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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc min 1997/03/01MINUTES OF A SPECIAL WORKSESSION MEETING OF THE CHULA VISTA CITY COUNCIL Saturday, March 1, 1997 10:35 a.m. Council Conference Room Administration Building CALL TO ORDER 1. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Councilmembers: Moot, Padilia, Rindone, Salas, and Mayor Horton (arrived at 11:08 a.m.) ABSENT: Councilmembers: None ALSO PRESENT: Staff: City Manager, John D. Goss; Assistant City Manager, Sid Morris (arrived at 12:20 a.m.); Deputy City Manager, George Krempl; City Attorney, John Kaheny; Planning Director, Robert Leiter; Public Works Director, John Lippitt; Community Development Director, Chris Salomone; City Clerk, Beverly A. Authelet; and Facilitator, Michelle M oomaugh. BUSINESS 2. REPORT ESTABLISHING CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES - The City Council has requested that they have a worksession to discuss City priorities. In preparation for this worksession, staff has prepared information at several different levels of detail so that Council may focus on big picture issues, setting policy direction and also have more detailed inlbrmation available to assist in the process. Staff recommends that Council evaluate the information, add or subtract projects or priorities and give staff direction on its priorities so that staff may then focus departmental work plans and budget discussions to meet these priorities. (City Manager) Continued from the Special Meeting/Worksession of 1/25/97. Mayor Pro Tem Padilia called the meeting to order. Ms. Moomaugh went over the work which Council had previously accomplished. Promote Quality of Life Indicators throullh Application of the Eleven/Twelve Identified Threshold Standards which determine Quality of Life Mayor Pro Tern Padilia stated that they did not get into the subcategories under Promoting Quality of Life Indicators. He stated that the category asserts that we are going to promote the quality of life indicators, therelbre, it is important to list those indicators. Councilman Rindone stated that there was a nexus between this and the City's eleven quality of life indicators under the Growth Management threshold standards. Council concurred in adding twelve indicators to the list as subcategories (see end of minutes under summary for the entire list). City Manager Goss clarified that there is a twelfth standard which was higher education that has not been officially adopted. Councihnan Rindone stated that he did not was to preclude this because he was very supportive of higher education. Minutes March 1, 1997 Page 2 Economic Development City Manager Goss stated that last time we were only part way through economic development. Council planned to finish economic development and go on to land use; that is why Council had requested Bob Leiter, Chris Salomone, and John Lippitt to be present at this workshop. He stated that it was decided to hold a workshop to explore revitalizing Third Avenue in March and another workshop to look at developing a master plan fbr Otay Valley Road area by April. This has been changed somewhat because Council has indicated a desire to do the Bayfront area first ahead of those two which has been scheduled liar March. There are some other issues such as EastLake Business Park, the issue of the University, and the listing of "business projects" to also consider. Bayfront/Waterfront Councilman Moot stated that the Port is processing an EIR to change their zoning. They probably will be taking it to the Coastal Commission. "H" Street is going through. Rohr has some unused buildings south of "H" Street. The question is, do we plan it all at once or piecemeal. If it is to develop a master plan, then we had better get going. Mr. Goss stated that there is a group which keeps changing its name and is currently known as the Chula Vista Yacht Harbor Coalition that is working on this. Conceptually they have defined the "bayfront" as the mid-bayfront and the "waterfront" as everything in the redevelopment area which we call the Bayfront. They are focusing on their section which is the yacht harbor area. Their monthly meetings involve key members of the City staff', Port staff, and principal players in the area snch as Cheryl Cox who represents the mid-bayfront. They have a Vision Statement which will be presented to the Council at the next workshop scheduled tbr the Bayfront. Another thing which has happenext is that Mr. Zell, who has the largest number of square footage of real estate under development in the Country and the second largest of commercial, has looked at this whole area; he wants to plan the whole thing. Councilman Moot asked if we should do a smaller project on the south end of the Rohr property or should we try to prevent someone like Mr. Zell coming in and doing all of "H" Street and south of that. His understanding is that Rohr is willing to give up everything south of "H" Street, so we could do a master plan of that area. This would reqnire a major effort because of the severe toxic problems under the Rohr facilities. Councilman Rindone stated he had a problem with the word, bayfront. He t~lt there were two separate areas: the bayfront and the waterfront. From