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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-06-15 PC, CC, GMOC MINS MINUTES OF ADJOUR.NED REGULAR MEETINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL, GROWTH MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT COMMISSION AND PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA June 15, 2006 6:00 P.M. Adjourned Regular Meetings of the City Council, Growth Management Oversight Commission, and Planning Commission of the City ofChula Vista were called to order at 6:36 p.m. at the John Lippitt Public Works Center, 1800 Maxwell Road, Chula Vista, California. On roll call, there were: ROLL CALL: Councilmembers: Castaneda, Chavez, McCann, Rindone, and Mayor Padilla Gro~1h Management Oversight Commissioners: Arroyo, Garcia, Krogh, Little, Moya, Palma, Tripp, Waters, and Chair Spethman Planning Commissioners: Bensoussan, Felber, Nordstrom, Tripp and Chair Madrid ABSENT: Growth Management Oversight Commissioner Moya and Planning Commission Chair Madrid ALSO PRESENT: Interim City Manager Thomson, City Attorney Moore, and Senior Deputy City Clerk Peoples PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG AND MOMENT OF SILENCE PUBLIC HEARING 1. REVIEW OF THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT COMMISSION'S 2006 ANNUAL REPORT The Growth Management Oversight Commission (GMOC) has finalized its 2006 annual report regarding compliance with the City's quality of life threshold standards. The report reflects the outcome of analysis of information presented by various City departments and external agencies regarding the impacts on growth on each of the 11 facility and service topics covered by the threshold standards. The report addresses each threshold in terms of current compliance, issues, and corresponding recommendations. Planning and Building Director Sandoval provided an introduction and thanked everyone involved in the process, noting that this was the 20th year of the program, which is still considered a state of the art program, both statewide and nationally. Senior Planner Stephens provided the staff report covering the growth management program, the City's 11 quality of life indicators, the threshold standards under City control and external control, the establishment of the Growth Management Oversight Commission, the members and processes followed, including consistent questions asked for each threshold, City of Chula Vista statistics, and the residential growth forecast. PUBLIC HEARING (continued) GMOC Chair Spethman provided a topic-by-topic review of the 11 quality of life indicators with this year's findings and recommendations with regard to Fiscal, Air Quality, Sewer, Water, Libraries, Drainage. Parks & Recreation. Police, Fire/EMS, Traffic and Schools. Senior Planner Stephens presented the 2006 threshold standard - annual review summary for the period of July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005. He then touched on the public review process, during which letters were received from Mr. Peter Watry and Ms. Laura Hunter of the Environmental Health Coalition. Additionallv, the GMOC conducted a community workshop on ili J June 7 . and the only formal comments received were from Ms. Hunter. Subsequently, a request was received from the Sweetwater Authority to revise its response to the GMOC recommendation regarding recycled water use by adding clarification. A memorandum transmitting these revisions was provided on the dais this evening. Mr. Stephens then touched on the Growth Management Program Review, referred to as the "top to bottom" review, proposed changes and principles that are part of a three-prong effort, and the status of the proposed changes;, and he summarized the recommendations. The revised Growth Management Ordinance and Growth Management Guidelines document will be brought back to the Planning Commission and City Council following this year's annual review process and were not part of tonight's proposed action. GMOC Chair Spethman inquired as to whether any of the GMOC commissioners wished to provide additional comment on the draft. Commissioner Krogh stated that his opinion varied from that of the commission as a whole regarding the fiscal section of the report, and the vote was not unanimous. He then provided the Council and the Commissioners with a wTitten statement and paraphrased his concerns for the record. His primary concerns focused on the fiscal section of the report and his view that the City acted illegally in using the SR-125 development impact fees. Commissioner Tripp stated that the GMOC held thorough discussions, with input from staff and the City Attorney's office, and the GMOC members believed they had adequately addressed the thresholds as adopted by the City Council and as stated in the Municipal Code. Commissioner Garcia said he had spent seven years on the Commission and was