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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Comm min 1997/04/29 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING/WORKSHOP OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA CITY COUNCIL, PLANNING COMMISSION, AND GROWTH MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT COMMISSION Tuesday, April 29, 1997 5:44 p.m. Council Conference Room City Hall Building 1. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: ABSENT: ALSO PRESENT: Councihnelnbers Moot, Salas, and Mayor Horton. Planning Commissioners Aguilar, Davis, O'Neill, Thomas, Willett, Chair Tarantino. Growth Management Oversight Cmnmissioners Tarantino, O'Neill, Dull, Willett, Peter, and Kell. Councilmemhers Padilla and Rindone. Planning Commissioner Ray. Growth Management Oversight Commissioners Allen, Hyde, and Chair Hubbard. John D. Goss, City Manager; John M. Kaheny, City Attorney; and Carla J. Griffin, Acting Deputy City Clerk. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Growth Management Oversight Coounission Minutes from April 10, 1997 (GMOC Members'only). MSC (Willett/Peter) to approve the minutes of April 10, 1997 as presented, approved 6-0-3, with Commissioners Allen, Hyde, and Chair Hubbard absent. 2. PUBLIC HEARING: PCM-97-03; REVIEW AND CONSIDERATION OF THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT COMMISSION'S 1996 ANNUAL REPORT - The GMOC's 1996 Annual Report on compliance with the City's Qoality-of-Lil~ Threshold Standards ~ctlses on the period from 7/1/95 to 6/30/96. Pertinent issues identified in latter 1996 and early 1997 are also included. The workshop provides an opportunity to comprehensively review the ReporCs findings and recommendations. Stall' recommends that: (1) The Planning Commission accept the 1996 GMOC Annual Report and recommendations as presented, and adopt a motion recommending that the City Council do the salne; and (2) That Council: (at Accept the GMOC's 1996 Annual Report and the recommendations contained therein; (bt Direct staff to undertake the actions necessary to implement those reconunendations as presented in the 1996 GMOC Recommendations/Proposed Implementing Actions Summary"; and (ct Authorize the Mayor to finalize and fi)rward to both school districts the draft "Statements of Concern". Robert Leiter, Director of Planning, stated that each year the GMOC holds a series of meetings to review development It)recasts ti.~r the City and then to evaluate the compliance of the City with the eleven Threshold Standards that are in the Growth Management Ordinance. Followm~ the completion of that review, the GMOC works with staff to prepare the annual report. James F. Kell, Vice Chair, GMOC, presented the 1996 Annual Report and stated that several categories, from Libraries on, Thresholds had been met, bot Fire/EMS and Police Thresholds were not met. Minutes April 29, 1997 Page 2 Councilmember Salas asked if there was a way that the City could get the schools built sooner in a new development so that the schools are there when needed. John M. Kaheny, City Attorney, responded that he would look into it. Mayor Horton asked, in regard to the State mandating the smaller class size, if they were providing funding. Ed Batchelder, Senior Planner, stated rather than that being a State mandated program, it is an option which the districts can exercise, and in exchange $:br that, the districts can receive additional money. There is some t'unding, whether that funding is entirely adequate to handle the impact created he could not say. He thought that was part of what staff was looking at and was about to commence planning activities on several of the eastern area ~naster plans over the next 12 months, included would be EastLake, Otay Ranch, and San Miguel Ranch. Staffis tbrming a.joint Community Planning Technical Committee which would be stafi($ of varioas City departments and affected agencies, such as the school districts. John Goss, City Manager, thought this might be an appropriate sul2ject to discuss at a joint meeting with the school districts. Frank Tarantino, Chair, Planning Commission, asked if there had been any discussion in terms of setting permanent boundaries for EastLake High School which might alleviate the overcrowding at Bonita Vista High School. Mr. Batchelder responded not at the present time, the district indicated that they are continuing to maintain several optional attendance areas involving both EastLake High School and Bonita Vista High School. But he thought that was a matter of ongoing courses in planning as school boundaries are a4jnsted as new schonls are planned to co,ne on line as development occurs. Councilmember Moot stated there is a statement that there is an overcrowding problem and was curious as to what statistics or facts that conclusion was drawn ~'ronl or whether it was observed. Mr. Letter responded that in the report there is infi)rmation presented by the elementary schnnl district regarding some specific issues of either doubling up classrooms or overcrowding and this infurmation was provided to the City by the school district as a basis liar GMOC to review that issue. Bob Thomas, Planning Connnissioner, stated that on the question of overcrowding, he understood that there was a lot of special education children that were sharing library space and other room space. If those children of the special education are classified, are those classifications included in the overcrowding