HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1998-09-30 Mayor Eugene R. Mullin
Council:
James L. Datzman
Joseph A. Fernekes
---Karyl Matsumoto
John R. Penna
MINUTES
City Council
Municipal Services Building
Community Room
September 30, 1998
~PECIAL MEETING
CITY COUNCIL
OF THE
CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO
SEPTEMBER 30, 1998
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 Wednesday, the 30th day of
September 1998, at 6:00 p.m. in the Municipal Services Building, Community Room, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San
Francisco, California.
Purpose of the meeting is a study session for discussion of:
Capital Improvement Program
Dated: September 11, 1998
City Clerk
City of South San Francisco
CALL TO ORDER:
ROLL CALL:
AGENDA
(Cassette No. 1)
Capital Improvement Program
.5-/20
ACTION TAKEN
6:00 p.m. Mayor Mullin presiding.
Council Present:
Council Absent:
Datzman, Fernekes, Matsumoto
and Mullin.
Penna.
City Clerk Battaya stated Councilman Penna in-
formed her Office that he would be out of the coun-
try and unable to attend tonight's meeting.
Mayor Mullin stated the purpose of the meeting was
a study session to discuss the five year Capital Im-
provement Program.
City Manager Wilson stated the Director of Public
Works will give an overview of the CIP and focus
on four significant projects. Two of which are
9/30/98
Page 1
AGENDA
.__Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
Page 2
ACTION TAKEN
underway, and two that have Council on-going in-
volvement. At the conclusion there will be a greater
detailed presentation by the Fire Chief and the Di-
rector of the Library. At the conclusion we will ask
the City Engineer to then refer you back to the draft
CIP with full explanation on the process he went
through in developing this budget.
Director of Public Works Gibbs related: this is a
five year CIP, together with the packet sent to you
this week; there are three staff reports; he has four
major projects he will touch base on - the two larg-
est projects are the WQCP and the Oyster Point
Flyover, next is the fire stations and the Library;
he will outline the Treatment Plant and the Oyster
Point Flyover, and the Library Director will go over
the feasibility study; when she is through she will
hand it back to him and he will request a couple of
minutes for the fire people to put their equipment
together; at the 10/14/98 meeting he will give Coun-
cil a full blown presentation on the Plant, and he
will have the analysis of bids; he will be expecting
the Council to award the bids for construction and
the further extension of the design support as con-
struction goes along; Battle Wells will be present at
the meeting to walk Council through the rate struc-
ture and how it will be paid back; the City has
authorized an increase over the last few years, so he
wants explained, how the money is put together and
how it will be paid back; the City applied for and
was granted a State loan and that is $49.5 million;
he went out to bid through the normal process and
received $41.5 for the construction and the rest goes
towards administrative costs; BCDC requires im-
improvements to the Bay Trail for a million dollars;
he gave background information on the WQCP shar-
ing with San Bruno on a 66/36 basis; the Plant
pumps 8.5 million gallons per day up to 13 million
gallons per day which is the limit of our permit; one
half a million gallons is the requirement for San
Bruno with the other millions of gallons going to
S.S.F. for their projected requirements over the next
few years; there was a needs assessment for use in
both cities and what improvements were needed to
bring it into compliance and avoid violations for
equipment breakdowns.
Discussion followed: Mayor Mullin asked, what do
you have to do to increase it to 13 million gallons
per day; because of the way the City is growing,
another analysis will be needed for capacity and we
AGENDA
._.C.Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
Page 3
ACTION TAKEN
will have to start again with the whole process; so,
this is like a never ending process; this is affecting
capacity because of the bio tech people coming in
east of 101 and their demands, which are ever in-
creasing; the projected analysis is through 2015; we
have a permit from MPDS that says 13 million gal-
Ions; the Federal Government changed the product,
so you had to treat it and pull out a lot more, so the
rating dropped down to 8 million gallons at the
stroke of a legislative pen; it was the amount of
solids that effectively brought down the gallons;
staff was using the term improvement project, rather
than expansion project which is more difficult;
TRUX is out there leasing some in-land portions of
the plant for parking; the City Manager has run
numbers from a parking point of view, and without
the expansion the money received from parking may
exceed the savings from Tillo, and maybe we could
reassess them,; if the City took over the Tillo land,
the City will have enough room for further expan-
sion; the pumps will be upgraded; there is a new
JPA being written and brought to both Councils for
a presentation; the Subcommittee has reviewed the
cost of the Plant, which included ali of the elected
officials and staff from both cities; the cost of the
loan is 2.6% per annum in interest; staff went after
the maximum loan and the State gave us $49.5
million with a maximum amount of $50 million; the
people at the Plant are excited about what is happen-
ing; the Plant itself will be one of the better ones on
the northern peninsula; all issues have been worked
out in a cooperative manner with San Bruno; should
San Bruno decide next year they might need another
200,000 gallons - that would be bought under anoth-
er set of circumstances; it will be built and we can
sell them capacity; Mayor Mullin likes the new
settling ponds; there are also geese at the Plant.
