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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1994-10-12Mayor Joseph A. Fernekes Council: Jack Drago John R. Penna Roberta Cerri Teglia Robert Yee MINUTES City Council Municipal Services Building Community Room October 12, 1994 162 CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: INVOCATION: RESENTATIONS AGENDA REVIEW Acting City Manager Martel Requested: Remove items 3 and 6 and continue item 5 to 10/26/94. ACTION TAKEN 7:33 p.m., Mayor Fernekes presiding. Council Present: Drago, Penna, Teglia, Yee and Fernekes. Council Absent: None. Deputy City Clerk Bill stated that City Clerk Battaya was away on personal business. The Pledge was recited. Rev. Joseph Landi, St. Veronica's Catholic Church, gave the invocation. PRESENTATIONS There were no presentations. AGENDA REVIEW It was announced to change the Agenda item number for Public Hearings - Item No. 4, to Item No. 5 and to continue renumbering for the rest of the Agenda. Councilwoman Teglia questioned why these were being pulled. Acting City Manager Martel stated that Item No. 3 was being removed because of a need for the City to reconsider the numbers included in that report, Item No. 5 was being continued to 10/26/94 at the re- quest of the applicant, who was out of town, and Item No. 6 was being removed at the request of the applicant's attorney, because additional follow-up was needed at the County level. 10/12/94 Page 1 AGENDA A~!!ON TAKEN REPORT OF THE CITY MANAGER ORAL COMMUNICATIONS (Cassette No. 2 - Cassette No. 1 malfunctioned) 163 REPORT OF THE CITY MANAGER Acting City Manager Martel stated she did not have anything to report. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Ms. Pat Burke, 1700 El Camino Real, thanked the Council, the Flood Control District and Interim Director of Public Works Wykoff for their efforts in addressing her concerns about the proposed BART extension. She presented a letter from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation in Washington, D.C., which replied to a letter she and other residents of the Treasure Island Trailer Park sent to them addressing objections to the proposed alignments for the BART extension project and concerns over potential pollu- tion from hazardous materials during project con- struction activities, and she also presented a flyer from Peninsula Rail 2000, which stated the CalTrain Joint Powers Board is considering an ordinance to limit free speech at CaiTrain stations and on trains. She asked the City Clerk to make copies of these and forward them to Council. She stated limiting free speech is in violation of our constitutional rights. Mr. Lou Dell'Angela, 460 Gardenside Avenue, stated he was here to talk about or get some infor- mation on where the City was on the whole permit expediting and red tape cutting process. He stated a couple of weeks ago he sent Council a letter stating he thought there was still a real, major problem in this City relative to red tape. He stated he was somewhat frustrated because he didn't know where to go to get action. He stated the natural course of certain people is to come straight to Council and let it work down - but he preferred not to do that. However, it is difficult to get anything accomplished or to get some decisions, made at a lower lever, reconsidered. He pointed out he was working on two projects recently in this City. One dealt with the Tony's Hofbrau Restaurant on So. Spruce, which is now going to be the El Mariachi Restaurant. It was an absolute nightmare between the Planning and Building Departments. The process is still not ended, they're still process- ing a new set of plans and the building is still not open. It has been going on probably for a year. 10/12/94 Page 2 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 164 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 10/12/94 Page 3 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS The second project, which he thought was a pretty good project, was for a hotel, which was going to generate to the City over $100,O00/year in revenue and it seemed like every time they turned around more and more obstacles were thrown in their path. He stated he was not there to just complain that some of the projects he was working on are having obstacles thrown in their paths but because he also runs across small business people and residential homeowners in this community who want to make improvements to their property, who want to do something positive in this community, and it seems like every time these people hit certain offices it just stops dead and because these people need help as well. He stated, at some point of time, we have to stop talking about streamlining and we have to start doing some streamlining. He related the Design Review Board is a major obstacle and something should be done about this, because it is a dead-end for a lot of people. He felt there is a need for an appeal process in the Planning and Building Departments, because some- one may not agree with a judgement of the Planning Director or the Chief Building Official. There is a need for some place to go to get some sort of recon- sideration on some of the judgements that are made. However, there does not seem to be any place to go. So, he feels changes are needed. He understands Interim Director of Econ. & Comm. Dev. Beyer is doing a study and felt that's like putting the solution to all the problems in the hands of one person. He hopes that when this report comes out, and hopefully it will be fairly soon, it will be made public, will be discussed by the public and changes that are made or recommended are talked about before any kind of action is taken. He stated on tonight's Agenda was an item that has been sitting around since July of this year and the whole process struck him as being extremely ridicu- lous - it was a big deal over something very little. It's these kinds of things that drive people crazy, are costly and time consuming and turn a lot of people off in this community. AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS ORAL COMMUNICATIONS He related that we are all aware we are in very tough, economic times. We are in competition with a lot of other communities for development to stabi- lize our community and to do positive things. We need to move ahead with some decisive action to help people rather than hinder and hurt them. We need to have avenues open so that, if they don't get reasonable decisions at our lower staff levels, they have an avenue to go to and try to get relief. Oth- erwise, this City is going to lose more industry and jobs and people will turn away from making im- provements to their properties. He urged Council to move quickly on this. He stated he would like, before he left that night, some idea as to when some recommendations were going to come forward and when some action was going to be taken to try to help the process and to try to cut the red tape in this town. Vice Mayor Yee told Mr. Dell'Angela he was sure he was aware that Councilman Drago and he were on a committee that has been working on the prob- lem for about a year, that they are just as frustrated as he is and are trying to get some of the process streamlined. However, one has to understand that it is very easy to be critical. They have to balance between the needs of the business