the planning perspective, it is nice to do an overall umbrella plan tbr both, but he was concerned that if one takes off and the other one doesn't, it might be detrimental to progressing rapidly. Councilman Padilia felt that if the planning, communication, and effort was more comprehensive or involved more parties and are able to get to a common agreement about a general theme or direction for development of the whole area, then a plan can be adopted multi-jurisdictionally. Mr. Leiter added that we needed to approach the planning of this area differently than the undeveloped areas to the east because one really needs to do some strategic planning and look at opportunities that might arise rather quickly. We need to have some flexibility to deal with opportunities that might exist either in the mid-bayfront or in the southern area. We need to coordinate the planning, but we also need to be able to interact with the property owners and developers more quickly in this area. Mr. Krempl agreed and felt that there should be a Specific Plan for each area at whatever pace the property owners and/or city wants, but we need to make sure there is coordination between the areas as to how they interface with each other. Mr. Salomone agreed with the exception of Mr. Zakout. Staff has met with the other property owners and they have already bought into a joint planning effort. The Port and Rohr has agreed to a cost sharing plan and SDG&E is discussing it. He was not sure Mr. Zakout would join in this effort. He felt that a joint planning effort was the way to go as long as we don't eliminate the ability to move quickly. Minutes March 1, 1997 Page 3 Councilman Moot felt no one would develop the mid-bayfront until they knew what was going to happen south of "H" Street. He also felt that until we address the underlying problem of cleaning up the property which Rohr no longer wants to use, nothing is going to happen. Rohr is not going to sell land and incur clean up costs. Mr. Salomone stated that Rohr is talking to some consultant groups about a process that has been used in other parts of the country where there have been toxic problems. The process used was to quantify some reasonable mediation costs and then sell the property to a developer at a price that has been discounted by the amount of the mediation COSTS. * * * (Mayor Horton arrived at 11:08 a.m.) * * * Council concurred that this was a high priority; there was a need to proceed with a flexible master plan; and a workshop needed to be called. Street Name Change Mr. Salomone presented a status report on the street name change. He stated that changing the name to something related to "auto" was very negative, and the applicant has withdrawn his request liar such a change. Should Council desired to proceed with a name change, staff could come tbrward with the name change rather quickly. Mr. Leiter stated that the process normally is that you make the street name change in relation to the plan. The planning should be done first. Mr. Goss stated that the water park people have just hired a marketing director to put together their marketing campaign. The question is what street name will they be relying upon for getting off the freeway and would they be willing to look at a name change. There are a number of businesses already established on the other side of the street from the anto park. Responses from some of these people have been very negative. Councilman Moot stated the issue was that in terms of attracting regional businesses to that area, you need a name which is more friendly. When you have a 30 second commercial and you want to advertise the water park, you want to be able to tell people very quickly how to get there. He liked the suggestion to have a "Name the Street Contest" tbr the community. Councilman Rindone stated that we do need a name change, but it needs to be something other than "auto" or "Otay" since there is already contusion with Otay Lakes Road and Otay Valley Road. He also felt that the City should be willing to help with the cost of making the changes on letterhead. etc. This will be controversial, but in the long ran, the City will be well served. Mr. Salomone added that Caltrans is one factor that we cannot clearly predict. If the name change is going to cause the signs on the freeway to be re-engineered or rebuilt, that can be very costly. Since Otay Valley Road is such a big name, we will probably have a name that will work and won't have to do that and will only have to change the sign. There are five or six signs off the freeway. * * * Council recessed at 11:55 a.m. and reconvened at 12:05 p.m. * * * Review all Franchises and Other Agreements Mr. Goss suggested that the City renegotiate the franchises with Cox, SDG&E; and Laidlaw and they should be added to the Economic Development list. Council concurred. They also concurred in adding the Electric Utility Restructuring to the Franchise list. The title should be "Review all Franchise and Other Agreements" with the tbllowing subcategories: a. SDG&E; b. Cox Cable; c. Laidlaw: d. Electric Utility Restructuring. Minutes March 1, 1997 Page 4 Lower Sweetwater Area Plan Councilman Rindone stated that the KOA area should also be added to the Economic Development list since