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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc min 1994/05/26 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL WORKSESSION/MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA Thursday, May 26, 1994 Council Conference Room 4:18 p.m. Administration Building CALL TO ORDER 1. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Councihnembers Horton (arrived at 4:19 p.m., leti at 5:02 p.m. and returned at 5:43 p.m.), Moore, Rindone, and Mayor Nader GMOC Members Hubbard, Hyde, Peter, Dull, and Kell ABSENT: Councilmember Fox GMOC Members Allen, Annbrust, Martin, and Langius ALSO PRESENT: John D. Goss, City Manager and Vicki C. Soderquist, Deputy City Clerk 2. REPORT REVIEW AND CONSIDERATION OF THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT COMMISSION'S (GMOC) 1993 ANNUAL REPORT - The GMOC's 1993 Annual Report on the City's compliance with the Quality-ot~Lit~ Thresholds Standards ti~cuses on the period from 7/1/92 to 6/30/93. Issues identified in the second half of 1993 and early 1994 arc also discussed. The Chairman's cover memorandum to the Report provides a summary of the GMOC's tindings and recommendations. Staff recommends Council: (1) Accept the 1993 GMOC Annual Report and recommendations contained therein; (2) Direct staff to return to Council in July with an analysis and work prograin to undertake actions necessary to implement those reconunendations as presented; and, (3) Direct staff to prepare the necessary Statements of Concern tbr issuance by the Mayor regarding the Water and Air Quality Thresholds. (Director of Planning) Conmussioner Hubbard stated it was their overall observation that growth had not impacted the levels of service within the City. The Conunission found that schools. libraries, sewer, drainage, fiscal, traffic, and parks and recreation services were all within compliance, of the original thresholds as established by Council. The police and fire emergency services were not in compliance but the GMOC did not feel that growth had been responsible for not maintaining the level of compliance. They recommended that consideration be given to writing Statements of Concern to water and air quality service agencies. He then reviewed the individual reconunendations for the individual areas of service. Police and Fire Threshold: Mayor Nader questioned whether the Commissinn had made a specific recommendation for the threshold standard for police response. Commission Hubbard responded that the Commission t~lt that once an improved reporting system was in place that consideration to a revised threshold should be considered. That would only be if a revised system was implemented. They were not saying that the existing threshold was bad, good or indifl~rent, but that it was implemented in 1987 and it might be time to look at it. Councilmember Rindone stated there was a sinall percentage of calls I~r fires in relation to calls tbr other services and questioned if there had been consideration to using a w~ighted tiictor in evaluation of services. Commissioner Hubbard responded that it had not been considered. * * * Mayor Nader left the meeting at 4:48 p.m. * * * I Minutes May 26, 1994 Page 2 Ed Batcheider, Associate Planner, stated last year during GMOC review there had been discussion as to whether or not that threshold may ultimately be split into separate fire and emergency medical services components. It was agreed at that time, based on ongoing changes in the region, to wait two to three years before considering it again. Water and Air Oualitv Thresholds: Councilmember Moore questioned how Otay Water District could do more as all they did was buy and sell water. Cormmssioner Hubbard responded that any effort that could be made on the part of any water district in terms of reclamation and storage would be supported. Schools Threshold: Councilmember Rindone questioned whether the schools threshold included the community college. Commissioner Hubbard responded the GMOC did not review the community college. Mr. Batcheider stated at the present time the threshold standard only applied to elementary and secondary schools. MS (Rindone/Moore) to have the schools threshold standard (next year) apply to community colleges, so all levels of education would be reviewed, especially as applicable tn air pollution. Cou,' ~ ~tember Rindone stated if there was no accommodation t~.~r a transit center the increased population of the coil ould be a great contributor of air pollution. AMENDMENT TO MOTION: (Moore, agreeable to the Maker id'tbe Motion) tu direct staff to review and present Council with the pro's and con's of adding cnmmunity colleges to the schnols threshold. Councilmember Moore stated he did not like to see an excellent program grow, he liked to see excellent programs stabilize if they were doing what they were supposed to do. VOTE ON MOTION, AS AMENDED: approved 3-0-2 with Fox and Nader absent. Councilmember Moore questioned the use of "full mitigation" and the implicafum that the City was the reason the schools were overcrowded. The City should not be the bad guy that was trying to solve the schools problems when the school was not solving its own problems. The past history of actions taken by the schools should be reviewed to see what the impact was on overcrowding. It was not the City's responsibility to "fully mitigate" impacts. He had a major problem in the way schools were financed. Robert Letter, Director of Planning, stated staff had used the Source Point study to address a number of the issues that had been raised. Staff focus had been to get the study completed and the intbrmation out to both the Council and two district boards which would allow them to look at the policy implications and tradc-offs. Councilmember Rindone stated there was not a school in the City that did not have more classrooms located on their property than five or ten years ago. The other concern was that the options t~ar expansion and innovation was limited to two approaches, i.e. Mello Roos Districts or bonds which required a 2/3rd's vote. Many of the schools were between thirty to fifty years old and were beyond their reasonable lit~ expectancy. Councilmember Horton felt it was important to support comment #4, i.e. support of Proposition 170, to reduce the 2/3rct~--t, ote to a simple