people vs. the Code, as well as the minimum requirements they have to impose. So, it's not as easy as just open the front gate. He stated he was not trying to defend the City's red tape problem and that he was very outspoken for at least a couple of years on Council that we should improve our permit process. He stated Councilman Drago and he had a meeting a month or so ago with Interim Director of Econ. & Comm. Dev. Beyer and that certain improvements had been implemented and asked the Acting City Manager to elaborate. He also pointed out that Acting City Manager Mattel is going to speak on this matter this Friday at the Chamber and that per- haps Mr. Dell'Angela could meet with her and find out a little more about what the process is. Acting City Manager Mattel related she couldn't agree more about the comments that have been made over a period of time regarding the permit process and the variety of complaints that we have had. She said it is an area that has needed a lot of attention, 10/12/94 Page 4 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 166 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS improvement and refinement and they have talked to a number of people to get feedback about specific problems, however, a lot of the complaints are about very specific issues. When we address changes in the permit process they have to be somewhat generic and have to apply to a variety of cases, not be a specific incident with which people have to deal. She hoped the changes we implement will take care of a lot of recurring problems. She stated one of the problems relates to customer service and the ease at which people can come to the City, whether for Planning issues or Building per- mits, maneuver through the system, in some cus- tomer-service-friendly fashion, be able to confront a system they may be unfamiliar with and do it all in an expedient way. One of the issues we have been focusing on a great deal is how we can cut down on timeframes. We started, especially in the building area, looking at the timeframes that have been established in the past, during which we review plans, get them back to applicants and try to get the plans up to the level at which they need to be in order to have building permits issued. In the past, this has taken an inordi- nate amount of time. We hope that by reducing the timeframes and establishing, what we have not had in the past, over the counter approval for some permits we are going to speed up that process. We have to examine a number of permits to see how this is working - to look at the timeframes to check and see how many days it is taking and how the public is responding to that. We have been trying to do that since we implemented it. We need more informa- tion but we have made refinements within the last month or two on some of the problems we have encountered. She stated another area we need to address is the use of outside plan checkers - the comments we get back and sometimes the inconsistencies that occur in the process when the public comes in, talks to someone at the counter and then their plans are sent out. We are working on this and are trying to present greater consistency in the information the public receives over the counter, even if their plans are being checked outside. 10/12/94 Page 5 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 167 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS She related we have been looking at the staffing levels in the Building Division. We have had a vacancy in the Building Division, the Senior Plan Checker position has been vacant for a number of months. We have appointed someone to fill that position, starting the 24th of this month. We have been experiencing a good deal of lag time between the time applicants brought their plans in, got them through the process and had a permit issued. We are aware of that and part of the reason we have taken so long to fill that position is because we have looked at staffing levels and what the real needs are, based on the kind of feedback we get from the public. We will have someone on board who has a good deal of experience in plan checking, an attitude of real customer service orientation and is prepared to deal with the public in a way to help them through the process, especially those who are en- countering the process for the first time. She said these are some of the things we are dealing with at the present time. We are also looking at a restructuring of the Community Development De- partment, which involves not only Building but also Planning. She stated some of the issues Mr. Dell'Angela raised regarding the decision making process may be ad- dressed, to a certain extent, in the restructuring and that they are also looking at some changes in the lines of communication. She stated she could not tell Council, the public nor Mr. Deli'Angela that people will get the decisions they always want as a result of the restructuring but hopefully the communication process will be im- proved. Based on the comments she has been hear- ing, a lot of the problems stem from poor communi- cation or lack of communication between staff in- volved in the decision making process and the appli- cants. That will be addressed with the Council subcommittee at the end of this month. Councilwoman Teglia stated the issue of streamlin- ing the process - making it faster, easier and more user-friendly to people who don't come in every day and even for those whose business it is to come in every day to the Building and Planning Depart- ments, has been a major concern of the entire Coun- 10/12/94 Page 6 AGENDA ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 10/12/94 Page 7 _AC!IQN TAKEN 168 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS cil for a long time. They have been very frustrated about the problems but think they are making some progress. She cautioned that streamlining does not mean suspension of rules, codes nor ordinances. If the person's problem is communications, we are going to remedy that, however, if they can't do it because of the codes, which offer the benefit of safety and protect the welfare of everyone, that's probably not going to change. She stated it sounds like people think if we just clean out the Building and Planning Departments then everyone will be able to do whatever they want to do, however, that's not going to be the case. She stated the Design Review Board has been a favorite whipping boy of many people, probably because they don't understand how it works. It is made up of professionals. We asked them to serve us and they don't receive pay. They do not approve nor deny - they look at it, make suggestions and recommendations. Denial or approval, based on the considerations they discuss, really rests with our City Planner. She did not understand why things have to go back two or three times to Design Re- view. They should indicate their intent and what they think the problem is then, when that intent is met, whomever is the planner has the ability to approve it over the counter. She said it is the one person, the planner, who has that responsibility and one of her problems has been trying to understand why our staff hides on that. Councilman Penna stated the subcommittee has been working hard to try to bring about needed changes. His main concern is that a lot of people are con- cerned