HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1984-10-20Mayor Mark N. Addiego
Vice Mayor Richard A. Haffey
Council:
Emanuele N. Damonte
Gus Nicolopulos
Roberta Cerrl Teglia
MINUTES
City Council
Grand Avenue Senior Center
230 Grand Avenue
October 20, 1984
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Section 54956 of the Government Code of the
State of California, that the City Council of the City of South San Francisco will hold a
Specia! Meeting on Saturday~ October 20, 1984, at 10:00 a.m., at the Grand Avenue Senior
Center, 230 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, California.
Purpose of the meeting:
1. Community Hearing on the Magnolia Center Project.
Closed Session for the purpose of the discussion of personnel matters, labor
tel ations, and 1 itlgation.
City of South San Francisco
Dated: October 11~ 1984
AGENDA
SPECIAL MEETING
CALL TO ORDER:
ROLL CALL:
(Side 1 TF-1)
AGENDA
1. Community Hearing on the Magnolia
Center Project.
ACTION TAKEN
SPECIAL MEETING
10:05 a.m. Mayor Addiego presiding.
Council present:
Council absent:
Nicolopulos, Teglia~
Haffey, Damonte and
Addiego.
None.
AGENDA
Mayor Addiego introduced the Council~
Clerk and Staff to the seniors in atten-
dance and solicited help on the Magnolia
Project. He stated that the Project
needed a commitment from the City's
General Funds and Council needed to know
if there was support from the seniors.
He stated that the City was looking at a
mechanism to make the Project happen~
however there was more needed than had
been anticipated. He spoke of the work
done by the Subcommittee, Vice Mayor
Haffey and Councilman Damonte, and turned
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AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
1. Community Hearing - Continued.
the meeting over to the Director of
Recreation and Community Services for a
report.
Director of Recreation and Community
Services Norton stated that a year ago
the Council had directed Staff to study
the feasibility of the vacant Magnolia
Center being used for other purposes. He
stated that the City had obtained some
financing from the County which had
resulted in a fourteen month study by
Group 4/Architecture on three aspects of
the building through a structural analy-
sis to see if it was worth renovating or
if the deterioration was too great. He
stated that components of the study were:
the value of the property; the property's
marketability; and the feasibility of
senior housing; and whether another
senior center was needed downtown; feasi-
bility of leasing a portion as a downtown
senior center. He stated that the study
had been completed and asked Wayne
Gehrke, Group 4, to present the architec-
tural options and that later he would
discuss the funding of the Project.
Mr. Wayne Gehrke, Group 4, stated that in
the beginning of the study he had met
with ARP, the seniors group and the
Subcommittee to solicit input. He stated
that Staff had worked with the groups
mentioned throughout the Project and had
developed five goals for the use of the
site which had formed a guide for the
study. He presented slides of the site
and stated that two-thirds of the site
was owned by the School District and one-
third was owned by the City. He stated
that the study encompassed the entire
project. He identified the five goals:
1) Preservation of the former Magnolla
building as a senior center;
Replacing the Grand Avenue Center with
the Magnolia Center; 3) To redesign the
Center so it could be used for the multi-
purpose room in the auditorium; 4)
Provide senior housing on the site; and
5) Minimize the cost to the City.
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Page 2
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
1. Community Hearing - Continued.
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He stated that the five goals were not
all compatible and as a result three
possible options had been identified for
the use of the site: 1) The front por-
tion of the School being renovated as a
senior center with senior housing on the
site with parking behind the building and
parking throughout for the residents. He
stated that it would be developed by pri-
vate developers for seniors and low and
moderate income levels and that mOst of
it would be developed on School District
1 and.
He displayed an aerial view of the
center, an elevation from Grand Avenue
showing the proposed housing and senior
center, and views from Magnolia Avenue of
the si te.
The stated that the second option was to
develop the City's land only as a senior
center and provide parking on the rest of
the site. He stated that the advantage
of that was that the City did not have to
deal with the School District in the
event that they were not cooperative.
He stated that the third option was to
sell the land and the building would pro-
bably be raised by the developer which
would not accomplish the goal s of the
City. He stated that the City antici-
pated getting $200,000 on the outside in
payment for the land when sold because he
would take the demolition costs from the
price.
