HomeMy WebLinkAboutSPCC Minutes 1993-04-26other possibilities including the issue of Orange and why it has not been challenged and
what Mr. Ragghianti's recommendation would be on that.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAINED: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:10 PM.
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF , 1993
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
IN CONFERENCE ROOM 201 IN CITY HALL, SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, MAY 3, 1993, AT 6:00 PM
Special Meeting: Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
San Rafael City Council Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember
Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Councilmember
Absent: Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember
Others Present: Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk
Carol Adney, Cultural Affairs Administrator
1.INTERVIEWS OF APPLICANTS TO FILL SIX VACANCIES ON THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CC)
- File 9-2-24
The following applicants were interviewed to fill six vacancies on the Cultural Affairs
Commission, with terms to expire the end of April, 1995 or the end of April, 1997:
NAME TIME OF INTERVIEW
Erwin Williams 6:00 PM
Linda Spackman 6:05 PM
Lionel Ashcroft 6:10 PM
Kirk Black 6:15 PM
Marilyn Englander 6:25 PM
Glenn David Mathews 6:30 PM
Phyllis B. Thelen 6:40 PM
Patricia Kuchta was unable to make the scheduled interview and Liz Nager did not appear
for the interview.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to reappoint and appoint
the following applicants to a two year term to end of April, 1995 or a four year term
to end of April, 1997:
Terms of office were drawn by lot by the City Council, for each individual appointee.
1►1G\uhl
Lionel Ashcroft
(Reappointed)
Marilyn Englander
(Appointed)
Erwin Williams
(Appointed)
Glenn David Mathews
(Appointed)
Linda Spackman
(Appointed)
101101
Two year term to expire end of April, 1995
Two year term to expire end of April, 1995
Two year term to expire end of April, 1995
Four year term to expire end of April, 1997
Four year term to expire end of April, 1997
Phyllis B. Thelen
(Appointed)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:
Four year term to expire end of April, 1997
Breiner, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
None
Cohen
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
1993
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
IN CONFERENCE ROOM 201 OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, MAY 3, 1993, AT 7:00 PM
CLOSED SESSION
1. DISCUSSION OF LITIGATION AND LABOR NEGOTIATIONS - File 1.4.1.a
No Closed Session was held.
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, MAY 3, 1993, AT 8:00 PM
Regular Meeting: Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
San Rafael City Council Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember
Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Councilmember
Absent: Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember
Others Present: Suzanne Golt, Assistant City Manager
Gary T. Ragghianti, City Attorney
Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OF AN URGENCY NATURE
RE: REQUEST TO REMOVE SRCC AGENDA ITEM #10 FROM CONSENT CALENDAR FOR DISCUSSION - File
10-5 x 10-6 x 13-6
George J. Silvestri, Jr., Attorney for the Save Downtown San Rafael Committee, requested
Item #10 on the Consent Calendar be pulled off and continued to the next meeting, because
he had been asked about the legality of this issue without enough time to respond and this
Committee would be meeting Friday, May 7, 1993. He also stated their concern with regard
to the Resolution for this item accurately reflecting what had actually been done. He
stated the CEQA determination was left out and the Resolution purported to include, as a
finding, that there are no City funds involved in facilitating this project, but did not
mention public funds. (City Council took no action.)
CONSENT CALENDAR
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to approve the recommended
action on the following Consent Calendar items:
ITEM
2. Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of April 5,
1993 (CC)
3. Report on Bid Opening and Authorization to Purchase
Two Used Vehicles (Gen.Svcs.) - File 4-2-271 x
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Approved as submitted.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8881 -
AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF A
9-3-65 x 9-3-30
1992
DODGE DYNASTY (USED) FROM
MARIN DODGE (for Recrea-tion
Dept.) (in the amount of
$11,314.87) AND A 1993 FORD
TAURUS (NEW) (for Police
Dept.) FROM HANSEL FORD (in
the amount of $13,639.00)
4. Resolution of Findings Granting Variance From
Uniform Building Code Section 504 - 445 Francisco
Blvd. (PW) - File 1-6-1 x 9-3-32
ADOPTED RESOLUTION N0. 8882 -
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN
RAFAEL (IN ITS CAPACITY AS
THE BOARD OF APPEALS) GRANT-
ING CONDITIONED APPROVAL OF
AN APPEAL FROM SECTION 504 OF
THE BUILDING CODE AT 445
FRANCISCO BOULEVARD (Re:
Building Crossing Property
Line) (Infiniti) (George
Dexter)
6. Approval of Extension of Time for Subdivision ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8883 -
Improvements "Subdivision of Lands of Laurel EXTENDING TIME FOR THE
Properties" (PW) - File 5-1-316 COMPLETION OF IMPROVEMENT WORK
"SUBDIVISION OF LANDS OF
LAUREL PROPERTIES" (EXTENDED
TO AND INCLUDING 5/18/94)
7. Approval of Parcel Map - Lands of Moorhouse and
Nicolaus - Between Linden Lane and Newhall Drive;
AP #15-051-41 (PW) - File 5-1-319
8. Approval of Agreement with County of Marin for
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8884 -
APPROVING PARCEL MAP OF SUB-
DIVISION ENTITLED "LANDS OF
MOORHOUSE AND NICOLAUS"(on
Linden Lane and Newhall
Drive, just east of Grand
Avenue) AP #15-051-41
a. ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
Exchange of ISTEA
Funding for the Merrydale
8885 RESOLUTION OF
INTENT Overcrossing (PW)
- File 4-13-87 x 4-8-23 x 11-
15 REGARDING THE USE OF
ISTEA FUNDS BY THE CITY OF
SAN RAFAEL FOR THE MERRYDALE
OVERCROSSING/HIGHWAY 101
PROJECT ((1,112,500 from
ISTEA Funds)
b. ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
8886 -RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
THE SIGNING OF AN AGREEMENT
WITH THE MARIN COUNTY REDE-
VELOPMENT AGENCY FOR THE
EXCHANGE OF ISTEA FUNDS (for
City "Traffic Mitigation
Fee", Merrydale Overcrossing
Project) ($1,112,500 From
ISTEA Funds)
9. Resolution Authorizing Below Market Rate (Item carried over to next
Housing Agreement Between the City of San Rafael, meeting of May 17, 1993, per
Housing Authority of the County of Marin and request of City staff.)
Robert B. Ham, Inc. for Loch Lomond Unit 10 (Pl) -
File 5-1-297 x 229
10. Resolution Denying Appeal of the Planning
Commission Decision of March 23, 1993, Re:
Approval of ED93-15 & UP93-16 - Use Permit and
Environmental and Design Review Permit for a
Temporary Office Trailer to Provide Day Services
for the Homeless; 14 Ritter Street; Richard C.
Bottarini, Owner; Dr. Gideon Sorokin, Appellant;
Rob Simon, Human Concern Center, Applicant and
Rep.; AP #11-272-13 (Pl) - File 10-5 x 10-7
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8887 -
DENYING THE APPEAL BY DR.
GIDEON SOROKIN OF THE PLAN-
NING COMMISSION'S CONDITIONAL
APPROVAL OF ED93-15 & UP93-16
WITH MODIFICATIONS TO CONDI-
TIONS AND FINDINGS, TEMPORARY
OFFICE TRAILER TO PROVIDE
SERVICES FOR THE HOMELESS AT
14 RITTER STREET
12. Approval of Street Closure for Classic Car Parade, Approved staff recommendation
Saturday, May 22, 1993 (RA) - File 11-19 to approve partial closure of
Fourth Street, Court Street
and "A" Street to accommodate
the Car parade, car display
and Block Party Street Dance.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBER: Cohen
S.REPORT ON BID OPENING AND AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR STREET RESURFACING - 1993 (PW) - File
4-1-459
Councilmember Thayer stated the City will be spending $627,000+ this year because of the
Ghilotti bid with regard to the street resurfacing program and this amount of funds
will only cover six and one-half miles of City streets. She asked how many miles of
streets there were in the City and at what frequency are they repaved or resurfaced?
Public Works Director Bernardi responded to the second question first by stating
there was a return time period of approximately 45 years on the City streets, with
verification from the Hughes-Heiss consultant's report. He noted they should be
paving 10 to 15 miles of streets per year in order to get a reasonable return on the
City streets. He noted they were not able to do this any sooner with the funds
currently available.
Councilmember Thayer stated she was receiving many complaints about this from citizens of
the City and was concerned that on a 45 year cycle that many streets will deteriorate
very badly and will need to be totally repaved. Mr. Bernardi responded that was the
danger in having that type of recycling on some of the City streets. He noted that
the other part of this question was that the City's pavement management system has
the crews paving the streets that have much more vehicular traffic so the residential
streets and the cul-de-sacs generally are always on the bottom of the list because
there is not much traffic. He stated those are the streets they would be looking at
for eventual reconstruction if staff does not resurface them more frequently.
Mayor Boro followed up on this by stating there was roughly 150 miles of streets. Mr.
Bernardi responded affirmatively. Mayor Boro then stated staff should pave these
approximately every 15 years, which meant they should be paving approximately 10
miles per year. Mr. Bernardi responded affirmatively, noting that this year staff
has more funds because some funds were carried over from last year, which increased
the funding this year, but generally they had approximately $450,000 to $500,000 in
Gas Tax Funds each year to resurface the City's streets. Mayor Boro clarified that
in essence staff should be paving approximately 15 miles per year, but they are only
paving six and one-half. Mr. Bernardi responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Thayer asked if there were any funds available from the current State Budget
in Sacramento, specifically Gas Tax funds? Mr. Bernardi responded the State was
looking at this issue very closely. Mrs. Thayer asked if instead of a 45 year cycle,
could the City move to a 50 or 60 year cycle? Mr. Bernardi responded affirma-tively,
even with the Proposition 101 funds the City has that are helping to supple-ment the
existing Gas Tax funding.
After further discussion, Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded,
to adopt the Resolution awarding the contract for street resurfacing - 1993.
RESOLUTION NO. 8888 -RESOLUTION OF AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR STREET RESURFACING - 1993
TO GHILOTTI BROS. CONSTRUCTION, INC. (lowest responsible
bidder) (in the amount of $627,286.11) (Project #006-
40696278000)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen
11.PURCHASE OF SATELLITE ANTENNA AND VIDEODISC SYSTEMS FOR POLICE TRAINING (PD) - File 4-
2-273 x 9-3-30
Councilmember Breiner requested feedback with regard to the location of the satellite
antenna and videodisc equipment which are to be installed on the roof of City Hall.
Her concern was that it not be seen from the street or the back parking lot. Police
Chief Krolak explained this was a disc approximately 10 feet in diameter made of see-
through mesh material and indicated they talked with the Planning Department who
stated there was no need for permits to install this antenna. He stated they would
be working with the Public Works Department when they install this antenna and disc.
Mrs. Breiner stated she was concerned about the appearance of this antenna from
Fifth Avenue and/or Mission Street and suggested they work with the members of the
Design Review Board when installing this antenna to make it the least offensive
location possible. Public Works Director Bernardi stated there was a five foot
parapet on the roof which will obstruct the view angles so that no one from either
street can see it.
Councilmember Breiner requested that a member from the Design Review Board be included in
locating the proper area of the roof where the satellite and antennae will be
installed in the least visible location and still be able to get the best reception
possible for the Police Department.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolution
for purchase of satellite antennae and videodisc systems for police training.
RESOLUTION NO. 8889 -AUTHORIZING THE CHIEF OF POLICE TO PURCHASE A VIDEODISC AND
SATELLITE ANTENNA SYSTEM FOR POLICE TRAINING (Cost to be
reimbursed by P.O.S.T. [California Commission on Peace
Officer Standards and Training])
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen
13.PUBLIC HEARING TO REVIEW GENERAL PLAN EVALUATION; AND ADOPT NEGATIVE DECLARATION AND
MISCELLANEOUS 1993 SAN RAFAEL GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT (GPA93-1) (Pl) - File 115 x 10-6
Mayor Boro declared the Public Hearing opened.
Principal Planner Hasser gave an explanation, stating most of the amendments were
considered "clean-up" amendments and were fairly self-explanatory. She stated she
had a correction to Item 4b, Page 7 (and Page 2 of the Resolution, Item 4a) which
should refer to a change in land use policy 9 (LU -9), rather than land use policy 13
(LU -13).
Mayor Boro stated Council would start with questions for clarity first and then have
public input, and last, general questions from the Council.
Councilmember Breiner asked with regard to Page 4 of the staff report, No. 7, "Add policy
language to permit use of certain trip reserves to underdeveloped non- resi-dential
parcels; and clarify that certain trip reserves may also be used for high tax
generating projects, and clarify policy C-4 trip allocations" and stated she had read
the Planning Commission minutes, but she still was not sure she understood this. She
indicated she wanted to feel more comfortable in what the Planning Commission was
doing about this.
Mrs. Hasser responded that currently the General Plan has a trip reserve specifically set
aside for non-specified "underdeveloped parcels" or partially developed parcels in
East San Rafael, yet the bonus trip policy, C-6, does not state that these trips,
which were set aside in reserve for those parcels, could be used. She further noted
that in Northgate they had a "general reserve" currently, and yet when Supercuts
requested trips to build out to their full FAR (Floor Area Ratio), staff could not
use that general reserve for them because there was no policy language that stated
that underdeveloped parcels could use those trips. Supercuts was not a high priority
use, so on the advice of the City Attorney, the Planning Commission recommended that
language in Policy C-6 be amended to correspond to the trip reserve categories in the
Appendix B to state that they could use those trips for underdeveloped parcels.
Councilmember Breiner stated one of her concerns was equity for the total under -developed
parcels and asked if these would be distributed on a "first come, first served"
basis, or would they be split up in order for everyone to obtain a propor-tional
number available to them, whether one parcel develops at year two and another expands
at year two or year ten, or will the owners of the parcel waiting too far down the
line then be told, even though it is underdeveloped and not at its full FAR, that
everyone that came first used up the reserve? Mrs. Hasser responded this would be on
a "first come, first served" basis, the same way they allocated out the high priority
trip reserves. She stated they are used to the extent that those reserves are
available and when the reserves are used up and there are no trips left, that option
is no longer available.
Mayor Boro asked if the site itself would have a certain amount of trips. Mrs. Hasser
responded affirmatively and stated a partially developed site would have historic
trips that have been used on that site and they would still be able to use them.
Mayor Boro then stated that even an underdeveloped parcel would carry so many trips
with it, too, and was it just the bonus trips Mrs. Hasser was referring to? Mrs.
Hasser responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Breiner asked if there was any traffic monitoring being done with regard to
traffic generation in this area and stated her concern was that if any of their
assumptions in traffic generation were wrong, they might not want to be looking at
those trips as actually being reserved; however, they might simply be there for them
to realize they have gone beyond Service Level "D" and we do not want any further
development on any of the parcels included in this project. She asked if this was
discussed. Mrs. Hasser responded negatively, but she thought this was a fairly
significant policy change that the Council may want to consider at some other time.
Mrs. Hasser explained staff has stated that those trip reserves can be used to help
guarantee acceptable traffic operating conditions and, in fact, one of the actions
Council was being asked to take tonight was to eliminate two of those trip reserves
to guarantee acceptable traffic operating conditions, because in Northgate when they
did a circulation element update they found that there had been a slight change and
there was a need to eliminate those reserves.
Councilmember Thayer asked for clarification with regard to floor area ratios and density
limits which were usually not spoken of in the same breath because she con-sidered
density in terms of residential and floor area ratio in terms of commercial
properties. She stated her concern was in looking at the historical trips combined
with the reserve trips, whether the number of trips that would ordinarily be alloca-
ted to a certain floor area ratio would be expanded because of the reserves that were
given to it. She asked in other words, would this increase the allowable trips to
any one parcel? Mrs. Hasser responded it would permit a site to develop up to a
particular floor area ratio, but it would not permit them to go beyond that floor
area ratio. Mrs. Hasser stated there were some properties now that are under-
developed in terms of floor area ratio that do not have specific additional trips
assigned to them, which is what this reserve is intended to help; however, they still
would not be able to develop beyond the floor area ratio limits.
Councilmember Shippey stated with regard to a statement on Page 12, the 1991 North -gate
Circulation Model, that all the intersections in that North San Rafael area function
within adopted LOS standards except Smith Ranch/Redwood Highway. He asked with
regard to, "at build out it is planned to function below LOS 'D'", if this included
the St. Vincent's/Silveira maximum build out scenario? Mrs. Hasser responded
affirmatively and stated it includes everything in the General Plan; that was where
the build out numbers came from.
Mayor Boro asked if there was anyone in the audience wishing to address the Council on
this item. There was no response and Mayor Boro closed the Public Hearing.
Councilmember Thayer asked if they had taken into account the proposed expansion at San
Quentin? Mrs. Hasser responded there were additional build out trips that came from
outside traffic zones and she was not sure this included San Quentin or not, but
staff was doing a revised and updated traffic model for East San Rafael and Downtown
in which they would look at this issue. Mrs. Thayer stated her concern with regard
to the expansion of San Quentin because if that uses up applicable trips in the area,
what would happen to the City's Planned Priority Process with regard to development
that comes forward in the future? She noted it was almost like the State had pre-
empted the City's traffic trips, and was wondering if, legally, we could have a
Planned Priority Process for those intersections which would be impacted. Mrs. Hasser
responded that right now the City had already approved the projects that would use up
all that short-term remaining capacity until the needed roadway improvements are
constructed at the Bellam interchange. Mrs. Hasser noted that it was unknown if the
San Quentin expansion would happen in the short term and would, or would not, affect
the Planned Priority Process.
Mayor Boro stated this was one of the issues they had written about to the State in their
first request on the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) and the Council had also sent
out a second letter to the State, approved by the Council two weeks ago, again asking
for answers to these questions, along with the Board of Supervisors. He noted that
until they heard from the State there was not much the Council could do. Mrs. Thayer
stated she felt it could negatively affect the Planned Priority Process because it
would preclude certain people from the reasonable expectation that they could develop
their land. Mrs. Hasser stated this was in the short term until those improvements
are constructed and after this occurred, presumably there would be adequate capacity
for all development including San Quentin and other projects in San Rafael.
Councilmember Breiner asked would this happen even if they were to increase the size 1000
at San Quentin? She stated she felt the impact on the community, unless there was a
projection that was right on target, would be that they could find themselves with a
real problem. Mrs. Thayer stated there would be a tremendous expansion of the staff
at San Quentin, along with an expansion due to the numbers of prisoners who will be
seeing outside visitors, etc., which would create a definite traffic impact.
Councilmember Shippey stated his concern was that they did not have the traffic model
updated and in place, so their comments to the State were not based on that. Mrs.
Hasser stated they could ask the State to provide that information because they have
done their own traffic analysis from which staff had asked them to identify those
types of impacts on the City.
Mayor Boro stated the concerns were valid and the Council has gone on record as to what
their concerns were and they would have to wait to see what happens with the San
Quentin expansion to see if it will have the impact that Mrs. Thayer spoke of. Mrs.
Breiner stated that if later on staff finds out that the impact is different enough
to make some changes, it could come back to Council quickly because she saw one
possibility that would seem more fair, in some respects, having a proportional
allotment. She stated then if they had to cut back it could be done equally.
Councilmember Shippey stated he was concerned that the State's projected increase in
traffic may not agree with the City's, and would like to see the City's model before
accepting the State's information.
Mayor Boro stated that once they had further information, possibly the plan they approve
tonight would be underway and they could apply it to this project. He noted that he
felt San Quentin did not have very much local political support for this expansion,
so this might not happen. He noted when the City has that information then they
could go ahead with what they needed to do.
Mayor Boro asked, with regard to Page 13, dealing with the "Amnesty Program for illegal
units. . .", for background information on this issue. He asked if it was basically
stating to work up a work program to explore this possibility? Mrs. Hasser responded
affirmatively and stated it was to have the Code Enforcement Section develop an
Amnesty Program for consideration by the Council. She stated the Planning Commission
recommended the program as a way to focus or prioritize strict abatement efforts on
some more recent, "first generation" illegal units where the original owner who put
in the illegal unit was still in control of that unit. She stated they could develop
an approach that was stricter with those owners than with second or third generation
older illegal units. She stated the primary intent was to have high fines to stop
new illegal units and to prioritize the more recent ones as possibly easier to abate
or make them easier to abate.
Councilmember Breiner stated she was very opposed to an amnesty program for illegal units
on several levels and noted that in San Francisco their Planning Commission turned it
down. She stated she hoped San Rafael would do that, too; however, she felt they did
need some further discussion about how the City could do Code Enforce-ment. She
stated she was interested to hear from City Attorney Ragghianti with regard to
Paragraph 3 in this section.
City Attorney Ragghianti stated he did not think that the statement made in that paragraph
was legally correct and noted he spoke briefly to Mrs. Hasser about this earlier this
afternoon. He noted he did not believe the City would be estopped from abating an
illegal unit, but by virtue of the fact that an RBR failed to note its illegality and
someone bought the house thinking they could use it, this was clearly not sufficient
to have estopped the City if they were to abate it, in his opinion.
Mrs. Breiner noted she felt the neighborhoods would be very upset to think that there
could be a wide -spread amnesty program and thought it would encourage further illegal
units in the future which she did not want to see. She stated she agreed that there
were many of the units that were not up to code and have not received their permits,
etc., but sometimes they fade in and fade out, and if there was to be a wide -spread
amnesty program it would mean that from here on out the Assessor's record and all the
legal documents would show that that would be a permanent property right and all
those units could never be abated which she felt was not right.
Councilmember Thayer stated she agreed with Mrs. Breiner and felt the City has an adequate
procedure which is in place which mandates that people who do have older units that
are not legal and are allowed to legalize them under certain conditions, but it was
in the form of a public hearing. She felt this would be an adequate procedure and
noted that many of the illegal units in this City are in areas like Bret Harte,
Gerstle Park, Terra Linda, areas that may have inadequate parking for extra tenants
in front of their houses. She stated the Council has had a few of these people come
before them trying to legalize units in that situation and felt that this program
would encourage more of this in the future, so she was against having an Amnesty
Program at all.
Councilmember Shippey stated he was against this program too, and noted a concern he had
with regard to the inequity that certain owners who violated the ordinances earlier
would be given an unfair advantage relative to later owners who could not participate
in this program.
Mayor Boro recommended the Council consider, instead of an "amnesty program", adopt-ing a
program to evaluate how illegal second units can be more effectively brought into
conformance. Mrs. Hasser responded this was the primary intent of this program to
try to improve the enforcement and abatement of illegal units.
Councilmember Breiner noted that Mrs. Hasser's explanation made more sense to her and
stated she agreed with that and felt there were different possibilities in this area
where a new buyer is not penalized or have a phase out period if someone attempts to
legalize a unit and it does not get approved, but there is not immediate action and/
or fines. She stated there is a need for a program that has fines built into it to
make up for the costs involved in the Code Enforcement time.
Mrs. Breiner then referred to Page 22 where the discussion of, "moderate income ownership
units have been developed under a City inclusionary program with deed restrictions of
30-40 years", and stated that many of the moderate and/or affordable units have a
life span, in terms of a rental life span, and she could see a problem coming up with
some of these units where the time is running out. She stated she was glad to see
the moderate income units are not at risk of losing their moderate income status
because the deed restriction on a unit of those ownership units is renewed each time
the unit is sold and with the fast turnover of these units, they do not convert to
market rate status.
Councilmember Thayer stated with regard to the new designation from "Hillside Resi-
dential" to "Estate Residential" category, on Page 6, which dealt with Peacock Gap,
one of the problems she had with this was did this in any way increase densities in
any area? She noted in Peacock Gap, with regard to the two large lot subdivisions
spoken of on Page 6, it specifically stated that this would still preclude further
subdivisions and those lots were not proposed for any change; however, that statement
was not carried through with regard to the others in Loch Lomond. She asked if the
same would apply? Mrs. Hasser responded, in terms of existing density and sub-
division potential, it stays the same and the only thing that changes is that the
hillside overlay zone would be deleted from those flat and gently sloping lots. Mrs.
Thayer clarified by stating that essentially it would be under a 25% slope that this
new designation would apply; however, all slopes over 25%, without exception, will be
subject to the Hillside Residential zoning.
Councilmember Shippey asked with regard to a comment on Page 5, a couple of portions of
this General Plan Amendment were not included; for example, the issue of the revision
of the City's In -Lieu Housing Fees - when were these issues coming back to Council
and would they be in the form of another set of General Plan Amendments? Mrs. Hasser
stated they were hoping to have the In -Lieu Fees resolved at the same time as the St.
Isabella's General Plan Amendment, which has been recently submitted, comes forward
to the Council. However, she did not know the exact time frame for this, but
expected this to happen within the next six months.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to adopt the Resolu-tion
with the change on Page 3, Item 9, striking "Amnesty Program" and change the wording
to "Code Enforcement Program" being the title and then develop an improved program to
approve and abate illegal dwelling units, and the second change, on Page 2, Item
4(a), "LU -13" to "LU -9".
RESOLUTION NO. 8890 -CERTIFYING A NEGATIVE DECLARATION AND ADOPTING THE
MISCELLANEOUS GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT (GPA93-1) (with
change on Page 3, Item #9, strike "Amnesty Program" and
have the wording "to develop enforcement of abatement
and improvement of illegal dwelling units", and Page 2,
Item #4[a], change "LU -13" to "LU -9")
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen
14.PROPOSED FINANCING REVISIONS ON BOYD COURT PROJECT (RA) - File 5-1-322 x 229
Assistant Executive Director Ours gave a brief summary of this report, stating this
project, as approved by the City Council, contemplated a land lease structure whereby
the homeowners would lease a proportionate share of land through a lease payment
included in the monthly homeowners association payment. He stated the land lease
structure has been abandoned in favor of a condominium structure whereby the land is
included in the purchase price of the unit. Mr. Ours then noted the original prices
were: 1) 2 units affordable to Low Income households at or below 70% of median for
sale at or near $86,320; 2) 6 units affordable to Moderate Income households at or
below 90% of median for sale at or near $120,600; four by virtue of $60,000 ($15,000
per unit) from the Housing Fund; and, 3) 17 units affordable to Moderate Income
households at or below 110% of median for sale at or near $135,645. He stated the
questions seemed to be centered around the "Silent Second" concept which was a new
concept introduced to the Council.
Mr. Ours explained this concept by taking a "Silent Second", with no money in the pockets
of the developer, the note is due and payable to the Redevelopment Agency and this
creates a partnership between the Redevelopment Agency and the moderate income
purchaser where the two entities share equally in the amount they put in and the
Redevelopment Agency's money, when the unit is sold, comes back to the Agency plus
the appreciation (50%, for example) of the appreciated sale price. At that time the
Agency would be able to qualify a new buyer and apply the appreciated money, plus the
$15,000, to the unit and maintain its affordability.