criteria and will that be rectified when the goals are met? Mr. Batchelder responded that he believed that the special education children were included in the total enrolhnent figures presented to GMOC. Dr. Lowell Billings, Chula Vista Elementary School District, stated that this had been an nnprecedented year tBr them in terms of facility needs. Class size reduction is an incentive base program. It was not mandated; but seeing it as a tremendous opportunity to improve the instructional program, they moved fi)rward with implementation this year. That created a need for 150 new classroom spaces or teaching stations in the current year. Coupled with that they had the addition of another 20 to 25 classrooms iust for growth. This legislation was passed in a year where they are in between school construction years so they did not have a new thcility coming on line. What it did was it absorbed all of their capacity within the district fi)r fi~tore growth. The State did provide some incentive fimding liar ~'hcilities. They are providing $25,000 per teaching station whea the actual cost t)t' installing a relocatable classroom often exceeds $50,000 per unit. They put in an application fi)r approximately 110 classrooms and that was half funded by the State. Pending some fl~ture legislation, they hope to have additional fimding in excess of $1.5 million next year to provide some additional bnildings. They're seeking a lot of creative lneans to enhance their facilities. One is the use of public/private partnerships. The Edison pr(~ject is going to bring in 15 new classrooms at no cost to local taxpayers or State taxpayers and are also working with another private fimndation to Minutes April 29, 1997 Page 3 build a school with private funds that would be a public school. Schools are overcrowded, but see it as a short term window, one that they hope to grow out of in the near futnre. Landerbach School is one of the more impacted sites with over 1,100 students in attendance. They are developing a plan fi)r moving to a tahiti-track, year-round program in July of this year. Conmtissioner Thomas asked Dr. Billings if he was correct to think that when the overcrowding was rectified, the special education children would have their own classrooms? Dr. Billings responded that was their goal. Carol Dull, Commissioner, GMOC, stated that in the report there are specific fignres reflecting that with the exception of EastLake High School, all high schools are operating above capacity and that Bonita Vista Middle School exceeds its total capacity by 151 students. Councilmember Moot asked how the threshold standard was determined. It was his t~eling that if the school districts were stating there was a problem and the City was relying on their thcts, then it was appropriate to issue a State of Concern. He asked if the school district would be ofl~nded by a letter of "Statement of Concern"'? Mr. Batchelder responded that the standard essentially asks the districts to give a 12 to 18 month growth tbrecast to address whether or not they feel there would be any issues with respect to housing students associated with that new growth. Usually what the districts are presenting the City with is a snapshot of what their existing conditions are in terms of numbers of schools, enrollment statistics of those various schools, then take the new enrollment, divide it by school attendance area, project the number of new students, and then they can determine whether they feel that they wonld have problems housing the stndents. Cheryl Cox stated that a good healthy school district is one that has as many children that it can put into its schools as the schools will comfortably hold. That is what makes a school district economically viable. We can't go aronnd saying that we can't handle the growth that is going on it our classrooms, we have to be able to handle it. She wished they could come up with a way to create what several years ago we talked about and those were turn-key schools. A developer says they want to pnt in a pr{~iect, the school comes in first, the park comes in first, because that makes that community in that development even more reasonable. She thought that a "Statement of Concern" would indicate that they are helpless to begin addressing this situation and thought they were doing lots of things to get towards a better end. They are building a new' school, converting a schnol to multi-track, year-round, and purchased additional property on one of their ~nore crowded schools. If they dou't get those needs addressed within the next two year, she thought the school district wonld be raising the same issues as in a "Statement of Concern." Councihnember Moot thought the GMOC recmmnendation was ,,veil taken and that it was probably appropriate to have a "Statement of Concern," but he thonght to do that withont meeting with the school districts first and informally discussing it might be taken the wrong way. Mayor Horton thought they could approve this in concept contingent upon meeting with the different school entities so that they can discuss this filrther. Chair Tarantino stated that even through new classroom space is added to a campus, support fhcilities such as restrooms and custodial help is not. He l~lt the quality of lilZ is impacted on school sites by bringing in relocatables and expanding the campus because the nther thcilities are not expanded ahmg with thegn. Jim Forgy, 1318 Costa Average, Chnla Vista, stated that he lived