proud of the amount of time and level of effort devoted to talking about issues, listening to other opinions, bringing in staff, and obtaining legal opinions. The rest of the Commission believed that staff had responded with answers appropriately. the Commission did the best it could with all the information provided, and the Commission made the right decision. Mayor Padilla then asked and received concurrence to take public testimony pnor to the Planning Commission discussion. Theresa Acerro stated that the structure of the GMOC, the types of materials they are given to evaluate, and the thresholds themselves are structured in a way to make it difficult not to meet a threshold, and therefore, are less valuable than they could be in evaluating the quality of life and the effects of growth upon that. Ms. Acerro then spoke regarding air quality and provided several examples and suggestions for improvement, such as providing developers with mandates rather than suggestions. She also suggested, with regard to water quality, the establishment of requirements for maintenance of sediment basins and filters in storm drains. Lastly, Ms. Acerro spoke regarding redevelopment and the need to create a threshold for the relocation of people and affordable housing. Page 2 - CounciIlGMOc/PC Minutes http://www .ch ula vistaca. gOY June 15. 2006 PUBLIC HEARING (continued) Kevin O'Neill, past member of the Planning Commission and GMOC, stated that he had participated in the 2005 GMOC threshold process, and he recommended changes in the library and parks thresholds, which seemed hollow in that they were met by completion of the facility, even though they were not yet open to the public. He had also recommended the addition of adequate staffing for the facilities, consistent with the library threshold, with appropriate hours of operation. Mr. O'Neill then stated that the City Manager had advised the GMOC it was not their role to consider staffing. Mr. O'Neill pointed out that staff should not dictate to a board or commission, as they are independent, and staff is there only to advise. A board or commission's allegiance should be to the citizens. Additionally, he stated that while serving on the GMOC, he had requested a threshold be added to look at the condition and maintenance of streets, as he felt the City was losing ground on street maintenance. Commissioner Bensoussan mentioned the parks and recreation threshold of three acres per thousand population and asked if there were a separate threshold for the west. GMOC Chair Spethman, Parks and Recreation Director Martin, Councilmember Rindone, Advanced Planning Manager Batchelder and City Attorney Moore addressed her questions, noting that Recreation was working with Community Development and Planning on meeting the challenges of the citywide ordinance. The Bayfront development will provide a considerable change to the parkland on the west side, and the current parks development ordinance has three acres per thousand for new development citywide, as does the General Plan and Parks Master Plan, based upon the Quimby Act, which was based upon development with no distinction between east and west. Ms. Bensoussan expressed her view that the document should reflect the reality and provide goals, not just pass or fail. She then requested and received clarification that acreage for school facilities and recreation-based community purpose facilities was not included in assessing the three acres of park land per 1,000 population standard; applauded the recommendation for planning a future major park to reflect a theme related to Chula Vista's history and accomplishments since its incorporation in 1911; requested consideration of a heritage element for the City's centennial in 2011 and urged the Council to put together a task force or committee for its preparation; requested clarification regarding traffic levels of service in western Chula Vista in the base year of 1991; suggested staff pursue additional transportation demand program grants if available in the future and, if available, consider using funds for the conversion of the trolley buses for possible use as free shuttles to the Nature Center. Olympic Training Center and for west side tourism; confirmed that the Planning and Building Department has reorganized the environmental section, created a sustainability section that deals with habitat preservation, the Multiple Species Conservation Program and sustainability measures and the goal is to ratchet up standards and take them forward into the building community; and confirmed that the new GMOC Ordinance and guidelines were in the works and hoped they would address issues raised by the public regarding housing, water quality. street maintenance, library and parks. Director Sandoval noted that new items would need to be addressed in the next cycle. Ms. Bensoussan inquired about issues addressed