with reprisals by staff. There is a fear, by the public, that, if they complain, there will be reprisals on their job. They are done subtly and one way of doing it is by having the person go back to the Design Review Board more than one time, two times, three times and even more. That's a form of delay, a form of a reprisal. Once it goes to the Design Review Board it shouldn't have to go back. Mr. Dell'Angela stated he thought Councilwoman Teglia was right about the Design Review Board. Although the Planning Director has the final say, for all intensive purposes, the Design Review Board is making the judgements. AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 10/12/94 Page 8 169 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS He stated he was concerned at what Vice Mayor Yee and Councilwoman Teglia said - that we are not going to cut nor suspend the rules. He didn't think anyone was asking to suspend the rules. What disturbs a lot of people who come to City Hall is that they are asked to do certain things and they look around and see all of the flagrant abuses that are somehow allowed or condoned or uses that don't even belong there that have been approved. They start wondering and ask why me. He feels we need to talk about things being equal for everybody. He doesn't think that is happening. He said he could supply documentation to support this. He stated he was not there to blame all of staff. He feels Council needs to set some firm deadlines in terms of some action, because this has been talked about since January. As an administrator in government for a long time, he feels an administrator generally knows where the problems are, because he faces them day to day, week to week and month to month. He doesn't feel it is brain surgery. We can figure out where the glitches and the problems are and recom- mendations for solutions should come from the Divisions and Departments themselves, rather than looking at one particular individual to come up with the solutions. He wanted to know that some specific proposals are going to come before this Council, maybe in a study session, some time very soon and that we can move forward with a streamlining process that is uniform for everybody, that works and has an appeal pro- cess. He said that's really all anybody asks - that it is fair and uniform and that certain people don't get preferential treatment and other people get ham- mered over the head with unnecessary regulations. Councilman Drago stated one point that we should be aware of, which surfaced during the study, is that over 90% of the first submittal of plans and applica- tions are in error - there are omissions or they are wrong. It should be a first priority, on an original submitted plan, to make sure the information is there and correct prior to coming in and submitting that plan, because, when you are speaking that 90-95% are in error, you have a log jam right at the desk. He said he is as frustrated as anyone else is about this, we did start over a year ago and that was one of the reasons they requested the addition of a per- AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ,. 9RAL COMMUNICATIONS 170 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS son to walk people through the process - a coordina- tor of some sort. They started to find out that there was not coordination between certain departments and, hopefully, that is being corrected. It didn't get that way overnight and the cure is not going to be overnight. You are dealing with government - with codes, process, submittal times, State laws and agencies beyond local control. Councilman Penna stated that usually when a plan is submitted by a professional mistakes don't happen but he is thinking about a lot of people out there who get permits, for a deck or something minor, for which a set of drawings might be required along with other detailed information. The individual has no knowledge of any of this and is not prepared. He felt there should be something at the counter, a check-off list of some sort, which would make people know what is going to be required of them, and there should be someone there who can explain it to them. He feels we should be user friendly and we should be encouraging people to take out per- mits, because it is a source of income for the City and also a safety feature controlling how things are done. Where we go wrong is when the horror stories start to develop and then the public thinks in terms that they would rather not deal with it, that they would rather just go and do it on their own, it's a small job and no one will know the difference. Because of this attitude, you may have a structure that is not safe or construction of a deck that may not be completely safe. He feels we really haven't done our part in providing the health and safety features we are supposed to be providing, because of what takes place at staff level. He feels, if we have someone who can explain to people when they come in to get their permits what needs to be done in a clear, concise way, that would go a long way in helping to relieve the problem. Councilwoman Teglia wanted the public to know how seriously this Council is considering the prob- lem. Last year and this year they cut out a number of positions. One of the very few areas in this City that a position was added was in this very area - they actually created and added a new position. The position has to do with the process - getting people through it and trying to make it more understand- able, meeting them at the door and making sure 10/12/94 Page 9 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 10/12/94 Page 10 17T ORAL COMMUNICATIONS their submissions are complete. She stated she was very much unaware of what Mr. Dell'Angela com- mented on - that he felt some people got hit over the head and other people got to do pretty much what they wanted, and asked for documentation of that, if in fact he had any. She said, if he could show it's personality or favoritism and had evidence of that, where the codes were the same and the rules the same, Council would act on that. She did not like the fact that Mr. Dell'Angela made those statements without presenting evidence at the same time, be- cause it gives the public an impression that is not fair. Vice Mayor Yee stated Interim Director of Econ. & Comm. Dev. Beyer, at their last committee meeting, prepared a list of all the actions that have been taken to improve the process, as far as the Building and Planning Departments were concerned, and asked Acting City Manager Martel to furnish Council a copy of that report. Mr. Louis Poletti, 333 El Camino Real, stated he has done a lot of building and has been through the Building Department many times, however, the last three or four years have been very frustrating. He bought a building, the last eyesore on Linden Ave- nue, some three years ago, paid $740,000 for it and proceeded to kick out three tenants, who were there for 30 years, with the idea of cleaning it up. He spent $50,000 cleaning it up, got a tenant, hired an architect, hired a civil engineer, went in with the building plans, went through Design Review and through the rest. When he got the building plans back he noticed they had been sent out. What amazed him was that, when a top building job be- came available, the City went out and got all these