Director of Public Services Gibbs gave an overview
of the flyover: which is Phase II of the overpass
touching down into Oyster Point at Gateway; it did
not get built because of the Shearwater problems,
because of the Company not being solvent or having
the means to develop it and being owned by a firm
in Japan; the new owners went back to the original
design, went to Caltrans and they came to the con-
clusion that a one lane bridge would not meet the
needs of 2002, and suggested we build two lanes
and the Council agreed; the hook ramps could not
be built because they were in the shell mounds; the
only possible location is further south along
AGENDA
___Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
Page 4
ACTION TAKEN
Bayshore, and it was necessary to revise the design
in order to snake the hook ramps beneath and that is
why it went to 16 million; in order to revise again
the structure to accommodate the hook ramps the
original cost should be borne by the Developer, he
has to pay for the modifications to that; Caltrans is
looking at it as one project, because the take off
point is further down; the hook ramps have to be
built, otherwise we are out of form with Caltrans, so
they are looking at it as two projects and it will be
phased; there were problems with relocation of the
utilities that run along the Freeway and are expen-
sive to relocate; staff expects to start construction
the early part of next year, the necessary documents
are in place, and Caltrans has given a go ahead; the
Oyster Point Widening Project has been started, and
has a ten month construction period, and they have
started the embankments.
Mayor Mullin stated he addressed the Oyster Point
Business Park on the subject and got a standing
ovation, because that is finally going to take place to
alleviate traffic.
Director of Public Works Gibbs related: most of the
bridge contractors are finishing up in the bay area
and are available for work, there are five of them,
and he feels he will get competitive bids; it is a
simple task to bring all those temporary beams to
our location to give us a good bid; contractors watch
what goes to Caltrans and are familiar with up com-
ing jobs; he gets calls asking when the plans will be
ready, and he thinks $16 million is a bit high for the
project.
City Manager Wilson stated State Codes have
changed since the building was built in 1966, and
also with the fire stations, wherein there are seismic
and structural changes needed for health and safety.
City Librarian Sommer related: the West Orange
Library, after 32 years in operation, is struggling in
a space bursting from the population, the foot traffic
in the library and service demands; the expansion of
the library will allow staff to look towards the fu-
ture; last year Council approved a resolution autho-
rizing staff to hire an architect, we hired Group 4
and a library consultant; there were three focus
groups including library staff and library board-
members to elicit feedback for the assessment; she
cited the major concerns - back entrance is poorly
AGENDA
_Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
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ACTION TAKEN
designed, poor lighting with glare, parking is inade-
quate; electrical and data capacity is limited for
high-demand computer stations, poor handicapped
accessibility and the elevator is not ADA accessible,
current security system is unreliable, insufficient
room for a multitude of functions, wall and roof
structures on the main tloor require extensive reme-
dial work to bring up to Code; ADA requirements
are not met, lack of air conditioning on main floor
and not meeting current code requirements in the
basement, current electrical service is inadequate if
loads are added, existing fire alarm system is not
adequate to support modern fire alarm devices,
mechanical and electrical systems are inefficient;
West Orange Library has 24,000 gross sq. ft. and
needs 34,738 gross square feet to shelve the current
collection; peninsula libraries circulation has gone
up dramatically and demands on services growing;
need space for Project Read, group study room with
four to six seats, 15 new computers, small public
meeting rooms, Friends of the Library store, a small
cafe operated by a contractor; multi-media produc-
tion room for the students; in the next phase Group
4 will supply cost estimates for building plan alter-
natives - a mezzanine plus a new, two-story addi-
tion, and construction of a new facility on the cur-
rent property; $400,000 is requested for the prepara-
tion of building plans, specifications and an engi-
neering plan for the construction of a 21st century
West Orange Library.
