PRESENT:

Mayor Anthony Spitaleri

Vice Mayor Melinda Hamilton

Councilmember John Howe

Councilmember Otto Lee

Councilmember Ron Swegles

Councilmember Christopher Moylan

Councilmember David Whittum

ABSENT:

None

STAFF PRESENT:

City Manager Amy Chan

Assistant City Manager Robert Walker

City Attorney David Kahn

Director of Community Development Hanson Hom

Planning Officer Trudi Ryan

Deputy Chief Mark Stivers

Finance Manager Budget Grace Leung

Director of Finance Mary Bradley

Intergovernmental Relations Officer Yvette Agredano

Assistant to the City Manager Coryn Campbell

City Clerk Gail T. Borkowski

1.A.

Approval of Draft Minutes of January 29, 2008

1.B.

Approval of Revised Draft Minutes of February 1, 2008

1.C.

Approval of Draft Minutes of February 12, 2008

Councilmember Whittum stated he would like to have text added that states “Kevin Jackson was stopped at three minutes” to the bottom of page 14 in the minutes.

MOTION: Councilmember Whittum moved and Councilmember Swegles seconded approval of the minutes of February 12, 2008 revised to add “Kevin Jackson was stopped at three minutes” to the last sentence of the paragraph which starts on page 14.

VOTE: 7-0

1.D.

Approval of Information/Action Items – Council Directions to Staff

1.E.

RTC 08-051

List of Claims and Bills Approved for Payment by the City Manager – List No. 388 & 389

Staff Recommendation: Council reviews the attached list of bills.

1.F.

RTC 08-050

Payment for Santa Clara County Crime Lab Services

Staff Recommendation: Council approves payment of $133,747 to the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney for crime lab services.

1.G.

RTC 08-054

Proposal to Apply for Health Trust Grant for the Sunnyvale Senior Center and Approval of Budget Modification No. 36

Staff Recommendation: Council approves acceptance of any grant funds awarded by the Health Trust to replace and upgrade existing equipment in the senior center fitness room and approve Budget Modification No. 36 in the amount of $25,000 for FY 2007/08.

1.H.

RESOLUTION

RTC 08-059

Amendment to the Schedule of Pay of the Salary Resolution:  Salary Adjustment for Pay Plan Category A (applies to Classified Public Safety Dispatchers-in-Training, Dispatchers, and Senior Dispatchers)

Staff Recommendation: Council amends Section 2.000 (Pay Plan Category A) of the Schedule of Pay of the Salary Resolution to reflect the new pay rates, effective February 10, 2008.

1.I.

RTC 08-058

Award of Request for Proposals No. F0707-19 to Develop a Strategic Infrastructure Plan for the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant

Staff Recommendation:

·         Council awards a contract to Brown and Caldwell, in the same form as the attached draft and in an amount not to exceed $771,517, to develop a strategic infrastructure plan for the Water Pollution Control Plant; and

·         Council approves a project contingency in the amount of $77,152.

1.J.

RTC 08-052

Ratification of Council Intergovernmental Committee Appointments

Councilmember Swegles congratulated the mayor on his appointment to the National League of Cities Public Safety Policy and Advisory Committee.  Councilmember Swegles stated this is a very important national committee.

Public comments opened at 7:13 p.m.

No speakers.

Public comments closed at 7:13 p.m.

MOTION: Councilmember Swegles moved and Vice Mayor Hamilton seconded to approve staff recommendation: Council ratifies the appointment of Mayor Spitaleri to the National League of Cities’ Public Safety and Crime Prevention (PSCP) Policy and Advocacy Committee.

VOTE: 7-0

1.K.

RTC 08-056

Frances Street Transit Center Project, Authorization for the City Manager to Execute an Operations and Maintenance Agreement with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

Staff Recommendation: Council authorizes the city manager to execute the attached draft Operations and Maintenance Agreement with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority for the Frances Street Transit Center.

1.L.