experts and after they are hired they never make a decision. The plan came back some two months later and it had eight changes, a few of which were structural and code, which they were not trying to avoid. They incorporated those changes, signed the lease with the new tenant, brought the plan back to the Building Department and waited another two months. When the plan came back it had twelve changes. He doesn't understand why the original outfit didn't catch those changes to start with. He would have never entered into the new lease. He then went to George Avanessian and his engineer to AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 10/12/94 Page 11 172' ORAL COMMUNICATIONS have a meeting. He instructed them, because he was so tired of this deal, to do the changes. They told him no, that he would be better off tearing down the building, because that would be less ex- pensive than what they were requiring him to do. He couldn't do that - because he had a lease. He stated that's the frustrating part about the pro- cess. They should not have to go out again. That's where you would cut out a lot of time. That's where all the frustration is. The minute you come back and comply with the changes you go to the bottom of the list and you have to go through it all again. You have to have some people in the Building Department making decisions. As long as you have an architect and a registered engineer and he complies that he has made the changes and shows all the structural, somebody in the Building Department should be able to make that decision. He stated, as a result, it cost him $8,000 to get out of the lease. He sold the building for $80,000 less. So, when it was all over, after three years of frus- tration, he vowed never to build in this town again. He has Walgreen's over there but he's not building - they are going to build. He will not go through the process. The rest of the process can also be stream- lined, as you shouldn't have to go through Design Review three or four times and Planning three or four times. He heard the City has been studying the process to streamline it for quite some time. However, nothing has improved. He gets complaints from a lot of his friends in the construction business that they won't build in South City and he won't either. Councilman Penna stated Mr. Poletti is someone who has been in the community, understands the rules and regulations very well and knows what is expected. Yet, he runs into problems. He feels the situation exists because we have codes on the books that need to change and we need to set policies. Staff is in the position of trying to interpret codes all the time that may not be what Council is dictating as policy. He cited an example where someone took an old home and wanted to remodel it. It was on the property line and code says that you can't have windows on the property line. The individual didn't AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 10/12/94 Page 12 173 ORAL COMMUNICATIONS know that when he went to refurbish this older, historic type building, which was in a sad state of repair. There were delays and delays on just trying to work this one item out. This is an example of codes that are on the books that are in conflict with the policies we are trying to dictate. He stated he knows the frustrations to the public and to staff people, because of conflicts with the codes. Councilman Drago said it is very difficult to gener- alize on codes, because we can play around with zoning codes but, when you start dealing with build- ing codes, there are a lot of codes you have no control over. The example of windows on property lines is a real safety feature and there is a purpose behind it. You can't go around and arbitrarily change codes - the State won't allow you to, and we adopt Uniform Building Codes every three years. Staff is supposed to make recommendations that apply to local conditions and, if you get findings that support it, you can apply for it - like variances on property. He stated we deal through a City Manag- er and if the City Manager doesn't think there is a problem, then there is no problem. Now we are starting again with another City Manager and if the new City Manager feels there is not a problem, although we can talk and talk, there is not a thing we can do about it. Discussion followed: we do set direction, we set policy; policy is not changing codes; if you don't follow it, what do you do then; you get another City Manager. Councilwoman Teglia stated when codes are adopted they are adopted at Public Hearings, Council acts and then the staff is stuck with that code. They have to implement it, they can't arbitrarily make a judgement contrary to it. So, their hands are some- what tied. Codes are one thing, process is another. She heard two examples tonight and one thing she learned over the years is, when she gets complaints like this, to go back and get a full story on the whole submission. She wanted to find out what the full story was with both Mr. Poletti's building and the windows on the property line. Once we get the whole story we can find out if things could have gone smoother. AGENDA ACTION TAKEN COMMUNITY FORUM 174 COMMUNITY FORUM Mayor Fernekes stated he received a letter from the Superintendent of the School District, under direc- tion of the Board President, that having a joint meeting about the JPA will be discussed at their meeting tomorrow night and he felt Council should encourage them to set that meeting date, because they have to get this JPA resolved. Also he asked that a copy of the Resolution that was created in 1985 be faxed to the District so that it could be discussed in the meeting and asked City Attorney Mattas to outline the resolution for the Council. City Attorney Mattas stated in 1985 the City Council entered into an agreement with the School District relating to the structural improvements at the Spruce Gymnasium. As part of the agreement, the City and District allocated time for use of it to provide for the benefit of the School District and residents of the City. The District gets to use the facility between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on school days and the City has the right to use it at other times. When the Districts wishes to use it at a time allocated to the City, they require mutual consent of the City and School District. It goes further and anticipates that, at the beginning of the academic year, if the District knows that it is going to need the facility in the evening on a number of occasions, it can submit a list to the City and get the City's concurrence early in the year - so there are no scheduling com- plications. He stated that these are the general terms. Mayor Fernekes asked City Attorney Mattas to furnish Council with a copy of the Resolution and his comments. Councilwoman Teglia stated that the agreement we are talking about, on the Spruce Gymnasium, is separate from the JPA. It is a separate agreement that was based on monies that were accessed to improve that facility. Mayor Fernekes clarified what he told the Chamber of Commerce in a breakfast meeting and which was wrongly quoted in the Independent Journal. He said he spoke on the state of the City, on different pro- jects that are being done, one of which is BART. He stated he very clearly said Council's direction was to underground the tracks not the station. 