Discussion followed: the $400,000 includes the
parking lot; Councilwoman Matsumoto feels librar-
ies are very important and looks to supporting a
brand new building; City Manager Wilson stated it
is important to look at the land available, for many
of staff are of the opinion that if you want a brand
new facility, that site may not be the answer because
a new structure may not be good for the neighbor-
hood; if the library has to go to a temporary loca-
tion, Burlingame found it was $1 million and they
are out of their facility for more than two years;
those costs are similar to the restoration of City Hall
and it is painful to pay that kind of rent; Council-
woman Matsumoto stated she would like to see a
new building; to do that one would have to look at a
new site; the space needs assessment was based on
cities with similar populations using the American
Library and public library standards; opening up
branches duplicates services at a lower level and the
needs are not addressed; the Library Board is very
AGENDA
.__Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
Page 6
ACTION TAKEN
supportive of building a whole new library for the
needs of the 21st century; City Manager Wilson
stated there is a whole caveat discussion of the
library and fire stations, we don't know what the
product is, and so, we don't know what the cost is,
tbr it could cost $11 million and two new fire sta-
tions could cost more; so, the Council does not have
enough information tonight; Councilwoman
Matsumoto thinks the Corporation Yard is fabulous,
but when you look at who needs the use - so will
you kind of look at that; what role has Group 4
played; they worked with the City and the consultant
and hired an outside firm to do an analysis of the
building, they are under contract and staff will
meet with them after direction is given by Council;
Councilman Fernekes likes the idea of exploring the
new library with some alternatives; some libraries
have built their parking lots underneath; Mayor
Mullin stated, considering cyberspace - what effect
is that going to have on libraries, as more and more
people get connected to the internet in their homes;
there is less need to go to a library; he stated the
entire premise of the request, not withstanding the
shortcomings of a 30 year old building, is based on
growth and we have a city that will have over
70,000 people in the 21st century; City Librarian
Sommer stated, they said library services will go
down with TV, for people will not read as much,
yet the library use continues to grow; people think
they can find everything on the internet and right
now many services are free, but that will change;
right now the libraries are training people on the
internet; Mayor Mullin states he gets nervous for
his church is building a building for $800,000 and
this is an engineering study for $400,000; he is
concerned with putting the citizens in a huge finan-
cial outlay, for the next presentation is going to be
that amount and more and he is concerned in spend-
ing other peoples money; he is not totally convinced
that the building we have will not be functional and
adequate to meet the needs 20 or 30 years from
now; questioning the comment that the roof struc-
tures on the main floor have several spots noted as
being grossly overstressed; it means we have more
loads into the building than it was originally de-
signed for, and he put in the latest Code require-
ments and wind loads and checked out the roof, and
that is what they are talking about; some of these
loads go back into the walls from the roof and the
floor because it is suspended; Mayor Mullin stated
books were not put on the roof, and thought because
AGENDA
__~apital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
Page 7
ACTION TAKEN
that was our emergency center, it would not come
down; that is true of the basement; the EEOC is a
bomb shelter to house us for 60 days; Mayor Mullin
noted, the bottom of the library only has a small
portion being used; City Manager Wilson stated it
looks like all three options should be explored, the
last one is the most challenging and maybe we can
go subterranean for parking; Mayor Mullin stated
library funding is dead in this legislative session and
if we are talking about a new library for $6 million -
where do we get the money; City Manager Wilson
stated we could, depending on the priority of other
projects, pay cash for that, but it would inhibit the
CIP; Vice Mayor Datzman wants to see a profes-
sional assessment done in a summary form, that
would be helpful in making a decision; Mayor
Mullin stated the schools are getting rid of books
and replacing them with computers, not that he
necessarily agrees with that, but what was a library
is now a media center; he would like to get the
traffic impact, for he knows the City is expanding
the parking lot and there could be some concern
from the neighborhood; if a second story parking
level is built it would be backing into peoples'
homes; staff considered taking out two or three
homes.
Fire Chief Lee related: the numbers Council is
about to see in the report are covered in the CIP
before Council; he is asking Council to authorize
staff to develop a facility plan, appropriate funds this
year to hire a consultant to prepare site and eleva-
tion drawings and that is $40,000; seismic retrofit of
the apparatus bay doors is $150,000 at three fire sta-
tions; and $31,000 for normal fire station mainte-
nance for there is carpet staining from the roof at
Central Fire Station; Council funded a study for a
needs assessment of Central Fire Station and the
study was expanded; staff hired Marcy Li Wong
Architects to examine the existing physical condi-
tions of the stations, including seismic and function-
ality and the living environment; looked at FEMA's
guidelines for the seismic option level and looked at
the operational level, immediate occupancy level,
life safety level and collapse prevention level; the
study provides a menu of projects; the administra-
tion office was not a part of this which is inadequate
and outgrown.
