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CC 01-12-2016 (Special)APPROVED MINUTES CUPERTINO CITY COUNCIL Tuesday, January 12, 2016 SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING 1. ROLL CALL At 3:05 p.m. Mayor Chang called the Special City Council meeting to order in the Cupertino City Hall Emergency Operations Center (EOC), 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014. Present: Mayor Barry Chang, Vice Mayor Savita Vaidhyanathan, and Council members Darcy Paul, Rod Sinks and Gilbert Wong. Absent: None. 2. MAYOR'S OPENING REMARKS Mayor Chang commented that this meeting was for each Council member to talk about the top three items each would like to see accomplished this year on the City Council. 3. GOAL SETTING - Items to be potentially included on future City Council Agendas in 2016 Council member Paul talked about: 1. Affordable housing and leveraging housing impact funds to partner with non -profits in addition to leveraging rental developers to include inclusionary units; 2. Getting a small business development center in Cupertino - need to look into space and funding; Continue moving forward on acquiring a park on the east side of town, in addition to looking into upgrading the Lawrence/Stevens Creek interchange along Calabasas Creek. Vice Mayor Vaidhyanathan talked about: 1. Developing affordable housing for seniors near stores, transit areas and other services, such as The Oaks or Cupertino Senior Center which would allow seniors to be more mobile; 2. Upgraded Teen Center and additional programs for teens and children in the community including education on how local government works and what is happening in the community; 3. Developing a public/private partnership to help build facilities such as an Emergency Operations Center and/or new City Hall, and how this type of partnership can give back to the community; 4. Traffic calming measures to allow people to walk and bike more easily in Cupertino; 5. More and better communication with residents. Council member Sinks talked about: 1. Improving transit on the Highway 85 corridor so people can travel more easily to their jobs in the North Bay; 2. Encouraging a Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) transit center on Stevens Creek and Highway 85 near The Oaks and think about what land might be available for a transit center on the east side of town that would efficiently connect with private buses and public transit; 3. Plan and develop bike and pedestrian pathways across all parts of town and continue the working group regarding safe routes to schools; 4. Look at supporting state initiatives and actions regarding gun control; 5. Build a seismically safe City Hall; 6. Put employee based business license tax on the November, 2016 ballot. Council member Wong talked about: 1. Expanding parking at the Civic Center, possibly using the Library Field or adding a parking garage; 2. Building a community room at the Cupertino Library or other location in Cupertino; 3. Continue to look at moving the Historical Society to McClellan Ranch; 4. Expanding the Sister City program; 5. Reviewing the parking ordinance to ensure adequate guest parking in residential areas. Mayor Chang talked about: 1. Doing something about climate change and tie in to the Community Choice Energy (CCE) program and provide shuttle buses to help with traffic; 2. Encourage Lehigh to sell their property and/or force them to comply with the law; 3. Pass meaningful gun control legislation; 4. Extend Walk one Week (WOW) program and block the surrounding streets near schools for the duration of the program. Mayor Chang opened up the meeting for public comment. Cupertino Planning Commissioner Don Sun talked about temporarily (no more than 10 months) adding an hour before the start of the Planning Commission meeting for the public to express concerns to the Commission on any upcoming development projects. 2 Annabelle Chan speaking on behalf of the Cupertino Teen Commission provided input on the new Vallco development to add a new Teen Center since the current one is not in a useful space. She also asked for direct funding from Council for the WOW program since funding currently comes from the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission. Gary Latshaw talked about energy efficiency and climate change. He distributed information from Prof. James Sweeney at Stanford University. He also talked about a Cupertino resident who built an energy efficient house and asked that the gentleman be allowed to speak to the City Council about it. Mr. Latshaw also talked about an innovative transit program. Pete Heller speaking on behalf of the Cupertino Bicycle Pedestrian Commission talked about issues regarding climate, traffic and , transportation, especially adding Class 4 bike lanes (which are protected lanes with a physical barrier between bicycles and autos) along major arteries, in addition to adding a class one bike lane off the roadway and parallel to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. He noted that the new 2016 Bicycle Transportation Plan that the Commission has been working on will come to Council for approval in May. Peggy Griffin talked about making sure a potential bicycle pathway along the Hwy 280 sound wall goes from Wolfe all the way to De Anza and negotiate with Apple to also take it to Lawson Middle School, which would be a step toward taking the pathway to the Don Burnett Bridge and Homestead High School. She asked for negotiations with employers for an easement to allow not only their employees but also the public to be able to use the pathway. Annie Ho speaking as a resident and not as a member of the Cupertino Library Commission talked about needing a community room at the Cupertino Library to handle the many programs including the ability to run multi -media. She said that the Library Commission had already mentioned the need for a story room expansion. Mehrnaz Faramarzi, student at De Anza College, talked about offering more opportunities for seniors including not charging them for organizing a group event. Council members talked in more detail about their top items mentioned including a discussion on adding an employee based business license tax on the November, 2016 ballot to be used for meaningful transit improvements as 3 proposed by Sinks. The proposal was supported by Chang but the other Council members had concerns about competing ballot measures, it not being the right mechanism for funding and needing further information. Council consensus was for Sinks to continue to work with Carl Guardino and VTA for now. Council followed up with staff regarding comments made from the public: • The potential bicycle pathway along the Hwy 280 sound wall would be reviewed in the Bicycle Transportation Plan • The Class 4 bike lanes would be reviewed in the Bicycle Transportation Plan and staff would look into the suggestion to initiate negotiations with Union Pacific regarding the Class 1 bike lane • Mr. Latshaw could be encouraged to apply for the Sustainability Commission • Funding for WOW would be budgeted • Staff would follow-up with the Planning Commission regarding meeting an hour earlier for public input Council concurred to ask staff to look into and possibly agendize the following topics: • Gun control initiative - would be added to the Work Program • Civic Center development • Parking ordinance potential revision - already on the Work Program • Non-profit space (Teen Center & Historical Society space already being looked into; Library story room currently in the budget) Council also discussed and concurred on the following regarding the duration of City Council meetings: • The goal would be for all Council meetings to end by 11:00 p.m. • If there are still items on the agenda to discuss, a majority of the Council would decide to extend the meeting for another hour or continue the items to either the next day or the next regularly scheduled Council meeting • A majority of the Council would decide each hour whether to extend the meeting another hour if there are still agenda items to discuss • The meeting would be cut off at 1:00 a.m. and a majority of the Council would decide to either continue the rest of the items to the next day or to the next regularly scheduled meeting 4 • Council members would try to keep their deliberation comments to no more than five minutes 4. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None 5. ADJOURNMENT At 5:08 p.m., Mayor Chang adjourned the meeting. Grace Schmidt, City Clerk