majority. Minutes May 26, 1994 Page 3 Conumssioner Hyde stated the two most prominent thresholds in the minds of the citizens in the community were traffic and schools. The recommendation was really sponsored by the school districts and the GMOC supported them. Because the school districts in the real world were not able to mitigate the problem themselves, the recommendation said not that there be no rezoning, but that the schools were over capacity and if the City was going to rezone property to a higher density and generate more students to serve the interest of a developer, it was only fair that the developer be required to mitigate or prnvide liar capacity tbr those students his project would generate. The Comnussion did not feel that was an nnreasonable position to start from. Everyone agreed the burden should be on the schools, developer, State, and City. Councilmember Hotton stated no one would discount the recommendations regarding the schools but she felt the City needed to work with the school districts regarding the issue. She t~lt the districts also needed to look at different alternatives, i.e. multi-year tracking, etc, not just have the burden on the City. * * * Mayor Nader returned at 5:02 p.~n. und Cnuncilmember Hnrtnn left at 5:02 p.m. * * * Mayor Nader felt "full mitigation" would mean mitigation that would reflect the true impact of a development on the school system. Therefore, if there were a certain number of people that moved into a development that were not new impacts, and should be excluded from the [i~rmula utilized to "fully mitigate" a development. Mr. Batcheider stated staff had been looking at mitigating "net" new increases as a result of zone changes. Library Threshold: Councilmember Moore questioned the rationale of the recommendation to review the Library Threshold. Commissioner Hubbard responded that the current threshold was based on square footage and it was their understanding that library square l'~>otage may not be important in the future due to advances in media. Sewer Threshold: No questions asked. Drainage Threshold: Councilmember Rindone questioned if the GIS system would help to assist in the area of drainage. City Manager Goss responded that was correct. Fiscal Threshold: Councilmember Moore questioned if the threshold dealt with the developers impact/~es or the overall fiscal well being of the City. Mr. Batchelder responded that recommendation 9.1, the annual review/update effurts perli~rrned for each of the DIF's be expanded to also include a 5-year projection of needs/revenues, based on the Planning Department's 5-7 year growth forecast, dealt with the DIF, 9.2, to ret~r the item to the Finance, Public Works and Planning Departments for evaluation and report back to Cormoil and GMOC, could begin to expand outside of the DIF. I Minutes May 26, 1994 Page 4 Councilmember Moore stated the Commission was not to look at the overall well being of the City, that was done by the Council. He did not see that as part of the purview of the Comlnission. Their task was related to the DIF, i.e. did the City collect enough, was it to much, was it spent tier the right purpose, etc. Commissioner Hubbard stated when they received the fiscal report from staff one of the questions asked was if the one time monies were not available next year would services be impacted and the answer was yes. They were stating that the Council may want to look at the continued use of one time monies to maintain service levels so the thresholds were not violated. Mayor Nader stated he felt the GMOC duties included in a general sense recommendations on growth management policy. He interpreted the recommendation as not so much being related to the overall health of the City, but to a specific growth management aspect of fiscal policy. He would support review of operating expenses as well. Traffic Thresholds: Mayor Nader questioned if the Conumssion had looked at the proposed improvements with the Palomar Trolley project. Commissioner Hubbard stated the major concern was that there had been a deterioration from Level "C" to Level "D" over the last year at that intersection. Future projects were mlt reviewed by the Commission. Mayor Nader questioned if there was any mitigation measure on Otay Lakes Road. Cow ~ 'loner Hubbard responded there was no conversation regarding mitigatk>n, but that it was an area of concern as t, ashold levels were in jeopardy during certain tilnes of the day. Parks & Recreation Threshold: Councilmember Moore felt that whatever land was left for in-filling tier parks was probably not suitable. He t~lt for recreation the City would be better off by becoming full partners with the high schools, under contract, to utilize their facilities. The City should not only pay their hit share of operation and maintenance, but buy into the program with upgrades to the facilities. He felt that would be more economical to the City and help more people in the community. Commissioner Hubbard that the Commission had recommended that the Park hnplementation Plan be pursued and implemented as soon as possible. He felt Councilmember Moore's comments were appropriate. Mr. Batcheider stated the Park Implementation Plan would be heIi.~re Council rewards the end of 1995. Work had been started and it was estimated that the work would take twelve to eighteen months as the work was being done in-house. Councilmember Moore questioned if the City had the staff expertise to do the report in-house. Mr. Goss responded that staff did have the expertise and it was being done in-house with a team approach. The problem was a work load issue. Mr. Leiter stated staff would return to Council with a mid-terln report dealing with some of the issues regarding standards and short term issues raised by the GMOC. Staff would deal with some of the issues before that t-,velve month time frame. Cou ~mber Moore stated his comments were two years old regarding contracting with the school districts and he fe,, oomething should be done. He wanted to see a contract between the dected officials of the two agencies. Minutes May 26, 1994 Page 5 Mayor Nader questioned if there were contracts with the schools receiving CDBG monies. Mr. Valenzuela stated the City had contracts with EastLake High School, Community Youth Center, Chula Vista High School, and were entering into a use agreement