it could be a revenue generating source. Mr. Salomone stated that there is actually another Family Fun Center looking at this area. Council concurred in adding this to the Economic Development list with the title of "Lower Sweetwater Area Plan". University Cot~ncilman Moot Iblt that the University was a land use, but it could also be listed under Economic Development later. Council concurred to add it under Land Use. Joint Corporate Yard Councilman Rindone suggested adding Joint Corporate Yard to the list. Council concurred in adding it to Economic Development. Promote Individual Econumic Development Prujects After further discussion, Council also concurred in adding under Economic Development the title, "Promote Individual Economic Development Prqjects" with the following subcategories: a. IDEC; b. WERC; c. BECA; d. School Administration Building Relocation; e. EastLake Business Park; and f. Lower Sweetwater Area Plan. Mr. Goss stated that we have not talked about Metro Sewer Negotiations with City of San Diego and Trash negotiations with City of San Diego. He asked if staff could assume that these are basically programmatic things which are going to happen anyway. Council responded "yes". Evaluate and Assess Land Use and Planning Mr. Leiter suggested that Sunbow be added to the list of prqjects. Council concurred. Councilman Moot suggested that one of the goals should be to create a master processing plan for our land use projects. He was concerned that as staff begins to get busy when the market starts heating up, there will be several developers wanting their projects done at the same time. If we can't physically acconunodate them at the same time, we will need a system to prioritize that is thir. He felt that sometime in the next two years, we will be in a cycle of a good real estate market in California. We need to plan now as to how we will handle this. Mr. Goss stated that it will be very difficult for staff to come up with recommendations on how to prioritize. He did not know how you would distinguish one from the other without showing some degree of favoritism. Mayor Horton stated it is hard to prioritize these things since they are all important. She t~lt that we needed to have a workshop with our Economic Development Commission since they were the ones who brought forth the proposal on streamlining our permitting process. This would give us the opportunity to look at the bigger picture and to spend some time trying to address what our needs are and how we can improve the system that is in place. Mr. Goss stated he has talked to staff about applying the process that has been used for the Otay Ranch Planning Project for the master planned communities. The process takes the resources which we do have and makes it more efficient and effective in terms of communication. He felt it was important to have a plan in place, but what he was saying was that there will be an opportunity to make our process more efficient by haveing a review at the very Minutes March l, 1997 Page 5 highest levels of senior staff to make sure that there are no glitches so the City's policies will be implemented and protected. Councilman Moot stated that we needed to reserve our senior knowledgeable staff/br the review process; more technical work could be farmed out. Mayor Horton recommended bringing in key individuals to sit down at the same table. It will be their responsibility to know what is going on. If there is a major glitch, then they can facilitate to make sure the issue is taken care of. Councilman Padilia stated that the issue is to decide in advance in anticipation of future projects and that we have a plan, standards, resources, and thresholds that can be utilized as a tool to make sure things don't slip through the cracks. He was wondering if there was a general allocation or assessment that addresses itself to personnel processing resources. If there is, then he would have a higher comfort level knowing that when Council looks at new projects, there was a general assessment pool that was paid into by everyone which Council could draw from to beef up staffing rather than going to a particular applicant at the time they have an application or project and say that we are going to charge you "X" dollars to pay tbr the additional city staff. He was always uncomtbrtable knowing in the Otay Ranch Project that the developer was ahnost directly funding the staff position that was processing things. Mr. Goss responded that the planned cmnmunities will be funded differently. In the case of the Otay Ranch Project, they had a contract to pay a certain amount of money at certain points of ti~ne. Normally a developer is required to deposit money three months ahead to pay for the staff that the City hires and controls. If someone buys property and proceeds with development of it, then staff would have an estimate of what would be needed for personnel who would work fbr the City. The developer would fund them by putting money into our general fund with a full cost recovery factor to pay fur the processing and payroll of personnel involved with that project. There has to be a connection or nexus between the work done and the staff work and cost. Councilman Moot asked if we should have as one of our goals the