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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-11-1994 City Council Minutes MINUTES SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, October 11, 1994 - V:00 p.m. PLACE: City Hall Administration Meeting Room, 13777 Fruitvale Ave. TYPE: Adjourned Regular' Meeting/Joint Meeting with Planning Commission 1. Roll Call The meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. Councilmembers Moran, TuCker, Wolfe and Mayor Burger were present; Councilmember Jacobs was absent but arrived later in the evening. Staff members present: City Manager Peacock; City Attorney Riback. 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 7. The' notice of adjournment from the October 5 Council meeting was properly posted on October 6. 3. Revisions of constitution of Association of Bay Area Governments The document should be based on broad principles rather than details. Restrictions on term limits, etc. should not be in the constitution. Councilmember Jacobs arrived at 7:30 p.m. Supermajority on taxation should be equal for all levels of government. Table this matter until later in the evening and go to the rest of the agenda. 4. Joint Meeting with Planning Commission Planning Commissioners present: Abshire, Asfour, Caldwell, Kaplan, Murakami, Patrick, Siegfried. Staff members present: Curtis, Walgren. A. Tree Preservation and Replacement Pollcy and Tree Ordinance Update The committee has been meeting every three weeks for about a year, working on a consensus basis and modeling potential changes to real life situations. The final draft of their report is now out to members for review, then goes to administrative review by the City Attorney and staff, then back to the committee for final review before going forward to the Commission and Council. Goal is to keep within City staff and resources whatever changes are made. Items being considered, redefine measurement method to protect younger oak trees, tree trimming encroachment permit for pruning more than 30% of ordinance-protected trees, also encroachment permit for placing certain structures which could damage protected trees. Developing handbook to cover these types of issues and standards to follow. Expect to be ready to go to commission by t~e end of the year. Also propose to require a tree preservation plan to guide the inspectors who will insure compliance. Councilmember Moran stated she hopes that attention is paid to enforceability as much aS enforcement. Caldwell says video on educational aspects is being prepared. Councilmember Tucker asked if the right to prune her neighbor's tree would be impacted by the trimming permit requirements. Commissioner Siegfried asked about application to heritage trees vs. ordinance- protected trees. Concern expressed over this issue. Councilmember Jacobs suggested that another approval would be to discount permit fees if certified arborists are used. Councilmember Tucker said she was not for offsite replacement, not for over-regulation when problem not demonstrated. Councilmember Wolfe agreed that regulation should be modest. Councilmember Burger preferred guideline approach and doesn't agree with offsite replacement recommendation. · City Council Minutes 2 October 11, 1994 Councilmember Jacobs would like to see what other cities are doing. B. Joint Planning Provisions of County General Plan - review with eye toward implementation and revising language to facilitate cooperation and Joint planning Want to make certain that policy statements and policy visions confirm joint regulation of hillside development planning and development standards. Hillside cities prepared to develop plan including CoUnty if County will endorse the outcome. Councilmember Moran noted policy C-GB-1 on page A-134 re integrated countywide plan, presumes County standards--plans would prevail where they confiict with City policies. Includes asking legislative authority to implement. The Council raised the issue of whether the City has an annexation policy. All agreed that they need to be educated on this issue with an eye to developing a policy. Staff to arrange early in 1995. C. Design Review and Planning Process Review Councilmember Jacobs felt design review is a sieve where everything comes out the same way. Not sure this results in desirable things. Thinks a committee should be formed to review the standards to see if innovation can't be revived. Other Councilmembers agreed that flexibility needs to be put back and means found to reward good design. Wolfe suggested possible creation of a conceptual advisory committee. The Council agreed to form an ad hoc committee to review process and content but not with the purpose of turning back the clock. Staff to come back to commission and Council with proposal on how far to proceed including a time limit for the work. D. Development Plan Advisory Committee - Covered in Item C. E. communication Policy - Change paragraph re: commissioner's appearance before Council; can answer questions and clarify but not state position. - Change commission-to-commission communication to make more liberal; maybe delete altogether. City Attorney to prepare changes for review by Council. 5. Other Items A. Budget Resolution appropriating funds for city participation in celebrate saratoga MORAN/JACOBS MOVED TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 93-25.18. Passed 5-0. The Council returned to Item 3 and agreed to send general comments to ABAG by facsimile machine. B. Other Items The Mayor said she got an invitation to Argonaut School National Blue Ribbon Award Ceremony at 5:00 p.m. on October 20. She asked the Council to think about focus of Town Hall Meeting and give her ideas. 5.Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted, H~arr~R. 'Peacock City Clerk