Discussion followed: is there any advantage in
having the public safety in the same place, we just
AGENDA
,__.Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
Page 8
ACTION TAKEN
did that with all of the permit people; it helps with
communications and common issues get taken care
of; City Manager Wilson stated probably another
pressing need is a communications center for both
departments for physical expansion, so when the fire
leaves, the space will be absorbed by communica-
tions; Fire Chief Lee stated the EEOC has outlived
its function at the library and should be moved to
one of the fire stations to get multi use, meeting
rooms and training; a full seismic report was not
done on Arroyo, the space is inadequate and there is
water leakage since 1981, the ventilation is no good
for personal living and needs work; the report rec-
ommends relocating the fire station with a cost
estimate of $3.4 million to rebuild it on the corner
parking lot on Camaritas; however, staff does not
recommend that for it is not feasible, it does not
provide space, it is difficult to park and it would
compound the problem; staff is looking at response
time involved wherever the station is relocated,
which could not be more than a minute and a half;
Fire Station #2 was built in 1972 and the drainage is
bad, the emergency generator has to be replaced, the
kitchen remodeled, install male and female facilities
and an exercise area for $2.1 million; staff recom-
mends, over a three year period, to spend $240,000
and this year do the seismic apparatus so we can get
out of the doors during an earthquake; Station #4
was built in 1969, requires seismic upgrades of the
existing plywood shear walls, a moment-frame at the
apparatus bay doors, additional ties on the roof,
lateral support at beam-to-column connections and
reconfigured to provide separate male and female
facilities and an exercise area; Station #5 is in excel-
lent condition, however, the apparatus bay door may
need new plates where the moment-frame is connect-
ed to the column; he asked that the expenditure
include moving the administrative office; etc.
Discussion followed: Vice Mayor Datzman stated
last year we were in a budget session and the Coun-
cil said what about Central Fire Station, and there
was a decision to set aside $20,000 to study it and
where it would go and now there is a conscious
decision to run the other stations into the presenta-
tion; the issues being presented are the same issues
as when we moved into this building in 1981; we
said last year Central Fire has to be enlarged or
replaced, the building is out dated, but part of
the question was where else do we have to go; Fire
Chief Lee stated no, the study was to take a look at
AGENDA
.... .Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
9/30/98
Page 9
ACTION TAKEN
the station, the seismic work and the structure; Vice
Mayor Datzman stated $600,000 is a lot of money
over a three year period; he asked, where does the
building go and when is the EEOC going to be ad-
dressed; the Fire Chief will identify a location and
come back to Council with the cost; City Manager
Wilson stated the Fire Department is the best expert
when it comes to site locations, because they know
the response times better than anyone, but when we
identify choices, then comes the site plan and the
rest; Councilman Fernekes wants staff to use their
expertise, as they did with the Corporation Yard for
that is a place that is going to be there for a number
of years; Councilwoman Matsumoto was supportive
and feels the presentation was quite thorough; May-
or Mullin stated the money aspect is very high
to replace two fire stations, and maybe Council can
take our resources because the money is rolling in,
but we have to keep in mind how to fund this; he
has been in all of the facilities, and concurs that
Central is in dire shape and this one is in poor shape
and the one on the other side of the freeway where
we have to do the seismic work; the Fire Chief's
plan for the next three years makes sense and the
report was comprehensive, as well as the Library
Director's; however, the decisions are major impact
decisions and they have to be made with a lot of
forethought.
City Engineer Kianpour explained: the identified
columns; the history of the projects in the columns;
the estimated pie chart of CIP expenditures and how
they identify projects; the joint study impact of
utilities on our roads; restricted funds and
unrestricted funds; and prioritization schemes.
Discussion followed: Mayor Mullin offered differ-
ent language on some of the CIP items; Vice Mayor
Datzman wants to see the plan on Item No. 4; Item
No. 13 funding could come from Gas Tax; Council-
woman Matsumoto wants to look at access to 280
from Hickey as an alternative; Vice Mayor Datzman
complimented the Director of Public Services on
getting the funds on the railroad crossing; SFIA
Director Martin is asking that the ANIP agreement
for no residential use under the flight path be ex-
tended for ten years, when asked by the City Man-
ager for more ANIP funds; Mayor Mullin spent the
day in Oakland with David Valkenaar on moving the
CNEL levels to 60 and then pushing them to 55
CNEL; City Manager Wilson stated his Secretary
AGENDA
ACTION TAKEN
..... Capital Improvement Program - Continued.
ADJOURNMENT:
Allene will contact each Councilmember for a
10/14/98 special meeting at 5:15 p.m. for a Closed
Session on the evaluation of the City Attorney.
M/S Datzman/Matsumoto - To adjourn the meeting.
Carried by unanimous voice vote.
Time of adjournment was 9:05 p.m.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
· Battaya, City Clerk
City of South San Francisco
APPROVED.
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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.
9/30/98
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