He stated this "Silent Second" method allowed the Agency more control and a firmer hand in
maintaining affordability than the normal BMR unit agreement. The fact is that if
there was a BMR unit that was going for resale and there were no purchasers for it,
the resale conditions would disappear after 90 days. He stated in the past the
Agency has had to step in, particularly with the Housing Authority, and loan them
money so they could buy the unit and then resell it, maintaining the affordability of
the units.
He noted this procedure had been done twice already where the Agency had to loan money for
the purchases. He stated in this particular case, the Agency would continue to keep
that appreciation and that would then go with the unit and give the Agency more
control and affordability, because no matter how a unit appreciates, they would be
partners in that appreciation. He stated if the Agency's $15,000 "Silent Second" was
a higher percentage of the down payment, they participate more in the apprecia-tion.
He noted what the Agency was attempting to do in this case was to get a "Fanny Mae" loan
for the property which would allow a 4% or 5% down payment so that the Agency's share
of the down payment would be higher and the appreciation percentage would be higher
in the resale.
Mr. Ours stated the question came up the last time this item was discussed, as to what
would happen if someone came into a large amount of money and wanted to pay the note
off? He stated that in any long term agreement, the note would ultimately be paid
off, but the Agency's "Silent Second" was due in event of a sale, not due upon pay-
off of the note, so it would still be there until the property was resold. He stated
if the owners became suddenly wealthy, they could not qualify back into the
affordable units. He noted the buyers could pay-off the original mortgage amount,
but would not be able to pay-off the $15,000 note due to the Redevelopment Agency,
which would be paid at an actual sale, and at that time, whatever the sale price
would be, the Agency would be participants in that amount of appreciation.
Mayor Boro asked for clarification with regard to the unit going back to the Agency to
control after the participation in the appreciation. Mr. Ours responded that the
Agency would go back through the screening process to find another qualified income
level buyer for this unit.
Councilmember Thayer asked what would happen if the value of the property dropped? Mr.
Ours responded it would then be more affordable. She then asked what would happen
with regard to the "Silent Second"? Mr. Ours responded that money would still be due
to the Agency upon the sale, so that if the price goes down the unit would be more
affordable and the Agency would then own a bigger percentage of the base price.
Councilmember Breiner asked, hypothetically, with regard to the comment on Page 2, in the
bottom paragraph, "there is no restriction on the resale price", in terms of the
market playing, who determines if the resale price of these units is too high and
should the Housing Authority have to pay an inflated price? Mr. Ours responded that
whatever the owner is asking for the unit and it does not sell, the price is usually
dropped. Mrs. Breiner clarified her question by stating if the unit did not sell
within 90 days, then could it go to market? Mr. Ours responded that was under the
normal BMR agreement and that price would be determined by the Housing Authority.
Mayor Boro asked if that would not happen with this approach? Mr. Ours responded
affirmatively. Mayor Boro asked if that was the insurance Mr. Ours referred to that
all 17 units, plus the other 8, will remain affordable with the "Silent Second"
approach. Mr. Ours responded affirmatively.
Mayor Boro stated on the bottom of Page 2, there was no restriction on the resale price,
but the affordability of the unit is maintained by the Agency; so, in essence, the
owner cannot sell it for an amount that would exceed the affordability of the unit
for the next purchaser. Mr. Ours responded affirmatively, but noted what makes this
happen is the "Silent Second" and the appreciation.
Councilmember Breiner asked for the locations where this procedure was working. Mr. Ours
responded that Novato Ecumenical Housing has had this type of program working for a
number of years and has been quite successful. He stated it has not been attempted
here in San Rafael, but it seemed to be a very interesting tool to control the
affordability in a little different process. Mrs. Breiner asked if this was exactly
the same formula as the one used in Novato? Mr. Ours responded affirma-tively.
Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to accept the report and
direct staff to prepare a revised Below Market Agreement conditioned upon City
Attorney approval.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:
15.CITY COUNCIL REPORTS:
None.
Breiner, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
None
Cohen
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:50 PM.
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF , 1993
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
IN THE PUBLIC WORKS CONFERENCE ROOM OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, MAY 17, 1993, AT
5:00 PM
Special Meeting: Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
San Rafael City Council Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember
Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember
Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Councilmember
Absent: None
Others Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, City Manager
Gary T. Ragghianti, City Attorney
CLOSED SESSION
1.CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS LABOR NEGOTIATIONS - File 1.4.1.a
No. 93-9(a) - #7.
No reportable action was taken.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 PM.
(The Closed Session reconvened after the City Council meeting, at 10:15 PM.)
PAMELA J. NICOLAI, City Manager/Deputy
City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF , 1993
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
IN CONFERENCE ROOM 201 OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, MAY 17, 1993, AT 7:00 PM
CLOSED SESSION
1. DISCUSSION OF LITIGATION AND LABOR NEGOTIATIONS - File 1.4.1.a
No. 93-9(b) - #1 - De Anza Assets, Inc. vs. City of San Rafael, et al
No. 93-9(c) - #1 - Copple, et al vs. City of San Rafael, et al
No reportable action was taken.
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, MAY 17, 1993, AT 8:00 PM
Regular Meeting: Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
San Rafael City Council Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember
Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember
Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Councilmember
Absent: None
Others Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, City Manager
Gary T. Ragghianti, City Attorney
Suzanne M. Drake, Deputy City Clerk
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OF AN URGENCY NATURE
Irving Litchfield, owner of the Bermuda Palms Motel, stated his concern about the State of
California taking away his liquor license and, also, his food distribution license. He
stated the City Council was responsible for this because they were requesting 357 parking
slots at his motel in order for him to continue his business and house homeless people and
people with AIDS. He stated that under those regulations all the restaurants in town would
have to close because none of them have enough parking.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to approve the recommended
action on the following Consent Calendar items:
ITEMS RECOMMENDED ACTION
2. Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting of April 19, Approved as submitted.
1993 (CC)
3. Report on Annual Filings - Fair Political Practices Accepted report.
Commission Forms 730, Statement of Economic
Interests for Designated Employees, Including
Consultants, Geotechnical Review Board and Design
Review Board (CC) - File 9-4-3 x 9-3-14
4. Authorization to Call for Applications to Fill Two
Positions on the Design Review Board Due to the
Expiration of Terms of Board Members Phillip Abey,
Landscape Architect and Richard H. Olmsted,
Architect (CC) - File 9-2-39 x 9-3-17
7. Resolution for Grant of Easement to Pacific Bell
for Installation of Communications Cabinet on
Lands of City of San Rafael (PW) - File 2-14 x
9-3-40
Approve staff recommendation
to:
a) Call for applications to
fill 2 positions on the
Design Review Board w/dead-
line for receipt of applica-
tions Tuesday, 6/8/93 @ 12:00
Noon in the City Clerk's
Office; and,
b) Set date for interviews of
applicants, including incum-
bent, at a Special Council
meeting to be held on Monday,
6/21/93 @ 6:30 PM
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8891 -
RESOLUTION FOR GRANT OF EASE-
MENT TO PACIFIC BELL FOR
INSTALLATION OF COMMUNICAT-
IONS CABINET ON LANDS OF CITY
OF SAN RAFAEL - PT. SAN PEDRO
ROAD FIRE STATION
8. Resolution Approving $5,500 Contract With Geoff ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8892 -
Ball and Associates for St. Vincent's Facilitator APPROVING A $5,500 CONTRACT
(Pl) - File 4-10-269 x 9-2-45 x 10-2 WITH GEOFF BALL OF GEOFF BALL
& ASSOCIATES TO FACILITATE
ST. VINCENT'S/SILVEIRA
MEETINGS
10. Resolutions of Appreciation to Members of the
Hillside Design Guidelines Advisory Committee:
(Pl) - File 102 x 9-2-44
Linda Bellatorre ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8893 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - LINDA
BELLATORRE
Kathy Devlin ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8894 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - KATHY
DEVLIN
Sandy Imlay ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8895 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - SANDY
IMLAY
Mary Ellen Irwin ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8896 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - MARY
ELLEN IRWIN
Bill Kelly ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8897 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - BILL
KELLY
Gene Miller ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8898 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - GENE
MILLER
Jeff Mulanax ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8899 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - JEFF
MULANAX
Lee Oberkamper ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8900 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - LEE
OBERKAMPER
Richard Olmsted ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8901 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - RICHARD
OLMSTED
Frank Sangimino ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8902 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - FRANK
SANGIMINO
Dorothy Skufca ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8903 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - DOROTHY
SKUFCA
Marianne Shaw ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8904 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - MARIANNE
SHAW
Joan Thayer ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8905 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - JOAN
THAYER
Harry Winters ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8906 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - HARRY
WINTERS
Peter Wray ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8907 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
A MEMBER OF THE HILLSIDE
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE - PETER
WRAY
11.Resolution of Appreciation for Sheila Delimont, ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8908 -
Principal Planner, Employee of the Quarter RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION
(1/1/93 thru 3/31/93) (CM) - File 102 x 9-3-17 TO SHEILA DELIMONT, PRINCIPAL
12. Resolutions of Appreciation for the San Rafael
High School Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble and the
Girls' Flag Squad (CM) - File 102
PLANNER, EMPLOYEE OF THE
QUARTER (1/1/93 thru 3/31/93)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8909 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
THE SAN RAFAEL HIGH SCHOOL
JAZZ BAND AND WIND ENSEMBLE
FOR THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8910 -
RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO
THE SAN RAFAEL HIGH SCHOOL
GIRLS' FLAG TEAM FOR THEIR
OUTSTANDING EFFORTS THIS YEAR
13. Legislation Affecting San Rafael (CM) - File 9-1 Approved staff recommendation
to OPPOSE SB1154 - Emergency
Medical Services
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAINED: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen (on Minutes of meeting of 5/3/93 only due to
absence from meeting)
Mayor Boro (from item #7, due to potential conflict of
interest)
Mayor Boro requested and Council agreed unanimously to hold the Special Presentations
prior to discussion of Consent Calendar items, due to length of Special Presentations and
Consent Calendar items to be discussed.
14.PRESENTATION OF CANAL AREA INSPECTION PROGRAM CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE TO JAMES &
MARILYN WELLS, PROPERTY OWNERS OF 49 HARBOR STREET (Pl) - File 10-2 x 9-3-17 x 13-1
Mayor Boro attempted to make the presentation of the Canal Area Inspection Program
Certificate of Compliance to James and Marilyn Wells, property owners of 49 Harbor
Street; however, they were not present and it was directed back to the Planning
Department to give to them at a later time.
15.PRESENTATION OF AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION'S NATIONAL PLANNING AWARD, "1993
OUTSTANDING PLANNING AWARD FOR PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION IN A SMALL JURISDICTION FOR
THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL'S HILLSIDE RESIDENTIAL DESIGN GUIDELINES MANUAL" (Pl) -
File 102 x 9-3-17 x 10-2 x 9-2-44
Mayor Boro accepted the award on behalf of the City of San Rafael from Councilmember Joan
Thayer, who was a member of the Hillside Residential Design Guidelines Advisory
Committee that assisted in the creation of the Hillside Residential Design Guidelines
Manual.
16.RESOLUTIONS OF APPRECIATION TO MEMBERS OF THE HILLSIDE DESIGN GUIDELINES ADVISORY
COMMITTEE: (Pl) - File 102 x 9-2-44 x 9-3-17
Linda Bellatorre Bill KellyRichard Olmsted Joan Thayer
Kathy Devlin Gene Miller Frank Sangimino Harry Winters
Sandy Imlay Jeff Mulanax Dorothy Skufca Peter Wray
Mary Ellen Irwin Lee Oberkamper Marianne Shaw
Mayor Boro, with the assistance of Planning Director Bob Pendoley, made the presentations
to the members of the Hillside Design Guidelines Advisory Committee present at the
meeting.
17.RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO SHEILA DELIMONT, PRINCIPAL PLANNER, EMPLOYEE OF THE
QUARTER (January 1 through March 31, 1993) (CM) - File 102 x 7-4 x 9-3-17
Mayor Boro made the presentation to Principal Planner Sheila Delimont and stated she had
received her $100 bill earlier today.
18.RESOLUTIONS OF APPRECIATION TO THE SAN RAFAEL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND AND WIND ENSEMBLE
AND THE GIRLS' FLAG SQUAD (CM) - File 102
Mayor Boro first made the presentation of the Resolution of Appreciation to the Music
Director, Mark Peabody, of San Rafael High School, along with City pins to each
member of the Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble.
Mayor Boro then made the presentation of the Resolution of Appreciation to the Coach, Tami
Fox, of the San Rafael High School Flag Team, along with City pins for all the girls
of the team.
The following Consent Calendar items were removed for discussion:
S.RESOLUTION APPROVING SUBDIVISION FINAL MAP - LOCH LOMOND UNIT 10 (PW) - File 5-1-297
Councilmember Breiner requested City Attorney Ragghianti verify the exact parcel on which
the three BMR (Below Market Rate) condominium units will be located. It is not shown
at this time on the Final Map, and is still a valid consideration. City Attorney
Ragghianti responded it was not necessary that they know the precise loca-tion of
these units at this time. Mrs. Breiner asked if this will be known before the final
recordation at the County will take place? Planning Director Pendoley responded a
condition of the tentative map was that a BMR contract be approved by the City
Council prior to the recordation of the Final Map. The BMR contract must specify
which lot will accommodate the BMR units.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to adopt the Resolu-tion
approving the Final Map and adopt the nine (9) Resolutions accepting storm drain
easements.
Under discussion, Councilmember Thayer asked where was the mention of the Clerk of the
Works under the Conditions of Approval? Public Works Director Bernardi stated there
was an agreement with the Developer for the depositing of the funds necessary to hire
that Clerk of the Works, so that was part of the program, as well. Mrs. Thayer asked
if that was a separate agreement and Mr. Bernardi responded affirmative-ly. Mr.
Pendoley then responded to her question by stating the Clerk of the Works was located
under Condition k(9) which requires that the applicant should pay all costs for
inspection services retained by the Public Works Department to monitor, on a full-
time basis, all grading and construction of public improvements. He also noted that
Public Works had already required a deposit to cover that cost.
Mrs. Thayer stated she felt it should have been more specific in the Conditions as to who
the Clerk of the Works was, because this was an important point with the Loch Lomond
Homeowners' Association. Mr. Bernardi responded now that they had the funds in hand,
they would be following a process where they will be receiving proposals from certain
civil engineers who will be performing this function. He stated that when all the
other Conditions are complied with, and the Map is recorded, the work can begin. He
stated that normally the name would not be available at this time and it was the same
process as when the Planning Department hires an EIR consultant - the Developer will
put up the funds and the City will hire the consultant.
Mayor Boro clarified what Mrs. Thayer was asking by stating the Clerk of the Works was the
title put into the Condition for the person who would oversee the construc-tion and
development of this site, paid for by the Developer but supervised by the City. He
stated they were all confident that this was called for and the next step would be to
hire the person to fill this position after it is approved by the Council. Mr.
Bernardi stated then they would bring it back to the Council so they can see how the
procedure is followed, and for their approval.
Councilmember Cohen asked for more clarification by stating that when construction starts
there will be a person on site at all times when improvements and the grading are
taking place, not development of the actual homes. Mr. Pendoley responded affir-
matively, and stated the language goes on to state, "The inspection service shall
monitor grading and construction of public improvements at all times when such
construction is underway and until its completion". Mr. Pendoley explained the
condition went on to specify in further detail other reports for which the inspection
service will be responsible.
Councilmember Breiner asked, with regard to Page 2 of the staff report item n(9) which
states, "The applicant shall submit written verification to the Director of Public
Works that all downstream improvements are completed prior to the issuance of a
building permit", if the City staff or the Clerk of the Works would be actually
inspecting these improvements? Mr. Bernardi responded affirmatively and the City
will be inspecting, as well. Mrs. Breiner then stated for the record, a typo existed
in Condition (s), the third sentence, refers to, "This three bedroom, two bathroom
unit (Approximately 1,200 square feet) will have a sales price of $135,200" should
have been "These three bedroom, two bathroom units ".
Councilmember Cohen commented along the same lines, on Page 2 of their staff report, under
Condition n(9), the first sentence, "Downstream drainage improvements shall be
completed prior to development of the project to allow the sage passage. should
be, ". . to allow the safe passage. ".
Councilmember Thayer asked who would be on-site to prevent more trees being taken down
than are actually specified? Mr. Pendoley responded this was part of the
responsibility of the Clerk of the Works; however, there was a tree protection plan
which was required and has been prepared, and will also be supervised by an arborist
who will be working for the City, paid for by the Applicant. He stated the arborist
will be inspecting every day the grading takes place and prior to grading will super-
vise the installation of a fence designed to protect the specified trees.
1(a). RESOLUTION NO. 8911 - APPROVING FINAL MAP OF SUBDIVISION ENTITLED "LOCH LOMOND
UNIT 10"
1(b). RESOLUTION NO. 8912 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - LEWIS C. LOVELL AND
SUSAN V. LOVELL (AP #16-101-12)
RESOLUTION NO. 8913 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - CARROLL WALKER & JEAN
H. WALKER (AP #16-101-36)
RESOLUTION NO. 8914 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - MARY CAROL PETERSEN
(AP #16-111-14)
RESOLUTION NO. 8915 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - CRAIG S. SPENCER AND
JILL WILEMON SPENCER (AP #16-101-34)
RESOLUTION NO. 8916 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - SHARON LEE KING
(AP #16-121-11)
RESOLUTION NO. 8917 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - GEORGE A. MILLS AND
ISABELLE C. MILLS (AP #16-121-18)
RESOLUTION NO. 8918 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - JOSEPH A. BOZIC AND
SHARON A. BOZIC (AP #16-121-08)
RESOLUTION NO. 8919 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - LAWRENCE SHAW AND
MARIANNE A. SHAW (AP #16-111-15)
RESOLUTION NO. 8920 - ACCEPTING GRANT OF EASEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF STORM DRAIN - DOVIELEIGH RICE
(AP #16-101-13)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
2.Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to direct staff to begin
condemnation proceedings to acquire the remaining storm drain easements required to
construct improvements required by the "Conditions of Approval" for the subdivision.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
3.Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to authorize the
construction of the project be performed in two phases.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
6.RESOLUTION ACCEPTING PROPOSAL FROM JOHN W. HILL & ASSOCIATES, INC., FOR CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR THE 1993 STREET RESURFACING PROJECT (PW) - File 4-1-459 x
9-3-40
Public Works Director Bernardi requested that this item be pulled from the agenda and not
put forward because it had been determined that this project will probably be done by
City staff.
9.RESOLUTION DENYING THE APPEAL BY MARIN IMMIGRATION REFORM ASSOCIATION OF PLANNING
COMMISSION'S CONDITIONAL APPROVAL OF UP93-17 AND ED93-18, USE PERMIT AND ENVIRONMEN-
TAL & DESIGN REVIEW PERMIT FOR A JOB CENTER FOR DAY WORKERS, 806 ANDERSEN DRIVE; CITY
OF SAN RAFAEL, OWNER & APPLICANT; AP #18-013-08 (Pl) - File 10-5 x 10-7 x 231 x 218
Councilmember Cohen stated he had no questions or comments, but pulled this item from the
Consent Calendar to provide the opportunity for a separate note.
Councilmember Shippey asked City Attorney Ragghianti if his understanding was correct that
the City would not be subject to any liability for the Job Center? City Attorney
Ragghianti responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to adopt the Resolu-tion
denying the appeal.
RESOLUTION NO. 8921 -DENYING THE APPEAL BY MARIN IMMIGRATION REFORM ASSOCIATION OF
THE PLANNING COMMISSION'S CONDITIONAL APPROVAL OF UP93-17
AND ED93-18, USE PERMIT AND ENVIRONMENTAL AND DESIGN REVIEW
PERMIT FOR A JOB CENTER FOR DAY WORKERS, 806 ANDERSEN DRIVE;
CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, OWNER & APPLICANT; AP #18-013-08
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAINED: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner
19.PUBLIC HEARING - VACATION OF PORTION OF EXISTING EASEMENT - BAYPOINT LAGOONS NO. 2
(PW) - File 5-1-292 x 2-12 x 9-3-40
Mayor Boro declared the Public Hearing opened.
Public Works Director Bernardi stated the Council was being requested to abandon an
easement in Baypoint Lagoons No. 2. He stated the Council also received a letter
this evening that requested Council not abandon the easement because of public
access. He stated the abandonment of this easement will not affect any public
access, because there are other easements to provide the public access to this area.
Councilmember Cohen asked, for clarification purposes, if the dike mentioned in the letter
handed out tonight was on Parcel N and the easement that would be abandoned would be
a small area adjacent to that area? Mr. Bernardi responded affirmatively.
Mayor Boro asked if there was anyone in the audience wishing to address the Council on
this item. There was no response and Mayor Boro closed the Public Hearing.
Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to adopt the Resolution.
RESOLUTION NO. 8922 -ORDERING CLOSING, ABANDONING AND VACATING PORTION OF EXIST-ING
EASEMENT FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING, REPAIRING,
MAINTAINING AND OPERATING A DIKE AND APPURTENANT DRAINAGE
STRUCTURES WITH THE RIGHT OF INGRESS AND EGRESS - BAYPOINT
LAGOONS NO. 2
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
20.DISCUSSION OF RELOCATION OF FIRE STATION #6 FROM DEL GANADO ROAD TO MUNSON PARK (CM) -
File 12-3 x 9-3-31 x 9-3-66
Mayor Boro stated both the City Manager and Fire Chief would be speaking on this proposal
and will answer any question from the community; however, no decision would be
reached by the Council tonight and this will come back to the Council at the second
meeting in June, 1993.
City Manager Nicolai stated staff has been dealing with Fire Station #6 for several years
starting with the evaluation of whether or not to remodel it because of its
deteriorating condition. As they proceeded through this process it was determined it
would be much more affective to demolish the building and rebuild it. She stated as
staff worked at setting aside money and dealt with the architectural design of that
facility, she held a few "Brown Bag" lunches with some of the employees and one of
the representatives of the Firefighters' Association suggested at one of those meet-
ings that staff look at whether or not the rebuilding should be done at that site.
She stated she checked with the Fire Chief and found that years ago when the City
originally annexed Terra Linda, it was discussed at that time that this particular
location was not the most effective location from a fire response time point of view.
She stated multiple locations had been looked at in the Terra Linda area over the
years and one of the most appropriate sites, from a response time for both Fire and
Paramedic point of view, was Munson Park or a site along Manuel Freitas Parkway. She
stated they focused on Munson Park as a possible site primarily because it is appro-
priately located, not only does it provide a dramatically increased level of service
in the majority of the Terra Linda Valley area in that the response from both Fire
and Paramedic trucks can get to a significant portion of that area much more quickly,
but also because it is a piece of property that the City currently owns. She stated
they have been addressing just accumulating enough funds to deal with the Fire
Station issue for several years and they felt it would be appropriate that at least,
from a cost benefit analysis, they look at a site that will provide an adequate
response time and also would minimize the possibility of having to acquire a site.
In the past, she noted, that site has been looked at on several occasions and not
pursued.
Ms. Nicolai stated that not only have they dealt with Fire Station #6 as an issue, part of
what they were attempting to do was a cost effective step in dealing with taxpayers'
money. She stated she felt the issue was if they were going to spend $500,000 on
rebuilding a station, knowing that this was a fairly long commitment, they should
make sure it is done in the right place. She stated that as the area in North San
Rafael developed and they located Fire Station #6, originally there might have been
an anticipation of much greater development along the hillsides before the residents
out there passed the bond measures and acquired the open space and actually stopped
the development. She stated this was now at the tail -end of a residential community
and leaves a larger segment of the residential community with a lower level of
service. She noted this did not mean it was an inadequate level of service, it just
means that it could be better if they strategically relocated that Fire Station to
another site. She stated by almost any standards used in response times, and many
communities use the 5 minute response time as their standard, in attempting to
achieve a certain percentage, 80% or 900 of their responses are within a 5 minute
time frame. She stated most of San Rafael Fire Department's responses are well
within that time frame and what they were looking at was the investment of $500,000
in a Fire Station and if it can be strategically relocated the Department can bring
some of the response times down in the Terra Linda area closer to a 2 to 3 minute
time frame. She stated those locations immediately adjacent to Del Ganado will see a
diminution of service to a certain extent, but still well within the acceptable
levels. She stated what staff would like the Council to do tonight was to just hear
this proposal and receive input from the community. She stated they were open to
other alternatives, as long as they meet the criteria that staff feels adequately
improves the response time from the Fire Department's services. Staff will either
respond to the questions and evaluate some alternatives, and/or meet with the
community out in the neighborhoods so they have an opportunity to ask staff questions
and propose alternatives. She stated then staff would bring this back to Council,
probably at the second meeting in June, 1993, with recommendations.
Fire Chief Marcucci showed the maps to the Council and gave a brief explanation of them.
He stated they used actual responses from a five year period from their dispatch
records to determine the response time to each different colored sections on the map.
He stated that by relocating Fire Station #6 to Munson Park, staff has eliminated
all of the 5 minute response, covered a much wider area of 2 minute responses, a
decrease in over a 4 minute response and a few 3 minute response areas. He stated
this location, from strictly a fire response capability, is a much more effective
location and one of the reasons for this is that at the present Station #6 site the
time to respond east, going toward Highway 101, there is a circuitous route which
takes much more time. He noted the site of Munson Park provides a better access on
major thoroughfares to get the fire trucks to various locations in the Terra Linda
Valley.
Councilmember Shippey asked City Manager Nicolai what would happen with the current Fire
Station #6 site if they do relocate it to either Munson Park or some other location
in Terra Linda? Ms. Nicolai responded that staff considered relocating the station
to Munson Park because it is already owned by the City. There is a park adjacent to
Fire Station #6, and the fire station area could become a component of the park. One
option would be a parking area, or they could possibly recoup some value out of the
property by selling it and using the funds to offset the cost of building the new
fire station, or help to create a Capital Fund for other Fire Department facilities.
Ms. Nicolai pointed out that these are the types of issues staff could consider.
She noted there has been no determination and no staff recom-mendation specifically
on that issue, and there are still many options available.
Councilmember Breiner asked if any charting, like what was presented to the Council
tonight, has been done with the response time if they were to bridge over the ditch
at the Del Ganado location? Fire Chief Marcucci responded staff could only speculate
at this time, but felt if this were done, it might decrease response times anywhere
from 20 to 30 seconds and not much more than that.
David Green, citizen of San Rafael and a member of the Friends of Munson Park Associ-
ation, stated the current members met informally a few months ago when they heard
about this proposal which was only rumored at that time. He stated they put together
a petition which was sent to the Council with approximately 230 signatures which is
their current support. He stated they have not had very much time to decide whether
they were in favor or against the proposal. Mr. Green stated all the members and
supporters of this Association are residents of San Rafael and are interested in fire
safety and responses times; however, he stated they would like to achieve the highest
level of fire safety, but at the same time save this beautiful park that has brought
a lot of pleasure to many citizens and is one of the few remaining parks like this in
San Rafael. He stated they would basically like to find out if there are some
alternatives to achieve fire safety or to rebuild the facility to make it a proper
facility, and at the same time save Munson Park.
