HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1998-02-18 Mayor Eugene R. Mullin
Council:
James L. Datzman
Joseph A. Fernekes
-"Karyl Matsumoto
,ohn R. Penna
S_P_EC!AL MEETING
CITY COUNCIL
OF THE
CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO
FEBRUARY 18, 1998
MINUTES
City Council
Municipal Services Building
Community Room
February 18, 1998
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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 18th of February
1998, at 6:00 p.m. in the Municipal Services Building, Community Room, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco,
California.
Purpose of the meeting:
Discussion of transporation.
BART Station design.
City Clerk
City of South San Francisco
Dated: February 11, 1998
CALL TO ORDER:
ROLL CALL:
AGENDA
(Cassette No. 1)
Discussion of transportation.
ACTION TAKEN
6:18 p.m. Mayor Mullin presiding.
Council Present:
Council Absent:
Datzman, Fernekes, MatSumoto,
Penna and Mullin.
None.
City Manager Wilson stated he had asked various
departments to give an overview, take a walk
through town, discuss the various items affecting
circulation and glean from the Council any areas to
focus upon.
Superintendent of Streets White spoke on asphalt
maintenance of streets: the City has $150,000,000
2/18/98
Page 1
AGENDA A~!ON TAKEN
._Discussion of Transportation - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 2
of asphalt maintenance of streets; there are three
strategies - slurry seal, overlay and reconstruction
and there is a four year plan; slurry seal is an oil
and sand mixture applied to the roadway surface to
bring oil back into the asphalt, prevent water, sun
and traffic damage through loss of aggregates, for
when you lose the aggregates, then you start to lose
the roadway; another strategy is an overlay - a new
layer of asphalt applied over the existing roadway
surface to improve the structural strength and pre-
vent possible road base damage; he showed a picture
of Forbes Avenue where a new layer of asphalt was
applied over the existing roadway; he showed vari-
ous cracking of streets on Lomitas and San Mateo
Avenue that develops into potholes; different strate-
gies to overlay a road; Lomitas has the beginnings
of a base failure because it is not in the path of
traffic, but on San Mateo Avenue you have trucks
and you get cracking and rutting as the road is
depressed and it loses flexibility, whereas
asphalt is flexible unlike concrete; on Miller there
are some utility cuts where a gasline has cut into the
road line which reduced the effectiveness of the
street where we can not put an overlay for it would
be too much of a crown; cost of the strategies -
slurry $1.15 per sq. yd., overlay - $6.90 to $10.00
per sq. yd., and reconstruction - $32.00 to $65.00
per sq. yd.; the program is $80,000 slurry,
$500,000 in overlay and a million dollars in recon-
struction; Chestnut to Linden, that is reconstruction
for a short stretch of street; the following year
would be about the same, a little less depending on
what needs to be done, what we can do in a section
and what we can do traffic-wise; we still have
the reconstruction on Del Monte Ave. primarily due
to a bus route and the street needs structural work;
in 2001 and 2002 we are doing B Street and overlay
Buri Buri and old town and the slurry program; over
the next four years we are covering a good portion
of the street and in new areas where the slurry seals
work well; etc.
Mayor Mullin questioned: many times the slurry
seals can be used on a street to prolong its life; have
the heavy rains we experienced had a deleterious
effect on the streets; has any thought been given to
stepping up the slurry seal phase on some of the
roadways that the City may lose in the shorter peri-
od.
Superintendent of Streets White responded: it de-
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
Discussion of Transportation - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 3
pends upon the performance of the street, but it can
be ten to fifteen years; reconstruction is twenty years
and beyond; yes, the rains are washing away the
finishing aggregates; yes, in the last several years
we have reinstituted a slurry seal program and that
will do us well in the next few years; in past years
budgets $300,000 has been spent per year or less on
the slurry seal program; it would be fine to do it all
this year, but finances come into play and we will
make sure all our reconstruction is done; they are
going to introduce lime treatment in the roads to
stiffen it, opposed to reconstruction which is a new
strategy; there is a new strategy on Parkway to
pulverize and use the existing asphalt as a new base
and applying the new asphalt on that which cuts the
reconstruction costs down to about a third; the roads
will take up to 80,000 pounds of trucks, but the City
has to keep the maintenance up.
