Loading...
CC 11-02-98 MINUTES Cupertino City Council, Regular Meeting Monday, November 2, 1998 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE At 6:48 p.m. Mayor Chang called the meeting to order in the Council Cbsmbers, 10300 Tone Avenue, Cupertino, California, and led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL City Council members present: Mayor Michael Chang, Vice-Mayor Wally Dean, Councilmembers Don BurneR, Sandy James, and John Statton. Council membegs absent: None. Staff present: City Manager Don Brown; City Clerk Kimberly Smith; City Attorney Charles Kilian; Administrative Services Director Carol Atwood; Community Development Director Bob Cowan; Parks and Recreation Director Steve Dowling; Public Information Officer Donna Krey; Public Works Director Bert Viskovich; and Planner II Vera Gil. CEREMONIAL MATTERS - PRESENTATIONS Mayor Chang presented proclamations to Noel Pearman of the De Anza Optimists Club and Dennis Whittaker of the Cupertino Optimists Club in support of Youth Appreciation Week. POSTPONEMENTS - None WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS - None ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None CONSENT CALENDAR Statton moved to approve the items on the Consent Calendar as presented. James seconded and the motion carried 5-0. 1. Accounts payable - October 16, 1998--Resolution No. 98-267. 2. Accounts payable - October 23, 1998--Resolution No. 98-268. 3. Payroll - October 16, 1998--Resolution No. 98-269. 4. Minutes of the October 19, 1998, regular meeting. - 5. Declaring weeds growing on certain described pwperty to be a public nuisance and setting hearing for objections to proposed removal--Resolution No. 98-270. 6. Monthly Treasurer's and Budget Report - September 1998. ]qovember 2, 199g Cupertino City Council Page 7. Imperial Avenue 98-08 annexation, approximately 0.439 acre located on the south side of Imperial Avenue between Olive Avenue and AlcaTzr Avenue; Yinn (APN 357-19- 051)--Resolution No. 98-271. 8. Approving the Community Development Block G-rant agreement between the County Of Santa Clara and the City Of Cupertino for fiscal year 1998/99 and authorjzlng the City Manager to execute the agreement--Resolution No. 98-272. 9. Acceptance of city projects performed under contract: (a) Three Oaks Park Play Apparatus Replacements (Flair-T Construction); (b) Hoover Park Play Apparatus Replacements (Flair-T Construction); (c) Varian Park Play Apparatus Replacements (Flair=T Construction). Vote Councilmembers Ayes: Burnett, Chang, Dean, James, and Statton Noes: None. Absent: None. Abstain: None. ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR - None PUBLIC HEARINGS 10. Bright Horizons Children's Center-Appeal of Planning Commission appwval of Application 18-U-85 (M). The application requests modification of a use pem~it to transfer sponsorship of property fi'om Apple Computer, Inc. to Bright Horizons Children's Center, Inc. and to allow children other than the children of Apple employees. The appeal was filed by Mr. Jeffrey Lee Oliver. The property is located at 10253 Portal Avenue. Continued from September 21. Community Development Director Bob Cowan reviewed the staff report. He noted that the Planning Commission changed the conditions of approval to eliminate the possibility of further expansion of that facility. It had been approved to go up to 150 children and 40 staff members, but it is now frozen at 95 children and 26 staff. He said there were no comments by neighbors opposed to this proposal at the Planning Commission hearing, and the appeal was filed aider that meeting. Mr. Jeffrey Lee 0liver, 10270 N. Portal Avenue, was the appellant. He has lived across from the daycare center for over 8 years and has never been contacted about its ._ impact on the neighborhood in terms of traffic, gardeners, garbagemen, etc. His neighborhood has complained to the Sheriff many times about speeding on that street. He circulated a petition and submitted that with his appeal. He felt that traffic has increased substantially, and there are two day care centers 1/2 mile away and a new 1Voveml er 2, lOOI Cuing Coundl Page one on Homestead. He also objected to the change of this claycare from a non-profit to a private business. Mr. Hamd Rastgan said he agreed with the comments by Mr. Oliver. Ms. Wilma Gold, Regional Manager, Northern California, of the Bright Horizons Children's Center, said she was the supervisor of this particular center. For more than $ years Bright Horizons has been the management company that Apple Computer hired to manage tiffs center. When Apple withdrew its financial support they still wanted to have the facility remain open, and the center still serves a majority of Apple employees, about 80-90%, as are the approximately 60 families on the waiting list. An arrangement was made for Bright Horizons to assume financial responsibility. It has never been a non-profit agency, but has been part of an Apple Computer pwgram. On the highest enrollment day there are 76 families that arrive between 7:30 a.m.