Mr. Green stated their Association had already started to investigate the issues involved
and to do a study, not only of the proposed site, but alternative sites. He stated
two or three of their members met with the Fire Chief this week and obtained some
information from him. He again stated they just have not had enough time to answer
all the questions they have about this issue. He stated it was difficult to
understand how it could be more efficient to build a new fire station from scratch on
a lot that is unimproved and has no utilities, as opposed to either rebuilding or
renovating a fire station on the present location.
Mr. Green stated the second issue was, it was even more difficult to see how the proposed
site is more effective when they have to build a crossway over the drainage ditch.
He stated there was currently a crossway over the drainage ditch at the Del Ganado
site. He stated they also did not understand the fire safety aspects that the Fire
Chief has proposed. He stated it was also difficult to understand how moving a fire
station approximately two blocks, almost in the same area, can appreciably affect the
response times. He noted there certainly will be certain areas in San Rafael where
there will be a longer response time from the new site.
Mr. Green stated he was asking the Council two things: 1) He requested Council listen to
Mr. George Orr, the President of their Association, and Ms. Mary Holman, the
Secretary of the Association; and, 2) that no decision be made on this proposal until
more of the citizens of San Rafael have had an opportunity to study the proposal and
present their findings to the Council.
Mayor Boro stated this will be coming back to Council in June, 1993, for further
discussion and there will be no decision made this evening. He stated tonight was a
start on this issue and Council will take the time they need to made sure all the
points which have been raised are thoroughly examined and then they will come back to
discuss them further.
Mr. George Orr, President of the Friends of Munson Park Association, stated their group
met with Fire Chief Marcucci who explained why the City was considering this
relocation of Fire Station #6, per the considerations outlined by him, and advised
them that if the group wanted to express their point of view then it was their
responsibility to come to the Council meeting and do so. Mr. Orr stated Chief
Marcucci gave their group some very good background information so that their group
was coming before the Council as a somewhat informed group and also with the idea of
working in cooperation to find the best possible prospect and do the right thing for
the whole community. He stated they are before the Council tonight to ask them to
consider the concerns of the citizens with regard to these issues, such as open
space, green space, etc., which are not things that they can put a response time
value to, but they are considered important aspects of why they chose to live in this
community.
Mr. Orr stated the main issue, as he saw it, was the new station, not necessarily a new
site. He stated they were not taking issue with the rights of the Firefighters to
have good facilities. He stated their group was objecting to the loss of an
irreplaceable community resource, which is the open space and Munson Park. He stated
within the background material supplied by Fire Chief Marcucci there were alternative
sites to Munson Park. He stated Munson Park was the only site that imposes upon the
community such loss of resource. He stated any other alternative is not an open
space, community park and they were asking that this be taken into consideration.
Mr. Orr stated that knowing there would be no decision made tonight relieved their
minds and he requested some input on this before that decision is made. He stated
their group would like to be a part of the research on this issue.
Ms. Mary Holman, resident of Hibiscus Way in Terra Linda, stated many of her neigh-bors
were not very clear on why the Del Ganado station was being moved to Munson Park and,
also, that maybe part of what is currently served by Joseph Court is being moved to
Munson Park. She stated they understood that the Fire Station will approximately
double in size which is one of the goals of the relocation. She stated that in doing
some research they learned that the Del Ganado Fire Station served about 150 medical
emergencies last year and the part of Joseph Court service area that appears to be
wrapped into this new station served about 300 medical calls last year; most of that
area covers the Northgate Mall area. She stated this appeared to mean they were also
getting part of Fire Station #3. She stated she hoped Council would realize that
this was new information to the group and understand their area would go to 450
emergency calls with this relocation.
Ms. Holman stated their group had approximately four or five alternate sites that they
would like to suggest for investigation and they were also interested in knowing what
happened to the three alternative sites that were originally being reviewed by the
Planning Commission.
Mr. Orr stated that if the Planning Commission or the City Manager or the Fire Chief needs
a contact point, they were offering themselves as such.
Mayor Boro stated that based on this Council's past experience with the Fire Chief in
meeting with neighborhood groups, Chief Marcucci will certainly seize the opportunity
to work with this group and give any information they need and will thoroughly inves-
tigate all aspects of this. Mayor Boro thanked them for coming to the meeting and
stated the Council was looking for the right answer along with their group and hoped
to work together to achieve that end. He stated this item would be continued tenta-
tively to the second meeting in June, 1993.
21.ACCEPT ADOPT -A -PARK PROGRAM PROPOSAL (from Park and Recreation Commission) (Rec) -
File 9-2-4 x 9-3-66
Recreation Director McNamee stated the Park and Recreation Commission had been work-ing
many months on this report. She stated she was introducing Carlene McCart, a member
of the Commission who was to give the report to the Council.
Ms. McCart stated this was a proposal for an Adopt -a -Park Program and a volunteer program
that Council requested last November from the Commission. She stated the Commission
drew on their experiences from working with neighborhood groups on such volunteer
programs in the parks and also did research into other municipalities and agencies to
look at their policies as they applied to park volunteerism. She stated they
concluded that there are three types of volunteer efforts that can be applied in San
Rafael: 1) Seasonal projects - one-time event types of projects, such as commu-nity
clean up projects, beautification days, etc., that they could easily organize and see
some direct results; 2) One-time projects, which are the type of renovation projects
they are seeing in neighborhood parks now where there is a specific goal, a starting
date and a finish time; and, 3) Adopt -a -Park, which would be more ongoing, more
committed types of projects, possibly dealing with more cash- oriented donations than
labor, but certainly a marriage of the two would be appropriate, as well. She stated
they wanted to utilize three different types of donations, which are in the proposal:
donations of labor, service and monetary. She stated they wanted to make sure they
design a program that gives opportunities for contributions from individu-als and
from organizations and groups. She stated there were groups, other than service
oriented groups, that lend themselves to park projects and these are: high school
community service programs, the college landscape education programs, U.C. Master
Gardeners, and garden clubs. She noted these organizations should be among their
resources for those types of projects and stated they did not want to overlook their
corporate and business resources, as well.
Ms. McCart stated the Commission determined that in order to produce the type of program
such as this one, they had to have a volunteer coordinator. She noted they had
determined that current staff levels do not allow the type of time requirements they
feel this program calls for, as well as the single focus that will be necessary to
bring this to a successful level. She stated they envisioned that the volunteer
coordinator be, number one, a volunteer and retired or maybe a professional who is on
loan from a corporate program. They would be committed to approximately up to 20
hours a week which might be week nights and weekends as they deal face-to-face with
the community. They are also looking at a commitment of one to two years from one
person to assure themselves continuity. She stated the ideal coordinator would have
proven skills in administration, public relations and fund raising. She stated the
initial responsibility would be to work with the Public Works Department Parks and
Recreation management personnel in order to deal with the guidelines that the
Commission was proposing and get the program put together, and after that go out and
identify the resources available and solicit donations, recruit volunteers, assign
projects, supply the projects, supervise those projects and then doing all of the
coordination that is necessary between City staff and the volunteers in the field.
Ms. McCart stated another necessary part of this was recordkeeping and administrative
types of tasks, acknowledging those people who have helped and further developing
resources that will become functions of the volunteer coordinator.
Ms. McCart stated that out of the other programs they visited, including San Francisco's
and the National Parks Service, they recognized nine common guidelines for a
volunteer project of this type that seemed to insure a certain level of success: 1)
Inventorying the sites, and identifying the project. At this point, they do not feel
they can turn Gerstle Park over to a volunteer work force and be success-ful that
way, but might be able to take some of the Parkettes and turn them over to the
neighborhood associations, or maybe take one element out of a park, a specific garden
area, and successfully get that under the volunteer umbrella. She stated they did
not expect that they will be able to use volunteers out on San Pedro median strips or
some of the other larger areas, but perhaps in the residential areas such as Loch
Lomond; and there were a number of medians that could safely be maintained by a small
force; 2) analyze what is achievable; 3) match the type of resource needed with the
need that was identified; 4) a cost estimate attached to every project. Although
they intend to seek donations and contributions to match most of the needs of this
program, they still need to have an honest evaluation of how much each is going to
cost; 5) develop performance standards; 6) identify and contract the work resources;
7) a marketing strategy will have to be put together so they can build the program
slowly and with as many successes as they can; 8) initiate cooperative agree-ments
that will give them a type of formal relationship with the people, businesses or
organizations that will be working with them; 9) adequate supervision. She stated at
this point the Commission was concerned that they take a look at the cost benefit
ratio and they realized that nothing is free and the City will need to commit them-
selves as a partner in this project, rather than be on the receiving end of this
project. She stated the volunteer coordinator will need some office space, a tele-
phone, office supplies easily accessible, a computer. She stated they realized these
will not be new purchases, but maybe sharing space with City staff. She stated the
volunteer coordinator would need access to support staff, as well as management
staff.
Ms. McCart stated the Commission is very optimistic they have some areas where volun-teers
can be of great benefit and affectively help support their staff and actually relieve
staff of certain responsibilities. She stated they thought they could get some park
renovations done. Some of the deferred maintenance projects that are pull-ing the
Park and Recreation staff down can be addressed through volunteer efforts, and the
clean up events would probably be a success here. They have seen the support that
neighbors will give to their own parks, and all they need to do is to tap into that
in an organized manner and she felt they would be successful.
Ms. McCart stated the last issue the Commission was proposing was that they take a long
look at a non-profit funding organization specifically for parks. She noted the
Hughes-Heiss study reiterated the value of having a non-profit organization work
toward park funding. She stated the Commission was recommending the formation of a
"Friends of San Rafael Parks", something similar to what San Francisco has, be a
second phase of this volunteer program and that it be developed by the volunteer
coordinator or by volunteers who are versed in this type of project.
Ms. McCart stated the Park and Recreation Commission was asking Council to look at this
proposal and either approve it or give more instructions to them, that they approve
the formation of the volunteer coordinator position and direct staff to start
recruitment for that position.
Mayor Boro stated that with regard to performance standards, the idea would be to get
people in the community to maintain some of the parks which are currently being
maintained. He noted this would free up the City's manpower so they could maintain
such areas as street medians where they could not use volunteers because of safety
factors. In that way, we could trade the labor from the local parks to the street
medians. He noted one of the things he would like to see as part of this was to have
a baseline estimate as to that the resources the City has dedicated to maintenance of
the parks by the City in this coming year. Then as the volunteer program gets going,
they could see that there would be a baseline of support from the City and as the
volunteers start, he would like to see some of the movement tracked to some of the
areas that have been abandoned, such as Point San Pedro Road and out in Terra Linda.
He stated if that was what Ms. McCart was referring to with regard to performance
standards, hopefully she could find a way to do that. He stated this was an important
program, but at the same time he would like to see that they have some goals that
will be accomplished and that they use the City's resources in a way that could take
some of those professional resources and use them where the City cannot put volun-
teers in areas that are not being currently maintained at all now. Ms. McCart
responded that was the goal of the Commission, but suggested they also needed to be
realistic that there are large portions of the area which need professional mainte-
nance and do not lend themselves to volunteer work. She stated on the other hand,
this type of program will address corporate sponsorship or even neighborhood
sponsorship of youth employment programs, so they do have people who are trained to
perform the functions.
Councilmember Cohen stated he was a strong supporter of volunteerism and of donated labor
to improve parks, but he had a question about the statement about "contract
maintenance" in the proposal. He asked if the Commission was proposing that they
would take donation funds and contract out for the maintenance of parks with profes-
sional firms? Ms. McCart stated that was possible and they would probably start out
on a level where they would solicit funds for youth employment programs or seasonal
employment programs that would allow them to supplement their staff. Mr. Cohen stated
he was not saying that he was not willing to consider it, but he felt that was a
whole separate issue that needed to be carefully considered if they intended to get
into contracting out services that would otherwise be done in-house. He stated one
thing to consider was whether or not they could set funds aside and somehow direct
using those funds to fund the Public Works Department doing the maintenance that the
City cannot currently afford. That way people would know that their money is not
just going to be swallowed up in the General Fund, but earmarked for a particular
park and maintenance of that park. Ms. McCart responded that in the Adopt -a -Park
program, it was possible that a corporation, business, or an association would want
to adopt a ball field or Freitas Pond, and even medians. She stated they have not
explored whether or not this program would get into contract maintenance. Mr. Cohen
clarified his statement by stating there were many points of view worthy of discus-
sion, but did not necessarily need to be tied up with this package. He then mentioned
the budget implications, given the obvious requirement for commitment to office
space, staff and management support, and supplies, which are difficult decisions to
make at this time prior to the budget hearings. He stated that unless the Council
can get some assurance that the needs can be provided within the current budget
constraints, it should go through the budget hearing process prior to making a
decision, and hopefully find a place for it. He noted it would not be right to make
this commitment tonight, without knowing how it relates to the Department's budget
and the City's overall budget, as well. Ms. McCart stated that was why the Commission
wanted the Council's consideration. This had to be within the City because this
program cannot exist outside, and if there is no space available maybe they should
wait until a later date to do this.
Mr. Cohen stated this was a very good concept and clearly returns more money than the
money invested. He noted he felt it was incumbent upon the Council to find a way to
fit it into the upcoming City Budget. Mr. Cohen stated they needed to factor the
City's support for this program into the Recreation Department's Budget and asked Ms.
McNamee to comment.
Ms. McNamee stated they had talked about, as a Commission, the different types of needs,
but have not defined the space where the coordinator would be situated physically,
which City department they would work directly under, either Public Works or
Recreation, and the furniture, computer, and supplies to be used. She stated she
would talk to Public Works Director Bernardi to get more information on the cost of
the program and ways to find resources to cover these needs. Mayor Boro requested
this information be brought back prior to the Budget Hearings.
Councilmember Thayer stated her concern with regard to the volunteer coordinator who would
be working for two or three years, 20 hours a week, for no compensation and asked if
there was any discussion with regard to receiving grant funding for a paid
coordinator? Ms. McCart responded they have not pursued that, but stated she would
look into that. Mrs. Thayer stated if this effort was well organized, it was worth
someone funding this position, at some level, and they might get better results
through someone who is a paid coordinator, is from the area and loves the parks.
Mrs. Thayer stated she was in agreement with Councilmember Cohen, with regard to all
the work done on this proposal, and stated one of her concerns which needed to be
considered in context given the fact that staff time is solicited and some of the
assistance the City can give in the way of facilities, etc., should be looked at in
conjunction with the City Budget process.
Councilmember Breiner stated one of her concerns was how likely it was that they could get
a person to do this much work for that long a time period and asked if it would work
with more than one person? She suggested they might consider using a team of two
coordinators to assist each other.
Mayor Boro asked City Manager Nicolai to make some comments on this project due to the
fact that she and Mayor Boro had met today with Mr. Albert Barr on another subject
and he had a few comments to make on this. Mayor Boro made a suggestion of
contacting Joan Brown from a similar Marin County Volunteer program and one of the
decisions they made was that no employee would be displaced as a result of a volun-
teer coming in. At the same time that would not prohibit them doing some of the
things Ms. McCart was talking about as far as contracting out for work that the City
is currently not doing which they would be able to do if this program goes forward.
He commended Ms. McCart and the Park and Recreation Commission for this effort and
respected all the Council's feelings with regard to the City Budget cycle, but felt
what they needed were some new ideas to help cut back on some expenses which this
program would help with.
City Manager Nicolai gave to the Council, for the record, some of the comments from Mr.
Barr because he was unable to attend this meeting: 1) Mr. Barr was concerned about
the reference to the coordinator position, in that the Council should delete for the
immediate future that this position would be unpaid as he felt it should perpetually
be unpaid; 2) Mr. Barr wanted it specified that the funds saved could be used to
mitigate the park closures and reduced maintenance submitted to the Council; in other
words, if the City does save more money than what was already cut out that any offset
savings in manpower, for example, could be diverted to other parks; 3) The agreement
should contain a provision limiting liability for the adopting entity, as well as the
City, which he stated would need to be clarified if they decided to have more than
one person in this volunteer coordinator position.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to accept the report, asked
that at the budget process staff come back with the questions raised tonight
regarding the space needed, computers, etc., and possibly continue to pursue some of
these issues possibly with Sue Scott to have her do a story or Kate Rix or the
Independent Journal, talk about this and see if this might flush out a coordinator.
Under discussion, Councilmember Cohen stated that when this is brought back and if it
begins to look like there will be difficulty implementing the entire program, there
certainly are instances, like what has already been accomplished, where people have
the energy to basically do this particular park, and he thought they should find ways
to do whatever they can to support those as they build toward this kind of comprehen-
sive program if they are not able to start this as it is recommended.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
22.CONSIDERATION OF GUIDELINES FOR DONATION OF PARK TREES AND BENCHES (Rec) - File 12-5 x
9-2-4 x 9-3-66
Recreation Director McNamee stated this was a project that the Park and Recreation
Commission worked on concurrently in putting together an established policy.
Mr. Patrick Webb, Chairman of the Park and Recreation Commission, stated this was not
about a gap found in the park philosophy, but they had some issues come up with
regard to donating memorials, etc., to parks. He stated the Commission looked at some
other procedures used, particularly by the City, and came up with a suggested guide-
line for the donation of park trees and benches so there is some standardization for
when a person donates, for example, a memorial the Commission would know where to
place it.
Councilmember Cohen stated he felt it was great, but wondered about the slightly stronger
language on location in the staff report than in the actual Resolution and requested
that the following sentence, with regard to benches, be put into the Resolution under
item #7, "Although we welcome suggestions for a particular location, the bench is to
be part of the park landscape and the final decision rests with the San Rafael Park
and Recreation Commission and the Parks Department". He stated he was unable to find
any language for trees specifically. Mr. Webb stated this was probably an oversight,
because they were addressing the safety issues involved with the placement of the
benches more than the trees.
Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolu-tion,
with the amendment to Item #7 by adding the sentence, "Although we welcome
suggestions for a particular location, the bench is to be part of the park landscape
and the final decision rests with the San Rafael Park and Recreation Commission and
the Parks Department".
RESOLUTION NO. 8923 -ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR DONATIONS OF PARK TREES AND BENCHES
(as amended)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
23.REQUEST FROM THE HUMAN CONCERN CENTER OF MARIN TO WAIVE PERMIT FEES FOR THE DAY
SERVICES CENTER (Pl) - File 10-5 x 10-7 x 9-10-2 x 13-16
City Manager Nicolai stated during the processing of the Day Services Center through the
Planning Department and the Council, it was discussed both at the area task force and
among staff of their desire to have their fees waived. She noted this has been done
in the past for other projects. She stated this had only been discussed infor-mally
and she was requesting a formal letter on waiving of the permit fees. She stated the
Planning staff had no problem approving this item.
Councilmember Shippey stated he initially had some concerns about this item, but found
that Marin Municipal Water District has waived about $20,000 for this project and he
felt the City should do the same.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to approve the request for
waiving of the Permit Fees for the Day Services Center on Ritter Street.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
24.RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF RIGHT OF WAY CONTRACT AND GRANT OF EASEMENT TO SAN
RAFAEL SANITATION DISTRICT FOR SEWAGE FORCE MAIN FACILITIES IN PICKLEWEED PARK (PW)
- File 4-12-9 x 2-14 x 12-7 x 12-15
Public Works Director Bernardi stated he had nothing to add to the staff report, except to
point out that the funds that will be transmitted from the Sanitation District to the
City would be placed in a special Pickleweed Park account and the expansion of those
funds would be considered during the budget process for the various Capital
Improvement projects that are needed in Pickleweed Park.
Mayor Boro stated he felt they should accept this money and then wait until the community
becomes aware of these funds and comes forward with some recommendations for
Pickleweed Park.
Councilmember Shippey asked if they were talking about money already accepted? Ms.
Nicolai responded affirmatively. He then asked if the Council was limited in any way
for the potential use of that money? Ms. Nicolai responded negatively, that it
usually comes to the City and they can technically use it any way they wanted to.
However, staff felt Pickleweed Park has some issues that need to be addressed and
this was a one-time windfall event because the Sanitation District needed the ease-
ment and they have to pay the City for the easement. Therefore, staff was suggesting
they put this money into a separate fund for a useful project, such as repainting the
Center at Pickleweed. She noted these projects should be reviewed by the Park and
Recreation Commission and then come back to Council to make that determination.
Councilmember Breiner asked if this easement would create any problems for anything
involved in the Master Plan in that Park? Mr. Bernardi responded negatively and
stated the easement was worked around some of the improvements to the Park shown on
the current map so no playground equipment was removed, or anything else in the Park.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolution.
RESOLUTION NO. 8924 -AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF RIGHT OF WAY CONTRACT AND GRANT OF
EASEMENT TO THE SAN RAFAEL SANITATION DISTRICT FOR SEWAGE
FORCE MAIN FACILITIES IN PICKLEWEED PARK (in the amount of
$136,500)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
25.RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO CESAR ESTRADA CHAVEZ (CM) - File 102
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to adopt the Resolution of
Appreciation.
RESOLUTION NO. 8925 -RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION TO CESAR ESTRADA CHAVEZ, TO PAY
TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THE HEROIC FIGURES OF OUR TIME
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:
26.CITY COUNCIL REPORTS:
None.
Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
None
None
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:05 PM, and Council
reconvened in Closed Session to consider discussion of labor negotiations in Conference
Room 201 in City Hall.
BY:
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk
SUZANNE M. DRAKE, Deputy City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF , 1993
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
IN CONFERENCE ROOM 201 OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1993, AT 6:00 PM
Special Meeting: Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
San Rafael City Council Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Councilmember
Absent: Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember
Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember
Others Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, City Manager
Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk
1.INTERVIEWS OF APPLICANTS TO FILL TWO 4 -YEAR TERMS ON THE BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES WITH
TERMS TO EXPIRE END OF APRIL, 1997 (CC) - File 9-2-3
Council interviewed the following applicants to serve on the Board of Library Trustees:
Emily Kristopowitz Patricia J. Hassman
Robert Barnett Gerald Hill
Glena Coleman Sarah Nolan
Rebecca Halbreich Alice Resseguie
Ivy Wellington
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to reappoint Ivy Wellington
to fill a four-year term on the Board of Library Trustees, with term to expire the
end of April, 1997.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner & Cohen
Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to appoint Glena Coleman to
fill a four-year term on the Board of Library Trustees, with term to expire the end
of April, 1997, and Sarah Nolan to serve as Alternate on the Board of Library
Trustees.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner & Cohen
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
1993
IN CONFERENCE ROOM 201 OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1993, AT 7:00 PM
CLOSED SESSION
1. DISCUSSION OF LITIGATION AND LABOR NEGOTIATIONS - File 1.4.1.a
No. 93-10(a) - #1 - John G. Martina, M.D. vs. City of San Rafael
No. 93-10(b) - #7
No. 93-10(c) - #1 - Charles A. Bullock vs. City of San Rafael
No reportable action was taken.
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1993, AT 8:00 PM
Regular Meeting:
San Rafael City Council
Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember
Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember
Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Councilmember
Absent: None
Others Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, City Manager
Gary T. Ragghianti, City Attorney
Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OF AN URGENCY NATURE
I.LETTERS TO CITY COUNCIL RE: RELOCATION OF FIRE STATION #6 AND/OR LOSS OF MUNSON PARK -
File 12-3 x 9-3-31 x 9-3-66
Mr. George Orr, President of the Friends of Munson Park Association, handed letters to the
Council regarding the value of the Park, after reading them. He stated these letters
were from new and long-time voters and set forth neighborhood opposition to the idea
of moving the current Fire Station #6 and/or the loss of Munson Park as a park and
open space for the surrounding community. He noted the number of letters being
presented to Council is an indication of their deep convictions regarding the value
of Munson Park as a public park facility.
II.REQUEST FOR COUNCILMEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE IN CARAVAN TO STATE CAPITOL RE: STATE BUDGET
- File 8-5
Mr. Coleman Persily, representing SEIU, informed the Council there was to be a caravan on
June 16, 1993, to Sacramento State Capitol to stop the State from attacking the city
budgets and county budgets. He requested the San Rafael City Council and the Marin
County Board of Supervisors lead the caravan to Sacramento for this issue.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to approve the recommended
action on the following Consent Calendar items:
ITEM RECOMMENDED ACTION
2a. Approval of Minutes of Special & Regular Meetings Approved as submitted.
of May 3, 1993, and Special Meeting of May 17, 1993
(CC)
4. Resolution Authorizing Below Market Rate (BMR) (Pulled from agenda and
Housing Agreement Between the City of San Rafael,
Housing Authority of the County of Marin and
Robert B. Ham, Inc., for Loch Lomond Unit 10
(Pl) - File 5-1-297 x 229
6. Resolution Amending Resolution No. 8771 Authoriz-
ing the Chief of Police to Apply for a State of
California, Office of Criminal Justice Planning
(OCJP) Crime Prevention Grant (PD) -
File 4-10-262 x 9-3-30
7. Resolutions Approving One -Year Contracts with Police
Rotation Tow Permittees to Tow Abandoned Vehicles:
(PD) - File 9-3-30 x 9-10-2 x 11-8
a. Redhill Towing and Auto Body, Inc.
b. Terra Linda Tow Service
C. Valley Tow
10. Approval of County Health Screening Van to Visit
Pickleweed Park Twice a Month (Rec) - File 13-1 x
a_q_FF
11. Approval of Special Meeting Dates for 1993-94
City Budget (CM) - File 8-5 x R-103
put over to meeting of
6/21/93)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8926 -
RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLU-
TION NO. 8771 AUTHORIZING THE
CHIEF OF POLICE TO APPLY FOR
A STATE OF CALIFORNIA, OFFICE
OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLANNING
(OCJP) CRIME PREVENTION GRANT
(in the amount of $63,332.00)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8927 -
AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A
CONTRACT, LEASE OR AGREEMENT
WITH REDHILL TOWING AND AUTO
BODY, INC. (thru 6/30/94)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8928 -
AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A
CONTRACT, LEASE OR AGREEMENT
WITH TERRA LINDA TOW SERVICE
(thru 6/30/94)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8929 -
AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A
CONTRACT, LEASE OR AGREEMENT
WITH VALLEY TOW SERVICE (thru
6/30/94)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8930 -
APPROVING MARIN COUNTY HEALTH
SERVICES MOBILE HEALTH
SCREENING CLINIC TO VISIT
PICKLEWEED PARK TWICE A MONTH
Approved staff recommendation
to set Special Meeting dates
for 1993-94 City Budget Hear-
ings - Wed., July 7; Thurs.,
July 8 & Mon., July 12, 1993
- all meetings starting @
7:00 PM.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAINED: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen (from Minutes of Special & Regular Meetings of
5/3/93 only due to absence from meetings.)