Director of Recreation and Community
Services Norton stated that there was a
recommendation for the City to secure
outside funding and to contribute to the
restoration of the front portion of the
Magnolia Center as a City operated per-
manent senior center; and that the
building would also be used for other
purposes. He continued, the second part
of the recommendation is to facilitate
housing adjacent to the project to ser-
vice a large senior center. He stated
that the city had a commitment from San
Mateo County for a matching grant of
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Page 3
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 2i8
1. Community Hearing - Continued.
$500,000 that required an equal commit-
ment from the City. He spoke of
Proposition 18 being passed which allowed
communities to compete for funding. He
spoke of the nine areas that would com-
pete for their fair share over a three
year period from the grant program.
He stated that Proposition 30 was the
California Senior Center Bond Act;
sponsored by Senator Garamendi, which
would provide $100,000,000 statewide for
the remodeling of senior buildings. He
stated that this City's share would be
over $2,000,000 which the Governor cut in
hal f. He urged the citizenry to vote yes
on Proposition 30.
He spoke in detail of other sources of
funding. He stated that part of the plan
was to sell a piece of land to the poten-
tial developer for $1.00 to facilitate
the agreement and have the developer
contribute up to $200,000 to the Magnolia
Center Project while receiving tax cre-
dits. He stated that the funding would
be a blend of regional, private and
federal funding to make the project
happen.
Vice Mayor Haffey spoke of the ten years
in which the Center had been vacant and
the City's on-going study of its possible
uses and the money spent in the interim
which could have been spent on its reha-
bilitation. He stated that it was time
to receive input from the citizens on
what to do with the building. He stated
that based on the funding described by
the Director of Recreation and Community
Services on the financing available now
was the time to save the building and
minimize the cost to the taxpayers of the
City. He stated that he and Councilman
Nicolopulos, as the Subcommittee, had
stuck to the five goals and that one of
the most important was the minimization
of the costs. He stated that with the
funding strategy it was a realistic
possibly that the City could rehabilitate
Magnolia Center and looked forward to
input from the seniors.
10/20/84
Page 4
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 219
1. Community Hearing - Continued.
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Councilman Nicolopulos stated that he had
spoken to over a hundred seniors recently
questioning if they wanted the Center
demolished and that the answer had been a
unanimous no.
Mayor Addiego invited the seniors to step
to the dais and give input. He stated
that the Council needed a strong state-
ment of support as there could be other
members of the community that would not
want to spend money on the project.
Ms. Evelyn Martin stated that it was true
that the City had spent thousands of
dollars on surveys supposedly to save
Magnolia School. She stated that today
she saw plans for 150 senior housing
units on the property and questioned if
the units were multi-level or would they
be ground ~oor. She stated that a
senior would have difficulty climbing
stairs.
Vice Mayor Haffey stated that the City
would control the building of the project
through zoning regulations imposed upon
the developer who would design and build
the project.
Councilwoman Teglia stated that the pro-
ject would be for senior and that there
would be amenities such as elevators,
handicapped access and would be speci
cally designed to meet the needs of
seniors.
Ms. Martin stated that she was very
interested in preservation of landmarks,
which Magnolia School was, and
establishing a museum in the building to
house old artifacts.
Councilwoman Teglia stated that the
Council was sensitive to landmarks and
spoke of having looked at the auditorium
in the event that that was the only por-
tion of the building that could be saved.
She spoke of the attempts to secure
funding and that the City was looking at
$1,000,000 as its share of the
restoration
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Page 5
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
020
1. Community Hearing - Continued.
Mrs. Lillian Conger stated that the
Council would be having a hearing which
would be in the newspapers as to the date
and time.
Mr. Villanova stated that a statement had
been made that the City was going to sell
property to the developer for $1.00 and
questioned why it was not being sold for
a fair market value to further the
pro&ect.
Mr. Gehrke stated that the $1.00 sell was
to encourage a developer to build senior
housing with elevators and handicapped
access.
Mayor Addiego stated that the $1.00 was a
consideration given the developer for
higher density to collect his costs,
otherwise the Council could not expect
the developer to give something for
nothing.
