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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 10/20184 Page i 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. 10/20/84 Page 2 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 1. Community Hearing - Continued. I I I I 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 10/20/84 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. I I I I 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 10/20/84 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. I I 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