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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReso 166-1975 RESOLUTION NO. 166-75 CITY COUNCIL, CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO,STATE OF CALIFORNIA A RESOLUTION REGARDING LOCATION AND HEIGHT OF FENCE ON CITY PROPERTY ADJACENT TO THE NORTHERLY BOUNDARY OF WESTBOROUGH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.SITE WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of South San Francisco, has duly considered the following: 1. Westborou~h Junior High School Site. That the Westborough Junior High School site abuts the residentiaI area of West Park Unit No. 3, particularly those residential areas fronting on Georgetown Court, Baldwin Hills Court~ Bet'tman Wav, Bassett Court.and Gilbert Court, , and that the said portion of the School District's~Site consists of a slope which is part ~of the site developed pursuant to Use Permit 79, dated June 25, 1968, and that said Use Permit and plan submitted in support thereof did not detail a pedestrian stairway from the school site up the slope through to Baldwin Hills Court, and that, in fact, the School District's engineer in a letter dated May 13, 1966, to the City Planner, stated that the"general requirements of these sites"(referred to as_a junio~ hiEh.school site and an elementary school site)"are that the junior high school should be served by either Westborough. Boulevard or. Callan Boule- vard and the elementary school site should be served by an inter- ! ior street with no street buffer between it and the suggested park (please see plat)'] 2. Stairway Construction. On or about February 28, 1972, the' South San'.Francisco Unified School. District opened bids for the construction of a pedestrian stairway up said slope through to Baldwin Hills Court, and the construction thereof~ was com- pleted within approximately two'months thereafter. 3. Use~of the Stairway 'and' Sl'ope.. That since construction of the'stairway, residents'of BaldWin Hills Court have complained regarding the acts of valdalism, trespass and~nuisance caused by those using said stairway'and slope for egress from and entrance to the said school site. ~. Acts Complained of in a Letter Dated June 17, 1974, to the District Superintendent of the South San Francisco Unified School District. A copy of a letter dated June 17, 197q, to the District Superintendent of the South San Francisco Unified School District reportedly filed by Miss Richardine E. Horstman sets forth acts complained of as 'of that date, which in addition to 'other matters, ~recites the following: a. A.hundred or more teenagers come up the school stair- way from the school campus onto Baldwin Hills Court occupy- ing Baldwin Hills Court for as long as a half hour before school and for as long as an hour after school, shouting obscenities, making obscene gestures, expectorating on the streets and private driveways, and into the private garden areas; littering the entire area with cigarettes, matches, cigarette packages, candy wrappers, ice cream . wrappers, etc., loitering in the street in front of the residences, in private driveways and in the private garden areas; engaging in various acts of vandalism such as scratching the paint 'of cars parked on the street and in private driveways, pulling up garden stakes, cutting pieces out of the garage doors, pulling up decorative brickwork from the private garden areas and throwing the bricks'down .into the school-yard from the top of the stairway, running through the private 'gardens; engaging in fist fights~.and incessantly ringing doorbells. b. On February 13, 1974, a..fist fight on Baldwin Hills Court After school with a. large.,.number of observers who came up the stairs from the school campus onto Baldwin Hills Court to watch the fight, yelling and tramping on gardens on private property, to which ~he police reportedly responded, but by the time of the police response, the said incident was ove~. c. On February 22, 197~, two separate fist fights, one a~ 8:10 a.m. and one at 8:20 a.m., between teenager~on Baldwin Hills Court, with a considerable number of yelling and screaming teena§ed spectators. d. On March 5, 197~, a fist fight betwen two teenagers on Baldwin Hills Court under the conditions described above. e. On March 12, 1975, a violent public disturbance on Baldwin Hills Court involving a large' number of teenagers on Baldwin Hills Court under the conditions described above. e. On March 12, 1974, a violent public disturbance on Baldwin Hills Court involving a large number of teenagers after school, which Miss Horstman characterized as a riot, and which was controlled and disbursed by a motorcycle policeman. f. On March 22, 1974, a violent public disturbance on Baldwin Hills~,~Court involving approximately thirty teenagers To which The police allegedly responded. g. On April 2, 1974, a violent public disturbance on Baldwin Hills Court after schOol involving over fifty teen- agers. h. On April 3, 1974, a fist fight between two teenagers on Baldwin Hills Court with approximately seventy-five yelling, screaming teenage' on-lookers, to which the police responded with Two patrol cars and two motorcycle policeman to restore order. i. Violent public'disturbance involving appraximately forty teenagers who had been rampaging around Baldwin Hills Court for about forty minutes after school, To which the police reportedly responded with Two motorcycle POlicemen. j. On May 1, 1974, a violent public disturbance on Baldwin Hills Court involving a large number of yelling and screaming Teenagers, To which the police responded. k. On.May. 2,1974~ violent public disturbance similar to that of May ]., 1974. 1. On M-ay 3~ 1974, a violent'public disturbance similar to that of May 1~ 197~. m. On May 7~ 1974~ a violent public disturbance on Bald- win Hills Court similar to that discussed above, and the police responded and 'cleaTed the Court. n. On May'.9~ 197~ a violent disturbance on Baldwin Hills CouP/ involving a large number of yelling~ screaming teen- agers., to which the police rePonded and-allegedly arrested three 'teenage boys. o. On May 31~1974, a violent disturbance on Baldwin Hills Court similar to that described above, to which the police responded. p. On June 13, 197~, a group of nine or ten teenagers came up the stairs from the school a short time after 12:30 p.m. The.group. or part-of the g~oup sat on a cap parked neat the schOol stairs and the owner asked.them to get off the caT,' .The writer Pelates"that'the.gPoup then discussed setting fime to one of the houses~.on Baldwin Hills Court near the stairway,.but were:unable to make up their minds as to where to set the fire. They then collected as many throw-away newspapers as they could find in the driveways, piled the papers in the gutter in'.front of one of the end houses and set fire to the papers. The fire was extinguished by the South San Francisco Fire Department. q. Such a volume of pedestrian and automobile traffic is created that it interfers with the normal entry and exit from homes and the movement of vehicles. · 5. Request to the School 'Dis't'~ic't 'fo~ 'a Fence. The letter dated June '17, 1974, referred to above, and fourteen additional residents on Baldwin Hills Court, requested on or about the date of that letter the construction of a cyclone fence by the District. 