a lot about visibility, how open the tunnel feels, and how easy it will be to look in and see if there are any undesirable activities. There are similar types of designs between alternative A and alternative B. The Caltrain right-of-way varies along the corridor and is a big piece that will define the length of the tunnel. The offset of Alma Street and the amount of space between the Caltrain tracks and Alma Street has a planted buffer that will increase or decrease the length of the tunnel. Vice Mayor Veenker inquired how the width compares to Cal Ave. Ms. Lo stated the ADA standards relate to the grade so Cal Ave is steeper than the current ADA standards which means it is shorter and is why there is a winding route. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if the properties affected by B are residential or commercial. Mr. Coles replied they are residential properties. Two have been identified but there could be more. The constructability has not been looked at. Later down the line, the space needed to get equipment in to construct things will be looked at. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if there was information on A2 with respect to the confidence of avoiding takings on the west side if a tunnel is built. Mr. Coles answered that information is not available at this point. The right-of-way of El Dorado is narrower than Loma Verde. As they look to extend the tunnel under Alma Street and connect into El Dorado, a couple of different variations will be looked at to see where will be the limited number of impacts to property in that area. Ms. Lo stated all options have some sort of property impact. It could be a friendly purchase. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if it is the same with A2 on the west side. Mr. Coles replied the tunnel could stay in the same location and they looked to see what other configurations could be done on the east side if tunneling under Alma. The designs can be moved around. Vice Mayor Veenker wanted to know if El Carmel and El Dorado are both narrow and had questions about the cul-de-sacs. Mr. Coles responded the cul-de-sacs are shorter for El Carmelo so there is a less number of houses. Councilmember Stone inquired what advancing options A1 and A2 would look like. Mr. Coles thought focusing on one location would help Staff and decision makers to focus on variations of specific designs and making that location work. Since there is not a conceptual design developed for what alternative A2 would look like, the team would have to work through a process of coming up with a similar alternative following Council's direction then present it to the community to get feedback and review and go through the trade-offs and ways to mitigate and refine designs to minimize them. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims wanted explanation why B provides higher personal security when it has a longer tunnel. Mr. Coles explained alternative A shows a connection from Park Boulevard and the ramp going down connecting to the underground tunnel underneath the SUMMARY MINUTES Page 12 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 Caltrain tracks meeting the ramps on the west side of Alma Street. There needed to be some kind of 90-degree turn for cyclists looking to exit and connect to the signalized intersection. Alternative B is a bit more direct. Amanda Leahy, Kittelson & Associates, Inc., added while the tunnel on alternative B looks long, the tunnel segment is the part underneath the street and railroad tracks that has the diagonal marking and the ramp that would be open above is the solid yellow on the slide renderings. Alternative B scored higher because of the clear site lines. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims assumed that the safety issue was the right angles leading to the open air ramps which Ms. Leahy confirmed. Mr. Coles added more information on the personal security scoring criteria could be found on packet page 725. Mayor Lauing asked if it is a fair statement to say having a new tunnel close to the California Avenue Tunnel is not a very significant consideration given how obsolete that tunnel is. Ms. Lo answered the scoring things had to do with proximity and that was part of the trade-off. Councilmember Burt clarified the Committee had some issues with some of the other scoring but opted not to dig into those weeds because everything seemed to be pointing toward A2 going under Alma. The assumption is whether it is El Dorado or El Carmelo, it would be more of a bike boulevard with some sort of restrictions or filters that would be the right ones to allow good access for people to get to their homes but not to have that be a functional arterial. Charleston and Meadow are anticipated to be constructed separately. The claim is that there would be some bike and ped access during construction at those locations. Vice Mayor Veenker wanted to try to make the tunnel at A2 as safe as B and was curious if Staff had any reaction to the fact there are cul-de-sacs. Mr. Coles said Staff recognize that with the cul-de-sacs there will be potentially less vehicle traffic traveling in this area creating opportunities for bicycle boulevard type treatments. MOTION: Councilmember Burt moved, seconded by Vice Mayor Veenker to direct Staff to continue to focus evaluations on option A, with a preference for A2. MOTION PASSED: 5-1-1 Reckdahl recused, Lu absent 19. Approval of Amendments to the Employment Agreements between the City of Palo Alto and Council Appointed Officers, specifically the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk. CEQA Status - Not a Project Mayor Lauing outlined this is to improve the merit increases for these three Council-appointed officers. This was all done in evaluations and suggested increases were done in closed session by the Council. There's no automatic COLA for officers so action has to be taken outside of that. Council recommended 3 percent merit increases for the city attorney and the city manager. The city manager gets a 3 percent salary increase. The city attorney has requested her increase as a contribution to her deferred 401A compensation plan. This results in no increase to the CALPERS report of her salary or pension. It is less costly to the City overall. The city clerk is SUMMARY MINUTES Page 13 of 13 City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 12/01/2025 receiving a salary adjustment bringing her compensation to the median of the market. Council is aware of the market rates and ranges for all these positions and do comparables to regional positions of similar size and stature. Public Comment: 1. Helene G. described how the city manager's salary raise is not justified. 2. Ward advised following up with contracts to obtain money for resources. Vice Mayor Veenker spoke about her support of the merit increases. Councilmember Lythcott- Haims echoed the Vice Mayor's comments. MOTION: Vice Mayor Veenker moved, seconded by Councilmember Burt to approve and authorize the Mayor to execute the following contract amendments for Council Appointed Officers: 1. Amendment No. 13 to Employment Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and Molly S. Stump (Attachment A); 2. Amendment No. 7 to Employment Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and Ed Shikada (Attachment B); and 3. Amendment No. 2 to Employment Agreement between the City of Palo Alto and Mahealani Ah Yun (Attachment C). MOTION PASSED: 6-0-1, Lu absent Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:12 p.m.