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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-28-1988REGULAR MEETING - March 28, 1988 A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Dublin was held on Monday, March 28, 1988, in ~the meeting room of the Dublin Library. The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m., by Mayor Linda Jeffery. ROLL CALL PRESENT' ABSENT' Councilmembers Hegarty, Moffatt, Vonheeder and Mayor Jeffery. Councilmember Snyder. ~ PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Mayor led the Council, Staff and those present in the pledge of alle- giance to the flag. INTRODUCTION OF NEW POLICE PERSONNEL Chief of Police John Severini introduced, or rather reintroduced Sergeant Mike Hart. Mike Hart was one of the original deputies assigned to Dublin even before Dublin incorporated. Mike was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and was transferred to another location. He recently returned to Dublin to fill the vacancy created when Sgt. Bates recently retired. The Council welcomed Sergeant Hart back to Dublin. Pr.op. erty Maintenance Ordinance Dave Burton indicated he was present to speak on the ordinance that will become final tomorrow on property maintenance. Mr. Burton indicated he wasn't going to try to rewrite it tonight, but did express concerns that he has picked up from the community, as well as himself. Everyone says it won't be activated unless there is a complaint, but it doesn't say this in the ordinance. He feels that several years down road, even though this is what the Council intends, there may be different people sitting in Administration and he was concerned that this wish is not spelled out in the ordinance. AnOther concern was a complaint of who and how many. Can one neighbor complain enough to set the whole police power of the City in motion. He was concerned about entering into private property without due course. This ordinance gives the City Manager or his appointee the right to go onto private property and arrest someone. He questioned if you could have an appointee of the City Manager arrest someone. The costs of an appeal were also of concern. There could be a lot of money involved in attorney fees. Dealing with private property rights is a serious matter. There are a lot of good things about the.ordinance, but there are parts that are too ambiguous. It's too broad. The City Council should reconsider and put this ordinance back into the process of having further study. CM-7-90 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 Roy Moret, speaking on behalf of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce indicated that he is the committee chairman of community issues. A letter was sent to the City bY Dave Beighley. The Chamber is interested in delaying the ordinance and giving it more study. Ken Johnson addressed the Council and stated that he is just a dirty old man who owns his own property. He did not feel that this ordinance is worth a diddly darn. No one pays his taxes but himself. We live in a democracy and he felt this ordinance was the start of communism. He didn't see anything on the ballot and no one asked him his opinion. Mayor Jeffery stated that there is a lot of misinformation about this particular ordinance. She questioned if it would be possible to hold some type of a special session to explain what this ordinance is all about. Mayor Jeffery felt that if the Chamber understood, they would support the ordinance very strongly. She indicated that it is merely a tool which can be used in a situation which gets out of hand. It is not meant to be some of the things which have been incorrectly stated in the newspaper. Mr. Johnson thought it should be discussed and that it should be put on the ballot. Don't try to shove it down resident's throats. He stated he realized that newspapers do tend to sensationalize. Mayor Jeffery felt it would be appropriate to discuss this at a future date when more time could be devoted. Topics brought before the Council under oral communications are limited to 5 minutes. Cm. Hegarty asked the City Attorney~if the Council could go into Executive Session for a short time. City Attorney Nave indicated this would be inappropriate. Cm. Hegarty questioned if there were any changes made to the ordinance, would it delay it. City Attorney Nave reported that this ordinance will become effective on March 31, 1988. The Council can amend the ordinance at any time. However, because of Brown Act regulations, the Council cannot legally act on this ordinance at this meeting. The ordinance has already been adopted. No action can be taken at this meeting on any topic which is not agendized with proper 72 hours prior notice. Mayor Jeffery questioned if a meeting could be set up on