-9:30, and the same number leaves between 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. That number has been stable since the center opened. Statton asked if they would agree to require their clients to be local employees or residents of Cupertino. Ms. Gold said that traditionally that is the case. Ms. Gold discussed the circulation pattern for this facility and how the security system works. Ms. Catherine Couglflan, Director of the Bright Horizons Children's Center, said most of the employees using the facility are Apple employees and this is a vital service to families. Statton asked if they would be willing to meet on a regular basis with local residents. Ms. Conghlan said they would welcome the opportunity. Mr. Long-Ching Yeh, 10300 N. Portal Avenue, discussed the speeding problems in the Portal Avenue area, and asked if this street was designed for commercial or residential use. When Apple was overseeing the facility the security was very thorough. He felt that the traffic pattern would change for the worse and he was opposed to the change. Public Works Director Bert Viskovich said on occasions there had been requests from residents to quiet the tratYw. They have been advised to get together as a group and work with city staff to choose the strategies that they feel would best suit the neighborhood. First it must be determined if the problem is volume, speeding, reckless driving, etc. From an eng'meering point of view, the street can handle a much higher volume. Dean and Bumett agreed that they had similar problems with daycare centers and schools in their own neighborhoods. Dean agreed with Statton's suggestion for the school to have a dialog with the neighbors, and said it's something that should be done citywide. Burnett said the problems in this case are not a function of the daycare center and changing the management will not have an affect. He felt a traffic calming program city-wide is called for. Noveml er 2, 199g Cupertino City Council Page James said there is a gross need for childcare. If this were not a daycare center, it would be a school, with even more impacts on the neighborhood. She suggested that Sgt. Angus and the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator work with the neighborhood, claycare center, and school district to address some of the problems and find solutions. Chang said he lives in the Portal Avenue neighborhood and agreed that traffic is going much too fast, but did not feel the problem was created by the daycare center. He said he would commit to work with the neighborhood to set up a meeting about these issues. Statton moved to deny the appeal, condition the use on serving local employees and local residents only, and have staff explore traffic calming and other issues with the neighbors. City AtWmey Charles Kilian said it may be difficult to determine which families would qvalify as local employees and residents. If the city wishes to adopt this kind of condition it should apply to ail daycare centers. Statton withdrew the motion. Station moved to deny the appeal. James seconded and the motion carried 5-0. Statton moved to direct staff to work with the neighbors and the daycare center to explore traffic calming solutions and to address other impacts on the community. 11. Rancho Rinconada stoim drainage fee - Consider the levy of a storm drainage service fee for the Rancho Rinconada area in the event of its annexation. Community Development Director Bob Cowan reviewed the staff report. He said that there were 1,572 properties being considered for annexation. Pwtests had been received from 14 property owners of 21 parcels. Mayor Chang opened the public hearing. There were no speakers and the public hearing was closed. James moved to overrule the protests and authorize the City Clerk to proceed with the distribution of mail ballots to all affected property owners of record. Dean seconded and the motion carried 5-0. PLANNING APPLICATIONS 12. Service station and car wash-Use pe~,,,it to demolish an inactive service station and construct a new 788 square foot service station and 648 sq-are foot car wash at 1002 De A, Ta Blvd., 5-U-98, ll-EA-98, Hossain Khaziri, APN #316-26-017. Negative Declaration recommended. Recommended for approval. The City Clerk noted that a letter had been received after the packet was printed and copies were given to the Council members. The letter was dated October 28, from Mr. Edward Stomi to Associate Planner Colin Jung, and added comments about the November 2, 199g Cupertino City Council Page 5 parking spaces, overburdening the easement, the possibility of building a small office building or retail facility on this site, and that they were opposed to a car wash. Community Development Director Bob Cowan reviewed the staff report. He said that many Sound-Off cards had been received from the public, and the majority of them asked for a more interesting development than a gas station. Two' summers ago there were general discussions about the intersection, and there was a great deal of effort put into an integrated development for this site and the neighboring site. Unfortunately, that did not occur, and the city recently approved a redevelopment of the neighboring site for a two-story office building that is currently under construction. The owner of the parcel in question wishes to proceed with the construction of a new service station, which is allowed by the General Plan, the general commercial zoning district, and the specific plan. The discussion tonight will be more in terms of design rather than use, and the plans for this service station show that the design and color will integrate with the style of the adjacent office building. Cowan pointed out that this service station and the one across the street will both have 12 ft. easement