in the west-south of Chula Vista and for over six years the school district has known that they have an overcrowding pn)blc~n in the west side of Chula Vista becanse that is the highest density. Without the action of Council, he l~lt frothing will be done. Councilmember Moot stated that the City Council cannot dictate to the school district what to do, but we want to help figure out the best way to address the issnes and get them resolved. Minutes April 29, 1997 Page 4 Goss responded that over the last several years, the school districts have been looking fi)r a school site in the west part of the City and that there is really no the type of land available in one location tk~r that purpose. It is probably as difficult for them as it is lYr the City to find park sites. Vice Chair Kell stated that the GMOC continues to support the CAD/RMS system, hut that the Fire Department is statistically in non-compliance with the Threshold and presented the report. Chair Tarantino asked if anything was brought up about implementing a 311 service like San Diego is considering. Jim Hardiman, Fire Chief, stated that as part of their discussion on the GMOC Threshold Standard, they did not address specifically call screening as part of the process. There is a great deal of discussion both f?om the Police and Fire because of the extraordinary number of 911 calls. There is also some legislation cnrrently pending in Sacramento that is somewhat opposite to the proposal to make an alternate 911 system. They do not think that legislation has much of a possibility of passage, but there is some concern that some liability or down graded response may have some negative impacts fYr the citizens. They are doing a good job of sorting out what is a critical call. Those kinds of considerations are worth looking at equal of operation and fire,re planning to ofl~,;et some of the problems with 911 overload. They t~el the CAD system, the process of sorting out calls, will have an extraordinary benefit that will minimize the immediate need to go fi~r any kind of alternate 91 I system. They did not specifically look at that as an immediate need to evaluate f~r their Threshold Standard. Vice Chair Kell stated that GMOC continues to support the CAD/RMS system fi~r the Police Department and presented the report. Mayor Horton stated that the report indicates that there are more than 7,000 fitlse alarms. She asked what types of things staff would be recommending and if they would be able to address this issue by October. Richard Emerson, Chief of Police, responded that they, like other cities, respond to 98.6% of the alarms being fhlse, either robbery or burglary alarms. They are going to take a look at some other programs. There are cities that have strengthened the penalties, have worked with the people who install alarms, set up stone standards fi~r who can be hooked up, and which alarms they will respond on. They do not want to turn away people, but they dr) want to minimize false alarm calls. He indicated that he did think staff could return by October to address this issue. Councilmember Moot asked if the alarm calls are categnrized and if there was a diif~rence between which percentage was shown as false. Chief Emerson responded that robbery alarms are Priority I and burglary alarms are Priority II. If someone has a problem with the alarm and it goes offcontinually in a one day period, maybe fi)r a fnurth or fiflh ti~ne, because there is some malfunction in the system, then it drops down to a Priority I11 or Priority IV call. Robbery alarms are much fewer in number than burglary. There are about 6,000 burglary alarms to 1,000 robbery alarms in the City. A much higher percentage of burglary alarms are f;alse. Vice Chair Kell stated that the GMOC would like to be notified, or inclnded in the report next year, about how the hlse alarm problem is being dealt with. Councilmember Salas asked if there were any plans fi)r substations like tbe City of San Diego {)r something mike "store fronts." Chief Emerson responded that at this time there are no substations, but there are senior volunteers h)cated in various sections of the community. He believed that with the square mileage of the City, they conld run Otlt of one fhcility. They are looking into having a "store f¥ont" concept, places where citizens can come and there would be an interaction. Vice Chair Kell presented the report on the Libraries. Councilmember Salas asked how it is working out in terlns of the hours and compatibility of use having a library at Eastkake? Minutes April 29, 1997 Page 5 David Pahner, Library Director, responded that the library at EastLake has many advantages, but most of all it allowed them to provide library service in the eastern portion of the City ranch sooner than they would have been able to otherwise through Development Impact Fee collection. The disadvantage is the hours. They only offer library services tbr 24 hours a week and don't have services during the day until 3:30 p.m. That is a disadvantage because they can not service the elementary schools m the district like they do in the western portion of the City. Vice Chair Kell presented the report on Drainage, Sewer, and Water. Councitmember Moot asked if the GMOC's recommendation had taken into account an analysis of the problems the City of San Diego is having with their reclaimed water system. Mayor Horton stated that the newer parts of Chula Vista have a dual piping requirement. San Diego, even