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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-13-1996 City Council Minutes MINUTE8 SARATOGA 'CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, February 13, 1996 - 7:00 p.m. PLACE: City Hall Administration Meeting Room, 13777 Fruitvale Ave. TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Joint Meeting with Planning Commission JOINT MEETING ITEMS: 1. Roll Call-Mayor Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Councilmembers Present: Mayor Jacobs, Vice Mayor Moran, Councilmembers Burger, Tucker and Wolfe. Planning Commissioners Present: Commissioners Abshire, Asfour, Kaplan, Murakami, Patrick, Pierce and Siegfried Staff Present: City Manager Peacock, City Attorney Riback, Community Development Director Curtis, Associate Planner White 2. Report of City Clerk on Posting of Agenda The City Clerk reports that pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on February 9. The notice of adjournment from the February 7 Council meeting was properly posted on February 8, 1996. 3. Review of the Community Development Department Work Program for 1996-97 Associate Planner White reviews the work program with the Council and the Commission as included in the agenda material. Community Development Director Curtis discusses the cancellation of the Gateway Area charette due to lack of volunteers from the area. 400 notices were sent out and only 8 replies were received. There is a need to have at least 20 and preferably 30 volunteers to make the charette process work. Curtis indicates that instead of the charette, staff will proceed with a task force approach. It is indicated that most people did not wish to commit an entire day to do the charette, so several evenings appears to be a more acceptable option to pursue with the task force. Councilmember Tucker inquires as to the cost for the brochures for the planning information project. Staff indicates that it intends to use volunteers and the college to do most of the work so the cost would primarily be limited to the cost of printing, but that there is a desire to use good paper stock so the finished product looks good as wellas being useful. Mayor Jacobs inquires as to the current time schedule for completion of the Circulation Element. Staff indicates that the completed element should go to public hearings in the April to May time frame. Vice Mayor Moran requests that the community input on the issues raised during the work sessions held on the Circulation Element be included in the final plan. Staff indicates they are in the current draft and have not been discarded. Vice Mayor Moran inquires as to the purposes of the Gateway study in terms of changes to the area. Staff indicates that the purposes are partially economic, increasing the economic vitality of the area by making it more attractive to customers and for business, by making it look like a distinctive shopping district, and to improve circulation, including improved ability for pedestrians to safely cross from one side of the street to the other. 4. Commercial/Shopping Center Parking Requirements Community Development Director Curtis passes out and reviews the parking study done at various shopping areas outside of the Village. The study indicates that parking is currently under-utilized in all locations, i.e., the parking provided exceeds the demand. One option City Council Minutes ~ 2 February13, 1996 to allow expansion without having to create more parking is to use the use permit process to allow f~r lower parking ratios as applications for increased square footage are considered. Last fall the Council indicated that this may be an unnecessary complication and returned the matter to the Commission for further discussion. Another option would be to revise the standard dowhward based 'on the size of the center. Several examples were presented. Mayor Jacobsindicates that he!feels it is okay to use whatever option is available, just so the tra~eoff is not on a one to one basis of added building square footage ~0 reduced parking. City should get more than that in terms of on sTite improvements to the rest of the facilities. Another option presented was to limit the use of the use permit to centers which have more than five stores on the same site. It was generally agreed that~ the emphasis should be on improving landscaping and overall appearance and not just adding buildings and reducing the parking areas. The Commission was instructed to work on the use permit option as it appears to be the most appropriate to achieve the overall objective with standards for improvement in exchange for parking ratio reduction. 5. Communications/Antennae Polic~ and Ordinance Community Development Director.Curtis briefs the group on the issue and its referral from the Council to the CommiSsion to craft a uniform policy. The Commission reports that its first cut at this issue is to pick five sites for facilities and to designate them through the zoning process. Then if a provider wants another site, they would need to get another use permit for the new site. The other issue is how to make a decision about placing sites on residentially zoned properties. Commissioner Siegfried indicates that he will not participate in this discussion as he is a retired PAC BELL employee and therefore may have a conflict of interest. Mayor Jacobs suggests that, as technology improves and facilities get smaller, there should be provisions in the City's regulations to have the providers keep up with the technology and to remove obsolete equipment and structures. A problem identified with coSlocation is' that with collocation the height of the mounting pole must be significantly higher so there is adequate separation among the different facilities. The Council indicates that it is leaning toward requiring a use permit for all locations, both commercial and residential. The Commission is to proceed on that basis. Council also indicates its preference for roof top installations as opposed to stand alone poles. 