Leslie Bulbuk, Senior Field Representative to Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, announced that State Assemblywoman, Sally Lieber, will be hosting a Town Hall Meeting and Winter Warm Up on January 22 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Sunnyvale Community Center in the Recreation Center Community Room.

Vice Mayor Swegles announced the 129^th Rescue Wing will remain at Moffett Field according to U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo. 

CONSENT CALENDAR

Mayor Chu requested iItem 1.E. be pulled from the Consent Calendar and considered separately as requested by staff.  Vice Mayor Swegles moved, and Councilmember Howe seconded, to approve the Consent Calendar with the exception of Item 1.E.  The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent.

Fiscal Items

Jane Fleenor, Interim Director of Human Resources, stated the item was pulled by staff for information and response to questions that Council may have.  She stated there were changes to the Memo of Understanding (MOU) regarding in in-lieu holiday pay, effective date of the increase to the insurance premium, and other minor operational changes.  She distributed copies of an amended resolution and a letter from the Sunnyvale Employee Association.

Mayor Chu opened the Public Hearing at 7:31 p.m. and, there being no public comments, closed the Public Hearing.

Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Miller seconded, to approve Alternative 1, to adopt the Memorandum of Understanding with SEA and adopt the related Salary Resolution amendments with additional changes tonight regarding in lieu holiday pay and the effective date to the increase of the insurance premiums. The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent.

RESOLUTION NO. 147-05 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SUNNYVALE AMENDING RESOLUTION NO. 131-04, THE CITY’S SALARY RESOLUTION, BY AMENDING THE PAY SCHEDULE FOR CATEGORY B (SEA REPRESENTED) CATEGORY G UNREPRESENTED CONFIDENTIAL) CLASSIFICATIONS

Contracts

Other Items

CITIZENS TO BE HEARD

There were no comments.

PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS

Vice Mayor Swegles moved, and Councilmember Howe seconded, to continue this item to the January 25, 2005 Council meeting.  The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent and Councilmember Miller absent from the dais.

Diana O’Dell, Senior Planner, assisted by Robert Walker, Director of Parks and Recreation, presented the staff report. Staff responded to questions posed by the Council regarding towers in surrounding cities, agreements with the Cupertino

Middle School, compatibility with the neighborhood, and other locations with two towers.

Mayor Chu opened the Public Hearing at 7:40 p.m.

Robert Given, Appellant, stated he is against this facility and distributed a petition to the Council with 54 signatures against the facility.  He further stated this facility should not be in an R-1 area, will be visible to the neighborhood because of the size of the tower, will affect property values, and is located directly over a pre-school.  He suggested other potential locations for the tower.  Mr. Given responded to questions from the Council regarding the impact of the tower.

Howard Yee, representing AT&T Wireless (Applicant), summarized how AT&T selected this site and other sites that were considered.  He stated that locating a tower in a residential neighborhood was a last resort when no other site was available.  He stated they are within the height and setback limits and are within the design guidelines.  He responded to questions posed by the Council regarding the existing tower, the required cables, the height of the tower, the Cingular network sites, the merger of Cingular and AT&T Wireless, and the design of the tower.

Bob McKee, Pastor of Saint Luke Lutheran Church, acknowledged the concerns of the neighbors and opined it would benefit the area and the revenues would help fund their programs and projects.  He responded to questions from the Council regarding expanding the existing tower.

Chris Rosenthal, a member of the public, expressed concerns related to if alternate ideas were considered by the church, two towers on the site, and visibility to the neighborhood.  He displayed pictures of light poles and Cupertino Middle School, Fremont High School and other poles in the area.

Magda Gabali, a member of he public, expressed concern about why City parks are not being utilized, the radius of the towers and the impact on the residents.  She advocated for concessions from Cingular/AT&T.

William Carpenter, a member of the public, spoke in support of the towers.

Gertrude MacFarland, a member of the public, stated she would like the tower built but not at the current location.  She advocated for another solution.

Curtis Brown, a member of the public, spoke in opposition of putting a tower in a residential neighborhood.  He stated the scope of the plan was not discussed with the neighborhood and he did not see a need for two towers.

Ping Tseng, a member of the public, stated the purpose of the tower is to provide service to commuters using Highway 85 and expressed concerns about driving and using a cell phone.   

