Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1997-03-04 Mayor Joseph A. Fernekes Council: James L. Datzman Eugene R. Mullin "--'lohn R. Penna Robert Yee MINUTES City Council Municipal Services Building 242 Community Room March 4, 1997 A-M-E-N-D-E-D N-O-T-I-C-E SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO MARCH 4, 1997 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 Special Meeting on Tuesday, the 4th day of March 1997, at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Conference Room, City Hall, 400 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Purpose of the meeting is a study session to discuss: Downtown economic strategy. Multi-Year development and bond issue for redevelopment. BART Station design guidelines. The building of a crematorium at 1950 El Camino Real in Colma. City Clerk City of South San Francisco Dated: March 3, 1997 CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) The building of a crematorium at 1950 El Camino Real in Colma. ACTION TAKEN 6:05 p.m. Mayor Fernekes presiding. Council Present: Council Absent: Datzman, Mullin, Penna, Yee and Fernekes. None. Director of Economic & Community Development Van Duyn related: staff has a copy of the Crema- torium's application at 1950 El Camino Real; staff wrote a letter to the Town of Colma yesterday citing concerns that were not adequately addressed in the record; the project intends to operate crema- torium services 16 hours a day and will be allowed 3/4/97 Page 1 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 4. The building of a crematorium - Continued. 3/4/97 Page 2 243 to receive building permits ten days after the Colma City Council acts on the 16th; he described the timetable for appeals which was yesterday at 5:00 p.m., and he met with the Deputy City Clerk who indicated there is a process for revocation; the ap- peal date is 3/12/97 and he has paid the $I00.00 appeal fee and will attend the Colma appeal even though that is the date of our Council meeting; staff verified that Colma did notice everyone within a 300 foot radius; Caltrans has approved site plans in the form of a 12' egress and a left turn lane is restricted into the property; the applicant has yet to get an encroachment permit from Caltrans; there is a permit for removal of the silt and the process in- cludes landscaping as part of the use permit; the tree removal is intended to affect 47 eucalyptus and amber trees as part of the improvements; on the northerly side of the site, where it narrows and is insufficient for driveways, it will be left in its pres- ent state; new trees will be planted as replacements; Colma has received approval from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District that there will be no odors from the Crematorium's activities; after the oven temperature is reached, anything put in is va- porized; there are 36 crematoriums operating in Colma that operate 16 hours a day, Woodlawn operates 24 hours a day and there have been no complaints on odors; there have been no complaints of smoke to Bay Area Air Quality and if there are odors they would be the controlling agency for mitigation. Discussion followed: this City wants to be on notice for these uses and a letter should be written to Colma for those notices; the Colma findings state there is no resident element in the area of the pro- posed use - which is not true, Winston Manor is across the street and it will be affected; Mr. Mason was notified, because he was on record for the prior mausoleum build behind his house, even though he did not live within the noticed area; if Mr. Mason has asked in written to be notified, then Colma had to notify him of the use; the sewer line runs through Public Storage, which is private property, but they were not notified; the Manager of Public Storage does not own the property, so a notice goes to their corporate headquarters; the City filed an appeal upon the following grounds - odors issues, Caltrans master plan for the El Camino Corridor, removal of the grove of trees would not affect residents, yet those trees are a wind buffer, and that there are no ~ENDA ACTION TAKEN 4. The building of a crematorium - Continued. 1. Downtown economic strategy. residents to be affected by the use; the trees are over 100 years old that are to be removed and 36" box trees will not replace them; staff wants to keep good relations with Colma; Councilman Yee suggested having a Council Subcommittee sit with staff and derive a presentation for the appeal and have the City Attorney deal with it, he will be here for a day or two and then on vacation if his assistance was needed; Mayor Fernekes named Councilmembers Penna and Yee as the Subcommittee; a Subcommit- tee meeting will be held tomorrow morning at 8:45 a.m., however the City Manager and City Attorney will be in Court in S.F., but the Assistant City Attorney will attend the meeting; etc. Mr. Jim Harrigan, Economic Development Systems (EDS), related economic incentives his firm has implemented in Long Beach and other cities: dou- bled the City's convention center business by bring- ing in class hotels and office buildings; today Pine Avenue is one area with entertainment, restaurants and a main shopping district, and there is a street in downtown