areas to link these areas with the Four Seasons park to be developed at this intersection. He said that Mr. Storm has talked about overburdening the easement by having cars stacked on that driveway as they wait to enter the car wash. It appears it might be possible to write a condition of approval which would allow the circulation for the car wash to enter in either direction. Mr. Michael Aminian, representing the property owner, said they had consummated a contract with the adjacent property owner and after waiting about 11 months they decided to cancel the contract. He said there should not really be an issue about the easement because it is for ingress and egress, and cars will not be parking there, and his client owns the property and pays taxes on that easement. The design has been changed to reduce the number of pumps from 6 to 4. The building has increased in size in order to match the adjacent building, and so it could be properly centered on the site. The design meets requirements for parking and landscaping. He distributed information regarding the cancellation of the escrow account between Mr. Khaziri and Hunter Properties, their latest site plan, a Metroscan property profile, and finding of a noise level test on Mark VII poly-molded dryers. Mr. Aminian said that the owner would agree to change the circulation pattern for the car wash if that was Council's wish, but they would have to allow an additional 4 to 5 feet of entrance on De Anza Boulevard to prevent stacking between the pump and the street. Public Works Director Bert Viskovich said that public works recommends the circulation not be altered because traffic would back up on De Anza Boulevard. Ms. Patricia Smith, a resident of Cupertino, expressed her support for this development. The corner has been an eyesore since the original station went out of business, and tonight's proposal would benefit the community in terms of aesthetics and economics. Noveml er 9., 190R Cupertino City Counc' l Page Mr. Charles Hanson, 7617 Elderwood Ct., asked that Council approve this project. By the time landscaping and right-of-way areas are subtracted, only about 17,000 sq. ft. remain, which is too small for anything but a service station. He mentioned that a lot of service stations which used to be in Cupertino have now been turned into some other use. Also, going north on De AnTa Blvd., there are only two gas stations in Cupertino, so this location is important to capture a revenue-generating business on that comer. Mr. Hossain Khaziri, applicant, said that he would agree to add more landscaping near De Anza Blvd. if that was the desire of Council, but it was important to keep good circulation on the site. He said they would add four more feet of landscaping. Mr. Alex Lesetar, project designer, discussed the noise level tests on the car wash, and said the noise level was below that of the traffic on De ,~nTs Blvd. Burnett was concerned that the testing was done with the car wash doors shut, so there was no accurate infoi-ii-~ation on the actq~al noise level with the doors open. Mr. Lesetar said that the only noise would come from the dryer, not the washer. Cowan mentioned that a noise study was not required in this case because the adjoining properties are not residential. For a non-residential property after 8:00 at night the noise must be no higher than 55 dbe, so the equipment must comply with that. - Mr. Edward Storm, 20725 Valley Green Dr., said that he was one of the property owners of the building next door on Stevens Creek Blvd. He said they were sympathetic that this comer has been underutilized and would like to see it upgraded. Mr. Storm said there are other uses for this property, and they have studies which show that an office building or small retail would be feasible. It's true it has taken a long time to reach a decision on this property, however, the applicant bought the property knowing how large it was, as well as the location of the easement and setbacks. There are seven gas stations within 1.5 miles of this site, and the Texaco gas station across the street has a car wash too. Mr. Sto~iii said they would support the gas station alone, but there is also a car wash and minimart. The ingress and egress easement is a private property arrangement. If there are cars stacked there, others cannot drive in and out, and it does create a surcharge on the easement. If the easement is blocked, his company will take action in court. Dean commended Mr. Storm on the architecture of their new building. The attempts by the two parties to work together was not successful, and the best thing for the city now is to move on. James said the plans she saw a year ago were outstanding and she was disappointed that the city didn't end up with something spectacular and special at this intersection. Unfortunately there is only so much a municipality can do to limit land use. She _. commended the applicant on the gas station design, and for not selling alcohol. She objected to the inclusion of a car wash on this site, and was concerned about traffic, the easement, and the stacking of cars. However, at least drivers northbound on De Anza won't need to do a U-turn to come around to the Chevron station, so that is a benefit. lqovember 2, 1/)/)l (]upertino City Council Page 7 Bumctt agreed with Jamcs' comments. He supported this project two years ago without a car wash, and it's too bad the business deal