Discussion followed: cement trucks are coming in
on City streets; there are truck routes like Del Mon-
te that see a lot of traffic; the streets were designed
for residential not for buses and the result is crack-
ing and stretching that the street can't take the
weight and the City cannot do an overlay with any
success; was Forbes Blvd. constructed for heavy
truck use; the Superintendent believes it is a 6"
asphalt over a 6" base that should have been ade-
quate, but there was not a good estimate of it for
there has to be something on the streets for proper
drainage, but that adds to the problem; where does
the Council get the funding for the $3 million; gas
funds and unallocated reserves.
Police Chief Raffaelli gave an overview on traffic
enforcement and the training of officers to handle
peak hours. He stated the way the police work the
areas is called T.A.R.P.S, the police look at the
traffic coming into the area, you are watching some-
one come in through a red light, so you don't stay at
the intersection but you watch the violation before
the intersection. When you have a four lane high-
way, you get people making turns that are not safe
and that is how we reduce the accidents by the offi-
cers working the traffic. Most frequent violations
are for red lights, speeding and following too close.
He continued: in the area of traffic complaints, the
residential areas are the biggest areas and usually it
is for speeding; most is during peak hours and com-
ing home, in the high schools we have a problem
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
._.Discussion of Transportation - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 4
for they go on the residential streets and there is a
problem with parents picking up their kids; the other
area is special enforcement of the five areas - Ar-
royo, Grand, Magnolia and Linden, Miller, Mayfair
Village and the 1200 block of Mission Road, which
are identified by coming through communications;
by the time the officer stops his car and issues a
citation you are talking about 15 minutes; the effect
is issuing the citation and the officer could be there
for a half hour and only give two citations.
Discussion followed: how many traffic citations are
given at the Grand and Airport intersection; a lot;
there was talk about making the signs larger to fix
the problem; that has already been done; there is a
large amount of truck traffic in the downtown areas
and the quandary is how you determine a truck route
and the forewarning signs; a year ago the police did
a survey and said what signs can we get rid of and
decided there aren't many we can get rid of; etc.
Director of Public Works Gibbs related problems
engineering is facing due to development; he is
looking at widening and realigning the intersection
at Harbor to East Grand and improving the drainage
with undergrounding of utilities and street lighting to
go along with the campus effect; Chestnut Avenue
request for proposal for four lanes, realignment,
underground utilities, right-of-way acquisition,
retaining wall at north end, storm drain improve-
ments and signal interconnect; Hickey Blvd. exten-
sion - negotiations San Mateo County to build from
Mission Road to Hillside is estimated in 1999 and
the El Camino Real/Mission BART; Commercial
Avenue - reconstruction from Chestnut - Linden
with Wilsey Ham as the design consultant; he stated
they were talking to the County, who is trying to
bargain, on the catch basins of Terrabay, which are
a County responsibility which they don't like and
are offering; if the City takes over the maintenance
of the catchment basins they will go ahead and build
Hickey Blvd.; we are saying they could do both, and
that is where we are.