preparation of a written contingency plan fbr processing land use projects. He would like to know how the city proposes to deal with what he thinks could be a potential, significant issue if development increases. He would like to know what policies and procedures were in place to make sure things don't slip through the cracks. Councihnan Rindone stated that the structure that is in place fi~r the additional expansion of staff for specific large projects is appropriate. What he disagreed with on the Baldwin project was the staff person which was hired reported directly to the City Manager instead of the Planning Director; in his opinion, that was wrong. That was setting up a special structure. He also felt we should have periodic, i.e. quarterly, planning workshop meetings. Mr. Leiter stated that there was an upsurge of activity in all of our master planned communities. There were major proposals for replanning or planning on each of our master planned communities that staff can foresee happening over the next eighteen months; more than we have seen for a long time with the exception of Otay Ranch. What we are going to need to do is: (1) there are some short-term issues that are we are going to have to deal with in these proposals. In order to move those tierward, we may need to come to Council before the end of the fiscal year with some specific short-term staffing proposals, and (2) the long-term answer will be addressed in the budget. Also, the Planning Commission and City Council will be under a significant work load. Council needs to think about this in terms of needing to spend more meetings and time dealing with a lot of complex issues over the next eighteen months. Mayor Horton requested that when staff makes reports to Council that they come directly to Council and not through the Manager's Office. She t~lt Council needed to get statFs perspective without the filtration of going through the Manager's Office. Councilman Rindone stated he liked what he heard about the short-term and long-term processing to bring in adequate staff. But, we do have a City Manager fbrm of government. Issues needed to go through the City Manager's Office. If we don't hear about things, it is the City Manager's responsibility to report it to Council. Minutes March 1, 1997 Page 6 Councilman Padilla stated that it is of great value for the Council to receive completely unfiltered and even opposing positions and information from the staff. Regarding the process, there are Charter restrictions and we don't want to cut the Manager out of the process. Those issues are best addressed with Council's relationship with the Manager in making sure that it is okay to see the Manager's conclusions and recommendations with information that comes from lower and upper staff. Also, Council welcomes seeing what that discussion and original information was because sometimes there is a dil't~rence of opinion about what is appropriate. This can benefit a policy-maker in discussing an issue intelligently. If the Manager isn't forwarding this information to Council along with their own analysis of it, then the Council is at a disadvantage. Councilman Rindone stated when there is a need for additional staffing, then let Council ~know. However, he will really question any request that is for a consultant unless it is a highly specialized postion; he would rather see staff on board. Council concurred with the title of "Evaluate and Assess Land Use and Planning" and the subcategories (see end of minutes under summary). * * * Council recessed at 1:20 p.m. and reconvened at 1:30 p.m. * * * Update Administrative Policies and Procedures Council concurred in adding six subcategories to this title (see end of minutes under summary for the six subcategories). Promote and Influence Regional Issues Council concurred in adding the following to this title: "Maintain a presence and/or achieve a role at meetings involving regional issues which have potential impact on Chula Vista (e.g. SANDAG, Water, Trash, NAFTA, Jobs Training, Regional Library Bond, Regional Work/Force and Employers Center, MSCP, Sewer-wastewater, 905. Regional Transit issues, Welfare Reform Impacts)." Next Steps Since the goals have been completed, Council decided that the next steps should be: 1. Transcribe and route the Goals to Council for finalization and editing. 2. If there are any concerns or conflicts with what was routed, to raise those concerns at a Council meeting under City Manager's Report. 3. Hold a public hearing for input and prioritizing at the first level. 