by Commissioner Moya. Chair Spethman responded, as did Commissioner Tripp, stating that one of the public speakers at the last GMOC meeting was Laura Hunter of the Environmental Health Coalition. and Ms. Moya was an environmental representative. Ms. Hunter requested consideration of thresholds beyond those adopted by the Council. and Ms. Moya supported her request. Since the thresholds were approved by the City Council and not the GMOC, it was suggested that Ms. Hunter take her concerns to the City Council. Page 3 - Council/GMOC!PC Minutes http://www .ch ulavistaca.gov June] 5, 2006 PUBLIC HEARING (continued) Commissioner Nordstrom stated that as a member of the GMOC. he had suggested that the report would be more complete if libraries and parks that fall under County jurisdiction could be included as an addendum. That would give a true depiction of quality of life, even though the threshold may not be met. He then applauded Commissioner Krogh for his level of conviction, whether right or wrong. Vice Chair Felber asked whether the GMOC had reviewed the subject of police coverage and whether a substation in the east would be better at accommodating growth versus additional beats and patrols. GMOC Chair Spethman responded in the affirmative, stating that the Police Chiefs preference was to have his officers under one roof and believed the money was better spent on beat patrol officers. Police Captain Wedge stated that one of the studies being conducted during the life cycle of the Strategic Plan would address this issue. Vice Chair Felber then expressed support for Commissioner Bensoussan's recommendation regarding the historical aspect of a future park in the west. He then encouraged staff to revisit what appeared to be a disparity between the medical center (per acre) fee and the regional commercial (per acre) fee, as it appeared to him that traffic going in and out of a shopping mall would be greater than a medical facility, so as not to discourage future expansion of or new medical facilities from locating in the City. He also encouraged the City to work with the school district to open facilities for community use. GMOC Commissioner Garcia and Councilmember Rindone provided comment as to why this was not occurring, primarily due to security and safety issues and the delicate balance. Vice Chair Felber made inquiry on the school capacity figures and future enrollment at Palomar High School. ACTION: Planning Commissioner Nordstrom then moved to adopt Planning Commission Resolution No. PCM-06-01, heading read, text waived: RESOLUTION NO. PCM 06-01, RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA ACCEPTING AND APPROVING THE 2006 GMOC ANNUAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDING ACCEPTANCE AND APPROVAL BY THE CITY COUNCIL Commissioner Bensoussan seconded the motion, and it carried 4-0, with Chairman Madrid absent. Mayor Padilla requested questions and comments from the Council. Deputy Mayor McCann recommended that the GMOC look at the City reserve capacity during future reviews to ensure that up to 8% is set aside for the fiscal health of the City. He then made inquiry, and Assistant City Manager/Library Director Palmer responded, regarding County library facilities being counted by the GMOC. Deputy Mayor McCann asked that some level of minimum staffing be established for libraries. He then inquired and received confirmation that the parks that currently are not on City property were not included in the threshold and that the Parks threshold was currently being met with the opening of new parks in 2006. Deputy Mayor McCann then requested the notation of a geographic distinction between east and west park acreage. He also requested that the City stay on track with the aquatics plan to make sure pools are provided for new and Page 4 - Council/GMOC/PC Minutes http://www . chulavistaca.gov June 15, 2006 PCBLIC HEARING (continued) existing residents. Further, he recommended City staff work with other agencies to put together a sewage treatment plant in the south county. He thanked staff for their work with the school district on getting the new high schools built on time. He then expressed concern with the next projected combination middle/high school in Village Eleven and the maturity levels of ih graders mixed in with 1 ih graders. He spoke regarding the conflict with the United States Olympic Committee on naming the new high school in Village Seven Olympic High School, and he asked the Mayor to personally mention the matter to Peter Ueberroth, Chair of the U.S. Olympic Committee. With regard to the comments made by Commissioner Krogh on the use of Interim SR-125 development impact fees, Deputy Mayor McCann stated that staffwas looking at possibly using them for traffic enhancements. toll reductions, and the creation of on and off ramps. He asked staff to provide an update on where the funds are