Pasadena; his firm familiarizes them- selves with the downtown to be comfortable in bringing it to retailers as an entertainment center with restaurants and retail components; he gave his firm's recommendation to staff who felt to bring in a restaurant was the cart before the horse; they have sent out mailers to four different groups of people including brokers and entertainment people and gave them the demographics for the downtown which is perfect for an entertainment center; their efforts will focus on upgrading and diversifying the tenant mix by recruiting successful and more varied local penin- sula, regional and national users; the benefits are greater entertainment, dining and shopping opportu- nities for residents and visitors; introduction of traffic generators for the betterment of the existing retail businesses; a decrease in retailer turnover by providing more variation of tenant categories, allow- ing more sales per category location, resulting in a more stable, better balanced successful downtown; added sales tax; new jobs; support for local land- lords who may not have the way or means to pro- mote their property to the brokerage and/or business community; their starting point is the four corners of Grand and Linden Avenues which is the center of the town, and has one available property, as well as the first floor of the Metro Hotel; the previous bank building has the most space for an entertainment center; there is competition amongst cities for prime 3/4/97 Page 3 A~ENDA A~TION TAKEN 1. Downtown economic strategy - Continued. Multi-Year development and bond issue for redevel- opment. ~'~0 ~ 245 retailers; he was looking for a strong user to come in and bring in other users; etc. Discussion followed: Councilman Datzman was happy to see something was being done on the street; how long was Mr. Harrigan's contract to pursue this; seven months because of some problems on the front end and it was extended to ten months and which is coming due; the contract is a fixed amount rather than being based on an hourly rate; the first component discussed was the analysis which was almost done; second is the implementation and now they have notified the property owners to edu- cate them to the opportunities, if they wanted to terminate a lease because other things are available - which was the second phase; Mr. Harrigan's firm is going to gather the data for phase two; there needs to be places for the conventioneers to go rather than the hotel lobbies, such as restaurants and entertainment centers; the ArtRise Theater can fit into the entertainment center on Linden; try to get a blues or jazz club and restaurant to make it a sizable project; new parking lots have been put in the area; the City has the first floor of the Inter State Bank; Vice Mayor Mullin asked about the numbers of potential clients expressing an interest in locating in the area; the response was one business at the pres- ent time; some participation on the part of the City may be required to attract cornerstone tenants to the downtown area; etc. City Manager Wilson stated the Council, at a study session, talked about a proposed $10.0 million tax allocation bond issue for the downtown central project. The Council must decide what type of project they are going to look at, this does not bind us but the bond bidders have to have some idea of what it is going to be used for and staff has put together projects for action over the next two years or multi-years. Coordinator of Economic & Community Develop- ment Beyer gave the staff report: the proposed program list has removed the 1996/97 year and moved the projects not committed to future years; added to the list are acquisition of the medical build- ing at corner of Grand/Spruce, Grand/Linden, Lin- den/Hillside and acquisition of the Industrial Hotel; often investors have users and will acquire a build- ing which is the reason for the recent City acquisi- tions; more recently staff has looked at Hillside for 3/4/97 Page 4 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 2. Multi-Year development - Continued. 3/4/97 Page 5 246 redevelopment to upgrade the market; parking lot acquisitions; current business assistance is similar to what is in the EDS package to get the restaurant or entertainment center in and the potential fire station reconstruction or relocation and another added; the bond is to follow low and moderate income, if we go with the Willow Gardens project, not expand the redevelopment area and pay it through the future 20 %. Discussion followed: does the Linden/Pine lot fall in the Parking District; no, it is just outside and is on hold right now for the property owner wanted too much; the Council had talked about the Parking District in some essence citywide, and that needs to be checked out, and shouldn't Council be looking for acquisition from the Parking District funds for this, as we did for the Baden property; the Redevel- opment Agency purchased the property and peti- tioned for it to be part of the District and then the District funds were used; Council needs to come back with a more comprehensive district to generate tax; Mayor stated someone had come before the Council to have his property placed in the Parking District, so they