though they knew they did not have a delivery system in place, built the reclaimed water plant. Mr. Batchelder responded the GMOC did hear from the districts that reclaimed water and reclaimed water planning is an issue. It will take a very coordinated action to bring about a cost efl~ctive reclaimed water market. Right now with per unit of water it is more expensive to purchase the reclaimed water than potable water. Vice Chair Kell presented the report tin Parks and Recreation. Mayor Horton asked if staff reit they could still meet the October goal. Jerry Foncerrada, Deputy Director of Parks, responded that is their goal right now, they have been meeting every week and are almost ready to finish np the telephone snrvey that was conducted in the eastern area. Once that is done, it will just be a matter of pulling the three cbapters together and get the report ready. Councilmember Moot asked what they would be looking at m terms of the size of a park or multiple parks in the west part of the City and the size et Eucalyptus Park. Mr. Batchelder responded that there is a shortage and thought they wm~ld need approximately 120 additional acres of park land on the west side. Mr. Foncerrada responded that Eucalyptus Park is approximately 19 1/2 acres. Councilmember Moot stated that realistically, from a space perspective, there was probably not 120 acres on the west side. Short of a bond issue, is there any realistic way to fi~nd the construction of a new park or parks on the west side. Mr. Foncerrada responded at this time there ,.vas not 120 ac~es available on the west side. They have been looking at some unused facilities at the high schools and at the middle schools. They could possibly pick up almost 40 acres in those areas through a ,joint use program and they are also looking at a 20 acre site in the Otay Valley. Mr. Goss responded that in next fiscal year's capital improvement program there is a snggestion on how to pursue and utilize PAD fees that have been accumulating t~r acquisition of parks on the west side of the City. There are some potential park sites: 14 acres next to the KOA, but the neighbors don't want a park there, and potential sites in the Otay River Valley. There is a possibility of accumulating np to 50 acres in an area along the river valley that could be used for active recreation and would be consistent with the regional park plans. Councilmember Moot asked approximately how much it wtmld ct)st to turn a 10 acre undeveloped site into an active park. Mr. Foncerrada responded that it would cost about $200,000 an acre. Mr. Batchelder stated that in the context et' the Parks Master Plato staff talked abont a possible adoption of a City- wide standard that would remedy the conditions in the western part of the City which would be a 20 or more year goal. Minutes April 29, 1997 Page 6 Patty Davis, Planning Commissioner, stated that she supported pedestrian parks and smaller parks and tMt that the philosophy here was that the parks had to be large ones with ball fields, expensive lights, etc. and did not think that was conducive to the west side. Vice Chair Kell presented the reports on Air Quality, Fiscal, and Traffic. Mr. Batchelder reported on, and cited the reasons Ii)r, the recolnlnended modifications l¥om the Engineering Division included in the traffic report. Councilmember Salas state/d that last year's report seemed to have had more elnphasis put on troubled streets and asked if something has happened in terms of signaling or something that has lessened the severity of those "hot spots". Mr. Batchelder responded that essentially all the street segments that were driven were in compliance with the threshold program. The reason you do not see a heavy emphasis in this year's reports is that the GMOC felt that it had drawn that attention in prior years. What the Engineering Department has done is take the GMOC's comments and prior reports about the area where you would want to concentrate activity and built that into their programs. Chair Tarantino stated that the southbound 1-805 and East "H'' exit ramp, the southbound 1-805 at Telegraph Canyon Road/"L" Street exit, and on northbound 1-805 the "L" Street/Telegraph Canyon Road exit, between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. is extremely hazardous to exit for people who live in the eastern territories. The cars back up and there is jogging in and out of lanes. On the East "H" Street exit, there is a blind curve in which the vehicles have to approach the ramp and the traffic is usually backed up and all ora sudden the cars are stopped. If someone does not see it, there is a potential fi~r a rear-ending accident. The same thing on 1-805 north when ynu take the "L" Street/Telegraph Canyon exit proceeding east, the signal light there is not signalized to be green during the peak hours, and there is its own right hand turn lane. Cars, if it's green, could proceed without interlkring with the right-of-way traffic that is going west to east. Again the traffic backs up and there is a potential tk~r lots of rear-end accidents. He suggested that maybe the City Council or staff could articulate to Caltrans that a flashing yellow light be placed to warn people that traffic can back np. Mr. Goss stated that one of the advantages is to have the preliminary version of the GMOC's report in time to feed into the Capital Improvement Program and that is happening nn an inl'k)rmal basis. The CIP that is cnming up later this week is going