Paresh Maniar, a member of the public, advocated to locate the tower at the Cupertino Middle School site.

Sharon Fang, a member of the public, requested the Council deny all proposed new towers in Sunnyvale because of health concerns and the impact on property values.  She advocated for a master plan for the location of new towers.

Andrew Chen, a member of the public, spoke in opposition to the tower location and opined it did not meet the City code.  He displayed photographs of the visibility of the towers and requested that this site not be approved.

Judi Nickey, a member of the public, urged the Council to reconsider the policy to locate towers in City parks.  She displayed photographs of other towers located in the City and advocated for mono trees.

William Lewis, a member of the public, spoke in opposition of the tower and urged that a master plan and guidelines be developed for future towers.

Don Graham, a member of Saint Luke Lutheran Church, spoke in support of the tower and noted there would be a cross on top of the tower.

Patrick Keating, a member of the public, stated this tower is visible from his property and expressed concerns related to the impact on property values, what happens when the monopoles are no longer needed and potential litigation.

Robert Given, Appellant, clarified that he had no opposition to the cross at the top of the pole.  He advocated to use existing light poles at Cupertino Middle School and reiterated concerns of the height of the pole and the impact on the neighborhood.

Howard Yee, representing AT&T Wireless (Applicant), stated that they are in compliance with City policy and did not pursue the Cupertino Middle School site because of City policy on the use of open space.

Don Graham, a member of Saint Luke Lutheran Church, stated the church has not considered changing the existing tower.

In response to Vice Mayor Swegles, Mary Hendricksen, Council President of Saint Luke Lutheran Church, stated that the tower is a Bell tower and was part of a memorial.

Mayor Chu closed the Public Hearing at 9:38 p.m.

Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Miller seconded, to approve Alternative 3, adopt the Negative Declaration, grant the appeal and deny the Use Permit, and give direction that Council would consider modifications to the existing bell tower at the church site, and/or consider working with Cupertino Union School District to consider a cell tower at that site.

Councilmember Howe noted, for the record, that he had walked the street and talked with the neighbors about the proposed tower at the church site.

Councilmember Fowler offered to sponsor a study issue to review the City’s policy on commercial operations such as cell towers in City parks.  Councilmember Howe and Mayor Chu offered to cosponsor the study.

Mayor Chu offered a friendly amendment to consider looking at other locations, particularly the PG&E tower. The amendment was accepted.

The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent.

Vice Mayor declared a recess at 10:00 p.m. and reconvened at 10:15 p.m.

Coryn Campbell, Neighborhood and Community Resources Manager, presented the staff report.  She responded to questions from the Council regarding higher voter turnout.

Mayor Chu opened the Public Hearing at 10:21 p.m. and, there being no public comments, closed the Public Hearing.

Councilmember Lee moved, and Councilmember Howe seconded, to approve Alternatives 1, 2 and 3, Convene the community workshop and informal survey that had been planned for 2003 to engage the community in identifying and evaluating community engagement activities; Report back to Council on the City’s community building progress in 2006, following the completion of 2005 community-building related study issues; Continue community building activities at current levels.  The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent.

Marilyn Crane, Information Technology Services Manager, presented the staff report.  She responded to questions posed by the Council regarding a 30 day notice, rates for expanded cable, upgrades to equipment, the franchise fee, the City utility tax applying to Comcast, Federal regulations, and expanded basic fee increases.

Mayor Chu opened the Public Hearing at 10:35 p.m.

Harriet Rowe, a member of the public, made an inquiry if the citizen concerns raised at the Comcast meeting were forwarded to Council and expressed concern about expanded cable reaching nursing homes and mobile home parks.

Mayor Chu closed the Public Hearing at 10:42 p.m.

Councilmember Howe requested information from staff whether the City charges Comcast the 2% utility tax for cable service, and if the cable company begins carrying phone service, will that erode the City’s utility tax revenue flow.

Councilmember Miller moved, and Vice Mayor Swegles seconded, to approve Alternative 1, Council determines that the Maximum Permitted Rate for the Basic Service Tier is reasonable and calculated according to FCC regulations.  Council directs staff to issue a Rate Order to that effect which allows the rates to be implemented on February 1, 2005.  The 2004 rate (excluding franchise fee) is $.50 more than the 2003 rate.  The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent.