headed. Further, he inquired as to whether, with all the additional police officers recently added, compliance would be met in Fiscal Year 2007, and he confirmed that the Bonita Public Safety Center storefront was being used and negotiations were underway for an additional storefront in the new shopping center. Police Captain Wedge responded that things were being reviewed in the Strategic Plan and hopefully there would be threshold compliance in 2007. Deputy Mayor McCann then thanked all Department Heads and staff for making great strides in meeting the established thresholds. Planning Vice Chair Felber stated that he had attended a combined middle/high school in the Midwest and suggested ways the district could make it safer, such as altering the start and end times, building entrances, generally separate the location of classes, and divide common areas such as the gym. Councilmember Rindone stated he had made a staff referral approximately three months ago regarding the planning of a community-wide centennial celebration. Assistant City Manager/Library Director Palmer responded that Cultural Arts and Funds Development Manager Reinhart and the Library Department were taking the lead and pulling together a set of recommendations on how it could be structured, which will be brought back to the Council the first of the year. Councilmember Rindone requested the inclusion of community members in the process. Councilmember Rindone then spoke regarding west side parks, stating that in addition to the potential new Bayfront park, there would soon be a new park on the KOA campground site. Councilmember Rindone then addressed Councilmember McCann's concerns regarding the naming of the new high school, stating that alternative names, such as Olympic Hills and Olympic Vista, were being reviewed. Councilmember Rindone then recommended the addition of a 12th threshold, a transportation element, and asked the GMOC to brainstorm and look at what components of a transportation element might be appropriate. He also suggested the addition of a higher education component under Schools. Lastly, he asked the GMOC to look at the threshold for Police response times, requesting that emergency calls exceeding a IO-minute response time be looked at in more depth, and he suggested additionally that the Public Safety Committee look at all calls that exceed 10 minutes. City Attorney Moore commented on the statement made by Commissioner Krogh in which he noted he had spoken to several experts in related fields and quoted a law professor. Ms. Moore noted that it did not appear from the law professor's quote that the professor believed the City's Page 5 - Council/GMOClPC Minutes http://WWW .ch ulavistaca. gOY June 15, 2006 PUBLIC HEARING (continued) actions with respect to use of the interim SR-125 DIF was illegal. The City Attorney's Office analyzed the issue, determined the actions were not illegal, and provided an opinion to the GMOC. The attorney who provided the opinion and spoke to Mr. Krogh has been practicing law for over 15 years and has handled complex legal issues with respect to land use matter, for both the City of San Diego and the City of Chula Vista. City Attorney Moore stated that she too had analyzed Mr. Krogh's concerns and found that the City's actions complied with state law. Ms. Moore went on to state that her legal background included over 20 years of experience in the area of land use, and that she had represented municipalities such as San Diego and Chula Vista, as well as private developers in a very reputable law firm in the San Diego. Although Mr. Krogh disagrees with the City Attorney's analysis, it was based on over 35 years of collective experience in the area of land use. She then stated that the analysis, simply put, was that refunds are required to be given when sufficient funds have been collected to complete the facilities identified by that fee. The interim fee was collected for a number of things, such as Interim SR- 125 facilities and other traffic enhancing projects. According to the City Engineer, the costs of those facilities exceeded the actual fees that were collected under the Interim SR-125 DIF program. Therefore, the City's actions were in compliance with state law. Councilmember Castaneda believed strides had been made regarding schools, public safety, fire, augmentation of the police budget and the ability of officers to reach their destinations in a timely matter, and traffic. However, within the Traffic threshold, more attention should be paid to maintenance, repair, and the quality of roadway segments. He asked the GMOC to look at roadway maintenance and repair along the same level as service analysis. He also asked that the Park threshold on the west side be looked at as a quality oflife tool. Councilmember Chavez asked about the school districts and school building maintenance, upgrades and inspection