Saturday morning for a couple of hours to allow people to come and hear the correct facts of what the ordinance is about. City Manager indicated that the Council could do this. The Council could also agendize this for discussion at the next Council meeting. Martha Burden questioned why the Council would want to set up a meeting on Saturday after the law has already become effective. CM-7-91 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 Mayor Jeffery advised that the Council! cannot change the ordinance at this meeting because the ordinance has already gone through 3 readings at public hearings, and been adopted. Ms. Burden questioned how things like this could happen without going to the public. She questioned how the Council could sit and pass judgment on a whole community. Mayor Jeffery stated the important thing is to advise residents what this ordinance is and is not. The newspapers have distorted it to the point where it looks like something awful. Mayor Jeffery directed that this item be placed on the agenda of the April llth City Council meeting as a study item. Dublin Boulevard @ Silver~.ate Drive ..Pedest...rian. Safe.t.y Concerns David Burton reported a safety concern where Dublin Boulevard turns into Silvergate Drive, for anyone walking on this street. They put a curb on the outside with a bike lane, but when you get to the top of the curb, the bike lane narrows to about 2 feet. Walkers must walk into the dirt or over the curb. Cars cut this corner pretty close at 35 mph. Mr. Burton suggested that the City would be wise to have the Public Works Department look into this situation. Mayor Jeffery requested that City Engineer Thompson look into this. CONSENT CALENDAR On motiOn of Cm. Vonheeder, seconded by Cm. Moffatt, and by unanimous vote (Cm. Snyder absent), the Council took the folloWing actions' Approved Minutes of Regular Meeting of March 14, 1988; Approved the Financial Report for Period Ending February 29, 1988; Adopted RESOLUTION NO. 47 - 88 SUPPORTING CALIFORNIA TRAFFIC SAFETY WEEK AND PROCLAIMING MAY 22-28, 1988 AS "CALIFORNIA TRAFFIC SAFETY WEEK" Authorized Staff to advertise for bids for Contract 88-4, Annual Street Overlay and Repair Program and Dougherty Road bike path; CM-7-92 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 Adopted RESOLUTION NO. 48 - 88 APPROVING PROGRAM SUPPLEMENT NO. :4 TO LOCAL AGENCY-STATE AGREEMENT NO. 04-5432 FOR FEDERAL AID PROJECTS AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF SAID AGREEMENT Authorized Staff to advertise Annual Slurry Seal Program, Contract 88-5 for bids; Approved agreement with the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority for the provision of paratransit services and authorized the Mayor to execute the agreement; Approved Warrant Register in the amount of $198,672.43; With regard to the 1985 Civic Center Certificates of Participation, authorized Staff to terminate current agreement with Pacific Trust and to contract with the Bank of California to perform Registrar, Paying Agent and Transfer Agent functions for the COP issue; Adopted RESOLUTION NO. 49 - 88 DECLARING THE MONTH OF APRIL AS EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS MONTH PUBLIC HEARING - PLANNED DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT REZONING REQUEST ENEA PLAZA (SOUTHERN PORTION) AMADOR PLAZA ROAD SOUTH OF DUBLIN BOULEVARD Mayor Jeffery opened the public hearing. Planning Director Tong advised that on February 22, 1988, the City Council adopted a Resolution approving the Enea Plaza (southern portion) PD Rezoning request and introduced an Ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance. This application involves the southern 3+ acres of Assessor Parcel No. 941- 1500-040 located on the west side of Ama~or Plaza Road near Dublin Boulevard. The application would rezone the property from a PD Planned Development District (Alameda County Ordinance No. 81-26 for 1464th Zoning Unit, allowing administrative office uses with limited ancillary retail use) to a new PD, allowing~a range of retail, office, personal service and financial uses. Cm. Moffatt questioned the meaning of statements made in Resolution 30-88 which was adopted by the City Council on February 22, 1988 related to encouraging better internal circulation and pedestrian connections among adjacent and downtown developments. Planning Director Tong explained that these are basically some of the policies provided for in the Downtown Plan. We are looking for good direct cross access to the projects so that people don't have to drive, but rather can walk. CM-7-93 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 Cm. Hegarty referenced the fact that the Council would be dealing with an upcoming agenda item which discusses right-of-ways. If someone is