The following items were removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion:
2b.APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF MAY 17, 1993 (CC)
Councilmember Breiner requested an amendment to the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May
17, 1993, on Page 8, paragraph 3, fourth sentence, "Fire Chief Marcucci responded
staff could only speculate at this time, but felt if this were done (bridging over
the ditch at Del Ganado) it might decrease times anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds.
rather than ". . .increase response times. "
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to approve the Minutes of
the Regular Meeting of May 17, 1993, as amended.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
3.AUTHORIZATION TO CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO FILL TWO POSITIONS ON THE PLANNING COMMISSION
DUE TO THE EXPIRATION OF TERMS OF COMMISSIONERS RICHARD O'BRIEN AND JOHN STARKWEATHER
(CC) - File 9-2-6 x 9-3-17
Councilmember Shippey stated he would not be able to attend the Council Special Meeting of
July 6, 1993, at 6:30 PM, to interview applicants for the San Rafael Planning
Commission, and asked if this could be postponed to the subsequent meeting, July 19,
1993. Mayor Boro stated it was the policy of the Council on Planning Commission
appointments that there is a full Council in attendance, so he requested staff seek a
date when there would be a full Council in attendance and to publish the date
accordingly.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to set a date subse-quent
to July 6, 1993, to have the entire Council present to interview applicants for the
Planning Commission, at the earliest possible date.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
S.RESOLUTION GRANTING SANITARY SEWER EASEMENT TO MICHAEL CRAFORD AT 10 MORGAN LANE, SAN
RAFAEL (PW) - File 2-3 x 9-3-40
Councilmember Breiner asked with regard to the enclosed letter from Mr. Robert Riley,
President of the Homeowners' Association, if there is a shorter connection that would
require less construction work in the street, why were they not requiring that?
Public Works Director Bernardi responded the request was made of the City because it
was the easiest way for the Crafords' to proceed. He stated he had discussed this
with Mr. Craford's engineer and to go the other way, as Mr. Riley suggests, would
mean that Mr. Craford would have to obtain a number of easements and dedicate those
to the San Rafael Sanitation District because they are in the County at that loca-
tion. He stated the only other consideration Mr. Craford has was that, according to
his engineer, he would have to pump the sewage from his property up into Morgan Lane,
so there would be extra maintenance costs associated with that. Mrs. Breiner asked
about the concern stated in 1984 that Villa Real was told that the sewer line system
was inadequate to handle additional connections? Mr. Bernardi stated he had a
sanitary engineer, Mr. Ed Nute, review the existing sewer lines within the area and
analyze that question. He stated Mr. Nute's letter was attached as part of the
Council packet in which he stated, "It is my conclusion that even with an allowance
for infiltration/inflow, these sewers have adequate capacity to accept the sewage
from the house at 10 Morgan Lane".
Mr. Bernardi stated one of the other concerns Mr. Riley had was that once Mr. Craford
connects to the sewer, that opens the door for the other properties to come down
through Villa Real, as opposed to going out through Country Club. He noted the ease-
ment is being granted by the City to Mr. Craford directly and if it was going to be a
public easement, the City would be granting it to the Sanitation District for a
public main. He stated this is Mr. Craford's own sewer main and no one else would
have access to it. Mrs. Breiner asked if other property owners on Morgan Lane wanted
to come into the City and, then be non-specified, should the City put in a provision
that if, in the future, the people desiring to annex would not have to pay to do so?
Mr. Bernardi responded affirmatively and stated the other issue was that in order
for anyone else to use Mr. Craford's sewer line they would have to go through his
proper-ty. He then pointed out on the enclosed map where the easement was located and
stated this really only abuts the Craford property and not any other adjacent
properties, so no one else can connect into that line without either getting the
City's permission to cross over other City lands or to cross over the Craford
property to get into that easement.
Mrs. Breiner suggested the Council restrict this easement to this one property owner, with
conditions so that if there is a future annexation, these property owners would not
have to pay Mr. Craford for it. Mr. Bernardi stated the way this could be set up is
that any other use for this easement, other than by Mr. Craford or any of his
successors in interest, would require additional City approval. Mrs. Breiner stated
that requiring the City's approval could be one condition and the other would be that
the City would determine what the cost would be.
Councilmember Cohen clarified what they were stating was Council was not granting Mr.
Craford an exclusive easement. He stated he understood this meant the City would not
have any control over who Mr. Craford grants access across his property, but by
granting him an easement across City property, they were not making that exclusive
and if someone else can make use of that grant, the City would transfer the rights.
Mr. Bernardi stated also that if Council felt the price that has been suggested by
Mr. Craford is insufficient, that can be brought back to Council in terms of an
appropriate cost. Mrs. Breiner stated she felt they should pursue this further.
Councilmember Shippey stated he agreed with Mrs. Breiner, noting they have seen other
easements of this type from the Sanitation District to the City that seem to cost
much more. He stated he felt some explanation of what a reasonable fee was would be
in order.
Mr. Craford stated currently this was a power line right-of-way and the developer of that
area did not pay taxes on that property so the City picked it up. He stated the
property really has no use because of the high tension power lines over that area and
also a fairly large Marin Municipal Water District easement was located over that
particular piece of property, approximately 45' by 20' at the narrowest part of the
property.
Mayor Boro stated his concern about the cost of the appraisal being more than the value of
the easement and suggested, if Mr. Craford agrees to the suggestion made by Mrs.
Breiner as far as future use on this and it is stipulated by Council, that possibly
the current price would be acceptable. Mrs. Breiner stated she agreed with that and
asked if there was a way to structure this to make it a non-exclusive ease-ment?
Assistant City Attorney David Walker responded if there was a desire for the City to
reserve a right to an easement for their purposes or for future annexations, they
could reserve and accept the easement from the grant to Mr. Craford. Mrs. Breiner
asked if this meant the City was not giving this easement up totally and Mr. Walker
responded affirmatively.
Mayor Boro asked Mr. Craford if he would like to take more time to look at this
information it would be acceptable to bring this back. Mr. Craford asked if Council
could give him a firm proposal and Mayor Boro indicated they could not at this time
and suggested staff sit down with Mr. Craford between now and the next Council
meeting to work out these details. Mr. Craford agreed with this.
Councilmember Cohen suggested Mr. Bernardi could, in the meantime, get more informa-tion
on how they have set value on similar types of easements in the past without going
through an appraisal, which would be more than the amount they were discussing
tonight. Mr. Bernardi agreed.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to bring this item back to
the next Council meeting on June 21, 1993, with more information after meeting with
Mr. Craford.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
8.RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING BOYD/FALKIRK CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND (Cult.Affs.) - File
139 x 9-3-84 x 9-3-66
Mayor Boro stated this item was pulled to allow Mr. Curt Hayden, Chairman of this group,
to speak on this issue.
Mr. Curt Hayden stated on behalf of the committee working to establish the fund- raising
campaign for the Boyd Gate House and the Falkirk Cultural Center, they wanted to
express their appreciation to the City Council for their deliberation on this
important Resolution and, at the same time, express their gratitude to the City of
San Rafael for all that has been done already in the past years to keep up both of
these important facilities.
Mayor Boro, on behalf of the entire Council, thanked Mr. Hayden and his committee for
their personal commitment and Mr. Hayden's personal donation to this, as well.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to adopt the Resolution
establishing the Boyd/Falkirk Capital Improvement Trust Fund.
RESOLUTION NO. 8931 -RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
ESTABLISHING A FUND TO BE KNOWN AS THE BOYD/FALKIRK CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND FOR PRIVATE DONATIONS, GRANTS, AND
OTHER MONIES CONTRIBUTED TO THE BOYD/FALKIRK CAPITAL FUND-
RAISING CAMPAIGN
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
9.STATUS REPORT ON LIBRARY SEISMIC REPAIR PROJECT (Lib) - File 9-3-61 x 9-3-40 x 13-1
Councilmember Shippey stated the staff report indicated it would take five weeks to move
back into the Library, and noted his concern that the public did not realize how long
the Library will be closed. He asked what method was being used to publicize this to
make the public more aware of how long this process will take? Library Director
Stratford stated staff has been informing the public that it will be five to six
weeks that they will be closed and as soon as this recommendation is approved they
would get signs and flyers out to the public and noted it would be helpful if there
was an article in the newspaper about these dates.
Councilmember Cohen stated he did not want to see the Library closed for even five weeks
and asked if this was the shortest time frame possible? Mr. Stratford respon-ded
affirmatively and stated if they were able to complete this work any sooner, then it
would be open sooner. Mr. Stratford stated there was a lengthy list of tasks that
needed to be completed prior to the Library opening up again after the remodeling is
finished and they also wanted to make sure the Library was safe and in good condition
and reconfigured prior to the reopening.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to accept the staff
recommendation to close the Library from July 20, 1993 to August 24, 1993 to move
from temporary location at 901 "E" Street to permanent location at 1100 "E" Street,
and to set up and reconfigure the interior of the Library in its permanent location.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
12.PRESENTATION OF CANAL AREA INSPECTION PROGRAM CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE TO GARY AND
JOYCE RIFKIND, PROPERTY OWNERS OF 55 CANAL STREET (Pl) - File 10-2 x 9-3-17 x 13-1
Mayor Boro stated over the past year the City Council has started a program in the Canal
area with respect to Code Enforcement and after the Code Enforcement Officer inspects
the property, the Council recognizes those property owners who have coopera-ted with
the City and have their units completely brought up to code. He also congratulated
Mr. Tom Norman, part-owner and manager of this property.
Mr. Gary Rifkind congratulated the City on the manner in which they have set up this
program, because it has been done in a way that encourages property owners to review
their property, improve it and the program has been designed not to be punitive, but
to work with the owners. He commended and thanked Code Enforcement Clare Machado for
her cooperation and help in this program.
Code Enforcement Officer Machado stated it helped to have owners like Gary and Joyce
Rifkind to work with in the Canal area and hoped that other owners will follow this
example and continue to work toward progress on all of the other properties.
13.PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER ADOPTION OF AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL AMEND-ING
TITLE 10 OF THE SAN RAFAEL MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 10.85 ENTITLED,
"POLICE ROTATION TOWING SERVICES" (PD) - File 9-3-30 x 9-10-2 x 11-8
Mayor Boro declared the Public Hearing opened and continued the Public Hearing to the next
Council meeting, June 21, 1993.
14.UPDATE ON JOB CENTER (CM) - File 231 x 9-2-43 x 218 x 9-3-11
City Manager Nicolai stated that staff has been proceeding with all the details necessary
to open the Job Center after the Council's approval for the Use Permit. However, she
felt the more critical issue is that since those hearings, both before the Planning
Commission and the City Council, it has become evident through the press and actual
enforcement activities by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Ser -vices) that
they not only had almost a one-third increase in INS manpower, as stated in the
newspaper articles, but carried out enforcement actions in San Rafael during the last
few months greater than the four or five years previous to that all combined. She
noted in keeping track of what the original agenda has been, that the City's goal was
to relocate the job seekers from the City streets to another location and that has
been their agenda, what staff has stated in the past is that the only reason they
were having to address this problem is that the INS was not staffed nor had it
determined that San Rafael was a high enough priority to carry out their enforcement
actions and help deal with the problem from a Federal level.
Ms. Nicolai stated as they proceeded ahead with this and met with the INS over nine
months, the INS reiterated that they were unable to do their job and, in spite of the
fact that they have verbally and vocally opposed the idea of the job center, they
have also reaffirmed that they do not have the manpower to do enforcement actions in
San Rafael, and now this seems to have changed. She stated she felt that because of
the changed circumstances there is a significant increase even though it is actually
only five enforcement officers, when it is added to the nine the INS had on duty and
their concerted effort in getting to San Rafael and dealing with this problem,
basically they are addressing the same issue that we wanted to address only coming
from a different tact.
Ms. Nicolai stated her feeling was that the Council should reconsider, in the sense that
if the INS continues a concerted effort at coming to San Rafael and dealing with
enforcement actions, not only with the job seekers themselves, but with the employers
who are violating Federal law by hiring undocumented workers, that the number of job
seekers on the streets will go down; however, that effort has to be somewhat consis-
tent and an ongoing basis. She stated if this does happen the problem has been
solved and she did not feel they needed to address this through the alternative of
the Job Center. She stated the staff recommendation was to defer actually implement-
ing the Job Center and this does not suspend or undo the approval of that, but delays
the implementation of that approval for approximately six months because for any
shorter period of time it will be impossible to get a sense of how committed the INS
is to continue their enforcement in San Rafael. She stated a letter was included in
the packet from the Regional Director of the INS Office stating their philosophical
approach and their commitment to being in San Rafael; however, the truth will be in
their actual actions over the next several months and in order to determine if there
will be an on-going commitment, they will need enough time. She noted the INS was
being diverted almost on a weekly basis by the boats that have been coming in to this
country on the West Coast and their resources are thin, but she noted they have
stated they have an increased level of manpower and if the public will continue to
keep pressure on the INS office and the Federal legislators, Senator Barbara Boxer,
Senator Diane Feinstein and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, this issue will become a
national issue and not just a local one. She stated staff's recommendation was to
consider deferring the implementation of this Job Center for a period of three to six
months. Her personal recommendation was six months because three months would
probably be too short to monitor an ongoing commitment and see what happens.
Mayor Boro stated after the prior meeting approving the Job Center and once they saw the
increased effort by the INS, they felt it worthwhile to initiate conversation with
regard to it. He noted, for the record, this is at least the third time San Rafael
has had contact with the INS, who met with staff and discussed specifically that in
order to be effective, the INS needed to have a regular presence in the City. Mayor
Boro stated he agreed with the original letter they received from the INS Regional
Director that it was their business to decide how to report their progress to the
City so as not to compromise their activities. Mayor Boro noted they wanted them to
do this in a legal fashion and were looking for more presence, because the City has
seen this, especially with the Special Crimes Task Force in the Canal and the
downtown Police Department foot patrol. He stated they stated this to the INS who
assured staff they would attempt to do this. He stated that both he and Ms. Nicolai
agreed that if there was a way to solve the problem of job seekers on the streets
through the INS, then it would make sense to let that happen and he supported the
staff recommendation, but emphasized that if this does not work then the Council will
have no other recourse than to go forward with the Job Center.
Councilmember Shippey stated the debate about the Job Center has been whether it is going
to be successful or not in taking workers off the streets, but he felt that the most
effective course of action was for INS to continue their enforcement activities. He
stated he wanted to dispel the idea that the City has not been cooperative with the
INS by stating the City has always worked cooperatively with the INS and will
continue to do so. He stressed the fact that the reason Council was agreeing to take
this action was that the INS has made a semi -commitment to be present here due to the
pressure put on the INS from the public through phone calls and letters. He urged
the public to continue this pressure because that was making the whole process work
better.
Councilmember Thayer stated she agreed with Councilmember Shippey and Mayor Boro, and
stated a few years ago when they contacted the INS their response to the City was
that they could not be there because there was a limited number of agents and it was
through citizens' involvement that forced a bigger INS presence in the last two
months. She stated previously the INS has been to San Rafael three times in the past
three years and in the last two months they have been here four or five times which
did make a definite difference. She stated she could not see going forward with the
Job Center if this presence was going to remain; however, her only fear was that
should the Job Center disappear completely then the INS might not be here. She asked
the citizens concerned about this problem to keep up the pressure on the INS office
for more presence here. She stated she could not see wasting CDBG and Marin Commu-
nity Foundation funds on something that might become unworkable, given the changed
circumstances; however, she did counsel those who are in this country legally and who
are looking for work, to encourage EDD (Employment Development Department) to expand
their operations with regard to casual employment and this is a source where
employers could go to employee job seekers who are in this country legally and those
who are already citizens, for work for a day or two. She thanked staff for a very
good report.
Councilmember Cohen stated he has had some concerns about the Job Center and probably will
continue to have these concerns whether or not the INS is effective. He noted he
felt Council should find some way to be proactive and there were some existing
agencies out there whose charge is to do employment referrals, specifically the State
of California's Employment Development Department. He stated that mechanism for
employment referral satisfied all of his concerns about labor standards and he noted
that Councilmember Shippey was probably right that if the INS responds to public
demands for service, he felt they should attempt to focus some of that same effort in
getting EDD to do their job and to provide this type of referral service and publi-
cize both to the workers and the people that hire them that services are available
through the Employment Development Department, in the Canal, and try to encourage
that process in the next three to six months.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to accept the staff report
and take no action on the Job Center for a period of six months and review that
decision at that time.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
Under discussion, Councilmember Shippey asked Assistant City Attorney David Walker if they
were making progress on researching an anti -solicitation ordinance? Mr. Walker
responded he believed so, but this was being done by City Attorney Ragghianti and he
did not know the current status at this time.
Mayor Boro suggested the City Attorney's Office continue to pursue this, because Council
needed to keep all their options open and added he discussed this with Assistant City
Manager Suzanne Golt about the City initiating some discussions with EDD and some of
the social providers in the Canal, at least to direct them to refocus some of their
activities and some of their interests towards EDD and attempt to encourage EDD to
reach out to the community to serve these needs.
Ralph Merola asked if the City Council has done anything towards writing to Federal
legislators with regard to this issue. He stated approximately one month ago the
Marin County Board of Supervisors initiated correspondence to the President, two
Senators and this area's Assemblywoman Woolsey. He noted the recent news about the
large number of people who were attempting to enter the Country illegally and stated
this was an appropriate time for this City Council to adopt a Resolution or whatever
documents were needed to send to these Federal legislators.
Mayor Boro responded he has had discussions with members of two of the staffs, one of the
Senators and the Assemblywoman, and now that Council has made the decision to put the
Job Center on hold, he will explain what Council has done and, at the same time,
address the issue of immigration. Mayor Boro stated when staff talked to the INS
they admitted that the problem was because they did not have the resources to do the
job at the borders, not necessarily here in San Rafael. Mayor Boro stated he
intended to relay that dialogue and concern, that this issue is an issue of concern
to the City and the entire State, and he would look for the Congressional Delegation
to come together on this issue and address it. Mr. Merola asked if there would be
more weight to this issue if the City Council sent letters to the Federal legislators
regarding this issue?
Councilmember Thayer stated she has sent letters, starting in 1992 when all of these
candidates were running for the various offices, requesting their views on this
particular topic because it was of great concern to her along with other citizens of
California; however, she stated she never received a reply from any of the candidates
who did not want to address it. She stated she attempted to talk to some of them
personally, but did not get any response. Mrs. Thayer stated that maybe, with the
recent occurrences of illegal immigrants being brought into the San Francisco Bay
Area on ships, the Federal legislators will be more responsive at this time.
Councilmember Shippey stated he agreed with Mr. Merola's suggestion with regard to writing
to Federal legislators to make them more aware of this problem locally.
Ms. Nicolai stated staff has been in contact fairly constantly with Congresswoman Barbara
Boxer's office for the last couple of years, before she was elected to the Senate.
She noted these legislators do respond more to calls from their constituents than
they do to fellow public entities. She stated that what we need to understand is the
impact that this immigration problem is having on this country is only affect-ing six
states and when addressing this issue on a local level, it is important to get input
from other State legislators, as well as our own, to make the other states more aware
of this problem and possibly assist in stopping it at this time before it spreads to
the unaffected states.
Councilmember Breiner stated she agreed that individual letters and calls from
constituents mean a lot, but felt Council should pass a resolution or have Mayor Boro
send a letter representing the Council on this issue to all Federal legislators.
Mayor Boro stated he would draft a letter for all Councilmembers to review and then send
it out to the Federal legislators with regard to this issue.
15.DISCUSSION OF CLOSURE OF FIRE STATION #3 (CM) - File 12-3 x 9-3-31 x 9-3-66
Mayor Boro noted there were many people in the audience from the Friends of Munson Park
Association and stated that the Fire Station #6 issue is not related to the closure
of Fire Station #3. He stated whatever decisions are made on one issue will not have
an influence on the other. He stated Council had received the letters from the
Friends of Munson Park group and that issue will be pursued and dealt with at a later
meeting.
Councilmember Shippey asked if there was a date that could be given to the Munson Park
Association, indicating when this issue would be brought to Council? City Manager
Nicolai responded she had originally asked that it come back to the second meeting in
June; however, based on some of the letters staff has received, they are attempting
to do some time estimates and analysis of alternative sites to Munson Park, which
will take some time. She stated they also wanted to have neighborhood meetings, once
this data is put together. She stated the decision to move Fire Station #6 is
independent from the issue on Fire Station #3 and noted she did not want to rush the
issue on Station #6 because it is basically a 30 year decision, which is the amount
of time they are foreseeing that this station will be at its new location. She
stated she wanted to give the community time to gather all the information and
discuss this with staff before making a decision on it.
Councilmember Shippey then asked if Ms. Nicolai was thinking of bringing this back to the
second meeting in July? Mayor Boro responded with the suggestion that the City
Manager and Fire Chief work on gathering the timing information and then meet with
the community groups before bringing this back to Council. Ms. Nicolai stated the
time analysis could probably be done in the next week or more for a couple of the
alternative sites and then when the data is pulled together they need to schedule the
meetings with the community. She stated the time needed for this item was not as
urgent as the Budget, at this time, and Station #6 is not related to the budget
issue. Mr. Shippey stated his concern about advising the citizen groups as to when
they will be meeting with staff and the Council. Mayor Boro stated Council has
received a letter from the Friends of Munson Park asking that they be informed and
receive minutes of meetings, and this has been put in place.
Ms. Nicolai then summarized the staff report for possible closure of Fire Station #3. She
stated that in the process of developing the City Budget this year it has been one of
the more challenging to date and several factors have gone into the reason why the
City is at the point is at now. She stated one issue was that these budget issues
have been developing over the last four or five years with a combination of factors.
She stated not only has the economy had an impact on the City's revenue sources, but
the State budget balancing exercise has had very direct impacts on the City of San
Rafael, many of which have been unpredictable, very swift moves at taking local
property tax and shifting it out of the City's control into the State arena. She
stated they have always considered through the budget reductions that staff has dealt
with over the last several years that Police and Fire are top priority and there is
no way that policy has changed; however, in looking at how staff has basically
destroyed other areas of the City's services in dealing with anticipatory steps that
staff took to addressing this problem, they have been able to somewhat project some
of these difficulties and freeze vacant positions. She stated this last year they
offered early retirement as an incentive to create vacancies and some employees have
availed themselves of that. She stated staff has met with all the bargaining units
in an attempt to negotiate a furlough program, which was accepted by the
Miscellaneous Employees and Management and Mid -Management, but not the Police and
Fire non -management employees. She stated every effort has been made to attempt to
create opportunities and vacancies and downsize the organization through mechanisms
that did not result in actual firings and/or lay-offs. She stated that while this
has had a long-term disseminating impact on some departments, it has not been through
actual pink slips and laying off people, it has been through anticipating the
problems and creating those opportunities.
Ms. Nicolai stated in looking at this year's budget, because of the magnitude of the cuts
that staff was facing, it did not seem possible to not evaluate what was happen-ing
in the Safety Services departments. She then emphasized that dealing with the Safety
Services, particularly in the Police Department, has been done in the past to a large
extent. She stated they have shifted a significant extent in the past in two major
areas - going from a strict beat structure in the Police Department to a more
directed patrol, which basically uses a computer analysis of the times and the
numbers of calls for service, and then the resources are reallocated to cover those
peak times and start shifting all the schedules to better utilize the manpower. She
stated, in addition to that, they have evaluated things that were done by sworn
officers who tend to be the more expensive employees and found certain kinds of
workloads can be carried by non -sworn Police employees. She stated, for example,
sometimes when Police Officer vacancies occurred they created a Police Services Aide
and let them do certain things such as taking burglary reports and non -emergency,
non -sworn types of activities. Ms. Nicolai stated, in addition to this, there have
been cuts in service levels in that the type of issues that call for a police report
has diminished in magnitude of what officers will respond to which might require a
report to be taken.
She stated in the Fire service staff has been monitoring in the last few years, there has
been a dramatic shift in the nature of the Fire service and in looking at the
statistics of what is happening in the Fire Department, Council has been made aware
that a significant amount of the calls are now revolving around the medical services
area, as opposed to the fire response, which has forced staff to look at what is
occurring in the nature of those services and stating there might be a better way to
deal with this changing environment with regard to calls for service and maybe the
traditional way these services have been provided in the past is not the most cost
effective way.
Ms. Nicolai stated staff has looked at all the Fire stations, the location and response
times of which has as much to do with geography as anything else, and they have
always felt that the placement of Fire stations has also historically evolved, not
necessarily out of a fire science approach. She stated many of these were, for
example, dedicated by a developer and placed where it is for various reasons, not all
of them related to the response time configuration. She stated they have a situation
in Terra Linda where staff has been looking at relocating Fire Station #3 for several
years. She noted that recently as a development project went through on Smith Ranch
Road, a condition of that development was that a piece of their property was dedi-
cated to the City as a future fire station location because of full knowledge that
Fire Station #3 and Fire Station #7 are too closely located and it would better serve
the community, particularly as development occurred further north, to relocate that
station farther north. She stated the City has also had a 20 year agreement with
Marinwood where they have provided first response into the northern part of San
Rafael, west of the freeway, so that the Twelveoak Hill and the Mont Marin area have
Marinwood as their first responding units.
Ms. Nicolai stated that in looking at the fact that the City was considering reloca-ting
Station #3 to farther north, there would be, even with that maneuver a diminu-tion in
service in any areas right immediately adjacent to the Fire Station. She stated
relocating this station to Smith Ranch Road would bring the response time from one
minute to three minutes on Joseph Court and Professional Center Parkway, but Fire
Station #7 in that area is able to respond between a two and a four minutes response
time, all of which are well within quality standards of any response time arena.
Ms. Nicolai stated that in addition to this, what they needed to look at was rather than
being tied to Fire Stations as the only way to provide service, that the real
analysis shows that the dramatic increase in calls for service throughout the
community is in medical. She stated rather than feeling completely attached to fire
station locations, the issue is how do we shift and do a better job of emphasizing
the change that is occurring in the nature of the calls and deal with the medical
responses which do not need to be done purely through fire station locations; they
can be done through Paramedic units, through private ambulance services, etc., which
is where we should be putting our resources and addressing the shift that is occur-
ring in the environment of fire services. She stated the combination of all those
factors has lead her to feel that closing Fire Station #3 would not, in any way,
diminish beyond a quality level of service, the service that is being provided in the
Terra Linda area with an expansion of the City's agreement with Marinwood for that
part north of Joseph Court, expanding the District from Station #7 up to Joseph Court
and west of the freeway near Drakes Terrace, and spreading some of the response up to
Fire Station #6.