Discussion followed: the traffic on East Grand,
Sister Cities Blvd. and Hillside - will that relieve the
traffic on Westborough; yes, very much; why does
the extension of Hickey -- why is that the purview
of the County; it is in the town of Colma and the
County purchased it; the theory is that by extending
Hickey Blvd. it will have City value, so the County
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
._Discussion of Transportation - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 5
had the responsibility; it has multi City value if it
turned over to the City; what is the drawback to the
catch basins; the cost of maintaining the catchment
basin is negligible - less than $5,000.00, and staff is
evaluating the design of new ones and passing the
cost over to the homeowners; that has to be worked
out as it is involved with Phase 2 and 3; the Direc-
tor has spoken to Nell Cullen on the timing on this
and if we get it together he can build in 1999; May-
or Mullin, why do we bargain when the cost is so
modest; there are a number of obligations the
County has, they are long standing and they are
going into cost avoidance; our catchment basins are
on a hill we have, but other communities have un-
stable hills and are losing them, so the question
comes down, if it is already there as an obligation,
then they could meet those instead of dealing them
away from us; from a starting position the County
should be responsible for what the County is re-
sponsible and for us, what we are responsible for;
Mayor Mullin wants to see the road built as soon as
we can get it; the County has responsibility for
Phase 2 and 3; he identified the major area where
we get flooding - South Airport Blvd. has tidal
action, low street elevation and have a new bridge 4'
from grade, flap gate, pump station and retention; in
front of the Conference Center the street is lower
and floods at high tide at the intersection; some time
this year the County is going to build a new bridge
that is 4' higher; San Mateo Avenue new bridge
future - tidal action in storm drain, storm drain flat,
small drain pipe, old flood gate, large pipe 60'
stormwater and/or retention and pump station; the
pump station is like a sump pump; Wondercolor
Drive - flooding of the Conference Center, parking
lot, Chevron gas station and the travel lodge, they
planned to raise the ground when they built the
hotel; staff is looking for some kind of retention and
syphon it to collect the water while the tide is going
back and the storm is going through; Produce Ave-
nue - Shaw Road has tidal action, flooding extended
to Interstate 380, street lower than creek at high
tide/heavy rain, raise the Colma Creek flood gates
to control; in London there are large flood control
gates to control the tidal activity of the river by the
use of the gates; traffic signalization - El Camino
Real, Hickey to Spruce, is a Caltrans street and
they are maxed out now, possibly in the future as
BART goes in S.S.F. the City may want to take
over El Camino and if we do, we would enter into a
maintenance cost; how would that be a benefit to the
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
Discussion of Transportation - Continued.
Councilman Penna Left the Podium
BART Station design.
2/18/98
Page 6
traffic flow, do we have different standards; no, all
we can do is modify the traffic signals themselves;
Caltrans has different timing for control of the inter-
section and are controlled by their own and Federal
regulations to let a signal stay green; the trade-off
would be expensive because we have to assume
maintenance for El Camino; El Camino and
Arlington is a high speed blind turn without signals,
and as the traffic increases, because of that, eventu-
ally we will have to look at the problem; El Camino
Real at Hickey, the analysis was done and the sig-
nalization of the intersection is all part of the BART
instruction; Hickey at Hilton has egress problems;
Westborough Interstate 380 connection to Skyline,
with Papan input, interconnect El Camino Re-
al/Skyline and the Caltrans signals are in place at
Westborough and connected at Westborough/Juni-
pero Serra and Westborough/El Camino Real; status
on the barrier that was to be installed on
Westborough Blvd. between Camaritas and Junipero
Serra; that occurred two years ago and became
negotiated and they will be willing to install it if we
were willing to install the road; when staff raised the
issue of potential liability and it became negotiable,
is this some responsibility we want the City to take
over, and we did not think it was worth it; the
BART Director stated we have an agreement with
BART where staff analyzes the streets before and
after to see the current condition and then we re-
quires the owner to bring it back to good or better
condition; Westborough is getting maxed out and we
have a number of studies and it is not all originating
or ending in our town; extending Skyline; traffic
comes down 280 to our streets; any survey of where
the traffic is coming from; some preliminary work
has been done; Councilman Penna wants a report on
it; how were vehicles identified; by license plates;
City Manager stated Council will see these projects
when the CIP is brought to them, so we plan to
proceed in this direction based on the condition of
the roads.
Councilman Penna left the podium at 7:30 p.m. and
did not return to the meeting.
Senior Planner Kalkin related: background infor-
mation on Council's guidelines for the design of the
BART station; those guidelines were forwarded to
BART there are BART principals present to present
the design sketches and model of the BART station;
the landscape presentation will be low maintenance
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
hART Station design - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 7
due to their budget and the City may want to supple-
ment BART's efforts if we want something above
and beyond that; they will put the landscaping and
irrigation in, but what happens to it in the long term
depends on the maintenance, and usually it is low
priority.
Mr. Jim Tousey, BART Project Manager, stated
BART has full funding and a mandate to build the
station and if we don't build it we don't get the
funding. He stated he was a design engineer before
going to BART and asphalt is an amazing material.