fell through. He liked the overall design, but felt the car wash should be removed because of problems with stacking and noise. Dean said they did a good job of matching the architecture next door. This applicant has already reduced the number of pumps from 6 to 4, and the removal of the car wash would be an elimination of another profit center. He said that could be viewed as harassment with the goal of taking that property, and the threat on the access is the same thing. This project is an opportunity for improvement of the conditions on that site. Statton asked about the sales tax revenue generated by gas stations. Administrative Services Director Carol Atwood said that there are 3 to 4 gas stations that rank in the city's top 40 producers. Statton said the applicant has bent over backward to meet the needs of this community, and thanked them for the attempts to negotiate with the neighboring property owners. This is a good financial deal for the city, and he did not feel the site was large enough for a retail business. He said he took exception to the developer adjacent to this parcel, formerly in negotiations, now attempting to torpedo the project because they don't like the car wash. Chang agreed the applicant had worked diligently to address the city's concerns. The other options have been exhausted and it is time to move on. Burnett moved to grant a Negative Declaration. Dean seconded and the motion carried 5-0. Dean moved to approve the application per Planning Commission Resolution No. 4970, with the following modifications: staff shall work with the applicant regarding the turning radius and the addition of more trees, and the 28 ft. setback shall be reduced to 24 ft. for an additional 4 ft. of landscaping at the corner. Statton seconded and the motion carried 3-2 with Bumett and James voting no. Statton moved that the majority of the City Council adopt the findings and conclusions of the Planning Commission as shown in the staff report and the resolution No. 4970. Dean seconded and the motion carried 3-2 with Burnett and James voting no. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS _ 13. Consideration of canceling the December 21, 1998, Council meeting. Council concurred to cancel this meeting. The next regular meeting will be on Monday, January 4, 1999. lq'ovemher 2, 199g Cuper no C ty Council page 14. City Rehabilitation Program-Report to Council on request to reevaluate emphasis of the rehabilitation program. Planner II Yera Gil reviewed the staff report. Council coneurmt to receive the report and accept the recommendation of the Cupertino Housing Committee, as follows: That the rehabilitation program continue to target single family homes within the city limits in need of repair by offering Iow-interest loans to low- and very-low-income households. Furthermore, staff shall continue to work with the Code Enforcement Division to use the newly adopted blight ordinance to insure multi-family units are properly maintained. Statton asked that staff conduct further research on the use of rehabilitation funds for repairing a home after a fire or flood. ORDINANCES 15. Second reading and enactment of Ordinance No. 1800: "An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Cupertino Prezoning Three Existing Single-Family Residential Lots Located at 10092, 10104, & 10116 Stern Avenue to Pre R1-5 (Single Family Residential) Zoning District." The City Clerk read the title of the ordinance. Bumett moved and Dean seconded to read the ordinance by title only, and that the City Clerk's reading would constitute the second reading thereof. Motion carried 5-0. Burner moved and Dean seconded to enact Ordinance No. 1800. Motion carded 5-0. STAFF REPORTS - The City Manager announced that the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Macy's store at Vallco will take place on Saturday morning. COUNCIL REPORTS Mayor Chang said he attended the Association of Bay Area Governments conference last week and served on a panel discussing Cupertino's community-building efforts. He enjoyed a visit by a group of Boy and Girl Scouts, and he attended a bell commemorative in honor of Father Junipero Serra. He also reported that the AAA is interested in funding a city project on traffic safety and improvements, and that information has been provided to the City Manager. Vice Mayor Dean said he attended the Cupertino Audit Committee meeting. Also, he reminded everyone to vote tomorrow. Counc. Sames said the Leadership Cupertino program was going well. They hope to have a Teen Leadership program as early as next year. Also, the Senior Center November 2, 1998 Cupertino City Council P ge 9 Expansion Design Committee is now looking at footprints and elevations. A new proposal is to consider a two-story building in an attempt to preserve park space. Counc. Burnett said he was concerned about the potential cost of the expanded Senior Center, and it was appropriate that it be reviewed in detail to detemfne if all the new uses are needed. Counc. Statton said he attended the Santa Clara County Library JPA Board and that Infoseek has donated $200,000 for information technology. He reported that there was further discussion about filtering access to the intemet, and the current system of filters on children's computers and filter options on adult computers seems to be working well. CLOSED SESSION - None ADJOURNMENT At 8:40 p.m. the meeting was adjourned. City Clerk