RTC 08-064

Tasman/Fair Oaks Area Streetscape and Sense of Place Acceptance of Grant Funding from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and Approval of Budget Modification No. 35

Staff Recommendation: Council authorizes the City Manager to execute the necessary agreements to accept grant funding from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Transportation Fund for Clean Air Program Manager grant program for construction of the Tasman/Fair Oaks Area Streetscape and Sense of Place Enhancement Project and approve Budget Modification No. 35.

1.M.

RTC 08-055

California Department of Transportation Planning Grants Fiscal Year 2008-09 – Authorization to Submit Grant Applications

Staff Recommendation: Council authorizes staff to apply for the two selected Transportation Planning Grants applicable for the East Sunnyvale Land Plan, and the El Camino Real Master Multi-Modal Plan and Design Program. Each of the grant funding requires a local match of 20 percent of the total project cost.

2.

RTC 08-061

2007-0754 Study Issue: Parking Requirements for Residential and Commercial Developments

Planning Officer Trudi Ryan presented the staff report.

Councilmember Moylan stated he did not see that revisiting a parking management plan for the Cherry Orchard shopping center was listed as an alternative and questioned if that is something staff is already planning to do. Planning Officer Ryan confirmed that staff is planning to revisit the parking management plan and has already contacted the center. Councilmember Moylan offered his support of revisiting the plan and stated it will have a positive effect on the community.

Councilmember Howe inquired why staff would offer the discretion to define “guest” to the homeowners association as listed on attachment G (h. ii) when there could be a conflict of interest. Planning Officer Ryan explained that the current zoning code does not have a specific requirement for unassigned spaces to be reserved for guest use only. Previously, the Planning Commission has imposed as conditions of approval that a certain percentage of parking would be for guest parking. Planning Officer Ryan stated a minimum of 25 percent would be appropriate for guest parking. Planning Officer Ryan stated the reason to allow the homeowners association to determine the definition of a guest is because that allows flexibility over time for the association to address long-term guests versus short term and what is reasonable.

Councilmember Howe inquired how the homeowner associations will enforce that the garages will be used for parking and not for storage only. Planning Officer Ryan stated if that requirement is included in the conditions of approval from the beginning that will potentially free up the other parking spaces. Since the homeowners association is onsite, they are able to better keep residents apprised of the issues. Planning Officer Ryan explained that in addition there is an upcoming study issue later this year that will look at conditions of approval along with what tools may be available to promote enforcement of those conditions of approval.

Public hearing opened at 7:33 p.m.

Kevin Jackson, chair of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC), speaking on his own behalf, stated the BPAC may be able to offer valuable perspective and a comprehensive study that will best serve the needs of the community. Jackson stated concerns with some items in the report and urged Council to consider sending this report to BPAC for review.

Jim Griffith, President of the Sutton Place Homeowners Association, explained his concerns with the amendments primarily attachment G, Item I.H. (6 and 7). Griffith is concerned with the use of statistics and averages because staff should have the flexibility to deviate from numerical guidelines. Griffith stated he is also concerned that once Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R's) are in place, they are extremely difficult to modify. Griffith explained that if authority is given to the homeowners association for enforcement, the belief that enforcement will just happen is an incorrect assumption. Griffith stated homeowner association enforcement is an impractical or financial impossibility for most issues.

Arthur Schwartz stated that garages are essential to meet parking requirements. Schwartz suggested investigating whether there is some way that the homeowner associations could utilize the services of the City in enforcing the parking regulations. Schwarz stated he does not know how that could be done and would leave that to City Attorney David Kahn to investigate further. Schwartz stated he agrees that BPAC should review these amendments because of the long-range goal is to make Sunnyvale green. Schwartz stated the City needs a longer range view of parking requirements.

Public hearing closed at 7:40 p.m.

Councilmember Swegles inquired what the value would be to have BPAC review this study. Planning Officer Ryan stated generally the BPAC advises Council on bicycle and pedestrian issues and the Planning Commission advises the Council on general land use issues. Planning Officer Ryan stated this study has already been reviewed properly by one of the Council’s boards and commissions that staff deemed appropriate for this issue, that being the Planning Commission.