Since he has been with BART he has put in two
stations on line, the Martinez and the Bay Point
Station and if you check with either city, he has a
good reputation in delivery in serving the City as
well as BART and he feels the three are a team, for
he is controlled by the PUC. He related: Len
Lampey is a Group Manager for Administration and
Finance and Eric Fuller is the Project Manager of
the S.S.F. Station and if you have any questions call
Eric or Mary Wong and Ashok Kotari has a long
history with BART and the Colma station; and Miles
Stephens who is the local architect in S.S.F. will do
the presentation. He will take your design guide-
lines and turn them into the station and tell you what
we have agreed to perform for the City.
Mr. Miles Stephens introduced his staff Peter Har-
ris, Project Architect, and Phillip Gorton who is the
technology person. He presented a slide show on
their design concepts for the BART station: this is a
landmark facility with strong volume; the climate
here is attractive; the key element is neutral because
of what is going on and has a very strong landscape
which is marched out to El Camino.
Discussion followed: at what point is there wind
protection when entering the station; you will be
protected; but, we will be exposed to the trees and
the landscaping for the problem is still there; the
overhead will protect people when they leave the
bus; what kind of maintenance is required; almost
none, for they have discussed this extensively with
Bordi of the Maintenance Dept. and we are very
concerned about that; is there any consideration for
some kind of covering from the parking structure to
the station to stay out of the rain; it's a short run,
40-50'; Mr. Nell Nodd, Consultant, stated they had
looked at a bridge connection but that would be an
expensive element to build; what about an awning;
A~ENDA ACTION TAKEN
._.BART Station design - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 8
an awning has some of the same problems, to clear
the buses it has to be wide to give you weather
protection, but most BART stations do not have
protection between the parking lot and the front door
of the station; BART has a 44 month program from
the time we give notice to proceed, we don't know
their schedule and until June or July it could be two
years before you see a station contractor on the site
constructing what they have shown Council tonight;
City Manager Wilson stated the Council sees in the
newspaper about overruns, and being last in line as
a station means less dollars; BART has approval
from the Board for the bids came in higher than
anticipated, 3 % and Millbrae was 8 % and that is not
a big spread for professional engineering is usually
10% of the estimate; some of the budgets were
realigned for they were delayed by the full funding
grant agreement and during that time some of the
budget scope was added and changed; they had to
spend down their contingency upfront, but they do
have an application in the State for an additional $58
million; Mr. Takis said that no part of the contract
is going to stand alone; that is true, BART has a
target budget of $25 million; there is a right turn
only into the garage on the conceptual drawings;
Vice Mayor Datzman stated that is not clear on the
drawings and the lighting is dim; that is part of the
design guidelines to not make it glaring; the commu-
nity expectation is for it to be pedestrian friendly,
not to discourage students from using it; unless the
student is using the station he will not be going
through the station; it is up to the Council to tell
BART there is a misunderstanding and next time
there will be a presubmittal, but BART will take
Council's comments, for Mr. Tousey stated the
Council is his client, as well as BART and he is
looking for a good team work effort; Mayor Mullin
commented that this parking structure is going
to be massive and it seems our initial thoughts about
the parking structure to terrace it, to move it back
and use the lower portion for retail to soften it; the
design coming south from El Camino shows the
parking structure as massive compared to the way
Council looked at it; Senior Planner Kalkin stated
the retail component is still a possibility in the de-
sign in the east west access to the plaza area; the
building height is 32'; what is the sill height, there
is a facade, a drop down and all BART stations'
architecture is very exacting; if the City wants the
landscaping increased, they can and have their own
people maintain it; the City prides itself on its green
AGENDA A~ION TAKEN
_.BART Station design - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 9
spots; Mayor Mullin would like to see greenery that
would enhance the building, rather than hide it; he
feels the station meets a lot of the guidelines and
complimented those concerned and said it meets the
character of the community; however, he is still not
persuaded that it is going to be much of an eye
catching, for all we will see is a big BART parking
structure and tucked away is an interesting design,
so the interest is on the interior rather than greeting
the people at the first glance; he is not convinced
that short of the planting of the trees and is looking
at our staff to tell Council he is wrong; Senior Plan-
ner Kalkin stated staff is trying to get a more inter-