6. Miscellaneous: a. Commission attendance at Council meetings--is it necessar~if no planning items are on the agenda? Council indicates to the commissioners that attendance is not required if there are no planning items on the agenda. It would be up to the commissioner as to whether or not to attend, but the Council would prefer keeping a schedule in' the event it specifically requests a commissioner to attend a meeting to discuss a particular issue coming up from the commission. b. Planning Commission Meeting Schedule The Commission indicates its plans to go to having study sessions before regular Wednesday meetings rather than meeting on the off Tuesdays and that they will try this for six months and evaluate its effectiveness. 7. How Goes It? City Council Minutes 3 February l3, 1996 NO specific items were discussed under this heading, everything in general is going fine as far as the Commission is concerned. OTHER ITEMS: 8. Request by Jack Malloz7 to Oppose Granting a General Off sale Liquor License at Stop N Save at Seagull and Saratoga/Sunnyvale Road Mr. Mallory indicates to the Council his opposition to the request for a general off-sale liquor license at the STOP N SAVE market at Seagull and Saratoga/Sunnyvale Road. He indicates there are currently three general off-sale locations in the Argonaut shopping center to the south and that there are additional locations nearby on Prospect Road and just north of Saratoga/Sunnyvale Road on De Anza Blvd. Vice Mayor Moran states that having this kind of business in the area may work against the efforts to upgrade the Gateway shopping area. Mayor Jacobs indicates that before the Council takes a position the owner of the store should be notified and be given an opportunity to present his side of the argument for granting the off-sale license. Councilmember Tucker agrees with Mayor Jacobs, noting that if the City is going to take a position in opposition, the City's case would be stronger if it has heard both sides of the issue before making a decision. Council agrees to continue this item for two weeks so the owner can be invited to participate in the discussion. Council requests that the staff secure the criteria for reviewing applications from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. 8. Consider requesting Assemblyman Cunneen to introduce legislation which would remove barriers to City,s ability to prlvatize services. The City Manager indicates that he spoke to Assemblyman Cunneen about this subject last Friday and Mr. Cunneen indicates that there is a bill currently introduced by another member of the legislature covering the subject which he would support if the City asks him to do so. Council agrees to have a letter sent to Mr. Cunneen asking him to support such legislation. 10. Self-Evaluation of Previous Meeting Councilmember Tucker indicates that in approving the lot split at the last meeting the Council started talking about design review issues and she feels that is something the Council should be careful about. Vice Mayor Moran indicates she understands Councilmember Tucker's concern but that she felt the neighbors needed to know that the Council is sensitive about their concerns and intends to make certain they are addressed at the proper time. Councilmember Tucker stated that she agrees to a point but that the Council should not be making promises which can end up creating problems for the Planning Commission when it considers a design review application and is told that certain promises have already been made by the City Council. 11. Agency Assignment Reports Councilmember Tucker reports that Vice Mayor Moran has been elected by the Cities Association to sit on the Air Quality Management District Board representing the cities of Santa Clara County. Councilmember Burger reports she attended the Welcome Quito II meeting and that Mr. Curtis also attended. The merchants are getting organized to plan for future business mix, a new sign plan and other work to improve the Center. She indicates she is continuing to meet with the committee on the rebuilding of the Saratoga Fire District station as an observer. She reports that the tree planting, which is being arranged City council Minutes 4 February 13, 1996 through the staff and a number~of volunteers is scheduled for February 24th, weather permitting. I~terested parties should gather at the Library at 9 AM if they wish t~ participate in the planting of 18 new trees. ~ CounCilmember Wolfe reports that he attended the meeting of the water district, that he attended an~AFL-CIO breakfast related to promoting the use of the prevailing wage regulations, that he attended the meeting of the Sister City !Committee, that they are looking at attempting to establish a sister city relationship with Stratford-on- Avon and the chair of the committee is sending a letter to the mayor of Stratford-on-Avon seeking interest in such a relationship. Vice Mayor Moran reports tha~ the Emergency Planning Council is planning a number of events xn April to test various aspects of disaster preparedness in the !county and the exercises will include Saratoga. Councilmember Tucker reports that she has applied for a Rotary grant to purchase an electronic message board to be used at the community library to announce coming events in the City. 12. Date for Public Safety Commission Interviews Council agrees to hold interviews on March 6th at 6:45 PM and not to wait until the vacancy in April occurs. The commission is operating without a quorum at this time and that needs to be corrected as soon as possible. . -13. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM. Respectfully submitted, Harry R. Peacock City Clerk