could get a parking exception; this is something that has to be reviewed, but then it is an open invitation to deal with in the Parking Dis- trict; so Council has to make a decision on what direction the Parking District is going in; City Man- ager Wilson suggested Council provide parking and remove the obstacles by expanding the District, say that was the objective and assist property owners; that is something the Council has to discuss; this is important to provide the parking, because staff is looking to bring in restaurants and an enter- tainment center; what measures would have to be brought before a vote of the residents after Council receives the proposal from EDS for they were going to look at having participation; the City may have to do sidewalk repair to encourage projects to come in; Councilman Yee feels it is not a good idea to con- sider El Camino and pick up Willow Gardens and instead raise bond revenues for the potential Willow Gardens; only the redevelopment areas have the 20% set aside funds that can be used anywhere in the corporate boundaries and would be pledged for this type of debt; Grand and Spruce Avenues might be used again by the County for non-profit organiza- tions serving this community using redevelopment funds and the City Manager is in negotiations with County Health who thinks they can deliver the ser- A~ENDA 2. Multi-Year development - Continued. 3. BART Station design guidelines. 3/4/97 Page 6 ACTION TAKEN Z47 vices; staff will be coming back to Council with bond documents; was Group 4 going to buy the Grand and Linden Avenue building they now lease; etc. City Manager Wilson related: the revised station design guidelines represent the clear direction of Council; the Subcommittee reviewed it and found it followed the dictates of the Council; staff is here to ask if there are any questions or concerns, for staff will hear them and make the changes; etc. Discussion followed: Councilman Yee asked, can Robin from Group 4 or BART explain their problem with the guidelines - was it too costly or not work- able; City Manager Wilson stated staff and Group 4 had meetings with BART in November and Decem- ber of last year, the new draft was presented to the Planning Commission, changes were made, there was not time to present the document to Council, the document came out in a generalized sense and did not capture the strong sense of the Council; it was called to staff's attention and the City Manager thinks it does now and captures the full scope, so if there is any fault it is with his Office; Councilman Yee stated Robin Chang made a statement about when BART met with him and staff, there was concern about certain issues Council approved where he said they thought were too costly; Mr. Chang stated it was his personal view that we should be careful about presenting specific ideas that might be expensive later on; it was expressed that certain elements may have been expensive and not suffi- cient, but it was not by BART and not at an official meeting; Councilman Yee questioned Mr. Chang, if it would be difficult to implement the guidelines; Mr. Chang believes they will be building a station that the community will think highly of in the guidelines, however, in all of these projects you never know what happens because it is beyond anyone's control; when will Council see the end product; Mr. Chang did not know; Mr. Art Walters, BART, stated he will be the Project Manager on the station and he is looking forward to the guidelines to start on the design; he expects the design to take six months; the BART project is broken up into four parts; BART is working with the Federal Govern- ment on a demonstration project for a design build; City Manager Wilson stated the process allows the builder to work out the details so there are no change orders, but the end project comes out the AGENDA A~I!Q~ TAKEN 248 3. BART Station design guidelines - Continued. DJOURNMENT: way you want it; Councilman Yee wants to make sure the contractor leaves a way open to cut the cost; City Manager Wilson stated he has seen pri- vate contractors work with the City as a team and keep costs down; the Mazzanti zoning; BART acqui- sitions; Councilman Mullin stated he was satisfied the document is closer to what Council discussed in the study session; Councilman Penna asked the estimated cost for the station; Council will review the designs and they will be put out for bid; the budgets for each of the stations is not the same for they are based on the size of the garage and the facility and Millbrae is significantly larger because of Caltrain; Tanforan is approximately the same as S.S.F.; Councilman Penna is not happy with the documents because he does not know the costs; Councilman Yee stated the issue tonight is not the amount of money but the guidelines which were approved a couple of months ago and that is the purpose of the meeting; etc. M/S Yee/Penna - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 8:07 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara A. Battaya, City Clerk ~/ City of South San Francisco APPROVED. Jo sr-~h~ A~]Fernekes, 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 communica- tions, 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. 3/4/97 Page 7