Ms. Nicolai stated Fire Chief Marcucci has some statistics on the total volume of calls
and noted what they will find is that with the total volume of calls that Fire
Station #3 is handling right now and, in looking at the historical distribution, the
distribution would lead to an additional call every other day, or a half a call per
day, to the three other locations. She stated the question has been raised, "What
will happen if you get a call simultaneously?" and noted that could occur in any
department of any size with any number of stations, which is the function of dispatch
and mutual aid and other types of situations where there is one particular unit,
including Paramedics, on a long type of call and there is another unit that needs
back-up. She stated the volume of calls being handled by these stations at this
point in time does not show that there will be a large magnitude of simultaneous
calls. She stated the real critical factor in the simultaneous calls is probably
more related to Paramedic services and/or medical services and she felt there were
other ways of addressing that service level than just maintaining existing fire
stations.
Ms. Nicolai stated her overall feeling was that the budget situation the City is facing
with the State is creating and forcing us to re-evaluate the way the City is
providing services. She stated the message she was hearing from the community is
that the City should constantly be looking at more efficient and cost effective ways
of doing business and providing services to this community. She stated she felt this
was her responsibility as the City Manager, but she did not feel comfortable recom-
mending to the Council something that she felt would in any way jeopardize the public
safety and health, which is her priority. She stated that the nature of the services
being provided by the City has changed and the City needs to re-evaluate how they are
providing these services. She stated the recommendation being presented to the
Council tonight is a viable one and they have provided an alternative to that. She
stated the big difference is that the fire station closure, while she felt it was a
reasonable one, will not put the public's lives in jeopardy in any way. She noted
they could go to a two -person company at Fire Station #3 and keep it open; also go to
a two -person company at Fire Station #2. She stated both of these stations have
primarily first response to medical calls and many other jurisdictions function with
two people on an engine company in most of Marin, except for Novato. She stated they
strongly encouraged that some of the other Fire Stations remain three-person engine
companies because of the nature of the equipment being used, as well as the primary
service areas that are being served, but this alternative does require that the City
meet and confer with the Firefighters' Association, and fire unions throughout the
State and maybe nationwide have traditionally fought going to two -person engine
companies or have fought to go up to three-person engine companies. She stated that
in looking at the history of those two stations and the nature of their fire respon-
ses and medical, for the last two years the majority of the first responsibility in
their district has been even 100% medical, that can be handled in those two areas
quite well with a two -person engine company. She stated the longer term solution was
to address the fact that the City does not need to have Fire Station #3 open to deal
with the nature of the service level in that area, but we do need to seriously look
at reconfiguring the way we are providing medical services throughout our community.
Councilmember Thayer stated she had a concern with regard to the number of calls indicated
in Fire Chief Marcucci's report which stated approximately 68% of all calls for
services in Fire Station #3's District were medical in nature, 32% were miscellaneous
and there were no structure fires since 1992. She stated that if the difference is
that dramatic regarding the Paramedic services, she felt that one of the issues
Council should be looking at is putting some type of Paramedic service north of the
"hill", as well as south of the "hill", because it was her understanding that the
engines respond with the emergency medical crew on -board and then they have to wait
for the Paramedics. She asked what the response time was for the Paramedic unit that
comes up from downtown San Rafael after the EMT unit arrives? Chief Marcucci
responded the assumption cannot be made that a Paramedic unit is in a specific fire
station the entire day or a fire engine, too, waiting for these calls to come in. He
stated the fact was the Paramedic unit might be at Kaiser Hospital or Marin General
or any other fire station, so the response time is normally from the fire station to
the emergency center. He stated the standard that Marin County imposes on the Fire
Department is that the Paramedic unit must be on the scene in 10 minutes in 900 of
requests for service and they have been able to accomplish this with the exception of
approximately seven or eight times a month and at those times they are responding
from Kaiser or Marin General Hospital which would make that a longer response time.
He stated that from the average, they are arriving on the scene if dispatched
simultaneously probably within three to four minutes after the engine arrives on the
scene. Mrs. Thayer asked was it also possible that all of the engine companies could
be elsewhere? Chief Marcucci responded affirmatively.
Mayor Boro asked Chief Marcucci to describe for the Council's benefit, as well as the
audience, the difference in the level of care that is provided by the engine company
arriving first on the scene. He stated it was his understanding that all the engine
companies had some medical training to start medical treatment prior to the Paramed-
ics arriving and taking over the treatment. He noted the engine companies and
Paramedics work well together. Chief Marcucci stated all the engine companies have
EMT1 personnel, along with the Automatic Defibrillators, so on the emergency scene
the firefighters, if they find a person with a certain heart rhythm, can put a
defibrillator on them that is automatic in nature. He stated the Paramedics do not
need the Automatic Defibrillator because they are trained to read rhythmias, but the
engine company personnel can defibrillate. He stated what the engine companies cannot
do, that the Paramedics can do, is administer the medications and the competency of
the Paramedics is higher than that of the firefighters simply because of the more
extensive training they have gone through. He stated the firefighters are very
adequate in their ability to handle 90% of the calls. He stated of all the medical
emergency calls they respond to, one-third are transported by the Paramedics.
Councilmember Cohen stated he felt it would be helpful if Chief Marcucci could do a rough
response time map showing the change in response time with the station closure, to
see what the overall impact will be with this possible closure. He stated it would
be interesting to get some idea of the number of calls, over the past couple of
years, that have gone through Fire Station #3, and what the number of calls have been
at the other stations and what the distribution of those calls would be to the other
stations. He stated Ms. Nicolai indicated to him there were approximately 600 calls
to Station #3 and asked if Chief Marcucci would be able to tell how many of those
would go to what location under this closure proposal? Chief Marcucci responded in
1991 Fire Station #3 responded to 734 calls and in 1992 to 631 calls. Chief Marcucci
stated for the first five months of 1993, Station #3 responded to 258 calls. He noted
after calculating these numbers, he found 619 calls in 12 months as an approximate
projection. He stated that of those 258 calls during the five month period, 195 or
76% were medical in nature and 24% or 63 were of other types of calls. He stated
that if they closed Fire Station #3, Marinwood would handle about 186 of these calls
which would increase their response .46 times a day. He stated Fire Station #7 at
the Civic Center would handle 180 which would increase their call volume .50 and Fire
Station #6 would handle 204 which would increase their response per day to .56. He
noted these were rough calculations. Mr. Cohen asked if .56 indicated one-half a
call per day and this would average 1 call every other day? Ms. Nicolai responded
affirmatively.
Mr. Cohen stated, in order to weigh this information, it might be helpful to know where
the number of calls that are generated now and assigned to Fire Station #6 come from?
He stated the projection of an increase on Station #6 by 200 in one year, how many
are they handling now? Chief Marcucci responded he did not have that information with
him tonight. Mr. Cohen stated it would be helpful to know that and a related
question then is the issue of simultaneous calls. He stated if they would be going
from four engines to three engines, did Chief Marcucci have an historic record of how
many times two out of the three engines from Terra Linda have been out on different
calls, not as back-up? Chief Marcucci stated he did not know if they could get those
statistics, but would try to do so. Mr. Cohen stated, as Ms. Nicolai stated, this was
going to happen no matter how many stations there are and how many engine companies
are available, there will be some times where everything happens at once, and noted
it would be helpful to know with the four stations how many times this would happen
and whether they could predict this activity and how much of an impact that would
have.
Councilmember Breiner asked Chief Marcucci what the nature of the miscellaneous calls
and, if they are not medical, how are they described? Chief Marcucci responded,
example, a baby locked in a car with the engine running, someone fell out of bed
no injuries, a smoke scare, an alarm sounding and after arrival find it is a
malfunction, etc. He stated these are not structure fires or vehicle fires, but
were
for
with
more
of a miscellaneous type that do not belong in any particular category.
Councilmember Shippey asked if the information was correct from Chief Marcucci that one
out of three calls through the Fire Department requires Paramedic attention? Chief
Marcucci responded every medical call that comes into the Fire Department is
prioritized. He stated some calls require Paramedics to go and other calls require
an engine company to go backed up possibly by an ambulance, but the majority of the
calls that come in require Paramedics and engine companies respond simultaneously.
Mr. Shippey asked if three-fourths of all calls were medical? Chief Marcucci respon-
ded that one-third of all those calls Paramedics respond to require transportation to
medical facilities. Mr. Shippey then asked how does this work out numerically
overall? Chief Marcucci responded the County of Marin keeps these statistics and the
Paramedics in 1992 transported a little over 2,000 times.
Mr. Shippey stated the City has eight Fire Stations, counting Marinwood, and only one
Paramedic unit, which seems out of balance. He stated that, as Councilmember Thayer
stated, we need some type of Paramedic service (north of the "hill") and although it
is correct that they cannot assume where this unit will be at all times, it was
logical to him it should be located in northern San Rafael in the Terra Linda area
simply because that is the other major geographical division of the City from where
the current service is located now. He stated he hoped they would look at how this
might be obtained, but it does not necessarily mean we need to establish a new unit,
but there might be other ways.
Ms. Nicolai responded we should look at how to expand Paramedic capabilities and not
necessarily through the traditional procedure. She noted the only personnel who
could do that are fire engine companies. She stated while the City has a high volume
of category calls, there is also evolving, to a certain extent, an abuse of this as a
public service.
She stated if the medical calls are monitored, a huge amount of these are coming from
senior residential care and/or convalescent hospitals that are basically becoming
somewhat reliant on the City's Paramedics to do what, she felt, their staff should be
responsible for. She noted there is not only an increase in the number of calls for
service, but these calls should be monitored to regain some control over what the
nature of those calls are, because it can be as simple as someone in a senior resi-
dential facility falling out of a wheelchair and instead of the staff assisting them
to get back into the wheel chair, they are calling the Fire Department for assistance
as they have been directed to do. She stated this needed to be fixed and when
discussing duplicate calls, when the Paramedics or an engine company are tied up
dealing with these kinds of calls, this is not appropriate use of the Paramedic
services when they should be handling life safety issues.
She stated one of the Fire Commissioners is working on developing some educational
criteria and standards to work with the senior residential homes and convalescent
hospitals in setting up some standards that could possibly be monitored through
dispatch and/or dealt with through another mechanism. She stated this could become a
financial problem because the liability is being moved from them to the City. She
stated she did not feel this was the City's responsibility and then the Department
could focus on not only bringing the number of calls down, but also the type of calls
where the Paramedics are most critically needed.
She stated the growing problem with the overall medical care in the community is that many
people are no longer able to afford medical insurance and there are a signifi-cant
number of calls for the Paramedics and engine companies to respond to calls that are
similar to doctors' check-ups. She stated that as Paramedic services expand as a
component of the public sector, the City needs to find methods of containing this
before it becomes too expensive to provide. She stated it was important to maintain
some controls over this to keep the expenses from escalating.
Councilmember Shippey stated he still felt the community needed Paramedic service north of
the "hill". Ms. Nicolai stated this was needed throughout the City. Mayor Boro
stated the City has a Paramedic system that was established and voted on by the
residents, which is funded by a special tax. He stated if this is to be re-evaluated,
this is the procedure to use to determine if a re-evaluation is needed.
Councilmember Shippey stated Chief Marcucci looked at possibly closing other fire
stations, particularly Fire Station #2, which is mentioned in the staff report. He
asked Chief Marcucci why Fire Station #3 was selected as the primary station for
closure? Chief Marcucci responded the location of Fire Station #7 at the Civic
Center is 1.5 miles from Fire Station #3, whose response time is approximately two
minutes. He stated because of this, it did not seem necessary to have a fire station
1.5 miles from another, due to the area around these stations. He stated Fire Station
#3 needed to be moved further north or another form of service level needs to be
increased further north. He stated that Fire Station #3 was built in 1960 and some
years later when they entered into the contract with Marin County for CSA -19 Fire
Protection, the Civic Center site was part of the agreement that the Department
entered into with the County Board of Supervisors. He stated this was not the best
site at the time, but due to that agreement the station was built at the Civic
Center. He stated now in looking at Fire Station configurations, the Department
needs to move Fire Station #3 further north or contract with Marinwood Fire Depart-
ment or another scenario that would improve the level of service to the total
citizens of San Rafael. He stated he felt they should concentrate on the entire City
and not just one location. He noted the property taxes residents are paying include
coverage of the entire City.
Councilmember Shippey stated the alternative Chief Marcucci stated actually was not to
close a fire station but to go to two -person crews. He then asked what the safety
issue was in decreasing the calls responded to, particularly if they are medical in
nature? Chief Marcucci responded the two -person station proposal is an alternative
for Council to view. He stated closing a fire station is a major decision for this
Council to make and a two -person fire station might be a better route to go because
nobody will lose their job and everyone retains their rank structure. He stated with
regard to the safety issue, there are many fire departments in Marin County operating
with two people. He noted when the calls are predominantly medical in nature, there
can be a system put in that results in more engine companies being called for a
structure fire, for example, to put more people at the scene. He stated the safety
issue occurs on a fire call when they enter the structure, which means there should
be a fairly fast response time for back-up units. He stated this was not an easy
decision to make, but had to be made due to the upcoming budget restraints. Mr.
Shippey stated he understood that, but what he understood Chief Marcucci stated was
that if they decided to go to two -person crews this would result in adequate back-up
and the ability to keep a fire station open, as well as more flexibility. Chief
Marcucci responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Shippey asked if they do go with the two -person crews, would staff be able
to come to a consensus with the Firefighters' Association in four weeks? Chief
Marcucci responded that if they wanted to maintain the rank structure and all their
jobs they will agree, but if they do not then there will have to be a closure of a
station.
Councilmember Breiner commended City Manager Nicolai and Chief Marcucci for a very good
report on a difficult issue. She suggested looking at studies that have already been
done with other jurisdictions for methods to approach the medical calls. She stated,
to a certain extent, some of the medical calls for service are a result of a change
in the Smith Ranch Homes from the original intent of it being a full spectrum of care
on-site; whereas, now, the Skilled Nursing Facility is many blocks away and if that
were closer by it would probably increase the availability of use of nurses, which is
included in many other nursing facilities in Marin County where there is the full
range of medical care available.
Councilmember Breiner stated she was pleased to see a reasonable alternative proposed for
Council and will be supportive of the alternative which would give a few stations
two -person crews and filling some of the four floating positions that were frozen
which would mean that there would be more personnel at Fire Stations #2 and #3. She
stated she would like more information about this. Chief Marcucci stated he felt
they were fortunate to have on the Fire Commission a physician who is assisting in
dealing with the convalescent hospitals in ways that the Department itself is not
able to handle.
Mr. Christopher Desmond, President of the San Rafael Firefighters' Association, stated the
Firefighters' Association was disturbed by the reports from the City Manager and the
Fire Chief, not because of the specific content, but more about the process by which
this is all being done. He stated they felt, like the Friends of Munson Park, these
alternatives are too narrow in scope and the report before the Council is biased and
not objective, with significant inaccuracies in it. He then gave Council a letter
from the Association indicating their concern with regard to the process with which
this issue is being considered. He stated the San Rafael Firefighters' Association
is not opposed to the closure of Fire Station #3 or the down -sizing of the Fire
Department; however, because this is a very serious step to take they felt the scope
of the considerations here and the options before Council are far too narrow and a
broad-based approach needs to be considered. He then addressed some of the
inaccuracies that the Association observed in the City Manager's report. He noted on
Page 2, second paragraph, it states, "The Police and Fire Associations (unions) did
not agree to the package offered in January. . ." which refers to furloughs, and
stated the Firefighters' Association was never offered a furlough package in January.
He stated a letter was sent to them reiterating the City's furlough proposal of
October 30, 1992. He stated the 1993-94 furlough proposal offered at that time
contained the unacceptable condition of forcing the Association to accept the City's
last best offer for the 1992-93 contract as a part of a two-year package containing
these furloughs. Mr. Desmond stated this was the only furlough package that was
offered to the Association and it was implied in the City Manager's remarks that this
station closure would not have been necessary, had the Association accepted the
furloughs. He stated Ms. Nicolai has characterized what had occurred.
Mr. Desmond stated the reference to the Hughes -Reiss report was also misleading. He
stated the Hughes-Heiss report's recommendation in respect to the closure of Fire
Station #3 can be found on Page 17 in the Fire Department Section of the Hughes-Heiss
report, which states, "Relocate and consolidate Stations #3, #7 and convert one
engine company to a Paramedic unit." He stated this idea has obvious merit, as
reflected tonight by Councilmembers Shippey and Thayer. He stated that nowhere did
the Hughes-Heiss report recommend the closure of Fire Station #3 in the manner pro-
posed by the Fire Chief and City Manager. He stated on Page 2, the fifth paragraph,
the City Manager stated, ". . fire -related (calls) have significantly diminished."
He referred Council to Page 5 of the Hughes-Heiss report, where it was clearly shown
that fire calls were increasing over the past few years, with the most dramatic
increase in the area of structure fire responses. He noted on Page 3 of the staff
report, the third paragraph which states, "The closure of a fire station does not
require that we meet and confer . . .". He stated what the City Manager is referring
to in this paragraph was that it does not require the City to "meet and confer" with
the Fire Association.
Mr. Desmond stated that, while technically correct, if viewed narrowly enough, this
statement is also very misleading. He stated the Firefighters' Association agrees
that there is no "meet and confer" requirement over the decision of management to
close a fire station; however, the City is obligated to "meet and confer" on the
impact of such a decision. He stated this "meet and confer" obligation will have to
be resolved prior to implementation, like any other "meet and confer" obligation.
Mr. Desmond stated that in Chief Marcucci's report he also attempted to add credence to
his proposal by referring to the Hughes-Heiss report on Page 2, the fourth paragraph
of his report. He stated the Fire Chief fails to point out in this report that the
difference between his approach and the Hughes-Heiss report's approach is so great
that it makes these two approaches incomparable. He stated the difference was one
approach contains the Paramedic unit, additionally north of the "hill" and the other
does not, which is very, very significant. He noted this was what Hughes-Heiss
recommended.
Mr. Desmond stated the fifth paragraph on Page 2 uses percentages in a misleading way to
down play the fire threat to the City and the fire costs have not been reduced, but
in fact continue to rise. He noted Page 5 of the Hughes-Heiss report states this
clearly. He also stated that in the fifth paragraph, the Chief stated, ". . there
were no structure fires . . ."(a two year period of 1991-92). He stated in 1991
there were two structure fires in Fire Station #3's district and, in addition, Engine
#53 responded as a part of the first alarm assignment to an additional nine structure
fires. He noted in 1992, instead of 0 structure fires, as stated by the Fire Chief,
there were actually 6 structure fires in Station #3's district. He stated that in
the first six months of this year, alone, there have been 4 structure fires in this
district, with an additional 4 first alarm responses. He stated this included the
apartment house fire on February 1, 1993, that resulted in a fire death, that was in
Fire Station #3's district.
Mr. Desmond stated the Firefighters' Association has carefully considered the propo-sals
presented to the Council tonight by their two administrators and they believe that
many other alternatives exist to substantially reduce the Fire Department's budget
without the reduction in service levels provided in the safety to the public, such as
recommended by the Fire Chief's proposal. He stated while they continue to work on
developing alternative options to this proposal, the Firefighters' Associa-tion
wanted to point out that everyone - management, Council, staff and the Fire-fighters'
Association - are working at a severe disadvantage. He stated they were speaking of
the lack of long-range planning, the lack of goals, objectives and City-wide inter-
departmental priorities. He stated the City Manager and the Fire Chief readily refer
to the Hughes-Heiss report and "isolated" recommendations for specific changes that
happen to coincide with their agenda, while for the past year they have taken no
action to implement the more meaningful and fundamental changes that their report
repeatedly calls for. He stated the Hughes-Heiss study was costly, but valuable. He
noted it was thorough, accurate and professional in its preparation, and was accepted
by the City upon its completion. He asked why, then, have the City Manager and the
Fire Chief ignored the most fundamental recommendations? He stated in the Hughes-
Heiss report it calls for a "comprehensive 5 -year plan to be devel-oped", and though
this is in the financial section of the report, it has direct reference to every
department in the City. He stated this plan would include a comprehensive evaluation
of "levels of staffing" - City services, the need for their continuation, expansion,
reduction or other modifications. He stated the Hughes-Heiss states, ". . important
policy decisions should be driven by this 5 -year financial plan". He stated the
study asserts that this is essential to the proper management of this City and goes
on to recommend that updates and revisions to this plan should be accomplished on an
annual or a bi-annual basis. He noted that while they acknowledge that the current
financial situation of the City has been changing rapidly and accurate levels of
projects for the future are difficult, at best; however, it is precisely because of
this that the City needs to develop a priority base, in addition to the financial
base in the Long -Range Plan. He stated they needed to establish priorities for the
entire City. Only with carefully established, philosophical based priorities, he
noted, can anyone make important decisions such as those affecting the public safety
and be assured that their decisions are consistent with the overall community needs,
desires and, above all, life safety. He stated in the absence of such established
priorities, the Association felt it was unwise to make hasty and substantial changes;
however, the Firefighters' Association is working hard to develop several cost-saving
alternatives and requests a serious forum in which to present these and have their
ideas considered.
Mr. Ben Ross, member of Friends of Munson Park, requested time for his daughter, Maurika,
to speak on saving Munson Park. Maurika asked Council to save her park.
Ms. Mary Hallman, member of Friends of Munson Park, stated, with regard to the discussion
centered around Fire Station #3 and the availability of Paramedic services in the
Terra Linda area, in their discussions with Fire Chief Marcucci he talked about
locating a Paramedic unit in Fire Station #6 if it was relocated to Munson Park. She
stated if this did occur, then the calls would go from 200 to 500 or 600 calls per
year.
Councilmember Cohen asked Fire Chief Marcucci for a clarification on the issue regarding
if Fire Station #6 is relocated to Munson Park or another alternate location will
there be provisions for a structure that would accommodate a future Paramedic unit.
Chief Marcucci responded affirmatively. Mr. Cohen asked whether the idea of Fire
Station #6 getting a Paramedic unit was not tied to the move to Munson Park, like
Fire Station U. He stated it made sense to build a structure that could accommodate
a Paramedic unit, if the funding became available at a later date.
Mayor Boro stated the staff, Fire Chief and City Manager have undertaken this effort
because the upcoming budget will take an additional $1.8 million out of the City's
budget as a result of take-aways and the recession. He stated everyone needs to keep
in mind that the City's goal was to find approximately $400,000 in the Fire Depart-
ment and find it in a way that does not compromise the level of service to the
public. He noted the effort made by the Fire Chief and City Manager has been predi-
cated on the first premise that safety is first. He stated the next issue is how to
accommodate the savings and he felt government today cannot continue to do the job
the way it has been done in the past. He noted citizens keep saying they want change
in government, which is being forced to change in many ways because of the funding
structure. He stated the City needs to find better ways to do the same job and as
good a job with less resources. Mayor Boro stated the City received a letter from
the League of Women Voters regarding consolidation of services throughout Marin
County, which discussed the duplication of school districts, fire districts, sanitary
districts, police, etc. He noted he was surprised that of the 112 respondents to
this report, 58% were in favor of consolidation of districts and their first choice
was fire districts. He stated they have had a form of cooperation with another
district within Marin County and San Rafael in providing response. He stated he
would be reviewing the letter from the Firefighters' Association, but the main issue
was to start dealing with the funding issue. He noted they had two proposals for
this project and, if the Council and staff has to "meet and confer" this will be a
long process and he recommended both parties put these issues in the past and look
towards the future and how this problem can be resolved to the benefit of the public
safety. He suggested the Fire Chief and City Manager meet with the Firefighters'
Association to review these issues and get back to Council as soon as possible with
responses to what has been brought up at this meeting. Mayor Boro noted that they
wanted to maintain a high quality of service and the safety of the citizens of San
Rafael takes priority, but at the same time Council needs to find a better way to do
this job with less resources.
Councilmember Shippey stated he thought both he and Councilmember Cohen, as well as the
other two Councilmembers, had raised some questions they would like answered at a
later date. He then stated he wanted to clarify if the two alternatives mentioned
would give the same level of safety coverage as keeping Station #3 open. He stated
that as Councilmember Breiner stated, they would not like to close a fire station,
but wanted to explore all the alternatives carefully.
Councilmember Thayer stated she wanted to explore the possibility of two -person engine
companies, but would also like some input with regard to the Firefighters'
Association's concern about possible alternatives and suggestions they may have in
this process. She noted the staff report was very good and offers two alternatives.
City Manager Nicolai stated she did request through a message to the Firefighters'
Association a month ago if they had any alternatives, they should be submitted to her
in writing so she could review them and nothing has been forthcoming as yet. She
then noted because she has more than one department to address with regard to the
upcoming Budget, she has had "Brown Bag" lunches for the employees about this subject
where the Firefighters did not attend and if special mechanisms have to be set up to
deal with all the issues in one department when there are many similar issues in
other departments with a greater degree of cooperation, she requested through the
Chair that before the "meet and confer" with the firefighters, staff has a chance to
review this issue, as well, to save time.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to accept the report, and,
as part of the motion, if there are Firefighters' Association ideas that they want to
bring forward as additional information, that those should be brought to the City
Manager within a week.
Councilmember Cohen stated Council needs to make a decision on this anyway and if the
Firefighters' Association has information on this it should be brought to Council as
quickly as possible. He stated he felt that if any other ideas come from them after
one week, they should be considered, too. He stated he understood why these decisions
should not be made in haste, but unfortunately Council has been put into a position
where they have to evaluate and ask questions they have not had to ask in the past of
what level of public safety is acceptable and what level of public safety can the
City afford. He commended Chief Marcucci for taking a serious, hard look at this and
suggesting this station closure, but if it is a more efficient way to deliver service
and protects public safety, they were obligated to consider this.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
16.REVIEW OF THE COUNTYWIDE PLAN DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (EIR) (Pl) - File 191
x 10-2
Planning Director Pendoley stated the Council has been tracking this issue for
approximately two years and staff was at the point where Marin County has issued a
draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR). He stated staff has reached an agreement
with Marin County whereby they developed an interim policy for the St. Vincent's/
Silveira property which essentially allowed it no development, and that was a way of
recognizing that the City has an ongoing study underway that will be included in the
General Plan Amendment. He stated a problem that related to this was that the County
also did not allow any traffic capacity to this property and thus the property has no
recognition at all in the EIR. He explained that what this means was that a year
from now staff will be attempting to negotiate upwards from 0 trips or 0 traffic
impact. He noted CEQA gave them a way to do that, which is this property should be
studied for its traffic impacts in that part of the EIR that deals with cumulative
impact. He stated that if Council agrees with this assessment, they propose to send
a letter to Marin County to that affect.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to accept the report and
transit comments to the County.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
17.RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE VARIANCE APPLICATION TO OPERATE
PERMANENT HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITY (FD) - File 4-3-32 x 13-2 x 115
City Manager Nicolai stated staff has been working with Marin Sanitary for the last
several years to develop a master use permit for all of their properties and
initially said to them they should pursue getting the permit or having as part of
this Master Use Permit the idea of accepting household hazardous waste because that
seemed to be the wave of the future and the City should go through this process once,
rather than numerous amendments. She stated that in the interim in order for Marin
Recycling to accept hazardous waste, Patty Garbarino of Marin Recycling and Forrest
Craig of the Fire Department have been working together on a variance application to
get a permit from the State of California and this variance application will, in
affect, give them that permit.