doing something that affects another nearby, he questioned how the City will take care of this. What goes into this project impacts Dublin Boulevard. He questioned what the Eneas (because of splitting the parcel), are doing to take care of these impacts. City Manager Ambrose reported that the road dedication requirement, which is part of the settlement agreement, relates to the prior rezoning and to this rezoning only. Mayor Jeffery closed the public hearing. Cm. Moffatt stated he hopes that in the future, traffic circulation will be taken into consideration, as these parcels develop. Cm. Hegarty did not feel that the road off Dublin Boulevard into the Enea Plaza is wide enough. There are 6 or 8 more acres to be developed which will have an impact on what goes in and out of this street. He questioned if the Eneas were, by segmenting their development, meeting their obligations. City Manager Ambrose indicated that the City does not know what is going to come in on the balance of the property, and we will have to deal with that when the project comes in. Mayor Jeffery reiterated that this ordinance was as agreed to in the settlement agreement. Mr. Ambrose advised that when they come in for future approvals, Staff will recommend what type of traffic mitigation measures will need to be taken. Cm. Hegarty stated he is bothered by the future parcels. There may be a different Council and he simply wants to make the Eneas well aware that the City is concerned about the traffic issue. There are still about 8 acres to develop and he felt the time to do something is now. Mayor Jeffery advised that Item 3 in the resolution deals with this. It states that prior to any type of development occuring on this parcel, the development shall gain Site Development Review approval(s) and shall comply with all applicable conditions of approval. Cm. Hegarty felt that since no one from the Eneas was present at this meeting, these concerns need to be entered into the record. When they come in the next time to develop the 8 acres, any impact must be taken care of. He did not feel the City should have allowed them to split these parcels each time, but rather, should have dealt with the entire 16 acres at one time. Some of the mistakes made will be too late to correct. Mr. Ambrose indicated that Staff will be very much aware of the situation as they have been in the past. If there are traffic impacts, the City Engineer's Office will make recommendations as far as how best to mitigate them. If a situation cannot be mitigated, then Staff will not recommend approval. CM-7-94 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 On motion of Cm. Vonheeder, seconded by Cm. Hegarty, and by unanimous vote (Cm. SnYder absent), the Council waived the reading and adopted ORDINANCE NO. 8 - 88 AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE TO PERMIT THE REZONING OF REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE REAR SOUTHERN PORTION OF ASSESSOR'S PARCEL NO. 941-1500-040 ON THE WEST SIDE OF AMADOR PLAZA ROAD NEAR DUBLIN BOULEVARD PUBLIC HEARING - U-TURN PROHIBITED AMARILLO ROAD @ ALEGRE DRIVE (NIELSEN SCHOOL) Mayor Jeffery opened the pUblic hearing. City Engineer Thompson advised that at the February~ 22, 1988 Council meeting, the Council adopted a Resolution establishing no-parking and passenger loading zones on Amarillo Road @ Nielsen School as part of the improvements recommended by the City's Traffic Engineer, in an effort to reduce traffic congestion when parents are dropping off or picking up children. One additional recommended improvement is the installation of a No U-Turn sign approximately at Alegre Drive. The intent of these improvements, both those being done by the School District on school property and those being done within the public right-of-way, is to keep traffic flowing on one direction. City Ordinance No. 55-87 provides that the installation .of a No U-Turn requires the adoption of an ordinance. The Principal of Nielsen School previously requested that the No U-Turn sign list specific hours to coincide with peak traffic periods. The City's Traffic Safety Committee, after reviewing the situation, recommended against listing specific hours. Staff felt that listing hours would be a distraction for motorists who should be watching for children. Cm. Hegarty questioned if it wasn't already illegal to make a u-turn in a residential area if there is another car within 200'. Staff responded that it is illegal. Cm. Hegarty felt that there are already so many signs at this intersection that another would just add to the clutter. Mayor Jeffery closed the public hearing. Cm. Hegarty did not feel the City should put up another sign. He did not feel that people should make u-t~rns here, but was not in favor of putting up