esting project, for this relies on the landscaping and
the portal and they would like to see more alterna-
tives for a simple balance, like of the site and the
station rather than focusing on the garage; Mayor
Mullin does not have a good feeling about the ap-
proach, particularly when the other is built out we
could have a bowling alley on the inter design, but
the exterior is not as interesting as a mixed design
for El Camino and he is not impressed with this; the
structure is a parking garage; BART will continue to
develop this and look forward to Council input, will
adjust the designs as best they can, but it is a funda-
mental problem - it is a parking structure; Mayor
Mullin stated he would probably need to see a little
more of the architectural detail for the entire length
of the parking structure; he understands the need for
security, but is not seeing how that is going to be
done and the drawings are too small; the structure is
460' long, the stairwell is rounded for the guide-
lines; what about maintenance once built; BART
maintains; name two cities where the city partici-
pates in additional landscaping; BART built the City
of Concord a linear park; BART was sued in
Pittsburg and BART built the linear park and turned
it over to the City; City Manager Wilson stated the
City was informed that BART would not build a
linear park; that was part of the plan for BART was
going through at grade, they were on the old Pacific
Railroad right-of-way, so they put in the improve-
ments to satisfy the city and then in turn took re-
sponsibility for it; it is the same as in S.S.F., BART
is working on the Hickey Blvd., between Mission
and El Camino, and had that agreement; there was
the question of stretching back and the reason they
were not is because we would lose parking; BART
has a requirement of some 1,100 cars and if you
start changing the size there is a problem; there is
one way to build it so the City will not have to see
AGENDA ACTION TAKEN
. I~ART Station design - Continued.
2/18/98
Page 10
this again, but a different design; it is BART's plan
to meet with the City staff every two weeks and
when we are closer to the bid we can meet each
week and take input; City Manager Wilson stated
BART caused him concern when maintenance was
mentioned and you are using plants as a major fea-
ture of the portal; low maintenance plants, but they
do not grow rapidly; the City did not limit the land-
scaping, and the suggestions originated from the
population, from the community, as well as the
elected officials and staff; initially the City thought it
was a three level garage; a BART representative
stated that they built parking structures throughout
the area, and so the basic layout is something that
works very well where most of the people want to
come in and get on the train; they will have security
forces that patrol, and a third floor is more work,
but they are hearing the Council loud and clear;
Mayor Mullin does not want the garage to dominate
everything; he realizes they have to put a 1,100
spaces, but he would like to see greater detail than
this so he can get the scale and scope of this project
maybe in comparison of how it is going to be sited
on El Camino and more alternatives; maybe more
security and three floors; he still has some concerns
because there is no development on the north-
side, but there is going to be substantial develop-
ment that will make it more of a funnel and an
interesting statement; the potential development is
unknown to BART; Mr. Gary Orton, Coalition One
Stop Transit, stated thousands have yet to be ap-
proved by Caltrans because they are partners and are
$100
million over budget and Mr. Tousey was candid by
saying, just a little over the budget; the funding
uncertainties are admitted by the BART staff report
and they are now using all the contingencies and are
going to dip into the BART reserve; the full funding
agreement does not assure funding; he suggested that
San Bruno and S.S.F. are at risk for having this
whole thing reviewed, they are going to the CDC
for the money; he urged Council to go to Samtrans
because BART has not acquired the right-of-way and
are jumping the gun and certainly the City is at risk;
they went to MTC and they said show us how you
are going to pay this back, then BART went to CDC
so the question is still up in the air; you could be
demanding answers to that and not approving con-
tracts until you get satisfactory answers; he stated he
and John Penna were the only ones that had ad-
dressed these questions, because he felt someone
A~ENDA ACTION TAKEN
...BART Station design - Continued.
ADJOURNMENT:
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
extensive and he does not believe this is enough
money to do it; the voters say they want Caltrans to
the Airport, how can we do that with the existing
review, for BART is going to be spending more
than $99 million while the government is capped and
all are saying we are not spending any more than;
etc.
M/S Fernekes/Datzman - To adjourn the meeting.
Carried by unanimous voice vote.
Time of adjournment was 8:45 p.m.
APPROVED.
~aya, C~
City of South San Francisco
~Mayo~
City of South San Francisco
~e entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica-
~ns, 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.
2/18/98
Page 11