ratings. Planning and Building Director Sandoval responded that the districts have put together a detailed work program on school staffing, new schools and old school renovations, and have agreed to share it with the GMOC on an annual basis. Commissioner Nordstrom stated that the GMOC had been provided with a school-by-school analysis manual on renovations. Councilmember Chavez then inquired as to projected enrollment numbers and common school calendar considerations. Chair Spethman responded that suggesting changes to the district on the capacity of the schools and how they function was not within the purview of the GMOC. Further, Councilmember Chavez expressed concerns for the students of the proposed joint junior high/high school and the impact of traffic on the neighborhoods. GMOC Chair Spethman commented that the district was cognizant of the citizen concems, and the GMOC reviewed the architectural renderings, which showed that there would be no interaction between middle and high school students. A wall divides the entire school. Additionally, the school would be smaller than others, which would minimize the traffic impacts. Councilmember Chavez stated her concerns were more with intermingling after school. Chair Spethman stated that, based on personal experience, the Police Department and School Resource Officers are currently doing an excellent job of monitoring current, similar situations. Councilmember Chavez stated that Village 7 is currently districted to go to Olympic High School, even though it is within walking district to Otay Ranch High School. She concurred with Councilmember Rindone's suggestion for a lih threshold for transportation. She further noted that she did not see anything relating to medical or health care facilities and suggested looking at the adequacy of such service facilities for the community. Page 6 - Council/GMOC/PC Minutes http://www.chulavistaca.gov June 15. 2006 PUBLIC HEARING (continued) Planning Commissioner Nordstrom stated that he is the chair of the Scripps/Mercy Hospital Advisory Board, and is currently working with a group formed in concert with Supervisor Cox to develop a coalition to address healthcare. Proposals relative to medical care facilities in the south county will be forthcoming. He stated that it was incumbent upon elected officials, when going through the redevelopment process, possibly through grants or other means, to allow medical professionals to purchase homes in concert with the hospitals and within walking distance of hospitals and medical facilities. Mayor Padilla stated that local government could use its local land use authority to incentivize the types of housing and real estate transactions around medical facilities, and he suggested the City be involved with the committee at some time in the near future. He then echoed the comments from the Environmental Health Coalition that dealt with air and water quality and recommended that the Council consider tasking the GMOC with determining the right methodology to measure impacts. Mayor Padilla then thanked the members of the Planning Commission, GMOC. and staff. Councilmember Rindone added that incentivized housing for medical professionals and the creation of special circumstances to retain the facilities and expand them is an analogy that is also applicable to faculty housing for the university site. Planning and Building Director Sandoval asked that the Sweetwater Authority's requested technical changes in their response to GMOC recommendations, transmitted via staffs memorandum, be included as part of the motion. ACTION: Councilmember Rindone moved to adopt Resolution No. 2006-185, heading read, text waived, with the inclusion of the Sweetwater Authority's revisions referred to by Director Sandoval, with Council comments regarding additional and/or adjusted threshold standards, and incorporating direction by dialogue this evening from the Council: RESOLUTION NO. 2006-185, RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA ACCEPTING THE 2006 GMOC ANNUAL REPORT AND APPROVING THE RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINED THEREIN; AND DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO UNDERTAKE ACTIONS NECESSARY TO IMPLEMENT THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS AS PRESENTED IN THE "2006 GMOC RECOMMENDA TIONS/PROPOSED IMPLEMENTING ACTIONS SUMMARY" Deputy Mayor McCann seconded the motion, and it carried 5-0. PUBLIC COMMENTS There were none. ADJOURNMENT At 9:22 p.m., Mayor Padilla adjourned the City Council to a regular meeting on June 20, 2006, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. At 9:22 p.m., GMOC Chair Spethman and Planning Commission Vice-Chair Felber adjourned their Commissions to their respective regular meetings. --:;-~~' ~ ~ Lori Anne Peoples, CMC, ~nior Deputy City Clerk Page 7 - Council/GMOC/PC Minutes http://www .chulavi staca.gov June 15, 2006