Forrest Craig, Deputy Fire Marshal, San Rafael Fire Department Fire Prevention Division,
stated his division has been working conceptually with Marin Recycling to expand the
existing battery, oil and paint program and create a permit household hazardous waste
collection and consolidation facility under a cooperative agreement. He stated what
the Council had before them at this meeting was a resolution which would authorize
the City Manager to execute a variance application with the State of California,
Department of Toxic Substances Control, to operate a permanent household hazardous
waste collection consolidation facility in cooperation with Marin Recycling.
Mr. Craig stated under the Permit Variance as proposed, the City would act as a generator
for all household hazardous waste received from San Rafael residents. He noted as a
generator for that household hazardous waste, the liability is minimized in that most
waste collected is to be recycled, negating them being disposed of as a hazardous
waste. He stated in addition, the anticipated household collection facility would
further reduce liability by implementing a waste exchange program whereby residents
could pick up latex paint, pesticides, aerosol paints and other consumer products in
their original packaging for reuse. He noted this would again minimize waste
disposal and long-term liability on the part of the City.
Mr. Craig stated the Tanner Legislation also provides an immunity clause for govern-ments
when acting as the generator for household hazardous waste programs. He stated by
approving the Resolution, it would enable the City and Marin Recycling to jointly
apply for the required variance from the California Department of Toxic Substances
Control, avoiding costly variance application fees of approximately $10,000. He
noted potentially the City should receive approval to operate prior to anticipated
implementation of more stringent regulations and permit application processes
scheduled to take place before the end of this year, 1993.
He stated that the Hazardous Materials Division, in the decision to continue this program,
would work with staff and Marin Recycling to develop a facility operations plan, a
government industry cooperative agreement and budget proposal to be presented to the
Council for consideration at a future date.
Councilmember Breiner asked if this would cost the City anything other than Mr. Craig's
time and involvement? Mr. Craig responded negatively.
Councilmember Shippey stated he felt this was a great idea and asked if this Resolu-tion
would tie the City to the Countywide JPA for solid waste management, but would allow
the City to go ahead with its own Hazardous Waste collection site, regardless of
whether the City is acting on its own or with the rest of the County? Ms. Nicolai
responded that this is completely independent of the JPA, but not inconsistent with
whether or not the City wants to participate. She stated this gives the City an
option to have a facility in San Rafael that can serve the City only and/or be an
approved location in a permanent site to be part of the County JPA; so she stated
this keeps both options open.
Mayor Boro stated this was consistent with the proposal that was put together with Novato
that the City would pursue on a "cafeteria" basis those things the City wanted to do
and the City found it more beneficial to do it on its own, and we would have that
ability and facility to do this on our own. Ms. Nicolai stated she found that this
was one of those services where a cluster of five defined jurisdictions served by
Marin Sanitary might choose to do it in this manner. She stated the large benefit
that this particular permit would give Marin Sanitary and the City that other appli-
cants and competitors for this Countywide Household Hazardous Waste program would not
be able to provide the same way is by having this facility where the garbage is
actually hauled to. They can do delayed checking which is set up in an independent
location where the loads are not brought in, but people would just bring their
household hazardous waste and then have the expense of that operation separate from
the ability to use the similar staff at that same location to be checking the loads
and really dramatically reducing what is in the waste stream for the safety of the
workers at the landfill itself. She noted this was why she felt this was a great
thing to pursue jointly with the County and later on, the implementation of this
would come back as a separate program including the cost. This was just a suggestion
and not a commitment to any program at this time.
Councilmember Cohen stated he felt the City was fortunate to have an operation like Marin
Recycling in this County and commended Forrest Craig for his work on this project.
He stated this was a very good example of public and private partnership.
Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolu-tion.
Under discussion, Councilmember Thayer stated this was an excellent report and felt this
was a significant move toward San Rafael meeting its AB 939 requirements. She stated
the Household Hazardous Waste Collection days given by the County now are totally
ineffective and she would not like to rely upon them as the City's sole vehicle in
reducing the hazardous waste stream. She asked with regard to small business
generators, if there will ever be any move in the future to deal with some of the
waste from small businesses that have a real problem in shipping hazardous materials?
Mr. Craig stated Patty Garbarino and he have discussed this and found this has been
discussed as a part of the Master Use Permit. He stated it is an accepted practice
and an encouraged practice under the permit variance to do this and he believed that
Marin Recycling would be very interested in doing this as an additional phase of this
project. Mrs. Thayer stated this was brought to Council with regard to the liability
issues whenever they were dealing with any type of hazardous material. Mr. Craig
responded this would happen under the agreements and the proposal before it is
brought to Council.
Councilmember Shippey asked for clarification from the Executive Summary that Mr. Craig
referred to with regard to commercial small quantity generators, and are there
provisions specifically addressed to that type of generator? Mayor Boro stated this
would be addressed at a future date.
Ms. Patty Garbarino, Marin Recycling, thanked Fire Chief Robert Marcucci for this idea and
for the window of opportunity and his support, and Forrest Craig for his able
assistance in this proposal. She stated this project has been five years in the
works and they have not made any progress at the County level. She stated they are
continuing to work on this project because it is ruining the environment, and the
small commercial generators are the largest cost to the City in terms of illegal
dumping. She stated it was important that some site for this dumping be found at
this time.
RESOLUTION NO. 8932 -AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A VARIANCE APPLICA-TION
WITH THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES
CONTROL TO OPERATE A PERMANENT HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE
COLLECTION AND CONSOLIDATION FACILITY IN COOPERATION WITH
MARIN RECYCLING
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ADD ITEM:
I.RESIGNATION FROM EAST SAN RAFAEL NEIGHBORHOOD TASK FORCE - File 9-2-43 x 218 (VERBAL)
Councilmember Breiner informed Council that Lynn Davis was resigning from the East San
Rafael Neighborhood Task Force and expressed her surprise that this was still
continuing to be staffed to a great extent by City staff members, and she felt that
if this Task Force wanted to continue, they should be continuing on their own. She
noted she hoped that the City could withdraw itself from this Task Force. Mayor Boro
responded that he and Councilmember Shippey are still meeting with this Task Force
the first Tuesday night of each month and this group is now working on bylaws, which
include the role of the City, and the consensus seemed to be that this group would
like to be independent, but would like to withdraw from this relationship with the
City over the next year. He noted they are aware that the City will start removing
staff fairly soon within this year and he and Councilmember Shippey will probably
continue to attend over the next year, but the group is looking for a representative
of the Council on this committee with no actual City staff support. He stated this
will be brought back to Council once they have a set of bylaws to review.
Councilmember Shippey stated his understanding from this group was that they would like a
continued City presence, but at the same time they are willing to separate themselves
from the City which he agreed with.
Mayor Boro stated he disagreed with Councilmember Shippey's remarks in that he understood
the group's desire was to have the City continue giving input to them, but overall
the feeling was that they wanted to function like any other neighborhood association,
which was their goal.
II.ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY DINING ROOM - File 9-2 x 10-2 (VERBAL)
Councilmember Cohen gave an update on this item, stating St. Vincent's Advisory Committee
was exploring a new concept and rather than taking the existing facility with its
attendant problems, or perceived problems, and relocate them to another neighborhood
which may be an unpopular concept in that area, they were looking at the possibility
of St. Vincent's changing the model of how they deliver their service. He stated
there were some that are very successful. St. Vincent de Paul Society has a program
in Phoenix, Arizona, which has been very successful where they have done a
distribution food service and, in addition to solving some of the problems here in
San Rafael, it could lead into a future vision of homeless service in Marin County
where they might eventually have the five-day service centers distributed throughout
the County and they can deliver food to those locations, instead of bringing everyone
together at one location. He stated the group had a meeting recently with a couple
of the service providers and there was some real interest expressed. He noted it was
clearly not going to be efficient and possibly not economically feasible for St.
Vincent's to rent and operate five different dining locations, or perhaps find people
willing to provide space and maybe some staffing so they can then deliver the food.
He stated they had a few people interested and are trying to set up another meeting
for this upcoming Friday, 6/11/93, to determine whether they can get all the players
involved and if it seems like there is interest and support among service providers,
then they will probably have some type of public forum on this to put this to the
community and see what type of support the group will get for this approach. He
stated the Committee was trying to build some support from the community before they
discuss any specific locations. He stated St. Vincent's ultimate goal was to move
away from "B" Street.
Councilmember Shippey stated this was a large concern with the residents of San Rafael.
Councilmember Cohen stated they were, in fact, looking for another site and, for
example, if Hamilton Field was to become available, it would be ideal for this
service. Mr. Cohen stated there was a suggestion from the media of a location in
southern Marin which would combine some new homeless service with kitchen facilities
and St. Vincent's has been encouraged to look at that location.
Councilmember Thayer asked Mr. Cohen if he was talking about several locations throughout
Marin County? Mr. Cohen responded they were looking at locations through- out San
Rafael; however, he stated they have the right to operate at their present location
and they own the building and it would be difficult if the City tried to abate a
location that has been in place for 12+ years. Mr. Cohen stated one of the
understandings the committee has is that St. Vincent's is in a stable position now
and the committee needed to find another stable location and the only locations that
we control are those within the City of San Rafael; however, the problem is County-
wide and St. Vincent's would rather distribute the food out on a Countywide basis,
but the committee has not control over that because they are dealing with the
situation in San Rafael. Mr. Cohen noted his focus was that they have 200+ people
coming to the "B" Street dining room in what could be a prime retail district and he
would like to relocate this in many different locations, instead of one location.
Councilmember Cohen stated the problem remains that there are the hard-core homeless,
maybe 100 of the population, who use the dining room who enjoy harassing people and
create the problem for the retailers and customers. He noted that they would like to
relocate that service and the satellite operation that serves those people food is
going to be a problem no matter where it is located, but this has to be done at some
point. He noted ideally this operation will not be located in downtown San Rafael.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:45 PM.
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF , 1993
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1993, AT 7:30 PM
Special Joint Meeting: Present: Albert J. Boro, Chairman/Mayor
San Rafael City Council/ Dorothy L. Breiner, Member/Councilmember
San Rafael Redevelopment Agency Paul M. Cohen, Member/Councilmember
Michael A. Shippey, Member/Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Member/Councilmember
Absent: None
Also Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, Executive Director/City Manager
Gary T. Ragghianti, Agency Attorney/City Attorney
Jeanne M. Leoncini, Agency Secretary/City Clerk
1.ACCEPTANCE OF OUR VISION OF DOWNTOWN SAN RAFAEL AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY (RA) - File
R-304 x (SRCC) 140 (Redevelopment Agency)
1.ACCEPTANCE OF VISION OF DOWNTOWN SAN RAFAEL AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY (RA) - File
(SRCC) 140 x R-304 (City Council)
Cyr Miller, Member of the Downtown Plan Committee, resident of
stated over the past two years he actively participated in the Downtown Community
Plan Committee. He thanked the Agency for selecting him to serve on this committee
that was so reflective of the myriad interests of the "stake holders" in our
downtown.
Mr. Miller stated this evening the Committee was presenting to the Agency/ Council a
document called the "San Rafael Downtown Community Plan", which is their vision with
strategies to make that dream a reality. He stated that in giving this document to
them, the Committee was passing over to the Agency/Council a "habit of the heart", a
vision that wells up from within the community. He stated by accepting this docu-
ment, the Agency/Council hereby commits themselves to meeting the dynamic challenges
of community, diversity and change. He stated through this document the Agency/
Council was entrusted with the care and development of a downtown community where
people live, work, buy, play, serve and are served within the personal construct of
interdependent relationships in the complex web of social, political, economical and
environmental systems. He noted this was the "home town" where people know each
other and feel safe. He stated that in their document the Committee proposed princi-
ples of economic and social development, building design and environmental care to
guide the Agency/Council in this fundamental work of community building. He stated
the downtown community is very diverse, made up of children, youth and families,
young adults, those in their middle creative years and the elders who transmit
timeless wisdom.
He stated the people of the downtown community are made up of all ethnic groups. He then
noted all the restaurants of different cultures that are located in the down -town.
He also noted the people of downtown are of all economic strata - the poor, low and
middle income, the wealthy. He stated our downtown provides a multitude of services,
including financial, commercial, governmental, recreational, entertainment, retail,
health and human and by all sectors - public, private, voluntary, for profit and not
for profit.
Mr. Miller stated the Agency/Council's second challenge was to manage the diversity with
the community. He stated their document sets forth some concrete short-term and
long-term strategies to assist them in this most difficult and delicate task of valu-
ing differences by celebrating the unity of our downtown. Finally, he stated, the
Committee was giving this document to the Agency/Council to assist them in meeting
the challenge of change. He noted the world is changing at a rate never experienced
before. He stated information highways and inter -active television alone boggle the
imagination with their sheer power to transfer the way we live, learn and conduct
business. He stated our downtown community is only a microcosm of this changing
world and the Vision document is an embodiment of a process to effectively deal with
realty of change in our downtown community. He stated it chronicles the actions of
our multi -interest committee looking to the future from an appreciated present that
is rooted in the past and moving forward. It is this process that the Committee most
especially wants to leave the Agency/Council. He stated the Downtown Community Plan
document shows the Agency/Council how they can lead into tomorrow by following the
visioning of the varied community with they serve today.
Tony Diosi, member of the Downtown Community Plan Committee, thanked the City leaders,
especially the Redevelopment Agency and the Planning Department in recogniz-ing that
the previous General Plan did not address the needs and problems of the City's
business people. He noted it actually hindered improvement of the business
environment. Mr. Diosi stated the City has moved forward and taken a risk by going
into this process and gave an opportunity to those most affected by the Plan to
develop the Plan. He stated his experience of the process was enjoyable, stimulat-
ing, interesting and educational. He noted they proved that people of different and
sometimes conflicting backgrounds, perspectives, interests, agendas and motivations
still can get along. He stated that now they had a guide for the future and it was
essential that they follow the vision which is a necessary discipline. He stated
they must validate the process itself and prove the City's dedication to its own
goals and ideals. He thanked Michael Doyle, Katie Korzun, Heather, Bill, Linda
Jackson, Sybil Ownchild and the steering committee members for the new friendships he
has made in the past two years. He noted a very special thanks to Sandy Greenblat
who gave him the impetuous to embark on this journey in the first place. He stated
he hoped he could continue to be part of the rebirth of San Rafael.
Mayor Boro asked the City Clerk if they could combine Item 1 under Redevelopment Agency
and Item #4 under the City Council together, as they are similar.
Member/Councilmember Thayer moved and Member/Councilmember Breiner, to accept Our Vision
of the Downtown San Rafael and Implementation Strategy, as amended to add the word
"Our", which was missing from the recommendation in this item, noting she considered
it the most important word in this item. She noted this was an effort done by many
citizens of the City of San Rafael and unlike other planning efforts which tend to be
reactive, this was a much more positive approach, a proactive approach having the
public bringing the approach to the Agency/Council.
Under discussion, Mayor Boro stated it was a pleasure for him and Mrs. Thayer to represent
the Agency and Council on this committee.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
2.ESTABLISH CRITERIA AND SOLICIT MEMBERSHIP FOR DOWNTOWN VISION IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE
("CHAMPIONS GROUP") (RA) - File R-304 x (SRCC) 140 (Redevelopment Agency)
4.ESTABLISH CRITERIA AND SOLICIT MEMBERSHIP FOR DOWNTOWN ADVISORY GROUP FOR GENERAL PLAN
AND ZONING AMENDMENTS (Pl) - File R-304 x (SRCC) 140 (City Council)
Planning Director Pendoley stated the Vision includes an implementation strategy, which
includes a series of tasks and also designates a series of groups who will have
responsibilities for various tasks or share these responsibilities with other groups.
He noted two principal groups in the next phase will be the "Champions Group" and
the "Downtown Advisory Group".
Katie Korzun, Senior Planner, stated this will be an ongoing group that will be work-ing
on continuing the communication promotion advocacy and monitoring efforts for the
vision process. She stated they foresee this group having initially approximately 12
to 15 people on it, approximately half of which will be people who are involved in
writing the vision. She noted those people will gradually rotate off from this and
there will be a new group of vision indoctrinated people who will carry this entire
group forward.
She stated the method they propose to find these people to serve on this committee would
be to use much the same process they used to find the members of the Downtown
Community Plan Committee, by sending out applications to a widespread dispersal of
people and when the applications come back in, they will attempt to build a hetero-
genesis group that represents a broad spectrum of interests in the City, that would
represent both ownership of downtown properties, merchants, as well as age, sex and
income distribution so that they have a wide group to chose from. She noted they
hoped to have nominations or a suggested group back to the Agency/Council early in
August, 1993, so that the group can start working immediately.
Ms. Korzun stated this charge is written in the vision document, which was selected by the
Downtown Community Plan group to communicate the vision, promote the vision, to align
projects with the vision, to strongly champion and advocate projects which are
consistent with the vision and measure, monitor and adjust the progress made in the
implementation measures. She stated the last item means that once a year the group
will come back to the Agency/Council and report on how the community is doing with
implementing our vision.
Mr. Pendoley stated the other component that would be in progress at the same time would
be amendments to the General Plan and the Zoning Ordinance, which would trans -late
the vision into regulation. He noted regulation was only 150 of the vision, but it
is something that needs to be done and it is important that it be done well. He
stated this means have they really faithfully translated the vision into regulation.
He stated the key to success in this is continuity, which means continuity among the
participants; therefore, they were recommending that the Downtown advisory group, for
General Plan and Zoning, have a solid core of people who participated in the Downtown
Plan process. He stated they were looking for volunteers. He stated they will go
through a recruitment process and it will be done simultaneously and part and parcel
of recruiting the "Champions". He noted they were looking for people who may not be
immediate downtown stakeholders, since this does involve amendments to the General
Plan, which is a community -wide document.
Mr. Pendoley then discussed the work program. He stated the work program will basically
be in three phases; the first phase is to find a series of easy projects for
immediate implementation. He stated they had a short, tentative first draft list
that has been developed from a review of the vision, but the important thing will be
what the advisory group thinks, particularly those veterans from the Downtown Vision
process. He noted, for example, the vision recommends changes to the sign ordinance
and recommends they find approaches to outside dining. He stated he felt there were
a series of other fairly easy amendments that can be made to the General Plan and
Zoning Ordinance in rather short order. He stated this would be the first work of
the new committee.
Mr. Pendoley stated the second work of this committee would be a thorough revision of the
General Plan, as it applies to Downtown. He noted it was essentially, from the staff
point of view, all of that which is in the General Plan that discusses the Downtown
would be scraped and they would start over again so that they could more faithfully
capture the vision. He stated then this would be reviewed, along with an update of
the south of the hill traffic model. He noted they were not proposing to incorporate
the same type of land use and traffic regulation that exists in east San Rafael and
Northgate into downtown, because they can see no need for this and their concern
would be that it might inhibit some of the projects the community wants to accomplish
in the vision.
Mr. Pendoley then talked about environmental review. He noted they did not know at this
time if they would be doing this with a Negative Declaration or an EIR, but hoped to
do it economically.
Member/Councilmember Cohen noted a possible typo in the conclusion of the Work Program
under Section 4.3, "For Amendments requiring EIR:" on the last line it stated
January, 1994 which should be 1995.
Mr. Cohen then asked with regard to the traffic model the idea of one-way versus two-way
streets which he and Member/Councilmember Breiner have been working on with the
Gerstle Park Neighborhood Association, as they have been waiting to see some of the
traffic analysis to be done, and inquired where in this program could this be
addressed? He asked if they would have to wait the full 18 months? Mr. Pendoley
stated they discussed this issue with the Downtown Plan Committee down to Second
Street and he was hopeful they would be able to do this as one of the easy tasks -
just the part that affects the immediate environs of Downtown, but they do have to do
a little work with the traffic consultant for this. Mr. Cohen clarified what he was
talking about specifically were Streets "A", "B", "C", & "D". Mr. Ours stated their
goal was to have these streets changed in the next year. Mr. Cohen expressed concern
that after putting this project off in hopes that this traffic study would be done
soon that it is being delayed even longer. Mr. Ours stated they could do that
without it.
Member/Councilmember Shippey stated that given the fact that they still have an unfilled
position of Traffic Engineer, did they think this was an ambitious schedule in the
Work Program? Mr. Pendoley stated it was a conservative schedule.
Member Breiner moved and Member Cohen seconded, to establish a criteria to solicit
membership for the Downtown Vision Implementation Committee, or the "Champions Group"
for the San Rafael Redevelopment Agency.
AYES: MEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Chairman Boro
NOES: MEMBERS: None
ABSENT: MEMBERS: None
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to establish criteria and
solicit membership for Downtown Advisory Group for General Plan and Zoning Amendment.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
S.DOWNTOWN GENERAL PLAN AND ZONING AMENDMENTS WORK PROGRAM TO IMPLEMENT THE VISION FOR
DOWNTOWN SAN RAFAEL (Pl) - File 115 x 140 x (SRRA) R-304 (City Council)
Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the program with
the clarifications raised by Councilmember Cohen earlier.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
2.ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS OF APPRECIATION TO THE MEMBERS OF THE DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY PLAN
COMMITTEE AND VOLUNTEERS: (RA) - File R-304 x (SRCC) 102 x 115 x 140
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8934,
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8935,
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8936,
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO.
8933, Resolution of Appreciation to Linda Bellatorre
Resolution of Appreciation to Jean Noel Bechet
Resolution of Appreciation to Robert Berry
Resolution of Appreciation to Al Boro
8937, Resolution of Appreciation to Dirck Brinckerhoff
8938, Resolution of Appreciation to Tony Diosi
8939, Resolution of Appreciation to Fred Divine
8940, Resolution of Appreciation to Tom Donnelly
8941, Resolution of Appreciation to Lassa Frank
8942, Resolution of Appreciation to Lan Kaufman
8943, Resolution of Appreciation to Fred Kirschner
8944, Resolution of Appreciation to Stan Kubu
8945, Resolution of Appreciation to Sandy Lollini
8946, Resolution of Appreciation to Cyr Miller
8947, Resolution of Appreciation to John Newman
8948, Resolution of Appreciation to Gina Pnadani-Matthews
8949, Resolution of Appreciation to Paul Panichelli
8950, Resolution of Appreciation to Larry Paul
8951, Resolution of Appreciation to Ray Potter
8952, Resolution of Appreciation to Bruce Raful
8953, Resolution of Appreciation to James Shinn
8954, Resolution of Appreciation to Joan Thayer
8955, Resolution of Appreciation to Erwin Williams
8956, Resolution of Appreciation to Jay Yinger
8957, Resolution of Appreciation to Sue Scott
8958, Resolution of Appreciation to Katie Korzun
8959, Resolution of Appreciation to Michael Doyle
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to adopt the Resolutions of
Appreciation to the members of the Downtown Community Plan Committee and Volunteers.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
3.PRESENTATION OF RESOLUTIONS OF APPRECIATION TO THE MEMBERS OF THE DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY
PLAN COMMITTEE AND VOLUNTEERS (RA) - R-304 x (SRCC) 102 x 115 x 140
Mayor Boro and the Councilmembers stepped down to the speaker's podium to present the
Resolutions of Appreciation to the members of the Downtown Community Plan Committee
and volunteers.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, Agency Secretary/City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF
1993
CHAIRMAN OF THE SAN RAFAEL REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY/
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
IN CONFERENCE ROOM 201 OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1993, AT 7:00 PM
CLOSED SESSION
1. DISCUSSION OF LITIGATION AND LABOR NEGOTIATIONS - File 1.4.1.a
No. 93-11(a) - #1 - De Anza, Inc., et al vs. City of San Rafael
No. 93-11(b) - #7
No reportable action was taken.
IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1993, AT 8:00 PM
Regular Meeting:
San Rafael City Council
Present: Albert J. Boro, Mayor
Dorothy L. Breiner, Councilmember
Paul M. Cohen, Councilmember
Michael A. Shippey, Councilmember
Joan Thayer, Councilmember
Absent: None
Others Present: Pamela J. Nicolai, City Manager
Gary T. Ragghianti, City Attorney
Jeanne M. Leoncini, City Clerk
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS OF AN URGENCY NATURE
I.MEASURE K MUNICIPAL SERVICES TAX - File 9-4
Norman Gravdahl, a long-time resident of San Rafael, spoke with regard to Measure K. He
presented a letter to Council which he then read into the record. His main concern
was about tenants having to pay a large amount of money if and/or when this measure
would be put on a ballot again in the near future.
II.FRIENDS OF MUNSON PARK, RE: FIRE STATION #6 RELOCATION - File 9-3-31
George Orr, President of the Friends of Munson Park Association, stated based on the
assurances their group has received from the Councilmembers from the collective
meetings, that their group recognizes the seriousness of these budgetary times and is
willing to wait until the future to pursue their concerns; however, their position
has not changed.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to approve the recommended
action on the following Consent Calendar items:
ITEMS
2. Approval of Minutes of Special Meeting of January 6,
1993 (CC)
3. Special Municipal Election June 8, 1993: (CC) -
File 9-4
a. Resolution Declaring Canvass of Votes,
Special Consolidated Election, Measure K,
Municipal Services Tax
4. Resolutions Re Election Matters - General Municipal
Election - November 2, 1993: (CC) - File 9-4 x 9-10-2
x 9-3-14 x 9-3-20 x 9-3-12
a. Resolutions of the City Council:
1) Proposing a General Municipal Election,
Including the San Rafael Elementary
School District and the San Rafael
School District General Election;
2) Requesting the Board of Supervisors to
Consolidate With Any Other Election
Conducted on the Same Date;
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Approved as submitted.
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8960 -
DECLARING CANVASS OF RETURNS
AND RESULTS OF CONSOLIDATED
SPECIAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION
HELD ON TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1993
(Measure K was defeated.)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8961 -
OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SAN RAFAEL:
1) PROPOSING A GENERAL MUNI-
CIPAL ELECTION, INCLUDING THE
SAN RAFAEL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
DISTRICT AND THE SAN RAFAEL
HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT GENERAL
ELECTION;
REQUESTING THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS TO CONSOLIDATE
WITH ANY OTHER ELECTION CON-
DUCTED ON THE SAME DATE;
3) Requesting Election Services by the REQUESTING ELECTION SERVICES
County Clerk. BY THE COUNTY CLERK.
b. Resolution Reaffirming Policy Regarding Number ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8962 -
of Words in Candidate's Statement of Qualif-
ications, and Providing that the Cost of
Printing and Handling of Candidate's State-
ment of Qualifications Shall be Borne by
the Candidate and Paid for at the Time
Nomination Papers are Filed.