Vice Mayor Hamilton inquired if neighborhood preservation has any jurisdiction in these types of developments. Planning Officer Ryan stated staff is offering tools to homeowner associations in order to help them better manage the onsite parking issues. Planning Officer Ryan explained that if something is clearly in conflict with the zoning requirements or conditions of approval (such as when a garage is converted to living space) then the neighborhood preservation staff does have some jurisdiction.

MOTION 1: Councilmember Howe moved and Councilmember Moylan seconded to approve Alternative 2: Council directs staff to prepare amendments to the zoning code to require clarification of parking rates and to codify parking management requirements, as shown in Attachment G,

with additional or modified items:

with modifications as listed:

• Attachment G, Section H, Item ii. to include highlighted language as:

Give property managers/homeowners’ association (with some form of City approval) the latitude to define “guest,” since ultimate enforcement is the responsibility of that entity.

• Attachment G, Section H, Item vi to included highlighted language as:

Confirm the responsibility of the property owner or homeowners’ association to enforce provisions of the parking management plan. Staff to provide the associations with tools for property owners and homeowners associations to carry out their responsibility to enforce provisions of the parking management plan.

Councilmember Moylan added a policy statement to the motion that:

• Council directs staff to include in the zoning ordinance that staff will return to Council and makes the following policy statement: It is the purpose of this chapter to insure that all uses of a property provide sufficient onsite parking to handle demand.

Councilmember Howe agreed that the policy statement will be part of his motion.

Councilmember Whittum offered a friendly amendment to have the amendments reviewed by BPAC and then the Planning Commission.

Councilmember Howe stated he would prefer that item stand as a separate motion and did not accept the friendly amendment.

VOTE: 7-0

MOTION: Councilmember Whittum moved and Councilmember Lee seconded approval that the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) shall review the amendments prior to Planning Commission review.

Councilmember Whittum stated he supports comments made earlier by the member of the public, Kevin Jackson, regarding the need for this item to be reviewed by BPAC. Councilmember Whittum stated this provides an opportunity to look for removal of on-street parking in new developments and look for ways to improve safety for bicyclists.  Councilmember Whittum stated the comments are purely advisory and will not slow the process down at all. 

Councilmember Moylan stated that this is a zoning code amendment which addresses the calculation as to how many parking spaces are allowed for each property and is reviewed by the Planning Commission. Councilmember Moylan stated the approved policy statement he just added to the previous motion, stated that on-street parking cannot be relied on for developments. Whatever the property, all parking needs to be taken care of inside the project. Councilmember Moylan stated he is unclear why BPAC should get involved with something that is not happening on the street at all.

Councilmember Whittum stated it would be helpful to have BPAC’s input to explore opportunities to move on-street parking to make it safer for bicyclists. 

VOTE: 3-4 (Councilmembers Swegles, Howe, Vice Mayor Hamilton, and Mayor Spitaleri dissented)

Motion failed.

3.

RTC 08-060

Options for Dealing with Extraordinary Public Safety Responses to Large Gathering Places and Entertainment Venues (Study Issue) and New Permit Requirements for Special Events

Deputy Chief Mark Stivers presented the staff report.

Councilmember Howe inquired how the City would enforce fines and Deputy Chief Stivers stated the administrative processes for the collection and establishment has yet to be developed. Deputy Chief Stivers stated the proposed ordinance would create the authority (and assist) in the collection of fines.

Councilmember Moylan asked for an explanation of a clandestine activity and how this ordinance would be effective with such activity. Deputy Chief Stivers stated this ordinance would be effective with respect to the extraordinary response piece of the fee. Deputy Chief Stivers stated that oftentimes business owners believe they are renting for a certain purpose but it turns out to be something else with a much larger group and other times the owner is aware of the event, but does not share that information with the City. Public safety is required to use traditional means to shut down these incidents and often the fire code is used for justification. Deputy Chief Stivers stated this ordinance will give public safety staff the tools to deal and be made aware of these types of events.

