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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-30-1990 City Council Minutes MINUTES SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, October 30, 1990 - 7:30 p.m. PLACE: Community Ctr. Arts and Crafts Rm., 19655 Allendale Ave. TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Joint Meeting with Planning Commission 1. Roll Call The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Vice Mayor Kohler. Councilmembers Clevenger, Monia and Vice Mayor Kohler were present. Planning Commissioners Burger, Caldwell, Moran and Tucker were present. Staff members present were City Manager Peacock, City Attorney Toppel, and Planning Director Emslie. 2. Report of City Clerk on Posting of Agenda Pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on October 26. The notice of adjournment from the October 17 Council meeting was properly posted on October.18.. 3. Oral Communications from the Public Jeff Schwartz - Organization of the Agenda a. Public hearings should be scheduled separately or not- start until 10:00 p.m. b. Pre-meeting study session on complex hearings. c. Mediation amongst neighbors before hearings to resolve differences. Allen Ronzenes - Loss of pine ~rees due to drought and pine bark beetles; spray with Sevin SL and injecting of trees - City should preserve and fund means to protect trees. Council agrees to do public education on. problem -iSaratoga, Saratoga News, KSAR, - spray, water, fertilize. 4. Old Business - Letter from Phil and Debbie Willjams submitted in connection with nuisance abatement of Tr. 7770 and APN 503- 12-024 CLEVENGER/MONIA MOVED TO APPROVE REQUEST. Passed 3-0. 5. Letters submitting resignations of Planning Commissioners Kolstad and Siegfried MONIA/CLEVENGER MOVED TO ACCEPT LETTERS OF RESIGNATION WITH THANKS AND PREPARE RESOLUTIONS OF COMMENDATION; CONDUCT INTERVIEWS FIRST MEETING IN JANUARY. Passed 3-0. Councilmember Monia brought up the idea of going to a five-member Commission. He asked staff and commissioners to consider the pros and cons of such a change. 6. Policy direction on second stories and status of revision process for house sizes, setbacks, slope density, etc. Second Stories - The Zoning Approach - Zone R-l-10,000 district for single story only. No support for this option. - The Neighborhood Approach - Designate each neighborhood as single story or two story based on neighborhood character; draw lines to differentiate. While continuing to pursue the objective of defining character of neighborhoods is of value, drawing boundaries for single story and two story on this City Council Minutes 2 October 30, 1990 basis is not supported. Discussion ensued on the process and use of the neighborhood character definitions. While this is a low priority item,. there should be an effort to complete the three studies which have been started. - The Compatlbility Approach - Look at what prevails within a 500-foot radius. If most are second story, then it .would be allowed;~ if not, then one story would be all that would be allowed. No support for this approach. - The Stabilizing Approach - Change development standards to stabilize existing neighborhoods and reduce impact of homes in hillside districts. On aggregate setbacks, concern was expressed that this might make most existing. homes non- conforming,~needing variance to do any further development such as an addition.- CouncilmemberiMonia suggested that ridge be better defined and comprehensively mapped and limits on dimensions be developed which minimizes impacts on homes on ridges or in areas of major viewshed. Discussed clustering proposal for NHR zone. All agreed it'was a good concept which should be pursued. Grading regulation tightening was presented, including extending NHR standards to other districts. - The Building Volume Approach - Should be pursued, maybe instead of the square footage approach. Direction from the~Council to the Commission 1) House size - minor reduction OK - go to a volume approach. Setbacks.. deal .with only in R1-40,000 and above, plus extra ~setback for homes above 18' in smaller lot districts. 3) Volume.- proceed with concept, maybe too restrictive but intention is to encourage one story and discourage two story. 4) Viewshed~ - pursue defining ridges, map, etc.; develop criterialto minimize view impact. 5) Grading - proceed as recommended by staff. 6) Clustering - proceed as recommended by staff. 7) ImpervioUs surface coverage - adjust only re~ating to excludin~ hillside driveways. 8) Slope and lot size - proceed as recommended by staff. 9) Design compatibility - give Commission more leeway in terms of style and architecture; keep Council informed of progress. 8. Role of Commission as it relates to acting on policy direction from Council Vice Mayor Kohler Cited miscommunication from Parks and Recreation Commission regarding Council's intention on Beauchamps Park. If Commission has a problem with understanding a council position it should feel free to contact the Council and discuss the Council policy~ Councilmember Monia suggested there is enough going on in the area of planning that a. joint meeting each quarter might be in order. City Council Minutes 3 October 30, 1990 Councilmember Monia asked commissioners to discuss rationale of pool on Birenbaum property where a 40% slope is involved. City Attorney advised since this is a pending case it should only be discussed in the context of the continued public hearing. Councilmember Monia also discussed his concern regarding the R-OS draft ordinance and the reaction of the commissioners. Discussion ensued as to need for giving more time to Commission to review major new ordinances and a more detailed background on the genesis of the statute. There was consensus to meet more often. 9. DiscusSion of Extent of November 21 Regular Meeting (day preceding Thanksgiving) There was consensus to hold the meeting of November 21 on November 20. 10. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 10:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Harry . Peacock City Clerk