REAFFIRMING POLICY REGARDING
NUMBER OF WORDS IN CAN-
DIDATE'S STATEMENT OF
QUALIFICATIONS AND PROVID-
ING THAT THE COST OF PRINTING
AND HANDLING OF CANDIDATE'S
STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS
SHALL BE BORNE BY THE CANDI-
DATE AND PAID FOR AT THE TIME
NOMINATION PAPERS ARE FILED
C. Resolution Requesting the Board of Supervisors
of the County of Marin to Permit the County
Clerk to Consolidate Precincts and Polling
Places Relating to the San Rafael General
Municipal Election.
9. Approval of Below Market Rate Rental Unit Agree-
ment and Declaration of Restrictive Covenants for
1 "H" Street (Pl) - File 229 x 9-3-17 x 10-2
10. Resolution Approving Extension of Rental Office
Space for Satellite Police Station in Canal Area
(PD) - File 2-9-18 x 9-3-30
13. Resolution Amending the 1992/93 Appropriations
Limit and Establishing the 1993/94 Appropriations
Limit (Fin) - File 8-5 x 9-4
14. Resolution Appropriating Unappropriated Revenues
(Fin) - File 8-5
15. Renewal of Three Year Agreement With the County of
Marin Re: Community Development Block Grants (CM)
- File 4-13-38 x 147
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8963 -
REQUESTING THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF
MARIN TO PERMIT THE COUNTY
CLERK TO CONSOLIDATE
PRECINCTS AND POLLING PLACES
RELATING TO THE SAN RAFAEL
GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION
Resolution not adopted.
(Item pulled from agenda.)
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8964 -
AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A
RENEWAL OF A LICENSE AGREE-
MENT WITH LEONARDI
PROPERTIES, INC. FOR RENTAL
OF OFFICE SPACE FOR A SATEL-
LITE POLICE STATION IN THE
CANAL AREA
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8965 -
AMENDING THE 1991/92 AND
1992/93 APPROPRIATIONS LIMIT
AND ESTABLISHING APPROPRIA-
TIONS LIMIT FOR 1993/94
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8966 -
APPROPRIATING UNAPPROPRIATED
REVENUES AS OF JUNE 30, 1993
ADOPTED RESOLUTION NO. 8967 -
AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK
GRANT PROGRAM COOPERATION
AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY OF
MARIN (3 -Year Agreement -
9/30/93 thru 9/30/96)
16. Legislation Affecting San Rafael (CM) - File 9-1 Approved staff recommendation
to: OPPOSE SB 1242
(BOATWRIGHT) - Actions
Against Local Agencies
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
The following items were removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion:
S.RESOLUTION GRANTING SANITARY SEWER EASEMENT TO MICHAEL D. AND ARDETH A. CRAFORD AT 10
MORGAN LANE, SAN RAFAEL (PW) - File 2-3 x 9-3-40
Public Works Director Bernardi stated they had received correspondence from the Villa Real
Homeowners' Association with regard to the granting of the easement to Mr. Craford at
10 Morgan Lane.
Mr. Bernardi stated Council asked for a response to a number of issues on this item and he
had responded to these concerns in the staff report and those items are: the
revision of the grant of easement has been accomplished which reflects the Council's
concerns about the exclusiveness of the easement, as well as the City's future rights
to grant any additional easements should the Council decide to do so; what was the
value of the land to be dedicated and given many different circumstances, staff has
placed an evaluation of approximately $350 to that 20 foot wide strip of land based
upon what was done at Pickleweed Park, as well as other factors that directly affect
this land.
Mr. Bernardi stated there was also included a letter from the Health Department to Mr. &
Mrs. Craford regarding their failing septic tank that they are under order to
eliminate as quickly as possible and then connect to a public sewer.
Mayor Boro asked if the applicant was satisfied with these answers? Mr. Bernardi
responded affirmatively and noted the applicant and his engineer were present.
Mr. John Ford, resident of 65 Balboa Avenue in San Rafael for 31 years and Secretary/
Treasurer of Villa Real Homeowners' Association for a number of years, stated they
agreed 100% that the Craford residence has to be connected to a sewer. He noted it
has been established that a possible route is through a short easement down through
City of San Rafael property, through Junipero Serra Avenue approximately 300 feet,
even though their group checked this and found it to be closer to 500 feet and
travels around three curves, which is not an easy route. He stated the street will
be trenched and worked on at the same time that a new water main will be installed
along the same street. He stated they had another concern that, with the peak of
fire season here, the street may not be wide enough at that time for fire engines to
get through to fires. Mr. Ford noted it has been established that there is adequate
capacity to run more sewer line into that sewer; however, there have been three other
Country Club lines connected into this sewer line recently and there will be 10 more
new, large houses in Loch Lomond #10 also connected into this sewer. He stated they
were satisfied about the capacity now, but wondered what will happen in the future if
other Country Club residents decide they also want to connect into this line.
Mr. Ford stated what they determined was that a line from the Craford residence could go
down the hill behind two properties in an open grassy area and connect to an existing
Country Club sewer on Madelene Lane. He stated they knew that there were two other
Villa Real homes, on the West side of the street, that also connect into the Country
Club sewer at Madelene Lane. He stated their group felt it would be better to keep
the Country Club sewers in Country Club rather than coming into Villa Real and they
thought some determination should be made about the possibility of using this instead
of Junipero Serra Avenue. He noted this work will cost approximately $35,000 to
$40,000 and they believed it would be cheaper to take the other route, unless this is
found to be impossible or the cost is more than the alternative which will be
Junipero Serra.
Mr. Irving Schwartz, a civil engineer hired by Mr. Craford to research a way to hook his
residence up to a public sewer, stated Mr. Craford's property is in the San Rafael
Sanitation District and has been so since at least 1984, due to other annexations in
the area, including the previous Country Club sewers mentioned earlier by Mr. Ford.
He stated they looked at a number of alternatives to connect to a sewer. One was
cost, but the other was timing because Mr. Craford needed to hook up to a public
sewer as quickly as possible. Mr. Schwartz stated the day after the last Public
Hearing, a representative from the Health Department came out to Mr. Craford's
property, observed the problem with his septic tank and ordered him to seal off his
drain field and commence pumping his septic tank every time it needed to be pumped
which is a very expensive operation and which he has to continue until he can hook up
to the public sewer. He stated they looked at connecting to the private sewer line
which was installed approximately 1984 through other properties just to the north of
Mr. Craford's property and looked at running a sewer line up Morgan Lane and then
down Margarita, they looked at the proposed connection to Junipero Serra and a
connection down the hill to Madelene Lane. He stated that in looking at the total
picture, the most cost-effective and time -efficient route was to go out to Junipero
Serra. He stated they just started construction of some new sewer mains in the
center of the Country Club area where annexation to the City was not an issue, just
to the San Rafael Sanitation District, and there a property owner required his other
neighbors to pay him $10 per square foot for a 10 foot sewer easement through one
side of his property, a seemingly unused, unusable area outside of the setback area
so it could not be used for a building or anything similar, but that is what he
required. Mr. Schwartz stated this also took 9 months to get an easement from this
neighbor who stated he did not want to get in the way of this sewer project and
wanted to work with these people and even working with them, it took 9 months and $10 a
square foot to effect an easement.
Mr. Schwartz stated they were at the meeting for what seemingly was a simple item and were
requesting a small sanitary sewer easement across a City property that was purchased
for back taxes some years ago and had grown into something much bigger thanthat. He
stated this is, from the standpoint of both cost and timing, the most efficient way
to sewer Mr. Craford's property. They would like to have the Council's approval and
grant of the easement so that they could start construction almost immediately to get
this health hazardous solved. He stated they believed the City, in issuing an
encroachment permit to cut the street, would put all their normal requirements about
pavement restoration, traffic control for the normal traffic on the street, as well
as emergency traffic, so they did not believe they would be causing a problem for the
neighbors. He noted there will be construction taking approximately seven working
days to get in and out.
Mayor Boro asked Mr. Schwartz to specifically comment on the Madelene Lane issue, with
regard to the cost and timing on this project. Mr. Schwartz responded the Madelene
Lane easement would be approximately 480 feet long between Mr. Craford's property and
the existing end of the public sewer main. He stated if the estimate was at $10 per
square foot, the cost would be approximately $48,000 just for the easement. He
stated a portion of the easement would be over relatively steep terrain as a
potential of causing other kinds of problems with rainy weather, in that a trench
will be dug perpendicular to the contours where if water were to run into the trench,
it could cause some problems. Additionally, there is the time factor and they have
not approached the neighbors as they would have to cross the property of one or two
property owners, because they felt that the time involved would be much longer than
going the route they were proposing tonight. He stated the main in Junipero Serra is
410 feet long, as compared to 480 feet of offsite easement down to Madelene Lane.
Councilmember Breiner asked Mr. Schwartz to show her where Mr. Craford's property was
located on the enclosed map and Councilmember Shippey asked about the different
alternative routes, as they were looking at the map. Mr. Schwartz showed them the
map and alternative routes.
Bill Simmons, resident of Junipero Serra Avenue for 40+ years directly below Mr. Craford's
property, stated there was a water main to be routed to serve Loch Lomond #10 which
is under design by Marin Municipal Water District. He stated he has talked to them
about this and was informed it would be another 30 to 45 days before that water main
design has been approved. He stated the contractor to do the work for the water main
has been selected by the contractor, Ham Construction Company, which is Ford
Construction Company. He stated the Ford Construction Company indicated to him they
could commence work within 30 days from the time they have been given the go-ahead to
institute the water main. Mr. Simmons stated he hoped Mr. Craford's work could be
done as soon as possible, but felt Madelene Lane has not been explored properly and
felt the $10 per square foot cost may not be the case anywhere else in Marin County.
He requested that the City Council consider asking Mr. Craford and Mr. Schwartz to
develop costs to use the Madelene Lane route to determine what this would cost,
because this might be a benefit to Mr. Craford and the time element could be more
advantageous to him.
Mr. Simmons stated he was more concerned about the fire hazard at this time of year than
anything else and the ability for fire engines to get into this area with
construction work on both the water main and sewer main. He asked the Council to
consider not granting the easement for the reasons he has stated, even though he
hopes Mr. Craford can find a solution down Madelene Lane.
Mayor Boro asked Fire Chief Marcucci to describe what has been happening recently in the
Country Club tract with regard to what has been done to increase their capacity,
regarding their mains, and the agreement the City has with Country Club.
Chief Marcucci responded the City of San Rafael has a contract with the County of Marin to
provide fire protection to the unincorporated areas and one of these areas that they
service is the Country Club area, in addition to Bayside Acres. He stated that
following the Oakland fire, the President of the Country Club Association worked with
the San Rafael Fire Department to install new fire hydrants in that area. He stated
those residents have taxed themselves to install 21 hydrants at a cost to the
homeowners of approximately $44,000. He stated Country Club does have a deficiency
in water in certain areas, but the addition of the 21 hydrants in strategic locations
has made this a more palatable force.
Councilmember Shippey asked Public Works Director Bernardi, with regard to the
construction to be done on Junipero Serra for the MMWD water main which will occur
after the proposed easement is granted for the sewer line construction for Mr. Craford's
property, what the difference was in terms of how that road is to be paved? He noted
if it will be torn up anyway, will it be once or twice. Mr. Bernardi responded they
were discussing the requirements with the contractor for Mr. Craford, as well as the
contractor for the Water District, and they will not be resurfacing the entire
street. They will be resurfacing the trench that was dug in this project. Mr.
Bernardi noted the City's encroachment permit requirements only require the
contractors to pave the trench, however wide it is which should be only 18 inches
wide and should be the same width for the water main.
Mr. Shippey asked how long it would it be until they could resurface these two trenches,
given the current schedule? Mr. Bernardi responded he was not sure where Junipero
Serra was on the priority list, but would get back to the Council in this. Mr.
Shippey suggested, with the health issue before the Council, they give priority to
this since the street will be worked on twice next year.
Councilmember Breiner stated she did not understand why some of these properties were
annexed to the Sanitation District and not also annexed to the City and asked staff
to get more information about this because it may be that they were required to be
annexed to the City before they were annexed to the Sanitation District and if the
City neglected to pursue this then Council should find out why this happened to other
properties, as well as the Craford property. Mr. Bernardi stated Mr. Ford attached
an excerpt to the Planning Commission dated September 25, 1984, and noted that the
City, at that time, was requested to waive the dual annexation policy. He noted that
staff finds that the annexation proposal for the parcels on Morgan Lane to be
premature, in that dual annexation is not practical given that the Morgan Lane
properties are served entirely by the Country Club neighborhood (in the bottom para-
graph in the staff report).
Mayor Boro stated the first thing Council needed to find out is the cost of going to the
alternate route and, assuming the engineer is correct that this is prohibitive and
more costly, can the construction be timed to coincide with the water main work so
the street will be disrupted only once, which will make it less disruptive to the
residents and make it easier for fire engines to use that route, if they needed to.
He then stated he felt these were valid questions that needed answers and the other
issue he was interested in was that Mr. Craford had been put on notice by the Public
Health Department of the County of Marin that he has to empty his septic tank and
what the cost of this was. He referred this to staff for answers at a later date.
Mr. Bernardi responded it would take two separate excavations to excavate into
Junipero Serra Avenue, and noted the Water District will not allow a sewer line to be
located within two or three feet, at least, of a water line. Mayor Boro asked if
these excavations could be done concurrently, rather than excavate for 10 days and
then come back for another 10 days.
Councilmember Cohen stated if they do two separate trenches, do one side of the street at
a time.
Mr. Bernardi stated with regard to connecting and funding the cost to run down to Madelene
Lane, the real issue is the cost is unknown until an offer is made to the property
owner and he did not see that happening within the next two weeks. He noted it
probably will take at least a month to have it appraised or make the property owners
an offer to determine if they would be willing to accept that.
Michael Craford, resident of 10 Morgan Lane, stated the property they were proposing to
cross was in the jurisdiction of the Sanitation District and is not an issue of Villa
Real versus Country Club and, secondly, one the issues that entered into their
decision-making in this particular process was the fact that they would not have to
get an easement from anyone other than the City and timing was very important in this
entire issue. He stated the question, with respect to how this came about that the
Health Department shut them down, is answered by noting this happened because the
house, built in 1940, has a 1,000 gallon septic tank and has to be pumped every three
days for the size of his family and has been a fairly significant burden on him, and
throughout this entire process, he has been attempting to get the problem corrected.
Mr. Craford stated he and Mr. Schwartz have evaluated every alternative, noting he
understands the residents not wanting their street torn up, but his other neighbors
might not want him coming across their property, too. He stated he felt he has done
all he can and asked the Council to help him in getting this problem corrected.
Councilmember Shippey stated his observation was that whether the Council accepts Engineer
Schwartz' estimate of the cost of the easements or not, they do have to accept the
fact that it would take a great deal longer to get a private easement than the
alternative proposed and since there is a health issue involved here, he felt they
should not delay very long in doing this.
Councilmember Thayer stated she was concerned about the delay, too, and also concerned
about the fact this road would not be rendered totally useless and would have access
and egress. She asked if this would be sufficient for a fire truck to use this to
get to a possible fire? Mr. Bernardi responded affirmatively and stated their
Encroachment Permit conditions require, at the very minimum, one lane be kept open at
all times. Mrs. Thayer asked to confirm that this was for the fire trucks and Mr.
Bernardi responded affirmatively, as well as neighborhood traffic. Mrs. Thayer
stated she felt there was some urgency in this.
Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolution
granting the easement.
RESOLUTION NO. 8968 -AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF GRANT OF PRIVATE SANITARY SEWER
EASEMENT TO MICHAEL D. AND ARDETH A. CRAFORD, 10 MORGAN
LANE, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
6.RESOLUTION APPROVING EXTENSION OF SUBDIVISION AGREEMENT - BAYWOOD TERRACE (PW) - File
5-1-314
Mayor Boro stated he received a call from a member of the homeowners' association today,
which he discussed with Public Works Director Bernardi, noting the Council has had a
number of problems with the Baywood Terrace subdivision. He noted this staff report
is asking for an extension to complete some of the improvements. He stated the
neighborhood has some additional concerns about some potential drainage problems that
have evolved over the past year including the issue of fire. He suggested Council
carry this item over for two weeks and in the process, Public Works Director Bernardi
meet with the homeowners' association and the Fire Department, and bring this back to
the Council in two weeks.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to carry this item over
for two weeks for discussions between the homeowners' association and the Public
Works Department.
Under discussion, Councilmember Cohen stated that while he did not believe that he had a
conflict of interest on this matter, he has discussed this with the City Attorney and
it was his belief that in order to avoid any appearance of in -fighting, he will not
be voting on this issue and will remove himself from the Council Chambers and will be
abstaining on tonight's motion.
Councilmember Shippey informed the Council that he would probably not be present for the
next meeting and will, also, not be able to vote.
Councilmember Thayer asked if it was true that since this project has received many
extensions and the original proponents have not dropped the project, then it is not
subject to the Hillside Design Guidelines? Mr. Bernardi responded that was staff's
understanding and stated they already have an approved final map. Mrs. Thayer asked
if this was one of the reasons why they have not let go of this yet? Mr. Bernardi
responded staff is dealing with the bank and the holding company for the bank. He
noted the original subdivider, Hoffmire, is really out of the picture, so staff is
just dealing with the bank and they intend to develop the property within the next
year. He stated he spoke to the bank this morning and the person he spoke to
indicated they would have developed it sooner, but the economy was such that they did
not want to make any additional investments on the property until the economy is
better, noting they are intending to develop this property within the next approxi-
mately 18 months.
Councilmember Breiner stated this has been extended many times and the Council is under no
obligation to do this, but often when there are long periods of time between approval
of the map, conditions change; the City requirements may have changed in some ways
that they may want to have the ability not to extend this area and may want to look
at some of the possibilities from the Hillside Design Guidelines before extending it
or they could extend it now for a few months and give Planning staff and the
neighborhood a chance to check on any inclusions they may want to do. Mr. Bernardi
stated this agreement that is being extended only deals with what was previously
approved by the Council and the Planning Commission and the Council is, in essence,
locked into those approvals. He stated what this extension of time was for is the
agreement that the developer has entered into with the City for construction of the
public improvements that are required under the Conditions of Approval; so the
Council always has the option not to extend the time limits for the Subdivision
Agreement. He noted the other option the Council has is to call the bonds and state
to the developer that they have not completed this project in a timely manner and the City
will call the bonds and complete the improvements with the bonds. Mr. Bernardi
stated the bank has not spent much time on this property and should have. He stated
some of the storm drainage on the site needs to be maintained, the broom on the site
needs to be cut back because there could be a serious problem, and there is a meeting
tentatively scheduled for 11:00 AM on Wednesday for everyone involved to meet at the
site to address other issues of a nature that deal with the specific improvements
that were required to be constructed.
Mrs. Breiner asked if it would help Mr. Bernardi, in terms of getting these items
accomplished, if the Council made it a six month extension, as opposed to a year
extension. She stated some of these issues have been dragging on for a long time and
she did not see any advantage to the City in having the broom expanding in a dry
season, etc. Mr. Bernardi stated that, at this point in his conversations with the
gentleman at the bank, he seemed very cooperative, but certainly six months would
maybe put more pressure on them to accomplish these issues. Mayor Boro suggested
bringing this back to the Council at the next meeting, July 6, 1993.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAINED: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen
7.RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF RIGHT OF WAY AGREEMENT WITH ARCHDIOCESE FOR
MERRYDALE OVERCROSSING PROJECT (PW) - File 4-3-263 x 2-2 x 4-13-80 x 11-1
Councilmember Thayer asked if this funding was coming out of the Traffic Mitigation Funds?
Public Works Director Bernardi responded affirmatively.
Councilmember Shippey asked if the amount was $560,000 for one-third of an acre? Mr.
Bernardi responded affirmatively and stated the Archdiocese wanted $1.1 Million. Mr.
Shippey asked what was the projected amount for this project? Mr. Bernardi stated
their appraisals, based on what staff felt was a reasonable price, were about
$325,000 for that same piece of land. Mr. Shippey asked how much of this price would
be reimbursed by CalTrans? Mr. Bernardi responded the right-of-way acquisition for
the project is paid for by the Traffic Mitigation Fund in its entirety.
Councilmember Cohen moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolutions
authorizing the right of way agreements and accepting the conveyance of real property
for the Merrydale Overcrossing.
RESOLUTION NO. 8969 -AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF RIGHT OF WAY AGREEMENTS WITH THE
ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SAN FRANCISCO FOR THE MERRYDALE
OVERCROSSING PROJECT
RESOLUTION NO. 8970 -ACCEPTING THE CONVEYANCE OF REAL PROPERTY FROM THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SAN FRANCISCO FOR THE MERRYDALE OVER -
CROSSING PROJECT
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
8.REVIEW OF OUTREACH TASK FORCE FOR THE DAY SERVICES CENTER AT 14 RITTER STREET AS
REQUIRED BY CONDITION #27 AS APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL (Pl) - File 10-5 x 10-7 x
9-3-17 x 13-16
Councilmember Breiner stated she no longer had a question on this item.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to accept the report
approving the Outreach Program.
Under discussion, Mayor Boro stated it should be noted for the record that the Council
received a memorandum from Planning Director Pendoley clarifying the representatives
on the Outreach Oversight Committee which is included in the motion.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
11.AUTHORIZATION TO REPLACE CABLE FOR POLICE RADIO SYSTEM (PD) - File 4-2-242 x 9-3-30
Councilmember Thayer stated her concern with the problems the Police Department is
experiencing with this particular system, which were very costly. She stated this is
a $500,000 system and asked what the City received in services from E.F. Johnson, the
provider, and what they were willing to guarantee on this system. She also asked why
the cable that was installed at the radio site on Dollar Hill has not been checked
out, which she thought should be an integral part of that system.
City Manager Nicolai responded this was an old cable which has been in place for years and
stated she felt the E.F. Johnson and the bids that went out for the radio system
primarily had to do with hard equipment and the computers. Ms. Nicolai stated there
is some infrastructure that they have not had in the existing systems that the
Department used and there was no indication at that point in time and some of it will
depend on the sophistication of the system itself that whatever the problems are with
the cabling are not causing a problem in something that is not as sensitive as this
particular system. Ms. Nicolai stated there have been complaints since the beginning
of this system; however, on the other hand, the current system operates better than
the previous system. She stated what some of the complaints consisted of involve the
training that has gone on in using this system and some of the modifications and how
the Police Department has to operate a little differently than before. Ms. Nicolai
stated that while there would be problems with any system, she felt this particular
problem is underground and there was no way of knowing exactly how it would operate
within the new system and after all the diagnostic tests, this appears to be an issue
which staff wants to fix. She stated this was nothing that E.F. Johnson, or any
other company, would have been asked to do as a component of that particular bid.
Mrs. Thayer asked if E.F. Johnson was working with the City with no further cost with
regard to fine tuning this system? Ms. Nicolai responded affirmatively and stated
much of this was follow-up and the City does have a maintenance agreement which they
would have had with a different company than E.F. Johnson, but E.F. Johnson has gone
the extra mile to resolve the issues and problems that have come up in resolving
these problems with their own computers, sending people out to resolve these problems
and even working with some of the Police Officers and helping staff resolve these
problems.
Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolution
authorizing the Police Department to spend funds to replace damaged radio system
cable.
RESOLUTION NO. 8971 -AUTHORIZING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO SPEND FUNDS TO REPLACE
RADIO SYSTEM CABLE (retaining the services of Jay Helms &
Associates, in the amount not to exceed $40,000)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
12.RESOLUTION APPROVING CONTRACT WITH DMG ASSOCIATES TO PROCESS STATE MANDATED COST
REIMBURSEMENT APPLICATIONS (Fin) - File 4-10-270
Councilmember Thayer asked if staff has been tracking the amount of money spent on State
mandated costs? Finance Director Coleman responded negatively, noting in some cases
it is a substantial amount of funds, such as Workers' Compensation. Mr. Coleman
stated this program would identify some of these costs and bring some funds back to
the City, but others are worded in such a way that in many cases staff was performing
functions that are State mandated for which the City would never get any funds back.
Mrs. Thayer stated there were numerous proposals in the State Capitol now to get rid of
some of the State mandated costs and noted she would like to have some idea as to
what the City is actually paying for some of these costs, especially the major ones
that might not be necessary.
Councilmember Shippey stated he agreed with Councilmember Thayer on this issue and stated
he would like to see some refunding on some of these costs, but not all of them. He
stated that with the state of the budget now, the State seems to believe the cities
and counties can absorb all of the State budget costs and there are many invisible
costs that San Rafael is bearing and if there was a way to track these, it would be
very helpful. Mayor Boro stated that was what this proposal would do. Mr. Coleman
stated this proposal was an attempt in getting reimbursement for those costs and that
the State has, in fact, appropriated monies to reimburse the cities for many of the
things they are doing that are mandated on the City, but for which there are no funds
for any of those programs. Mr. Coleman stated staff would put together this
information for a future meeting. Mrs. Thayer clarified what she was asking was with
regard to the unreimbursed mandated costs, although the State supposedly is to
reimburse mandated costs, it does not do so in very many cases.
Ms. Nicolai cited, for example, the Congestion Management Plan, which is not a State
mandated cost, but if it is not done the State will not give any Proposition 11 funds
to the City.
Mayor Boro stated the program being recommended in this item will get a better fix on what
the City is doing and have it applied in a more efficient manner, and then staff can
look for more programs that the City can be reimbursed for from the State. He then
asked for other information on the programs that have been suggested by the State
that the City will not be reimbursed for, because of the above mentioned State
procedure in this matter. Councilmember Shippey stated he felt it would be valuable
for Council to know about this.
Councilmember Thayer asked, with regard to the agreement to Provide Mandated Cost Claiming
Services under the scope of services on #3b, second page of this agreement, what is
the incentive for recovering more than the maximum of $7,500 which is provided for
the Griffith & Associates consulting company, if they are not going to be compensated
for more than this amount in the contract? Mr. Coleman stated he did not have the
information at this time, but noted his experience with this firm in talking to other
cities, is that they go for the maximum amount regardless of what the contract
provisions are and all the recommendations from the other cities were that this firm
generally gets more than the City could do themselves.
Councilmember Thayer moved and Councilmember Cohen seconded, to adopt the Resolution
authorizing the contract with DMG (David M. Griffith & Associates) to process
mandated cost applications.