10/12/94 Page 13 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 75 COMMUNITY FORUM COMMUNITY FORUM Vice Mayor Yee stated he will be in Southern Cali- fornia, October 23rd through the 25th, attending a League of California Cities session and, as a mem- ber representing the City, is allowed to vote on resolutions. Therefore, he asked Council if there were any resolutions on which they wanted him to act. One deals with term limits for general law cities and the League supports legislation to autho- rize a General Law City an option to enact term limits for members of City Council. Discussion followed: if there is going to be a term limit, every General Law City in the State should have the same requirement; the idea of giving an option creates more problems than it solves; what are the options; the options are to have term limits or not; the State is already governed by a law the people voted in that says we only want you in there for so many terms; we have regulated the terms of our Commissioners; the opportunity will arise to speak to the issue rather than oppose or approve; if this is the will of the people go for it and state how many terms. Councilman Drago stated next year he is planning to pursue Charter City status and is trying to convince Council that's the way to go. Then the local com- munity can decide how many terms or whatever they would like for the status of their, elected officials. He also said, if one of the resolutions has something to do with Proposition 13 and general bonds, where they are trying to get a majority vote instead of a 2/3rds vote, he is against that. Discussion followed regarding residential care facili- ties: State law mandates that cities have no juris- diction over care facilities with 6 or fewer people; there is a proposal to have a live-in owner at each of these facilities; sounds like an indirect way to elimi- nate the use; it's an unreasonable condition and cannot be supported. Councilwoman Teglia felt the League and Legisla- ture should be discussing the one important thing facing the State - the budget.. For the last five years we, school districts and special districts have been hit. The State is like a sponge, everything that exists disappears. The monies we have been able to count on are up for grabs. She told Vice Mayor Yee to 10/12/94 Page 14 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN . 176 COMMUNITY FORUM CONSENT CALENDAR Motion to approve minutes of the Special Meeting of 8/29/94, Adjourned Special Meeting of 8/31/94, Adjourned Special Meeting of 9/2/94, Special Meet- ing of 9/2/94 and Special Meeting of 9/12/94. 2. Motion to confirm expense claims of 10/12/94. ,,g'O I.3 Resolution awarding construction contract to North State Specialty Contracting, Inc. in the amount of $364,825, as the lowest responsible bidder, for the Aircraft Noise Insulation Project - Phase VIIIB. ~9,~ A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND DIRECT- lNG THE CITY MANAGER TO PREPARE AND EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT FOR CONSTRUC- TION SERVICES FOR THE AIRCRAFT NOISE INSULATION PROJECT - PHASE VIIIB Resolution approving Amendment No. 5 to the Joint Powers Authority Establishing the City/County Asso- ciation of Governments. 5 1 ~ A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AMENDMENT NO. 5 TO THE JOINT POWERS AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING THE CITY/COUNTY ASSOCIA- TION OF GOVERNMENTS RECESS: RECALL TO ORDER: PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing - V-94-322 (Adolfo Mora) - Appeal of Planning Commission Decision to deny a variance to allow a detached garage structure (construction almost complete) with less than the required 20 foot drive- way apron, encroachments into the side and rear 5 0 COMMUNITY FORUM carry that message. CONSENT CALENDAR Approved. Approved in the amount of $1,841,859.46. Deleted from the Agenda under Agenda Review. RESOLUTION NO. 130-94 M/S Penna/Drago - To approve the Consent Calen- dar with the exception of Item No. 3 and with Councilwoman Teglia abstaining on the minutes of 9/12/94, because she was absent from the meeting. Carried by Unanimous Voice Vote. Mayor Fernekes declared a recess at 8:40 p.m. Mayor Fernekes recalled the meeting to order at 8:57 p.m., all Council was present. PUBLlC HEARINGS Item continued to 10/26/94. 10/12/94 Page 15 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 177 PUBLIC HEARINGS 5. Appeal - Continued. setbacks and exceeding the maximum height and size requirements for an accessory structure in the R-2 Medium Density Residential Zone District at 726 Grand Avenue; Conduct Public Hearing; Motion to deny the appeal and uphold the decision of the Plan- ning Commission. ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS: Proposed amendment to the business license ordi- nance for junk collectors with direction requested. 577 PUBLIC HEARINGS ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS: Finance Director Margolis gave the staff report: on the agenda tonight, for public comment, is the pro- posed amendment to the Business License Ordinance dealing with junk collectors; no formal change is requested tonight the intent is to collect comment and make desired changes. The recommendation is an amendment to the Business License Ordinance in the section dealing with junk collectors. We cur- rently have a $50.00 annual fee and are proposing this be changed to 7% of gross receipts. About a year ago Council indicated a desire to sort out some of the other issues relating to junk collectors and the ordinance that generally regulates them. Council took that action and, during budget deliberations, this proposed amendment to the ordinance was included again. Council directed staff to go forward and propose the legislation. She stated the budget assumes receipt of about $50,000 annually from this tax, which is a general estimate, because there is no information on gross receipts of these operations. Once imposed, firms would be subject to audit in terms of compliance and then we will have a better sense of revenue. This meeting is in compliance with changes put into the Brown Act, which require various publications, this public meeting and a public hearing to take place 45 days after start of advertising. We are working to get changes in the business license effective prior to January 1st, as that is our collection time for busi- ness licenses, because doing something that becomes effective after that puts off implementation for about a year. We received a letter from the SSF Scaven- ger Co. with some questions and the applicability of the definition in the ordinance to the revised ordi- nance. The City Attorney did notice some discrep- ancies and we will modify the working so they are just the same. 10/12/94 Page 16 ~ENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 10/12/94 Page 17 178 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Councilwoman Teglia asked how many meetings have been held with the various junk collectors in our community. Director of Finance Margolis stated they had not held any. Councilwoman Teglia asked why not, because, when we deal with any- thing to do with the SSF Scavenger Co., we have a number of meetings with them to work things out before getting to Council. She wondered why this same approach had not been