another sign. There are already about 6 signs there and we don't want more signs taking away drivers' attention. It's already against the law. City Manager Ambrose indicated that this ordinance is more restrictive than the Vehicle Code. Mr. Bob Hutcheson requested permission to speak on this issue. Mayor Jeffery reopened the public hearing. CM-7-95 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 Mr. Hutcheson reported that he has children who attend Nielsen School. He drops his children off regularly. He felt congestion could be relieved by putting in a loading/unloading zone just before you get to the busy area. It should be about 50' from the corner. Mayor Jeffery again closed the public hearing. Cm. Moffatt felt the question was reallY whether or not we put in a sign. Mayor Jeffery felt the question was do we prohibit u-turns by adopting an ordinance. Chief of Police Severini indicated that it is his understanding that it is illegal to make a u-turn at a "t" intersection. However, traffic from both directions could make u-turns under certain circumstances. He felt this to be a dangerous situation for anyone to attempt a u-turn, and indicated he concurred with Mr. Thompson's recommendation. On motion of Cm. Vonheeder, seconded by Cm. Moffatt, and by unanimous vote (Cm. Snyder absent), the Council waived the reading and on an urgency basis, adopted ORDINANCE NO. 9 - 88 PROHIBITING U-TURNS ON AMARILLO ROAD @ ALEGRE DRIVE PUBLIC HEARING - PROHIBITION OF U-TURNS WESTBOUND TRAFFIC ON DUBLIN BOULEVARD @ CLARK AVENUE Mayor Jeffery opened the public hearing. City Engineer Thompson explained that No U-Turn signs have been posted on Dublin Boulevard @ Clark Avenue for seVeral years, as Dublin Boulevard has not been wide enough to permit u-turns. The City's contractor has completed the widening of the north side of Dublin Boulevard west of Clark Avenue. One of the results being that Dublin Boulevard is now wide enough on that side to permit eastbound traffic to make a u-turn at the Clark Avenue intersection. There is still, however, insufficient width on the south side of the street to permit westbound traffic'to make a u-turn. Mr. Thompson advised that it has come to Staff's attention that an ordinance was never adopted to prohibit u-turns at this intersection and therefore, this ordinance will prohibit u-turns for the westbound direction only. Beverly Pierce questioned if the City was going to change the signs. She indicated she never understood how eastbound Dublin Boulevard traffic was supposed to get back to the water district building. Ever since the City closed off access by putting in the meridians a couple of years ago, she stated it was difficult to get into their parking lot. CM-7-96 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 Mr. Thompson advised that the correct signs have been posted. The u-turn was prohibited in the past because there was insufficient space to safely maneuver a u-turn, but the City has now completed the widening project in front of the California State Automobile Association building. Mayor Jeffery closed the public hearing. On motion of Cm. Hegarty, seconded by Cm. Moffatt, and by unanimous vote (Cm. Snyder absent), the Council waived the reading and on an urgency basis, adopted ORDINANCE NO. 10 - 88 PROHIBITING U-TURNS FOR WESTBOUND TRAFFIC ON DUBLIN BOULEVARD @ CLARK AVENUE PUBLIC HEARING - ORDINANCE REQUIRING DEDICATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF RIGHT-OF-WAY Mayor Jeffery opened the public hearing. City Engineer Thompson advised that this ordinance, which was introduced at the March 14th Council meeting, is part of the City's Municipal Code update. The ordinance requires a property owner to dedicate and improve right-of-way in cases where the issuance of a building permit, conditional use permit, site development review approval, variance, or Planned Development Rezoning would result in an increase in traffic on the street or streets on which the lot fronts. The provisions of this ordinance would only apply when a future right-of-way line has been established or where the rest of the street is already wider than at the property in question. An ordinance outlining procedures for establishing right-of-way lines was adopted in 1987. Cm. Hegarty posed questions with regard to Section 2 of the Ordinance which deals with "designated area". If it is open land, what are we going to do with it? Do we wait until the Site Development Review takes place? Also, what about development that will impact one of our major streets. What if a study was done and it showed that the street must be widened or some type of mitigation needs to be done. Mr. Thompson stated that if it falls in one of these areas, we can require the dedication or widening. He also indicated