Councilmember Moylan inquired if there are larger fees charged to those events which attempt to slide by without notifying the City. Deputy Chief Stivers stated fees are looked at on a case-by-case basis as to whether the person was fully aware or had been taken advantage of and the fees are adjusted accordingly.

Councilmember Lee inquired how successful has collection of the fees been and Deputy Chief Stivers stated previous examples where fees have been collected.  Deputy Chief Stivers stated that staff is attempting to build a process up front for successful events and not have to issue billings.

Deputy Chief Stivers offered an explanation as to the two ways to enact an extraordinary response. One way would be when public safety goes out to a location six times or more for service calls, then the City can require a management plan of their establishment. The second way for enactment for the extraordinary response would be if public safety had a large response to a single event (five or more officers). 

Councilmember Swegles inquired that if there is a large crowd expected would shuttle service be required. Deputy Chief Stivers stated shuttle service is not included as part of the ordinance; however that is an option under the permit procedure for traffic control plans.

Public hearing opened at 8:02 p.m.

No speakers.

Public hearing closed at 8:02 p.m.

MOTION: Councilmember Swegles moved and Councilmember Howe seconded to approve Alternative 4: Council adopts Sunnyvale Municipal Code 9.45 Special Event Permit and Chapter 9.47 Extraordinary Public Safety Service Liability

Councilmember Whittum offered a friendly amendment to correct page 9, 9.47.030, paragraph (c) to correct the reference to City of San Buenaventura to City of Sunnyvale.

Friendly amendment accepted.

Vice Mayor Hamilton inquired as to whether the City could deny a free speech event. City Attorney Kahn stated that the City could deny a free speech event under limited circumstance where there is a strong public safety concern. City Attorney Kahn gave an example of an event such as the City receiving notice four or five hours prior to the proposed event that the organizers wanted to close down a major street, then the City would have the ability as a matter of a public safety concern to work with the organizers to reschedule the date or come up with an alternative venue.

Vice Mayor Hamilton inquired what would happen to someone who holds a free speech event but they did not apply for a permit and staff found about it as it was happening.  City Attorney Kahn stated that would be a public safety issue and they would be within their rights to limit that event. City Attorney Kahn stated there are a number of public forums that would be available where people have the right to present viewpoints without prior notice and they would be directed to those forums.  Deputy Chief Stivers added that officers would resort to traditional means of safety such as keeping people out of traffic.

City Clerk Borkowski read the title of the ordinance into the record.

Restated MOTION: Councilmember Swegles moved and Councilmember Howe seconded to approve Alternative 4: Council adopts Sunnyvale Municipal Code 9.45 Special Event Permit and Chapter 9.47 Extraordinary Public Safety Service Liability

with correction to the ordinance on page 9 , Section 9.47.030 Security and Safety Plan (c) to read City of Sunnyvale instead of the City of Buenaventura.

VOTE: 7-0

4.

RTC 08-062

Approval of Budget Priority Setting Tool, Process, and Schedule and Appointment of Council Sub-Committee

Finance Manager Budget Grace Leung presented the staff report.

Councilmember Moylan inquired if the full Council would take longer than the sub-committee in reviewing the items. Finance Manager Leung stated the sub-committee would require less time. City Manager Chan explained further that if Council goes along with the sub-committee’s recommendation the time will be shorter.  However, if the full Council has a large amount of dialogue or questions of the sub-committee, then potentially the time commitment for the full Council and sub-committee would be just as long as if the entire Council had considered the items.

Public hearing opened at 8:12 p.m.

Rose Kausek, Chair of Heritage Preservation Commission, speaking on her own behalf, stated a concern over the ranking criteria because timeliness is sometimes very important, especially for the Heritage Preservation Commission. Most issues the commission deals with are time sensitive and it is not apparent that those items would rise any higher than the mid-range. Kausek requested that the time sensitive nature of those items be considered in the ranking process.

Public hearing closed at 8:13 p.m.