4. Hold another workshop or at a regular Council meeting to formally adopt and confirm priorities. SUMMARY OF GOALS: In order to be the best that the City of Chula Vista can be in preparation for the twenty-first century, the following goal areas are proposed: · Insure Long-Term Financial Stability 1. Balance budget by: Minutes March 1, 1997 Page 7 ·improving revenues · reducing expenditures · reducing reliance on one-time revenues · continue to bring Redevelopment Agency out of the red 2. Study multi-year budget process · Make recommendations 3. Implement three-year financial plan · investment policy · potential revenue streams · examine future needs 4. Continue utilization of performance-based budgeting · establish measures/standards · how do we know when we "get there"'? Promote Economic Develnpment 1. Attain four-star quality hotels/resorts within city limits 2. Establish commercial/recreational/residential bayfront project 3. Expedite completion of "H" Street project within * 4. Establish restaurant/commercial project adjacent to Marina 5. Establish .joint planning process with San Diego Port Comnussion and other key stake holders for Chula Vista Bayfront 6. Hold a workshop to explore revitalizing Third Avenue (in March) 7. Hold a workshop to look at developing a master plan fi3r Otay Valley Road Area (by April) a. Explore t~asibility of expanding Auto Park in area of amphitheater and water park b. Improve/enhance signage c. Quickly determine whether to change street name or not d. Determine identity/image of this area 8. Hold a workshop to discuss the research of a particular area(s) of Broadway needing revitalization (to prevent deterioration); focus on a segment of the 4-5 mile corridor (e.g. south of "L" Street; old trailer parks; bars across street from public school) 9. Review all franchise and other agreements a. SDG&E c. b. Cox Cable d. 10. Promote individual economic development pmiects IDEC WERC BECA 11. Joint corporate yard Laidlaw Electric Utility Restmcturing School administration building relocation EastLake Business Park Minutes March 1, 1997 Page 8 Promote Quality of Life Indicators 1. Air Quality - annual report required from Air Pollution Control District on impact of growth on air quality. 2. Fiscal - annual report required to evaluate impacts of growth on city operations, capital improvements, and development impact fee revenues and expenditures. 3. Police - respond to 84% of the Priority I emergency calls within 7 minutes and maintain average responded time of 4.5 minutes. Respond to 62 % of Priority II urgent calls within 7 minutes and maintain average response time of 7.0 minutes. 4. Fire/EMS - respond to calls within 7 minutes in 85% of the cases. 5. Schools - annual report required to evaluate school district's ability to accommodate new growth. 6. Library - provide 500 square feet of library space adequately equipped and staffed per 1,000 population. 7. Parks and Recreation - maintain 3 acres of neighborhood and community parkland with appropriate thcilities per 1,000 residents east of Interstate 805, and continue to evaluate the quality and condition of the parks 8. Water - annuaal report frotn water service agencies on impact of growth and future water availability 9. Sewer - sewage flows and volumes shall not exceed City Engineering Standards. Annual report fi-om metropolitan Sewer Authority on impact of growth on sewer capacity. 10. Drainage - storm flows and volume shall not exceed City Engineering Standards. Annual report reviewing perfbrmance of city's storm drain system. 11. Traffic - maintain Level of Service (LOS) "C" or better as measured by observed average travel speed on all signalized arterial streets, except, that during peak hours, an LOS "D" can occur tbr no more than any two hours of the day. Those signalized intersections west of Interstate 805 that do not meet the above standard may continue to operate at their 1991 LOS, but shall not worsen. 12. Higher Education - (has not been officially adopted by the City Council) Evaluate and Assess Land Use and Planning 1. Process land use plans effectively and efficiently while implementing and protecting the City's policy interests. 2. Review and update l~nd use projects: A. Project Specific Replanning EastLake III San Miguel Ranch - next phase Salt Creek Ranch Otay Ranch SPA [ (including West Coast land change of ownership) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) University (6) Lower Sweetwater Area Plan (7) Sunbow Area wide (1) (2) (3) (4) DIF Update Prepare Master Plans for Fire, Parks, and Library Restudy Development Phasing Plan Finalize Agreement with County fur Preserve Owner Manager Minutes March 1, 1997 Page 9 Update 1. 2. 3. 4. Administrative Policies and Procedures Look at incorporating performance-based budgeting process Ibr budget planning - to be completed prior to July 1, 1997 Examine the benefits of multi-year or two-year budget process as an approach - to be completed prior to July 1, 1997 Examine a short-term Financial Plan as a possible benefit to the City - to be completed by January 1998 Staff review and recommend a policy-review cycle (3 year, 4 year, whatever) - within next 3-4 months 5. Staff to develop systematic way to prioritize individual land use requests 6. Staff work on developing a long-term strategic economic development plan. Promote and Influence Regional Issues Maintain a presence and/or achieve a role at meetings involving regional issues which have potential impact on Chula Vista (e.g. SANDAG, Water, Trash, Brown Field, NAFTA, Jobs Training, Regional Library Bond, Regional Work/Force and Employers Center, MSCP, Sewer-wastewater, 905, Regional Transit issues, Welfare Reform Impacts). ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None OTHER BUSINESS CITY MANAGER~S REPORT(S): None 4. MAYOR'S REPORT(S): None 5. COUNCIL COMMENTS: None ADJOURNMENT The special meeting/worksession adjourned at 2:24 p.m. Respectfully subntitted, ~Authelet, CMC/AAE City Clerk