to propose an expenditure of $1.1 million t¥om the transpnrtation DIF to make the Phase Il interchange improvements at 1-805 and Telegraph Canyon Road/"L" Street. There are several phases of improvements at the interchange that need to be made and plugged into the TransDif. Phase II will be propused tbr Council to approve in the budget fi)r next year. Councihnember Moot stated that he thought the City should start coordinating with Caltrans regarding the stopping of traffic actually on the t?eeway at the off-ramps, because it appears to be a significant problem. While we do not look at that roadway under onr Threshold Standards, we might want to figure out a way with Caltrans to monitor that as part of our Growth Management Program. If it is a recommendation from the Planning Commission that we incorporate and look at those freeway exits as part nf this annual process, he would support that recommendation. Mr. Batchelder responded that it is his understanding that the Engineering Division is wt>rking with Caltrans on rations stages of evaluation for improvements on a number of those interchanges. Vice Chair Kell presented the report on the review of Potential Higher and Adult Educati(m Threshold. John Willett, Planning Comnfissioner, stated that currently the adult division serves over 38,000 students at three major campuses. The main campus offers classes 14 hours per day, M{mday throngh Thursday, 8 hours on Friday, and smaller schedules on Saturday. The adult school presently serves adnlt students at 30 ottUsite campus locations. With the new welthre law, people have to go to work and a lot of those people need to take classes tn help them get jobs. As the City grows, there will need to be more locations fi)r adult education. To survive in today's technology, they are going to need higher educational courses. Minutes April 29, 1997 Page 7 Mayor Horton stated that San Diego State University would like to expand, have a t~tcility in Chula Vista and have it off the ground and open in five years. They have a meeting with Dr. Weber fi'om San Diego State on Thursday and will be meeting with Sonthwestern College and UCSD to try t{~ come up with a model program that may be different than the norm. Kevin O'Neil, Commissioner, GMOC, stated that parks and libraries are nice, but the City has sewers, drainage and water so they also need to consider solid waste as a threshold. Solid waste has been taken for granted, but the City cannot fi~nction without these. He thought they needed to look at other means of disposal or handling of this. Finding another landfill in the coastal plain of San Diego County would be like trying to find another aiq)ort. Recycling helps a lot; but it is going to becoine more difficult to dispose of; they might have to look at exporting. Mayor Horton responded that the City is involved in di|f~rent options and that SANDAG has come up with a regional plan to address some of the issues that have to do with solid waste aud landfills and options for the future. MSC (Willett/Davis) that the Plamdng Cornmissiun udopt the GMOC recurnmendations as stated in their report. Approved 5-0-2 with Co~nrnissiouer Ray and Thumus absent. MSC (Moot/Salas) that the City Council approve the GMOC report, m~t as a Threshold Standard, but as an Advisory Standard and repurt on any issues inwdving the freewuy entrances and exit,~ by consultation with Caltrans so that we can monitor any develaping problems at the freeway intersectiuns and in an advisory way, try to incorporate that in uur anulysis; and in an advis{wy capucity, to fnnnully hmk ut a yearly report on the solid waste issues as well, because it is a growing issue thut while we are not ready to develop a threshold standard on it, a yearly repnrt on the status, ifincurpnruted in this repnrt, would be appropriate. Approved 3-0-2 with Padilla and Rindone absent. Mr. Loiter asked fi~r a clarification on the motion anti the "Statements of Concern." Councilmember Moot responded that it was his understanding that the staff reconunendation was to go first and tbrmally to the school district and then based on those discussions make a decision as to whether to issue a formal "Statements of Concern" and thonght that was going to get them where they wanted to go. Mayor Horton responded that they are snpporting the recommendations of the GMOC, but should wait on the "Statements of Concern" until after they met with the school districts. Councilmember Salas responded that she tmderstood that they were going to advise the school district that the letter was coming as a courtesy to them, but t~lt that tile matter of the school deficiencies is irnportant enough and pressing enough that they should go fi~rward with sending the "Statements of Concern." Mr. Batchelder responded that he thought what he had heard was that Council wanted to wait on the "Statements of Concern" nntil such time as Conncil had an opportnnity to schednle and hold a ioint discussion with the school districts. Mr. Goss stated that he could run both letters hy the superintendents and get their reactions. There may be some changes that in their judgement would make it totally acceptable withont stepping on anybody's toes; and if he found that out, he can bring it back in that ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None. The meeting/workshop a4journed at 7:40 p.lll. ADJOURNMENT Rcspecttully submitted, BEVERLY A. AUTHELET, CMC/AAE, City Clerk Carla J~-Griffin,'~ting Dept -~t~4~ity Clerk