that you can require off-site improvements under the sub-division map act. Mayor Jeffery closed the public hearing. CM-7-97 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 On motion of Cm. Hegarty, seconded by Cm. Vonheeder, and by unanimous vote (Cm. Snyder absent), the Council waived the reading and adopted ORDINANCE NO. 11 - 88 REQUIRING DEDICATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF RIGHT-OF-WAY OTHER BUSINESS ABAG Gener. al Assembly Meeting. Cm. Moffatt reported that he attended the ABAG General Assembly meeting on Friday, March 25th. A dues increase was approved~which would be from $250 to $275. Also, one Bylaws change was approved. ABAG appears to be back on the road to financial recovery, what with their training programs and other endeavors in which they are involved. The Bylaws change was that they would allow other groups to come into the group as associate members; i.e. BART, some of the JPA's, in order to take advantage of their insurance. Also discussed was the growing concern over the ratio of housing to jobs. There is lots of evidence that says that one job/one house isn't working out because of people's mobility. There was discussion on how to improve the traffic problems within the Bay Area, and some of the solutions were discussed. One possible solution would be to develop some type of permit for cars to go into San Francisco. Another concept discussed would be a charge of $5-$10 per car to cross the bridge if you are alone, with a decrease as the number of passengers increase. With regard to the hazardous waste management program, in the next 2 or 3 months, there will be a discussion brought to each individual City Council to explain what the program is in this County and there will be several public meetings. It was suggested that the Livermore Valley Cities have a joint meeting. City Manager Ambrose indicated he had received a call from Pleasanton regarding a special meeting where they would put on about a one hour presentation for Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton together. Mr. Ambrose suggested that it might be wise for Dublin to have its own meeting as we will need to have a subsequent General Plan Amendment and hearing. There is so much to consider that Dublin should give it careful consideration and attention. Mayor Jeffery felt it was important for the 3 Cities to get together to discuss this as apparently, all the sites seem to be in our area. This meeting could be a study session. Mr. Ambrose indicated that this first meeting would be informational. Cm. Hegarty felt we should pay very close attention to what businesses are in the City and what they are shipping in and out and have the proper agency monitor all this. We should be aware of all this. High technology companies waste products can be very dangerous. CM-7-98 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 Cm. Hegarty questioned where Dublin fits in the housing/jobs issue. Mr. Tong advised that we sit pretty close to a 1 to 1 ratio. LAVTA Meet. in.g, Cm. Vonheeder reported that LAVTA had a special meeting to approve the paratransit agreement. Mr. Sood indicated it was a pleasure working with City Staff. * Contra Costa....County Fair Mayor Jeffery reported that the Council had been invited to participate in the Contra Costa County Fair parade being held on Saturday, July 30th. No one on the Council expressed an interest in participating in this parade. Police Services Brochure Packet Mayor Jeffery reported that she had received her services and information brochure prepared by Dublin Police Services. She indicated that she was impressed with this packet of information. It was very nice. Trip to Dublin, Ireland Mayor Jeffery reported that she had just returned the day before from' Ireland. Everyone was treated very nicely on the whole trip. They had a very heCtic schedule and were constantly on the go. She stated that it was very interesting to see how the Northern Ireland situation was handled while they were there. The Dublin, California delegation was met at the airport by several members of Parliament, as well as the American Ambassador. The Deputy Lord Mayor also greeted them. There are lots and lots of castles in Ireland. Even though we complain about taxes, they pay about 50%-70%, and everything they buy has a 25% tax on it. One in five of their people are out of work and are fully supported by the State. Mayor Jeffery stated that just about everyone returned ill. You never seem to get used to showering in cold water. She was presented with a lot of very nice gifts and looked forward to being able to display some of them for the community to enjoy. CM-7-99 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9'05 p.m. ATTEST' CM-7-100 Regular Meeting March 28, 1988