RESOLUTION NO. 8972 -AUTHORIZING THE SIGNING OF A CONTRACT, LEASE OR AGREEMENT WITH
DMG (DAVID M. GRIFFITH & ASSOCIATES) TO PROCESS MANDATED
COST APPLICATIONS (in the amount of $7,500)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
17.PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER ADOPTION OF AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL AMENDING
TITLE 10 OF THE SAN RAFAEL MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 10.85 ENTITLED,
"POLICE ROTATION TOWING SERVICES" (PD) - File 9-3-30 x 11-8
Mayor Boro opened the Public Hearing and then continued it to Council meeting of July 6,
1993, at the request of the Police Department, due to difficulties in contacting some
of the potential carriers because of vacation conflicts.
18.PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL ADOPTING BY REFERENCE
THE ANIMAL CONTROL REGULATIONS CONTAINED IN TITLE 8 OF THE MARIN COUNTY CODE (RE:
COUNTY ORDINANCE NUMBER 3138) (CA) - File 4-13-54 x 13-3
Mayor Boro opened the Public Hearing.
City Manager Nicolai stated staff has been working over the last few years in an attempt
to untangle some confusion created unintentionally by the adoption of the Dangerous
Animal Ordinance and the resulting legal entanglement. She stated the Managers'
group, along with the County of Marin and many of the dog advocates and anti -dog
people have been working with attorneys in an attempt to come to the most expeditious
way to handle dangerous animal complaints and litigation, in particular. She stated
this revised Ordinance attempts to address and correct that problem and is the main
component, and along with that there was a strong recommendation to the Board of
Supervisors that they create an advisory board. She stated the Manager's group
recommended strongly, because some of the issues related to the operation of the
Humane Society, separate from what the City contracts with the Humane Society with
regard to animal control, were getting mixed and felt the creation of this advisory
committee would assist in evaluating the Countywide contract and the City's JPA, as
it relates to animal control issues.
Ms. Nicolai stated in addition to this, the Managers' group has been working with County
staff and the Humane Society in attempting to address the costs of the City's
contract for animal control, both dealing with attempting to reduce costs, as well at
increase fees to bring this to a more reasonable level. She stated the latest
proposal in this particular ordinance does modify the issue of the barking dog
problem where the Humane Society will discontinue being the first responding agency
and that will be distributed out to various police departments to respond to under
their procedural methods, as well. She stated that in talking with various managers,
as well as the San Rafael Police Department, the City does get involved to a certain
extent in those types of complaints anyway; however, if the City's Police Department
is to be the first responding agency, it will have to be dealt with in order of a public
safety priority, with regard to calls already in progress.
Ms. Nicolai stated most of the jurisdictions are in agreement with this, noting it is
being put through each city in Marin County to adopt it, and because San Rafael
belongs to the JPA, we are adopting the ordinance by reference, and she recommended
Council adopt this ordinance.
Councilmember Shippey asked Ms. Nicolai, with regard to Attachment A and the Estimate of
Savings for Each Jurisdiction, because the print was blurred through the copying
process, the approximate total of $31,000 for San Rafael, what percentage was this
out of the other totals? Mayor Boro responded $231,000 and Mr. Shippey stated that
was more than 100. Mrs. Breiner indicated it was 17.670. Mr. Shippey stated that
did not address the possibility of potential lawsuits and he understood this move
might be removing the potential of lawsuits. Ms. Nicolai stated it did not remove
the threat of lawsuits, but removes the threat of lawsuits to the Commission that had
been set up by the Dangerous Animal Control Ordinance who were becoming personally
vulnerable and liable in the rulings and actions they took against the dog owners.
She stated that now, what would happen, was there will be a single hearing officer
designated and then the appeal from that is directed to the Court system, which is a
much quicker resolution and immediately goes into the Court system so the City does
not have either a board involved in this particular component of the ordinance and/or
the volunteers being named as part of the various lawsuits.
There being no one from the public who wished to speak, the Public Hearing was closed.
The title of the Ordinance was read:
"AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL ADOPTING BY REFERENCE THE ANIMAL CONTROL
REGULATIONS CONTAINED IN TITLE 8 OF THE MARIN COUNTY CODE (RE: COUNTY ORDINANCE
NUMBER 3138)
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to dispense with the
reading of the Ordinance in its entirety and refer to it by title only, and pass
Charter Ordinance No. 1646 to print by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
19.SELECTION OF COMPANY FOR BUS SHELTER PROJECT (CM) - File 4-10-271 x 9-3-11 x 11-1
City Manager Nicolai stated recently Council authorized staff to consider contracting with
a firm to place bus shelters in the City of San Rafael, understanding that this
included advertising on those shelters and also the potential for revenue. She
stated because staff was aware of two firms in the area, they developed an RFP and
sent it out in April, 1993, and set May 20, 1993 as a deadline for the proposals to
be returned. She stated staff received three proposals and, she along with Planning
Director Pendoley, Public Works Director Bernardi and Finance Director Coleman looked
through the three proposals and evaluated them primarily related to the required
conditions in these proposals. She stated this was not as strict as a bid specifica-
tion, in the sense that staff asked the companies to submit a proposal and noted
there were areas to discuss and negotiate. She stated one particular firm, Patrick
Media, had many questions and certain items were not responded to such as references
and sample agreements. She stated staff contacted Patrick Media and asked for
certain clarification of the issues needed.
Ms. Nicolai stated staff's basic recommendation was pursuing working with Gannett, the
most promising company for this project. She stated some of the factors they looked
at with these companies, in addition to just the finances, was the track record of
the firm. She stated she felt they did not want to be a test case and they
specifically asked for background and experience, etc. She also felt design of the
shelters will be a particular interest and the most difficult hurdle to overcome, and
then financial long-range benefit, as well as maintenance were some of the issues
evaluated strongly by this group.
Finance Director Coleman stated there were two areas: 1) looking at three companies
themselves, of the three, Busline is a fairly small company, serving the East Bay as
a sole proprietorship and has approximately $3 Million in assets. He stated Patrick
Media is the previous Foster & Kleiser Outdoor Advertising firm that merged and is
now part of the General Electric Corporation, as a division of GE Capital and Gannett
is a major advertising newspaper chain. He stated this was the background on the
three companies that are being considered for this project.
Mr. Coleman stated the two proposals from Gannett and Busline were somewhat similar in
that they proposed either a minimum dollar amount per month per shelter or a
percentage of revenues. He stated Patrick Media took a different approach; their
proposal was for 50 shelters, which was one of the things staff was looking at
initially and concluded that maybe a little high in number than what they had looked
at from other cities. He stated he checked with other cities such as Pasadena, who
really did not have a large number of bus shelters, as was suggested by Patrick
Media. He stated staff needed to attempt to compare Patrick's proposal using their
50 shelters and extending out the proposals made by the other companies, assuming
that they, too, had 50 shelters and the figures that Council had were in the staff
report. He then later asked Patrick Media what would happen if it was not feasible
or desirable to have 50 shelters, if the City was only going to have 25, if they cut
the figures in half. He stated Patrick Media indicated they would have to get back
to him with these figures, which is the addendum to the staff report. He noted they
were also looking at 30 or 40 shelters.
Mr. Coleman stated in terms of revenue, it was his feeling that the comparisons that are
in the report, $500, $600 or $700 a month total revenue are fairly ballpark figures,
based on conversations he has had with several cities. He stated many of these
cities either have a flat dollar amount or have a flat dollar amount and a
percentage, as was suggested by some of the other companies. He stated that based on
these conversations, he concluded that in many cases the revenues that are generated
are in the range of the samples that are in the staff report, either $500, $600 or
$700 a month, and in one case, the City of Vallejo, it appeared that the monthly
advertising revenue was below $500. He stated the figures before the Council showed
what the dollar amounts generated would be by the three firms who sent proposals in
to San Rafael for the bus shelters. He stated the flat dollar amount is not making
any allowance for the fact that after the threshold was reached from either $1.4
Million or $2 Million that the Patrick Media share would go to 210, versus 180, but
in the initial stages he generally felt that probably Gannett and Patrick Media are
fairly close and, depending on how the advertising goes, one or the other could have
the edge in the early years of this program. He noted staff felt that Gannett
certainly had, based on the original proposal, the best of the three proposals and
that Patrick Media had several question marks that staff felt needed to be answered
and they did not feel that 50 shelters was adequate and even the 30 shelters, in the
case of $600 per month on the Addendum would bring in $252,000 versus Patrick Media
$200,000. He stated this money would be coming in on a monthly basis, instead of one
lump sum in the beginning of the program. He stated the other thing boiled down to
the ability of which firm knew the community better, and noted it appeared Gannett
did know the community better and since it is the largest firm that operates bus
shelters, was also a consideration in their review of these proposals.
(Councilmember Breiner left meeting.)
Mayor Boro stated for the record, Councilmember Breiner informed him that she was leaving
this discussion because she has stock in General Electric and decided she may have a
conflict of interest.
Councilmember Shippey asked Mr. Coleman whether one of the factors in favor of using
Gannett was they only required a 10 year contract versus a 15 year contract? Mr.
Coleman responded affirmatively, and stated staff was looking at the proposals, as
submitted, and Patrick Media has submitted additional information after they received
the staff report, but looking at the initial proposal which was the basis for this
staff report, that statement is correct. Mr. Shippey asked if this would be toward
damage? Mr. Coleman responded his discussions with other cities indicated they only
had five year contracts and he felt they became locked into contracts that he felt
the other cities would have to renegotiate in five years and the proposal the City
was receiving now seemed much more lucrative for the City and not knowing what they
were really getting into, the Committee was not sure the City would want to lock
themselves in with one firm for 15 years.
Mr. Shippey stated that Gannett seems to propose the most flexibility in design and asked
what generated this? Ms. Nicolai responded that Patrick Media's proposal had two
pictures which were similar, with some differences. She stated in talking with
Busline earlier, one of the issues that constrains the design is the solar panel
proposed and that there is a certain limitation to how much design there would be if
the City decided to go with solar, which is Busline's proposal.
Mayor Boro asked if the representatives of these three companies would like to talk to
Council about their proposals, they were more than welcome to do so and if there was
anything the Council had before them that was not correct, they were welcome to
respond to that.
Patrick David, representing Busline Media, stated they were a smaller company that did not
have the backing of the larger companies, but they were the only company operating in
the total East Bay region on the smaller projects which gave them more expertise with
the smaller communities. He stated, with regard to the solar design in these
shelters, their only constraint is on the solar and they do the solar so they do not
have to tear up the streets. He stated they could accommodate any other shelter, but
had to keep a certain roof line to hook the solar panels to.
Mayor Boro asked how these shelters are lighted in the evening. Mr. David stated they
could put up to four panels on the roof which can give up to eight hours of power.
He stated most of the cities they work in do not want the shelters on after the buses
quit running, so they attempt to shut them down at the end of the bus runs.
Councilmember Shippey inquired with regard to the solar panels, if it would be feasible to
do a dual function, with a back-up lighting system and asked if there were designs
that included this? Mr. David stated the only other lighting system would be to go
electrical also, but noted they operate in Richmond for six hours in the Winter
months with the solar panels.
Lou Lillian, Vice President and General Manager of Gannett Transit Shelters of Northern
California, addressed Councilmember Shippey by stating they did have a ten shelter
plan that they started in Petaluma which is very successful. He noted it was clean,
snappy and they are very proud of this. He stated they are along Washington and
North McDowell. He stated what they do in communities in Petaluma is to employ the
Old Adobe Systems which is a developmentally disabled organization which trains and
employs young developmentally disabled people to post the advertising in the bus
shelters and do the maintenance. He noted they have been working there for approxi-
mately six months. He stated they have been in the shelter business for almost two
decades and have approximately ten years experience in California in Los Angeles and
San Diego and six years in San Francisco. He stated their relationships with local
governments are considered to be the epitome of public/private partnerships in terms
of public service and the added things that are offered to a community.
Mr. Lillian stated their maintenance program is fulfilled by contracting with local
companies, as they would do in San Rafael. He stated they would train and employ a
local maintenance, perhaps a non-profit organization and supervise them in the
maintenance and posting of the shelters. He stated, as in their proposal, they would
be cleaning a minimum of once a week, but could do them every day if necessary. He
stated there will be a hotline posted in the shelters which will be connected into
their 24-hour a day, seven day a week response time and they would respond according-
ly.
Mr. Lillian stated they maintain a national sales office throughout the Country and have
over 200 sales representatives throughout the United States. He noted he is
responsible for transit shelters in Northern California and stated they have a large
client list who have expressed interest in San Rafael. He stated that providing what
San Rafael requested, they could pay the revenue up front, or on a monthly basis;
whichever met the needs of the City. He stated they would keep the design appropri-
ate for the downtown area of San Rafael and environmentally sensitive and would be
installing public phones in the shelters for the convenience of the transit riders
from which the City would receive an additional revenue.
Mayor Boro stated Council received a FAX message from Mr. Hooper, representing Patrick
Media.
Bill Hooper, representing Patrick Media, stated his company is the largest outdoor
advertising company in the Bay Area and also the largest in the United States. He
stated this was important, especially in servicing an outdoor advertising plant,
which is what these are, in addition to being bus shelters. He stated they had
approximately three days' notice for the RFP, because they were not on any mailing
list. He stated they did want an opportunity to express their ability, as a company,
to generate revenue for San Rafael and have put a significant amount of funds up
front as an opportunity for San Rafael to see that up front funding, as well as long-
term revenue participation which they felt was the high bid. He stated he felt the
rates that are anticipated coming in on this structure are significantly under-
estimated in the staff report, which needs to be discussed. He stated a bus shelter
was like an advertising sign and illuminated from dusk to midnight and/or dawn. He
stated advertising was sold for these on a monthly basis. He noted these were
graffiti prone and all the things a billboard is and the experience which goes into
servicing that should be unquestioned and their company definitely has the ability to
do this.
Mr. Hooper stated he was present tonight to request that Council send this back for
further evaluation and have the opportunity to have a more extended review, and
wished they had more time to put this proposal together.
Ms. Nicolai stated that when staff called and asked for references on Patrick Media for
bus shelters and followed up on those references, they were all for Target which
seemed to be a recent acquisition of their's. She asked if their outdoor advertis-
ing, aside from that, was billboards? Mr. Hooper answered affirmatively and stated
that their experience, as Patrick Media Group, is with outdoor advertising signs
which is a very complex business, and they have 3,300 sign facings in Northern
California. He stated in the recent acquisition of Target they also took on those
employees and the former principal in that organization is now the Vice Presi-
dent/General Manager of that Division of their company.
Mr. Hooper stated their company was just now expanding into the transit properties, and
noted they are the staff's recommendation on the Bay Area Rapid Transit District
(BARTD) renewal. He stated maintaining 50 or 25 bus shelters should not be a
difficult task for their company. He noted the RFP did not address the exact numbers
of shelters or the term. He stated they felt this would be discussed prior to
writing the RFP, and noted they were flexible on these terms, but a little confused
by the process beforehand.
Councilmember Thayer asked if they were looking at possible revenue of $600 to $700 a
month? Mr. Coleman responded this revenue would be generated by the company chosen
and the City would receive a percentage of that or the flat dollar amount. Mrs.
Thayer asked where the figures - $600 through $700 - come from? Mr. Coleman stated
these were based on his discussions with many of the references that were supplied by
the companies being looked at, which included a formula that was either a flat amount
or a percentage. In those cases where they were receiving those two options, he had
some discussions with the cities and was able to determine roughly what the average
monthly revenue was that was being generated in those cities. Generally speaking, he
noted, the range was from under $500 to a high of $720, based on the cities that he
talked to that were in the references for the three companies being considered.
Mrs. Thayer asked if the City Manager's Office contacted other cities that had done this?
Ms. Nicolai stated she asked Mr. Coleman to do the reference checks, not just on the
economics, but also on their experience with the maintenance so there was only one
phone call made to these companies asking numerous issues. Mrs. Thayer asked what
was the companies' experience with regard to graffiti? Mr. Coleman stated that all
the cities he talked with felt the companies did a very good job and when there was a
problem, they responded to cities' concerns about graffiti or any other vandalism
that may occur at the bus shelters. In all cases he was able to determine that these
companies were in charge of the situation because they did not want the shelters
looking bad and in all cases the firms generally worked with the city, if in fact
they had a location where a bus shelter was located where the stores and/or
businesses did not want them or they felt the advertising in the shelter was not
appropriate, the shelter was removed and/or the advertising was removed.
Mrs. Thayer asked if these shelters had public telephones, would they be just one-way
calls? Ms. Nicolai responded affirmatively.
Mayor Boro asked Mr. Coleman with regard to his opening summary about the financial
arrangements in the case of Patrick Media, the $300,000 advance plus 210 of the
advertising revenue after $2 Million, was this predicated on 50 shelters? Mr.
Coleman responded affirmatively. Mayor Boro then stated with these numbers, that was
how Mr. Coleman came up with the $200,000 on 30 shelters at $600 per month and
$200,000 on 30 shelters at $700 per month. Ms. Nicolai responded negatively and
stated that was a follow-up phone call to them asking what would their proposal be if
the City wanted less than 50 shelters? Mayor Boro asked was it $200,000 up front, or
over the life of the contract? Mr. Coleman responded this was $200,000 up front, as
is the $300,000 and stated he asked these companies that if they only did 25
shelters, would that cost one-half this amount, and he picked the 30 shelters
proposal since this was what staff thought was an appropriate place to start. Mayor
Boro stated, as he recalled, they were thinking somewhere in the range of 15 or 25
maximum as the goal from the start. Ms. Nicolai stated the number of shelters was
not a big issue except when the proposals came in so different, Mr. Coleman, through
the follow-up calls from other jurisdictions, noted other cities that are similar in
size or larger did not have as many as 50 shelters which brought up the concern as to
whether the City could accommodate 50 shelters. She stated that was why staff went
back and got more information on this. She stated she felt this was one of the big
issues with any of the firms that will be negotiable, but is not the critical factor
which is mutually working out the locations for these shelters and how many shelters
would work in San Rafael? Mr. Coleman stated he felt the 50 shelters were not only
based on what other cities are doing that are much larger than San Rafael, but that
it does not take into account what the company feels it can sell in the way of advertis-
ing, and potentially there might be 100 shelters they could possibly put in town and
fill those billboards all the time. He stated it was a question of what the
community feels they need in the number of bus shelters.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Thayer seconded, to approve the proposal
from Gannett for bus shelters in San Rafael.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner (Due to potential conflict of interest)
(Councilmember Breiner returned to meeting.)
20.CONSIDERATION OF TWO PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS FOR NOVEMBER 2, 1993 GENERAL MUNICIPAL
ELECTION: (Fin) - File 9-4 x 1-1 x 9-3-12 x 9-3-20 x 9-3-40
a. ALTERNATE PROCEDURE FOR PUBLICATION OF LENGTHY ORDINANCES
b. CHANGE IN PROCEDURE FOR PURCHASES AND CONTRACTS
Mayor Boro asked if staff was asking to have this finalized by the meeting of July 19,
1993 due to the fact that the information has to be to the County Election Office by
July 23, 1993? Ms. Nicolai responded affirmatively and stated staff felt they should
raise the question of whether the Council wanted to put these measures on the
November 2, 1993 ballot. She reminded Council that the reason they were brought
forward initially was because they dealt with not only cost efficiencies, but some
time efficiencies and this was part of why staff was recommending that they be
considered as Charter Amendments. She stated this was a matter of if and/or when
Council would want to take these to the voters.
Councilmember Thayer stated she deferred to staff's recommendation, however, she asked
that if they eliminate formal bid procedures for all purchases over $5,000, would
this be an absolute? Mayor Boro responded that the difference was that rather than
have the limit $5,000, the Council would determine by ordinance what that limit would
be. Mrs. Thayer agreed.
Mayor Boro asked if it would be stated in the ballot what the limit would be or would we
do that after the election? Mr. Coleman stated he was not sure about that and it
could possibly be discussed, but having looked at quite a few other cities, the
General Law Cities have no cap in there for a limit, except for Public Works
construction and it is set by ordinance. He stated charter cities have the ability
to set it anywhere they want for any of their purchases and it probably varies
anywhere from $15,000 to $35,000. He noted it was a feeling of the Purchasing
Committee that it should be somewhere in the $20,000 range, but that would be
something that if the Council felt should go on the ballot, could be done.
Ms. Nicolai stated it was staff's recommendation, because of the costs of elections, that
the Charter be amended to allow purchases to be set by ordinance so staff could keep
this somewhat in sync with what other jurisdictions are doing. She noted it has been
a long time since this was done before, and every time something like this is set so
specific in the Charter, a Charter amendment is a fairly onerous thing to deal with.
She stated she preferred that the Council consider modifying it to allow the Council
to do this by an ordinance which still requires a first reading and second reading.
Mayor Boro stated he was not advocating that the Council specifically state what was
to go into this ballot measure, but noted it would be interesting to find out what
other cities are doing in Marin county and then other charter cities, and secondly,
the Council would probably want to have some discussion with regard to what range
should be considered, based on those findings they make. Ms. Nicolai asked if
Council wanted staff to pull this item completely?
Councilmember Breiner noted in the Charter Amendment, Section 3.1, "Bids and Awards", in
the second sentence it states, "The ordinance may provide. . ." and asked if it
should state "The ordinance will provide. . ." or ". . shall provide. . ."? She
stated she felt this needs to be a given and wondered if it would be easier if they
were to put a few comments in the Ordinance with regard to this. Mayor Boro stated
they did not want to rewrite the ordinance, at this time, and stated the first
question is Council interested in pursuing this and what questions does Council want
the staff to pursue in the process of bringing this back to Council next meeting to
have the first reading on the ordinance. Mrs. Breiner agreed with the need for this,
but felt this was the type of issue that if it is not very carefully constructed, the
public will think it is a "blank check", which is why she has a great concern about
this wording.
Councilmember Shippey stated, with the consent of City Attorney Ragghianti, that if there
was a way Council could recommend what the first ordinance would look like in a way
that could be incorporated into a valid argument, that would state this will be set
by ordinance, but the Council proposes at its first ordinance to propose a limit of
$15,000, or a similar amount, even if it is not a part of the ballot measure, per se.
City Attorney Ragghianti stated the ordinance is always available for any member of
the public to read in full at the City Clerk's Office and sometimes it is printed in
full, if it is not too lengthy in the ballot pamphlet. He noted they could do what
Mr. Shippey was suggesting.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner seconded, to approve consideration
of two proposed charter amendments for the November 2, 1993 election.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
21.LITCHFIELD USE PERMIT (CM) - File 10-5 x 10-2 x 100
Irving Litchfield, owner of the Litchfield Emporium, stated his concern about the City's
Planning Commission's decision to increase the parking spaces for the Bermuda Palms
Motel to stay open for business. He gave copies of his letter regarding this issue
to the Council.
Mayor Boro asked who wrote the letter given to the Council? Mr. Litchfield responded his
son wrote it. Mr. Litchfield stated he accepted the letter he received from Code
Enforcement Officer Machado, but would not obey its contents and would be opening his
business regardless of the Planning Commission's decision to increase the parking
spaces.
22.AUTHORIZATION FOR SAN RAFAEL ROTARY CLUB TO CONSTRUCT ENTRY STRUCTURE (PW) - File 105
x 9-3-40 x 11-1
Public Works Director Bernardi showed the Council the sketch of the entry structure, which
will be located on the south side of Hetherton, south of the Mission Avenue and
Hetherton intersection, south -bound on Hetherton and would be on the right-hand
corner. He stated there were two small Eucalyptus trees at the site now and one would
have to be removed for visibility purposes.
Mr. Bernardi stated the entire cost of this structure would be borne by the Rotary Club
and will be constructed partially with volunteer labor, and they have also budgeted
funds to purchase materials and whatever labor they cannot get donated.
Mr. Bernardi stated the logo read, "Welcome to City of San Rafael", which he felt was
grammatically incorrect and staff will be working with the Rotary Club to change this
wording. Mayor Boro asked if there was a need to say, "Welcome" on these signs and
noted the idea was very good and the Rotary Club should be commended for this work.
Councilmember Shippey moved and Councilmember Breiner, to authorize the San Rafael Rotary
Club to construct entry structure at Hetherton Street and Mission Avenue.
Under discussion, Councilmember Thayer commended the Rotary Club and asked Council to send
them a letter to that affect. Ms. Nicolai stated that when the City dedicates this
sign, then there should be a small ceremony where the Rotary Club would receive a
Resolution of Appreciation.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen,
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
23.CITY COUNCIL REPORTS:
None.
ADD ITEMS:
Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
At the request of Assistant City Manager Golt, Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmem-
ber Shippey seconded, to place an item on the Agenda for discussion as an urgency item,
which came up after the Agenda was posted.
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
I.EARLY RETIREMENT PROGRAM - 7-1-26 x 7-4 x 9-3-11
Assistant City Manager Golt stated the resolution before the Council amends the previous
Resolution on the Early Retirement Program. She stated the change was very simple
and noted it changes the period of notification that the employees have to adhere to
in order to allow notification and retirement by June 30, 1993. She stated this
change is being proposed to the Council tonight simply to allow the employees who
occupy positions that are going to be eliminated, due to budget problems, to take
advantage of the Early Retirement Program and staff recommends Council approve this
procedural change.
Councilmember Shippey stated he knew of one or two specific incidents which caused this to
come to the Council and asked if staff was relatively certain that there will be
adequate notification so this will not be brought to Council again after June 30,
1993. Ms. Golt responded affirmatively and stated she was very confident that this
will probably be restricted to no more than one of the classifications. She stated
staff has reviewed the other positions and does not anticipate any others. Ms.
Nicolai stated the modification does not amend the date by which they have to be
retired, which is June 30, 1993. She stated that what it amends is that staff wanted
to know by April 30, 1993, and they can still, within the deadline of retiring,
inform staff by June 30, 1993 which would give them one week to accomplish this. She
noted it will not go into the next fiscal year and is only geared to end as of next
week. Ms. Golt stated it cannot go into the next fiscal year.
Councilmember Breiner moved and Councilmember Shippey seconded, to adopt the Resolution
adopting an expansion of the Early Retirement Program and the Program's
qualifications and conditions.
RESOLUTION NO. 8973 -AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 8851 ADOPTING AN EXPANSION OF THE EARLY
RETIREMENT PROGRAM AND THE PROGRAM'S QUALIFICATIONS AND
CONDITIONS (employees must notify their departments by
6/30/93 and select a retirement date which is implemented &
in effect between 3/16 and 6/30, 1993)
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Breiner, Cohen, Shippey, Thayer & Mayor Boro
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
II.SAN RAFAEL CITY BUDGET - File 8-5 (VERBAL)
City Manager Nicolai advised Council there are copies of the Budget available in the
Finance Department for $1.00.
III.LEGISLATION - File 9-1 (VERBAL)
Councilmember Breiner requested an item be put on a future agenda for discussion of
revoking State legislation to require senior citizens to pay upgraded taxes when they
move, just as other citizens do that are below 65 years old.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:45 PM.
JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk
APPROVED THIS DAY OF r 1993
MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL