Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-07-1995 City Council Minutes MINUTES Sla. I~TOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Saturday, January 7, 1995 - 10:00 a.m. PLACE: Community Library Meeting Room, 13650 Saratoga Ave. TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Town Hall Meeting 1. Roll Call Councilmembers Jacobs, Moran, Tucker, Wolfe and Mayor Burger were present. Staff Present: City Manager Peacock, Public Works Director Perlin, Community Development Director Curtis, Finance Director Shriver, Recreation Director Pisani, Deputy City Clerk Cory 2. Report of City Clerk on Posting of Agenda The City Clerk reported that pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on January 5. The notice of adjournment from the January 4 Council meeting was properly posted on January 5. The members of the city council introduced themselves and Mayor Burger introduced the member of the city staff present. Mayor Burger announced that with the consent of the other members of the city council and those attending the meeting she would act as the facilitator for the morning and that City Manager Peacock would act as the recorder, putting down on the easel the main points put forward by the participants during the meeting. Mayor Burger indicated that the meeting would end no later than noon. She indicated that first she would like to get a list of topics people would like to discuss recorded, then to review the draft vision statement which had been passed out to all in attendance, then discuss the topics as listed and finish up with a discussion of the topics already contained on the published agenda. She explained that because of state law the city council could take input on any topic at the meeting but could not discuss the topics which had not been listed on the published agenda. 3. Topics brought up for discussion were: a. Highway 85 noise impact. b. Kosich orchard development. c. Saratoga creeks protection. d. Condition of the railroad right of way. e. Trees interfering with street sweeping. f. Signal at Saratoga Avenue and Kosich Drive. 4. Vision Statements for Saratoga. Mayor Burger asked for comments on the draft vision statement developed by the city council in November from the public. Comments received were that the statement regarding commercial areas should clearly indicate that commerce and commercial areas should be limited as the city is primarily residential and that while the statement talked about basic services it failed to mention reducing the size of government and have government be efficient. 5. Mayor Burger then turned to the list of topics which had been brought up for discussion. a. Kosich Orchard Development 1. Retain the character of existing neighborhoods. 2. There is a proposal for development of a 31,000 square foot commercial building with a 160 space parking lot. City Councll Minutes 2 Janual~/7, 1995 3. There have been impacts on Saratoga Avenue, increased traffic, congestion and movement conflicts which have been caused by outside influences such as the commercial development in San Jose and the freeway, let's control what we can so matters are not made any worse than they already are. 4. Can't make left turns out onto Saratoga Avenue from Kosich Drive. 5. There is an enforcement problem from people making illegal left turns in the area. Community Development Director Curtis indicated that the development proposal for the Kosich Orchard property will be the subject of a Planning Commission public hearing on January 25, 1995 and the project will come to the City Council for a final decision because it does involve a change of zoning. b. Highway 85 Noise Impact 1. The speed limit needs to be strictly enforced. M a y o r Burger indicated that she has talked tO the sheriff about this and the freeway is patrolled by the CHP. They only have three units to cover the area from Mountain View to Morgan Hill. There have been discussions about the sheriff sharing traffic law enforcement duties if the local communities are agreeable. 2. The city needs to hire an expert to advise the community regarding technical solutions to deal with noise problems. c. Saratoga Creeks Protection 1. The question was asked whether there was bad water coming down into the creeks in Saratoga? Mayor Burger asked Public Works Director Perlin to discuss this topic and indicate the efforts the city has been making to minimize pollution from urban runoff into the creeks in Saratoga and Saratoga Creek in particular. The Mayor also indicated that because of the current threat of litigation that the city was constrained in its ability to discuss the issue of pollution. Vice Mayor Jacobs indicated that for example the threatened litigation alleges more than 19,000 violations of the city's permit which could total some $500,000,000 in fines, more than $50,000 for each household in Saratoga. Councilmember Moran indicated that almost all of these alleged violations were for paperwork problems, i.e. reports not filed on time or using the wrong form and such. The Public Works Director outlined the components of the city's program including public education, street sweeping, storm drain cleaning and maintenance and the water sampling which has been going on. The city council noted that last year the city received an award from the EPA for the quality of its program in trying to reduce pollution from urban runoff. 2. It was noted that in places there is dead vegetation alongside the creeks where people have killed poison oak for example. This can lead to both a potential fire problem and a soil erosion problem unless replacement planting is done. d. Railroad Right of Way Conditions 1. There is debris and trash along the right of way especially between Cox and Saratoga/Sunnyvale Road. First the railroad piles things up like railroad ties and then others take that as a signal they can dump there too. Some culprits appear to be commercial gardening or landscaping companies. City Council Minutes 3 January7, 1995 2. It was also noted that the condition of the tracks appears to be very poor and efforts to get the railroad to improve the situation have fallen on deaf ears. e. Parks and Recreation Priorities 1. There is support for adog park facility. If the city provided same it could exclude dogs from other parks. 2. A different view was. expressed to the effect that there would be no need for a dog park if people picked up after their dogs. 3. It was proposed that the Azule and Kevin Moran Park sites should be the next priority for development but that they should be developed as neighborhood in scope, not larger. f. Landscaping and Lighting District 1. There was discussion as to what the effect would be if it was to become a city wide district. There was some question raised as to whether such improvements could really be considered part of the basic service paid for by everyone. g. Political Signs in the PUblic Right of Way 1. Most of the people in attendance indicated they were opposed to continuing to allow political signs in the public right of way. 2. One option proposed was to get all candidates to volunteer not to put up signs and to sign a statement to that effect. 3. Others felt the current policy was acceptable. h. Trees and Street Sweeping 1. Sweeping is not as effective as it could be because of low overhanging branches which interfere with the sweeper, lack of knowledge by the neighborhoods regarding the schedule which results in cars being parked on the street for example. 2. Comments were also made regarding the quality of the service and efforts being made by city staff to insure that expected performance was being delivered. Public Works Director Perlin described the program and indicated that as a new service the city was learning as it went along and that the contract was being evaluated and would be re- bid for a two year period later in the year. i. Traffic Signal at Kosich and Saratoga Avenue 1. Neighbors from the Kosich area expressed a desire to have a signal installed because of the impact of the traffic from Route 85. 2. Concern was also expressed at the lack of a storage lane at Westview Ave. j. Signs in General 1. The city council asked for opinions regarding any problems those in attendance may have with the temporary sign ordinance passed by the council last October. Most did not know about it and no one indicated they had seen a banner which they found objectionable. Community Development Director Curtis indicated that less than a handful of applications had been received. City council Minutes 4 Januaz77, 1995 k. Land Use Element and Development Process Review 1. The question was asked whether these topics had anything to do with the Kosich applications? The response from the city council was no, that these topics were brought up by the city council several months ago and have nothing specifically to do with any particular application. The final topic discussed was an inquiry by the city council as to whether those in attendance like this type of forum and if so how often should the city council consider holding future forums? The response was that the forum was successful and that the city council should consider doing additional forums on a quarterly basis. The meeting was adjourned at 12 noon to 6 p.m. on January 10, 1995. in the Administration Meeting Room, 13777 Fruitvale Avenue. Respectfully submitted, Harry R. eacoc ~ City Clerk