Ms. Margaret West questioned what amount
of parking was going to be provided.
Mr. Gehrke stated that approximatelY 53
spaces were to be provided to the south
of the Center for the seniors plus
parking on the street for the residents.
Ms. Conger questioned what provisions had
been made for over night parking when the
seniors took their trips to different
places.
Mr. Gehrke stated that other City pro-
perty would be used rather than building
a large parking lot at the Center.
Mr. Anthony Beloin questioned whether a
study had been made to build a senior
center with housing on the City's
Chestnut and Grand property.
Mayo~Addiego stated that he was not
awar&of any study having been made
that property.
Ms. Madeline Bennett suggested buildlng
senior housing on Chestnut and Grand and
making Magnolia Center a senior center
for everyone to enjoy.
10/20/84
Page 6
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
Community Hearing - Continued.
Mrs. Lilllan Conger stated that
Mayor Addiego stated that the School
District owns the property adjacent to
Magnolia Center and the City saw a way to
complete the project for use as a senior
or community center and then let any
developer come in and have a mixed use.
He stated that the City had other needs
as well as the $1,000,000 that had been
committed to the project. He stated that
this project was workable and he stood
behind it one hundred percent.
Mr. Gehrke stated that the senior center
and the housing was quite compatible and
made sense to have the center near the
housing to use the rooms in the center.
Ms. Val Grazzi questioned if the City
was going to remodel the whole school or
just a portion of the building.
Mr. Gehrke stated that after studying the
entire building and seeing the needs of
the 160,000 square feet, that the front
portion of the building would be adequate
to meet the needs and preserve the archi-
tecture of the school building. He
stated that the proposal was to save the
front portion which was more suitable
because it has a fairly large room to
serve the seniors and the community,
Mr. Jerry Brosky stated that an option
not being addressed was building the pro-
ject on other City property such as
Chestnut and Grand, rather than con-
centrate only on Magnolia and Grand. He
further questioned why the other City
properties had not been presented to the
seniors as a possible project site.
Mayor Addiego stated that he too felt
strongly about the loss of historical
structures and felt that they should have
been passed down as a legacy to future
generations as a trust and commitment to
the community. He stated that he further
felt that to tear down such a structure
was criminal or to allow it to fall into
a state of disrepair was also a crime,
10/20/84
Page 7
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
1. Community Hearing - Continued.
Councilwoman Teglia stated that in her
six years on Council she had heard the
cry to save Magnolia School which had
been the premise on which the study had
been founded. She stated that if there
were people in the room that thought the
project was not going to answer their
needs, then that was what should be
stated. She continued, there were things
to be considered if the City walked away
from the project and focused on Grand and
Chestnut. She stated that it was not
practical to expect that Magnolia Center
would remain on the site - instead it
would be torn down, unless someone can
fund a source of several million dollars
to save the structure.
Ms. Florence Holly stated that the City
should concentrate on the senior center
at Magnolia Center and perhaps table the
senior housing. She stated that she
could not see the School District giving
away their property for a dollar. She
stated that the main concern was to pre-
serve that building because it had sen-
timental value to the citizenry.
Mr. Ed Reterra questioned why the School
District wanted to sell the property -
were they in business to make money. He
stated that he was looking to have a
building where the Historical Society
could get together to put together par-
ticlar articles for display and the
building should be secure. He stated
that senior housing could be put anywhere
and the concern was in preserving the
buil ding.
Director of'Recreation and Community
Services Norton stated that the $1.00
figure was misleading. He stated the
City owned a small piece of property
behind the parking lot which would be
sold for $200,000. He stated that a
better way to do it was to, on paper,
sell it to the developer for $1.00 and
have the developer donate that $200;000
to the City and participate in the
project.
10/20/84
Page 8
AGENDA
Community Hearing - Continued.
ACTION TAKEN
Mr. John Moothart stated that the City
had a lot of property that could be used
for housing throughout the City, however
the meeting had been called on the issue
of saving the building - not for senior
housing. He stated that the City should
stick to the idea of making Magnolia
Center a senior center and preserve it
for the Historical Society.