taken for the indepen- dents, as there are a number of companies and so many unanswered questions about their operations. She thought the intent of the Brown Act is to work with people who are going to be affected in a meaningful way. Director of Finance Margolis stated that we could do that, however, they were responding to the direction from the budget to proceed with the ordinance and the intent of the meeting tonight was to give every- one a chance to comment. They did mail notices of intent to all of the people registered under this busi- ness license and invited people to call in advance and talk to her. Discussion followed: need to find out how this affects the industry, how they operate and what is reasonable; we have so little information about the industry; have another meeting on this matter; the City Manager, in consultation with the City Attor- ney, will respond in writing to the letter from the SSF Scavenger Co. and give a copy to Council and the junk collectors; everyone should have the same information for the next meeting; the primary issue is whether 7 % is proper; be more specific in the ordinance on how we deal with, measure and regu- late revenue from the sale of material and from service charges; legally spell out any anticipated changes, make the changes in the draft - with the revisions shown, go to the affected people then come to Council with hopefully concurrence or something Council can act upon; Finance Director Margolis to set meeting and inform recyclers and SSF Scavenger Co. of time and date; how will antique dealers be handled, as it appears they could be in the same category; antique dealers are dealt with now, these are not new categories; City Attor- ney Mattas should address legal question with regard to antique dealers and second hand stores; how do we find out a company's revenue, how are we going ^GEND^ ^CTXON r^KE 179 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Proposed amendment to the business license ordi- nance to add a tax on rental car storage with direction requested. ,.~'~'7'7 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS to gauge it and how will we know they are reporting the proper revenue; we can do an audit for the SSF Scavenger Co.; are we going to audit junk collectors and who will pay for it; the cost of an audit could be more than what we receive in revenue; audits on hotels are based on a contingent contract but hotels do not pay for the audit; if license tax is 7% of gross receipts of sales charges, fees or revenue collected, when a recyclable company pays a person for their material how does this fall into the formu- la; this was one question raised by the SSF Scaven- ger Co. in their letter and staff will have to address this; when we meet with SSF Scavengers we don't include other recyclers in those meetings; Royal Salvage is the recycling or junk arm of the SSF Scavenger Co. and they should be present in the next meeting; only companies affected by the 7%, or whatever percentage is decided upon, and whose books or whatever other available records might be audited should be present at the next meeting to keep it a level playing field; set the meeting for the not too distant future. Mayor Fernekes stated he wanted the same process followed for this item as the previous item. He had a meeting with Mr. Poletti and Director of Finance Margolis and is trying to find what is fair and equi- table. He asked a meeting be set for next week, so they can get together and try to come to a solution and then come back to Council. Councilwoman Teglia related, on the topic of fees, we are doing this because of the last two budget years. It appears we now have many more estab- lishments that charge admission. She wanted staff to research this and let Council know what the possibil- ities are. Acting City Manager Mattel said she and Director of Finance Margolis discussed this that day, she asked her to do some research on it and they will get back to Council as soon as possible. Mr. Mitch Karass, Property Manager for Budget Rent-A-Car, 177 So. Airport Blvd., stated this item was brought to his attention by Lou and Rich Poletti. Budget has been located in SSF for the last 28 years. During that time they have employed hundreds of people in well paying jobs. They have 10/12/94 Page 18 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 10/12/94 Page 19 180 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS contracted with various contractors based in SSF, such as Accutite Environmental, United Signs and numerous body shops. Budget has conducted itself as a corporate entity and benefits the commerce of SSF. Economic times have been difficult during the last four years and this new tax is an additional, economic liability that his company cannot absorb. Councilwoman Teglia stated they currently have a tax on their activities, every time they rent a car the City gets a tax. She didn't know if this ordinance affects them, it addresses storage facilities - private- ly owned, providing parking and/or storage for any rental cars, trucks or vans that are leased or rented with the point of sale occurring outside the limits of SSF. Discussion followed: Budget does store vehicles and have work done on them; SSF is their hub for nu- merous locations within the Bay Area; this would be a second hit on their operation, an additional tax; the tax would only be on the storage area; these vehicles are not generating anything for SSF because they are not rented out of here; this is an additional tax on Budget and Avis, as these are the only two compa- nies located in SSF that store cars as well as work on cars; Budget employs people and uses contractors located in SSF; if you rent, lease or sell vehicles you would not have this tax; Budget is using the facilities to store vehicles and leasing somewhere else, so that tax goes to some other city; SSF does benefit because Budget hires employees here and they spend money here and Budget does business with contractors based in SSF; they were asked for documentation of the SSF businesses; documentation can be found throughout the City; staff should orga- nize meetings with this industry also; in what other cities in the Bay Area do they have a similar opera- tion; they have an administrative office here, which is distinct from any of the other cities, they repair vehicles out of Oakland, some out of San Jose, Mt. View is trucks and in a few other locations; they do store vehicles elsewhere and were not aware of a similar tax anywhere else. Councilwoman Teglia wanted to know, in an opera- tion like theirs, what percentage of their business is taxable, that generates an income for SSF, as it sounds like a large portion of their business does. AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 10/12/94 Page 20 181 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Discussion followed: Budget only rents trucks out of SSF; they repair and store more than trucks, other vehicles as well; the percentage comes into focus of vehicle trips per day; if you have 10 acres and you rent 10 vehicles obviously something else is going on there; perhaps this is the preponderance of the activity and we should look at that; we are end- ing up the storage or parking lot for other cities and we are not getting our fair share; Budget spent $300,000 - $400,000 on a job they did with