with the Otay Elementary School. They were being done on a site by site basis because each site had various constraints and opportunities. Mayor Nader stated Councilmember Moore's comments were directed toward one overall contract with each school district that divided up the ability to make use of whatever facility was there and without that umbrella contract getting into micro-management of each fiicility at each site, provide generic joint use to address the concerns regarding the shortage of public parklands. Mr. Valenzuela felt that could be accomplished. * * * Councilmember Hotton returned at 5:43 p.m. * * * Councilmember Rindone stated Council would be meeting with the three school districts and recommended that such a contact be placed on the agenda for discussion. He t~lt the point was that it would provide continuity. Councilmember Moore referred to the Greenbelt Master Plan and questioned what the checks and balances were for the Sweetwater River. Mr. Leiter stated there were certain portions that were controlled by the County, but the western part lent itself to more of an urban park setting. Staff was looking to see how new developments would relate to that as well as use of the existing levy for bicycle trails. Councilmember Moore f~lt the biggest issne to ensure optimum use was the connection between Otay and Sweetwater. He questioned if there was something reserved. Mr. Leiter responded that in the General Plan there was a designation which was then included in the Specific Plans for those individual projects. He felt they should go ti>rward with more specific planning regarding trails and other amenities that would be in a greenbelt master plan. It would have to be coordinated with the Multiple Species and other planning being done fbr the larger open space in the east. Staff t~lt it should be pursued in the coming fiscal year. Mayor Nader questioned if Council took action on last years GMOC recommendation to amend the threshold. Mr. Goss stated they had not. Mayor Nader felt it should be agendized Ibr discussion in the future. There had been discussion last year about the inclusion of joint school facilities and Otay Valley Regional Park as part of the park plan that would be figured into the determination of whether the City was meeting that threshold. He questioned whether it had been reviewed if those types of facilities and land had been included in the calculation. Mr. Batcheider stated that had not been done. That was part of the early Phase l of the Parks Implementation Plan. Commissioner Hyde stated the General Plan included a comprehensive description of the Green Belt, but was unaware of any existing map that showed the Green Belt. He suggested that an overlay be developed that would visually portray the Green Belt over the General Plan map. Mr. Leiter stated that an overlay could be done, but staff felt there needed to be more expansion of the plan to explain the locations of trails and details that conld not be inferred from the General Plan. He recommended that Council accept the report and direct staff to return with a work program on follow-up to the actions recommended by the GMOC. Minutes May 26, 1994 Page 6 Mayor Nader questioned if that meant adopt the recommendations or acknowledge that the report had been received. Councilmember Rindone recommended that Council receive the report and refer to staff for follow-up with a work program on the actions recommended by the GMOC. · Dick Reynolds, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, CA, General Manager, Sweetwater Authority, commended the GMOC on their work and effort to understand water issues. They agreed with the majority of the findings. He then reviewed the strengths of the Sweetwater Authority in water storage. He f~lt a distinction should be made by adding the San Diego County Water Authority, which was the imported water agency, to the chart showing the thresholds. It was the County and Metropolitan Water Authority that could not always supply the water needed. Sweetwater Authority had the facilities to cover up the weaknesses of the importing agencies. They had not purchased water for one and one-half years and did not plan on purchasing water for another one and one-half years. They were also working on a demineralization facility that would provide about 25% of their water supply. In future years he recommended that the GMOC and Council look at the strengths of the water agencies. 3. REVlEW OF DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETS Personnel, Fire, and as many carry over items as time permits. Mr. Goss suggested Council review the Nature Center (NC/BCT) budget due to a conflict with the Director's schedule for the next week. MS (Moore/Nader) to conceptually approve the NC/BCT's budget. Councilmember Rindone questioned the percentage of cost recovery due to admissions. Ste', ~udecker, Director, responded staff had projected $125,000 which would have been the first year of projections for revenues, they were currently at $45,000. The general museum market in tourist attractions in San Diego had reported an average 37% decrease in attendance due tu the market economy. They hoped for a better summer and stronger economy. Councilmember Rindone questioned if staff had reviewed the approach of package deals or memberships with other attractions. Mr. Neudecker responded that staff was exploring that with several other agencies. * * * Councilmember Horton left the meeting at 5:55 p.m. * * * VOTE ON MOTION: approved 3-0-2 with Fux and Hm'tm~ abseul. MSC (Nader/Rindone) to continue the balance of the Redevelupment Agency agenda and Council agenda to the Budget Meeting/Workshop on June 1, 1994 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Cmfference Room. Approved 3-0- 2 with Fox and Horton absent. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None OTHER BUSINESS 4. ?ITY MANAGER'S REPORTf S) - None '1 II Minutes May 26, 1994 Page 7 5. MAYOR'S REPORT{S) - None 6. COUNCIL COMMENTS - None ADJOURNMENT ADJOURNMENT AT 5:56 P.M. to a Special Worksession/Meeting on Wednesday, June 1, 1994 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Conference Room and thence to the Regular City Council Meeting on June 7, 1994 at 4:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Respectfiflly submitted, BEV. ERLY A. AUTHELET, CMC, City Clerk