Vice Mayor Haffey showed diagrams of the
one-quarter Magnolia property that the
City owned and the three-quarters of the
property the School District owned. He
stated that the City could not tell the
School District what to do with its land.
He stated that what he was showing the
audience how the City could do the pro-
ject and receive $200,000, and thereby
save Magnolia Center.
Mr. Vincent Minnick stated that the City
spent $2,000 per month to rent the ~rand
Avenue Senior Center when the seniors
could go down to Magnolia Center and it
would not cost the City a dime. He
stated that the seniors wanted a senior
center at Magnolia Center and that the
housing could wait.
Ms. Martin stated that the City should
provide a large enough senior center to
provide for seniors five or ten years
from now and ensure their dignity by
meeting their needs without rising crime
rates.
Councilman Damonte stated that crime was
going down not up through the neigh-
borhood watch programs. He stated that
the population was becoming older and the
school population was going down even
with the new baby boom which would not
affect the schools until the future. He
stated that his sentimentality was not
for Magnolia School but for the torn down
old Grand School.
He stated that if the School District
would agree with the proposed plans of
the City that the Committee had proposed;
then it could be a reality. He stated
that the School District was more
interested in getting rid of property and
10/20/84
Page 9
AG E N D A A C T ~' 0 N TA K E N 223
Community Hearing - Continued.
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someone had to convince the District that
this project was for the good of all
seniors and the City.
He expressed concern that there had been
a measure before the voters some time
back to authorize funding for a study on
Magnolia Center and it had failed. He
stated that what was a top priority to
the people here today was not necessarily
top priority to the other residents of
the City. He stated that before this
project could be a reality all citizens
had to be educated to the fact that this
was a needed project for the City, not
only for the seniors but the kids of 40
and 45 that this is an important project,
Councilwoman Teglia stated that the
School District had declared the property
surplus and that anyone could purchase
the property, which was presently zoned
R-3, and put up apartment buildings. She
stated that if that happened the City
would lose the opportunity of having
senior housing and having the developer
contribute to the Magnolia project.
She stated that even though some people
wanted to save the entire building the
way it is that was not a realistic alter-
native. She stated that with only the
City's land for the project it was inade-
quate to provide parking and housing for
seniors. She stated that the walls were
falling down and when the roof leaked it
rains rivers down to the basement. She
stated that only the exterior concrete
walls were intact. She stated that the
Council was trying to present ways to
build the project for the seniors without
going to the electorate which had been
defeated before.
Ms. Anne McCune, Director of the Sen{or
Center, stated that she had been with the
City for nine years and that one of the
major issues was senior housing. She
stated that most of the senior housing
in the City had a year's waiting period.
She stated that many seniors had to move
out of their homes or cut back on various
bills such as heating. She spoke of the
senior nutritional center and the need to
10/20/84
Page 10
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
l. Community Hearing - Continued.
have available centers for the seniors.
She stated that there was no over-lap in
attendance between the MSB and the Grand
Avenue Center.
Ms. Madeline Bennett questioned whether
the rehabilitation included the
auditorium.
Director of Recreation and Community
Services Norton stated that the building
had ~ve stories and the City was looking
at preserving the large rooms on one
~oor and the two hal f levels which would
be 15,000 square feet.
Mr. Ed Hambrick, President of the Seniors
Advisory Council, stated that he was very
appreciative of the treatment the seniors
of this City received from the City
Council and the Park & Recreation
Department.
Closed Session for the purpose of the
f matters,
discussion .o personnel
labor relations, and litigation.
Council chose not to have a Closed Session.
M/S Teglia/Damonte - To adjourn the
meetl ng.
Carried by unanimous voice vote.
ADJOURNMENT: (TF-541 Side 1)
The meeting was adjourned at 11:23 a,m.
~ESPECYFULLY SUBMITTED:
~ity of South San Francisco
APPROVED:
Mark(N. Addtego,-Mayor
City of South San FranciSco
The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose
of an item. Oral communications, arguments, and comments are recorded on tape. The tape
and documents related to the items are on file in the Office of the City Clerk and are
available for inspection~ review and copying.
10/20/84
Page 11