Accutite last year and the City reaped from that; because Budget is located here they give back by giving business to vendors in SSF and other cities do not have the benefit of that; there is no guarantee they will continue to do business with vendors in SSF; this is a very focused picture called generating reve- nues into the City to provide services, because of the mess in Sacramento - last year they took two million, this year one million and they're already talking about another million; the State is forcing local governments to tax locally; Budget is doing more with less as well and, if an additional tax is put on them, it means more layoffs etc; Budget is at all major airports. Councilman Penna stated they may not be paying an employee tax here, we may be taking it in some other form, which may not be as great as they are paying in other cities. They are paying a tax for the use, for services required and for vehicles going over streets. Their operation requires more police patrolling and other services that need to be paid. We may be offering a better bargain than other cities, because you have to look at the overall tax you are paying. Discussion followed: how many cars do they store at SFO that are not rented, that they do not have a contract on and are just sitting there waiting; are the only cars at the SSF site that are not being rented out just there for repair; majority of vehicles are there on a turn back (going back to point of sale for a buy back program from the manufacturer) or for repair; if you store vehicles in Budget's business they don't make money; they hold vehicles in dif- ferent areas - for an hour, two or three; how do you determine what is being stored; Budget said they were not notified of this meeting; City Clerk mailed a notice to Budget in SSF and to everyone in AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 10/12/94 Page 21 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS the community with this type of activity; business license list was used to ascertain the names and a notice was even sent to some who had no business license; is there a written agreement they will use local vendors or do they go out to lowest bid; gen- erally they go for lowest bid, many times they have pre-arrangements with body shops, they use Accutite because they are local, accessible and they know their work and United Signs does almost all of their signs; perhaps they shouldn't fall under this ordi- nance; how do we limit companies who have storage cars they rent; maybe put on a different tax, a tax at the time the rental takes place - but this tax already exists; could a fee come to the City on turn backs, because the City was host to them; Budget and other companies have no control on this, the manufacturer takes or buys the cars back at a certain period in time; the lawyers who worked that out did so to evade tax; we need to have people with creative minds figure out how to split that so we can make money too; Hertz sells in Millbrae but Hertz sells to the general public, Budget does not in this area; find out if Budget sells in other areas. Mr. Paul Poletti, 421 Raymundo Dr., Woodside, stated what terrifies him about any particular busi- ness tax or license is that you single out an individ- ual. He has 165,000 sq. ft. on Gateway Avenue and can store four to nine hundred cars there at $50.00 per car. This amounts to tens of thousands of dol- lars by January 1st. His property is used for storage of cars and right now it is storage of rental cars and this tax singles him out. Discussion followed: if we get to a point where we can agree on what has to be levied there are ways of doing it; it might have to be up front in the year but it may be based on last year; how can it be charged in advance unless there is good data; a committee needs to consider this and the ways of dealing with it. Mr. Paul Poletti stated the whole idea of being in business is to make a profit. The 165,000 sq. ft. that is now a parking lot and has hundreds of cars on it is a result of years and years of negotiation and putting money at risk. The property was vacant for 12 years. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were tied up for that time, they went through the permit AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 10/12/94 Page 22 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS process, they were going to put a street through there, so it was condemned, then another several years of delay and they bought the property Budget is on now. They cancelled out, probably because of this, but he still has Avis. If you are going to raise a tax, the fairest and most equitable tax is a general sales tax. How would you like to put money to risk and have somebody come in at these numbers - this is about 37 % of his net. He is not the operator but the person who needs the business license, because he owns a facility that rents to Budget or Avis. Discussion followed: is the tax applied to the land- lord or the operator; there is some property leased for direct operation and storage by others and, in that case, the others - Budget or Avis, would be responsible; to the extent a person owns property and says to these companies you can store your cars here, they are responsible - they are the ones using the property for storage; it should be looked at from the standpoint of whom the owner leased their land to for storage; we already have a tax for airport parking and the people who pay the tax are individ- ual users; the user should pay the tax not the prop- erty owner; refer this to the committee and Director of Finance Margolis is to be in touch with all opera- tors; how many times a day does a space turn over, what's an equitable tax based on that and pass it to the user; every time a tax or business license of this scale is imposed you knock people out. Mr. Dave Longinotti, Hanson, Bridges, Marcus & Rudy - Attorneys, 333 Market St., San Francisco, spoke on behalf of Avis. He thanked Council for the work on the East of 101 Area Plan, which per- mitted Avis to develop a project there, including construction, development and employment of peo- ple from the community - a West Coast Regional Center for maintenance. The new tax seems specifi- cally designed to affect Avis. As proposed in the staff report, the tax would have a significant, ad- verse affect on Avis' existing operations on Gate- way. Avis has been doing business in SSF on Gate- way for some time. They estimate, based on the numbers used, taxes in the first year, payable in one lump sum, would be $37,500. This new tax will have an affect on the economic feasibility of Avis going forward with any proposed development on the Haskins property. They calculated, based on the AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 184 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS proposed tax, taxes would be over $150,000, some- where between there and $175,000. He stated he had not spoken with his client, he was a last minute fill in, but could not say Avis was prepared to pro- ceed based on any additional tax. He didn't think that was part of the bargain for them, certainly not a tax that is going to increase their cost in a single year by this much. Discussion followed: have the committee break out how one company ends up paying over $150,000 a year; the proposed ordinance refers