Peter Bassett, Management Analyst, presented the staff report.  Staff responded to questions posed by the Council regarding duck hunting in salt ponds, use of roads by the salt ponds, comments regarding Section 6.2, Library, SCI3 and the historical museum, Number 5, Socio-Economic, item 1, wording changes, and the Water Transit Authority.

Mayor Chu opened the Public Hearing at 11:00 p.m.

Dave Whittum, a member of the Heritage Neighborhood Association, expressed concern about train noise and displayed a map of the area.  He advocated for steps to be taken to mitigate the problem.

Mayor Chu closed the Public Hearing at 11:10 p.m.

Councilmember Fowler moved, and Councilmember Miller seconded, to approve the legislative action policies as amended by staff with additional amendments as follows:

·        Under Section 5.1, Socio Economic, to change language to read, “Support mandates to provide benefits to domestic partners equal to those provided to married couples”.

Councilmember Miller offered a friendly amendment to amend Section 3.6, Noise, to revise the existing railroad noise related Legislative Action Policy (LAP) or prepare a new LAP addressing Caltrain locomotive noise.  The amendment was accepted.

Mayor Chu offered a friendly amendment under Section 6, Cultural, to add language to support State funding of the Sunnyvale Historical Museum.  The amendment was accepted.

The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent.

Coryn Campbell, Neighborhood and Community Resources Manager, presented the staff report.  She noted two handouts to the Council.  The first handout noted corrections to the Report to Council with the following changes:  in 2004 Mayor Howe was Vice Chair of the Local Agency Formation Commission with a term expiration of 2008; in 2004 Councilmember Fowler was Chair of the Santa Clara County Emergency Preparedness Council.  An additional handout, “2005 Council IGR Committee Assignments as of 1/10/05”, was also distributed to the Council.

Mayor Chu noted that his appointment to the VTA Dumbarton Rail Corridor Committee has not been ratified.

Councilmember Miller noted that she has resigned as Chair of the Earthquake and Transportation Information Review Committee and that she is on the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project Stakeholders Forum with an expiration date of 11/05.

Mayor Chu opened the Public Hearing at 11:24 p.m. and, there being no public comments, closed the Public Hearing.

Councilmember Howe moved, and Councilmember Miller seconded, to approve Alternatives 1, 2 and 3, appoint representatives to intergovernmental relations positions and ratify intergovernmental assignments not directly appointed by the Council as identified in the Report.  Authorize the Mayor to designate an appointee for any of the following: SCCCA Cities Selection Committee and Military Affairs Council, with the following changes:

• Ratify the Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee – Mayor Chu
• South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project – Expiration date 11/05 – Councilmember Miller
• Remove the Earthquake & Transportation Information Review Committee, Councilmember Miller resigned as Chair
• Guadalupe/West Valley Flood Control and Watershed Advisory Committee – replace Councilmember Fowler with Mayor Chu
• VTA Community Oriented Design Enhancement Committee – Mayor Chu Representative and Councilmember Fowler is Alternate
• Santa Clara County Cities Association –  Mayor Chu is Representative and Councilmember Miller  is Alternate
• SCCCA Legislative Action Committee – Councilmember Lee is Member
• Bay Area Water Transit Authority – replace Councilmember Miller with Vice Mayor Swegles
• SCCCA Cities Selection Committee -  Mayor Chu is Representative
• Military Affairs Council – Vice Mayor Swegles is Representative 

The motion carried unanimously with Councilmember Hamilton absent.

NON-AGENDA ITEMS & COMMENTS

COUNCIL

Vice Mayor Swegles requested that staff prepare a letter for Council to sign to Congresswoman Anna Eshoo to thank her for her efforts to keep 129^th Rescue Wing at Moffett Field.

STAFF

There were no comments.

INFORMATION ONLY ITEMS – Received and Filed

Tentative Council Meeting Agenda Calendar

RTC 05-006, Fairwood Neighborhood Traffic Calming 

Personnel Board Unapproved Minutes of December 20, 2004

ADJOURNMENT

Mayor Chu adjourned the meeting at 11:35 p.m. in memory of the Tsunami victims and their families.

Susan Ramos
City Clerk