Councilmember Lee inquired how Council would handle items of more urgent matters when it comes to funding.  Director of Finance Mary Bradley stated this tool is to work with the budget process and if something were more urgent that would be taken up separately.

Councilmember Howe confirmed that this process would still include the all-day Council workshop on the budget. Councilmember Howe confirmed that the sub-committee would be limited to ranking items only for priority. Councilmember Howe further confirmed that the ranking of items would then come back to Council to be approved and in addition anything to do with actual budget issues would be done at the Council all day budget workshop and not by the sub-committee.  Finance Manager Leung stated that the purpose of the timing for the subcommittee is to allow enough time to have all the items ranked by the subcommittee in order to be presented for Council consideration at the workshop.

Councilmember Howe confirmed with Director Bradley that the information is woven into the process in order to assist the subcommittee as to the number of people involved with the issue which affects the ranking.  Higher number of people affected would create a higher ranking.

Vice Mayor Hamilton stated the staff recommendation is silent on whether this sub-committee should be staff or Council appointed sub-committee and she wanted to raise that issue for discussion and or to be included in a motion. 

MOTION: Councilmember Howe moved and Vice Mayor Hamilton seconded to approve Alternatives 1, 3 and 5:

Alternative 1:  Council approves the ranking criteria as detailed in Attachment A and B

with the addition that Council directs staff to include in the ranking criteria the number of people who will be involved with the issue.

Alternative 3: Council creates and appoints no more than three Councilmembers to a sub-committee to review the proposed priority rankings for all City services and projects

Alternative 5: Council approves the proposed implementation schedule as detailed in this report.

Councilmember Moylan offered a friendly amendment that the sub-committee is free to propose modifications to the criteria as well as to rank all the projects.

Councilmember Howe accepted the friendly amendment.

City Manager Chan stated if the sub-committee were to form this evening, staff would request they meet as soon as possible.  The schedule is very tight and staff would begin working on the criteria tomorrow.  City Manager Chan explained her concern if criteria was decided at a later date, staff would be well on their way to completion of the ranking based on the criteria. City Manager Chan stated it is very important to know the criteria before staff begins working on this project.

Councilmember Howe removed his acceptance of the friendly amendment.

Councilmember Howe confirmed that Councilmember Whittum was the only Councilmember interested in serving on the sub-committee and he removed the sub-committee from his motion.

Councilmember Moylan stated the whole idea is to allow Council a tool to assist with budgetary decisions.  Councilmember Moylan stated ranking the budget items is a critical task that is needed and he would have signed up to serve on the sub-committee but he is already on a sub-committee.  Councilmember Moylan explained that in order to have this done for the big budget meeting coming up, it would be great if three Councilmembers could step up to serve on this sub-committee.  Councilmember Moylan stated he also did not think it would be a burden for the sub-committee to adjust the criteria right away so staff could move forward.

Vice Mayor Hamilton agrees there should be a sub-committee and stated she has time constraints but will volunteer to be on the sub-committee as she does not want the full Council to have to deal with this because that would delay the process.

Mayor Spitaleri volunteered to serve on the sub-committee.

Councilmember Howe stated his motion is to include the sub-committee consisting of the mayor, vice-mayor and Councilmember Whittum.

Restated MOTION: Councilmember Howe moved and Vice Mayor Hamilton seconded to approve Alternatives 1, 3 and 5:

Alternative 1:  Council approves the ranking criteria as detailed in Attachment A and B

with the addition that Council directs staff to include in the ranking criteria the number of people who will be involved with the issue.

Alternative 3: Council creates and appoints no more than three Councilmembers to a sub-committee to review the proposed priority rankings for all City services and projects

with Council appoints Mayor Spitaleri, Vice Mayor Hamilton and Councilmember Whittum to a sub-committee to review the proposed priority rankings for all City services and projects.

Alternative 5: Council approves the proposed implementation schedule as detailed in this report.

City Manager Chan stated it is anticipated that the sub-committee’s work will be completed and before the full Council by the end of April 2008.