6. Acts Complained of in a doeument~entitled "Update to Petition presented.the South San Francisco School Board Meeting of June 15, 1974. Miss Richardine E. Horstman, a resident of Baldwin Hills Court, in a communication so titled, inquired as to the lack of'a Solution to the problems and recited current incidents in 1975, which are substantially as follows: A. On'July 23, 19?~,appmoximata%y a week aftem the School .~ Board'meeting~ my dining room window was broken. A group of juveniles'came up the school stairs onto Baldwin Hills Court, entered my driveway and went over to my open garage and appeared.about to enter the garage' when they noticed my 88 yeam old father in the garage. They shouted obsceni- ties at my father, threw pi%'~es of clay pottery at him, went around'to the side of my house and one of them threw a mock the size of a clenched fist through my dining room window with such force that it broke the window, dented the venetian blind and penetrated 18.feet into ~he house, punching a hole into the wall. The person who threw the rock was not a student of Westborough Junior High School but was apparently attracted to the area by the stairway to Westborough Junior High School. b. On January 15, 1975,-an incident characterized by the writer as a riot in which an iron.bar was thrown missing a South San Francisco policeman and a resident, and a rock was thrown hitting a person in the back, and reportedly arrests were made'in'the school yard of the Westborough Junior High School. c. On January 17, 1975, a fire set' in the front garden of a residence on Baldwin Hills Court by a group of juveniles loitering after school, to which 'the South San Francisco Fire Department responded. d On February'26, 1975, at approximately 7:15 a.m., a fire was' Set in the middle of' the street of Baldwin Hills Court by a group of juveniles,to which the South San Francisco Fire Department responded. e. On March 12, 1975, approximately thirty juveniles gathered on'the private driveways of the residents on Baldwin Hills Court. f. On March 17, 1975, police were called to clear juveniles from the driveway of a residence on Baldwin Hills Court. g. On March 17, 18, 19 and 20, 19.75, and April 8, 4, 8, 11 13 and 14, 1975, similar incidents of disturbances and trespass occurred, including the impeding of traffic on the streets and dumping garbage cans on private premises. 7. Pe~i~ions £rom April Through May, 1975. That the .City Manager received twelve individual petitions from residents of Baldwin Hills Court requesting that the School-District erect . a cyclone fence in order to stop the misuse of the school stairs by juveniles loitering, vandalizing and~trespassing, and disturb-- lng the peace, and to stop'the misuse of Baldwin Hills Court by volumes of pedestrians and vehicular traffic for which the cul-de-sac was never designed. 8.. Council MeetinK, Septembe~ 3, 1975. That sevePal of the ~esidents appeared before the City Council on September 3, 1975~ to ~elate acts of ~respass and vandalism substantially similar to those recited above, including mail buPned in boxes~ trees burned in yards, rocks thrown on porches, a gate installed to protect private~property rammed open, masses of students walking through the middle of the street so that traffic could not.move, and-.the pouring of material on the slopes and setting it on fire. 9. City's Request to the Distrie't. That the.City has made a request to the. District to remove the stairs, cooperate in fenc- ing the slope and regulate use of the slope, designating a second exit to Callan Boulevard instead of to Baldwin Hills Court for · fop ingress and egress. 10. Lack of Effective Response· That the School District has not made an effective response to any of the requests above nor has the School District enacted or proposed any. effective regulations for the use of the slope or'.stairway. 11. Peace, Comfort'and-Safety of Property and Persons. That the use of the slope and stairway under the present circum- stances and the complaints hereinbefore recited constitutes a threat to the peace, comfort and safety of property and persons residing on Baldwin Hills Court and the other named streets because of the nature of the acts complained of and because ,the City is unable' to furnish twenty-four hour police surveillance on each of said streets and may be unable '.to effectively respond with emergency vehicles to the homes and residents in said area because of the mass congestion in the streets. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that: 1. The Council finds and determines: (a) That the property and safety of persons are threat- ened by reason of the conditions above recited and the use. of the stairway and slope for ingress and egress from the Westbor- ough Junior High School site, and that further the congestion caused by the use of said slope and stairway threatens the entrance and effective use of police, fire and other safety vehicles called to render aid to property and persons in said area. b. The City is unable to patrol each of the streets twenty-four hours a day to assure protection to the property and persons in said area. c. The construction and installation of.la fence is quired to prevent the use of the slope ~and stairway under .the conditions presently existing. 2. Orders that the City Manager construct and install cause the construction and installation of a six (6) foot fence with a one (1)'foot extension'at an. angle of forty-five (~5) degrees with wipe installed in said extension, on the City property adjacent to the northerly boundaries of Westborough Junior High School site~ as previously authorized. · I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was regularly introduced and adopted by the City Council of the City of South San Francisco. at a- special meeting held on the 29th day of October .~ 1975, by the following vote: AYES, COUNCILMEN Richard A. Battaglia,' Fi Frank Mammini, Terr~ J. Mirri, Leo Padreddii and Warren Steinkamp NOES, ABSENT, " None None ATTEST: City Clerk 10.