to 200 sq. ft. of space useable for storage and the tendency is to take the site and divide by 200; City has to be much clearer on how the ordinance applies; if the tax precludes Avis from going forward, the City will lose money on the deal; legal concerns regarding discriminatory application in terms of a particular business; if Budget is excluded, it is only a tax on Avis, unless others who store cars on maintenance facilities or garages are taxed too; is voter approval required because of Proposition 62; Avis makes the same case as Budget - they need to move their vehi- cles to show a profit; no more than 40% of the time are vehicles stored for any significant period; base the tax on trips; not familiar with any tax based on trips; there is a cost involved in having these compa- nies here; no community is going to want that kind of traffic generated without getting a fair share of taxes; Avis will be paying real property taxes, pay- roll taxes and any other taxes SSF currently levies; Avis wants to be treated like everyone else; if we were to treat them like everyone else, they should be looked at as airport users and pay a $7.00.tax per vehicle, per day; the amount and method of impos- ing the tax certainly needs to be reviewed; original thought behind tax was this is a type of operation that does not currently fall under the business license ordinance; substantial land is being used that does not pay taxes in the way other businesses operating within the City do and the City has substantial im- pacts in some cases; there is a need to establish some equity and keep the original intent; the method and amount need to be determined, then come back to Council; the Avis project may not have moved as swiftly as everyone had wished but it has generated a tremendous amount of good will in the communi- ty; that issue is quite separate from this tax issue; there is concern about valuable land, close to an 10/12/94 Page 23 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS Motion to accept the recommendation of the Parking Place Commission for the installation of 24 minute parking spaces on Grand Avenue and direct the Com- mission to proceed with implementation. ~' ! ~,~ [ ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS international airport, which is even more important now because of what has taken place in finances in the City and the State; just because a facility can hold a certain number of cars does not mean there are that many cars there; what the committee needs to address is what is the space used for and what is not used - the space shouldn't be taxed if it is not used. Councilwoman Teglia related she was approached by a businessman who had to close a business, for financial reasons, in SSF. He closed it almost im- mediately after our deadline for notifying the County about property taxes. So, he is stuck with a bill for this whole year, with no use taking place. If a new business comes in and operates but starts a business a day after we give notice to the County, they get a full year running. But, for someone who had to close their business, this is a tremendous penalty. The problem seems to be the way our ordinance was written. She asked staff to bring some information back to Council for review so they can be more educated on the issue. Discussion followed: this particular tax is a sewer service charge assessed to the property, based on prior year's use; it really has nothing to do with the County, they are only the collecting agency; we can change the policy and give the person back money; it could be changed but the ordinance would have to be amended; the charge is based on usage from the prior year; staff to come back to Council with more information. Director of Finance Margolis gave the staff report. Council asked the Commission to review the issue of expanding the use of 24 minutes spaces on Grand Avenue and to prepare recommendations as to where they could be located and how many there might be. This was done over several months, notices were sent to all businesses and residential occupants with- in the District, asking for input, but we only re- ceived one response. Spaces need to be clustered within each block, so they are more identifiable to people looking for them. This might help prevent accidents or other problems, because, when people start to pull into a space and notice it is short term, they back out right away. The Police Department also felt it would be easier for their people to en- 10/12/94 Page 24 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS ITEMS FROM COUNCIL GOOD AND WELFARE 10/12/94 Page 25 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS force. These spaces should be located near busi- nesses that seems to have more short term custom- ers. The potential areas were reviewed and a rec- ommendation was made for locations on the 400 and 300 blocks of Grand Avenue. Total number of spaces to be converted is 15. The Commission did not see much demand in the 200 block. They found there were already existing green zones or short term spaces elsewhere on perpendicular streets. There is not currently a provision that would allow imposing the same rate for 24 minute zones as cur- rently exist on Grand Avenue and the Commission's intent is to make one. M/S Yee/Drago - To accept the recommendation of the Parking Place Commission for the installation of 24 minute parking spaces on Grand Avenue. Councilwoman Teglia stated they should take one step before going forward with this. Any time they do anything downtown with the parking there is no input, they make the change and all hell breaks loose. She wanted to insert something that says before we actually do this, before we order the new meters, which will be an expense, we take a 30 day period and have the Commission do whatever they are going to do to designate their zones, we notify every business owner and operator on Grand Ave- nue, both in English and Spanish, that we are mak- ing the changes, show them a map where the zones are going to be and bring back to Council whatever responses come back to the City. If anybody comes back later we can feel comfortable we told them it would happen. The motion was amended to include these provi- sions. Carried by unanimous voice vote. ITEMS FROM COUNCIL There were no items from Council. GOOD AND WELFARE No one chose to speak. ~ENDA ACTION TAKEN 187 CLOSED SESSION 0. Closed Session, pursuant to GC 54957, personnel matters on the recruitment of the City Manager; and pursuant to GC 54956.8, regarding negotiations with Jesus Armas for sale of 368 Conmur Street and the instructions to the negotiator will concern price, terms of payment and/or both. Mayor Fernekes left the Closed Session at 11:20 p.m. RECALL TO ORDER: ADJOURNMENT: CLOSED SESSION Council adjourned to a Closed Session at 10:10 p.m. to discuss the items noticed. Mayor Fernekes left the Closed Session at 11:20 p.m. and did not return to the meeting. Mayor Pro Tern Yee recalled the meeting to order at 11:58 p.m., all Council was present, no action was taken, direction was given. M/S Drago/Penna - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 11:59 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, City of South San Francisco APPROVED. City,ribf Sout: S~an F~ra'n~c Jos~rnekes, 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. 10/12/94 Page 26